For those of you who don't speak my language that means "Baby in Momma's belly"  which I take the opportunity to tell almost everyone we meet.  I think we are going to have a girl baby, but I don't know what to name it.   After Momma vetoed Joey, Britt is insisting that we call it Brother Johnny now.  (That's the name of his imaginary friend.)  I don't think Momma likes that name any better than Joey.  She asked me if I wanted to hold or kiss or rock the baby, and I told her no.  She asked me what I plan to do with the baby and I said, "dunno?"  What do you do with a baby?

Sunday after Church, I was so excited.  I finally got to go to the zoo!  Momma promised me if I would be a good helper while she packed, and a good boy while Daddy was gone to Indiana to work, that Daddy would take me to the zoo, when we got to Indiana.  I tried very hard to be good, and then we moved, and I waited and I waited and I waited.  I asked Momma, "Will I never get to go to the zoo?"  Finally on Sunday I got to go!





Next we walked through Australia.  Momma liked the kangaroos best, they hop all around you.  Several had babies in their pouches.  And one baby looked like he was too big because his tail and leg were hanging out, and his Momma was dragging the ground when she hopped.  I liked the bats best in that part of the zoo.  They were hanging by their feet on the rocks, and then flying around.  Next we headed over to the train where we needed our coats.  The conductor told us it was windy by the water, going fast in the train.








Turns out the pizza place was right next to the carasoel and I wanted to ride it.  Momma asked me what animal I wanted to ride, and I told her the panda.  He ran in circles and went up and down a while, then he got tired and had to eat more bamboo.  Ruth wanted to ride the Tiger, so Daddy rode with her right next to me.  After that we saw the real tigers and then a bunch of different kind of monkeys, and other monkeys that have no tails.  They aren't real monkeys they are apes.  Ruth's favorite animal were the Gibbons Apes.  They would swing with their hands, all the way down the cage and back.  After that it was getting kinda cold, because the wind was picking up and the sun was back behind the trees.  Daddy was getting hungry too, so we called it a day, but Momma and Daddy promise we can go back again.

 This weekend we had a fish fry with the Fort Wayne Church.  We headed out to Bro. John and Sis. Leah's place.  Britt and I had so much fun playing with the grown-ups visited.  Bro. John took us around in the back of his tractor on a hayride.  He showed us all his fields, and where he normally has his duck blind, but there was no pond, because it had been so dry.  Britt mostly had fun running back and forth everytime we stopped the tractor, but Momma wouldn't let me run she said I would fall off.  I did climb off at the end when she getting down, before she could help me.  I bumped my chin a little but didn't cry and I ran off with everyone else.




 There were lots of fun things to play with.  My favorite was the rocket launcher.  I could put the rockets on, and I tried to jump on like everyone else, but it didn't work so well.  Britt and I laughed and laughed and laughed about that thing.  We had a good time playing with all the Green kids and Bro. Ralph's grandson, Paul.  Britt likes to follow Paul around everywhere, I don't have a favorite, I like everyone.




















The fish were good, but my favorite part is the hushpuppies.  I think I might have eaten five hushpuppies and just nibbled at the fish and my apples.  Everyone was really excited to have a fish fry.  Everyone either brought something or helped cook.  I think they ate almost as much fish out of the grease as made it to the table.  I was interested in what was going on, but they kept running me off, saying it was too hot around the cookers.



We ended the night with smores and a little fire.  Momma made Daddy help me with with the smores.  I could have eaten lots and lots of those, but they only let me have one.  Daddy said he doesn't even know why I like them, they are messy, and marshmallows don't taste that good.  Momma must not agree because she had one too.  Britt didn't like the marshmallows though.  I think he's crazy.

So this pregnancy is going well.  Better than either of the other two.  I have had some morning sickness, but not the all day, ab work out, throwing up marathon that the other two were.  Which is a good thing.  I told Gary we might not make it past three if I was that sick a third go round.  I've stretched a bottle of Phenagren through almost 2 months, where as before, I was doing fantastic if I only needed one a day.  This baby seems to really like Mexican food and raw onions.  I personally hate raw onions, and I knew this was a weird kid like his daddy when I was looking at an onion one day and thinking I might like to take a bite of it like you would an apple.  I've not had anything that I just can't stand to eat, though some days somethings sound like horrible food choices.
I've been feeling movement sporadically for around 3 or 4 weeks but in the last 2 weeks, I can feel it more regularly, without laying down, getting still, and consentrating.  This one I have mostly felt low and on my left side.  Sure enough at the ultrasound, the baby was sitting as low as possible with his tailbone on my cervix, and face burried into my hip bone.  I opted to not find out the sex this time.  I figure since we have one of each, and plenty of clothes, that I can always wash both sets of newborn clothes.  It might be fun to have a surprise this go round.  Gary wants to know though, so I had her write down the sex on a sheet of paper, and she sealed it in an envelope, which I promptly hid.  :)  She did give us a due date of 2/18.
The kids were a real laugh at the ultrasound.  They sat on the foot of the bed with me.  Britt was very intent on watching the screen, and the nurse told him where the head was and the feet, etc.  Most of the time he informed me that that wasn't a baby, but there were a couple of pictures that he thought were the baby.  Ruth on the other hand laid across my lap and was more interested in watching the gel and the "camera wand" rather than the tv with the baby.  Most of the time the baby had his back to us, and hands up by his checks.  Those feet never stopped moving though.  Of course that's because I had orange juice and Dr. Pepper before going.  I wanted to see some movement.  Once we saw the baby sucking his thumb.  The heartrate was 146 at the doctors office the other day and 156 at the ultrasound.  She said he looks like he is measuring 7 oz.
We don't have names right now.  Though my top picks for a girl are Rebecca and Katherine, and my top picks for a boy are William or Michael.  We will see how it goes though, because Gary likes short hacked up names, and I hate short hacked up names.  Will is the only shortened name I like.  If I use Rebecca, Katherine, or Michael it's because I like those names not Becky, Kat, or Mike.  Gary says he can't pick out a name until he knows boy or girl, and I'm not going to let him see the paper unless he helps pick out names, so we may not know the gender or name until the baby arrives.

So we are settling into life in Indiana.  So far I'm really enjoying it up here.  The weather has been great.  Fall is just arriving.  Even on the days it has been hot, it's not oppressive heat.  They complain about the humidity up here but after the deep South and Florida, this is nothing.  We've had a couple of nights down in the 40s and some days in the 60s.  Like back home the fall, when you have one day that is 62 and the next that is 85, it wreaks havoc on my asthma.  It's been really nice.  I got to break out the bluejeans for the kids today. First time Ruth has wore any in probably 9 months.  In fact, it was the first chance she had to wear any of her 24mon/2T pants.

The kids are loving the yard.  Britt is slowly learning his boundaries.  After being places were we had an acre or two yard, it's taken him a little bit to realize that three houses down isn't still his yard.  Right now I'm just trying to establish with him where his yard ends and the next begins.  He isn't traveling the neighborhood now, just straying into our next door neighbor's yards.  The kids love the grass up here.  It's double seeded with Rye and Kentucky Bluegrass.  It's supper soft.  The neighbors must think I'm that Southern gal, because I am not wearing shoes out of the house unless we have to go somewhere.   Britt said "The grass tickles my feet, Momma!"  He's a little slower to believe me when I tell him there are no fire ants in Indiana.  He is going barefoot some, but is constantly asking me if I'm sure there are no ants to "eat" his feet.

The people have been surprisingly friendly.  When we were in the hospital several people struck up conversation with me or the kids.  Out and about people seem to be eager to stop and visit.  At the grocery store on Tuesday, we were behind a van that stopped no joke three times to talk to someone in the parking lot.  The third time I just drove around her rather than wait to see who else she knew.  There are several kids in our neighborhood, and we've meet the neighbors on both sides of us, and the dad catty-corner across the street from us.  Almost all the families in this neighborhood are younger families.  The oldest kid on our street is 10, and our next door neighbor has the youngest at 18 months.  Though a lady down the street is also due with another one this winter, so I'm told.

The land is very, very flat.  And there are fewer trees than Alabama or Florida.  The trees they have are different as well, they aren't sprawling, wild, jungle/wood, but carefully managed wind breaks along the edges of fields.  As a result you can see the sunset for much longer here.  Especially when we are traveling on the interstate.  It gives us enough height that even the trees aren't much in the way.  I'm sure I'll freeze to death all winter, but right now it's really nice up here.

It's been a while, what with the upheaval of being in Alabama, getting a job, going back to Florida to back, a month without Gary, and then the move to Indiana.  Today I thought I might share a little about Gary's new job.

7-12, A couple of the guys Gary interviewed with.  His boss and his boss's boss.

He came up to interview in person with several members back on July 12th.  It was a long week waiting to hear back from them, but they made and offer, on Tuesday morning, Gary accepted it on Wednesday afternoon, and he started the following Monday.  It's been a real whirlwind for him, but I can say he is really loving this job.  Having a job is a blessing, having a career that you love is even better.  He's been there almost 2 months and his days are full of meetings, classes at the main office to learn about the seed program, and visiting farmers.

7-14, Some of Bro. Ralph's corn.

It's been a little bit of a learning curve from the way they word things up here in Yankee country, to the crops itself.  Gary didn't have much experience with grain crops, though he did study that some when he got his Masters.  It's alot to learn, yet not that much.  To put it in perspective, in Florida Gary was working with around 2 dozen different crops with tons of different chemicals, he figures he knew close to 600 chemicals and their rates of application, what you could and couldn't combine them with, and all that sort of important stuff.  Here he has two main crops and three minor crops, and their warehouse for chemicals isn't as big as our living room.  (Granted we do have a big living room, but still, you get the point.)  His big learning point has been seed.  Learning traits and how it works, the differences in different companies and yield.  It's been really neat to learn from him in the evenings.  The one thing that seems to come easiest to him is meeting the farmers, he says that they are just good down to earth people like anywhere.  Some of them have their quirks, but for the most part they are just like growers back home they like football, being outdoors, and family.

8-2, Sunset over Soybean fields. You can see the sunset for the longest time up here, since it's so flat.

He has alot of responsibilities, he has been hired on two work as the Agronomy and Seed Salesman for two different locations.  They are both close, but he is expected to sell and do a 40+hour a week job at both locations in one 40 hour week.  Some of the best salesman in the company have their own secretaries to manage the paperwork side, and Gary is working two locations without a secretary.  He jokes that I'll handle some of that at home, but I worry a little about that aspect.  Even with the minor concerns I have, it's a great company, with really great people, and Gary is loving the work.  I cannot get over what a blessing this position has been, so far there have really been no negatives.