Our little helper and BIG news!

Lately, Sophie has become quite the little helper. She has become quite bossy too! She is always babbling at us, in her own Sophie language, directing us about the house. She loves to help with the laundry. It doesn't matter if it is wet or dry, clean or dirty, she likes to pull things out and sometimes put non-clothing items into the dryer. In the background of this video you can hear Benny having a world class meltdown because he wanted to help with the laundry too and was jealous that we wanted a video of just Sophie. As you can imagine, Benny is actually a good laundry helper, and I like him to help out. Sophie causes more trouble than anything, but it is sure cute.

Sophie also likes to help me feed Smokey and throw away her dirty diapers into the garage. When we put her to bed at night, she directs us the entire time about where she wants her two blankets. She then points to the side of the crib to make sure we put it up. Finally she points over to her music box so we don't forget to play it for her. It is so fun to watch her personality develop!

Once Benny was finished with his jealous episode, we let him come help with the laundry too. Some day I will be begging these kids to help me with the chores!

Now for the BIG news! We are expecting baby number 3!!!! My blogging absence in August was primarily due to awful 'all day' sickness. I have no idea why they call it morning sickness, because mine only heightened during the day. Poor Nick has put up with me after several weeks of not wanting to cook or even smell dinner. This pregnancy has been by far the worst of all of mine, maybe even all the others combined. But at 12+ weeks now, I am starting to feel much better and have more energy. Besides feeling sick all of the time, everything is going well. I have even had an ultrasound and the baby looks great. I am due in late March just before Sophie's 2nd Birthday! Of course we won't be able to resist finding out if we are having a boy or a girl. We don't really have a preference, but long term were thinking a girl would be easier so she and Sophie could share a bedroom. Only time will tell!

Benny is super excited about becoming a big brother again. He actually wants another brother and another sister. He wants the brother to be his twin. Poor kid, he still can't grasp exactly what a twin is. He says either way he will be happy, but a brother would be better than a sister. He was the first to know a few weeks ago. I showed him my ultrasound pictures and he guessed right away what the pictures were of. Soon he was telling everyone, so we decided to finally share the news.

For now I am getting an idea what is like to take of three. Nick had hip surgery last week, and I swear it is like having another child at home. He had been a great patient, and is moving around quite well now. It still causes extra work around the house but it won't be for much longer. Unfortunately it looks like he is going to have to have another surgery in the future. He has a very uncommon hip problem and very few surgeons can preform the surgery to correct it. Sometime he will probably has to have an 'open-hip' operation that should correct the problem. Even having the scope here last week was a big deal for the hospital. His surgeon does 4 knees a week, but only 2 hips a year. Physical therapy sent him home last Friday without any treatment because they had never had anyone before with Nick's condition and didn't know how to handle him yet. He seems to be making a speedy recovery and really, it has been nice having him home so much!