Lots has happened since I last wrote!  Thanks for the happy birthday notes!  I had a nice day, with Tom bringing me a pot of flowers and a yummy meal when he came home for lunch (he knew that would be less stressful for me than going out to eat.  Michael doesn't like to sit still in restaurants!). 

In early March, Rachel and Rebecca (my two sisters) came to stay with us for a few days.  It was a blast to have them here!  During their visit, Rachel did a whole lot of cooking for us, and packed away bunches of casseroles in our freezer for when our new baby comes!  Rebecca did some cooking, too, though her main job was to keep Michael out of mischief (not easy!!).  I still can't believe how much they got done while they were here!  The extra freezer we bought is looking quite full!  Hopefully I won't have to cook very much for awhile after Bethy is born--yipee!  Now that they're gone, it's hard to say who misses them most--Tom, Michael, or me!   Michael probably can't believe how boring his parents seem all of a sudden!   

I'm getting more and more eager for the baby to be here--especially after some embarrassing false alarms!  On the 13th (my sister Rachel's birthday), I had some very "real" false labor, with Tom taking half of the day off of work in case the baby came, and my family changing their plans for the day!  My "labor" lasted most of the day, and then completely stopped!  Argh!!  It was kind of funny that I had false labor on that day, because that was the first day that our baby would be considered full term if she was born then (I was 37 weeks along).  Because Bethy is not due till April 3rd, I had been rather lazily making preparations for her, thinking that I still had plenty of time.  I hadn't even washed the baby clothes!  We made some very fast preparations that day!  Yesterday I again had some false labor, but thankfully this time I had the presence of mind to not make as big of a deal out of it.  With all this false hope, I am beginning to feel like all contractions are false alarms!  My mom sweetly reminded me that one of these times it really will happen--really and truly!  By the time that happens, I wonder if anyone will believe me when I truly am in labor!  I feel like the boy who called wolf!

Michael seems to be taking advantage of the fact that his mama is feeling rather fat and tired all the time.  He is the most adventuresome little fellow!  Last night as Michael was attempting to fall off of our bed (!), Tom asked me if all little babies have "no fear".  Indeed, the silly little guy will chase the vacuum cleaner instead of avoiding it!!  He keeps us in stitches all the time!  Another thing that makes us laugh is how he loves to crawl right over/through whatever is in his way.  It is so funny to watch him crawl through the living room, going over one of his toys instead of around it.  He loves to crawl under our dining room chairs and is frequently getting his little body stuck.  He then cries pitifully, as if to say, "Mom, help me!  I didn't know how much I ate for lunch!"  He doesn't learn his lessons well, though, because he does it again anyway!  Another favorite pastime of his is to play with his baby food jars.  I had been storing some extra baby food jars within his reach (silly, I know!), and he would love to take one out to play with.  He'd roll it ahead of himself on the floor, chase after it, roll it again, chase after it, etc.  It is TOO funny to watch!!  He really gets into it!  It will be fun when Bethany is old enough to play with him, and they can play "soccer" together.   As Tom and I laughed at his baby food jar game, we realized that he doesn't have a single ball to play with!  Poor little guy!  His creativity must be commended!