I feel bad that I have neglected my blog lately.  But it is what it is. 

I am now 8 weeks pregnant with Mini Cooper #3.  I am sick.  Every day.  I am tired.  Every day.  My house is a mess.  Every day.  I have no energy to do anything.  Every day.  The smell in Wal-Mart and IGA make me sick.  Every time.  My kids are bored because I am no fun.  Every day. 

But on the bright side, I do feel better today than I did yesterday.  I suspect my prenatal vitamins could be partially to blame for my nausea.  I have been taking them at night before I go to sleep and then I wake up sick.  Today I took half of one with my lunch and I will take the other half with my supper.  This is my new plan so please say a prayer that it works and that I can begin functioning as a normal person again.  Thank you.

Because I have been so sick, almost all food sounds terrible to me.  I am hungry a lot and know that if I eat small amounts of food every couple of hours that I feel better.  Sometimes that is hard to do because I feel so sick and nothing sounds good to me.  There are a few things that Baby Cooper likes:  fried yellow squash, fried okra, Nacho Cheese Doritos, coconut cream pie, cupcakes, and fried mushrooms and french fries from Julian's.  Anything remotely healthy sounds horrible and most meat is very unappealing as well.  At this rate I am likely to gain 100 pounds this pregnancy.  I'm not sure my blood pressure could handle that.  As soon as I start feeling better, I vow to start eating better.  Meanwhile, my blood pressure medicine is working just fine and my blood pressure has been completely normal for now.

I had my first ultrasound last week and the baby looked great.  The heartbeat was a healthy 137.  I see my doctor and have another ultrasound next week.  I see a high risk doctor in St. Louis where they keep a close eye on me.  I have difficult pregnancies and doctors in my area don't want anything to do with me.  But that's okay because I really feel like I am in the best place possible in St. Louis.  Maleah and Carissa were both born there and I doctored there with Carissa the whole time too.  I hate the long car trips over there (two and half hours in the car when you're pregnant is a long time) but I get great care and healthy babies.  That's what really matters.

In other news, Maleah is super excited about school starting.  She can't wait!  Only one week left of summer vacation for her.  She likes having a routine and she likes having something to do.  She's been pretty bored around here for the past couple of weeks.  In July she had swimming lessons and we spent a week at Oil Belt Camp.  She even stayed the nights when I came home and slept.  I was so proud of her!  But August has not been as exciting and she is ready for some fun.  She loves school and is counting down the days.

Carissa is into asking "why?"  I hear it a lot every day.  Here is a recent conversation with her:
Me:  Carissa, put your shoes on.
Her:  Why?
Me:  Because we're leaving.
Her:  We are?  Why?
Me:  Because we're going to go see Grandma.
Her:  Debby?  Why?
Me:  So we can visit.
Her:  Oh.  Okay.  Why?
Me:  Because we love her and want to see her and Grandpa David.
Her:  Why?
Me:  Do you want to see them or not?
Her:  Yes.  I love Debby and PaPa too. 
Me:  Good.  Put your shoes on.
Her:  Okay.  Why?

Errrr.  It can be pretty aggravating sometimes.  I have found that not answering her doesn't work because she will just repeat herself like a broken record until I do answer.  Sometimes I tell her that I have already answered her questions and that she just needs to listen and do as I say.  That usually puts the kibosh on all of the why's for at least a few minutes.  Also, reverse psychology works wonders on her.  I have started asking her why and she usually walks away.  Today, we had this conversation:

Her:  I have to go potty.
Me:  Why?
Her, with a bewildered look:  Because I have to go pee and that's where I pee.
Then she walked away. 

Also, she has two pairs of Crocs and she is always wearing one pair or the other.  One pair is purple and the other is pink.  If she has on a pink outfit, I used to ask her to go get her pink Crocs and put them on before we left to go somewhere.  She would argue and beg to wear her purple ones.  Vice versa if she was wearing purple, then she would only want to wear her pink Crocs.  She wants the opposite of what I suggest.  But beware little Rissy, because your Mama is smarter than you are.  Now I ask her the opposite of what I want.  If she has on a purple outfit, I ask her to get her pink Crocs.  She argues and says she wants to wear her purple Crocs.  I say "Oh, okay, whatever."  We walk out of the house and her outfit matches her shoes.  Voila. 

I think that's about all that's new with us.  I promise to post some new pictures soon.