Van-Driving Non-Soccer Mom

I officially drive a van! Although I was initially totally disgusted with the idea that I'd have to drive one, since they're such FAMILY vehicles, and they're big and frumpy and not-so-sexy looking (you know, as opposed to my ultra-sexy, dirty black, rust-pocked, trim-falling-off, loud-rattling VW Jetta), I've definitely changed my tune. The very first one we test drove was a burgundy 2002 Ford Windstar Sport with light beige leather interior, 4 captain's chairs, tons of space and all the electronic bells and whistles. Naturally I fell in love with it, and long story short, after test driving a few more and looking around for other vans, we ended up getting it. The only issue is that we have to bring it back in sometime in the next couple of weeks to get the A/C fixed on it. I love that there's so much space and I can walk right to the trunk through the seats. Having A/C and a CD player in it are awesome too, not to mention the fact that it's in great condition with no nasty rust marks, major scratches, or parts falling off/rattling. Yesterday I was trying to get the kids buckled into their carseats, leaning in through the door while my back got soaked in the rain, when I realized that I could actually get into the van, close the door, buckle them in from the inside, then walk to my seat. Heaven! I've come to terms with the fact that it is not, and never will feel like, a sexy vehicle, but I will adjust my electric lumbar support and pedal distance, set the cruise control, blast the A/C and CD player and hold my head high.
Josey has been acting up lately and yelling back at me when I try to talk rationally to him. He just goes to insta-yell as soon as you tell him no or try to explain why he can't do or have something, which gets really irritating. He also responds to everything with "Fine!" as in "I'm sorry, but we can't go outside right now Josey because it's raining out, you're not dressed, and we haven't had breakfast yet" "Fine! I'm going to go outside then!" Yesterday we went to Toybus and I ended up dragging him out to the van kicking, slapping, screaming, and spitting well before it was over because he wouldn't settle down and stop running around in circles at song time. Hopefully a reminder of that will calm him down next time.
We're still having pee issues and he wets himself at least once a day. I find that nagging him constantly helps, as does making sure he pees right before we go anywhere. He's not even remotely close to staying dry at night, but I'm not really concerned about that right now. I figure we'll start trying for that when he's about 4 or so, if it doesn't happen naturally.
Roanen is talking up a storm, so I'm not even going to bother continuing that list. He comes up with new words every day, and has started putting 2 words together. He says things like "reach" when he can't reach something, and if he can't get the lid off a marker or something he says "Hard!" When you give him food he likes he says
Mmmm! Good!", and he'll scribble on a piece of paper, or pet the cat and say "Nice!". Lately he picks up Russ' belongings and says "Daddy's stuff", and when Russ gave him a penny to hold he walked around all day saying "Money money money money". The farmer across the road put cows into his field and Roanen is obsessed with looking for and listening to them. He gets so excited when he sees them, and on Sunday he stood on a stool on the porch calling for them: "Cows! Cows! Mooooooooo! Moooooooo!" When they didn't respond, he informed Russ (very sullenly) that they were "Bad cows."
Once again I'm rarely getting a full night's sleep, as Roanen has been waking up at least once and I end up falling asleep in his bed. On the positive side, he seems to be going to sleep a little easier most nights since we've been sitting in the chair next to his bed rather than at the foot of his bed where he was distracted by being able to kick us constantly (most annoying). He's not eating nearly as much or as well as he used to, and he enjoys tossing food on the floor when he gets bored. Russ has decided that we should be consulting a child psychologist about his extreme clinginess with daddy, as he had to carry him around in one arm while mowing the lawn with the other on Saturday. I can't wait to see his reaction to daddy holding baby Bobby/i.
I am 24 weeks pregnant today (according to the ultrasound) and getting increasingly uncomfortable. A second hernia has popped out, in the same place as the other one, but on the opposite side, and this one seems to pop out a lot more readily and cause more discomfort. The left side of my sacrum is also causing a lot of trouble, although I think it's actually from a lack of physical activity since it seems to feel a lot better after I did some heavy gardening and scrubbed the bathroom. The baby was kicking really frequently for a while, but it has slowed down a little in the last couple of days. Maybe it's running out of space in there. At least it seems to have turned so it's not kicking directly down anymore. Instead it seems to lodge its feet right up under my ribs, which is a new feeling since the boys didn't do that as much. I've started to nag Russ about helping me decide on names. He shoots down every single name I suggest, or mocks it. Did you know every name rhymes with or can be changed into at least one disgusting or inappropriate word? Just ask Russ. He finally gave in and let me pick a boys name (thank goodness because it was the only name that I liked for a boy), although he did find a way to make fun of it. And no, I'm not going to tell you what it is, so don't bother asking. Anyway, he only agreed to it because he's convinced that the baby is a girl and we won't have to use it anyway.
Ok, a long blog like that more than makes up for not blogging for two weeks. I'll have more soon, I promise.