Warm Fuzzies...

So I'm pretty sure I mentioned our "warm fuzzies" jar before. I took the idea from Moose's preschool group. We have a small plastic jar and a plastic bag full of poofy balls (crafting type supplies). Whenever one of the kids does something that is nice to me, the hubs, or each other, we let them put a warm fuzzy into the jar. Once it's full, we'll do something special as a family. Over the last week or so, Moose has been earning more warm fuzzies than he used to. It's pretty awesome. It's generally because he's being really nice to Monkey. When she has problems or has an owie, he'll go to her and talk to her gently. He'll try to give her a solution, or give her a hug. Whatever it is she happens to need. I can see our hours and hours of talking things out to Moose paying off. He'll totally try and be rational with her and explain things to her to calm her down. For example, she wanted a candy out of our "moose" (we have a moose shaped cookie jar). I told her no. I was cooking dinner and gave her the option of leftover applesauce from lunch, which she declined in no uncertain terms. But she went off and cried to Moose about it. I told him why she was sad, and he told her that if she waited til dinner and ate all her dinner that she would be able to have something from the moose. It was all done in a super sweet, calm voice and with complete intentions of soothing and calming her down. Which it did. It was so awesome. Then a little later on the kids were putting away puzzles. Monkey can be a bit bossy about it, and she got snappy with Moose. Normally he probably would've snapped back, but he totally didn't and responded as nicely as he could. It was the coolest thing. Granted, he's not like this every day. Like yesterday evening. He was a total grouch. But days and moments like these are happening more and more often. Monkey really does worship him. It's so sweet. Awesome timing too. The more he can help soothe her and keep her a bit happier, the easier it will be to handle having a new baby around. I'm so grateful for my little man. He's so awesome! :)

Grouchy...

Today Moose was mostly grouch, most of the day. We're not sure why. We thought maybe it'd be better when he had a nap. Not really. So they were in bed at 7:00. Perhaps tomorrow will be better?

On the up side, I started doing more baby prep. Packing a hospital bag, that sorta thing. I'm getting more and more excited. Everytime we get something ready for the baby it makes Monkey more excited and angry, since she can't do anything with the baby now i.e. dress it, give it a pacifier, etc. I hope she'll be just as excited when she's here. Hopefully just not too excited. :) I also slept awesome last night.

Oh, and I threw my hip out in a bad way yesterday chasing Monkey down in Wal-Mart. She was pushing our monstrous cart towards an end cap filled with coffee containers. I stopped her, but did something nasty to my left hip. I waddled really bad the whole night. But thanks to some stretching and a good night's sleep, it's practically better. Yay for that. I waddle enough as it is. :)

Change in plans...

So our day trip was cancelled this morning as all possible roads we were going to take were closed due to weather. It was weird for us to have an entire day that we planned to be gone suddenly become open. So we sent my father-in-law back home and started sorting the day out. My first order of business was to go back to sleep. I was up for a few hours in the early morning and woke up early anyhow to get ready, so I was feeling pretty sluggish. I was planning on sleeping a bit in the car with the hubs, so instead I slept for another hour while the hubs entertained the kids. Then we ran some random errands as a group, which was fun since there was really no pressure to do or accomplish anything in particular. The kids took a decent nap, as well as the hubs while I watched some tv and ate my lunch. Then we ended up dropping the kiddos off at the grandparent's house while the hubs took me out for my birthday. It's not til Tuesday. Well, technically it's not til next year. There's no Feb. 29th this year, which is my birthday. But I'm a year older nonetheless. So we had a quiet dinner, which was great. We were planning on walking around a bit, which sounded good at the time. However, when we got to Target and started walking I got pretty light-headed and dizzy. Luckily, we were wandering around the baby stuff. So I found a nice place to sit and we talked about possible things we still needed. Some newborn pacifiers, long sleeved-onesies (for this fantastic cold weather) and little odds and ends. It didn't take too long for me to feel better. It was slightly odd. Although I just blame it on the baby pressing some appendage against something in my body that is vital for proper blood circulation. Amongst other things she presses against that will do weird things to my body. Then we picked up the kiddos, who were having a total blast, and brought them home and put them to bed. Now, we're going to finish watched a movie that we started last night, while enjoying our take-home dessert of cheesecake with huckleberries ontop. Yummy. So happy early birthday to me. Ooh, and I finally finished Monkey's Christmas dress I was doing back in December. Finally. Good thing she's getting a younger sister who will get more wear out of it.  And I worked a bunch on a quilt top for the new baby that I cut out around 5 years ago. I didn't start sewing it until pretty recently. But made huge progress today. Now that her dress is done, my project schedule feels wide open. I'm hoping to get the top done before my mom shows up. I've never made a quilt before and know nothing about putting a back on it, let alone putting it all together. Anywho, time to go relax. And hope this baby leaves my right ribs alone. Ooh, and if I remember I'll tell you how I totally killed my left hip today. Maybe it will be feeling better and won't make me waddle like a penguin tomorrow. Oh the joys... :)

False Alarms...

I'd like to wish that the false alarms were me in early labor. 5 weeks is a bit early, but it would have been somewhat exciting I guess. No, those false alarms are purely Monkey. She was sitting on the potty today and every few minutes she would announce that she had "pee!" But upon getting up and checking, it was "no pee." I was starting to think she really didn't know what she was doing. Which I know she's still learning. However, I could tell the difference when she finally stood up and looked and there was some. Boy was she excited! "PEE!" We've now taken to calling the hubs whenever she has success so she can tell yell it to him over the phone. It's pretty cute.

So I have 5 weeks left. 4 til my mom arrives. I have my next visit this coming Thursday. Then I'm going in every week. I can tell that the little lady has moved higher. I don't have as much space under my ribs as I used to, and occasionally I have to shove a hand on my right ribs (always my right ribs) to remove the pressure. The same with all 3 pregnancies. It seems like my heartburn is coming back too. Anyway, she's certainly stretching out. For the record, Moose was 9 lbs. 22 in. Monkey was 7 lb. 7 oz. and 21 in. So there's no telling where this one will be. Moose was right on his due date. Monkey was 5 days early. I will say I'm hoping she follows the 5 days early pattern. That would be spectacular. But even if she hits her due date, I'd be happy. I've never gone late and really don't want to start now. But I'll deal with it, whatever happens. I'm starting to get very excited for her to come. I'm glad that it's less of a "I can't wait to get this baby out of me!" and more of a "I'm so excited for her to be out and about and with all of us." I think a positive attitude at the end (as positive as one can be when dealing with varying degrees of discomfort) helps to keep me more comfortable and upbeat. I think I could easily fall into the trap of literally counting down the days til she's born. (out of misery) But where's the fun in that? I try to enjoy the few weeks I have left with just my two kiddos before my attention is split 4 ways (gotta include the hubs in that split) instead of 3.  Anyhow, I'm excited. For everything that's coming.

Tomorrow we're headed for a day trip sans kiddos. It will likely take up our entire day so I might not post. But I'll be back with a vengeance Sunday night. :)

Potty and the hubs...

Even though we're not officially potty training, I feel like this will be a daily topic for me. It's just one of those things. Anyway, yesterday me and Monkey weren't having a good potty day and I was totally frustrated. I missed her window like 3 times by minutes and so I was annoyed with myself.  Then later yesterday I had her on the potty, knowing she had to do some business. She sat there for over half an hour, would not. Then within minutes of getting off the girl does some stinky do in her diaper. Seriously?!? I was so annoyed. So today I was buttering her up big time for taking care of the poops on the potty. I offered her ice cream, oreos from my private stash, whatever she wanted. She didn't go. But she didn't do it in her diaper either. So I suppose the timing was just wrong. Oh well. She had 3 successes today. The hubs said she woke up with a nearly dry diaper (unheard of) and totally filled the potty. Then she went twice for me. Both minor (she had already wet her diaper, but I had her sit down anyway and she managed a little something) but we'll take what we can get. She is still getting good at recognizing when she goes. She occasionally will tell me she's going to do something, but she's either not right, or doesn't want to when I sit her down. But we'll get there.

So, the hubs. Can I just say my hubs is amazing? Every day after coming home, we all eat dinner together. Then he goes and cleans up the table, dishes, and whatever didn't get cleaned up from cooking. After the dishwasher is started, he takes the kids to their bedroom and plays with them til bedtime. He is stinkin' amazing. I mean, the kids would be a disaster if he didn't. They miss him so much during the day. He usually leaves at 6:30 in the morning to bike to work. Sometimes he'll see them, but only if they wake up really early. Then he gets home at about 5:15 or maybe a little later. They're in bed, lights out at 7:15. So they really don't get too much time with him. But he's so awesome about it. Sometimes I feel guilty for not doing more of my part in entertaining them in the evening, but honestly-they don't want me. Not one bit. I can hardly wrestly with them, he is supremely creative and entertaining with them. They just love playing with him. I'm sure he enjoys parts of it. After spending the day with mostly ungrateful teenagers, he probably enjoys being able to make them so happy so easily.

My daughter just walked into the living room pushing her stroller with a battery-operated walking robot inside, legs wiggling and everything. I love my kids. :)

Taking Little Steps...

Monkey had two successes in the potty today. Hooray! This morning, first thing, and after her nap. I learned that 2 hours is too long after she's had a meal. With her second success, she jumped up and declared that she had done something and she surely had. So I think that's a huge step in the right direction. It was pretty great. While I still say we're potty-familiarizing and no doing this whole-heartedly, it's still exciting to see progress made.

Despite the kids waking up at 6 this morning, the morning was pretty nice for me. I wasn't sleeping solid after 5 thanks to being pregnant, so it wasn't a huge deal to get up once he left. But the hubs got the kids dressed, and got Moose doing his chores so they were done before I got up. That made my morning so much easier, it was awesome! I gave them a killer breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and banana. Then I was able to shower and get ready without a rush.

Oh, so tiny backwards step, or sideways perhaps. Last night as I was checking on the kiddos like we always do, Moose was completely flipped around on his bed. So I turned him around so he could get tucked in. My eyes kept being drawn to a spot on the wall. So I got a closer look and decided it looked like smeared blood. So the hubs grabbed a flashlight and we did our best to inspect the area without waking up Moose. Sadly, I was right. He had a bloody nose and had smeared some on the wall, his pillow, and a tissue. I think he thought it was just a runny nose, since it wasn't a ton. He has had a runny nose the last few days. And since it wasn't too bad, we didn't get him up or change any of his bedding. So his pillow case is most likely stained. Oh well. I'll wake him up next time. As much as I don't want there to be a next time, I'm sure there will be.

Holidays...

Today was a nice day because the hubs had the day off. However, it always ends up being a day when one of the kids is completely hyperactive, so the hubs takes them out in the cold to burn their energy. But since I'm not all that excited about romping about in the freezing weather, I stay home and spend a big chunk of the morning alone. Not that being alone is bad, it's just not time I can spend with the hubs. We did spend the rest of the day together, and the kiddos are already in bed so we've got a relaxing night together too.

While they were out, I finished washing all of the baby's blankets, spit rags, bedding, etc. It doesn't all have a home yet, but everything is officially washed.

Tomorrow and Thursday are my days to host preschool. We've only got 3 kids though, since the youngest is out of town. I'm expecting it to be really easy. That might be a bad call on my part, but I figure it can't be too bad. Of the 3, Moose will most likely be the most difficult since I'm his mom. Actually, Monkey will be the most difficult. But that's okay. :)

We had one successful trip to the potty today for Monkey. Probably would've had 2, but she had leaked out this morning, so we didn't get her there fast enough I guess. But we're taking a very half-hearted approach to her potty experience. I can't even call it potty training. Although I do think we had a minor victory with her today. When she had her success on the potty, she started talking about doing it. So we checked and something was there. I think she was acknowledging when it happened, which she hadn't done before. So perhaps she's becoming slightly more aware. That would be a step in the right direction.

As crazy as it sounds, even to me, I still consider homeschooling Moose. I googled curriculums for kindergarten today. I can't actually say I'd go through with it right now, but it's always on the back of my mind.

Well, I'm gonna go spend time with the hubs. He's back to work tomorrow. Today was his last holiday until spring break, the last week of March. Which is when the baby's coming. Yay! My mom is due here March 25 (my big bro's birthday!) and that is also the last day of school for him. Then it's party hardy all week long. :) I'm certainly counting down anyway. For his time off, for my mom's arrival, and mostly for our little lady to join the rest of us out here. :)

Grattitude...

Apparently I missed my post last night. Me and the hubs watched "Eclipse" so I guess I was focused elsewhere. Anywho, tonight I'm feeling very much engrossed in trying to teach my kiddo grattitude. (Moose is the one with the problem.) I can't stand the idea of him having an attitude of entitlement. His current issue is, he whines and complains about too many things, not realizing what he already has, what we've already done, what he's already been given. It's in small ways, but dealing with these little fits multiple times every day can really wear on you, you know? Here's what happened tonight.

We talked to him after his nap about using his time differently because he always gets bummed out about not having enough time to play with the hubs or read more books before bed. So we encouraged him to nix movies or computer games from is to-do today and do other things, which he did. But still, when it came to book time we had problems. I read him 2 chapters from a cool book we've been reading called Knights and Castles. (From the Magic Treehouse series. It's a research companion. Way cool.) I have really enjoyed reading these to him, as they're more entertaining than other small children's books. After 2 chapters it was time to be done. He asked for one more book, a small one. I said no. That started it all. He begins whining and fussing. I remind him of our chat this afternoon, to which he responds, "I wish we didn't read 2 chapters." (Which I know isn't true because he always asks for another chapter, as he really enjoys these books.) In the end, I told him to stop whining or the hubs was going to carry him to his bed. He didn't stop whining until I called out, "Papa!" That doesn't fly with me. I'm way past the, "Oh, you did what I wanted. Good enough." No. If he can't shape up until the threat is flying in his face, he's getting a consequence. I let him pick between 2 things: No song, or being carried to bed. (Sometimes I do that when I don't know what consequence to give. It occasionally keeps him from freaking out because he can choose what he feels is the lesser consequence.) He wouldn't choose one, so the hubs carried him to bed. He hates that. He can't stand being man-handled. Anyway, we finally worked it out so he would stop crying and fussing. When he was calmed down, we had another chat about what went wrong. I know it's probably just an age thing. I don't know any 4 year old who is aware and grateful for what they have. I don't want him to have to experience the opposite to appreciate what he has, but I'm not entirely sure of how to teach him that he's extremely blessed so he'll be grateful. One idea we have is to involve him in community service opportunities. Which we are going to explore as a family. But still, it's frustrating. I know it'll pass in time. I tell myself that if we continue to talk to him about it and teach him right, it'll sink in. I sure hope so. He can be insanely needy sometimes. What he has or is given is never enough. A while back we taught him the phrase "Life is not fair." and made him repeat it over and over again. Perhaps we should begin doing that again. His life is pretty charmed and wonderful, but it doesn't seem fair to him since he can't have everything he wants. If that's the approach he wants to take, then so be it. Life's not fair. Deal with it. I always tell him, when he says "But I don't want..." that I don't want to deal with a whiny or crying boy, but I don't get what I want so neither does he.

I'm sure it's a phase. I know it'll pass. Perhaps not until he has children of his own being ungrateful, but eventually.

Potty Training and Hitting...

Today I was pulling out the newborn clothes to get them washed and to start organizing our new baby space. It was pretty fun. The kids got to look at how tiny the clothes are. I think even Monkey understood a little bit. Whenever we talk about the baby she says "Mama, baby." and will point to my tummy. After talking about the clothes being for the baby, she said "Baby, out." I told her no, the baby's not ready to come out yet. But it made me think she might really be understanding a little bit. Part of our organizing was moving around some of her diaper stuff from the changing table. (Which we don't use for diaper changing for her anymore, just storage. Haven't used it since she was much smaller.) Part of the organizing involved old pull-ups from Moose and some that we inherited. She was very fascinated with these, and wanted to wear them. So I told her to sit on the potty and she could wear one. So today we had a bit of potty training. She sat on it before sleeping, after sleeping, and every hour or so inbetween. She only went once, but I count it as a success. Especially since we started mid-morning. But I talked to the hubs about it and he's down with putting her on it first thing in the morning (since he'll be the one with her.) and we'll see how tomorrow goes. I don't think she's exactly ready. She'll turn 2 mid-April. But if this helps her to become more aware, that's a step in the right direction. Having her not be afraid of the potty is a good thing too. Heck, if I can get her to poop in there, I'll be jazzed. It seems like so many kids have issues with #2 and the potty. Moose didn't, but I'd hate to have her be weird about it. So, seems like we're sorta potty training a bit. Or more like, potty familiarizing.

After we put the kids down, perhaps 10 minutes later, Monkey came out crying. I made Moose tell me the truth about why she was crying and he admitted to hitting her in the cheek with one of his dolls he sleeps with. (It's relatively soft, thank goodness. But still.) She was okay, but as we were getting them re-settled, I went to her and was talking with her. She looked at me and said "Moose, hit." showing me a "hit" with her hands, which is how she used to talk about hitting. I don't think I'd ever heard her say the word. She said it to me a few times (of course, using his name. She doesn't call him Moose.) and everytime she said it she looked sad/mad. It was so cute/sad. I will be happy for her to be able to communicate to us, though, when he does something to her so she stops getting in trouble for things he does or coerces her into doing. These new verbal skills are certainly going to pay off for her. (Which, by the way, her word list is literally increasing daily. It's amazing!)

Officially 6 weeks to go. 5 til Mom comes. Last night I slept awful. But by 8 this morning, I figured out a more comfortable way. So perhaps tonight I can sleep better the whole night. This discomfort is certainly making me feel more eager to have the baby, which up until now I've been very non-chalant about when she comes. I guess discomfort is a necessary part of feeling ready for me.

What A Day...

Today was a very typical day with kids. They woke up at 6. Monkey had a super wet and gross diaper, since late yesterday evening she decided she wanted to get back on the band wagon of drinking milk. (She jumped off back when she had a cold and had yet to really want to drink it since.) We made Moose go back to bed since he has a cough, though I'm sure he didn't sleep, but laid there looking at the clock. Due to his cough, Moose stayed home instead of going to preschool group. So they both go to go with me to my doctor's appointment. Another uneventful appointment. (I mean that in a good way.) I did hit my 20 lb. marker for weight gain. Otherwise, everything is on schedule far as we can tell. Then me and the kiddos came home and bummed around til lunchtime. After they ate, I put them down as well as myself. Although I was only able to sleep comfortably for about 30 minutes. Monkey was awake 30 minutes after that, although she successfully entertained herself for a good 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes after that. Moose got up after 1 1/2 hours, and hadn't slept. I made him go back to bed for another 30 minutes, but he didn't get up since he finally fell asleep. He proceeded to sleep for 2 hours, with some help from me to wake up. He even slept through a piano lesson. (Which was nice.) We had a nice dinner, put Monkey to bed early (since she'd been up since 2, after a 1 1/2 hour nap, and waking up at 6 am. The girl was tired.), and then got Moose to bed at 8. I'm really hoping they don't wake up so early tomorrow. But more, I'm hoping my back doesn't hurt tonight. Though I'm going to keep some tylenol bedside just in case. And the hubs volunteered to give more frequent back massages. (I can have them whenever I ask, really. He's so great.) Although this pregnancy has been so amazing and non-problematic, if my back continues to hurt like this (here's hoping it doesn't) I'm going to be a super tired lady for the next 5 weeks til my mom comes. As of tomorrow, I'm 34 weeks. 6 more weeks til the due date. 5 more til mom comes. I have an appointment in 2 weeks, then I'm in there every week. Weird. We might finally have a name. But we've said that twice before, so I'm keeping hush, hush about it. Anywho. Think nice thoughts for me (and my back) tonight.

3 Words...

Lately I have been noticing that Monkey's vocab is not only sky-rocketing, but she's putting more and more words together in chunks. The largest functional sentences she says are 3 words I think. She loves watching her "baby show" aka Baby Einstein. Whenever it's done, or she wants to be done, she'll first say "baby show out" and then after she takes out the DVD, she'll say "baby show away". It's so darn cute. And she's putting 2 word sentences together constantly. She's recently been obsessed about names and possessives. Mama's milk, Papa's shoes, etc. It's one of those phases that is really, really fun. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. She tries saying new words every day. Just a day or two ago we went through and named a bunch of body parts, and the girl did stellar. I particularly love how she says "nose". Anywho, such a fun stage. And for me, the advanced ability to communicate details is wonderful. Anything that helps the little ones better communicate their needs and wants will limit tantrums. I'm all about that! :)

Happy Valentine's Day...

Today ended up being a very nice day. I didn't get forced out of bed til 8:30. Me and the kiddos had delicious heart shaped buttermilk pancakes. (With plenty of leftovers so the hubs can have some tomorrow.) We visited the hubs at work (he was in his office for a prep period.) and took him a cup full of treats and some Valentines. Then we went to a V-day party at the in-laws house where my bro-in-law's family is currently staying. It was the 3 sister in-laws with our kids. They had a total blast. Then the kiddos took a great nap. They woke up, the hubs came home, we had homemade pizza and strawberry milk. The kids are in bed. It's 7:30. I'm going to go spend the night with the hubs. Gotta keep the home fires burning. Hope you all felt loved today, in one way or another. You can include a cyber-hug on your list, coming straight from me. *HUG*

Happy Valentine's Day!

No No...

So Monkey officially understands and uses the word "no". Fortunately for us, and I do consider myself very lucky, she's really cute and sweet about it. It's never been a control word. It's just another new one in her vocab. She's never had a "No!" answer for for every question, and doesn't ever repeat in an angry voice, "No, no, no!" or anything even close to it. She's just slowly picked up on it, and uses it very appropriately. She rarely says it angrily. Most of the time it's pretty darn adorable. I can't tell you how glad I am that this word has not been an issue for her. She's learning new words constantly, and apparently this one is just like the others. Yay for one potentially nasty toddler thing that's not happening in our house. :)

Valentine's Day Prep...

So I don't think I've mentioned that for the last 12 days, I've been doing somthing special to count down til V-day. I bought them both little V-day buckets and every day after they eat a good lunch, I put some V-day candies in their bucket. Every other day, I give them something more like a book, special treat, etc. Tonight we made sugar cookies and the kiddos got to frost and put sprinkles on them. It was tons of fun. Me and Moose made the frosting and the hubs and Monkey mixed up the sugar cookie mix. (Normally I make them homemade, but we got a mix at Christmas.) It was great. I loved that the hubs was able to be around and do it with us too. Tomorrow they'll get their normal V-day candies and on V-day I'm whipping up a special menu for most of the day. Heart shaped pancakes, pink milk, red jell-o, maybe heart shaped pepperoni pizza. :) It should be fun.

I forgot yesterday, but I hit my 33 week mark. 7 more to go. 6 more til my Mom arrives. We're getting super jazzed about her coming. The reality of our little gal coming is starting to hit me. A little bit. I think once we've settled on a name it'll help. We're close. But there's no telling it'll stick. We've not had the best luck with names so far. But I know we'll get one eventually. Anyway, the clock's ticking for me. In a good way. :)

Potty Time and Bedroom Woes...

This morning Monkey went pee on the potty! That's a statement only other parents can truly appreciate, I think. Or other very sweet and sympathetic friends. I imagine most people think it's gross to talk about it, but I've already talked about way worse on here. So, she did. She wanted to sit on it in order to get a blue M&M. (She gets one for sitting and trying, two for pee, three for poop.) Her diaper was super full, but I let her sit on it anyway, to encourage a friendly relationship with the potty. So she sat for a while, I gave her juice to drink. Gotta encourage things to happen, you know. After a while she said she was done, and I figured nothing happened. But after she got up, I saw a bunch of pee. Woohoo! I tried to make a big deal out of it, as it's the first time she's done anything on there. Hopefully she'll realize it didn't hurt, wasn't too weird, etc. I am not planning on potty training. I don't think she's totally ready. But if we can get her doing it occasionally, right on! The closer she is before the baby comes, the better.

So, on to the bedroom woes. This just happened, so I'm still peeved about it. We put the kids down a little early. They've been waking up a touch early, and they had a super active afternoon playing at McD's with a friend. So they were plenty tired. But here I am an hour later, and I'm pretty sure that door's not opening up again. The only reason why is because I just busted Moose for encouraging Monkey to get out of bed. He was literally going to her bed and talking to her about things so she'd open the door. The last time she came out she said she wanted to watch her "baby show" aka Baby Einstein. Where on earth did that come from? Now I know. Moose. She had opened the door probably 4-6 times. Can't remember. Closer to 6. So frustrating. She didn't get in big trouble any of those times, but at one point we were taking away her paci and she was crying about it. To then find out she was doing it because he was whispering in her ear makes me so upset. Anyway, I can't wait until we have a 3 bedroom place and I can separate those two. They're not good for each other. The last two mornings they've gotten up at 6:20. This morning, she turned their light on and woke him up. If it's not her waking up him, it's the other way around. Although sometimes he just comes right out and is quiet about it so she stays asleep. But it's tough. Oh well. Woes of parenting and shared bedrooms. I can only imagine what my parents went through with all 7 of us and 2 bedrooms between us. (3 boys in one room-you know that was trouble- and 4 girls in the other-equally trouble) Well, here's to tonight and the weekend. May it be relaxing as can be and fun as well.

Curiosity and Table Conversations...

The other day while we were driving to preschool, Moose started asking me questions about what he saw on the road. We ended up having a full on DMV lesson. It was kinda funny after. He was asking about the different road signs and what they meant, and why we could go when there were still some red lights. It was pretty interesting explaining to him how there are different lanes, and each one has its own light. He's learned quite a bit about traffic signs/signals already, so it was kinda funny to see him get more in depth.

Lately, the hubs has been very sneaky about being able to talk about work stuff while we eat dinner. I noticed it a while ago, and thought to myself how very clever he is. It's so hard to talk anything serious with Moose at the table because he constantly interrupts and wants to know what words mean. Or he'll ask clarifying questions that would require in-depth answers to really answer properly. Anywho, so this is the hub's new tactic. Whenever he wants to chat about something that happened at work, he directs his conversation at Moose. He'll say to him, "Moose, guess what happened at work today." Then he'll proceed to "dumb down" his version of the story so that Moose can understand the generals, and I'm able to ask the occasional question without constantly being interrupted. It works brilliantly. Sometimes he'll get his fill of being talked to, and we can just continue the conversation like a normal adult would, which is also nice. Everytime he does it now, I laugh. He'll direct his conversation at Moose, but glance at me and I can't help but smile. The hubs is so sneaky. :)

Blah...

Today was not a bad day. A long day, but not a bad one. The hubs has been gone all day again. I haven't handled today nearly as graciously as I did the last one. I've just felt a bit tired all day long. Perhaps a bit uncomfortable. The kiddos are tired. Moose was most certainly ready for bed. He was a tad whiny today, throwing the occasional fit, which never sits well with me. All I've wanted to do today is lay down and read my book. I've managed to do quite a bit of the reading part, but not so much laying down. The house is a total mess. We try pretty hard to keep it relatively clean, no huge messes on the floor. But right now, the living room is covered in DVD cases and toys. There are huge coats infront of the door. The kitchen is scattered with shoes and toys, and Monkey's dinner dishes are still on teh table. Not to mention the rest of dinner paraphinalia (I know I didn't spell that one right) that is all over the kitchen counters. I really don't want the hubs to come home to this, but I really don't want to clean anything. At all. I just feel so tired. I'm going to go read on the couch now. My back hurts. Blah.

The Hubs...

Today was a more normal scheduled day, which meant the kiddos got some time with the hubs this evening. Poor Monkey hadn't seen him since yesterday morning. Moose was up early enough to see him this morning before he left for work. But it was quite the joy for them to be able to play with him this evening. He corraled them to their bedroom to play while I made dinner (probably more for my sanity than for them), and then proceeded to occupy their attentions after dinner as well. I could the giggles, and "ion canons" blasting from the bedroom and knew they were having a blast. (Especially Moose.) It just made me think again how lucky I am to have a partner in my parenting. Not to mention that he's a homebody, work doesn't take him far, or for long, and he has no social needs outside of me. So I can have as much of his attention as I want. I have two sisters whose husband's work takes them away for chunks of time, and they've been living this way for years. They both have two kids the same ages as mine, and I just don't know how they handle it. I was telling the hubs that I could fly solo more often, I would just be way more stressed out and not nearly as nice. (Not that I'm all that nice, but I'm working on it.) So to all of you who single parent, or who do it often enough that you feel like a single parent, I salute you. I don't know how you do it, I never want to do it, may you have all the love and support you need. :)

Flying Solo...

Today the hubs had to work til 9 (meaning he's still not home) so I was flying solo. Granted, he was the one up with the kids for about 30 minutes before I woke up, but I did the rest of the day on my own. I was mentally prepared for it, which helps. Going a whole day alone can be supremely stressful. (Although I know I'm a wuss since the hubs is never gone for extended periods of time. I actually don't remember the last time he was gone for 24 hours.) Anyway, I was proud that the day went really well. We had a pretty relaxing morning, the kids took great naps, and we survived the evening without it getting too "I can't wait til bedtime"-ish. I still hate the hubs being gone for this long, but I'm super proud of having a good day.

With Moose, I remember being done with the day by noon, when the hubs would come home for lunch. Then when he was older, I remember being able to make it til about 3 or 4, when the hubs would come home from his day job (a different one at this point) and get ready for his night job. (And then I'd dread the night, of course.) It was when Moose was between 2 and 3 that the hubs had night classes and I got so that I could do a whole day on my own. Granted, that was just one kid. And even then, I do recall it being really boring. (We rode the bus around campus for a while every Wednesday evening - it was free- since Moose loved buses, and it filled time.)

I can see the baby steps I've made as a parent, the little milestones. I have a friend with only 1 little one. Sometimes she'll ask me how I do it all, or she'll express some type of amazement at what I'm able to get done with 2 kids. All I can say is, when I look back to my time with only 1 kid, I can't believe how hard it was. And it was, genuinely hard. I wasn't super wussy or anything. It's all a matter of adapting, growing, changing as a person. The thought of doing a whole day with 3 kids right now totally seems unlikely to happen without large amounts of stress. But I'm sure I'll get to the point, eventually, when I can. Our youngest might be a bit older, but I'll get there I'm sure.

7 1/2 weeks left. 6 1/2 till my mom comes. (Yes mom, I only put that there to stress you out.)
:)

Family Time...

Today was a nice Sunday. We were worried it would be a bit busy, which it was, but it was still completely manageable. The kiddos were up bright and early (6 am) for a potty trip. But Moose went back to bed, so Monkey went with him. That lasted, surprisingly, for around 15 minutes before she came back out again. Then the hubs got them both to lay in bed for another 20 or so while he laid on Monkey's bed. After church we had late afternoon naps for the kiddos, then after they woke up we headed over to the in-laws for some dinner and birthday celebrating. (My mother in law's birthday was Friday.) It was really great. We hadn't all hung out in a while, and we hadn't seen much of the other families individually either. So it was great to get together. The kids absolutely had a blast. (There are 3 families, all with kids.) Me and my sister in law got to chat up pregnancy and delivering babies for a while, as she's currently 12 weeks pregnant. We had amazing key lime cake. (Seriously, that was amazing cake. I'll probably eat the entire chunk we took home. Thanks!!) It was just fun. Sometimes when you get enough kids in a confined area, it just ends up being stressful no matter what. But it was totally nice. The kids played downstairs, the adults all got to chat, and my brother in law even changed Monkey's diaper for me. I'm still bummed the weekend is over and the hubs has to go back to work tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll survive. (Even though he'll be at work til probably 9 tomorrow night. Bummer!) Anywho, good day. Yay for that. :)

8 to go...

I officially have 8 weeks til my due date. Which means 7 til my Mom gets here. Yay! Today turned out to be a great Saturday. I was worried it would be a bit of a downer since the hubs has gotten our cold, but it's been as mild for him as it was for me, so that's awesome. He woke up feeling better today (yay!) and we had a pretty normal Saturday. We all went out and did some shopping, which can be dangerous, but turned out great. The kids and the hubs took naps while I worked on to-do things. Then shortly after naps were done, we dropped the kids off at a friend's house while we got dinner and started a movie. Awesome Saturday! The hubs is currently picking them up. Then they'll go to bed and we'll finish our movie. Ooh, the other great thing about today was that it was practically 40 degrees the entire day (warm for us right now) and very sunny. The sun was so great! It actually warmed you! It was nice to be able to enjoy it since it's supposed to start getting cold again tomorrow. All in all, it made for a great Saturday. I can only hope that it will feel even more spring like in 8 weeks. I hate the idea of having our baby when it's all wintery out. Monkey was born just a few weeks later than this one is due, and where we were living (2 hours south of where we are now) it was plenty spring-like. We spent most of the day walking til my water broke. Oh well. We'll see. Til then, I'll just enjoy the sun (and the 40 degree weather) whenever I can get it!

Today...

We had a pretty busy day today. The kids got up (too early, but that's another story) and we did breakfast, chores, and I got things ready for a day out of the house. We took Moose to preschool and me and Monkey hit the errand list. Doctor's office, Wal-Mart, Library, Shoe Repair, Haircut, and picked up Moose from preschool. A seriously busy 3 hour round trip.

Doctor's trip was successful. My weight is on track, so is the size of my uterus. All in all, we're in super good shape. Naps were only semi-successful. Monkey had a great one. Almost 2 hours. (They've been shorter lately.) Moose, however, didn't nap. He stayed in my bed for a little over an hour. We know he's tired, but I think he was a bit overtired since he got down later than I wanted to. He also turned the clocks towards him (I always face them away). Whenever he can see a clock, he just stares at it and waits til 3 or something. Then he comes out and asks if he took a good nap. But we're homebound tomorrow, so naps are most certainly on the menu. Especially for him.

Oh, and then during my piano lesson (I teach, I'm not the student) I had the kids playing in their bedroom. When I went back there when it was over, Moose had dumped every toy out of their big toy shelf storage thing and dumped out 3 puzzles. It was ridiculous. So we spent the next 30 or so minutes cleaning that up. But the kids were in bed at 7:00. So me and the hubs are going to relax, possibly eat some popcorn or something, then dose up with Benadryl (we both have colds) and go to bed! :)

The Way Things Were...

The past 2 days have been sick days around here, but that ends tomorrow. Moose's preschool host is off the sick list, so we're heading on over. Moose isn't sick either. He had some congestion Monday, but it's gone. Me and Monkey are still battling some congestion, but it's not really bad for either of us. It's going to be really good to get back to things. The last two mornings, the kids have let me sleep in (which has been great, don't get me wrong) but to do so, Moose has watched a bit more movies than normal. And neither of them are getting the same amount of physical activity they usually do. So naps have suffered quite a bit. I'm thinking it's just because they're just not as tired. But by the end of the day, they are definitely mentally exhausted. I just think they don't feel it as much physically so they fight sleeping more. But tomorrow, we're back to it. Not to mention that I've got a doctor's appointment and I'm getting my hair cut. (It's only been 12 weeks. Last time it was 1 1/2 years between cuts. Look at me!) I know it's going to be tiring to get everything done tomorrow and not go nuts, but it's going to be a more satisfying naptime. I can feel it! I'm also hoping to drop by the library and pick up a book they have on hold for Moose. It's from the Magic Treehouse series. I was looking for chapter books to read to him that he would enjoy, and that me and the hubs would enjoy reading too. I'm hoping he gets into it. We tried a Boxcar Children book last summer, but he was a bit younger then, and it was harder for him to follow. (Lack of pictures didn't help either.) We did read it, but he didn't love it. I'm hoping these ones are more his taste. And hopefully his being even a little bit older should help too.

So despite my being able to sleep in til, dare I say it, 10, I'm glad to get back to the way things were. (And that's not straight sleep, but just how late I could stay in bed before I was forced out. Generally by Monkey. Moose would watch movies all day and leave me be.) As long as I get a good night's sleep tonight, I'll be in good shape.

Little Helper...

Monkey has become quite the little helper lately. Her mimicking of my daily activities has only increased over the last short while. She will now help me make my bed, clean out her ears, attempt to spray things in her hair, she's tried to apply mascara a few times, wiping up messes, pours the soap in the washer, puts the clothes in the washer, and enjoys dumping/pouring out anything that I'm measuring for cooking purposes. She had the hardest time letting me crack the eggs with her for our scrambled eggs tonight. She wanted to do it on her own once I showed her how to crack an egg. (With me, of course. Not on her own.) We wear our aprons together and she just has a blast. It might have taken me longer to make our pancakes, eggs and syrup, but I think it was most definitely worth it. I will enjoy my little helper for as long as she wants to help. :)