Unattended toddler

This is what happens when you leave a toddler in the backseat with a sheet of stickers on the way to the mall.

What?! You gave them to me!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Reasons I Know I'm Really Pregnant

1. I'm folding clothes on my belly.

2. T is giving his baby brother hugs.

3. My arms fall asleep at least 3 or 4 times per night.

4. Tums are my new best friend.

5. I get up to pee about every 3 hours at night.

6. I have 3 pairs of pants and about about a half dozen shirts that still fit me.

7. Every time I leave someone a voicemail I get a call back immediately, wondering if I'm in labor.

8. I'm exhausted by 6 pm.

9. It feels like an alien is trying to escape my body via my right upper quadrant.

10. I waddle.

SG-U

I know that most of the readers of this blog are my family. Since I know you all, I also know that you probably don't watch Stargate. That being said, I'm still gonna rant a little about the latest Stargate series: Stargate-Universe.

Ry luuuuuves the Stargate series. The first two, Stargate and Stargate-Atlantis, were good, campy fun. The writers didn't take themselves too seriously. I was able to dismiss a lot of the utter ridiculousness in the shows because they didn't try to be more than they were: campy, escapist, Sci-Fi (SyFy?) fun.

I couldn't stand Battlestar Gallactica. I started calling it "All Screaming, All the Time" and absented myself whenever Ry watched it. It was so very IMPORTANT and SERIOUS, and I just couldn't take it. The newest Stargate has taken a page from the BG playbook and is trying to be very serious and important. As such, I'm having a tough time with it. The last episode, for example, featured several of the main characters venturing onto a desert planet. They knew it was a desert planet, but still decided that one little bottle of water was all they really needed to take. Sunscreen also didn't seem to be a high priority. Of course, lack of water became a driving plot point. I spent most of the episode rolling my eyes. It's all so ANGSTY! Angst and DRAMA! I'm hoping that the series gets back to its roots or I'll be forced to abdicate more TiVO time to dear hubby.

Do you hear me SG-U? Shape up!

Hats off to you

Hats off to you, pregnant cashiers, shop keepers, waitresses, and anyone else who stands all day. I spent two hours manning our preschool's booth at a local festival today, and came home retaining water, burnt, and exhausted. On the upside, I had a great time. We had an "Ants in Your Pants" game, where kids tried to launch ants into a big pair of trousers with a foot-powered catapult. I also got two toddler free hours in which to chat with some of the other moms from T's preschool. The boys came to get me after my shift and we ate all kinds of unhealthy food and found T a Christmas present. All in all, it was a successful day.

p.s. A big thanks to my mom and step dad for our cool new video camera Christmas present. We've already recorded 5 mini movies. You guys rock!

And now, the NET

I found out yesterday that all my application materials have been received by the nursing program. Hooray! Now I just have to go take the NET (Nursing Entrance Test). I'm scheduled for the 20th. Pray for me that I'll still be pregnant at that point and able to get this test out of the way before I have an infant. If I can get it completed, I should know whether I was accepted before the end of the year.

In other news, T's poo phobia is getting better. Apparently the shower has magical properties, because every time I get in the shower, T climbs on the toilet and poops. I think he wants his privacy, but still wants me in the room. Whatever. I'll happily shower whenever he needs to poo as long as it continues to be a quick and tear-less process.

Some good news

I was recently friended by one of the women I took Microbiology with this summer. She's a really sweet girl with two kids of her own. I think if we had ended up in the same nursing program we would've ended up good friends. Anyway, I digress.

She started the nursing program I applied to in September. She tells me that the program is 3 days a week, 9 am - 3 pm. It'll be 7 am - 3 pm when they start clinicals in a month. Either way, 3 days a week is really good news for us. That means that instead of having both kids in full time daycare, we should be able to get away with 3 days a week. It's about a $800/month difference for us. It certainly doesn't solve all our problems, but at least makes them seem surmountable. I am really kicking myself for not figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up, oh, 10 or so years ago. Even 6 would have been great. I could've gotten nursing school out of the way before Ry and I decided to get all old and start a family and stuff.

You might be wondering what the picture has to do with this post. Absolutely nothing, it's just gratuitous cuteness.

The Saga of the Bassinet

This summer we picked up a bassinet at a yard sale for $10 or $15. We didn't buy one for T, and it was the one major baby purchase we didn't make that I regretted. I was really excited to find one second-hand, because bassinets are expensive. This one even had the co-sleeper side I wanted.

Fast forward to last weekend, when I took all the sheets, ruffles, and various bassinet detritus off the darn thing to get washed for T Version-2. Ry, being, well, being Ry, went online to look for the instruction manual. In his search, he found that this particular bassinet had been recalled. Doh.

I was sad. (You know, completely rationally, because I'm not hormonal or anything right now.) I didn't really want to fork out the $100+ for a new bassinet, and the company who sold this one has since gone belly-up. We noticed that several retailers were taking them back, so we gave one a call. They told us to bring it in ... and gave us store credit for $107!

We took that credit and promptly gave it right back to the store for the bassinet I really wanted. We're now the proud owners of an Arm's Reach Mini Co-Sleeper Bassinet. Wooh! All in all, we're out about $50 for a brandy-new bassinet for our littlest man to sleep in. Considering that nothing else he'll use is new, it's nice to have one new thing for him. It turns out that having a recalled bassinet wasn't all bad.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Things I Can't Believe Have Come Out of My Mouth

1. We don't hit people with penguins.

2. No, daddy doesn't have a baby in his tummy.

3. No, mommy doesn't have a penis.

4. Come on sweetheart, let the poopy out.

5. Ok, it's time to put your penis away.

6. No, that's not the baby's mouth; it's mommy's belly button.

7. You're a puma? Ok little puma, let's go upstairs.

8. Yes, mommy has a bottom too.

9. We don't tell people to stop whining, that is up to their mommies.

10. It's not polite to ask people if they have to pee pee.

From the mouths of babes

T: "Mommy, I'm upset."

Me: "Why are you upset?"

T: "I'm upset with my tummy."

And of course, courtesy of our old friend J this weekend, "Kick 'em in the balls!"

I love fall

I love when the weather starts to turn crisp and the fall harvest festivals start. Our little area of the east has some kind of apple/fall/harvest/pumpkin festival every weekend between now and mid-November. We kicked off the season with a trip to a local orchard with T's new preschool. T insisted on pulling the wagon by himself. Frankly, I was OK with that. Bonus: check out the wagon's name!

Here's T hunting for apple-y treasure. If it were up to him, we would have had buckets and buckets of apples. Somehow I got out of there with only about half a dozen.

Here he is with the fruits of his labor. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful orchard and we made some beautiful apple crisp with our foraging. We are having some friends down this weekend and plan on visiting another orchard. I'm treasuring these last days with our little family of 3. Life is about to get a lot more complicated.

Things that are keeping me up at night

I thought I'd take a page from my sister and make a Top Ten Tuesday list today. Except there won't be ten items. And they aren't in any particular order.

1. My baby, who seems to find it particularly appropriate to sleep all day and then begin kickboxing around 10 pm.

2. Worrying about how we're going to pay for two kids in daycare when I start nursing school next year.

3. My bladder -- see number 1.

4. Wondering if T's fear of pooping in the toilet is going to get better -- ever.

5. Hoping I actually get into nursing school in a year.

6. Worrying about what we're going to do if I go into labor in the middle of the night and we can't reach our friends who have offered to watch T.

7. Wondering if I'm going to have another 36 week baby. Hoping I'm not.

8. Freaking out that I'm just over 2 weeks from 36 weeks.

9. Being hot. Even though we're still sleeping with the window air unit set at 67 F.

More redecorating fun

We finally got the lovely Neena-made curtains hung in T's big boy room. We also went through all his toys, and reorganized to make room for his clothes. We got a couple of under the bed storage bins and hamper as well.
How cute is he? I heart the frog hamper. It matches the frogs in the quilt as well.

"It makes the whole room look like a fun house"

This lamp is one my holdovers from college life. I don't remember buying it, but I know that's made at least 4 moves with me. It was a cheap lamp, so I wasn't heartbroken when T started banging the end table into it repeatedly when he was learning to walk. We finally decided to replace it today, with an $8.50 special from Target (since we'll likely have another toddler banging into it in a year or two). As we were removing it from its home, Ry said, "There's just nothing that makes this right. It makes the whole room look like a fun house. I don't know what struck me, but I laughed for 20 minutes.
Here's the old lamp next to his new, strikingly similar cousin.
As I was putting the lamp together, I actually glanced at the instruction pamphlet. Keep in mind that this lamp cost us $8.50. Following is the actual copy on the first page of the booklet: "CONGRATULATIONS! You've purchased a fine lighting item from Target. We have designed our lighting with you, the Target guest in mind. Our clear, easy to follow, step-by-step instructions will guide you through the project from start to finish. Feel confident that this will be a fun and rewarding project. The final product will be a quality piece of lighting that will go together smoothly and give years of enjoyment." I'll tell you, I felt rewarded when I finished screwing my lamp together. Best $8.50 I've spent in a while.

Space bags to the rescue!

We actually purchased the infomercial Space Bags several weeks ago. Between visitors and traveling, we hadn't had a chance to try them out until today. As it turns out, I'm pretty impressed. This is a bag of blankets and comforters. As you can see, it's about as tall as T.
And now it's much more wee. I would say it compressed by about 50%. We also compressed two boxes of T's clothes into one. Of course, it remains to be seen if the bags stay vacu-packed or if they re-expand. For the time being, I'm a fan.

Awkward

Yesterday T had day 3 of his new preschool. He did really well and digs Mrs. B, his teacher. He kept talking about going to Mrs. B's house all day.

I met one of the other moms for the first time yesterday. I was helping to tidy up, so wasn't looking at her as she asked "Mumble mumble mumble, do?" "I'm sorry," I said, "What did you ask?" Her eyes got the size of saucers as she cleared her throat and asked, "Um, how many children do you have?" It was at this moment that I realized she must have asked me when I was due and when I asked her to repeat the question assumed that I wasn't actually pregnant. Ooops. "Oh," I said, "Just T, and this one is due November 12." "I thought you were pregnant!" she said. Yeah, at this point there's no denying it. I felt bad for not hearing her though. I've had those moments when you feel like your heart just dropped into your stomach.

Bonus anecdote: T was playing outside yesterday when he slipped off the patio and scraped his leg. Ry told me he scraped the crap out of it. Then T came over to tell me to look at his leg, which was scraped the crap.

Making the move

Now that T is mostly potty trained, we're facing the next big adjustment: the big boy bed. We purchased his bed and decorated the new room months ago. Anyone who has met my child can probably understand my assumption that he would start climbing out of his crib pretty early, thereby necessitating a move to the big boy bed. At two and a half, he is still happily crib sleeping. We're T-minus 7 weeks (or less) to having a new baby that will be needing said crib fairly soon after he's born.

We could, of course, just move him. Having him in the crib is so very very convenient. He'll happily play with his menagerie of animals for 30+ minutes in the morning, giving me a few extra minutes to doze. Somehow, I don't think that will happen once he's not confined. I also don't want to move him right before the baby moves in and make him feel like he's being displaced. I know he's old enough. Most of his same-age playmates have been in toddler or twin beds for months now. How long does it take a toddler to get used to a new bed? I'm all about making this move at the last ... possible ... moment. I just don't know when that will be.

Vacation in short

I've been avoiding blogging because I know I owe you all a vacation blog post. There are approximately 300 pictures to go through from our trip and trying to find just the right ones to illustrate our great time is difficult, but here goes:

We'll pick things up the day after Busch Gardens, since you all know what a great (educational) experience we had there. We had beautiful weather, so got to spend a fair amount of time at the on-ground pool. T had a great time being tossed around by Ry and my Dad.

We went to Colonial Williamsburg, which was mostly a disappointment for me. I think I expected more people in costume doing things. Instead, it seemed like any quiet little eastern town. There were a few highlights though. We stopped into a really old church and found this memorial. The Tucker brothers came over from England a long time ago (you'd have to ask my Dad or sister for actual dates). One brother went north and one went south. We are descended from the northern line. This memorial is for someone from the southern line, and so are my great .... relatives. Pretty cool, actually. It was amusing to me that the side reads "Mrs. Tucker." I guess when you got married you stopped having a first name ... or identity. Bah.

Here's one of the few costumed people we ran into. He is a silver smith and was drawing silver to make bracelets and rings. Dad and Ry got to use his drawing contraption. T was fascinated by the whole process. It was really the only thing at CW he was remotely interested in.

This is Shirley Plantation. It was built in the early 1700s and the 11th generation of the family still lives there. While it was really interesting, I think I need to save these kinds of stops for when I'm sans-child or they're much older. You live and learn, I guess.

We also visited the Virginia Beach Aquarium. It is by far the best kids aquarium we've been to. Everything is at kid-height and there are lots of touching exhibits. They were undergoing some renovations, but we still had a good time.

Just T inside an aquarium. Cause he's cute.

We also celebrated T's 2 and a half birthday, complete with half a cake. He gets so excited about singing the birthday song.

Cause they're cute.

Day two at Busch Gardens. We still had a great time, but T was a bit more reserved. It was our last day in VA, and I think we were all a bit tired from all the activity. We're watching a live Elmo and Friends show.

Ry and my Dad got to ride some of the big-boy rides this day as well. I know you can't see them, but they were dangling over a vertical drop that seemed impossibly high. They went 3 times. I was jealous.

And Dad and T on the climbing treehouse.

We had a really fun trip. I'm so glad we were able to spend the week with my Dad and Laurel. This marks our last long-distance trip before Baby Version T.2 comes in November.

The Poopy Story

We had a great week in Virginia. T was his YaYa's boy all week. Any time he needed to hold a hand, he wanted YaYa's. Any time he went on a a ride, he wanted to sit next to YaYa. I have a point, stay with me.

We also spent the week working on pooping on the potty (well, Ry and I have mastered it, T is still a work in progress). While he hasn't had an accident this week, pooping was a 30-plus minute ordeal every morning. T would cry like we were beating him because he didn't want to poo. Finally he'd get too bored/sad to sit on the toilet anymore and poop.

Thursday after the morning poo we were in the car when YaYa told the following story (illustrated with his magnadoodle): Here's T. He's sad because he has to poopy. Here's his sad face. But then, he makes a happy face and poos. Here's his happy face. T is happy because he pooped in the potty!

Friday morning, Ry told T the Poopy Story, and less than 10 minutes later, he pooped on the toilet. He made his sad face, complete with a few dramatic "Boo Hoo"s. Then he made a happy face and went about his business. This morning, the whole process took less than 5 minutes. And tonight, he went on his own, with no prompting, just before bed. Success!!! We had a one-accident week, and now, T is unafraid to poo on the toilet. Now we just have to work on underwear overnight, and we'll have a completely potty trained toddler. Hooray!!!

We are eternally grateful to YaYa.

It's happened

For two and a half years, we have managed to keep T from learning any dirty words. Today, that all changed. And here's how it happened:

My Dad and YaYa took T on the Katapult ride at Busch Gardens this afternoon. In this shot, you can hear my Dad say "Holy Crap!"

And now T says "Holy Crap!"

Dad and YaYa "Hahahahahahahaha."

T "Holy Crap!"

Dad, "Sorry Jube!" YaYa, "Hahahahahah."

T, giggling, "Holy Crap!"

Dad and Yaya, "Hahahahaha."

And folks, this is how my son learned his first (semi) bad word. At least it wasn't my fault.

A trip to VA in numbers

9:30 - Target departure time

10:00 - Actual departure time

1 - Number of flights canceled for our loved ones

5 - Number of hours the trip would take if we didn't stop

7.5 - Number of hours it took us

0 - Number of accidents for the day

1 - Number of screaming fits in a public restroom

1 - Number of poops on the potty!

8:00 - T's bedtime

8:45 - Time he got to bed tonight

All in all, a successful day.

Cringing and laughing

Sometimes at the same time. My OB said what?

This too shall pass

I've decided that my mantra for a while is going to be "this too shall pass." T continues to have issues with pooing on the toilet. He is also occasionally having pee accidents. I have to keep reminding myself that we're less than 2 weeks into this adventure and he's doing really well. It's frustrating to me because he knows what he's supposed to do, just doesn't always do it. This morning when I went to get T out of bed he told me he wasn't ready to get up yet. I told him to let me know when he was ready and went back downstairs to putter. Ten minutes later he yelled down that he was ready to get up. As soon as I walked into the room he informed me that he pooed in his underwear. Why?!

This too shall pass.

This too shall pass.

This too shall pass.

Update: He just pooped in his bed during naptime. I even ran upstairs as soon as I heard make a noise. Just flat out refusing to poo in the toilet.

Small accomplishments

I spent last and this week applying to my first choice nursing program. It's more complicated now that I have to get transcripts from high school and 3 colleges. I have also been tracking down references. It's been nice to catch up with people, but I always hate to feel like I'm imposing. The good news is that I'm down to one reference and payment of the application fee. Ahhhh.

I've also finished the material for the first exam of my telecourse. The course is a joke. It's essentially a health class. I've covered all the material in much more detail in other classes. I'm not really sure why it's a requirement. On the bright side, it's an easy course to finish before I have the baby.

It's a new day (warning ... TMI)

Yesterday was by far the most frustrating I've had so far with potty training. T is basically completely potty trained for pee-pee, but somewhat afraid of BM on the toilet. I'm not sure why, but this is apparently a common problem (especially for boys). Most of what I'm reading suggests rewards (which we're trying) and patience. Many folks say that it takes months more to get BM in the toilet. I also noticed that he's less likely to poo if he's not wearing underwear, so we've been letting him run around bare-bummed when he's home. Two days ago I thought we jumped a big hurdle with a big BM. Sadly, yesterday we spent most of the day on the potty, as he would need to go (and even start to go) but then, eh, clam up once we sat on the potty. It's been over 48 hours now since he's pooed. If you've spent any time at all with my son, you know how ununsual that is. We have his first day of new preschool today. I guess I just have to get used to cleaning poop out of underwear for a while. Sigh.

The evolution of a project

We were looking for a fun weekend project for T and remembered that we picked up a few Home Depot kiddo projects at a fair about a year ago. Ry and T put together a memory box yesterday afternoon. T thought it was great fun using daddy's tools.
So today, I thought it would be fun for him to paint said memory box. It started off so well ...
I don't know why I thought paint would end with anything other than a bath.
So I called Ry upstairs to help me sop up the worst of the mess. When he came up, he said "Oy, vey!" The rest, as they say, is history.

Special Delivery!

This is the box my brandy-new food processor was delivered in. I am now the proud owner of an 11-cup Cuisinart food processor, courtesy of my mom and stepdad. Thanks guys! I'm a bit ashamed of how excited I was to receive this gift (guess I've really become a housewife now). I made a triple batch of pesto from our garden last night and am planning on a loaf of wheat bread today or Monday. The thing also slices and grinds every kind of vegetable, cheese, and nut. It's going to make my life so much easier when I start making baby food again.

Oh, and T had a blast playing in the packing peanuts. They pack down remarkably well when you have a 35-pound toddler mucking about in the box.

It's 2:30pm

And so far today:

• T has taken a shower
• And a bath ... because of an unfortunate poo incident
• He stubbed his toe, requiring a band aid
• Smashed his fingers in the refrigerator door
• And tripped over his shoes, tossing him headlong into the kitchen cabinets

It's been a tough day for the little man.

Deep Thoughts

Why do sock sizes 6 - 7.5 fit shoe sizes 7 - 10? Shouldn't the sock sizes correlate with the shoe sizes? This baffles me.

"My pee-pee is gone!"

After a long afternoon at a friend's baptism, Ry made the mistake of flushing the toilet for T. He was very distressed.

Our first outing after PT went really well. He was a bit of a wild man after being at home for 3 days, but we had no accidents. We stopped at the outlet mall on the way home to get T's fall shoes. At an 8.5 W, he is officially out of baby shoes at Striderite. *Sniffle* We were all pretty wiped out by the time we got home. I hoped he would sleep in this morning, since he only had a 20 minute nap yesterday. Alas, no luck. He was awake at 6:30, complaining that he was "stuck" in his bed. It looked to me like he was just under the covers, but what do I know?

Time flies when you're peeing on the potty

I'm shocked by our potty training progress over the past 3 days (knocking on wood). Yesterday morning was a bit frustrating with probably 6 accidents. It seemed like yesterday evening it finally started clicking, and so far today we haven't had any pee accidents. We're still working on BMs in the potty, but he's at least telling us when he has started going. The last one finished in the potty, even if it didn't start there. All of this has led me to the conclusion that there really is something to waiting until kids are "ready" to use the potty. I sort of thought it was crap sold by the diaper companies.

In some ways, it is. According to this article, in the 1950s 95% of kids were potty trained by 18 months. Today, the average age is 37 months (just over 3). The author posits that the primary reason it's so late today is that diaper companies started to convince parents to wait until kids were "ready" to potty train. My experience was very frustrating when we first started trying to train T at around 18 months. This experience has been frustrating, but progress has been measurable and steady. I'm sure T would have been potty trained before now if I stuck with it when he was younger, but I also might not have any hair left.

It's certainly a lot more convenient to keep kids in diapers. For us, it finally boiled down to not wanting two in diapers. Diapers are crazy expensive and I didn't want to deal with potty training with a newborn (and all the other issues that is sure to create). I'm hopeful that within a week or two we'll be mostly accident-free. Plus, I've gotten to watch T's adorable little bum in his big boy underwear for 3 days. Seriously, seriously adorable.

See?

See, everybody loves bacon!

Foodies love bacon.

Day 1: Not so bad

Yesterday afternoon was not as tragic as I feared. T only had 2 accidents out of probably a dozen good potty trips. He only asked to put a diaper on once. He gets a really funny, wide-eyed look on his face when he's about to pee, so it's been fairly easy to get to the potty before let down. After his afternoon drink and snack we were on the toilet about every 10 minutes. I have to assume at some point he'll learn to hold it so he doesn't go so often? So far, no BM in the toilet, but we'll work on that one today. I'm just grateful that it's warm enought to let him run around in underwear and a T-shirt.

Strangely, the hand-washing seems to be the sticking point. He's a huge fan of the peeing and the flushing, but not so much washing his hands when he's done. I sort of get it. When you've peed 8 times in one hour, that's a lot of time spent washing hands that could be spent playing.

He also has the cutest little bum. Yesterday he turned around and looked at me and I couldn't remember what he looked like as a baby. Sad.

From Indexed

http://thisisindexed.com/2009/08/much-crying-all-around/

Let the games begin

After months of kicking the potty training can down the road, we're finally starting today. Tucker has been using the toilet sporadically for the past few months and is crazy psyched about wearing big boy underwear (we have a lovely selection of Elmo, Diego and plain white). I even got some of those cloth-inside, plastic-outside oldschool training pants for naps (and overnights?). Today after he gets home from school, we're rolling up the living room rug and going straight to the underwear. Pray for patience over the next couple of days. It should provide some interesting blog fodder, at a minimum.

Pregnant on campus: A case study

Today I went to campus to buy the DVDs for my telecourse this semester. The looks I got from the folks around campus were an interesting mix of pity and horrified fascination. You'd think they had never seen a pregnant woman on campus. It was certainly a different reaction than I'm used to getting. It should be interesting to waddle in there in November to take my exams.

The best $8 I spent this summer

We had a morning playdate at Bounce U today. This place is kiddo heaven. For $8, your child gets to play in two huge rooms of bounce equipment for 90 minutes. Then, they give them a snack! T was in his happy place. He also fell in love with one of the employees. He dragged her through all of the bounce mazes and made her play basketball with him. The look in his eyes as he grabbed her hand and took her to the next activity was pure infatuation. Towards the end of the session, his little arms and legs were shaking while he climbed the ladder. Hopefully this will translate into a great nap. At snack time, I sidled up to his paramour and asked if she babysat. She does. Score for me! I have a feeling we'll be at Bounce U every week once the weather starts turning cool.

Precious Moments

I am often struck these days by what a little man T is becoming. All of a sudden he's this tall, sturdy boy with his own opinions. He talks almost non stop and has a way of making observations ("Mommy, your head is too big." "Baby's not ready yet. He needs a jacket.") that crack me up.

Tonight he was an especially sweet little person. He mostly wanted to read books and snuggle on the couch. When I laid him in his crib, I looked over and saw that he had gathered his menagerie of bedtime animals around his head. I couldn't see him at all, only a slightly moving iguana tail. When I went to tell him goodnight for the last time, I saw that he was intensely studying a mouse. First he checked out the ears, then the whiskers and nose. "Good night baby," I said. "Good night mommy." "I love you," I crooned. "I love you," he whispered sleepily. Then, as I went to shut the door he yelled "Sweet dreams mommy!" Sweet dreams my little man. These moments are fleeting and precious and I don't take the time to appreciate them often enough.

New adventures in preschool

We've decided to pull T out of the preschool he attended for the past year. There were a lot of reasons, but the straw that broke the camel's back was a 20% tuition increase slated to start on Sept 1. We got notification of the increase Thursday. Add that to T's rotating teachers (he's had 3 sets in 9 months) and general poor administration, and we decided it was time to find another solution. I went in to give our 30 day notice and felt like my decision was confirmed. The new director (another recent change), didn't know that I had to give a 30 day notice to get my deposit back. She didn't know how I was going to get the deposit back or whether my last month of school would be applied against it. As the director, I had assumed these were issues she would be familiar with. My bad.

Since I'm not in school for the next year, we started looking for a more traditional "preschool". We found a cooperative preschool sponsored by a church nearby and went to visit yesterday. It's definitely a different thing. The school is only offered for the 2-year-olds on Tuesday and Thursday from 9 - 11, so it won't be a daycare solution for when I go back to work. It is, however, still a break for me a couple times a week and continuing socialization for T. It's also less than a third of the price we were paying for two half days at his old school. The other thing I like about it is that since it's a co-op, I will be the "helping parent" about once a month. We also have to serve on a committee. It should be a good way to meet more people in the area and get to know the other parents and kids in the school (something I never did at the other school). Overall, I'm pleased with the way things have turned out.

The week of mom

My mom spent this week with us. It was really nice to have her here, especially since Ry has been with his dad all week. We took her to Sesame Place on Tuesday afternoon. T had a great time, and discovered some new attractions.

T loves his Neena. This works out well for both of us, since it means that he's all about having her put him to bed at night. She has him in hysterics at least once a day. I'm really glad to have the company this week. Ry should be home Sunday for the week, but then gone for the week again.

Life is crazy

We've had quite a crazy few months. Ry's job has been extremely intense. I am pregnant, and until the end of June, was finishing prerequisite courses for a nursing degree. My father was diagnosed with metastatic renal cell cancer in May. My mom just found out she has osteoporosis. On Monday, we found out that my father-in-law was going to have an open heart bypass surgery on Wednesday. We're trying to stay focused on the positive, and keep ploughing through. If the blog has been untended for large stretches of time, it's because we were coming to grips with another unwanted surprise. I try to keep the blog light and focused on the joys in our lives. I'll continue to do that. In keeping with that vein, my dad's treatment is going well and my father-in-law came through the surgery well. He's going to have a long recovery, but all signs are good. Here's to hoping life is calmer for a while.

Around 27 weeks

The latest belly picture. I'm about 27 weeks and getting ready to go to a friend's wedding. More about that later, because I stayed up way past my bedtime last night.

This won't hurt a bit

T has been abnormally, shall we say, curious, lately. We were cleaning the downstairs bedroom to find that T had gotten into my latex gloves and was proudly wearing them. He also got a kick out of trying on women's shoes at DSW the other day. Today he was particularly contrary and decided to get into anything and everything he wasn't supposed to.

Lucky for us, we're leaving him with Neena tomorrow for 24 hours to go act like real adults. Some friends of ours are getting married, as as the wedding is nearly 2 hours away, we're spending the night. If I wasn't pregnant, I might even have a glass of wine or four. Regardless, it'll be nice to have an evening of adult conversation unpunctuated by pleas to take one more bite or quit drawing on the table with the butter knife. We'll also get to sleep in (which I guarantee will mean something very different to those of you without small children). Ahh, the joy of grandparents.

Space bags to the rescue?

Yesterday I went through my and Ry's wardrobe to attempt to make some space in our already overcrowded dressers. Our basement is rapidly starting to look like a consignment shop. I have boxes and boxes of baby clothes, boxes of off-season adult clothes and now, boxes of off-season maternity clothes. Where do people put all this stuff? I don't want to get rid of any of it, because, you know, there's another baby coming and I have no idea what might or might not fit him. I'm afraid that since he's going be born in the opposite season as T, none of the clothes are going to be the right sizes and I'll have twice as many boxes of baby clothes. We're considering purchasing the infomercial Space Bags to see if we can condense and free at least part of our basement from the onslaught of clothing. Do you know anyone who has actually used these things? In general, I'm skeptical of infomercially products, but I'm drowning!

And you're not even anemic!

Today I had my 27 week midwife appointment. As per normal, everything is going well. My glucose test came back A-OK, and as my midwife said "And you're not even anemic!" Apparently, most pregnant women start getting anemic around this point in their pregnancies (bacon, bacon, bacon). She cheered the 6 pounds I gained over the past month (thank you Dos Reales and Monicals), and listened to the little man's heartbeat. I am now entering the every-2-week-appointment phase, since I'm into the last trimester! Life is good here on the ranch.

T and I spent the day with our friends yesterday. We hit the beach for the first time (!) this season and hung in their pool in the afternoon. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera to the beach, but got some pretty funny pictures of the 3 boys later in the day. Will try to get them posted soon. I also got a taste of life with two boys. My friend has an 18 month old and a 2 month. While I'm glad mine won't be so close together, life with two is really not as crazy as I feared. Plus, I got to hold the baby a lot. Ry and my friend's husband had dinner with us, and we got T home only 30 minutes past bedtime. It was a great day, and no one is burned.

St Francis de la Sissies

I know a lot of you have seen this already, but it was too cute not to share. I also know my posts have been pretty boring lately. Frankly, life has been pretty quiet lately too. I'm enjoying the last few week of summer before my online course starts at the end of the month. My mom is coming to visit at the end of the week. We also have a wedding, a visit to Colonial Williamsburg and potty training to do before the baby comes. I'm sure potty training will provide lots of blog fodder (and T's adolescent embarrassment). Posts will probably continue to be light on content for a while, but I'll try to keep pictures of the boy flowing (Tantie).

The first minute or two is a bit tedius, but stick with it. Please to enjoy.

Invitro meat, seriously?

Is anyone else as horrified by this as I am?

And we're back

We had a lovely trip back home. It's strange because several years ago when we went back, it was a mad dash around to see everyone before our time was out. This trip was considerably more relaxed. I think it's because our friends have mostly moved away from the area. We also have this little boy that makes a nightlife considerably more difficult. We spent a lot of time at this park, where they had a water play area. T thought it was the best thing in the world.
We also visited a local apple orchard/Oz. They have the world's best apple donuts. I truly believe they've filled them with crack.
My Dad spent a good portion of the week recovering from his latest treatments, and so his birthday ended up something of a week-long celebration. We generally ate ourselves stupid the whole week though, so we can't really blame the birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!
T invented a new game. Instead of throwing the basketball through the hoop, he wanted to hold onto the net and toss the ball as far as he could. It appeared to be a lot of fun, and he had a far greater success rate that with the traditional game.
Alas, we still had to return home. Our trip went well again. T took a good car nap, which is rare these days. Overall, the 14 hours in the car weren't nearly as bad as I feared they would be.

I'm slowly getting the house back in order. We have a two-week break before my mom comes to visit.

Doofy Indeed

Sara Haskin's latest. I have often commented about what morons husbands are in modern advertising. The ad world seems to offer equal opportunity sexism. When I was home last week I saw a billboard advertising a car wash with the tagline "Get out that old girlfriend smell."

On Home Birth

Another interesting article about home birth and midwifery in our country. Please to enjoy.