A puppy goes trick or treating

I'm not sure that T really understood what Halloween was about until today. When we told him he got to dress up like a puppy and get candy he got all kind of excited. Here we are putting the finishing touch on the costume. You can't be a puppy without a puppy nose, after all.

And we're off!

Everyone was really good about not trying to scare him, but some of the houses just had scary stuff up. Our neighbors had a ghost that was motion activated. It completely freaked T out. But how cute is his little face?

Every time he took a step, his little puppy tail wagged. I almost couldn't handle the cuteness.

And here he is with his stash. It wasn't a bad haul for about a dozen houses. People were giving out a surprising variety of stuff. T got candy, chips, stickers, and a bloody fingernail. I picked up a 20-pack of playdough to give out for anybody who didn't want candy. It was the hottest item of the night! I figured we'd end up adding most of it to T's playdough stash. We got cleaned out. Who knew? Playdough for Halloween!

Take a wild guess

What is my precocious little boy doing in these photos? I'll post the video later.

Thankful Thursday

Lest anyone think I don't know how truly blessed I am, I thought I'd offer a list of what makes me thankful.

Today, I'm thankful that:

1. I made it to 38 weeks with this pregnancy. While nothing was wrong with T, having an early baby makes everything tougher. It'll be nice to have a baby with a little more meat on his bones.

2. I have a smart, funny, beautiful and stubborn little boy. Everyday he does something that makes me laugh out loud. It more than makes up for the times that he's making me crazy.

3. Ry and I found each other. I am truly blessed to have a husband who is not only an amazing father and spouse, but also my best friend. Plus, he doesn't mind my increasing lack of housekeeping ability these days. I'm looking forward to getting old and grumpy with him.

4. My dad and father-in-law are making dramatic improvements with their recent diagnoses.

5. I have family and friends who love and support our little family. I love you all so much.

What are you thankful for today?

Pet Peeve Wednesday

I'm uncomfortable, swollen and have the patience of my 2 year old. Here are some things that are irritating me (that was for you, Laurel).

1. People who don't return their carts to the cart corral at the grocery store. If my swollen, toddler-toting, umbrella carrying butt can manage to get my cart back to its proper location, so can you, perfectly-groomed-woman-on-your-lunch-break.

2. People who honk at me when I'm turning right at a red light. You may not care if you get swiped by the jackoff speeding around the corner, but I have a 2 year old and a soon-to-be infant aboard and would prefer we all get home in one piece. Plus, honking at me makes me a few extra moments to make up my mind about whether or not to turn. I love to see the steam coming out your Guido ears.

3. Our towels. For whatever reason, our towels have started to smell musty really quickly lately. Ry's towel especially will be pretty rank after one day. This means we're going through 10 or more towels per week. I can't figure out what's going on. We haven't changed detergents, wash cycles or soaps.

What's bugging you today?

This is what it looks like

When you warn your son that if he doesn't keep his feet off the table he won't get to have a muffin for desert. And then you enforce the warning.

Tastes like fall

Because T is part of a co-operative preschool, all the parents have responsibility to be "helping parent" for one school party per year. I figured I might as well get mine done early, since who knows what the year will bring. I am therefore the helping parent for tomorrow's Halloween/Harvest party. As helping parent, I am responsible for bringing a snack, providing a few decorations and planning a few games/crafts. Food is complicated by the fact that one of the kids in T's class has allergies to nuts, eggs and dairy. You try finding a baked goods recipe that doesn't include any of these items. No really, I dare you. Most of what you find are vegan recipes that include ingredients I don't know where to find and would never use again (like flax seeds).Lucky for me, I found this recipe for vegan cranberry pumpkin bread that used all ingredients I recognized. I made a few tweaks, based on personal taste and came up with some really, really tasty Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins.
T agreed. Here's the recipe.

Vegan Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup white sugar

3/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup pumpkin puree

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon orange zest

3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon orange juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Blend wet ingredients (oil, pumpkin, water, juice).

3. Add dry ingredients. Mix in gently with spoon until batter is moist. Mix in cranberries.

4. Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

6. Eat and enjoy.

Makes 12 muffins.

Happy near Halloween

We completed the annual pumpkin carving last night. T wanted no part of scooping out the pumpkin innards. The previous two years, he was all about the stuff. This year, the texture weirded him out. We still had fun, and in the interest of keeping it toddler-friendly, made happy pumpkins this year. T is much more likely to find things "scary" recently.

Yes, I know the emoticon is backwards. Oops. I didn't notice, but it was the first thing Ry noticed when he looked at my finished handiwork. This seems to be the only expression T can make in front of a camera lately. Should make for years of fun school pictures.

I love a good yard sale

Every year a mom's group in our town holds a huge children's flea market/yard sale at our middle school. Last year we picked up one of T's favorite toys (a Pooh Bear push toy). This year I went in search of one of those bouncy, vibratey infant seats. While I struck out on the bouncy chair, we found a scooter for T, some cute clothes for V.2, T's very first board game, and a baby gate. We spent less than $15. I was planning on buying T the scooter for Christmas, and now have a gently used one for $4 instead of $30ish. Awesome.

The boy who cried poo

T knows what gets our attention. Lately, whenever he wants my attention he says "Mommy, I have to poooooooooooo!!!!!!!" I snap to attention, we race to the bathroom and 9 times out of 10, it was a false alarm. This is especially true when he getting up from a nap or bedtime. I've had a wicked cold the past 3 days and only got about 4 hours of sleep the night before last. This morning, T woke up around 7:15 and played quietly in his crib for the next 30 minutes. I used the time to doze. Then around 7:45, T yelled "Mommy, I have to poooooooo!!!!!!!" I ever so slowly dragged my gravid butt out of bed, went to the bathroom and trudged up the stairs, figuring I had at least 15 minutes (the kid used to hold it for over 24 hours). As soon as I entered the room, I smelled it. It was one of the biggest, smelliest poos the kid has had in weeks. I don't have anyone to blame but myself and could muster only the mildest of rebukes. Potty training is a blast.

You know what people like?

People like choices. I'll never forget my Dad talking about his corporate restaurant company introducing a new bread for a sandwich they already sold. It didn't increase the sales of the sandwich, made more work for the employees, and pissed off the customers when one of the choices was removed a few months later.

People like choices ... except they really don't. Because hubby works for the federal government, he has no fewer than a dozen healthcare plan options. The plan our family has had for the past several years is raising its premiums by about 50% and decreasing coverage. We are now in the unenviable position of having to pick a new healthcare plan. There are High Deductible Health Plans, Consumer Driven Health Plans, HMOs, PPOs, and different levels thereof. The brochures aren't as helpful as you might think, and trying to figure out what would actually be covered is like trying to learn another language.

Frankly, I miss my old job. There was one healthcare company. There was a high and a low option. It cost a fraction of what we pay now. I don't need choices. As it turns out, what I do need is an interpreter.

Guess I'll have to age ugly

Sarah Haskins latest Target Women. Seriously, do people buy this crap?

Over one more hurdle

I took the NET (Nursing Entrance Test) this morning. I also passed the NET this morning. For the first time in my history, I scored higher on the math section than the reading. I think this can be explained by the fact that the math section didn't progress past basic algebra. It was kind of fun doing long division and percentage calculations by hand.

Aside from those two sections, there were was a battery of psychological, stress and test taking skills questions. I'm not sure what some of these questions were designed to elicit for admittance committees.

One of the questions was something like:

If a multiple choice question is of average length, it means what?

A. It is most likely the correct answer.

B. It is most likely the incorrect answer.

C. It is confusing.

D. It has no significance.

I had a chance to chat with the registrar after the exam was over and she told me (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) that I'd most likely be accepted into the program. Wahoo! I'll be receiving a letter in late November. I also learned that I have two more courses to complete. Somehow this slipped completely under my radar. The good news is that both of them are offered online, so I won't have to actually go on campus. T and new bebe won't have to start daycare again until July, when I have a 3 week intro to nursing course.

I really liked the nursing school building. They have a huge study area with couches and a cozy fireplace. I can see it being a very good study locale. My midwife said that this particular program is a good one. I'm starting to get pretty excited for this new stage in my life. RN; here I come!

Version 2 Update

I had a midwife appointment this morning. She is estimating T V-2 at about 6 pounds right now, which means if I go all the way to 40 weeks, I'm looking at about 8 pounds of baby. She also said that I'm 2 centimeters dilated and about 70% effaced. This doesn't really mean anything, as women can walk around for weeks (or even months) a few centimeters dilated. She said that the baby's head is low, even though the majority of his little body is hanging out under my ribs. Looks like I'll have another loooong baby (T was 19.5 inches at birth, almost 4 weeks early). Everything looks good and healthy, and we are basically just waiting for the bebe to make an entrance. I just hope to have a few more weeks yet.

And more language fun

Scene: T is going to the bathroom before bed.

T: Daddy, that's my scrotum!

Ry: Yep ... wait, what? (Yelling into the living room) Honey, did you teach T the word scrotum?

Me: Yes

Ry: Oooookay

Me: He wanted to know what it was. What would you have told him?

How does he know?

T usually hangs out in his crib for a while in the morning. When he's ready to get out of bed, I usually hear "Mooooooommmmmyyyyyy, I'm ready to get up now!" On the weekends, it's "MommyDaddy, I'm ready to get up now!" I have no idea how he know that Ry is here. During the week he's gone before T wakes up. Can he count? The particularly mysterious part is that he'll yell for Daddy even on Ry's every other Friday off. 'Tis a puzzlement.

A milestone of sorts

Today I am 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Two and a half years ago, my water broke at this point in my pregnancy, and I was in the hospital, about 7 hours from giving birth to T. As of 8:30 a.m. this morning, I am more pregnant than I have ever been. I compared the last picture I have of my pregnancy with Tucker, taken about 10 days before he was born. It's a toss up if I look more pregnant now or then. Either way, I feel large and uncomfortable and hopeful I get to stay that way for another couple weeks.

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.