Final thoughts on Christmas

Except for possibly a few more pictures or videos, I'll try not to dwell on Christmas past this post. I wanted to write down a few thoughts that I think Trevor thinks has a lot to do with Christmas due to the movies he watches at this time of year. His favorites are the Grinch. Both cartoon and live-action. He did watch the others like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but he'd always prefer the Grinch.

Which leads to the fact that he thinks that the Grinch comes every Christmas. And takes presents. "But he always gives them back". Which makes it ok, I guess. So it's been interesting to see Trevor try to decide what is going on. What does Christmas mean to him and such. He has been getting a lot of information from preschool on Jesus and his birth, but whenever you ask him about Jesus, he just thinks he is a baby that was born on Christmas day.

And yesterday we got another lovely phrase, this time from a Charlie Brown Christmas. Lucy loves to torment her brother Linus about his blanket. And she even calls it "That stupid blanket" a few times. So now Trevor's blanket is stupid. He obviously does not know anything about the meaning of the word, but for crying out loud - how lovely. That's what he picks up from the show?

Anyway, we hope you had a lovely Christmas and an even more wonderful new year.

Prayers and Positive Thoughts for their family...

One of my good mom friends is now 39 weeks pregnant with her second baby. Julie, her first, was born at 32 weeks gestation, almost completely healthy. So this time around, it has been a bit tougher on her. I feel like I only went through 20% of what she did because Gwen was only 2 weeks later than what I thought she would be.

Add to it that I ALWAYS hear all the wonderful things she is doing to help out her in-laws who are rapidly depleting their own health. And here she is so pregnant and still willing to help out.

Adding to THAT is the fact that she went in today to try to turn baby Kevin, who is breech and was unsuccessful. So she is going in on Tuesday or Wednesday for pre-op for a C-section. Again, I cannot imagine what she is going through.

So I'm asking everyone to send a few prayers and positive thoughts her and her family's way. I'm sure they could use it right about now.

Ann Marie - relax as much as you can and it will all be much easier in a few short months.

Can't say I'm in my 20's any more....

Not that I'm even really sad about it....but no more....I'm a 30 year old. It does sound so much older than 20 something. We had a nice birthday/Christmas yesterday. Woke up to open gifts around 8:00 or so. Then went over to my parents house to continue Christmas and have my birthday dinner.

Trevor seems very uninterested in opening gifts. Which was kind of disappointing, since we got him SO many and thought that we should get a few more for Gwen thinking he would want to open hers as well.

But I guess now that we are at the next day, we can see which ones the winners are. They are mostly his new trains, including his train table. He also likes a few nintendo games as well as his new Leapster games.

So next comes the hard part. Putting everything in it's place, cleaning up the Christmas stuff, and making room where needed. At least we have another week before we are due to "get back into the swing of things".

And for an update on Gwen...she is doing pretty well! If we could all just shake the last of this yucky cold, I think everyone would be happier. Gwen slept from 11pm - 7am and although doesn't take long naps, I guess it can't be expected yet. We are due in for her 3 month pictures in a week or so.

We hope you all are enjoying your holidays! Since Gwen isn't able to ride in the car for long car rides, we won't be able to get to the cabin at least this month. And did I mention I don't like the cold and the snow? We just got dumped on the past week so we are going to have a L-O-N-G winter. Uggggg

Christmas Eve and presents

Well, two down, one to go! We made it through church yesterday, and traveling to grandma and grandpa's house and then Christmas this morning. I have one big learning so far. Trevor is not all that into opening gifts. And not even because he wants to play with one that he has opened. He just isn't that into it. Which kind of is hard on a mom that loves to indulge her little guy.

But anyway, the highlight of the night: Trevor now has a comedic streak in him and wonderful timing.

We were opening gifts, and after the first one, Trevor was pretty much uninterested. So much for thinking he would help open Gwen's gifts. But we finally bothered him enough to open a gift for her. We made sure he knew it was for her. It was a pink Dora Chair similar to the Tigger chair he has used. So he quickly unwraps the gift while we all are "oohing" and "aaahing".... puts it on his head and says, "It's a HELMET!" He then sent everyone on the floor, laughing.

What a comedian.

Captain Carlos

I don't know how many of you know who Captain Carlos is, but Trevor has started a new topic of conversation among the family. The little ditty is something like: "Hey big brother, look at all this stuff. If you want a snack, they may be good enough. They sure look like fun!"

It's all about the little sister trying to tempt Captain Carlos to eat junk food over healthy food. One of the scenes is between soda vs. orange juice. So whenever Trevor has his orange juice for breakfast, he talks about how he is making a "super choice". But he then thinks that he can pull whatever he wants is a "super choice". Such as cookies. So I've had to explain that cookies are a junk food.

But what gets a little grey are things like McDonalds. It is one of his favorite foods. And while I can see why fries would be a junk food, I disagree with the entire meal. It's not like a cheeseburger is a junk food. So, it can't be a junk food just because it is from McD's. And Trevor thinks it can't be a junk food unless it is a snack. So that disqualifies it already. What do you think???

Imagination

It is pretty easy to see that 4 years old or around that time is when kids start to develop their imagination play. Trevor has been doing that a lot, and always has fun with it. From Nascar, to Disney Cars, you usually aren't playing the same thing twice. I remember a time when we would play, I would have to do the same thing that I did 230583 times before. Now, I rarely even get the same car that I had before to play with.

And you also know from previous posts that it is pretty cool to see that he might be starting to develop his future career. If it would happen to be a Nascar driver or maybe an actor from watching and reenacting things from the Children's Theater performances. But most recently, he has found another activity. He has always loved his kitchen playset and making food, but that has recently picked up interest again.

Last Wednesday, we were invited to Benihana for "Grandma's" birthday dinner. I'm a big fan of teppinyaki restaurants, and now that I'm over my fear of red meat, I'm good to go! Actually we had brought Trevor to the same restaurant I think two years ago or so. But of course he was a bit of a different mind frame at that time. Now, unfortunately, he isn't the best at trying new foods, so he didn't eat a lot, but he LOVED to watch the chef prepare the food and mix it all up. So that's what he did for the time he was in his seat. He would take a little of his rice, a little of his meat, and even ice chips and use his chop sticks to mix up all the food. Trying to be as creative as the chef was.

And then on Thursday, when we had spaghetti for dinner and again he wanted to mix the food all around. But it is a favorite of his, so at least he ate it too. So we'll have to remember that place again and hopefully he'll eat some food next time!

Happy Holiday Weekend

Ahhh....As we approach Christmas, the days seem to fly by. We had a great weekend here, although being sick wasn't the best thing for us. Hopefully everyone will be on the mend to be better by Christmas. On Saturday, I was able to get just a little bit of cleaning done, and MAN does that feel good. Weird since I don't actually enjoy cleaning, but having a clean area/house sure does feel better than having a messy one!

I also figured out the last Christmas present that I am responsible for. Now onto the wrapping! That also is a big load off my chest!

And finally, yesterday we were able to get out to my parents house. I timed it so Gwen was asleep on the way there, and we tried to do the same for on the way back, but she wasn't sleeping well that day, so she was up and upset for most of the ride back. I am so proud of Trevor for holding it together in the car. He does still plug his ears if it gets too loud, but for most of it, he simply sits and understands that that is what she does in the car.

But being at my parents house was a fun outing for him. Both of the uncles were there, and they all got to play football. Man was THAT a blast from the past. How many days and nights was I there watching them tackle and wrestle with each other? Add to it the fact that my dad pulled out all of the old toys from the closet in the basement, and we had a draft party for any toys that we want. Again, what a blast from the past. I was able to score the speak-n-spell and speak-n-math, a torpedo-like gun for a super nintendo system, some marble maze games, a horse on a stick that Trevor was playing with, a Disney puzzle...of course they all came home in a huge box, and I still have to go through all the toys in the family area before Christmas to make room for the toys to come on Christmas. YIKES.

Anyway, it was a fun weekend, and Thank You to all family members that made it happen. Now, this week we have the fun and interesting preschool Christmas program tomorrow and then under a week before Christmas! Whoo hoo!

The sickies won't go away!

Oh ug. Trevor has been sick with some kind of cold for the past two plus weeks. 'Tis the season, I guess. Russ caught some kind of cold earlier this week. Now I'm not feeling the best either. At least I can feel it coming on. And if I do get something, I can't take Sudafed or any Robitussin with alcohol. Which of course are the only things that make me feel better. Shucks.

And now Gwen is starting to get it as well. She at least doesn't act really upset by it. Actually, she's been sleeping a lot today. But I still feel bad for her. Poor baby. I guess that's what happens to the second born. Trevor didn't catch a cold until he was at least 6 months, and here Gwen is already having 2 by 10 weeks.

So while we take some time to recover, I might need a few days. Hope everyone is close to done with your Christmas shopping!

Star Wars IV: A New Hope

So Russ decided it was time for Trevor to be introduced to the Star Wars movies. (With some selected scenes fast forwarded. Well, if you ever want Trevor to watch something for the first time, he wants to ask you questions about it.

As I hope you all know, the Star Wars movies start out with a crawl. Trevor has seen this before, as Russ has played the Lego's Star Wars games for the Nintendo, and they have them as well. So here is what happened when Russ was reading the crawl, and what Trevor was saying:

Episode IV
A New Hope "That's like the water tower." (We drive by the city New Hope which has a large water tower near the highway on our way to the grandparent's house)
It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the DEATH
STAR, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet. "Tire planet! That's like on Lightning McQueen"

Pursued by the Empire's
sinister agents, Princess
Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the
stolen plans that can save her
people and restore
freedom to the galaxy..... "No daddy. It's Princess Peach that Mario saves from the galaxy."

We have been playing Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii lately...can you tell? Ahh....the thoughts of a 4 year old.

We meet Santa

I can't believe I made it. Trevor actually had a fever again yesterday and part of the night last night. But woke up without one. Dad still took Trevor to be looked at by the doctor this morning, but said that all he has is another cold, and we are continuing on the same antibiotics as last week. That way, hopefully the ear infection will stay away if this cold lingers.

Anyway, we headed out for an early sitting with Santa. Gwen was her usual peachy self in the car, and I brought my sling to carry her around in. She actually settled down to look at her surroundings, but DID NOT appreciate this big red clothed guy holding her for pictures. Soooo...we have our first "get out the pictures" for date nights at our house.

She was clearly tired at this point because about 5 minutes after we left the Santa portraits, she fell asleep and stayed asleep in my sling for a good 45 minutes. Trevor got to run around a little bit before heading home. And while Gwen did wake up as we were leaving, she did not freak out nearly as bad in the car. I think it was because she was pretty well rested and was interested a little bit in her toys.

So cross that off my to-do list. Now I have to get going on our Christmas cards. Only a few more Christmas gifts left to buy. Then I have to get on wrapping them. Only two more weeks!

Welcome to the World Addison!

Last night, little Miss Addison Ann was welcomed into this world late last night. She was a little later than her sister (although the same "lateness" as little Gwen ;-) ) and very loved. So a big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Megan, Troy, and Ellie! Hope you are ready for the estrogen in a few short years Troy! And hope that Gwendolyn and Addison can be great friends in a few years!

I love that we have a schedule...

I knew things would get easier. I knew that Gwendolyn would fall into a schedule of sleeping during the day. I knew that I would get some time to myself, even if it was to do the dishes or make a meal or something. And while I know it isn't something I can count on every day, I really feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Today (so far) has been a wonderful day. We went back to "music class" for the first time since I had Gwen. I allowed myself like 45 minutes to get ready. I could have used an extra 5 minutes or so, but I made it to class on time. Yes, Gwen was screaming from the car ride. And I felt a little silly bouncing her around when she was upset. But I was able to see my beautifully pregnant friend, and Trevor was able to get out of the house, and play for a good 45 minutes.

I'm already thinking about next week, and getting out to the Mall for our Santa pictures on Monday morning. So now, with preschool Tuesday and Thursday, music class on Friday, and "Bubba" time on Wednesday, we have a pretty full week.

But even with all this stuff that is scheduled, and all the car rides that go along with it, I'm not worried. Both Trevor and I have learned to tune her out. And we know that it is just for a short time. She is very easily consoled once she is out of the carseat. I'm also trying to use a sling a little bit around the house so I can carry her in that when we are out of the house. Because for now, the carseat/stroller is not an option. I figure it's still going to be a little while before we can run errands that require longer than a few minutes, but I am seeing improvement in Gwen's ability to tolerate sitting entertaining herself.

And along with that, Gwen is also really falling into that category that needs to be sleeping before 2 hours from her last wake-up. Again, a few weeks ago, she wasn't even able to sleep for more than 15 minutes during the day at a time. Now, when she does go down, she is usually down for a half hour, and is starting to take a longer nap between 3-5pm.

I only need to get a few more Christmas gifts, and that will be done for me. I have a few more cleaning/organizing projects that I want to get done preferably sooner rather than later, but they can wait. Anyway....I have to write times like this down so I don't think that all it ever is is hard. There are bright points, and I think I'm in one right now. YAY for us!

It is easier....but harder

So a few things have happened this week. Trevor got a cold...poor guy. He was brought in on Monday to check his eye for bacterial pink eye and when the doctor looked in his ear, he said that it already looked red. This meant he already had the start of an ear infection. However since he wasn't complaining, he wouldn't prescribe anything for it. Now, the last time he had an ear infection, he went through two types of antibiotics before having to get shots to relieve his infection. It was NOT fun. Anyway, later that night, the tree was decorated. We have pretty new LED lights that twinkle all day and night and doesn't jack up the energy bill. Deck the Halls!!!

Move to Tuesday....Gwen had her 2 month appt. She is a healthy 12lbs 3oz and 22" long. She was not a happy camper to be poked and prodded, but fell asleep after we got home and slept for 45 minutes or so. Trevor did not go to preschool that day as I was not comfortable sending him if he had a contagious form of Pink Eye. While we were sitting watching The Grinch at 1:45, Trevor looked at me and said his ear hurt. Dang it. I quickly called the doctor's office to try to talk to the pediatric nurses. I was waiting for a phone call back when at 2:00, Trevor looked at the clock and said it was time for his nap. Poor guy. He desperately wanted to sleep and to not be in pain anymore. I gave him some Tylenol cold (as anything that dries him up helps the ear drainage as well) when the doctor called back and quickly sent a prescription to a nearby pharmacy. Trevor woke up at 3:00 and said he felt better. I knew that it just meant hopefully the Tylenol wouldn't wear off soon. He was able to get a dose of the prescription in him before dinner but you really can't tell if it is working for at least another 24 hours. He didn't have a fever yet, but either he would get one, or he would get better.

By the end of the day yesterday, I was sure the prescription was working. Thank goodness! He still isn't sleeping very well, but the fever isn't there, and he seems better. No ear pain at least that he says. So today he was back at school. And tomorrow we are going to try to get to Music Class which he was in before Gwen was born. It's another chance for us to get out of the house, and while Gwen doesn't do very well in the car, it isn't a long car ride.

So wish us luck on our upcoming car rides. Now that Gwendolyn is vaccinated, I'm a bit more comfortable taking her out and about.

Update to our day

Trevor now has an ear infection, but our tree is up and decorated! I am just PRAYING that these antibiotics work on his ear or we are going to have to go the route of shots again. That was NOT fun.

Sometimes you can't get a break

For the second time in a month's time, Trevor is sick. Yes, it is just a cold but while we have a wonderful sleeping newborn, Trevor cannot make it through the night. Poor guy. I actually took him to the doctor yesterday because I knew he had pink eye, but not sure if it was the viral or bacterial kind. They checked his ears, and one was already showing signs of being infected. But because he wasn't complaining about it, they wouldn't do the antibiotics yet. We did have to get eye drops to be on the safe side of his pink eye, but boy is that not fun to administer.

So today we go in for Gwen's 2 month appointment. Trevor was supposed to be at preschool, but with his pink eye, I'm not bringing him in. Hopefully by Thursday he'll be better. And while Gwen has been sleeping great, I worry that the shots are going to throw her into a bad schedule. But I guess I should just be happy for the days that are good.

We are working on getting Christmas decorated here. We have our tree up, but no decorations. If Gwen is able to stay asleep for any time, or at least satisfied, we will be decorating today. Hopefully I can find my Christmas music so it will feel just like Christmas. It's even snowing today!

Irrational fears?

I remember when Trevor was a few years younger (how crazy is THAT that I can say a few years ago when talking about Trevor???), that I wondered if he would ever have any fears. The kid would do anything, and try anything because he never was showing any fear. Now, it is interesting to try to rationalize with him when he has a fear that really, isn't something to be afraid of. I always thought that he really loved attention. In fact he does like the attention, as I witnessed when we were at his Preschool Halloween Party. He LOVED getting up in front of the class and explaining who he was and where Lightning McQueen lived.

When we talked about his birthday coming up, he would always say, "But I don't want a birthday." I had to search through his thoughts before I found out that it wasn't the having a birthday, or turning 4 that was the problem, it was he didn't like when everyone sang to him. Actually, whenever it was any one's birthday - even when we were at a restaurant - he never wanted to sing, or anyone to sing to anyone when it was their birthday. So....to remedy that, when it came time to sing to him for his birthday, we all whispered. Then he was ok...still a little timid but we got through it.

We have a few things on the calendar coming up, but Trevor knows that as soon as we have his birthday, the next day we can bring up all the Christmas stuff. So it's officially going to look a lot more like Christmas in our household. All we've done so far is bring up the books and movies. We've already read Dr. Seuss's "The Grinch" as well as watched the movie and the Frosty the Snowman movie. I'm not sure if he doesn't remember the movies or if he only vaguely remembers them and remembers being a little scared by them for some reason. But when we watched the movies for the first time today, he spent a few moments behind the couch. And it puzzled me as to what could even be scary about the movies. I think he just wanted to be told what was going on in the movie. I mean what is scary about the Whos singing "Fa who for-As, Da who dor-As, welcome Christmas"?

And with that, we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season!

They could be.....SIBLINGS

We'll see how long this lasts. Yes, Trevor and Gwen looked very similar (with differences in hair color and hairline and amount of hair) when they were born, but to me, all newborns look the same. And right at about 8 weeks is where I noticed Trevor turning into a little boy. So I had to break out the pictures for Gwen's 8 week "birthday". Here they are....they could be...siblings!

I am a mom now

You can't really call yourself a parent until you hit your child's birthday and start the "Guess what I was doing 4 years ago?" and relive the birth of your baby with them. It was pretty cool that I just had little Gwen a few weeks ago because now Trevor can know what I'm talking about because he understood that Gwen was in my tummy and came out when I was at the hospital.


So THIS is what I was doing 4 years ago. Instead of making turkey dinner, by the way. Oh how those years go by so fast and how much your heart grows in those 4 short years. I love you!

This cracks me up

My cousin Megan did this of her daughter Ellie last year, but I love it! And Erika did this to her family, and it cracks me up....

Elf Yourself

Our Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving meal. We sure did miss some of you (you know who you are) but I remember having to split Thanksgivings between families as well. Everything turned out nicely as far as I know. Good food, and there was enough football to go around. Next year Thanksgiving falls on Trevor's birthday, so it will be interesting to try to pull all that off.

A funny story for you, that doesn't have anything to do with Thanksgiving: Trevor received a big brother/birthday gift from my Aunt Alice. It was a rhyming/matching game. So I was putting some of the pieces out for him to match, but I didn't make sure that everything was out that he could match with. So I went looking for something that was supposed to rhyme with "grape". I found the piece - it was an "ape". Now the pieces have both a picture and the words. But seeing the ape, both my mom and I were wondering if he would know it was supposed to be the rhyme to grape. What my mom said was, "I think Trevor will think it is a M-O-N-K-E-Y". Without even seeing the ape piece, he said (because he was working on the star rhyme) "No, monkey doesn't rhyme with star." Oh boy, did he crack us up. I guess he knows how to spell a few words already.

Our first Parent/Teacher conference

So....yesterday we had our first Parent/Teacher conference. It was voluntary, and there will be another one mandatory in the spring. But I really wanted to get an idea of how the teachers saw Trevor in how he was progressing and behaving. It was pretty cool. He has two teachers, but only one was at the conference.

Behaviorally, Trevor is where he should be. He has some things he is working on when it comes to not taking toys away from people. But that they have noticed that he does respond well when behavior is modeled and practiced.

In terms of other skills, the teachers are amazed at his memory. I know from listening to him tell stories that he loves the Bible story time. They do one bible story for two weeks, and he is always quick to remind the teachers which one they are doing.

One of the other things they do in school is have name cards used for taking attendance, and allowing kids that it is their turn to do something. He has always been able to pick out which name is his, even though there is a Ty and Timothy in his class. But what the teachers are amazed at is that when it is time to let kids take their turn to do something such as to wash up for snack time, Trevor knows by sight all the kids names in his class. (and there are 20 kids in his class). The teacher commented how it is funny that if a name is picked, and shown to say that it is that child's turn to do something, Trevor can quickly say who's turn it should be, even if that child is not paying attention, or doesn't recognize it right away. Such a memory Trevor has.

So, overall a very good report. Have I said lately how this preschool thing has been such a lifesaver for us??? I'm so glad he has taken to it and it has really improved his skills so much.

Observations about Gwendolyn

So she's almost 7 weeks old. I'm taking weekly pictures, (but haven't uploaded them all yet) and it is easy to see that she is not completely "newborn" anymore. Plus parts of her personality are coming out. Granted, it is still purely speculation at this point, but it is still fun to remember how Trevor was at her age, and how they are similar or different.

Most notably are their sleeping habits. Trevor rarely slept for more than 3 hours at a time. I looked back at his baby book milestones, and he first "slept through the night" at 2 1/2 months. Now by definition, this is slept for 6 hours straight. If I'm counting correctly, Gwen has already done this 5 times, and if she does wake up at night, it is only once. I'm in heaven.

Unfortunately, she does not sleep during the day. It makes for tough days. I can't get much done, and Trevor doesn't get a lot of attention. But that's not my point. In watching her through the day, she really has bits of her personality shining through. It is pretty cute. For example, while Trevor loved to lay by himself and kick up a storm, Gwen would rather look around, and hope to find someones face. If she finds a face, she would much rather talk up a storm. It is so cute. It even is funny to see that she has a certain noise she makes that really sounds like "hi". So you can say hi to her back and forth. Trevor was an early talker, but I wonder if Gwen will be able to beat him. She might not make those physical milestones as early as he did, but she is still a strong little girl. And I just love her smiles. Trevor used to smile at inanimate objects, like clocks and lights and things, but Gwen just wants to find your eyes, and smile right at them.

So anyway, we are battling colds here. Any healthy thoughts would be appreciated. I'll update with pictures as soon as I can.

I'm on a roll!

So....I have to gripe about something. And it's my blog so you have to read about it ;-)


I completely understand that at any "portrait studio", the photographer is completely hit-or-miss. You are lucky if you find a good one, and even luckier if you can find a way to get the same photographer each time you go to said "portrait studio". With Trevor, I got a really good photographer a few times at JCPenney. But I also tried Target a few times because I could use my rewards coupon, and it wasn't much different than anywhere else.


On Wednesday, I braved (with the help of my mom again) JCPenney mostly because they give you a good deal if you enroll in their portrait club that is for 2 years. With as many pictures as Gwen is going to have, it ends up being a good deal. Plus I have a framed photograph of Trevor that I plan on getting with Gwen when she is 6 months old.


Our appt was for 11am. I thought it was the first appt of the day, but I was wrong. They open at 10am. We survive the car ride with Miss Gwendolyn screaming most of the way there. I run to the nursing room to feed her before the appt. I guess at the time because I don't have a watch. I arrive almost exactly at 11am where Trevor and my mom are waiting. There is another appt in the photography studio with a girl 2 years old. There is another mom with her 4 year old boy looking at her photos. THANK GOODNESS they were showing Curious George the Movie on their TV because it kept Trevor's interest the entire time we were there. I was acknowledged when I arrived by filling out some paperwork, but otherwise that was it. Gwen was also asleep at this time. Another blessing. You could hear the mom in the studio begging her daughter to smile so they could get one good picture. She tried bringing her older daughter in to help. Didn't work. This went on for quite some time when I finally asked the cashier how much longer she was going to be. I was told that I would be next. (DUH)

Gwen woke up, had to be changed and I wanted to rush her right in there because I knew we only had a limited time before she would start wanting to eat again. So at 11:30 at the earliest, we were finally in the studio. And this photographer was HORRIBLE. I could not believe they even hired her. She had NO people skills whatsoever. And I could see a bit why the other mom was saying she wanted one smile out of her daughter. The photographer did nothing to make either of my kids smile. Luckily Gwen likes to smile at anything. But we didn't even get a good picture of her smiling. And Trevor's smiling pictures are his cheezy grin because unless you can get him to really laugh, it is very forced. So while he was at least happy, we didn't get a great smile of him either. But I picked out the pictures I liked, ordered enough for family, and plan on doing Christmas cards on my own, like I did last year.

Oh, and I did get to complain through an online survey so even if nothing gets done, at least I "said" my peace somewhere where someone might pay attention to it. I'll keep you updated with any other pictures soon....

Short update

Things are up and down lately. The nights are going pretty well - 6+ hours continuous sleep from Gwen. But the days are harder. I have a sling arriving in the mail today, so that should help things out a lot.

I'm trying to update Trevor's old website so everyone can see the progress both of them are making, and even compare. Gwen has been giving me some looks that I easily remember from Trevor. And I slowly see the newborn face going away. Also, her tears are developing, so it breaks my heart to watch her cry now.

Here's the site and I will be adding it to my website list on the right.

My Son is a GIANT

I remember going through a stage with Trevor when he was very young where I could tell how old an infant was by looking at them. Because you are a mom that spends practically every waking moment with them, you get to know little details like when they focus their eyes, can hold their head up, can look around at things, etc. So I would laugh when what I guessed to be a 3 month old was "born" on a TV show. It's like they would throw some slime on the baby and call it born. Uh no, a baby cannot focus its eyes like that.



Anyway, although I'm not doing that this time around, my view is still skewed to a newborn. I see Gwen and am holding her almost the entire waking moments of the day. She still isn't into a good schedule yet, although we are getting there.



But over the past few days, I have noticed how huge it seems like Trevor is getting. I know some of it is that my view is skewed to a little 10lb baby, but even comparatively, he just seems so huge. He is tall for his age, as can sort of be seen in his Halloween picture. He was quickly moved to the back of the picture for being tall. But last night when Russ was carrying Trevor downstairs after his bath, I noticed that Trevor only has to grow from the ground to Russ's knees before he is the same height. I'll have to measure Trevor again. Last appointment 6 months ago, he was 42-43" tall, so I'm sure he is even taller.



Then today, when my mom was over, she was playing the "This is the way the Lady rides" game with Gwen and Trevor felt left out. He wanted someone to play that game with him. This game involves sitting on the lap and bouncing around to a little song. Again, for a 10lb baby, no problem. But I volunteered my legs to let Trevor have a little fun as well. At that point, when he was sitting on my lap I was face to face with him. Having looked at Gwen for so long in that perspective, it made Trevor look like a giant compared to him. His head, his legs, even his smile looked just so crazy huge compared to what I look at on an hourly basis.

So we can remember and not forget

Sorry I haven't been around much. We've had a rough patch with Gwen in that she's almost always attached to me during the day. She still sleeps decently (at least much better than Trevor) but that doesn't mean we get a "good" night's sleep. So if she ever does sleep during the day, I have a short list of necessity things that need to get done. Namely sleep myself.

And last night Russ and I were talking about how we could not remember it being this hard with Trevor. Actually, I know it was pretty hard until he decided to get into some what of a routine. But even then he wasn't able to sleep well at night. I looked on T's baby calendar a few days ago, and he didn't sleep through the night (definition: 6 hours in a row) until he was 2.5 months. Gwen has already done so, more than once. She averages 4-5 hours in a row, but she also has a pretty good routine at least at night. She also hasn't confused her days and nights like Trevor did.

But anyway, back to trying to remember how it was with Trevor. Our memories are a bit skewed because 4 weeks from T's birth was when Russ and I got the flu. Shortly thereafter, we had our parents staying over at night to help us out. A few days after that, I stopped breastfeeding, so he went to completely formula and bottles. I am pretty sure he also hadn't taken a pacifier yet. I know for sure he took to it before 3 months of age, but don't know when it happened. At 6 weeks old was when I was in the hospital for almost a week and again our families were over helping out with Trevor at night. So from about 4-7 weeks we don't have any real memory of how Trevor was.

For our reference....this part is HARD. Especially with another child that needs at least SOME attention. She doesn't sleep much during the day, and won't just sit there calmly either. She needs to be walked around (and have purchased a sling for future days) or wants to be sucking on something but hasn't figured out about a pacifier yet. We are going to keep offering her a pacifier until probably 3 months or until she finds a finger/thumb. You can see it would calm her down. Also, except for swaddling, she does like the other 5's. Russ found that the "shhhing" part is actually running water. She calms right down. Actually fell asleep in the carrier when I turned it on, and is sleeping right now.

Which means I should sign off for now, and get some other things done. I will be back when we have more time and energy. It will get better, I do know this. I can't wait to see our little girl start to become more independent and develop her personality. She does seem to be a much more relaxed girl than I remember Trevor being.

Trick or Treat!

Very successful night, thanks to Uncle Kevin ;-) Here is the picture of the kids after the big score of loot. Our across the street neighbor came over to our house as they were leaving, and they got to walk together to trick or treat. She turned 5 this summer, and was "a machine" according to Kevin. She had a pillowcase which was full by the end of the night. Kevin had to pocket a bunch of candy just so his bucket wasn't too heavy for him to carry. Thank goodness I can use the extra calories so it won't have to go to waste. So far he's only eaten one and a half pieces of candy. He'd much rather eat cookies.

Also posted is the creation this year made by Russ. We had a little bit of a theme going on this year. I hope everyone had a great Halloween as well!

What are we going to do when Nascar is finished?

Do you know who this is?

Do you know that my son knows exactly who this is without anyone telling him? Now, I have to admit, that I could have picked out Jeff Gordon out of a crowd, but not this guy. I still probably wouldn't be able to. Along with most of the other drivers. But Trevor has learned a lot this season. We are going to be really sad (and don't know how he's going to make it being told that Nascar isn't on for a few months) although we do have a few races on our DVR that we can watch until he memorizes them.

So today is Halloween. I had thought that he would like to be a Nascar driver. But no, we are going to be Lightning McQueen (as pictured in the preschool Halloween party). Although I will say that Lightning McQueen has turned into a Nascar a few times around the house.

As seen in this picture, he also loves to play Nascar in the backyard. My mom is the announcer. Alexander is the other driver on the track. He has developed such an imagination around Nascar, I hope it continues. Although the outdoor part of it is going to have to be put on hold for a while. He does drive around the kitchen table as a Nascar though, so it can still be fun if the weather isn't all that nice out.

So that's it from Motor Speedway. Oh, and if you care...the picture is Jimmy Johnson.

A Halloween Party and Memories of Halloweens Past

How much fun does this look? This is Trevor's preschool class Costume Party. All the kids got to show off their costume and answer questions about who they were. I'm pretty sure like 90% of the parents were there snapping pictures. Both parents. I'll be sure to update you all on future pumpkin carving activities and the Trick-or-Treating event.

Now, one of my blogging friends was reading and remembering about her past Halloweens and it got me to thinking how many of mine I remember, and what was I each Halloween? I discovered I'm not all that great at the memories.

Here are the costumes I remember: Clown, Witch with a green face and black warts, Punky Brewster, Punk (spray painted hair), 50's girl, and a can of Coke. Hmmm...I think there were a few more in there, but I cannot remember them. Sidenote: I just asked Russ if he could remember his, and he said that the only one he remembered was in 1987 when the Twins won the world series, he went as a Twins player.

So....I'm happy to replace these memories with ones of my kids. With Gwen being born so close to Halloween this year, I knew I wasn't going to be able to make a costume for Trevor. But I do remember ones of the past. I think it helps to make them. He has been Tigger, a Panda bear, and Zelda (using a Peter Pan pattern).

I'll be back later to update with progress on other Halloween activities.

Bill Bixby, meet Alexander

For those of you that don't know, when I was young....maybe even Trevor's age....I had an imaginary friend named Bill Bixby. How I came up with Bill Bixby, I have no idea. I did watch The Incredible Hulk, but Bill Bixby was the actor's name. He played Dr. David Banner. Ahhhhhh....good memories. Anyway, he was my imaginary friend.

Last night I learned that Trevor has an imaginary friend, who I assume evolved from his Children's Theater experience "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day. I didn't pick up on it for a while...obviously. Since it has been 3 weeks since he saw the show. And Trevor also likes to play games where he pretends he is a character. Buzz Lightyear, Zelda, etc.... But last night, I was talking to him about playing football, and he was saying Alexander was playing with him. I clarified by asking if he WAS Alexander, and Trevor said, "No, he is right here." Pointing to next to him. And now I'm remembering back to the times he does mention Alexander, and it is when he is playing with him.

Although I think it is pretty cute, I do feel a little guilty. I'm guessing part of this "friend" is due to the fact that Gwen is here and takes up so much of my time. Trevor has to have someone to play with. Granted, I will take that over an angry expression of his feelings.

And on a Gwendolyn update note: She has always been a smiley girl, right away since birth. She was smiling in her sleep. But this weekend, she has been smiling with her eyes open, and I even think she might have smiled at me. Boy does that make those tired days worth it.

A little boy's simple pleasure

I don't know if I've mentioned Trevor's love of cleaning. If not, it's that simple. I'm not a HUGE cleaner, although I do have to do weekly maintenance of dishes, vacuuming, picking up, etc. I think we bought Trevor a vacuum that looked just like ours when he turned 1 year old. Since that time, he STILL gets it out and vacuums with me to help out. He even brings it upstairs if I'm vacuuming up there. He loves to wipe things down....either a sponge or wipe of some sort. If someone is cleaning the kitchen counter tops, he is over on his kitchen wiping his down.

I would not say that cleaning is his FAVORITE activity. Although it was very interesting today to see how high it did rank. What's even more interesting is that he definitely does not qualify as a "Danny Tanner" cleaner because he sure doesn't pick up after himself unless asked, he knows when there is a mess around.

A few days ago, Trevor pulled a bunch of feather-like things out of a book and they got all over his carpet. Cleaning his room is about mid-way down on my priority list. Plus, I was not to vacuum for 2 weeks after having a baby. But today, my mom graciously offered to come over and help clean/organize the house a little bit. (THANK YOU MOM!!!) Today was also the day that Grandma and Aunt Amy came over to take Trevor to an indoor play park. Before they left, Trevor asked what my mom was going to do while she was here. She explained that she was going to help clean the house. She also mentioned that she was going to clean his room.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time to clean his room, so when he got back and had to go upstairs to his room for his nap, he thought his room was going to be clean. He quickly noticed it wasn't and asked about it. He almost seemed sad. Like he was looking forward to having a clean room. I'm very curious to see how this trait progresses as he gets older. Maybe he'll convince his sister that cleaning isn't so bad. I can only assume I won't be blessed with two clean-crazy kids. But I guess we will see.

As for an update with Gwen....things are going well. She is still in the eat, sleep, repeat cycle. About every other day we get a good night's sleep. Right now that is a big win for us!

I forgot how loud he can be

I guess I also forgot how babies can sleep through very loud noises. As long as they aren't sudden. Last night, Trevor was REALLY getting into pretending he was a football player. He kept shouting things like, "I'm going to get the high score" and "Tackle him". And we aren't talking like a loud indoor voice, I mean all out screaming. All the while Gwen was sound asleep in her bouncy chair in the same room.

I wonder if he feels the need to get out the loudness when during the day he has to listen to Gwen scream too. He has gotten used to it now. At first he used to look at me with those big eyes and say something like "can she stop crying?" Now he's pretty oblivious to it all. And no, he still doesn't do things and run away from me when I'm tending to Gwen. There haven't been that many times where it is just the three of us and he does something "bad". I can't believe how well he is adjusting to it all.

I do know in a few weeks, we will be able to get a little alone time and until then I'm just going to have to wait. In the mean time family and friends can keep coming over to give him a little extra attention. Thank you again to everyone for their help!

What a weekend

Well, lots has happened since the last post. Gwen had her doctor visit on Friday. Stupid mommy forgot that if you feed the baby just prior to the appointment, you can pack on a few extra oz. So when they weighed her, she was on a completely empty stomach, and just barely made the cut-off for acceptable weight gain since the last weigh-in.

So far she has weighed: 8lbs 12oz at birth, 8lbs 4oz at hospital discharge, 8lbs even for the home visit, and she weighed 8lbs 2oz at the doctor visit. They let me feed her, and after the feeding she weighed 8lbs 3oz which means she is getting food when she eats. Thank goodness. However, they wanted me to come back on Tuesday to make sure she is gaining enough weight.

And then that night, she had a big fit. I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner, as it happened with Trevor too. They go through growth spurts, and I can't quite keep up with them. So Saturday night, we bought some formula and gave her some this weekend, to make sure she was getting enough to eat. She didn't sleep much better last night or Saturday night, but I feel better that I could catch up and still feed her today.

So today was the first day all by myself. I was very nervous, but I did what I wanted - trying to keep myself busy. I was able to do 3 loads of laundry, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even get a half hour of quiet time for myself to lay down on the couch. Gwen could have slept better, but I also know that that time will come. She will eventually grow into a nap schedule, and a feeding schedule. For now I'm just happy with the mini-victory I had today where she did not scream for more than 20 seconds and usually when it was time to eat.

I was able to play with Trevor for a few minutes. Not enough time in my book, but given everything that is going on in our family, he is doing AWESOME. I know that preschool has come at the perfect time to distract him and give him something that we can talk about.

So anyway, that was the weekend and day in a nutshell. I'm not expecting anything like today again for at least a few weeks. But I also know that in the next few days I'll have some help with family stopping by too. So if it does get crazy again, I can still have a few minutes break somewhere in there.

I knew it....

I forgot the #1 rule of talking about parenting. Unless you want to jinx the good stuff that is going on, you NEVER talk about what you think is a wonderful routine or event. If you do so, it is destined to reverse or even never happen again.


That is what has happened with Gwen. After sleeping really well for the first 4 nights of her life, the last 3 have been much more difficult. Granted, we are still learning, and I think a lot of it is gas-related and not bad sleeping habits but I knew better.


Actually today, she has slept a lot, and a lot like she had previously but that for sure will not be depended on transferring to the nighttime. But I'm hoping that even if it happens again, it is just one of those cyclical things that kids go through. Still to this day, Trevor has on-again, off-again periods where he sleeps a lot, or not enough.

So anyway, that's what we are dealing with right now. Trying to get everyone enough sleep. So far, the only one not affected by it, of course would be Trevor. Lucky guy.

Our Home

1. When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter? The entry-way? It's a little area with a rug and rooms go off of this "room"

2. Do you have a dishwasher? Oh heck yes

3. Is your family room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors? Carpeted

4. Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer? the sharp ones are on the counter

5. House, apartment, duplex or trailer? house

6. How many bedrooms is it? 4

7. Gas stove or electric? Electric

8. Do you have a yard? Just barely. But it helps to not have to take care of a huge yard

9. What size TV is in the family room? I think it's 48"? Just got it a few months ago

10. Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups? Not the ones we frequently use

11. Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter? No - it was recently broken ;-)

12. What color is your home painted?? Siding is grey, shutters are blue

13. What room is your computer in? Well, we have traveling laptops, but our desktop is in the basement

14. Are there pictures hanging in your family room?? Nothing "hanging" but on the fireplace mantel are photographs of the family

15. Are there any themes found in your home?? Ha ha....if I had any idea about decorating, maybe but I don't

16. What kind of laundry detergent do you use?? Tide coldwater or with Downy

17. Do you use dryer sheets?? Yep

18. Do you have any curtains in your home?? Yes, in the nursery and in our bedroom.

19. What color is your fridge?? White

20. Is your house clean?? Another laughable question - There are times when some of the rooms are acceptable, but mostly not

21. What room is the most neglected?? I would guess maybe the bathrooms?

22. Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?? Dirty - I take out the clean ones in the morning

23. How long have you lived in your home? 6 1/2 years

24. Where did you live before?? An apartment nearby

25. Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?? I do have a toilet cover on a few, but none that are fluffy

26. Do you have a scale anywhere in your home?? Yep, in our bathroom

27. How many mirrors are in your house?? about 8 or so

28. Do you have a garage?? Yes

29. Do you have ceiling fans? Oh yes. We've replaced just about every ceiling with them

30. Are you planning on moving anytime soon?? No way. We have a good mortgage rate, love the location, and moving does NOT sound fun right now. Especially with the housing market what it is.

MANY things to be thankful for

Oh my goodness. Looking back over the past few days, I have many, many people and things to be thankful for. I was so so nervous about the upcoming birth of the baby, mainly because I really like having a "schedule" and knowing when things are going to happen. Leaving it up to chance doesn't sit very well with me.

With Trevor's birth, I was completely caught off guard. He came early, and the labor was fast. However, I wasn't sure if I would be blessed a second time. I THOUGHT that it was one thing I could count on, in terms of comparisons between the two pregnancies, but that would be the ONLY thing that was similar between the two of them. So I was starting to wonder if the labors would be similar. And if it wasn't, would I still be able to go without any pain medication? The decision was taken out of my hands with Trevor, but if it was given to me, would I still say "no thanks?"

Well, anyway....no problems there. I'm very thankful, that while I did cut it WAY too close, I still did not have to decide for or against pain medication. They were even joking with me in the L&D room afterwards that they had to ask me all these questions like "do you have any allergies?" after the birth because there wasn't enough time beforehand.

Now, I need to take a few moments to be EXTRA EXTRA thankful for the wonderful husband and new daddy that accompanied me through this pregnancy and delivery. Now I don't want to make it sound like he wasn't helpful with Trevor - oh he was. But I think he did a much better job of preparing for this one than I did. That or the fact that it wasn't in the middle of a sleepless night when I delivered Gwen that he was much more well rested and on top of everything that needed to be done. He has and continues to change almost all diapers, be a "baby walker" although Gwen needs it MUCH less than Trevor did, plus taking care of household duties and just is so attentive to making sure that I can take care of Gwen like she needs to be. It makes me wonder how single moms do it. I don't even like thinking of it.

We had a home care nurse visit today, and she mentioned that I am not to do any vacuuming, laundry, or grocery shopping for 2 weeks. (Truth be told I'd already done laundry...oops...I did fess up though) Yikes! And how would I be able to accomplish this without both Russ and my family stopping by, making sure everything is going smoothly. Next on this list are all the people that have already or are planning on stopping over to help keep me sane and relaxed. I remember last time being very out-of-it. I'm sure a lot of it was because it was my first baby, not knowing what to expect and getting little-to-no sleep. But I sure missed the adult interaction. This time around, I'm getting a lot more sleep, and able to accept a lot more help from anyone that offers it. THANK YOU to all my friends and family for helping me through this transition. I am so lucky to have all of you, and so near by as well.

Russ and I were already able to have a dinner conversation after Trevor was done with his food. I never would have thought it possible within a week of the new baby, but I'll take it! Looking back over how we got to where we are today, although maybe a year ago, I was so frustrated by how things were not turning out how I thought they should, I now have the ability to look back and say that everything really has turned out how it should. We have a beautiful, healthy baby girl and an almost-4 year-old that is the perfect age to take it all in, and help us out without being a danger to his baby sister. Plus, although Gwen's pregnancy was much more worrisome for me, everything since then has made me so thankful that I had Trevor first. And funny thing was, he was a pretty easy baby. He didn't cry a lot, but he was a lot tougher to put to sleep, and he ate all the time. Even now, he is a very laid back child. As long as he is given advance warning, he adjusts well. Although compared to how Gwen is already acting, Trevor probably would be seen as a kid that doesn't adjust well. This girl is SO easy-going. I'm looking forward to seeing what she is capable of doing when she gets out of the sleeping-all-the-time phase.

Oh, and I think we saw glimmers of dimples on both cheeks today. We were wondering if we were going to have a child with dimples given that both parents have them. But when Trevor only has one, I guess anything is possible. We'll keep you updated on the "dimple" watch. In the mean time, enjoy a few more pictures we snapped the other day.

Introducing Gwendolyn Caroline

I'm not sure when I'm going to get on and make a more quality posts, but I at least have to get to the point of introducing our newest family member.

Gwendolyn Caroline was born on 3:33pm Wednesday, October 3rd. It was a very fast labor, and she has been a very laid back baby. Very different from Trevor as a newborn. All of us are adjusting to this new life, and Trevor has already become a very protective big brother. He loves to talk to her as long as she isn't crying. He already wants to play with her - especially Nascar.

Trevor and Alexander

So Trevor was able to have a new experience this weekend. My mom took him to his first Children's Theater production of the book called, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". We've been reading the book for a few weeks in preparation for the play, and talking about going to see the "show". (Side note, I tried saying that he was going to see a play, but he took it to mean that he was going to play something. So we called it a show instead.)

He has always been a bit apprehensive about doing things that he has never seen or heard of. Plus this was going to be something that was done without either mom or dad.

The show was yesterday at 5pm. Only lasted about 70 minutes, no intermission. But when it came time to go, he was saying he didn't want to. Part of the issue was probably that we built it up so much that when the time finally was here, he was so unsure of if it was going to be a good or bad thing that was happening, he decided he didn't want to do it.

So....I waited for my mom to call saying that the show was done, and we would meet them for dinner. We went up and met them at TGIFridays.

There are two versions of the story, the adult perspective and Trevor's perspective. I'll start with the adult's. The show was advertised for ages 5+. For an almost 4 year old, he did very well. I had the feeling he wouldn't make it the full 70 minutes of the show, seeing as how he still doesn't usually make it through a whole movie without getting up and running around. Actually, what happened was more that the whole experience was a bit of a sensory overload for him. They had musical numbers as well as audience participation that included screaming. Having never experienced something quite like this, I'm sure he had enough and started to melt down. At that point there was only like 5 minutes left in the show, so they ducked out a little early.

Now, you may think that he didn't have a good time but talking to him you would NEVER get that idea. He doesn't go 5 minutes without talking about Alexander, pretending to be him, remembering a scene from the show, or asking about something that he has in the playbill. It is pretty cute. I'm glad he had a good experience, and the next time he goes, in December to see "A Year with Frog and Toad" he'll at least remember what to expect. It will probably go much smoother.

Wii are Family

I have always been a girl that loves to play Nintendo games as well as games on the computer. I don't even know that I've ever even played a single game on a Sega system or an Xbox. I'm just a loyal fan of Nintendo. Thank goodness that I married a guy that feels similar in their choice of gaming systems.

Trevor is also fast becoming one of us with the Wii, a few computer games, and the Leapster. I bought the Leapster as a distraction toy for when we were traveling last January to Boston and then to Mexico. I had heard that "new" toys really keep them occupied for a good while. I was thinking about hiding the Leapster and only bringing it out for car trips and such, but then I thought that as long as I monitored how much he played the games, it would be ok. Lately, all three games have clicked for him. Part of it has to do with his dexterity, and some of it is trial and error. I'm really happy to see that one of his Leapster games has him actually writing numbers and letters, and I can hear that he is learning how to draw them very appropriately.

As far as the Wii goes....he REALLY gets into it, and gets a wonderful work out. This is a VERY big plus for me as I'm very much a blob and while I can walk around, running, jumping, and chasing are not a possibility at this time. So yesterday, Trevor got a nice workout and finally figured out how to bowl. Plus he is really good at it. He loves to beat the records, and is really working on his hardest sport: tennis. I can play with him or watch. He doesn't care.

And now that we just bought two additional remotes, all 3 of us can play along. Golfing is pretty fun. I'm pretty sure we are less than a year away where Trevor will be beating both of us at these games. He just takes to it so well. Must be in his genes.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything new to report on the new baby front. The tests I thought they would run are for next week. But it's not like they would help me go into labor. So here I sit, waiting another week for an appointment. I'll be sure to post if anything changes.....

Well, we made it this far.....

Yep, today is D-day. And another day where nothing is going on. After hearing at my last appointment that they will not let me go to 42 weeks, I think the thing that has been keeping me sane is knowing that I only have 13 more days AT MOST left of this pregnancy. It has kept me in a better mood knowing that I do have an end date through all of this. I think it has lowered my stress, pain, and insomnia. Now what's interesting to me is everyone around me and people that know I'm now past my due date. I have been getting a lot of sympathy comments. Which are kind of odd. There isn't anything I can do about it. It's one of those things that doesn't help to dwell on it, as I've found out. I probably could have avoided a lot of stress if I had just accepted the fact that this baby is not going to be here early like Trevor was.

Of course I could get surprised at my midwife appointment tomorrow. They start monitoring baby movement, measure for enough amniotic fluid, and I'm sure run a few standard tests. I guess there is a chance that things don't measure where they should, so they might have to induce, but I'm guessing that's just false hope on my part. I'm STILL not swelling except for the last few hours in the day. My blood pressure has remained within a few numbers of how I always am. And I'm actually still sleeping ok...once I relaxed and stopped worrying about when the baby would be here. I do, however, feel bad that a lot of the extended family are starting to have to go on a few trips for work and sports.....and I would feel bad if I had the baby at that time. But again, I don't think I can help it.....hopefully they will forgive him/her when they meet it.

I'll be back another day with the midwife appointment update. Wish us luck in these last few days!!!

Last day of being "early"

And no sign that anything is going to happen today. I guess I should feel happy that I haven't a lot of false labor thoughts. Like I haven't already been to the hospital 3 times only to be sent back home. It probably will happen quickly and I'll know right away. But it doesn't help that it hasn't happened yet.

So today is the last "early" day I can have the baby. After this date, I'm either having it on the due date (tomorrow) or I'll go LATE.......aarrrgghhh. I'm curious to see how the midwives will handle me on Wednesday for my appointment. Will they be sympathetic because they too didn't think I would make it this far? Will they be accepting like I am that this baby will come on his/her own time? I do have to start taking what are called Non-stress tests where they monitor the baby for I think 20 minutes or so? Making sure it moves appropriately, there is enough amniotic fluid remaining, and a few other things I'm not sure about. I may even have to schedule another appointment before a week.

Interesting stuff.....I'll let you know how it all goes. In the mean time, Trevor has been taking everything in stride. Russ has been helping me out with any miscellaneous projects around the house, and Trevor loves to be daddy's little helper.

This week, Trevor gets to go to the Children's Theater with "Bubba" on Sunday. I'm excited to hear how he will like that. I haven't taken him to a movie since Cars came out a year and a half ago. But the Children's Theater shows are less than an hour I believe.

And THEN.....here comes SEASON PREMIERE week. Russ is getting up to speed on Heroes, which we will keep as taped until he sees all of last season. At least I can watch a few other shows in the mean time...so I should be kept plenty busy. Then when the baby is here, I'll fall WAY behind. Hopefully the DVR can hold enough that I can just keep them for when I do have some time.

So that's what's been on my mind for today. Keep those labor vibes coming, for any of you that want to meet the baby soon. ;-)

Bringing you up to speed....

Hello all,

I'm very sorry that I haven't felt up to blogging lately. I can't exactly say things have been hectic here, although I really wish they were. As that would mean baby would be here. But nope. 2 days left until the due date, and at this point I have given up all hope that it will be here by then, and even the fact that I will have a September baby. And BELIEVE ME we have tried every "natural" way of inducing as possible.....this baby just wants to stay put.

Dealing with the fact that I'm still pregnant has been a big source of anxiety for me. And I also mistakenly thought that I might be able to convince the midwives to induce me possibly this week. After talking with them, their policy is no earlier than 41 weeks, no later than 42 weeks. After hearing that, and having my little melt-down, I have become much more accepting of what I can and cannot change, and how that impacts my own health and well-being.

So here I sit, having gotten done just about everything I could have possibly wanted to do before the baby gets here which leaves me with the boring activities of doing simple up-keep on the house and such. I'm not in a huge amount of discomfort, sleeping ok...especially since I let all the stress go.....and trying not to expect anything so as not to be disappointed.

I cannot be thankful enough that T is in preschool. He seems to be loving it. If I can get him to talk to me directly after it ends, he gives me a pretty good account of what happens, and what he learns. He is REALLY into the religious aspect of school. Last week they toured the church, and he loved talking to me about all the places God was, including his actual preschool room.

Trevor is also getting much better at both his Leapster and playing the sports games on the Wii. The Leapster is great for getting him a little more practice with things like math and reading skills, and the Wii really gives that kid a work-out because he gets so excited when he plays baseball or golf.

His reading skills are really coming along too as evidenced when he plays the Wii. In golf, it will congratulate you by putting the words "birdie, par, Bogey, double Bogey" after you have finished the hole. I know we haven't mentioned those words to Trevor yet, but when he saw the words on the TV, he thought the words translated to: "party, park, birdie, big birdie"

Anyway....that's what has been going on with us lately. I do promise a big welcoming post when the baby is here, so don't worry that I will forget about it. It has just been a little disappointing on my own part, and I haven't felt as up to it as I usually do. Thanks for everyone's understanding!!!

Sorry so long....

No, I haven't had the baby yet, but hopefully in the next two weeks it will be here.

Here are T's first day of school pictures:

Notice the nice bag that mom made for him ;-)

Starting to read

Another thing I've noticed lately, is that I think the concept of putting letters together to make words is finally sinking in. A LOT of it is simply remembering colors and symbols together with letters that make specific words (Like McD's, Target, Stop on a Stop sign, etc.) but we were at a restaurant Friday night and trying out making letters into words.


It is pretty cute, and a very proud mommy moment. It's not even so much that he gets things correct, it's that he tries, based on what he knows things to "sound" like. Some of them then jog his memory into a word he knows, and some just stay a little different sounding than the word that they are. The one that he really worked at was "Buzz". It sounded just like it was supposed to, but with two "Z" sounds at the end.


He is still "reading" his books by memory, but I'm pretty sure he's going to start putting that together too. And he also likes to play the game with me of "what does this spell?" But this is just another reason why I think preschool has started at a great time for him. Not that they even introduce any sort of words/reading, but I know they teach things, and he just seems ready to learn.

Speaking of preschool, yesterday was the first true day of school. I will post the first day of school picture in a little bit. Nothing too big to speak of. I think a lot of their day is playing with toys and each other until they establish rules and schedules with the kids. But Trevor was already asking when he can go back, so I think he's very happy to be there.

I guess I can read minds ;-)

I've always been able to sense what other people are thinking/feeling to a certain degree. Specifically people that I'm close to, not strangers on the street or anything. But really, it has come in handy A LOT with Trevor. Some of that has to do with the fact that he and I have a lot of the same personality traits, so I can get what he is thinking even without him saying anything.

Now I'm not perfect, especially if he was with someone else and he is telling me what happened. If I wasn't there, I don't know exactly what happened, but he's pretty good at expressing what he wants.

There have been a few examples of this recently. One was when we were at McD's. Unfortunately, I have learned that being this pregnant, Trevor knows he can quickly run away from me and get away without me being able to catch him. So we were finishing up, getting ready to leave, when I KNEW he was going to take off. I even stopped him and said, wait for me to hold my hand. I had to throw away the garbage. As I was walking to throw it away, he took off for the main entrance. I quickly scooted out the side exit and got to the front door before he could get out and into the street. I caught him just as a car was coming down that part of the road. No, the cars don't go fast at that point, but still....I KNEW he was going to run into the street, and unless I have a death grip on him, he wants to do what he wants to do.

Another time, we were driving up to "Grandma's" house and looking at the watertowers we were passing by. One of the ones was in a town called New Hope. He quickly asked if New Hope was like on "Star Wars". For those of you that aren't familiar - Star Wars Episode IV is titled "A New Hope". Trevor and Russ were playing a Star Wars Lego game on Nintendo where they had the story scrolling on the screen like they do in the movies. So Russ would read about "A New Hope" and Trevor thinks its pretty cool that New Hope is just like on Star Wars ;-)

And most recently, we have been talking A LOT about the new baby. Actually, a lot about when things happen. Specifically birthdays and such. But there are lot of things going on in September. So we've been talking about how Trevor starts school, Amy, Brian, and the new baby's birthday is in September (at least I hope so).... So through these talks, Trevor has always said that he first goes to school, then it's Amy's birthday, then the baby is coming. I don't ever remember saying that the baby would come after Amy's birthday, but I couldn't say for sure it would or wouldn't.

Well, Friday evening we went up to Grandma's house, and celebrated Amy's birthday. Immediately after we sung happy birthday, Trevor got very scared that the baby was RIGHT THEN going to come out, and he was going to have to watch. I knew exactly why he was scared and tried to calm him down. While we have brought Trevor to a few of my dr. appts he has always been really afraid whenever the doctor has gotten too close to me. We play doctor a lot with Dr. Trevor listening to the baby's heartbeat, but that's as far as he wants to go. He's not actually afraid of having a baby around, it's the actual act of me HAVING a baby. Thank goodness I haven't wanted to have Trevor in the delivery room with me. If it comes to it, I would much rather Russ and Trevor wait outside and me be by myself than put Trevor through that trauma.

Anyway, it really is nice to have a child I'm so connected with. It also makes it easy for me to tell if he really isn't sure about something, or if he is answering the best way he knows how. I can see it and feel it in his eyes. The goofball. I'll be sad when he grows to the point of not being around me as much. He is such a cool kid.

We made it! First day of school!

It finally came! Although it wasn't a true first day of school, it was the first day that Trevor was able to go to preschool, visit with his classmates, and play with his teachers. It was only an hour visit and normally preschool goes from 9:00 until 11:30 but it was a great way to get him introduced to the place and people. The parents were asked to leave and get some paperwork, have some discussions, etc. Unfortunately, we were not told this beforehand. We just thought it was a chance for us to play with the kids for that hour to get them used to the place. So when we were separated, there were a few tears but according to the teachers, the kids settled down quickly. (Trevor did fine....he's not really going through a separation anxiety this week ;-)

Parents got a bunch of paperwork and were introduced to the programs at both the church and preschool. Kids got a snack and I think a story. Trevor's friend Elizabeth is attending the same preschool so they were chatting as soon as they saw each other in the parking lot. E's mom and I were remarking that this could not have come at a more perfect time. Although we play with our kids, it just feels like they are entering a new realm of development where they could use a lot more stimulation and chances to learn things than we can give them. And we will be given a weekly lesson plan so instead of trusting the kids on answering the "what did you do in school" question we can tell them what we know they learned.

Upon my return to the class, Trevor was happy as always to see me. He also was very excited to show me that he learned about the weather. Now, he has picked up things about the weather like rain, sun, snow, and the seasons, but it was clear that he had never really talked about it in terms of "weather". So he had to show me what he "learned" and what happens when is all the different types of weather outside. MY does this kid love to learn and teach me about what he learns.

So - all-in-all I think it was a great experience. I'm feeling really happy about the choice in preschools and think he'll have a great time. And maybe even get tired out enough to have regular naps on Tuesdays and Thursdays! It's going to make those days go by entirely too fast!

To Do's

It is so strange to think that starting next week, I'm going to have around 2 hours to myself when I drop Trevor off at preschool. I know I could get a lot more done if I was not pregnant, but I think it will give me a pretty good amount of time to get a little more organized.

While I'm not a very good person about making lists, I really like that feeling of being able to cross things off and throwing the list away when I'm done. It also feels good to know that a lot of the things that I do need to do will not take much of my time. Organizing, laundering, sorting, etc.

The bigger projects I have been working on are things I am almost done with, so it will be nice to have those taken care of.

Sorry this post isn't going to be all that interesting, but I promise coming up, there will be plenty to talk about. Trevor's first day of preschool (where the parents are there) is tomorrow. And we are very excited about it. Hopefully he'll be ok getting up earlier than today. It is 8:38am and he is still asleep. Seeing as preschool starts at 9:00, we have to change this routine, and fast.....

Labor Day Holidays past....

You know, I always think about how it was growing up...the things we did as a family, vacations, trips to see relatives, etc....and compare it to what we do. I think part (most actually) of the big difference is the fact that my grandparents, and even all my aunts and uncles AT LEAST required a 3 hour car-ride to visit. My grandpa lives and has always since I can remember in Florida. GREAT for when we take a spring break in the middle of a cold and snowy winter.



Labor Day weekend, until my parents bought the cabin, was spent at Piney Ridge Lodge. It was a cabin-like place off of a big lake, up even more north than we already lived. About 3 hours. Not quite in the direction of Duluth, but still a while to drive. Although the cabins that you can rent do have all the nice hotel amenities, like cable TV, we always had the same cabin. Two beds, two twin beds up on a loft, but no TV. It caused us to find our own activities, or other activities. It was right on a lake...so sometimes it would involve a boat, more often it would be tennis, racquetball, or golf. Late at night, we might even get a treat by having dad take us to the really tiny "bar" type place. They had a pool table, jukebox, a popcorn machine....hmmm...what else? I think it was just the opportunity to stay up late. Oh, and another thing, we ate dinner and breakfast at the lodge. Lunch we did on our own. If it ever rained, we usually broke out a new puzzle.

So those are some of the activities we did as a family on our Labor Days. A lot of the holidays really have me wonder how and what we should do to start our own traditions. Not to say we haven't already, but there are going to be times when we should do things as our own family. I know in the years to come, there will be plenty of activities that will be keeping us busy, and some time away from all of that will really be welcome.

But as for this Labor Day (and FYI....no labor for this mom-in-waiting ;-), we had a very low-key but relatively nice weekend. Trevor was in one of his really good listening moments. Perhaps because we didn't rush him from place to place and activity to activity like we sometimes do. Or perhaps it was because he got a decent amount of sleep and was still able to run off a lot of energy. Whatever the reasoning, he was a great "listener" and that always makes it that much more enjoyable for the parents.

What will future holidays bring? Who knows. For now, we'll just have to enjoy what we have.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY #2 ELLIE!!!!

Just wanted to say that we wish "Baby Ellie" a HAPPY 2nd Birthday! Sorry we couldn't be at the cabin to see you guys this weekend, or last weekend at the reception, but hope to see you again soon! It has been a fun summer playing with you guys at the lake, at the park, and riding around in the wagon (and on your toys).

Love, Trevor ;-)

Sorry...we are slowing down....

We have a few things coming up...namely Trevor going off to preschool in 6 days, which he is very excited for, and yes, the birth of baby #2, but with this past weekend, I am hoping to gently coast into that time. We don't ALWAYS do something on a holiday weekend, but it is pretty normal. Either go to the cabin, go golfing, go to visit other extended family....but since the last time we were at the lake, travelling does NOT sound like fun...even if it is only a few hours away. There is always the State Fair. BIG downside to that is how busy it is over the holiday weekend. But again, being on my feet, walking around, only to enjoy the food just does not sit well with me.

So getting back to the previous statement, I'm hoping to coast into the time when the baby is born. I have lots of little projects I would like to do before the baby gets here, but who knows when that will be.

Maybe this weekend, I'll do a little "remembrance" of past Labor Day weekends. School always started after Labor Day in Minnesota, so it truly was the last chance at summer. Although I usually was a dork for getting excited to go back to school. Not usually for the educational part of it, more for the social.....

Anyway, I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday weekend. ENJOY!!!