Yet another busy weekend

I THINK we are finally at the end of our crazy busy weekends, until the baby arrives. Friday night Russ and I went bowling with the moms and dads that have kids around Trevor's age. I found out that bowling is something I can do, even as pregnant as I am. So that was nice. And we didn't stay up quite as late as we would have if we had played cards, which was the original plan.

Saturday was the 10 year High School Reunion for Russ's High School. Seeing as how Russ took charge of the reunion, we were there from beginning until end of both events. Starting out with the picnic up in Brooklyn Center and ending downtown Minneapolis at the Palomino restaurant. We were on the road starting at 10:15 or so, and ended after midnight. It was a fast paced, but hard day on a pregnant lady as I had to spend most of the entire day on Sunday trying to get rid of the swelling, tired feeling I had.

Russ did a great job, as he always does when he plans things. And from what I overheard, and was told, everyone in attendance enjoyed the reunion.

Trevor got some quality time with his aunt Tracy on Friday, and Uncle Derek (and future Aunt Kyrsten) on Saturday. He was BEAT on Sunday, and is still a little worn out a few days later. Now I know, from my childhood that things you are interested in do not always turn into what you do with your life because when I was younger, I LOVED (and actually still do) to go to Laundro-mats. Family loved to say that when I grew up, I was destined to run a laundro-mat. Unfortunately, my career path never really went in that direction.

But with everything that Trevor has been interested in - probably since he was a little over a year old, it is hard to see that he won't be continually interested in some form of cars, traffic, or geography field. Yes, the boy does have a wonderful memory, like his dad that uses it often to quote and recite movies from, but whenever we take rides in the car, he loves to ask about cities we are in, looking for water towers, and asking about signs and streets that we are crossing. When we drove up to the picnic for the reunion on Saturday, we drove past 3 water towers. Edina, St. Louis Park, and then Brooklyn Center. He has seen the first two often enough, but was pretty excited to see the new one. So he was telling Kyrsten and Derek about it, but could not remember what city was on the last one. So he was asking them. Unfortunately, they thought it was another city around Bloomington, like Eden Prairie. But when he asked me about it the next day, I remembered, reminded him that it was Brooklyn Center, and he got very excited that that was the city that he saw.

Oh....speaking of excitement, we drive by the church that Trevor will be going to preschool almost anytime we go anywhere. So I've been talking to him about it, saying that it is where he will be going to school, "in September". But now, I've started to count down the days. And yesterday, it was down to 10 more days. At which point, I think he understands how close 10 days is, and was REALLY excited to hear it was so close. And now today, it's 9 more days....I have a feeling he's going to enjoy school a lot. And I'll have plenty more stories to tell.

No really...what do you think???

I wish everyone could live a day in the body of a 8 month pregnant woman. It would AMAZE you how many people want to touch you, talk to you, ask you questions, give you their unsolicited advice, and just in general sound like they care when in reality if you weren't pregnant, you wouldn't get a second glance.

The check-out lady got me at the grocery store yesterday. I only had a small basketful of groceries, but she quickly said, "How are you and your little girl doing?" Uh, what? She then clarified by saying, "You know you are having a girl, right?" I corrected her by saying that we had not found out. I then had to listen to her harp on me for not finding out. Like that was the worst thing in the world I could have ever done. And apparently her expert opinion is because of how I'm carrying the little babe. Weird thing is, that she thought I looked like I was carrying high, and I've always felt like the baby is going to squirt out if I take one wrong step...that's how low it feels.

Anyway....Between all the questions, and incredulous thoughts as to how far along I look.... It's kind of hard to take when you don't like the attention to begin with. Oh well...just a few more weeks hopefully. Then my life will be turned upside down, yet again. BRING IT ON!!!!

Going to the Children's Museum

Either it was the fact that Trevor is at the perfect age to go to the Children's Museum, or the fact that it currently is featuring Curious George, which Trevor loves to watch, or he went during one of his really good moods. OR...we got a combination of all three.





From the time we entered the parking ramp, until we left, we spent 3 1/2 hours there. Amazing since I'm not even wanting to do anything other than sleep for that length of time. Trevor was his usual "scared" self as soon as the mascot Curious George was anywhere nearby, but did love the statue, balloon, and any other picture he saw. We then went to the "Habitot" room where he only has another 3 months before he is "legally" kicked out. It was a good place to run around, through tunnels, pretend you are a frog....all around good time.





We ate a quick lunch at McD's, then went right back to the museum. We got him into a child-size town. They had a bus, stoplight, post office, grocery store, doctor's office, marketplace/restaurant, and a music video studio. I was amazed at how Trevor loved to watch himself on TV in the music studio and just play his guitar. He also LOVED delivering and mailing letters. He even got to live out his dream of being a car for a little bit when he watched the stoplight for a bit.



We spent just a little time in the craft area where he painted a picture and played with some finger paint. We completely passed over another section of the museum that he would have had fun with, but it was fast approaching naptime. And boy could you see it in his eyes. We were able to buy T's first Curious George book, and ever since then, he has been asking when we can go back. Both Bubba and Dad would like to take him back, and that's sure fine with me. It was VERY crowded, but it is set up very nicely for kids his age. I'm sure it won't be long before he's back again. Maybe as a date for when the new baby arrives. Until then, every time he sees Curious George, he loves to say that he saw him...and that he now has his book. What a cute kid!

I guess there is a rule about "tagging"?

Heck, I love survey type things anyway, but if I get tagged, I'm supposed to do the same survey? Is that right???

JOBS I'VE HAD:

• Baby sitter
• Hostess at a restaurant
• Jr. camp counselor
• Personal Care Attendant
• Office Assistant Temp
• Dorm Receptionist
• Purchasing Intern
• Business Analyst
• Buyer
• Cashier

MOVIES I NEVER GET SICK OF: (No laughing please)

• The Princess Bride
• Muppets Take Manhattan
• Good Will Hunting
• Clue
• Star Wars (any of the 6)
• Bring it On
• Cutting Edge
• Grease

PLACES I'VE CALLED HOME:

• White Bear Lake, MN
• Lake Elmo, MN
• Minneapolis, MN
• Bloomington, MN

FAVORITE TV SHOWS:

• Dawson's Creek
• Party of Five
• The Muppet Show
• Incredible Hulk
• Friends
• ER (only about the first 6 seasons or so)
• Real World (about the first 10 seasons, minus the Europe season)
• Grey's Anatomy
• Lost
• Prison Break
• Nip/Tuck
• The Amazing Race

FAVORITE VACATION SPOTS:

• Personally, it is Maui, Hawaii
• As a family, I'm sure it will be Disney World in a few years
• The Cabin at Hatfield
• Anywhere warm and relaxing in the winter months

FAVORITE WEBSITES:

• www.connectedmoms.com
• www.pogo.com
• There are more, but those are the two that I visit frequently right now

NOW I'M TAGGING:

• Brian because he's the only other blogger that I know that hasn't already been tagged!

Wow. There really IS light at the end of the tunnel!

Wherever the phrase came from "Terrible Twos" is NOTHING compared to the way more difficult and challenging threes. I'm not sure if I have selective memory, but Trevor was a really good toddler from about a year until right around age 3. Granted, he was probably very spoiled with attention from family and such, and learned to enjoy the variety of activities I had him in, but I thought for some reason I was just lucky in having a very easy-going and well behaved 2 year old. THEN, 3 years old hit. It took a while to find our own discipline technique because the "time outs" on the stairs were literally a joke to Trevor. Eventually, he responded best to warning, and then being brought up to his room for a time out.

Anyway, since using the time outs, we haven't gone very long without having to use them at least a few times a week. Also, I don't know what I've mentioned before, but Trevor also knows how to test any and all adult authorities in his life. And he knows what he can and can't pull on them. He has had some GREAT swimming teachers, a wonderful music teacher, and some very lax (which Trevor then takes over and does whatever he wants) other teachers.

Overall, the area where we struggle with is really "listening". It is hard as a parent to not get immediately frustrated after asking something that to you seems so common sense. But also to know that you have to let your child (within reason) decide for himself if he is going to listen, and if not pay the consequences for those choices.

So I have heard, through some of the other moms in last year's ECFE class that have older children, that it really will not get past this independence phase until right around the time they go off to Kindergarten. Which I guess is at least somewhat good given that I would hate for a teacher to have to deal with crazy, limit testing 3 year olds (GOOD LUCK PRESCHOOL TEACHERS!!!). But that's also a little sad given that if that is the case, parents have to finally get a break, only to ship off their better behaved children to school for most of the week?

Ok....back to my point. Yesterday, for whatever reason, Trevor decided to have a very good day. And what suprised me even more was that he KNEW he did well. And he knew what he had to do to keep that idea going. I was praising him all day. At the end of the night, we were going to go upstairs to bed and he said he wanted to keep being a good listener, so I didn't even have to ask twice. Up the stairs he went.

Now I know, we will have plenty more days of the 3-year old testing his limits but it was so nice to get even a glimpse of what he's going to be like after this phase.

The Weekend is OVER

Actually, now that I think of it, that would be a much more appropriate heading for next weekend. Next weekend, we have something going on every day, including Friday night. It's going to be a busy one. This last weekend was nothing compared to that, yet I'm exhausted and not sleeping well, so I'm probably a very cranky girl.

I do want to say yet another huge THANK YOU to my Cmoms friends that threw me a lovely baby shower on Friday night. And not that I didn't think that I was about to have a baby before the shower, but this REALLY kicked it into gear for me. I still need to go out and get a few small items to feel a bit more prepared for the little "Kermie".

And what is really cool about these "showers" (we've had one for each of our second - and in one case third children) is that we have figured out how to add webcams to the mix, so we can watch the honoree open the gifts and even occasionally get a glimpse of the kids if they are still awake.

Fast forward to Saturday..... Tracy and I tried our luck at a local card club in a Ladies only Poker event. Tracy did very well....outlasted more than half the field. And I just could not get the cards I needed to stay in the tournament. I did make it to the first break which is an hour and a half. But the main point was that we both had a really good time, and maybe if they keep doing them we'll play in another one someday.

While we were at cards, Trevor, dad, Grandma, and Amy all got to go to the zoo. It wasn't a very nice day, but there is plenty to do indoors so they got their day's worth of fun animals.

So on to the week. Going to run some errands, have some visitors, and prepare for the busy weekend ahead.

My Story (A survey)

Hi, my name is: Kristine

but you can call me: Krissy

Never in my life have I: worked as a waitress in a restaurant

The one person in my life who can drive me nuts is: My wonderful son....he knows exactly what to do to get me going.....HOW do they learn that so young???

When I'm nervous: I get very very introverted and try to stay away from people as much as possible...or if it is something I'm going to do in public, I get big butterflies in my stomach

The last song I listened to: Well, Aladdin is on now, so I guess "Friend like Me" sung by Robin Williams

If I were to get married right now, it would be to: Um...I think my husband?

My hair is: Freshly colored and cleaned. I feel oh so pretty ;-)

When I was 4: I was living in White Bear Lake....I don't remember much of that time....

Last Christmas: Lots of fun....it was the first year Trevor really liked hearing the stories about Santa Claus and getting and opening presents

I should be: doing more to prepare for #2, but I'm just so gosh darn tired all the time!!!

When I look down I see: a big belly ;-)

The happiest recent event was: pretty much the whole pregnancy, now just waiting to find out if it's a boy or a girl

If I were a character on 'Friends': Yep, Monica here too

I know these girls: Who have been so much fun to get to know while our kids get to know each other as well.

By this time next year: I'll have an almost 1 year old!!! AHHH....that is so strange to think about!

My current gripe is: that I don't have magic powers to snap my fingers and things will take care of themselves. A girl can dream, right?

I have a hard time understanding: why it's so hard for me to realize that I'm too stubborn for my own good, yet have it be so hard to change.

If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: well depending on what it was, and who I was with, either Trevor (because he is the easiest to tell) or Russ (because he would actually know what it would be)

I want to buy: a fun vacation for my family

Where do you plan to visit: Well, the cabin a lot, but hopefully Tracy at Boston College again this year

If you spent the night at my house: You would sleep in the bedroom downstairs...at least the kid wouldn't bother you!

The world could do without: people who do not understand how much pain they cause their families when they choose to drink and drive.

Most recent thing I've bought myself: I guess this hair treatment?

Most recent thing someone else bought me: the Dam celebration T-shirt. Thanks mom!

My middle name is: Renee

In the morning I: usually feel the best I will for the entire day. It's all downhill from there...

Last night I was: listening to my Rainbow Relaxation CD....ahhhh...that's a good time

There's this guy I know who: is busy with a ton of projects, yet has to put up with a crabby pregnant lady and their energetic son.....Did ya think this was what married life would be???

If I was an animal I'd be a: Cat....I love to sleep!

A better name for me would be: Mommy

Tomorrow I am: having a shower for baby #2....I'm SO excited!!! Mostly just to visit with my friends! They're the bestest!

Tonight I am: going to just try to make it through the afternoon

My birthday is: December 25th

The funniest word is.....RRT

As I've said before, Trevor is really into finding out how letters form words and the such. One of my college friends Heather got Trevor the Leap Frog Word Whammer after seeing him play with it at her house. He always liked the ABC song that it would sing, but now he has started using it again when it helps you make words. Especially when it asks you to make rhymes. So now we play rhyming games. "Mommy, what rhymes with table?" He can even get some of the simpler ones like Dog and Fog.

Well, as part of the baby preparations, Russ took off the letters of Trevor's name in the nursery to move into his room. But to him, they are letters to make words. *As a side note, I never realized how many words can be made from "Trevor" - Vote, voter, rot, vet, etc....

So he was moving the letters around, and asking me what they spelled. I would try to help him out to make actual words, and of course that wasn't all that interesting. And when the "word" RRT was made, that was the best thing ever. He loved the sound of the word. So he asked me again and again. Then, he'd even add an "o" to the end, to make RRTO. That was a pretty good word too. I wonder if we'll be able to get TREVOR up on the wall, or if they just turned into spelling letters.

The "Town" of Hatfield

This is the "town" we go to visit when we are at the cabin. I really should give some background on this place. It's a very unique place to visit. I think the town is actually incorporated, as it can be found on a map of Wisconsin, but the only mention of the population of the town is as follows:

I've been to small towns before, and it is hard to adjust being a "big city" girl. Small towns seem to be against some technologies, or understand how hard it is to make money using things like credit card readers. But Hatfield understands its place as a summer vacation place for families, so they don't have that issue. However, the population that stays there either year-round or for the entire summer is well known since it is such a small area. So in that way, it is a little like a small town.

We were there this past weekend, and had WONDERFUL lake weather on Friday afternoon when we got there. Spent a good few hours just laying on rafts while Trevor swam around in a very warm lake. We even went on a boat ride around 6:30-7:00 where the temperature was still in the high 80s and since it was a Friday night, not much traffic was out on the lake.

On occasion, Hatfield has an event. Usually it is a Flea Market. This weekend, it was the 100 year anniversary of the dam that was built onto the Black River and Arnold Creek spillways to create Lake Arbutus. Truthfully, I could have skipped the "festival", but seeing as how there isn't exactly many "festivals" in this town, it was probably better that we went. We were only there about an hour or so.And funny thing....about a week ago, Trevor was watching the food network and they were showing how to make Cotton Candy. He was very interested in making it, and of course I had to get him a bag of it to try. He said he liked it for about 2 minutes, and then wasn't really sure he liked the fact that it could be smooshed down to just about nothing. It was a very new texture for him. My cousin's daughter Ellie got to try some. Looks like she liked it too. Around an hour after we got to the festival, we had to go home as black clouds were threatening.

One final image I want to leave you with....I got a T-shirt that commemorated this wonderful event. On the front of the shirt is the button we wore to enter the festival, and the back is a nice little quip about the event.

Be Back Later.....

Our cable modem is out. We had a bad storm even though we were in Hatfield at the cabin. So don't know if it's an issue with our modem or Comcast. Until it is fixed, I'm just doing the necessary stuff to get by. As soon as it's back on, I'll be back. Until then!!!