New Years Eve

"I'm so excited I could poo." That's Eastie's motto du jour. Seriously, we've changed four poos in the 5 hours he's been awake. Must've been all that food he ate yesterday.

Easton finally got a full night's rest in last night and woke up nice and cheerful. He climbed into bed with us this morning like we usually do on days when Jason is home. Look how cute he is watching, "Elmo Potty" with Daddy...

Little snugglebug.

After breakfast we packed up all the Christmas stuff. Easton was not quite as helpful as you might hope. Oh well. It all got done. The key was to pack Easton away first...


Okay, not really but he did love playing in the totes of course. It's crazy to think that next year we'll have two little dudes getting in the way of the decorating and de-decorating.

E's down for his nap now like a good boy. No rock/bed/rock games today. Whew! After he gets up we're heading to this pizza/music joint where they do something called "Baby Boogie" every Sunday. A mom friend of mine told me about it and invited other mom friends for their special 3-6 New Year's Eve (and midnight on Pluto) Baby Boogie. We'll see how it is. I think they have music and some dancing for the tots. It'll be nice to just get out, even if it is during the Broncos game. I'm sure they've got TVs. Tonight I think Jason and I plan to watch the Will Ferrell NASCAR movie (not expecting much) and then hit the sack right after the ball drops. Of course I can only speak for myself there but it sounds like a good enough plan.

And, back to me and this pregnancy. Here is a pic of me at 31 weeks 1 day last pregnancy:

Yes, that is really me as the Stay Puft marshmallow. I can hardly recognize myself. Scary. Why didn't Jason and I pick up on something being wrong weeks before I looked like that? Sheesh.
Here's me at 31 weeks 1 day (today) this pregnancy:

I still look like me. Whew!

Okay dudes, that's all from our end. I'll chat you all up next year! Hardee har har!

I Got to Leave the House Today!

After being cooped up for days Jason was sweet and brought us home something from life on the outside: pizza. What a special dinner treat! I'm looking forward to our 3 day weekend.

This morning after we all got up Jason had to go out and shovel the latest round of snow. Easton and I were soooo ready to get out, though. Finally, all three of us headed out to Target. We got quite a lot of things for Easton's room which was nice to get out of the way. And, while at Target look what we saw!

I've been looking all over for something like this!...we run a humidifier in E's room every night (when we put it away he gets sick) and we're going to need to have 2 humidifiers now that we'll have 2 kids (probably always sick at the same time). We didn't buy it yet but I so want one. Soccer, I think. The football one looks wrong.

After shopping, Jason took us to get my favorite new sandwich for lunch just to make me extra happy (I was crabby and on edge this morning). Yum! Then it was time for E's nap. He tried to play his, "Bed. Rock. Bed. Rock." game that I'm not into. We sat to rock and he told me, "Bed" so I said, "Easton if I put you in your bed now I'm not going to come back and rock you." You know...hoping he'd understand what he was getting himself into. Well, he was not happy and kept carrying on about it whether I was in the room or not. Finally, he looked at me with his red, tear-stained face and begged, "Rock. Please!" Whaddya know...I gave in and rocked him. "Please" really is a magic word.

He woke up after way too short a nap (45 minutes) and was very unpleasant. We finally got him to come around and we ended up having a fun afternoon. We did Play-Doh as a family. Here are J's creations:

That's a Toot or Puddles pig and me. Yes, me...made even more accurate with the disgusting chin pimple. Thanks, babe.

Eastie also showed off his new Christmas ensemble from The Maws. "Pose!"


Then Easton was being silly...I noticed him leaning up against the cabinet with his hands in his pants:

Why was he doing that? Because Daddy was (hands in pockets).

Awwww, he was trying to be just like Daddy. After that Jason gave me a pat on the backside so what did Easton do? Smacked me on my rear. Silly. We just love him.

After some hanging out at home we went back out shopping. Home Depot this time and we got Easton's furniture paint and some new drawer pulls. We came home and rustled up a little dinner. Easton was actually a good eater today. You know why? Because he wasn't drinking any milk. His sippy for the day was a cup that he hates and so he threw fits for other cups and therefore wouldn't drink much milk. Stinker. But we're just as stubborn (today's naptime excluded) and wouldn't give him another cup even though he stood at the cupboard and wailed on and on about, "Orange....green!" Something other than this cup. At the end of the day we took off the lid and dropped a straw in so he'd at least get some milk. At least he was eating. And being silly:

Then our dueling "muckahs" (vaccuums) went to work cleaning up the dinner crumbs:

What fun!

We moved on to a little more playing before bed:



And he finally went straight to bed on time tonight. Thank goodness! The past two nights he's been up for over an hour after I put him to bed on time. It's been crazy. He's not upset for that whole hour but sometimes he'll call out, "Buckah!" (blanket) like he wants me to cover him back up so I go in and he's still covered. Goob. His naps the past two days were also crazy long and ran a little later into the afternoon than normal so maybe his 45 minute "nap" today was his way of getting himself back on track? Who knows? Still...it was nice to have him be a little more back to normal tonight.

In closing, I'd like to point out that we've made it to 31 weeks as of today. Yay! Still a ways to go but no sign of problems yet. Very encouraging. My tickers say that the baby should weigh around 4 pounds at this point. Huh?!?! I guess Easton's growth really was restricted by my placenta issues. He wasn't even 4 pounds at 33 weeks. Deuce feels like he could be 4 pounds already. I'm surprised he's got as much room left in there as he does, moving around like a crazy man. I didn't feel Easton quite like I feel this one.

Okay, well, sorry this post didn't get done earlier...thanks to the faulty nap and trying to watch videos of Saddaam with J I didn't have time till tonight. But, now I'm done and off to read my book while Jason watches football next to me. G'Night!

Snowed In...AGAIN nuthin' to do but document the day with pictures

Easton and I are stuck at home again. We were both a little on edge this morning, I think we're just bored of being entirely cooped up just the two of us. Oh well. I sort of wish that even if we didn't have another car with 4WD, that maybe we had another car we could put Easton in for short journeys. We can't with J's truck. Again, oh well.


He looks pretty cute today though...I've got him in his trendy new jeans and a shirt his Maws sent awhile back. Too bad I can't take him out to show him off. I guess pictures will have to be enough for today, I s'pose.


His cute li'l backside...


We're trying to have fun...puzzles...



...coloring...


"Da red"


...getting in the toy box...

We emptied out quite a lot of stuff on Christmas Eve to put away for awhile. We had to make room for the new haul, you know.

...Play-Doh...
Here's a lovely slideshow of my creations and what Easton called each of them:

"Hap Birtee!"


The "Happy birthday" hat he gave himself gave me the idea to light a candle and see if he knew how to blow it out so we'd have time to practice before his birthday. He knew exactly what to do...he's a real expert:

He wanted to "bwoh" again and again. This is his excited face as one is coming in:

We've already had a couple of Easton's pals RSVP for his party which is exciting. I was afraid no one would come. And, truthfully, just because people say they'll come doesn't always mean they will. Especially when dealing with toddlers, snow, and the cold/flu season--oh yeah, and football playoffs.

Here's the little dude belting out "Hap Birtee (long pause) YOOOOOU" while I accompany him on his new keyboard:


And back to last night--we finally broke out the bath crayons Santa put in Easton's stocking. He went to town coloring 'round the tub and they clean up pretty easily too, Easton even helped wipe it all off before he got out of the tub. Here's the little Picasso:




And in closing news for today, my OB's office finally called with my recent lab results and they concur everything is fine...good thing...since it's been 5 days! And I also forced Easton to eat a whole thing of yogurt for lunch again. Poor guy. It was done with the promise of 5 M&M's (I gave him 6 since he did so well) and promising to let him blow out the candle a couple more times. He did not want to finish it but I was a big meanie today and made him. I don't usually like to "force" food into him and with the guilt I'm experiencing I know why. What a trooper to put up with me. And he didn't yak! That's always a bonus.

Alright people, time to go! Tune in next time...

More Friggin' Snow!!!

Okay, between this afternoon and tomorrow "they're" forcasting another 10-16 inches of this dang white stuff! This is crazy, people! Since when do we live at the North Pole? After the traumatic drive home in the midst of the last blizzard Jason wanted to take the 4WD today. I understand, of course, but Easton and I still don't like being holed up in the house. And we'll be that way tomorrow too. Blech. Doesn't Mother Nature know I've got some birthday shopping to finish?

At least we got out for a bit yesterday. Then my mom and Lauren came over to help me clean my basement. My poor mom...when I moved out of my house with my ex-husband I moved in with them for awhile. Then when Jason and I got married I never officially moved out (of my mom's). So I had TONS o' crap being stored at her house. Not so nice. She bought a bunch of big totes and boxed up my stuff and every time she'd come visit our house she'd bring along a tote or two and we'd stash it in the basement. Problem was, I never went through any of it and our basement was getting overwhelmed with lime green totes. So, since she's off school for winter break she volunteered for Lauren to watch Easton and she'd come help me sort through everything. SOOOO not her job but I took her up on it anyway. Well, while Easton slept the entire time I went through everything. My mom lugged away bags and boxes of trash and things to donate to Goodwill. I have a big box of stuff to keep somewhere else in the house. Not bad! I couldn't believe it took me so long to get around to it. After Easton woke up they watched him while I tackled another project 2 years in the making. It was awesome!

My reward??? Dinner out. Jason treated all of us to dinner. Yay! As we were getting ready to leave the house I took out a couple more bags of trash. On my way back in I stupidly tripped over Easton's stroller and fell! I normally walk around with the grace of a ballerina (okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but I am pretty sure-footed). Anyway, down I went in the garage...I hit my knees, my shoulder on the car, caught myself on my hands and yet still somehow managed to bonk my head on the ground like a top-heavy toddler. Lovely. I was in there by myself so I had to heave myself back inside where I sat down for a moment. My belly was contracting from the jarring so I gulped down a bottle of water and then we left for dinner. The contractions stopped at dinner like I knew they would. Everything is fine but I'm a little sore. Silly me!

After dinner Lauren came back to spend the night with us. Easton just loves "Ruh Rah". We all got Easton to bed and then hung out and chatted while Jason rubbed my aching back. My shirt was slightly hiked up over my belly and Baby Deuce had fun weirding Jason and Lauren out by poking parts out awkwardly and moving my belly about for them to watch. I told them, "You think it looks weird, think how I feel."

This morning Jason went off to work in my car :) and I made pancakes for me, E, and Lauren. I told Easton to go knock on Lauren's door to wake her up. I heard him come up but I didn't hear much else so I went and took a peek. The door must've not been latched all the way because he was able to push it open and he was just standing in the hall quietly watching her sleep. But then that made me laugh so she woke up anyway. Cute. My mom came to get her and they hung out with Easton for a bit and then left.

It was naptime too and the poor guy...he had a hard time going down. I was getting tired of re-rocking him but we were unfortunately in the habit for a while there. Time to stop! So, we rocked for a very very long time then I put him down and he whined about it for awhile before finally going to sleep. Oh well.

Now that he's napping I'll have to do some more birthday shopping online as well as email out a couple of birthday invites. Better run but I'll leave you with a few pictures of Easton enjoying some gifts and gift boxes over the last few days:
See, I told you he digs that helmet:



Zoning in front of the tube on his "cycle":

The Next Big Thing...

Easton's big boy room! We are still getting everything together for his new room. Here's his new comforter:

I'd say we like it okay but don't love it. Once it arrived in the mail we liked it even less as it's a little more "country" looking than it is in the picture. Oh well. We wanted him to have sports balls and this is the best we could find. We also got him some red sheets like they show in the picture. He's also getting these as a gift from his Maws:

They're stuffed like throw pillows!

And he'll be very excited about this:

I love the little storage bins under it. So far it hasn't arrived yet but it has shipped. They estimated delivery through today. It better come soon.

He's getting a couple other cute accessories from The Alabamaws too:



I still have no clue what we'll be doing with the window--yikes! And we've got to pick up some other things like a bedrail to keep him from falling out and all. It's fun,though. I'm sure he'll like the room to hang out it, maybe not to sleep in at first. We'll see...

We've got some random furniture pieces that we'll be painting the navy blue color from the bedding to make them sort of look like they "go". Just a small bookshelf and then my old dresser from college. It was my step-dad's before it was mine so it's old. We plan to put updated drawer pulls on it though. Still...not the nicest piece...perfect for a rowdy young'uns room!

Anyway, speaking of getting all this stuff done Easton and I need to head out shopping. Ugh, SOOOO not what I want to do right after Christmas but we're starting to run out of time here. I cannot believe my baby boy is getting so big...well, old...not big in his case and I cannot believe our next one will be here soon. Time passes too quickly. Okay, so we're outta here...bye!

'Twas the Day After Christmas

Guess what!!! I'm sitting here blogging to you from our brand new laptop! How fancy! Thank you for such a perfect gift, Alabamaws! We're loving it already. You see, having a laptop solves our issue of where to put our "office" once Easton moves into his new bedroom. That's where our desktop currently is. We're very excited and Jason has big plans for the other computer and ways to let the two computers "talk" to one another. I'm so glad he knows about this kind of stuff. I sure as heck don't.

We had a wonderful morning. Let me just start by saying I'm sooooo glad the brunch was Christmas Eve. Christmas would have been no fun if we had to make room for all that plus driving. Easton woke up just after 7 and we both went into his room to get him and wish him a merry Christmas and such. He was cranky so we reminded him it was Christmas and Santa came and blah blah blah...should we go check it out? We made it down the stairs and Easton passed right over the entire tree/Santa area heading for his Uniqua he got last night. Goober. But, then J and I made big gaspy surprised noises at the stuff we saw 'round the tree so he came to check it out. He was so happy to see his new "cycle".

Santa also left him a helmet and knee and elbow pads to go with it. He also brought Easton a Mr. Potato Head, 2 new books, and some bubbles. Easton would've been thrilled with just the trike. He did love the helmet too. In fact, if you would have to choose what his fave gift from today was simply based on the amount of time he spent with it then it would have to be the helmet. He likes wearing it. A lot.

After checking out the cycle and such we finally were able to get him to start digging through his stocking where he found lots more goodies. However, he got bored and kept wanting to play with Mr. Potato Head...especially the glasses. Jason and I used this as an opportunity to go through our own stockings. After a bit of coaxing while still trying to keep things fun and enjoyable (and hiding Mr. Potato Head and the glasses) we were able to get Easton to go through the rest of his stocking. Jason would push him on the tricycle up to his stocking and he'd get out one thing, then we'd do it again. Finally we made it to the end: some of his stocking loot included soap crayons for the bath, regular crayons, a dog coloring book, Playdoh and tools, a few candies, an Elmo toothbrush and his first tube of toothpaste (doc said start at age 2 with paste), Backyardigans Band-aids and a few other things.

Once we finally got through the whole stocking we decided to have our breakfast. We enjoyed French toast made "special" by using cinnamon raisin bread instead of our everyday wheat. Jason also picked out some turkey sausage links and mint mocha bottled Frappacinos to really make it fancy. Easton even ate a bit and then we moved on to our unwrapping.

There was quite a bit of unwrapping to do. It seems that Jason and I had both a "textile" themed Christmas in mind and while he got mostly clothes...and a new robe...

I also got some clothes and new towels I'd been wanting. My "big" gift was a breast pump...something I'd wanted since Easton was born.

Easton really cleaned up, literally...

The Maws gave him all sorts of mini cleaning goodies, the tag said it was for him but "a maid" is really a gift for me :) He got this vaccuum, a mop, a whisk and dust pan, and a feather duster. Very fun!

He got a cute new outfit from his Maws as well. We gave him a pair of Moose jammies and when he opened them he handed them to me and said, "There (you) go". He didn't want them so much. He also opened those jeans I found awhile back ('member his studly black and white model pose?)

If Jason and I had a textile theme, Easton seemed to have a noisy plastic theme. His vaccumm makes sounds, he got a keyboard, 3 singing Backyardigans figures, the Elmo TMX, the "Cars" DVD...and a bunch of other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Not that I mind the "noise"...just commenting. He also got some quieter Legos and wooden peg puzzles.

The little sweetie would have been so happy with just any one of his many gifts (except for maybe the clothes). I can't believe he'll be getting more stuff in just 2 weeks for his birthday.

He also helped Blitz with his gift/stocking. One item was a can of food (he only eats dry most of the time). Anyway, J asked Easton if he wanted to give Blitz a snack (meaning the canned food). Easton said yes and proceeded to get out a box of crackers and the jar of peanut butter and set them next to Blitz. Ha ha ha!!! What a hoot! I'm hooting quietly now as I remember it. Hilarious.


After opening all the gifts and playing with 'em for a bit he went down for a nap. I started this blog entry then but we had taken 175 pictures and movies and I hadn't gotten to sort through them for the blog yet. I took a shower instead. After about an hour and a half Easton woke up crying. I went in and rocked him and it was too sweet. Y'all know how much I cherish our cuddly time. He sat on my lap facing me and sort of curled around my belly and rested his head on top and fell asleep again. He slept that way for at least half an hour. I kept trying to summon Jason to the room with rhythmic foot taps on the floor but he didn't hear. I wanted a picture, and I wanted Jason to put my green bean dish in the oven and such. However, since he didn't get my foot tap message I had to put E down and he woke up right away. Oh well. We got everything ready for my grandma's house and were on our way.

Her house was dandy as usual. Once we all got there we exchanged more gifts with all the rest of them. Even Baby Deuce got a few things! Easton got some more cool stuff...an autographed (by the illustrator) book, magnetic Fridge Phonics, an animal CD and song book, a moosie shirt, and a really fat stuffed dog... He enjoyed the cracker/cheese ball hors d'oeuvres but that was about it. Not too long after dessert we decided to hit the road. We put him in his jammies and had him say goodbye to everyone. I guess Laverne felt just about right to him...

He snuggled right in and stayed there. I was plesantly surprised. Very sweet. But, we made him leave with us anyway. He didn't fall asleep in the car yet again. Oh well. He was easy to get down once we got home.

What a day! What a day! It was a great Christmas. I look forward to next year with our two little guys. Next big thing--Easton's birthday--more on that another time. That's all she wrote, folks, but click here if you want to see a long (5 1/2 minute) montage recapping our morning. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays as well. God bless us everyone!