Monday's are always a doozy when it comes to the blog lately, eh? This week is no exception...in fact, it might even be a double dooze. :)

So, good grief, where to start? It seems I always like chronological order. I guess that takes us back to Thursday. It was that day that my boys went to sleep so well that night, right? Here's part of the reason...when they came home from Ben's house they wanted to get right back into our pool...or near the pool at least:












You can tell Dalton is tired because he's lost a lot of coordination:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Then we came inside as the boys were getting tired and cold. Easton asked me to make him a "nest" on the couch:


On Friday we decided to head to Gramoo's again for more swimming. Lauren is out of town and I think Gramoo's a little lonely...plus we always like to see her and my boys always like to swim. Eastie is just convinced he can swim without floaties and well he can swim...he just can't always breathe. :) He needs gills. Or a snorkel. Anyway, I let him practice a bit but he got to being a bit of a stinker and screamed at me, "It is my important job to swim like a fish!!!" so I relegated him to the baby pool where Dalton and Gramoo had already moved to. Stinker.

Eventually they got cold and we called it a day...finding a lady bug on our way to get our stuff:








Both kids fell asleep in the car and thanks to a long detour and a stuck train they got a much longer nap than I would've liked. Makes bedtime so tough. We actually put Dalton in his crib and left him there all night. We slept wonderfully. :)

Saturday was t-ball at a bright and early 8:00 a.m. And it was our day to bring snack. Easton is getting super bored with t-ball and can't wait till it's time to play soccer again. T-ball is just too much standing around at this age. He loves to run to field the balls and he's often the first one there...but then other kids arrive and throw their gloves on top of his and he can't get up with the ball to throw it to first or anything. It's hard being on a team of 4 year olds. :) We've thought about letting him play soccer in the fall but it's not my favorite idea as we'll have a newborn. So, maybe not till next summer when both boys will be able to play and we'll just spend our Saturdays on the soccer fields. A 3 and a 5 year old would not be on the same team here.

Anyway, after t-ball was when the weekend really got started. Easton and Jason had plans to go on E's first ever camping trip! And Dalton and 7+ months pregnant Mommy would be staying home for some special one-on-one time. What fun!

Jason got busy getting everything together...it's amazing what you "need" for even one night camping. They were going with Rob (J's officemate) and Kaiden (who just turned 5). Partly because of our vehicle situation and partly because it'd be silly to take two cars, we dropped E and J off at Rob and Kaiden's house and that way we could put E's car seat in there safely. All the campgrounds were full as far as reservations go but they did have some first come first serve spots at a lot of places, unfortunately (for me) they didn't know where they'd end up so I said goodbye to my guys not knowing how or where I'd find them if I needed them.

They ended up finding a nice spot not too far away, but out of cell phone range. J took the camera and did a good job keeping up with their 24 hours away from me. :) Easton was apparently a total angel and had J just falling more and more in love with him after their time together. What fun bonding!


And in the wilderness? Where there are trees to climb??? Heaven for my boy!


Their home for the night...


Kaiden and E each brought a few toys...Kaiden let E play with two of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:




A little creek near their campsite:


Both boys found it highly amusing to throw sticks into the fire...E was content with tossing in little twigs he'd find but look at what Kaiden's wanting to throw in! :)


Their camping buds are vegetarians so here is E roasting himself a tofu dog...Kaiden got to roast first as you might guess from him already eating there:


How cute it he?


Apparently Easton ate nearly all of his tofu dog! Jason had to get pics of that.


I just get all warm and fuzzy inside looking at my big guy, balancing a plate on his lap, eating something new:


And they roasted quite a few marshmallows for dessert, I hear:

How authentic...using real sticks!





Eventually the little guys went to bed. I hear they were being rascals for a bit (understandable) but eventually fell asleep. Once Jason and Rob went to bed a little later I guess it was really really cold. J didn't want to wake E to put more clothes on him but he got stuff out so he was prepared for later. Sure enough...E woke up freezing but J was ready and E was able to get back to sleep without too much trouble.

In the morning they made pancakes and I guess Easton ate, like, 3 platefuls!


Found some reindeer antler twigs:


And a big beetle on a stick:


Then they packed up to head back. Jason had said that they'd call when they got on the road so that I knew when to pick him up but he was hoping for noon since he and my cousin had plans to record some keyboard parts back at the house around 1:00. Well, at noon I still hadn't heard anything...and I was sitting in front of Rob and Kaiden's house. Starting to panic a bit because J's cell phone kept going straight to voice mail. Eek! Eventually Rob's wife and other kid got home and she let us in so we could fret together. She started looking up the campgrounds so we could make some calls when she was able to get ahold of Rob finally. Whew! They were on their way.

Anyway...with Jason and Easton away, I wanted to make the most of my time with our soon to be middle child. And Dalton was a bit sad that he wasn't getting to go camping so I had to tell him we'd be going to his favorite place: Chuck E. Cheese!


We headed straight there after dropping E and J off. Dalton didn't want lunch, he said. He was too excited to get there! :)



We had a nice time and he picked out a plastic microphone and a sucker with his tickets when we were done. We came home and tried to eat lunch but he wasn't too hungry so he took a little nap.

When he woke up we finished his Winnie the Pooh puzzle he'd earned earlier in the day with a few more poops in the potty.


And we did some singing with underwear on his head:


We vaccuumed and started some laundry and then he and I headed to Noodles with my coupon for a free "birthday bowl" in hand. A free dinner! Nice!




Next we went to the cool park. It was a super nice time:




And we decided to finish the night off right by sharing a scoop of ice cream:

(I couldn't get my free birthday scoop coupon to print so I guess we'll have to go back another time when it does. Darn.)

It was already E's normal bedtime when we got home, but D is different and likes to stay up later, especially when he's napped. So we got home and got a nice bubble bath ready for the two of us where we had lots of fun with bubbles and shaving cream and squirt toys. No pictures of that. :)

He and I rocked for a bit but then he asked for his bunk bed so at about 8:30 I put him in there and by 8:45 he'd fallen asleep very quietly and easily as I'd hoped. He even slept till nearly 7:00 the next morning...I heard him awake in there but he wasn't calling or anything. I went to get him and he looked at his light-on-a-timer and said, "Me light not come on" but I told him he could get up anyway. I'm so confusing. :) But my sweetie poo was waiting for his light again...finally!!!

We had a very leisurely morning snuggling in the big bed with his milk and a TV show or two before getting ourselves ready for church.


Dalton said my shirt looked "like Target":


Church was good...we had former football coach Bill McCartney (founder of Promise Keepers) speak. He lives in the area as he was the coach at my alma mater: The University of Colorado...although he was gone shortly before I got there. Anyway, it was neat to change it up a bit and J was bummed he'd be missing out this week. Oh well. Dalton wore underpants to church for the first time to boot!

After church, Dalton and I headed to Starbucks then home for a bit to wait to hear from J...only we didn't...as you saw above. :)

Once we finally were all reunited once again we came home. Easton fell asleep in the car and continued napping once we got here. I'm the one that carried him inside up to his bed and I sorta had to toss him into his top bunk. Man that was tricky. Pregnant woman climbing part way up a bunk bed ladder, sleeping 4.5 year old in arms. And had to get him over the rail that keeps him from falling out. Yeah. Don't want to do that again soon.

E had a nice nap but I woke him before he was ready...still...bedtime took forever for him thanks to his having had a nap. We put Dalton down first and then E. I think staggering bedtime like that is going to be our plan for awhile most nights.

It's getting harder for me to sleep as well now. I'm 33 weeks today and yeah, starting to have to get up at least 3 times a night to pee...and boy am I thirsty when I wake up too. It's hot so it's harder to get as comfy...then there's the kids that only I seem to hear. At 3:15 this morning Dalton called that he had to go pee. And he was dry! So I took him...he was dry again when he woke for the day! Not that I love getting up to help him pee in the night but hey, pretty cool that he woke up to go this time. Easton woke up at 4:30 saying that he was "so so so thirsty" so I had to get him a quick drink. Last night was definitely not the best night of sleep for me...getting me ready for Wabie, I guess.

However, despite all that, somehow both kids slept till our magic time of 7:00...well, like 7:04. Hooray!

Easton was in a bit of a foul mood this morning but we did doughnuts anyway. He was better once we got his blood sugar up (way up!) :) Then over our breakfast I asked him some more about his camping trip, specifically the sleeping in the tent and he said, "You know what? Kaiden was being a little bit silly [when they were trying to fall asleep]...he was hitting me." He told me he'd told him to stop but he kept doing it. He seemed so sad when he was telling me. :( I wanted to cry right into my custard-filled. :( Then he added, "Next time when we go camping I want you to sleep with me and Kaiden and when you see him hitting me, tell him not to." Oh my poor little guy. I hate that he was wishing he had someone there to stick up for him. His little face as he was telling me was just making me so sad. I'm proud of him at the same time for not hitting back (Kaiden would've said something and Easton would've told me too) and for not being a tattletale. Still, poor sweet boy. :(

We went to Dollar Tree and Target after our breakfast. We were looking for a new pool and for Wall-E. We found neither. But we did find some potential Wabie clothes:

More guitars!

And Easton picked out this little built-in-ballernia-slippers sleeper himself:


We came home and did puzzles. Dalton wanted to do his Pooh one again so Easton asked to get one of his out as well:


We did it!




Dalton picked out a Sponge Bob puzzle at Target today to earn as a future poopie prize. Right now he's working on his Nemo sunglasses.

So anyway, that's more than enough scoop from the weekend for ya. Till next time...

Sent from My Phone to Blogger...

Nice to know for when Wabie arrives... My phone will be quicker than the actual internet via our laptop. I'm excited. Now blog fans will know as soon as the rest of my phone knows...and by that I mean email and Facebook. Nice.

Testing...here is a pic of Easton being a stud at Target the other day. Love him!

Just testing sumthin'
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Went Swimming Today...

...instead of bloggin.

And people on Facebook with me already know this but...

My 24 hour urine protein was down to 230!!! "Normal" cuts off at 225 but the preeclampsia range doesn't start till 300 (which I was in the last two times I collected). Originally the OB told me that if it was below 300 then they wouldn't make me repeat the tests unless some other issue cropped up making them check it...but the message from the nurse today said they would repeat at 35-36 weeks. Whatever. It's not the worst thing in the world, I guess.

The other big news from yesterday is that both boys fell asleep in the same room at the same time last night with zero silliness. Zero! It was great. It helps that they were super tired from D not napping but waking so early and all the activity in the water and sun yesterday. So, definitely not going to say they're all better.

Anyway, they're tired again today but did both nap in the car on the way home from my mom's. We'll see how it goes, just wanted everyone to have the protein update and I wanted the bunk bed update in there for my own "journaling" purposes.

Have a great weekend!

I've got all the time in the world to blog right now...it's distracting me from worrying about the boys. Both kids are playing over at Ben the Neighbor Kid's house. In their inflatable pool. The dad is home...2 of his 3 kids are there too...Ben who's 6 and Cooper who's somewhere between 12 and 18 months, I forget.

That's a lotta boys!

And so here I am left to worry about will Dalton say anything if he needs to go potty? He's in a swim diaper. Will Easton try to hide upstairs and play with the toy he gave Ben for his birthday that he can't stop talking about? Will Dalton's lack of naps lately make him a total punk to be around?

See, my blog is supposed to be distracting me. It's not working right now. We should go to another time...another place...

How 'bout last night?

It was package time from The Alabamaws once again! I wouldn't let the boys open the package till Daddy got home so Dalton entertained himself by decorating himself with the stickers that came on it:


And it wasn't too long before ol' Dad got home:


What was inside?

Power Rangers! And a Handy Manny coloring kit. Score! Thanks, Maws! Actually the boys already called to thank them last night. They were most excited. Easton knew they were Power Rangers and that's about it. But now he wants to learn alllllllll about them and has already assigned a PR color/name to each member of the family. It's getting hard to keep track of all the roles I play in all the characters there are out there these days. And he calls us by those names too, "Pink Ranger? When will Black Ranger be home?" "Bumblebee? I don't see Optimus Prime's work yet." Goob.

Speaking of Optimus Prime's (a.k.a. Jason's) work...today was a bring-your-kid-to-work day. Not that our 4 1/2 year old could hang out there all day but since I was going to be coming up to the area anyway Jason had me bring Easton by the office for a bit.

On our way I practiced singing some of the harmonies Jason wants me to do backup for... I was just belting it out, repeating it over and over with the song when Easton goes, "Are you making that noise?" Hmmmm. He didn't sound impressed. He didn't even call it singing. :) Yikes!

I burst out laughing sooooooooooo hard at that. I thought it was absolutely hysterical and when I looked back at him he was stuck like this:

Then he told me I looked like a meatball head and Dalton wanted a picture too:

Oh these boys! They're so fun!!!

So, eventually we made it to Optimus' jobsite and Easton got to go in for work:


You like his little blue briefcase? Inside is the Handy Manny coloring set from The Maws. He apparently got to work and helped carry drives, played some Iron Man on Daddy's computer, colored a picture and then made copies...



I think he resembles Wabie in that one, don't you?

(You're looking up Wabie's nostrils here...the little lips and chin are below and you can't really see the top of the face, it's shadowed. By the way, this is not the best shot of Wabie's amazing lips but that's okay...we'll see it in person soon enough.)

Anyway, while Easton and Jason were working, Dalton and I headed over to the hospital yet again to drop off my big, cold, urine jug and get more labs drawn. The wait time was super duper long. At one point Dalton even came running over from the toys and said, "I needa go potty!" so I took him to the one in the lab and he made a "doodie" as he's taken to calling them. I was just glad he didn't announce it to the rest of the waiting room later. :)

We went back over to pick Eastie up after that. He ended up being there for nearly an hour which was a nice amount of time.

We came home and I let the boys play in the whale pool I'd spent most of the morning trying to set up. However, two of the inflatable parts have leaks I can't find. Ugh!


We didn't have a ton of time before we were meeting a friend for lunch so I just let them play in their underwear for those few minutes. My favorite part of that sentence is that both my kids wear underwear now! :) Even with the slide out of commission they had a fun time:








Before long my phone rang and our friends were ready to meet up...who did we meet?

Carson! The boys were sooooooo looking forward to seeing him. And it was nice to chat with his mom a bit too. I tried and tried to get a good pic of all three of them. Didn't go the greatest, as you can see:


At least they're all looking and doing the same thing, right?


Easton and Dalton got to go in the play area to play. Some bigger kids weren't looking like they were being particularly nice to Easton and at one point I saw a girl push him. :( But he held his own and Dalton even got in there, hands on hips, a time or two to stand up for his big brother. In the car on the way home Easton volunteered, "Mommy those mean kids wouldn't let me in, only Dalton." :( That stuff is always gonna break a mama's heart. I was just glad to see Easton still seemed to be having a good time independently. And that he didn't turn into a cry baby (which would've been fine, they were mean!) or that he didn't get all aggressive himself. Still, I don't like people being mean to my little guy. Poopie heads!

Once we got home the boys were looking forward to going to Ben's house. We saw them outside when we came home from Boulder and the dad invited E over. I said, "I don't know...our whale pool is set up..." and he said, "Oh our pool is up too" and then I had to go, "Oh...and it's probably not deflated in parts like ours." :) He also said Dalton could come too. So after lunch we got ready for that.

And as you could see above it was freaking me out but typing this blog has helped me chill a bit...or it had. It also helped when the dad sent my phone this pic:


I think it's a good thing I didn't know the pool was so deep when I sent them! Or I at least should've sent floaties! :) Anyway, they just this second called and asked if I didn't send dry clothes for Dalton on purpose. And I didn't. He can't get dressed by himself so good and I didn't want to trouble people...it's kinda weird, right? Oh well. I just ran him over some stuff. A Pull Up instead of underpants...again, I don't want to trouble them. Ack.

Okay, I'm back to fretting again. Better go!

Rockin' Baby

The other night I was going to attempt to sing some backup vocals for the album J is working on. Well, it was a song I didn't know the parts for and I got all embarassed and refused to do it yet. :) So instead we hung out and listened to music. Wabie was being particularly active so J arranged for a more up-close and personal listening experience:


Is it any wonder I can't wait to see if we'll need clothes like these:






Or these (thanks, Jessica!)...






Check out this little purse!!!


I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need the first sets of clothes...the boy stuff. Just yesterday I was telling Easton that Tabor and Holton's baby was ready to come the next day (today was her scheduled C-section). Easton said, "No! It's a baby race and we have to see who comes first! I want you to win!" :) I told him that our baby isn't quite ready and if it came now it would be sick like he was. Still, he's ready for this little person to show up already! Anyway, I just got the email that their baby is a girl...so that must mean mine's a boy, right???

Anyway...is it strange that while we were in Target this morning I was getting excited about Christmas already and wondering what you buy for a 3 month old? Easton was 11.5 months old for his first Christmas. Dalton was almost there as well. But a 3 month old? Fun!

So yeah, that means we went to Target today. We played toys and I picked up a few groceries. Nothing too exciting. We're having to stick close to home once again for my 24 hour wee collecting.

In other news, last night went better for Dalton in the new room. The boys were being silly yet again (we expect nothing less!) so we took E out this time and let D stay in the bunk bed to fall asleep. He called and fussed a few times but I "supernannied" him and didn't give him the attention (or even eye contact) he was likely looking for when I'd have to go in and it didn't take long at all for him to fall asleep all alone in there. In fact, it was before 8:00! So then Easton (who was in our bed) got to come back to his own room to fall asleep.

At one point in the night--and for the first time since we made the switch--D found himself upside down in the bed. I could hear him knocking into the wood on the sides and fussing about it in his sleep. I went in to right him and all was well until he woke up at 6:15 claiming yet again that he had to pee. It's tough making all these transitions at once but whatcha gonna do? The bed part really couldn't wait with Wabie's impending arrival and well, who knew he'd potty train so easily? So, we're dealing with it. I'd love to leave him in there but then I've got this other kid who is a TOTAL GRUMP without appropriate sleep. So I rushed in to get D and then Easton was able to sleep for over an hour longer which is nice. One step at a time, I guess.

Right now Dalton is actually napping in the new room! He's been so tired lately because we haven't been napping him and he wakes up at the butt crack of dawn. He zonks out in the car and was about to fall asleep on the way home from Target so I decided he could have a short nap today. I sent E to the basement for his quiet time and Dalton and I had a short rocking session but he was by no means asleep...I put him in his bed and he looked around a bit but then laid down again and I haven't heard from him since. Another big step! Just hope I'm not regretting it too much tonight when he's a little more well-rested once bedtime rolls around.

Yesterday the tike had the entire house up at 6 a.m. Even Easton. :( Not the best start to the day but boy was I productive before it was time to leave for my OB appointment. Before breakfast, even, I was able to sweep and mop the downstairs. Then, with the floors being nice and clean we had to have breakfast outside. And we fed a few huge piles of ants some instant grits (I hear this kills the queen and takes care of the infestation). The boys also got to run around a nice long while:




In the afternoon I banished them to the backyard sprinklers while I worked on dinner. Floor is still nice and clean. :)

Anyway, I need to go make some lunch for myself now that I know I'm not going to be interrupted by the D Man a billion times. Toodles!

Thanks for the Prayers

They're working!...and keep 'em comin'!

Wabie and I returned to the OB today. First we had the ultrasound to check on Wabie's growth. We made it a family affair. This time I allowed Jason to come (it's rather hard to "accidentally" see the gender at this point) and I wanted the boys to come again too as it's been awhile and Easton especially is fascinated with the pregnancy.

We got great news that Wabie has grown appropriately since the scan 4 weeks ago and while it usually measured 5 days ahead it is still measuring ahead by 1-2 days (I forget which). She estimated Wabie's weight at 3 pounds 14 ounces which is exactly what our Eastie-boy weighed when he was born.

The ultrasound was great and we got to see a lot of obvious looks-like-a-baby things. I still can't get over this child's mouth! I'm starting to wonder if it might be part Angelina Jolie--the lip part--not the freaky, wear-a-vial-of-blood-around-your-neck part. Seriously, this kid's pout is amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing this perfect little mouth before too long. We saw it moving it's lips, opening it's mouth, opening it's hand, it's little feet were side by side. I was loving it. And it's been quite awhile since Jason's seen Wabie "live" so I think he liked it too.

When the tech was toweling my belly off we asked Dalton, "Who's in there?" Usually his answer is, "Baby tummy!" but this time he said (with his precious little lisp) "Ith Wabie!!!" He's never called it "Wabie" before today, even though the rest of us usually do. He's stuck with "Baby" and I think it's totally precious to hear him saying Wabie so I had to ask him a few more times today so I could hear it again. So cute!!!

After the ultrasound, Jason went back to work and the boys and I waited (and waited!) for the appointment. My blood pressure was fine but I noticed it's crept up the tiniest amount to 104/62 (at my 30 week visit I was 98/50, at 29 weeks it was super low at 84/46). Nothing worrisome as you can see, I just hope the slight rising isn't a trend. I check it at home every other day, I'll notice if something's off.

In other interesting news, my uterus was back to measuring right on for dates: 32. Remember I had been stuck at "29" for a couple of weeks?

Wabie's heart rate was 136 during the ultrasound. That's the slowest it's been.

They've also got me slated to repeat my 24 hour urine and lab work in the next few days. As today's OB pointed out: this is the time when I started getting sick in E's pregnancy. Just the other day I was looking at my op report from E's delivery...my total protein on 1/7 (2 days before he was born) was 473. It was 413 just a few weeks ago although it dropped to 351. Let's hope it drops even more. If it drops below 300 then they won't make me repeat the 24 hour collection unless some other issue crops up. If it goes up then they'll have me do it again at 35-36 weeks. We shall see, eh?

Anyway, Easton's starting to get a bit impatient and can be heard asking from time to time, "When are you gonna get Wabie out????" Just yesterday he was telling me how, "When you get Wabie out of you, you can wear normal clothes again" (I didn't know he realized I wore anything different) and he also said, "When you're not pregnant anymore then you can run real fast again." He's also advised me against taking part in practicing any tae kwon do because if I punch too hard I might land right on my belly and that wouldn't be good for Wabie. :) Love how his mind works! Pregnancy has been fun with such an interested 4 year old this time around. And I love that "Wabie" is what Easton came up with. Remember "Fin"? :)

Okay, so time to go get the boys out of their shared quiet time for a movie. To those that are praying for us: Thank you!!!

The Last Few Days...

Seems like it's been awhile since I posted any pictures. I guess that's what happens when your camera is broken, eh?

I do have some pictures, though.

Let's see...here are the boys last Thursday at the Children's Hospital.

We like to donate some toys every year on the day Easton was admitted (the day after his birthday). However, this year his party was on that day and well, we just never got around to donating the toys I'd bought. They sat in my laundry room for the past 6 months and we took them on his half birthday instead.

We dropped the gifts off in the volunteer office and got some coconut gelato just because I can't pass it up when I see it (which has been nearly a year). As we were heading out the door Easton goes, "Wait! Why are we going to the car...we forgot about the kids!" He thought we'd get to actually see the kids we were giving the gifts too and that made me feel sad that we couldn't. I really wish we could. :(

When we got home, E got to see the bunk beds assembled for the first time. Here's E and D up top:




Easton did great from his first night as we figured he would. He's well-trained that way. :) *I* however was regretting the bunk bed...it is so hard to make it and it's hotter up there and we were worried the ceiling fan would decapitate them at some point while they were climbing the ladder. The next day we decided to move the bed over so the head was on the opposite wall and we're much happier with it, even though it has cut off some of the storage.

Anyway, Saturday was t-ball. But first, t-ball pictures. You may or may not remember last year's soccer pictures but this year was 10 times worse. Oh Easton was suprisingly awful. I have no idea what got into him. He was throwing his forms, refusing to stand on the little stand, refusing to hold the bat, refusing to stay put...they had me come over with him (all other parents were banned from the area) and I talked with him, pleaded with him. We took a break and because of his behavior I told him that if he couldn't do this then he couldn't go to the birthday party he was supposed to go to later in the afternoon. It's not just that he wasn't into it, it's that he was being so blatantly disobedient and trying to flee the whole scene! So the threat of no party finally got him to at least stand there in front of the camera even if he was unhappy about it, even if he was unwilling to hold the bat. What a punk. The funny thing is, I think the photographer caught his .2 second forced smile that he was able to pull off. The group shot won't be as great. I was so embarassed for raising such a wonk of a kid.

That whole time I was desperately searching the crowd for Jason...I could use his firm tones and I was getting angrier than I would've liked. However, he and Dalton were swinging nearby:


Easton shaped up after some more talking to from his dad and I and the game went much better than picture time did:


And Dalton in his two pairs of shades because it was a bright, bright morning:


So because Easton was able to pull it together enough, we were able to all go to Kaiden's birthday party together. For those of you that don't have the memory I have (which is most people LOL) Kaiden is J's officemate Rob's son. He has his birthday parties at a cool park near their house. Dalton followed Easton everywhere he went, and E was being a bit of a loner climbing trees, exploring the park. It was cute to see them being buddies even if it meant they were being a little anti-social with everyone else. I was just glad E was out of his mood from earlier. After food and cake and presents we headed over to the park's splash pad for a few:




Dalton napped in the car on the way home but that's all we were letting him sleep that day. We were hoping for a tired boy that night so we could hopefully transition him into his new bed a little easier.

We came home and had some family quiet time watching a movie then went to return something to the furniture store and went to dinner at Old Chicago's. Then came bedtime. Here is a small reveal of their room:


Bedtime went like we thought it would...Dalton being a silly rascal and ultimately drawing Easton into the giggle fest. We gave them a few chances but then our plan was always to pull Easton out so D could fall asleep on his own in there. However, he kept coming out of the room. I laid down with him for a bit in there but he was still being too silly so I threatened his crib and he said he wanted it (till I actually got up to follow through). However I stuck him in his crib to fall asleep, E got to come back to fall asleep in the bunk beds, then when Dalton was sound asleep we moved him to the bottom bunk:



(Do you notice something missing from those pictures? Our Wonder Years lines are gone for them...but they came back. Weird!)

Right after I took those pics D fell out of the side of the bed that didn't have the rail. I wedged a pillow in between the bed and the ladder but it didn't keep him in and he was stuck shouting, "Help me!" but he went right back to sleep. Whew!

He didn't watch for his light to come on the next morning and at about 6:30 I heard the door open and Dalton squeaked, "Mom?" So I rushed in to get him so E could keep sleeping.

We went to church and we didn't nap D yet again. At bedtime I rocked him to sleep and then put him in the bunk bed again. He was out from 7:45 till 6:45 this morning. Better but still not putting himself to sleep in there like we'd like him to again. I know it'll likely take time. We knew Dalton would be this way. That's how Dalton is. :)

This morning I heard Dalton at 6:45, like I said. He said, "I needa go pee pee again!" so I came to get him. But then I put him back in his bed--he'd already woken up Easton with that exclamation so Easton was in charge of them waiting till the light came on/clock flipped to 7. They were silly and giggly and totally cute, especially when E'd coach, "Dalton, you need to stay in your bed!" and such. We'll get there...I just hope it's before Wabie comes. :)

He certainly has got a lot of transitions going on lately with the potty training and the new bed...and a baby on the way. He's been great with the daytime pee pees still. 100% there and has been since his two 4th of July accidents just over a week ago. He wears underwear all the time except for bed and church (just because we're not sure he'll speak up to strangers yet). He's going at about 50% success rate on the twosies. He was working towards a Buzz Lightyear bubble blower with 5 poops in the pot...and today he earned it!



So cute how he just loves it! Next he's working towards a puzzle he picked out from Target.

And after our recent trip to Build-a-Bear to scout out possible combinations for Wabie, E's been on a kick with Jacques, his own B-A-B creation...today he asked if he could put pajamas on him. We don't have any official B-A-B jammies so I dug up some newborn baby stuff which E was perfectly excited about:


Anyway, that's our weekend and our latest bit of pictures. I need to go. We're doing quiet time a little differently these last few days since we're not having Dalton nap. They play in their rooms (D's old room with the crib) for a bit and then we all meet up for a quiet movie on the couch. And it's time for that movie...today's selection: Curious George.

So, I'll talk at you next time! Bye!

Conversations with Strangers

So here's a few snippets of my day so far just today...

The scene: The Bed, Bath, & Beyond check-out lanes. A woman with an appropriately sized 31 week belly supervises her two sons playing with the M&M display while waiting their turn. A woman approaches noticing the handsome youngsters...

Woman: Do we know if this one's a girl? (nodding at the belly)

Me: (polite smile and belly pat) We didn't find out.

Woman: Well, how much longer, then? You look as if you're about ready to pop.

Me: (forcing my hands to remain on my belly and not reach up to choke her) I'm 31weeks. (pat rub pat)

Woman: Ooooooooh, any day now!

Sure, 2 months = any day now. Uh huh.

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The scene: An aisle at the Container Store. An older gentleman is being assisted by a helpful store clerk. Pregnant woman and perfectly behaving sons in stroller approach from stage right...

Older Gent to Sales Associate: Look at her, she's got two boys...and another on the way! To Me: Haven't you learned anything yet? Hardee har har.

Me: Aww, they're good boys (affectionately scruffs head of eldest child)

Sales Associate to Older Gent: Maybe they want a girl.

Me: Nah. We'll be happy with whichever. (moves stroller to an empty aisle)

Why can't some people see there are some that might want to have more than two kids? Why, just because I have two boys, would that mean I wouldn't want another?? What if I was hoping for three boys? My OB was hoping for 4 boys from the time she was pregnant with her first (she has 3 boys and then a girl).

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The scene: The back of a Gymboree store where I'm eyeing their totally cute new baby rockstar line...

Sales Associate: You don't know what you're having?!?! I wish you knew so you could shop the sale for next year.

Me: It's tempting but I'm sure there will be more sales...however, what's your full refund time limit? I'm thinking I might need to buy some of that baby guitar stuff in case this one's another boy.

All in all, that one wasn't annoying, just funny that she couldn't believe I'd let Wabie's gender be a surprise at the end.

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And this particular situation happens alllllllllllll the time...once today, once just yesterday...

Random Stranger: Oh, are they twins?

Me: (acting as if they're the first weirdo to ever suggest such a thing) Huh?!?! No! They're over two years apart!

Random Stranger: Oh, they look so much alike/same size

This is even when they're not dressed matching or even coordinating. Oh well. At least other's can tell they're related. :)

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I'm sure I'm coming off as a tad feisty today.

My advice to strangers: don't mess with the pregnant woman. :)

Easton is 4 1/2 Today!

Jason took the camera to work with him yesterday to see if they had a tiny screwdriver so he could take a peek inside. They didn't...but that also means I don't have any pictures.

If I did take pictures, you'd see how we went to Gramoo's to swim again. Easton surprised us with his abilities yet again when I would let him try to swim in the big pool: he came up for air! This is a first for him. He's been great at swimming underwater where he can hold his breath, but more than a few times yesterday he could cover a bit of distance in the big pool coming up for a brief gulp of air. Sure, he's not getting a lot of style points just yet and he certainly can't keep himself above water (like treading water) but to bob up for a breath he's got that figured out somehow. Hooray!

Not to be outdone with making pool strides, Dalton went down the slide all by himself a few times. Gramoo took him the first time but then he wanted to go again and again and so she'd help him up the stairs and he'd come down all on his own. I wouldn't even catch him. I'd let him land in the water first, then I'd retrieve him. I didn't want to catch him fresh off the slide leading him to believe that him going under water for a second was something that scares me...I think kids can pick up on that.

Anyway, the boys had lots of fun as usual. Dalton even spoke up and told me he needed to go pee while we were there. However, when we got back to Gramoo's I learned he pooped in his swim diaper at some point later. Bummer. I don't think he (or even Easton) ever poo'd in a swim diaper in their lives but that just shows how much he's not wanting to drop a deuce in the potty, I guess. (But he did today!)

We had planned on leaving Easton behind to spend the night at Gramoo's. Jason was looking for some time to set up the bunk beds and with him not getting home from work till 6 most nights, then the boys going to bed at 7:30...well, there was just no time to set up the new furniture during the week unless we did something like have E sleep at Gramoo's. So that's just what he did.

Dalton fell asleep in the car and we sat in our garage for a bit then drove to meet Jason for dinner at Macaroni Grill. Our server must've been laid off from her previous job and is waiting tables to make ends meet because, she was old enough to be a really good waitress if it was what she's always done, but she was not good. At all. Oh well. Dinner with just one kid was really nice. And he ate chicken. So that's a plus too.

We came home and played for a bit and then we got D to bed and Jason started on their new room. I felt bad watching him lug gigantic box after gigantic box up the stairs. I offered to help but he wouldn't let me. He didn't come to bed until nearly 1:30 but things are looking good in there.

The plan is to start E out in there himself for a couple of nights (we don't even have a second mattress yet!) and then Dalton will join him in a few nights. We want E to get used to it and we know it'll be tough to get Dalton sleeping (and staying!) in a regular bed. That boy is a rascal. We had absolutely no issues when we transitioned Easton on his 2nd birthday but Dalton? Well, we'll let you know how it goes. :)

They're both pretty excited now that the room is starting to take shape. I have to put the bedding on still and some of the old furniture is still in there. Plus we're not quite certain where everything is going to go...we have a ladder we need to account for and well, we'll see.

I'll do a "big reveal" for all of you when it's done. Or even done-ish. But now's not the time.

This morning when the three of us woke up, Jason had to haul the dresser upstairs still so I could move the clothes from the old dresser over. Then he left for work and Dalton and I went to work in the new room for a bit moving things from the old furniture to the new. Then I took a shower and he and I went to grab some breakfast at the place we always went on Thursdays before AussieRoo. Well, he was all, "I want to go to Roo! I want to go to Roo!" but we couldn't. :( Instead we went to the camera store and Wal-Mart before heading down to pick up Easton.

He'd had a good time with Gramoo and Lauren, although it doesn't sound like he'd slept too long, but not too bad either. Hopefully that'll help him to sleep easily in his new set up tonight.

I think that's all I've got for you, update-wise. So yeah, I'll probably go throw some bedding in the wash.

Ta ta!

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that Dalton stayed dry all night last night. He's still going at 100% success for awake pee time. Dry for naps too. And then dry last night. He's been in just underwear, even when we go out, since Tuesday.

And then, my pearl came off my belly ring today. Dalton and I went potty at Wal-Mart and I noticed that JUST the pearl ball was gone. The rest of my ring was still in there. I had to call Jason right away who was marveling at the "losing Pearl" irony of it all. And then said, "It's like Wabie pushed it out". Trying to tell me to move on already?

Not sure what I'll do.