The Making Of...

As I'd mentioned before, Jason is recording his first album. And, I'd been requested to sing some backup vocals...not because I'm a singer, but because I'm cheap. Or free, even. :)

The first time he wanted to record he just dropped an unknown song on me and I was too embarassed to just sing right then. So we decided in advance that last night would be the night. Then I had time to prepare and couldn't just tell him I wasn't much feeling like it. Hee hee. He's smart that way. He knows me.

After the boys stopped all their bedtime mischief (Dalton!) we got to work in the basement studio:

A little less hi-tech than you were expecting? :)

Here I am belting out my "Oooooooooooooh"s We-Are-the-World style:


Yes I put up my hand on the headphone just for the picture...I'm funny that way:


Jason was very complimentary but he has to be. :) His album will hopefully be finished this fall...but how much does he love me for being such a nice wife?

That's our cheeseball "couples" photo from the annual Father's Day family portrait session. It's on our dresser in our bedroom but it's not like we sent it to family and have to wait for them to see it before I can put it up on the blog.

There are some others but you'll have to wait till the middle of next week or so for them to arrive at their destination before I can put them up here.

Anyway, there's a little more to your visit behind the scenes if you're interested, and I can't believe I'm sharing this. Partly because I'm singing all by myself, you can't even hear the music and partly because oh my gosh, how gigantic is my belly?!?! I'm hoping it's largely because of the angle of the shot(s). Scary!!! I deserve every one of those "You're pretty big for __ weeks" comments if this is how I always look. Yowsa!

Oh....yeah....I was getting to the clip... It's the only non-Jason S-original on the album:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Both those harmonies are me in the back ground there. I'm not sure if he's keeping them both but for now what you can hear in that second vid is jus' me. :)

Rainy Day

Can you believe it is the end of July and it's not even 60 degrees here today!?!? Yesterday afternoon got quite chilly too. My boys are in pants today. And should probably be in long sleeves as well. Crazy!

*I*, however, am enjoying this. Being big and pregnant in the summer has really not been too tough on me. I know I still have (hopefully!) five and a half weeks to go and that August could be plenty hot but goodness, I don't have a lot to be able to complain about. :)

We spent the morning running around the mall. It's a great rainy day activity. Returned a few things, the boys browsed the Disney store and planned options for their Wabie Build a Bear when the time comes. They're being bestest buddies again today. So much so that I decided not to nap Dalton and they're playing in the bunk bed room. They've got the Elefun game going and I just hear a bunch of giggles. Cuteness.

Anyway, there's not much new to report 'round here for today. So I guess I'll let this be a wrap. Bye!

Roommates

While it's been somewhat difficult and very frustrating to have the boys adjusting to sharing a room, I also think what it's doing for their relationship and what sharing a room will continue to do for them is amazing. Sure, they've always been pretty good buds, getting along most of the time, usually preferring to stick together rather than go off on their own and all that. But with them sharing a room, it's taking it to a new level or something.

Two nights ago Easton was determined to do us proud when it came time for bedtime. Dalton, not so much. It's always Dalton being the instigator. Well, E and D whispered for a very short time about things, they were never silly and so they're allowed to talk...they're not robots, after all. But anyway, after their short little conversation we heard Easton tell his brother, "See you in the morning!" and then he didn't talk again. Dalton ended up having to come out that night and got stuck in the crib to fall asleep, a lot of that was so we could watch the Bachelorette finale, however. :)

Last night was really special as well. I don't want to explain the whole backstory so we'll just make it simple and say that Easton said he didn't want a "soft friend" for the night. He always has his Cuddles as a lovey but often switches out which stuffed animal he'll snuggle with--he's not particularly attached to anything but Cuddles. Anyhoo, we'll say that before bed Easton decided he didn't want a soft friend...and he was warned that he'd have to stick with that decision. You see, this is something Easton tries to pull several times a day thinking he is then allowed to throw fits over changing his mind. Like, "I don't want a kiss" before Jason leaves for work in the morning. Then as J's heading out the door he'll scream, "Yes kiss!!!" Or "I don't want you to watch my show with me" to hanging on to me so I can't leave. He tries to pull this all the time and while it's one thing to change your mind, this is not what Easton is doing. He knows what he wants the whole time, tells you the opposite and then flips out. So, that is why he said "No soft friend" he was told he'd have to stick with his decision and was he sure? He was sure. So, we do the bedtime routine and leave and then we hear Easton crying about how he wanted a soft friend now. Dalton's being very sympathetic and tells him, "I'll get Mommy" and then starts calling for me. So I go in, thinking how sweet it is on D's part but that Easton has to knock off his fit because he knew this was going to be the deal. Easton eventually ends up in two time outs over it and goes back to bed crying again. Dalton is in there telling him soothingly, "I know...I know" in almost like a "There there" tone. Sooooooooo sweet!

So then Easton continues to carry on and is telling Dalton, "Dalton, I want a soft friend" and we hear Dalton tell him, "Okay, I get one for you" and then we have to step in...as much as I love what Dalton is willing to do for his brother (break the rules) we still don't allow them to get out of bed like that. (Although if I'm being perfectly honest, I was willing to overlook it this time.) But, I definitely didn't like that Easton was asking D to do this rather than just do it himself, if anything.

I adore how they look out for one another this way. I know there will be many "sharing a room" battles as well but overall I think it's good for our boys.

Now only if I could get Dalton sleeping better through all this. I'm tired of them falling asleep too late, I'm tired of Dalton occasionally waking up screaming things in the middle of the night such as "I need milk!!!" or "I want me crib!!!" and throwing a complete fit threatening to wake his brother. I'm tired of him waking up at 6:00 a.m. and calling where he does wake his brother. These boys need their sleep. Mama needs her sleep and with the middle of the night stuff, unfortunately, it's always me dealing with it. Anyway...

We did a trip to the zoo today despite our early morning. The weather this week is only supposed to be low 70s and I can certainly handle a zoo outing in that weather, even at 34 and a half weeks pregnant. So we headed to the grocery store to pick up some breakfast from the bakery and brought it to the zoo with us. We ate and sunscreened up and got started on our way:


Dalton roaring at me like a cheetah:




Best brothers:


We liked this monkey's branch:

I guess I should say this gorilla's branch. The funny part was Easton, who fancies himself a monkey, was also walking around with a branch at the exact same time we saw that.

Then we did something at the zoo we've never done before...feed the lorikeets. For $1 you can buy a tiny cup of "nectar" to feed them so we did:


I took this as I was also holding Dalton:


Easton took this one:


And some lady offered to take this one:


Good times.

After that we hit the carousel...I've been overpaying all these years. Easton is free since he's under 42"...I thought it was just "under 3" but no. Oh well. They loved their carousel ride:




We only did about half the zoo today. But it was enough. My back is hurting a bit from pushing the double stroller all around the slightly hilly zoo. The boys walked a lot but I still had the stroller to push. I'm thinking that this was probably our last pre-Wabie visit. I'm sure it's gonna get real hot and at some point I'm going to want to stop all that walking in the hopes of making it to 9/9. I have this "fear" that I'll get super close --like, to 9/8-- and then go into labor on my own or something. Which would have me in the hosptial on 9/9 still and feeling jealous of everyone delivering that day. :)

Anyhoo...we headed back to the car after our spin on the carousel and drove home. Neither kid ate much lunch and Dalton's having a nap in the bunkbeds, Easton is doing quiet time in my room. That's about it from here.

Oh wait...actually, Dalton got a little note from a faraway friend yesterday. He was so excited to get mail of his own! I prompted him to smile and showed him what I had in mind and this is how he copied me:

Notice the stickers on each hand and then forehead. That's always his third spot for stickers when his hands get full. Goob.

Alright, well, everyone's all caught up yet again. Toodaloo!

Frugal Free Fun and 34 Week OB Visit

First we must re-visit yesterday afternoon very quickly. Easton had his very last piano class and instead of a "recital" they did a "show and share" which basically meant that we were invited to stay all classtime long. Dalton and I went and sang songs and saw what Easton learned (we rarely practiced) and I was impressed with how well he seemed to do! When one of the songs came on Easton warned me, "There's jumping in this song but you can't jump because it might hurt Wabie." Seriously, Easton says things like this all the time and I adore how much he looks out for this unborn kid. He was also sad recently that Wabie isn't coming very soon (to a 4 year old!) because "Jesus is still making him". :)

Anyway, Easton got to shake his teacher's hand and got a certificate:


On our drive home from Keyboards for Kids I asked Easton if he'd enjoyed the class, that I thought he was really good at it, and did he want to take more? He said, "No, I want to take dinosaur dress-up class. Can I? Can I? Please? Please?" This is apparently a class where you make a dinosaur costume and then wear it. I told him that if I found a class like that then he could definitely take it. Instead I think some sort of martial art is next on his list. He saw it on TV and asked if he could take Tae Kwan Do. I got a little disheartened when he later called it "punching and kicking class" because, no, I don't want him thinking of it that way at all.

When we got home I made dinner and sent the boys out back to play. This is where they were for the next half hour:




Apparently there are two little boys that live next door. Well, I've seen kids over there but I'm never certain who lives there and who's just visiting. I'm still not sure. But Easton is convinced those two boys live there and I know that the kids at least speak English...not sure about the adults there. It's quite sad that we don't know our next door neighbors. We introduced ourselves one Halloween (Easton's first!) but they no habla'd ingles and nothing else has ever been said till yesterday between those boys and mine. They chatted and chatted and Easton's planning to go over there to play "next morning". Easton never did ask their names or ages. Although he guessed one boy was 7 and one was 2. I have a feeling they're both younger than he is but again, I dunno... What really sold Easton was one kid went inside to put on his Wolverine costume. The friendship was cemented at that point and the kid will be known as Wolverine instead of his actual name which E never bothered to ask. We'll be keeping an eye out for them again, I'm sure.

Okay, so now on to our morning of free fun. First, Dalton earned his latest pooping prize which was a Spongebob puzzle. We don't watch Spongebob but Dalton likes the character and picked it out. The puzzles are for "3+" and Easton can do them just fine all on his own...Dalton can do a little so they did it as a team and it was the cutest thing ever. Such cooperation.




Finished!


They moved on to another one after that since they'd had so much fun...I happened to catch this expression of Dalton while I took a picture of Easton celebrating fitting in the last piece:


After that we began our free fun...first stop was the library where the summer reading program has ended. Each boy got to pick out a new book to keep and got some coupons for free Chick-fil-a nuggets and a free Carl's Jr. fries. We also picked up a Batman book that was on hold for Easton and we were on our way to "the Wabie doctor".

My appointment was just fine...I'm starting to get scared by the numbers seen on the scale but otherwise all is well. Thanks to a couple of good-eating vacations in 2008, a bout of depression, and a miscarriage I started off this pregnancy 10 pounds heavier than I was with either of the boys. So...even though I've only gained about 15-16 pounds thus far, if you add to it the extra ten I was already carrying then I'm close to seeing numbers I've never before seen on a scale. Yowsa! I'll get over it...I hope.


My appointment was quick. Blood pressure was 95/58. Belly measured 34 as it should. I didn't ask the heartrate...but when she was listening she called it "him". I'm pretty sure Wabie's gender isn't anywhere in my chart (it shouldn't be!) but you never really know...however, anyone else looking at my chart has always asked, "Do you know what this one is?" and don't just look at the chart for the scoop.

While we were at the hospital we also stopped by the Mom/Baby unit so I could show the boys a postpartum room where they would come to visit us and meet Wabie. While there of course I saw some old co-worker friends. One of the nurses there was our main nurse after Dalton's birth and she asked when my C-section was scheduled for...I told her we were hoping for 9/9 but that it was 2 days post dates so who the heck knows. She then told me that her daughter is scheduled for her C-section right after mine that day! :) She's not due till 9/18 but it's such a cool birthdate that she picked it too...and Cindy (the nurse) says there's a third scheduled for that day as well (which is crazy-busy for this particular hospital). Glad we got on that one when we did. We just knew everyone would figure out how cool it'll be. Hope we get it!

Anyway, after we left the appointment we drove by Carl's Jr. for the free fries the boys had coupons for, Good Times for a free drink that we already had a coupon for, and then stopped into Chick-fil-a to share an 8 pack of nuggets with the fries and drink and to play. We had plans to get my free Cold Stone birthday creation after lunch but neither boy could eat their nugget requirement (just one!!!) to qualify for ice cream so I got to eat it all myself. :)

I haven't opened my wallet once today except to pull out our library card for the Batman book. It's been fun.

Now the boys are having a joint quiet time and it's going so so well. Oops...the second I typed that I had to run upstairs for crying. Apparently Dalton smacked his head on the ceiling fan. Ouchie! And a light bulb is now out as a result and I can't seem to fix it...hope it's not more than just the bulb. Eek!

Anyway, I should run and see if I can't go the whole rest of the day without spending money. This has been fun!

34 Weeks. Whoa!

It's Monday...it was my birthday weekend. We must waste no time getting into the recaps.

Back to Thursday, for as much of a pain in the butt as Easton was at the Children's Museum Wednesday, on Thursday he was the complete opposite. That was the day I had the boys doing a shared quiet time and they were so good. Easton was being an especially amazing brother and when they went to watch a TV show Easton asked if Dalton wanted to watch "Little Bear" before choosing it. He then asked if he wanted to join him at the computer and got D's chair all ready next to his:


While they watched a little Pee Wee's Playhouse Easton snuggled right up next to his little bro:




Just being a super sweetheart. A great day.

On Friday before swimming I had E try on some new 3T pants from Gymboree. Well, I'll spare you the "these-don't-fit" examples and just share this one that was so cute. After making him do my poses for the pictures, I then let him finish up with a pose he wanted to do:


Then we went swimming where Easton was finally able to stay up near the surface of the water pretty well (he has a tendency to sink) and he could get his head up for breaths pretty well. I was happy but at the same time, he had no interest in really swimming...on Friday he was Ariel. And Ariel doesn't use her hands to swim. So he couldn't. I talked him into it a few times but dude, he takes his imagination a little far sometimes. :)

Of course both kids fell asleep on the way home again. In fact, I couldn't get Easton to wake up:


Then he was in a bad mood. Finally J got him to perk up when he told them of the birthday plans...J surprised me with a grocery store bakery cake and Dora party favors:


The boys were very into it, which was sweet.




It was contagious:


Bedtime is still not going particularly well but eventually they got to sleep. In the morning Dalton was up too early. I think I was hoping I could get to sleep in on my actual birthday but instead I was joined by my 3 guys which is nice too.

We watched some shows and then got ready for some IHOP for breakfast. The kids wanted to wear our party hats so we did. Easton said that I could pay since it was my birthday. :) When we got back home I got to dive into a few cards and gifts:






Easton then decided it was time for some party games. First we played what he calls "How Low Can You Go" (aka the Limbo):




Then we all piled into our main floor "powder room" for some shadow puppets. Easton is such a cutie pie. We also turned on the "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" movie my sister gave me and I fast forwarded to some of my favorite song and dance scenes and danced about with my little men. I was glad I got the morning to celebrate with them because with the cake and festivities the night before I knew I wouldn't be with them for dessert that night (at least!)...

Before long it was time for E's t-ball game. My mom had called a few days prior to ask if she could come "so she could see my on my actual birthday" but I knew right then there was more to her visit. That she was trying to throw me off. ;) So she came to the game and then came back home with us. I got to open another gift and a bunch of cards that had arrived in the mail that day:


I got Dalton down for a nap, Easton was itching to play with Gramoo, so Jason and I got ready for our afternoon. He had planned for Gramoo to babysit while we went to a movie (The Hangover) and then dinner at my favorite restaurant: The Melting Pot.

We got plenty of pictures of me all scrubby looking in the morning but not a single one when I was in my dress and showered and made up. So Jason took this on the ride home:


We got home and the boys were in bed (Dalton wasn't asleep yet, he was in the crib) and we hung out with Moo some more...until Lauren called from the airport around 11:30, actually. Then we went to bed. What a birthday!

On Sunday, however, we still had more plans. My mom has treated us to brunch at our favorite brunch buffet every year since Jason came on the scene. Here's Dalton singing some "Three Little Birds" on the way down:


We got there a tad early so we posed for a few pictures on the hotel grounds:






Then we headed inside and we each took a boy to the potty. When Dalton and I came out we found the rest of our family waiting for us like this:


Goobs!


Brunch was delicious and it was nice to see Lauren again after two weeks in California:


We went out to the grounds behind the hotel again as we like to do for some family picture. Somehow my husband is more sensitive to the sunlight than most people and he's often very squinty or part pirate:


But he tried his best:






At breakfast my mom surprised me with another very generous gift. She'd given me something I'd asked for the day before (a Hotsling for Wabie) but at brunch she gave me a little poem in this here flower...

...about the patio furniture pieces she'd bought for us after seeing them up on my fridge. I've been wanting some!!! Yay!

At that point we split up...Jason took the boys home and my mom treated Lauren and I to the new Harry Potter. We'd been waiting to see it with Lauren when she got back into town. It's been a tradition for the three of us to see the Harry Potter flicks together for some time now. After the movie they dropped me off at home and Jason got to work on the yard and I took the boys for a bike ride. Easton's doing pretty well on his bike (still with training wheels) and Dalton hasn't got a clue on the trike. :) Sometimes he baffles me. He doesn't care about colors or shapes but is potty trained. What a silly goose.

Anyway, we've got E's last piano class today and I was feeling all nesty this morning...I hope it continues because I've got stuff to do and maybe about a month and a half (if we're lucky!) to do it! :)