Day 158: Book Worm

10.25.2012

Max has opened his eyes to the world of books.....and you'd better watch out. Whether you like it or not, you'll be reading and pointing out everything for as long as you can stand while he squeals, "whaaaaadat?"  Carson had a big board book of 100 first words at this same age and wore. it. out. Like, pages were all torn to shreds and we eventually had to throw it away. We couldn't remember what it was called and I randomly stumbled on it in the back of a stack at the store a few weeks ago. Sure enough, it is a huge hit for Max too. He opens the first page and immediately points to the picture of a motorcycle and says, "Ba!" for bike. He does the same thing every time we walk in the garage and he sees the motorcycle.

Thursday was a big snow day. Blah. I am not a fan.

Dropping the monster off and waiting for the doors to open.

When we get home Max gets some quiet time to play by himself. 

He loves to put on the fireman hat and cape and run. We have to yell "Super Max!" when he does it. :)

And of course, the remotes are always being hunted.

And then a snuggly nap.


On the way home from picking Carson up we had to stop for literally at least 50+ deer to cross a main road. It was fascinating to watch them all panic and follow each other right out across a big bend. Luckily everyone saw them and stopped on our side and no one came around the blind bend going the other way. Carson thought it was awesome to see a handful of them that morning, but this took the cake.

Day 101: Boy friends

8.29.2012

Wednesdays are our days off to go play. This week we played with Jen, Jack and Luci. Carson and Jack are so funny together, copying everything the other does and laughing constantly. I can't wait for it to get out of the 90s though! It is brutal to taken them outside to play right now.

Max at dinner. After his THIRD helping of food. This kid eats!


My extremely proud moment of asking Carson to write his name and without any help at all he produced this. ::::::Swoon:::::

Day 12: Story time

Grandma takes Carson to the GVR library all the time, but I hadn't been yet. It has a real plane cockpit and a lot of interactive areas. We went to their 3-5 year old story time and it was so cool. There were at least 25 kids there. It felt like we were back in a preschool environment and they were okay being loud. I was afraid of trying to keep them quiet in a library....  Afterward we read some books and went out to the playground with a new-found pal and his mommy. We will definitely be going back to this one.

School's out for summer! [ Preschool ceremony, 2012 ]

Our big 4-year-old is officially done with preschool for the year. His school has been so incredible and he has learned SO much in four short months. I love that it is part of the school system, but hate that we now have three months of no school because of it! I'm terrified that he's going to totally tank after all the progress he's made since being there. To be honest, I have been dreading this time, which sounds horrible, but I'm so used to four quiet days for work now! But I woke up this morning happy to have his company and kind of excited to not be on a schedule. I mean, I work at home for a reason People! (aka, I like to have my coffee before my shower and not set an alarm EVER.)

All but four of the kids in his class are moving on to kindergarten and I don't think he really grasps that he won't see most of them anymore. He seems to be excited to stay home for awhile, but I'm sure that won't last very long. Carson, Lilai and Balan were the only 3 boys in the class, but Miss Alice promised that next year will be more balanced. Luckily these 3 loved each other and were a nice balance of calm and crazy. Guess who the crazy one was......

Also, you'll note all the nice clothes on the kids, except for Carson. I didn't get the memo that they should be dressed up and Carson doesn't have a single shirt that isn't a t-shirt or uber casual. I did put him in jeans! Oops.  Max was so funny during the ceremony. He kept squealing and clapping, just a little early or late and so he got a lot of attention. He is pretty dang cute if I do say so.

It's the final countdown!

I'm not really sure where this post will go or why it's even in existence.......... I guess I just have a bunch of random thoughts in my head at this point. I thought all along that I would have this baby before my due date since Carson was 8 days late. I assume our children will always keep us on our toes so why wouldn't this dude come super early? I guess I've got a nice comfortable little womb in there though. Today I'm 39w4d so pretty darn close to our due date. Last Wednesday night I was up with my first bout of real painful contractions, but they didn't last. I had a doctor's appt that next morning where I found out I did have some progress (1.5cm, 50% effaced), but nothing else has happened since. I had two semi-contractions while eating dinner last night and that's been it for 5 days. 

We are actually hoping that he comes close to a weekend, like this Thursday or Friday would be perfect! :)  Carl's vacation time doesn't start until July 1 because that's his work anniversary date so we're hoping the two personal days he can take when we have him fall around the weekend. Otherwise he's going to have a pretty tough time going right back to work after a mid-week hospital stay. I've told him that he is more than welcome to come home and sleep here since I think I can handle the nights alone. We are so lucky that Grandma Susan has a ton of vacation time and a flexible work environment so we don't have the added stress of what to do with Carson. She'll hopefully be able to take a few days off to help when he gets home and Carl's vacation time hasn't started yet. I'm honestly more worried about dealing with Carson in the first days than I am the baby!

It may sound a little dramatic to say that I'm afraid of what Carson will do at first, but he can be a real handful. On Friday we were upstairs when my boss called. I had to run downstairs to get on the computer so I let Carson stay up there. I didn't want my boss to hear the wrath of dragging him down the stairs and getting settled. It had been WAY too quiet for this short duration so I was dreading what I'd come up to. Turns out he went in and pulled out an entire bag of Grandma's makeup. It was all over her floor, crushed eyeshadow, black smudges in the carpet, everything. Then he proudly showed me his "purple cheeks!". I eventually found that what he had was a purple lipstain that he drew on his face. He thought it was so cool and that Daddy would be so proud of him. :)

 

He does and says so many funny things every single day. I absolutely love watching him learn and grow. He busted out the full alphabet this weekend out of nowhere and will say it to anyone that will listen. The other day he came in the office to find the light shining down through the glass of his desk. He was so excited that there was a rainbow in here and looked at me like a crazy person when I tried to explain it to him. He wanted me to take a picture of it on his feet so he could see it.

 

He's constantly riding his bike out in the backyard these days.....and if he gets off at least he keeps his helmet on. :)  Safety first!

He very lovingly helps Daddy rub my feet (aka sausage toes).

He's getting so much better with potty training. And when he's not, he's a diaper box robot.

He helps out Daddy and Daddy's pals with any and everything guy related. He got to take a ride in Justin's tool truck this weekend.

Basically he's just a hoot.

As far as baby stuff goes, I think we are just about all done and ready to go. The changing table finally showed up on Saturday and we found baskets for it yesterday. The crib is all put together, the clothes are put away in the drawers, the swing is all together, the carseat is cleaned and my bags are as packed as they can be at this point. 

My mom and I were at Babies R Us last weekend and found a side-cap of clearance shoes. They had this ONE pair of baby Pumas that were marked down from $29.99 to $3.80. I couldn't resist because they were beyond cute and then when I bought them they actually rang up at $1.85! Totally worth it for his own first pair. We have kind of turned into a Puma family so it seemed fitting. I also got Carson a new pair of Nike's for $6. I had her search out the last size 10 and when we got home they were way too big on him (which is weird since he's almost an 11 in everything else). I went back and bought the 9's too to wear now since they were so dang cheap! I sure love me some clearance items. Here are the Pumas:

 

As far as my gear goes I definitely have a favorite. I casually asked my friend Erin about her PPB diaper bag a while ago because I was eying this one online, but hadn't seen one in person. The bag was backordered everywhere so I figured I had time to decide if I wanted to buy it or not. Well, we have awesome friends because Erin & Nick, Megan & Justin and Luke all surprised us and got it for us as a gift. I was so shocked and they really shouldn't have. Not to say that I'm not thrilled! I've had it on my desk staring at me ever since. I decided I don't want to use it until the baby is here so it feel fresh and new for the experience. I am having a serious obsession with gray and yellow right now so this just hits the spot!

Hopefully the next post will be an introduction! Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Naughty Pants Magoo

The last two weeks here have been fun and a bit crazy. Our house is definitely full now, but it's great having family around. Carl's sister Christy, her fiance Andy and Carl's little brother Dustin are all with us for now! Dustin got to start school here in our neighborhood and Christy and Andy are on the job hunt. Carson loves having new faces to look at. Every time one of them comes in the room he says, "Oh, hi ______!" like it's the first time he's ever seen them. 

Then we got kind of bomb dropped on us in the last two days. Carl got called for jury duty and he just had to show up yesterday as one of about 200 people. After all was said and done he was chosen for the 14-person jury and it is a murder trial that could last up to two weeks. Everyone was telling him to say everything outrageous to get out of it, but he said there was really no way to lie since you didn't know what the right answers really even are. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but he is about 2 weeks short of his 90 days at work so his benefits to pay for this haven't kicked in yet. His boss fought for him, but corporate won't pay. It's pretty lame to just miss an entire pay period out of no where! Sucky suck suck.

Grandpa Rick came to visit again this week too. He slept in the recliner. :)  We've been doing a lot of playing outside, going on playdates and working in between. Carson is always obsessed with our neighbors' Razor Scooters. He has never been able to ride them on his own, but he tries all the time. I have to drag him home after he plays with them. Well, Dustin shows up and guess what he has.....a Razor Scooter. Carson quickly claimed it as his own and has been attempting to master it ever since. On Wednesday night Carl was trying to teach him how to balance on one foot and push off with the other. He showed him twice and all of a sudden Carson just took off! Every time before this he would try to put both feet on and obviously just fell right over. Once he figured out what he was supposed to do you couldn't stop him. The funniest part (which I didn't get on video) was him trying to copy Carl and do a 360.

Other than all that, I just have some random photos to share that I've snapped over the last while. ***Disclaimer: He got a haircut last night. It wasn't by my choice that he looked like a poor homeless child with twangers galore.

One day last week we went out for the day and we didn't get home in time for Carson's nap. He was fine, but when we got back we tried to get him to lay down with us on the floor on his couch. We watched a movie and he ran around for over an hour. At one point it got really quiet and this was why:

Then he eventually came to lay by me and crashed out of no where. We rarely ever get to see him sleep so we basically just sat there and stared at him. Apparently he sleeps with his eyes open sometimes. And my arms go to sleep incredibly easy.

He loves helping Daddy make pancakes every weekend. He's finally figuring out how to stir without flipping the whole bowl out onto the counter. 

We've been out playing in the backyard a lot during the days. I don't know what he'll do when it gets cold. It already is starting to feel chilly and I'm not ready for it at all!

Since he got his Jeep, the Cozy Coupe lives in the back. He goes "four-wheeling" in the grass and rides it all over out there. Lately Elmo has been coming along for rides too. "Mommy, Elmo NEEDS to come with me."

We can't even believe how well he is talking still. He can put sentences together that I had no idea he would be able to at this point. Last weekend we told him we'd try to go to the park, but it got too late and we had to run other errands. When we pulled into Target he screamed from the backseat, "I thought I said no Target!" We just looked at each other like, uh, he really said that.

Yesterday he wasn't feeling well and threw up on the way to daycare. He seemed fine last night, but I was still watching him. When I got him up this morning I asked him how he was feeling and he said, "Grumpy". I didn't even know how to respond. It is so amazing that at this age they can 100% comprehend what we are saying and answer with the right words

At my office we just signed for a third arm of the study we've been doing for a while now. That one looks like it will go until 2013 which is GREAT news!! My boss is already talking about planning our February trip to Carmel again. I don't know if that's really awesome or really mean since it's still 5 months away! :)

And in case you're wondering, Naughty Pants Magoo is one of the many nicknames I have for Carson. I have no idea why, but most of them end in Magoo or Magee.

Potty training, take 1.

I got the bug last week that it was time to get serious about focusing on potty training. I am well aware of the whole "you can't force them" thing, but Carson has shown all the signs that he is ready. I would hate for my laziness to be the reason why he isn't going for it. He's had his potty chair for quite a while now, but we haven't had a schedule of sitting on it, we have just had it around when we felt like trying.  I have read a bunch and talked to the girls at his daycare. One of them said she got underwear for her son at Carson's exact age with his favorite characters. She skipped Pull-Ups altogether because he didn't want to go in his cool undies. I came right home and ordered some Thomas and Yo Gabba Gabba big boy underwear and patiently waited. 

They showed up yesterday during naptime. Carson spotted the boxes on the floor right when he came downstairs so it was really exciting for him to get to try them out. I have been stoked to potty train because of how ridiculously adorable his little bum would be in them.

He picked out Brobee for his first pair. They did not fail me on the cuteness factor.

He ran around the house in his new found Brobee undies and ate his favorite new treat, popsicles. 

I just love his pouty popsicle lips.

This all started around 3:00 and by bedtime we were in pair #6. He loves telling me AFTER he goes and he has yet to actually go in the potty. This morning it took two hours for us to be in pair #5 and I decided this apparently isn't the right approach for him. He literally gets off the potty and comes in the living room and pees. I switched back to a diaper and I'm trying to take him to the potty every 20-30 minutes. We really think that as soon as he goes that first time in the potty he'll get it, but until then I can't chase him around cleaning the carpets all day.

This was this morning with his jammies and his Caillou goes potty book. He thinks it's fun to be in there at least. I have stickers waiting for him when he finally goes which he's excited about too.

I'm open to any and ALL suggestions right now since I apparently have no idea what I'm doing. 
Anyone? Bueler?