Sweet Moments

There are certain things that my little man does in between the tantrums that melt my heart because he doesn't realize how darned adorable they are.

To sum up this past week, I came down with some sort of chest-and-head yuckiness.  Followed on the heels of probably over-doing it while packing up some boxes* and I ended up at the doctor last week because of a slight fear that continuously coughing up a lung and lugging some heavy stuff (toddler included) was setting off some funkiness that could be defined as pre-term labor. I'm fine.  The doctor did allude to the fact that I've got to take it easy a bit more and not over-do it. And she may have asked me about the likelihood of taking off a couple of days of work to relax and recoup and I might have giggled at her.

Anyway, so one of the things I'm trying to do is make a concerted effort not to pick up my 30+ pound toddler around for everything he "must do" to "help" me -- like turning on the microwave, shutting off the lights, opening the garage door, etc. The easiest way to explain this change? Since he's already asked why "mommy is so big" (that was a nice blow to my ego this past weekend) - we've just started pointing to my stomach and saying "Mommy can't pick you up. Mommy's tummy hurts." Cutest thing ever? When little boy sweetness emerges. T came right over and kissed my tummy and said "I make it better." Heart melting. Even more adorable? He reminds me daily that "Daddy has to do it, mommy's tummy hurts" and gives me more "all better" kisses. So, it IS possible for almost two-and-a-half year old little boys to have preciously sweet moments**. My momma's boy.

And the other sweet thing abut this sicky week I've had? The hubs probably doesn't realize it, but he and the little man have reached a new level of cuteness together. Since T has had to re-delegate some of his usual mommy duties to daddy, it has been absolutely adorable to watch them together. It's pretty much a given that T laughs way more with his daddy than he does with me. I might be a little jealous of it already.


*A blog for another time, but the hubs and I might be crazy. We decided we'll be putting our house on the market and building a new house during new-baby time. Which requires getting it up to snuff now. And keeping it perfect until then. [Cue maniacal laugh]

**Until it's time to do something he doesn't want to do and WWIII emerges. Like this morning. Cuteness vanishes pretty quickly then.

Craigslist

I think I've pretty well established on this blog my champagne taste and beer budget predicament, which thankfully has found an outlet through places like eBay and Craiglist.  This pregnancy has sent me into re-decorating/organizing mode and of course I can't afford any of the items I actually want to buy, but luckily it's moving season which means it's Craigslist season.  I find this is the time of year when all the awesome stuff shows up on Craiglist as people move and purge.  So, while the hubs is working every weekend, Audrey and I hop in the car and drive all around Dallas picking up our finds.

This past weekend we scored 2 Land of Nod Storage bins which had been on my wish list for as long as I can remember.  After enough stalking I finally found them - score - and got both for less than the price of one.  These fit perfectly into the bottom of a closet (which I find to be wasted space) and are baby/toddler height so they can easily get stuff in and out.  They're also stackable, although I'm just putting one in each kid's closet for the time being:

Next it was off to the wealthy part of town to pick up our new Pottery Barn Kids Cameron Storage System.  This is going in the playroom I'm creating in our new house, and even better is that it already matches our dark wood furniture.  I got two of the set below and now just need the baskets for smaller toys:

The last 2 items I want are a new coffee table and dining room table.  Ours are both glass and while we *haven't* had an accident yet, with a 2-year old and soon-to-be-newborn in the house I really don't want to push my luck any further.  Only problem is that I can't load and haul these items without help from the hubs, who of course would rather do just about anything else on a Sunday.  So, a bit of manipulation may be required now and then, in the form of me telling him stories of crazy Craiglist ax murderers who might, I don't know, abduct me and stick me in a closet upon arrival.  Unless of course the hubs goes with me to save me [pick the items up].  I know it's not fair, but I get a pass for being the size of a walrus and having heartburn 18 hours a day, right?? :)

Pre-babies Reunion and other happenings

Since our due dates are rapidly approaching (or not so rapidly as it may feel some days), Erika & I decided not long ago that we needed at least one more weekend get together before we experience the temporary insanity that accompanies the arrival of a newborn. Hopefully we both manage to pull ourselves together quicker this time than the first time around and are getting all FOUR of our kids together in no-time, but just to be on the safe side, a pre-July visit was mandatory.

It was a quick visit and of course, due to the Really Big Boy Bed switcheroo and resulting lack of naptime, my child had morphed into a 3-foot tall monster. Tantrums and moodiness aside, it was a great visit. T appeared to have a slight infatuation with "Unkie Ben" - but when he was willing to share a toy or two with Audrey, they were adorable together. Just look at these little future lovebirds.

Sorry for interrupting your table for two, kids.

Together time.

In other news, T ate some cat food this week. By choice. And then went back to the cat bowl and popped another morsel in his mouth. With a smile. Gross.

The Really Big Boy Bed

Another switcheroo for my little man. This time, it was time to move him from the toddler bed (aka, the big boy bed) to the full-sized bed (aka, the REALLY big boy bed). So you ask, why would we choose to do this, when he's been sleeping so peacefully for months now post-original toddler bed adjustment?

Because apparently, we're crazy.

We had a couple reasons for the change -- both which seemed fully intelligent and had the thought processes of parents trying to make life easier for their kiddo before we actually made the change-up.

Reason #1 - we're going on vacation next month, and since he won't sleep in the pack-n-play anymore, we wanted to make sure that sleeping on a big bed wasn't going to be an impossible transition while in a strange house.

Reason #2 - Baby girl will be getting T's crib mattress when her furniture arrives. Seemed better that we pass some of T's things onto the baby slowly rather shake up his world in one fell swoop.

Leading up to the big change-up we made a big deal of the change. T was very impressed with his buddy G$'s big boy bed last month - so we've talked up moving up to a bed that size a bunch. We've also referred to it as the Big Brother Bed -- a special place where little boys who are going to be big brothers get to sleep. Also seemed like it was a successful parenting move.

So the mattress got delivered last week (by a truck, when T was home to watch it arrive -- another parental win!) and we switched the bed last weekend.* T seemed to be very excited about the new bed. He couldn't wait to play on it with his daddy. Until it was time to nap, that is. Since that time, to put it bluntly, sleep has kind of eluded our household.

Someone appears, in theory anyway, happy about his REALLY big boy bed! Appearances are deceiving.

And yes, I know that his pillow is woefully undersized. New pillows to come. The kid hates pillows anyway.

Granted, we seemed to go through this same sleep deprivation when we switched T over to the toddler bed in the winter.  But since then T has learned how to open doorknobs, which has been interesting to say the least. It would be fully adorable to hear T sneak down the stairs and into our bedroom and announce, on multiple occasions, "I awake right now. Daddy get up! Mommy get up!" if it weren't 1AM, 2AM, and so on. We quickly wisened up and put one of those child-proof door knob covers on the inside of the door, which we figure will buy us a little time until he learns to take it off. (Is this considered cruel? Or a simple parenting survival move? I vote for the latter.) Regardless, he's still been waking up constantly, going to the door, and lying down in front of it, circa December. So we started thinking -- could it be because he's facing a different direction? We were looking for T's room to look nice - and so we set it up the way most normal rooms are set up, you know, with the bed situated in a normal way.  After a few rough nights in a row, we decided to move the bed so he's positioned the same way he was in his toddler bed and crib. He's room isn't exactly looking feng shui these days, I'll tell you that. To be honest, it's pretty funny looking.

And while it seemed to help him get to sleep during the first part of the next few nights, it hasn't fulfilled all my wishes and kept him asleep. He's quiet, but we still hear him moving back and forth between the bed and the door again and again, so we're up. And we need some sleep. Desperately.

Here's hoping tonight will be better!


*Right before Erika and the fam came to town to visit! Recap to come. I'm blaming my slow blogging on sleep deprivation!

Consent Forms

I signed my life away this week in the hopes of having a successful VBAC with this kiddo.  My doctor got me all pumped that everything is looking good so far (yay!) and that I have a good chance of making this happen (double yay!) and then he told me to read and sign this consent form:

__ VBACs have approximately a 70% success rate [initial if you have read and understand]

Well great!

__ Or, you might die [initial if you have read and understand]

Hmm...

__ A VBAC will require a shorter hospital stay than a c-section [initial if you have read and understand]

That sounds good

__ Or, your baby might die [initial if you have read and understand]

Well, now, hold on a minute...

__ A VBAC will result in a quicker recovery time than a c-section [initial if you have read and understand]

Sweet, sign me up!

__ Or, your uterus might explode like Tori Spelling in which case both you and your baby might die [initial if you have read and understand]

Uh...

So I signed the c-section consent form too, just in case.

And because I failed my glucose test and am back on my torturous low-carb/low-sugar diet, here's a yummy breakfast-on-the-go smoothie recipe I've been making: 

Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie

Ingredients:

- 1 banana, cut up
- 1 tablespoon organic creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or whatever liquid you want)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder (or whatever protein powder you want)
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 1-2 cups of ice, depending on how thick you like your smoothies

Directions:

Blend everything together.

By using almond milk and vanilla protein powder you can really reduce the sugar (there's a little in the peanut butter and banana) and I find the smoothie plenty sweet this way.  A good treat for kids too!