Hello, N!

Little N

24 February 2012 at 10:07p.m.

8 lbs, 12 oz. and 21.5 inches

Proud Daddy

Contemplating Brotherhood

Big Sister

The Whole Crew

Little Feet

Contentment



Happy 30th to Me!

Okay, so, really my birthday was in early January, but I'm playing catch up and will likely continue to do so for the next three months!  I've got H's 6th birthday and party to post on next, (wait, did I even post S's back in Dec?) and then there's baby's arrival, which will actually--hopefully!--happen before that.  (I'm scheduled to be induced on Monday, but that may change...long story.)  Then there's Lil'S's at the end of March, and visits from family and baby boy's blessing.  So, bear with me, and if I disappear from Bloggerland for a while, you'll all know why!

This was S's present to me. I was surprised to get anything and had to laugh that it was one of my favorite candies.

(He's not allowed to spend money on me because I'm always overspending, so please don't think he's a total loser husband!)

We were seriously being el-cheapo.  Theses are the donuts I found on Kroger clearance.  I also got like five boxes of cookies for super cheap at the same time for my birthday party (more on that later) and for freezing to snack on later.  It was the best!

Lil'S is a total sweet tooth.  All 28lb of him!

H's present to me, funny girl!

Aw, my visiting teachers got me this wall hanging and a couple of yummy smelling lotions.  I'd been totally wanting some framed scriptures on my walls--just perfect!  It now lives in my sitting room. :) 

See the tear?  ;)

I bought myself a new alarm clock while doing some Christmas shopping and gave it to S, telling him with a smile to give it to me for Christmas.  (It wasn't exactly in our household budget, so it could go in our Christmas one, right??)  I knew my current clock would drive me crazy once middle of the night nursings started up because I have to hit a button in the dark in order to see what time it is. Well, like I did for some of his presents, he forgot to give it to me Christmas Day!  He felt very sheepish giving it to me on my birthday, but I was thrilled. :)  I now have a clock that shows the time in the dark!  (Seriously, don't most alarm clocks do that without having to be "told" to?)

Oh, and I threw myself a birthday party. :)  Turned out S had three, day-long, gratefully local conferences starting my birthday and going into the weekend.  So, Saturday afternoon, I had a bunch of friends over to chat and eat yummy food so that I wouldn't sit around and feel sorry for myself.  ;)  It was great fun!

Valentine's Day Concert

Thursday night we attended H's Kindergarten Valentine's Day Concert.  The kids sang just four or five songs--short and sweet!  It was fun to see them perform.  

I have to admit, though, that during the days leading up to it, I kept joking with S about modern-day education, or the lack thereof:  Where's the Presidents' Day Presentation??  I wanna see the kids all dressed up, quoting famous lines!!!  ;)  

I wish I'd gotten pictures of all the parents standing, taking pictures and videos the moment the kindergarteners arrived on the scene.  Talk about paparazzi!  The kids hadn't even done anything yet!

Waiting for the concert to start. . . .

One of Lil'S's favorite activities: pushing things!!!

Just doing a little weight-lifting.

The PERFECT view, in my opinion!

Just making sure. . . .

We all loved the backward letters.

They lost it a bit here at the start of the second verse, but then they picked back up again.  H is such a little performer!  I wish the zoom on our camera was working because her expressions were fantastic.  (It won't focus in zoom.  The pictures above were the closest I could get to her without the pictures turning out completely fuzzy.)

Thanks for the fun night, Miss H and all the kindies & kindie teachers at her school!

Pregnant Belly

Here I am on 10 Feb, four days shy of my due date.

I've had hardly two contractions this entire week, which is actually rather amusing after all the (mild but very frequent) ones I've had on and off during the four or five weeks before. It's been nice to have a break, to be honest, and it also helped me not worry about missing out on H's Valentine's Day Concert and her little school friend's birthday party Saturday. (Although, Saturday hasn't come yet!)

Toddler Busy Bags

I read a couple books on toddler activities (ages 1-2/1-3) a while ago that I posted on earlier, but just now I've learned of the smarty-pants idea of women getting together to make toddler busy bags: One person makes 15 (or whatever number) of an activity and swaps with the others who each make 15 (or whatever number) of other activities.  There are a bunch of great ideas out there (thank you, Blogosphere!), many of which I think were mentioned in those books I'd read, or at least they shared the same concepts.  As I'm not in a position right now to start up on those activities but want to be able to reference them later--and as it's always fun to share cute, helpful ideas--I'm posting them here.  I'm not a crafty person.  Ok, clarification:  I appreciate cute, crafty things and would probably be able to think of lots of fun things to do and ways to do them, but when it comes to ME actually putting them together, well, expect it to take hours longer and much more frustration than one would ever expect.   (Guess why I also don't sew!)   So, anyway, most of the ones I've included are totally simple, thus increasing the likelihood of my actually starting and finishing them.  ;)  Most of them are also geared toward little ones who like to put small things in their mouths.

This first link here is my favorite.  It shows all the projects that a group of friends put together, and although links are included to how-tos, you can figure out how to put them together just by looking at most of them.

http://therigneys.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/toddler-busy-bag-swap/

 - Mini Reversible Felt Board (much cuter than what I already have, but the two I have do work fine)

 - Matching Color Shades

 - Button Snake (I think I actually have some fabric samples I could use for this, as well as everything else I'd need.  Nice!  That increases the likelihood of my completing the project by four-fold!)

 - Lacing Cards (I would need to buy string for this, sadly, but at least I have the foam for it.)

 - Popsicle Stick Puzzles (This one....well, I'd seen the idea before, but I don't remember it turning out so well if I had tried it.  I'll have to think about this one.  I do have popsicle sticks, though!)

 - Homemade Number Boards (I really like this one, as I have everything I'd need AND it's SUPER easy to do!)

 - Pushing Puff Balls (Ok, I really like this one too, but I wouldn't do it with shaped tops, just circles, as I'm not asking the kid to match shapes like his shape box.  The con to this one is the into-the-mouth factor.  I'd have to really keep an eye on Lil'S, which is not the point of these activities in my book. ;) )

 - Shades of Color (I think my daughter and husband need this one too.  They don't understand the difference between dark pink and red!!!!  What's with that???  Maybe I should ask H's eye specialist about that one!)

http://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/tag/busy-box/

 - Pushing Puff Balls (this is the puff ball one I'd make)

 - Color Sorting Pipe Cleaners (or I'd do this instead to avoid the in-the-mouth factor....although, they certainly would get all bent out of shape after not too much time...hmm...)

 - and instead of threading sponge jewelry, I'd have this larger version that someone else put together from the parts of her caterpillar counting project for an older child. 

I've tossed around doing texture collections (cards or even just different materials collected together), but haven't had the guts to search out different things around my house yet.  Here are the ones I like anyway.

http://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/homemade-toys-texture-cards/  (Super cute, but can't see myself tackling this as beautifully as she did!)

http://learningdevelopmentactivities.blogspot.com/2009/12/texture-cards.html

One-year-old ideas

  - all these but the dice at the bottom. (Yeah, there's a repeat, but that's what happens when you use the same source twice.) I'd probably use velcro for the cupcakes instead, and probably just do different shapes instead of cupcakes as well.

Clothespin drop Little more work / potential frustration involved, but I love the idea.  I would probably have different decorations on mine as well.

Plastic Egg Activities:

 - Egg Cartons I wouldn't add small pieces in the eggs unless I was in a position to tend to Lil'S closely, as much fun as it would otherwise be!

 - Mix & Match (better for preschooler than toddler, but cheap, everything on hand, and super simple), number matching fits the above too

And maybe just some good, old-fashioned sponge curlers. 

Special thanks to unsolicited advice's list, which was the springboard to many of the finds above.

A Real Boy Haircut!

On Jan. 3rd, I got a sudden urge to take advantage of a few moments to cut Lil'S's hair.  I'd wanted to do it for a while--at least once his baby locks could be swept beneath his shirt collar, which was probably a couple weeks before Christmas!  It was 4:30 p.m., and I knew I had a few minutes before S would be home and went at it, although I guess I probably should have been cooking dinner.  Oh, well.  If I had cooked dinner, my son's hair would likely still be long at this point.  (I'm not exaggerating.  It took a whole week for me to get around to S's overgrown mop, and I still haven't trimmed H's hair or made an appointment to chop my own before this baby comes.)  I realized after I cut his hair that the lady at the post office who took him for a girl probably had been paying more attention to his long hair than his blue coat. ;) Was that sudden urge of mine a subconscious reaction to that???

before taking the razor to the top

and afterward

We had a European-style dinner to make up for the loss of time:  slices of salami, cheese, and bread.  I'm sure there were some veggies or fruit thrown in as well.  There usually is!

Christmas Morning

So belated, but at least it's posted, right?

I took lots of videos this Christmas.  The kids were just so much fun, and I knew pictures wouldn't turn out as cute with the dim light of early morning.

We give three gifts to the kids at Christmas.  This year, it was scripture readers, "soft" bat & ball sets (clearance, $3ea!), and footie-pjs for H ($6-7?  She's been begging for them since she outgrew hers in the summer; she just has to match Lil'S!) and a riding toy for Lil'S.  (Target had firetruck ones for $15.)  He loves riding toys and plays with it nearly every day.

We limit Santa gifts to a stocking--they are big stockings--but I must admit they were a little empty this year, not that the kids noticed!  The main gift in H's was a pair of slippers ($5) she'd been begging for on cold mornings, and Lil'S got a doll of his own ($4ish!).  At bedtime, he makes sure we put the doll's hat on and wrap it up in its blanket.  Lil'S is going to be a good big brother & a fantastic Daddy!  They also got their traditional toothbrushes & toothpastes, candy, and some Hotwheels cars (69¢ ea).  There may've been other things too, for those of you who think we deprive our kids.  ;)  (We're going for quality, not quantity!)  It's just a month later and now I can't remember!

Can you tell I'm thrilled about how little we pulled off spending on things? :)  I tend to overspend during the year, so it's nice to actually have success keeping some spending under control!

I purposely went with a larger size.  (And it helped that they were oversized anyway.)  I was NOT going to have her crying about outgrowing her footie pjs for six months before Christmas this time around!

H was totally into gift giving this year. Here are some of the many things she gave us. 

for Mommy
(minus the scriptures)

for Daddy

for Sammy

Pillow pet from G&G S

sleeping bag for Lil'S & a dress for H
thx, G&G C!!!

traditional pjs for S & I

Thanks, M&D C & M&D S!

Florence's Chocolates!  Thanks, G&G C!

(They're for us grown-ups!)

Thanks, G&G S!

We  gave in and allowed Lil'S to open his other car without having to wait for sister to open her next gift. :)

Thanks, I, J,  & W!!!

Pop beads for H

Thanks again, I & J & W!

Apparently, it was a fireman-themed Christmas for Lil'S!

H's smile here was too ecstatic to not post. 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!! 

Give me 9 more days . . . but not too much longer!

Wow, so we all know how busy life can be, and we all know how much it feels like we're not really in control of that (when we really are!  We CAN say NO!), but even when trying to avoid scheduling things, I'm still surprised that I only have about a two-week period that's open in my life for having this baby.  Here's the "important" things that have stayed on the calendar.  I keep telling this kid that after the 9th is a great time to come--but fairly soon after the 9th!

Today - my weekly OB appt & Lil'S's developmental evaluation with Child Services.  He didn't qualify based on a 30% language delay since it combines receptive (which is totally fine) and expressive (which is definitely behind), however, he does qualify based on the fact that the intake coordinator and the evaluator are concerned about his expressive language.  Yay!  :)  I mean, not yeah that he has a delay, but yeah that he can still qualify for their therapy program.  We should hear back from a new coordinator by the end of this week or early next week--well within my "just wait until after the 9th" timeline. ;)

Thu - 8 a.m. dental cleaning, tending a friend's little girl 1-4pm (H will be thrilled that I said "yes" to that)
Fri - cake baking/decorating, H's birthday, and a friend's baby shower in the evening
Sat - H's birthday party!
Mon - open for organizing!
Tues - my OB
Wed - H's appt with a pediatric sleep doctor!  Yippee!!!
Thu - H's well-child

Fri - Sure, I said you could come now, but I'm sure I probably won't be done with packing my hosptal bag, vacuuming (it's been so warm Mitzie's already shedding her winter coat! ack!), laundry, sorting clothes, cleaning the clutter off of and re-organizing my nightstand with all the stuff you're going to need each night, emptying out the 3 laundry baskets of piled up clothes, de-cluttering  the nursery, and freezing meals.  Oh, and there's also the mice under the house to scare away (I am suddenly finding myself immensely grateful that we own a cat.  She's kept them at bay in the kitchen--hole in wall behind the washer, thank you Mr. Repairman.  I realized we had them when I saw the droppings in the bathroom, underneath the pipe that's loose in the wall.  Gratefully I haven't seen droppings elsewhere.)  And then there's sister's and my own hair to cut.  So, unless you'd like to throw some boundless energy my way--like a couple weeks ago; it was nice to get the kids packed and the house cleaned back then--maybe the next week will be a better time for you to arrive!

Just make sure you don't delay too long because H and Lil'S will have eye exams on the 27th, and I'd like to be present.

;)

(I have to insert that I had stronger contractions during the hours following this post. ;) The OB offered to check me again, but I don't think they were frequent enough to do much more than maybe a cm or two at the very most.  They stopped once the kids were in bed and I sat down to catch up on the blogging world.  I think they just started up because I skipped my nap.  They were stronger than usual, albeit much further apart than usual.  Usually when I get contractions, they're quite mild but 3-8 minutes apart.  These lasted about the same amount of time--a minute or so each--but were spaced more like 20-40 min. apart.  Any contraction sets off my exercise-induced asthma, though, which is how I sometimes realize I'm having them.  I wish that weren't the case, as having to take my meds slows the contractions, but I guess that might be a benefit until the day I'm feeling more ready--ha!--rolls around.  I skipped out on taking them today as I wanted to see if they'd stop without a smooth-muscle relaxer (my inhaler).  I'm glad they did!  ;)  I don't want to be packing my hospital bag mid-contractions!)