Me, myself, and I (and a lot of other random things)

(Disclaimer: this is a random post with a hodge podge of events and items I've wanted to blog about but just haven't been able to bring myself to do yet. Sorry no pics!)

Big breakthrough over here! Dean has been speaking in the first person the last few days! He occasionally still refers to himself in the third person, but he'll often catch himself. I think it's partly because Walter has really been picking up on it and using those words correctly in sentences, and Dean's heard us praising Walt. I also just think it's because he's getting older and understands more. Good timing too since he's starting preschool next week!

We had Dean's meet the teacher yesterday and I think it will be a great year with her. They only have 7 kids in their class, about half girls and half boys. He seemed to really like it. It's a non-denominational Christian preschool. They have different play stations, circle time, snack, art, music, story, an outside recess time, soccer, and have a 15 min. chapel time once a week where they sing songs about Jesus.  It's based in a Presbyterian church, but there are actually a ton of Mormon (and other faiths) kids who attend.  I'm happy I chose to put him in a preschool as opposed to a co-op. I think the co-op was perfect for last year, but I'm not sure I'd have been up for that this semester, and I couldn't have done it next with the baby coming and all. It's relatively affordable ($160 for 3 hours twice a week), way cheaper than anything else around here, so that's a plus too.  Plus, I have TONS of friends who recommended it and said their kids loved going there. I hope he has a fantastic experience.

School started this week for the public schools. My running partner is in the last few weeks of training before her marathon, so she has been getting up between 4-5 to go running so she can finish in time to get the kids up and to school! I've gone running with her 4 times this week, twice at 5 and twice at 5:30 where I jumped in with her in the middle of her run since she had like 10-20 miles to run and I could only do about 5 mi.  I've run about 23+ miles this week, which I think is fairly decent considering I'm 16+ weeks pregnant. I have noticed it affecting my runs a little, though. The water belt has been so cumbersome. I wear it above my belly, but sometimes it feels so heavy so I switch it to below. I can baaaaarely hook it below my belly! I'm definitely feeling more pregnant this week! I'm about 10-11 min. miles, too, so slower than I was a month ago. I'm hoping I can keep running long enough to help Kirstin finish her training before her race.

Walter's still anemic. Boo. We took him to get his blood tested again (I put it off for more than 8 months and the doctor just issued another order for it.) We had done this so many times last year that he because absolutely terrified of going to the doctor, even if we weren't there for him. We'd walk in and he'd start bawling. We've finally gotten over that fear, so I wasn't happy to take him in again and start the process all over again. They had to stick him 3 times to get his blood since he kept jerking around so much.  I'm giving him the flinstones vitamins and today I bought some black strap molasses. He wouldn't take it straight, but he drank it in some juice, which I guess is good since Julie told me vitamin C helps the absorption of the iron anyway.

Last night Dean packed up one of his tool boxes with a bunch of random things and said, "This is my emergency kit. I am going to sleep with it just in case there is an emergency and I need to take it with me." Haha. I don't know where he got that from. If it's from our 72 hour kits or if he's heard us talking about Hurricane Irene or something?

One night last week we forgot to put a pull-up on Dean before he went to bed. He woke up dry and felt like such a big boy!! We let him try it in underwear. About half the week he had accidents and half the week he was dry. I think we'll keep trying and probably wake him up around 10-11 to go. Matt did that last night for him and he totally had to go and went right back to sleep.

Walter went poop on the potty (for the second time) last night before bed.

We've been contemplating the need for a new house and a new vehicle. Our Rav4 can fit 3 carseats if we get rid of our monster Britax seats and switch them for Sunshine Kids Radian 65. If we had 2 of those on the sides and an infant seat (or the smaller Britax) in the middle, we can still shut the doors, but there's really no room between the door and the seats. So, we're not sure how safe that would be in a wreck. So, doable, but not sure if we want to do it. I really don't want to have a car loan (or at least a significant one) so we've started making a "car payment" into our savings account once a month. Once we have 10K+ for our car down, we'll start looking more seriously. We're already over half way there, so that's good.  As for houses, well, everything is dependent on if we can sell this house and what we can realistically get for it. Matt has now started on the living room floor. He's going to do a little at a time. Today he ripped out the linoleum in front of the boys' rooms/entrance to the garage and cleaned it. We bought all the laminate at Costco a few weeks ago when it was on sale. I'm hoping  by Thanksgiving/before Christmas it will all be done. We'll probably list the house in March or April when the buying season starts back up again. In addition to the flooring, I think we mainly only have trim, kitchen cabinets, and one room left that will need painting. We've put a lot into this house this past year!

We're on the 61st day over 100* here in the Dallas area this summer! That is second only to 1980 when they had 69 days over 100*. We have had a record breaking August for heat. Yesterday we beat the record for that day by 7 degrees!!! That's a huge jump!  We've only had 1 day with rain in the last 4 months!  That was only for 4 hours (and I actually ran 5 miles in the downpour that day), but we were grateful for that.  I've been going in and out of anger over the heat, but in the end we'll live through it. I just hope that next year will be better. I just hope our foundation doesn't get hurt from it. Since we have clay for ground here, it shifts like crazy and pulls away from the foundation when it dries up, so you actually have to water your house!

I met with a potential Doula on Thursday. I liked almost everything about her, the only thing that put me off a little was the dead fish handshake. haha. I like it when people have some sort of grip! She's very reasonably priced and I"m sure she'd work fine if I went with her, though I'll probably interview one or two more people. She's helped over 30 mothers who have delivered with my doctor (a number of which were vbac) and said the one thing about him is that he uses the foreceps a lot more than other doctors. She said most docs use the vaccuum now a days, but that if you're skilled with foeceps, it's actually safer and more accurate. He only uses them if the baby isn't descending properly and when he does use them, he doesn't pull the baby all the way out. He pulls the baby to the pubic bone and then has the mom push the baby out. I thought that was interesting. Good to know before going into labor I think!  Of those 30 with him, she's only seen him have to do 2 c-sections.  One was for a breech baby with a cord wrapped, and  the other was for a mom doing a vbac after 3 c-sections. She had 3 separate bands of scar tissue around her uterous and when she contracted it contracted in all 3 places keeping the baby in! I have good hopes for delivering vbac with him. Anyone have recommendations on laboring methods that you swear helped you during labor (besides an epidural!)? Hpnobirthing? Bradley? Something else?

Shockers are quite possibly the best candy on earth.

I am still incredibly addicted to salt right now.

Baby 3 Belly @14 1/2 weeks

Pictures are courtesy of cameraman Dean.

Matt's 30th

Well, somehow we're half way through August and I have yet to post about Matt's 30th birthday that occurred July 31st.

Two years ago I made Matt a birthday cake the day I got home from the hospital after having my c-section with Walter. Last year I made him a cherry pie from scratch since we had Walt's birthday cake a mere 4 days earlier. This year Matt really wanted his traditional "Safeway" cake he got growing up every year. Vanilla cake with a raspberry filling and butter cream frosting.  Luckily we have Tom Thumb here, which is Safeway under a different name. We bought the absolute smallest one the had (half of a 1/4 is what they called it) since we'd just had Walt's cake. It really was good.  I was happy that very cake was on sale for 60% off on his birthday weekend as well so we only had to pay $5 for the cake!

We basically did all of the celebrating on the 30th since his birthday was on Sunday this year. We got free ice cream cones after lunch for Walter and Matt (Dean and I shared one that we paid for).  We did a late lunch/early dinner for the boys so we could have cake with them before bed. After we put the boys to bed we went out for a late dinner at Taste of India (YUM. One of our favorites.)  We both got our norms (this is the only place that I go back for the same dish nearly every time because it's just so yummy I can't pass it up.) I got Mali Kofta. YUMYUM!!!!  Matt got Beef Vindaloo and Chicken Tikka Masala. And of course naan. Yes it was more food than we needed, but it makes for some fantastic leftovers.

After dinner we went to see the last Harry Potter movie in the theater. We both thought it was really good, though Matt remembered some things that were different from the books that I'd forgotten. Overall I thought they did a good job, though they probably could have improved a few minor things. It was a good end to a looooong run of books/movies.


The next day we got to talk with his parents on Skype. That's pretty much all we did to celebrate his birthday on the actual day.  Pretty anti-climactic.

Walter's the big 2

Yesterday [by the time I'm posting this, his birthday was last week!] was Walter's 2nd birthday. It was pretty fun. For breakfast I made him puffy oven pancakes at his request. In the morning we had swimming lessons. During his nap Dean and I made his birthday cake and some party hats. We ran a few errands in the afternoon, and when we got home Dean was in total melt down mode. Both of the boys have had a little cold, and Dean was complaining about his nose being raw. He was whining and crying so much I asked him to go lay down in his room. As I was making dinner, he fell asleep.  I normally wouldn't let him sleep so late, but I welcomed the silence.  We woke him up to have dinner. Walt said he wanted sausages and french fries, so that's what we had (plus veggies and dip).During dinner he had a birthday call from Grandma and Grandpa Waterman, so that was fun. He even said his ABCs and counted to 11 for them.  Today he was pretending he was on the phone with them and started singing happy birthday to himself. =)

After dinner we opened presents and had cake. He got:
HABA basic block set.  I have really wanted a good wooden unit block set, and this did not disappoint. Walt's still in the "knock over" stage, as opposed to the building stage, but we've had hours of fun already.  These blocks are heavy, smooth, and really well cut and made. I wanted something that wouldn't ding or splinter or have paint flake off, and it really is a fantastic set.

A "grabber" from Dean. He told Walt weeks ago he was going to buy him a gun, and that's all Walt would talk about in connection to his birthday. So I was surprised when Dean picked out the grabber. He was sure it was the perfect gift. He contributed 27 cents to the purchase.

A robot plushy from me, requested by Matt. I started this 2 days before his birthday because I was having some motivation issues, but I got it finished by 1am on his birthday. I think it turned out really cute. He likes to take it in the car when we go places.

A very last minute squeeze ball gun from us. When we were running errands before dinner, I slyly picked this up since Walt couldn't stop talking about the gun he was getting for his birthday!  He loved it. (Though they've already ruined all but 1 ball from chewing on them.)

I bought some punch balloons, which he loves. He also got cards and presents/money from grandparents. It was fun. 

Dancing to the music card Grandma Brasfield sent.

For the cake I made a double layer velvet cake (sans red) with cream cheese frosting. It was good. I attempted my very first "decorating" of a cake as I tried to put a robot on the top.

I let the boys play until 9 since they had late naps. They had lots of fun. Dean kept saying, "Thank you Walt for getting this for your birthday. Dean really likes this." hahaha.

What is Walt like at 2??
He's speaking in sentences nearly full time.  Some of my favorites include:
"Where you going mommy?" usually followed by "Where you going Dean?" and "Where you going Walter?" or "Going with you mommy? Dean and Walter going with you?"
"Dean did it."
"Bye Daddy. I love you!"
"May please take off my shoes, mommy?" (When we're driving around in the car.)
"May be excused?" (from the table)
"I so hungry mama. I sooo hungry." (all the time! Seriously. He is a bottomless pit. Kind of. If I feed him snacks, he doesn't do great on his meals, so I try and not give him too many snacks in between, but it's hard to resist his persistent pathetic voice!)
"Do you like [...]?" Some that caught me off guard were "Do you like ABC's mama?" and "Do you like dogs?" He loves dogs and animals, but I've never been much of an animal person.
When I ask, "Who wants some (Isagenix) shake?" He usually yells, "I want to!"
He'll bring me a book and say, "Read a book to Dean." and I"ll say, "To who?" and he'll remember and say, "To ME!"

Some misprounounced words that I love are:
Coom-coomer (computer)
Bananaid (bandaid)
Pock-i-pul (Popsicle)

He's starting to get bossier and is constantly mimicking me when I tell Dean to do something.  "C'mon Dean!" "No, no Dean!" He knows what he wants and realizes that Dean often purposefully takes what he wants, and he's starting to fight back and get made about it. They fight CONSTANTLY with a few breaks of good playing together. He's even recently been experimenting with "swatting" me and Dean on our hands if he thinks we're doing something inappropriate. Sorry bud. That gets a time out. He gets into everything, especially if it has to do with food or sweets. He is in love with gummy vitamins (never again am I getting those! He asks for them 20 times a day!) and he also loves and asks for Isagenix chocolate snacks. They're these little waffers that you can eat while on a cleanse. He thinks they're candy. I don't mind giving him 1 or 2, but he'll honestly climb up onto the counter, open the non-child proof lid, and try and eat as many as he can stuff in his mouth without me catching him!

The only TV he likes is They Might be Giants Here Come the 123s and ABCs, though he prefers the ABC's. He'll sit through a Curious George, though, if Dean's watching it. Most everything else he tries to turn off every few minutes.

He's very good about returning his cups to the sink, something Dean's never done.

He'll ocassionally start singing songs out of the blue. "ABC's" being the most frequent, but he'll also bust out with Twinkle, Twinkle, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He'll always choose "I am a child of God" and the "Hello" song at home evening.

Overall he is just as cute as can be with a few tantrums here and there. He's a very loveable, loving child, and will often give his stuffed toys hugs and kisses before he'll part with them to go into a store or church or some place I don't let him take them.

I really love that little boy.