X at 2

X turned 3 two weeks ago...another long over due post, but when your baby brother arrives five days before your B'day, it tends to overshadow your B'day.  However, it does mean that X got to have 3 birthday parties...one with the Darons, one with just us, and one with the Flegels.  How much more could a two year old want?  Three cakes, lots of presents, lots of attention...plus there were several 'big brother' presents thrown in over the course of the last four weeks.  I don't think he minded C's arrival overshadowing his birthday at all.

X is a lot of fun right now.  He's a generally happy, go lucky, little guy.  He loves to run everywhere.  He talks nonstop and he keeps repeating what he said until you acknowledge his statement.  Sometimes he keeps repeating himself anyway.  He's a bit of a broken record unless his thoughts are redirected elsewhere.

He loves counting...he tends to skip 10 and ends at 11, but he's getting it.  He loves saying the ABCs.  He misses some of the letters between K and O, but he's doing great.  He recognizes almost all the letters.  His memory impresses me!  I attribute it all to PBS and mostly Super Why.  But, he's doing great!

X's smile and twinkling eyes spell 'mischief' all day.  He loves pushing his sister's buttons and getting her upset.  He's loved doing that since he was six months old and he learned that he could roll over and touch her toys...and nothing has changed.  He still loves running over and messing with her things.  He loves to get into the 'school' supplies and creating havoc.  Coloring is a favorite pastime.  He also enjoys playing with Play*Doh with us.

X's favorite obsession right now is Thomas the Train.  He loves watching Thomas episodes.  He loves playing with his Thomas toys.  He got some new engines and play sets for his birthday and they are still the first things pulled out each morning and the last to get put away each night.  He sings the songs, looks for Thomas each time we pass a railroad track and just generally loves all things Thomas.

Singing is still a favorite pastime when he runs out of things to talk about.  His favorite song is the "nah nah" song (Every Move I Make).  But he also sings the theme song to Thomas and a few other songs.

He's a wonderful big brother.  The first few days home he loved coming up to C, patting his head, and saying "Baby so cute!"  He gives C things to play with when he's crying and always informs us if C is crying.

Checking out C when arriving home

Dad's buddy

Loves singing...and with a mic it is even better

Obsessed with the Ipad and playing "Thomas and Snowplow"..or angry birds or anything else

Favorite b'day present...Thomas and the Misty Island playset

Trick or Treat

This post is a bit late, but we've been pretty busy for the last three weeks with our newest little guy.  

For Halloween, E changed her mind constantly what she wanted to be...and we didn't know when C would arrive and if she'd even have the chance to go Trick or Treating.  So, I did not know what to do about a costume.  Then, I went to the Mom to Mom sale and found a red full body leotard for a quarter.  So, the next question was what to do with the red leotard.  E wanted to be a rose or a plethora of other difficult ideas to institute.  Luckily, I found this "lady bug fairy" costume for 50% off and it pretty much matched the leotard.  Consequently, E was a lady bug fairy for Halloween.

X wore the cow costume that E wore last year.  He thought that it was fun.

Jut took the older kids to a couple places in town.  Afterwards, they came back to the house and picked up C and myself and we went out to Mom and Dad's.  C was dressed as a green bean...or a pea pod.  Can you tell?  :)  He slept through the whole ordeal.  Ah...the life of a 4 day old.

Our newest blessing

C arrived just about 24 hours ago. He weighed in at a healthy 10 lbs 13 ounces and was 23 inches long. He certainly doesn't look the part of a newborn...but his sounds, actions and smells are 100% newborn.

The preparation fot C's birth story started 4 weeks ago at my 35 week check up when we discovered via ultrasound that he already weighed a whopping 7.5 lbs and I was already dilated to a 2. I started praying for an early delivery or that the ultrasound was inaccurate. The dr and I discussed that I would have another c-section if this baby was bigger than 10.5 or 11 lbs and that we'd do another ultrasound at week 39 to see where we were at.

Week 39 rolled around and I just kept praying that I would go into labor. My appointment was on Thursday. Wednesday I was just begging God to put me into labor. Around 2 pm, I thought God answered my prayers. By 3 my contractions were less than 10 minutes apart and getting stronger...so I texted Jut and called Mom (the babysitter). By 5 when Mom arrived, I was down to about 4 minutes. I knew it was time.

We packed the kids off, packed the car, and headed to Wal*mart to pick up a couple big brother/big sister presents. My contractions slowed a bit at the store and so we decided to go out to dinner. By the time we got home, they were fizzling.

As the kids were already settled at Mom and Dad's for the night, we decided to leave them in case contractions started up again in the middle of the night. Well, despite the fact I was up almost all night, labor didn't kick into gear. But between the contractions that happened several times per hour and the dancing baby between the intmintient contractions, sleep alluded me. I was so frustrated! In the morning, Jut went and picked up the kids so my parents could go to work.

At 4, I went to the DR's office for my check-up. He checked me and offered to break my water the next morning at 7:30. He was shocked when I agreed...but I was shocked that he offered b/c of my VBAC status. But, he thought all systems were ready to go. He told me to come in at 6:30 and get prepped, he'd be in at 7:30 and we'd have a baby by noon. Sounded almost too easy to me...and that should have been a warning of things to come.

So, we had dinner as a family and then took the kids back to Mom and Dad's for the night. We went home for the second night in a row by ourselves. It was so wierd. X had never spent the night away and now he'd done it for two nights. We did some last minute things and set the alarm for 5:30 so we had time to go out and have a nice breakfast before starting the festivities.

Breakfast was nice but I was ready to get to the hospital...so I rushed through it. Big mistake. Jut kept telling me the entire time to slow down and enjoy it. I should have listened. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45 and were ready waiting in our room by 7:30. And there we stayed waiting...little did we know we'd wait for another 9 hours...

So at 10, we hear the nurse call the drs office. He'd be over at noon. Since I'm a VBAC, I'm under a no food/beverage rule once I'm admitted. Thankfully my nurse had compassion and gave me a couple of glasses of water after we found out he wouldn't be over until noon because my mouth was already horribly dry. She also allowed me to take off all the monitors that were recording nothing as I wasn't actually in labor.

At noon, the dr comes in and apologizes for the delay. Since I am a VBAC, he has to be on the floor while I'm in labor. He forgot about that when we discussed the induction the day before. He also explained that he still had some patients to see this afternoon but he'd be back at 2:30 and we'd get everything started. We were very frustrated. We could have spent the majority of the day with the kids and let them stay home last night. Mom brought the kids to the hospital for lunch, as we were doing nothing. It was apparent that they were melting down and we didn't have a baby yet.

Well, 2:30 comes and goes...3:30 comes and goes with no news....4:30...Jut keeps telling me that we won't see him until 6 and I'm having a difficult time keeping a positive attitude. At 4:45, the dr finally arrives and breaks my water. Yippee! He says we'll have the baby by 9.

My sister texts at 5:24, "are you in labor yet?" and I reply no and boom! It starts almost immediately as I hit send. Awesome! Dr comes in sometime and says its going great. If I was on a pit drip, he'd turn it down, but since it is all natural, away we go. I did find watching all the monitor numbers throughout labor very interesting. I didn't pay any attention to those during X's delivery. However, towards the end when the contractions never fell below 100, it did become more depressing rather than interesting.

At about 8:30, phase 2 started...pushing out an almost 11 lb baby is NOT fun. It only took 5-6 regular pushes (and lots of little tiny pushes) until C appeared. After push 2, dr said he was almost here and I accused him of lying. I pushed for 2 hours for X and didn't anticipate only 15-20 minutes of stage 2 with this delivery. Jut quickly backed up the dr with that he was coming. Sure enough, baby came out not too much later. No one wanted to wager a guess as to his size but the nursery nurse figured he was well over the 10 lb mark. When C was weighed, he tipped the scales at 10 lbs 13 ozs, and was 23 inches long.

Jut called Mom and Dad to share the news with the kids and they brought them right over. They were so excited! Of course, they were the most excited to recieve their big brother and sister presents...but they were excited to see and hold the baby too. After some of the excitement died down, Jut took the kiddos home so that they could sleep in their own beds and I got some wonderful cuddle time with my newest little guy. It was a LONG day of waiting but worth it all in the end!

Some life in pictures...

X attempting to ride a trike...he thinks he can

E very excited about something...

E riding her bike with my bike helmet...we can't find hers so she always wears mine

Leaf wars...we have lots of fun raking

X getting ready to be pounced on...we love the leaves

E's turn to enjoy the leaf pile

My biggest headache...Thomas the Train and Friends...The kids most loved toys

X playing with Thomas on his 'track'...he spends hours here

My hoarder...E loves collecting engines.  In my humble opinion, she does it just to annoy her brother

I did find the camera and actually took a few pictures last week.  Batteries are charged.  Memory card has been deleted so that it is ready for baby.  I cleaned out our shed last week and I hoped that it was a sign baby was near, as I have never cleaned out the shed prior to last week.  Monday I cleaned the house.  Today I made bread...one of these days baby will come.

X finally started saying "yes" (or 'hes') this week.  That is a nice change.  He also yells, "Momma, R' you?"  when he can't find me now.  He randomly started twirling in circles tonight.  Crazy boy.  He is very polite when he doesn't want to do something and says, "No tank you!"  It is much better than the typical "no" that many toddlers like to say.  I like to say he's turning two with a vengeance right now because he can be pretty willful at times, but generally he's still my adorable little guy.

Not too much is new with E these days.  She does like to be my helper.  Today was our 'baking' day.  She helped me bake and prep pie pumpkins and make bread.  She also helped me wash dishes.  Sometimes her 'help' causes so much extra work that it makes me crazy, but I know it is important to let her help now so that she'll help me later when her help will be more helpful.

The Little Happenings...

I'm finding myself these days wishing I knew where our camera was...or wishing the batteries were charged. Hmmm...maybe I need to figure that out before baby arrives. Guess I'll put that on the 'to do' list as well. However, that assumes that I'm getting things done on said list and that is a falicy. But regardless...

We are having a lovely fall. The kids enjoy playing outside so much. When the grouchies strike, we have recess outside and it seems to banish them away. E loves riding her bike. We've been reading the Little House on the Prairie books. She pretends to be Laura or Mary and 'rides' to the town of Pepin to get supplies for the winter. She's all excited to buy a farm someday and raise cows and make cheese and do all the things that Laura and Mary do. Crazy girl! As ready as she is for that adventure, I'm sure I'm not up to that much fun on a farm! Living 'off the grid' really doesn't appeal to me, but I let her imagination run. It is fun to see it go. Today she harvested 'wheat' from the backyard. She was so excited to find wheat and be able to grind it into flour. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was just grass that had gone to seed. It was her treasure and she had big plans for that 'wheat'.

X loves playing outside, also. He says, "Truck outside?!" He loves riding his truck. He can make it go so fast. Jut and I have enjoyed our evening walks with the kids so much lately. X doesn't need the stroller anymore. He just zooms away on his truck. That leaves Jut and I to meander behind. We can actually hold hands and enjoy each others' company. Novel. E rides her bike and waits at the corners. She's such a good, reliable first born. She's becoming more and more of a mother hen.

My other favorite thing that X says right now is, "Tank you, Mama!" Any little thing that I do for him, he replies, "Tank you, Mama!". Sometimes I think that he says it just because he's learning that I'll always say, "Your welcome." So, he knows he'll get a response. He loves being understood and being able to participate in a conversation. That is a conversation that he knows "the rules" of...so we repeat it over and over and over. He's such a polite little guy. It melts my heart...even when it is the 1000th time we've said it in a day.

We are still hearing the "nah-nah" song frequently...but not daily. That is another thing I should video. E will sing the words to "Every Move I Make" and when she gets to the part X can sing, she lets him sing it. They are cute. It is really funny when X doesn't want to sing and yells, "No nah-nah!" as E sings. They crack me up.

Thomas the Train is a favorite at the house. We have engine wars constantly between the kids. However, we can only usually find 2-3 engines. Slowly but surely they are disappearing. But, that doesn't keep the kids from fighting over them. Refereeing isn't my favorite 'mom' job. One of these days they might all disappear...

Baby is due in 4 weeks. Dr thought that anytime he/she could make their appearance. Probably since he told me that baby will make me wait another 5 weeks. We'll see. I've decided it is a boy and so I'm not washing any of my girl stuff. We'll see if I'm correct one of these days. The dr is concerned about the size of this little fish (or big fish as it might be), so I have another ultrasound tomorrow to judge baby's size.

Someday I'll get the camera out/working again. Then maybe I can update so new pics of the kids. They are both growing llke weeds. E is so long and X is getting taller all the time too. I need some pictorial evidence.

Whirlwind Weekend

It has been a crazy weekend.  We left Friday morning to go down to Lan*sing to test drive a couple of minivans.  However, after spending almost three hours at the first dealership, we decided that it was time to continue our journey south to Jut's folks.  I couldn't believe how well the kids behaved at the dealership.  Three hours in one place is a long time for two little ones but they did great.

We journeyed to Jut's folk's house.  E was anxious to get to their house because Joye had been telling her all about the toy room designed especially for her down in the basement since they had moved in.  I think the toy room was all that E had imagined.  She loved it and loved playing with all the dolls and houses and whatever else was down there. Aunt Jenna was there with her friend Rachel and they played all evening with E down there.  She was in heaven!

So, we got to see Aunt Jenna and her boyfriend and Rachel Friday afternoon.  Plus, Jut's aunt, uncle and grandmother came for dinner.  It was his g'ma's 83rd birthday.  So, we had a fun celebration with the family all together.  Family gatherings are few and far between for his family, so it made the evening even more special for them.

On Saturday, we found out that X is severely allergic to beagles.  Poor little guy.  The dog got dropped off and wasn't in the house for more than 5 minutes, but X's face started swelling all up, his eye was swelling shut, both his eyes and nose were running like a faucet.  Poor thing.  Fortunately, as soon as we washed his hands and face, changed his clothing and left, everything went back to normal and he started feeling much better.  I've never seen such a quick reaction.  Guess beagles are not in my family's future.

For lunch, we made the 40 minute drive to Jut's aunt and uncle's home.  We drove by the location of Jut's childhood home when he was E's age.  He enjoyed showing E some of his favorite spots when he was her age and she loved seeing them, as she still loves to hear stories about when we were little.

Lunch was a wonderful time catching up with Jut's cousin and his family from Day*ton.  E got to play with her two cousins that are several years older than her, but they played with her wonderfully.  They explored the attic and upstairs closets of Jut's aunt and uncle's house.  E talked about it for the majority of the way home.  She loved being one of the 'big kids' and doing everything that they did.  We enjoyed the chance to catch up with Jut's cousin.  It was a great afternoon.

We headed for home late afternoon and stopped at my folk's house for dinner.  The kids 'helped' mom pick raspberries...and then ate most of what she picked.  We always enjoy Saturday night pizza.

On Sunday, our good friends from Al*gonac stopped at our house on their way home from Musk*egon.  It was so much fun to see them.  They also have a 4-year old and a 1-year old.  So, it was fun to watch our kids play and interact together.  E and their son had a great time running around together.  I was a bit worried about lunch.  We decided to go out to a restaurant...and I knew their boys had already been cooped up in a car for a couple of hours and my kids don't do well in restaurants on Sundays after church.  I thought that our plans had disaster written all over them.  However, the kids amazed me.  They did great.  The older kids entertained each other at one end of the table, and the little guys sat together on the other end of the table and did great. It was a relaxing lunch!  We got to chat and catch up.  It was so nice.  They came back to the house and the kids continued to play wonderfully together.  It was such a great afternoon.

We had such a wonderful weekend.  However, I was glad that the kids and I had nothing going on today.  We needed the day to relax and unwind from our crazy busy weekend.  Visiting is fun but it is tiring!  :) 

Hopefully, this all makes sense and isn't too disjointed...I typed it once and everything but the first paragraph disappeared.  Ugh.  Things are never as good when they are written the second time.

Fun in TC

Jut was in school last week.  So, my parents took pity on me and took me and the kids up to TC with them for 3 days...or as E told a little girl at the playground, "My dad took his own vacation.  So, G'pa and G'ma took us on vacation with them."  Nice.  Dad leaves 9-month looking preggo mom with 2 kids to go on his own vacation.  Sad thing is that probably that is the reality for many couples out there.

We stayed at a cabin in a campground.  Both the kids had a great time playing in the cabin and at the playground there.  We took a walk in the woods, which X loved.  It was a very cozy cabin for 5 but at least it had a bathroom for middle of the night excursions.

 

On Thursday, we ventured out to Sleeping Bear Dunes.  The kids had a great time playing in the water, making sand castles and running up and down the dunes.

X loved feeding the waves sand.  It wasn't the warmest day and I failed to put bathing suits on the kids, but by the end of the afternoon, they were both soaked from playing in the water.

 

After playing in the Lake, we went to dune climbing.  G'pa taught E and X how to roll down the dunes.  X wasn't super proficient at it. He kept his mouth wide open each time he tried and ended up with sand in his mouth, which he didn't like.  So, he decided scooting was a much better option.

G'pa took E to the top of the dune.  E loved running down it.

On Friday, we did a simple picnic lunch at the Bay in TC.  The kids loved playing in the sand and water for a second day.  We loved the peaceful, beautiful view.

My parents never fail to surprise me as G'parents.  On the way home, G'pa decided that E needed to have some ice cream.  So, we got off in Cla*re with sole purpose of finding E some ice cream.  We did locate a nice little ice cream parlor with hand dipped ice cream and we all enjoyed a bit of a treat.  E loved that hers had a face...X thought it was a bit scary and wouldn't eat the face.

 

But, it was a good time for everyone.  Jut enjoyed his classes, and we enjoyed our time away.  But, Mom and Dad were happy to get back to their quiet house...the comment was made, "Do you realize your children start talking when they wake up and don't stop until they fall asleep?!"  We were ready to be back to our normal routine and naps and bedtimes.  It is fun to go away but it sure is nice to get home.