Updates....Lots of Updates

Ok, it's been a really long time since I've written here. Life has been a little crazy the last few months. Here's a quick update:

Christopher's head healed, though he has a scar. Will says it's a family trait.

Will was basically gone the entire month of July teaching other teachers. He says if it weren't for the excellent money he makes for a month's work he wouldn't do it. I think he really likes working with adults as a change from herding middle school kids.

We're pregnant again! We actually found out in June, but we held off on officially announcing it until the riskiest period was over. We're 14-15 weeks along with a February 4th due date. We found out this week that we're having another boy. I will be terribly outnumbered and won't get to buy frilly dresses, but as long as this kiddo comes out strong and healthy like his big brother, we're happy!

Here are a couple of ultrasound pictures from my appointment this week:

Today was an interesting day with C-dub. He has this bad habit of standing up in his chair at the table. Out of fear that he will fall one of these days we have decided that he will get time out when he does it. What was supposed to be a 2-minute time out turned into a 20-minute ordeal of me trying to keep him in his time out spot. It's all a work in progress, but I'm a believer that consistency is the key.

Later in the morning, Christopher was in the bathroom and climbed up on the toilet (the lid was down). I asked him if he wanted to pee pee in the big potty and he said yes. So, we removed the pants and diaper, put the potty seat on the toilet, and lo and behold....he peed! He did it two more times before nap time and before bath time. We're going to take a low-key approach and let him potty train on his own time rather than forcing the issue. The poor guy will have tons of changes coming in the next few months as it is!

Well, I think you're all pretty well updated. I'll do my best to keep this up better with pregnancy updates and C-dub updates. I'm sure the more C-dub starts to talk, the more interesting (read: funny) things I'll have to post.

Here's a recent C-dub picture to hold you over until we have birthday pictures in a couple of weeks:

I Thought Mother's Day Weekend was Supposed to be Relaxing!

I knew this would be a busy weekend. My brother graduated from college Saturday. It was a nice day. C-dub got squirmy during the ceremony, so we went outside where there happened to be an Ag Ed horse show going on next door. We watched the horses and C-dub got to pet a couple of them. Now, if you know my son, you know that he LOVES animals of all kinds. Getting to pet horses absolutely made his day.

We enjoyed a nice late lunch after the graduation and then headed home. C-dub fell asleep during the 30-minute drive. We had a good evening playing and relaxing...until....this happened:

C-dub and I have been playing this game where he runs to me from across the room saying "Go, go, go", I catch him and then let him go and he runs back and then we do it all over again...and again...and again. Well, we have this bench in our entryway that has doors on the bottom...with knobs. And there was a rug...that was wrinkled. Do you see what's coming?

C-dub tripped over the wrinkle in the rug and hit his head on the knob. It sounded horrible. When he got up and turned around, screaming, it looked even worse. Blood pouring down his face. I grabbed him up while Will grabbed something to put some compression on the wound. Meanwhile there was blood all over him and all over me.

Once we got it slowed to a trickle and could actually look at what we had, we decided to clean up a bit and then head to either the hospital or the minor emergency clinic. It looked like he would need stitches.

We tried the minor emergency clinic first. They were still open. Hurray! So much better and faster than the hospital ER! We got right in and the doctor came pretty quickly. She took a look and decided she would clean it out and close it with glue (did you know they could super glue your head back together?).

Holding C-dub down while the doc and nurse irrigated the wound with saline and then patched him up with the super glue stuff was almost as bad as when the blood was pouring down his face. Once it was over with, though, he seemed ok. No concussion, no other concerns...but I'm sure he's had one nasty headache since.

I keep telling myself it could have been worse...and then I remember all the blood...but really, it could have been worse.

Oh the joys of being mom to a toddler boy.

Today, Mother's Day, we went to church and then had family over. We enjoyed steak cooked on the grill and visited for awhile. While Will was cooking a light dinner, C-dub decided it would be a good idea to "ride" Chaos (our 125 lb. lab-newfoundland mix). Maybe it was the horses from the day before or his rocking horse. Who knows?

Anyway, she was ok with it for a minute until we realized what was going on. Will told C-dub to get down, which he was complying with, when Chaos turned and nipped him on the face. No blood, no marks really, but C-dub screamed...again. I think it hurt his feelings more than anything. Though I don't entirely blame the dog, if it happens again, we'll be finding a new home for her. Hopefully C-dub learned his lesson.

Silly me...I thought Mother's Day weekend was supposed to be relaxing. Maybe I'll relax when I'm dead.

It just wasn't meant to be

It seems that C-Dub won't be getting a little brother or little sister after all. It seems that this baby was not meant to be. I'm a believer that God always has a plan, and apparently His plan for us did not include a baby right now.

We're sad and disappointed, but life goes on. We have an awesome 19-month-old boy who is our pride and joy and we love him more and more each day. He is the orneriest toddler you'll ever meet and he definitely keeps us on our toes. We are so grateful for him and for all of our family and friends.

Coming soon: We have a climber!

We Pulled it Off

My grandma's 80th birthday is tomorrow. To celebrate, we planned a surprise party. My aunt flew in from Florida and my uncle flew in from Indianapolis. Her other three kids live here. We are pretty sure this was the first time all five of Grandma's "kids" have been together since my grandpa died about seven years ago.

The day started out not so good. We reserved a private room at Village Inn (because the room was free). When we got there, they told us that they had double-booked the room and they would have to put tables together for us in the main dining room. It turned out ok. Grandma didn't see us at first and was very surprised!

After breakfast we spent the day laughing, talking, playing games, and, of course, eating at our house.

My Grandma is a special lady. She watches C-dub for a couple of hours two or three days a week while I work. She makes him laugh more than anyone else. He lights up when she comes into the room. I think this quote sums up how C-dub feels about Grandma:

"Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete." ~Marcy DeMaree

What memories do you have of your grandma?

A Surprise!

We got a surprise last night! C-dub will have a little brother or sister coming in the fall. We talked about having another baby, but were planning to wait another year or so. Surprise!

I'm excited, nervous, freaked out, and terrified all at the same time. It's not so much the pregnancy that makes me nervous, but rather the fact that I will have a 2-year-old and a newborn at the same time. I know, I know, there are many many women that have done it successfully. I'm sure there will be good days and bad days.

On the bright side, there are many baby things that we will not have to re-buy. We didn't know whether C-dub was going to be a girl or a boy until after we registered for our baby shower, so we have quite a few things that are gender neutral. I'm secretly hoping for a little girl this time, but really I'll just be happy with a healthy baby no matter which gender.

It will be a long nine months...but I think we can do this.

To be young again...

I wish I was as easily entertained as C-dub. A simple balloon brings him an entire day of fun. Here are some pictures from this morning (please excuse the big package of toilet paper in the background. Time to put it away, I suppose, but C-dub so enjoys climbing on it!):

(no balloon in this one...I just thought he looked really cute) :)

C-dub has liked balloons for quite awhile now. Here's a video of him playing with one after his first birthday party:

He amazes me every day. The fact that little ones are so innocent and genuine. They take joy in the little things because they don't have the big things to deal with yet. I sometimes wish I could go back there and not worry about the big things in life...the bills, whether or not I'm being a good wife and mom, work, the possibility of moving to a new place soon. Sigh...I think I need a bubble bath. Calgon....:)

What a Mess!

My son has too many toys.  Seriously!  At one point today he had the following strewn across the living room floor:

a wagon full of legos dumped out, 

the Little People barn complete with farmer and animals

the Little People bus complete with driver and two kids

a stacking toy

and alphabet blocks.  

I should have taken a picture of the mess, but I didn't.


In his room, he had completely cleared off his shelf...books and stuff animals everywhere, baskets and buckets of smaller toys dumped out.


My son really has too many toys.


A friend suggested that we divide C-Dub's toys into several tubs and switch them out daily or weekly.  I like this idea.  I'll have to buy some pretty big tubs, though, because it seems like all of his toys are big.  Does anyone have any other brilliant ideas for managing the mess?