So Proud

I think that it is safe for me to say that we have a potty-trained toddler.  At least during the day.  Roo has been using her potty faithfully for sometime now.  We can go out during the day without diapers!!

I have some diapers left so we still are putting them on her at night, only because the few times that we have tried with training pants she woke up wet.  I am not worried about the night time thing quite yet as I know in a few weeks I will be up changing and feeding during the night and figure that I will start getting Roo up at that time to pee.

I am so happy for this milestone, especially since we just waited for her to be ready.  We bought her the potty, showed it to her and she just started to use it....it was minimal work on our part and did not involve "pee candy" like the little girl we encountered at the hospital earlier this week.

I remember trying the treat route when we were training Darian.  She would get a Smartie when she would use the potty...right up until the point where she spent most of her day sitting on the toilet expecting Smarties for every drip she managed to squeeze out.  That idea quickly left the building.

I remember telling Camryn that she couldn't turn 3 until she was trained.  I will never forget the day that she proudly announced that she could "turn free now" because she had used the potty!

I am wondering what it will be like to potty train a little boy but I guess I don't need to worry about it at this moment in time.  I am sure that by the time I get to that point it will happen.  I am fairly certain I don't know of any adult male in my life that is still untrained....at least on the potty.

Junk

I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have.  Not all of it is junk but just stuff we don't need.  

I have literally bags upon bags of clothes that the girls have outgrown.  I have 2 bins full of baby clothes that will never again be used by us.  I don't want to just give them away as we can always use extra money but I don't know what else to do with them.  I know that there is a bunch of stuff that I will be giving away but there is just so much...

Two summers ago we rented a big bin and cleaned out our garage.  We could fit both our vehicles in it....it was glorious.  Now.....there is stuff piled everywhere.  Right now if we don't need it in the house out to the garage it goes.  Soon there is not going to be enough room out there for anything else.

We have new beds for Darian and Roo.  Great...saved us money as we didn't have to buy them.  Not so great....the box spring for Darian's bed will not make it downstairs....guess where it is?  My parents had the bed frame for Roo from when they lived in a bigger house.  They actually had 2 of them.  My parents wanted to bring me both of them so that they didn't have it in their house.  They have 2 people living in their house (which I am sure is bigger than mine) and we are on the verge of 6 people.  I am not sure where they thought we might put this extra bed.

I would love to have a garage sale but I have a broken van in my garage taking up space....I am just ready to cry....I just want my house clean, organized and junk-free.....and my bank account full...but that is a whole different post.

OMG

You see that widget over there...the one with the spinning baby?  Do you see how many days it has left on it?  Do you?  Do you know how much stuff I still have to do in those very few days?  OH. MY. GOD.

As I sit here we have still not finished painting the baby's room.  Although My Dear Nathan and our lovely Darian put on the primer today.  We should be finished painting it sometime this week.  One thing to check off the to-do list.

After said room is painted I have to make curtains.  I found the coolest material this week and it just so happens that we are making a trip to Grandma's house this week (Baby's Grandma...not mine, otherwise that would be Great Grandma....you get the drift).  Grandma knows how to sew curtains and it only takes her an hour where it would take me an hour just to contemplate cutting the material lest I screw it up.

 

Once curtains are taken care of and we return from Grandma's house bearing a new bed for the Roo and Darian then I will be able to proceed to set up the crib, move the futon into the room so I have somewhere to sit for late night feedings and then I need to figure out where to put the dresser and change table.

Once the dresser and change table are appropriately placed then I will have a thousand loads of tiny, blue laundry to wash, dry, fold and put away.  After that then the hard part....you know, the whole having of the baby part.

I have to go have another ultrasound to check on baby's position (which makes me nervous as my Dr. has always been able to tell me how my baby's were positioned but this time....well....she is just giving off uncertain vibes) and meet with the OB at the hospital to get his blessing to try a VBAC.

I really want to avoid another c-section but have realized that as much as I don't want it I should prepare myself just in case.  Speaking of preparing myself....there is also the whole hospital bag to pack.  Yikes....so many things, so little time.....where have the last 8 months gone?

Quickie

I feel so accomplished today!!  Nothing like a visit from the Grandparents to spur on some cleaning.

I have cleaned my kitchen, including the pain in the ass stove.  I have cleaned the bathroom, which I usually refuse to do.  I have done the laundry (just need to fold it....later).  I have swept the floor and cleared off my dining table.  I cleaned out the baby's room in order to prep for painting (just need to sweep the floor and wash walls).

I even had a nap today.  It was only a cat nap but I feel great.  I am not sure if that feeling is from the nap or the fact that I accomplished something today.  Don't get me wrong, there is still a million other things to do but at least I got started.  And lookie-here....a  blog entry.  I wonder.....has hell frozen over?

Easter Weekend

It is 1:00 a.m.  My house is quiet.  My kids are visiting my Grandparents with my Mom and Dad and My Dear Nathan is sleeping.  My baby is rolling and kicking and just generally doing whatever it is babies do 10 weeks before they are born.

We are painting bedrooms to prepare for our new arrival.  We are moving Roo into her new purple room on Monday.  We just have one more coat of purple to go.  And then we will move on and paint the baby's room.  We are going with blue...because we have never done that before.  This whole blue thing is new.

The Easter Bunny is coming soon.  I hope he brings me some energy.  I don't do chocolate but would like something sweet or beer.  Beer would be good......I miss beer.

I think spring is finally here.  We actually had a thunderstorm tonight.  Thunder shook my house and made my cats crazy.  The lightning was impressive too.  I love thunderstorms.  I am thankful for the rain too because that is what will turn this city from brown to green.  I am so happy to see that the snow is almost all gone.  I couldn't have taken one more second of winter.

9 Already!!

9 years ago....wow, I can't believe it has been 9 years already.

Today is our crazy Camryn's birthday.  She is so funny, outgoing, carefree, compassionate, spirited....and a million other things that I absolutely adore.

Her little sister loves her to bits.  Her big sister loves her too....just in a different way.  Roo affectionately refers to her as her "baby sister" and gets quite upset if she doesn't get a kiss before Camryn leaves the van for school.

I still remember the day that she was born.  I knew that she was going to weigh in around the 8 pound mark and in my head an 8 pound baby was about the size of an average 5 year old.  I still remember being in shock that such a tiny thing could weigh 8 pounds.

I was so anxious to hold her and get to know this little person who insisted on rolling around in my belly when I was trying to eat (not the most pleasant of sensations).  I had to wait a very long 3 hours before I could have her all to myself.  She needed some extra care after her surprisingly fast delivery.

When I finally got to hold my baby they put this bundle of black hair and chubby red cheeks in my arms and I was in love.  Darian loved her so much!!  She was thrilled that she had a sister (something I need to remind her about now) and was so relieved as she wanted nothing to do with a baby brother.....as she said "boys are nothing but trouble".

9 years.....when did time start speeding by?  I am sure that when I close my eyes tonight I will wake up and another 9 years will have flown by but I know that I will love those 9 years just as much as I have the last 9.

Happy Birthday Camryn!!  Love Mommy.

Adjusted....Finally!

See this picture here?  This is my baby.  This is my BOY baby. 

I have known for almost 2 weeks now that this baby is going to be a boy.  I think that I am finally used to the idea.  I honestly didn't think that I would ever have a son.  I thought that My Dear Nathan and I didn't have the ingredients to make a boy.  Lo and behold we did.  My Dear Nathan is convinced that it was all the drugs that I was on shortly before I got pregnant that did it.  Just to clarify....the drugs...they were blood thinners that I was required to inject myself with for 10 days after my surgery to repair a broken ankle.  Nothing exciting.  Nothing illicit.

Our daughters are all so happy that they will have a baby brother.  They have done the little sister thing and are good with what they have.  Everyone else that we tell about our son (I still get goosebumps from that word....son....hee hee) is so very happy for us.  To the point that I am starting to wonder if anyone would have been happy for us had this baby been another little girl.

I must have subconsciously known that this baby was going to be our boy as I could not for the life of me think of a girls name.  We also could not think of middle names for another girl.  All of our daughters are named after family members, middle name wise, and there are only a few people left that we thought to name another girl after...only thing was we really didn't like any of their names.  Bullet dodged.

This boy will also have middle names from a family member.  Unfortunately for our Dads....it will not be them.  Our Dad's name's....not our style.  As much as My Dear Nathan has protested it in the past our one and only son will be named after the most wonderful man I know...his Father.