31 Days to go!

Hello from Texas! We've had another low-key week here. It's continued to be hot and humid...and it will only get worse from here. On Monday Will got to swim in his new pool in the back yard. He had fun splashing around and it definitely cooled him off. He went back and forth between his sand table and the pool so he got the full beach experience.

Tuesday we took a trip to the library. Will loves the large aquarium they have there. He also loves pulling all the books off the shelf so I have to stay on my toes right behind him. We did check out a few books for him. Two in particular that he really likes are the book about Monster Trucks and one about a fireman and his truck. Due to the aforementioned mischief in the library, I didn't get to preview the books before we brought them home. So the story about the fireman putting out a house fire includes the family carrying their "sofa, lamps and tables" out of the house in the middle of the fire. And the second the fireman puts out the fire (which had flames coming out of the roof), the family gets to move back into the house and get on with their lives. After the first time I read it I checked the date and it was written in 1946. I guess we've made great progress in fire safety since then. I'm hoping he's not really internalizing this particular story. After we read it to him we tell him that if there is a fire, we're not taking the furniture.

He does, however, internalize many of the things he reads and sees. For example, his favorite story at the moment is "Go, Dog! Go." Lately he has been acting out parts of the book with various toys. He loves to say "up the tree, up the tree," which is part of the book. And today he used his cars and trucks to act out a scene from the movie Cars where Lightning McQueen revs his engine and scares a bunch of tractors until they tip over. It's always fun to see that he remembers stories and can act them out with his own toys.

The Cars movie is his new obsession. He asks to watch it almost every day. We've seen it so often lately that I can only handle it every two or three days or so. He likes to line up his cars while he watches the movie and he usually insists on having his firetruck and Sarge (which are both from the movie) in his hands as he watches. It's really the only movie that holds his attention for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. Since Cars 2 is coming out this summer we are thinking we might take Will to his first movie in the theater to see it.

The biggest news this week is that we have given up sleepsacks. We're still in an adjustment period but we started having problems with him being too tall for them. So we went cold turkey starting Thursday for Will's nap. He now sleeps with a pillow and blanket, but still in his crib. I think it takes him longer to get to sleep without it, mostly because he has so much more freedom to stand up and walk around his crib. But I don't think we've had any meltdowns or problems related to taking it away. Really, he seems to have substituted his new comfort objects (his cars) for the old (the sleepsacks). So he doesn't seem to mind not having it- as long as he has his cars. He's not entirely used to sleeping under a blanket so I usually go in after he's asleep to cover him up.

Also this week, Will has been very concerned with what belongs to whom around here. It used to be that everything was his. Now he likes to describe who different objects belong to. I put on some of David's flip flops to take trash out one day and Will got very concerned that those were "Daddy's shoes." He reminded me until I took them off. He often says things like "Mommy's water," "Daddy's computer" and "Zoe's food." He likes to label everything he can. He's become such a good little talker. My favorite is that we have him almost trained to ask for help when he has trouble doing something. It doesn't always work, sometimes he just goes straight to meltdown, but about half the time he needs help he says "Help. Help, please." Always like that- "Help. Help, please." I love it!

On Friday we had another play date with Tyler. Tyler, who is Will's age, has a younger brother named Alex who is about three months old. We had a little test when Will picked up one of Alex's pacifiers that was on a table. He stared at it for a while and kept saying "baby." I told him to put it down because it was the baby's and not his. I thought for sure he was going to pop it in his mouth, but he didn't! He put it back down and walked away.

Today we had our Saturday morning waffles then went to the base so David could get a haircut. Will got to go to the park and then to the Apple store at the mall. I tried to get him some new shoes too but he was not having any part of trying them on. He has been wearing size 6, which is now too small, and I already have size 7 shoes for him, which are too big. He's pretty solidly in between. He threw such a fit in Stride Rite, though, that I had to just leave and order them online. He did get a new hat which, as you can see below, he thinks goes pretty well with his alphabet jammies.

This week should be another low-key week. I've completely cut out all unnecessary errands and activities and I've seen a real difference in how I feel. I feel so much better when we take it easy. And Will has been so cooperative- I really couldn't ask for anything more. If I'm not feeling great, we stay at home and he has been perfectly happy to play inside during the last couple of weeks. His eating and napping are also much improved lately. So far he's really doing his part to help me out here in the home stretch! By my count, we have about 31 days to go until Baby Luke arrives!

39 days to go!

Will had his two-year checkup last week and his pediatrician was very happy with everything. It seemed like he has grown taller but he’s still so skinny so I was concerned about his (lack of) weight gain. He’s pretty much been 26 1/2 lbs since last September. And he’s still 26 ½ lbs. He is about 36 inches tall, which he’s been for a while. But the doctor said he is perfectly healthy so I’m trying not to worry too much about his lack of weight gain. His height puts him in the 88th percentile and his weight is in the 35th percentile. This was the first appointment where Will was measured standing up as opposed to lying on a table. The doctor said the previous measurement that put him in the 97^th percentile for height was likely inaccurate. He said Will has hovered around the 90th percentile for most of his life so he doubts he briefly jumped up to 97th. Anyway, the Dr said his growth looks great and he’s just a skinny, active boy. Overall a clean bill of health!

This week we’ve really taken it easy. A couple of days we haven’t even gone outside during the day, although David sometimes takes Will to the park in the evenings. The weather has either been extremely hot or rainy so we’ve stayed indoors more than usual. Will has actually been very cooperative. He’s watching more TV than I normally like him to but I figure our situation (of me not being able to get around well) is only temporary. He does a good job playing on his own and we still read a lot of books (especially Dr. Seuss, which he’s really into now). Despite not playing outside in the mornings Will has actually been napping fairly consistently in the afternoons, which helps me out a lot. One day this week we did go to the park on base and Will’s friend Tyler happened to be there. Will was a little more social than usual and he kept repeating “Hi Tyler.” After the park we went to the Commissary and I have decided that two “outings” in one morning is too much for me. My energy and stamina are just not enough to do the park and a grocery trip back to back. In fact, we walked to the park in our neighborhood a few days ago and Will, who is a fast little thing, was getting too far ahead of me. I told him to stop and wait for Mommy. He said “Mommy,” and turned around, came back to me and took my hand. It was pretty uncharacteristic of him- he usually takes off and never looks back. But I feel like he knows I’m not in top condition and he decided to give me a break. And, apparently, Will thinks I look like an egg. On the changing table yesterday he kept pointing to my tummy and saying “egg.” I told him it’s a baby, not an egg. Then he just alternated calling it “baby” and “egg.” I can’t wait for this egg to hatch!

Will has done several cute things this week. For example, he likes to say “bye” to everything. If we’re driving he’ll say “bye truck” and “bye school bus,” and “bye” to just about everything he sees. When we left the park, the entire walk to the car he was saying “bye swings, bye slide, bye trees, bye rocks, bye grass.” Definitely funny to hear! He still hasn’t slept in his big boy bed and probably won’t for some time. But he’s started tucking his Woody doll (from Toy Story) into the bed. He lays it on the pillow, covers it with the sheet, kisses him and says “night night.” Adorable. Also, after watching an “Elmo’s World” segment about violins, Will took his little Elmo guitar, put it up under his chin like a violin, and used his t-ball bat as a bow. He proceeded to “play” the violin! I can’t keep up with all of the new words he’s learning, but one of his new favorites is “broken.” Everything that doesn’t do what he wants it to is broken to him, especially puzzle pieces that he has trouble fitting together. Finally, he has started to be very on top of telling me when he has a dirty diaper. Sometimes he doesn’t care about his diaper being dirty, but lately he’s been telling me “diaper change” before I even notice that he needs one. But I think him telling us “diaper change” is a positive step toward potty training (which we’re not even tackling until after the new baby and the move).

After several months without rain, we finally got a big thunderstorm with lots of rain on Thursday. It started around 9:00 am and got very dark. We lost power for about 40 minutes so Will got to man the flashlight, which he thought was pretty cool. He also learned several new words like “rain,” “thunder,” “lightning” and “flashlight.” Sad to say that I don’t think he knew the word “rain” before this storm. The last time we saw rain was some drizzle when we visited Maryland in February. We just haven’t had any rain here to speak of. But he knows what it is now. He knows that the rain turned out our lights! He understands what thunder is but I think he had some trouble grasping “lightning.” By the time I pointed it out to him, it was gone. We were just so happy to get rain!

On Friday, David and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! Hard to believe it’s been five years already but yet a lot has happened for us since our wedding with all of our moves and babies. Will and I picked up David from his office yesterday and we went out to lunch. Then we stopped by Wilford Hall and took a tour of the labor and delivery unit. After Will went to bed last night David and I rented a movie and had a relaxing night in. Will gave us the best present of all- he slept until almost 9:00 this morning!

The labor and delivery floor seemed to be fairly nice. We saw a room similar to the one we will be in and it was bigger than the room we had for Will in Summerville. Same uncomfortable pull-out bed for the dads but I told David that it just wouldn’t be fair if he were completely comfortable. The biggest challenge for us will be that there is no nursery. So from the second Luke is born and gets cleared as being healthy and doing well, he goes with David to our room. After the surgery, I’ll go to a PACU on a completely different floor. Once I am considered stable, then I’ll come back to the room with David and the baby. And then we’re completely on our own as far as taking care of Luke! In Summerville we had the opportunity to have Will go between our room and the nursery. So when David had to leave to go back home during those first couple of days, Will usually went to the nursery since I had so much trouble getting out of bed. This time, it’s different and we'll have some new challenges. I am not going to do any PCA (patient-controlled analgesia) like I did last time so I should be able to attempt to get out of bed sooner. I won't be on any heavy painkillers because I'm allergic to most of them. So I may be hurting but I should be able to get up and around a little sooner with this one. My goal is to get out of bed within 12 hours of the surgery- even if I don't go very far. Still, between taking care of me and Luke and checking in on Will, David will have his hands full during those first couple of days. It was good to have a tour of the L&D unit- I feel more prepared. C-section is scheduled for 39 days from today…but who’s counting?!

Will's Second Birthday!

Today is Will's second birthday!! Hard to believe! He had a great day and was very tuckered out by bedtime. First, I made him waffles this morning while he enjoyed his favorite shows. We were particularly interested in watching the Sprout network, which is a PBS channel for kids. A lot of his favorite shows are on there like Thomas the Train and Sesame Street. Each morning, on the "Sunny Side Up Show" they do birthday segments where they wish "Sproutlets" a Happy Birthday. A few weeks back, I made him a birthday card and sent it in. Much to our surprise...his card was selected for one of the segments! So Will was on TV this morning! I've tried to attach a link at the bottom of this post...hopefully it works. If not, let me know and I can email it. It was very exciting to see Will on TV!

After that, Will put on his birthday t-shirt- a train shirt that said "Choo Choo I'm two." Then we went to the bakery to pick up his cake. He picked a Finding Nemo cake. He's been really into Nemo lately, who he calls "Me-mo." The cake came with Nemo and Dory squirt toys, which Will seems to love. After the bakery, we went to Castroville Regional Park and Will played at the playground for a while. He then had lunch and took a great nap. For dinner, we met up with David at Will's favorite restaurant- Red Robin. Will had his usual: chicken and cheese quesadillas with mandarin oranges, fries and milk. After we got home, we sang Happy Birthday and Will blew out his candle- with some help. He started eating his slice of cake but was quickly distracted by the Nemo toys and wrapped gifts on the table. He actually opened only about half of his gifts because he kept wanting to play rather than open more. Today he got adorable Hawaiian shirts- one with firetrucks, which he loves! He got a toy laptop, a set of trucks from the movie Cars, a t-ball set, a puzzle, a book about basketball and, the grand finale- a new tricycle. The t-ball set and bike have been the biggest hits so far. But he really hasn't had time to play much since it was getting late. We did take him outside to let him ride his bike for a little while. Daddy had to push him most of the way but I think he'll get the hang of it soon. He definitely didn't need much help with the t-ball set. He knew exactly what to do with it and has some impressive coordination for not having swung a bat before. Overall it was a fun day for the little man!

Will has been able to spend a lot of time with his Grandma Crockett, who came to stay with us while David traveled for work. He calls her "Am-maw." It's been really nice for me to have help while David was away. Will's recent activities with Grandma include his first professional haircut (Will was a perfect angel) and a trip to Austin to see a friend of mine from law school. Grandma was also able to witness Will's amazing knack for making letters out of objects. At one point, we were in a restaurant and Will started bending his straw so that it resembled letters. I think he did letters like "A," "V," and "U." He also formed letters out of long, skinny fries on his plate one evening. Finally, at breakfast a few days ago, Will thought one of his pieces of waffle looked like a "7" so he rotated it around saying "7," "V," and "L," depending on which direction it was facing. I'm glad there's now another witness to his amazing creativity and grasp of the alphabet!

Along with that creativity often comes mischief. A few days ago, Will took off to his room to play and we were apparently slow to follow. He was only alone for a few minutes. But when I turned the corner, I saw that he had reached his lotion on the changing table and decided to do some mousturizing. He must be so used to us putting lotion on his skin- he thought he'd help out. He had thick layers of lotion all over his face, hair and clothes. Needless to say, he went straight to the bath.

A few additional cute things that Will has done this week include running around the living room playing a roll of wrapping paper like a guitar and being able to recognize his cousin, Xander. When he used to see pictures of videos of Xander, he would just say "baby." But yesterday, Grandma showed him a video of Xander and Will yelled, "Xander." Without any of us telling him who it was. It was pretty impressive.

Will got a new big boy bed this week. It's a little toddler bed that is low to the ground and just his size. He has new sheets and a comforter with trains on it. He calls it his "Elmo Bed" because we read him a book about Elmo leaving the crib for a big boy bed. Will hasn't actually slept in it yet but he enjoys pretending like he's going to sleep in it. I'm not sure when we'll make the transition but it was a really good deal so I couldn't pass up getting it for when we're ready.

Finally, Will goes to the doctor tomorrow for his two-year check-up and his last round of vaccinations for quite a while. I'm interested to see how much he's grown since our last visit. He seems huge!

With respect to baby Luke, I am scheduled for a c-section on June 22nd. No matter what he'll be here in less than 7 weeks! So now we're just crossing our fingers that he holds out that long. I am already measuring about 34 weeks even though I was a little less than 32 weeks at my last appointment. Surprise, surprise- Luke is probably going to be a big baby just like Will. He is already head-down and pretty low in my pelvis. In fact, he's in the exact same position that Will settled into during the last few weeks- head down, rear end protruding on the left side and feet nestled under my lower, right rib. I know I sound like a broken record, but it's increasingly harder to get around. Rolling from one side to the other in bed has become a difficult ten-step process. I usually feel pretty good in the mornings for a couple of hours and then it's all down hill from there. By bedtime, I'm hurting. I've been lucky to have my mom here to help me keep up with housework over the last week and a half.

Anyway, everything at the appointment was still very good. Normal blood pressure, no swelling and Luke's heart rate was a robust 150 bpm. I've already pre-registered for my c-section and we're pretty much ready to go when he is. We can't wait to have two adorable little men around here!