LAZY Day

Man oh man have I been tired today!! Thank god the kids were happy and played well together!! Liam had little to no melt downs. A rare thing for sure! He woke up happy, though tired, had a short morning nap, woke up happy, had a slightly longer afternoon nap, woke up happy and was happy happy until bed time! I love it when it's like that. Spencer woke up happy. Had his usual melt down over taking off his night time pull-up. Then was good for the rest of the day He did get sent to his room at one point for throwing a HUGE fit over getting dressed. I've decided that he's old enough to learn how to take off his clothes and put new ones on. Of course it's a learning process and he's still just figuring things out. He had a huge huge huge meltdown over putting his socks on. I don't know if it's the age, or that he's seemingly becoming a perfectionist. But holy cow, they're socks!! We got over it, he did eventually get dressed, and things returned to normal!! Thank goodness!!

So as of tomorrow morning I have 9 day until Baby Nolan is here!! I can't wait! The bassinet is in tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to setting that up and then all we have to do is get a damn swing and we're good to go! I'm still feeling bad for not having a 'nursery' proper to bring him home and put him into, but I guess things change when it's the third baby. Sleep is a top priority and I know if Spencer and Liam were to share a room, there would be NO sleeping. Liam likes to play before he crashes for the night. Spencer likes to look through all his books with the aid of a rather bright night light. I think...scratch that...I KNOW that it would be an all night part if they were together. We're hoping for Christmas at the earliest to get them sharing a room. But, like it was with the crib to bed transition for Liam, I'm not pushing anything. If he takes until the spring, then he takes until the spring. I just hope it isn't that long! I don't sleep well with babies right in my room. I'm always worried that I'm going to wake them up! But, there's always the closet if I need to move Nolan 'out' of the room, but still keep him near! Make sense?! Sure.

Anyhow, kids are in bed, not sleeping but at least contained in their rooms, so I'm gonna go hit the couch and turn off my brain and turn ON the TV! Night

No More Bottles

So Liam is officially off of bottles. It took us waaay longer to get him off them than it did with Spencer. Spencer was around 11 months when he ditched the little suckers. Liam proved to be a bit of a challenge. But it's been a week and he's doing really well!! He did have a pretty major meltdown when I got the bin out that holds all the little baby bottles to get ready for Nolan. I gave Liam a bottle that wasn't at all like the ones he likes, you know, to play with. He took it from me, walked to the fridge and tried to pull it open. I'm assuming to get some milk. That kid is definitely smarter than we give him credit for! He was none too impressed when I firmly told him NO. No milk in a bottle. I did offer him some in a sippy, but it of course, wasn't good enough. He got over it quick enough though!!

Spencer has finally started eating. It's like a switch was flipped and suddenly he's a huge fan of a full belly. The only meal we could ever get him to eat was breakfast. He had a serious problem with Supper and was touch and go with Lunch. He's good with all three now!! He does treat meal time like a race, so he's a bit messy, but I'll take the mess if it means he'll eat more than chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese!! He even ate zuccini the other day!! What a kid! We were all so proud! I've been forcing him to eat more fruit in the past few days too. He's discovered that he likes apples because they...and I quote..."taste wike a watermewon". Hey man...whatever floats your boat!! Liam of course gobbles up anything you put in front of him!! I love it!

I got some more organizing done today in preparation for baby Nolan's arrival. Got out all the baby blankets and put them on the change table shelf. Started packing a hospital bag. Steam cleaned the carpets...again!! I just want it spick and span in here for when we bring him home! I know cleaning is not going to get done the way I like it to be done until I'm recovered and somewhat back in my groove, so if I can get some serious cleaning and decluttering done before I go into the hospital, than things should be just fine!!! I'm slowly learning to let go a little and let Dan clean how HE cleans. I gotta give him credit, he does a fantastic job. I just can't watch because it's not how *I* would do it! But I'm sure that's the case for a lot of people out there!

Anyway, it's late and I'm tired. And Liam hasn't been sleeping that great at night, so off to bed to get some sleep!!! Night all!

13 Days!

13 Days until little Nolan makes his arrival!! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this! Every day, every minute it seems, I'm getting more and more uncomfortable. Yesterday I think I may have overdone it a little bit. But. I need to get things done, so that's the way it is. I did take a break in the afternoon and made cookies. I even made myself sit at the kitchen table while I scooped the dough onto the cookie sheets!! Both kids napped really well yesterday so it was nice to have some time in the afternoon to do something other than clean up toys!! So yesterday I started off by super cleaning my kitchen. You know how things just seem to get dirtier and dirtier over time? Yes, the kitchen is cleaned daily...multiple times a day in fact. But it's the corners and the cupboards that seem to get cluttered and really messy. I corrected that yesterday. I know it won't last, but it makes me feel good that things are looking a little less disorganized. I also got out all the little 4oz baby bottles, washed them, boiled nipples and such and organized Nolan's little cupboard. I cleaned all the parts of the breast pump. Cleaned the milk storage bottles, had a good think about whether or not I really need the breast milk bags. Decided to keep them because my goal is to be able to pump LOTS of milk for my little guy. So hopefully I'll have an awesome stockpile of milk. I don't plan to actually breastfeed this little man....I don't really care for breastfeeding, however I have no issue with pumping and feeding. So, that's my plan. It was my plan with Liam too but the electric breast pump came in a little late...or at least I thought so. I thought I was drying up and not able to produce enough milk. I'm thinking now if I had just kept at it, my milk supply would have increased again. But, that's neither here nor there. Liam is healthy so who cares!! ANYWAY, I also had Dan come home from work and bring in the shop vac for me so I could suck up all the cat filth under the stairs. We keep their litter boxes and food and such under the stairs...it's pretty big under there!! It was getting really really really gross. I had vacuumed it a little while ago, but I used the house vac and learned quickly that wasn't a good idea...hence the shop vac this time! So I spent a good 45 minutes sucking up littler and food crumbs! It looks so clean under there now. Just have to keep up with it! I also cleaned the hell out of the laundry room. Did some minor rearranging and some major vacuuming. I love the shop vac! with 4 cats and a dog, the animal hair is going to pile up. I usually keep up with it fairly well...its part of my self diagnosed OCD! Anyway, the laundry room is looking pretty spiffy this morning!! I had Dan take out all the fans to the shed, a dresser that was annoying me, some exercise equipment and other random things that I felt did need to be in the house. I'm sure I'll have more for him to do when he gets home from work today! Poor guy, he was beat last night! He expects this from me though, so I don't feel too bad! haha So on today's agenda I'm going to try and use up the bananas that are turning on the counter and make some muffins. I'm going to do the laundry, clean clean clean my upstairs living room. Think about steam cleaning the carpets one last time and then go to work late this afternoon!! Lets see how far I get today. I'm feeling pretty sore today from all my cleaning yesterday, but that's fine. Gotta get it done!!

Happy Friday!

cute, huh?

He's not bad either!

15 Sleeps!

Mr. Nolan will be arriving in 15 sleeps. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. I've been having mild contractions on and off, mostly when i'm moving about. I am uncomfortable when I'm sitting, standing or laying down. I'm dog tired, i'm incredibly INCREDIBLY cranky. My poor husband. And kids. I had a chat with my beloved doctor yesterday at my 2nd last prenatal appointment EVER...scary. The scare of last week with the accelerated heart rate was not a scare at all, afterall! It was nice to talk to Dr. Fantastic and hear from someone who knows what they're doing that everything was perfectly fine. Nolan is well, I just had a wicked terrible cold that was giving me aches and pains ALL over. Good thing that's gone now! Anyway, next wednesday is my last ever prenatal appointment, then the wednesday following I'll be doing all my pre-admin at the hospital and then on Thursday I'll be showing up bright and early getting all IV'd and such and having a baby!! OOooo I can't wait. But on some level I can. I don't feel ready. I haven't been hardcore baby nesting yet. On and off a bit, but nothing insane. I still don't have the bassinet...should be here in a week. I need to reorganize the change table again. It's no longer working for me. Still need to prepare a few easy pop in the oven meals and such. I know it'll all come together, but it just seems that i'm leaving everything to the last minute this time. Soooo not like me.

On a completely unrelated note, Liam is starting to say a few words here and there!! He says "Cheese" he tries to say 'plane' , 'bear', 'key', 'quack' and he says 'Papa' (Grandpa). This is how it started with Spencer, and it just snowballed into a full blown vocab in a few months. It's so cute hearing Spencer say to Liam "Weeam saaay PENCER" hahaha all in time!

Anyway, kids are in bed, i'm taking advantage and going to bed before 11 tonight!! woooo go me!

Accident Prone

Spencer and Liam are so incredibly accident prone these past few days. Yesterday Spencer fell and split his lip open but didn't come out of his room to tell me. When he did come out his face was covered with dried blood but he kept telling me it was jam on his face. I have no idea why he was scared to tell me that he had hurt himself. Possibly because he did it while doing something he knows very well that he's not supposed to be doing. I only happened to notice the wound in the inner part of his bottom lip because he was looking up at me talking. I think it looked worse than it actually was. He ate a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner, so it couldn't have hurt too bad!

Today, Liam split his lip open. He was hauling his little people bus into his room and tripped over his little people boat. He only cried for a second...thank god for the power of his teddy bear! And a banana. Boy oh boy can this boy eat bananas. They're his comfort food I think. If he's sad or hurt he always wants a banana, his bear and a good snuggle!! Man I love this kid!!

That's all for today! Off to enjoy the cool rainy weather!!! And yes, I'm serious!

Breakfast

What happens when you give a 17 month old little boy toast topped with Nutella for breakfast?

This.

It took me a full 10 minutes to clean him off enough to be able to move him to the bathroom to be able to FINISH cleaning him off. He managed to get the chocolatey goodness between his TOES! No clue how he managed that. He had this stuff in his hair, on his arms, feet, all over his face, some in his mouth, I'm not sure how much though! Anyway, the point of it all, he really really enjoyed his little morning treat!

Please Stay Home

So I have a cold. A horrible horrible, don't need this at the end of my pregnancy kind of cold. Much like the one I had at the end of my pregnancy with Liam. And at the end of my pregnancy with Spencer. Not Fun! Anyway, this cold is really super especially pissing me off. Why? Because my husband caught it from a coworker. Why does this piss me off? I'll tell you why. The company that my husband works for has spent a LOT of time and money preparing pandemic response plans, sending out fancy glossy lamintaed memos via registered mail to EVERY EMPLOYEE stating that if you so much as have a cold...DO NOT COME INTO WORK. No one adheres to this. I won't let Dan go to work when he's sick. Why? Because there are other employees who are either pregnant, have small children or whatever. I don't want him to be responsible for getting them sick. Fortunately for almost every employee in this company, they have the ability to work from home. So, if you're really that behind on work, take it home with you. Be sick there, and don't infect the rest of the office, and the rest of the office's families. My health, the health of my children and husband is far more important. And aside from that, I won't be baking any more goodies and bringing them in if you insist on hauling your sickly self to work and spreading your germs.

Blah Blah Blah

Okay, so I've been nesting like crazy these past few days. We don't have an actual nursery put together for Nolan, just space in our room. We still need a bassinet. I'm waiting for the one I want to go on sale, though I'm losing faith that it will. We did buy a dresser, I did fill it up with baby clothes, I organized the change table, bought newborn diapers, and other toiletries. I hate how miss matched my bedroom looks like right now. But that's me, I like things to match!! I think I may have even blogged about it before. All the baby furniture we own is the lite birch wood stuff. The bassinet I want is the really dark black/brown wood that our bed is. Since he's only going to be in the bassinet in our room, I felt that it should match our furniture. As for his change table and new dresser, I knew it had to match the other baby furniture we have, because when we do finally get a room set up for him, it needs to all match in there. Why? Because I'm insane. That's why. This weekend I think we're going to take the plunge and get Liam sleeping in the toddler bed. I find with him we're so much more lenient than we were with Spencer. We tend to let things slide a lot more. I know it's because this kid can have you on your knees in seconds with the way he cries. He doesn't just whine cry or whimper, no not Liam. He cries with a broken heart. Every. Single. Time. I'm sure he does it cause he knows that he gets what he wants! So I guess it`s time Dan and I put on our parenting pants and crack down on Liam's behaviors. bottom line, we`re the parents, he`s the child. We shouldn't be adhering to his schedule. He should be following our rules and time lines. So there. Mr. Liam. Your time has come. It`s time that you start acting like a lovely little boy, stop breaking mama and daddy`s hearts with your cry and get sleeping in the big boy bed. Once that`s done, we`ll have to start working on getting him and Spencer to share a room. God only knows how that`s going to go!! Liam snores, Spencer wakes up scared of the monster when they are in the same room. Wish us luck!

Anyway, I`m now done my long, direction-less rambling post! Happy Friday!

Some People

Some people should really think about the term "responsible pet owner" before they go out and buy that cute little puppy. Last night a happy looking little family (mom, dad, 2 kids) were walking their cute little puppy in front of our house. Fine and dandy. Dogs need excercise. Kids need excercise, so do moms and dads. But. When you take your dog for a walk in an urban area...yes I just referred to my tiny somewhat dirty little town as an 'urban aread'. Sue me. Anyway when walking your dog in a populated area, you should think about the term responsible pet ownership. This includes feeding and watering, walking, loving, training etc. What it also includes is bringing with you a plastic bag to pick up your dog's fecal deposits. This happy little family that was walking their dog last night proceeded to let their dog crap on my front lawn, and then walk away as if nothing happened. Are you freaking kidding me??? This was made even better by the fact that Dan was standing in our living room window WATCHING this happen. So being the sometimes assertive man he is, he walked out onto the front walkway and asked in a loud and athouritative voice "Are you going to pick that up?" (the family was already three houses down). The father then guiltily replied "uhhh yeah..." so he then SENDS HIS WIFE back to our lawn with a KLEENEX to pick up the dog crap. Classy guy I tell you. Classy guy!

But seriously, some people need just need to give their head a shake. My lawn is not the perfectly manicured lawn you see some places. But, it's neat and tidy, no garbage and certainly no dog crap. Even my back yard, where my dog in fact craps daily, is not full of dog crap. It gets scooped up nightly. My kids play on my front and back lawns. I really don't need them playing in fecal matter. Since when is it okay to let your dog poop on strangers lawns and then quickly walk away as if nothing ever happened. Some people.

Brain Farts

I had a few good posts I was working on in my head over the past three days. Now that I'm sitting here with my brand spanking new computer in my lap, I can't think of anything to post about!! How crappy is that? I don't even remember the subjects on which I was going to post about. My mind has gone blank! Too bad cause I do know these head posts were rather entertaining. now you just get to sit here and read about my absent mind!! Lucky you!

Okay, i'll stop with the rambling, and perhaps i'll be back to post something with slightly more substance later tonight!! But, probably not. I have one sick kid, and one clingy kid, and one kid still in utero who's beating the hell out of me! So more than likely I'll just be going to bed after the children are sleeping and the house is clean. but never you worry, I will be back at some point. With nothing to say. just to bore you to tears. again.

how's that for a rambling mindless post?! not too bad if I do say so myself!