Nesting

I've had a "to do" list to prepare for the baby's arrival for a couple of months now. I've been working on it, but my energy level has just been pitiful. So by the time I've done my normal daily duties, I just haven't had much left to give to the list. Needless to say, it's been slow going and I'm starting to realize some things just might not get done; like painting Seth's room, for instance.

But now the count is on and the proverbial "nesting" has kicked in. I got more done this afternoon than I've done in 2 months! Once I got going, my momentum took over and I knocked out all kinds of things. Yea! I guess I've always worked better under a little pressure though. And I guess the realization that I only have 8 days to get it all done (if he doesn't come sooner) is enough pressure to get me going!

If I keep this pace up, we might even be able to squeeze in painting the nursery.

We'll see!

What NOT to Say to a Pregnant Woman

Here's a sampling of actual comments people have made to me over the last couple of months:

"Wow, you look like you're about to pop."

"So how many are you having? Three...or Four?"

"You look like you're about to drop that baby right out."

"You are having one, right? Not like, eight?"

And then there's no shortage of strangers who like to consider themselves prophets of delivery dates:

"When's your due date? Oh, you won't make it that long."

(sigh) Oh well. Only 11 days to go. I'm not sure how big Seth is, but the way people stare at me, I'm expecting a toddler to walk out. We'll see. Until then, I smile politely and wait until my back is turned to roll my eyes at the silly things people say.

Observations of a 3 Year Old

Yesterday, I was in the check-out line at Michael's. A small girl, perhaps 3 or so, was behind me in line with her mom and said, "Does she have a baby in her tummy?"

Assuming she was talking about me, I turned and smiled as her mommy responded, "Yes, she does."

Still staring at my swollen belly, she said very seriously and deliberately, "That baby should not be in there."

I have to say, I'm starting to agree with her.

Come on, little Seth. Times up. We're ready to meet you!

Roomies

In preparation for our newest little Rowden, we moved Max into Cole's room. I was a little nervous, because Max is still only 18 months old, and he just seems so little to be in a big boy bed. But we really didn't want to have to buy another crib, and the boys are getting along really well these days, so we thought it was worth a shot.

We did the same for Max as we first did for Cole: a twin mattress on the floor. That way, if he rolls off, it's not far to fall. The plan was to try it, and if he just wasn't ready, we would put him back in the crib, and baby Seth would just have to sleep in our room a little longer until Max was ready for the switch. I am happy to report, however, that Max is doing great in his new bed! But it wasn't always that way. The first few nights were, well, interesting.

The first night, Derek and I explained to both boys (on their level, of course) what our expectations were of this new situation. We went through the bedtime routine, tucked everyone in, and said "goodnight," with coaching as we went. That part was great.

Then the nightmare hit. I wondered what on earth we were thinking to try this. Max got up about 6 times before I had even left the room. Cole didn't help either. The second Max's feet hit the floor, Cole popped right out of bed too. He felt it was his duty to let us know Max was up. After about 10 minutes of this, I finally laid down by Max for a few minutes to help him settle down and get a clue that it was time to sleep. He seemed to like that, but as soon as I got up, he started to cry. Two minutes later, he was out and slept all night.

Night two was very encouraging. He didn't get up one time before falling asleep.

The next few nights, he learned to be more sneaky in his tactics. We would hear Cole yell out, "He's getting up! He's getting up!" One of us would go to the boys' room only to find Max lying in bed just as he should be. So either he was diving back in bed at the sound of Cole's call, or Cole was over-eager to tattle on him and called out just because he wiggled a finger. We're not completely sure, but I could have sworn a couple of times I heard the pitter-patter of his little feet and a thump as he landed himself on the bed right before I opened the door.

I guess Cole got tired of being the bad guy, because his cries of alarm ceased. Free from his brother's tattling, Max would get up quietly, only to be ratted out by his choice of toys. We would hear a random "Moo" from the farm toy, or a song from the musical chair, coming over the monitor. It took a few nights of redirection, but he finally got it. And for the last week or so, he has stayed in bed and goes straight to sleep. I'm so proud!

Here are a few pics of the new roommates:

Hanging Out

Sweet Brothers

Story Time

Big Boy Max

Quandary Bloom

I must confess that I don't remember a lot of what I learned in grade school about certain things, such as photosynthesis and other plant-related matters. But I do remember learning that there are three basic things a plant needs in order to grow: sunlight, soil, and water.

So I'm hoping someone with a little more knowledge than me can explain the phenomenon happening in my laundry room.

A little background...

A couple of months ago, I was given some amaryllis bulbs in a Target bag. Seeing as how it was still winter and I didn't intend to plant them for awhile, I hung the bag on a door knob in the laundry room with the intention of taking them to the garage at a later time to await planting season. Long story short, they never made it to the garage, and so they hung on the door in the laundry room.

About a week and a half ago, I was all loaded up, as I often am, with bags and boys (hence the reason the bulbs never made it to the garage), and headed to the van. I reached for the door knob to go out to the garage, and, startled, withdrew my hand and let out a slight gasp. Peaking out of the bag was a thick green stalk with an unopened flower head at the top.

Now, let me just take a moment to say how startling it was to find something living coming out of a bag in a place where I never would have expected to find something living. Maybe it's just me, but somehow it was so creepy, that for a split second, it could have been anything coming out of that bag, a human hand, for example, and my reaction would have been the same.

When I gathered my composure and realized it wasn't the boogie man coming to get me, I stood for a moment, puzzled. "What on earth?" I thought. How is it possible that one of the bulbs has sprouted in a plastic bag with no soil, no sunlight, and no water? Not having time to examine it then, we went out to the van and on our way. Later though, I came back to look again and took a picture.


Amazed, I decided to leave it there and see if it would bloom. Sure enough, here's how it looks today...


And in the bag, there are several more coming up.


Now, will someone please enlighten me on how this is possible? No water, no sunlight, no soil. Weird. I'm going to plant them in my garden soon. I just hope they like the outdoors as much as they like my laundry room!

1st Day of School

I know this is a strange time of year to title a post that way, but nevertheless, so it is. Last Thursday, February 5, was Cole's first day of preschool!

He was so excited in the days leading up to it. He kept asking if it was Thursday yet, and when I dropped him off in his class that morning, he just walked right in and made himself comfortable. After talking to the teachers for a few minutes, I went over to say "goodbye". That's when I was caught off guard by the large lump in my throat. My baby is growing up! Somehow, I managed to swallow the lump and make my exit without too much of a scene. If a two-day-a-week preschool chokes me up, what on earth will I do when he starts kindergarten? Yikes!

It was so strange not having Cole at home for a large part of the day, but it was great to have some time with just Max. We haven't had much of that, for obvious reasons. Max enjoyed it too, although he did ask for his big brother a couple of times.

"Dole?" he would say, and point to Cole's room.
"Cole's at school, sweetie," I would reply.

He seemed ok with that, but he was very excited when we went to go pick him up. Incidentally, I think it's sweet that Max looks up to his big brother so much already. I hope it continues.

Finally the time came to pick up Cole. When we got to his class, his teachers said he had a great day. He even came home with a "Super Student" certificate for being a good friend. I'm so proud!

Our school boy...

...and his certificate.

A Day at Home

Thanks, Jessica, for the great idea to record a day in our life for memory's sake!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

6:30am: Max wakes up. I go to his room and encourage him to lay down and go back to sleep. I'm never ready to get up this early, but especially not today after staying up until 1:00 last night working on our taxes. Max obliges, and I go back to bed too.

7:00: Derek gets up and starts getting ready for work.

7:10: Cole comes into my room with a cheery, "Hi, Mom," as he climbs in bed for our morning cuddle.

7:15: Derek and Cole go to get Max, and then Derek gets them each a drink of milk and puts on a TV show; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is Cole's choice this morning. I go back to sleep.

7:35: Max comes in, hands me my glasses and points to the kitchen. Translation: "It's time to get up, Mommy!" I sleepily sit up and watch, amused, as Max happily goes back and forth from the nightstand to the bathroom taking Derek all the things that go in his pocket.

7:45: I get Max started on breakfast while Cole finishes up his show. Cole joins us, and we all have banana bread and bananas (hmm, that's a lot of banana).

8:10: Derek leaves for work.

8:30: With everyone full and wiped up, we head to Cole's room to play for a few minutes.

8:45: Go to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher and clean up from breakfast. Cole is a big helper and puts the silverware away. Max tries to help and then decides climbing in would be more fun.

8:55: Start a load of laundry.

9:05: Time to get dressed. Cole requests his green "number" shirt, but it's in the washing machine right now. He complains, but accepts that he can wear it when it's dry. Max protests about being changed but then gives in to a smile and a giggle as I tickle him. Finally, it's my turn. The boys chatter together and close themselves into the cabinet under the sink (Max's second favorite bathroom activity; the first is pulling anything and everything out of my drawer), while I change and try to paint some semblance of a human being on my tired face. Not sure I was successful.

9:35: Instead of making our bed, I decide it's been too long since I've washed the sheets and strip them off. I ask Cole to go get his children's Bible and meet me on the couch while Max helps me change out the laundry. He loves to put the wet things into the drier.

9:40: We all sit on the couch to read and talk about a few Bible stories. Max gets bored after a few minutes and gets down to entertain himself while I read with Cole. Max finds and eats some banana bread from breakfast that I forgot to wipe off his high chair. Oh well. It hasn't been there that long, and I'm sure he's put worse things in his mouth.

9:50: Wrap up our Bible time with a little prayer. Cole wants to keep reading, so he chooses to stay on the couch while I get up to make a phone call. Play a little game of peak-a-boo with Max on my way to the phone. It's so cute when he puts his hands in front of his face like that! I call our church's preschool to set up an appointment for a tour next week. We're thinking of starting Cole there soon.

10:05: Cole helps me make Vanishing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. He does a great job of measuring out the ingredients while I supervise and make several attempts to keep Max occupied with other things, to no avail. Finally, I put him in his high chair close by with a goldfish snack. He's very happy about that.

10:50: First cookie batch goes into the oven.

10:51: Laundry load #1 comes out of the drier with Max's help and goes to the couch. Load #2 goes into the drier, and cookie batch #1 comes out of the oven.

The next hour is a whirlwind of activities, which include:

Baking 3 more batches of cookies
Changing a dirty diaper
Getting the boys some juice
Turning on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood for Cole
Playing shape-sorter with Max
Derek calling
Taking the sheets out of the drier and putting them back on the bed
Eating a tortilla. (Not too thrilling, but I was feeling wilty from hunger and that was first thing I could get my hands on in the busy moment.)

12:00: Lunch! Derek often comes home for lunch, but today he is meeting an old friend, so it's just me and the boys. We have sandwiches, fruit, and of course, cookies!

12:30: Nap time. Cole plays in the living room while I snuggle with Max for a few minutes before tucking him in bed. With Max down, I start to clean up the kitchen from lunch and cookie-making while Cole goes potty. When he's finished, I tuck him in bed, and then finish cleaning.

1:05: With Cole in bed and the kitchen clean, I sit down at the computer to take care of a few things.

Grrrr. The internet isn't working again. I troubleshoot for awhile and get it worked out.

Now to take care of business. I pre-register for my maternity stay at the hospital, and then order a support top for my belly that is reaching ridiculous proportions. I have high hopes that the one I found will comfortably help my torn and stretched-out stomach muscles carry the extra weight and provide relief from the ligament pain I've been having.

Business taken care of, I quickly check e-mail, Facebook and blogs.

2:15: Sit down on the couch (opposite end to the laundry that is still there) and read my Bible.

2:20: Too tired to concentrate on what I'm reading, I give in to a little nap.

2:40: I stir at the sound of Max waking up. Hoping he will go back to sleep, I close my eyes again. Groggily, I realize he's been napping for over 2 hours and isn't likely to go back to sleep, so I get up and get him. We have some good Mommy and Max play-time, during which he lets me know he has a wet diaper. At 16 months, he's been doing that more and more. Hmmm. Maybe he'll potty train sooner than Cole did. Wouldn't that be nice with another diaper-clad boy coming into our family very soon.

3:30: Cole is up. I fix the boys some juice and turn on a show (our normal after-nap routine). Cole chooses Mickey Mouse again. I put away the laundry and throw some ingredients into the breadmaker for homemade bread. It'll have to be "Expressbake" this time because I forgot to get it ready in time for a regular loaf. Max only watches a few minutes of the show before joining me in my chores.

4:00: Get Cole changed out of his nap time pj's and into regular clothes (the a fore mentioned green shirt this time), put our shoes on and head to the library to return some books. We get stopped by a train on the way, which is a very normal occurrence for us. I've never seen (or heard) such an active railway as the one close to our house before.

4:40: Home again. I peel potatoes for dinner, Cole plays with his cars in the living room, and Max gets his usual early evening grumpies.

4:45: Potatoes peeled, I realize I don't have to start cooking them just yet, so we head outside for a few minutes.

5:00: Back inside, we wash hands, and I work on dinner.

5:10: Derek calls to say he'll be a little later getting home tonight. I put dinner on hold again and read a book to the boys.

5:20: The bread is done, and I continue to work on dinner while Max follows me around fussing for me to hold him.

5:30: Derek calls; he's on his way. Yea! I'm hungry and tired, and Max is still fussing to be picked up. He slips and bumps his head (lightly) on the floor. Now he really wants to be held. Picking him up, I comfort him and decide I'm at a good stopping point with dinner. I sit down with him on the couch and turn on Design on a Dime to watch in the background while I catch my breath and wait for Derek to come home.

5:45: Daddy's home! There's rejoicing all around and he is greeted with 3 people who are VERY happy to see him. I finish dinner while Derek changes clothes.

6:00: Dinner time. Ham (taken out of the freezer from Christmas), mashed potatoes, veggies and homemade Bread. And cookies for dessert, of course!

6:30: It's Thursday, so it's family night/date night. We all play together in Cole's room.

7:30: Give Max his antibiotic for an ear infection. He's been on it a week now and doing much better.

7:45: Derek gets Max ready for bed, and I clean up the kitchen.

8:05: The kitchen is clean (again), Max is in bed, and the three of us sit down to play a quick game of Candyland before it's time to pick up toys and get Cole to bed.

9:00: Cole is in bed. Date time! We watch American Idol and then play the game "Pathwords" on Facebook. It might not sound too exciting, but we love to play word games together. And after a busy week, a relaxing night at home is a wonderful thing.

11:30: Check on the boys, get ready for bed, and crawl into our nice, clean sheets. I'm exhausted and my body aches, but over-all, I'm pleased with the day. My one regret: I only had 5 (sleepy) minutes of my own Bible time. Hopefully that will be better tomorrow. Derek and I pray together (our nightly routine), and then sink deeply into blissful sleep.