Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Can you believe he has all parts of his costume on AND is smiling all at once? We had a pretty fun Halloween which kicked off on last weekend. We were invited to three different Halloween parties last weekend along with a big garage sale I've been working on and a work picnic for John. Busy! But fun! We carved pumpkins and ate lots of candy (I'm sure my Dr. appointment is not going to be good this year with all the candy I've eaten this week). We don't have any pictures because it really isn't safe to have one person working with a sharp knife and the other adult have their hands busy with a camera with the very curious two year old in between.

Tuesday night was the school district event called Safe Halloween. The bigger kids put together games and fun stuff inside for the littler ones to play with in a safe environment. We got their a little later than we would have liked and it was CRAZY. I think last year the attendance for the event was somewhere in the thousands and I would believe it. It is a lot of fun - but WAY too many people for us. It was fun to get William all dressed up and do a trial run with the costume - even if we were only there for about 12 minutes total.

Walking in with Daddy - what a cute puppy...even if he isn't house trained yet.
Playing Candyland with the Builders Club from West Middle School -Mama is trying to help and all William is tryin' to do is get to the pretty girl at the end with the piece of candy!
With Mama, but checking out all the other kids in crazy costumes.

Tonight was a GORGEOUS night for Halloween. The temperatures were in the 70's with a little breeze. Absolutely perfect! Time got away from us so we didn't get the afternoon pictures outside that I wanted with better light, but we still managed to get a few good ones of William.

William is in love with pumpkins. He got this one earlier in the week at the Child watch area at the gym and has been carrying it around ever since. I'm not sure how he is going to take it when the pumpkin has to go away...
Still carrying around the pumpkin

Look - another picture with a smile!
It is getting a little more challenging to be carrying William around now due to our other little pumpkin I'm carrying around (I know, I know. It is only going to get worse). I like to give John a hard time about this when we are out running errands: Why do I have to carry BOTH kids? Can't he carry one?


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

PS I was going to paint his nose black to complete the costume - I think it would have been cuter. However, two important factors were holding me back. 1) He hates have stuff on his face and it would have been a huge mess. 2) I am L-A-Z-Y and didn't ever go to the store to pick up any face paint.

You All Could have Told me

All day I've been grumpy because it isn't Friday. At some point during the day yesterday, I decided it was Thursday and had several important discussions with John about what we needed to do to be prepared for the Halloween holiday on Friday. He didn't clue me in (probably because he didn't realize) until late in the afternoon that is was only Wednesday instead of Thursday.

I guess it went on long enough my brain is still confused - and grumpy about it not being the weekend tomorrow.

21 months old

Today William is 21 months old. The leaves are changing colors and falling off the tree in our backyard - so we thought there might be some good pictures to take outside in celebration. We did a similar shoot last year about this time also (click here or here for last year's pictures). This year was more challenging for several reasons: because our neighbor has a newish dog that likes to do his "business" in our yard - yuck and William is now WAY more mobile than last year. Maybe at this time next year we'll have a kid who likes to hold still for a change. I'm not super happy with our results so I can almost guarantee that we'll be back out again in the next week or so to try and get a few more fall pictures of the big boy.

Weeeeeee! Leaves are fun!
I have to shut my eyes because Mama is throwing leaves at my face!
Enough sitting! I want to run down the hill in our backyard.
And now back up the hill again!
And now it is time to stop and smell the flowers (for all you green thumbs out there - I need some serious advice about what to do with the mess I've made out of these Zinnias. They are HUGE, each plant is over 3 feet tall with massive flowers. They aren't strong enough to stand up on their own so they fell on top of everything else and have about managed to kill everything with their bigness. Oh yeah, and I planted 8 of them in a smallish area. Please advise how to deal with minimum work involved. I promise if your advice involves a shovel, it ain't happening.)
In constant motion...but so happy!
You're right Mama, it is fun to throw leaves!

New Words

William has been picking up words like crazy over the last few weeks. Many of them seem completely random (pocket?) to me, but I guess that is just how the toddler brain works.

However, a handful of the words I absolutely certain he doesn't understand. He is just repeating them after we say them. It is not only time to start watching what we say, but the meaning behind what we say as well...

Here are two new additions from this week alone:

1) I was getting dressed and came out of the bathroom to get a second (and third) opinion about my shirt. Clothes have been difficult lately because most of my normal stuff is too small and very unflattering. However, most of the maternity clothes I have are way too big and also unflattering. So, my question was "Fat or pregnant?" John carefully studied the outfit and declared it pregnant. William was sitting with John and looked up and said "Pregnant". Does he know what it means? Absolutely not.

2) William and I were in line at the store last week and William was having a great time pitching the items within his reach out of the cart and onto the floor as fast as I could get them back into the cart. When he ran out of items, he then started pulling items off of the conveyor belt and throwing them onto the floor- which were not ours. All of my distractions (toys and snacks) in my purse were not helping in the least and also ended up on the floor. Laughing (because the other option was crying), I looked at William and said "You sure are trouble today". He looked at me for a second and then nodded his head before saying "Trouble".

How does that Work?

I went to get my flu shot today and brought William with me. Normally, I would have found Someone to watch him or scheduled it when John would be home. However, the flu shot clinic is pretty quick in and out. I would have needed someone for maybe 15 minutes.

Anyway, I brought him with and I got my shot while William looked on. Yet, when we left, William had the following: a huge Halloween decorated cupcake, a mini bag of pretzels, a 3 musketeers bar, a box of dots, a bag of M&M's, and a Halloween sticker. Did I mention that I was the one getting the shot? Where is my sticker?

Why am I the Only one Laughing?

Today during story time at the library, the librarian was trying to teach us all a new song: Soft Kitty. However, I couldn't do it with a straight face at ALL. And here is why (song starts about 55 seconds into the video):



PS This does not contain video footage of William or anyone in our family. So, if you have a slowish internet connection, it is okay to skip this one.

Video from Grandma's house last weekend

Just for fun, here is a little of what we did last weekend at Grandma's house.

Aunt Megan taught William how to bump his way down the steps on his behind

William and Grandma Rocking...

And here the piggy gets it - who started this game?

The CHASE is on!

Here is a First

Yes, past the first trimester of two pregnancies is when I finally throw up. Wonderful.





For those who care, it was the dishwasher that did me in. Most days I'm finding I wish I didn't have a nose.

Where did that come from?

Yesterday morning, William woke up and we played for awhile in our living room before we went to have breakfast (I need to wake up before I eat...so William waits too). We were reading a book and when we were done, William stood up and stuck his hand into the back of his pants (not the diaper). I wasn't sure what he was doing, so I studied over him for a few seconds before he cleared things up. He looked at me very seriously and clearly said "pocket".

New word of the day: Pocket. All before breakfast.

Chance of Shower 100%

We were in Rochester for one of my best friend from high schools baby shower! It was such a special day and I was so glad to be part of it. I helped host the shower and it was so much fun! I was a little stressed about putting together the shower, juggling 1.5 children and getting my hormone induced presents completed in time. However, I had a lot of help from many different people which made the whole thing much more manageable and left me time to worry about the amount of work I had assigned myself. For the record, I decided that Jessica simply could not have a baby without the following homemade gifts:

-8 flannel receiving blankets, extra large in size
-2 double thick receiving blankets, extra large in size
-1 fleece sleep sack
-2 hooded towels
-6 be-ribboned burp clothes
-1 five tiered diaper cake

The shower theme was: Fiesta! All the food was Mexican inspired and came together wonderfully! I'd love to tell you everything was delicious, but I was having a hard time Saturday and couldn't find anything that appealed to me.
Welcome baby Gaedke!
Jessica, me and [some of] our kids. This might be the only photo ever where Jessica is bigger than me! Jessica is roughly 30 weeks here and I am 16 weeks. I am also tired.

William's favorite part of the shower was the cake, although we don't have any pictures of it. He made a HUGE mess!

William also loved seeing the Grandpas and Grandma. One of his favorite hobbies at Grandpa and Grandma's is the piano. He can actually say "piano" now and will grab the hand of the nearest adult and drag them to the piano.
On Sunday we took a trip out to the orchard/pumpkin patch. William loved looking at and trying to pick up all the pumpkins.
He liked playing on the straw bales with the bigger kids until he got stuck between the bales. Good thing Grandma was there to help him out - John and I were so entertained by his very confused face. Also notice the hands: he HATED the way the straw felt on his hands, he refused to touch it to get himself back up.
Peek!
Every pumpkin he touched, he would try to pick up. He was NOT happy that this one would not budge - and no one would help him out!
Aren't we photogenic? I asked John if he got a few pictures and he said YEP! I took a few. This would be the best one...
William wasn't interested in the straw bale maze until he saw other kids going in a laughing. He loved older kids. Oh, and the shirt was on clearance last year. But, it was a bad guess. It is on the big size so maybe it will work next year too?
And then, all I wanted was a cute picture of him smiling with a bunch of pumpkins in the background (no other people). Is that too much to ask?

Proof that I am the best wife Ever

Here is the proof I am the best wife ever. The new main feature in our bedroom:

This picture doesn't really do it justice - it is huge. Almost as wide as our [very messy bed]. Huge difference in viewing from our old 13 inch TV.

By the way, he doesn't get to keep the TV in the bedroom. This is the new TV for our family room in the basement that isn't quite done yet. But, we found a good deal and didn't want to leave it in the box for awhile in case it didn't work or something. At least that it what John says....

Almost 16 week Appointment

John and I went to my 15ish week appointment this morning with my OB. Everything is looking great and we got to hear NewBaby's heartbeat on the doppler. The heart rate was in the 140's which is supposed to mean something about the gender. I can't ever keep it straight about what it means, so I'll leave you wondering.

It was great to hear that strong heartbeat on the doppler. After all the ickiness I've been having, it is a great reminder about why my body hates me. And it is worth it.

I have some routine bloodwork to take care of in the next few weeks and my BIG ultrasound is going to be scheduled for the first week in November.

And that is the big news flash for the day!

FAQ

It seems like everyone has the same questions for me lately, so I thought I would go ahead and answer some of them here:

1. When is your due date?
My actual due date is 3/27/2009. However, babies do not follow schedules and rarely arrive on their intended due date. William was 4 days early. As far as I can tell, that has no bearing on what this baby will do. In my own head, I'm kind of using 4/1 as my due date to buy myself some time before I start getting cranky about THIS BABY IS NEVER COMING. This tactic is currently working - but I doubt it will continue to work near the end of my pregnancy.

2. Do you know what you are having?
Yes. I do know.

I am having a baby. I do not know the gender of this baby. My current plan is to not find out the gender before this time. Keep in mind it was the plan to not find out the gender last time also and I wasn't able to make it through the big ultrasound without begging to know. So, I wouldn't count on us not finding out just yet.

3. Have you felt the baby yet?
I think so. However, it hasn't been anything distinctive yet. Just bumps and wiggles here and there. I would expect in the next 2-3 weeks the movement will be more and more noticeable.

4. Is you pregnancy different this time from last time?
Yep. There have been a lot of similarities, but more differences I think. However, not many of those differences/similarities are all the interesting to anyone but me OR they are not things that I should be discussing on the internet :)

The nausea set it about the same time with William (roughly 6-7 weeks) but lasted longer this time. I still struggle with eating anything that smells at all and everything green makes me want to throw up. Vegetables in general make me want to throw up, even if I am not eating them. I had similar issues with William, but I don't remember them being this severe. The vegetable aversion with William lasted throughout my pregnancy and appears to be doing the same now.

I was also more tired this time by a lot. A LOT. I know that it isn't because I am more busy with William than I was before. If anything, I have more time now to rest and relax at home with him. There really isn't any way of slacking off when you are responsible for 30 hormonal fourteen year olds. The tired has been an all out exhaustion and I'm ready to admit that it had some pretty yucky side effects. My toenails got really, really long. Just thinking about cutting them made me so exhausted I wanted to cry. So, I didn't do it for a long, long time. Ewww. I have now resolved this situation as well as the leg hair situation, the showering everyday situation as well as the eyebrow situation. None of these above activities make me feel like crying most days anymore which is a relief to all who live here with me. You can only imagine the state of our house if cutting my own toenails made me want to cry with exhaustion. It was...not good. But! Now it is much better and I wouldn't be embarrassed to sit next to any of you on an airplane for an extended period of time.

5. Are you getting fat yet?
This question is from Grandma Nona. I'm sure what she means is: are you starting to look pregnant yet? Good thing my feelings are not hurt easily. I am showing more now than I did with William. I am finding myself in the frustrating in between-ess of regular clothes and maternity clothes. The regular clothes don't fit right, are too tight and uncomfortable. The maternity clothes I have a too big and look ridiculous. I can't go 5 steps without hiking up my pants as they slide down around my hips. So, I've been rocking out in my favorite yoga, track and jogging pants. Good thing my boss is flexible and allows that!

6. Where is the new baby's room going to be?
Well, I will guarantee this new baby will sleep somewhere in this house. William was not ever very picky about where he slept until he got a lot older - hopefully this one will be this way also.

The BIG plan is to move our current office (located in 3rd bedroom) downstairs to the new office space. UGGGGGG!!! We have this room CRAMMED to the fullest with all kinds of junk. Not looking forward to this. However, our new office is waiting on a part of a new desk we have ordered. Once the desk is together, we will begin moving all the junk in our office downstairs to its new location. Good thing our church is having a garage sale at the end of this month. We have some stuff to get rid of.

After moving the office downstairs, we are going to transition William into his Big Boy Room (AKA old office/3rd bedroom). We need to put some more closet racks in and paint before we can do that. Transitioning him out of his crib is not something either of us is looking forward to at all. I think I would honestly rather try to potty train him than put him in a big boy bed. But, that really isn't one of the choices we have right now, so Big Boy Bed it will be! I hope to be working on the Big Boy Bed sometime in January unless he starts making more of an effort to climb out of his crib. Currently, he's tried a little bit to climb out without any successful attempts.

After moving the office and putting William into the old office, we will complete the house reorganization project by getting William's old room ready for a new baby. Which, should be the easiest step of all. Should be.

Battle Royal Takes Time out for Hugs

A few big things have gone down this week at our house. While I don't find either particularly interesting, some of you have been known to e mail, call or write to harass me about the lack of William in your lives. So, here are my big things: 2 year molars gettin' my craft on and appetites.

If you were to run into us any time in the last week or so, you would notice William's mouth is looking a little funny with the drool and as many fingers as possible shoved into it. As promised, at least 3 out of the 4 two year molars are making their appearance and have broken through. The fourth one is a wild card because I can't get my finger angled back to that corner with the possibility of losing the rest of my finger while I'm in there. The teething has brought out the ornary in our dear child and the ordinary things are now a challenge. Tantrums and crying are common in both the adult and child popluation of this house on a daily basis. Challenging would be a good word, but I don't think it begins to touch the true nature of our days currently. Keeping the flow of pain relievers a-going and frozen object to suck on appears to be our best battle plan. An example from the last week:

William and I were supposed to meet someone at a neighboorhood play area to...play. I got us both ready (expending crazy amounts of energy) and out to the car. William now insists on walking himself out to the car and opening the door himself. Usually we plod our way through the walking and I am able to efficiently buckle him in and be on our way. Wednesday he was not having any of it. There was kicking and screaming and thrashing of limbs. What generally takes me a maximum of 2 minutes ended up taking close to 15. Lucky for me, after battling it out, a big delivery truck drove by our house and distracted him long enough I could buckle a few of the buckles - which makes it nearly impossible for him to move (or resist further if you prefer). After the truck passed, William stopped to watch me trying to untwist and buckle faster than the speed of light and patted my arm. "Hugs?" he requested.

Speechless and stunned it took me a minute to process what he wanted. So we hugged. Both of us were sweaty and tired from the battle of the carseat. So I hugged him a little more and went to finish buckling him in. "Hugs more" was his next request. So, even though we were already beyond late, we hugged some more....and our battle was [almost] forgotten.

One of my best friends from high school is having her first baby and I've been horomonal enough to decide to hand make each and every piece of her gift. The craftiness at this house of the last week has been very impressive. I wish I could show you what I'm making, but I can't because her presents need to be a surprise! Make I'll take pictures and post after her shower next weekend. Oh! And we'll be in Rochester next weekend!

Last Friday we went out to eat with our friend from Seattle to a Chinese restaurant. It was a lovely place and I was smart enough to print out a menu before we left so I would have ample time to plan a strategy for feeding William and myself. Still, it wasn't surprising that I really didn't want any of the choices there when it was time to order. However, my food came and shockingly I ate all of it. And some of John's. And then a little taste of William's. I would even go so far as to say my apetite is slowly returning. Although I'm still having some aversions and problems with smell...neither of which I care to discuss here!

Lame

We are so lame. John told me tonight that we forgot to post a picture of William when he was 20 months old. I think I have a perfectly good excuse in that I am currently growing a whole new person inside of me. What is his excuse?

Pictures and more coming soon....

Busy, Busy Weekend

It seems like everything was happening this weekend. We had more stuff to do this weekend than we usually do in a month! On Friday, one of our friends from Seattle came to visit. John has known Kristin since they went to the U of M together in Minneapolis and I got to know her when we lived in Seattle. We had a great time showing her our favorite little boy, around our house, neighborhood and some of our favorite St Louis sights.

One of our first stops was the Gateway Park (the Arch). Here is William and Daddy holding hands walking into the park.
Holding hands and holding a stick. Sticks are fun.
The arch. This would be picture 45687651321968484 we have of the arch.
One of my favorite new pictures
One of the few ways he'll tolerate being carried these days for any length of time.
Kristin and William's first time touching the arch
Walking with Mama to our favorite picture spot by a reflecting pool.
See? So pretty!
Unfortunately, once William saw the water, all he wanted to do was swim. Not great when the water is yucky and there is no guard rail. Mama had a lot of work to do to keep everyone dry!
William and the arch
Mama and William

After the arch, we all went to dinner at PF Changs to try something new. Turns out Kristin has been there a few times and we weren't taking her anywhere new! Oh well... After dinner we went back to our house and put the baby to bed and visited for awhile. The other big news is Kristin was the first person to use our new basement bathroom to shower - no complaints!

Saturday was a full day. My club from the middle school I taught at was having a fundraiser and there was a huge garage sale I have had on my calendar for the last 3 months. So, I got up early to hit the sale early on and checked in with my kiddos. When I got home everyone was up and ready so we went to one of our favorite places to hang out - down town St Charles. We enjoyed the people watching (it just so happens there was an Oktoberfest happening - yes, in September, so there was a lot of good people watching going on). After wandering around downtown, we ate lunch at the Little Hills Winery and then checked out Oktoberfest.

William is always a fan of the choo-choos near downtown. The choo choos are in the background and there is a plane in the sky. Notice the shirts? We sure liked Newport!
Still checking out the airplane and holding hands with Daddy.
Trying funnel cake for the first time - he thought it was okay. He liked the German polka music a lot more though - he was dancing until we dragged him away!

We brought William home for his nap and offered to take Kristin to see some other interesting sights. However, we all were feeling a little tired and everyone opted for a nap instead. Kristin had to be back at the airport before dinner time. Which worked out great for us because we were invited to our neighbors wedding and then a birthday party that evening. We sure know how to pack it in!


PS Hey look mom and dad - we didn't even make her work while she was visiting! Amazing - it can be done!

This Kid Cracks me Up

We've had a good weekend. Busy, but good. I have some random pictures that I've been meaning to post and then a weekend update to post. I'm working my way through this new book so it will probably be quiet for the next few days or so.

I can't remember where we were going...but I turned around to find Mr Cool hanging around in our backseat.

William rarely picks up anything to take a bite using his front teeth. So, I've been trying to encourage him to start biting things more by giving him very soft foods in larger pieces. Here he is working a banana like it is corn on the cob.

And he still isn't taking a bite- he is trying to suck on the piece of banana until it comes off of the larger piece.
With all the moving and shifting of everything in our house that is going on, we are unearthing quite a few items from the past - for example the list of things I wanted to get done the first summer we moved into our house. Interesting enough, five years later most of the stuff is done.

Warning: It must be in the water

A whole lotta congratulations all around for so many people!

1. Our neighbors had a baby girl either yesterday or today. I knew it was going to happen, just not sure when it actually did. They are kind of busy right now or I would call and ask 'em how it's going.

2. My high school friend Robyn with baby #2 in February!

3. My other high school friend Jessica with baby #1 in December (she is lame without a blog...)

4. Our St Louis friends: Jenn, Chris, and big sister Charlotte are due at the beginning of March

5. My second cousin Kayleigh who is due any day now....

6. And then I guess there is me...


So, who else? Anyone else want to confess?


PS The only person who actually guessed my secret after the first set of clues was my WMS friend Sundi! Go Sundi - you win a....big hug!

Why it is Awesome to be Married To Me

We all have our flaws, including me (I know, GASP!). However this week, I take the cake. Here is just a sampling of why it is totally awesome to be married to me:


1. I call you frantically at work to remind you about a doctors appointment you are almost late for. A whole 24 hours before you need to worry about leaving.

2. Nothing you suggest sounds good to eat. Ever. I don't want anything to eat, at all. Except for maybe a big brownie. With chocolate chips. Do you have any of those?

3. Although you have cooked 17 different things for me in the last week with a 19 month old underfoot the whole time, none of those things are appetizing any longer. For this reason we have in our refrigerator currently: half of a lasagna, a noodle hotdish, beans and rice, grilled chicken, and a huge pack of tortillas I talked you into last week at the store.

4. That huge Sam's club bag of lemons you tried to talk me out of last week at the store. Ummm...yeah, I won't be using any of them anytime soon.

5. I call you at work to tell you something important and can't remember what it is as soon as you answer.

6. Both loading the dishwasher and washing baby diapers make me gag. You inherit two new chores. YAY! (garbage and catboxes are still yours too. I'm not taking on anything new)

7. More than once lately, we've had to make a second trip to the store for the one item I went for. What do you mean we only needed milk? I didn't buy milk...

I'm sure there are more...but this is all I can come up with. Off to bed...

Sleep Talk

Last night, I turned my light off after reading. It was late. Each night before I fall asleep, I always check the baby monitor and am lulled into relaxation my William (and usually John's) heavy sleepy dreaming. William is a wild man in his sleep and so it isn't unusual for there to be banging and rolling going on over the monitor either. However, last night William breathed a deep sigh and then in a very satisfied manner said "ahhh...trucks" very clearly in his sleep.

I had to giggle...and then I went to sleep.

Hold my Hand?

William is growing and growing. Usually when we go somewhere, I take William out of his car seat and carry him into the store. As quickly as possible, I try to stow him in a cart before he either wiggles away of becomes so heavy I start paring my list down to the bare essentials (1 loaf of bread in any condition and a container of milk of any variety or size). In conjunction with the heaviness, he has also begun to entirely loath the riding in the cart. It is rare that he will park his behind in the kid section of the cart and allow himself to be buckled in without a sweet bribe to distract him (crackers anyone?). And there better be plenty of the bribe to make it through the store because otherwise he will choose an inopportune time to wiggle out of the safety belt and try to stand up almost falling over onto his head. Somehow over the last few weeks, he has become so much more heavy (I don't think it is all him. Part of it is me - I'm tired) that even that walk to the store is becoming a challenge. So, I'm letting him walk more - as long as he holds my hand. So far, so good. The cutest part is that he will stop and wait for me (I know that this waiting stuff is only going to last so long) with his hand outstretched. He'll say "Hold hand mama?". Very sweet - how can I refuse?

On Friday night, it was cool and we were looking to get out of the house for a little while. We elected to take a short walk through the neighborhood. We rolled the stroller out and locked up the house. William entertained us by attempting to put the brakes on the stroller while using his feet. Quite difficult when the brakes are at the same level as your armpits. We put William in the stroller where he proceeded to do his slippery fish/stiff as a board routine. After a few minutes of the neighbors discreetly checking on us, we gave up on buckling him in and started walking. He was thrilled to be holding John's hands and kept commenting as we walked "Hold hand Dada?" Even more cute was that when other walkers/bikers/scooterers needed to come through, John would move over to the grass to let them through. William would have none of it. If Daddy was going to walk on the grass, so was William. If Daddy slowed to look at a tree/car/something, William would need to stop to examine it carefully as well. I decided to push the stroller for the walk as I was certain he wasn't going to be able to walk the whole way. He sure proved me wrong! He walked the whole time - it probably took us an hour to do a 15 minute walk, but he walked it all without complaint, holding John's hand the entire time...