Fly little birdies

For the past couple of years we've had baby birds on a ledge under our front (side) porch roof. This year apparently Mama Bird was tired of her old nest and she built a new one - which means now they have a double-wide nest! Lucky little birds. I took this picture a week or two ago. Today we went to look at them and two of them were already gone. And the remaining two are looking pretty brave! I think today is the day.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I haven't been writing much lately because we've been so busy. So busy, waiting!!!

• Waiting on our broken computer to be fixed. I called Dell and was told it was a virus (software) problem so I took it to the Geek Squad to fix it for us for $130. A week and a half and a refund later we were told it was actually a hard drive failure and that we would need to send it to Dell to be repaired since we bought it directly from Dell. Ok, so we did and now we finally have confirmation that it has been nursed back to health and is on it's way home. And even better, it was still covered under warranty since we just got it last summer!
• Waiting on bids back from builders. The house plans are finished and we have met with our prospective builders, now we are just waiting to find out how much this is little (huge) remodel is going to cost us. One would think that in this time of economic recession that builders would be chomping at the bit to get work. Apparently not so, since every single contractor that we've talked with has taken longer than they said they would to get back to us. Once I even left a message asking about some pricing, only to never hear back and have to call again - and get the "Oh yeah, sorry I didn't call you blah blah." So, next year, once we find out all the numbers, we meet with the bank and then after closing, begin construction!!! I was so hopeful that we could break ground so to speak before Payton Baby Boy #2 arrives, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen now. (sniff sniff) Actually, sniff sniff for Luke because that just means he's probably going to have to do more of the work by himself while I'm at home wrangling Will and nursing a newborn.
• And finally, we're waiting on baby!! I have all of the baby items out of storage and I think we have everything we need, I'm just waiting a little bit longer to wash everything and put it all out (so it's "fresh" for our little bundle of joy of course). At this point I think (we hope) I'm going to be induced around April 23rd. Which leaves us just 5 weeks! I'm so excited sometimes I wish it were tomorrow. I think I've been able to connect with this baby more than I did with my first pregnancy because I can actually wrap my brain around what is going on. The first time it was so inconceivable that I don't think I could even truly comprehend. So we are very happy and thankful that he's growing and maturing in my belly, but still we are really excited to meet this little guy. Too bad we still can't agree on a name for him. We think we might just let him go nameless and then when he turns 18 he can just choose his own.

So anyway, the weeks are going by in a flash, one after another, and we have so much to do! But still, we wait.

Beautiful New Bed!

Will has had his ups and downs with regard to sleeping over the past 2 1/2 years. He didn't sleep through the night (not one time) until he was 8 months old. I would say about 15-20% of the time now he sleeps through the night, and 80-85% of the time he wakes up in the middle of the night and "I sleep in Momma's bed!" Depending on how serious he is with his request, how many tears there are and how long he cries, he usually gets his wish. One really great thing about his sleeping habits are that he has not once (not one time, ever) climbed out of his crib. He climbs in, but never out. Even when we were in Michigan over Thanksgiving he slept in a "big boy bed" (a blow up mattress for kids with taller sides) he still never climbed off the bed, always just calling for me. This has struck us all as kind of funny, because he obviously could if he wanted, but I've been thankful nonetheless. Because of this, we've been in no rush to move him out of his crib, but this weekend we took the plunge. An antique children's bed has been in Luke's family for decades. Luke and his sisters slept in this bed and then Landon and Payton slept in it together. The twins just got bunk beds, so this great bed has been passed to us. We got it on New Years Day and Will loves it! So far, he has not woken up one time in the middle of the night. What a way to start off the new year!

Ahh, the joys

Luke had to leave on Sunday for work this week so Will and I took the opportunity to head down to Bloomington to spend the evening and night with my mom. As is Sunday night tradition, she had dinner plans with the Thompsons. Ron was out of town so Sandy, my mom, Will and I decided to take advantage of the incredibly beautiful weather and went to walk laps around the IU football stadium. We had a great time, Will loved it, and we walked up an appetite! So we decided to head over to Chili's.

We got there and were greeted by a less-than-friendly (I'm guessing) male college Attitude. I could hardly hear what he said and I felt like I should apologize for the inconvenience when I asked for a booster seat. Anyway, we sat down and began a fun dinner together. Before long our food arrived and we were about 3 bites in when it happened. I look across the table and Will's face is beet red, tears in his eyes, and he is gagging. Amid my panic, I tell Sandy to slap him on the back. She just had surgery on her hand closest to him so she is trying to get her far hand around and was uncomfortably and quickly trying to accomplish what I was shouting at her. (poor Sandy!) Finally the troublesome fry dislodged and the screams began. Not only was he screaming, but I know Will well enough to know what was likely going to come next. As fast as I could I raced around to the other side of the booth and attempted to get him out of there ASAP. Alas, I was not fast enough. I saw the gagging begin again so I turned him around and he threw up all over the seat and Sandy's fleece. (poor Sandy!) I grabbed him and tried to make a beeline for the front doors. We had just gotten into the entry way when I glanced at him and saw it coming...again. This time he threw up all over my shirt and all over the entry way floor. At this point I was running for the door, as he is continuing to throw up. I got him outside where he threw up one final time in the bushes.

Ok. There was NO WAY IN THE WORLD I was going back in that restaurant. Once he recovered, and was asking me to go play football in the parking lot with some boys who were running around, I decided that I needed a plan. Fortunately our booth was located right by a window near the front. So I made my way through the landscaping to the window by my mom and Sandy. I knock on the window to motion to them that we need to GO. They think I'm just hanging out in the bushes by the window to say hi, so they are smiling and waving. Finally I guess my red-faced shouting and motioning to COME OUT HERE NOW relayed my message that I needed to tell them something. So my mom comes out, I tell her what happened and that we need to go. So my mom and Sandy pay the bill, get a bag for Sandy's fleece (poor Sandy!) and pack up our hot dinners in To Go boxes while Will and I sit on a bench and reflect. By the time they came outside Will was back to his chatty self, tears long gone, and I was flicking bits of thrown up fries off my jeans.

The funniest part of the whole thing (maybe the only funny part?) was the facial expression on that guy who was seating people. As I was rushing my vomiting toddler through the entryway, the look of pure horror on his face was just priceless. If he had an attitude to begin with, I can only imagine what this little episode did to his spirits.

Before I was a mom I heard stories about things like this happening and I wondered what in the world would I do if something like that ever happened to me? How mortifying! But you know what? I couldn't have cared less. As long as my little boy is ok nothing else matters. Not the vomit on the floor, not the stares, not my soaked shirt, not any of it. And fortunately my mom and Sandy have been there done that so they couldn't have been more understanding about the situation. I think they even got a small kick out of it because about 30 years ago someone else had this same sensitive gag-reflex and I guess what goes around comes around. :)

a sweet nothing...

We have been busy busy lately. Luke has been working a ton and about a month 1/2 ago I started working an extra day. Some "reorganization" at the office so I'm going in on Thursdays now. (Which means a 1+ hr commute each way) Plus Mondays and Wednesdays (from home - I know, I'm a lucky girl) and on Tuesdays we go to Bloomington to hang out with my mom so the weeks have been flyyying by. Then Luke is home on the weekends and they go so fast. Before I know it the whole cycle starts over again.

Tomorrow is Ricky's 17th birthday so we are all going to Terri and Mike's to celebrate and swim. Then on Saturday we are heading up to Peru, IN. My extended family has a "Froast" (fish fry and corn roast) each summer so that should be fun. Then from there Will, my mom, and I are heading up to Michigan for a week. (YAY) I'm really excited to get up there one more time this summer and get some beach time. But my mom is staying later than we are so Will and I are going up solo - 6 hours. Considering last time I took a roadtrip with Will by myself he threw up the whole way so I'm hoping for something a little less eventful.