2 yr 9 month Potty Training Update

Will is ready to go - literally! In the potty. Just one problem - he refuses to sit on the toilet. He has all kinds of options (mini potty, seat that fits on regular toilet, standing up, etc) but screams bloody murder if we even try to steer him towards the potty without his diaper on. He wants nothing to do with it. He is showing all the signs - holding it for long periods of time, he will go "on command" in the shower - even to the point of saying "I'm going to go pee pee in the shower" then taking off diaper, walking over and actually doing it. He also sometimes announces to me when he's going pee in his diaper. I am not opposed to bribery tactics either. Candy, toys, large sums of money, just about anything. It looks like this is just one more display of his hard-headedness, I mean independent personality, and him doing things only when he's good and ready - which is a trait I mostly love but occasionally makes me want to cry. I often ask him if he would like to try to go pee pee on the potty today. His typical response these days: "No, not today Momma. Probably tomorrow."

Sticker Shock

We got our wish and the waiting is over on getting bids back on the house. I think the waiting was better. We were shocked (understatement) by the estimate of doing the renovation that we were hoping to do. Fortunately Luke and I put our heads together and came up with a plan B. With the first plan, the whole problem was that we were moving a load bearing wall, which meant that we had to completely take off the old roof to put in a truss system, and in turn that meant that the whole house had to be gutted and taken down to studs. Alas, we have figured out a way to save that all important wall. We will still be doing quite the makeover which includes moving the living room, moving the stairs, re-doing the master bed bath and closet, moving the kitchen, adding a garage, replacing all the floors, windows, doors and roof. We met with two builders this weekend and they both think we are on the right track.

So now, we wait again... and hopefully this time we won't fall off our chairs when we get the estimates. We figure it can't be any worse than what we were already given, so we are hopeful.

Baby Boy Payton #2

I am now 35+ weeks. My Dr. told us that as long as I'm dilated and showing signs that my body is getting ready for delivery he will induce me at 39 weeks, which puts my due date around April 22nd/23rd. WHICH leaves us with just 3 1/2 weeks until D-Day! This pregnancy has gone by so fast and in some ways it's been better than my first, and other ways much different (a nicer way of saying worse, I guess). After Will was born I was unsure about whether I would actually be able to carry another baby because my back pain was so bad. This time around I was determined to "baby" my back to avoid the extreme pain. So far it has worked. Last time I would push it until it would give out and I would literally drop to the floor. This time I've given up my daily walks, which makes me sad, but all in the name of saving my poor back. We still get outside and I walk occasionally, just not every day. My sweet tooth has been consistent again throughout this pregnancy, and combined with my cutback on exercise has made for a slightly bigger weight gain ...fortunately I think I'm still in the "safe zone." I once again was blessed with no morning sickness or nausea. I do feel much more achy and uncomfortable this time around though and at times feel like my hips are literally going to crumble or break, no exaggeration. The baby is measuring big (my belly is measuring big). The name debate continues, although we think we might have a winner. I've gotten all the baby stuff out of storage and have bought pretty much everything else that we need. Over the next two weekends I will wash and put away all of his things and get my hospital bag packed. I know these next few weeks are going to fly by. He kicks and pushes his little legs out so far in my belly that I feel like I could just reach thru and touch him. I'm so excited to meet him and find out whether he's similar to his big brother or totally different. I'm also looking forward to the labor and delivery. A little nervous of course, but mostly excited. Can't wait to meet this new little Payton!

Something Fun

I saw they have a Bob the Builder exhibit at the Children's Museum right now and I definitely wanted to take Will before the baby is born. So last Tuesday we headed there and wouldn't you know it - I picked the week of Indy's spring break, and the day that a bunch of media was there to cover the unveiling of a new exhibit sponsored by National Geographic. Even so, it wasn't too bad, we still had a great time and got to enjoy what we wanted to, pretty much for as long as we wanted. Will's favorite was definitely the water activities - he would have played there all day. I decided it was time move on to something else though when I was sitting there, staring off into space and daydreaming, when I was kicked back to reality by some kid flinging a "fishing pole" my direction and I caught just a glimpse of the pole flying in my direction. It didn't actually hit me, I just got sprayed with water, but I jumped so high you would have thought I'd been shot. The Bob the Builder exhibit was so-so, I would probably give it a B-, but as always the rest of the museum was incredible.

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.

Payton update

Our computer is still on the outs which is why I'm not posting a lot lately. Hopefully within a week or two we should have it back. It ended up being a hard drive failure - but fortunately that was covered under warranty.

We are getting close to starting on the house! We are patiently (or not so patiently) waiting on two bids back from builders. Meanwhile we are getting estimates on things that we aren't going to have the builders include such as all the flooring, kitchen cabinets and countertops, appliances and other things that we will want to be specific with. Once we get all of those figures in order it will be off to the bank and then start the construction! We really want to start it all before the baby is born so that gives us 6 weeks... :) Yesterday Sonny started his mancave addition onto the shop. In one day they got all the basic framing finished so it looks like that project is going to move along quickly. We are really excited about it all!

He's got it all figured out

Well, Will sure knows how to work the system. The other day he and Luke got home from somewhere and Will came over to me and said "Momma the house looks beeeuuuuuu-tiful" that same weekend I was sitting on the couch and he came over to me and snuggled up beside me and said "You're my favorite girl Momma." Little does he know if he keeps it up he'll be able to get just about anything he wants.

He is saying such cute things lately. Some others...
- we were in target with my mom and she was pushing Will in the cart. I went over to a different section and my mom asked Will where I went - he said "She's eye-browsing over there"
- He calls breakfast "Bretspice" which I think is adorable!
- Whenever I ask him if he's got a dirty diaper and "check" it, if there's nothing there I'll say "Nope, just a cute little butt!" so he loves to talk about his cute little butt. My mom was getting ready to give him a bath the other day and he said "You going to take off my diaper so you can see my cute little butt?"
- He also loves to talk about whether he likes something or not and whether other people do. We'll be reading a book - Where the Wild Things Are for example and he'll point to a certain monster and say "I don't like that one. Do you like that one? I don't like him" We'll see a random stranger at a store and he'll say "I don't like him. Do you like him?" Who knows what determines whether he will like someone or something or not, but he sure has his opinions.
- He also loves to chew gum these days. He would chew gum all day long if I let him. He does a pretty good job with it too.

Thanks Aunt Terri!

Will has especially cute little legs. He was at my Dad's house one day a few months ago and he asked Will where he got his cute legs. Will replied "Aunt Terri" Since then, whenever we ask him where he got those cute little legs he always replies Aunt Terri! So thanks Aunt Terri - they're awfully cute. :)

Every night when I put Will to bed I read him 2 books. The other night I had read one and were on our 2nd when he picked up a couple of trucks and started playing with them. (he often likes to sleep with some trucks/tractors) This particular book is one of his favorites. Each page has a picture of an animal you would find at the zoo. Then it has 3 sentences about that type of animal. We have read this book many times and he knows all of the animals. Therefore, I was a little annoyed when I asked him what kind of animal was on the page and he barely looked up from his tractors, then he replied "I don't know" each time. On about the 3rd page I thought to myself, well, if he isn't going to pay attention I'm not going to read everything. We were on the lions. After he replied "I don't know" to my question of "What animal is this?" I read the first sentence (Lions live together in groups called prides) and then moved on to the next page. He looked over at me, pointed back to the lion page and said "they have cubs." Sure enough the 2nd sentence is "Their babies are called cubs." Then he said "They sleep a lot." Wouldn't you know it, the 3rd sentence is "Lions sleep a lot, especially when it is hot." He is so funny. And smart! I'm pretty sure he's near genius.

Today I was in the shower and I knew Will had come into the bathroom and was playing. I checked on him a few times and he was being good, just playing quietly with a tractor. When I was finished in the shower I opened up the shower curtain to see that Will had moved the desk chair out from the desk (we keep Kramer (our cat's) bed on the desk chair when we're not sitting there). He moved out the chair and was spinning it around and around - I'm sure as fast as he could. Poor Kramer was lying on his bed in that chair, spinning circles, his eyes as big as saucers.