Slacker

Okay, so I know I've been slack. One day I'll look back and go "why didn't I blog about Ethan's 2nd birthday?" But I promise I will blog about it and I have lots of pictures that I haven't put on the computer yet and we went to the doctor today for his 2 year checkup so I'll post his stats too. By the way, he turned 2 on Sunday.

But unfortunately I came down with a stomach bug on Sunday night which knocked me out all of Monday and I spent all day yesterday trying to recoupe from a missed day of work. Today doesn't look much better as far as extra time goes (especially after spending some time at the doctor's office this morning). So maybe it'll be tonight or more likely tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Congrats Dad!

On Monday my Dad retired from being an airline pilot. He's been an airline pilot (first with Braniff airlines then with US Airways) for I think my whole life (he may have had a brief stint as something else in my very early days).

So I grew up with my Dad being "on a trip" several days each week. I practically never knew exactly where he was going, but when I was younger he would always bring something back for me and my brother and sister (don't get too excited...it was usually an airline wings sticker or maybe a cookie from the airplane snack box). But, it was enough to let us know he was thinking of us. And when I was a bit older, he always managed to be there for my important swim meets or other important (or even not important) family events. At the time I think I just expected it. Now when I look back I realize the sacrifices he probably had to make time and again by flying trips he didn't want or maybe getting paid less that month just so he could have those 2 days in a row on a weekend off.

Sometimes he couldn't spring it to have Thanksgiving off or Christmas off, so we just made up new dates for those holidays and it really never bothered me. I was just proud to have a Dad that was a pilot...I mean how many jobs are cooler than that? Not many. Every time a plane passes over Blythe and Ethan both say, "That's Poppa's plane!" Clearly they think it's a pretty cool job too.

So congratulations to my Dad! I'm proud of him for making it to the end (even after 9/11 when flying became a much more stressful job). I'm happy to see him in this next phase of life (retirement) and hope he enjoys it! I know he'll be busy this year with some travel and lots of golf, and a new grandchild. I'm keeping a list of "home improvement requests" - you know, to help him out in case he gets bored.

Only about 30 more years or so until I get to retire! Yeesh - that's a long way away.

Ethan can count

He can count to more than 6 though. He can actually count to about 14 (or "boreteen" as he says it). Though he almost always misses the number 10. Funny how kids do that...seem to skip right over a particular one. For Blythe it was always (and still is most of the time) 15.

He can also do most of his ABC's, but getting him to get all the way through them on video is too hard because he always wants to see himself on video before we get even halfway through.

Hi primary focus right now is probably colors, which he's doing pretty well at. The first colors he knew were brown and black. Weird. He has no problem with green or blue usually. And usually gets pink right too. Sometimes he has issue with yellow. Most of the time he can't remember red. And he usually gets white correct.

Smart little boy!

To die for

Here's our conversation at breakfast this morning:

Blythe (telling Daddy): I made this butterfly thing out of sand. I used orange, and purple, and green. Not yellow.

Daddy: It's beautiful

Blythe: Yesterday I played with Ashley at her new house

Daddy: Did you like her new house?

Blythe: Yes. I did like her new house. Did you know one day we're all going to die?

Daddy: (silence...weird look to Mommy)

Mommy: (shrug)

Blythe: One day you're going to die and I'm going to die too. Will we be together when I die?

Daddy: Blythe, it's going to be a really, really long time before that happens.

Mommy: Right. You'll be really old. Older than Gommy.

Blythe: So I'm not going to die in my life?

Daddy: (not quite sure what to say)....No

Blythe: Can I have another cinnamon roll?

Really not sure where she got that. I don't think they talked about it at Ashley's house. They might have discussed it at Sunday school. Anyway, a little much for a 4 year old to take in.

A poopy morning

Ethan has now learned to open doorknobs (the round kind). Actually, he learned a while ago, but has now perfected his skills. So yesterday morning, rather than hearing him on the monitor talking and playing in his room in the morning, I was surprised by both of my kids at 6:30 when they entered my room. Apparently Ethan got up, went straight to Blythe's room, woke her, then they woke me. Yay.

This morning, I'm not quite sure what happened....whether Ethan tried to wake Blythe first or not, but he came to my room at 6:25am by himself. He said nothing, just crawled into bed and lay beside me. Being as tired as I was, I half tried to go back to sleep, half just lay there. I did smell that he had pooped (as has been his routine most mornings recently). I felt the top back of his diaper to make sure there was no leakage before he would spread it all over my bed. All good. So I just lay next to my stinky son for a while. About 20 minutes later, Blythe came into the room. She too said nothing. Just gave me a fist pump then walked back out. Whatever. Again, I went back to my half-sleep. About 7:15 I got up, wobbled to the bathroom, put my contacts in, and briefly considered showering wondering if the kids would allow me to. Ethan came in the bathroom and then I noticed his jammies were dark along the bottom outskirts of his diaper. So there WAS leakage. Yay. I left my room to go grab him another diaper.

On the way, I looked into the kids bathroom where Blythe was standing...with poop everywhere. Some on the first rug in the bathroom. Some on the floor. Some on Blythe. Some on her jammies. But most in a pile, with her underwear full of poop, on the rug by the toilet. And there was pee all next to the rug as well. And apparently she had spent the last 30 minutes trying to "clean up", which of course did more harm than good....in getting everything else dirty. She had actually managed to get most of it off of herself using toilet paper...at the expense of clogging the toilet (which I would find later). I told her to stand in the bathtub at which time I removed her jammies and threw them in the wash (luckily she had chosen a nightgown and not jammies with pants). Before Ethan could step in anything, I cleaned most of the bathroom floor that wasn't by the toilet. Fortunately the toilet area has it's own door, so I closed it and got Ethan so I could clean him up from his mess and toss him in the tub too. Bathtime went fine except I could still smell the mess in the toilet area and it was making me gag.

Anyway, got the kids bathed and into their robes and out of the bathroom so I could clean the really nasty part. I found a plastic bag and discarded the poopy underwear. I had 3 paper towels left upstairs, so I picked up as much of a mass of poop as I could and threw it in the plastic bag. I tossed the rug into the wash (along with the other rug), thinking if the stain doesn't come out, I'm throwing it away rather than continue trying to clean and then stain-treat this nasty rug. Then I got the pee cleaned up from the floor and then finally I opened the toilet and saw quite a bit of toilet paper. Tried to flush it to no avail, so went downstairs to fetch the plunger. Finally I had the bathroom cleaned and we could get dressed and ready for church.

And I thought, "what if I also had a hungry, screaming newborn to throw into the mix?"

When I grow up...

The other day Blythe told me that one of her classmates said she wants to be a monster when she grows up. So I asked Blythe what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said, "a mommy". Awww.

Then today she asked me, "If I'm a Mommy when I grow up, will I have to change the baby's diaper?" So I said yes, and she said, "I don't want to do that". I ensured her it wouldn't be anytime soon, so she'd get over it. Though I can't wait for that day several years from now when I no longer have to change diapers either.

Spilled milk

Apparently today at day care, Ethan got milk spilled on his head (likely by his lunch neighbor). Poor guy was embarrassed and then wanted to wear his hat, which he didn't take off before nap.

Also notice the little dog stuffed animal next to him. He never woke up, but check out the dog now after the teacher turned around for a second.

Glucose test

This morning I had my glucose test at the doctor, which meant I couldn't eat past midnight (like I'd be up that late anyway). Braden headed out yesterday to the Men's ACC Championships, which meant I needed to leave a little early to take the kids to day care in order to make it to my 9 o'clock appointment. Also, yesterday I called to make an appointment for Bogie to be groomed. Normally they book about a week in advance, so they said they could take him on the 24th, and I said "sure!". Didn't realize the 24th was today. Which meant leaving the house even earlier.

Of course I wake up starving. Just knowing I couldn't eat made me even hungrier. And of course this has to be the one morning Blythe wants to sleep in. I tried to wake the sleeping beauty, but apparently I was on the wrong side of the bed because she was NOT HAPPY about anything. And not happy = slower moving. We somehow managed to get out of the house on time and remember the hard-boiled egg Blythe needed for school (they are learning about oral hygiene and are practicing brushing the drawn-on teeth on the egg and comparing it to yesterday when they brushed jellybeans which turn sticky when they get their "teeth" brushed). I actually even made it to the doctor 10 minutes early. How about that?

They were out of the gross orange drink, so I had to drink the even grosser fruit punch flavored drink. Hopefully all goes well and I don't have to repeat with a 3 hour test instead of the 1 hour test. As it was, I was completely starving by the time I left. The fact that I've gained 5.2 pounds in the last 4 weeks didn't stop me from going through the drive-thru at Hardee's and getting a cinnamon-raisin biscuit and a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. And the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit was buy one, get one free so I figured I'd save that second one for later. Which I didn't. Mmmm mmmm.

Everything else with baby #3 was looking good. I'm measuring right where I should be (except I'm sure my ass is measuring a little larger than it should be). Heartbeat was fine and my blood pressure was fine. I did have a protein in my urine, which they'll keep an eye on as it could be an indicator of preeclampsia (hopefully not). Next appointment is in 3 weeks and then I start going every 2 weeks after that.

A bit of warm sunshine

What a GREAT weekend! Amazing how a little warm weather and sunshine can make everything so much better (even if today is cold and rainy....which is better than cold and snowy).

The kids and I headed to Durham again last Thursday and spent Friday and Saturday there. The Women's ACC Swimming Championship was in Chapel Hill, only about 15 minutes from Doug's house, so I was able to check out lots of swimming action and see Braden a bit while he was coaching.

Friday morning I took the kids with me to the meet. We walked slowly from the car to the pool to take in the nice, warmer weather. At the meet, the kids were kind of a pain. They just wanted to climb up and down the stairs (which was fine except I kept feeling like any moment Blythe might push Ethan down the stairs). Blythe asked me about 10 times if it was time to go yet and then complained she was hot. So, once the candy in my purse ran out, we left and walked slowly back to the car and let Ethan play in the leaves (since there are no leaves we can play with, or see, at our house).

My mom and sister came in on Friday too. They were coming in to babysit Ada while Doug and Lynette headed to Dominican Republic (SO jealous!). Since they were babysitting 1, they might as well babysit 3, right? They were gracious to do that and let me watch Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday night meet sessions without my kids there. Which was GREAT!

On Saturday afternoon, we took the 3 kids to a nearby playground where my kids were able to play OUTSIDE! Yay! With no coats on even.

Then Sunday morning we left and drove back to Blacksburg, where it was nice to see we had some good melting over the weekend. You can even see grass in a few spots where the sun shines a lot. There's a glimmer of hope this stuff might actually melt before April (well, not the giant mountains of snow in parking lots, but at least the other stuff). We even played outside without coats here in Blacksburg AND I got my girl scout cookies!

I took no pics all weekend, but here is a shot I saw on my friend's facebook. Not sure where exactly it's from, but I like it!

I'll wash. You dry.

So how young is TOO young to start doing dishes?

Okay, so really they were just playing with water, but I bet they could be taught...

And Ethan insists on wearing that ridiculous hat at all times in the house the past 2 days. It's actually Blythe's hat, though I doubt it would fit her anymore.

And in other exciting news....Ethan pooped on the potty this morning! We've had lots of pee on the potty, but this is the first #2.

A nice relaxing evening

Why is it that when Daddy leaves, my kids turn into little monsters? They listen to NOTHING I say, so I just end up yelling all the time, and it drives me insane. After several attempts to put on Ethan's jammies last night (I'd get his shirt on and then he'd take it off...many times), I had had enough. I said, "That's it! I've had enough!" and I went in my room, locked the door and lay on my bed for about 25 minutes.

After about 10 minutes, they realized I was gone and came looking for me. They discovered they couldn't open my door and so Blythe tried to beat down the door, but stopped after several threats back to her to stop. Ethan said something like, "Mommy come out" once and then never asked again. Eventually they realized I wasn't coming out and so they went back to Blythe's room to play. At one point Blythe made Ethan cry and he came crying down the hall, but quickly realized he couldn't come crying to me so instantly he stopped.

Overall, they didn't seem to care too much that I wasn't available. Maybe I will try this more often. Seems to bring them closer and temporarily stop them from fighting with each other.

When I finally came out and went to Blythe's room, all of her dresser drawers were open with a few things taken out of each. Ethan was wearing just a diaper and a winter hat of Blythe's. Blythe was making "beds" on the floor with various blankets she had pulled out of the linen closet. And Ethan still pitched a fit when I tried to put on his jammies. But at least I was a bit more relaxed.

Seriously, it's like a human dust mop

With earrings. And a purse.

My floors have never been so clean!

In other news, the big story in Blacksburg is that the roof of the Blacksburg High School gym collapsed on Saturday.

Fortunately no one was in the building and no one was hurt. Unfortunately, they've been out of school for 2 weeks due to weather and now the end of that streak is no where in sight. Yet again, I'm glad I don't have high school aged kids now but definitely feel for the people that do.

But let this be a lesson for us all. If you are ever in a building and notice a crack that looks like this:

You should get out immediately.

They still have not determined if the weight of the snow on the roof was the cause, but I'm sure it's at least a contributing factor. And guess what? It's snowing again right now.

VT Swimming

I post mostly about the kids, but sometimes about Braden and his swimmers. Here's a feature on VT Swimming that shows you more of what Braden does. Go Hokies!

Blythe the mermaid

For Blythe's birthday, my parents and got Blythe a Belle dress-up outfit and a Tinkerbell outfit. The Belle dress was a big hit, but the Tinkerbell...not so much. Leave it up to a 4 year old to tell you exactly what she thinks of your gift. Basically, it was unacceptable and she preferred to have an Ariel dress instead of Tinkerbell. Maybe because the Tinkerbell one was so short and made or feel uncomfortable....or not. So anyway, when we saw my mom at Ada's birthday last weekend, she gave Blythe the Ariel dress. This one she loves.

She can barely walk in the thing, but that doesn't appear to phase her. And as usual in this pic, Ethan appears to be absolutely miserable. One of these days I will teach him to smile for pictures.

Still cold as ever here (duh), so a good indoor activity is bowling! The town of Christiansburg has a big bowling alley, but we've always preferred to go to the 8 lane bowling alley on VT's campus. Mostly because it's cheaper and because it's smoke-free (though now that restaurants are smoke-free, I wonder if the other bowling alley is too?). Of course, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the rates at VT's bowling went up. Not surprising because it's a state university and like every public institution in the country, it's struggling on funds right now. So shoe rentals used to be $1 and now they are $2. Games used to be $2 and now are $2.50. Oh well. It takes the 4 of us so long to play, that 1 game is all we need. I usually beat Braden, but today he killed me. I'm blaming it on the pregnancy which has thrown my equilibrium off. Even Blythe beat me (though she used one of those ramps). We had a good time though and as usual, I was glad to get out of the house and go do something with Braden and the kids!

Yay for daycare

Boy am I glad I do not have any school-aged children this year! I am SO grateful that the daycare has been open just about every day throughout all of this snowy non-sense. The public schools, however, have only been open 1 day in February so far (and it was a short day due to delayed opening). They didn't go at all this week and they have a holiday on Monday. I hate to be the pessimist, but we have a 70% chance of accumulating snow on Monday, which will likely mean bad news for parents of school-aged children come Tuesday. What a nightmare! I couldn't imagine trying to get my work done day after day with my kids at home with me!

I bought the kids some warm weather clothes today, which I'm hoping will bring on the warm weather sooner. Likely it will have the opposite effect. What I really need to do is go buy a better snow shovel. Maybe if I go buy a snow shovel, we won't get any more snow.

Anyhoo, an update on the pregnancy...I am now 25 weeks along. Have gained about 23 pounds, so barely holding on for the under 40 pound goal. Unfortunately I have really felt an increase in appetite this week. Like no amount of food can make me full. That's not good news. I still love my fruits and veggies (Braden will laugh because I still don't really eat veggies), but carbs are starting to taste better now too.