From Beanie's Mouth.

As Beanie was standing on her stepstool (just a bit over my belly height) she says, "Mommy, I want to talk to 2.0."

Then she puts her hands on my belly and says, "Hi 2.0. How you doing? Are you tired? I'm tired. You need to get out of here your belly. I love you." and kisses my belly.

Hmmm...I hope she likes him this much when he does actually gets out of here my belly...

Day Eight and Other Randomness.

Today is Day 8 of Beanie wearing undies. She had NO accidents for Daddy yesterday, so woohoo! Hoping the trend keeps up. She has been better about running to the potty when she realizes she needs to go instead of just peeing herself. Progress I tell you!

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The damn cat cost us 300 bucks the other day. Of course, they ran a bunch of tests even though the vet agreed it likely was behavioral. As Glenn pointed out, the vet doesn't get paid if it's behavioral. She gave us some tips like making sure he eats right before we go to bed and trying to give him some attention right before bed. Glenn pointed out that the fact that I get up like every hour to pee and that Beanie sometimes still wakes up a few times at night (gosh, the other night was rough!!) makes Sammycat think we are ignoring him in the middle of the night. Glenn noticeably left out the fact that five days a week he gets up at 2am and the cat wants love (and the baby kicks the crap out of me) for about two hours straight afterwards. As I told Glenn, if it's the case that he wants love because we are up at night (and right now it's a quick stumble to the bathroom to pee) it's only going to get worse when we have a newborn who, if he's anything like his sister, is going to want to nurse all night long.

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Beanie is transitioning very well to independent sleep. Most nights she will sleep all night on her own now. Like last night she slept from 8:30 to 6:00. Some nights she wakes once for a quick cuddle, but, other than that, mostly sleeps on her own. I usually lie down with her for an hour or so in the mornings just so I can squeak out a little more sleep.

Night before last was horrible though. She was having bad dreams and up numerous times. And, of course, it was the night before I had to work. Somehow she seems to have bad nights a lot on Saturdays (or at least it seems like it). Imagine my chagrin when I get home from work and, while eating dinner, Glenn points out that she had a rough night and good thing it wasn't a work night for him. Um, hello?!?!?!? It was for me damnit!! He pointed out that I don't have to work till the morning, somehow missing the fact that I was up every hour and am almost eight months pregnant and need my dang sleep. lol.

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I'm an Auntie again today! 2.0 is going to be surrounded by cousins. He'll have a cousin just a little over a year older than him, a second cousin just a little less than a year older than him, a cousin about three months older and a cousin about two months older. Bring on the family reunions!! (Not really, those sort of stress me out)

I think that's about it for this lovely morning. Happy Monday!!

If I wasn't laughing, I'd be crying...

***You've been warned -- this post is very rambly!!***

Let me tell you, yesterday was just one of those days.

I had neglected to polish off and print my birth plan before my appointment in the afternoon, so I was clamoring to get it done yesterday morning. I mean, really it was pretty much done; I just wanted to add in a few things that I had forgotten. So I work on the computer and then head over to the printer. I was so excited that (I thought) we had one printer that worked and wouldn't have to take a potty training Beanie out for any more errands than absolutely essential. But, damnit, I thought the printer needed a USB cord and thought I had found one lying around, but NO I had the wrong cord. So, I head over the computer desk (which is currently set up in the dining room with our non-functional desktop on it -- and it's non-functional because it too is missing a cord) and dig around to see if I can find the cord I need for the printer. I move my birthing ball out from under the desk to see if the cord is on the floor. Nope. Bummer. Head back up to kitchen to text Glenn about the lameness of not knowing where so many of our cords are. I notice he had texted me earlier saying that as he was walking out the door for work he noticed that Sam (a.k.a. Stinker right now) had either thrown up or pooped on the carpet. Um, it wasn't throw up and as soon as I turned around to look and see where it was I noticed it. All over my birthing ball. Yup, I had rolled my birth ball right on top of Sam's shit. Ugh! Pissed. Add to it that the dumb cat has been doing this more and more often and keeping us all up at night and being an overall stinker (hence, the new name) and I was mad. Add in the anxiety I already had about my thirty week appointment that afternoon and the missing printer cord and I was a wreck. A hormonal, pregnant, emotional wreck. I found some gloves (because us preggys aren't even supposed to clean up cat poop for crying out loud) and proceeded to try and clean up the poop. I threw up and Beanie was super worried about me. As I'm cleaning up the poop, I hear Beanie proclaim from the living room, "Mommy! I'm pooping!" Ah, just what I need...more poop. Luckily, it was a false alarm and we made it to the potty.

Then I find another printer cord in a box in the closet. Unfortunately, it was a cord for our other printer. So now I have two printers with a cord each, but can't find the other cord each one needs. And my desktop is missing it's power cord. I'm sure they are all in a box somewhere. If only I knew where. Sigh.

So I wait for Beanie to pee on the potty one more time and we decide to head out for a quick errand. I put underwear, pants and socks in a Ziploc bag and throw it in my purse. Her underwear, pants, and socks. She was wondering "Why you put my pants in your purse??" over and over. We headed out to go to the library and print out my birth plan.

I have a flat tire. Like FLAT flat. I've been having troubles with it and we need to get it fixed, but money has been on the tight side lately so it hasn't gotten done. Luckily, we have a pump thingy that hooks into the car so I pump it enough to make it to the library.

Glenn had turned around Beanie's carseat on Thursday. Or was it Wednesday? I don't know because we've pretty much stayed hold up in the house close to the potty. To be honest, it's left me feeling a little tied down and batty. Beanie was amazed. "Oh, my new carseat!!" she exclaimed. For the record, it's not new...just forward facing. Once the tire inflated, we headed to the library. Beanie was ecstatic. Apparently Mommy drives too fast when we go to the library and she pointed our dang near everything she saw. There were constant "woohoos" and "weeeees." She danced like you wouldn't believe when I turned up the radio. Seriously, you would've thought we were at Disneyland with all the fun she was having just being forward facing in her carseat.

How could I be anxious and sad and stressed watching that? I couldn't. I laughed the whole way to the library.

And, just so you know, the birth plan got signed off on! I had been very worried about some things regarding my care with my current OB (who I loved with Beanie) and was considering switching to a midwife. It's a long story that doesn't need to be fully explained in this post, but let's just say I am a lot happier and convinced that I can have the birth experience I want with this provider, barring any unforseen circumstances of course. The biggie was that I did not want a HepLock (an IV that's not hooked up, but rather taped down on your arm basically) and I knew she wanted me to have one, or at least preferred it. We talked about it for quite a long while (nice not to feel rushed through my appointment this time) and she signed off on my declining it, but asked that I think about it. She said she had told me her reasons for thinking I should have one. I've thought about her reasons (we had discussed them about six weeks ago) and I just don't think it's necessary. I've got incredible veins so I'm sure an IV could be placed quickly, even in an emergency. And, let's face it, in an emergency we'd be waiting for an operating room anyways, not an IV that takes minutes to place.

So, yea, feeling good about things again. Feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders with that one.

And I'm trying to laugh about everything else. Kittycat is at the vets right now to find out if there's anything medical wrong with him. I assume it's all behavioral which worries me because we've been trying to give him more attention and all and he's still being ornery. In the next few months we're only going to have less time and attention to give to him. We'll see.

What calendar am I using???

So, after writing my post last night stating that Beanie & Auntie will be having a slumber party in the next three or so months I sat down and realized it's more like two or so months!

It's January 16th??? Where the heck did January go? Weren't we just having Christmas?

If 2.0 is early like Beanie was, then he could very well be here in 2 months. Three months and he'd be about 2 weeks late and that just doesn't sound like a lovely prospect at the moment.

This pregnancy has flown by for me. And now there's really only two months left until I'm a mom of two? I'm starting to feel the crunch already.

Date Night.

Woohoo! Tomorrow is date night. I don't remember when our last one was...September maybe? Anyways, I figure we'd better squeeze one or two more into the next month or so otherwise we probably won't be getting one for awhile.

I think we're going to head to Claim Jumper for dinner and then to go to do some shopping. Glenn and I both have gift cards to burn from Christmas and it just might be nice to shop without holding a toddler's hand.

I hope Beanie does well for my sis. She did really well for our friend who watched her while we had our 20 week ultrasound, so I'm hoping for the same kind of luck. And, besides, she'd better get used to being around Auntie because they're going to having a slumber party sometime in the next three or so months.

So, date night here I come. I've been looking forward to this all week!

Adventures in Potty Training

After a pretty good run with potty training we have, for the most part, taken a break. Beanie has been interested off and on. I think it actually has to do with the Big Sister books we have been reading because one of them talks about how "big sisters wear underwear." It also talks about how big sisters used to sleep in cribs and drink from bottles, so I'm about to buy a couple Dr. Sears ones that are, perhaps, more AP friendly. Actually, it isn't the bottle or crib thing that bugs me so much about the book...it's the page that talks about how baby has no stuffed animals in the crib and big sister wants to put her bunny in the crib and Mommy says "okay." Shouldn't it be like "no, sorry honey but it isn't safe for baby to have big stuffed animals in her crib." ??????

Anyway, what was this post supposed to be about? Oh yea, potty training.

So, this afternoon Beanie is playing in the playroom with Glenn and decides she wants to use the potty. And she wants to use it in the living room so she goes to the bathroom and drags it out into the living room. (Which is a-okay with me; I'm all about having an accessible potty during potty training time. Glenn thinks it should stay in the bathroom -- I'd rather have it out there in the open and have her reminded of it every time she walks by). So, she sits on the potty and then decides she wants to wear underwear. We got one pee on the potty this afternoon.

After dinner we were all sitting in the living room enjoying some cranberry orange cookies (definitely deserved because Beanie ate chicken, broccoli, salad, and blueberries -- read bribery -- for dinner). I head to the kitchen to rinse off our plates and mugs and Beanie heads down the hall saying she wants to "go to Mom and Daddy's room." I rinsed the dishes and then thought about the fact that there she was, down the hall, lying in our bed, in her underwear. I said, "Why don't you come back out here. I don't want you to poop in the bed." Half-joking, half serious because Beanie hadn't pooped yet today and, well you know, no one really wants blueberry poop in their bed. Glenn calls to her and then heads down the hall.

But there is Beanie, walking out of our room proclaiming, "My bum-bum is wet."

Yea, in the 60 seconds she was in our room she totally peed in our bed. Like fifteen minutes before Glenn had to go to bed. I reassured her it was okay, that it was just an accident (trying to fight back the are you freaking kidding me??? response) cleaned her up and changed her into her jammies.

Ah, potty training. Gotta love it.

A catch-up post.

Well, I've been kinda crappy at posting this last week. I've been busy just trying to figure out life and working on something new. If you want to know what, check out the new linky in "Websites I love" :)

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Sam (our cat) is about to find a new home with the crazy cat lady across the street. She's not crazy like having 150 cats or anything, but she's a crazy cat lady nonetheless. She has a cat flag hanging outside her house. And, no joke, during the nice weather she takes her little kitties out for walks in kitty cat strollers. Apparently a few weeks ago she came to the door in tears because some other neighbor had lost their cat. But, anyways, Sam is being horrible lately. Whether it's because he wants attention or he's just a turd or whatever. I don't really care why; it's driving me nuts. He pooped on the floor. Last night he threw up twice. He's scratching up the doors. He bit Beanie the other day (to which she promptly told him he was a bad kitty and needed to say sorry). Anyhoo, he's about *this* close to finding himself at the cat sanctuary across the street.

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Beanie has been doing very well with sleeping on her own. I am very happy about that. In fact, she's mostly done it on her own. She may wake up once during the night and need a quick hug and pat on the bottom or rub on the back, but then, for the most part, she's back to sleep. I am glad because trying to sleep on her twin bed with no body pillow puts this preggo in tears.

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I'm going to an appointment with a maternity physical therapist this afternoon. Baby 2.0 is so low and I have so much hip pain that I am out of commission many days it seems. Just not working. I have heard good things about him, so I am hoping to get some relief!

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I'm in the 3rd trimester, can you believe it? I hardly can. Only 12 weeks (give or take) until 2.0 is here. I have a whole post written in my head about this point in my pregnancy, but we'll all just have to wait for that one. Let's just say I feel like I'm about 38 weeks pregnant, not 28 1/2.

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I feel like I've been doing fairly well with my New Year's Resolutions. Haven't thrown any of them out yet. Definitely need to work on the financial/budgeting one. Glenn and I have both been vigilant about turning the TV off and what TV Beanie does watch is more educational and what I like to call "good tv." Our new favorite muffins are the Peanut Butter Banana ones from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. And Beanie has taken to eating peas like they're M&Ms.

Well, that's it for a quick check up. Beanie is asking to dance to "Jamma-Jamma PJ" with me...the CD that came with her Pajama Time book by Sandra Boynton. Adios!

A baby shower for Numero Dos??

Or three or four or five. You get the idea.

Since so many of my readers had such good opinions on carpooling with children, I want to know your opinions on this one as well.

Is it tacky to have a baby shower for a second (or other subsequent) child?

I know of people who register for anything and everything new even though the older child is barely two. I know of others who wouldn't dream of having a shower even though their children are five or six years apart and of the opposite sex. So, what is your take on it?

I have mixed feelings. I really do think it's a tad (or maybe a lot more than a tad) tacky to register for all new stuff, especially if your children are relatively close in age. I mean, Beanie will not even be 3 when 2.0 is born and most everything we can and will re-use. Except for the clothes. We will need clothes for 2.0 for sure. I don't really expect anyone to buy us anything. I figure the ones who want to will buy us a gift regardless of whether we have a shower or not. As for all the other stuff, we aren't really too into strong gender roles or all the princess-y shit and, even if we were, I wouldn't expect people to buy me a blue changing pad cover because I didn't want to change 2.0 on a purple one. Hear me out, 2.0 will have his butt wiped on a purple changing pad. And probably on a pink one too.

After finding out we were having a boy, friends commented that now we would need a shower to get all the boy stuff. Family has offered to throw one. If anything, I think a small shower (a la "sprinkle" or diaper shower) might be fun. I don't really have any of the same friends that I had before and most all the family is out of town now so hardly anyone would be a duplicate guest. That said, I still don't expect people to buy stuff for us. I like the idea of a BBQ or "drop in and meet 2.0" a month or two after he is born. The weather would be nice and we could show off our new (okay, new-ish by then) house to those who haven't seen it. And people could be outside. Big bonus. And people could bring a gift if they wanted, but maybe not feel as obligated as if I had a sprinkle or diaper shower.

I don't really know. Just sorting it all out in my head so bring on the opinions!!

And, did you even know they made wee wee teepees?

Carpooling?

I remember when I was little my mom and dad would argue over whether or not he should drive in the carpool lane when my sister and I were in the car. Yes, they argued about the carpool lane. Is it any wonder they have been divorced for over 15 years now?

I talked (not argued) about this with Glenn. Obviously the point of carpooling is to reduce the number of cars on the road. When I'm driving around with Beanie I'm not reducing any traffic because she (obviously) can't drive a vehicle on her own. But, as Glenn stated, if the state law does not limit the definition of "passengers" by age or licensing status, then why should we? I admit to routinely using the carpool on-ramp to the freeway because it is the closest one to my house, but, for the most part, I drive in the regular old lanes even when I am with Beanie. Admittedly, if the traffic is bad I've been known to use the carpool lane, but if all else is fairly equal I'll be found in the regular lanes.

But, if the motorcycle guy behind me feels no guilt about driving in the carpool lane, why should I? Obviously he isn't reducing the number of cars on the road either. Maybe motorcycles have lower emissions than regular cars? I have no idea. Anyway, I think I'm going to start carpooling it more often and am just curious what other mommy drivers do.

And, sorry mom, but dad had this one in the bag.

Off to a good start.

I feel like I really got off to a good start for the week. You know, with my big let's-get-this-show-on-the-road goals and all. I like to think my week starts on Monday anyways; I work all day Sunday and isn't it better to end the week with a workday than to start the week with a work day? Lol.

Beanie and I went to a playdate this morning. We both had fun seeing our friends. It's been awhile since we've been to a playdate with our mom's group, mostly because of the holidays I think. Beanie has been talking about wanting to see her friends like all day every day so it was good to get out!

We did a lot of fun activities too and I managed to clean the dining room completely which was my clean-a-room-a-day goal for today. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the hall bathroom which will surely not be as easy or fun, if you can call any cleaning fun. The dining room is my favorite room in the house though, so it is nice to have it clean and looking good. I made a second batch of our Deceptively Delicious blueberry lemon muffins. They were quite a hit and I had some squash puree left over from the other day.

We've been doing a lot better with keeping the TV off and, for the most part, have been watching better (in my opinion) shows. Beanie's new favorites are Sid the Science Kid, Super Why?, and Word World. I'm okay with SpongeBob finding his way to our cable graveyard, but she has been watching a little -- I've been trying to cut down to (at the very most) one episode of SpongeBob a day. I think we were on a little SB hiatus for 3 or 4 days, but Glenn and Beanie watched quite a bit on Sunday so now I'm going to have to work on watching other shows again.

I'm feeling good about things. I always tend to get a big burst of motivation and energy about these type of things though and then they peeter out (isn't that how most people's New Year's Resolutions work???) so I'm trying to keep this one going. Any ideas on how to stay on task are much appreciated! I'm trying to find ways to get all the chores and et cetera done that I want without sitting Beanie in front of the TV for hours on end each day. Can there just be two of me? Or maybe 5 more hours in the day?

Fluffy new goal for 2010.

The other day my mom mentioned to me that it had been a month-and-a-half since I've updated Beanie's blog. There are a multitude of reasons...laziness, the fact that between our old piece of crap ISP and Blogger uploading pics was a nightmare, the fact that Beanie moves much to fast for my camera to catch her most of the time, etc etc.

But, I think I've got a game plan. I'm going to post on her blog once a week and do a little recap. So, if you subscribe to her blog, check it out...I promise there will be something new soon. I think once a week is doable and will provide much happiness for the friends and family who check her blog.

Hello 2010.

2010 should be a good year!

I've basically laid out the changes I want to make in my life in this December post. I just want to be a better me...whether that be mom, wife, homemaker, friend, or (the one I usually forget) Kristen.

Of course, there are exciting changes on the way. We'll be a family of four. I've decided to give certain things up that are too time-consuming and have taken other things on that I think will be very rewarding (more to come on that soon) -- you know, really focus on what will make me happy and what is important to me and my family.

So, I'm pretty excited for 2010. I hope you had a safe & happy New Year with friends and family and hope you are as excited for a so-called clean slate for 2010 as I am. Cheers!