Monday, March 23, 2009

I thought it was pretty obvious what it was for....

This weekend while buying yet another box of diapers we decided to look at potty chairs! While we realize that he is not ready yet, we would like to introduce him to the idea. He loooooooooves being naked, and he loves m&m's... so I think with a little warm weather and a bit of chocolaty bribery he just may be able to do it!!







He loved his potty in the store. How could you not? It is cute and looks like frog... or else like Mike on Monsters Inc. (I haven't decided which yet.) In either case we thought we picked out a good one! It doesn't sing, or flush, or do the potty dance... but it was cute, unimposing and not scary looking at all. Well I thought that it was obvious what it was to be used for. It was a potty. I thought pretty self explanatory... especially since he is obsessed with watching Mama and Daddy go. Then we got home... he decided that it was NOT a potty after all. Rather it was a drink holder... or was it a very interesting shoe??



What he is missing is that the potty chair is to be used like this...



Oh well one day he will get it... or else we can fill the thing with ice and use it as a beverage holder at a party some day!!!

P.S. I do think that we should take up a collection for this kids therapy one day... seriously how pissed would you be if your MOM had you pose in a potty chair ad?? I think he has many therapy sessions dealing with his "mommy issues" ahead of him!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Baby Girl Bebo Update

We are moving right along!! We have hit week 33 and only have a little under 7 weeks to go... WOW! It went sooooooooo much faster this time around!!(I'm sure having Mason to chase added to the "fast forward effect") We are still in negotiations for names... I have my favorite and I am just waiting for Dan to get on board with it!! Even if we do come to an agreement we aren't going to announce it until she is born! :-P I know... we are stinkers!! So we just continue to call her Bebo until then!



We have decided to move the kids into a room to share. This allowed us to all be on the same floor of the house.(which makes mom feel better!) So after two weeks of lots of taping, priming and painting... we moved everyone around! Mason got moved into his "big boy room"and mom and dad moved into the smaller room next door. Mason loves his new room!! He loves anything that you call "big boy!" I remember sharing a room when I was little with my brother, and it was comforting that you never were alone at night. So here's hoping that Mason and his sister like sharing too... especially since they will be for the next few years or so! (I promise to post pics of the room as soon as we are TOTALLY done... I still have the finishing touches to do!)



We have scheduled our c-section for May 5th (Cinco de Mayo!) at 7:30 am. Miss Bebo will arrive at 39w3d...10 days before Mason did. We are really hoping that we can avoid the nasty NICU stay that Mason had. (meconium aspiration is a nasty thing! Hopefully by delivering a little early we can avoid her becoming stressed and doing the whole BM in utero) Keep your fingers crossed for us!! :-) We are very fortunate to have our pediatrician Dr. Haigh there as well... Dr. Haigh was there when Mason was born too! We LOVE Dr. Haigh and couldn't imagine having any one else there!



Due to some health issues that I have been having this time around Dr. Peltier has ordered monthly growth ultrasounds, just to check and make sure that our girl is growing and developing on schedule. So far so good... everything points to her being a chunk like her big brother. :-)



This ultrasound was done on 01/28/09 @25w5d. It isn't a great shot... she just doesn't like to cooperate during the u/s! This shows her spine at the top, which curves into her head. She weighed 2lbs2oz, in the 60th percentile. (Which means 59% of babies at the same gestational age weigh less than she does and 40% weigh more)




This u/s was done 03/02/09 @30w3d. She weighed in at 3lbs11oz and gained in the percentages as well... 65%!! This was our FAVORITE u/s appointment of all!!! After all of the necessary measurements were complete we got to switch over to the 3d/4d u/s!! It was so detailed and intricate!!! Seeing a little face complete with chubby cheeks and a little button nose was awesome to say the least!! Again she didn't cooperate too well, so we only got one really good shot of her face. We both think that she looks a LOT like Mason!!



















We also had them do a "double check" on the girl status too!! I kept having a recurrent dream where I had a little boy and named him Aiden!! So I figured I should double check before we had everything for a little girl!!
























































































































Saturday, March 14, 2009

Don't EVER Trust Your Toddler!!!

I should have known better... really I should. So I will preface this by admitting fault, and placing no (well minimal) blame on Mason. You should never trust your toddler when he says he will be good. Never. Period. End of Story. Even when all you ask is that he behave himself for two minutes so you are allowed to pee alone. Yup, alone. With the door closed even!! No kid, no dogs, and no cats. (I don't know about you, but that is a luxury in our house!!) So no matter how much they look sweet and angelic, that face is hiding a little devil. The horns come out and you end up with what I did...































Yup, that's right. The tornado that hit my living room. In two minutes he managed to rip apart the couch, flip over the (heavy!) ottoman, and remove his shirt!! He was working on his pants, but never got that far! I admit that I knew something was up... first there was the silence (silence is never good), then there was the giggling, then there was the bang! of the ottoman being turned over. So I *knew* that this was a very distinct possibility, but non the less, I have to admit... I was rather impressed!

Things Toddlers Teach Us...

So over the past month or so Dan and I have been learning some very interesting things... from a toddlers perspective!!

  • Eyelids are used to cover the eye balls... this means that you will be checked to make sure that EVERYONE has eyeballs. To check you must poke. It doesn't matter if you human, dog, or cat... we must check for the presence of eyeballs! Also note that just because you have been checked before doesn't mean that you won't get checked again... and again... and again.
  • Why eat the ritz portion of your ritz bits when all you want is the confetti creme in the middle?? Take apart, eat cream, feed remaining stuff to Sophie. Repeat this process until you have eaten all the frosting on all the ritz bits your mother gave you... and then scream for more. Then when your mother asks you why you don't eat the whole cracker and tells you to quit feeding the dog, give her the most dirty look you can come up with, cross your arms across your chest and hrmph! That is SURE to prove your point.
  • When you fall out of bed at night, no need to climb back in... just sleep in a crumpled heap on the floor. Except for when your mother is super anal and can't allow you to do that. Then wait until she scoops you back up and puts you in... sometimes three or four times a night!
  • You may be bottom of the pecking order for the humans... but that leaves the dogs and cats to boss around. Yelling at Sophie to "stay!" is sure to make her know that you are the boss! Forcing her to lay down, while you smash on top of her and give her kisses also works well.
  • When your mother asks you to be good for three minutes so that she can pee alone, it soooooo means that you are going to tear apart the couch and use it to build a fort... oh and strip your clothing off as fast as you can! Nothing is more fun that bouncing on couch cushions while you scream in glee at your naked accomplishments!
  • Some things are just worth going into the time out corner for. End of story.
  • Rules which used to apply to you now only apply when you feel like listening... which mean 99.99% of the time that rule is meant for everyone else but you.
  • Don't touch means that as long as you touch it with one finger they can't possibly get mad at me. Even after being told ten times not to touch it.
  • Boogers=Treasure!!
  • The world is divided into two categories.... Things that will fit in ears and things that won't!! Make sure you try everything that you find just to be sure!!
  • FindersKeepers!!
  • There are three types of food... 1. will happily eat and then ask for more 2. will ONLY eat smothered in ketchup 3. foods that are determined to be too utterly disgusting so they must be shoved back at your mom while shouting NOOOOOO!!!
  • There will be no negotiations!!
  • No doesn't always mean no... and Yes probably doesn't mean yes after all.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hop on Pop!!!

Dan is still working nights. While he prefers it for the most part, it's still hard trying to catch enough zzzzzzzz's!! So he tries to sneak in a nap here and there. That doesn't work so well when you have a little monkey man running around!! Poor Daddy...



















































Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hairy Little Monster

I think that we are a bit crazy... I will start off by admitting that! No one with good sense has a puppy and a baby at the same time! :-) I grew up in a zoo... and I think Mason enjoys his little zoo too!





As most of you know we needed to give up our dog Sasha this past December due to biting issues. Basically the issue was she began snapping at Mason... for no reason at all! It could be that he had blue pants on that day, or that he dared to breathe in the same area code she was... point was she was not happy living in a house with a very active little boy. So off she went back to the Humane Association. (by the way we have heard that she has a new home... here's hoping that everything works out for her!!)





While I was happy with having one dog... Sophie, (also known as the worlds most perfect dog!) Dan was missing having a companion. The problem with our pets (all of them in fact!) is that they are all very needy... for me. Not one of them chooses to be Dan's. He is okay when there is an open spot on the couch that needs to be filled... but not if one is available next to mom. Dan was really wanting a dog he could call his own.





So the research began. As many of you know I am partial to German Shepard Dogs... as you know I have the worlds most perfect one! So Dan did his research and came up with a breeder for GSD puppies. In the back of his mind he had the idea of a Border Collie pup.





Before Mason was born Sophie and I did Flyball. Sophie was a superstar (not biased here... just speaking the truth!) and her buddy at Flyball was a Border Collie named Penny. Penny was a bit of a mouthy little thing. She was a rescue who didn't like other dogs... except Sophie, she didn't even like the other dogs she lived with!! She also didn't like people, other than her owner... but she liked Dan!! She had excelled in obedience and herding, but was not doing so hot in Flyball. Dan came to watch Sophie and ended up buddying up to Penny. Three years later and Dan still talks about Penny!!!





So one day Dan found an ad for Border Collie pups on Craigs List... and the light bulb went off in his head. So we went to look at these puppies. It was Valentines Day... and it was COLD!!! We knew that the parents were farm dogs, so we bundled Mason up in case we were going to be outside. Good thing we did... the pups had NEVER been in the house! They lived in the barn! So Mason played with the pups (all NINE of them!) until his cheeks got cold, and then we waited in the car. Dan chose a little male puppy... not the meekest and not the most outgoing, just somewhere in the middle.























Then came the problem of what to name him. The first thing that came to mind was Stinky... WHEW! Living in a barn your whole life doesn't give you a very nice aroma!! Then we had some inspiration... Mason's favorite movie. Monster's Inc.!!

























The big hairy guy is Sully... the hero of Monster's Inc.! Now Mason could watch this movie eight times a day if we would let him... and he looooooooves Sully! So we thought it would be a good name for our hairy, stinky monster. We asked Mason and he agreed... so Sully it was!!!





Sully spent the next few days acclimating himself to life as an inside dog. That meant bathtime!!! Nothing that smells that bad may live in my house! So I think he had been in the door for *maybe* three minutes and in the tub he went. He cried the whole time... not sure if it was scary or he liked how he smelled... but he came out smelling 250% better than when he went in!! He also had to learn about not peeing in the house... this has been a hard one!! When you are (literally) born in a barn, you don't have a problem letting loose where ever you are!! Thank goodness we have hardwood floors and no carpet! (I keep saying no more puppies!! Next time we get a chimp... they wear diapers!!!)







He also learned the joys of being an inside dog... pillows and blankets!























































































For the most part Mason loves his new buddy. Mason especially loves the new toys....


























Yes, that is a nylabone in his mouth! YUCK!! Totally gross, but at the same time pretty dang funny too!