Testing the Limits

I like to post the fun and happy stuff that's going on in our family. But I want to be real as well. In a way I don't want to forget the challenges in hopes that I'll appreciate the good even more.

That said, here is my challenge lately:

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that I love this boy with all my heart and soul. I really do. God has entrusted me with an awesome responsibility and I know how blessed I am to be his mother.

But.......he's a handful right now!

Many people have told me that age 3 is one of the toughest years. This is proving to be true in our house :)  Xavier is really testing the limits and we are struggling daily with how best to handle things. It's the repeat offences that are the most bothersome. It is so hard to understand why he does things over and over, knowing full well that it's not acceptable.

I am hoping dearly (and praying fervently) that when the weather changes and we can be outside more and more that some of the issues we are having will improve with his focus redirected. Xavier has sooooo much energy and I think he just doesn't know how to handle it sometimes. Poor Wesley is often X's target. This is not the "brotherly love" that I was hoping to see in my boys!

I can't expect Xavier to do things that Walter and I don't model so we are having to step up our game and become extra consious of how we act as well. It's hard! I'm currently reading "The Five Love Languages for Children" as part of a new bible study. I'm learning some good stuff and hoping that changes in me will result in changes in X.

I desperately want to be a good parent and I'm just feeling like a really crappy one lately. So if you have a minute could you say a prayer for us? We could really use it.

Snowing Outside, Swimming Inside

It may still be snowing off and on here, but we've gone swimming twice this week already. I found a coupon for a free trial week at the rec center down the street from our house. So 2 days in a row we've taken the boys swimming there.

Wes still has the shiner on his eye!

This is blurry because he was so excited he

 couldn't stop jumping up and down!

They've had a blast! The indoor pool is very nice and has a zero entry kids area, slide, and lazy river. It takes both Walter and I to keep a good eye on the boys so I didn't have a chance to get pics in the water. Consider yourselves lucky -- I'm saving you from the rediculousness that is me 6.5 months pregnant in a swimsuit.

We've got a couple more days of our free trial so we're hoping to get in a few more swims later this week!

They Hardly Ever Get Out of Their PJs

It's true. My children wear pajamas an obscene amount of time during a given week. This is not to say that my kids aren't clean. They get a bath and fresh pjs every night. They often put on fresh pjs in the morning or before nap as well. They just REALLY like wearing pajamas. And honestly, they are so comfy, I can't blame them. They might as well enjoy this window of opportunity to lounge around before they start school and have to actually get dressed every day. Obviously Wes doesn't have much say in what he wears, but he looks so darn cute in pjs that I can't resist. And you gotta be comfy for nappin, right!

Xavier NEVER wants to get dressed. He thinks he should be able to go anywhere in pjs. He likes to bargain with me about wearing pjs out places. Sometimes I do make him actually wear real clothes. Sometimes we meet halfway and I let him keep his pj shirt on under his coat and just wear real pants. Other times I could care less and just let him wear what he wants. This often means he chooses to wear his fireman rainboots WITH his pjs - hello ladies!! Xavier always wants pjs on for nap too so even if he has clothes on it means another outfit change anyway.

And what is cuter than MATCHING RACECAR PJs!!!! This was a stroke of luck  -- hand me downs from 2 different people that just happen to fit the boys at the same time.  They both wore these to Walmart the other morning to get groceries. It's Walmart -- there are adults in pjs there for gosh sake (which by the way I do NOT condone - its cute for kids, but it's just lazy when adults do it!)

I guess wearing your pjs can help you focus too. Wesley was working very hard at his hammer toy the other morning...

while Xavier was equally focused on putting Mr. Potato Head together.



Pajamas are great for baking too. Xavier helped me make some muffins once Mr. Potato head was all squared away.

26 Weeks

Me and Baby # 3 at 26 Weeks:

In the middle of my little photo shoot Wes walks up, hands me his

half eaten graham cracker, then walks off. Strange kid.

Total Weight Gain: 23lbs (I think 10 of that alone is in my upper arms, geez flabby!)

Movement: A LOT. This baby moves all the time, especially in the evening and during the night. This past week I started to be able to see the baby move from the outside. It's so wild!

Sleep: Some nights I'm sleeping better than others. I'm really altering my diet lately and that has helped me to feel better in general and to sleep a little better. I'm trying to get in a little nap every day with the boys even if it's only for 30 minutes.

Comfort: More sleep and a better diet have helped my back feel a little better. I'm definitely feeling the belly though as it becomes harder to have kids in my lap or pick up Wesley. Ironically it's almost easier to hold Xavier than Wes because X is longer and wraps himself around me. But I don't really carry X around anyway. My stomach space is shrinking so if I eat less I can usually breathe better :)

Cravings: I'm forcing myself to eat more vegetables and salads have actually sounded really good lately. I've also been eating a lot of eggs. (But don't get me wrong -- I would eat Nutty Bars 24/7 if I didn't know better)

Where is spring? My wardrobe is pretty small and I'm tired of seeing my long sleeve stuff over and over on myself. I'm also dying to wear flip flops on a regular basis because in a weird way I think they make me look skinnier :)

Xavier has semi nicknamed the baby "Baby Pluto" and says "it's still growing" occasionally. Other than that the boys really don't acknowledge that anything different is going on. Walter and I have pretty much decided on a first name, boy and girl, but are still iffy on middle names.

I went to help a good friend register for her 1st baby and came home feeling like all my stuff is already out of date. Oh well, we're using it anyway! I'm amazed at the stuff they've come out with just in the 3.5 years since we registered.

As part of my baby countdown I'm trying to meet up with lots of friends that I haven't seen. Come July it's going to be hard to get away again for awhile :(

 The cashier at Costco told me this baby is a boy. She said it with a lot of certainty. Hmmmm.....

You Should See the Other Guy

Alternately titled: Baby's First Shiner

It's been a rough couple of days for Wes' little face.

Last Thursday at the playground he was walking on a curb and fell off scraping his face on the concrete and busting his eyebrow. Sunday he was playing in the front yard and X pushed him over and he scraped his face, exact same spot, on a post that is staking in a tree.  Then yesterday Wes decided to climb on top of the kiddie picnic table and while I wasn't looking, he fell off and gave himself a complete black eye - same exact spot as the two times before.

It looks even worse in person. Good thing we didn't have any family photos scheduled for this week - ha!

Poor little Wessa. Maybe we should get him a face shield!

Under the Big Top

Well, more accurately....inside the arena.

My uncle was able to get us some  passes to the circus through his work so my mom and I took the boys this morning. It was lots of fun. The boys lasted until intermission, which was actually longer than I'd expected!

I told X last night where we were going to go in the morning. So, first thing he said to me at 6:30am today was "Where we goin mommy? We're goin to the circus!!!!!" I'm not even sure he understood what it was going to be, but he was thrilled to be going.

Grandma is a sucker and thought X needed his very own tiger light up fan! Thanks Grandma!

We arrived in time to walk down on the floor and watch the elephant and pony rides. We didn't get to ride though because they had stopped selling tickets already. X was none the wiser though and just enjoyed looking at the animals.

I carried Wes in the Ergo and it worked out great not having to bother with a stroller in the crowds. He was my counter weight in the back :)

Our tickets were actually in a suite which was nice because it gave the boys some room to walk around and not have to sit still the whole time. It also had a private bathroom which was awesome because we all know how X likes to check out the bathrooms when we go places :) Wes of course was always trying to escape the suite and even figured out how to move the chair we had blocking him in.

The show was pretty neat. We saw tiger tricks, 4 wheeler stunts, dancers, clowns, gymnasts, people flying in the air and hanging from ropes, etc.  The boys had fun and X kept yelling "Mommy, we are at the circus!!!!" Wes enjoyed clapping with the crowd.

We decided to leave at intermission. The boys' attention span was giving out and we thought it was better to leave on a good note than pushing our luck and having one of them go into meltdown.

Thanks Uncle Drew for the tickets! The boys really enjoyed their first time at the circus!

24 1/2 Weeks

I guess I'm just going to do random pregnancy posts because I don't remember to take a picture every week :)

Last week I went to the doctor and was astonished (ok, not completely) that I had gained NINE pounds since my last appointment a month earlier. That is insane! I have 3 words for an explanation: GIRL SCOUT COOKIES. Darn you little girl scouts, you know how I'm weak to the call of the Thin Mint box. My nurse practitioner is so sweet and was trying to console me by saying that it's not like I gain that much every month and that overall I haven't gained within the normal range. That didn't make me feel any better though. It's clear from the picture above that my face is already chubbin out. Bummer. It's salad time, folks!

Other not so fun stuff:
-Every pregnancy I get acne on my face and shoulders.
-The, ahem, increased chest size has returned (I am not a fan - I would love to be flat chested!)
-I'm having quite a bit of back pain. I know this is in large part  due to the fact that I'm carrying around a 14 month old quite a bit. Wes is still a baby himself and can't exactly walk across a parking lot alone.
-I'm also having trouble sleeping already and REALLY miss sleeping on my back. My hips hurt from sleeping on my side so much.
-I'm getting sick at least once a week, usually in the evenings.

So, not my best month. On the plus side, the baby is moving a lot which is always a good sign and I do love maternity jeans! I'm also taking quite a few naps when the boys nap since I know my window of opportunity for that will be coming to a close by the summer!

Hopefully the weather will start warming up on a consistent basis and I can get in more walking outside. That lifts my spirits and makes me feel so much better. I've tried the treadmill but the boys just try to get on it with me :)

There's Nothing Like a Good Read

I seem to go in spurts with reading. I'll be all into books and then fall off for awhile when things get busy. Well, I've fallen back into reading and I've got a HUGE stack to get through! I always seem to get back into reading a few months before I have a baby. I think it's because I know how hard it is to read a cereal box, let alone a book, when you have a newborn and are completely sleep deprived. I've got to get all my good reads in right now!!

I  rarely buy books. For one, I'm cheap, and two, I hardly ever re-read a book and don't like clutter so I have no desire to store books in my home. (and no I'm not savvy enough to have a Kindle or the like).  We do have a decent collection of children's books. Most have been gifts or hand me downs and those are nice to have because the boys do enjoy reading things over and over...and over.

I'm a huge fan of the library. The boys go to story time occasionally, and there is a great children's section with comfy chairs and a train!

Yes, he did go to the library in his PJs and horsey slippers one morning :)

Last week Wes and I hit the library and stocked up on some new reads for me. But first he had to stop by the kids section and spend some time reading to his "friends".

While Wes was reading I picked out a couple of books with CDs for Xavier. Great concept! X loves listening to the story on CD while turning through the pages when he hears the familiar *bing* sound. It's a great calm activity to keep him occupied while I fix dinner :)
 
I love getting books at the library because I don't feel guilty if I end up not liking a book or decide 30 pages in that I don't want to finish it. You just simply return it and move on to the next one in your stack. No $$ has been lost. I do get a little stressed sometimes when I've gotten a book on reserve and only have 2 weeks to read it since you can't renew those.
 
I just finished reading I WILL CARRY YOU by Angie Smith. Amazing book. I highly recommend.
 
So if the blog seems a little neglected in the coming week it's probably because I'm head down into a good read (or have fallen asleep reading, which is also an unfortunate habit lately).

A Reminder Why We NEVER Go to McDonalds

***This post will get a complete and very satisfactory "I told you so" from Walter as soon as he reads it! ***

This seems to be the longest week ever. It's cold and cloudy. I ended up not having much on the calendar for this week and that has led to complete boredom for me and the boys. In addition, I'm having trouble sleeping - yeah fun!

Today I was desperate to do SOMETHING. The boys have so much energy lately and being cooped up in the cold is killing us! I'm totally out of ideas of how to entertain them. We went to Target to return some stuff and on the way home I was trying to think of a place that had an indoor playground. Then I remembered the McDonalds by our house had one. I hadn't been inside there in years but I always see it as we drive by. And you know, I WAS DESPERATE.

So we went. Big mistake!

I quickly remembered why we don't eat there - IT'S GROSS! My kids wouldn't even eat the food (guess they are smarter than I think!). Xavier liked the indoor playground, but it's a ridiculous design. There are two entrances to the play stuff and they both are enclosed stairs straight up. Once you are in the play stuff you are completely enclosed in tunnels and slides. This makes it very difficult to see where your child is and very difficult to rescue a confused child if they get lost in the maze of tunnels. Or in my case, when you have a 14 month old (who you intended to let play and burn off some energy as well) doesn't get the whole idea and crawls up the steps, stays there, and then makes you squeeze your 23 week pregnant self up a kid size swirly staircase (twice) to get him out. I saw the sign that said Ages 3-12, but come on, what am I supposed to do with my very active toddler who wants to play too and is very capable of climbing the steps? (and as an aside, I'm pretty sure anyone bigger than an 8 year old would never make it through)

Oh, and of course X had to go to the bathroom twice in a 15 minute span so I kept having to gather our things (and Wes!) and go back and forth from the table to the bathroom.

In the end it was a waste. The playground wasn't suitable for my kids, the food was nasty, I'm out $8, I still had to come home and feed them something, and I ended up getting sick and throwing up within 30 minutes of being home.

Note to self - stay away from McDonalds!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Random

Wesley - 14 Months

{Ok, so I'm a couple days late}

I swear sometimes I think Wesley is a lot older than he really is. He just seems to "get it" much more than I thought a 14 month old ever could. I give a lot of the credit to the fact that by being the 2nd child he has been exposed to more and has had more opportunity for observation of things.

At 14 months Wesley weighs about 23 lbs. He has fairly blond hair and fantastic blue eyes. He wears size 5 shoe, size 3 diaper (when not in cloth) and 18 mo - 2T clothing. The child eats like a horse. Seriously! Just today for lunch he had a 1/2 PB and J sandwich, 5 large strawberries, about 15 veggie straws, and an entire sippy of water. Wes likes to eat all day long too!

Wesley's motor skills are far surpassing my expectations. He can:

• Get himself on and off of the toy truck all by himself as well as use his feet to push himself and ride it all around the house.
• Go down a set of stairs backwards.
• Climb almost anything that he's tall enough to reach.
• Put straws into small holes of a jar.
• Eat with a fork about 50% of the time.
• Open the trashcan with one hand, put something in with the other hand, then close the trashcan again.
• Make marks on the ground with a piece of chalk.
• Get a box of raisins from the pantry, open it, and proceed to have himself a snack.
• Push a racecar across the room with the accompanying "vroom" sound.
• Climb in and out of a small chair.
• Walk halfway across the room in adult shoes.
• Climb a set of stairs, then come down a slide (on his bottom or on his stomach) completely on his own.

Maybe these are age appropriate milestones, but I don't remember X doing these things as early. Wesley studies what X is doing and then tries to repeat it. X didn't have another little person to watch like that.

I guess it comes at a price though. For all the motor advances that Wesley has, he has very few real words. Apparently it's common for a 2nd child to be quicker with motor skills and slower with speech. Wesley babbles all the time and he'll look at you and purposefully speak his jibberish, but he can't form many understandable words. So far he's got Mama, Dada, yeah, ball,  banana, and high chair (just barely, I'd probably be the only one to understand that one. It also doubles as Hot Tea).

Wesley certainly isn't lacking in understanding though. He understands verbal direction (go put this in the trash can) and will respond. He knows when he sees you with his shoes that he should sit down so they can go on. He knows if he sees his coat that he's gonna be a funny guy and run the other way! Wesley also knows the sound of the microwave finishing and will now run to it and want to be lifted up so he can open the door. (hmmm, I remember someone else doing that too!)

Our little Wessa has turned into a rock star sleeper too! Who knew all we had to do was put up with 13 months of no sleep? And he did it all on his own. (Which now proves to me that it's pointless to try and sleep train your children because both of mine have just done it in their own time). We put Wes in his crib awake around 8pm. He doesn't even want to be rocked at all anymore. He talks himself to sleep within about 10 minutes and sleeps until about 7-7:30am straight. He goes down for a nap around 12-12:30 the same way and sleeps 2-3 hours. He wakes up pretty happy too.

Wesley has a great personality. He's fairly easy going (except if you try to get him to come in from playing outside!) snugly, and loves to laugh. Wes is a daddy's boy and would let Walter carry him around all day long. He's in that stage where when he sees mom and dad he will run up and greet you with open arms. I love that!

Can't wait to spend the summer with you Wes! We know you're going to love the pool :)

I LOVE THIS BOY!

He seems so grown up in this picture yet he's still my baby. Man, I really love him!

Wordless Wednesday - Bowlhead