Cute and Terrible two's

Well, the baby turned two and is totally living up to the stereotype of terribleness.
Let me preface this by saying that we love him more than anything and he is amazingly adorable, but a tantrum he can throw.
The hubs likes to call it downward dog, like the yoga pose.  That's how it starts..head to the floor, butt in the air.  Of course it progresses into a rolling, screaming fit all over the ground.  Favorite phrases are, "I don't want to.  NO!  Stop it.  That's mine. and Gimme that, Wyder."
His words have gotten very clear and he is speaking in full sentences.  There are a few really cute words that he hasn't quite worked out yet.
Poothtaste is one of my favorite.  Every morning and evening when he and big brother brush their teeth, he comes out of the bathroom with the brush and the paste and says, "Poothtaste Mommy, Poothtaste."
Any word with an in the middle 'L' gets an extra syllable.  Balloon, comes out like    "Ball-l-oon" and it looks like he's not quite sure what he should be doing with his tongue.  Very cute.  "Ah-mazing!" and "Oh, my gooooodnessss." are some other prize quotes.

He is starting to play very well with his big brother.  There is definitely still some disagreements, but I suppose that will go on well into their adult lives.  On the flip side,  between wrestling matches they often hug and trade I love you's.  There is nothing more heart warming that hearing your children say,  "I love you, Tyce" and "I lub you, Wyder."   Melts me every time.
Both boys go to bed at 9 o'clock and wake up at 7:30.  (Ryder more like 9:30, because he reads in bed every night)  Tyce still wakes up in the middle of the night about 3 nights a week.  This started up a few months ago and I have no idea why.  After we did the cry it out method he was sleeping like a baby all through the night.  I'm guessing he's having dreams.  Whether they frighten him or not, they must jerk him out of sleep.  We have to get milk and lay out on the couch for a bit, then he usually goes right back down.  
It's not fun to wake up in the middle of the night, but it is nice to still get the cuddles in.  He's a meaty little guy, which makes for warm, full hugs.
He's always on the go, jumping, bouncing, running, climbing...
He amazes me with his athletic ability.  He got a baseball tee for Christmas, we just handed him the bat and he rocked the ball right off.  His swing and follow through just came natural.  It's the same with the golf clubs.  He focuses on the ball and makes contact practically every time.  He will hit the ball around the yard and it holds his attention for a solid hour at a time. 
I know the tantrums will phase out and something new will phase in.  I'm hoping one day we all look back at this and laugh remembering how incredibly LOUD Tyce was at two. 
I mean, LOUD. 
Guess he has a lot to say and wants to make sure the whole family (and some of the neighbors) can hear him.

We love you, Tyce.

Welcome to The Club....

My childhood  next door neighbor/friend and his wife just had their first baby boy.
He is adorably huge and perfectly perfect.   
They are now home and my mom stopped over for a visit.
She said they are great and tired.
I wanted to call them and start spewing all my best advice..but instead I decided to write about it.

Since I'm on baby #2 I feel like a pro.  Of course, this is not the case, but I do feel like it is a bit easier the second time around.
Maybe easier isn't the word....but I'm not as nervous or neurotic.  Still a control freak, but I know I'm not gonna snap off the baby's finger while trying to get the onesie on
and when the binky falls on the floor I know I don't have to run it through an hour long sanitizing cycle.

When you enter the world of parenthood it's like joining a club.  You're automatically inducted into it.  Whether you like it or not, the choice is not yours to make.  Every mother wants to tell the new mother what she did with her baby and how her ideas are  the one and only way of doing things.  Consider this your initiation into The Club.  You can't escape it.

Since I've already been through initiation into The Club, I feel it's perfectly acceptable for me to take my turn doing the 'hazing'.  I want to share my knowledge with my friends.
So here it is....
Or here's what I thought when I got home with my first son and what I've learned so far...
(on the subject of sleep anyway)
(and for the record, I, by no means, know it all.  I'm learning something new all the time, even as I type.)

If you're like me, when you got home, you are kinda freaking out.  I thought,
"Oh man, I can't believe they just sent me home with this baby without any instructions.  What do I do now?!"
All you really want to do is sleep.  But, that's not gonna happen.  Not unless you are one of the small percent whose babies sleep through the night right away.  And if you're not one of those you don't wanna hear about it.  You're too delirious from no sleep, like the rest of us. 

So try and hold your eyes open while you read this.  :)

Baby #1 went to the crib for the first 2 months.  I got up every 2-3 hours to feed and rock him.  Feed and Rock.  Exhausting.  He was a fussy baby and I felt like nothing was right.  At 3 months, I had to go back to work.  I was a manager at a restaurant so there were late nights.  The Hubs was on duty until I got home.  Bless him because he had to get up early for work.   I was used to sleeping in (way in) but the baby was having none of that.   So after a while of fighting it, I caved and brought him into our bed.  This allowed for several more hours of sleep.  Awesome.  Awesome, until he never wanted to sleep in his bed again.
This is a battle that is still going on today.  He goes in phases of sleeping in his own room, but he does  still creep in our bed.  I'm constantly trying to think of cool, persuading ideas for him to stay in his bed.  They will work for a while, but  haven't held for the long term.
Lesson learned.
With the new baby I'm holding strong with the crib.
But..
that's not how we started out.
For the first 2 months of his life, he slept on me, on the couch.  Sometimes next to the couch in the pack n' play, but mostly on me.  For whatever reason, I needed him near me and we both slept longer like that.   I knew I couldn't do that for long, he was getting bigger fast and the comfort level was declining.   This go around, I'm a stay at home mom, so I can be consistent.  I started bringing him into his room at the same time every night.  With only a night light, I would rock and feed him, then put him in the crib.   Sometimes he would go down and sometimes not.  I would try and let him cry for at least 5 minutes, then repeat.  After several nights, he started to catch on.  He's still in the crib and we are making progress with longer stints of sleep.  The most has been 5 hours,  never two 5 hour intervals back to back...that would be glorious.   But I'm thankful for what I can get.   We're still working on when and what is a day nap time.  For now, he just racks out whenever and I go with it.  (like now)

I read lots of books and articles on line and I think one thing always holds true.
You and your baby are originals.  There are no two like you.  Learn what works best for your family and roll with that.
One baby will love the swing, one will hate it.  One baby will occupy himself on a play mat on the floor, one will scream bloody murder when you put him down for a split second.
A good thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of phases that the baby (and toddler and young boy)  will go through, but they don't last forever.  So when your baby is screaming in your face and you have no idea why, try to remember that he's not going to do it forever.  It will be hard, but know that it's true. 
On a happier note...
You've grown a person in your body.  Congratulations! It's a miracle!  There will be no other feeling in the world like the feeling when you and your baby are looking into each others eyes and he smiles at you for the first time.  Truly smiles.  It's incredible.  The best feeling and depending on how tired you are, you may cry from joy.

As things come up, utilize The Club.
Call your mommy/parent friends...
they may not have an answer, but
they will have a story to share that you may be able to relate to,
that will make you feel like you are not alone,
at least for a minute.

That's what I do and it still gives me comfort.

So, other members of The Club, please feel free to leave your comments.
Sharing is caring and we can learn a thing or two from each other.  :)

Gutter Shelves

I've been tossing around different shelf ideas for the baby's room for a while now.  I'm not sure how his room is going to change as he grows, so I wasn't ready to commit to a major shelving unit.  Or worse, have the Hubs build something that I may not need/want in a few years.
What I needed was a quick, inexpensive fix.

I searched Pinterest for an answer...and it delivered.

Gutter Shelves!

There were many different links to follow.  My fav is this one.
And Beth at Sunshine on the Inside has become one of my favorite bloggers.  Not only did she have a great explanation of her installation process, but also took the time to answer the many questions that followed her post, including mine.
We tend to randomly visit the home improvement store, so on our most recent visit, I picked up one length of 10' gutter ($6 and change) and a total of six end caps ($1.50 each).  At the time I had not read through all the tutorials so I just grabbed the HUGE gutter screws offered next to all the gutter supplies.
When we got home my Hubby headed to the garage to cut the gutter into 3 pieces.  (this is definitely the hardest part of the whole project.  I'm glad he did it.)
Over the next couple of days I stared at the wall and thought, "Geez, these screws are huge, there must be a better way."  And as Beth so kindly shared there was.....drywall screws.
Which we just so happened to have in the garage. 

So it was time to get started...

After some more staring, I figured I wanted the shelves 12 inches apart.  I eye-balled the bottom shelf to the height I wanted, then measured 12 inches between each.  I drew a light pencil line to be sure it would look OK.

There are three screws in each shelf and one goes through a stud.  I put a level in the shelf while I drilled to be sure I was straight.

 The screws are at a bit of an angle.

 

That's pretty much it.  I added books.

And done!

Pretty simple.
Now my after advice..
I suppose I missed a few minor details when reading and/or shopping.  Luckily, I can return the huge gutter screws, didn't need them.  Also, my shelves are metal.  After re-reading Beth's blog, I realize that hers are vinyl.  Probably a bit more sturdy and easier to cut.  I'm not even sure that our home store offered vinyl?  Oh, well they are up, they look good and it was easy.
And an added bonus is that my 4 year old is rediscovering all his old books.  A while back, I moved all these board books out of his room to make room for his 'big boy' books.  Now he has the best of both worlds.  ;)

He's finally here...

Last Tuesday, January 24 at 4:17am our baby boy finally arrived and he is a dream!

....getting to the end result wasn't so dreamy.

On Monday morning we headed to our weekly check up at the doctor's office.  Since I was already late and everything was set with my body being ready, we were instructed to head over to the hospital.  After a quick detour of breakfast, we checked in and filled out all the fun paperwork.  
Our hospital room was fantastic..huge and as homey as a hospital room can be.  There were tons of different seating options for my Hubs, which is good because it was gonna be a long day/night....

They got me all hooked up on the IV and at about noon started on the pills.  I guess the new hip thing is to get a pill every four hours which helps induce labor.  (They have found that this gradual process is way, way better than just hitting you hard with the pitocin.)   Since I didn't feel the first four hours of contractions, I tend to agree with the experts.  Time passed and I got another pill.  While I sorta dossed off, the Hubs paced around and ordered a pizza.   I guess at around 6pm the pain started getting serious, so I opted for the drug that "takes the edge off".  That's what the nurses say, I say it's like a 6 pack straight to the head.  Either way, I felt better, like we were having our own little party in the room.  At about 9ish, the party was over and the pain was intense...I opted for the epidural.  Mind you, this was my plan all along.  I have done this before and I know it hurts...I wanted to skip the hurt part and enjoy the giving birth part.  I didn't get the epidural for another hour or so (not my choice), so I did get a big taste of contractions.  No thank you.....on to more glorious things.  The epidural kicks in...it's amazing.  It totally boggles my mind how they ever figured out to put a needle straight in someone's spine..and who was the 1st person to say "oh yeah, I'll be the guinea pig."  I thank them all.  Glorious. 
So now we are all set...
I'm feeling good..it's time to start pushing and finally get the little guy out.
I push and push.
The doctor comes in to check on us and casually clicks off my epidural.  
Straight fear hits me..  the nurse must have seen my panic because he follows with, "Don't worry it takes a while for it to totally wear off."  So, I'm in good spirits again. kind of. After a bit I can feel a some pressure, which is actually good, because I can get more accomplished in the whole pushing department.  After a while longer I can feel more pressure and some pain.
After a while longer, pain.  Lots of pain.  I'm in full blown panic mode again.  The baby is not out, the epidural is gone...no mas drugs.  
Holy Crap!  This cannot be happening.  This is so so not one of the ways I had this going in my mind.  No way.
Oh, yes way.  Whether I like it or not, we are moving forward with this.
I'll spare you the full details, but let's just say that there was A LOT  of cursing and yelling to turn the dang epidural back on.  And then just some general cursing and yelling.  Lots of pain....and some barf.
No time they say, no time.   even if they turn on the drugs, they won't have time to kick back in..
Oh, there was time...a couple of hours later, with the assistance of the 'vacuum' our beautiful baby boy was finally welcomed into the world.  
He's perfect, I love him instantly!
The mood in the room is happy and blissful..mostly. Mostly, except I'm now getting stitches, several of 'em (1st gift from the miracle) with no drugs.  Ouch..but at this point I think I'm delirious.  I'm now yelling at the doctor for something, numb me, stop, something,  God Bless the nurses..especially the pro they sent in at the end.  Talk about getting me to focus away from the pain.  And I couldn't forget my wonderful Hubs....what a trooper!  Luckily, all the hospital birth stuff doesn't gross him out or make him queasy in the least.  He was right with the nurses, holding legs, swapping out cold wet rags for my face, handing the doc utensils, he even got to cut the cord.  What a proud, proud papa!!

   And what a wonderful little cherub we have been blessed with!!

 He even managed to give us a smile on day 2 of life.
At 8lbs 7oz he was a bit bigger than his older brother at birth.
Yet he decided that he would enter the world el naturale.
Although, I will give him some credit for not trying to top the 20hrs of his bother's production. 
I'm not saying that I'm sure I'm ready to do it again, but there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that is more gratifying than seeing your child for the first time.  Nothing in the entire world.  My husband and I now, for second time, know how amazing having a child is!
LOVE. PURE AND INSTANT LOVE.






Now I will begin the process of healing.  Looks like I will have the preggo waddle for a bit longer than I intended....but...I have another wonderful, beautiful, perfect baby boy that I grew (after the help of my husband) in MY belly.   It truly, truly is a miracle of life.




We are so so blessed to have two miracles and I am thankful for that every single day!!

Domino letter project

There was actual inspiration for this project..
When my son found out that we were having another boy he wanted to name him Domino Laser.  While the whole family was totally for this idea..me...not so much.  Either way, it was pretty cute and the little guy currently growing in my belly (due to come out any day now) is still referred to as Domino.   That will not be the name that goes on his birth certificate, but I did want to save the memory of it somehow.  I thought I would just get a picture of a domino, frame and hang it.  That idea came from David Bromstad.

 I love his artwork and his design style.  But with a new baby on the way I wasn't sure spending a whole bunch on a print, not to mention getting it stretched or framed, was such a good idea.  I had a few other thoughts...
Maybe I would take a picture of a domino, print and frame myself...this would in no way achieve the "Bromstad" look you see here..scratch that idea.  I can't paint, so that's out of the question.  Hmmmmmm....what to do?  I google...I google dominoes.  Wow, what a ton of neat ideas.  Did you know that people make entire face images out of dominoes?  It's pretty amazing, but I was going down the wrong alley.  After looking at pictures of baby's rooms and different ideas Moms had come up with to display their child's name on the wall, it hit me...
I will write his name in dominoes!!  

And this is what I did..

  After I had collected all the supplies the project didn't take too long....less than a day.



I got some peel-n-stick tiles from the home store, they were 38 cents each and my Hubs gave me some dominoes for Christmas, knowing I wanted to do this project.




 I laid out all the dominoes a few different ways until I had the size and proportions I wanted.  I had to go back to the store and get more and I had to run over to my mother-in-laws to grab what dominoes she had.  One tin = not enough.
 I peeled the backing off and stuck my domino tiles right on.   In my head, I'm thinking, "Wow, this is gonna be super easy."

Jinx....I shouldn't have thought that.  But moving right along...

I  get the exacto knife and score around the dominoes.  I ended up putting some of the paper from the back of the peel and sticks on so my hand wouldn't keep sticking as I cut.  Once scored, I could fold and tear off the excess tiles I didn't need.   This part was probably the most tedious and time consuming, so be patient and just keep scoring and folding and tearing.

 So I had all my letters cut out and I realize that they are kind of flimsy.  There is no way they are gonna hang well on the wall, they need to be firm.  I head into the garage to look around for a solution.  I discover a stack of paint stirrer sticks.  Ya know, they always give you a ton whenever you get a can of paint.  At that moment, I was glad I kept them.  I could score and snap those with the razor as well and not need to ask my Hubs for help cutting any wood.  Bonus.



I feel I'm almost done.  I hot glue the paint sticks on along with the picture hangers I picked up for $1.58 a pack.  I got two packs, but only ended up needing one.   

And Voila'!!!!  It came out great!!!

But...I'd be lying if I said "All done."

  I walked in the room later that day and a few of the dominoes had fallen off.  I thought, "Great, just what I need..these things falling on my baby's head while I'm changing his diaper."   So I gather up all the letters and head back to the hot glue gun.  I reinforce all the loose ones...I guess the sticky on the peel-n-stick tiles is not so strong after all.   Still, I am very satisfied with my project.  It's cute, quirky and has a back story.  :)

If I had involved my Hubs this may have been mounted on a solid wood board that I had painted and he then framed out....but that would also mean that this project could have sat in the garage until my son was off to college...J/K.  He's awesome and handy and I'm about to enlist his help for the next project...
After seeing this my 4.5 year old wants his name on his wall too.  We are gonna have to be creative, but I think the Hubs may have something....
So stay tuned...

We may have a slight delay in work, as the baby is due any day, any minute, but it will get done eventually.

UPDATE:
My hubs brought home a pallet for a different project,  but I ended up using it with the domino letters.  I stained the wood with a light coat of ebony and used Hard as Nails to secure the letters.  Even better than before in my opinion.

10 days left before delievery...technically...

Technically there are 10 days left before I give birth.  Of course, this is just a guesstimate and I could go at any time....any minute....

Because of this I pause and think with every pain, kick, nudge, gas bubble or movement that comes from my belly, 'Are we ready, Is today the day?'    Even when my Hubs walks in the door from work he asks, "Is it go time?"
The anticipation is killing me...it may even be worse than the last time. 
Correction..it is worse than the last time.  Last time I had no idea what to expect so I was just sort to rolling with the punches (or kicks), this time I do know...   Not sure that's a good thing.     You hear all these amazing stories from other mothers about their deliveries and how giving birth is so magical.  NO.  Disney World is magical...labor not so much.   Don't get me wrong, the end result is truly amazing.  I mean, they don't call it the miracle of life for nothing.  I did make the conscious decision to do it Again... But getting there...geeesh.  And I've had it pretty good as far as pregnancies go...no morning sickness, no back aches, mild heartburn, reasonable sleep (until now), it's just the end that is no fun.  I'm large, swollen (very swollen) and tired....and I totally know what I'm in for....no sugar coating it for me....
I have my hopes that this time will be a lot smoother...can't be worse than 20 hours, can it?  But I can't stop running different scenarios through my head....just can't.   I know, I know...perfectly normal.

I will say that I think the baby is fully grown.  'They' say that they do most of their growing in the last couple months....fatten up for the real world.  Well, someone needs to share that info with my body.  I'm not sure it was ready for the pressure.  Maybe he's just moving down getting ready for his big debut.    What ever it is, something is going on.  The Doc assures me that I will be seeing him on Monday...in the office.  So I guess all we can do is wait...and think...and try to make some sort of plan.....  There are probably 852 different ways I have played this out in my head and after the baby comes I will be sharing the un-thought-of 853rd way. 
 I just keep reminding myself of the end result...so glorious...

This is the last time I saw him..."Oh Boy" is right...he was only about 20 or so weeks...
Now he is doing jigs on my pelvic bones and playing my ribs like a piano...little bugger... and I  CAN NOT wait to meet him!!!

So we may or may not chat again before I am the mother of two....but either way...wish me luck.