The moments that remind me why we are doing this again

When I think about having a newborn around I tend to remember the sleepless nights, spit up on everything, milk stains on my shirt, gassy, crying babies, 2 a.m. fights with Dave, the endless amount of bottle and pump parts that need washing, and did I mention the lack of sleep? This past week, however, my two boys have been reminding why we thought 3 kids was a good idea. On my morning to sleep in, Archie came up into my room with a flower that he picked for me in the backyard and a hug. Not wanting to be left out, Fletcher wanted a hug too. Getting woken up with flowers and hugs is probably the best way to wake up in my opinion. At the library a few days later, instead of holding my hands in the parking lot, the boys held each others hand. It was completely unprompted by me and luckily I had my camera handy so I could capture the sweetness of the moment. How could I not want another child? I am not delusional enough to think that puppies and roses are going to abound in the next few months, but I am reminded that it is totally worth all the crappy nights that are ahead of us.

On Tuesday we had our last growth ultrasound to see how large the baby is because of my gestational diabetes. At our penultimate (thank you Prof. John Su for teaching me one of my favorite words) ultrasound, the baby was sleepy and we didn't really get a look at him/her. This time around though we got to see the chubby cheeks and adorable face of the baby we are going to be holding in less than 2 weeks. Both of us kind of had our moment of calm at that point. The fact that Grandma and Grandpa R. are coming for a month starting on Monday also helps!

I have been trying to take the boys to the park a lot since they have been such troopers going to to all of my appt's with me. We tried out two new parks this week. One was kind of neat b/c it was a sensory park ideally suited for special needs kids. How cool is it that my new town has thought of these things? The boys liked it, but I think it could have used more shade trees. However, I would be sweating in 60 degree temps right now. The other park was in our neighborhood but we haven't been there yet. In our little square mile where our house resides we have 6 playgrounds and an abundance of trails with open space. This park had a nice climbing wall, tall slides, and wasn't near any major roads which is a great plus. I liked this one a lot.

Dave has officially completed 2 weeks of working from home. I am quite pleased with how well it is going. The boys accept that when Dad is in this basement he is "at work" and not to be bothered. There was that one day where Dave went to get the mail during nap time, slammed the door on the way out and in, and woke up the kids! I have forgiven him though since he has been rocking out the honey-do list. Plus, the basement bathroom has never been cleaner now that Dave works down there. Ivy, whose litter box is down there, is also thankful.

Over the last few weeks Fletcher has really just advanced leaps and bounds with his communication skills. Fletcher has been talking for almost a year, but the quality of what he is saying is just astounding. He is talking about his feelings, using adjectives a lot, letting us know what he has been up to, etc... Yesterday after Dave took them to the park he came home and told me everything that he did using full and complete sentences. It is really kind of cool. Archer is getting ready to start school next month. I have his uniform but we still need to get all of the back to school supplies. I am so excited for him. He has been asking to play with friends a lot lately. He doesn't have any play mates, but he calls kids that he meets at the park friends. I cannot wait until he actually has kids he can play with everyday and have real friends. It breaks my heart to see him sad when no kids are at the park. Only 3 more weeks until school!

I am still doing really well on the menu planning and food budget. I am completing our 3rd month and the amount we spend is getting pretty predictable. Our garden is also starting to produce a lot of squash, tomatoes, and the chard is still coming up. It is nice have fresh veggies at every meal and knowing what is going to be for dinner every night. It also provides a nice amount of leftovers for our lunches. I imagine our grocery bill will be going up a bit now that Dave will be eating all his meals at home, plus snacks throughout the day. Once the baby comes we will probably have a few months of more processed foods as well and that usually equals more money. At least I have built up a nice repertoire of meals that we enjoy and are relatively easy to make.

Well today is Saturday and maybe our last weekend before the baby comes so we need to get stuff done. Dave is cleaning out the cars, moving the boys' car seats to the back, and installing the infant seat. I am cleaning all the bottles and accessories and figuring out where to put them. I also need to find all the baby socks and bibs and launder them. The pack n' play and co-sleeper are getting put together, the house is getting as clean as we can muster, plus we have the boys that need supervision and what not!

What a difference a GD diagnosis makes. I weigh almost 25 lbs. less than I did at this point in my previous pregnancies and I feel the best too. I haven't been able to indulge in any pregnancy cravings, but at least I won't be paying for it after this LO is born. 

We are getting stuff done!

The last two days have been pretty productive around here. I am not sure that I would call it nesting b/c my baseboards are still dirty and I don't care, but things are getting done. Yesterday Dave and a co-worker/friend drove down to the Springs and emptied out our storage unit. A lot of the baby stuff was down there along with a majority of our DVDs. I was really missing my Pride & Prejudice! While they were gone, our sitter came over to watch the boys while I was able to work without interruption. I cleaned the kitchen, baked some mini muffins, sanded and painted a nightstand, worked on art for the babies room, and cleaned some more. The boys were having a ball with their sitter which was nice too. 

Today we cleaned some more. I sprinkled the basement carpets with baking soda and let it sit for an hour. Dewey has been peeing down there and upstairs as I discovered today. Dave is going to make a vet appointment because this is not typical behavior for him and if he has an infection I want it to get taken care of ASAP. Also, this means we will need to get the carpets cleaned before the baby arrives. I spent half the morning scrubbing six different pee spots that I found. The joys of pet ownership. 

 Dewey the Menace

Anyway, today Dave worked in the yard a bit but his allergies were really acting up. I am so glad that I don't have seasonal allergies! He looked miserable poor guy. I finished painting the nightstand for the nursery and now need to wait a few days before putting on a few coats of polyurethane. It was an old Sauder telephone stand that my Grandma gave me years ago. Solid a rock, but an awful faux wood finish. It looks fantastic already plus I bought a cute little owl know for the door. 

A work in progress

For dinner I made a lentil loaf, mustard greens from our garden, and chopped up a watermelon. My blood sugar levels have been great so I am doing something right. We took a walk afterwards in the 80+ degree heat. I was definitely dragging, but the only time my sugar spiked was when I ate fruit with dinner and did not take a walk. Yesterday I made two mini muffin recipes. One was from the diabetic living and it was vanilla cake donut muffins and the other was a healthy mini muffin recipe I found online. The vanilla cake donuts I made in my mini muffin tin and I used regular brown sugar, but I did not put the cinnamon and truvia mix on top. The other mini muffins I used applesauce in place of the juice, added about 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened almond milk to thin the batter, and did 1/2 cup blueberries and 1/2 cup diced apples. I also replaced one egg with egg beaters and baked them in a mini muffin tin at 350 F for 15 minutes. Neither of them spiked my sugar either! It is so nice have a glucometer so now I can be a little more adventurous in my eating. Before I got it I had absolutely no added sugar for over a week and I am a dessert girl. 

my mini muffins

In the past 2ish months we have been making changes with how we handle the boys' tantrums, eating habits, and general behavior. They are eating their meals much better since we switched to only 1 snack in between meals. The snack is also way more healthy than before. They now get cottage cheese with fruit, yogurt with cinnamon and flax, apples with peanut butter, pretzels with hummus, cheese and crackers, etc.. Gone are the days of processed foods for snacking. This also means they are eating their breakfast, lunch, and dinner too. They are eating lentil loaf, quinoa with tahini and spinach, beets, and all the other healthy meals I have been cooking. It is a far cry from Archie throwing up food that he didn't like and Fletcher running away from the table after two bites. 

I also read the book "1-2-3 Magic" by Thomas Phelan. It's funny because I talked with Grandma about it and she was like, "Isn't counting how everyone does it?" I am surprised at how effective it is and how i am yelling far less than I used to on a daily basis. Most times they stop at the count at 2 and they usually only get time outs when they physically hurt someone because that is an automatic 3. We have seen the biggest improvement in Fletcher. He is still a handful, but at least I don't feel like I am constantly treading water with him anymore. They are both good boys though. Right now Archie is sharing his most favorite toys with his baby brother. They are very sweet with each sometimes. 

 Fletcher is allowed iPad access again. 

"drink like a big boy" 

Playing at the new park

He is getting so big!

It's been a long couple of days.

I received the results of my 3 hour glucose test yesterday and they were not great. I have gestational diabetes. Luckily they are confident that it can be controlled by diet, but it is a lot of information to process and it needs to be taken seriously. I am confused, sad, scared, determined, researching, and trying to stay positive. My next appointment isn't for over a week so I a feel like I will just be treading water until then. We already don't keep any white/processed grains in the house and haven't for at least 2 years. I only buy whole grain/whole wheat bread, pasta, flour, rice, etc... We eat quinoa, put flax in everything, use nutritional yeast, cook with beans and tofu, and it takes us almost 6-8 months to use what little sugar I buy. I am just not sure how I am supposed to eat now since it seems like I am already doing the right things. Hopefully I can get an appointment with a dietitian b/c this is a daunting task to take on by myself. The risk of me getting diabetes later in life just increased too so I want to see what long term changes I can make so that doesn't happen.

I had to laugh talking with the nurse on the phone last night. She told me no juice, which we never keep in the  house until earlier this week. I was told to take my iron pill with orange juice and now I am being told to stop drinking orange juice and instead take my iron pill with a vitamin C pill. It was just the cherry on top of a long, difficult week.

In other news, Archie had his PreK evaluation today. They gave us the worksheet that they used to test them and it was pretty spot on to his strengths and weaknesses. Dave said that he got really sad when he had to leave. Less than 3 months though and he will be going 5 days/week. While they were at the evaluation, Fletcher and I took a walk. This diabetes diagnoses has me more serious about taking walks at least 5 days/week now. We went to the open space down the street and saw ducks and birds. All the prairie dogs were hiding though. I took Archie to this same park after his swimming class last week and he called them "fairy dogs". I almost loathed to correct him because it was so cute hearing him call them by that name. We did learn that prairie dogs make sounds like birds which was interesting.

 28 weeks

So this is what's it's like having two small kids.

Where does the time go? In the 7 months since my last post, which feels like last week by the way, we have done a whole lot although it doesn't really seem like much. The days sometimes seem to drag on and on, however, the weeks fly by in the blink of an eye. My boys are 7 months older, I am 6 months pregnant with our third child, and we have lived in our new house for over 7 months. We love our new town! Dave and I will still drive around and think how lucky we are that we live here and get to raise our children in such a great environment. I always hear that things will work themselves out and yet I am always surprised when they actually do work out.

You may have caught the 6 months pregnant statement above. Baby R. #3 is scheduled to arrive in August. We are leaving the gender a surprise mainly because I want to pretend for a little longer that we won't have 3 boys in 3 months! I will say though, that my boys are the cuddliest, sweetest Momma's boys ever! Both boys like to feel the baby move and will say hi to my belly. It is so much fun being pregnant with kids that are old enough to kind of understand what is going on.

25 weeks

 Archie is going to be starting preschool in the fall! He is so ready to start school, but I am not sure how ready his Mom is going to be though. How did he get so big, and smart, and old? He is writing letters, numbers, and drawing shapes. Just this week he has begun to sound out letters into words. His vocabulary is astounding too. Not a day goes by that I have to remind myself he is still just a 3 year old boy.

Very seriously reading the map at the zoo.

Fletcher, who recently turned 2, is also changing by leaps and bounds. He is speaking in sentences, colors really well, has great coordination, and definitely has a mind of his own. He is fiercely independent and want to do everything by himself. He won't be starting any sort of school until fall of 2014, but it will be nice to have some time with him and the new baby while Archie is at school this year. Hopefully, having that time as the oldest in the house will help him forge some new paths for himself.

Enjoying his birthday cupcake!

Archer is 2

So my first born is now a toddler is 2 years old. We had a very low key birthday celebration at home and I think it was the perfect day. I wrapped all of his presents in Thomas the Train paper and put them on the mantel. He was awake all of 30 seconds before he noticed them. We let him open one present and saved the rest until after cake.

Grandma R. sent him birthday balloons which he loved! He carried them around, ran through them and tangled up in them multiple times. Definitely a big hit! I ordered him a Disney'sCarscake from Coldstone Creamery. He loved the cars toys on top more than the cake. My kid would rather eat grapes than birthday cake. I suppose that is a good thing.

We got to Skype with both sets of Grandparents which is always nice. I thought I would be more sad not having a party with family and friends, but all we really need is our little family to make it a great day. I'm not saying that I never want extended family around for celebrations though.

Archer is an amazing kid. He talks all of the time, picks up on words and their meanings after only hearing at seeing them once, and I often find him in a corner looking through one of his many books. He knows what he wants and when he wants it so we have a lot of defiance showing through. As his parent, however, it is my job to teach him that he cannot always have what he wants so he sheds many tears when I say "not right now". Gummy vitamins, for example, are only allowed once/day. Whoever created those are an evil genius. They made them good enough so kids would eat them and too good so they would want them more than once. Many a temper tantrum have been thrown over wanting those vitamins.

Archie sleeps fantastically since Fletcher was born (thanks again Grandma R.!). He sleeps for almost 10 hours every night but he likes those early mornings. We haven't slept past 6 am in a very long time and our Keuring coffee maker has been working overtime.

Cars has become one of Archie's favorite movies. We watch it about 3 times a week which I suppose isn't overly excessive but still more than I would prefer. Archie knows how to open the Blu Ray player and put in the disc. He also knows which remote we need to make it play. This kid is no dummy.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Archie's birthday. I cannot believe how fast he is growing.

The past 2 months

We finally have our Internet back after over a week of dealing with Quest and being sent two different modems in the mail. I have gotten so used to typing on my little iPhone keyboard that I feel like having an entire full sized keyboard is a luxury. Anyway, so much has happened in the last 2 months. They are aren't huge life changing events but everyday with my boys is a new adventure, trial, mishap, discovery and joy. My 8 week old Fletcher started smiling this week. I forgot how in the middle of the most challenging day a little smile can bring me to tears. Granted, I still have those post partum hormones raging through me so crying is a daily occurrence but those little baby smiles are heart melting.

We had lots of visitors surrounding the birth of Baby R #2. All of my sisters were here in the 2 weeks prior to his birth. It was great to have them here help out, listen to my fears of having 2 kids, getting a little reprieve from the daily grind and for Archie to have his Aunts around. My Mom flew in the day Fletcher was born which was such a huge relief for Dave and myself. One of my biggest stressors in the month prior to Fletcher's birth was who would watch Archer while I was laboring and in the hospital. My Mom got tickets the second she found out I was in labor and was here 12 hours later. Words cannot express how much that meant to me. With Archer we had nobody visit us in the hospital b/c everyone was 1000+ miles away. It always made me a little sad especially since we are from such large families. Having my Mom here was just great!

My Dad flew in about a week and half later for a few days. Archer got to show Grandpa S. his mad alphabet skills and my Dad got a reminder as to what it was like having a 20 month old crawl into bed with you in the middle of the night. Good times were had by all! About a week after my parents left, Dave's parents came for 2 weeks. I will be eternally grateful for Grandma R. who spent the entire 2 weeks working on getting Archie to fall asleep in his crib and stay there all night. For the last year we have been bringing Archie into our bed every night around 2-3 a.m. He just couldn't put himself back to sleep and we had spent countless hours sitting his room rocking him just to have him wake up the second we set him down. Now he sleeps all night in crib and if he does wake up all we have to do is walk into his room, say "Archie lay down and go to sleep" and he does!! It's a miracle really.

A few days after they left Archer got a cold and then Fletcher developed a cough. We took him to an urgent care facility on a Saturday and the Dr. said it "was most likely a cold. We took him to our pediatrician on Monday and she sent us to the hospital for an overnight stay b/c his oxygen levels were low. The poor guy got two chest x-rays and was put on oxygen. It turned out that he had a respiratory virus called RSV. In an older child it presents itself as a cold, but babies have a harder time with it and Fletcher was on oxygen for about 10 days. He is all better now and we are hoping that between spending time in a billibed, staying overnight in the pediatric ward and being on oxygen for 10 days that he has all his illnesses out of the way for the year.

Archer is a bundle of fun these days. He is talking a lot more now and we can actually recognize many of the words he says. He is also stringing words together like "Night, night Momma" and "Alphabet please Momma". He is advocating for himself and letting us know what he wants. When his favorite shows are on you can hear him trying to sing the songs. This also means that Dave and I need to really start watching what we say and what television programs we are watching when he is around. He has been really good around his baby brother too. Sometimes he is a little rough but for the most part he softly pats Fletcher on the head, tries to give him his pacifier and points to him saying "baby".

Life as a family of four is great. I still am not brave enough to take both kids out by myself though so we spend our days at home. Weekends are now filled with getting all of our errands out of the way. We still want more kids, but are going to space them a little more apart. Having two kids 19 months apart is hard! Well Dave needs to leave for work soon so I have to relinquish my free time. Hopefully I will post more than every two months.

Not very exciting post. Sorry.

I feel like I need to post something b/c everyday I get closer to being a mother of two. I am not sure how much time I will have to keep my 3 readers posted after Fletcher arrives! We have been working on my list and I have crossed a few more items off. Today I ordered our double stroller which is going to be a beast, but I am a suburban Mom so I really won't be needing it unless we go to Target, the mall, the park down the street or the zoo. We decided on the Graco Quattro Tour Duo for the price, reviews, ability to fit our infant car seat and the amount of storage underneath. Carrying a diaper bag for two is going to be fun.

Archer had his 18 month check up the other day. He is between the 70th and 90th percentile for weight, height and head circumference. Our pediatrician said that he developing right on track. He did like being at the Dr.'s office though. This was the first time he really screamed while we there. However, we were told that between 15-18 months is when they see this behaviour the most. They are just starting to realize that they have some control over their environment so when that control is taken away they tend to respond very emotionally.

Last night we had our first real Archie vomit experience. Apparently toddlers tend to throw up a lot and we have no clue as to why he did last night. He was fine before and after and fortunately Dave was holding him while it happened. As parents though it is always nerve-racking when your LO isn't 100%. They cannot tell you what is wrong so it is a big guessing game. We ended up letting him sleep with us all night more for our peace of mind than anything. Surprisingly, it was the best night of sleep all 3 of us have had on months. Go figure.

Next week my sisters are coming to hang out and help out in my last week/s of pregnancy. I will be 37 weeks (full term!) one week from tomorrow. That is when I had Archer so I really could have a baby very soon. It is really much more stressful this time around b/c I am worried about Archer. I have never spent the night away from him. The longest I have ever been away from him was about 8 hours and he was with Dave that whole time. Hopefully Fletcher makes his appearance while my sisters and/or Mom are here so at least I will be comfortable knowing he is in good hands.

Well I am going to try and enjoy the rest of Archer's nap by playing Bejeweled on my phone. Happy Friday!

I know my alphabet!

Archie has been very interested in the alphabet lately. He loves alphabet books, Super Why! on PBS, he likes us to write a letter and he tells us what it is. Today he was watching Leap Frog Amazing Alphabet on Netflix and I caught him on video reciting the alphabet along with the program.

Busy times around here

As our due date approaches I find myself getting very anxious. In some respects the 2nd time around is easier, but in others it is even more daunting. I feel like I don't have the time to really prepare for Fletcher's arrival with chasing after Archie, the increased annoyances of pregnancy, the constant fatigue and desire to catch up on sleep and the worries that are constantly flowing through my head about having two boys 18 months apart.

That said, I am still me and we are knocking out my to-do list a little every day. This past weekend Dave finished the walls of Archie's new room, set up the co-sleeper, set up the pack 'n play/changing table in the front room and moved Archie's car seat behind the driver's seat. I got the Moses basket ready to go, hung up Fletcher's clothing, got the swaddlers ready, worked on birth announcements and did some more on-line shopping for baby stuff. Amazon Prime is awesome!!

Tonight we have our preadmission appointment at our hospital. Basically that means when it is go time we can skip all the paperwork and just be admitted and have a baby. We also have a babysitter for Archie so Dave & I can go out to dinner after our appt.!!! We don't get to eat kid free very often so we are pretty excited.

Archer is growing and changing so much everyday now. All the information he has been absorbing for the past 18 months is finally breaking through. He can recognize and recite most of the letters of the alphabet, count to 10, say words back to us and remember what they are, he is drawing lines with crayons instead of making dots and trying to eat them and doing dozens of other things that we think are simple amazing. He also is learning the art of the tantrum, which is not so amazing but sometimes amusing. We just ride it out and he usually gets over it in a minute or two. I know that they are going to get more impressive as time goes on though.

Look who's walking!

10 weeks to go, or less.

In a little over 2 months we will be a 2 child household. I am still feeling pretty good relatively speaking. I have the usually heartburn, difficultly getting up, putting on shoes and socks is a chore and carrying Archie upstairs makes me feel like I've run a marathon. However, I feel like I have fairly easy pregnancies compared to what I hear from other people. I am getting very excited to meet Baby F though and cannot wait to fall in love all over again when I first lay eyes on him!

(Almost 30 weeks. Ignore the fake smile.)

Archie will be 17 months old tomorrow and I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed in his short life. Every new thing he discovers and learns is such a treat as a parent to watch. Just over the last 2 days he has started walking a lot more. He will go 10 or more feet without faltering. He also chooses to walk about 1/3 of the time compared to just once or twice per day as he had been doing for a few weeks.

Another of Archie's newer developments is to point to things he wants you to see. Before he would point to things that he wanted, but now he points out things that he thinks are interesting and wants to share with you. At the airport the other day he wanted to show me how cool the luggage carousel by pointing and smiling. I love that he wants to share his world with me!

(Sleepy boy)

We spent the last week in NJ at Grandma and Grandpa R's house. It was actually quite a relaxing trip as G & G provided 2 extra sets of very helping hands. Archie did not display any sort of anxiety towards them and Dave & I were able to spend some adult time together without worrying about him crying the whole time. In fact, we were told that he didn't cry at all after we left. We got to hang out with some of Dave's friends, eat some good food, sleep in and veg out. Thank you so much Bob and Joan for giving us the gift of date night and the letting us relax while you watched Archie!

(Family picture)

(Archie with Grandma & Grandpa)

Hello 3rd trimester

Every website I check has a different date in which my 3rd trimester officially starts. Today I am 27 weeks, 5 days pregnant and I declaring myself in the 3rd trimester. Archie was born 3 weeks early and chances are likely Baby F will be too so here I am! To celebrate I made oatmeal pancakes with fresh strawberries on top for breakfast. Dave said they may have been the best pancakes I have ever made. I just followed the Oatmeal Pancake recipe and made a few minor adjustments. I ground up 2/3s of the dry mixture in my food processor and let the batter sit for about 5 minutes before cooking. Next time I will replace the white flour with whole wheat. Otherwise, a super delicious recipe.

In other news, I had my 3 hour glucose test on Tuesday morning. When I left the house Dave and Archie were still sleeping. It was super cold and snowy and I really just wanted to crawl back into bed. Anyway, I got there and they drew my blood then gave me 5 minutes to drink 10 oz. of fruit punch glucose drink. They drew my blood again at 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours. For the first 2 hours I worked on my scarf and then I started rereading Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich. It wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life, but it went by pretty quickly. I got a call yesterday saying that I passed the test and do not have gestational diabetes! I really hope that I do not have to do that again during my next pregnancy.

Yesterday Archie was playing near our bed. He likes to drop things in between the mattress and bed frame. Well he somehow slipped and smacked his eye against the frame. He only cried for a few minutes so I knew it must not be too serious, but he is sporting quite the bruise. Once we have 2 boys running around I am going to have daily panic attacks and a Costco supply of band-aids.

(tough guy with his black eye)

In the developmental front, he has been practicing walking a lot more over the last 2 days. He walked almost 5 feet when Dave was watching him and he's walked about 3-5 feet every time he has attempted it since then. To him it is like no big deal, but Dave and I are ecstatic. He also has been showing a increased interest in books. Before he would just pull them off the shelves and open and close them. Now there are about 3-4 books that he consistently brings over to me or Dave and wants us to read and reread them a dozen times. He will point to the page numbers or pictures and wait for us to tell him what it is. He also points to letters and numbers all over the place. This is such a fun age!

(in between eating crayons he will color a little)

Sleep little one...Please!

Sometimes I wish we could swaddle Archie until he leaves for college. Somehow I don't think that is feasible though. The past few months have been long ones come 2 a.m. Our dear son has no problems falling asleep. He is usually down for the count in less than 5 minutes. However, come those wee hours in the morning, he always wakes up between 1:30 and 2:30 a.m. We usually change his diaper first thing and then rock him back to sleep. After about 15 minutes of rocking he is totally out, but the second we lay him back down he wakes up again. I have stood there rubbing his back for 30 minutes and he just lays there awake. If we walk away then he starts to cry and fuss. Repeat cycle. Same outcome. We bring him into to bed with us and he is asleep in 5 minutes and sleeps until 7:00 a.m.

We tried cry it out at two different ages. Each time he cries until he throws up. Clearly this is not a viable solution. I have tried sitting next to his crib, but he cries and cries because he wants to be picked up. We have white noise going, a humidifier, a fan, we've tried music, we've tried singing. I know that sleep problems are nothing new for parents, but we are seriously getting concerned b/c we are going to be adding a newborn to the mix in about 3 months. I won't be able to always rock Archie back to sleep in middle of his nap plus we are going to be functioning on very limited sleep b/c of Baby F.

The only time Dave and I fight is at 3:00 a.m. b/c we are frustrated and don't know what to do. It is amazing that something as awesome and precious as sleep would be so hard to teach a kid to do. Is there a sleep fairy that I can send my wished to?

Bipedal child

It took 15 1/2 months but that day has come...sort of. Last week was huge for Archie. He stood up by himself for the first time, he took 2 wobbly steps and then he took 4 very confident steps all within in 5 days. He loves to stand on his own because Dave and I start throwing our hands in the air, clapping and cheering him on. What kid wouldn't love Mom & Dad acting riotously happy over something he thinks is fun anyway? Since Friday though he hasn't really shown any interest in walking. The same thing happened with crawling. He tried it, but he vastly preferred the butt scoot. Perhaps he vastly prefers crawling now to walking. He will soon learn what doors walking can open though, both literally and figuratively.

In other news, I am seriously trying to get Dave serious about some home improvement projects. We are holding out for another month or two until we hone in on the deck, fence and kitchen. In the interim I want to start on the study/guest room and Archie's new room. Dave moved the queen bed from one room to the other yesterday. We also got rid of three large items from the basement and moved the dresser and futon over to our future basement tv area. It's a pretty good start.

I am on week 2 of knitting and am getting a little more confident in my ability to manipulate my mistakes. Last week I just lost all confidence and would get really frustrated. This week I am trying my calm approach and it works surprisingly well go figure. I have learned how to both knit and purl and have worked in the Garter stitch, the Stockinette and the Reverse Stockinette stitch. Next week we are learning the Cable stitch, which I think will be really cool but has the potential to be very frustrating. After I finish the scarf I really want to learn how to make cute little hats for my 2 boys, but that requires using one of those fishing line looking circular needles. Those scare me!

My sisters are thinking about coming to visit in April which would be totally awesome if it pans out. They would be coming out right around when I hit my 37th week, which was when Archie was born. My Mom would be coming out shortly after they left so hopefully someone will be be here when I go into labor so Dave & I don't need to stress about who will watch Archer. Besides who better to take my mind off of the last few weeks of the 3rd trimester than my sisters?