Hayden's Toddler Review

Now that Hayden is 18 months old he has really started taking an interest in crayons - and not just for eating, although that happens too. Here are the things I've noticed with traditional crayons:

1.) Hayden occasionally eats them or the paper
2.) Hayden easily breaks the crayons in half or even more
3.) The crayons are not always easy for Hayden to hold
4.) His "drawings" are always really light, I guess because he can't hold the crayon with enough pressure.
5.) Crayon bits get crushed into his chair, etc.

This weekend while Mark and I were perusing the aisle of Wal-mart I found something that solves all of these issues:

TaDoodles

These are awesome! He did "sample" the crayon top, but at least he can only eat a little of it and not half a crayon. There were no crayon bits everywhere and no broken crayons. He was able to hold the crayon and apply enough pressure to make darker marks on the paper. And he seemed to have better control over his "drawing".

This is definitely something I'd recommend to other toddler mommies.

Head Down!

Today was our 35 week prenatal appointment. We found out that Corbin is now head down in proper position for his birth! The exercises worked. It's a little scary to think that we had Hayden at 37 weeks - which would be 2 weeks from now. Eek! Who knows how long Corbin will "cook"? I have been having plenty of Braxton Hicks contractions. So the uterus is getting ready! And I feel enormous, although I haven't hit as high on the scale this time - which is good! I'd like to keep it that way. So unless I gain another 15 lbs before Corbin is born (heaven forbid) I should be in the clear for keeping that goal.

I'm not looking forward to the whole labor part, but I am really looking forward to the delivery and seeing Corbin for the first time! Definitely my favorite part.

The day Hayden was born was definitely one of the best of my life. It was an amazing experience and I felt like I had been apart of something truly special. I think it must also slightly compare to finishing your first marathon or something. Along the lines of, "Yay I did it! I made it!". I think going through the pain of labor is worth the ultimate reward of holding your new baby. It makes the moment that much sweeter. I'm sure as I'm laboring, I'll hold a much different opinion - HAHA. But, luckily, I'm birthing at the birthing center where there are NO drugs. No options of drugs. No possibility of drugs. That helps me a lot. I think if I was in a hospital, I'd be too tempted to say, "Yes! Bring me those drugs NOW!" with a slight growl. Hehe. But, it doesn't last forever, and if I could do it before, I can do it again.

And for those wondering, I'm still procrastinating on my list. Although, I did "partially" clean out the Explorer, so theoretically there is room for another car seat. I also made half the arrangements for Hayden on labor day. We've also been talking to Hayden a lot about babies. Showing him pictures and pointing out babies wherever we go. But that's about it.

Hayden is still clueless about the "new arrival" we're about to have. But I'm sure he'll be a great big brother.

And somehow, my parents have squeezed in a visit to us next week, even after I had said that I probably wasn't up to company etc, a few months ago when my Mom suggested coming out BEFORE the baby was born. I would have much preferred a visit after. Because now on top of everything else, I need to clean up the house and set up the room upstairs for them. But I am happy that they will get to spend some time with Hayden. I just don't have the energy for the preparation involved for that. Oh well.

I have realized how addicted I've become to some of the blogs I read. One of my bloggers has been posting less regularly, and I think I'm going into withdrawal!! HA! Sheesh.

I think I will try to keep up with my blog once Corbin arrives. Who knows, maybe you'll get an update post that day!

Random Blogging

I have a million little blog-worthy moments to write about, but each probably not enough for a whole post, so I am doing a random blog moment post today!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hayden learned to drink out of a water bottle last week! He has about a 90% success rate, which I consider pretty good for an 18 month old. He can even stop the water flow using suction! Last night we had to draw the line though, because he was attempting his new skill on one of those 64 oz bottles...which has a much wider opening that his little toddler lips would not fit around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our friends threw a fantastic block party - even in this Texas heat. This Saturday Hayden got to enjoy the wonders of the bouncy house. He mostly just sat near the edge watching the other kids bounce, but this is more than he accomplished last time we attempted the bouncy house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had a great time yesterday out on the Lake! This is definitely one of my all-time favorite activities to do in Austin. I love floating out in the water. And yes, even this 34 week preggo got herself out there and floated around for a few hours. Our church rented 2 party barges for the event and it was awesome! My only regret is that I didn't get to visit with more people. Seems like the time flew by and I hardly got to talk to anyone. Maybe that was because I was enjoying my water taxi service from Mark. He pushed me around the water and made sure I didn't float away. He's the sweetest! And...I didn't even get sunburned - not even a little. Gotta love that 70 spf neutrogena sun block. I ALWAYS get burned, even with sun block - but not yesterday! I think I've found my new favorite sun block. And it's waterproof. Sun off the water is treacherous, I'm still in shock that I'm not a lobster. I must recommend this for my fellow sun allergic friends...you know who you are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our 8 year anniversary is coming up June 3rd. I think Mark and I have settled on dinner and a movie to celebrate - any babysitters out there? I know, we're celebrating light this year! Haha. But when one of us is like 40 lbs heavier, waddles, and can no longer fly or really get that far from Austin - that leaves...dinner and a movie. Maybe next year we'll treat ourselves to some much needed Mommy and Daddy time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, I got a ticket last Thursday. Woot. And, NO, I wasn't speeding. Our inspection sticker was out of date. Argh! I remedied that problem the same day, but now I have to go in and pay for my freakin $130 ticket! Did you know that I could illegally change lanes cheaper than have an out of date inspection sticker? Yup. And I'm looking on the Williamson county web site and it says they don't take personal checks or credit cards...uh what? Sheesh, on the Texas website it says most counties do. Why not ours? This can't be right. But I'm sure not going down there with no cash (and a toddler) just to find out. ATM here I come. So add to my pre-labor list, paying a ticket. It needs to be done by 6/22 like everything else around here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of my list, no I have not accomplished anything on it. I did re-read the important sections of my Babywise book. Oh and I reviewed the whole timing contractions part. Other than that, I'm still procrastinating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My "flying" with FlyLady, suffered last week, due to both unavoidable schedule changes, and Hayden deciding to sleep in a few days. So my routine was totally off. I was waking up at 7am, and had a perfect routine to fit that. When we get up at 8am or have to be somewhere at 9:30am, that ruins my perfectionist routine. I apparently can't recover. But no biggie, I'm not quitting, just off track a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was almost caught up with our massive mounds of laundry, until the FlyLady routine crashed and burned last week. I haven't done my one load of laundry since Tuesday...eek. Guess I need catch up before we're under another avalanche of clothes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hayden is trying some new foods! Woohoo. Today he devoured crab rangoon, yesterday he apparently ate Mediterranean pizza (even the artichoke hearts), and he's been sighted scarfing down queso (with no chips) as well. That's my boy. We must share a queso bond, since that's about all I ate while pregnant with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hayden has become...a Daddy's boy. *Sniff, sniff. Mommy no longer holds first place. Oh well. If Daddy is in the room, Daddy is the only person in the room. Haha. I must say, I like seeing him so enamored with his Daddy! Maybe he'll shoot me some of the love one of these days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, in toddler world, apparently disobeying with your eyes closed doesn't count. Hayden's new way of escaping "No". He's also using the word "No" a lot as well - whether he means it or not. And "No" with his eyes closed is a double weapon against Mom and Dad!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, that's a lot out of my brain - I think that'll have to do for today! Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.

Simple Fun

If only I could always remember to take pictures! But, I guess that's why we have memories. Yesterday was a wonderful afternoon. Now that Hayden is old enough to "get" the idea of playing with other kids, I thought a play date was in order. I have a few friends who hate that word, haha, but I have learned to accept and love it. So, in honor of our really HOT weather, I put out the wading pools and sprinkler mats for a water filled afternoon. There's nothing as entertaining as watching 3 toddlers play with water. From filling up their cups with grassy wading pool water and taking a sip, to playing in the mud (Hayden of course), it was hilarious. And I had a good time chatting with the Mommies as well.

We don't have the greatest backyard. There is no designer landscaping, nice flowers, or perfect grass. We have a rickety back porch which needs some TLC - or maybe just needs to be put out of it's misery, but it is a deck - and that's all that matters. The patio chairs that went with our little table have long since "given up the ghost", we have 2 of the 4 set left. The birds seem to have been unraveling them for nesting materials over that last few years. But, we have a few trees to provide shade, a freshly mowed lawn thanks to my hubby, and a water hose to fill the wading pool - and that was enough. I drug out a few camping chairs for us to sit in, sliced up some cantaloupe (is that really how you spell that? weird), and enjoyed the afternoon with my friends and babies.

And it was great. It didn't have to be beautiful. It didn't have to be perfect. It was just fun. How many times have I avoided inviting people over because I didn't think our house was clean enough, nice enough, whatever enough? Sure, the perfect HGTV setting would have included misters, candles, perfect picnic-ware and a designer landscaped backyard - but who lives in that world?

Multi Tasking

My brain, as you probably are all noticing, is quite foggy lately. I'll be going to the pantry to get...uh...something...when I realize what I really wanted to do was move the laundry. I'll head to Hayden's room, only to realize that I actually need to use the bathroom...which is across the hall, not in fact IN Hayden's room. So multitasking lately leaves my brain short circuiting. I was feel the brain strain this morning when I took note of the things I was trying to do simultaneously:

I was boiling water for lunch, while drying and putting away dishes, while pulling out bread to defrost, and oh yeah pull out chicken to defrost for the two meals I'm making tonight, while heating up Hayden's lunch in the microwave, while pouring diced apples into a bowl for Hayden, while pulling out string cheese for Hayden (also thinking to myself that I should serve some cheese for the toddler guests coming over tomorrow), while noticing the trash is full and I need a new bag, while trading my fetal heartbeat monitor for a toy car more appropriate to play with, while noticing the washer stopped and moving clothes to the dryer, while wiping off Hayden's high chair, while stopping Hayden, unsuccessfully, from turning off the laptop, while pouring the macaroni into the boiling water, while filling up Hayden's sippy cup, then cutting up Hayden's chicken, while soothing Hayden's impatient cries for food, then putting Hayden up in the high chair and bringing over all his food, while pouring in milk and butter and making my lunch (if you can call mac-n-cheese lunch), while GOING CRAZY.

Hehehehe. No wonder I kept opening the pantry door to look for laundry.

P.S. Another reason I think I'm a slow learner: My husband is a genius. So I'm watching him dry dishes this weekend and as he dries the dishes he makes little piles of dry dishes on the counter. Ah hah! All my life I've been putting away each dry dish one at a time. No wonder it takes so long and I hate it so much. Dry all, THEN put away...the light bulb is dim, but it is on.

Countdown

So now that the baby shower is over, it's finally setting in that Corbin is coming...soon. With a due date of July 3rd, that gives me 6 weeks and 5 days or 47 days to get everything ready. And I should technically try to be done by 3 weeks and 5 days or 26 days, since Hayden in fact came around 37 weeks, not 40 weeks.

My "To Do" list:

1. Clean our bedroom to make room for Corbin. We currently don't have enough room in the house for everyone to have their own room, so for now, Corbin will be "rooming" with us.
2. Set up the pack-n-play that Corbin will be using to sleep in.
3. Clean out the 3-drawer dresser in the closet so I can have a place to put clothes for Corbin. Currently my clothes occupy this.
4. Pack the "birthing" bag full of goodies for the big day. I also need to review what it is I need to bring as well. The birthing center has a longer list of needs than a hospital.
5. Pick out the "first" outfit for Corbin. I.e. what he will wear on the 15 minute drive home.
6. Make arrangements for Hayden during Corbin's birth.
7. Continue making the house look "presentable" for when relatives start arriving.
8. Watch the "Ergo" baby carrier DVD so I can make sure I'm using it right!
9. Clean out the Explorer
   
10. Put the infant car seat back in the Explorer
11. Buy and put batteries in all the swings/infant seats/mobiles etc.
12. Put together infant bouncer seat
13. Set up swing...somewhere
14. Get my mother's day gift of a spa pregnancy massage and pedi while I am in fact still pregnant.
    
15. Breathe....

Well that's a quick off the top of my head list. But I think that's enough for now. I hope in the coming weeks I will be posting about the completion of these tasks, not the procrastination of them!

Baby Shower - The Aftermath

Take one very pregnant "Me"
(note the pic is from Hayden's dedication last week so I might be even bigger now)

A bunch of my wild and crazy friends

And you get...

THE BEST 2nd BABY SHOWER EVER!

**Disclaimer: It's come to my attention that a few folks were accidentally left off the invite list. This was definitely a mistake, and I'm sorry to anyone that didn't receive an invite! You are loved!!! To look on the bright-side I probably saved you 5 lbs because the cake and food was just THAT good. Yum. So feel skinny and proud!

I don't yet have the pics from the shower (my wonderful friend Shannon took pics for me so I'll be getting those soon). But I do have pics of the aftermath that was my living room after unloading the car!!!



We were blessed with diapers, wipes, cute clothes, gift cards, bath time goodies, candles, bottles, nursing necessities, toys, and even goldfish!! I am blown away by the wonderfulness of my friends. My sweet hostesses got me the ERGO baby carrier!!! My one baby luxury wish!

The cake was adorable...alas I currently only have pics of what happened to the cake after a houseful of hungry women attacked it. I'll have pretty pics of it later:


And of course, I have to show off the cutest diaper cake ever, made by my own awesome friend Shannon (I think you have a business opportunity here!!):

Cute huh?

I even got a wonderful scrapbook page with everyone's congratulations on it! I can't wait to start Corbin's scrapbook.

Speaking of amazing talent, check out this AWESOME cross stitch from my good friend Linda:


Is she talented or what???? Mark and I loved it so much we both said "We can't put this in the kids room - no one will see it!! We need to put it in the living room or main hall so everyone can see how cute this is!! Adorable.

When I got home we unloaded the car and I started showing Mark all of the wonderful gifts. I felt truly pampered! I am set for yummy Starbucks, wonderful Target, and many other awesome stores. It was definitely a Pamper Shower!!!

Of course, Mark fell asleep mid-showing. Partially my fault, because I decided to write out Thank you notes while sorting through all the gifts and showing Mark. I wanted to make sure I had all the gifts straight and nothing was left unthanked! I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends.

And now, I think I will go pass out. It's after midnight! Thank you all for a wonderful day.

World of Hayden

The world through a toddler's eyes:

• A vacuum cleaner is an evil monster that MUST be stopped!
• A donut is not a food fit for consumption and must be spit out immediately, it is on the same level as eating one's toe lint (which Hayden has tried and thankfully spit out).
• Goldfish off the bathroom floor, day old chicken nugget piece found under the high chair, and random pieces of carpet fuzz are acceptable snacks
• Diaper changes must be avoided at all costs - it is preferable to sit in ones own poop than to put up with this indignity!
• Hangers, wire shoe shelves, mops, and brooms are the most desirable toys for a high class toddler
• If you don't like what Mom or Dad tells you to do, an acceptable method of avoidance is to put your blanket on your head or close your eyes tightly
• Mom really likes it when you pull all the clothes out of the dryer.
• The toilet brush handle is very tasty, unfortunately one must "break in" to the bathroom to retrieve this valuable item.
• If food doesn't quite make it into your mouth, it is acceptable to shove it in with the palm of your hand.
• If you need your hands free, shoving your blanket under your chin or knee also works.
• Mom and Dad appreciate the wonderfulness of your blanket, so you allow them to kiss the slimy, uh I mean, precious tag.
• Mom's toes are crazy, wild animals that must be tamed at all costs!

And to end this Friday post, how about a song from Hayden's Old MacDonald CD:

Turkey in the Straw

As I was a-goin'
On down the road
With a tired team
And a heavy load
I cracked my whip
And the leader sprung
I says day-day
To the wagon tongue

Turkey in the straw
Turkey in the straw
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up
A high tuck a-haw
And hit 'em up a tune called
Turkey in the Straw

Went out to milk
And I didn't know how
I milked the goat
Instead of the cow
A monkey sittin'
On a pile of straw
A winkin' at
His mother-in-law

Turkey in the straw
Turkey in the straw
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up
A high tuck a-haw
And hit 'em up a tune called
Turkey in the Straw

I came to the river
And I couldn't get across
So I paid five dollars
For a big bay hoss
Well, he wouldn't go ahead
And he wouldn't stand still
So he went up and down
Like an old saw mill

Turkey in the straw
Turkey in the straw
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up
A high tuck a-haw
And hit 'em up a tune called
Turkey in the Straw

Did you ever go fishin'
On a warm summer day
When all the fish
Were swimmin' in the bay
With their hands in their pockets
And their pockets in their pants
Did you ever see a fishie
Do the Hootchy-Kootchy Dance?

Turkey in the straw
Turkey in the straw
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up
A high tuck a-haw
And hit 'em up a tune called
Turkey in the Straw

Where do they come up with this stuff?

Adventures in Closet Land

Last night Ms. Jenny joined us for dinner. I made really ugly quesadillas, but she ate them anyway. But in my defense, she brought hard-as-bricks cookies, so I think we were equally matched on the food front. I'm so glad she took all the cookies home because I would probably be munching on them right now if she hadn't!! I don't need any help on the weight gaining front, thanks!

Hayden was super happy to have a visitor! He showed off his new ball throwing technique. Imagine an Olympic discus thrower. He's got the spin down! This, of course, meant that he was not interested in going to bed at 8pm. He was way to wound up to even think about being tired! But we finally did get him to bed around 8:30pm.

We're just about to relax and enjoy some adult time when Super Nanny is interrupted by a weather announcement. Tornado warning and storms head our way. Hmmm...that's no good. But the storm is still about an hour off, so I impatiently wait for Super Nanny to come back on. But it never does!! Argh, they sit there and show us those same graphs for 30 minutes. Yes, I get it, storms, possible tornado activity, yes I understand. I must get back to Super Nanny!! This episode looked good. These parents are insane! But no, it never does.

Finally the storm looks to be about 15 minutes off. We start to hear major rumbles of thunder. So we decide we should retreat to the one area of our house that has no outside walls - our bedroom closet. I dig out a ton of crap - wow our closet was messy - and make a little "nest" for us. I get a bottled water, a sippy cup of water for Hayden, some goldfish, a few toys, a blanket and some pillows, and the laptop. At the last possible minute, we go grab Hayden - he's passed out. We lay him down on the blankets, where snoozes for all of 5 minutes. The hail started coming down really hard, then his little head pops up! Where are we? We're in the closet! Yay! Hayden has recently discovered the wonder of hiding behind the clothes in the closet, it's become his favorite hiding place. So he immediately dives in behind the clothes, all giggles. Playtime! Ah, so much for sleeping.

Trying to fit Mark, a fidgeting baby, and a 33 week preggo in a closet - HA! It was cramped to say the least. And it was hot! Ugh. But the storm blew through in about 20 minutes, so it was bearable. Supposedly our area got 2-3 inch hail, but we never made it outside in time to see the hail before it melted. Hayden went back to bed surprisingly well. Just a little midnight playtime!

Mark looked around the house after the storm, but didn't see any damage. Of course it was dark. And I haven't made it outside yet today. My Explorer already has hail damage from a storm we got caught in a month after we bought it! So a few more dents probably won't stand out. Who knows? Maybe we'll get the dents fixed this time!

Preggo Acrobatics

Today was another prenatal appointment. I have another in two weeks, then we start the every week appointments. I guess that means I'm REALLY pregnant. Hehehe.

Last week at the ultrasound we found out that Corbin is head up. For all you preggo-ignorant, that's what we call breech. Babies need to come out head first, not feet or butt first. Right now Corbin's head is up, not down. That's no good. So today I got a worksheet of "exercises" to get him to turn. Some of the crazy poses I'll be doing daily:

• Lying at an incline (head down) on an ironing board. HA! Luckily Mark purchased the "Total Gym" that can be used instead of massacring my cheap ironing board.
• Sticking tons of pillows under my butt, so my butt is up and my head is down.
• An all-fours position with my butt in the air...hehe.

Other methods include:

• Putting a cold ice pack on the top of my stomach and a heating pad on the bottom of my stomach. I guess this is the "let's make the baby uncomfortable" method.
• Using a flashlight on the bottom of my belly - AKA the "Where's that light coming from?" method.
• Having Mark talk to the baby near the bottom of my stomach - AKA the "What did you say? I can't hear you all the way up here" method.

So the next time you iron or use a flashlight - think of us! HA!

Oh and in super news. Our friends had their little boy yesterday morning!!! That means we're next!

Raining Day

I woke up this morning to the sounds of thunder and plenty of rain pouring down. My favorite! I love these raining days.

Many of you have been asking about what FlyLady is. I linked it in my previous post last week, but I know you all are too busy to read ALL of these incredibly long and boring posts. HA!

One of my least favorite things is definitely laundry. I HATE folding and putting away laundry. Which is probably why it piles up undone, or sits in the dryer waiting for me. However, FlyLady has actually helped me in this area!!! It's wonderful. Growing up, we always did all the laundry in one day, in a huge laundry marathon. It stunk. And I've still been thinking that's the way it needs to be done to do it "right". But I have learned a new way. Every morning I throw in ONE load and I fold the dry load from yesterday. That way I only have to fold 1 load of laundry every day. And in a week's time that's 7 loads of laundry. Now unless you have a family of 5 or something, I believe that I can get all the laundry done in 7 loads! And no marathon laundry day. I spend only 15 minutes on laundry each day!! It rocks. And some days are much easier than others - like when I only have to fold a load of towels like today! Anywho, I'm sure the rest of the world has figured this out and I'm the only slow one. But I know now!! And I'm never going back to the laundry marathon.

A Good Day

Today is turning into another good day for me. Still keeping up the energy! Woot. I even got to bed late last night and woke up early again with Hayden this morning.

I'm enjoying the weather. Overcast and looking like it's about to rain. These are those lazy days I used to dream about when I was working. Whenever it was rainy and gloomy, I used to sit in my office wishing I was sitting at home, drinking some tea, and reading a good book. I used to have this little decorative glass ornament in my office that had the coziest looking arm chair on it and it said "No place like home" or something like that. I'll have to dig it out one day. Haha, it's been about 20 months and I still haven't unpacked my box from work. I guess that makes sense since I don't really need any of that stuff. It's funny how important it all seemed when I left. Now I think I could toss most of it and not even blink. Even the scripts and things I worked so hard on, and all the stuff I learned. I guess your priorities really change as time goes on. Different setting, different kind of work. My main concerns used to be things like getting to work on time, making sure I was dressed "business casual" enough, or making sure people knew that I was valuable/smart/whatever. Now my main concerns are the health of Hayden and Corbin, making sure Hayden is getting enough interaction and opportunities to learn and play, and making sure we all stay fed, bathed and clothed!

And it may not sound as important as being the lead QA engineer on company X's next latest release, but it's actually way more important and much more work than I've ever done in my life. Every little snuggle and kiss, and soothing each "owie", and seeing the happy look on his face when he's eating his "yum yum" is worth a million "Good Jobs". And making a great smelling dinner and looking at my actually clean kitchen beats all the reports and finished projects hands down. I love these little snippets of time during the day when the house is quiet and Hayden is pretending to nap. I love watching him play and try new things. Or taking him to the park. Or sitting in a restaurant with him, enjoying a nice bowl of soup and watching him enjoy his sandwich while he smiles at all the other customers. And I can't wait until little Corbin joins our family. Another opportunity to bond with another soul. To get to experience all the wonders of that first year all over again. Nursing, cuddling, the first smile, his little burps, wrapping him up in a little receiving blanket, learning to lift his head up, rolling over, sitting up, walking, trying new foods, it's all such a miracle to watch and a gift to be apart of. I can't wait to get that first glimpse of him. Will he have dark hair like Mark, or be another light haired baby like Hayden? Will he be chubby or skinny? What color will his eyes be? How big will he be? What will his birthday be?

So often we focus on the sleeping (or lack thereof) and crying and all the other harder parts, but we forget to mention all the joyful moments that are dotted between each hard night or each long day. We forget how hard they made us laugh or how our heart melted with their first smile or first "Mamma". And to get to have two wonderful little boys!!! I must be blessed.

Updates

First off, my energy has stayed up for most of the day! I did run into my limitations though when I suggested Mark and I head out for a walk this evening. Yeah, we made it 3 blocks..haha. The belly is getting too heavy to tote around, I start to get cramps. I think it's just from the weight.

We also had the specialist consultation appointment today about Corbin's kidney. The doctor was very nice. There's not much new news, just a waiting game at this point. They need to do an ultrasound once Corbin is born to determine if what we're seeing are cysts or a blockage. Cysts would mean no kidney function. A blockage would mean a possible surgery to attempt to restore some kidney function.

I think I've pretty much come to terms with the situation. Although, I'd love for Corbin to be completely healthy, we can deal with this issue. I'm just so thankful that his other kidney is healthy.

Hayden has the worst of it, we had to wait for the doctor for over an hour. Poor little guy was climbing the walls AND getting hungry. Our appointment was at 4. We got there around 3:40, got called back around 5. Saw the doctor about 5:15 or so. Mark was running around after Hayden the entire time. So maybe it was Mark who really had the worst of it. Even though it was a pediatric urologist office, it was still hard to control an active toddler for that long. I did remember to bring goldfish and pretzels though!

There was another couple there with a 2 day old baby. They also had a toddler at home that was Hayden's age. I tried to ignore the fact that the Mom looked like a zombie! Haha. Although, it was nice to see the baby just quietly sleeping there all that time. It gave me hope. HA! I just need to remember they don't come out running. It takes time to get that active.

I've now retired from the grocery duties. I handed off that responsibility to Mark. Lifting Hayden into that shopping cart has become a bit much. He's a solid little guy, or as our pediatrician says, husky. Although, he's had a growth spurt, so I think he's lost a bit of his huskiness. Right now Mark is doing some late night shopping for us. He's a sweetheart.

I'm hoping to make it to bed early tonight, so maybe I can have 2 days of energy!! Night everyone.

Energy? Where did you come from?

It's amazing. Hayden woke up at the crack of dawn. But I don't get up at the crack of dawn, so instead I agreed to get up at 7am. And I wasn't tired! I wasn't feeling like complete crap. I have no idea why. I didn't get anymore sleep than usual. I didn't take some magic energy pill. But whoa. I am not dragging today. This is awesome because I have been dragging for about a month now. Like, barely able to leave the couch tired.

It's 9:30 and I've already done dishes, laundry, changed the sheets on the bed, gotten dressed, and played with Hayden! Usually, I haven't left the couch yet. I hope this energy stays. I hate feeling horrible all day.

I'm also still loving FlyLady. Granted I think today is actually day 7, and I'm still on day 3. But I've got the routine for day 3 down! Haha. Baby steps. My sink is clean, I'm dressed, and I have my little reminders posted!

This week was supposed to be a water play date for Hayden and 2 of his "friends". But as all you mothers know, this is the quickest way to invite sickness into the house! The minute you plan something, they wake up the next morning sick. So no friends over this week. Hayden woke up with a cough. Argh.

But maybe the combination of cough medicine and Hayden's early morning start will mean a nice long nap this afternoon.

My little boy is getting too big. As I type this he just crawled up into our chair - a feat he was previously unable to do. Sheesh.

Last night, in my typical over-worried Mom mode, I was complaining to Mark that I'm worried Hayden doesn't know enough words. I had been reading that at 18 months he should have between 5-20 words. Some sites just say 20. Hayden is not that verbal. I also don't think he understands as much as maybe he should either. So I pulled out his Old MacDonald book and started pointing out the animals. I was hoping he might learn dog or cow or something. Of course, in Hayden fashion, the word he came out with: "Moo". Moo? I guess beggars can't be choosers. I will have to settle for Moo. So his words are: Bye-bye, Mamma, Dadda, More, No, Uh-Oh, and Moo. And I'm not too sure if he really is saying More or not.

Anywho, I'm just a worry wart. I'm sure he's fine. He's definitely amazing me with his physical and fine motor skills, as well has his problem solving skills. He seems to excel there. So maybe the other stuff will come in time. I know he's a smart cookie. Too smart sometimes.

Now, whenever I tell him to do something he doesn't like, he'll put his blanket over his head. I guess blanket is protecting him from having to listen! Haha. Silly boy.

Yay!

I got my books today! AND Mark got me a strawberry cream shortcake for Mother's Day. What a sweetheart. Now I wish I hadn't stuffed myself at lunch today, ha! I will wait until Mark gets home to cut the cake.

I'm so excited about my books. I got The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Great Photos, The Basic Book of Photography, and Toddlerwise.

I can't decide which to read first! Time for relaxation and maybe a bit of reading.

Happy Friday

Yay! It's Friday - my favorite day. I'm definitely looking forward to this weekend. Not because I have any plans, but because I DON'T have plans! Hahaha. Which means we can do whatever we want without having to worry about what time it is or what time we need to get back to the house or whatever. Hopefully, we'll take advantage of that and actually do something fun and not just sit around the house all day.

I think Saturday I'll pull out the wading pool and other water toys I bought for Hayden and let him have fun playing in the water! Yesterday we visited a friend and Hayden got to play in the water with his little friend. They had such a good time! Hehe, he still smells like sunscreen. I just need a giant wading pool to put myself in, haha.

I realize now that for Mother's day I should have asked for a day off!! Haha. Now that's a gift. Of course, I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself anyway. If Mark's home, I'd rather spend time with him and Hayden then be anywhere else. Although my Mommy brain is fried. I kind of think that's gonna be permanent. HA!

Yesterday we had another ultrasound. We saw that Corbin has lots of hair! And cute chubby cheeks. His kidney cysts didn't grow much, which is good news. The smaller cyst didn't really grow at all. We have an appointment with the specialists on Monday. I assume this will just be a consultation, since everything they need to do will happen after Corbin is born. My only dread is the whole conversation about how we plan to deliver Hayden at the birthing center and not with a doctor. Most doctors are not approving of this and we get the "weirdo" look. But our Dr. who performs Corbin's ultrasounds said there is no reason why we can't deliver at the birthing center because this issue is not life threatening to Corbin during delivery. It's more an issue of after he's born he needs to be started on antibiotics as a precaution against kidney infections and get tests done to see what can be done. I pray that the doctors will be understanding and supportive of our choice to have Corbin at the birthing center.

We also found out that Corbin has decided to flip again so that his head is up now!! He was perfectly positioned last time with his head down, but alas, he didn't stay that way. He has two weeks to get back down, or we're in trouble! I can tell this child will be my little trouble-maker. Haha. I don't think I can have Corbin at the birthing center if he's breech. So little guy, you MUST flip back down in the next two weeks. I think I'm gonna start looking up exercises to do to get him to turn.

Oooh, and the books I ordered from Amazon shipped today! I'm so excited. Most are child/toddler books, but I also got a digital photography book for me!!! It's something I've been interested in learning for awhile. And granted, I don't have a nice camera (yet), but there's no reason I can't start learning. So they should get here by May 12th.

And in Hayden news...I hear this sucking noise, look to see what he's doing, and uh, yeah, he's sucking on the handle of the toilet brush. Luckily for him, I haven't used it yet, it's new. But still. ACK! He's also been rearranging my entire house...things that go in the living room are in the dining room, things in his bedroom that go in the bathroom...he's a little "collector". Right now he's walking around the living room with the lid to his toy box on his head. His also become a big kisser - but with hazards. The first kiss is usually sweet, but then he goes in for a nose crunching, head bashing death kiss. Ow! And poor Mark got licked instead of kissed this morning. We must work on this.

I hope you all enjoy your weekends!!

Slowing Down

Time management. Not an area I've ever had any skill in, unfortunately. And now with the reality of two kids on the horizon, I feel like it's something I should get better at.

Saying No. Also, not an area I have any skill in. Seems like this skill is crucial to time management.

Prioritizing. Again, I suck at this. Which is probably why I have trouble A.) with time management and B.) Saying no.

And I'm sure there are a million my contributors to my time management demise.

How do you decide what things you can and can't fit into your schedule/life? How do you deal with the guilt of not being able to do all things for all people/groups? How do you ignore the criticism of those that disagree with your choices?

How do you reconcile what you want to do with what you actually have energy to do?

I'm serious...for those who excel at this time management stuff...what's your secret?

Quality Time With My Shower Buddy

So FlyLady has indeed made an impact on my life. Day #1 flooded my kitchen. Now we're in Day #3. So in addition to keeping a shiny sink, now we're getting dressed! Woot. It's so easy to just hang out in my PJs all day, I mean, I'm not going anywhere most days, why dirty up more laundry! Ha. So you're supposed to get dressed completely - even shoes and makeup. Okay, I generally skimp on the makeup considering I take afternoon naps and don't need smeared foundation on my pillow cases. But for the last two days I have been trading in my PJs for real clothes. Today I even thought it'd be a good idea to get a nice shower in this morning. So during the morning PBS shows, I put up the baby gate on the stairs, put the still drying cleaning products out of reach and headed to the bathroom. I kept the door open so I could keep an "ear" on Hayden. Generally, this works. He might come in and poke on the shower curtain or stick his head in the shower, but I've learned to live with the interruptions and cold breeze. I even took the toilet paper off the roll so I didn't come out to a TP'd house.

All is going well for about 2 minutes, then I get the usual poking of the shower curtain. No biggie. This goes on for a minute or two. Then, what the? Hayden has done a flying superman dive head first into the tub, right under the shower curtain. Yes, my boy has jumped in the shower with me, fully clothed and he brought along his blanket! I quickly throw the blanket back out of the tub, but it's too late for Hayden. He's wet. So I end up taking a shower while Hayden plays in the tub. I have found the secret to avoiding the slipping and sliding hazard - just let him wear socks in the tub. Or heck, all his clothes. Argh.

So we had to quickly strip him and dry him off after I cut my shower short. Then he decides that he prefers to wear just his diaper, no clothes thank you. He has also now discovered the secret to the successful house chase. I used to be able to catch him when chasing around the couch by just changing directions and catching him when he came back around. But he's too smart for that now. I change directions and now he does too!!! Crap! Toddler vs. 8 month preggo....that's a close match. Somehow I won, and he is wearing clothes now.

So after all that, I'm ready to give up for the day - it's already 10:45. But, I need to buy some mother's day cards and mail off my Mom's mother's day gift. Remind me never to go to the UPS store with Hayden ever again. No need to relay the story, just imagine an active toddler and a store full of packing materials at eye level.

Then we head to the mall to look for a gift for Mark's mom. By this point, I really want to be at home. Hayden disapproves of being confined to the stroller. I'm looking at jewelry, trying to pick out something she'll like. I can't remember whether she prefers clip ons or pierced or both. I end up with a cute bracelet I think she'll like. The checkout girl asks, "Aw, what's wrong with him?" Haha, uh nothing, he's just a toddler who doesn't want to be shopping for jewelry. Lunch is coming up, but I decided Hayden has suffered enough so we stop at the play area in the mall for some much needed playtime. After the third "escape" from the area, I decide we're ready to leave. Time to head home for lunch.

I also love how I tell my UPS story to my Mom and her response, as usual, is something about how I need to discipline him better and he needs to learn how to behave. HE'S NOT EVEN 18 MONTHS OLD. The only words he really knows/understand/listens to are "Out" (as it get out of the room), "Yum yum" (food), Dadda, Momma, "Down" (as in come down the stairs, get down off the couch), "Bye Bye", "No" and Blanket. So with that vocabulary, how do I convey the following messages:

1. Do not run out the door of the UPS store
2. Do not run behind the counter of the UPS store
3. Do not pull out the drawers of the copy machines
4. Do not shake the stands holding up the mother's day card rack
5. Do not grab the pen while mommy is trying to fill out the address form
6. Do not grab the random papers in the store.
7. Do not try to wiggle out of mommy's arms

Also, add to that the fact that I am not really in a shape where I can hold him in my arms for an extended period of time...

Then she reminds me that I will soon have two, and then what will I do. Thanks Mom, that's the pep talk I needed. This coming from my mother who never had two children to take care of. Now's where your advice has run out. How can you tell me about two, I'm an only child. And from your stories, I was a freakin angel - perfect in public, potty trained at 12 months, never touched things I wasn't supposed to, never did anything apparently. Her only story is about me biting her ONCE. At which she smacked me across the room on reflex. Ouch, ok. I do not want to use her parenting style. I didn't feel close to her growing up, and still feel that way. So I don't think that method worked, other than creating a problem free parent life. I'll take the problems.

Okay, I think today calls for a nap!

Shiny Sink Prevails!

You'll all be insanely happy to know that my sink is still shining. And I now see how this works. This shininess is somehow contagious. I.e. I wake up and look at the sink, then I look over at the counter tops and think...wow that's a mess, I should do some dishes and make my counter top match my sink! And no, I didn't overhaul the kitchen, but I did do all the dishes and tomorrow I think I'll tackle the counter tops by the sink. Baby steps I guess.

This weekend I supposed we'll try to look at some new sinks. I casually mention to my Mom that it would be nice to get new counter tops and within 10 minutes she's outlined a whole plan of attack for redoing our kitchen. She's a doer...I'm a dreamer. Haha. As in, I say, it'd be nice to get new counter tops, maybe even reface the cabinets. Which translates into...it sounds good in my mind, but I have little intention of acting on this fantasy. However, she hears this and instantly has a step by step way of how to get to a perfectly redone kitchen. Including checking estimates against refacing the cabinets vs. getting new cabinets. Uh huh. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. And I don't think now is a good time to tear my kitchen apart, considering Corbin is due to arrive in less than 2 months. He doesn't even have a place to sleep at this point, I think that might top the list priority-wise.

I could use a bit more "doer" in my personality, but alas, that is not me. I'm sure this drives my Mom nuts.

But in awesome "doer" news...for those that have ventured over to our house in the last 7 years, you may have become accustomed to our "no ice, no fridge water" quirk. For those of you who are lost now, we purchased a water softener right after we bought the house. When the water softener does it's 2 am cycle to clean salt is released into the lines if your bypass isn't working. Apparently, ours wasn't working or hasn't ever worked. Hence the ice maker in our fridge would pull in salty water in the middle of the night leaving us with salty ice and salt in the water line of the fridge. Yum. So for 7 years we've been content to put up a sign on the fridge that says "Don't use ice". HA!

Well, in honor of our new wonderful fridge, I decided that I would NOT ruin this fridge with salt (it can rust out the ice maker), and that it didn't matter how much it cost, we were going to fix this problem. $60 later...the problem is fixed. 60 bucks!!?? I've been living with salty ice for 7 years and all it took was 60 lousy bucks. Argh, what's wrong with us. What can we say...we've been busy. HA. So now everyone can come over and enjoy cold tasty water from the fridge and some ice cubes to go with it! Woot.

And as a reminder to all you children out there, this Sunday is Mother's Day!! What are you doing for your Mothers (if they are still with us that is)? I have made my mother a gift. It took over 5 hours total and it was complete craziness, but I finished today. Last month my mother sent me a page from a magazine that had this cute little purse shown. Somehow she got it into her head that I'm some kind of creative seamstress (which I am now painfully aware that I am not) and asked if I would make if for her for her birthday (which was actually May 3rd). I, of course, said yes. Well I didn't finish it in time for the birthday, but I did get it done before Mother's day (I'll just have to priority mail it). Let me tell you, this was not easy for me. First, I have only really made things from patterns. You know, you go to the fabric store or walmart, buy those envelopes with the patterns in them. Cut them out, follow the directions, sew and voila! Ok, I can barely do those, but I CAN do them. This was totally different. This was a picture of a purse. A picture... And the purse had a lining. And a strap. And these plastic loop things to hold the strap on. And ribbon to close the purse. Uh ok. And confession time - I have no spacial abilities WHATSOEVER. I mean, I totally fail those tests where you have to make something fit in a space, or turn things around in your head. My eyes start to cross when the patterns take about putting wrong side to wrong side and blah blah. I really can't see things like that in my head. It's a wonder I have a creative bone in my body. So the idea of me making my own pattern? Ha ...ha...ha ...ha. You're kidding right?

Well, somehow I managed to piece together this purse from two different patterns of purses, plus a little trial and error. And surprisingly, this thing does look like a purse. Of course, the stitching is way less than perfect, there are plenty of crooked stitches and such, but it is a purse with all of the above mentioned features. I'm proud that I completed it, although I realize that my Mother will probably not be happy with it. And that makes me sad. I imagine her either thinking it's a sad interpretation of the picture she sent and blame it on my deficient skill, or she'll take it to the other end and call it a sloppy interpretation and blame it on my lack of care or love for her. :( Both are not reactions I'd like after I spend 5 hours stretching my minimal sewing skills to create what she requested. But I'm preparing myself for this. If those two reactions aren't seen, then I'm sure the third reaction that would show up is that she would be unsatisfied with the features of the purse. For instance, the purse is smaller than the purses she usually carries, therefore no good for her. Or, she requested a snap, not a ribbon tie, to close the purse, even though even the picture had a ribbon tie. I couldn't get the snap on correctly, so I gave up and did a ribbon instead. Plus, with my crappy hand sewing skills, I figured the wear and tear of snapping and unsnapping would eventually break the threads of the snap anyway and it wouldn't last. So yeah, that's what I'm thinking her reactions will be. Why I bother, I don't know.

But I will include a picture for all of you to see. No extreme closeups...no need to see my poor sewing.

Perserverence

No I did not let my mini-flood stop me from completing my sink shining task!!! My kitchen may be a wreck, my cabinet water logged, but damn it if I don't have a shiny sink! Take that FlyLady.

Why do these things seem to happen to me?

So for over a year now I've been trying to figure things out at home - as in, how does one live and survive as a SAHM (stay at home mom). I run across an inspiring website for getting my butt organized: FlyLady

It seems interesting, so why not, I'll give it a try. Basically, they break lots of stuff down into baby steps and try to encourage and motivate you with gobs of emails, etc.

Day #1 (which happened to be today, I must start things on Mondays cause I'm anal like that) all you had to do was clean your kitchen sink! Make it shine they say. So part of that was a disinfecting process where you fill your sink up with hot water and 1 cup of bleach and let sit for an hour. Simple enough. Right.

I, of course, start this process right before I leave for a yummy lunch with Jenny. A side note: lunch rocked. We went to Midori and I had the most fabulous roll ever, the Midori Boca Raton roll. I could have eaten 10 of these rolls they were so good!!!!! It's deep fried roll of smoked salmon, crab, cream cheese, with Masago, and scallions with a spicy sauce on top. So yummy!! Sorry I ate most of it Jenny - next time we'll get 2! Anywho...

I come back home to a wonderful bleach smell, yuck. Before I go into the kitchen I lay Hayden down for a nap. I then head into the kitchen to continue my sink shining task of the day! And, uh, what the heck??!!!!!! There is water everywhere and about 1/3 of the sink water is gone. Oh my goodness, don't tell me our sink is leaking!!! I throw open the cabinet underneath to find all my cleaning supplies swimming around enjoying the new lake I've made for them. I just have to thank God that Hayden is napping during all of this - that's the one good thing. I can't imagine the craziness that would have ensued had he been awake. I can see him now playing in bleach water, drinking cleaning supplies!!!

So of course, I pull everything out and dry the already long suffering cabinet (we've had leaks before). Then I get to the task of finding the leak. I assume it's a pipe leak, or a seal, or the garbage disposal, something like that. I feel around...dry...dry..dry. Hmmm...Okay, well maybe it dried off, so let me fill the sink again and watch. All the pipes, seals, stay dry, but wait...drip drip drip... Okay people!!! My sink is leaking!!! No, not the pipes, or seals, or any of that. The actual sink BASIN. Water is leaching through the stainless steel sink basin. I guess there must be a crack or something, but the water leak is definitely not near any seal or pipe, but right where the flat part of the sink begins to curve upward. The reason we had never noticed this before, is that I never fill the sink basin up with water. I usually just run the hot water if I'm washing, or use the dishwasher. I don't ever fill up the sink. I have NEVER heard of this...stainless steel leaking??!!

This is even worse of a problem than a leaky pipe. A pipe you can fix, seal, replace, tighten, whatever. But a whole sink? Lowes here I come.

And that brings me to my next dilemma...what kind of sink do I want? Well, I for sure know what kind of sinks I like, however, none of those go with our 1980s speckled beige formica counter tops. I casually mention to Mark that if we're going to get a new sink, we should just get a whole new kitchen!!! Because if I'm gonna replace the sink, I should get counter tops to match, and those counter tops should be matched to my nice new cabinets too! Maybe we'll put in new tile too! I already have it all planned in my head as I talk to Mark. Mark's response, "Hahaha yeah yeah". I'm assuming that's a no.

Well in that case, I guess I'll just get the 64 buck stainless steel one, thanks! Of course I know nothing about sinks. Like what size? And we have a water filter faucet in addition to the regular faucet, do I have to drill a hole out for that? It was already there when we moved in. Argh. Why do these things seem to happen to me? Has anyone else ever had their stainless steel sink leak?

I called my parents to ask and they thought I was a nutball. I'm sure they are talking about me right now, laughing that I don't know how to find a leak in the seal of the sink or pipe or whatever. NO NO NO, I swear, it's coming from the sink basin!! I'm not an idiot, I can *see* where water is leaking from and there are no pipes or seals in this area. It's also above the pipes, so it's not an issue of water draining down from a pipe. So unless the laws of gravity have reversed, I may have the first known case of leaking stainless steel. Okay, just because I couldn't find anything about it after Googling for 5 minutes doesn't make it impossible, but definitely not normal!

So yes, as we speak, my cleaning products are sitting in the kitchen drying out, I have the door open and the fan running to de-bleach smell my house, and my so-called "simple" task for today has turned into a fiasco. On top of that, I can't finish my task. And now I'm asking myself why I would want to since I'm obviously getting a new sink now. Why shine up the old one?

Update

Hayden seems to be doing much better this morning. Fever is down a bit, no coughing, and barely any wheezing. We did another treatment this morning. Little guy seems very much improved mood wise, he's been running around, playing, and babbling up a storm.

But, alas, my lunch plans got canceled anyway. I just can't win this week. At least it's Friday.

Hayden's new found health has led to him being a complete troublemaker this morning. Anything and everything he can get into he has. Trying to go upstairs, hiding in our room behind our bed, wandering around in Daddy's shoes, getting stuck under the chair in the living room, getting stuck in the corner behind the lamp, shaking the lamp trying to make it fall over, and who knows what else today, it's only 11:16am. Nap time can't come soon enough!

Despite all that though, I'd put up with any amount of troublemaking just to see that he's feeling better!

My Thursday

Yes! It's almost Friday!!! Some days I wonder what I did all day...I'm sure Mark does too when he comes home to a crazy looking wife (with no pants on), messy house, and hyper toddler (with no pants on). So I decided to write it all down today. Feel free to ignore this post, mostly for me, unless of course you're extremely interested in the boring details of my life.

7-something: Hear Mark getting ready for work. Slept on the couch for the millionth time due to extreme hotness and need for a fan to cool me off!

7-something-later: Mark gives a kiss good-bye. I say something along the lines of "bye, wuv u" and roll over.

7:50: Stirrings can be heard from Hayden's room. No big cries, so I figure I can sneak a few more minutes of sleep.

7:58: Hayden is not fooled by my quietness...he knows I'm out there. Cries louder so I slowly manage to roll off the couch and go heat up his milk.

8:00: Give Hayden his milk while I change his diaper. He hates that today because his nose is stuffy and he can't breathe, drink milk, and lie on his back all at once. Fights the diaper change.

8:05: Curious George arrives on the TV, I pretend to sleep.

8:30: Breakfast time for Hayden. He's being picky this morning and chooses the leftover goldfish on the floor over bananas. Administer cough medicine.

8:40: Turn on the laptop. Chat awhile about mommy stuff and read all my mommy blogs. Random diaper changes throughout.

9:45: Remember I haven't eaten breakfast. Go heat up oatmeal in the microwave.

10:00: Remember oatmeal is still in the microwave. Go get oatmeal...put in way too much brown sugar. Tried to share with Hayden...he spits it out. Must be the brown sugar...

10:12: Hayden decides bananas might not be poisoned...eats one slice. Still not motivated to move...time to change channel from PBS to something more adult...put on The View so I can be annoyed out of my mind by their crazy out-of-touch opinions on America. Let's get real ladies, none of you are hurting for cash, and if you push one more designer product I swear I'm gonna change the channel for 5 whole minutes. Beats watching PBS or court tv though.

10:18: Cannot finish oatmeal...disaster with too much brown sugar. Took prenatal vitamin (so there Mark! I did remember today). Feel Hayden's forehead...fever. Give the tylenol and cuddle.

10:45: Hayden seems content playing "in" the lego box. Like, literally sitting in. So I sneak off to put clean dishes away. Almost make it through that task before Hayden comes over to show his disapproval of my use of "playtime". Whines while I clean half the sink (with baking soda! makes the stainless steel really shine). Decide to wait on the dishes until he starts eating lunch.

11:00: Start making Hayden's lunch. Use this excuse of being in the kitchen to do some dishes. Hayden doesn't seem to notice...things get quiet. Uh Oh. See Hayden whiz by with the Swiffer. Damn that boy loves cleaning supplies. Decide to let the Swiffer theft go for the moment, maybe I can get some more dishes done. Quick glance tells me that if I don't get the Swiffer, I will have no more glass objects in the house. Take the Swiffer despite huge toddler protests. Trade for the child play broom we bought him last weekend. Trade seems satisfactory. I go back to dishes. Broom loses his interest, new idea - let's sit in between Mommy's legs while she does dishes. I allow this because, well, at least he's not whining. Cuddles on my leg. I now compare having a toddler to having a cat - just bigger. :P

11:20: Lunch is served...for Hayden. Hayden requests to eat lunch with both his blanket and the broom. Request denied. Very little protest...I'm surprised. Back to dishes...still have the nasty hard ones...thinking of leaving this for later but who am I kidding - I'll be more tired later. Get up and do dishes.

11:37: Hayden finishes lunch. I stop at hard crusted dish that needs to soak. Change diaper again before naptime, and allow a few more minutes of playtime for Hayden. Clean up high chair. Put in a load of Hayden's laundry since there were no more pajamas..kid has too many clothes. See a random refrigerator magnet fall into the washer. Dig it out and look for more - must start watching what is in the hamper - next time it might be my cellphone. Hayden starts whining and carrying around his blanket...now that he has let the broom go it's time for a nap!

11:55: Hmmm...what should I eat for lunch? Need to take out chicken for our dinner and a meal I'm making for a friend. Decide on macaroni and cheese. While the water boils, I put away pillows/blanket from sleeping on couch and pick up all of Hayden's toys in the living room (why, I don't know, they'll all be back out this afternoon), and remember to spray carpet foam on a bad stain in the living room. Jumping for joy at doing this, since it has taken me 6 months to remember to do it during Hayden's nap time. Proceed to step in carpet foam no less than 3 times - belly is to large to afford proper vision of feet. Oh yeah, also dig banana pieces out of carpet - yay! This could be prevented if I wasn't so lazy and allowed Hayden to eat in breakfast in the living room instead of his high chair. I realize I contribute to my own insanity.

12:12: Still waiting on that boiling water, time to fold towels left in the dryer. Hear on the news that Home Depot is closing 15 stores. Part of me is happy (I know I'm evil). I'm sick of seeing Home Depots on every corner (we have 3 within 10 miles of us) taunting me with it's jeers about what a crappy home improver I am. I never could understand how they could have enough business to support the dozens of Home Depots just in our town. Apparently, our need to buy gas and groceries at outrageous prices has trumped our need for new tile and shiny screws (metal ones that is). Still feel a bit bad about the job losses. One of the closings was in Kentucky - they need all the jobs they can get. My parent's town has suffered over the last 20 years because all the factory jobs were moved overseas. A store like Home Depot can make or break a small town on the job front.

12:20: Move over Hayden's clothes for drying. Found no more refrigerator magnets, good. Put in another load of towels, give Mark a fresh towel - poor man, we were out of clean towels, he must love me. Came back to rest a second - step in carpet foam again. Beeper goes off for macaroni - step in carpet foam again. Make macaroni and cheese - come back to let cool - step in carpet foam again. Wonder if foot will have strange rash/reaction to over exposure to carpet foam. Hmmm...same foot each time too. My poor left foot! Just thinking about it makes it itch - I should go wash it off.

12:45: Time to eat macaroni and cheese - hopefully I can avoid the carpet foam. HEB brand mac-n-cheese does not compare to Kraft...sorry. Bleh. Will still eat nasty mac-n-cheese though. Random belly pains tells me my work for today is done...or at least on hold. Time to take it easy. Maybe a nap.

2:08: Hayden is stirring - not sure if that means nap time is over. No crying or talking yet. Got about an hour of laying down. Of course, the phone would ring during this time. Decided to choose rest over going to see who it was. They leave no message - this rules out relatives. They didn't call my cellphone - that leaves out most friends. Must go reset dryer to "freshen up" since it stopped during the last hour. Phone call was unknown number - telemarketer probably. Put up the left over macaroni and cheese, leave pot to soak, and get out some snacks/drink in anticipation of Hayden waking up.

2:35: Time to get the critter up and fold laundry. While folding laundry, I observe the following...dirty diaper needs changing, cough, and wheezing. Looks like a breathing treatment is in order. Decide to finish up folding laundry, then take care of these things. Again...this kid has too many clothes. Hayden decides to "help" by knocking my piles of folded clothes on the floor and throwing bibs around. Finally, get all the clothes folded and put away. First things first, diaper change. Then I grabbed the cough medicine. Hayden pretends to be cooperative by opening his mouth, but then spits it all out on his shirt, sock, and the carpet. Is there a reason cough medicine needs to be red? Obvious he got none of that dose, go back for another dose, less a small amount I figured got left in his mouth. Hayden runs around the couch 3 times trying to get away. I end up holding him down on the floor, he screams while I shove medicine in. Hold him down until I'm sure it's swallowed. Go and grab the carpet cleaner, but get red medicine out of carpet before it stains - our carpet is bad enough. Dig out the double team medicine for nebulizer - pulmicort and xopenex. Get margo moo (the nebulizer shaped like a cow) out and fill her up. Try to get Hayden to stay still enough to finish breathing treatment, while also not breathing in the crap myself. A job usually reserved for Mark while I'm preggo since breathing in that stuff is a no no, but wheezing is wheezing and that needs to be taken care of right away. Hopefully Corbin won't mind, practically strained my neck trying to avoid medicine.

3:40: Finished most of the medicine, but didn't get through it all - Hayden was too fussy to continue. Begin brainstorming about what I need to get done. I need drop off a meal at 5:30, which means I need to leave here around 5:15, so I need to start cooking around 4:30. Ok 45 minutes to rest, maybe get a snack! Oh and I need to get dressed too...haha. And Hayden could use some clothes too.

4:04: I can't find the remote...decide to vacuum up dried carpet foam - supposedly this will make the stain go away. Complete crap, stain is still there. Maybe I'll do it again in 6 months and next time scrub harder. Hayden turns on the vacuum while I am plugging it in - scares the crap out of himself. Decide that this will be the last time I vacuum until after Corbin arrives. Vacuum is much too heavy at this point. Random belly pains reappear. Bah.

4:18: Found the remote...it was having a secret affair with my cellphone under the couch. Apparently, Hayden has been covering for them.

4:25: Realize I don't have a key ingredient for what I was supposed to make tonight. Kick myself and come up with something new to cook. This will put me slightly behind schedule. Need 15 extra minutes to marinade.

4:31: Oh Dang...I just realize Hayden's favorite morning PBS shows are on in the afternoon on the PBS 2 station...maybe I can get through those hellish afternoons. Super Why is on!! I hope I don't abuse this new found information. Although, now I can cook without major whining.

4:40: Crazily began cooking BBQ chicken, summer squash, and mash potatoes while also entertaining toddler and getting us both dressed.

5:30: Load up the car with food and Hayden. Well chase Hayden around the yard trying to get him into the car. Eventually have success. Take the toll road because I don't want to deal with traffic...feel guilty. Drop off food and head back home. Almost avoid toll road, but change my mind when I hear Hayden wheezing. Taking the toll road makes an hour roundtrip drive into a 20 minute drive. Need to get Hayden back home.

6:00: Now need to start our dinner. Decide to make the same thing since I don't want to clean pots, haha. Marinate chicken in the rest of the sauce. Hayden is getting very grumpy and wheezing more. He needs another breathing treatment, but this time I think I'll wait for Mark to do it. No way for me to make dinner and do a treatment.

6:10: Call Mark to get his ETA. Hasn't left work yet. :( The day is starting to catch up to me, wish he was on his way home already. Hayden starts crying, he just wants to be held and cuddle - it's obvious he doesn't feel well at all. Throw the chicken in the skillet, and sit down with Hayden. Snuggle with him until I'm sure the chicken is about to burn, go flip chicken. Hayden drools red gatorade on my white shirt...red seems to be the stain theme of the day.

6:45ish: Mark gets home. Good. Hear stories from the day at work. Glad I'm not working, I don't think I would put up with people very well anymore. Now that Mark's home I can cook dinner without setting the house on fire. Inform Mark that Hayden needs a treatment. We decide to do the treatment before feeding him dinner.

7:00: Dinner's ready, but will wait to eat until the treatment is over. This is a long treatment (over 30 minutes) because of the 2 medicines. Don't want to distract Hayden with food while his getting his medicine. Throw on Robin Hood to keep him happy.

7:06: Get an email saying my dropped off meal was yummy. Yay!! I can't wait to have some, haha...still waiting for me in the kitchen. Sitting at laptop dreaming of what I'll do when Hayden goes down for the night. Also wondering if I should take him to the doctor tomorrow to get his ears checked - don't want this to develop into an ear infection over the weekend. Supposed to go to lunch tomorrow - might have to cancel if a doctor visit is needed. :( Bah this illness is canceling my plans left and right. Today was supposed to be a fun scrapbooking day with a friend - but not with a sick, contagious toddler to get her kid sick. I hope tomorrow is day 1 of recovery, not day 3 of illness.

7:25: Treatment is over. I feel Hayden dinner while we all watch Robin Hood. Grab dinner plates for Mark and I, we scarf down cold dinner.

7:55: Kitchen is a disaster once again - I see my day starting all over already. Too tired to do dishes tonight, will leave them for tomorrow.

8:00: Watch Mark fight with Hayden to give him Tylenol. Hayden's angry at the injustice of it all! Craving for dessert sets in...unfortunately we have no sweets in the house. =( Getting idea to send Mark out for chocolate - I'm sure he'll never go for it though. Can't hurt to try.

8:08: Hayden's still wheezing. :( Decided to do another breathing treatment. Fever is 102, hopefully it will go down now that he's had Tylenol. Will have to check on him in 4 hours when the Tylenol wears off. I hope he's feeling better tomorrow and not worse. Mark puts Hayden down for bed.

8:31: Mention my craving to Mark - he completely ignores me...thanks honey. (He will redeem himself to this preggo later in this post).

Okay, the rest of the night will probably be either spent watching TV or playing WoW with the hubby. Ended with me reading before bed. So yeah, that's what I do on a Thursday.

Update: I mention my immense craving again and am able to convince him of my need. SCORE!! Yum yum.