My Crazy Boy

Turning 3 has done something to Matthew. When Emma was younger, several people told me that it wasn't the twos that were terrible. It was the threes that were really terrible. And while I can't say they're really terrible, I have to say he is really giving us a run for our money these days. His personality has just exploded. He is discovering independence like never before and is starting to have an opinion about everything. He loves to be funny and get reactions from people. And at the same time, he is still our sweet little snuggler.

Matthew decided right before his birthday to potty train. I was so excited at first. But it has been dragging on and on and on. He'll have a really good day or two and I start to get up hope that he's really making progress. And then he'll have a really bad day...where he just decides that he's not going to go in the toilet and there's nothing we can say or do to make him change his mind. In the end though, I do think he has come far. He is more and more willing to wear his underwear and try to make it to the toilet. He has been out of diapers (except at night) for almost a month now, and I am LOVING it. Even if it means I clean up a few accidents...it's totally worth it. I'm just hoping things click completely and we can move on soon!

This little boy constantly has bruises, bumps, and cuts....usually on his head. This one was from trying to climb on a stool all by himself. He fell and bonked his head on the table on the way down. This was about a week after it happened and it looks a lot better than it did in the beginning.

I just don't know what to say about this one...blackmail? He really does like bows. And he wanted to wear all of these to church. I think he just sees Emma with them and feels left out. 

Thankfully, he also loves bugs.  :)  And rough housing, and cars and trains, and all of that little boy stuff. I think he'll turn out okay.  :)

Matthew is a collector...possibly on the verge of being a hoarder. All day he walks around with a bucket, basket, stroller, or other container filled with toys and other random objects. He knows EXACTLY what is in his container and notices right away if something is missing. Every night he gathers a collection of stuff to take to bed, so we always have to go in after he falls asleep to clear his bed of toys. 

I love this face! And Matthew loves having his picture taken. He will often come up and tell me to smile him or cheese him. And then he has to look at all of his pictures.

I had to throw the monkey picture in. This hideous monkey. It's his favorite stuffed animal right now. We went to Red Robin one night, and a little boy had just won it from the claw machine. He was super embarrassed about it (and disappointed!) so he gave it to Emma. The best part about this monkey- on his stomach it says "I love banana". Somebody didn't check their spelling...

The toys are all accounted for and tucked safely in their bucket. Good night!

We got to meet Po at Dreamworks when they were celebrating the opening of Kung Fu Panda 2. Emma was too shy to meet him, but Matthew couldn't wait to say hi. I think he got a little overwhelmed when he got close and realized just how big he was...haha!

And this....yes, this is Matthew asleep in an infant car seat. Matthew LOVES pretending to be a baby these days. He loves to lay on the floor with baby toys and talk in baby talk. He loves laying in the baby's crib, sitting in the baby's bouncy seat, and riding in the baby's car seat. It was kind of funny at first, but now I'm a little worried.  :)  We let him ride in it once....he begged and begged and was already sitting in it anyway. I figured after a few minutes he would hate being backwards and laying down and wouldn't want to sit in it again. I was wrong. The funny thing is that he is still within the height and weight limits. It holds up to 30 lbs and he is 24 lbs. Anyway, hoping he outgrows this phase really soon!

 

I thought this was so sweet. I love that these two are friends. I love that they enjoy being with and playing with each other. Yes, they do their fair share of fighting, but for the most part they have a really sweet relationship. Makes me happy.

 

39 Weeks

 39 weeks now...and feeling VERY ready for this baby to come. The waiting and not knowing are killing me! Otherwise I'm doing pretty good. Just a little tired....I really can't complain. I'm just so anxious to meet this little girl! And I'm curious to see what she looks like, and how much she weighs, and how labor goes this time, and all those other unknowns. Soon enough!

 Here is my attempt at a self portrait for this week. Hopefully I can get one more real picture before she comes. I don't think I'm really this small. The t-shirt hides the baby well.  :)  Though I really don't feel huge. It was this way with Emma too. Most strangers who ask how far along I am are surprised and tell me they thought I was maybe 6 or 7 months along. I guess it's not a bad problem to have.  :)

And for those who have asked, here are pictures of the mostly completed nursery. This is looking in from the hall. I made the curtains and the throw pillow on the glider. I also recovered the glider (a huge thank you to my friend Sarah for her inspiration and instructions!- I never would have attempted it otherwise). 

I'm hoping to hang her name on the wall above the crib. And really, all of the walls need pictures...it's a work in progress. I made a crib skirt, but you can't really see it. For those who are curious, I ended up doing brown with stripes on the bottom. It turned out pretty good, though I can't say I'm in love with it. Oh well...it does the job!

And the last wall...the door to the left goes to the hall. That corner on the right has become our junk pile....it's all going soon!

And that's that. Hopefully we'll have baby pictures soon!

Major Dad Points

I enjoy reading what Sarah writes on this blog so much that most of the time I have kept my own comments and posts out. Sarah does such a better job describing things with the sensibility that only a mother can truly exude. Recently however in my quest to be a better dad I have started up my own blog. The title "Major Dad Points" reflects the blog's goal, to record instances of good dadship. Let's face it, being a dad is not easy (though I'd wager it's easier than being a mom). Dad's try their best to balance the pressures of work, home, hobbies, and the like but we often come up short. The quest is therefore being a weekend warrior, seeking to earn dad points with our kids. I, not unlike most dad's out there, want to be the coolest dad ever. And so my blog is somewhat of a personal check for me to make sure I'm consistently trying to spend my time where it is needed the most. I have decided to leave my posting un-censored and raw so that my bare thoughts are there for all to see. This isn't so that you can laugh at my terribly corny writing or feeble attempts at blogging. It is however an honest journal of my attempts to earn major dad points with my kids and share those attempts with any who care to read. So without further hesitation I present to you: Major Dad Points

-Jon

Babytastic

Tonight we were talking with the kids about the baby coming, what to expect, etc. We told them that someone was going to come live at our house soon. That caught their attention. We told them that this person was living in heaven but that soon they were going to come be with our family. Emma was completely baffled. We finally told her that it was Baby Ellie. She got a huge smile on her face, patted Matthew's cheeks, and said, "Oh Buddy, did you hear that? It's babytastic!"

Look Who's 3!

My baby (for another few weeks at least), my little boy turned the big 3 yesterday. It's hard to believe! We celebrated and partied and had a lot of fun.

Our first celebration was a combined birthday party for him and his friend Sophee with their friends from church. We went to Hop N Play, a really fun indoor play place, and let all the kids run and jump and swing and spin.

After everyone was done playing we gathered for cupcakes and presents. We all had a great time...it was so fun that Emma has been worried ever since that her birthday party will not be as fun as his.  :)

We wanted to do a small family party on Matthew's birthday- just dinner, cake, and a pinata. We decided to make the pinata this time. Emma had a lot of fun helping Jon layer newspaper on the balloons.

Matthew was much more interested in trying to blow up more balloons to play with.

After working on it for 5 nights, the pinata was finished. Not bad, huh? This was mostly Jon's work of art....if it had been left to me, I would have given up and just bought one! But it turned out great!

Matthew wanted a bug theme, so we headed to the candy store and he got to pick out some bug candy to put on his bug cake.

Friday night Jon and I (okay, mostly Jon) blew up enough balloons to fill the living room. The kids were so surprised when they woke up Saturday. They have had so much fun playing in their little balloon pit.

Jon's family came Saturday afternoon. We had a little barbecue and then opened presents. Matthew was pretty unenthusiastic while he opened everything (every picture I took, he has this really serious look on his face), but after everyone left, he gathered all of his presents and spent the rest of the night playing with them.

After presents, it was time for the pinata!

The kids took several good whacks at it, but it was a pretty solid pinata. Jon's sisters finally cracked it open.

 We passed out bags for the kids to put their candy in, but Matthew insisted that he needed to put his candy in the spider's head.  :)

Jon had to take a few last hits at it to completely finish it off.

Time for cake....yummy!

Happy birthday Buddy!

37 Weeks!

37 weeks....I'm in the home stretch now! I'm feeling pretty good still....just not sleeping good, which leaves me tired most of the time. I'm hoping the nesting phase kicks in soon so I have energy to get some stuff done!

I had a doctor appointment yesterday. Things looked mostly okay. The amniotic fluid is a little low, so I'm supposed to take it easy, rest, and drink lots of water. The doctor measured the baby and said she's a little over 5 lbs right now (though I know that these measurements are usually off). The doctor said she thinks she'll be around 7 lbs, so I'm curious to see! If so, she will definitely be our heavyweight. Emma was 5 lb 6 oz and Matthew was 6 lb 6 oz. It would be kind of funny if she was 7 lb 6 oz. Guess we'll see soon enough....hopefully sooner than later! We are getting so anxious for her to come!

 (These pictures were taken at 36 weeks.)

 

Life Lately

We have been trying to potty train Matthew for months now. It's mostly just been teaching him what to do and giving him opportunities to try. However, he has never showed any interest. In fact he has been very opposed to anything having to do with the  bathroom. So I was shocked Thursday night when he told me that he needed to go to the bathroom AND actually went. Then Friday he willingly wore underwear and stayed dry all day. He's been in underwear ever since and it's been mostly successful. However, I feel like we're in a weird potty training limbo now. He doesn't go on his own- only if we ask him to try. And he won't poop in the toilet. It is SO frustrating! I'm trying to just remember that this is progress- way more progress than we've ever made, but I wish I knew what to do from here. I feel like a first time mom again....this time has been so different (and harder) than it was with Emma. Crossing my fingers that he makes some serious progress soon!

We are all excited and ready for this baby to come. It is exactly one month until my due date! It is weird to think that I could have a baby this month....and if not this month it will definitely be next month. I am so anxious to see how things go with this baby, how the dynamics of our family will change. Our family has been just the four of us for 3 years now and it's hard to imagine it any other way. I've found myself watching the kids play together, having one of their crazy dance parties, taking a bath together and it kind of makes me sad to know that this is the end of this stage of our lives. The last time we will only have two kids. The end of being able to leave the house without a huge diaper bag and a million baby accessories. Knowing that this baby will change everything about our lives, I've been trying to capture in my mind all the little details about life now.

At the same time I am excited to for the new changes, the new routines, and for seeing the kids with their baby sister. They are both SO anxious to meet this baby. They love talking about her, talking to her, and playing in her room with anything that is hers. We made a chain to count down the days until she's born and they have told countless strangers about it. Emma makes sure to pull a link off first thing every morning. Matthew likes to put his hand on my stomach and tell me whether Ellie is sleeping or awake. He also thinks that if he lays against my stomach he will hurt her. They have also both become VERY aware of babies around us. They think that all babies are just so cute and that every baby they see loves them so much. Matthew giggles when he sees babies, when he hears a baby cry, when he sees pictures of him or Emma as babies. He just really likes babies right now. I'm hoping this means we'll have a smooth transition.

Emma's favorite thing to do with the baby is to sing "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" to her. She puts her hand on my stomach and sings loudly so Ellie can hear. I don't remember how this got started, but when she sings "sunbeam" (you know when the kids usually jump), I make my stomach move so she thinks Ellie is kicking. I think I did it once, just to be funny, but now she expects it every time. And she really believes that it is the baby. It is the funniest thing to watch.

Jon was able to spend a lot of time with the kids this weekend. He only sees them for about an hour each evening during the week so we love when it works out to have to time together on the weekend. They did all sorts of fun stuff. I'll be the first to admit that Jon is the fun, adventurous parent. He does things with them that I would never attempt...like the 10 mile bike ride along the bay on Saturday while I was at a baby shower. He also bought the kids bug nets and they spent most of the weekend outside catching bugs. They have seriously been in dad heaven the last few days. They actually cried this morning when they woke up and saw that he had left for work already. It was pretty sad.

These pictures are all from this weekend and yesterday.

One of the kids (nobody will fess up) unplugged the air filter thing in the fish tank, so our fish died yesterday. We have had this goldfish for 3 YEARS. He was a tough little guy! But, this did him in and we had to say good bye. We buried him in the garden, Emma laid flowers on the grave, and Jon said a few words. It was actually kind of amusing to watch.

Matthew loves catching himself with his bug net. He thinks it is the funniest thing ever.

Checking out their catch

Matthew can't go in the backyard without picking some fruit off the trees. He LOVES the tangerines.

And I just had to throw in the flower pictures....I am in love with all the gorgeous colors in our backyard right now.