Monday Magic

I don't typically look forward to Mondays, what with the beginning of the work week and all.  In fact, I have to work really hard at not being down all Sunday evening in the anticipation of Monday.  But today was such a good day...

Jack is really becoming more and more of a conversationalist, and it is the sweetest, most adorable thing in the world to me and his daddy.  This morning, I got up to get breakfast, and from downstairs, I heard Jack open his bedroom door and whimper at the top of the stairs.  I came up to get him, and he snuggled with me for a few minutes before heading downstairs.  He went potty, and then asked me to rub his back for a good five minutes (truly his mother's child!).  We took care of the puppy dogs and got our breakfast ready, and then my sweet little man invited me to come and eat with him.  Before I went upstairs to take a shower,  here's how our chit-chat went:

Me: I had such a good weekend with you.

Jack: I had a good weekend with you too.

Completely unprompted, unpracticed.  Just heartfelt.  Be still my little heart.

He got dressed all by himself and was as cute as can be during drop-off at school.  When I picked him up, he was so excited to see me.  We came home and Jack wanted to go for a walk, so we took the doggies out for awhile.  Then he wanted to drive his tractor, only for some reason, he likes me to drive it first and then about half-way around the block, he drives and I walk next to him, trying to guide his steering:)  He did such a good job today!  He even recognized the lettering on the John Deere gator and wanted me to go and get his John Deere hat:)

He "helped" with dinner and was such a brave, little boy when he got his first little burn.  He was a little too eager to get his hands on the garlic bread, and while I thought I'd pushed the cookie sheet back enough on the counter, apparently I had not:(  He didn't shed a single tear, just announced he had a boo-boo, and he was so good while I put a cold, wet paper towel on it and Googled how to proceed from there.  A little Neosporin and a Nemo bandaid later, and he was as good as new, although occasionally throughout the evening Daddy and I heard him whimper a little "ow."

After dinner, again as cute as can be, he said to Daddy, "Are you finished, Daddy?  Do you want to come and play with me a little bit?"  Ohmygoodness.  Brad and I just looked at each other and looked at Jack and fell in love all over again.  His cuteness just abounds and that adorable little voice gets us every time!

All in all, minus our little man's boo-boo, it was a magical Monday.  I love days like these...

This is the Day

Lessons from Jack

Yesterday afternoon, Jack taught me a very important lesson.  One that I'm pretty sure I knew, but maybe just really didn't understand until this moment:

Scene: We get home from school, and I told Jack I had to go potty, which then prompted him to say he had to go potty.  When asked if I could go first, he said he had to go first.  Okay, perfect.  We head into the bathroom, and Jack proceeds to take off all of his accessories so as not to drop them in the toilet (we have learned our lesson).  Yesterday Jack wore a t-shirt, jeans, his cowboy hat, cowboy boots, five skinny, stretchy headbands of mine as necklaces, and my watch around his upper arm (I'm trying to allow him to feel like he has some control in his life friends, stay with me). 

About what felt like three minutes into the whole ordeal of taking off the accessories (involving taking off each and every one of the skinny, stretchy headbands separately and gingerly setting it down on the floor), I said something like, "Jack, Mommy's going to go first because it doesn't really seem like you're hurrying and I really have to go potty."

Jack looks at me with a very serious expression and says, "Mommy, Jack is hurrying."

A not so subtle reminder to me that my quick is certainly not the same as his quick, and I shouldn't expect it to be (he is two!).  Patience is a virtue.

God - grant me patience and thank You for allowing me to be the mommy of this beautiful little boy who left me speechless yesterday in our powder room. 

Big Boy Bedroom 101

This weekend really began our Big Boy Bedroom project.  In the next month, we'll be moving Jack into his new big boy room, and then we'll be working on a very girly nursery.  I am very excited because as of yet, I haven't done too much in the way of getting ready for a new baby other than buy a few, adorable pink outfits here and there:)

About a week ago, we had ceiling fans installed in the kids' bedrooms.  They are both smaller in size and white, and we love them!  Jack was so excited to see his new light:)

This weekend, we began the room transformation from white to blue.  Jack and Brad picked out the blue color on the bottom.  We were going to paint the whole room one color, but then...

Daddy came home from work on Friday with an idea that a chair rail in each of the kids' bedrooms would look really nice.  So he set to work with his new man tools, and he and I decided on a lighter shade of blue for the top of the room.

Daddy really loves his new laser level that self-sticks to the wall.

Here we are in the midst of our painting process.

Painting complete.

Here's Jack's reaction to his newly painted big boy bedroom.  Notice his "uh-oh" moment!

Installing the chair rail, which is where we are now in the big boy bedroom process.

When we are finished, we'll have a lovely transportation-themed room for our little man, and he just can't wait!

Note: While I do not appear in any of the photos, I assure you that I helped.  In fact, I painted the whole lower level (with our pregnancy-safe paint, mind you)!  I even successfully marked one whole area for the chair rail using the new man tool.  I may or may not have self-stuck the tool incorrectly, peeling off a chunk of wall in the process.  Good thing we hadn't painted that part just yet:)  I assure you I have since learned how to use said man tool successfully!

More to come later...Jack's big boy furniture was delivered yesterday, so once we get the chair rail done and put the furniture together, I'll do another post to show our progress:)

What do you think so far?

24 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 24 weeks

Size of Baby: Peanut weighs about a pound and a half and is about eight and a half inches long.

Baby's Developmental Milestones: Her tiny little ears are getting sharper and she can hear and respond to loud noises like yapping dogs (check) and man tools (check).  Her facial features are almost fully formed, and if she has hair, it is white since there is no pigment yet.  Very interesting...  The website says my belly button may pop this week, too, but they're about six weeks too late!  Ha!

Total Weight Gain: 23 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Umm...yes.  And in fact, I'm thinking I might need some bigger big-girl jeans because I'm realizing that my thighs are looking like sausages in the ones I have, and they are always leaving a mark on my belly.  Not a good sign!

Gender: A girl!  Much cuter to hear Jack say it though...

Movement: She's still a mover and a shaker when I am still.

Sleep: I love sleep and don't have any trouble sleeping.  Wish I could sleep more though...

What I miss: Mountain Dew...from Taco Bell or Arby's.

Cravings: Jelly Beans and bananas. 

Symptoms: My legs are getting awfully close to cramping at night.  And I'm consistently thirsty and having to go to the bathroom!

Best Pregnancy Moment this Week: I'm pretty sure that we've decided on a name for our precious Peanut as of last night, but we're not ready to tell just yet.  We may wait to announce her name when she arrives:)

Our Very Productive Weekend

Our weekend was so busy - I'm very amazed at how much we accomplished in such a short amount of time.  Here's the list of all we've done:

• changed and washed our bed linens
• dusted our bedroom
• vacuumed our floor (via our Roomba - which I LOVE)
• washed many loads of laundry
• baked blueberry muffins (which Jack helped me to make, but refused to eat even though Daddy and I enjoyed them thoroughly)
• went to SoccerTots
• painted Jack's big boy bedroom (entire post planned to show our progress!)
• went to church
• went grocery shopping
• napped
• made Southern-style banana cream pudding (which Jack was finally convinced to taste and then decided he LOVED it)
• folded and put away tons of laundry
• made Sunday Steak Dinner (oh, how we've missed you!)
• gave Jack a shower
• cleaned our bathroom in great detail

To say the least, I am exhausted.  Happy about all we've done, but exhausted.

It doesn't help that this adorable little boy you see here has has thrown at least one all-out tantrum every day for the last week (I'm pretty sure).  Clearly, we are doing something wrong.  I need an instruction manual or a self-help book.  Or Super Nanny.  Something.  

He's such a sweetheart.  We just also need him to be a good listener and not so defiant.  Or fickle.  And then we can all be happy and go to sleep after reading stories together.  It was another one of those nights, and he and I both cried for a good ten minutes when it was all said and done.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day behavior-wise.  Keep your fingers crossed for me...

Silent Sunday