Potty time

Two kids in diapers is absolutely no fun. So...this weekend we decided to get Nick started potty training. We have been talking about it for ages, but with the baby coming decided to wait even though Nick was showing some interest. I am beginning to think I am crazy trying to potty train a 2 year old and take care of a newborn, but so far so good.

Day 1 went off without much of a hitch (but we only really worked at it for about 4 hours). We didn't have enough underwear yet so we had to make a quick Wal-Mart run for more and then we got started in earnest after Nick's nap. He had one little accident, but otherwise did fabulous. He is telling us when he has to go (and when he doesn't), but I figure that is better than us having to ask him every 30 minutes. And will wonders never cease --- he even pooped on the toilet by the end of the day. If the rest of this goes as good as Sunday, we will have a potty trained little guy in no time --- though I am still dreading naps and nighttime.

Today he is at the baby-sitters so we will see how he does there. I'm sharing a picture from one of his many bathroom trips today, and tonight I hope to get one of his potty face. When he actually goes on the potty he will run out to whoever isn't in the bathroom with him to share the good news. The excitement on his face is priceless --- though I doubt it has much to do with going to the bathroom and more to do with the fact that he knows he gets some Smarties when he does! Hey, I'm not above a little bribery if it means no more diapers. The kid is already in a size six. If we don't get him trained soon he'll be wearing adult diapers before we know it! I took a few of his excited face last night, but they are very blurry because I wasn't ready with the camera (bad mommy). Don't mind the crappy picture. Our bathroom is long and skinny with a door between the tub/toilet area and sink area. Not real good for picture taking.

First (and second and third) "photo shoot"

For those looking at these from 2 Peas, I apologize for the large number of pictures to follow. This post is truly for the family so they can choose which pictures they would like, but of course, I wanted to share them with all of you as well. I don't consider myself a professional photographer, but I do my best and it is sufficient for my family. So, after three (maybe more) attempts, here are the photos I cobbled together. Oh, and for those commenting, I would love to hear your thoughts on the two photos near the bottom that are the same except the PP (it's him all swaddled up). Do you have a preference on the PP or should I just scrap it altogether? Just looking for some outside opinions

For the family --- please shoot me an email by early next week to let me know which ones you want and what sizes you need. Most of the black and whites can also be done in color, but there are a few (the last one for sure) that black and white was the only way of salvaging the picture.

Finally

How is it that I am at home everyday, yet it still took me two weeks to really get any pictures of this new little guy? I really wanted to get some pictures taken in that 4-8 day range (which I think I read was the optimal time for curled up cute newborn shots), but with the holidays and Mike being on vacation and adjusting to life with two it just never happened. So today I finally got out the black blanket and took some shots. And miracle of miracles, I even got a few without the scowl and one or two with both boys.

I took someone's advice about using a bean bag chair for infants (I finally found one at Target after searching for two months at Wal-Mart) and it worked like a charm. It was also great for trying to position Nick with Zander. Nick didn't really want to cooperate, but I worked with what I had and got at least one I am happy with. I am really going to have to work on learning to get shots of two kids now instead of just one (because getting good shots of one toddler wasn't hard enough, let's throw in a newborn, too).

I really like this first one, I just wish I would have changed his clothes. I love this outfit (it says DANGER Contents giggle under pressure), but it really doesn't work well for pictures, especially when words get cut off. I mean really, does this kid look dangerous?

I threw this one in because I love baby feet --- and because my child has the biggest feet ever. Actually, his feet aren't that big, it's his toes. They are crazy long!

And this is one of the only ones of both boys that actually turned out. I just wish I would have been back a little farther so I didn't have to cut off so much of Nick's head. The 8x10 crop looks even goofier. Oh, and I wish Zander's onesie wasn't so blown out, but hey, I take what I can get these days. At least nobody is scowling!

That face

OK, let me preface this by saying I love this new little guy so much, but when it comes to photographing him, he leaves a little to be desired. I finally got a few minutes to take some pictures of him awake and this is what I get:

Every stinking picture has the same scowl, even the one's of his feet. You can still see his face, blurry but scowling nonetheless. I am blaming his father for this one. It is the one trait at 28, 2 and 1 week that they all share. My goal this week --- atleast one picture without the scowl.

It's a boy!

We welcomed Alexander (Zander) Neil into the world at 6:18 p.m. March 20. He weighed 7 lbs., 5 ozs and was 20 inches long. And while all his stats sound average, his entrance into our family was anything but.

I went in for my final doctor's appointment at 10:20 Thursday morning. I was dilated to 3 and progressing nicely, but no real contractions or anything to speak of. We scheduled an induction for March 25 just in case I went through the weekend, but I asked the doctor to maybe speed up the process a bit by stripping my membranes during my exam. Before we left the office I was already beginning to feel the results of her work. But, I figured it was nothing and Mike and I went proceeded with our plans to go out to lunch.

During lunch the contractiony/crampy feeling continued, but I still was unsure if this meant anything or not. So many people get their membranes stripped and nothing happens, so I didn't want to get too excited. I told Mike to go back to work and make sure to get done what he needed to, just in case. I did the same and by 12:30 I was heading home. The contractions hadn't gone away and were getting a little more regular, though nothing intense.

I came home, got our bags together and called the doctor. They told me to lay down on my left side and when my contractions were only 5 minutes apart for an hour I could come in. An hour later, I was calling Mike and telling him to come home. We got to the hospital about 4:15 p.m. (yeah, you can start doing the math now). However, when the nurse checked me into the triage room, I was only dilated to 4 cm. Hardly any change from the morning, except the contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes and were intensifying quickly.

The doctor told me to walk for an hour and they would check me again. By this point I knew there was no way I would make it an hour, but Mike pushed me through four laps in 30 minutes (I was stopping for contractions about every minute). By the time I got back into the triage room it was 5:20 and I was begging for someone to come check on me. The contractions were so bad I was shaking from head to toe and had no clue how to deal with them (I am the girl who requests an epidural in the parking lot --- natural labor is not for me).

My water broke during a particularly intense contraction and I made Mike go hunt down a nurse to get me admitted, NOW! The nurse came in and moved me across the hall to my room where she proceeded to check me again. This time I was dilated to 8 or 9 --- and I still didn't have an epidural. As if I wasn't freaking out already, this is where my panic really started! I didn't think there was any way I could give birth without the drugs and I didn't think they was any way they could get the drugs started in time.

They convinced the anethestiologist to hurry up and give me an epidural, but it was a pointless effort. The man wasn't even out the door when my doctor told me it was time to push. She was having a hard time keeping the baby's heartbeat and was worried about letting me wait any longer for the epidural to kick in.

Three contractions and a vacuum pull later Alexander (Zander), was born. It took a little bit to get him crying, but he is doing wonderful now!

So much snow

Mike spent his entire Sunday morning on the roof of our house trying to shovel off the snow that had built up through the winter. In about 4 hours of work he managed to clear off the roof over our bedroom (where the leak is) and the three-season porch. The rest of the roof is very steep and he was getting tired and didn't want to chance falling so he called it quits. That part was raked, but hopefully we won't have anymore problems.

As for the bedroom: it is drying out. We got rain, freezing rain and snow last night, but couldn't tell from any of it if the actual roof was leaking or if the problem is something that will go away now that the excessive amounts of snow are gone. So, we are waiting.

Waiting for spring and waiting for baby. At this point, I am really hoping I wait until my due date to go into labor so that we can get our bedroom fixed before baby gets here.

Here are just a few shots I got yesterday. It was hard to do much with a 2-year-old in tow.

This was a block of snow he pushed off our porch roof. I wasn't much worried about exposure or anything, just documenting the little bit I could.



The picture below shows just how much ice had built up in our gutters. As the ladder absorbed sun it formed its own little groove in the huge block.

Is it spring yet?

This winter has been brutal. It started with snow in November, ice storms in December and then everything Mother Nature can throw at us since then. So, needless to say, there has been a lot of snow. And until recently, I was dealing.

A few days ago I noticed a musty smell in our bedroom. I blamed Mike's new workout clothes (the wicking material may stay dry, but dang does it smell once it's been in a gym bag all day), asked him to throw them directly in the laundry room when he comes home and thought the problem would go away. I was wrong.

I noticed the smell again today and eventually found a wet spot on our floor. Mike headed up to the attic but found nothing, so we settled on cleaning the carpet in that area and keeping our eye on it for the next few days. He tried using our wall as leverage to push our gigantic dresser out of the way and the extent of our problem came a little clearer. The force of his weight pushed a hole in the drywall. Now, Mike is no tiny man, but really, he's not that big, either.

Further investigation showed sever feet of our wall was quite wet as was part of our ceiling. An ice dam had built up on the roof and the rest is history. So, we now have a gaping hole in our bedroom wall, a smaller hole in our ceiling and a huge mess to clean up. Oh, and did I mention I am due to have this baby anytime in the next 21 days? Yeah, it's been a great day! I think the most irritating thing is it is obvious this has happened before. The insulation we pulled down is different from the stuff in the panel that hasn't been fully removed yet.

So, here are my photos of the day. They aren't anything spectacular, but it's what I got. Oh, and sorry for the really bad color on some of these. I didn't use the flash at first and they turned out really orange. Oh, and the black stuff isn't mold, it's just dirty (thankfully).