This past weekend we went over to Bruce's brothers house for his niece Danielle's birthday so we could give her the gift and sing to her. Nathan and his cousin Alex (who is almost exactly a year older) were running around screaming and carrying on. You know....being normal boys. They were quite loud, so Susie told them to go downstairs and play. Bruce went and checked on the boys at a later time and seen that the boys were playing Wii. Well, the next day while we were folding laundry Nathan tells us that he knows what he wants for his birthday. He told us a Wii. Our immediate response was absolutely not. We didn't think that he even knew what a Wii was because we try to keep the "high end" or the "high tech" toys out of his sight. With one little brother, and another on the way, we know that those toys are sensitive to their destruction. After giving it another moment of thought I told Nathan that we would get him a Wii for his birthday if he could sleep in his bed every night until his birthday. I don't see that happening....
Darren has become very independent lately. He has to zip up his pajamas when we put them on, he has to turn off the room light, he has to throw his diaper in the trash. He has to comb his own hair after his bath, wants to pick out his own clothes after I already have him dressed in the morning and the list goes on and on. I finally just started picking two outfits out in the morning and letting him choose one of the two; it has made for a whole lot less yelling and tears in the morning. The other morning, things came to a head. I will admit that I yell at the boys in the morning because they are taking too long or they don't want to get out of bed or they can't find the toy they want to take to daycare. It all started out normal enough in that Darren wanted to wear his boots. The problem arose when I tried to put them on the correct feet. Every time I would put them on, he would kick them off and insist that I am putting them on the wrong feet. After me screaming at him like a crazy lady, I just let him wear his boots on the wrong feet and then we were both happy! He is too darn stubborn/independent for his own good!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
It's a......
We found out the gender of the baby last week. We are having a.........BOY! I know that Bruce was thru the roof, and I could hardly believe it with my own eyes. The doctor asked if wanted to know the gender, and Bruce said yes before I even had a chance to form a reply. He froze the picture on the screen and asked if we knew what it was. It was pretty obvious that he has something hanging between his legs. Even now, when I think that everything about this pregnancy is completely different, I look at the picture and am amazed.
When we asked Nathan what does he think we are having, he said a boy without hesitation. Either he knew subconsciously or he just made a guess. He had a 50% chance of getting it right! When my niece on the Kunk side heard that I was having a boy, she told her Grandma Drees that it was a sad day for her. She will be the only girl on that side with four boys. She turned seven yesterday.
Now the argument starts with the names. We had a girl name all figured out and agreed on, but we have to start from scratch again. We could never agree on a name for the other two boys until we were in the hospital and HAD to decide. I am debating if I should even tell Bruce my names, or if I should wait until after the boy is born and spring them on him then. We'll see what happens.
When we asked Nathan what does he think we are having, he said a boy without hesitation. Either he knew subconsciously or he just made a guess. He had a 50% chance of getting it right! When my niece on the Kunk side heard that I was having a boy, she told her Grandma Drees that it was a sad day for her. She will be the only girl on that side with four boys. She turned seven yesterday.
Now the argument starts with the names. We had a girl name all figured out and agreed on, but we have to start from scratch again. We could never agree on a name for the other two boys until we were in the hospital and HAD to decide. I am debating if I should even tell Bruce my names, or if I should wait until after the boy is born and spring them on him then. We'll see what happens.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Lessons
Bruce and I have talked and talked about sending the boys to swimming lessons, and we finally did something about all of our talk. I signed the boys up for lessons at the "Y" in New Bremen. Darren will be taking "water babies" which is designed for babies from 6 months to 3 years and Nathan will be taking a "pike" class which is for beginning swimmers that are over 3 years. Nathan's cousins on the Kunk side can swim like fish, but that is because their parents take them to the "Y" in the winter and to the pool a lot in the summer. My kids are lucky if they get to go swimming half a dozen times a year, so they don't swim so well. Nathan is looking forward to his lessons, but I am not sure how Darren will do.
In keeping with the theme of my last entry, two weekends ago my parents watched the boys on Saturday night. They took the boys to the Legion after going out to eat with Patty, Tony and Grandma Ernst. According to someone who was in the Legion that night, my boys were running around like wild men, but not bothering anyone. That comes later, but it proved to be a good laugh for the bar. Someone walks into the men's bathroom and comes out chuckling. He went up to Dad and said that his grandson is in there yelling for him. Dad walks in not knowing what to expect and is surprised to discover that Nathan is bent over with his hands on the floor and asking to have his butt wiped. Typical of Nathan, he a) doesn't want to wipe his own butt and b) never tells anyone that he had to go poop. At least Dad is used to dealing with poop!
In keeping with the theme of my last entry, two weekends ago my parents watched the boys on Saturday night. They took the boys to the Legion after going out to eat with Patty, Tony and Grandma Ernst. According to someone who was in the Legion that night, my boys were running around like wild men, but not bothering anyone. That comes later, but it proved to be a good laugh for the bar. Someone walks into the men's bathroom and comes out chuckling. He went up to Dad and said that his grandson is in there yelling for him. Dad walks in not knowing what to expect and is surprised to discover that Nathan is bent over with his hands on the floor and asking to have his butt wiped. Typical of Nathan, he a) doesn't want to wipe his own butt and b) never tells anyone that he had to go poop. At least Dad is used to dealing with poop!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Poop
Apparently being in water inspires my boys to poop. Probably about once a week Nathan will jump in the tub or shower, and after getting wet, will say that he has to poop. So we have to put his hooded towel on him and dry him off to some extent. He is not quick about his business either. He recently just learned what 'courtesy flush" is, and although he can't pronounce it correctly, he enjoys flushing and announcing that it is a "curdsee flush."
Darren has also pooped in the tub more times than I care to count. I do not remember Nathan doing it nearly as often as Darren does. The other night he was in the tub and he started crying, and it was the cry that he does when he poops in the tub. I quickly look in the tub and don't see any "floaters." Thinking that he knows he is going to have to poop, I quickly place him on the training toilet seat. He sits on there for two minutes or so crying the entire time. I finally take him off and just get his pajamas on. He never was washed up, but at least he had rinsed off.
*I should mention that I am typically in the bathroom on the boys to keep an eye on them. I may sit on the floor and read my book or the paper, but I am within a short distance. I have on occasion, folded laundry on my bed but the bathroom is still twelve-fifteen feet from my bed where I am folding laundry.
Darren has also pooped in the tub more times than I care to count. I do not remember Nathan doing it nearly as often as Darren does. The other night he was in the tub and he started crying, and it was the cry that he does when he poops in the tub. I quickly look in the tub and don't see any "floaters." Thinking that he knows he is going to have to poop, I quickly place him on the training toilet seat. He sits on there for two minutes or so crying the entire time. I finally take him off and just get his pajamas on. He never was washed up, but at least he had rinsed off.
*I should mention that I am typically in the bathroom on the boys to keep an eye on them. I may sit on the floor and read my book or the paper, but I am within a short distance. I have on occasion, folded laundry on my bed but the bathroom is still twelve-fifteen feet from my bed where I am folding laundry.
Monday, February 9, 2009
A little girl??
Everyone has been asking if Bruce and I are going to find out the sex of the baby when we have our ultrasound next Tuesday. I kept saying that I don't have to find out because I know it is a girl. There are a few things that are different this time around compared to my first two pregnancies.
Exhibit A: With the boys, I had serious charlie horse's at least once a week. I would wake up the next morning and my calf would be very sore/tender. I think with this pregnancy I have had one charlie horse.
Exhibit B: I am a back sleeper. Almost before I knew I was pregnant with the boys, when I laid on my back I felt like there was a weight sitting on my abdomen. At 18 weeks, I am still able to sleep on my back although I am starting to get that uncomfortable feeling so I probably won't be sleeping on my back much longer.
Exhibit C: As I have mentioned several times, this is my third pregnancy. I am also 18 weeks along and I still fit into my regular pants. My belly is growing higher than it did with the two boys. On the third pregnancy, I should have been in maternity clothes sometime ago based on the past experiences.
Exhibit D: Headaches. During my first pregnancy, I had headaches the entire first trimester. They pretty much stopped after that and the doctor said that it was because of all my hormones going crazy. This time, I have headaches nonstop and the simplest things trigger them. This is not proven, but I feel that since it is a girl I have a lot more hormones in my system this time.
Exhibit E: Swollen legs. It seemed that with the boys I had swollen, water-retained legs from early on. Maybe I haven't reached that point yet, but unless I stand for a period of time, I do not have swollen legs at the end of the night. YEAH! My maternity pants got to be tight in the legs towards the end because I retained so much water.
None of the above examples are scientific or backed up by a doctor, but just my gut feelings. Not to mention that once I found out I was pregnant my intuition said that I am having a girl.
Exhibit A: With the boys, I had serious charlie horse's at least once a week. I would wake up the next morning and my calf would be very sore/tender. I think with this pregnancy I have had one charlie horse.
Exhibit B: I am a back sleeper. Almost before I knew I was pregnant with the boys, when I laid on my back I felt like there was a weight sitting on my abdomen. At 18 weeks, I am still able to sleep on my back although I am starting to get that uncomfortable feeling so I probably won't be sleeping on my back much longer.
Exhibit C: As I have mentioned several times, this is my third pregnancy. I am also 18 weeks along and I still fit into my regular pants. My belly is growing higher than it did with the two boys. On the third pregnancy, I should have been in maternity clothes sometime ago based on the past experiences.
Exhibit D: Headaches. During my first pregnancy, I had headaches the entire first trimester. They pretty much stopped after that and the doctor said that it was because of all my hormones going crazy. This time, I have headaches nonstop and the simplest things trigger them. This is not proven, but I feel that since it is a girl I have a lot more hormones in my system this time.
Exhibit E: Swollen legs. It seemed that with the boys I had swollen, water-retained legs from early on. Maybe I haven't reached that point yet, but unless I stand for a period of time, I do not have swollen legs at the end of the night. YEAH! My maternity pants got to be tight in the legs towards the end because I retained so much water.
None of the above examples are scientific or backed up by a doctor, but just my gut feelings. Not to mention that once I found out I was pregnant my intuition said that I am having a girl.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Spoiled???
Bruce and I have agreed from the very beginning that we will not spoil our kids. Of course they do get spoiled to a certain extent, but we definitely don't spoil them with material things. When we are in Wal-Mart shopping, we tell Nathan that if he is good he can get a pack of gum, the fruit snacks of his choice, popsicles or whatever. This lets him think that he has a say, but keeps him on the straight and narrow in the grocery store because he knows that we will put the item back.
Nathan is pretty good at sharing with everyone but his brother. I should qualify that. He is not so good at sharing with the kids his age at daycare either. Any kids that are younger, or his cousins on the Ernst side, he shares extremely well. Darren is just at that age where sharing is a foreign concept, but if someone steals his toy, he just shrugs it off and moves onto the next toy.
Nathan is pretty good at sharing with everyone but his brother. I should qualify that. He is not so good at sharing with the kids his age at daycare either. Any kids that are younger, or his cousins on the Ernst side, he shares extremely well. Darren is just at that age where sharing is a foreign concept, but if someone steals his toy, he just shrugs it off and moves onto the next toy.
Monday, February 2, 2009
A normal day...
The other day I had my back to Darren for no more than two minutes while I was putting in the tomatos and beans for chili soup and Darren climbed up onto the kitchen counter. While that is a normal occurrence in our house, what he did next made me take some deep breaths and count to ten. He had taken the lid off two of the canisters and was scooping flour out of the canister and dumping it into the sugar. I took a few deep breaths and got Darren off the counter and just dumped the sugar canister out. Of course he was wearing black sweatpants, and he had flour all over them. He kept wanting to change his pants because they were dirty. Too bad.
Earlier that same day, Nathan wanted to do something so I told him that him & Darren have to clean their room before they could do anything. After a few minutes, Nathan comes out and says that Darren is "doing nuffin and nuffin and nuffin." I told him that the word was pronounced "nothing." He then goes, "Darren is doing nothing, and nuffin and nuffin." Aha. The joys of kids and their speech.
Earlier that same day, Nathan wanted to do something so I told him that him & Darren have to clean their room before they could do anything. After a few minutes, Nathan comes out and says that Darren is "doing nuffin and nuffin and nuffin." I told him that the word was pronounced "nothing." He then goes, "Darren is doing nothing, and nuffin and nuffin." Aha. The joys of kids and their speech.
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