Big Bro Class

This past weekend we attended the sibling preparation class at St. John's Hospital. Steve and I wanted to give Steven all the opportunities we could to talk about being a big brother and we thought this would be a great start since there would be other kids there and he's very social.

Excited for class to start!

The class itself was OK. I'd give it a C grade. The teacher was pretty ridiculous. I don't know if she's every met 2 year olds before but she sure didn't act like it. Plus there were 12 2 year olds. That's a lot of 2 year olds! She had them sitting down, taking turns, raising their hands...um not really behavior a 2 year old is capable of for a long time. But what do I know!

There was one cute part where the teacher was explaining about the new baby and how they will drink milk and need their diaper changed. Steve blurts out "I change diapers!" ha ha!

There's my kiddo, front and center. ha!

We took a tour of the hospital which was ridiculous as well because it was packed, we couldn't even seen a birthing room because they were all full. And the lady was showing us the refrigerator (who cares!) and stupid stuff like that. Plus there was just way too many people to keep together.

Excited to get to hold "the baby"

But there was one good part where they each got to hold a baby and talked about being gentle with the baby, supporting their head, etc. I wish that part would have been longer but it was still pretty super cute. Steven was really excited to hold his baby and he was SO good with him.

The handoff.

Cheese!

So all in all it was an OK experience. I'm not sure how much new stuff Steven learned but I think that's probably good. We've already been talking to him about what it will be like once Logan gets here so he had a good idea already.

I think Steven will probably do great because he's very smart and he's been really good with all the babies we've been around lately. And also I do think he's very excited to be a big brother. So we'll see!

Official Big Bro Graduate!

Birthday Time!

Steve and I had our birthdays the past 2 weeks and we had a great time. Steve's birthday was first on August 6th. Since his actual birthday fell on a Tuesday, I wanted to make him a special birthday dinner. I asked him what he wanted and he said a devil's food cake (the kind with the white icing). So I thought, ok NBD. I can make that, right? WRONG! I found a recipe on Pinterest and it passed my usual test, picture looked good, didn't need to buy many ingredients. So I went to make it Tuesday during the day. It did not go as planned.

 

Just look at all the ingredients involved!

It was labor intensive to say the least. I'm not the best baker but I can follow a recipe so I thought I could do this. The cake part was fine but the icing was a disaster. It never whipped up into peaks like it was supposed to and after about an hour had slid off the cake and was sitting in a puddle at the bottom of the cake plate.

Baking fail.

At least Steven ate it. Steve ate a piece too because he is a wonderful husband but it really didn't taste that good or look good at all. So we threw the rest out. Oh well! (I'm buying a box mix next time).

I wanted Steve to have a special dinner so I asked him if he would like to pick out steaks at the butchers counter when we were at Schnucks. Boy, did he ever! He was so excited to get to pick out his steak! I had no idea it would bring him such joy but we will have to do it again soon! I also made roasted broccoli and scalloped potatoes. It was a pretty good meal overall.

I got Steve a game that he's been wanting, Cards Against Humanity. Its sort of like a dirty version of Apples to Apples. We've played it with friends a few times and always have a good time. He seemed to like the present.

My birthday was next on August 16th. I had a great birthday! I got to spend the day with my friend Jenn. We had planned to sit by the pool on a hot August day but it really wasn't that hot that day (we've been having some really mild weather for August) and the pool was actually closed. Oops! So instead we went and got our nails done, did a little shopping and had lunch. It was a really good day!

Jenn actually brought me a cross-stitch blanket she has been working on for Logan. I think it took her 8 months to do it! It's so beautiful! I was super excited to get it and I'm lucky to have such a thoughtful and talented friend!

Isn't it gorgeous!!

I got home in time to take a little nap before Steve came home and we picked up Steven from daycare. We went to my parents for a BBQ dinner and that was really nice and delicious. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures (bad blogger) but it was really yummy! We had ribs, kabobs, baked potatoes, broccoli and ice cream cake! YUM! My Aunt Jan was actually there too and it was really nice to get to hang out with her.

Steve got me a pair of Tom's for my birthday. I've been wanting a pair of these shoes forever but could never justify spending that much on shoes for myself so I was really excited he got them for me for my birthday. So far they are super comfy like everyone says.



Comfy!


 

So I think its safe to say we both had great birthdays this year (despite the fact we are both getting older, wah!).

Weekend Recap(s) - Family Time

But we've been having some fun on the weekends lately so I thought I'd give an update. A few weekends ago we went on a family float trip to Meramec State Park. I was nervous because I had never been on a float trip before and wasn't sure what to expect but it ended up being really fun. Dan, Meghan, Willow, Jordan, Kim and Steve's parents were all there. So there were plenty of people to occupy Steven. He had a blast I think. He's still a bit scared of the water and clings to one of us like the jaws of life when he's in it but he had a good time. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures and was waiting for family members to post some so I could steal them (cough cough Meghan and Jordan) but no one has yet so just use your imagination.

We had a family day (just the 3 of us) at the zoo a few weekends ago as well and that's always fun. We really love the zoo. There's just so much to see and do you can really make it a different trip each time. We saw the penguins of course, because that's Steve's favorite.

Side note, did you know the penguin exhibit is closing soon and won't open re-open till 2015? Steve is sad about that but we have seen a lot of the penguins this summer so that's good.

We stopped by the ape exhibit and saw this cutie sitting by the window. Steven thought it was pretty cool. They are fun to watch!

Pucker up!

We rode the train too. We don't always ride the train and this time there was a pretty long line but mommy is prego and she is tired. Steven wanted to go see the lions all the way at the back of the zoo so we decided a train ride would be good. Steven almost lost it when we were stopped first in line when the train was full, but whew! We all made it onto the next train. (2 year old drama, I tell you!)

You guys should hear him say "All Aboard!" Too cute!

We saw the lions but there really wasn't anything to take a pic of. They can be very elusive and were all mostly at the back of their enclosures. Side note, I was really surprised Steven asked to see the lions because we had him in our bed just a few nights earlier complaining about the lions under his bed...but whatever.

 

After the big cats, we walked around the rest of that area. We saw the giraffes were like really close up to the front of their enclosure. You never get to see them this up close and it was really brief but very cool!

The soon begin to retreat when people started noticing they were so close. But it was pretty cool to see them so up close. Their heads are HUGE! And their tongues are so long and black! Very cool.

We heart the zoo!

We also started Steven on tumbling class a few weeks ago. He has been doing somersaults all through our living room and on our bed for a few weeks so we thought a tumbling class might be fun. There was a Groupon for this place, Kids World Gymnastics. That isn't too far from our house so we went for it. The first class was just Steven and another little girl. He was really excited and wanted to climb all over the equipment. It was exhausting but I think he had fun. The second class there were more kids and Steven had trouble taking turns and waiting for others to have a turn. Sigh. Lots to learn at 2 years old!

A few weekends ago, Meghan invited me to go back to school shopping with her and Willow. I cannot believe Willow is headed to Kindergarten this year already! She grew up so quickly. So us girls set out to shop! It was fun. We picked out a few things for Willow and she was super cute wanting all the pink and girly stuff. Made me excited to (hopefully) have a girl of my own someday!

SHOES!

About halfway we had some party crashers who met us at the mall. Steven loves Willow and wanted to hang out with her. So we had some fun at the mall play area and on the carousel.

 

Then we did a little more shopping and Steven satisfied my craving for a kid that loves pink stuff. I think pink is right up there with his favorite colors. He wanted to try on all the pink shirts Willow was trying on. Silly kid!

 



 

Headband/eyewear, tomato/tomatoe

So that recaps a few weekends ago when we did some fun stuff with family! Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer too!

Grants Farm Trip

A few weekends ago, Steve's brother Dan was in town with his daughter, Willow. Steven just adores Willow and unless you're new here you've heard me talk about how much fun they have together. It was supposed to be a pretty nice day so we took the kiddos to Grant's Farm.

 

We had a really good time. It was pretty hot but not horrible. Grant's Farm is notorious for getting crowded on nice days on the weekends but it wasn't too bad that day. It was busy but not horribly crowded. Of course Steven took a hard fall in the parking lot of QT on the way there and then immediately fell asleep. So that made me nervous but he seemed to be ok after running around a bit. And he got a huge gash on his forehead...awesome.

 

Uncle Dan, Willow and Steven on the tram

Feeding the goats

 

Steven was more interested in petting the goats...

Great pic, Steven. Way to pose ;)

A pretty good one of the head gash. It was bad. Mommy was worried.

So apparently when you turn 5 you are able to actually pose for pictures. That Willow I tell you, she was the best picture poser. She also captured Steven a few times so I could take her pic. I hope he learns that from her! ;)

Cheese!

You are witnessing a small miracle below. Can you believe both of the animals they HAD to ride on were right next to each other. Whew! I was worried about that one.

Riding the carousel.

I think this might be looking at the turtles. Cute kids, right?

 

There was this crazy lady who had a snake wrapped around her. At one point it was licking her hair. Gross. She was just chilling. No big deal...

Snake lady could take a lesson in posing from Willow.

We also watched a bird show. Which was awesome. At that point we were hot and on a sugar high (sno cones) and it was pretty awesome. I got this video of Steven and Willow dancing before the show...but I can't figure out how to upload it anywhere. So boo to that but just use your imagination. Sugar induced toddler dancing, pretty hilarious. We really enjoyed Grant's Farm. I hope we make it back there soon!

Some Thoughts on Parenting

Since I ventured into my neurosis in the last post I thought why not dig a bit deeper? I have the perfect excuse to be crazy (pregnancy) so why not take advantage?

Parenting is a hard gig man! I recently read this article and I think he summed it up really well. Sometimes you just LOVE your children! (You always love them but you know what I mean.) They act well, listen to you, put their cups in the sink as opposed to chucking it at you from across the room, etc. They are funny! They say the darndest things, they really do.  And they do the sweetest things, like out of no where they turn to you and say, "I love you, mommy." (That happened last night). I mean sometimes I love Steven so much that my heart feels like it will burst!

Then, as the author says, there are other days when I don't know how I will make it till bedtime. Where one thing leads to another and Steven is acting up and/or in timeout more than he's not during an evening. And I wonder, where did my little angel go? Am I responsible for this bad behavior? What am I not doing right as a parent?

It's these moments of bad days/nights/evenings that I really start to question my ability as a parent. I mean even with my best intentions sometimes Steven still acts up. Even if I've told him 10 times in a row to not pull on the dogs ears, some days he will do just that and give me a grin that says "I know what I did was wrong and I'm testing you to see if you react." And sometimes I am just too tired to react. I know I have to be patient and consistent with his discipline but dang, sometimes it's really hard!

The part of that article really sums it up perfectly. I'm going to copy and paste the parts that spoke to me the most:

If you are a parent of small children, you know that there are moments of spectacular delight, and you can’t believe you get to be around these little people. But let me be the one who says the following things out loud:


You are not a terrible parent if you yell at your kids sometimes. You have little dictators living in your house. If someone else talked to you like that, they’d be put in prison.


You are not a terrible parent if you can’t figure out how to calmly give them appropriate consequences in real time for every single act of terrorism that they so creatively devise.


You are not a terrible parent if you’d rather be at work.

You are not a terrible parent if you just can’t wait for them to go to bed.

The author is right on. There are moments that are amazing and there are moments when I question my ability to do this thing called parenting at all! I think everyone has felt that way, right?

Steve said to me that we never really appreciate all our parents did for us until we became parents ourselves. That is SO true. You take for granted all the sacrifices that you have to make daily as a parent. And not just the not sleeping in (ever) or the giving up going out to dinner at nice restaurants or having every piece of furniture scratched up. It's the constant thinking about what is best for them, what is the best way to react in this situation to benefit them, etc? (When really sometimes all you want to do is scream and run away!) SO THANK YOU to my parents. For everything that I now am able to fully appreciate but also for letting me survive all these years. (It couldn't have been easy!)

But the amazing thing about parenting and about children in general is they wear you out till you are bone tired but every morning they wake up with new energy and new vibrancy for life. At his age, Steven doesn't remember mommy put him in timeout 3 times last night, he's just excited to see me. He's excited to live life, every.single.day. And that, to me, is amazing. And as a parent, I get a renewed sense of patience every morning along with a killer smile and a "Good morning, mommy!"

I am so grateful for that and for the awesome and often frustrating task of being Steven's mommy. I really am. I hope I can continue to learn and grow and be up to the task.

Logan's Nursery Inspiration

New baby calls for a nursery remodel, don't you think? I do! Luckily its another boy so Steve didn't have to paint the walls and we didn't have to buy furniture this time around or anything. But I did want to change up the theme for Logan and give him his own nursery. I really like the outer space theme and Steve agreed that was a good one to use. Here are some ideas and inspirations of things I want to do for Logan and his new nursery.

 

Grandma Riegerix embroided an adorable banner for over Steven's crib and I hope she can make something similar for over Logan's crib. I think a rocket ship like this one below would be neat. (No clue if she can do that or not).

 

Or something inspired by this one. I love the way those decals look but I'm sure she can come up with something even cooler.

I was also hoping she would make another cool mobile like she did last time. This is a neat one.

I was going to put some prints up over the changing table area. These are super cute.

 We NEED these don't you think?

Yes, Yes we do.

I'd like to get a special nightlight for his room. I've seen so many cute glow in the dark ones with the space theme. Or one like this that projects a solar system on the wall. That'd be neat.

I really wanted to put gutter bookshelves in his room. There's a book shelf in there now but I think these are way cooler and also will take up much less room. They are so easy to make from rain gutters from the hardware store. Steve even said he would make them! But we decided to wait and see if we will move or not.

 

 

I think it would be really fun to have some curtains or sheets or something made from a space fabric like one of these. We'll see what I can come up with!



 

 

So those are some ideas I have for Logan's nursery. I think it will turn out great and I'll let you guys know when its all done. (Hopefully soon because we are running out of time!)



2nd Time Around - 32 Weeks

Cutie photo bomb!

32 weeks you guys! That means its officially only single digits (8 weeks) till my due date. Can you believe it? People keep saying that this pregnancy has "flown by" and I want to smack them! ha ha! No really, I'm sure its flown by for you on the outside looking in but I've been pregnant every.single.day. It hasn't been horrible but I'm just definitely ready to not be pregnant anymore. Notice I didn't say ready for the baby to come because I'm not sure I'm completely ready for that yet but being pregnant is just draining (especially with a toddler).

Holy baby bump!

These past few weeks I have just felt really tired all the time and am getting to the "I feel huge" stage. I can't bend down to pick things up like I used to, its a strain. I can't move around as quickly or get up off the floor quickly. UGH. See what I mean about ready to not be pregnant!? Even though I'm sick of not being able to do what I used to do I'm kind of freaking out about adding this baby to our family. I'm worried about all kinds of things. I'm worried how Steven will react. I think initially he will love the baby because that's how he has reacted to our friend's baby and his new cousin. But how will it affect him long term? Will he eventually get sick of having the baby around? Will he be aggressive towards him (we are still dealing with some hitting/biting/throwing things issues)? Will he think we love him less? Along with that, how will I react? I LOVE Steven so much its hard to imagine my heart being any fuller with love than it already is. Everyone says its possible but its just definitely hard to imagine.

Another thing I'm freaking out about is taking care of the new baby. Last time I felt (at least I think I felt) really prepared to handle a newborn. I had read a lot of books and talked to a lot of people. This time I haven't really read anything (because, hey I've done this before) but now I'm starting to feel really nervous about remembering everything about a newborn. And also the idea of what I did before might not work this time as well as handling a newborn AND a toddler. I feel very unprepared and clueless!

Well that was a big brain dump, wasn't it? Sorry. On the bright side I went to the Dr last week and everything is looking great with the baby. He's healthy and measuring right where he should be. We have a follow up anatomy ultrasound on Friday to double check some things but the OB said everything looks great.
So that's a blessing. Baby still is kicking like crazy and all the fun 3rd trimester symptoms are kicking in, heartburn, hard to get comfortable in bed, peeing every 5 seconds, etc. Good times!

I think we finally decided on a baby name for real. We are naming him Logan Garrett. We both like Logan, Steve has liked it for a long time and it grew on me. Garrett is after my dad, who's name is Gary. I think it would be neat if Logan was born on my dad's birthday, Oct. 4th. We shall see! That's all for now. I'll keep you guys updated (or try really hard to do so).

Weekend Recap - August Already!

We had a really fun and jam packed weekend this past weekend. Can you believe it's already August? Time is really flying this summer! Friday I was off work and took Steven for a play date at the zoo with our good friends Julie, Jake and baby Nicholas. We got there a bit early and had some time to walk around the zoo just the two of us. That was nice! Steven was being a really good boy so I really enjoyed the mommy and me time. 



Mom, I'm looking at the animals!

It was a pretty sunny morning so we were careful with our sun protection. :) Steven loves this little viewing area over a pond. He loves looking at "birdies".

Cheeseburger

We met up with Julie, Jake and baby Nicholas. Steven wanted to show Jake the reptile house. He loves the snakes and alligators. Jake didn't seem to mind either. Boys!

We also hit up the insectarium and butterfly house, which Jake wanted to see. That kid apparently loves bugs. I'm so not ready for that boy phase. Bugs = gross. Steven enjoyed pushing all the buttons at the exhibits there though.

 

It was a really nice day to be at the zoo. It ended up being kind of overcast and not too horribly hot or humid. The boys had a great time playing together too. (He cried "Want to go home with Jake" when they left for the day. LOL) Steven enjoyed seeing (and petting) Baby Nicholas and I got to chat with my good friend. It was a good time had by all!

Friday evening Jordan came over to babysit so we could go to my friend, Carrie's birthday party. I wasn't sure we would be able to go together, I've typically gone to these types of things solo. But it worked out Jordan could babysit and Steve could come so that was really nice.

We went out to dinner first at a restaurant in Clayton called Crushed Red. Carrie actually recommended it a while ago and we just never got a chance to make it there. It's a really cute place with good food! More casual, you order at a counter and they bring you the food, fill your own drinks, etc. But the food was really good! We had a goat cheese appetizer (delicious), Cobb salad and pizza to share. The pizzas are individual size but super yummy. I think we'd definitely go back to Crushed Red.

Yummo

Afterwards we headed to Llewelyn's Pub in Webster Groves for Carrie's party. I have been to that bar a few times and its a fun place! I'm not going to lie I felt a bit out of place in a bar with a huge baby bump and I definitely got a few looks walking back and forth to the bathroom (about 15 times). But hey! I was there for my friend's birthday! And I only drank water!

Carrie took a pic of us. So I stole it from FB. We look pretty good!

Steve and I had a good time. At first we were lamenting how tired we both were and how we were too old to be hanging out in bars. (and also some the fact that neither of us was drinking). But we had a good time! There were lots of people from my work there so I got to introduce Steve to some of them and that was fun. There were also a few of Carrie's girlfriends there that I enjoy talking to and haven't seen in a while so it was nice to catch up with them. Overall it was a good night and we stayed up till midnight! Can you believe it?! (We were both so tired the next morning ha ha!)


Saturday, my mom, Steven and I traveled to Rochester, IL for my cousin Kris's baby shower. She's only a year younger than me and due a week before me! What a crazy coincidence. I'm really excited for her and Zach to have their baby girl. This will be their first and I know they are in for so much fun and will make great parents!

The shower was super cute. They had cute decorations and a really fun activity where everyone could decorate a onesie. Steve and I each made one and he didn't get paint on him. I was proud. Can you guess which one is his?

Oink Oink

There were a TON of people there so Kris spent the majority of time opening gifts. There were also a ton of kids so Steven had a good time playing with them. He was one of only 2 boys there and the other boy was a younger baby that was SO chill. Steven looked like a maniac next to all these good babies and calm girls. Total boy, running around trying to stab things with the toys while the girls are playing nicely together and gathering the trash from the presents.

That's my crazy boy!

At one point Steven decided he was not the center of attention bored and thought it would be fun to go around having everyone tickle his belly. It was pretty cute...for a few minutes then got old. LOL of course people started asking me what am I teaching him at home? What kind of parties have I been taking him to? Crazy kids.

Who's kid is that?!

But we had a good time overall. Kris and I are both so preggers. Don't we look great? (Even though this pic sucks).

Pregnant Cousins!

So that was a very fun and busy weekend! Hope everyone else had a good weekend too!