Weekend Update

Is it possible for a weekend to be both busy and lazy? That's really how I feel our weekend has been. Duane and I went to a hockey game Friday night and for some reason that just threw the whole weekend off.

We woke up on Saturday and it really felt like Sunday. Duane took the car bed in Wesley's playroom down, then we went out to lunch to satisfy a craving I was having. Since it was a bright, sunny day we told Wesley we could go to the park. However, once we got there, we realized that bright and sunny does not necessarily equal warm. We stayed long enough to play with a couple dogs, feed the ducks and swing for all of five minutes. When Wesley's face started turning bright pink from the wind, we decided it was time to go home. Unfortunately, Wesley didn't want to leave and he cried the whole way back to the car and the whole way home. Warm weather can't come soon enough for this kid. He's sick of being inside.

Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan babysat Wesley last night while Duane and I went to yet another sporting event - this time arena football. Wesley had a great time with Kirk and Susan. They must have worn Wesley out good and proper too, because he slept in until a little after 9:30 this morning. I'm glad he got to sleep until his little heart was content, but that meant we didn't have time to get all of us ready for church on time.

Wesley requested a trip to COSI this afternoon, so after a trip to the grocery store, we all headed to COSI. Wesley really needed to burn off some energy. He ran non-stop for the first half hour we were there and even though he eventually stopped running, he was a busy bee for two hours.

Wesley spent some time looking at the world through different colored lenses.

Up the stairs and down the slide more than a dozen times.

Pushing the buttons that make burping and farting noises is great fun for a two year old!

It's even more fun when Mommy makes a funny face and says "excuse me" every time Wesley presses a button.

Chef Wesley and sous chef Mommy get ready to prepare a "nice healthy snack"

Wesley put every veggie he could find into the pot.

Corn is his favorite!

Exploring at the water table.

The only real problem with COSI today was that it wore Mommy and Daddy out. As my belly gets bigger, Wesley gets needier and more clingy. He needed one of us right there playing with him at all times. Usually he plays very well by himself, but times they are a changin'. Sometimes I wonder how traumatic this whole sibling thing is going to be for him - and I worry about it. Is it going to change him so that he isn't the little boy I know and love any more? Will he ever get over the introduction of a sibling? I know, I know. I'm putting myself through pointless Mommy-guilt. But just because it's pointless, doesn't mean it isn't a real concern. Readers - give me some reassurance. PLEASE!!

Rainy Day Laughs

After a beautiful spring day yesterday, we're back to cooler temperatures and rain. I took a day off work to get my car fixed today. It's probably a good thing too - Wesley was not in the best of moods when he woke up. I was trying to get his coat on him so we could get out the door, but he was having none of it. He plopped himself on the couch and told me in no uncertain terms, "Mommy, I've having a bad mood!"



His bad mood didn't last too long. We went to the big library to spend some time while we waited for the car. One the way to the library we played a game of "what does the _____ say?" Once we exhausted all the animals I could think of, I asked Wesley what Mommies say. His answer? "I love you." Coincidentally, that's what Wesley reported Daddies say too.Wesley passed a great hour coloring and going up and down the steps while Mommy watched.



In other Wesley news, we ordered the furniture for someone's big boy dinosaur room last night. It should come in about a week, which means we're actually going to have working on the room. I think he'll really love having a new room, but I'm a little worried about it. Not to fear - I'll keep you updated.

I'm So Lucky

Last night Duane and Wesley read a Mother Goose rhyme to me. Duane would read the first line and Wesley would recite the next line. It wasn't Humpty Dumpty or anything like that. In fact, I had never heard of this rhyme until we got this version of Mother Goose. Needless to say, I was terribly impressed.

Mommy: Wesley! That was wonderful! You did a great job!

Wesley: (grinning ear to ear) Oh Mom, you're so lucky!

Who's My Baby?

Wesley crawled into my lap this morning and cradled himself in my arms and lap in the same way I would hold a baby. Then he started jabbering in babytalk (goo-goo, gaa-gaa). "I'm your baby!" he told me. Think someone is a little jealous already?

Happy Easter - Nothing But Pictures!

Easter Egg Smash

Grandma and Grandpa H. came over the other night so we could dye Easter eggs with Wesley

Things started off quite well, as you can see. Grandma and I put the first few eggs in the dye and we waited for a few minutes to take them out. Once Wesley could see how pretty the eggs were when they came out of the dye, it was all over. He couldn't put them in fast enough. He practically threw the eggs in the dye (and it didn't matter if there was already another egg in the cup), and tossed them onto the paper towel lined plate to dry. I cringed with each "CRACK" I heard. I think we lost about half a dozen eggs to Wesley's enthusiasm, but he had a great time.

Wesley's favorite colors to use were green and blue. We even made a green egg with his name on it.

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Wesley shows off his newly colored hands. If there was audio with this picture, you'd hear him shouting, "My hands are geen! They're geen!"

Dying Easter eggs is thirsty work! Good thing there was some chocolate milk nearby!

After we were done with the eggs, Wesley wanted to hand them out to everyone. You can see that even Stinky Bear got a visit from the Wesley Bunny.

Already an Embarrassment

Apparently it is possible to embarrass your unborn child. I was helping with interviews for a children's librarian position today. Each candidate has to do a storytime and one candidate had us do the Hokey Pokey. I was able to do the whole song until the point when we had to put our backside in and shake it all about. I was shaking it, when 2.0 started violently objecting (read: moving A LOT). I had to sit down and could Hokey Pokey no more. I could almost hear a preteen voice telling me "Mom! You're embarrassing me!"

Unrelated Stories

Wesley is getting worse and worse to wake up in the morning. This morning I told him that it was time to get up. "But this is my pillow," he said without opening his eyes. I agreed that it was. "I'm laying on it!"


Wesley looked at our kitchen clock this morning and noticed that one of the hands was on the 10. "It's 10:00!" he said. I tried to explain that since one hand was on the 10 and one was on the 8 it was 10 till 8. "10 8:00"


I was filling my water bottle up at the refrigerator this morning. Wesley was watching me so I told him that I was drinking lots of water because it is good for our baby. "Where is our baby?" he asked. I reminded him that our baby was in my tummy. He wanted to look at my tummy and then told me that he was going to give our baby "nice, healthy snacks."

He Can't Dance

Wesley was dancing in the living room a few minutes ago. Understand that by "dancing" I mean "spinning around in a circle." He eventually toppled over and landed on his nose! I was laughing and he was laughing - until he tried to stand up and fell over again. Now if you ask Wesley to dance, he responds "I can't dance!" Poor baby!

Invisable Milk

We have fallen into the toddler trap of chocolate milk. It's now the only kind of milk Wesley will drink. In order to combat the mommy-guilt of giving my child chocolate milk every day (several times) I try to add the smallest amount of syrup possible to the milk. I guess I was skimpier than usual with the chocolate last night because after Wesley took a couple of sips he handed the cup back to me and said, "Invisible milk is yucky!" I know he meant "regular milk" but how funny is that?

Disaster at the Mall -GROSS!

It seemed like such a nice plan. I'd meet Duane and Wesley at mall after work. We'd let Wesley play in the play area, I'd get an Easter dress, we'd eat dinner in the food court and then buy Wesley's Easter outfit. A nice simple plan, right. WRONG!!!!

It started OK. Wesley played contentedly in the play area with Duane while I went to get my dress. I came back and watch Wesley make friends with a little boy who was probably four or five years old and Wesley's self appointed assistant. The older boy was able to climb on things Wesley couldn't quite manager yet, but that didn't slow them down. The older boy would try to pick Wesley up or take his hand to help him. Very cute.

We decided an hour of playtime was long enough. 2.0 and I were STARVED so the family headed upstairs to the food court. Wesley didn't do much more than pick at his dinner, but he drank his milk and was well behaved. After dinner we went back downstairs and lo and behold - there was the Easter Bunny. This is where things started to turn ugly. Wesley was pretty intrigued by the long eared one, so we decided we'd get his picture taken with the bunny. There was no line, Wesley was in a good mood, so things should have gone smoothly, right? WRONG!!!!

Although Wesley was very interested in seeing the Easter Bunny he was not so interested in sitting with him. Duane put Wesley on E.B.'s lap, the lady snapped a picture and the second the flash went off, Wesley bolted. He didn't just jump down from E.B.'s lap - he took off running down the mall. He has NEVER run away from us like that before. Duane chased him down, while the lady told me the picture didn't come out. So we tried again, only to get the same results. Remember, this is kid who was in love with Santa, so we couldn't figure out the reluctance.

Now most parents would have gotten a clue at this point and left well enough alone. But Duane and I are not most parents. We had already picked out the package we wanted and our son was quickly becoming unruly and we were not to tolerate it. He was going to get his picture taken darn it! Rather than resulting to threats, we resulted to bribes. There was a Godiva chocolate shop right across from the E.B. and we told Wesley that if he would get his picture taken with E.B. we'd get him a piece of chocolate. Wesley still wouldn't sit down, so we stood him up on the bench and managed to get this picture. If you look closely, you can see my hands holding the boy in place. Once again, as soon as the flash went off, Wesley took off. I sprinted behind him and herded him into the chocolate store. Yes, he was being a beaster, but a deal is a deal.

The beaster-like tendency did not end in the chocolate store. He kept trying to run away while I was trying to pick out a piece of candy and pay for it. I chose a raspberry filled star, which has tried before and liked. After I paid for it he begged for a white chocolate duck with some kind of filling. I got the duck too, just to make him be quiet.

We met back up with Daddy. Duane scooped Wesley into his arms and I gave Wesley the duck as we were walking down the mall. Wesley took a big bite of the duck, chewed it up, swallowed and pronounced, "I don't like the ducky," before projectile vomiting all over Duane, himself and the floor of the mall. Now this would have been bad enough in front of a kids store, but it happened just a few feet before the entrance of a semi-upscale women's store. I left the puke twins and dashed into the store and interrupted the saleswoman by saying "Excuse me. Could you please call mall maintenance? My son just vomited on the floor outside your store." Do I know how to make an entrance or what?

I went back out to the guys. Wesley was getting upset because he doesn't like to be dirty, let alone covered in vomit. Oh, did I mention that the diaper bag with the spare clothes was in the car? Anyhow, as embarrassed as I was and as much as I wanted to leave the scene of the crime, I knew we had to own up to the puke. Duane, of course, wanted to take Wesley straight to his car and head home, but I wasn't about to own up to the puke by myself, so we waited for the clean up crew as a family. Some kind woman took pity on us and brought us a big pile of paper towels, so I was able to mop things up a little before the clean up crew arrived.

Once we were able to make our red-faced escape, Duane took Wesley to his car. Stubborn Mommy still felt compelled to buy Wesley an Easter outfit. I ran into the store closest to where I parked my car and grabbed the first 3T Easter outfit I saw. I couldn't get out of the mall fast enough, but I still want Wesley to look nice next weekend.

When I got to my car I pulled out my cell phone and called my good friend and fellow mommy, Kate. I had to relate the disaster to someone who would understand. Kate understood alright. She started laughing so hard she was crying! I think the words "better you than me" were uttered somewhere in there too. And she's right. If you can't laugh at stuff like this, you're sunk. But it'll still be awhile before we have another family night at the mall.

Happy Birthday Uncle Kirk

We celebrated Kirk's birthday at Grandma H.'s tonight. The food was great, the company was great and everyone had a good time.


Wesley has been looking forward to Kirk's birthday for several days. Tuesday we told Wesley that we needed to go to the store and get a birthday present for Uncle Kirk. Wesley thought for all of 2 seconds before stating "Unc Kirk wants a car!" So when we got to the store we went to the toy aisle so Wesley could pick out a car for Kirk. The kid knew exactly what he wanted too. He scanned the aisle for a moment, then pointed to one and said firmly, "Unc Kirk wants that car!" So that's the car we got. Picking out a card was equally as easy. As soon as Wesley saw the card with the jumping cat he knew it was want Uncle Kirk wanted. Good thing Kirk is a good sport!

A pre-dinner story with Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan.








Spinning on the chair with Sho








Playing cars with Kei










Super cute picture taken by Aunt Susan. Is she a great photographer or what!?

Confessions of a Slacker Mom

Yep! Slacker Mom strikes again! I had to take Wesley out to Aunt Melissa's early this morning and we had nothing to pack for breakfast. No cereal bars, no pancakes, nothing. I was too embarrassed to just mooch scrambled eggs off her (even though I know she wouldn't care one little bit), so I decided to pick something up for Wesley on the way. I usually pick up breakfast for myself on the days we go to Aunt Melissa's so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I figured wrong.

I tried to coax Wesley into some hash browns and eggs from McDonalds, but he kept saying "No hash browns." Strange, because he loves McDonald's hash browns. We also pass a Tim Hortons, so I asked if he wanted a donut. I know, real healthy, but I wanted to get him something. "No donut. No donut," he said as we approached Timmy Ho's. I was just about thru the intersection when Wesley changed his mind and started telling me that he did indeed want a donut. Fine. I maneuvered into the drive thru and asked Wesley if he wanted a little donut (Timbits) or a big donut (regular). "A big chocolate donut!"

So, slacker mom arrives at Aunt Melissa's with a pure chocolate donut for breakfast for my boy. I almost wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. See, Aunt Melissa is in so many ways the mom I wish I could be. There's a reason we want her to get custody of Wesley if anything ever happened to us. He'd be in the best care imaginable! Now I know Melissa doesn't think I give Wesley chocolate donuts every day - in fact he gets maybe one a month if he's lucky, but I felt like someone should just slap a big ol' scarlet "L" for loser on my forehead.

I'm mostly over it now. As a coworker and friend of mine pointed out - we all need a donut now and then.

Potty Animal

I only wish the title of this post referred to Wesley. Instead it refers to a different potty animal - Stinky Bear! I woke Wesley up the other morning and asked if he wanted to sit on the potty. He said no, because it was Stinky Bear's turn. Guess he was right.

Shake Shake Shake

Last night I had a terrible pain in my lower abdomen. It hurt to walk or lift my right leg, so I crawled into bed even earlier than normal. BTW - my regular bedtime these days is between 8:00 and 9:00 and if I'm being honest, I'll confess that it's usually closer to 8:00.

Anyhow, as I was in bed watching tv, Wesley started to bring me an assortment of stuffed animals to keep me company. He brought me his bear, an elephant, a cat, a lion and a rabbit. When he put the rabbit on the bed, he told me I had to shake it.

Mommy: Why do I have to shake the rabbit?
Wesley: Because it has baracas on it's paws.
Mommy: Baracas?
Wesley: Yes. It's a kind of trombone.

I LOST it!!! I don't know why I thought this was the epitome of humor last night, but I laughed and laughed until I had tears rolling down my face. I kept picturing a rabbit with these little teeny pictures of Barack Obama on it's paws. I think 4 days of being inside was starting to wear on me. Good thing I was back to work today.

Blizzard Update

Well, it's 4:00 and I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. I've read 3 books, baked a coffee cake, put on real clothes for the first time in a day and a half and I'm itching for something to do.

We did manage to get Wesley to go outside for a few minutes. I won't lie and say he was thrilled about it, but at least we got him to get snow on his boots.

I think I heard on the news that we got somewhere around 14 inches of snow. My car is under that snowdrift somewhere.

Wesley standing in a path that Duane shoveled out earlier. As you can see, the snow is nearly elbow height on him. We talked to Cathy on the phone earlier and she told us Kei can't walk through the drifts.

Wesley liked the snow MUCH better if he was in Daddy's arms.

This is Wesley's idea of helping Daddy shovel the walk. Dad did the grunt work and Wesley supervised from behind. Good plan!

Duane had to go into the shop a little bit ago. There's a "no heat" situation at someone's house, so Duane went in to get the tech a part. It took him nearly 20 minutes to shovel his car out. Wesley and I watched from the comfort of the living room. Duane and I were supposed to go to Shadowbox with some friends tonight, but we're not going (neither are our friends.) Instead we'll light a fire in the fireplace, make some soup and channel surf, while listening to Wesley talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. I don't think he's stopped since he woke up this morning! At least he's perfectly content to play by himself and talk to his animals. Right now all the animals are saying "I love you," and "I missed you," and "I'm glad to see you." It makes me smile that those are the phrases he hears and wants to repeat!

Good Weekend to be Sick

I have had a rotten cold since Thursday. I managed about half a day at work before the department kicked me out. I stayed home sick yesterday too, which turned out to be a good call since we are now officially in "Blizzard 08" according to all the news casts. I can almost breathe through my nose again and my head doesn't feel like it's going to pop, so I guess I'm on the mend.

After being home sick for the last day and a half, I almost dread being snowed in this weekend. I know Wesley is getting restless and tired of being inside. The problem is, he doesn't like snow. He hates getting it on his boots, he won't walk in it and he takes his mittens off within 2 minutes of having them on. Translated this means that isn't a day of fun in the snow in our future. No snowmen or sledding (not that we have a sled), just too much tv. Maybe I'll force him out for a little this afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes.

Moving and Shaking

I felt 2.0 move for the first time last weekend. There hasn't been a whole lot going on since then - until today! He/she has been moving all over this afternoon. A couple times it's been strong enough for me to let out an audible "oh!" We used to say Wesley was Riverdancing in there, I think the little sibling is going to follow in Wesley's footsteps!

Rise and Whine

I think I've already told you that Wesley has a rotten time getting up in the morning if I actually have to wake him. This morning was one of those mornings. I went into his room and started talking to him, got his clothes out, then turned his light on. As soon as I hit the switch I heard a very sleepy and whiny voice say "No, Mom. Lights off!" Wesley then hopped out of bed, turned the lights off, climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up around him.

I walked over and turned the lights on, explaining that we were going to go see Aunt Melissa and it was time to get up. Again Wesley replied, "No, Mom. Lights off!" as he hopped out of bed, turned the lights off, got back into bed and pulled the covers up. We actually had to go this scenario a third time before I successfully got him out of bed.

In other Wesley news, look at the number of animal friends he wants to take with him whenever we go someplace. I've had to limit him to two friends only. But I do sneak Stinky Bear in my purse if Wesley doesn't pick him because I know that when he gets tired, he'll want that bear!

COSI Cousins

We marched into March by spending the day with Grandma W., Aunt Melissa, Kierstin and Mark. The day totally wiped me out, but it was so much fun that I don't care.


We ate lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse before heading over to COSI. Wesley may be a COSI expert, but Aunt Melissa and his cousins had never been before and he was more than ready to show them everything they've missed.

We went to the Space section right away. The whole family went through the black hole tunnel - which Wesley and Kierstin especially loved! Mark didn't care for the noise in Space, so he waited in the hall while Kierstin, Wesley and I went through the tunnel again and rode the tilty spaceship. We practically had to drag Kierstin away from the robot arms and on to another section.

We headed to the Ocean section, which had all the kids excited, but once we got there Mark heard the loud rush of water and refused to go in. Grandma, Wesley,

Kierstin and I went on in and WOW did we have a great time! Kierstin tried every single thing there was to try. She loved the water bells and the water tornado. But the all around best part of the exhibit (for both her and Wesley) was where you use pipes to build a connection from the water in the ground to a basin nearby. Kierstin was terrific at this and had a connection built in no time at all! Maybe we have a budding engineer in our midst. Wesley of course had no interest in actually trying to make a connection. Oh no, little Mr. OCD took all the pipes and laid them in a row on the floor. After they were all in a row, he'd put them in the basin one at a time. Then back on the floor. Then back in the basin. And I think you get the idea. Of course, if dampness is any indication of how much fun Wesley and Kierstin had, their soaking wet shirts would be proof that they loved every minute of it.

After Ocean we decided to split up. Mark wasn't having a very good time and he's still young enough to get in the Little Kidspace, so Duane, Grandma and the boys went to play while Kierstin, Melissa and I hit the rest of COSI. We played with the old fashioned phones and carriages in Progress 1898 before becoming completely enthralled with the soda fountain in 1962. Kierstin and I tried the hula hoops too and just let me say that a pregnant woman should not hula hoop. Kierstin put me to shame! We went into the Life section. Kierstin spent most of her time trying to line up DNA on the touch screen. She was pretty good at it too!

We picked up Grandma and the guys and slowly made our way out. There was a detour for dippin' dots for Kierstin and Mark, but Wesley was more interested in the gift shop and going back through the Space tunnel while his cousins ate. Poor Duane ended up going through that tunnel at least a dozen times!!

I did finally get a few pictures of Mark too. Check him out on the stringless harp and heartbeat drum.

The little maestro!

Little drummer boy.

And of course, what visit to anywhere in Central Ohio in the winter would be complete without climbing the big pile of snow in the parking lot?

Visiting Mommy's New Digs

Wesley got the chance to check out my new department today. Grandma H. and I planned to meet in the lobby of the library after storytime was over. I went to the lobby at the appointed time to find Wesley running full speed up and down the ramp. Apparently they never made it to storytime. Wesley was having so much fun on the ramp that it took a threat to go home to get him to want to go get a treat from my desk. OK, I did have an ulterior motive - I wanted to show off my cute little boy. He was something, alright. He chanted "Treat! Treat! Treat!" all the way through administration to my new department. He picked his piece of chocolate, then spent a few minutes spinning around in my chair. When we left to go back to the lobby, his chant changed from "Treat!" to "Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!" I'm sure everyone in the Administrative wing knew we'd been visited by a 2 1/2 year old!

Dinner Games

You all know the game Simon Says, right? Apparently there is a version I was unaware of called "Wesley Says Please." Last night Wesley insisted on an unusual dinner of scrambled eggs, dried corn and peaches. He ate the eggs, tried to put the corn in my belly button to feed the baby and ignored the peaches. Once the eggs were gone he asked for a pancake. We zapped one in the microwave for him and tore it up. After a few moments of staring at the pancake, Wesley pronounced it "too yucky." Exasperated, I asked why he asked for a pancake if he wasn't going to heat it. His explanation? "But I didn't say please!"

Toddler Yoga

We call this position the Sleeping Turtle.

Searching for a Big Boy Bed

We began the quest for Wesley's big boy bed on Saturday. Wesley wasn't too keen about our search until Daddy said, "Don't you want a bed like Colin's?" Those were the magic words because the rest of the day all he could talk about was getting a bed like Colin's and seeing Colin and playing with Colin. Humm....if he has trouble in his new room or staying in his new bed (when we actually buy it) perhaps we could invoke the name of Colin again. Think of the power!

Absence

A little FYI for all my regular readers. My computer fried itself last night. I logged on to check email and it smelled really funny. By the time I was done with email, I just wanted to log off before something caught on fire. When I did turn it off, it started crackling! A friend/co-worker of Duane's is going to look at it this weekend, but don't expect any new posts. In fact, I'm sneaking this in at work!

Party at Our Place

Wesley has been busy planning a party this evening. Apparently we will be serving "candy canes and hot dogs and cheese and prunes and all kinds of stuff!" I know that sounds strange, but Wesley LOVES prunes. They even made a second appearence on the party menu. Wesley was busily naming off all the kinds of cake we would have at the party: orange cake, yellow cake, red cake, chocolate cake, and strawberry cake. I asked him if there was prune cake for the party. His reponse? "There sure is!" With all those prunes, maybe this post should be titled "Potty at Our Place."

Seriously Sleepy

Wesley actually slept for 11 hours last night and woke up feeling quite a bit better today. Mommy, on the other hand, slept fitfully with nerves about starting my new job today. Truth be told, there was nothing for me to be nervous about, I spent the morning training with people I know in the building I've worked in for 9 years. Yes, there is a lot to learn, but I can already tell I'm going to like it (once I spend a year or so figuring out what I need to know.)

I came home for work and put my jammies on immediately and tried to stay awake for dinner. Wesley had the same idea. At 5:00 he laid down on the floor in the living room and said he was tired and wanted a nap. Duane and I tried to coax him onto one of the couches, but Wesley had other napping plans. He wanted to sleep in "the big red bed" - AKA Mommy and Daddy's bed. I took him upstairs and put him on the bed. After about a minute he asked for the blankets, so I tucked him in on Duane's side. Poor little guy fell asleep with 2 minutes and slept until we woke him up at a quarter of 7:00. He's been howling ever since! Maybe we'll go with an early bedtime tonight.

So Tired

Wesley came down with some kind of ickiness on Friday afternoon, so we have spent the weekend with a feverish, coughing, vomiting toddler. What fun. Wesley slept in our bed Friday night - which resulted in having to change him and the bed three times during the night. Last night he returned to our bed, but coughed so much that no one was getting any sleep. Duane returned Wesley to his own bed, but I still didn't sleep well. I'm nervous/excited about the new job starting on Monday and flat cannot sleep no matter how tired I am. I've tried watching TV, reading, counting backwards from 1000, slow deep breaths, but nothing is working (and I'm out of the prescription that makes me super tired). Please send some ZZZZZZZ my way!

Jr. Java Junkie

Wesley and I were out shopping with Grandma today and decided to grab some lunch in the food court. I listed off choices for Wesley, but nothing must have sounded good to him because he answered, "I'll just have coffee please."

Happy Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day and if you have been a reader of my blog for a while, you know what that means. It means I get to brag on my amazing wonderful husband and make lots of women jealous as I describe what wonderful thing he has done for Valentine's Day.

To put things in perspective, I need to let you know that Duane and I decided not to do gifts for Valentine's Day this year. We recently bought a 42 inch flat screen tv and we have to buy all new furniture for Wesley's big boy bedroom, so gifts weren't really in the budget. We made reservations to go to dinner tonight, but that's really all I expected. I really should know better by now - Duane never lets Valentine's Day slip by without making it something really special.

I woke up this morning and looked at the clock on our tv stand in the bedroom - only to see a dozen roses of various colors, a heart-shaped box of candy and a card sitting there. Needless to say, I jumped out of bed (as fast as a 15 week pregnant woman can jump) and teared up while I read the super sweet card. Next stop was the upstairs bathroom - a normal morning stop - where I found a small vase of carnations, another card and another small box of chocolate! I crawled back in bed to read and wait for Wesley to get up. When the boy did wake up and I went into his room I found another small vase of flowers, a card from Wesley and a bag of M&M's (Wesley thinks they are the best chocolate in the world, so that's what he got his Mommy.)
Wesley and I went downstairs to start our morning and what should I find sitting on the stove? Another vase! This time filled with yellow roses (my favorite!), another box of chocolate and another card. The downstairs bathroom held still more flowers, cards and chocolate.

By this time I caught on and quickly ran into the dining room (red roses, card and chocolate) and into the living room (2 pink roses, a card and a solid chocolate heart). I was laughing and crying and poor Wesley was following me around saying "Mommy? What's wrong?" How do I even begin to explain to a two-year-old that I love his father so very much? That Duane makes sure I know I'm loved every day of my life and that Valentine's Day is just the little extra. How do I tell Wesley that he and I and 2.0 are so blessed to have Duane in our lives?

I think I'm going to spend the rest of the day putting laundry away and playing with Wesley. Grandma and Grandpa P. are coming over tonight so Duane and I can go out to dinner. We're not going anyplace real fancy or anything, but as long as Duane is there, it will be perfect.

I hope you are spending your Valentine's Day with someone special and that you have someone in your life who makes it as wonderful as Duane makes mine.

New Job

As most of you know, I have been a children's librarian for the past 8 years (plus a few working in the kids department before getting my library degree.) It's been a lot of fun, but for the last year or so I've really been itching for a change and a chance to try something new. Well, the itch has been scratched! I begin my new job as Technical Services Manager for the library system I currently work for on Monday. I'm excited and nervous and a little bit scared. This is all behind the scenes stuff - lots of budget work and details, but I'm looking forward to it too. Wish me luck!

How Do Kids Know?

How do kids know when you have a morning to sleep in a little? Somehow they know and that's the exact day they need to be in your bed at 3:00 in the morning (when the snowplows at the hospital start.) Then they toss and turn, and start whining that they want juice/their daddy/to go downstairs at 6:30. And just when you are about to scream they crawl into your lap and say "Hug me Mommy" then repeat the request half a dozen times. Somehow they just know.

The Day from Hades

I am so exhausted! I don't know if I should whine, cry or just yell. I have been a snarlyhissypuss all day long and all I want to do is drown my sorrows in a non-alcholic beer and go to sleep!!!

In case you don't live in central Ohio, the weather forcast was for a big winter storm to hit overnight and most of today. Snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain, you name it. For once they got things almost right and I woke up to a decent covering of snow. Actually, that's a lie. I woke up to the sound of the snowblower in the hospital parking lot behind our house at 5:30. From the time I got out of bed at 6:30 until I gave up hope at 7:30, I begged for the library to be closed. Now you need to know that the library almost NEVER closes, but I can hope, can't I?

Knowing how awful the roads would be, I planned to leave the house 30-40 minutes early. I did mangage that incredible feat, mostly because Duane had already shoveled the steps the walk and swept off my car. So once I got Wesley bundled up I only had to coax him down the steps (he HATES getting snow on his boots) and into the car so I could clear the windows again. I decided to be brave and try the freeway. Bad idea. I got off the freeway at the first exit an opted for High St. which is much less curvy and was moving at about the same speed. By the time I was halfway to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s the gunk falling from the sky was causing the windshield wipers to freeze up. What fun. Let me tell you I was doing a lot of praying out loud, along with uttering a few choice phrases for whoever decided to keep the library open and make a pregnant lady with a toddler go out in that mess!

We arrived safely at Grandma's. She was waiting on the porch for us and Wesley was so excited to see her that he didn't even complain too much about getting snow on his boots when he got out of the car. In fact, he hollered, "I'm here Grandma! I need a paper towel - there's snow on my boots!" What a pumpkin.

I inched my way the rest of the distance to work and spent the morning snarling in the backroom. I was working too, but snarling took up most of my energy. Other than that, today has been one big grump fest. Paperwork I couldn't find, meetings that I didn't know about, and the dread that the weather would turn disgusting again before I got to leave.

Thank goodness the roads were only wet when I left and I arrive home to find a hot supper, non-alcholic alcohol substitue and cut out cookies waiting for me. At least it ended well.

Bubble Bath Boy

Duane gave Wesley his first ever bubble bath while I was asleep on the couch yesterday. Luckily Daddy remembered to take the camera upstairs. Why do I have the sinking feeling I'll have to hide my bubble bath and fight my son for the hot water in a few years?

News Flash

A pregnant woman and a toddler can put away a box of 20 Timbits (donut holes) in record time. Seriously. It's a frightening thing to watch.

Happy Lunar New Year

Yesterday was quite the day for the W. family. We got our taxes done (whoo-hoo) and even more importantly, I had my first latte since discovering I was pregnant. As with my first pregnancy, I lost my taste for coffee rather quickly, but since my nausea has abated with my medication, I decided to go for a sugar-free vanilla, non-fat, extra hot, decaf, latte. Ahhhhh, heaven in a cup!

We also celebrated Chinese (lunar) new year with Cathy, Sho and Kei yesterday. The boys go to Chinese school on Saturday and the whole school had a big celebration. There were games, tons of food - which Cathy assured us was very authentic and traditional - and performances by different classes. It was a lot of fun, but Wesley has been hit with some kind of crud and is having diarreah, so we left as soon as both Sho and Kei performed.

Sho getting ready for his big role.

Sho is all the way on the left here.

Kei is in the plaid shirt on the left (having stage fright)

We spent the rest of the day hibernating at home. Wesley insisted on wearing his boots and hat and coat inside. I'm not sure why, but it was really cute.

Wesley also spent some time taking care of his Mommy and sibling to be. Wesley must have thought the baby was hungry because he kept shoving plastic food under my shirt for the baby to eat. Of course, the cutest thing was when he sang me a lullaby. Wesley stood in front of the couch with his hands clasped in front of him and rocked back and forth, singing the following words to the tune of Braham's Lullaby. "Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep tonight today. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep tonight today." How sweet!

Not Lost

I'm still here. I'll bet you thought I'd gotten lost somewhere and would never blog again. I'm sorry I've been lousy about posting lately. Every day does have something in it that makes me smile, but my meds combined with just being pregnant, make me so tired that I often go to bed before Wesley.

I did have two wonderful things from yesterday to report. Wesley and I spent some time playing peek-a-boo with a blanket on the couch. It was so much fun! I love hearing him belly laugh. The other wonderful thing to report is, of course, my hubby. I just cannot get over how amazing he is. Get this, last night he went out at 9:30 and went to three different stores because I was craving big gumdrops. They had to be fruit flavored and not spice drops and they had to be the big ones. Not only did Duane not complain at all about this task, he even removed the nasty licorice ones for me. Now that's true love.

So THAT'S Where Thunder Comes From

We woke up to a heck of a thunderstorm today. As I was getting Wesley dressed, we talked about the sound the rain made. A very loud crash of thunder interrupted us.

Wesley: I hear that funder.

Mommy: I hear the thunder too.

Wesley: But I don't see the funder.

Mommy: That's right. Thunder is a sound, so we can't see it.

Wesley: That's cause funder is from under the tushie.

I just about died laughing!!!

In a Daze

In case you were disturbed by a minor earthquake or a train passing way too close to your house last night, don't worry it was just me snoring. I slept for 11 hours last night! It's not that I was that tired, but the new medication my doctor put me on knocks me out!

I had an appointment with my OB on Friday and the poor woman had to listen to me whine and whine and whine. Apparently for the second month in a row, I have actually lost weight which is not ideal during pregnancy. When the doctor asked me what was going on, I told her that I was still throwing up 1 or 2 two times every day and that the only thing I can consistanly eat without getting sick is a peanut butter sandwich. She said that the throwing up 1 or 2 times a day wouldn't bother her on her own, but coupled with the weight loss, she figured it was time to put me on medication. The kind doctor gave me a choice. I could go on an anti-nausea medicine that makes you sleepy, or one that makes you constipated. Um...I'll go for sleepy, thank you very much. Which explains why I slept for 11 hours. But guess what? When you are comotosed, you don't throw up.

I must have whined enough about my heatburn too. I didn't get heartburn this bad with Wesley until I was in my third trimester. Once again, my doctor took pity on me and recommend a stronger over the counter heartburn medicine for me. I love that woman.

The good news about the appointment is that 2.0's heartbeat is nice and strong and was super easy to find. Doc said she wasn't surprised by either of those things since I've been so sick and miserable. Maybe there's something to that old wives tale about the sicker you are, the healthier your baby is. Let's keep thinking that since I'm most likely going to have the test for Downs, Trisomy 18 and something else I can't remember at my next appointment.