Get 'er done

Once again, we have taken ZERO pictures of William.  AND I didn't write down any funny things that he said.  So we'll see how this goes.  I'm exhausted and my brain isn't working, but I'm afraid if I don't post now, I won't do it before baby.

Only 7 days left.  And I guess, technically, now we are closer to only 6 days.  That is bizarre.  I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that we are going to be a family of four, there is going to be another sweet little boy in our house, and we are starting back at the beginning with all the newborn-ess.  It's a little surreal.  We are absolutely excited to meet the little pumpkin boy, but I guess I've gotten so comfortable with life the way it is now, that I don't exactly know what to do with the MAJOR change that is coming.  I *might* have been in a slight bit of denial this whole pregnancy.  But, on the other hand, millions of women (and some of my friends) do it every day, so surely I can manage as well.

Ok - mini time-out time.  William is calling for Daddy from his room going on 10 minutes now.  But Daddy just left grocery shopping - so I'm off for some snuggles.  Snuggles that will only delay the crying but will make him happy in the short term.... be right back................................Well, that didn't go TOO badly.... three songs, a little rocking and he only cried a little bit.  Easy cheesey.

So yeah.  I've just been trying to figure out how we are going to handle everything, and I think the real answer is that we are going to wing this time around just like we did with William.  So far - William has turned out just fine and we managed to keep him alive and relatively well-fed... so there is success in our madness and we're sticking to it.  haha!

In other news, I got to experience my first Braxton Hicks contractions - and I don't know why they say they are painless - because they HURT.  A lot.  And they didn't let up.  Seriously - the first one I had last night tortured me for 15 minutes... We called the doctor.  Luckily, my doctor is the one on call, so it was easy cheesey.  I took a shower, because dammit, if I was going to have to go the hospital my hair was going to look good :) and they let up for a little bit but then just continued off and on for over an hour.  Then disappeared.  In the meantime, the doctor called me back and the contractions were probably due to dehydration.  I just hadn't had enough water yesterday.  Believe me, I've been throwing them back today!  So that was an adventure.  Figured it wasn't anything serious when they weren't timeable, but still.... had us both a little uneasy.

I'm really not sure what else to blog about.  William spent the night at B&B's last night, kinda like a dry-run for next week.  Showing them how to do the pick-up routine, his new room, etc.  Apparently he ate 3 hotdogs and lots of pears at dinner.  He has a super ugly rash/chaffing in his diaper area.  I had to make an emergency trip to his school with diaper cream to make him feel better.  He was saying "it hurts" which was just pitiful and a little surprising, his vocabulary just keeps expanding!!  I had no idea he knew "hurt".  Anyhow.  His obsession with Chuggington is starting to make me crazy, but I think I mentioned that before.

So there you have it.  Super exciting stuff over here at the Rumer's house.  Sorry about that.  Next week will be more interesting for sure.  But not TOO exciting - actually - I'm kinda hoping that most of it is run of the mill easy cheesiness and we'll just throw in a super adorable chill newborn at the end.  That's what I'm hoping for.  But, my BP was 142/80 when we checked it at home today... so who knows?! :)

Loves.

Why I will always ask about my BP

So.................I've been on bedrest since Friday at lunch.  Went in for a normal, easy cheesey 37 week appointment and my blood pressure decided that it didn't want to behave.  Twice.  In each arm.  So at 150/85or 90 - the doc sends me home.  Well, first I went to the office and picked up my laptop and then I went and picked up Sam (since we have been carpooling) and THEN I went home.  

It's super awesome that I have a laptop and can log in from home so I don't have to go ahead and start my leave, which would leave me unpaid at some point in late September - talk about no good.  So, Friday afternoon wasn't that bad.  I actually got a lot done in a short amount of time.  Gotta love no interruptions and an absolute lack of background chatter...haha!!  But then came the weekend.  That was a whole different story.

Weekends spent 100% on the sofa are boring.  Super boring.  Oh - I forgot to mention that going on bedrest screwed up the $5 date Sam and I had planned to go see Hangover II Friday night... but I was still allowed to go to my hair appt on Saturday morning - so that was ok.  But then it was back to the sofa.  And copious amounts of not worth watching it TV.  ha!  I eventually got tired of E! and the Kardashians - WHOA!! But seriously, we're talking about 14 hours on the sofa Saturday and Sunday.  It was bad.  And I became a certain little boy's favorite chair for watching Chuggington.  That is also awful.  I'm so tired of choo-choos I can't even explain it.  But I'm sure most of you know how I feel....

I did as I was told and laid down nearly the entire weekend and was super optimistic for Monday's follow up.  Convinced that I would be going back to work, I took a shower and got ready as normal.  Logged in to my email in the morning and then went to the appt at 10:15.  Easy cheesey.  Yeah - the BP was down to 140/78 - so much better!!  AND I still wasn't spilling any protein into my urine - so far so good!  No pre-eclampsia as of yet - which is awesome - because I am REALLY hoping to avoid having to be put on magnesium this time around....just saying.  BEGIN SOAPBOX - there is no known cause for pre-eclampsia and there is no known way to avoid it.  I am not causing the high blood pressure at 37 weeks every time I get pregnant - I am just "lucky" enough to get it.  Oh - and pre-eclampsia is nothing more than a combination of symptoms - google it.  Thank you.  END SOAPBOX.  But, even though the BP was improving, since the bedrest was so successful, she felt better keeping me on it.  Especially since it is possible for me to do my job from home.  So, Sam took me back to my office to pick up more things since I won't be back for many moons, and then back to the sofa I went.

Yep - I chopped my hair off - it was starting to take WAY too long to blow dry and WAY too much effort to make it look good after that.  Downside - I now have the saddest little ponytail but it's worth it.

Well, really I spent the next two and half hours arguing with my wireless internet and the fact that the laptop suddenly refused to acknowledge its existence....but whatevs.  I've determined working from home makes bedrest SOO much more bearable and having Law & Order on in the background is fun.  That's pretty much the excitement thus far.  Dr. Chappelle is very confident that we will make it to the 7th.  OH!  While I was in the waiting room I did notice other prego ladies that had very swollen ankles - I had kinda forgotten what they looked like - I was REALLY suddenly so happy that I, knock on wood, have not been swelling this time around.  It's kinda fun being told I've got a cute round belly and my ankles still look normal.  And the pain that comes along with swelling to gigantor watermelon size is absent as well.  (replaced with other pains...but whatevs...I'll take what I can get!)  Oh - and I had my thryoid doc appt today and my BP was down to 134/72 - so bedrest is precisely what the doctor ordered....wow - she's smart.  :)

Hey!  I'm ready to help!!!

Back to the regularly scheduled program of the cute little boy that lives here.  His vocabulary and language skills are continuing to explode.  It's absolutely fascinating.  And since I talk about this every single time I blog, I won't go into huge detail, but it's so fun.  Practically every day we hear him say something we haven't heard before.

Finally caught his sweet happy face in a picture!!

For about a week now, we have been Mommy and Daddy instead of Mama and Dada, and I have to say that we love it.  At first I thought he was just using it when he was being whiny and crying, but now he is using it all the time.  It's wonderful.  I am such a sucker.  

Going to bed has taken a strange turn, complete with whines of Mommy & Daddy.  He doesn't go down easily anymore.  At first, we would indulge him and sing many songs and get in bed with him and snuggle for over an hour, just to have him still cry when I left.  That went on for the better part of a week and then we realized that no progress was really being made, so it was back to tough love.  Instead of crying forever, he'll now cry when we put him down, we run for the door because otherwise he will try to escape the bed, then he'll cry out two times after we leave and it's over.  I got suckered one night because he said "I want snuggle in bed Mommy" - I mean - how am I supposed to say no to that?!  And Sam got VERY suckered one night because William ended up in our bed for 30 minutes before I made him take him back because I was terrified I was going to smother him...  I miss out super easy bedtime routine but we were mightily spoiled and probably still have it pretty good.  After all, he still goes to bed at 7:00.

He wanted to help Daddy cut the grass.

Please ignore the totally ugly gate, the high grass in the backyard, and our super "awesome" shed - Sam is going to be mighty embarrassed I posted this picture

He is 100% obsessed with hotdogs.  So add that to the short list of what he will eat, but truthfully, as long as he swallowing the food, I almost don't care what it is.  All he would eat tonight was french fries and one green bean.  Atleast the kid loves milk.  And I was craving orange juice, which is apparently a good source of potassium which is good for blood pressure - so my body is smart, but William saw it and he also developed a short-lived addiction to that.  It's all gone now and I think he might be as sad as me.  But we spend too much on milk to also buy $3 off brand juice.  Seriously, Sam just left to buy what I think is atleast the 3rd if not 4th gallon since the 12th.  I do love my cereal though.  Yum.

Hmmm....such a BIG decision....car v lawn mower

I've got to remember to write down the amusing things......  We have really cute video of William being sweet to his "glow baby" and dancing to his jam - but I'm bad about downloading videos... Maybe I'll catch up in my brief moments of being allowed to sit in the chair and play on the computer - but my time is up - Sam is staring me down and I've still got to throw some pictures in here....

Loves!

Atleast it isn't boring around here.

Now for all the funny things.  I feel like I'm always catching up on some holiday that I forget to write down the great tiny moments that really make up life.  Unfortunately, I didn't write them down on a post-it - so this is straight from my prego brain memory - god help us all.

My boys are so cool....

After William's birthday party, we were playing outside since it FINALLY stopped raining.  And, really, he was playing, I was sitting, Sam might have been following.  Anyhow.  A butterfly made an appearance in the Mother's Day garden, and clear as day my kid says " BUTTERFLY".  First of all, I didn't know he could -recognize a butterfly, we have certainly not seen one and told him - guess we aren't special enough for them to flit around our lives; and Second - butterfly is a three syllable word and he said it VERY clearly - who took my kid?  I mean, seriously, we were amazed.  I looked at Sam and said - what did he just say?!

playing outside and apparently, very concerned about something...

Then at his well-check on Monday, just as I was about to ask Dr Mansfield if we should be concerned that his language skills aren't "advanaced" or "up to par" or whatever, he pulls out a FIVE WORD SENTENCE.  This may not seem like a big deal - but we are used to three words at most.  He said "I got water in my eye" - oops - that SIX WORDS!!!  Literally, I was about to ask the dr and then he says that ....  guess we are good in the language department afterall.  Pretty sure Dr. Mansfield would've laughed at me if I was concerned after that. haha!  So - for all my "slight concern" over the past six months that my kid doesn't talk - I think we're good.  He still has some 'William Language' he pulls out, and you kinda have to know what he's saying because not all sounds are the correct letter sounds, but since I've known kids who haven't said a distinguishable word until much closer to three, I'm officially putting my worries to bed.  Way to go William - You can talk! :)

"helping" Daddy fly a kite

I think I forgot to mention that he had half an ear infection we discovered the day before his party.  Probably forgot to mention it because after almost a year of bad double ear infections, half an infection in one ear isn't that bad.  We went in because he had a bad cough that refused to go away.  William really needs to remember how to tug on his ears or now that he has WORDS, tell us that his ear hurts.  Anyhow.  He LOOVVEESSS amoxycillin.  I don't know what flavor Target puts in it - but it is his favorite by far.  At first, he didn't want to take it (we think he thought it was a yucky cough medicine) but once we could get the dropper in his mouth he would suck it down.  And then yesterday, I accidentally ALMOST gave him a second dose, didn't realize Sam had already medicined him, and he stood there practically begging for it.  Silly boy.  But atleast if he's going to have to take 20 doses of something, that something tastes good to him.

No Momma!! No No!!

He transitioned this week into the TWOS classroom.  Which is actually called Transition, but I don't know why.  Since the class after is the THREES.  Whatever.  A lot of things at this school don't make wild amounts of sense, but that's for a different time.  His teachers say he's doing great - that he has a great little personality - and that they love that he's so busy and curious and playful.  They've already discovered that when he's playing with something he doesn't want anyone to bother him - I guess they've gotten the NO accompanied with the air smack....  And they've also called him a sweetheart - guess he's still giving hugs - which warms my heart.  I'm dreading the day he decides he's too big for hugs and kisses.

And he might be doing great at school, but at home he has been a terrible twos nightmare.  Not going to lie, every once in awhile I consider boarding school for daycare.  He literally laid face down on the kitchen floor with his car and Hilbert crying off and on for 20 minutes the other night probably because we wouldn't let him watch Choo Choo.  Heaven forbid that we wanted to play in his room instead of watch tv.  The kid is obsessed and it's getting more and more "fun" to tell him no.  And getting him to eat dinner in HIS chair is awful.  Nevermind the fact that he is barely eating at all.  Hysterical crying to get out of the chair or because he wants to sit and eat in Daddy's lap.  We've become okay with that compromise, just because then he is happy and eating and it's better than him wanting to run around on the floor.  Atleast in a restaurant he can sit in our laps... we'll see.

officially hiding from me - I can't remember what I was wanting him to do...  I LOVE the terrible twos...

He has started galloping.  The things he learns at school.  This morning he went and grabbed the broom, got on top of it and started galloping around the house yelling  "I ride - I ride broom".  Hilarious!  This kid is so funny.  Oh - and he can jump with both feet off the ground which was on the development check-sheet I had to do for his well-check.  He's been doing that for awhile though, but I figure while I'm talking about the physically cool things my kid has learned, I could throw it in there.  ha!

Taken last week before William's party.....
I rediscovered my hot rollers....  makes my lack of haircut a little less obvious! haha!

Today we have been going through all the baby boxes and trying to get organized.  I mean - we've only got 25 more days - we better get on it!  It's fun going through all the clothes and figuring out what to consign, what to keep, and how small everything is!!  And, seriously, William must have worn 12-18 months clothes for a REALLY long time, that tote is ridiculously full!!  But there's almost nothing in 9-12 months - so strange.  Maybe there is another lost box in the attic somewhere - but kid has a wardrobe that's for sure!  So yeah - our house is covered in boxes right now.  I love how it always gets worse before it gets better...ick.  And Sam still needs to paint one of the bookcases, so we'll see how organized we are by the end of the weekend.

And I keep forgetting to pack the hospital bag.  So - remind me please.  I've forgotten to do it for 2 weeks now and we will be 3 weeks away from meeting baby Patrick on Wednesday - AHHH!!!

OH!  One more thing we just heard him say this morning - he saw the piggy banks at  Target and starting going OINK OINK with a scrunched up face.  And he woofed at a dog in Petsmart.  It's really funny if you could hear him do it - maybe we'll break out the video camera later today.

Loves.

August 3rd is a busy day in our house

August is a busy month for the Rumers.  At the very super beginning of the month we have two car registrations due and two birthdays to celebrate (followed shortly by two more family birthdays....)  I think it's beyond neat that William was born on Sam's birthday, but it's already making celebrating Sam's birthday a little more difficult. That being said, we celebrated Sam's birthday with dinner at his parent's house and a lemon meringue pie the Sunday before their birthday.  Gotta love Country's lemon meringue pie.  And Bill's comment that the pie was the only thing his mom knew how to make that was delicious.  Every time.... but I digress.

checking out his super cool CARS watch that he won't wear...

We hadn't planned anything crazy for the 3rd.  We had arranged for the birthday package at William's daycare, so we went at 3 to eat cupcakes and we brought an Elmo balloon for William.  He thought he was big stuff and wouldn't let anyone touch "my balloon".  Very protective of his things (even if they aren't exactly his - like "my door".... ha)  He was the only kid in the room who DIDN'T eat his cupcake.  And it actually got stolen by one his friends... oops - the kids aren't supposed to be sharing food...  He just wanted to be held or sit in one of our laps.  We managed to get a couple pictures, but he decided that since we were there that it was time to go very shortly after all the cupcakes came out.  His teachers had made him a really great sign - so we gently yanked it off the door and went on to more fun.

finally  -  a picture with mommy

For some reason, we decided that we would treat him to Monkey Joe's, which is an inside play area with all the blow-up jumpy things.  We've been to a couple birthday parties there and William never quite warmed up to the place, but it has been about 6-8 months, so we thought we'd give it another shot.  It's his birthday and we wanted to do something special.  Yeah....not so much.  He only wanted to sit in the firetruck and look at the arcade games.  He wanted nothing to do with any of the jumpies.  Nothing.  Ok - so we stay about an hour - just so we feel like we got something out of our $5.

so happy daddy came early!

Since Monkey Joe's was a total failure - I thought - why not go to Barnes & Noble and let him play with the Thomas the Train table?!  He'll love that - and he did!  There were several other children there when we got to the back, and he was a bit apprehensive at first, but then he grabbed a train and two cars and started playing.  Didn't force any issue, dealt with the pushy rude kids just fine, and all was good.  Up until it was time to go.  I think Sam finally just scooped him up and carried him out screaming.  Awesome for Barnes & Noble.  But I have a feeling that atleast the employees are used to it.  Oh well.

he did atleast try the icing on the cupcake, but that's about it.  the icing is the best part anyway.  smart kid.

I think we had pizza for dinner because it's his favorite.  And he even put his hunger strike on hold and ate his slice.  Then it was time for cake!  Or, well, a humongo chocolate cupcake with inches and inches of icing and two blue candles.  We sang happy birthday and blew out candles.  He actually did help blow out the candles.  But he didn't eat the cupcake.  Fine with mommy - I got the chocolate yumminess.

playing with his balloon - it was a definite hit!

Then we gave birthday cards and gift to Daddy and William did sing!!  We still haven't gotten it on video camera, because the camera needed to be charged and then William decided not to perform - but we'll have to keep trying.  Seriously - the most adorable thing ever!!!  We couldn't believe he was doing - combining the words and everything - but he was most definitely singing Happy Birthday Daddy.  So so cute.  One day....  maybe tomorrow we'll try again.

he was pretty excited about Mr. Potato Head - could barely wait for Sam to get him out of the box

So that was his birthday day.  Nothing huge - just a sweet birthday afternoon just us 3.  I really enjoyed it too.  And I even managed to actually surprise Sam, which never happens.  He ALWAYS guesses what his present is.  But I guess since I basically told him he wasn't getting anything because of the car registrations, he believed me and was surprised when I had William deliver a cd he had been wanting.  Nothing big, but I think he liked it.

funny little boy - he loves to sit there

William's "big" party was on Saturday at B&B's since we can't fit half of either family in our house.  But it wasn't a big party.  We had entertained the idea of having William's birthday at my parent's house, swim in the pond, grill out, but about a month before I just couldn't handle the stress of trying to make that work logistically, not to mention figuring out how to pay for the gas up to Cleveland on top of everything else we have due.  (I hate car registrations - seriously - the stinking Xterra refuses to lose value - it's killing us...haha)  Anyhow - my sweet parents, brother Kalin, and Daddy's mom,  Grandmother, made the 3 hour drive down for a two and a little hour party and William loved it.

blowing out 2 candles!!!

Well, he loved it as soon as he woke up from an unprecedented 3 hour nap.  Silly boy.  We're usually lucky to get 1.5 hours out of him on a Saturday, but I think that's because the boys' room is literally in the middle of the house, so we probably end up waking him up.  That was all fine - it gave the grown-ups a chance to catch up while we waited for the guest of honor.

he zeroed in on this gift pretty quickly - he must've been taking notes at all the birthday parties he has attended!

And I realize that this probably isn't necessarily the place, but since this is MY place, I am going on a mini-rant that my husband would not approve of.  Which probably should be my first clue to delete delete delete, but I'm not.  I think I have been very understanding about the comments on my belly.  I understand that it is my most significant feature at the moment and it is very difficult for most people to not comment on it.  I get that.  I have taken all the twins comments in stride because it's gentle teasing and, quite frankly, it's been mostly from people at work and I'm not going to get bent out of shape at work.  That being said, it is NEVER EVER EVER ok to walk in the room, see me, and say "Wow, you're large."  Especially if you are family.  It is even more NEVER EVER EVER ok to continue on that line of comments after I respond to you by saying "That's not nice."  Don't you think you know that I am humongous?!  And don't you think that I am probably struggling with my self-esteem on some level because of it?! So SHUT YOUR STUPID IGNORANT MOUTH!  Ok, I am done.  Thank you.

he insisted that he hold every. single. car. at. the. same. time.  So Silly!!

Where was I?  So William finally woke up and played coy.  He now gets nervous around large groups of people, so he clung to Sam and I for a little while until he warmed up.  But once he realized he knew everyone - he was off and running.  And, surprisingly, having both Grandaddies in the same room didn't hurt anyone's feelings.  It was very obvious that he loved both his Grandaddies, but preferred neither over the other, just them over everyone else... haha!!  We did presents first, and of course he wanted to open the one in the CARS wrapping paper first (that was from my parents - good call y'all!) and inside was CARS duplos set.  He made Sam dig out the cars, and basically he didn't care about any of the other presents.  Sam opened them for him and every once in awhile something would catch his eye, but he always went back to the cars.

and he mostly succeeded in holding all of them!

He got lots of great books - so happy to have something besides the choo choo book to read (it's the only book he ever chooses...) - not one but two lawn mowers!, a great movie - Chicken Run, more cars, and the list goes on.  He is a very lucky boy.  (Oh - forgot to mention that he got a Cars watch from us that he refuses to wear even though he's obsessed with our watches, a fabric car cozie that I made for him to hold his cars, Mr. Potato Head, and a bike helmet that he got in July & the cozy coupe car which we gave him MONTHS ago...)

Then Bill brings out their big gift, which is meant to replace the riding Woo Woo Truck that he plays with like nothing else exists at their house.... Lightning McQueen riding toy.  It's a car!!!  William loved it.  His first item of business - lining up all his cars on it so he can take them for a ride.  It was a very serious matter.  He then refused to do anything but drive it back and forth.  We even had to bring his cake to him to blow out candles, because there was no way he was going to go to the table.  Plus, he was again, not at all interested in cake.  Such a strange boy.

So, we ate cake, and he played, and then, sadly, everyone had to go.  I wish my family could've stayed longer, but it is 3 hours back.  And they'll be here in 28 days to help with William while I am in the hospital with baby Patrick.  So - not too long....

And I think that's pretty much it.  That was the birthdays.  2/3 of the way done.  Now - just one baby to birth and then my birthday.  Then we have to make it through Christmas.  Goodness.  Maybe we're drawing names this year....

Loves!

Someone is Two!

...but I'm too tired to really blog about it right now.  Sam has been very icky sick all day so I've been taking care of him and trying to keep William occupied...  more later I promise.

In front of his sign that his teachers made - we brought him the Elmo balloon - it was a hit to say the least.  Poor William had to protect it from all the other children.

Loves!