Last Week of Life in the "Sane Lane!"

Grandma Julie and Grandpa John sent the boys a 4th of July box....

Things are starting to get beyond crazy around here. The blog should be titled, "The Nut House!" In the back of my mind though I know it's only going to get worse before it gets better!

Here's a quick recap of the week.

Grandma came up this week and I ordered Easton new bedroom furniture. The baby will get the stuff that's in Easton's room now (I realized as I was pulling up the pictures for this post I ordered the same furniture for the baby that Easton already has. I guess it's sa fe to say I like it.) Here's what we picked out.....

He won't be in a bed for awhile. We have a back up crib that I got from a co-worker.

The boys went to day care their normal 3 days. Spencer has started the transition to his next room. Most of his friends moved a few weeks ago so he was ready. He was pretty sad he had to stay back from his friends. After this room there is only 1 more room and then he will be off to school!

I enjoyed my last day home by myself on Thursday. My friend Amanda who is 39 1/2 weeks pregnant decided we should get pedicures and go out to lunch. We both agreed that this was a much needed part of baby prepping.

The boys and I joined Jill, Maddie and Gavin at a local park. It was finally nice enough to play outside and I was hoping to burn off as much of their energy as I could. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy chasing after two little boys. They sure do keep you on your toes. I can only imgaine what it will be like running after 3!

Ryan took the boys to Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis on Saturday morning to look at all of the art. This allowed me time to get some much needed cleaning done.

This weekend Spencer and I went to Maddie's birthday party. She turns 1 in July. Easton and Ryan got to spend some 1 on 1 time together. Auntie, Finley and Hadley were also at the party.

Ryan needed to get some projects done around our house so the boys and I visited Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday. Spencer was excited to go boating and fishing with Grandpa. Easton just had fun playing with buckets of water in the driveway. We took a Sunday evening boat ride with everyone before having dinner and heading home. I wish we lived closer so we could do that more often!

No diaper and too big of a swimsuit = one cute little butt!

 Easton Update:

Can you believe our baby is 17 months old! So what is our 17 month old up to these days! Or the better question what isn't he getting into these days?

*He has 10 teeth.
*Sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes a 1.5-2 hour long nap each day. When you put him down he doesn't want to be rocked, held or even touched, but he prefers that someone just be in his room while he falls asleep. I think this is from daycare because they rub their backs or are sitting in the room with them. I've learned a few tricks for sneaking out but it never takes him to long to fall asleep.
*Favorite foods are cottage cheese, bananas, green beans, peas, any types of pasta with red sauce and milk.
*He's all over the place and loves to run away from you. He giggles as you run after him.
*He says a handful of words: Daddy, Ball, Buh-bye, Please. I think there are a few more that I can't think of right now. The most important word though that he won't say is Momma.
*He loves to blow kissses. When he goes up to bed at night he waves and says buh-bye then blows you kisses. If you ask him for a kiss though he will tilt his head so that you can kiss the top of it. He hasn't caught onto the lips kiss yet.
*He makes a few animal sounds and likes to mimic different sounds that he hears.
*He is a dancer. He's always bouncing to the toys that make sounds or things on the TV and radio. One day when I logged into the web cams at school I saw him holding hands with a little girl dancing.
*He's like a little monkey, always climbing up on everything. A few times I've walked into the kitchen and found him up on our island.

The stool was pushed in so he got stuck.

*He likes to color or draw with crayons, pens and markers. This will keep him entertained for a few minutes.
*If Spencer is doing it then he also feels the need to do it. Ryan and the boys like to wrestle and play in the evenings but we have since had to stop because we got a report one day that Easton was tackling all of his friends at school. His report sheet often says "working on gentle touches with our friends." My thought is great are we raising a bully?!
*He LOVES to whine and throw tantrums. Sharing between Spencer and Easton has been an issue. They both want the toy that the other has.
*He's had a few time outs or re-directing for hitting.
*He loves to play sports with his dad and brother. He can throw a football and is working on catching. He kicks the soccer ball and loves to hit golf balls, baseballs off the tee and play hockey. His new favorite thing though is his lacrosse stick and ball. He cried for about 20 minutes one day because I couldn't find the right ball. He knows what he wants.

As Grandma would say it's a good thing he's so darn cute, because he always seems to be getting into something!

Spencer Update:

*His favorite color is orange!
*His favorite Packer player is Aaron Rodgers and tells Ryan his favorite is Clay Matthews
*I don't think since Spencer has learned to talk that he has ever stopped talking unless he is sleeping. If he's not telling you something he's asking 101 questions about something.
*In my opinion he's very smart (then again I may be a little bias on this.) He remembers everything. No longer can we make things up to move on from a topic because he will remember what you told him. He will also tell you little white lies. For example: when you ask him if he flushed the toilet and washed his hands he will tell you yes even though you know he didn't. He also thinks if he doesn't touch the toilet when going to the bathroom that he shouldn't have to wash his hands!
*He no longer takes a nap at home. At daycare he still does but not here. When we are home it has become too much of a battle and we found that if he doesn't nap he usually goes to bed around 7:00 - 7:30 pm. If he does nap its more like 9:00 pm. He does however have to have quirt time. He will either lay on our bed and watch a cartoon or lay on his bed and look at books for awhile.
*He's very loving and caring. He's gentle with Easton at times. If Easton gets in trouble for something it's usually Spencer that comforts him giving him hugs saying it's ok it was an accident.
*He has about 4 books memorized that he can read to you word for word.
*Playing outside is his favorite. He's always asking to go outside.
*As gentle as he can be he can also be rough. He doesn't always like to share and wants whatever Easton has. He's been known to just grab toys out of Easton's hands. If it's something he really wants he doesn't stop until he gets it. We've really been trying to work on this.
*He can throw some pretty big tantrums.
*Sports are still his favorite. He loves going to soccer and does a great job listening to his coaches. Ryan and him saw some players on TV playing lacrosse. So he also now loves that sport. He still doesn't quite understand how to play but they've been working on it.
*His favorite foods: fish, cheeseburger, pizza, bananas, pancakes and peas! We even watched him drink the water that the peas has been sitting in YUCK!

Baby Update:

I'm officially 36 weeks! I'm also officially off bedrest! That means at anytime this baby could come and things should be ok. I've actually been trying to do more around here to gear up for going back to work.

The boys and I made a Target run to get supplies for while I'm in the hosptial and for things we will need when we get home. I think it's time to get my bag packed because you just never know when things are going to happen!

Ryan's family and mine have a baby pool going as to when we think I will have this baby. The earliest guess is 6/29 and the latest is 7/20 my guess is July 9th.

I'm becoming VERY uncomfortable. Nights are the worst, in fact Ryan has found he gets more sleep if he sleeps on the couch. I'm usually up for a few hours during the night and I swear my bladder is the size of a pea because I've noticed we are going through toilet paper like crazy around here. With Spencer and Easton I never had any major cravings. With this baby I cannot get enough crushed ice (I don't want big chunks either it has to be crushed!) If I'm going somewhere I bring a mug of ice with me. It's the strangest thing. Part of me would like to have this baby tomorrow because I'm so uncomfortable but there is a small part of me that wants him to stay put a little bit longer. 

House Update:

Well, we signed the papers this week with the renters. I've been slowly starting to change everything over. We've ordered moving cards to send out with our new address and have started forwarding our mail to the new house. There is so much to think of and do to get ready to move. We've been busy packing more boxes and even Grandma has come up a couple of times this week to help.

At our new house they've put in counter tops, railings and some tile. They also did the stone around the fireplace. I'm excited to see everything come together!

Laundry Room / Mud Room

Main level fireplace.

Kitchen with the counter tops in.

Master bathroom. There will also be tile on the walls.

Master bath

Entry way.

Soccer Star!

Spencer is a very nice older brother. They were having story time.

Finally Spencer is old enough to enroll in some kind of sports camp. This summer on Monday night's he will have soccer practice. This isn't Ryan's first choice, but it's the only thing he's old enough for. His good friend Gavin is also in his class.

Waiting for their turn.

Spencer is standing next to the kid with the yellow shirt.

Water break!

Even Easton got a turn.

Spencer was so excited about soccer practice that he was at up 7:00 am ready to go. Soccer didn't start until 5:00 pm! It was a long day of waiting! Needless to say the waiting and the actual soccer practice must have tired him out because he was sound asleep before we even got home at 6:00 pm.

To help me out with the boys and packing, Grandma came up one day. So how do you keep two little boys entertained while you get stuff done? Give them their own empty box to color and play in......

I finally took Easton in for another ENT appointment. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to. His ear has been draining for the last few weeks. I thought maybe it was because he cut another tooth but it just never went away. They did a culture of his ear and really flushed them out. He's back on antibiotics and drops to see if that helps. The doctor did mention that in time if this doesn't clear up we will look for other causes including having his adnoids removed (he's too young right now). I can't imagine the pain he would have if he didn't have the tubes and all of that fluid would just sit behind his ear drums!

Grandma helped us on Friday also so we could join everyone for a picnic in the park. There were 10 kids, 6 moms and 3 grandmas! First we walked around looking at the animals and then while the kids played on the toys we got the lunches ready (I got to sit and feed Hadley. Bedrest does have some advantages). After a very quick lunch it was off to the fountains to play in the water. We were all ready for a nap by the afternoon. It was a great day and the boys had so much fun.

The whole group!

Spencer making a move on Maddie.

Playing in the fountains.

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate Ryan and I went out for a quick dinner on Saturday (I am allowed to go out for an occasional dinner). It was nice to get out just the two of us. I think we may have officially come up with baby #3's name. We really haven't given it much thought but we'll see when he actually arrives if that's what we end up going with. For those of you that are going to ask, we are not sharing!

Sunday morning we had a great breakfast and the boys gave Ryan a tree for our new house. However, I think it was the Caribou Coffee gift card that he will enjoy the most. They sure are lucky to have such a great dad.

Helping Dad open his card.

 Baby Update:

I had my 34 week check up. Things have basically been the same. I had told the nurse I was still having some contractions on and off. The first week (after my last appointment) it wasn't so bad but I had been noticing more again during the 2nd week. I also told the nurse I had been noticing some heart palpatations.

Dr. Weber came in after to see me. He measured my stomach and I was at 35 so my uterus had made a jump from the last time. He also told me the baby is head down and the butt is up in my ribs. To me it feels like he is all up in my ribs. He ordered an EKG for my heart and it all came back normal. Due to the extra volume of blood, heart palpatations can be pretty common.

After talking and checking over everything, he decided it would be best for me to remain on bedrest for one more week and then I can go back to work. I will be 36 weeks and at a point where it would be safe for me to deliver. I'm not on strict bedrest. I'm able to be gone up to an hour each day. I can do simple things around the house but it's most important that I take time each day to lay low and rest. Basically he doesn't want me working. I did talk to my manager and it sounds like I will most likly get all 12 weeks after the baby comes. This was the best news ever! I'm planning on spending my last week getting things ready around the house for when the baby comes. I need to get out the bassinet, bottles, outfits and diapers. I also need to figure out where everything is going since this baby doesn't really have a room in this house.

I want to say CONGRATS to my friend Brook and her family. They welcomed baby #4 a girl named Everleigh. Brook and I have been through a lot together with our infertility and pregnancies. We've both made a pack that this is our last time being pregnant because it seems that when ever one of us is pregnant the other one is soon to follow.

House Update:
Well, we kind of sold our house. We have a couple that is very interested in buying our house and for personal reasons they are unable to come up with financing right now to actually purchase our house. They made us an offer to rent to own our home. After further negotiating and really looking everything over, we've decided to go through with this agreement. It's not ideal, obviously we would rather just sell our house and be done with it but right now things aren't looking to postive for the housing market. We feel this is our best option. We won't be their land lords nor will we be responsible if anything happens to the house and they will be expected to care for it as if they do own it. They have provided us with extra funding in case damage is done to the house and they are unable to follow through with everything. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that it will all work out!

Things are really moving a long with our new house. We found out that our actual closing date will be July 27th (my due date is July 26th). We will be able to move some of our stuff into the garage a week before we actually close. I feel like the month of July is going to be a big blur. I just need to accept that life is going to be VERY out of control!

They've put up most of the cabinets, lockers in the back entry, doors, trim and vanities......