4th of July

The cereal is swimming

For the past 2 to 3 months we have been potty training. Mike and I had given up and were willing to wait until Casey was born to try again but Van had other ideas. In his mind mommy becoming big enough to not get off the couch easily is the perfect time to start doing a potty dance for 2 hours at a time. I would have ignored it since he would not sit down and pee, after several mornings of prancing around and crying about needing to pee I figured I needed to get serious.

With the help of Miralax and the correct reward/threat program we are getting there slowly. First, after we fixed a bit of the constipation problem causing the long pee dance, I got Van to sit down on the frog potty and pee in the pullups. After a few weeks of that we are now moved onto peeing in the frog potty without a pullup. This was only accomplished with the threat "if your going to be a baby and use diapers babies don't watch TV, eat gummy snacks, drive their truck outside and no riding in Daddy's truck". The kicker was not being able to ride with Mike in the truck. This was made an even bigger deal by explaining how Casey, the baby, will not be able to ride in Daddy's truck and that only big boy's can ride in the truck. With the addition of a sticker chart to earn a bike (1 sticker for the chart 1 sticker for Van) and 2 M&Ms Van has only had 1 pee accident since Monday. Poop which has always been a problem will be dealt with later.

We allow Van to sit on the potty and eat. This morning he announced that a marshmallow from his cereal fell into the potty. We explained that it was now dirty and to leave it be. Van sat and waited to pee. Once he did this came out "momma I pee, cereal is swimming!". You just have to laugh when things like that happen.

The next goal is to move the whole operation into the bathroom. I have been lazy and its been much more comfortable for me to move the frog potty room to room and not sit in the bathroom to wait.

Art, it's in the Genes

There's a new store in town that is dangerously becoming a favorite pastime of Van and mine. The most dangerous part is that it's a paint your own pottery and the possibilities are endless.


For Mother's day Van got me a gift certificate to Brushfire, Mike knew I had been wanting to do a paint your own pottery project with Van but the closest store really did not fit into our schedule most days. Brushfire opened up minutes away in the Denham Historic District. I went thinking that Van would only paint a small section of whatever I picked and I would end up painting the rest. Boy was I wrong. I got in a few dots before Van armed with a sponge brush went to town. I have learned since this experience that I need to put down a light paint color layer first or end up doing what I had to do and go back and paint around Van's art work.

They also have a learn to paint night named Cocktails and Canvas. They pick a painting and with the aid of their knowledge and thankfully stencils you paint away. The stencils were the only way I could come close to making my Blue Dog by George Rodrigue. It was BYOD which I did not do because of Casey. He tried to put in his opinion on my design choices by kicking. It was a fun night. The next painting night is a week before Casey is due, bummer. With the amount of false labor Casey is giving me, he might come before then.

Baby Shower

My very good friend Shavon went above and beyond this weekend in giving us a baby shower for Casey. My belief that every baby should be at least celebrated by eating cake inspired her I guess.

Our brown and blue baby boy theme came with balloons, the best cake, cupcakes that must be part of a pact with the devil, blue ducky punch that Van got a kick out of (Mike said the duckies looked like they had a bit too much to drink) and a bunch of friends.


We played baby shower games that got more laughs than serious concentration. The hardest I think was naming nursery rhymes from one line of the song. I guess I should be glad Van doesn't know what a nursery rhyme is since I could not recall rub-a-dub-dub. But everyone left with a prize and 3, yes 3, party favors. Popcorn stating Kaylee's about to pop, a washcloth lollipop and a baby sock full of candy. (picture Ashlea, who is due in 9 days and me)


Van got to play with Mathiew and Jenevieve. He also got a big brother present from Amber of a Handy Manny doll and big brother book. With the addition of cake he thought that the "birthday" party was great fun.

Mike and I are registered, but the list at Target is more of a list of things for us to remember than a fun list.

Strawberries

For some crazy reason I decided that being 30 weeks pregnant, 90 degree weather and strawberries go together. Tomorrow is the last day for picking at the strawberry patch, with fond memories of picking with Van when he was 5 months old I got it stuck in my head that we needed to do this. But last time we were in Georgia picking at a peach orchard that had a resturant, we you and then go enjoy some ice cream. Today we were next to middle of nowhere with an attendant that was afraid that I would pass out or go into labor.

We visited Mike at work on the way home and left some strawberries for the LIGO group. We pick about 4 pints ourselves and got hepl with the other 2. It was fun but need to remember to go when they first open in April when it is a bit cooler and more enjoyable to sit out there and see the animals.

Happy Mother's Day

We have had a busy week.

The sonogram on Wednesday went well. Casey James Meyer is a healthy 50th percentile and is right on schedule with the projected due date, July 26. He was around 30th percentile at 20 weeks which prompted the 28 week sonogram. And yes we picked out a name. Casey we both liked, specially after I ruined Carter for Mike with my "we'll have Car and Van" joke. James after my Uncle, he did live with us while I was potty training and suffered through training me and my 2 little girlfriends. I figured I owed him one.



Van caught a cold on Thursday. By Friday his cute little voice turned into a funny old man voice due to congestion but it did not stop him from narrating everything that goes on. Saturday we did our usual Lowes project, a mother's day planter box with small plant. Then we found a full size mattress to make Van's toddler bed into a big boy full size bed. He loves it, he helped put it together and then took a fake nap with me. Fake naps have him lying down and pretending to snore.

Sunday we ate cinnamon rolls and crawled back into bed since Mike and I were not feeling so well. Either the busy day before catching up with us or the start of catching Van's cold. We did finally get up and play outside and swim in the pool. This year Van couldn't wait to swim. With his Nemo swim vest and floaties he splashed around and did start to kick and paddle around. A big improvement from the last 2 years where he cried and did not want to get in the water the first few times.

Baby

Guilt of not keeping up with the blog has finally got to me. I had been meaning to scan in the 5 month sonogram pictures for well over 2 months now. But the call of sleep during Van's nap time each day was greater than the scanner.

The yet to be named, long legged baby boy has been in constant motion and likes to stretch and push. Van gets that he will be becoming a big brother, specially after watching a birth on A Baby Story on TV. He knows that the crib in the playroom is for baby brother and will poke me and say "baby out". Hopefully the sweet understanding will continue after baby brother comes home.

We have another sonogram on Wednesday to check on the size and position. Dr. Lee has predicted that he'll be about 6 1/2 lbs (Van was 7 lbs) and is currently breach, if he hasn't turned another sonogram will be ordered. But all this can change, Van Hulked up towards the end.