Meeting Casey

My parents come up the Sunday before Casey was born to get use to the area and the tornado that Van can create sometimes. Van had 4 days left of being the only child and was living them up with Grandma and Poppop. ( the Poppop name came from Van, the child has 3 Grandmas but gives the only Grandpa going by Grandpa a nickname) He snookered them into playing in his room whenever he wanted and swimming and multiple books being read. He painted a ice cream bowl for Poppop and made a build a bear dog named Ruff for Casey. When Casey came home Van did have a bit of trouble sharing attention but not too bad. They left last Tuesday to go back to lives that are not controlled by a 2 1/2 year old. They have admitted missing Van parroting them, like my Dad mistakenly teaching Van to spit on walks which ended up with Van spitting every few feet.

Late Tuesday Heather flew in. She just got back from a week of charity work in Honduras and she flew out Monday to start her year in an orphanage in Haiti. She got a reminder course on changing and infant and tips on potty training. Van got to show off all his toys again and his swimming skills.

We have had a few days as just the 4 of us. Mike's Mom comes in Wednesday to meet Casey and celebrate Mike's 30th birthday. Mike and I are figuring out how make it through the day with less sleep as Casey has a bit of acid reflux and likes making big messy diapers at 3AM. 2 oz of formula each feeding does not let us sleep much. We went to his 2 week doctor appointment and he is now 8lbs 11 oz (7lbs 12 oz at birth 6lbs 14oz when we left the hospital) and 21 1/2 inches (20 1/2 inches at birth). All I could say is good grief little piggy, at the hospital they were worried he was losing too much weight. But he's cute so we will keep going, but I have said that if gypsies come to the door Van might be donated. The Why? phase has kicked in big time.

Letting the cat out of the bag

Many of you know but a few still don't, Mike and I were married 5 years ago today. Yes, we had the family ceremony 4 years ago on May 24th but got legally married before then. On that Saturday we stood outside our apartment in Warner Robins under a gazebo with the minister (Brother Otis) who would marry us later in front of family and friends and said the least amount you need to to be married so it would still be new later. It was quiet and calm with Brother Otis's wife being the witness and photographer (pictures went missing in the move) and 3 neighbor kids hiding in the bushes watching and giggling.

If you are asking why, well I didn't have health insurance through my job and decided that it was better to speed things up so if anything would come along it wouldn't be bad. And that got tested that Christmas when Mike developed a bleeding ulcer and I could make decisions about his care because I was his wife. I was very thankful that I did not have to stand by and only see him during visiting hours.

5 years, 2 kids, 2 houses later I believe we made the right decision. We had the lovely ceremony almost a year later (outside wedding in GA at the end of July just to keep the same date was not a good idea). We celebrated with friends and family. But I love my elopement with BBQ party thrown by Mike's work just as much.

I love you Mike.

My Genes are Recessive

I learned in my forensic anthropology class that there dominate and recessive genes and you line them up in a box and you can predict what genes will overrule. Well, my genes lost. Van looks like Mike and Casey looks like Van. But they both make the same facial movements like my Dad, the same rooster pout my Dad uses as a smile the boys use to show that they are a bit upset.

Van has been adjusting fairly well. He has an interest in Casey and I think understands that there are some boundaries. He has been pretty occupied with my parents being here to lend a hand and Mike just started back at work today.

Casey has been doing the baby thing sleeping, eating and pooping. The first night at home was a bit hard, the last two night he's been better at letting us sleep a bit better between feedings.

I am doing better, dreading a bit the day I do not have any help and I have to figure out things on my own. Van has been proud of being a big boy and being able to help and do big boy things, I hope this keeps up.

Welcome Casey

Hi All,

Casey and I were released from the hospital this afternoon and are home adjusting to all the different noises. As Mike said I had a much better time delivering Casey than Van. We went in at 3AM and by 7 AM he had become very serious about being delivered. Yet again I had to wait for my doctor to arrive (Casey would have been born earlier if she had not been in surgery) and 2 short pushes later we had Casey at 9:24AM. He's a healthy 7lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches. He looks very much like Van but with thicker hair. He has long fingers and long monkey toes. Van is so excited to have him home, we get verbal reports on what Casey is doing.

Kaylee

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.