Noviembre

Instead of continually lamenting the fact that I never update this thing, I've decided to give myself a break and just shoot for once a month. Do-able, right? We'll see, I guess!

It's hard to believe it's already November. Halloween was great this year - we had foster care training the week before, so Grandma and Grandpa L came down Friday and took care of the boys for us while we attended. Thankfully, we were done early on Saturday, which allowed us time to attend the Halloween event at the Zoo.

Sunday after G&G went home, we went to another Halloween event with the boys at the West Fargo High School, sponsored by our local Parks department. They do so much fun stuff for the kids - I love this town. :)

Goo's favorite part of that event was frosting and decorating his own pumpkin cookie. The Moose's favorite part was when his ding-bat mom forgot to snap the straps in the stroller and he slid almost to the ground. Or maybe not. Good thing he's got a fast Daddy! Oops.

Monday I took a few hours off from work and brought the boys trick-or-treating around my office. It's always fun to have an excuse to show off, and Goo walked away with a TON of candy. Although, bless his heart, he was a little OD'd on trick or treating by this time and made a point to tell us frequently that he was done and that his bag was too heavy. Only kid I've ever seen that thought he had too much candy. Silly boy.

Finally, Monday night, Goo and I went trick or treating with our neighbors. Goo and R are best buddies, and they're SO CUTE together.

Did you notice that the Batman obsession has spread? :) One of our poor neighbors made the mistake of calling these guys Batman and Robin and was quickly corrected.

Overall trick-or-treating was MUCH more successful this year than it was last year - Goo wasn't afraid at all and did a great job of thanking people and telling them "Happy Halloween" - although that was was usually when he was running down the sidewalk to the next house, pretty sure most of them didn't hear him. Oh well, at 3 he can still get away with that, right?

We had LOTS of trick-or-treaters at the house as well, this is such a fun neighborhood to live in with all of the little kids. I could live without the teenagers that smashed some pumpkins before Halloween, but I suppose if that's the most violent criminal activity going on around here, I should probably not complain.

In other news, the Moose is crawling at the speed of light and is into EVERYTHING. I love him dearly, and am so proud of his accomplishments, but it's going to be an exhausting couple of months pulling him down from places he shouldn't be pulling himself up on and policing every little piece of anything that he happens to find on the floor, and directs immediately to his mouth. Fun times. :)

He's also babbling like mad, and has (sadly for me) decided that his first word will be "Dada." Yesterday I spent the day saying "Moose, say Mama" and getting "Dada" as a response. Stinker. :)

Moose weighs about 28 lbs and recently went through a growth spurt so is very tall. ("very tall" is a perfectly valid measurement, right?) Goo is still around 42 lbs and is also very tall. :) He was 3' 3" at his 3 year check-up, and I assume has grown an inch or so since then. Moose is wearing 18 and 24 month clothes, and Goo is a solid 4T. I still feel like I'm pulling clothes out of their closet on a weekly basis, but hopefully Moose will slow down a bit as he gets more active and will lose a little of that (adorable) baby chunk.

Goo appears to be through his "terrible three" stage, and is back to being his sweet self. I realized today the joy of having a child who understands what Christmas is. Goo - you don't want me to have to call Santa and tell him you're being naughty produces immediate desired results. Ha!

Goo spends a lot of time at R's these days, and vice versa. They play SO well together and really miss each other when they're not together. Today Goo went to R's before nap time, and after he came home said "MOM, R's mom shuts the door and says "I love you," so you need to shut the door and say "I love you," too." I'm a little concerned that he's already critiquing my parenting! But I shut the door and said "I love you," anyway. :)

Goo is SUCH a good big brother. Whenever Moose is in his highchair and is tired of it (which is generally about 30 seconds after he decides he's full) - Goo will bring him toys, and make goofy faces at him, and dance around until one of us can get him out. We never have to ask, it just bothers him to see his little bro uncomfortable. How lucky are we?

On that note, I'll now be dragging my lucky self to bed. Talk to you in December! :)

The Post You've All Been Waiting For ...

Wow. Can’t even begin to provide an excuse for what an awful blogger I am. So I won’t. :)
Moving on ….

We’re very excited to report that Goo and The Moose are expecting a brand new baby cousin in January! Uncle R and his girlfriend are expecting a new bundle of joy in January, right around The Moose’s 1st birthday. We’re excited for them, and are excited for the kids to have another cousin to grow up with. My mother in law is hoping that baby fever will kick in when I meet this new one and that the Moose will be a middle child. Silly mother in law.

As for Goo and the Moose – Here’s a little snippet of what they’ve been up to lately:

Goo-man is celebrating turning 3 by pushing every limit that has ever been imposed on him. He has recently decided that he will not hear Daddy-O or I unless we’ve repeated ourselves at LEAST 6 times, and no longer believes the threat of time out until Mama is physically heading in his direction. It’s been a challenging few weeks! It comforts me to know, though, that three of my close friends with boys very close in age to Goo are having the same struggles. Must be the age? Or the social group, maybe? Ha! Stinkers.

Goo has also turned into quite the little conversationalist. His favorite phrases are currently “That doesn’t make sense” and “What does X mean?” Try explaining to a 3 year old what “broke” means. Ha!

The Moose is already 8 months old and is doing really well. His acid reflux is 99% under control, which is marvelous. Unfortunately, now we’re teething, and, like his mama, the Moose doesn’t handle pain well. We’ve got the bottom two teeth broken through, and hopefully will see the rest soon. The Moose is also *almost* crawling. He sits now and scoots to get what he wants from a sitting position, but is spending a lot of time up on his hands and knees trying to figure out how to really go. His belly is so chubby, it’s a lot to support! :)

He’s got cheeks just like Goo did at this age, but is starting to look a little more like Mama in the eyes and nose. Exhibit A:

Ha! Poor Moose.

Both boys were recently at the pediatrician for checkups and are in the 94th percentile for height and the 99th percentile for height. We don't make 'em small around here, do we!?

3 and 1/2

Goo just turned 3 and the Moose is now 6 months old. Here are there updated stats: 


Goo: 

• Weighs 42 lbs and is a little over 3 feet tall.
  
  
• Is all of a sudden totally in 4t. He'd been in 4t shirts for a while, but 3t pants. He wore shorts for 6 weeks, and suddenly all of his pants are too short. Stinker.
   
• He's still super goofy and fun, but we've started with an attitude lately. "I don't wanna." "Donnnnne (don't) say that to me!" and a good old fashioned "No!" are his new favorite phrases. Fingers crossed that this phase passes quickly. ha!
  
• He's still very into Batman, Power Rangers, and any other super-hero dudes. He now carries on pretty elaborate conversations between his "guys" - very cute to listen to. :)
   
• Cars is still one of his favorite flicks, although we haven't attempted an actual movie theater trip yet. Soon, I'm sure!
  
• We celebrated the big 0-3 twice - once the day of, with a Mommy-Daddy-Goo day, and again that weekend, with a big old party at the park. For your viewing pleasure:
  
  
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Moose 

• Weighs 23 lbs. Catching up fast.
  
• Is nearly 28 inches tall, meaning he's grown 2 inches since June.
   
• Is wearing 12 and 18 month clothes. Mostly 18 month. Moose.
   
• He sits! For a while, anyway.
  
• He grabs anything and everything he can get his hands on and directs it immediately to his mouth. No toothers yet, but any day now, I'm sure!
  
• He doesn't roll ... unless I'm at the Dr. with him, talking about how he doesn't roll. In which case, he immediately rolls, the second I lay him on the table. Show off.
  
• He eats baby food, and has a serious preference for all things orange. Squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, and carrots are his current faves.
  
• He's been on Prilosec for about a month, and is doing really well. Unfortunately, the formula wasn't the issue, the tummy was. We did a few days on Zyrtec with no luck, but the Prilosec has really done the trick. This is our happy Prilosec picture, taken on day 2. :) 

... as compared to the pre-Prilosec pics I'd been getting ... 

Poor guy. But still cute. :) 

4 Months & the Ice Cream Truck

The "little" guy turned 4 months old not quite two weeks ago. I took him for his checkup and as I suspected, he grew 3 inches (now 26 inches tall) and gained a few more pounds for a whopping 19.5 lbs. I suppose this means my "sack of potato" references weren't all that far off. ;) 


The Moose is doing well - he's a little fussier than Goo was, so his Doc recommended a formula switch - today was Day 1 on the new one and we got a good report from daycare, so keep your fingers crossed for him that this resolves his issues. 

When his tummy isn't bothering him, he's otherwise a really sweet baby. Very lovey - loves to be hugged and cuddled. Lights up when that big brother comes around, and puts everything he can get his paws on in his mouth. 


Speaking of Big Bro - Goo is doing great as well. We stayed home Memorial Day weekend and dedicated ourselves to potty training. Totally paid off! Just a few accidents last week, and the last 4 days we've had none. If I would have known he'd do so well, I'd have celebrated a bit more the last time I bought him diapers. ;) 

Our conversation this morning: 


Goo: See ya later al-gator! 
Me: After while, crocodile! 
Goo: I NOT crocodile, I BATMAN! 


Silly boy. 

Silly boy had his first visit to the ice cream truck tonight. We had to chase it down the street, but totally worth it. Run, Mama! RUN!! Guess I wasn't fast enough for him ... :) 


PS: Have you noticed how much I love my new Instagram app for my iPhone? :) Makes me do silly things like sit around at night and take goofy pictures of myself, just to play with the filters. 

Ha! 

Lest I Forget ...

Goo-ism's today:

Goo: "It's a bug!"
Me: "Yep, that's an ant."
Goo: "No, it's a bug."
Me: "Yes - an ant is a kind of bug, you know, like a beagle is a kind of dog."
Goo: "Oh, a beagle bug."
Me: "Yeah, buddy, that's exactly what I was getting at."

Goo - while I'm on the phone with my Mom - at the TOP of his lungs "I HAVE TO POOP AND PEE!!!!!"

Potty training is going great, by the way. :)

And finally, later this evening, out on the deck:

Goo: "You're a butt-face"
Me: "What did you just call me?!"
Goo (totally serious): "A butt face."

Awesome. :)

Bad Guys and Cutie Pies

The morning after Osama Bin Laden was killed, I had the news coverage on. 

Goo: What that, Mama? 

Me: (trying to come up with a nice way to say this) Well, we got the bad guy, buddy. 

Goo: (ponders for a bit) We got the Joker? 

Me: Yep, buddy, he was kind of a Joker. 

Goo: Good. (Or "Dood" - in his words) 

Love that kid. 

And of course this 18.5 lb Cutie Pie, too. :)

(Yes, you read that right. My not quite 4 month old weighs 18.5 lbs. I think the "Moose" nickname is going to stick. :) )

Sticky Floors and Mood Lighting

I went to Minneapolis this weekend with two girlfriends. It was really fun, but in the evening of the first day when we hit the kids section at Ikea, I missed the boys. I compensated by buying them fun stuff they absolutely did NOT need.

T handled my not quite 2 day trip very well, even humoring me with periodic pics of the yay-hoos.



I did really enjoy having the time to shop and chat with my friends without interruption and even enjoyed a glass of wine (or two!) at dinner Saturday night at a very non-kid-friendly restaurant. Very fun in the moment, but I’ll take sticky floors and plastic play equipment over mood lighting and fancy condiments any day. :)

Holy Cow! Er … Moose. And Goo.

The Moose turned two months old yesterday and I literally cannot believe how fast the time has gone! He’s doing really well – here’s an update on his “stats:”

• He’s wearing 3-6 month clothes  
• He weighs approximately 14.5 lbs – we’ll find out Wednesday exactly how much and how long – suffice it to say HE’S BIG!  
• He’s smiling frequently – particularly when he’s full – the boy likes to eat! ;)  
• He’s eating 4 oz at a time most of the time, sometimes up to 6 if he’s really starving  
• He’s sleeping each night from around 9 all the way until 3:30 or 4, eating, and going back to sleep until 6:30 when my alarm goes off. The last few days he’s gone back down after that feeding as well, allowing me to get myself and the other nut ready quickly. Love this kid!!

Speaking of the other Nut – Goo is doing great as well! For comparison:

• He’s wearing 3T pants and 3T or 4T shirts
• He weighs 36 lbs and is about 3 feet tall
• He’s an incredibly picky eater, but we’re slowly working on trying new things.
• He’s *almost* got his colors nailed down – he occasionally has a little trouble with red, orange, and yellow but he’s getting better all the time
• He is excellent at identifying shapes – I’ve got an iPhone app that shows multiple shapes and asks him to touch one, and he breezes through it with flying colors.
• His favorite toys are Uncle D’s old army men and his Batman gear – he also likes to play “racecars” and Power Rangers at daycare.

Both boys are amazing – we count our blessings every day!

Last week was my first week back to work, and while it was hard to leave the Moose, it was such a different experience knowing and trusting our daycare. We’re SO fortunate to have found them and that they continue to put up with us! Ha!

This weekend, Grandma ‘Tine and I took Goo to the West Fargo Park District “Bouncy Bash” and he had a ball! (The Moose stayed home with Dad and Gpa and watched the Sioux game).

Later that night T and I went on a “date” to my friend S’s 30th birthday party and had a lot of fun. I can’t believe that we’re able to function normally with such a new baby – Moose, you’re too easy!!

Introducing ...

Mr. Moose

(a.k.a. Goo#2!)

And no, I didn't buy him the Sioux hat I'm still an NDSU fan!! Uncle R bought the hat for Goo, and it was the warmest hat I could find for the occasion.

 As we all know, I'm horrible at keeping up with this thing, and I imagine with two kiddos, I'm going to be even worse. BUT, this is for them, so better late than not at all, right? :)

Our second beautiful boy was born on Thursday, January 27th at 9:17am. Mr. Moose weighed 9 lbs, 6 oz and was 21 inches long.

Here he is with his VERY proud big brother:

(... the newness has since worn off!)

And with an equally proud Daddy-o:

And again with Big Bro in one of his first professional pics at 5 days old ... love this one!

Mr. Moose was 8 days late ... better than Goo being 11, but still - boys, mom is not impressed. If you ask me when you're older why you didn't get any more little brothers or sisters, this may be why. :)

The Mooses birth story is kind of cute - I'd actually gone in for my 41 week check up on Wednesday morning, and some little stinker decided to sleep through his stress test. After the 4th nurse came in to look at his activity strip, I started to get nervous.

After the stress test was over, they sent me in for a quick ultrasound to see what was going on. The ultrasound tech was pleased, and commented on how our "little" guy had a fat roll on his neck. The Dr. told me later that our guy scored an 8 on a scale of 8, and that sometimes, they just don't like to cooperate during the stress tests (or a multitude of other things). He did schedule me to be induced the following morning at 6:45, since we were over and the baby appeared to be more than ready to go.

So ... I went to work for 30 minutes to organize my things and prepare for leave. I then picked Goo up and took him to lunch for one last mommy/son date before he was a big brother. We also (thankfully!) snuck in one last mommy/son nap ... I imagine that won't be happening again for quite a while! I also called everyone and told them to get ready. Both sets of parents, my grandparents and T's grandma were all planning to come meet baby as soon as he was born. When T came home from work that day, we finished packing the hospital bags, cleaned, and made sure the babysitter was ready to take Goo the following morning. We all went to bed around 9:30 and joked how ironic it would be if I went into labor before 6:45 am ... Sure enough ...

At 11:45 I woke up with contractions, thinking something along the lines of "You've got to be kidding me!" :) When I started timing, they were consistently 3 minutes apart, but were only lasting about 15 seconds each. I called in to L&D, who told me to wait until they were a minute long. At about 1am, I called and woke the sitter up, and Dad brought Goo over in his PJs and put him back to bed at their house. By the time he got back, my contractions were about 40 seconds long, and I decided it was time to go in.

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse gave me a skeptical look when I told her what I was experiencing, but checked me in and examined me - at which point my water broke. She then made a comment like "I bet you're glad you came in when you did!" Duh.

Fast forward a few hours (and one magical epidural!) and our "little" guy was born at 9:17am. The NICU nurses were in the room (as they were with our first) but thankfully not needed. We got a 9/10 on the Apgar test because it took a while for those fingers and toes to turn pink, but Mr. Moose quickly rebounded and scored a 10 on his second test later. 

Mr. Moose looked so good that we were able to keep him in the room with us for about an hour before they took him away to weigh and measure him, to allow us some time to bond and show off. My parents and grandparents actually made it up in time for the birth, and we all guessed how much he weighed when the nurses took him away. I guessed 8 lbs, 6 oz, knowing he was bigger than big brother, but Great Grandma J knew better - "That baby weighs more than 9 lbs, for sure!" Sure enough - 9 lbs, 6.7 oz, and 21 inches long. (The Mr. Moose nickname makes a little more sense now, doesn't it? :) 

Ticking Time Bomb

I feel like a ticking time bomb. Goo #2 is due in 2 days (yes, 2 days!) which therefore puts me in that “any minute now (or not)” category that I so sincerely dislike. Don’t get me wrong – I couldn’t be more excited to meet this little guy and hold him in my arms, but the anticipation is driving me a little bit (ok, a lotta bit) bananas. It makes my face do weird things like this:

Ha!

With Goo, I actually talked a lot about wishing an elective C-Section was an option, just so I knew when he’d be coming and could plan accordingly. Of course, this option wasn’t offered to me, and in retrospect, I’m very glad it wasn’t. It’s the number 1 lesson to learn when becoming a parent – You’re not in control, Mama. Can’t blame a girl for trying.

People keep asking me if Goo is excited to meet his baby brother, and I have to say – I still don’t think he really gets it. What he does know is that he does NOT like being told not to climb on/draw on/disassemble the baby gear sitting around the house, so I think sharing is going to be a bit of an adjustment. We’ll figure it out, though – he’s a great kid, and I have no doubt that he’ll (eventually!) be a great big brother. He’s even got a new shirt to prove it:

As for me, I’m actually feeling really good. I’m tired and achy most of the time, just because of my general huge-ness and the fact that I can’t get a decent night’s sleep (parenting lesson #2 – functioning on no sleep!) – but overall for being this far along, I’m doing awesome. This does not bode well for the idea of getting any assistance evicting this baby – we have absolutely no medical reason to not allow me to continue to be pregnant for 2  more weeks. So … the bomb keeps ticking, I suppose!

All sarcasm aside – Here’s hoping that my next post will be a beautiful birth story that contains lots of pictures of a healthy, beautiful babe. If you have a prayer to spare, my growing family and I would sure appreciate it!