On the Other Side of the Fence

If you were to walk past our house you'd see lilac bushes lining the privacy fence. However, you would miss what's on the other side of the fence.



I first saw this project in DIY Magazine and wanted something similar for our yard. Now, Alan's domain is the backyard - he does all the mowing, he tends to the garden, and he does all the exterior maintainence. He's very busy with outdoor stuff around our house during the summer and I didn't want to burden him with another project. So I did it myself (although I did have a little bit of help from Landon picking out the paint colors for the pots - he wanted pink! And the flowers - he wanted purple!). I spray painted the pots and I planted the impatiens. I even did all the measuring and the drilling, which would have been so easy for Alan to do because he's an engineer and he likes the precision and accuracy that these sorts of projects entail (not to mention, that I think he had some hesitation about relinquishing use of his power tools over to me!). And, now it's done and I can take pride in what I accomplished on the other side of the fence.

The Hair on His Head

Gets really curly after bathtime. Just thought you'd like to know.

Biker Boy

He did it! So we did it! After successfully potty training for 6 weeks (no more than 2 accidents per week marked by stickers on a chart), we bought Landon a big boy bike.


We took him to Toys 'R Us where an array of bikes were lined up for Landon to peruse and test. After testing about 3 of them in the store, Landon decided on his Tow Mater bike (from the movie Cars).



He couldn't be more excited about having a "big boy" bike to ride, including through the puddles in the school parking lot, and we couldn't be more excited about his toileting accomplishment!

Two-Month Tate

 

Technically, Tate is 2 months and 8 days old, but I just couldn't get my act together to blog on his actual two-month birthday. Oh well!

At Tate's two-month appointment, he weighed in at 12 lbs, 3 oz. and was 23 1/4 inches long, which puts him in the 64th percentile for both. I thought for sure he'd be at least 24 inches long as he seems tall to me, but know that he'll get there soon...probably too soon as he's been growing way too fast!

At 2 months, Tate is continuing to sleep really well at night and catnaps during the day. He continues to dislike his car seat unless he's in it when the car is moving. Although, he hasn't rolled over yet, he's on the move. Yesterday, we had him sitting on the couch, with music in the background, and his legs and arms were just going. He's obviously gotten my dance moves ;) Landon continues to love on his brother asking if he can give him kisses no less than 20 times a day and Tate is very receptive. If both boys are sitting on the couch, Tate will almost always be turning his head and focusing on Landon.

All in all, life is too fun with our two-month Tate!

Talkative Tate

As Tate has just turned 8 weeks old, we are moving out of the sleeping, eating, pooping stage and moving into the sleeping, eating, pooping, interacting stage, which is definitely more fun!

Mighty Mouse, Imaginary Friend

Do you remember Mighty Mouse's cry? It's, "Here I come to save the daaaayyyyy!" Lately, in our house, his cry would be, "Here I come to be your friiieennnddd!"

Landon has entered the stage in which he has an imaginary friend and he has chosen Mighty Mouse after being introduced to him by Daddy via his cartoons. Landon and Mighty Mouse go on adventures outside and I have to tie Mighty Mouse's shoes for him. Mighty Mouse picks out the books that I read to Landon before rest time. Earlier today, Landon informed me, "Mighty Mouse wanted me to color on myself, but I didn't want to." This makes me so happy that Mighty Mouse's power of persuasion might not be so mighty after all and that we'll hopefully avoid the "Mighty Mouse made me do it" phase in our household.

Because I really do like having Mighty Mouse around and would hate to have to kick him out ;-)

Said the Boy - Part 2

"It's not called throwing, it's flying," said the boy as he threw his toy car across the room.

"I'm not tired," said the boy after I carried him into the house sleeping, as I was getting ready to lay him in his bed.

Said the Boy

"This is too hard," said the boy who was steering the paddleboat, between his two parents, who were peddling.

"I can't pick up this many books," said the boy who took all the books off of his shelf out of his frustration at his mama.

Inevitable

There are 8 words you never want to hear when you are seconds from stepping into the shower, "Kimberly, Landon fell and his head is bleeding." Those were the words my sister, Nicole, screamed to me as she burst through the bathroom door last Monday. In the course of seconds, as I made myself presentable, several thoughts ran through my head, including, "I knew something like this was going to happen," to "I'm sure glad I didn't lock the bathroom door," to "I know that head wounds bleed a lot; maybe it's not so bad."

It was that last thought that was the most prevalent as I made my way to my grandparent's kitchen (we were at their house in Illinois for the Easter weekend), perhaps as a way of preparing myself. However, nothing could really prepare me for what I was about to see. Landon was screaming in Alan's arms with my mom and grandma around him. He had a towel on his forehead and Alan had blood on his shirt and pants and there were drips of blood on the floor. I panicked. "What do we do?," I yelled. Nicole pointed her arm back towards the bathroom and told me to get dressed (I had thrown on my pajamas).

I quickly changed and calmed down enough to have the presence of mind to get my purse, which had all of our insurance information in it. My mom carried Landon out to the car where she placed him, still screaming, onto my lap and told me that it appeared the bleeding had stopped. Alan drove way too fast to the urgent care center and in the minutes it took to get there, Landon had settled down and I learned that he was running with a blanket and tripped and his forehead hit the wheel of the exercise bike in the basement. When we got inside there was no one at the desk and not even a little bell to ring for service. Several of the receptionists returned to their posts and I sat down with one of them as Alan and Landon were ushered back. I could barely fill out the paperwork, as I blanked on Landon's birthday and my signature looked like chicken scratch. I was taken to where Landon and Alan were and nurses were already tending to Landon. I got my first look at the cut - about an inch long right in the middle of his forehead and not too deep. The nurses left and told us the doctor would be in shortly, which really was not the case. It took forever for the doctor to come - long enough for Alan to process with me what had happened and for me to help Alan take off his shirt, shoes, and socks and help him lie down on the bed. Yes, you read that correctly. Alan has a history of fainting and he started feeling really warm so we took off some of his clothes to prevent a fainting episode. The doctor eventually came in and it was determined that glue would be a viable tool for closing the wound, as opposed to stitches. Landon did amazingly well throughout the process, even joking with the nurses about his "Super Dog (i.e. Bentley).

So, while we knew it was inevitable that, as parents of one very active boy and a boy that's sure to be just as active as his brother, we'd be taking a trip to urgent care for a bleeding episode, we didn't know how well it would ultimately turn out. We have much to be thankful for - the pedals on the exercise bike have metal "teeth" all across them and we're so grateful Landon didn't hit one of those. I'm grateful that Alan was downstairs with the kids (Landon and my niece and nephew) when it happened. Who knows how the kids would have responded if they were by themselves downstairs and I'm glad I wasn't downstairs when it happened. It could have been very traumatic for all if that was the case. I'm grateful that I had just fed Tate and that he was ready to go down for a nap at that time and that there was pumped breastmilk in the fridge for him. We're thankful that we maxed out our insurance deductible with Tate's birth so that we don't have to pay anything out of pocket for this. One week later, Landon is doing great. The glue hasn't fallen off yet, but the wound seems to be healing nicely - which is another thing we're grateful for.

 

Landon was so self-conscious about his forehead, that I had to wait until he was asleep to snap a picture.

Where's the Fire?

Well, it appears our too-smart-for-his-own-good three-year old will use any means necessary to get out of rest time. Earlier today during rest time, he got up no less than 4 times declaring he needed to go to the bathroom. Grudgingly, I let him because as a new learner, you just never know, even though I know on several instances he's stayed dry overnight and is capable of staying dry for his hour and a half rest period.

Anyway, I was downstairs nursing Tate and Landon came down asking if rest time was over yet. I told him "no" and let him know he had a few more minutes. He came down 2 minutes later and said, "There's a fire in my room." I said, "What?!?," more out of disbelief than not hearing what he had said. Once again he repeated himself. Now, we don't keep matches in the house and our fire starter is kept out of his reach, but you still never know. So I run upstairs, still nursing Tate, in panic mode, because "What if there was actually a fire?" to find Landon sitting on his bed with no fire in sight. Relieved. Upset. And just a teensy bit amazed at his ingenuity.

Big Brother, Little Brother

Well, it has been almost three weeks since Tate has made his appearance and we are absolutely loving having him here! And, there must be something about having a newborn in the house that makes one recognize how grown-up an older sibling seems. So here are some updates on Big Brother and Little Brother.

Landon - The biggest news is that potty training is going beautifully! Yes, it probably was not ideal to go gung-ho with potty training with a newborn in the house, but Alan and I had procrastinated long enough. With the incentive of receiving toy cars for every time he pooped on the toilet (his biggest challenge), Landon rose to the occasion! He has been staying dry/clean for just about 2 weeks now and has even been staying dry at night!

Yesterday, when Landon was getting dressed, he wanted me to do the buttons on his polo shirt. Because I was doing the dishes, I couldn't tend to him right away. Next thing I know, he had done the buttons all by himself - for the first time ever.

Landon continues to blossom verbally. As a one year old, he talked a lot. Now, it's almost non-stop and when he gets excited about something the decibel level increases. And although he's been singing the ABC's for quite some time and has been counting for just as long, now he's starting to recognize letters, numbers, and letter sounds (the other day he told me, "Mommy, mmm, Mommy starts with the letter M"). I'm very excited because this summer I'm going to be doing some home-schooling work with him and I think he's really going to enjoy some of the things I've already found.

Tate - So much like his big brother was as an infant, yet uniquely Tate. As I type this, he is sleeping in a wrap, all snug and cozy. He very much loves to cuddle and be held. He's been sleeping very well; generally he'll go down about 9 or 10 pm and be up for the day at 5 am. Mommy is extremely grateful for this! When he is awake, he's very alert and loves to check things out with his big, blue(!) eyes. He's very strong and often pops his head up when being held over our shoulders. He still has a head full of black hair and, as of now, doesn't appear to be losing any of it.

We've been adjusting fairly well with our big and little boys and are excited to see how they continue to develop into their own beings and in their relationship with one another!

Birth Story Bullet Points

As you can see by our blog title and picture, we have a new addition to our family! Tate arrived on March 26th weighing in at 9 lbs. and 22 inches. We are thrilled to have him as a part of our family and, thanks to both boys napping at the same time, I am now able to share his birth story with you! Since I know I can tend to go into too much detail, I'm going to give you the bullet point version. Any questions you have can be left in the comments section and I'll go into further detail there. So here it goes:

• Due Monday, March 21. Had doctor's appointment. At 2 cm. Scheduled appointment for Friday, March 25 in which we'd talk about induction.


• Wednesday, March 23 and Thursday, March 24 - contractions overnight, but nothing that warranted going to the hospital (although contractions on Thursday were stronger, they weren't coming the 4-5 minutes apart).


• Friday, March 25 - appointment scheduled for 12:30, including ultrasound to check fluid levels. Was having contractions throughout morning and then anywhere between 4 and 8 minutes apart about an hour and a half before appointment. Opted to go to appointment - 1) knowing office was located next to hospital in case they had me stay; 2) didn't want to go to hospital first because I didn't want them to send me home if things weren't progressing as I thought they were and; 3) wanted one last glimpse of baby via ultrasound.


• Had contractions through ultrasound and while waiting for doctor. Doctor arrives and I lay down on table for her to check me, but I have a contraction. She waits to check until contraction is over. I feel a pop, water breaks. She checks and I'm at 3 cm. Doula called.


• Alan and I take a walk to the hospital. Contractions are stronger and are coming more frequently.


• Arrive at birth center, where I'm hooked up to penicillin for failing Group Strep B test and a heart monitor since I was attempting a VBAC. Contractions are coming very fast (1-2 minutes apart). Doula arrives.


• 2:30 pm - I'm checked and am at 4 cm. Wanted to wait until 5 cm to pursue epidural but couldn't wait; contractions were coming too hard and fast.


• 4:00 pm - Checked again and still at 4.


• 5:30 pm - Checked again at doctor said I was "5ish." Pressure catheter inserted to determine how strong contractions were actually inside my uterus. Although I was having frequent contractions, the fact that I wasn't dilating as fast as everyone thought I should be, led to this.


• 6:15 - Pitocin started since pressure monitor showed weak contractions, although frequent. Pitocin would hopefully encourage pressure of contractions.


• 7:15 - I'm getting more and more uncomfortable. Felt pain on left side, especially inner thigh with every contraction and was feeling pressure in lower back. Vomited. Received boost in epidural. 6 cm.


• 8:30 - Baby at 0 station, still at 6 cm. I developed a fever of 102.9, worried about infection of uterus. Antibiotics and Tylenol started.


• 9:00 - Received news that baby would have to go to special care nursery after birth and stay for 48 hours to receive antibiotics to ward off infection.


• 9:30 - More sharp pain in left inner thigh. Received another boost in epidural. Vomited again.


• 10:30 - Around 7 cm. For sure at this point and probably earlier, was thinking I should have been more than a 7.


• Midnight, Saturday, March 26 - 8 cm. Obnoxious tingling pain returns in left leg with every contraction. Received another boost of epidural (12:30).


• 1:00 - Fully dilated. Was told to push. Concerned because I didn't feel the need to push. Received excellent coaching and encouragement from nurse, doula, and Alan.


• During course of pushing, I was put on oxygen because baby's heart rate was low; vacuum used to help get him out; I did get an episiotomy (not my first choice, but doctor said we needed to get baby out right away)


• 1:22 am - Tate was born!

Quite the experience and so vastly different than Landon (water broke, failed to progress after 2 days, C-section). So grateful that Tate is here now and healthy. Also grateful to Dena, my doula, for writing all this down because 2 weeks later, I forgot many of the details - certainly God at work there because I'm sure if women remembered their birth experience and all the pain and challenges that go along with it, there'd be so many more families with only one child!

Fess Up Friday

I am a very lazy cook on weekends. More often than not, we have leftovers from the week on weekends and meal preparation requires just pushing a button on the microwave. This past weekend, I was even more lazy than normal. Saturday we went out to breakfast AND lunch (part of it was celebratory, as Alan got a bonus at work). Since we were pretty full from going out to eat twice, dinner was whatever we could scrounge together from the fridge. Sunday morning I did make a breakfast of scrambled eggs and muffins. For lunch on Sunday, Landon ate the rest of his muffin and an orange. And for dinner, he had a taco (tortilla with melted butter and cinnamon-sugar) and another orange. See what I mean by "lazy?"

At 39 weeks pregnant, I've found that I've been quite crabby lately. So parenting a 3 year old can be especially difficult when he talks back or is disobedient. I've thought more than once this week, "I can't wait to go to the hospital because it will be a nice break from Landon." Not "I can't wait to go to the hospital to give birth to our second son," but to use the hospital as respite from my current son. Crazy pregnancy hormones.

Fess Up Friday

This is what happens when you're 38 weeks pregnant and opt to take a nap rather than unload the dishwasher, reload it, and rinse out the cans for recycling.

Reincarnation

If I believed in reincarnation (which I don't),

I'm pretty sure Landon would have been a fish in a previous life.

We went to Wisconsin Dells earlier this week and Landon was totally in his element.

With 4 different waterparks to play at, all we needed to do was say "waterpark"

and Landon would strip down to his diaper and have his swimsuit on.

He was fearless, too. He braved the wave pool with Daddy, as well as whatever big waterslides they would let him on.

This was certainly the smallest slide he went on, but the most convenient because he would slide down and quickly go back up the stairs to do it again. I kid you not, he must have went down this one at least 100 times. The boy does not know his limits...

...unlike his cousins, who knew their limits and would take breaks from the water. But, I suppose if one truly was a fish, taking "breaks" from the water would be perilous to one's health.

Fess Up Friday

This week, we (and by "we," I mean Alan) unintentionally created an indoor park for Landon. "Now what's so bad about that?," you're probably wondering. Well, let me explain. Alan came home from work the other day to find Landon driving his toy cars with Iowa Grandma. They had created a ramp out of our fold-up TV trays, but Alan, being an engineer and lover of fast cars, figured that wasn't good enough. So he went to the garage and came back in with a slew of cardboard. He then proceeded to construct a ramp going down our basement (carpeted and somewhat steep) stairs for Landon to race the cars down. It didn't take long for the ramp to become a slide for our very adventurous three year old to slide down (oh yeah, Grandma even took a turn!). It even got to the point where Landon took another piece of cardboard and sat on that before going down the cardboard slide (like a toboggan) to get more speed. Slightly dangerous? Yes, but, oh so fun.

True Minnesotan

Only a true Minnesotan would insist on riding his tricycle in 20 degree weather.

Banking Kisses

Lately at bedtime, Landon asks Alan and I how many kisses each of us wants and how many hugs. We'll each throw out our desired number of kisses and hugs and Landon may or may not counter-offer with his own number. Sometimes, I'll request 7 kisses and 4 hugs or 5 hugs and 9 kisses or another random combination. Somedays, Landon forgoes my request and requests 20 kisses. We count together as we exchange kisses and hugs and then it's Daddy's turn for this "game". I'm loving this ritual now because, sadly, the day will come when Landon will announce he's "too old" for a bedtime kiss or hug and, as a result, I'm banking kisses.

On a side note: Yes, I know it's Friday. Yes, I know I'm 2 weeks overdue for a Fess Up Friday post. But, I have other stuff that I want to blog (and no other time to do it) so Fess Up Friday has been kind of put to the back burner, for now. Sorry!

Fess Up Friday - Family Version

Here's a first. A Fess Up Friday post that incorporates confessions from every member of our family. And it all centers around one unfortunate incident that happened on Wednesday.

Kimberly - After grocery shopping on Wednesday, I carried in the first batch of groceries, as well as my purse and keys (stupidly). I left the door open while I went to get the last bag of groceries.

Landon - Mommy asked for my help carrying in the toilet paper and I wasn't willing to help. Mommy said I couldn't play outside if I didn't help so I proceeded to throw a tantrum. So, while I was outside crying and Mommy went to get the last batch of groceries, I took the opportunity to go inside and locked both locks of the back door. Despite Mommy knocking, then banging on the door, and yelling for me to let her in, I did not unlock the door.

Kimberly - I honestly thought Landon was going to let me in, so I hesitated going over to my neighbor's house to get our spare key. After 15 minutes of being outside, I swallowed my pride and made my way next door, to find that they weren't home. At this point, I was swearing and praying and panicking all at once.

Landon - I did eventually let Bentley out of my room, where we keep her when we go out. Despite Bentley's whines and cries at the back door, I didn't let Bentley outside, because I knew if I let her out that would give Mommy the chance to come back in and I wasn't willing to let that happen because Mommy made it very clear there would be consequences.

Alan - Kimberly called me at work using some random guy's cell phone who was walking down our street that she flagged down. "I need you to come home right now," she explained. "Okay," I replied, "What's wrong?" "Landon locked me out of the house. I'm using this man's cell phone to call you. Come home!," was her frantic response. I laughed and said, "I'll be right there." "This is NOT funny," she said before hanging up the phone.

When I pulled up to the house an eternity later (or that's what it seemed like to Kimberly who had already been outside for at least 25 minutes before calling me and my office is at least 20 minutes away), I smiled and stifled a laugh at my wife who was not very happy standing on the back step. "This is NOT funny," she reiterated. To which I replied, "It kind of is," before getting an icy look and cold shoulder from Kimberly.

Kimberly - After Alan let me in and he disciplined Landon (because I was too angry to), Landon came up to me and said, "I'm sorry." I looked at him and so-not-biblically told him, "I can't forgive you right now. I'm just too angry."

Landon - Later, after rest time and being forgiven by Mommy, we did go outside to play. I decided to climb over the snow bank to peek in the kitchen window, just as Mommy had done earlier in the day. "Let me in. Open the door right now," I shouted at the window, imitating how funny Mommy looked and sounded when she had done the same thing just hours earlier.

And that concludes our first ever family confessional on Fess Up Friday. See you next week!

If You Build It

There's been a lot of building going on at our house thanks to the some 240 Duplo pieces received by Iowa Grandma for Landon's Christmas/Birthday gifts.


See those two long structures in the middle of the track? Those are rhinoceroses.

Daddy's been getting in on the fun, too. He constructed this tree with the cat stuck in it.


These photos are just from one building session (and to be honest, these are the some of the only photos I've taken thus far). There have been towers to the ceiling, robots, dogs, bi-planes, and helicopters. There was even a Duplo centerpiece for our table for a few days.

Hundreds of Duplos equals hours of fun in this house. Thanks, Iowa Grandma!