God is Great, Beer is Good & Toddlers are CRAZY

Spending my summer home with my favorite 3-yr old has been wonderful.  But, it has given me hours and hours of time to watch and contemplate.  As summer comes to an end, I have come to one final conclusion...  Toddlers are freaking nuts!  

First, we have the battle being waged against naps.  Why?  I mean, naps are glorious. SO glorious. You get to snuggle up in the afternoon, take a break from the day and nap off your lunch.  Do you know how many afternoons I spend at work WISHING I could nod off for an hour or so?  YOU GET TO DO THAT!  Living the dream.  Seriously. 

But, I do understand that toddlers are nosey little folks.  They don't like to miss any of the action.  And they love to play!  And naps are not conducive to that.  Toddlers would rather turn into miserable raging puddles of tantrum.  So, I still think it's nuts, but I will proceed...

But NOW...  A war on EATING?  That is just straight up loco.  I can't even fathom a reason that you would not want to EAT.  And we're not talking about gross food here.  We're talking mac & cheese and peaches, pizza and other toddler faves.  I just don't get it.  It doesn't matter what is on the plate, it's not getting eaten in a timely matter. 

Every meal takes about 45 minutes and we have to battle... for... every.... little... nibble...  There are negotiations, threats, time outs, counting to 3, bribery, leaving the table, being sent straight to bed...  We try it all. 

Please, PLEASE for the sake of my sanity, sweet toddler, give up this assault on eating!!  And take a damn nap for good measure! 

It's Done! (Pretty Much)

So, aside from shades that need to go on the windows (not shown in pictures anyway!), Cole's room is pretty much done...  I say pretty much because I am sure I will obsessively tweak and rearrange in the next 8-11 (please be closer to the 8) weeks.  I am already not happy with the red blanket on the twin bed and the old light fixture.  But, a large part of me is trying to be reasonable here.  The light is perfectly functional.  The red blanket is something we already had and he won't even use that bed for like 2 years!  But, logic usually gets stifled by pregnancy perfectionist craziness.  I posted the before & after pics because you really can't get a true appreciation of the finished product without seeing where it came from.  Eek! 

* By the way, I opened my blog back up to public viewing.  So, those of you that use Google Reader can hopefully start seeing it again!

Cole... He's Still a He

On Monday, (Lee's birthday), I got to have a marathon doctor's appointment.  I was going to have the gestational diabetes screening, an ultrasound and a general appointment with the doc.  The purpose of the ultrasound was to see if I would need a c-section due to the baby's placenta location. 

Even though that was the primary concern, I asked the ultrasound tech if she could possibly do a double check of the sex...  As Lee said "She's just nervous because she just painted the baby's room blue."  Yeah, and bought all boy stuff and sold most of Taryn's stuff in a garage sale!!! 

 The ultrasound tech was able to confirm, yes, we still have a boy in the oven.  She circled the boy parts and spelled it out for us pretty clearly.  Just in case I have anymore moments of doubt before October! 

Side story:  After the ultrasound...
Lee:  I can't believe the ultrasound lady said 'There's the baby's balls,' that doesn't seem like a very medical term.
Lauren:  Lee, she was saying 'bulge' not 'balls'! 
Lee:  Oh.  That makes more sense. 

 The ultrasound went well and everything looked great.  The placenta had moved so a c-section will not be necessary.  Cole measured right on target, except his head was 4 days ahead.  I see another big headed baby in my future...  Darn you Klemme genes! 

 The ultrasound tech switched over to 3D/4D at the end, which was a nice surprise.  Little Cole was sleeping and had his arm up by his face, so we didn't get to see a whole lot.  However, we did get a few peeks of his eyes/nose.  His nose looks exactly like Taryn! 

All in all it was a great ultrasound and a wonderful birthday present for Lee!  A healthy baby boy on the way!

Nesting Central

When I was pregnant with Taryn, Lee definitely made fun of me for "nesting".  I became obsessed with baskets and wanted to organize EVERYTHING.  I dreamt up ideas for things to hang in the nursery and then forced Lee to make them. 

I would venture to say I am WORSE this time around in the nesting department.  Perhaps it is the summer off.  Maybe it is how NOT DONE our house is.  I'm sure a little is to blame for those dozens of acquaintances I have that are also due in October and keep posting perfectly complete nurseries on Facebook.  Oh, and throw some responsibility at Pinterest. 

Pinterest should be banned from pregnant people.  Shortly after I discovered Pinterest, I exiled myself so that I could get work done for my actual job.  However, being on break, I have slowly gotten back on the Pinterest train. 

Other than some meals, the first thing I did was the Father's Day gift for Lee.  Next, I made a frame with a clip in it to hang Taryn's artwork on the wall.  Now I'm working on the kids' bathroom and got the idea to hang up bath pics of them in their bath.  Obviously, I will have to wait to complete Cole's picture...  I won't try to bathe his ultrasound picture or anything too crazy.  But, I took Taryn's pictures tonight.  I had planned to choose just one, but too many of them just cracked me up.  She is a total ham, and it really shows in these pics. 

At this point, I think I need to step away from the Pinterest before Lee strangles me for putting too many nail holes in the wall!

More Summer Fun!

At the beginning of the summer, I had such high expectations for myself.  I'm going to get up early every morning and go walking instead of wasting away the morning in my pajamas.  I'm going to work on school stuff with Taryn everyday.  I'll spend the afternoons wearing her out at the pool or park and then work on the house while she naps (HA!  Nap!).  Then after she goes to sleep I will work on MY school stuff so that I am ahead of the game come August.  So, that's what I THOUGHT I would do.  Here is some stuff we actually have done...

 Finally visited Columbian Park and the petting zoo.  Although it looks like Taryn is a little squeamish around the goat, she actually loved them this year!  I have a couple pics of her embracing random goats, but this picture was just too entertaining not to share!  Her cousin Rue (who is 1) loved the goats even more and chased them around the pen letting out excited screeches at them.  It was pretty entertaining to watch and we spent so much time in the petting zoo, I think the workers were becoming suspicious of us.  (No, I don't have a baby goat in my shirt, I'm just pregnant!) 

 We (er, mostly Lee) got the wall built for Baby Cole's room.  (At what point in this poor child's life will we stop referring to him as Baby Cole.  Man, I hope it is before kindergarten for his sake.)  His future room used to be a den closed off by bi-fold doors.  Yeah, imagine trying to get a newborn to nap with a loud 3-yr old and NO WALL.  I'm really glad this is up! 

 Taryn strangely slept in exactly the same position as her teddy bear. 

 Here are a couple of "before" pics of Cole's room.  Yeah, not so kid friendly, huh?  This was the prior owner's card playing room.  Imagine lots of bridge and smoking going on in this room...  From the millions of dusty books to the dozens of bird pictures...  And oh, the curtains! 

 I definitely can't call this the "after" pictures, but here is some progress being made.  The wall is almost completely finished.  Most the room is painted.  Bookshelves are now kid appropriate...  We are getting there!  When we were painting the room, we needed two coats of primer.  After the first coat, I noticed that where the previous owner had a picture hanging, it was white.  Most other spots were yellowing a bit.  Lee came home and said "Yeah, that's probably tobacco residue getting soaked out of the wall."  ICK!  Anyway, I have 3 weeks to get this room done before going back to work, so I think it's going to happen!

Thoughts from the Gut

*  I am 24 weeks pregnant today.  I look like I did when I was 28 weeks pregnant with Taryn.  Considering Taryn weighed 8lbs14oz at birth, this scares me. 

*  Looking down, I can officially only see the very tips of my toes. 

*  They say that you carry boys lower.  I don't know if it is the 2nd pregnancy thing or the fact that it is a boy, but it definitely seems low.  I feel like Peter Griffin when he is naked and his belly goes down to his thighs. 

*  While pregnant with Taryn, I was pregnant from, like September until May.  This time it will be February through October.  I think the winter pregnancy is definitely easier!  I am sure it doesn't help that this has been a hot, dry summer.  Besides the heat, during the summer you are wearing shorts and sandals.  This means you need to shave your legs and paint your toenails.  Both are a challenge with the belly.  But, I am not yet ready to go with the "If I can't see it, it's not there" approach.  Then there is the dreaded maternity bathing suit.  "Maternity" and "bathing suit" just don't go together!  Finally, there is something about summer (and being off work all summer) that makes you want to drink.  I mean, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Saturdays...  All great drinking days during the summer.  And a Busch NA is just not quite the same. 

*  I wondered if feeling the baby kick would be as amazing the second time around as it was with the first pregnancy.  It absolutely is!  I could sit with my hand on my stomach for hours of the day. 

*  When you've had your first, you can't even imagine loving anything in the world so much.  But, I know it happens and am prepared to be just as blown away by Cole as I am with Taryn.  The point above gives me a glimpse of what this whole 2-child thing is going to be like.  (Part of this is probably the only child factor.  I don't really get the whole sibling thing just yet!) 

*  This pregnancy seems to be going so much faster!  To think (if c-section is necessary) I may only have 13 weeks left is pretty unreal!  And I can't wait to meet my little man!

Class of 2027?

                                                                                 How old does that make you feel????

Father's Day 2012

Thank you Michelle for reminding me to post this...  For Father's Day, I actually took something from Pinterest and FOLLOWED THROUGH ON IT!  Amazing. 

3 is such a great age for a gift like this because the know just enough to be hilarious.  I mean, she was right on the money with Lee loving to watch basketball...  But, I would venture to say she was a little off when she said he loves going to the park and drinking water.

Summer Break - 2012

As we near the middle of my summer break, I wanted to update what Taryn and I have been up to...   

Thankfully, quite a bit of this...  SLEEP.  Taryn hasn't exactly been a champion sleeper, but she still sleeps a good 11-12 hours a day.  I sleep a good 8.  That's nice.  There was one day where I think I logged 13!  That has to be a record since, like, my early 20's! 

 We had a garage sale a few weeks ago.  While I did a good 95% of the work, Lee decided to confiscate most the profits and buy this rifle.  So, this weekend we took my mom out to learn how to shoot.  Taryn and I spent most our time watching from the safety of the car. 

 FIND WATER.  Sprinklers, pools, baby pools, wherever!  In this picture, Taryn is actually standing in the Wabash River which is at record levels of LOW this summer.  We could really use some rain in these parts.

One day while my mom and I were talking, we coined the term "Toddler Tiring Business".  That definitely feels like my job description for the summer.  Naps are elusive these days.  You have to really wear her out.  Your timing has to be impeccable.  And then you just need a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure.  On this day, she was SO. WORN. OUT.  But, refused to nap.  She finally was laying on the floor by my feet throwing a fit and just fell asleep right there.  She slept on the carpet for a good hour.  Toddlers.  Why do they hate sleep so much?  It is glorious!!

Naked knights?  Yeah, I have no idea. 

Gymnastics classes have started back up for the summer.  Most classes have gone really well except for last week when she decided to have a case of the cling-to-mommys.  She is in class with two children of a couple that went to high school with Lee & I.  It is nice to be able to sit there and chat while the kids get their workout. 

If you know your Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes, you should remember the  episode where they build a birdhouse for Baby Redbird.  Well, on this day I was cleaning off the bookshelves in Baby Cole's room and Taryn decided she wanted to build a birdhouse.  If you look closely, there are two stuffed animal birds in there. 

Annoy the cats.  Always a fun pasttime. 

And finally, my own brand of homeschooling.  I want to get Taryn ready for preschool starting in September, so we have been working on stuff at home.  Usually, if we have a free day, I'll spend about 45 minutes with her doing stuff.  She is great with numbers, but her letters aren't quite as mastered.  We also work on cutting paper, matching, patterns, puzzles, etc.  My goal is to have her writing her name before preschool.  We'll see...  I have gotten a lot of great stuff from this website:  Confessions of a Homeschooler.  

So, I guess this is a good summary of our first 6 weeks of summer.  On the agenda for the 2nd half is a lot more of the same...  Plus robot art camp with Grandma, a baseball game with the Klemme family and a lot more work around the house!! 

Baby Cole Says HI!

I know it takes me a long time to make it official in the ol' blog world and most of my readers know already, but October 20th, 2012 is our due date and we're going to be having a BOY!  He will be named Cole Leroy Klemme.  The Leroy is after Lee's grandpa. Lee is actually named after his grandpa Leroy and his other grandpa Leo.  Whenever baby names are discussed, the name Leroy is always first on Lee's list. 

Catching up...  How has this pregnancy been going? 
Pretty well, really.  I was pretty sick from weeks 9 to 12, but never actually tossed my cookies.  I think I was more sick this time than with Taryn, but it is hard to compare.  When I was pregnant with Taryn, I was working from home and more importantly I didn't have a 3 year old to keep me on my toes.  Just about as soon as the sickness ended, the headaches started.  They aren't horrible headaches, but they are frequent.  Fortunately they go away with a little bit of caffeine.  Those have dwindled since the end of school though (hmm, imagine that) and I have been feeling great. 

How is Taryn handling it? 
Taryn is incredibly excited.  She refers to it as HER baby and often tells us what the baby is doing in my belly.  Sometimes he's just hanging out, sometimes he is playing, a few times he has been laughing at her.  She has quite the imagination.  At first she was sure that the baby was a boy, but one day she realized she wanted a sister and suddenly it was always a girl.  She has accepted the news that it is in fact a baby brother now and has been watching more Max & Ruby in order to prepare. 

Is Lee excited to have a son? 
Um, yes.  He says he has always wanted one of each and if we had a boy first he would be wanting a girl right now.  But, more importantly, I'm pretty sure he has dreams of coaching Little League in his head.  Not that girls can't do sports...  But, at the moment, Taryn insists she is going to be a cheerleader and I don't think Lee is interested in coaching that! 

Will we be having more kids? 
NO.  After Taryn, I always said that if the next one was a boy, we would be done.  If it was a girl, we'd probably be done.  So, unless Lee grows a uterus, we're done. 

While Cole is due to make his appearance around October 20th, there is a chance that I will be having a c-section closer to October 1st.  We will get another ultrasound at the end of July to see if the c-section will be necessary.  Honestly, I don't care either way as long as I have a healthy baby.  And considering my first bundle of joy was almost 9 lbs, having the baby 3 weeks early may not be the worst thing ever.  We will see, but I am prepared for either! 

This pregnancy is going by much faster than the first.  It is hard to believe that we are just about 4 months from the big day!  I can't wait for my family to be complete!!