Our Busy Weekend!

Our weekend began at 3:30 on Saturday morning - yes...3:30. Tucker's coughing woke me up so I gave him some medicine and rocked him back to sleep then I was wide awake. I watched 2 Oprahs then headed back to bed. I finally woke up at 8:00 which seems so late!

Alec took Berman to the vet for his annual shots and Tucker and I hustled around to get ready. Then we loaded up an headed off to the Brush Creek Bazaar!

This was the first time we've been to the BCB but we really had a good time! This place we went to was like a little ranch in town and absolutely beautiful! There was a huge pond with swans - actual swans - and all sorts of fall decorations everywhere.

When we pulled up, we smelled some yummy goodness in the air. Inside the grounds, there were crafts and food and entertainment. We walked around a bit and stopped by the little petting zoo. Tucker had fun feeding and petting goats, horses, ducks, rabbits, a calf and even a llama!

We sat down for a bit and I enjoyed my first brat with kraut for the season! It was soooo good! While we ate, we watched some clog dancers. Tucker really enjoyed them and danced along to their Lady Gaga number!

We picked up a cute little shelf for Tucker's big boy room and I got myself a cute purse. There was a lady there selling butternut squash for a $1 each! Couldn't pass that up so we got 2 plus a spaghetti squash!

When we got home, I figured Tucker would be worn out from the festivities but he wasn't but I so needed to recover! My feet were swollen and killing me!

Alec went straight to work outside! He cut several branches off of the trees in the backyard and mowed. The trees look so much better and now he won't have to duck to mow!

I whipped up butternut squash soup and it was pretty good! I've never had it before but I like what I made.

By the time bedtime came around, we were exhausted and sore. Baby in belly was super active all day. Not those cute little fluttery movements either. These are big scraping on the inside of my uterus movements. So uncomfortable! I was pretty sure I'd find myself planted to my recliner on Sunday!

Sunday morning was brisk and refreshing! Alec took Tucker to the store so I could have a little bit of peace and quiet before I started my day.

I'm not sure if it was the cool air or what, but I finally had a burst of energy and was able to get so much done! I opened up all the windows and got busy! I cleaned out the refrigerator; I cleaned the laundry room; I did all the laundry and put it away (huge accomplishment for me!); I bagged up some clothes to take to Goodwill; I swept and mopped the kitchen floor; I sorted through the never ending stack of papers that keep piling up on the kitchen counter...whew! I think I did more Sunday than I've done the past 2 or 3 weekends combined!

While I was busy in the house, Alec worked on his next project - replacing our sad tree rings with new tree rings! What a perfect day for this project! I was amazed how much better the new rings looked! Now I just need to plant my fall flowers and add a little mulch and we'll be all set!

Old rings

New rings!

I'm so glad I have a husband who not only does this stuff but actually likes doing it!

Oh - and Tucker knows how to take off his diaper now. Sunday he spilled lemonade on his pants so I took them off and when I came back from getting new pants, there was Tucker - diaper in hand and wearing nothing but socks and a goofy smile!

The Sickos

This past weekend, the ragweed got a hold of Alec and Tucker and wouldn't let them go! They both sneezed and coughed and had snotty noses. It wasn't pretty.

On Sunday, we loaded up and headed to Wynona to visit my mom and grandparents. Alec and Tucker still had snotty noses but that was really it.

On the way home, Tucker got fussy so we stopped at Sonic for some grub and I moved to the back seat to entertain Tucker for the rest of the drive home. Well Tucker had no appetite for his Wacky Pack and I had about 2 bites of my chicken sandwich and was done.

By the time we got home, I wasn't feeling well at all. I was hungry but food sounded awful. I had only had 2 biscuits for breakfast and that was it for the day. Not exactly my usual pregnancy pigout day.

I walked in and went straight to the bedroom. I told Alec I had to lay down for a while. I cried and whimpered and I think I eventually fell asleep.

When I woke up, everything I had eaten the day before was movin' on up and needed out - fast! Alec was amazed that the previous night's dinner was still in my belly. I really don't know how the whole digestion thing works, but it didn't seem very weird to me.

While I'm hugging the toilet, I can hear Tucker outside the bedroom banging on the door and yelling. Oh yeah - no time to be sick, I'm a mama! Tucker and I found Alec out on the couch. Apparently he wasn't feeling 100% either - I don't think he was even feeling 50%!

I'm not a person who gets sick. In fact, Alec and I were thinking about the last time I had actually thrown up and I think it was after Oktoberfest in 2006. And that was from, well, over-Oktoberfesting.

So because I'm rarely sick and I hate taking medicine, I have no idea what to do with myself. I start drinking water - must stay hydrated! Well needless to say, that didn't stay in my belly long either. I went to bed with a very empty belly and a very crampy belly - from all the heaving.

The next day, Alec and Tucker were feeling better so they left me at home to wallow in misery. I decided to follow the BRAT diet that we had given to Tucker when he had an upset belly a month or so ago. So for breakfast, I had a banana and toast; for lunch I had plain rice; and I had an apple for an afternoon snack. I kept all of that down plus 2 big bottles of water. So for my second afternoon snack, I had chocolate milk and a graham cracker with peanut butter. All better!

Alec and Tucker are still at war with the ragweed, but I'm totally better now. Hopefully I managed to shed off a couple of the 8 freaking pounds I've gained in 1 month! Silver lining!

All Aboard the Potty Train!

We bought Tucker a potty seat a couple of months ago just to get him familiar with it and to see what happens. Of course, our biggest wish is that he's completely potty trained before baby gets here, but...let's not get our hopes up.

At first, the potty seat was a silly toy. Tucker would take it apart and throw the two pieces around. One time he took the little bowl out, stepped inside the seat and fell right on his face. Not a good beginning to potty training.

The potty seat moved from the living room to our master bathroom to eventually the bathtub in the master bathroom. It has since been resurrected and is back in the spotlight - well somewhat.

We sat it on the floor and told Tucker to sit on his potty seat - in a very excited and over the top voice. After all, sitting on a potty seat is the COOLEST THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! WOOHOO!

Tucker walked up to the potty seat, turned around, hunkered down in a bear crawl position then backed up and lowered himself until he was sitting on the seat. Ok. That's one way of doing it. And this wasn't an isolated event. This is his preferred style of sitting on a potty seat. Whatever works for him - as long as he sits on it by himself!

Again - total excitement on our end. YEA! WAY TO SIT ON THE POTTY SEAT! GOOD JOB BUDDY! WOOHOO!

Now it was time for the big test - sitting him on the potty seat with no diaper on. Would he sit until something happened? Would something happen? The excitement was almost unbearable.

So it was bath time. While I ran Tucker's bath, I stripped him down and sat him on the potty seat. Have I mentioned how much he LOVES baths?!?! Needless to say, he would not stay on the potty seat and ran to the side of the bathtub where he managed to pee all over the side of the tub and my feet. yea. way to go. good job buddy. wah wah.

So the next time, we decided to move the potty seat out of the bathroom and into Tucker's room. Alec ran the bathwater and I helped Tucker get undressed in his room. Alec shut the door to the bathroom - pretty sneaky! There's no way that baby knows a nice bubbly warm bath is waiting for him! But alas, our 17-month old is much smarter than his Mama and Daddy. He wouldn't stay on the potty seat and screamed and ran buck naked out of the room to the bathroom door. But at least he didn't make a mess on the outside of the bathtub or my feet!

I've also added a couple of potty training books to our bedtime stories. One has a button you push and it makes the sound of the toilet flushing. Tucker's little finger isn't strong enough to push the button (though he has almost poked my eye out several times) so he moves my thumb over the button and while I'm reading, we flush the toilet about 20 times.

He also knows where to go when we ask if he needs his diaper changed and he knows what a diaper is. So I guess that's some sort of progress.

I know this takes a lot of patience...I just hope I have enough left when new baby gets here in 11 weeks!

Mom and Dad's Day Out!

On Saturday, Tucker went to a birthday party with Gram so we were toddler free for a couple of hours. We've known for a 2 or 3 weeks that this day was coming so we started to dream about what we'd do during these few precious hours. Maybe we'd go to a movie or maybe stay at home and tackle a few projects we can never seem to finish.


As 12:30 (party time) approached, we all had baths and dressed in our nice "I have something to do" clothes. I even fixed my hair and put on make-up! This is a pretty big deal since most Saturdays are spent cleaning, laying on the couch, running errands and keeping Tucker away from the dogs. Rarely is there a bath involved and never hair and make-up!


Tucker was out the door with Gram and Tink and there we were - Mama and Daddy were now Jenny and Alec. Weird. And quiet - so quiet.




So what did we do during these magical hours we had alone?
1. Lunch at Asahi (only cooked sushi for this this mama in a delicate condition).
2. Ice cream at Sonic.
3. Naps.


I'm not much of a napper - too many things running through my head - but Alec is a great napper!


After 2 hours, Alec called Gram and Tink...uhm...when's Tucker coming home? Well he was swimming and eating watermelon and having a grand old time so...not anytime soon.


So we watched TV then called again...uhm...we miss Tucker. He's on his way!


Talk about ants in the pants! We sat and waited and waited. The 20 minute drive seemed to take FOREVER! I looked out the window about a thousand times and suggested we start walking in the direction of Alec's parents house so we can just meet Tucker on the road.




Finally, he was home!



And after Alec's parents left, we sat on the couch watching Tucker torment Lucy, Mango licking Tucker's head and Berman barking for someone to play with him and I smiled. This chaos is our life. And I love it!


What adventures will this day hold for us?

A Mover and A Shaker!

Baby in belly has proven to be quite the mover and shaker! He kicks, flips, squirms and rolls all around just about every second of the day. And I mean every second!

I sometimes can't fall asleep at night because of the constant fluttering in my belly. Or even better - when Tucker wakes us up with a cough or a sneeze and baby in belly is just dancing away at 2:00 in the morning: "Oh, good morning Mama. I'm entertaining you! Won't you please stay awake for the next 4 hours while I show you my sweet new tap dance routine?"

The only time baby in belly seems to want to be still is when someone wants to feel him moving around. Then he's all of a sudden shy and still as anything!

When I was pregnant with Tucker, I don't remember him being quite this active. I even remember one time when I hadn't felt him move all day so I called my doctor's office in a panic! The nurse told me to drink a Coke and lay down for 20 minutes. I did this and sure enough, I felt a couple of little kicks and all was right in the world again!

Tucker is a bouncing off the walls, completely crazy, ball of energy these days. I wonder if baby in belly is getting all his craziness out now and he'll be my cool, calm and collected child. Nah...that's not my kind of luck!