Dear Garrett

Dear Garrett,

Today you are 3 and a half years old. 3 and a half!! Why is that number so hard to comprehend? Everyone told me that the difference between 3 and 4 was big, and boy were they right. I continually find myself just staring at you, waiting to see what else you're going to come up with. Just the other day, you stepped on a sippy cup which bent it, then you held it up to me and said "My cup is ruined!" Where did you pick up this vocabulary? Just one year ago I was a little concerned that you would need some sort of speech therapy because you weren't saying much and now here you are using words like "ruined" and recognizing Walmart and Best Buy ads without any help from us.

(Garrett's Birth Day)

I'm not quite sure why, but you are very obsessed with Walmart and Best Buy right now. Anytime I tell you that we're going somewhere, you always ask if we're going to one of those stores. I think you've only been to Best Buy a handful of times in your life yet it has apparently stuck with you.

(1 Year Old)

I'm so thankful that you're a loving boy. You readily tell me and Daddy that you love us and that we're your best friend. You already enjoy talking to Cooper in my belly and telling him all about your toys. Of course the first time you felt him kick, you immediately hit my stomach in retaliation. But after I explained to you that he isn't any bigger than a foot right now and he didn't mean anything by the kick, you calmed down. You're very friendly and will talk to pretty much anyone though you have the tendency to say things that are hard to understand in these situations. I think it's because you want to talk but you don't always know what to say to strangers.

(2 Years Old-Finger Painting in the Tub)

You love most cartoons though your current love continues to be "Toy Story". You also like the cartoon "Martha Speaks" and insist on eating alphabet soup because that's what Martha eats. You even asked me the other day if you could eat it in a bowl on the floor, since Martha is a dog. You are also currently obsessed with super heroes. More specifically Spiderman and, to a lesser degree, Batman. You've figured out the hand thing that Spiderman does when he puts out a web and you love to do this to us while adding your own sound effects.

(Today, your own version of Batman's costume. A pull-up on your head as the mask and a blanket tied around your shoulders as the cape.)


You are a big helper, when you want to be. You've been helping Daddy get your new room all ready to be moved in and you love helping me load and unload the dishwasher.
You're a good sleeper unless you don't feel well. And you currently love to sleep in Momma and Daddy's bed. I'm not sure how this started because you used to hate it, but now you sneak into our bed whenever you get the chance.
It's hard to believe that we're over halfway till the point when you start kindergarten. I never thought I would be "that mom" who gets emotional when her child starts school, but I feel almost certain that will be me. You love to learn, so I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it.

I'm now looking forward to seeing the next phase of Garrett. The big brother phase. I know it will be just as wonderful, and trying, as all your other phases.

When is it Ever Going to End?

I had contemplated writing a post about my pregnancy with Garrett and his birth, but that's going to have to come another day.

Earlier this evening Garrett told me his stomach hurt. I thought it was because he got in trouble for a. locking us both out of his bedroom (it's one of those door knobs with a tiny hole that Keith uses a tiny screwdriver to unlock it, but I haven't a clue how to do so) and b. drawing on the carpet in my bedroom with a black Sharpie.

But unfortunately the stomach ache was legit. Let's just say I'm going to probably use up the little diaper cream that I still have left. I have also never been more thankful that Garrett is fully potty trained than I am right at this moment.

I feel badly because I had to call my good friend and tell her I can't keep her two kids tomorrow for fear of exposing them to whatever germ has descended upon my house.

So let's just pray that I manage to avoid this bug too.

And now I'm off to apply more "cream" at the request of the child walking stiff legged around the living room.

Randomness

~I think I'm getting a cold.  Nothing bad, but enough to make my head feel stuffy and cause me to sneeze a lot.

~In reference to tonight's episode of "Lost", Ben is much more evil than I realized.  I knew he was evil, I just didn't realize to the extent that it goes.

~Today was a pretty warm day and I did not enjoy it.  It was almost too warm in the house and I cannot tolerate being warm in the slightest when I'm pregnant.  I'm really dreading the next 3 months or so.  I spent Garrett's naptime laying on my bed under the ceiling fan.  I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot more time in that position.

~I broke down and bought a second pair of maternity jeans.  I was really hoping to make it through this pregnancy with one pair, but that's impossible to do when you're a stay at home mom.  Jeans are part of my uniform.  I'm not the type of person that can go out of the house wearing sweatpants.  Thankfully I have several pairs of maternity capris and shorts so I will be wearing those soon as well.

~I think people who design maternity clothes are a little behind the fashion times.  The only pair that I found that fit comfortably through the stomach and thighs are bell bottoms.  Or they have that appearance anyway.  I bought them because pregnant women have limited options when it comes to jeans that fit your stomach comfortably.  But I don't think they're as fashion forward as they could be.  Of course, I'm not as fashion forward as I could be, so maybe they're the perfect pair for me.

~Tonight Garrett went to his room and brought out his pajamas, a pull-up, his lotion, and baby wipes.  Without being asked!  He was ready to get dressed for bed.  (The lotion is for his eczema.)  Keith looked at me and said "We picked the best age difference for our kids.  This is going to come in handy once Cooper's here."  I must say I'm very excited to have a helper in the form of my oldest son.  Now if I could just get him to take over nighttime feedings, we'll be all set.

~Garrett calls pine cones, pineapples.  I find that to be funny.  He would have a collection of them at home if I would let him.  I manage to sneak them into the trash can when he's not looking so he only has one floating around the house at a time.  

~Please pray for my Grandma and her family.  Her younger brother died this week.  He recently found out he had leukemia and went downhill pretty quickly.  It's been hard on my Grandma.  He's the first of her siblings to pass away and I'm sure the fact that he's younger than her makes it harder to comprehend.  Thankfully she and my Grandpa were able to fly out to California and see him before he died, and they were able to attend the funeral as well.

Pictures

My parents sent Garrett a little package in the mail for Valentine's Day and one of the items was this sign that my mom made for Garrett to hang on his door. He was very anxious to get it hung right away and then wanted a picture taken so we could send it to Nana as proof that he got the gift.

Garrett is currently very interested in baseball. We play almost daily, sometimes in the house. Of course a nerf ball is used during those games along with a short bat that wouldn't do much damage. If any contact is made with the ball, whether it is with the bat or a body part, he immediately drops the bat and runs a circle through the kitchen and dining room. How do kids know these sorts of rules? I never told him to run "the bases" and Keith does not watch baseball.

I've started giving Garrett little chores where he can help out around the house. Here he is taking his clean clothes to his bedroom. He's much more compliant about assisting with the laundry or dishes than he is about picking up his toys. I wonder why that is? (And this is "what not to do" when taking a picture. I should have gotten down on his level. Now I know.)

Garrett the fireman with his dalmatian puppy.

And the last one for now. This is Garrett with the wild hog that Keith killed awhile back. (Taken in the back of Keith's truck.) I promise it's dead. And I can also guarantee you that this is a good picture in comparison to some of the others that were on the camera. Let's just call them disgusting and stop right there.

Garrett and Cooper

I promise I will post pictures soon. I'm still illiterate when it comes to uploading pictures on this Mac and I forgot to upload the pictures when I'm on the Dell, but I have several I want to share and I'll do it soon.

I wanted to share that we've finally decided on Cooper's middle name. First off, we made a list of about 5 names that we both could agree on. One of them was Cole, which is why I had previously asked about first and middle names starting with the same letter, but ultimately Keith took it off the list. So we narrowed it down to Gage and that's the one we're going with. I know it's different, but I like that name, though I was hesitant to pick it for a first name, so we decided to go with it as the middle name instead. The funny part is that we know of a set of boy twins named Garrett and Gage, but that's not the reason behind our choice, though I will admit that was probably the first time I had heard of the name Gage.

Cooper has been pretty active lately. Keith was able to feel him kick the other day, so that was pretty cool. I'm also definitely showing now. I hadn't really noticed until yesterday and then I had a lady ask me when I was due the other day at the store, so it's always funny when strangers start to comment.

I bought Cooper's coming home outfit yesterday too. It's a cute, little overall outfit, with a light blue t-shirt, and blue/green plaid overalls. I bought a newborn size because I remember how big clothes were on Garrett, even newborn stuff at first. And he wasn't a tiny baby. He weighed 7 lb 12 oz and was 19" long. So assuming this baby is roughly the same size or even a little bigger, this outfit should fit just fine. I debated having him wear Garrett's coming home outfit, but decided against it. I'm keeping a box of memorabilia for each boy and those outfits would probably be the only baby clothes I'll save, so they need their own.

As I type, Keith is painting Garrett's new room. I'm in hopes that by next weekend, the painting will be finished and I can start to move his things over to the new room and maybe even move him in within a couple of weeks. I think it will really start to feel "real" when the crib is set up in Cooper's room and I start washing baby clothes and hanging them in the closet. My mother in law is fixing a few pieces on Garrett's crib bedding and I plan to reuse that. If Cooper was my first child, I would be appalled at the thought of reusing baby bedding, but now I just find it a waste of money since he will only use it, at the most, for 2 years. But if for some reason my mother in law isn't able to fix it or I find a really cheap bedding set that I love, then I might consider buying something else...

Garrett has earned himself a new nickname: Motormouth. He talks constantly. This morning we brought him into church with us because it's been a few weeks since he's been in the worship service. He talked the ear off of the greeter who came up to us and said hi. She told us "I'm so sorry you're raising such a shy child. It's really a shame." Ha! He would have kept on talking if I hadn't told him to tell her bye. Of course that mouth got him in trouble about 1/4 of the way into the pastor's sermon. Garrett was being loud, so I got out crayons and some color sheets for him to color on. He says "I don't want to color!" in a voice loud enough to be heard from the front stage. I told him to be quiet (we had already had a talk before church about not talking in church and if he needed to say something then he had to whisper). He said it again in the same voice, so I picked him up and we started heading out of the church. We were thankfully only 3 rows from the back. Garrett immediately started yelling "I want my Daddy!" It was a lovely scene. I took him straight to the nursery, even though he didn't want to go, and explained to him that when he gets loud he can't stay in church. He was not happy about it, but hopefully it will be something I can point out the next time we decide to take him into church with us.

I know some of you are wondering why we even bother taking him when we have the option to put him in the nursery. In 6 months, he won't be able to go into the nursery anymore and our church doesn't have children's church. I would prefer to slowly get him used to how to behave in worship services now while I have the nursery to fall back on when he's behaving like he was this morning. Rather than just start things off when he turns 4 and have to train him from the beginning. I'm sure that would result in Keith or I spending time out of the auditorium because I refuse to allow my child to disrupt the services. You never know when someone sitting around you really needed to hear what the pastor had to say, but your child afforded them a reason to be distracted and ignore God trying to get their attention. That's not to say that children will always sit quietly and motionless throughout a church service, nor is it to say that those same people wouldn't find something else to distract them if your child wasn't acting up. But I still don't want to contribute to any excess noise during the worship services when I can help it.

Now that you've had your sermon of the day from me, I'll will close here with the promise to post again soon with pictures. Joy spoke at MOPS a few weeks ago about how to get the most out of your digital camera and how to take the best pictures with any camera, not just the expensive ones.  So I've been attempting to use some of her tips when I can, and I do see a difference. (Thanks Joy!) I'm looking forward to trying them all out on Cooper in a few months. Atleast he'll be still enough to try it, unlike some of my other subjects around here.  

I'm Counting Down the Days Until Spring...

So apparently I didn't keep Garrett far enough away from Keith, nor did I spray enough Lysol. Last night he started running a fever and sounding croupy. Initially Keith was going to have him sleep in our bed so I wouldn't be up and down all night, but Garrett ended up sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor next to our bed. That way I could reach down to feel his head and check him, but he wasn't kicking me all night long. I still didn't sleep very well, but atleast I wasn't having to trek across the hall every time I woke up to check on him.

Before he went to bed, I was afraid we would be in for a long night with the croup because he had the telltale cough that he gets frequently which lets me know that the croup is on its way. After giving him his inhaler, I gave him a small dose of the steroid that helps him breathe when he has the croup. 8:00 at night is not the best time to give a steroid because it's basically like giving him speed. He was bouncing off the walls for the next 2 hours. He finally went to sleep at 11:00 and didn't have any problems with the croup during the night. Of course the fact that the thermometer read 102.5* right before we all went to bed is why I didn't sleep well. He has the tendency to run high fevers when sick. Back when he had bronchitis at the ripe old age of 16 months, his fever got so high that our thermometer said "error" and the manual told us that when it says "error" the temperature is too high to get an accurate reading. Lovely.

But the Tylenol did its job and Garrett didn't wake up until 6:00 this morning, feeling warm. Thankfully his temp registered at 101. So he was given another dose of Tylenol, another round of the inhaler, and I went ahead and started him on Tamiflu. I'm having my doubts that Keith had the flu because everyone he works with who also was sick, were told that they had a virus by their doctor. But Keith was feeling better faster than they were, so maybe the Tamiflu had something to do with that. In any case, I don't think it will hurt Garrett to take it in order to be on the safe side.

He certainly isn't acting sick this morning. He was very sad to miss out on Teddy Bear day at school, but he understands that he's sick and he doesn't want to get his friends sick too. He still has the croupy cough, but he's able to breathe just fine, so I'm not giving him anymore steroids until his airways sound tight.

What do you think my chances are of staying healthy now? Keith and I steered clear of each other when he was sick, but Garrett is happiest when he's right in my face.

Weekend Recap: The Flu Edition

I would do a recap of my weekend, but it would go something like this:

Garrett, stay away from Daddy, he's sick.

No, don't play your drum, Daddy's trying to take a nap, he's sick.

Don't jump on Daddy, he doesn't feel good.

Daddy doesn't want a kiss, he'll give you his germs and then Garrett will get sick.

Of course, the conversation would then turn to Garrett saying that he, too, was sick, as he eked out the biggest cough he could muster.

When I wasn't keeping Garrett off of Keith and otherwise entertained (when Daddy's home, he's usually the entertainer and the entertainee didn't understand what was up with the change of schedule), I was checking Garrett for fever to see if he was also coming down with the flu. I'm not even sure how many times I've felt him under the guise of kissing his forehead. So far so good, he has managed to stay healthy. We have some Tamiflu in the fridge waiting for the day when he might start running a fever, at which point I will immediately begin administering it. I know you can give it to them before they start showing symptoms, as a precaution, but I'm a little nervous to give him something that I'm unfamiliar with, not knowing how he might react. So I'm going to wait for the first sign of him catching something, and then I'll start giving it to him. Probably not the way you're supposed to do it, but I tend to do things backwards.

Unlike the last time Keith was sick and he told me I was a terrible nurse, he didn't automatically request to be admitted into the hospital in order to get the type of treatment he was expecting this go around. I did the best I could to take care of his needs and make him comfortable on top of my other normal activities, oh, and the fact that I'm 5.5 months pregnant and just don't get around as easily and pain-free like I normally do. And he said that I did a better job this go around than I did last time.

I'm so humbled by his compliments.

Despite the fact that he woke up this morning asking me if a headache could make your stomach hurt (migraine, anyone?), he still got up and went to work. I told him I was washing my hands of any nursing care if he was going to insist on pushing himself and going back to work when I think he should have stayed home one more day. He took a bottle of tylenol and vitamin C along with him as he headed out the door. Of course after taking his morning dose of Tamiflu and blowing his nose a dozen times. I'm sure his coworkers will be glad to see him back.

When I asked him if he cared about the fact that he might be spreading his germs around, he said he picked it up from a guy at work, he was just taking it back. And he didn't want to be at home contaminating us anymore than he had to. That statement alone makes up for the fact that "in sickness" happened to coincide with Valentine's Day this year.

So now I will spend the day cleaning and spraying everything down with Lysol.

I hope my next post won't be written from a flu-ridden stupor.

25 Random Things

On Facebook, everyone is doing these "25 Random Things About Me" notes. I'm nothing, if not a good follower, so I jumped on the bandwagon and here it is.

1. I'm a PK (preacher's kid), but not the typical PK. I'm neither a wild hellion, nor a goody two shoes. Just a normal person. Or as normal as I can be, anyway.

2. I've lived in 3 different states: Indiana for 9 years, Illinois for 8 years, and Texas for 13 years. Even though I was born in Texas and lived there the longest, I consider myself a midwesterner.

3. I'm super clumsy, though it seems to be getting better the older I get. I have lots of stories of various times that I've fallen or spilled something.

4. I'm the oldest of 5 kids, I have 2 younger sisters and 2 younger brothers. I'm 10.5 years older than my youngest brother. He was only 10 when I moved out and went to college. I'm sorry, Jesse!

5. I completely paid my own way through college, part of the time I worked a full time job and took night classes, but I always had atleast a part time job. Of course I also accrued a good amount of student loan debt too, but it's paid off now.

6. I taught school for 4 years. I did half days teaching the Gifted/Talented program and the other half of the day doing ESL pull out classes.

7. Keith and I met through another friend and started dating a couple of months later. We dated for 4 and a half years, while I was finishing college. I had just turned 19 when we started dating. I was 23 when we got married. We married 2 weeks after I graduated from college.

8. After dating him for that long and then being married for almost 7 years, I've learned a lot about Accounting, guns, and vehicle maintenance, all areas that he knows lots about.

9. I've even changed the oil in my car all by myself, when I was in college.

10. He gave me a stainless steel revolver for Valentine's Day when we were engaged. You can't say that romance is dead after that one. :)

11. 6 weeks before we got married, Keith's truck was stolen. They never found it.

12. We went to Jacksonville, Florida for our honeymoon. We drove the entire way. You certainly get to know someone really well when you spend that amount of time in the car together.

13. On our way, we stopped and spent the night in Pensacola. We wish we would have just stayed in Pensacola/Destin because they're much nicer than Jacksonville, but oh well, live and learn.

14. Exactly 7 months after we got married, we moved into our first house.

15. A year and a month after moving in, our house was hit by a tornado and it did almost $20k in damages. But thankfully it was still standing and mostly livable. We had to move into another bedroom because the master bedroom took the brunt of the hit. Our neighbors weren't so lucky.

16. Since moving out to go to college, I haven't lived close to my family. They've been anywhere from 3 hours to 14 hours away. They're currently 14 hours away.

17. I love to read and I'm always in the middle of a book. I don't have a preference to the kind of book and I have a wide variety of authors that I enjoy reading. So long as the book holds my attention. I also reread books that I love, and I do so multiple times. Keith does not understand this.

18. I turned 30 in December. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around that.

19. I know I could potentially get some flack for this, but after having used a Mac for the last 4 months, I much prefer a PC.

20. I wish I knew how to play a guitar.

21. August 29, 2005, Garrett Lucas was born. I had no clue what I was about to be dealing with at that point, but we've spent the last 3+ years learning. I love him to pieces. He's a smart, sassy kid who keeps me on my toes all day long. Thank heavens for the Mother's Day Out program at our church. We both get a break from each other a couple of times a week.

22. When Garrett was 9 months old, I quit my teaching job to be a stay at home mom. I don't know how full time working moms do it! You're awesome!

23. I work very part time for our church, doing the bulletin, the website, and a few other things like that.

24. I'm currently pregnant with baby boy #2, Cooper.

25. We are done having kids after Cooper is born. I don't think I can handle more than 2 kids.

Where I go from sharing the baby's name, to a book on demon possession. Yeah, I don't know either.

I'm tired of waiting for us to agree on a middle name.  If Garrett is any indication, then we may not have a name firmly chosen until May.  So, drumroll please, baby boy #2 will be Cooper.  Keith's only hesitation with that name was when we first asked Garrett to say it he said "Pooper".  I think I sense a future nickname.  But hey, there could be a lot worse nicknames than that one, though I won't be encouraging its use.  I would prefer Coop for a nickname, if you're looking for a way to shorten it.  Garrett doesn't have a nickname, except for the occasional instance when I call him Gare or Garrita.  But neither is used enough for him to assume they are his name or even an alternate name.  

This weekend we bought the rest of our painting supplies and completely cleaned out Garrett's new room, except for a train table sitting in the middle.  Keith vacuumed the floors and the walls and filled in the nail holes, so now all that's left to do is paint.  I've taken a before picture, but I'm currently on the Mac and I have no clue how to upload pictures on this computer.  So I'll share that picture later.  Just picture an empty bedroom with tan walls, a ladder, and a train table sitting in the middle.  I think Garrett already loves his new room.  Keith spent an hour or two scraping paint off of the bedroom door and Garrett was in there with him the entire time.  Picking up paint chips and having a lot of fun.  

On a side note, the bedroom doors in our house weren't painted worth a crap.  Does that sentence even make sense?  We've lived here for 6 years and the interior doors look like we've lived here more like 60 years.  The paint is flaking terribly on them.  Keith asked the Sherwin Williams guy about it and he said that they weren't primed before they were painted.  So now we (Keith) begin the fun task of scraping the old paint off, priming them, and then painting them.  But I think in the scraping process he'll also have to put some sort of paint stripper on them because our doors have a lot of little grooves in them and it's impossible to get the paint out of them with a scraper.  That probably won't be finished until the bedrooms are in some sort of order and have been painted.  But this time of year is definitely the time to do it.  So we hope to have it all finished by June, both because the weather will definitely start getting too hot for this type of work, and because Cooper will be joining the family.

Somewhere in the middle of house cleaning, a stomach virus, and grocery shopping this weekend, I was also able to read a new book.  I've had it for a couple of months but hadn't been in the mood to read it.  The book is called "Adam" by Ted Dekker.  If you've never read Ted Dekker's books before, you really need to read one.  I don't think there's a specific one I would recommend first, just be sure that the one you choose isn't a sequel to another book.  He has a few like that and I'm not sure if they're clearly labeled as being a sequel.  

Back to "Adam".  I won't say too much about it because most of my family are Dekker fans and I don't think any of them have read this book yet, so I don't want to be accused of ruining it for them.  But it was a really good book and I'll just say that it's about demon possession.  I would place it right along the same lines as Frank Peretti's books "Piercing the Darkness" and "This Present Darkness" but even better, in my opinion.  At the end of "Adam" is a transcript of a conversation between Dekker and John Eldridge, you do not want to miss reading that either.  Dekker explains his reasoning for writing a book about demon possession which basically says that today's churches don't talk about the very real danger that the devil presents to us on a daily basis.  As a Christian, you cannot be possessed, but that doesn't mean that you can't feel their presence or their influence.  He feels that most Christians just chalk Satan up to temptation and leave it right there, when he can and does do much more than just tempt people.  He also said that this was the hardest book for him to write out of all the books he's written.  His research on demon possession kept him up at night.  I don't even want to know what all he found when researching that, I'm sure it would keep me up for a year.  

So if you're looking for a good book to read, then I would highly recommend this one.  I read it in a day and a half around the other things I was doing.  And the book itself did not keep me up at night nor did it haunt me, in case you're worried about that.  

I'm not entirely sure how I went from sharing my baby's name to a book about demon possession.  I assure you that it's just my crazy brain jumping around from one topic to another on little sleep.  Last night, Garrett woke me up at 3:30 saying there was a monster in his room.  I assured him there wasn't, but then I couldn't go back to sleep because Cooper woke up and was being pretty active for the middle of the night.  He'd better stop that right now because there will be no 3:30 am parties at our house.  Atleast none that I will approve of.  I'm sure he'll have different ideas though.

No Name Yet...

We've been taking a break from discussing middle names so I'm not here to announce the name just yet, but hopefully something will be decided this weekend.  I can't decide how many syllables the middle name should have.  Our last name is 2 syllables and the first name is 2 syllables.  So we're either going to go with a middle name that has 2 syllables as well, or do 1.  Yes, I'm a freak for even thinking about things like this.  Garrett's first, middle, and last names are all 2 syllables, but of course both kids don't have to have the same number of syllables.  I'm not THAT crazy.  And is anyone now rereading the word syllable and saying that doesn't even look remotely correct?  It's crazy when you read and write a word over and over it loses all meaning and just becomes strange to you.  

Last night Garrett and I had a discussion about the baby.  He saw a picture of a baby on the computer so he started asking questions.  I explained that the baby would be too small to sit in the high chair at first, that he would take a bottle, sleep, and cry a lot at first.  And that sometimes we would hold him, and Garrett was excited about the possibility of holding him, and sometimes he would lay on the floor (on the activity mat) and sometimes he would sit in the swing.  Of course Garrett hasn't seen a baby swing in a long time, so he asked if the baby could slide too.  I tried to explain the concept of a baby swing, but he'll see it soon enough.  

I tried to really focus on the fact that the baby would cry a lot.  I don't want him to be disturbed by that.  He's just not been around babies enough to know that's very normal.  I also explained that the baby would have a paci.  Garrett is still very obsessed with pacifiers.  He has turned a couple of toys into one and puts them in his mouth.  He also points out pacifiers anytime he sees one.  I really hope that we won't have to constantly be taking the baby's paci away from Garrett.  I'm sure once he sees that it helps to stop the baby from crying he'll be happy to keep it in his mouth.

I think, as a whole, Garrett will do really well with the transition.  I told Keith that my opinion is Garrett will be more jealous of Keith holding and doing things for the baby than he will with me holding and doing things for the baby.  So Keith is prepared to take it slowly when it comes to the baby, if that seems to be the case.  While I obviously want the baby to know and love his dad, Garrett is the one who will remember this transition time, but the baby won't.  

I'm starting to think about possible gifts that the baby could "give" to his big brother.  I think it would be fun for Garrett if he got a neat toy from his baby brother when he comes to see him in the hospital.  I'm not sure what we'll get him yet, but if any of you have any ideas, feel free to let me know.  Right now I'm considering either a) a toy guitar because he's been wanting one, b) a new Woody doll from Toy Story because his old one is broken, and along with Woody, I would try to find Jessi too, c) a fishing pole-which couldn't be used right away which may not make it as fun of a toy as it might otherwise be, or d) a t-ball set, he's really into baseball right now (or batball, as he calls it).  

I'm sorry all of my recent posts have mostly been baby related.  I'm trying to come up with something else to blog about, but right now that's basically the focus of what's going on around here.

Congratulations to my cousin Andrea!  She emailed us yesterday to announce she's also having a baby boy in early July.  Our next family reunion is going to have a group of cute babies to pass around, assuming we have another one before these kids start school. They may not want to be passed around when they're 6 years old.

Random Kid Stuff

I *think* we've decided on a name.  But I'm not going to share it yet because we still haven't agreed upon a middle name.  I made a list of about 5 middle names that we both like, so we'll hopefully narrow it down soon and then I'll feel free to share our decision.  What's your opinion on first and middle names starting with the same letter?  Most people are rarely called by both names, and I'm not a mom that tends to "middle name" my kids, I'm not sure if Garrett really knows that his middle name is Lucas because he rarely hears it.  I don't know if I like first and middle names starting with the same letter, but one of the middle names Keith likes starts with the same letter as the first name we've picked, so if that's the only one we can agree on, then I guess that will be the name we'll go with.  I'm just curious what other people think about that.  

I don't know if it's because I'm beginning to anticipate a newborn in the house, but Garrett just seems more and more grown up all the time.  I know once the baby comes home, Garrett will appear to be a teenager to me because of the drastic differences between the two.  This morning he was laying in bed with me while Keith was getting ready for work, he rolled over and said "Hey Momma, I have an idea, why don't we turn on the TV and watch Sesame Street?"  Not a big deal to most of you, but Garrett has been a bit behind with his speech and while he does a great job with communicating to us, I've never heard him say such a long sentence and do it so clearly.  The part "I have an idea" cracked me up because that's the first time he's ever said it.  

Another Garrett story briefly (he's currently saying "Psst, Momma, I want you to turn the lights on in my new room."  I hung up a Toy Story poster in there yesterday to see how it would look, but he hasn't moved in yet.)  Yesterday, when I went to pick him up from MDO he was wearing a different pair of pants than he had on when I dropped him off.  I asked his teacher if he had an accident, which isn't a big deal.  She told me that when they were out on the playground, Garrett came up to her and asked if he could pee in the grass, she told him no, he can pee in his yard at home, but he can't pee on the playground (very good rule!).  So she asked him if he needed to go inside to the bathroom and he told her no.  Of course a few minutes later he came up to her and said he had an accident.  I'm only surprised that he asked permission to pee outside instead of just dropping his pants and going.  Which would have been funny because the church playground sits beside the busiest street in our town.

I just want to end with a big congratulations to my cousin, Stephanie.  She found out yesterday that she's having a baby girl.  She's due a few weeks after I am.  Now I'm curious to know what my other cousin, Andrea, is having.  She's due right between Steph and I.  (My sister is due with her second boy 2 months before me!)  Our family is doing our part to contribute to the so called overpopulation on the planet

It's a.....

Just in case you weren't aware, today was the big ultrasound to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. And in case you haven't already heard it's a(nother) boy!

Just in case you didn't believe me.

Everything is healthy and looks great. He wasn't super active, but we did catch him stretching his legs to kick my bladder. While I have felt from early on with this pregnancy that I was having another boy, it was still a little surprising when it was confirmed. And I will confess to a brief moment of mourning the loss of the girl that I'll never have, but I'm overwhelmingly very excited for another baby boy to join our family.

I feel like I already "know" boys and "know" what to expect from them. That's certainly not to say that all boys are alike, they certainly aren't (right ladies?). But as far as the general care and well being of a child, I'm already familiar with the boy aspects of them. I've potty trained one boy, wiped and diapered one boy, dealt with circumcision care with one boy, etc. Not to mention all the baby boy clothes that I've saved since Garrett was born. Those will definitely come in handy, especially since they both will have summer birthdays. Most of the clothes should fit in most seasons. Of course I'll still have to buy some new things for baby boy, especially matching things for outfits that I'll also buy Garrett, but I won't have to go out and buy a new wardrobe as I would have undoubtedly done if we were having a girl.

I think Keith was a little disappointed in knowing that a girl wasn't meant to be for us. He was afraid that I would be upset by not having someone to go shopping with. I've managed to do most of my shopping alone or with my mom or a friend for the past 30 years, I'll be fine for the next 30. Then he said that I would just have to deal with having him and the 2 boys along with me, and I politely declined. Doesn't sound like the fun, girl shopping trip that he's thinking of. Hours at the Academy is not my idea of a good time.

Now we start the name game. I hope we'll settle on something relatively quickly because I don't like waiting till the last minute for decisions like this. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know that the evening I have planned for us involves watching "How I Met Your Mother" while perusing the Baby Name Book during commercials.

Before I forget, I did also see my doctor today for my monthly check up. My blood pressure was really low and I lost another 4 pounds, leaving me down a total of 13 this pregnancy. I wish losing weight came this easily when I'm not carrying a baby! I'm doing absolutely nothing differently than I normally do when not pregnant so it has to be the hormones. At next month's visit I will get to enjoy the lovely glucose tolerance test. I'm really looking forward to drinking that flat, orange drink and then sitting for an hour in the waiting room until it's time to draw my blood. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

And I'll leave you with one final look at baby boy. This was the best profile shot we could get because he enjoyed having his elbow up by his face.