Spring... Almost!

Ignoring the 50% chance of snow on Thursday, it looks like spring is almost here. Actually, the snow is totally typical spring weather, but I am so done with snow. Not that Colorado cares.

We closed out Alex's spring break with a family trip to the park the other afternoon.  We had the playground to ourselves and the two mobile boys took full advantage of it. JP took full advantage of the coziness of my new Boba and slept the entire time. 

Our not-so-little climber is very brave. A little too brave, in fact.

frolicking

Alex: You didn't smile. Take another one.
Ash: I did smile. Besides, selfies are supposed
to be dramatic or brooding or something.
Alex: No. Emo is dead.

We love having such a fantastic park just a few minutes from our house. Now for the real spring weather and more regular park adventures!

Pi Day Baby

He's here! Finally!

John Paul Charles decided to make his grand entrance on Friday, March 14th at 1:14pm.  3-14 makes him an official Pi Day baby... I foresee lots of creative birthday celebrations in his future, and possibly lots of math :) My brother-in-law commented that it was too bad he wasn't born at 1:59, and as cool as that would've been numerically it's still a little too close to the labor to even joke about it taking an extra 45 minutes. Not cool.

Probably taken around 1:59. So glad those 45 minutes were spent nursing and cuddling, not pushing!

Stats: 8 lbs 7 oz (our largest so far, beating out Michael by almost a pound and a half and Liam by just an ounce), 21.5" long (our longest so far, 2.5" longer than M and 1.5" longer than L). And at 2 days past his due date I guess he decided he needed to even things out between Michael (10 days late) and Liam (7 days early). Usually I like things to be nice and balanced, but I would have been totally fine with birthdays falling more consistently on the early side. Oh well--he is here now and I won't complain (much). Labor was much longer than anticipated, but everything went very well.

JP and I are both doing wonderfully. Birth story to follow soon, with all the glorious/gory details (depending on your point of view, I suppose). For the time being here are some more pictures, especially for those who will be skipping the upcoming play-by-play.

Snuggling with Daddy

Smitten big brother

Mama and her boys

Awake and alert, if not entirely enthusiastic

Not a pleasant first encounter with the car seat,
but on the inside I think he was truly happy to be going home today.

And certainly very happy to be home!

So Much Fail

Wow. How's that for a depressing title? It will also contain commentary on bodily fluids and the elimination habits of said fluids--you've been warned.

Mostly it's failure to go into labor. Which isn't really failure at only 39 weeks 1 day. And at my appointment yesterday I learned that John Paul is in excellent position and my OB is on call tomorrow night... so, I'm hoping and praying for labor to start in approximately 28 hours. Come on JP, don't you want to start your ex utero life out as Mama's supremely cooperative little boy?

If only.

I also failed at the 7 posts in 7 days challenge. I pretty much expected to fail at that one, but I was hoping I would miss a day or two because of, you know, having a baby. Noooope, just busy/tired/internet issues (after 5 minutes on the phone with CenturyLink, pushing various buttons to get various other recordings, "It sounds like you'll need to talk to a representative for this." Um, yeah, that's why I called. Thanks. Also, the "Did you know you can chat with a tech support representative online" tip? Not helpful when I am calling because my internet is BROKEN. And yes, I did try resetting my router before I called you. At least three times. But of course I'll try again...)

Sorry... where was I?

Oh, fail #1, fail #2, and fail #3: potty training (not a bodily fluids person? you can skip the rest!)

I should have blogged about potty training last week when we were experiencing some exciting success. Then it would have been a "this is hard and I hate it above pretty much all other aspects of parenting, but I do believe there is hope" post. Today? Today I probably shouldn't write about potty training (other than to write that I'm not writing about potty training... just go with it) because it is more likely to be a "hate. fail. okayfinejustweardiapersorpullupsforeveridontevencare" post.

Oh well.

We started potty training in January. It is now March. Last week we had a major break-through--Michael went on the "big potty" at Cici's house--first time going anywhere other than on his little singing (yes, singing) potty chair at our house. And then within two days he decided he was done with his little chair and was going consistently and exclusively on the toilet. And keeping his pull-up dry (mostly). Still no #2 action whatsoever in any kind of potty chair of any size, but it was nice to feel like we were making some fairly significant progress. I was starting to believe that there actually was hope, and after two months of traveling down this tunnel we had maybe turned a corner and there was light visible at the other end...

This week I think he can sense my utter exhaustion and total distraction with thinking/hoping that labor is right around the corner. He simply doesn't care if his pull-up is wet or dry. He'll try to go potty if we remind him, but even when I'm trying to remind him at consistent and very short intervals, I'll inevitably miss the magic moment and five minutes later he has a wet pull-up. Again. And he is totally unpredictable with what motivates him. We were doing M&Ms for a while, and backed off when he started being really consistent about keeping his pull-up dry. I tried going back to offering treats and most of the time his response is "No fank you." Well, at least he's polite about being indifferent to potty training, I guess.

Okay, enough complaining. Let's end on a happier note.

We got Michael a David & Goliath puzzle for his birthday, and he loves it. We've been working on talking about the story, and I'm starting to think that maybe Veggie Tales, while great for a lot of things, isn't the best medium for teaching Bible stories to preschoolers.

Ash: What was the giant's name?
M: Goliaf.
Ash: And who was the boy?
M: David!
Ash: And even though David was so much smaller than Goliath, he won when they had a fight. Why did David win, Michael?
M: Because Goliaf was a pickle!

source

7 Quick Takes (vol. 35)

--- 1 ---

Whoops! Better late than never, right? I finally added the video of Michael reading to Liam to Thursday's post.

--- 2 ---

I meant to post yesterday, I really really did. I felt a bit like Cinderella yesterday--I had all this work I needed to get done before I could go to the ball. Okay, not really a ball; it was the Biblical School's annual fundraiser gala. But an evening out with Alex without the boys! Might as well be a ball :) And I got to go even though I didn't quite complete everything on my (rather detailed and extensive) to-do list (but it was close!). Laundry, baking, cleaning... it's a good thing I didn't have to sew my own dress before going out last night, because instead of very helpful and creative mice to do my tasks for me I had two overtired, rather clingy little "helpers" following me around all day.

I also meant to get a picture of Alex and me all dressed up for our (probably) last date night for a while, but I totally forgot. I assure you that he was absolutely dashing, as usual, and as long as I didn't look in a mirror I didn't feel absolutely huge. Comments garnered by my 9-month-preggo belly for the evening ranged from "You're due in a week and a half? Oh, you have some time then" (what is that supposed to mean? time for what?) to "You're due in a week and a half? What are you doing here tonight?!" (to which I replied that there was a hospital just down the street, so we were just fine). And only one person commented on my indulgence in a single overpriced but much needed (and thoroughly enjoyed) glass of white zin.

--- 3 ---

So I'm slightly ashamed for falling off the 7 posts in 7 days bandwagon... but mostly I'm just thankful that skipping a day of promised posting when I'm less than two weeks away from my due date didn't earn me a multitude of texts, emails, Facebook messages, etc. demanding to know if I was in labor. It probably just goes to show that no one was paying that close of attention, but I'll take it. "So have you had that baby yet?" messages are not my favorite... I'm always tempted to answer "Yep, but I wasn't going to tell you" and leave it at that.

--- 4 ---

Speaking of things people say to pregnant people, I've gotten off pretty easy this time around (or maybe I'm just developing a thicker skin, or something along those lines). However, after Mass last Sunday an older gentleman did stop to comment that I had "a nice big watermelon there." He was very good natured and also told us "We did the same thing. Good for you!" for having three so close together. So I wasn't exactly insulted but... really? A watermelon?

--- 5 ---

Regardless of when John Paul decides to grace us with his ex-utero presence, I am officially on maternity leave now. No more two hour roundtrip commutes three times a week! Hooray! I am thoroughly looking forward to this break, and intend to take as many naps as possible, especially while there are only two children to convince to sleep simultaneously (starting with a wonderful nap today--a promising beginning).

--- 6 ---

Maternity leave means I also have more time to watch this child exercise his newly discovered climbing skills and try to keep him from diving head first off of anything. I want to be thrilled with excellent gross motor skill development, really I do. But I would've been just fine if he wanted to wait another couple months to start climbing everything.

--- 7 ---

On the subject of newly developing skills, Michael and Liam have been playing really well together recently. M does a fairly good job of sharing (you know, for a three year old) with his cousins and friends his age, but now that Liam is big enough to be interested in most of the same toys and to do something about it? We had a couple weeks with screaming as the constant soundtrack to our day: Michael screaming because Liam grabbed a toy he was playing with (or had played with earlier, or thought he might want to play with later, or had recently looked at, or whatever), Liam screaming when Michael took the toy back, Michael screaming louder when Liam bit him after he took his toy back (only happened once so far... fingers crossed that it can be blamed on teething and won't become a habit), Liam screaming because Michael was screaming, etc. But for the last week or so there has been a noticeable decrease in the screaming. It's still there, but M is making strides in using his words to express his displeasure when Liam steals a toy and he at least occasionally remembers that Liam can be very easily distracted with a different toy--and that this is a much more effective tactic than melting into a puddle of screaming on the floor.

Go see Jen and the rest for quicker and timelier takes!!!