Spring Break

Ryan is on Spring Break this week so we're trying to make the most of our free time and get in a few exciting things . . . first up, a trip to Daddy's work to drop off a birthday cake. Sure Trav's birthday was last Sunday, but it's still better late then never so the kids and I spent Monday morning at Trav's office to help him "celebrate" with his co-workers. Today (Tuesday), we had big plans. For starters (this was the boring part), we had to drop off our signed tax returns. Well, it turns out the lady who does our taxes lives in no-man land and I of course got lost. So two hours later and a few "secretive f-bombs", we made it to her office, dropped of the single piece of paper, and got on our way - thank god we don't have to go there again for another year! After the tax drop-off, we were supposed to go and visit with Nicole and baby Everett, but because we got so lost and were running sooo late, I had to call and cancel. The kids were bummed, but I assured them we will get to see them soon. With no time to spare, we headed to our final destination, the Children's Museum. Ryan has seen numerous commercials on tv which talk all about the new dinosaur exhibit so he was dying to get there. By this time though, it was already lunch time so I had to convince him to eat first, then get to the museum - not an easy task when the kid has been so patiently waiting all morning, but we managed. With all the stress of the morning behind us, we finally ventured into the museum and headed straight to the dinosaurs. Ryan was a wild man in the exhibit, wanting to touch and see everything right away. Lauren was a bit more cautious because the minute we walked in, the mechanical T-Rex let out a loud roar - luckily we had just used the bathroom or I'm pretty sure she would have peeped herself. Once she got used to the setting though, both kids were off and running. Here are a couple of pictures from the day. The first are from the dinosaur exhibit (which is where we spent the majority of our time) and the rest are from various parts of the museum. We spent about two hours at the museum and only had two meltdowns (which isn't terrible considering the long morning we had) and then it was time to go. I'm sure the kids would have stayed longer but I was ready to get out of that place. It was packed and super hot - too things that don't sit well with me right now. So off we went and headed home for two much needed naps (the kids) and some down time for me - it is amazing how much more difficult it is to keep up with those two when I'm carrying around so much extra weight in the belly region (and a few other regions as well, but we won't talk about those). So two days of Spring Break down, and three more to go. Tomorrow Ryan has a play date in the morning and swimming lessons in the evening. Thursday we plan on laying low for the day then heading to Auntie's place with Grandma Donna for a sleepover and some fun. And finally, we plan on spending Friday with Ash and Grandma doing whatever fun things we can come up with - we're hoping for some kind of outdoor adventure if the weather stays as nice as it has been the past few days (did you notice the kids had shorts and t-shirts on in the pictures today- yay for warm weather).

Five weeks and counting . . . the babe is an active little thing. She apparently doesn't want me to ever forget I'm pregnant - it seems like there is almost constant motion in my stomach. I'm hoping that means she is burning off all of her energy now and will be a calm little girl when she comes out - keeping my fingers crossed on that one!

Poop on the potty

So Lauren had a big day today . . . she pooped on the potty -yay!!!! I could tell the big moment was coming (think lots of smelly gas and many trips to the potty with "ghost" poops) and then finally, it happened! I don't think she was too excited about the idea of pooping on the potty, but when she couldn't hold it anymore, she was just forced to go. I sat in the bathroom with her and pretty much had to keep myself from laughing during the whole thing. She didn't really sit on the potty, she did more of a hover-type maneuver. And then, with one big push the pooper came flying out. When that happened, she immediately shot up from the seat, took one look at watch just happened, and started screaming (good screams), "me poop, me poop!" She was so proud of herself! Lauren hit the jackpot with "potty treats" too - instead of the usual two jelly beans, she scored four - she was almost beside herself with excitement! I'm hoping this is the start of continued pooping success - if so, I'll have to invest in more jelly beans to keep up with her (something I'm more than willing to do if it means we get rid of diapers for good). Here is a picture of the little lady and all of her "friends" sleeping the night away (thank god she has a bed big enough to hold everyone).

Happy Birthday Trav!

It was Trav's 32nd birthday this past Sunday so to celebrate, we sent the kids to Grandma and Grandpa Quast's house and planned on spending the weekend relaxing, shopping, and relaxing again. Well, as it turns out, I still wasn't feeling great on Friday so that night was spent with me in bed and Trav playing one of his computer games - talk about exciting! On Saturday I woke up and was feeling a little better. I was feeling much better around 11:00am that morning which is approximately the time I finished up with my one hour full body massage - loved it! After my massage, we watched a couple of basketball games, then got ready to venture to the outlet mall and do some hardcore shopping for Trav (his birthday present). Of course the one time this year that we plan on shopping, the mall is packed. Once we finally got a parking spot, we were off to find Trav all sorts of new clothes. By the time we finished shopping (almost 4 hours later), Trav was looking good. He got some new jeans, khakis, polos, and most importantly, boxers that didn't ride up on his manhood - thank god for that, I was getting sick of hearing about it! By that time we were starving so we grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home. I was beat by the time we unpacked and got in the house so I went to bed, Trav stayed up and watched some late night show about the Titanic - such a history buff. On Sunday (his actual birthday), we did a whole lot of nothing. Both of us slept in (a real treat now-a-days), then we headed to the shoe store to find the elusive pair of brown casual, yet dressy enough to wear with khakis, shoes Trav was looking for. Well, we did just that, plus more. Trav found the perfect pair of shoes along with another pair of fancy dress shoes and I also got in on the action by picking up a pair of sandals and some nifty slip-ons (these are now considered my "dress shoes" for the summer). Overall, it was a great, relaxing weekend. Unfortunately I did not snap any pictures of Travis in his new clothes - guess you'll just have to wait and see them for yourselves. With our shopping and relaxing officially complete, we were ready for the kids to come back home. The crew arrived around 6:00pm, gave us a recap of their weekend, and bought us Trav's birthday meal before heading back home - thanks again Grandma and Grandpa (and sorry for any damage Lauren may have caused to your house - can't leave that girl alone for a second). Until next year . . . (scary to think there will be 3 little ones to send away then!).

"One awesome sunny day"

Ryan's description of today . . . "one awesome sunny day." I think he pretty much nailed it. Today was gorgeous and we made sure to take full advantage. But let's start at the beginning. First up this morning, a doctor's visit to check on the babe. Ryan and Lauren both got to go with me today as Ryan wanted to check on "Peaches" just one more time. Usually I go on Mondays when he is at school, but to make sure he got his wish, we did Thursday morning appointment and he did his best to "help" the doctor check the baby's heartbeat. She sounds great and was moving like crazy so everything seems to be on track there. Going forward, I will be checked at each appointment to see if I'm dilated and to see if the baby has moved into position at all (keeping my fingers crossed this baby decides to come out head first, not butt first like her big sister). The kids did a great job at the doctor's office so after we finished up there we headed to Target to pick up some household supplies and their reward for good behavior . . . new toothbrushes! I've seriously never seen two kids so excited about getting new toothbrushes, but they were, and when they finally got to pick, they each got a new toothbrush of their dreams - Ryan got Pokeman, Lauren opted for a Princess brush. After our Target stop, we headed home to spend some time outside. Ryan rode his bike while Lauren tried to figure out how to pedal the trike. Eventually Ryan got sick of watching her just sit there so he helped his little sister out and gave her a couple of lessons on how to use pedals - it was pretty cute. After the kids burned off all their energy, Ryan suggested that we have a picnic so that is exactly what we did. We had to clean up the patio set first (which didn't take too long with all the "helping little hands" I had) and then we were set for our first official picnic of the Spring. As you can see, we were bundled up a bit at the start of the meal, but by the end, the sun was just too hot and both kids eventually lost the coats and sweatshirts. And because we had the camera out and I've yet to take the dreaded "belly shot", I figured this was as good a time as any so I let Ryan try out his photography skills and this is what he came up with. I'm officially 33 1/2 weeks here and can honestly say it looks like death has come over me. Between the constant heartburn, the baby jamming herself up in my ribs, and the sickness I've had for the past four days, I've only slept about an average of 4 hours a night. And if it's a good night and I don't have any of the above mentioned things going on, I can always bet on the need to wake up about every hour to pee (the baby loves to give me some good hard kicks to the bladder to remind me she's there). I guess the upside to the sleepless nights now is that I should be used to them by the time the baby comes!

After my belly shot, the kids thought they should have one as well - Ryan thinks his "baby" is bigger - what do you think?The kids are down for naps now but when they wake up, I'm sure we'll head back outside to soak up some more sun and enjoy the nice weather before it goes away again.

Only 48 days (hopefully) until "Peaches" comes out to play - how exciting!!

Visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house

The kids and I headed off to Grandma and Grandpa Loken's house for a visit this past weekend. We spent most of the time just relaxing and hanging out at the house. Ryan had a bit of a cold and wasn't feeling great so he took some long naps while Lauren showed off her new "peeing on the potty skills" for everyone - so impressive! We also managed to squeeze in a game of "Just Dance" on the Wii. The game is still a favorite of Ryan's, and I must say, he is getting a lot better. He actually tries to follow most of the motions and even if he gets it wrong, he just keeps on going - the kids has some mad dance skills! Be sure to look for him in some future dance video (hopefully one by Pink as she seems to be his favorite music artist at the moment). When we got back home on Sunday, it was too nice to stay inside so we pulled out the monster truck and headed out for a cruise around town. We spent the majority of the evening driving around and visiting with various neighbors who also decided it was time to come out of hibernation and enjoy the nice weather too. After a quick meal, we read some books and the kids were off to bed - a peaceful ending to our fun weekend! Here are a couple of quick pics of the kids ready to ride - they couldn't wait to break out their shades to block out all of that nice sun we had!

She finally poops

We officially started potty training last Friday and that was officially the last day Lauren pooped. Well, that was until today - yay, she finally did it, too bad it wasn't on the potty. I wasn't going to get too concerned about the whole pooping issue until we hit a week because let's face it, not everyone is lucky enough to poop everyday so I figured she would just go when she couldn't hold it long enough. Let's just say the past few days have been filled with lots of mysterious gas floating through our house. Whenever I would say, "Lauren, did you toot?" She would usually deny it, but every once in a while, she would proudly smile and say, "me toot." So this morning she was at an all time high with the toots - they were coming fast and furious and I had an inkling today might be the day to get that poop out. So she tried a few times on the potty to no avail, then we decided it was best to take a bath, forget about the poop, and try again later. Well, later never got a chance to come because as I was standing just outside the bathroom drying my hair, I hear, "I pooped, I pooped!" coming from the bathroom. So I rush in and see Lauren standing there proudly in the tub pointing at her poop which has sunk to the bottom of the tub (I assume this is because it was gigantic and filled with lots of garbage). Luckily she was already cleaned up so I took her out, fished out the poop (which she was fascinated by) and flushed it down the toilet. Lauren waved goodbye to her friend of 6 days as it went down the toilet and promptly turned to me and asked for her potty treat. Sure she didn't exactly put the poop where I wanted it to go, but she finally got it out so I gave in and let her have a treat (after all, her stomach was probably really empty at that point so she was probably starving). So other than that incident, Lauren has been doing great with the potty training. She hasn't had an accident since Friday, and is even to the point where she can climb up on the potty and take care of business on her own. She still has a diaper on at night, but I'm not going to push that one - in time I'm sure she'll get it figured out.

Other news now . . . I am finally ready to return my baby name books I checked out from the library. There are two reasons why. First, I can't look through them anymore because there are just too many names and inevitably I keep going back to the same ones I've been looking at for the past couple of months so why waste anymore time. And second, I think I finally have one or two that I'm really set on - yay! Now the big question will be, will Travis like them, and will I still like them when I see the new babe - guess we'll have to wait and see. If nothing else, I figure we'll just name her Angie Jr - simple yet meaningful - can't go wrong with that.

Onto Ryan, he continues to take swimming lessons and is doing great. His class this time around only has four kids which is nice because there is a lot more individual attention given to each of the kids and we all know he likes attention. He is also loving the kids fitness classes that the Y offers. We try to get out there every Monday, Thursday, and Sunday to take make sure he gets to participate. He is convinced that all of his exercising is making him not only stronger, but taller as well - whatever keeps him interested is just fine with me. The other big news in his life is that we have his Kindergarten round-up in two weeks. He is pretty pumped to check out his new school and even get a "test" bus ride - talk about fun. It's hard to believe he'll be in "real" school next year - my baby is really growing up!

Pee pee on the potty

So this weekend I was ready to try out the "How to potty train in one day" technique for getting Lauren to take care of her business on the potty instead of in her diaper. Well, as it turns out, I found a different, much easier technique - the "Get another 2 year old to potty train for you technique." I had just borrowed the "One Day Potty Training" book from my sister-in-law on Saturday morning and was eager to get started. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to look through the book as we had plans with some friends for the day. So I quickly flipped through the book, got a little discouraged at how much work it would be, and decided it was best to just put it away for the day and start getting everyone ready to head out - potty training would have to wait. The plans for the day . . . Trav and Dave were off to play in a card tournament to raise money for the local pool while Abby and I stayed at their place with the five kids. Let's review this again . . . Trav and Dave play cards, eat, and drink beer all day while Abby and I entertain, play with, and care for the kids - pretty sure the guys got the easy end of that deal. Anyway, with the guys off at their tournament, we started talking about what we should do for the day. First up, a trip to McDonalds to eat lunch and play in the play area. It was a real task to load up all five of the kids and get them to sit, but by the time we had left the restaurant, we accomplished our goal - have everyone fed and worn out so they would rest when we got home. When we did get home, the three younger kids all laid down for naps while the two older kids rested and watched a movie. That left the two ladies with a little down time of their own to catch up on the latest gossip and just relax. After naps, we had a snack, then it was back to playing. Eventually the guys came home and told us the took 3rd place in the tournament. That basically meant they got their entry fee back and free lunch for the day - not too shabby. We ended the day by ordering some pizza and hanging out a bit longer and finally hit the road back home around 9:00pm. I was surprised at how well all of the kids did - 9 hours together is a long time for them to have to get along and "play nice", but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves so it was never an issue. Now to the exciting news. During all of this, Lauren somehow became, dare I say it, POTTY TRAINED (at least during the day, and right now, only with the pee - poop is another issue)!!!! This is how it happened . . . I had her in some plastic pants (underwear) for the morning and she never had an accident. She even went potty twice on the cool frog potty chair that Abby had. The best thing was that every time I put her on the potty, she just sat down and went - no need to read four hundred books or sing crazy songs, she just sat and peed. I couldn't figure it out, but then it dawned on me, she was peeing because she wanted to be just like Saul (Dave and Abby's son) who is also 2 and pees on the potty himself. She would see him pee, and then just like magic, her pee would come out too - simply amazing. So after nap, it even got better. Saul got to the point where every time he had to pee, he would just go get Lauren and take her in the bathroom with him. He would take care of his business, then would sit patiently on the floor next to Lauren while she took care of hers. The best part was that while he sat there, he would hold onto the jar of candy (potty treats) and refuse to give Lauren any until she peed on the potty (way to be tough Saul). Eventually she would pee, he would hand out the treats, they would wash hands, and the rest was history. They did this about five times throughout the day and the more they did it, the easier it got. When we left, I seriously considering stealing Saul and taking him home with us just in case we would need him again (I can happily say though that we made it through today without any accidents and with Lauren still eager to pee on the potty - yay!).

So there you have it, down with the books and crazy methods, just go out and rent yourself a potty trained 2 year old for the day and kick back and relax - it's just that easy (I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing this right now, and I'm still going to hold onto that book until I'm completely convinced Lauren has got this thing down).

Aside from the fun Saturday and the potty training the other big news is that I'm still inching closer to my due date. Tomorrow I have my 32 week check-up. So far everything is going pretty smooth so I'm hoping that will continue to be the case. Trav and I are still undecided about a name for the babe, but luckily we have Ryan. He has given his baby sister the beautiful and very unique name of "Peaches Lulu Quast." He even made me look up "Peaches" in the baby name book to see what it means - "outrageously sweet" - and now whenever anyone asks what his baby sister is going to be named, he responds with, "Peaches Lulu Quast which means outrageously sweet." After hearing this, people immediately turn to look at me to see if I'll verify the story and I have to give a little smile and say, "that's just what we're calling her for now" (I usually try to say it very quietly though otherwise Ryan tends to get mad). I'm hoping Ryan gets over this name in the next two months or we might have to seriously consider naming our third child "Peaches" just so he wouldn't be devastated!

No pictures this post, apparently I've forgotten to bring out the camera lately - I'll work on it for next time.