Some Tid-Bits

Operation big boy bed is going pretty well. Granted I have had some really awful nights of throwing Justin back in his bed 500 times before he goes to sleep - but he stays in bed once he falls asleep and he's only hit the floor once. It probably hurt...he rolled off the end of the bed on to the wood floor one night. He gives me a way harder time about staying in bed at bedtime than he does Dave. Why is it that kids torture their mothers?

Operation potty training is not going so well. Granted I haven't pushed it very hard yet - but will need to soon! He knows when he has to poop..and does what I call the poopy-dance and says he wants to go sit on the potty. So we go sit on the potty...444 times in a row. And. Nothing. Happens. Then 10 minutes later he'll inform me that he has a stinky diaper. I'm hoping at some point this just clicks in his little head and he goes WHILE HE IS ON THE POTTY! I heard a rumor that daycare does a week of potty-training boot camp in August..I'm not sure if this is true or not but I need to find out. I'd love it if they just handled this situation for me :)

Justin is still LOVING construction equipment. Every day on the way to school we have to look for the excavator, the loader, the back hoe , the bobcat and the tractor. He knows exactly where these things are and starts talking about them before we get to them. He gets a bit disappointed when the projects are over and the equipment disappears.

He has been working on his two-year molars for awhile now. They seem to be coming in one at a time...each one taking weeks to come in. I'm hopeful the process is over soon. I noticed when Justin came back from Tara's that he was doing a MUCH better job of brushing his teeth- so I asked Tara if Lily had given him lessons and evidently she gave some wonderfully detailed instructions to him. Maybe I should have had Lily work on potty training too!

I am absolutely loving that Justin is chatting away at me these days. While it can be annoying to hear the same thing 4,000 times in a row -the unsolicited "Thank you, mommy" "Yes, I do"  "I'm funny" and random bits that he'll drop on me here and there are just awesome. Sometimes he sounds like he has a little accent that cracks me up. He also likes to switch things up and start calling me Tanya - which he obviously thinks is hilarious. And once in awhile he'll say "Mom" instead of Mommy which just sounds weird.

Overall he's really fun- I'm enjoying this age. He's still a total mama's boy which will be hard when the new baby comes- but we'll figure it out.  We haven't really talked to him about the new baby at all. We stop at say hi to the babies at daycare but I figure there isn't really any point it attempting to explain to a 2 year old why my belly looks like a soccer ball. I'll buy a couple of "big brother" like books as it gets closer and we'll read them and maybe by the time I'm the size of a house he'll start to put a couple of things together in his head. Regardless I think it's going to be a shock to him to have to share his mommy.

Bye Iowa!

We had a great time in Iowa (minus the little stomach bug that struck at some point) and Justin will be asking me to go "back to the farm" for the unforeseen future. He has told a number of random people today that he "saw the animals" and the taxi driver was probably tired of hearing him say "back to the farm, mommy?"

He was such a big boy at the airport- pushing the stroller around and asking "My turn?" when they started boarding the plane. He waited his turn and was so excited to get on the plane he got on before me and handed the lady his own boarding pass. He was great on the plane- he ate, played and then zonked out for a bit. I always love it when people getting off the plane say "I didn't even realize he was on here he was so good!"

Bye Grandma and Grampa!

Thanks to everyone for such a great week - Justin loved visiting and I wish we could do it more often!

At the Fair!

Justin has told ANYONE he has seen since our trip to the fair "I see the animals." He rather enjoyed checking out the cows, pigs, roosters, chickens, ducks, goats, donkeys, rabbits, etc!

Cousins

Two big boys eating!

Justin is in a "mine" phase...

Justin on the Farm

Justin and Lily

Justin spent a couple of nights with Tara, Josh and Lily while I went to Chicago to visit Karen and sweet baby Parker. He had a great time with Lily and torturing the rabbits and dogs at her house.

 

Meanwhile I had lots of snuggle time with this sweet little girl:

Justin and Brenna

Being alone with Justin and Brenna today has given me a pretty good idea of what life with Justin and a newborn will be like..I'm never going to be able to leave him in the same room with the baby alone for fear he will smother the baby with a hug..or accidentally jump on the baby while he's acting like a mad man.

He certainly loves on Brenna - but I can't count how many times I've given the "gentle" lecture today. (Don't worry Dave and Elise- he hasn't actually jumped on her or smothered her and I haven't left him alone with her).

Below are a couple of videos of them (those of you who get this by email will have to click through to the blog).

The Gang

Every time we get a family picture it becomes outdated with a new addition! This one is good through November at least. ;)

Resemblance?

It's funny that a kid can look SO MUCH like two completely different people. While he looks just like his daddy...Justin is also looking an awful lot like his uncle Jeff!

Grandma Riggan asked Hayden who was in this picture- his answer was Justin!

Big Boy Bed!

Well I didn't think we were going to try this transition until after our vacation - but the new bed frame arrived yesterday and Dave had everything set up when I got home. So..today Justin was climbing on the bed and we started talking about it being his "big boy bed" and come nap time- well that's where he wanted to sleep!

Yes - he was still in his PJ's at nap time today...don't judge :)

After nap time we put up the rail and put on the new construction bedding. I wasn't sure he would actually stay in there tonight- but after getting out a few times he seems to be sleeping! I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch...who knows if he'll sleep all night or if he'll do it again tomorrow. But right now he's in there with his books and animals snuggled up on his dump truck pillows!

Checking out the new bedding

Bedtime!

Now I need to get some fun construction themed things to hang on the walls! The golf pictures are all hiding in a closet..maybe someday we'll have a place to hang them again..

Welcome to the World Parker Marie!

It took a couple of days of labor and then a c-section but Parker Marie Kuhn finally joined the world on Tuesday! Justin and I FaceTimed with her this morning - she is precious! I can't wait to meet her in person in a couple of weeks and to give new Mommy Karen a big hug!!