Felix and the Fire Station (21)

Cassie arranged for us to visit a fire station, courtesy of her friend, Willy. On Sunday morning, the six of us (Mom & Dad were in town, too) went to the Middleton Fire Station, where we were treated to a tour of the facilities, up-close views of the various vehicles (new and old), a ride down the fireman's pole, and even a ride in the huge ladder truck! It was definitely a unique experience!

Felix started off a little slow. I think he was overwhelmed by the size of the trucks, and was nervous that they'd put the sirens on and hurt his ears. Once we assured him that there would be no sirens, he warmed up considerably. He really liked climbing on the little ATV they use for brush fires, grabbing the radio and pretending he was on a call. So cute! Thanks again to Cassie, Willy and the Middleton Fire Station! We hope to visit again!

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Hello, Baby! (20)

I've been saving a few things to blog about until yesterday's appointment. We had our 20 week ultrasound! Nick and Felix joined me for the appointment. Happily, everything appears to be in proper working order, and the baby has the correct number of digits and appendages. Whew. It's really a relief!

A few things about the ultrasound:

• We didn't find out the baby's gender, but I already have a pretty strong feeling (which I'm not going to share - neener!).
• The baby is a whopping 13.5 oz (nearly 30% heavier than the "normal" weight of 10.5 oz at 20 weeks).
• The baby is stubborn. It was head-down and apparently very comfortable there. We had difficulty enticing it to turn to get a better view of its head. It didn't like being bothered, because it would push back against the transducer with its hand, rather hard at times.
• Because of the baby's butt-up position, it was a little uncomfortable when the technician scanned the baby's abdomen. Felix, who was pretty good during the whole thing, didn't like that the lady was "hurting" me.

Bigfoot!

Baby's Profile

We're so much more prepared for this baby than with Felix. With the exception of diapers, we have all the gear we need for the first few months (boy or girl). I went to a huge consignment sale last weekend, and picked up a few items that I was still looking for: a swing (one that uses the baby's car seat, so it's so much more compact), a wrap carrier ($16 for something that costs $55+ brand new!), crib sheets, and swaddler sleepers. Awesome, awesome, awesome. And (dum-dum-dum-dum!) we have our baby names picked out! Big change from last time when we went to the hospital not having decided on a boy name.

And now to Felix. He's very excited about the baby, and will talk to/pat my belly occasionally. He's insisting the baby is a girl. :o)

There are good things and not-so-good things going on with Felix. He is so cute at times:

• As Felix and I were leaving the day care, his friend Alana came out and gave him a hug and kiss on the lips. After she ran back in the room, he turned to me and said, "Alana kissed me! I like it." He was blushing. Awww!
•  I told Felix to see how the water was doing for his lunch. Shortly after, I heard this: "Hello water, how are you? Good? I'm doing good, too."
• This morning, I mimed putting on one of his "listening ears" before I left him at day care. He immediately asked for another ear so he could have two.

Also good is that his teacher is going to start pushing potty training with him because he seems close. It'll be a wet day for him today, but he's excited about wearing underwear. He told me he's going to poop and pee in the potty today. Good to have goals. :o) I'd love it if it happened sooner, but I'd really like him out of diapers before the baby comes.

On the flip side, he's getting very demanding and doesn't like to listen when you ask him to do something that isn't on his agenda. It can be frustrating to ask him to do a simple task like "please take your shoes off" 5+ times. Challenging him to do things helps, but not always. I try to appeal to his be-helpful nature, but he becomes so focused that he'll just ignore you. He also realizes he's bigger and may have a choice in the matter. The kid is too darn smart at times. He's started saying "You don't say no to me!" when we tell him no or stop. And then there are tantrums if you physically separate him from what he wants to do. I'm hoping he snaps out of this quickly. When we let him know that we're unhappy, he immediately becomes contrite and says he wants to be a good boy and listen. Sorry, buddy, but just saying that won't get you a treat. You have to show us you're a good boy and listener.

Nick's financial business is going well, and he thinks it's only a matter of a few months before many worries are behind us. I sure hope so!

There's our life in a nutshell right now!

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Happy Easter! (18)

I got Good Friday off, and so we headed up to Rapids after Felix's Easter day care party and lunch. Felix handled the trip well, though he did not nap on the ride like we hoped. We had a couple of nice, relaxing days with my family. Felix got to do an Easter egg hunt in my parents' backyard. He got very excited when he found the eggs, usually exclaiming, "Oh! Look at that!" Sunday, we headed over to my Grandma's (nearly crashing into a monster turkey on the way) to see family and have a nice lunch before heading home. Felix got another egg hunt there, too. He very much enjoyed the weekend. So much so that he wailed for the last half-hour plus of the drive because he didn't want to go home.

We've got a couple of fun weekends planned: Felix is spending the weekend with his other set of grandparents coming up (all by himself!) and the following weekend, we're visiting a fire station!

And back to reality. We have our hands full getting Felix to listen to us when we ask him to do things. If he is playing and it's time to clean up, it takes asking multiple times and threatening to take whatever he's playing with away before it clicks that he needs to listen. And we really don't like threatening or bribing. Sometimes challenging him works (usually to a race up the stairs when heading to bed), and sometimes he'll just do it (and then we heap him with praise). There's little consistency in his behavior. Oh, the joys of 2 and a half.

But it's not all bad. I started singing "I love you so much when I kiss you" (then giving him a kiss). He likes this so much that he sings it back to me (so gloriously off key) and pulls my head down so he can kiss my forehead.

Things are going well with Kid 2 so far. Every test has come back normal, and I had another OB check this morning where I could listen to the little heartbeat. This baby has been punching/kicking for the last few weeks, which I enjoy. We have our ultrasound scheduled in two weeks, so we'll get another look at the little one. For a while, Felix proclaimed the baby a girl, but then suddenly switched it to a boy this weekend. His guess is as good as ours. :o)

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Winter gave Spring a miss and went straight on into Summer (15)

We have been graced by some gorgeous weather the past week and a half, and I wanted to note it before it disappears again. The record high temperatures have in short order melted all the snow piles and greened everything up. It might be well before mid-May when the trees are fully decked out in their leaves! That would be lovely! However, typically pessimist that I can be, I'm anxiously scanning the forecasts to see if we're going to have another cold snap. I like this warmth too much! It will be a different pregnancy, though, if it ends up a being a hot summer. The year Felix was born was pretty mild and I only had to suffer through about a month and a half of heat. This year, I've got the whole summer to be big. With that in mind, I've been stocking up on maternity tees, tanks and shorts to help me cope. :o)

Felix has taken to the warm weather as well, getting back into his old habits of wanting to play with everything outside and being very difficult to bring in. Even popsicles aren't enough of a bribe!

Batter up!

Felix rides his first bike!

Felix and Eve having fun

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Special Announcement! (12/0)

  

Felix is going to be a big brother! Yes, that's right, we're expecting our family to gain a new member in early September! Just like with Felix, we are going to let the baby (and our chosen names) be a surprise. Yay!

Felix: 2.5 yrs

A Little Bit of Summer in Winter

We needed a bit of warming up this winter (though it really hasn't been too terrible), so we made plans to enjoy one of the indoor water parks up in the Dells this past weekend with family. We left Madison at 11am and met my folks and Cassie for lunch at Monk's downtown for lunch (mmm, fried dill pickles). From there, we went to Mt Olympus. We were lucky and could check into our room right away, so we did and got ready for the water park. We stayed there for only about 2 hours, but Felix enjoyed every second of it. He really liked the slides and bubblers in the kids' area and could have stayed there all day. We went for dinner at Moosejaw, and had to wait an hour for a table because everyone else had the exact same idea. Felix got so hungry he started to try to slice up his new stuffed bear. ;o) The next morning, we went out for breakfast, then back to the hotel to try out the indoor theme park. It wasn't quite what we expected (there were only 3 rides on which Felix could go), so we didn't stay long. And then, our vacation was done. Back home by 1pm on Sunday. Short and sweet. We'll have to do this again soon!

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Quiet

I just realized that it's been over a month since I last posted. I'd say life got in the way, but really, a combination of illness and not a lot going on are the culprits. I'm starting to recover from what felt like an interminable cold that started mid-January and really did a number on me. Thankfully with some rest and antibiotics, I'm finally on the mend.

As for the rest of the month, we finally got some snow and played. We watched the Badgers and Packers seasons end sadly. We celebrated Nick's birthday with a surprise visit from our friends Nate and Laura. We had visits from family.

Felix is the smartest little guy I know. (He launched into Take Me Out to the Ball Game yesterday, knowing all the words, when I haven't sung that song to him in over 4 months. Wow! Well, he did call it "fall game" :o) But with that cleverness comes challenges. He doesn't feel like he needs to listen to us, preferring to be independent in what he does. He also has impulse control problems that result in hitting/kicking when he gets upset. That's our main issue right now - how to get him to stop. Yesterday he hit/kicked two teachers right before I picked him up. He was sorry about it, but that meant no mints in the car on the way home and no treats after dinner. He did it again, so no stories before bed. He's been warned those will be the consequences if it happens again. I'm also going to start up the good day chart, where he'll get a small toy at the store on Friday if he is good every day that week. Hopefully something will sink in soon.

Felix: 2.5 yrs