Kid Updates

Well, this post is an update on all the little "kidisms" around here that I should really post more often!! I think I will start with the oldest and go down the list! :-)

Alex

Well, Alex has officially hit big boy status! He is 3.5yrs old and finally completely potty trained!! Wohooooooo! And very proud of himself. He loves it that he can do it "all by myself" and it saves us time and money too! He is pretty interested in this whole "mommy has a baby in her belly" thing and likes to put his ear to my tummy and listen to baby "talking" to him! He and Sam are either the best of friends or the worst of enemies these days--but I guess that's just par for the course with brothers that are 18mo. apart! Alex has turned into a kid who is excessively polite. Seriously, people in stores, restaurants, at church always comment on how polite he is. I know this seems amazing compared to the "terrible two year old toddler" we had on our hands a year and a half ago, but it's true!! We are very thankful to God for the little man Alex is turning into! He's still a pretty picky eater, but is slowly starting to get brave enough to try more things--slowly! But he eats like a teenager these days. Honestly the kid can eat a whole meal and 10min. later tell us he's hungry. One time on the way home from Applebees for dinner he asked if we could stop at Pizza Hut "for a little snack"!!! Alex LOVES his classes at church and many times lately has cried when we went to pick him up because he didn't want to leave! He is so social. When we go to the basketball games at the school he spends the whole time chatting people up and barely even notices the fact that people are playing basketball! He has turned into a book lover like daddy and library story time and book day are one of the highlights of the week. Oh, and he never stops talking! We have actually had to tell him at dinner that he may not say another word until he eats 3 bites--that's how much he talks--cracks us up. He is also learning his letter sounds and we are starting to memorize Psalm 100. Gotta love this kid!

Sam

Well, we are thankful to have one kid out of the terrible two's because Sam has jumped in!! Don't get me wrong, he is not even half as bad as Alex was with it...but he has his own little stubborn streak. And yet he still has most of the church wrapped around his little finger because he is so stinkin' cute with those big dimples! We gave potty training a bit of a whirl 2 weeks ago--I would love it if he was trained before baby gets here and he's a smart little boy and I think he could figure it out--but it didn't go so well. He screamed like I was cutting off his right arm every time I set him on the potty. Even M&M's didn't persuade him! So, we are putting that off for a little longer. (I don't push the potty training issue. Might as well wait until they are ready--they won't be going to college in diapers!!) Sam is obsessed with trains. I mean obsessed. He will play with them ALL DAY. Except they frustrate him as much as he loves them because he can get the cars separated from the engines but can't get them hooked together again. So there is often much fussing and sometimes all the choo-choos have to go in time-out and he has to play with something else just so mommy can reclaim the small bits of sanity that are left! Sam is learning his letters. He can match all of them on his little computer, and we now know that he can say and point to at least 5 of them, maybe more! He is apparently going to be a slow talker, like big brother...he has a ton of words that he can say...he just doesn't often say them unless encouraged...and even then it's hit and miss. We are not worried about this though...we know now that one day we will be wondering if the torrent of words is every going to stop! Our favorite thing he says is fish but it comes out "bish" and it's sooooo cute.

Baby #3

Obviously I don't have a real pic of baby yet, save the ultrasound pics that you've already seen, so I will post a pic of the 'baby bump' so you can see the progress! No, baby does not have a name yet. The more kids we have the harder time Ryan and I have picking a name that we BOTH like. We have it narrowed down to a list of 3 or 4 boy names and 1 or 2 girl names. Yes, some girl names just in case! The other reason baby doesn't have a name is that we have heard a whole bunch of facts and stories lately about how ultrasounds before week 18 are really unreliable when it comes to gender prediction. So we are waiting until our next ultrasound (should be in about 6 weeks or so) to name the little one for sure!! This baby is taking it's time to get big! My baby bump is much smaller and basketball shaped than my first 2 were. The pic above is from 4 weeks ago, but the belly is only a bit bigger than that. Baby is quite the kicker, too! I started feeling him at 14wks and am now feeling REALLY hard kicks already at 20 weeks! He is sensitive to caffeine--if I have Pepsi he is bouncing off the walls--and he does not like coffee! Tragedy for me indeed. If I drink coffee in the morning (which I love) I get a terrible stomachache. I can have some decaf in the afternoon, but not in the evening or I'll get heartburn. Baby is giving me heartburn something fierce, so I wonder if he'll be dark and have lots of hair like Alex did! My biggest complaint this pregnancy is a lot of back pain. I spend almost every available evening sitting on my heating/vibrating back pad. It helps a lot! My due date is still July 13th, but we will probably have the c-section on or around the 6th so he will get fireworks for his bday every year! I have been checking out books about babies (little kid books I mean) for the boys to help them get used to what it will be like to have a baby in the house again! We think Alex is going to be much more interested & helpful this time around and that Sam is going to be mad!! ;-) We can't wait to meet this little one!!