Is that a Prius?

Hi loyal readers.....however few of you there may be!  Wednesday is my usual blog night but its 10pm and I am just sitting down because I was at a business dinner all evening.  I decided I would have my first guest blogger fill the spot tonight.  That honor went to my one and only husband, Jake!  So enjoy the post from my beloved!  Thanks for filling in babe!

Being the parent of a toddler is like that feeling you get when you are driving down the freeway and you suddenly realize you are being tailgated by someone driving a Prius. The first thought that comes to your mind is probably " What the Heck?". You get feelings of confusion, anxiety, you maybe even start to sweat a little, all while wondering if its your fault. I recommend that everyone experience being the parent of a toddler at least once in their lives. If not, thats ok too, but its an experience unlike no other, at least that I have had. In just 21 months I have been peed on, pooped on, puked on, and drooled on. I have pulled all nighters, stayed in the hospital for three days, been to the pediatrician at least what I swear is a thousand times, and I even now have the luxury of having to wake up at 6:45 on a weekend. Yeah, thats what a toddler is capable of. 

During your experience as the parent of a toddler, you may even start pondering any of the great philosophies of life. One being the theory of Intelligent Design! 

According to Wikipedia(the most trusted resource on the planet), Intelligent Design is the theory that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."  Then how is it that my toddler just screamed bloody murder when I put baked 5 cheese-homemade macaroni and cheese in front of him, but 45 minutes later proceeded to happily eat a two day old cheerio he found in his playroom. And to top it off, 30 minutes after that, he refused his nice fresh cup of milk only to take a couple gulps of bath water. Maybe he needed to wash down the cheerio? 

On the intelligence scale, I believe most people fall somewhere in between Lindsay Lohan, and Albert Einstein. And some people just fake it better than others. But if we were intelligently designed, why were we designed so,.......Toddler-ish? This applies to adults too, as confirmed by a recent episode of Cops that I saw. Grown men and women throwing tantrums, fighting with one another, he said, she said, all to have someone else come in and set them straight again. Kind of makes me think the QA department of the heavens needs to do a little review on procedure eh?

Tonight I was assigned with taking the reigns of "the beast"(one of his many nicknames), since Kim is at a company function, and I have to admit I did learn some things. I now know the words to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Hot Dog song, and I also figured out how to discreetly wipe gigantoid boogers out of my kids nose in a Target parking lot all while not making him cry. I can also now guarantee that a week in my house would be more entertaining than 5 years of watching the Kardashians. I even have a nicer butt than Kim Kardashian. Or, if you want to think even bigger, how about James Cameron leaves the Titanic alone and creates, "The Toddler Experience, in 3D!". Where is James Cameron when you need him anyway?  Dylan is asleep now, his bedtime is somewhere around 7:30. But, even after all the toddler-isms he can throw at me, I always miss him when he's not around. If there is one thing he definitely is, it's that he is always happy, even when he's washing down a two day old cheerio with bath water. At least that is one aspect of the design they got right. I wonder if James Cameron owns a Prius?

I'm 32 weeks pregnant

I remember thinking that being this far along seemed so far away just a short time ago.  This pregnancy really has flown by.  That being said, I feel every week of my pregnancy today.  The baby is lying head down on my left hip and won't budge and I'm in a ton of pain.  I'm nauseous first thing in the morning and during every shower, and I'm exhausted.  I'm whining but it's just how I feel today.  I'm so close, but not close enough to say the end.  I also have no desire for an early baby so I just have to get through 8 weeks.  I know most days I'm pretty positive but sometimes everyone hits a wall....today is that day for me.

In other news, Dylan is doing great, eating well and making me proud.  He is saying a lot of new words and is so good to me.  He is seriously so sweet to me, it melts my heart and instantly made my day better when I picked him up.  He is also very demanding of me though, he won't let dad help...mom has to do it all and be present at all times at home.  I know its a stage and I both love and am exhausted by it.  I told Jake not to worry they will be best buds in September when our new addition is here. (Did I mention I can LITERALLY feel the baby's head on my hip bone right this second OMG)

Overall I'm extremely excited about having a newborn soon.  I don't pretend to be naive to the work involved with one and how those challenges will be amplified by having a toddler to care for, but I am just so blessed to experience this again.  I absolutely loved the newborn stage and hope I can manage it so well the second time.  On that note, a big congratulations to my friend Ashley on her precious baby boy Bennett.  I met Ashley on the first day of high school in 1997 on the school bus and now she is a beautiful mommy.  Ashley and David are going to be amazing parents!  Thank you Ashley for letting me share in your journey thus far and I cannot wait to see you and Bennett grow as mother and son.

This post is so random....what else?  Oh last weekend Jake and I made a big trip to Babies R' Us and I have most everything checked off my list so that's a relief.  I am by no means ready but closer!  Well I think that is all for tonight as I am tired and entirely unwitty this evening!

-Kim

I totally forgot I was a mom....

.....until today!  I'm kidding of course.  Most days motherhood is just my way of life.  I am a mom, I love being one and it is just my "normal".  However, every once in a while there are moments in parenting that stand out like, "holy cow, I'm such a mom".  Now you may be thinking this is one of those sappy moments I divulge into about my son......but it is SO NOT.  It is however funny....at least now.  

So I have a little boy who has a new habit of playing with his diaper....as in he basically can pull it off during the night and wake up with a useless diaper.  So we started putting him in onesies while he slept forgoing the super cute pj sets, because, really, nothing soaked in pee is cute.  We moved up one size in diapers to account for what seemed to be wetter diapers and figured we were on the road to dry mornings.  Last night D went to sleep in a onesie, with cute pj shirt and shorts over it.  Double protection!  Yeah...NO!  At 545am, my usually sleeps till I wake him up baby started crying....not like a whine which usually is shortlived and he falls back asleep, but full on cry.  So of course I dragged my overtired pregnant self to his room to make sure all was well.  It wasn't....soggy baby, diaper half off.  Who are you kid, houdini??  So I change the baby wipe him down to smell baby fresh and prepare to put him back down because...ya know....its 6am and I still have to get ready for work.  He usually sleeps while I'm getting ready.  It's a pretty sweet deal for all involved.  Well before I lay him back down I check his bed....sheet cover, sheet, mattress all drenched.  Awesome.  I lay groggy baby on floor and he watches as preggo mom changes the pee sheet in the dark.  I tell Dylan its too early for him so back to bed he goes.  Surprisingly he is agreeable and quiet.  I go lay back down for 15 minutes because....its 6am and I'm pregnant.  Yes I'm whining....then and now.  I finally decide to get ready for work, quiet dry baby taken care of, when he starts whining off and on seriously the minute I get up.  Mind you we are in different rooms....does he know I'm up?  What's with this kid?  I hurry to get ready etc and when I do go to get Dylan ready for daycare....of course....he's fallen asleep again.  I wake obviously tired baby and dress him for the day, he cracks a smile because he's just that cool until the shoe he is playing with as I snap some buttons on his romper drops on his face and he's not happy about it.  Kid....its that kind of morning, I feel your pain.  Onward, we give the dogs their "cookies" (dog bones), D gets his sippy with carnation instant breakfast....cause sidestory he's a lean machine and needs extra calories per the pediatrician...and off to start our respective days we go.  Tired but ok.  We get to daycare where as I get Dylan out of the car he turns said sippy upside down and all over my shirt it goes.  I go inside when I drop him off to try and redeem myself and bid farewell to my son for the day with a soaked shirt and a prompt "I'm in a very bad mood" call to Jake.  This is of course useless but its what I did.

At this point its about 830am and the rest of the day was fairly uneventful...but as it went on I found humor in my morning and also that astonishing "I'm a mom" moment that in some weird way I was proud to have.  This is not always easy, but gosh darn it, I'm doing it, and I think I'm doing it pretty well.  I never lost my cool, my D was still happy and life just goes on, but I found humor and pride in being a mom today.  I'll leverage slightly into sappy mode because my day ended at Chick-fil-a where D actually ate, full on ankle pjs for D were bought at Target, dogs chased bubbles in the backyard, dancing was done inside, and according to Jake, I performed perhaps the most comical rendition of "old macdonald" during Dylan's bath.  Like every night I sang to Dylan before putting him down for bed to his gracious smile... and here I live to tell the tale.

Ah Motherhood....ain't it grand?  :)

I'm older!

Not much to say this week! I've enjoyed a shorter work week due to the holiday and yesterday was my birthday! 28! A little too close to 30 for my comfort but I am so happy with where I am at in life and I am only here because of the years that have passed! I'm thankful to my wonderful husband who always tries so hard to make me feel special on my birthday! He does that everyday but makes an extra effort for my birthday that doesn't go unnoticed. I'm very blessed to have him! The best part of my birthday was blowing out candles on my cake with my Dylan on my lap while he scooped icing into his mouth!

Meanwhile we are 30 weeks with #2 and morning sickness and heartburn visit me regularly along with sciatic pain so I am looking forward to September! This is hard work but again another blessing! I guess that's all for now!!