Warm Spring/Summer? Day - Washing the Car

We have suddenly been hit with upper 80 temps this Spring. It feels like Summer!

My Friday goal was to figure out how to disassemble Drew's carseat and clean it, clean the infant carseat, and get them both re-installed. I had tried to take Drew's booster/car seat contraption apart before to wash the cover and just couldn't figure it out (so it was WELL overdue for a cleaning!). While I was wrangling with the carseat, my sweet neighbor who works at the police department came over offering to help me install the seats. I told her I would love her help.... once I figured out how to take them apart!

I eventually got it apart and threw the covers in the washing machine and Drew cleaned all of the bases and plastic pieces. I was so thankful that he was there to do all of the scrubbing and rinsing! While Drew was busy scrubbing I was able to work on getting the car cleaned out.

While I was busy vacuuming the car, and the car seats were drying in the sun, Drew found other things to wash. He had a great time playing in the water!

Finally, I closed the car doors and he was able to wash the car!

Of course, only a small amount of the car got washed, but by the next day it was covered in yellow pollen again.... an ongoing battle this time of year.

While he scrubbed the car, I was able to get the carseats reassembled (shew!) and installed!

.... one more thing checked off of the "get ready for baby sister" checklist!

Mommy's Birthday 2009

Sunday we talked about how my birthday was tomorrow (Monday) and Drew and I made cupcakes. All seemed good.

Drew got up today and was so excited! He remembered it was my birthday and told me Happy Birthday over and over. He went into the kitchen and his first reaction was.... "where's the cake?" We had cupcakes, but apparently that wasn't good enough. He wanted cake, candles, and balloons. Those are apparently the proper ingredients for a birthday.

We had a great day, Grandma came over, took me to lunch, picked up Drew from school, we went shopping, and of course, Grandma let Drew get a cake and candles for me for my birthday!

Come on folks.... it's time for cake

Drew said I was 2, therefore needed 2 candles.... who am I to argue with that....

Clapping after he sang me Happy Birthday and blew out the candles for me.

Apparently, Drew will be making sure we celebrate birthday's for us for a few years!

Big Brother Tour at the Hospital

We took Drew on the Big Brother/Big Sister tour at the Hospital today!

A nurse took him on his own tour of the hospital rooms, nursery, etc.

Checking on the babies in the nursery.

He could have stood there all day!

Here he is with his certificate and his mask and hat.

He's officially ready now! :-)

Beautiful Easter Day

The day started with the sound of the crib mobile and Drew reading a book in his room. In true Drew fashion, he must finish what he started and did not get up until he was done reading all 64 pages. He had gotten up, covered up baby May in the crib, turned on the mobile and began to read her a book.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch and Daddy took Drew for a bike ride around their neighborhood. Drew has finally figured out how to peddle the bike, but still looks at his feet the whole time and needs someone to steer for him. He is getting there! Won't be long!

Coloring Easter Eggs - Easter 2009

Drew completely blew me away this year with the Easter eggs. He completely took over, knowing exactly what to do, leaving me with nothing to do but take pictures!

He had a system. He would pick up an egg, write on it (usually with his tongue sticking out), carefully put it on the dipper, put the egg in the coloring cup. He continued this until all 5 cups were full, then would take each out, then repeat. I was thankful that I had boiled 3 extra eggs, so he had 3 full rounds of coloring. I don't know what he would have done if he would have been three eggs short on that last round!

Playing Catch Up

I was able to get my computer to work for more than 5 minutes last night so I quickly uploaded pictures from the last month or so. My laptop is on its last leg and will randomly shut off at any given time right now. It is very possible that I won't make it through this post without it dying on me. It only seems to work on random days, when the moon is aligned just right.... or something like that.

So a quick update:
Drew -
Drew is doing well. He is 100% daytime potty trained and we are so proud, if we could just convince him that he doesn't need to change his underwear every time he went to the bathroom, then it would be even better, but progress, people!

He has decided that holding a crayon, marker, etc isn't the end of the world and has drawn us a few pictures and written several words, all willingly and without screaming.

School is going okay, class is bigger than ever, and they have added another assistant teacher. He has his good days and bad days. He has a problem yelling at kids for not doing things the way that he wants them to, but he seems to be getting over crying everytime someone else cries, and is starting to share and interact with friends on occassion.

He seems to understand that Baby Sister's arrival is coming soon and is being a big helper. We have tried to really include him in helping get ready and he is really excited. He will look at a calender and knows that she is coming in May and will tell you that is when she is coming.

Tony-
Tony is doing well, he is enjoying his new store and his health is doing really well. He has adjusted well to his insulin pump and has even put back on a few pounds!

Kelly-
Well, I am doing fine. C-section date is set for May 26. We are hoping to make it that far. The baby dropped significantly a couple weeks ago and I have had some contractions as well as some other pre-term risk factors. When I was pregnant with Drew I was on bedrest for the last three months. Luckily the doctors haven't put me on bedrest yet and if I can make it another 3-4 weeks then I will be able to escape bedrest altogether. The doctors are watching me every week now though. I am trying to take it easy on days that seem a little rough, with lots of braxton hicks, regular contractions, swelling, fatigue, etc and not push myself too much to try to avoid bedrest as well as preterm labor! I am taking it one week at a time right now. Next appointment is next Thursday so we will see what that day brings!

Check out the posts and photos I just uploaded from February, March, and April....

Anticipation....

Drew came across my old "kid sister" doll (you know, the girl version of the "my buddy" doll) that I often use as a sample in my slings at craft shows. He put her in baby sister's crib and she stayed there for a few days.

When Drew woke up yesterday morning he came out to the living room carrying "baby May". (May as in the month the baby is coming). He informed me that she needed her diaper changed, so we went and got a diaper and I let him pick out clothes for her. We got her dressed and he decided she needed a bottle. I gave him a bottle and at first he was resistant because he said that there was no milk in it! He eventually climbed up in the chair and pretended to feed "baby May" a bottle and burp her!

He then decided she needed a nap and put her down in the crib.

After school he was playing with her. I didn't catch all of his "conversation" but I heard him say that she needed to go to "time out". He sat her in the corner and there she sat for the night!

Story Time

While I was making dinner tonight, Drew wanted to read me a story.
Here he is reading "Go Dog Go" one (of the many) books he can read without any help.
He does such a good job reading!

Pictures by Drew - April 5, 2009

I turned on my camera to download a receipt for a mystery shop and found pictures that Drew apparently took with my camera. It's funny to see the things that he finds picture worthy!

Easter Egg Hunt/Scramble - Farmers Market 2009

We headed out to the Farmers Market for the 2nd year in a row for their Easter Egg Hunt. I really think they should call it a scramble though. It is really brutal. They rope off a big area, dump a bunch of eggs in and then kids run in and get as many eggs as they can. The real hunt comes in when you try to find your child after the eggs are picked up!



It really seemed like there wasn't as many eggs this year, or maybe there was more kids, or maybe it was just total chaos! Drew only got about 5 eggs, but I think it was a little better than last year even though he got fewer eggs. Last year he was in the 2-3 year old division and they were allowed a "helper" in that division. I think it was a little more fair in the 4-6 year old division without helpers. It was still chaos though! Drew did seem to understand the concept this year though and he had a blast!

Easter Playdate at the Park

My mom's group had an Easter playdate at a local park complete with an Easter egg hunt, lots of yummy food, and playtime at the playground. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun!