36 Weeks! Almost ready to go!

Today I got out the suitcases and my duffel bag and started packing. Dawson has so much big stuff, it's hard to decide what bags to use. But I filled up a small suitcase with clothes and diapers and started filling up the big one with the misc stuff. So I packed everything I can that we're not using. Shouldn't take long at all to do the rest once the big day comes. I have a list on my fridge of everything, so that makes it so much easier. I still haven't picked out a going home outfit though! I really wanted to use the one Dawson came home in, but it's just too thin for February! So I'm debating on an actual outfit, or a sleeper. Guess I'll have to go play with the baby clothes some more and decide!

I'm glad I was forced to use different noodles yesterday. Dawson and I shared the leftover "spaghetti" and he loved that he could eat it by himself. So I think I'll use bowties more often now, they are the perfect size for him. Wish I had my camera though, he had sauce up to his ears and in his hair and everything. Good thing he needed a bath anyway!

This weekend we switched Dawson back to his highchair. He was rocking the booster so much, he was very close to tipping the whole chair over! Turned out to be a good thing though, I adjusted the highchair to sit as low as it goes, and once I open up the tray, he can just hop down by himself. It's so much easier on me! Today I got him to climb up there by himself and he got it in the first try! Hopefully he'll continue that, it's getting hard to lift him all the time. I don't know what I did, but I twisted my knee or something this weekend, it really hurt! Getting better now, but it's still a bit sore.

Bath time is so much more fun now. He still doesn't like the water over his head, but he actually tried climbing in this time! A big improvement from him screaming and running away at the sound of the water running in the tub!

Had a good visit with Jenny this morning. She's coming over on Feb 3rd also, and she's gonna bring the bassinet then. Once that's set up, I'll have everything done for baby.

Frustrating Day

It was fine until I had to leave the house. I have some library books due and I need diapers and a few groceries. Went out and started my car, and the low coolant light was on. It was last time, but was fine once I filled it up. So I filled it and the light still came on. I filled it 3 times, and each time the light would come back on and it'd be low again. So I gave up, I'm thinking I have some major engine trouble. :(

I went to make spaghetti for supper, got the water boiled and got the noodles out. I opened the package to find bugs crawling around on them! EW! So I made some bow tie noodles instead. At least they were easier for Dawson to eat, even though he likes eating spaghetti noodles!

Dawson said 2 new words this weekend! He said "Dad bed" when we were waking him up. Then he said "beep!" to get us to move when he was trying to get up onto the couch. That was really cute, we sure weren't expecting it!

We're waiting for Daddy to get home so we can get the library movies in and do a little shopping. The library wouldn't renew over the phone, so I'll have to put them in the drop box and re-order them. I'm excited for tomorrow though, my friend Jenny is coming over to visit for a little while!

Dawson's Class and the Mall

ECFE went good. I'm glad I had planned on going to the library before that. My low coolant light was on, so I had to take the time to fill that. So I had to skip the library, I'll go tomorrow. Dawson went right to playing when we got there, he was really good.

I'll have to ask the teacher about snack time though. He has a bowl full of crackers and gives them out 1 at a time. He wants the kids to ask for another one, but reaching for one is considered ok too. Well some of the kids were half on the table trying to get one, and Dawson was sitting there politely, waiting for another one. Of course he didn't get noticed, so he never got another one. He used to try to climb on tables in restaurants and I finally got him to stop that, so I really don't want it to be encouraged! I always tell him he's good for waiting patiently while I get his food ready and he's used to it being put in front of him when he's ready. So it's a totally new concept. He did drink out of his cup all by himself though and did really good.

I'm so tired! I don't know what possessed me to walk across the mall with Dawson and no stroller! Dan and I have done it before, but he's the one chasing Dawson and I just have to carry coats and the diaper bag. He was pretty good, but took off a few times in the other direction. I was hungry and by the time we got there, after carrying him a little while, I was getting dizzy! So we stopped and shared his animal crackers before getting to Subway. He thought it was cool that I was eating them too, so he'd grab 2, eat one and feed me one! Subway was good, I felt a lot better then. On the way back I just kept giving him animal crackers, so he stayed right by me for the most part!

I'm trying to get Dawson to walk by me more instead of having to carry him. That'll be so nice once baby comes, I just can't be carrying both all the time! He's doing so much better than he was before, but he still runs off the other way on a whim. He keeps getting side-tracked by the colorful stores, like Claire's, Gymboree, the Make-you-own-teddy-bear store. Oh, and Victoria's Secret too! LOL That's always fun, I feel so out of place in there with all those skinny people!

After we got back I let him play and then we went to Target. I'm shopping there more than Walmart now, a lot of the things I get are just as cheap or cheaper there anyway. Plus Walmart has been out of his size diapers the last 4 times I've been there!

He was happy to come home. We had a slight tradgedy though. He brought me his favorite toy and pushed the button and it was dead. He had such a sad look on his face! So I got some new batteries and he watched very intently as I switched them out. I felt like I was operating on something, the way he was acting! He was very happy to get it back, and played with it for the rest of the night!

He was so tired, he actually didn't mind going to bed tonight! I was talking to Dan in the kitchen and Dawson came in, carrying the boppy! He often doesn't ask to nurse at night when he's not tired, because he knows it means he'll be put to bed one of the times, so he must've been tired!

35 Week Appointment and More Camera Issues!

I had my 35 week OB appt in the morning, did the Group B Strep swab, otherwise it was a pretty quick appt. All looks good. Dr is going on vacation the next 2 weeks, so my next appt isn't until Feb 9th. Since all is looking good and I went overdue last time, he's not worried about me going another 2 weeks before my next appt.

Got home and Dawson was up. He's never woken up with me gone before, but it went well, didn't seem to faze him. Dan said he got the camera, plugged it into the charger and nothing! Won't even start to take a charge! He read the service paper and it says "Checks out ok!". It's not even charging, HOW is that OK?! I was so frustrated! This is the 3rd time they've had it, and the 2nd time it's came back and they haven't done a thing to it and thought it was ok. I was gonna wait until tomorrow, but Dan insisted we go to Best Buy right away and let them have it!

So we got to Best Buy and I told the geek squad lady that I'm really frustrated and that I've been dealing with this for 2 months now. I said I have a baby due in a few weeks and I NEED a working camera! Well she didn't look sympathetic at all. She started preparing the paperwork to send it back. I told her I don't want to send it back again, there's no point! The last 2 times it's came back with nothing fixed, why would this time be any different?! Then she kinda woke up and actually looked at the stack of previous service papers I'd brought and noticed the dates. I told her I just don't want to deal with it anymore, we're out of time and if I send it in, it most likely won't get back to me before the baby is born. She said she can't give me a new one, to qualify under the lemon law they have to have it one more time. She put in a request, saying that they'd had it before and didn't fix it. She also wrote on there that I've requested the Lemon Law. So they sent it back in, I had no choice. :(

I'm wondering if I can just get money for it and pick a different brand. I really wanted a Cannon to begin with, they are a lot better. I don't think it'd be worth it to get another Kodak and go through this all over again next year! Everyone I know who has a Kodak has had issues with it.

After Best Buy I dropped Dan off at home and went to my WIC appt. Dawson got a finger poke for hemoglobin. The poke didn't faze him, but he was determined on getting that bandaid off! Then the lady went to print the vouchers and there was an error. I guess I was listed as Pregnant and Nursing, and the computer thought it was an error. It was asking her to put in the baby's info and get me off being pregnant or something. So she just deleted the nursing part, since I don't get anything extra for nursing over a year anyway. But all that took time, and Dawson by that point had enough of waiting, even though they had a few toys there. So I was sore from all the activity and walking today, and had to carry a floppy, tantrum-throwing toddler out of the WIC office! Ouch!

Got home and my friend Jenny called me. Her pregnancy is staying put! I'm SO excited for her, she's had a ton of miscarriages and her Dr told her the chances of a successful pregnancy were almost none. Well, she'll be 3 months on Feb 2nd, so it looks like she'll be ok! I vented about my camera and she said she'd lend me her camera if I needed it. Not sure when/how I'll get it, I rarely ever see her since she's on bedrest and 45 minutes away! But that was so nice of her.

When I got home from WIC and looked in the fridge, there was a Ham & Swiss sandwich from Holiday in there with a sweet note on it. Dan had to get gas, so he picked it up for me and even stopped back home to leave it in the fridge! That was so nice of him, it really cheered me up. :)

The rest of the evening felt long, Dawson was being bored and clingy and I just wanted a nap! He wasn't allowing that though. But he did let me put him to bed at 3:50am and he went right to sleep without a peep! Yay! I'm hoping to get him down to 3:30 before the end of the weekend.

A busy week!

I'm 35 weeks along today! January is going by quickly! I get my camera back tomorrow. They stopped by today but we missed them. By the time I answered the door buzzer, he was gone and had left a "we'll try again tomorrow" message. He comes around the same time as my OB appointment, so I'm hoping he'll come before I leave, or I'll have to have Dan wake up to get it. I really hope it works!

Dawson is doing good, but those 2 year molars are getting the best of him sometimes. Last night he had a slight fever and was looking pretty miserable. Today he's better though. I hope they don't take too long to come in. He's also been missing daddy since he went back to work. He walks around saying dadadadadaddy! It's cute, but I know I'm in for a long night when he starts looking for daddy at 9pm and he gets home at 2:30am!

We're at the hardest point of bumping his bedtime routine down. Right now he's going to bed around 4am. Dan gets home at 2:30am, does some things and usually sits down at the computer around 3:30-4. So things are a bit hectic, Dawson is excited, and there's no way he's gonna want to go to bed when daddy has just gotten home! So it'll be interesting. We'll have to change up our routine a bit and maybe have Dan not do his lunch until after Dawson goes to bed or something. It's a bummer, since Dawson always looks forward to daddy coming home and starts thinking about it about halfway into our day! I'm not sure if I'll stick with the earlier schedule after baby is born. I guess it depends on baby's schedule. It's nice being used to getting up early, but it's hard being on an opposite schedule from Dan.

Yesterday he was pretty bored being cooped up at home, so today when he saw me get my shoes on, he quick grabbed his shoes and sat down in front of me. He was very excited to get out! He'll have plenty more chances to go places this week! Tomorrow we have a WIC appointment, then Thursday is his ECFE class.

18 Month Appointment

It was so cold out this morning, I felt bad waking Dawson up and taking him out in this weather! It got down to -21 today!

His weight gain has slowed down a ton, at 12 months he was 22lbs, now at 18 months he's 24lbs. I was surprised, they gain so much as a baby so I keep expecting that!

His height is 31.5 inches, he was 28.5 at 15 months! 3 inches in 3 months, wow! I thought he was on a growth spurt! He can now reach onto the kitchen counters, so we have to be careful not to put anything on the edge!

The Dr wasn't concerned about his lack of speech. He said they like to see 6 words by 18 months, which he doesn't do. We mostly hear "mom" and "dad", though a few words have come and gone, like "hi" and "baby". The Dr says that's fairly common. He was also glad to hear that Dawson was putting the 2 words together, saying "hi mom" or "hi dad", even though he doesn't anymore. He said a lot of boys just don't talk until they are 2, they tend to be more physical than verbal. He goes back to the Dr in 6 months when he's 2.

Dawson's ECFE class was canceled due to the cold weather. I can't wait to get out of the house and go shopping this weekend! We really need food and Dawson is so bored of being cooped up at home!

I got a call today saying my camera is being shipped back to me! Yay! They said it should arrive in about 5 business days. I sure hope it works this time!

Another Allergy for the List!

I was eating a PB&J sandwich today and gave Dawson some crust. I didn't see anything on there, but there must've been a little bit. A while later he threw up, but was fine after that. He was a bit red in the face and had a slight fever for a while, but he was back to his perky self after sitting on the couch watching a movie for about 30 minutes. So that pretty much confirms his nut allergy. He had a reaction to some cereal that had almonds in them a while back, but wasn't sure if it was the almonds or something else in the cereal.

We set up the playpen in the living room to air out. We haven't used it in a long time and it was smelling musty. Dawson is unsure of what to think of it being there. He went over to it and looked all around it several times last night. Today we found a few toys thrown in there! We'll have to work on getting him to not do that!

Dawson is 1 1/2 today!

Wow the time goes fast! Dawson is 18 months old already, not sure how that happened! He's been doing more things and it's fun to watch his personality get more unique as time goes on.

He's been doing some really cute things lately. His newest is walking backwards and sideways. He also goes sideways in circles, or circles around someone's leg until he gets dizzy and falls down! He's been twisting, dancing, swaying side to side and shaking his butt lately too. No clue where he got that from, but it's really funny to watch. He does it most when music is on, but he often does it in our room while waiting for us. I think it's because we have a mirror in there and he likes watching himself! He also likes walking around with his hat on his head over his eyes! He brings it to me to put on him a lot.

He's also getting more strong willed as the time goes by. He's been resisting diaper changes more lately, making the whole process take at least 5 minutes by the time I catch him and get done changing him! He thinks it's funny that I can't get to him in certain places, like the other side of his crib, or under it. He'll stand back there just grinning at me, the little bugger! He's not gonna know what to do once this baby comes and I don't have the big belly anymore! He's been throwing more tantrums too, but is learning that never gets him anywhere.

It seems that he's teething again. He only has his 2 year molars left to get in. I'm really hoping they'll come in quickly, as the last molars took a couple months, and he was very crabby towards the end when they were breaking through. So I'm hoping it won't take that long, or it'll be rather bad timing. I'm not really wanting to deal with a crabby teething toddler while adjusting to a newborn at the same time! Maybe I'll just leave him at my mom's house for an extra month or so.....j/k!

Long day of shopping

Dan got his first bi-weekly paycheck today! Yay! We've gone 3 weeks without pay, which hasn't been easy! Our list of stuff we needed was getting very long! Dawson was unusually excited to leave the house today. As soon as I showed him his shoes, he ran over and sat down, sticking his feet up at me to put them on. Then he stood up and grabbed his hat and gave it to me, then his coat, which he never likes! He was acting very giddy, it was funny! I think he was remembering his class from yesterday, he really enjoyed it. He was even excited in the car, which he usually isn't.

So we decided to go to the mall first, we went to target for some stuff, picked up a couple little things we need for baby, then let Dawson play in the play area. Then after about 30 minutes of running around and playing, we headed to the other end of the mall for some Arbys. We had no stroller since we took Dan's car, but Dawson actually walked the whole way there! It's at the opposite end of the mall! He thought it was so cool to be able to walk and looked quite overwhelmed. Got there and Arbys was out of beef. How can Arbys be out of beef?! Most of what they are is beef! Grr! So we stopped to look at the pet store, Dawson likes the fish, then headed back. Not even half way back Dawson wanted to be carried, then he just about fell asleep before we got to the car! He should sleep good tonight! We went to Walmart and Cub Foods too, he slept all the way through Cub. I have no idea how he can lay in the cart and sleep with all those bright lights above him, but he does!

We got home and fed him, which seemed to recharge him. He went around and completely messed up the living room, then stood back to admire his work. Even all the coats and shoes are all over the place. He kept bringing me his shoes and hat, so I'm assuming he had fun today! It's weird how he likes his shoes and hat, but fights me putting on his coat. Then he makes sure I put his mittens on!

It's suddenly feeling like I don't have much time left before baby gets here! I looked at my countdown ticker today and it says 46 days left! Yikes, that's only a month and a half! The time has been flying lately! I'm still working on my list of stuff to do. I also have a small list of things to buy, I'm trying to get them a little at a time. I'm trying to avoid having to stop at Target on the way home from the hospital like we had to do last time!

Dawson's First Day of Class

ECFE was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure if he would be shy or not since he hasn't been around too many kids before. We walked in, he saw toys and didn't look back! They had parent time at one end of the classroom so the kids could come over if they wanted to. Dawson came over and gave me a hug a few times but went right back to play. He enjoyed circle time, where they sang a few songs, but he only lasted 2 songs before fighting to get up. He wasn't too happy about sitting still when there were so many new things to explore! It was hard getting him to leave too. None of the other kids had trouble leaving, but at 7:30pm, they were about ready for bed, while Dawson was at his peak of energy for the day! Next week should be easier I hope, they have a different room for them to run, climb and play but we didn't get to go in there tonight. That should wear him out a bit more.

He's been going to sleep earlier, which has been really nice. Last night we were sharing some peaches around 2:30am and he started dosing off in his highchair! We had gotten up a bit earlier that day, so I cleaned him up and put him to bed. He slept for an hour, woke up, nursed a bit and fell back asleep for another hour. That time I left him alone and he fell back asleep for the night around 4:30. Today he got up around 2pm, vs. his usual 3:30, so he was tired early again. He went to sleep around 4am and hasn't woken up so far and it's 5:30, so I'm assuming he'll stay asleep. Now I just have to get up early, which is always hard on a friday because Dan is home and likes to sleep in! I'm sure Dawson will take care of that though, I have no clue how, but he can go from sleep to wide awake and bouncy in about 30 seconds! If only I had his energy!

33 Week OB Appointment

I'm 33 weeks today and baby is finally head down! He's been either breech or sideways so I was happy that he finally turned down. Everything else looked good. He's running out of room in there, so I'm hoping he'll stay in position now. I go back to the Dr in 2 weeks, then starting the first week in Feb I go in every week. I still can't believe I could have as little as 6 weeks left! That doesn't sound like very long!

Dawson starts his ECFE class tomorrow evening, we're looking forward to that. He has his 18 month appointment next week. Feb 2nd is his allergist appointment, it'll be nice to know what allergies he's outgrown and see if there's any we don't know about yet. It'd be so nice if he's outgrown his milk allergy, it'll be nice to not worry about it and it'll be cheaper too! He's been going through soy very fast lately.

Tonight I'm going to take our tree down, we're gonna put Dawson's climber/slide thing where the tree is so he can play with it more again. After that I have a big list of stuff I want to get done. Unfortunately a lot of it requires moving big things, which I can't do! I also want to move Dawson to the other crib, hopefully sometime soon so he can get used to it. His bedtime is getting better. I just have to work on getting up earlier so he'll go to bed earlier! It's hard to get up early and wear someone out when I'm worn out myself!

I brought my camera back in on monday, I'm hoping it'll get fixed this time! I'm really missing it!

Happy New Year!

Yay for 2009! Dan got channel 9 to come in so we could watch the ball drop. Other than that we didn't do anything really exciting. Staying up until midnight isn't really a big deal! I'm happy that Dan has 5 days off though, we're getting a bunch of stuff done.

Today we got the cabinet set up that we bought a while back. All the tapes, dvds and that type of stuff is going in there. And it has close handles so we can put a baby lock on it, which is the main reason for getting it! Plus it's nice to not have the huge entertainment center in here anymore. Looks so much roomier!

I took these pics last week, he's getting some hair! It's sticking up a bit in the back, but there's still not enough to have to comb.