Reception center hunting and dinosaur hunting

It has been a busy weekend. I have had very little time to take a break. Yesterday, Joseph and I took Alison and Ryan reception center shopping. We looked at 3. I think Alison liked the last one best, but we will see what she ends up choosing.

Because Joseph has had very little play time the past couple of weekends, I asked Alison if it would be all right to take him to The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. One of the reception areas was at Thanksgiving Point, so I figured we could spend a couple of hours at the museum between reception center appointments. Joseph was so excited on Friday when I told him, that first thing on Saturday he woke me up saying that he wanted to go to the "dinosaur skeleton bean museum." He wanted to wear one of his dinosaur t-shirts for the occasion.

Here is Joseph riding on the back of one of the dinosaurs. His current favorite dinosaur is the pteranodon (formerly called a pterodactyl). He looks at his Schleich models of dinosaurs and points out that we still need it. Maybe I can find a Schleich pteranodon model for his birthday. Joseph made sure that when I took a picture of the T-rex, that I took a picture from the mouth side.

We had a hard time getting him away from the sand and water play area. He wanted to play there and probably would have lasted there for over 30 minutes. He didn't want to leave. I finally convinced him that we would go and dig for dinosaurs, but that we had to leave. After a lot of coaxing and arguing (Joseph kept saying, "just one more minute."), we got him to leave.

Of course, he didn't really want to leave the excavation area. Getting him to walk in the sand was a challenge. He didn't like the way it felt, so I had to go in with him. He was still very reluctant and cautious as he stepped into different sand areas. I was sad that I didn't think to record it.

Once we did leave, here are the boys in the car. All tuckered out after playing for so long at the museum. They slept until we got back to Provo. Alison was being nice and trying to get Joseph out of the car for me, but she ended up bumping his head on the ceiling of the car. He cried and didn't nap again after that.

Joe was nice enough to set up the baby crib. It didn't have instructions, so Joe pieced it together. It looks pretty nice overall. When I get crib bedding, I will take pictures and post them. The crib is currently in Joseph's room. I also came to the realization that Joseph has way too many toys. I need to decide which ones to get rid of, but it is hard because he seems so attached to all of them. I will focus on big items first. I managed to get rid of some at the stake give and take, but 1 bag of toys does very little to counteract the toys that, I swear, must be breeding in his toy cupboard. Either that or mommy and grandma have a hard time saying no to the cute little face that you see all over this blog. :)

Another Friday

Well, we have a new water heater so all is well. It feels so nice to have hot showers again. Joe is really wanting to take a long hot bath, so I need to clean the tub for him.

Tomorrow I am going to take Alison and Ryan to look at reception centers. Most are booked for the the 30th of December. Alison told me they were thinking of having the reception on the 2nd of January. So far every place has that date available. I called a ton today and yesterday to set up times to view. I spoke to Sundance as well. They usually have a $9000 dollar minimum for their space, but are willing to let Alison, if she wants it, have it for $3500 plus $100 for labor and clean up. Considering there is another place that offers you everything but the dress for less, this may not be the way to go. We will see what they want.

Joseph gets to go along with us. He likes to talk and talk. When people ask him how old he is he says, "two" and holds up his 2 pointer fingers. He then tells them his birthday is in October and that when he turns 3 he will take "snimming" classes with mommy. He will also say that when he turns 4 he is going to go to soccer practice and that mommy and daddy are going to watch him play. He likes to wear his cleats that are size 11 (he is barely in a 6.5). He then says that when he is 5 he will go to school.
Right now he takes different books and says that he needs to do his homework, since that is what he sees the kids doing when they get back from school. Tonight we ran into one of Joe's coworkers whose baby is 12 days old. Joseph got so excited to see him and I told him that his baby brother would bet that little. They asked Joseph if he was going to give his little brother a big kiss and he said yes. Then he told them that the baby had to wait till January.

I am doing better in my pregnancy. The nausea is pretty much gone, but with that gone, my appetite has come back in full force. I am always hungry and feel like eating a ton. I like to say that I have gained 30 pounds so far, but that is because I was already 25 pounds overweight for my height. I went to the doctor this week. In 3 weeks I go back for my glucose test. I just hope my levels aren't high, considering that chocolate is high on my cravings list.

What to do?

So our water heater hasn't been functioning well...again. On Tuesday, the water heater repair guy came and said that it worked just fine. He left; it went out again. I called on Wednesday. They couldn't get anyone to see us until Friday, meanwhile, no hot water for baths, showers, etc. Friday came and I was planning on missing half a day, as I did on Tuesday. I had to wait from 9 to 1. I waited and after 1 p.m., no one had come or called. I called the contractors and the home warranty company had decided to get another company for a second opinion. I called the home warranty company and they said they would have someone for me to contact later that day. Well, I waited and called several times, each time being told that they were working on it. 7 p.m. came and went and we were told to wait till Saturday for a call. Did a call come? Of course not. So I am sitting at home tonight, irritated that we don't have hot water, that Joe or I will need to miss work again, and that we still have no hot water. I had better get a call from them by 9 a.m., or they will have a big piece of my mind. Why did the home warranty company wait until Friday to decide they needed a second opinion? Could they have not done it on Wednesday or Thursday?

At least on the days I have waited, I have had Joseph with me. He is cute and has enjoyed the time. We played, cleaned his room (again and again), read books (he loves Huggly books), went to the doctor (he has a virus), ate, cooked (jell-o, eggs, and so forth). He has been using the toilet more often, but still no underwear. Now he uses the excuse, "I need to go to the bathroom, let's hurry!" to get out of taking a nap or going to bed. Smart kid. He knows that we want him to use the toilet. That is also the only time that he says that he wants to use underwear (he knows I won't let him till he is more trained).

Yesterday at church, Joseph was singing to the hymns. It was more muttering/humming, but he was trying. It is cute to watch him anytime a prayer is said. He starts to say the prayer as well, but his are shorter, so he always ends with "amen" before the person does. He really enjoys nursery, but because he was sick yesterday he couldn't go. After we left church, he pretended that there were little crocodiles all around us. We talked to them and even rolled down our window so one could come home with us.

Saturday was our stake give and take. I went on Friday to drop off some stuff, including some of Joseph's toys. He cried and cried, until he found a replacement. I found a few baby boy things, but the predominant clothing type was little girls. I did buy some baby clothes off of someone on Craigslist and I think that I am set for the first 6 months. Now I need to find the rest of my baby clothes. Joseph likes to get the liitle beanies and say, "I wore this when I was borned."

Yesterday, Joseph had daddy's hat and put it on backwards. He said, "this is like Huggly." He said this as he sat on his toilet. He likes his daddy's hat.

I can feel the baby move a lot more. His kicks are more visible from the outside now. Still no name, but maybe one day we will get around to thinking of one.

Joseph and his comfort zone

Joseph has decided that he really doesn't like underwear. I had him wear some for the first time on Tuesday while we waited for the water heater repairman to come. Well, he had two accidents. He does well in a diaper and tells us in time, with the underwear, not so much...hmmm. My mom said that I traumatized him by making him wear underwear. He seems to want to make me happy, so he went along with the underwear.



At the thought of pushing him a little to hard, I talked to him and said that he could tell me when he wanted to wear underwear. In the past few weeks he has gotten better at using the toilet at home. I don't think he goes often at grandma's. I told him this last night as he was going to bed. He said that he wanted to wear underwear then. I explained it would be better to wait till the morning.



Last night he woke up and was up for a little over an hour. I am tired. Fortunately for me, I have to wait for the repairman...again. They didn't fix the problem. Joe has had many late night meetings and he is stressed because our water heater is acting up again, or rather, shutting off again.

To quote Joseph

Yesterday Joseph and I were driving in the car. I asked him if he was excited to have a little brother. He said,"yes." I asked him, knowing that he never comes up with names, what his little brother's name was. Usually he makes a sound or repeats the word that you were asking him to name. Last night he actually said, "Jonas." I was suprised. I said that was a good name and that I liked it. I told him that I would let his dad know. He then said, "Daddy going to say he no like it." He then asked if I like it. I told him yes and he said that he liked it too. Of course when I did tell Joe, he said that he didn't like it.

Yesterday I actually got Joseph to go to the bathroom 4 different times. He is determined to finish his race track. Last night he finished and then said we needed to make another. This new race track has spaces for wearing underwear. We'll see if that gets him to use the toilet. Today he wasn't so good about going to the toilet. He peed before getting in the tub and then he asked to be taken out of his bath to go poop. He did that as well. I bought him some new underwear, hopefully he will want to start wearing it. It will be different for him. Joseph thinks that all stickers are for when he goes to the bathroom. Today I went to the bathroom and he came with a sticker to give me. I now have a Minnie Mouse sticker on my shirt for going to the bathroom in the toilet. :)

I also organized clothes that I can give at our stake give and take on Friday. I have one small box, but am hoping to have more to give. We bought a crib this week. It was only $25. It is not my dream crib, but I can't justify spending hundreds on a crib when this crib was solid and looks good. Plus the sides go down, a benefit which most of the cribs that I liked don't have. We also have a car seat and a swing. I found some of my baby clothes and am preparing to wash and organize them to see if I need anything.

The baby has been moving lots lately. It is fun to feel him. I just hope that he is okay and won't come till January. I also pray that his problem will heal itself before he is born. I do kind of like the name Jonas, but I don't know if Joe will like it. Jonas Zachary Rankin...hmmm, has a nice ring to it. Joshua Asher Rankin. I guess Joe and I will have to discuss it more.

Finally Friday

Today is Friday, to state the obvious. I am happy the weekend is here. I have had a cold and am ready to get our house in a little more order (at least our rooms and kitchen). I left work early because Joseph needed to be picked up from grandma's. He was napping, so that is what I did also.

Joseph is starting to assert himself when the kids pick on him. I told him he needs to tell grandma. The other day we were driving back from grandma's and he was talking about things that are not nice to say. "Dumbhead not nice." "Stupid not nice." Of course, he also says that "nap" is not nice and tells us not to say it.

I am waiting outside the bathroom while he sits on his toilet. He wants to go poop. He has already gone pee in the toilet today. We put on Diego training diapers. I am trying to get him comfortable with wearing underwear. When we try to put some on him, he says, "no thank you. I don't like them." If he is in the tub for a long while, he won't come out till he needs to go to the bathroom or we threaten to pull the bath plug. If we give him a choice and ask if he wants to get out of the tub, he says, "no thank you mommy."

A couple of nights ago, I was working on my project. I was working in Joseph's room. He heard me sneeze and said, "mommy, don't wake me up again." A few minutes later, as he was trying to get comfortable, he said, "mommy, I way super tired." What a cute and expressive little boy. It was cute last night because we were kneeling as a family to say prayer with him. He said, "Heavenly Father, we thank thee for good day. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." Joe asked if he needed help with making the prayer a little longer. As Joe started to help him pray, I felt the bed moving. I peeked and Joseph was slowly climbing to kneel in front of his dad, cradled by him. It was cute to watch as each part of the prayer was uttered, he would slowly get more and more in position. By the end of the prayer, he was kneeling in front of Joe.

He also tells us that he doesn't like dogs, only puppies. He likes cats and baby crocodiles and baby lions and baby anything. Big animals scare him, even though he likes them too. Tonight he got to pet a little dog and a cat. He thought the dog was a puppy because it was tiny. He liked petting the cat.

We don't know what we will dress Joseph as for Halloween. He says he wants to be a monkey, but we haven't had a Halloween where we have dressed him up. This will be his first official one.

He is done, so I have to go now. He went poops and pee in the toilet!!

Rambling

I just finished working on a project for work. I have worked a ton on the project at work, but have spent about 4 or 5 hours at home working on it. Hopefully the end is in sight.

I came home early today because I have a cold. I was feeling awful, but knew I had a ton to do for a meeting that I missed today. I left at about 1, came home with Joseph, and then slept after we ate lunch. We slept till 5:30 pm, which meant a late night for Joseph who was not tired at 8 or 9 pm. We cooked Joe's favorite, rice and gravy, for dinner. Joseph helped pour in the corn starch, but as soon as daddy walked in the door, he said he didn't want to cook.

Joe has been assigned a lot of projects as of late. It is too bad with the increased amount of work they require him to do, they don't increase his pay. He is also finishing the big room downstairs. We are looking for carpet that is relatively inexpensive because we need about 600 square feet of it or so. That basement is huge. It is 22'x24'. Now to decide what projects are necessary and what can we leave off, if we try to sell.

Joseph is learning lots everyday. He was so excited that I came home early today. He also "carries" around a little lion that he has named "Roar." Tonight he carried his lion in a bag that contained videos from a coworker for him. It was his lion's house. He also pretends to be a cat often, a horse, and lately, a dolphin. He uses his little hands to mimic how a dolphin swims and then he calls for mommy dolphin to come and play with him. Before we ate dinner, Joseph and Joe stomped around the kitchen pretending to be monsters. Joe told Joseph they needed to give me monster kisses. Joe came over to where I was sitting and roared a lot. Joseph looked at him and said, "dinosaurs go roar, monsters go yar, yar, yar." He proceeded to march around the kitchen yarring and then stomped over to me and gave me monster kisses. It is fun to watch Joe and Joseph interact. Joseph is starting to say his own prayers at night. Sometimes they make sense and other times, we are left wondering what we said "amen" too.

It looks like the ultrasound results are in. The baby does have the renal pelvic dilation. Normal is 4mm and one of our baby's ureter is measuring 5mm. I get to have another ultrasound in 8 weeks and after the baby is born, he may need another ultrasound, depending on what the results are of the next ultrasound. Our little one may also need to be on antibiotics for 6 weeks or so. They were telling me the baby may weigh about 8 and a half pounds at birth. Scary thought.

Joseph's prayer

"Bless that mommy will stay home with me and not go to work anymore." That was one of the things that Joseph prayed for tonight. I love my little boy and pray that one day that will come true. I just pray that he won't feel badly that I couldn't stay with him.

And so it begins

Now that I know that we are having a boy (I would be really surprised if we weren't), it is time to start preparing. I got rid of our crib during our move, so that is something we need. We didn't have a swing, so I would like to get one. I did buy a bouncy chair, but Joseph thinks it is his. Often we will find him sitting in it. He will turn the vibrations on and chill in the seat. We have a jumperoo somewhere, but I have no idea where that is at. I am contemplating whether I want a changing table, seeing as I did not have one with Joseph. I need an infant car seat, as well as a carseat for when he is either too long or weighs 2o somewhat pounds.

I am also trying to get clothes for the baby. I have some baby clothes, which I have to look for. I never did have that much for the 0-3 month category. Someone had given me some, but when she found out her sister was pregnant, she asked for them back. It was nice to have for Joseph, but now I have nothing for my little one. I did buy a couple of things today, and I will slowly start to accumulate clothing. Shopping for Joseph has its benefits too. Now I know that if I buy him things, his little brother can use them too. :)

We finally got Joseph out of his sandals that were too small. We bought him a pair of lightning McQueen shoes that light up. Now he won't wear anything else, unless they are his soccer cleats (which are way to big). The kids play soccer and so he feels that he should as well.

Joseph has said bedtime prayers by himself a couple of times. I need to record him doing it. He is antsy as he kneels, but for the most part he does okay. At night, he knows his routine well. If I try to skip a part or if I forget to do something, he reminds me. Depending on the night, a bath, followed by his allergy medicine, brush his teeth, say his prayers, and read some books. The lateness of the night determines how many books we will read. He currently is enjoying "The Saggy Baggy Elephant," "The Pokey Little Puppy," and whatever else he is in the mood for.

It's a boy!!!

We had our ultrasound today. We are having another little boy!! Yay!! Joseph will get the brother that he wanted. Everything looked pretty good in the ultrasound. The baby does have something called renal pelvic dilation. I have to wait to see what the doctor wants to do. Sometimes it just goes away, other times it doesn't. They say the baby is measuring at about 21 weeks. I need to ask if they are going to move the due date.

Poor Joe was super late back to work because they didn't get us in at 10 but almost 11 in the morning. We were there for almost an hour. The baby didn't want to cooperate. Everytime they tried to get a picture, he would roll and move or dive out of the way.

Joseph came with us. He was just happy to be with mommy and daddy. He got to see his little brother, but Joseph wants the baby to come out. I explained to him that the baby needed to wait till January. Now that is what he says. "Baby can come out in Janury."

Waiting

Joseph is in the bath tub at the moment, but he is refusing to get out. On Saturday he played in the tub for over an hour. He loves to "snim" and play with all of his toys. I am trying to convince him that he is ready, but he is disagreeing. So here I sit waiting on my little boy. Of course, Joe is using a drill downstairs, so every so often Joseph yells, "be quiet daddy." I guess he doesn't like huge crowds or noise, because my mom has taken him places and when people are making lots of noise, talking to each other, he will get frustrated and yell, "be quiet!" Mostly I think it stems from him not getting enough nap time, so he is easily irritated.

Thursday is my new ultrasound date, doctor's orders. I am excited and hope that all goes well.

Joe started his English class on Saturday. It looks like he will manage all right, except there are lots of group assignments. He is trying to have the house done by December so we can possibly put it on the market then. I guess time will tell. It is hard for him to work full time and then come home to more work...

Joseph is dang adorable. I love his little voice. He is definitely his own thinker. When we dropped Joe off at school, he saw some girls with purses and no back packs. He stated, "silly girl, you need back pack not purse." Yesterday he saw some people crossing the street with back packs. One girl was larger and he looked at her and said, "she ugly." I was taken aback and said that he needed to be nice. I should have asked why he thought the girl was ugly. Opportunity lost on my part. Other times he just chats about random things. He is cute but it worries me what he picks up on and who is saying it. It makes me wonder how much is what I don't realize that I am stating.