Thursday: zoo

We went back to the zoo today...it's the day that "zookeeper" Katie is there and she's very nice. Last week the big snake was out and it definitely made an impression on Isaac... He talked about it all last week and for about half the ride to the zoo.

Today the chinchilla out was getting her exercise in a ball, but Isaac really wanted the snake out again. So I told him that he would have to ask if the snake could come out. He did! I was a little surprised since he sometimes gets shy, but I guess he really wanted to see the snake. Unfortunately the big snake was resting happily, but we did get to see the little snake. It was an acceptable substitute.

Here's to more (Isaac) hisses around our house.

Tuesday: speaking clearly

Let's face it; Isaac doesn't speak all that clearly. Ben and I can often understand him, but it's because we know that E-OO stands for robot and op stands for open.

This week's verse often sounds like this..."create in me a pure heart oh dog and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

At least God can understand him too.

Monday: voices

Today started a new half semester and with it, a new room and new students.  I was teaching away when I hear a familiar voice nearby...Dad is teaching in the neighboring classroom.  Kind of weird, but rather fun too.

Sunday: mine!

Isaac has definitely figured out what my and mine means, although he sometimes uses them in funny ways...

Amanda: Do you need help brushing your teeth?
Isaac: MY teeth!!
Amanda: Yup, I agree.  They're your teeth.  But do you need help brushing them?

Saturday: sick

I'm afraid to announce that our household is rather sick.  Everyone has a cold.  I am pregnant.  Ben's back is sore.  Isaac is being two, which is rather fun but has led to a surprising number of tears.  Sometimes I wonder if he's getting enough sleep...or if it's just a two year old thing.

Anyway, we know it's just temporary and will pass, but it is rather annoying in the meantime.

Friday: B verse

Amanda: Be
Isaac: Be
A: Kind
I: Kind
A: To
I: To
A: One
I: Three
Ben: hahaha
A: Another
I: Another

It's been a little surprising...he's been able to remember better than I expected and sometimes will say the words with me instead of just after me.

Wednesday: blarg

Today I was feeling stretched. Very stretched. As in, "it hurts to walk." I had this one morning a few weeks ago, but it left after an hour. Today it stayed around. I actually called the doctor. (Side note: I feel like a first time mom I've called the doctor so much this pregnancy.). She said it was normal, but might take a few days to go away. I could take tylenol and walk around with my hand supporting my belly. (Walking like that makes me feel obviously pregnant.)

But it just tops off a week were I haven't been feeling very good anyway. I thought I was supposed to be better by now.

Tuesday: sister

Isaac is convinced that he is going to have a sister. (Although Ben and I aren't convinced that he really knows what that word means.)

Yesterday he drew (and erased) a picture of his sister on his easel. This morning he told me that he wanted to pull his sister's hair. As we were looking through a book of baby animals he thought they were sisters.

The work sister has been coming out unprompted more and more. Good thing we're going to find out the gender soon so that if it's a brother we can help him get used to the idea.

Monday: afternoon

This afternoon was rather rough of Isaac, and I'm not really sure why. The tears came so quickly over the smallest things. But it gives me more chances to hug him. :D

The funniest was when he through a red 2x2 Duplo toward me. Duplo throwing is prohibited, so I took it away. He got so upset.the only thing I could think of was that he had about 20 more unused red 2x2 duplos still sitting in the box and he should go get one of those. Of course, I didn't say anything because that would ruin the teaching moment he was so kind to give me.

Speaking of teaching, I've found that some things are really, really hard to teach children...or at least Isaac. What items are ok to throw? When you're putting a puzzle together, what clues do you look for? When is it ok to hit people (like in football)? There are so many things to teach that I don't have good explanations for.

Sunday: 17 weeks

Not a great picture, but the bump seems to be growing rather quickly. My normal shirts are starting to have a hard time covering it, which is super annoying.

Saturday: scary and not scary

Isaac has been discovering the emotion "scared" and it's rather interesting to watch. If he sees something scary on TV he puts his hand over his mouth. (And what he finds scary often surprises me...I try to anticipate it but yesterday gave up while watching Lilo and Stitch because too much was scary.). Then this morning I told him not to push the carbon monoxide alarm because it would be scary and he immediately sat in my lap and wouldn't leave until we went up stairs.

This evening Ben and I went to see the Lego movie. It was great. I don't think I've laughed that much at a movie...ever. There were a lot of kids in the audience and it was interesting to see what they laughed at versus what we laughed at (many things were the same).

Friday: laundry

Today Isaac and I put away some laundry. He really enjoys putting away laundry. We finished two baskets and I asked him to put an empty basket back in the laundry room. I went over a minute later and discovered he was trying to get the third basket of laundry out. I was done with laundry, so I told him to leave it there and figured we'd go do something fun.

It led to tears. Lots of tears. So I changed my mind...if he really wanted to do laundry, maybe we should. Of course, I had nothing that he could put away so I gave him the job of sock matching. It took him a while to figure out what was going on, but by the end he was getting the hang of it.

I guess he has yet another chore he can help out with now!

Thursday: pants

I'm sure you've all been anxiously awaiting the conclusion to the story i started this morning...who would go through more pants today?

I went through more pants, with a total of two. The second pair had to be changed because of slush and they were just way too wet to wear. Isaac only went through one pair of pants due to puddles...we worked on the end of the driveway a bit and the puddles were just too much fun to stay out of. And once you go in one you might as well go in a lot.

So somewhat surprisingly Isaac didn't have any accidents today. That's not a foregone conclusion these days, even though he's been getting better on the toilet. It probably happens only 33% of the time with 33% of accidents happening near bedtime when he's tired and the other third at random times. He's told me about twice before he needs to go to the bathroom...he could still work on that but it at least shows that he's getting the idea!

In other news, because I'm sure you don't really care that much about Isaac and the bathroom, he went to bed early tonight. About ten minutes before bath time I told him it was almost time and he was ready to go! Then he took a really short bath, even when I told him he'd have to go to bed if he got out. And after reading our two books I asked him if he wanted to get in the crib. Usually he says no and we cuddle for a few more minutes, but today he said yes. I didn't think we did anything to wear him out so much today, but I guess he was tired!

Thursday: bathroom

Isaac seems to finally gotten over his bathroom relapse and is doing much better lately. (I will note, he started to get better around the time I started to feel better, so I'm wondering if I'm better at putting him on the toilet regularly and that was the main problem. But I digress.)

So far today Isaac has had zero accidents. I have had one...the sneeze just came out of no where! I feel as though I should get an m&m for the rest of the day when I do get to the toilet.

We'll see how the rest of the day works out. :D

Wednesday: legs

My weirdest pregnancy symptom is feeling as though my legs are too short. The same thing happened with Isaac.

Ben said his legs feel too heavy tonight. Now I know where my lost leg length is going.

Wednesday: emotions

Oh, sad emotions got the better of me today. I got home from work, got frustrated with the USPS, Isaac had a bathroom accident, I had a headache, and the plow had come through. (Seriously, what was the plow thinking.)

I can probably blame these emotions on being pregnant, although I expect I would have felt the same way no matter what. But what good is being pregnant if you can't use it as a regular excuse for your behavior?

Tuesday: annoying

Today was rather annoying, but I feel as though I just need to get over it.

Monday - A

Driving back and forth to where ever we're going Isaac does a lot of imitating what we say...the alphabet, do-be-do-be-do, numbers, etc.  I realized that this could also be a good time to start learning Bible verses.  Sure, he can't even do the alphabet yet, but it is a good time to start the habit.

So may we present A.

Friday: puzzles

Today we were trying to clean up the house as guests are coming tonight. The problem was that for every two things I put away, Isaac took one out. At one point he wanted to take out a puzzle (that I had just put away) and I said it was ok as long as he put them away. He agreed.

Fast forward several hours and three puzzles later. He still hasn't put his puzzles away, and we're getting down to the line. So instead of putting the pieces away, he starts to put himself in timeout. Which works at first, but quickly becomes a game.

I threatened to put him to bed early. I would have down it, but he finally made progress. Phew.

Wednesday: OB appt

The baby is still alive! The heart rate was 154. It's a little sad that I don't have anything else to report, but that is part of the problem with growing something inside of you.

Well, I could report that we have an ultrasound on March 19. But even that isn't really news.

Tuesday: outfit

Isaac picked out his outfit today.



Light Pajama pants with moose, a small onesie with monkeys, and pirate socks. Not what I would have picked out since it was cold out and he doesn't wear onesies anymore, but since he brought all the right pieces to me he got to wear it.

Sunday: mountain climber

Isaac's main chore of the day was to bring all the water bottles up from the basement. He's recently been given freedom to do stairs by himself...I haven't been worried about him near stairs for a while, but lately have let him do them without any supervision.

Isaac could bring up about one bottle at a time. We had about 20 bottles downstairs...yeah, they kind of collect down there. But he did an awesome job and was always so excited to go get one more. :) and I think we tired him out pretty well.

P.S. we still have the gate up more as crowd control than anything else. He chased Flurry downstairs on Friday and she really needs a safe place.

Saturday: a first

I snow blowed the driveway for the first time today! I started the snowblower (which hasn't gone well in the past) and removed all of about 3/4" from the driveway. Yeah, that wasn't really worth using the snowblower, but it was nice to get some practice in while Ben was around in case something went wrong.

Friday: cute Isaac

I found Isaac to be incredibly cute today. He tried stacking balls. He put his ball and giraffe in time out after they played with the lint catcher. He chased a ball around a fabric shop. He was concerned about the escaped cricket at the zoo.

And he took an excellent nap.

In other news, I finally broke out the maternity clothes. I probably should have done so last week, since only one pair of pants (tightly) fit this past week. It's happy and sad all at the same time.

Wednesday: sick

Our household is sick.

Ben has a bad cold.

I still have a little pregnancy sickness.

Isaac has a cold/fever.

In fact, daycare called me today and told me that Isaac had a fever.  It was fifteen minutes before I was supposed to teach, so not really the best timing.  Luckily, Dad wasn't too busy and could take off to pick Isaac up and deliver him to Ben.  (Hooray for grandparents!  Although I had a few backup plans in mind in case Dad was busy.)  Really, I feel as though we're pretty lucky that this is the first time day care has had to call.  Isaac has had a cold or two but really has stayed quite healthy.

Monday: zoo and a benefit to throwing up

Today I realized, as I was going to pick Isaac up, that I had left my phone in the classroom at Hope.  I decided that it wasn't too much out of my way.  I was also receiving more texts than normal today, so I actually wanted it.  We got out of the car and what's the first thing Isaac says?  "Zoo!"  Oh bother.  Yeah, this is the building with the zoo in it.  I was rather surprised he remembered the building.  I got my phone and decided we could take a quick trip to the zoo if it was open.  It was.  (I was rather hungry at this point.)  We didn't stay long, but the turtle was moving a lot.  Also, for the rest of the day Isaac said, "Shh!  Bird.  Zoo."  because there is a sign saying the bird doesn't like loud noises.  Not that Isaac even looked at the bird today...

Then right as I put Isaac down for the night he had a little throw up.  This is the first real throw up that he's had, and it was rather surprising.  Ben got him a cup and thanks to watching me throw up in a cup he knew what the cup was for.  He didn't really need it anymore, but at least we would have been clean(ish).

Sunday: super bowl

We hosted a super bowl party tonight.  I was a little nervous when I said that we would host, but figured that worst case the house wouldn't be super clean and Ben could do most {or all} of the cleaning.  However, I was feeling pretty good, and so was able to help without any problems.  And now we have a clean house!!  Even after the party it is much cleaner than it's been in weeks.

The party was fun, even though the game was boring.  I didn't pay much attention to it.

Another baby?

At lunch Isaac started pulling up his shirt. This isn't something he normally does, so Ben and I were rather puzzled. Then he pointed to his (rotund) belly and said, "baby!"

We asked him if he had a baby in his belly. After answering in the affirmative, he wanted to open his belly to get the baby out.

He makes me giggle.

Open

Isaac: what's that?
Amanda: a baby. It's inside Mom.
Isaac: Open!
Amanda: I hope not.

Love 2

I was feeling pretty good today...until 4:45 rolled around. I held it together until Ben walked in the door with our food, when I told him he would have to get everything ready.
And promptly threw up. It was a rough one. Afterwards I started to get everything cleaned up but couldn't walk...my abdomen was really sore! So Ben dealt with all the yucky stuff. What a way to welcome him home.
PS. I can walk fine now.

Thursday: zoo

I went to Baby Day at Hope today.  Only to realize as I was walking down the hallway that it is next week.  So we went to the zoo instead.  We saw the fish, the bird, the guinea pigs eating lunch, some mice, a turtle, and read some books.  It isn't a big zoo. :)

Anyway, I could tell that Isaac was pretty much done and started packing up and he was so sad.  All the way to Dad's office he kept saying "Zoo!  Back!"  (I was pretty proud of him for putting those two words together.  He's slowly starting to do it, but it isn't super often.)

We went to the good dining hall on campus for lunch and it was delicious.  Fish tacos, strawberries, bread with spreads, dessert.  Yum, yum.

Oh, and I felt better for most of the day.  I feel a little weird right now, but I'm still planning on sewing.  That's my measure...do I feel good enough to sew?  If yes, things aren't going too poorly.

Monday: snow

Ahh, the snow saga continues.  As I may have mentioned, our driveway continues to get smaller and smaller with tall banks on either side.  The "Polar Vortex" vortexed all night and half of our small driveway is now covered in knee-deep snow.

This is outside on the porch

So, due to medical reasons, we are hiring a plow today.  Of course, they're backed up and can't get here until noon, so I canceled my classes.  (All area schools were canceled and I was really expecting Hope to cancel, but I just got an email saying they're open.)  I don't really feel bad about one of them as I was planning on canceling on Wednesday and will just have class then instead, but I do feel bad about the other one.  Oh well.  I still think it was the correct decision for my family.  We'll just enjoy the day!

The snow is touching the bottom of the picnic table.

Too bad I'm up at least an hour before everyone else.  I'm enjoying a breakfast by myself, but think I would have enjoyed an hour of sleep more.  I had a really hard time getting to sleep last night, and then it was plagued by crazy dreams.  I expect Isaac to wake up any time though, so it seems silly to go back to bed.

Sunday: news!

Ben and I are happy to announce that we are expecting another baby!

I'm due August 1st, which means I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant.  We've seen one ultrasound around eight weeks and the baby looks like a squiggle.

I've been pretty sick (hence the lack of blog posts.)  I think it's been a little bit better than with Isaac, but not really by much.

If you want to read all the back posts that I've been hiding, you can click here: child2.  (They might not be in date order though, so that could be confusing.)  They're not all happy posts, but really, being sick isn't a very happy thing.  (But later, having a child is (or at least should be) a happy thing.  I just have to remind myself of that.)

Snow

We have a lot of snow...and a few more inches fell since this was taken.

The snow on the deck is taller than Isaac and it is getting very difficult to shovel because the banks are so high.

Bandana bandits

Another thing I don't like

Candy that says it's sour but isn't.

Monday: drier (dryer?)

I often wish that I wouldn't run the clothes drier around the same time that I expect Ben to come home.  Every once in a while there is a sound like the garage door opening and so I perk up, only to be disappointed when it is just the clothes drier.

I felt like giving up tonight. The problem is that too many people need me to not give up. I'm just so sick of being sick. The medicine seems to be helping, but I still don't feel like a normal person.

And to be fair, I'm not sure what giving up would look like. Probably sitting around and moping in bed.

Slave driver

Isaac came out to help us shovel this afternoon and instead of grabbing a shovel and trying to help, he decided to be a slave driver.

We would do a shovel and he would immediately say "one more!" "One more!" "One more!" Of course, he did this while standing in the way so that he could immediately inspect our work.

At least we passed inspection.

Friday: still alive

Unsurprisingly, we're still alive. Yesterday's goals were to get some blood drawn, go to the grocery store, and clean up the house. None of those happened. I was super exhausted due to any early wake up call and some new medicine that might make me drowsy. Then when I asked Isaac if he wanted to go out, it was a clear no. So we stayed inside and didn't do anything. Well, we made dinner.

Since yesterday's goals worked out so well, I thought I should have the same ones today. But I got to sleep in. So I'd say all the goals were accomplished, although the house still needs more cleaning. Isaac noticed that his crib sheet was a different color tonight...do you think that means I left it on the bed too long this past cycle?

New drugs

I'm happy to report that I'm very optimistic about the the medicine I got. I took two last night before bed, as directed, and about 45 minutes later I woke up a bit and went, "ahh...this is what it is like to feel like a normal human being." The normal feelings lasted through wake-up time until about mid-morning. And even though right now I don't feel perfect, I feel a lot better than most nights.

The instructions say that if nausea persists to take one in the morning too. I will probably do so.

The biggest problem is that the medicine is on the expensive side since no insurances cover it yet. But feeling like a normal person might be worth the high price tag. Or I might be able to get through the end of the first trimester on the free samples and deal with it. We'll see what happens when they run out.

Today was a full day of work, but it went pretty well. I had to make several last second changes, but I rolled with it. I was happy to see that most students had a book today at least. I told my Monday and Tuesday classes to bring their books because we would be using them and only half showed up with books. It was actually a rather big problem.

Ob appt

Today was my first official OB appointment...finally. I got a trial of some new medicine, so here's hoping.

We didn't hear the heartbeat, but the baby did roll over while listening.

Today

Today was my first day of classes. They went fine. Then Isaac and I came home and took very nice naps.

Isaac has started to pretend throwing up when I am. It's funny. And gross. But it gives him something to do while I'm incapacitated.

Friday: snow and showers

This afternoon was much warmer than it has been the past few days. Combined with a gigantic snow bank at the end of the driveway, Isaac and I went out to shovel.

I managed to get the bank down enough that Ben could get into the driveway, but our driveway has narrowed some more...now you need to line up the car well before you can get in as it is just bigger than one car width. I tried to do more, but the snow was too tightly packed.

By this time Isaac had run up and down the driveway several times. Since the snow was melting, it was perfect for a snowman. So I made one while Isaac ran up and down the driveway a few more times. We also threw a snowball, hid rocks, walked on snow, and climbed some snow mountains. Isaac was ready to keep playing, but the rainiest stuff started to comedown harder so we needed to go inside.

This evening I was going to give him his bath and he was having none of it. This was the second bath in a row that he has refused to take. He'd rather go sit on the toilet than take a bath, and he never wants to sit on the toilet. In the end we took a shower together. He was fine with that and I needed to take a shower anyway. But it's weird...we didn't have any traumatic bath experiences, he just stopped wanting to take a bath.

Frogs and turtles

Isaac wanted me to draw a frog today. It looked like a turtle.
Ben drew a frog. It looked like it was ready for dissection.
Ben drew an alive frog. It looked like a turtle.

What about you? Can you draw a frog that looks like a frog (without looking at a picture)?

Monday: winter weather

We had a big storm come yesterday.  We've had quite a bit of snow, but we got a lot on Sunday.  Everything was canceled today.  I decided not to try and go into work, even though today was my day to try and get as much ready as possible.  

So Ben and I were working from home (or trying to) and I check my email...Hope is canceling classes Tuesday and Wednesday!  Woot-woot!  I haven't had a real snow day in ages.  Also, since my last day of classes during a week is on Wednesday, I don't need to continue to try and prep!  Well, I'll probably go in on Wednesday to prep.  We'll see what tomorrow looks like and I might drop Isaac off at day care.

It was funny to watch the cancellation page throughout the day.  All sorts of random things were closing down...libraries, fitness centers, dentist offices.

Here's a picture of Isaac last night on our deck.  It's gotten much deeper since then.

Love

I had an unexpected throw up today. Well, not that unexpected but it got everywhere. I made it to the kitchen sink, but the paper towels had recently been used up. Isaac was behind me saying, "uh-oh" in a worried voice, so I asked him to get me some toilet paper.

I wasn't sure what would come of my request, but Isaac ran off. I thought it was towards his bathroom and wondered if a trail of toilet paper was going to be coming out...he's not very good at tearing it. But then I heard some running in the opposite direction, towards our bathroom.

A bit later Isaac brings me a whole roll of toilet paper. I was proud of him and felt quite loved.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday: still alive

I'm still alive!

It's just been kind of crazy...we went to Florida for vacation and I haven't been feeling great.  So between those two things I haven't posted like normal.

I hope to soon put up some pictures. :)  But the camera is upstairs and I am way too lazy to get it.