Baby Brother's Room

As of today, Baby Brother's room is officially finished!  Sure, I may decide to change some things around later (it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, right?) but all the boxes are unpacked, furniture in place, curtains hung, etc.  And, since as of tomorrow, I will be officially "full-term" I guess its not a moment too soon.  Unless of course Baby Brother decides to follow his older brother's lead and take his good ole easy time arriving.  But that won't happen … you're not gonna put your momma through an extra two weeks of pregnancy, are you, Baby Brother?

I'm sure that kick just now meant, "Of course not, Mom!"

Anyway, here's the nursery…

as you walk in the door.

Note: it was surprisingly hard to snap pictures without Benjamin running through at the exact moment the shutter snapped.  He kept saying, "Heppin' Momma!"  Yes, dear, you are certainly helping make the pictures even cuter!

Thank you to Craig's List for the awesome furniture finds!

 

The view from my rocker … Benjamin is really getting into his helping, with some full-on dance moves for the camera.

Evidently the rug can double as an impromptu yoga spot.  Always glad to have multi-purpose pieces. 

 Benjamin, are you excited to meet Baby Brother?  Yeah!!

Benjamin's "New" Room

We've been in the midst of a little "Trading Spaces" around here … with Baby Brother's arrival now only weeks away, we've been working on moving all the "baby" decorations from Benjamin's room to the nursery, and revamping Benjamin's room with a "truck" theme.

Here's a quick peek at his room before … and his tiny little chubby self last summer!  Where did my little baby go???

I've been waiting to take pictures until Benjamin's room was "completed" or "perfect" but I've decided that's never going to happen … I wish I could find the perfect picture frame for the shelf or a basket for the dresser.  And I wish I could get him to leave all his toys in the bins for just five minutes while I snap some pictures, but ya know what?  This is real life here!  So, without further delay, we present …

Benjamin's New Truck Room!

"Knock, knock … can we come in and see your room, Buddy?"

"You have to pass the mighty tool test first!"

(Notice the rug behind him … city streets, buildings, even a police car and a helicopter!)

I made these pictures from pages of one his favorite books, Trucks GO!

Here's a close-up … I'm really proud of how they turned out!

Street and car decals over his crib, bright polka-dot sheets, 

and the crib skirt I successfully fashioned from a tablecloth!

Changing Table has been refitted with brightly colored bins to hold all his toys, 

with a new shelf above and a few more decals to the sides.

(Really need to spiff up that shelf a little, but again, real life! :)

And that's about it!  Baby Brother's room is coming along slowly but surely, so hopefully we'll have pictures of it ready soon!

Summer is for … watching lawnmowers!

Or "mana-moaner" as Benjamin calls them.

and in this case, we had to finish up the bath as quickly as possible so he wouldn't miss it!

You know you're...

Through the funny little moments of life lately, i've been contemplating posting one or other of these lists… "You know you're nine months pregnant when…"  or "You know you're the mother of an almost-two-year-old boy when…"  and then i thought what i really ought to do is combine them…

(And by the way, yes, I will be using the rather awkward phrasing of "almost-two-year-old" throughout this post because I have another six weeks or so before my little baby turns two and I refuse to rush that moment!  On the other hand, I will be rounding my pregnancy months up by a week or so, because, yes, lets get this over with already.)

You know you're nine months pregnant when getting up and down off the floor is quite an effort.
You know you're the mother of an almost-two-year-old boy when your days are filled with animal names and noises of all types, but especially his favorite, the monkey.
You know you're BOTH when in groaning with the effort to get up off the floor, your son says to you with great hilarity in his voice, "Momma Monkey!  Momma Monkey!"

Thank you, buddy.  That makes Momma feel lots better about herself.

You know you're nine months pregnant when your nights' sleep is full of bathroom breaks, leg cramps, heartburn, and incredibly vivid/disturbing dreams.
You know you're the mother of an almost-two-year-old when the Caillou theme song gets stuck in your head for hours at a time.
You know you're BOTH when your sleep, potty-breaks, leg-cramps, heartburn, and vivid dreams are all backed by the Caillou theme song … all night long…  i'm just a kid who's four … each day i learn some more…

Please somebody make it stop!

You know you're nine months pregnant when your days are more and more consistently filled with "pregnant brain" moments.
You know you're the mother of an almost-two-year-old boy when you intentionally take the route clogged with construction so that he can see the diggers and the dump trucks.
You know you're BOTH when you intentionally take the construction way … forgetting that your child is NOT in the car with you, and then persist in quick intakes of breath each time you see a construction vehicle, ready to call out, "Look, Buddy!  A digger" only to realize, again, he is not in the car with you.

I guess I can just enjoy listening to the radio while i sit in traffic pointlessly?

You know you're nine months pregnant when you cry at the drop of a hat… literally.  I mean, you're gonna have to pick that thing up off the floor!
You know you're the mother of an almost two-year-old boy when telling him goodbye elicits hugs, tears, and many repetitions of "wuv oo!  wuv oo!"  (translation: I love you)
You know you're BOTH when telling him goodbye means hugs, tears, and repetitions of "wuv oo" from BOTH of you!

You'd think I could pull myself together … I mean, I was going to watch a chick-flick with a group of sweetest friends!

You know you're nine months pregnant when the state of your house doesn't matter too much anymore … you just really need a nap.
You now you're the mother of an almost-two-year-old son when you have to make (at least) hourly decisions about the danger vs. fun factor of any given activity.
You know you're BOTH when your son makes up his own game that involves whacking a soccer ball with a soup ladle, and you figure, "Hey, he's having fun and I get to sit on the couch for a minute.  I'm gonna have two boys anyway.  I've gotta get used to things getting broken around the house."

What can I say?  I give you…

Ladle Ball!

Summer is for "heppin' Dada..."

 Helping Daddy put Baby Brother's crib together!

Summer is for … being like Dad!

He's got all the gear … a brown ribbon tied around his waist as a belt, an old nametag as the security badge, then he's got his toy keys and his new Bob the Builder laptop that we found at a yard sale yesterday.  He gets it all together, then says, "Dada, work!  Bye-bye!"  and marches to the backdoor, all ready to go help.

Even got my business-like walk goin'

Bye-bye!!

Hmm … how to carry all this stuff … 

Brave New World

So, you wanna hear how Momma let this happen?

Today, we decided to go to the zoo… without the stroller.  I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but several moms have told me lately about their toddlers love to run around at the zoo, and I thought it sounded like a good idea for this beautiful Friday.  We really haven't done much this week since A) I've been feeling fatigued and lightheaded - little brother's doing - and B) our friends/partners-in-all-mischief have been out of town on vacation.  So, its Friday, Benjamin woke up early, it was in the low-80's … let's try this "running around the zoo" thing!

And actually, it turned out to be a great time!  It wasn't very crowded, the weather was beautiful, and after a heart-to-heart in the car about being obedient and holding mommy's hand, Benjamin did great!  

I wish I had some pictures, but since I was by myself … wait, strike that.  Since it was just me, the toddler, the baby belly, the drinks, the snacks, the sunscreen, the sunhat, the emergency pack of Epi-pens and Benadryl, and the cell phone … I decided against trying to juggle the camera as well.

But anyway, Benjamin did great.  He was excited to see each new animal, would ask, "Up? Up? See? See?" whenever he couldn't see over the railings, and when he was ready to move on, would offer a big wave and a hearty, "Bye-bye [fill in animal's name]"  Anytime an animal was sleeping - or, let's face it, just lying down with their eyes closed in an effort to ignore all the obnoxious onlookers - he would wave and say "Night night!"  His favorite animals were the tigers and the monkeys, both of which he could have watched for hours. 

Little Man also did really well on knowing the names of animals he's familiar with (cow, bear, bird) and trying to pronounce the names of animals he didn't.  And whenever he didn't know or couldn't pronounce the name of the animal he question, he just called it a bear!

Benjamin's Guide to Zoo Animals:

Peggy = Penguin

Tot-tee = Peacock

Yeah-poh = Leopard

Yai-yo = Lion

EE-goo = Eagle

But my two favorite moments were these…

Benjamin was so excited to see the penguins; he ran so bravely right up to the glass where you can watch them swimming.  Unfortunately, as soon as he got there, one of the penguins jumped into the water right in front of his face.  He didn't realize the glass was there at first and got terribly freaked out, letting out this howl of horror and running back to me with arms and legs shaking and eyes as big as saucers.  Pitiful, yet hilarious!

When looking at the Miniature Mediterranean Donkey, I mistakenly called it a goat.  And really, give me a break here, I always get those two confused, and what mother has time - what with all the juggling previously mentioned - to pay attention to every informational sign at the zoo?  And really, does Benjamin care whether it's a donkey or a goat?  I think not.  But the 90-year-old grandmother with a walker who was standing next to us, turned around and literally snorted!  I mean, out right scoffed at my ignorance and remarked to the zoo employee who was accompanying her, "That girl just called it a goat!"  (italics don't adequately communicate the disdain in her voice).  Well, I couldn't quite believe my eyes and ears, but not to be outdone, I spoke up and asked the zoo staffer, "Well, what it is then?"  And i'm glad to tell you that I was set straight - that it was, in fact, a Miniature Mediterranean Donkey named Tinkerbell (or something like that - it was cutesy little name that started with a T) and her daughter, some-other-cute-not-donkey-sounding-name, was in the enclosure with her.  

So the moral of that one is that I guess I have a long way to go before I can be a homeschool mom, like perhaps knowing the difference between goats and donkeys.  Pitiful, yet hilarious.

And so, after ending on a high note with the monkeys, we headed out to the car.  Benjamin had been walking the whole time and being so good.  Then, literally ten steps from the car, he took a major tumble and scraped his knee.  Cue the monster tears and sobbing "Knee!  Boo-boo!"  At which point I realized that, though my emergency kit is stocked for any kind of allergic emergency, I have nary a band-aid anywhere.  Looks like Momma needs to up her preparedness factor.

Thus the picture that started out this rambling story of a post.

Have a great weekend, yall!