Psssstttt

http://oliverandlucas.blogspot.com/

Preparing for "B" day

Its been a long time a coming. I think we've planned everything that can be planned and planned for everything that can go wrong. My bag is almost packed and laundry is done. I bought Lucas' baby book which Auntie A will help me with when she is in town. All the receiving blankets (thanks Grandma in KS) are washed and packed away for Lucas' use when he comes home. Everything has been brought out of storage for Lucas. The doula is hired, Crazy will stay with Oliver while I'm in the hospital. I will be giving the boys haircuts tonight, so we don't have anything on the "to do list" after tonight. Crazy is weird about people touching his head, so if I leave it to him, he'll be a hairy animal rather than the clean cut guy I met many eons ago.

Today was a bit of an eye opener. We met a girlfriend of mine for brunch who just had a baby a month ago. As I sat at the table holding her new baby, I saw how distressing it was for Oliver to share his mama and it really made me sad. With how clingy he's been lately and now this, it really bugs me to be shattering his little world. He just looked at me while I was holding the baby and started to get fussy because my attention was on the baby and not solely focused on him. Lets just say that the next few days will be interesting, especially when he comes home to find that I am not here. There is nothing we can do to prepare him for this, so Crazy has his work cut out for him. He is starting to freak out if he doesn't sit next to me or hold my hand while we are walking on the street. If Crazy and I are out, and Crazy takes him out of a room that I am in, Oliver FREAKS out. Its strange for this kid to be so clingy, especially since he's never ever felt that inclination.

MINE!!!!!

Did I give birth to a Hobbit?

This morning Oliver had 2 breakfasts...is that weird? We got over the whole tantrum thing when I asked if he wanted to have some cereal, but first we needed to change his diaper. He let us change his diaper...then onto honey nut cheerios. Then he moved onto his next breakfast of cinnamon raisin toast that he dips into diabetic friendly syrup and a sausage patty. We then all got dressed without much drama, and everyone walked down the stairs to take Oliver to school. By everyone, I mean Kylee, Crazy, Oliver and myself. We all walked to school all the while Oliver kept telling Kylee, "Good girl Kylee!"

We walked into the building, Crazy picked up Kylee cause we didn't want her to get scared by the kids and piddle on the floor. The kids were all outside playing in the playground. Oliver walked out there, I signed him in and Crazy let Oliver say "goodbye" to Kylee. What was strange was that he actually said "Good girl Kylee, good bye!" He then gave her a kiss in the nose, while the other kids pet Kylee's ample orange butt. We walked away, and no tears were shed, and no tantrums. It was eerie, almost like twilight zone-ish. We walked out there and didn't dare turn back, almost like if we turned back, we'd jinx ourselves. If it isn't rainy tomorrow we'll do the same.

What a strange thing to happen. Especially since the last two months dropping him off at daycare has been so frustrating. The last two days has been a disaster. But today, was like a burst of sunshine.

Baby Legs

Patience is a virtue

I think that Oliver knows that something is up. He's still too young to comprehend that he will soon not be an only child, but I feel like he knows something is up.

This morning I was trying to get him dressed for school, he absolutely refused to let me dress him and change his diaper. He sat in time out and cried for 45 minutes, all the while refusing to allow me anywhere near him with a diaper or clothes. For 45 minutes he sobbed and refused to be dressed, Crazy had to finally pin him on the floor and dress him all the while fighting him. I don't think he wanted to leave me at home. The second they got on the elevator, Oliver stopped crying and started happily chattering with Crazy.

Crazy and I have been discussing the impending arrival of Lucas and we both came to the conclusion that Crazy will be staying home at night with Oliver while I stay in the hospital with Lucas. The problem is that since Crazy is CRAZY, he is reluctant to agree to it without making me hire a postpartum doula to help me in the hospital. So after 2 weeks, we've hired someone who will come to the hospital for the "night shift" and help ease Crazy's mind.

Let's discuss some things we've learned from Oliver in the last week.

1. He knows how to jiggle the baby gate that we put up against his bedroom door. Two weeks ago, Crazy got up and noticed that the baby gate was up against the wall in the morning and thought that Oliver and I were up. Anyhow, I got up later in the morning and Crazy asked me where I was...hmm, I was asleep...and then he realized that Oliver had opened the gate. The next night we put Oliver down for the night, and at some point Crazy went to peek in Oliver's room and noticed that Oliver was easing the gate with his chin.

2. Oliver is seriously trying to assert his independence. We went to have brunch on Sunday. We've been to this place before...Oliver LOVES the pancakes, bacon, fruit and eggs there. We ordered his breakfast and for some weird reason he BLEW up. Atomic blow up. Crazy got up and walked Oliver out and 5 minutes later Oliver was still crying, sobbing outside the restaurant because he knew that I was in the restaurant. Anyhow, Crazy brought Oliver back in and Oliver reached for my hot link sausage, and proceeded to eat it all. Weird? Well then stupid me, I buttered his whole wheat toast and he flipped out. He grabbed at the little container of butter and made me open it, then proceeded to butter his own toast until he was ready to eat it. So strange. It wouldn't be so bad if his coordination was better.

3. We finally introduced the potty chair. Oliver is too interested in the chair as a toy, rather than its original purpose. He's still not bothered by poo in his diaper...so I don't think he's quite ready yet.

4. We opened and set up the pack and play as well as the infant car seat. Oliver climbed in the infant chair and sat in it and refused to get out. He then picked up the entire seat set and threw it a couple feet away from him. We put the carseat in the car to get him used to seeing it. When Crazy set up the pack and play, Oliver tried to climb in it the entire time. We had to pack it up so that Oliver wouldn't get any strange ideas.

5. Bath time is the BEST time EVER. We are trying to get him in the bath tub by 8 pm so that he can have a bath, brush his teeth and get put in bed by 8:30 pm every night. The second he hears the water being turned on, he starts tearing off his clothes. After he takes his pants off, he begs whoever is closest to him to help him remove his shirt. It goes a little something like "mammie, help me! Bath! Come on!" Tonight is laundry night, so I was folding clothes, while Crazy was outside with Oliver. Oliver grabbed the mat we use to change his diapers and accidentally dropped a jacket on the floor. He then grabbed the jacket and tried to hang it on the door knob, all the while telling Crazy "Papa, help me! Bath! Change diaper!" So funny. Then he ran to the bath tub and Crazy gave him a bath. Getting Oliver out of the tub is pretty difficult, so difficult that Crazy devised a plan to get him out. He turns on the shower head to the cold setting and since then getting Oliver out of the tub isn't hard. After his bath time, we let him brush his teep and then he goes to sleep. It takes about 1-2 hours to get him down. Grrrr. All we hear all night long is Oliver's head banging on the wall as he jumps on his bed and then gets yelled at by both Crazy and I to go to "night night".

6. I finally was able to catch a decent sale at baby gap near the ghetto. I was able to find a lot of new onesies and under 12 month clothes. Luckily I also had a 25% off coupon so on top of the decent sale I went to, I got an additional 25% off. Everything is washed and folded and put away. I had also ordered some stuff on amazon.com, I've never really ordered baby clothes from amazon.com, but free shipping and no tax is a pretty cool. I decided that on top of some of Oliver's old baby clothes, I wanted new clothes for Lucas. Luckily, Oliver was really rough on his clothes, so I couldn't really salvage much for Lucas.

Random photos

We actually got some weather here. For a full minute we got some hail. I looked out of Oliver's window and saw all this hail. It was pretty intense for a minute...then the rain washed it all away.
Here's what the back of Crazy's car looks like now. No one can sit back there any more.

Here's a video of Oliver's room. The blanket in the crib is a new blanket we just from Oliver's grandma in KS. She spent a lot of time making it (and it shows!), and we think that it will get a lot of use. She must really love Lucas...especially since its so beautifully stitched...and made BEFORE he was born.