Friday, June 19, 2009

Sick, but otherwise doing fine. :)

Time just keeps slipping away from me! Sorry it’s been so long between posts! This one will be very long to make up for it. ;)

A couple weekends ago, my little brother got MARRIED to his beautiful partner, Laura. They are so smitten with each other, it’s just silly – I LOVE IT! I’ve really never seen my brother so happy. The weekend was just lovely, and it was wonderful to see the whole family! Our drives up and down, however, were… eventful.

Kyle went up on Thursday with my sister’s husband and my dad, so they could join the bachelor party. My sis and I had a sleepover with the twins, who decided that sleepovers are not for sleeping. Giovanna whined about dinosaurs until midnight, then both kids were up at 4am. Not cool. Temi and I got up around 5 and (slowly) finished packing and getting ready. We hit the road at 9 and the kids were out before we reached the highway! Between stopping for play/lunch and many MANY potty breaks for our now-fully-day-potty-trained little girl, we reached Bellingham at about 5pm (yes, a 5 hour straight-shot took 8 hours). Then we had to get to the ferry and wait… and wait… and we finally got to our destination at about 6:20. We went through the rehearsal, had a delicious dinner, and crashed very hard that night!

Saturday dawned absolutely beautiful. We woke up earlier than we’d have liked (dang our early bird son!), but we had a ridiculously delicious breakfast, spent some time at the beach, had a lovely nap, and made it for pictures on time. The ring bearer, an almost-3-year-old boy named Isaac, spent most of the weekend chasing after Giovanna and trying to give her hugs! So cute! The ceremony was wonderful – Giovanna did a great job hamming it up as the flower girl, then she and I hightailed it several times to the potty. Roman was a champ and sat in Grandpa’s lap almost the whole time! The reception was really fun – had some amazing cheeses and appetizers, and a delicious dinner and cake.





Then the dancing started. Giovanna discovered the dining room had been turned into a dance floor, and started dancing around 8 or so. Just jumping around and going to town! Ro was already getting tired, so he spent a lot of time in my lap. People started joining Giovanna and the dancing went until very late! Isaac tried to dance with her several times, but she’s more of a solo dancer, lol. She seriously was jumping and dancing for about an hour and a half, nonstop, after a very active day. Meanwhile, Roman spent the better part of that time dancing in the arms of one of my brother’s friends, Elise. He actually spent much of the weekend fawning over her! We finally went back to the cabin between 9:30 and 10, and crashed hard again!



We were up early on Sunday, packed and headed down to breakfast. We spent some more time with the close family members still on the island, and watched Thoren and Laura open their wedding gifts. Teary-eyed, we headed out a little after noon.

We got about an hour south of Bellingham when the car started doing crazy things. We pulled over and called roadside assistance, were informed it was the battery, and that they were sending a tow truck. Well, a tow truck wasn’t about to do much for us, so we called my dad, who was a little further south than us. He (with my sister and her husband) turned around and picked us up a battery and followed us as we continued our journey.

An hour and a half later, just north of Olympia, the car died completely. Not the battery then – it was the alternator. This time, we did call for the tow truck, who happened to know a guy that Kyle used to work for in Oly! He had a shop, and said he should have the car ready by the end of the day Monday. We all piled in my dad’s Volvo and kept driving, with multiple potty breaks for Giovanna. We made it home a little after 12. That normally-5-hour-drive was about 12 hours!!! Thank goodness for my amazing family. The adventure would have been so much harder and crazier and more stressful if they hadn’t been willing to spend hours moving luggage, laying uncomfortably in the back of the Volvo, entertaining toddlers, and stopping every hour or so to pee, without complaint. I am so freakin’ lucky to have my wonderful family!!! THANK YOU!!!!

As you may have gathered from the above tale of crazy adventure, Giovanna is now fully day-potty trained! She has random accidents during naps and at night, but that’s it!! YAHOOOOO!!!!! Roman is following in her footsteps – asking to sit on the potty for looooong periods of time, though he usually doesn’t pee or poop there yet. Baby steps… 3 more months until Gaius is here… that’s the goal – only 1 in diapers at a time! :)

Since we’ve gotten home, the went through an icky cold. The kids both had low grade fevers at different times, a lot of congestion, and had a bit of a cough. Both are still a little snotty, but are mostly over it. Kyle had it for about two days, and I've been battling it all week. And it sucks because the only medicine you can take while pregnant is Tylenol, which does absolutely nothing for congestion. Ugh.

Giovanna is still talking about dinosaurs in her room at night. She acts scared, but turns it off and on without any effort, so we’re of the mind that it’s currently a sleep-delaying tactic (like saying she has to pee or poop on the potty when she’s already done it, or that she wants to snuggle, or wants more hugs/smooches, or more milk, or is hungry… she is a master sleep-delayer). The dinosaur changes locations (it was in the closet, and since we’ve started keeping the closet closed, it’s outside the window). We’ve tried sooooo many things. We tried explaining that the dinosaur has gone home (even waved bye-bye and Roman informed us that he went home in a big truck, and that he went bowling, too, lol!!), that the dinosaur was nice and would never hurt her, that her stuffed dragon will save her from the dinosaur… and many other things. Once she would only fall asleep for her nap on the floor between their beds (away from the window). The only thing that works at all is to tell her (rather firmly) that there isn’t a dinosaur and it is time to go to sleep NOW. Sometimes this takes a few tries. We hate having to do that, but when she’s up until after 11pm fake-crying about a non-existent dinosaur… well, we just don’t know what else to do! Meanwhile, Roman usually falls asleep during her whining and explanations, lol.

Developmentally, both kids are on track or ahead for their actual (not adjusted for prematurity) age! YAY!!! They continue to grow, but aren’t gaining much (if any) weight, which is totally normal and expected for crazy active toddlers. I give full props to Kyle for getting them exercise, creative time, learning time, snuggle time, reading time, and relaxation time, EVERY DAY. And he has lots of playdates with his parenting groups and friends so they get good socialization time, too. He’s an amazing daddy – I’m so lucky!

Gaius is doing just fine! He kicks me constantly (this week he has been targeting my bladder and cervix – ouch!) and I feel him squirming around in there all the time. It’s such a weird feeling! I've been terribly tired lately – not sure if it’s fighting off this cold, still recovering from the long weekend adventures, the pregnancy, or a combination of all of those. Still getting a bit nauseous in the mornings (ick) but it’s manageable.

I had a routine appointment last week with my OB (not the perinatologist I also see for ultrasounds and the “high-risk” part of my pregnancy). All looks great – I’m measuring right on schedule, not dilating at all, and no other concerns. YAY! I also got my gestational diabetes glucose screening test (involves drinking basically pop syrup and getting a blood draw) that I PASSED (I failed the screening with the twins and had to do the long 3 hour glucose test that involves fasting and FOUR blood draws, which I then passed), and my rhogam shot (my blood type is negative, and since Kyle’s is positive, I have to get a shot just in case the kid comes out positive so my body doesn’t freak out about the weird blood type). Oh, and I lost another 1.5 lbs, so I’m down about a lb or 2 from my pre-pregnancy weight. I really don’t have much appetite when I’m pregnant, so it’s not a huge surprise! I've been trying to get calories in me so I at least maintain my weight. The docs aren't worried at all since Gaius is so active and is growing fine. :)

The kiddos helped daddy make ranger cookies a couple weeks ago. (Ranger cookies have just about everything but the kitchen sink in them - very hearty, and made with a lot less sugar than regular cookies!) The kids helped measure, mix, pour, and shape the cookies! And they helped to eat them, of course! And they were sooooooo yummy!


That's all for now - I have a ton of picutes at the below link. Sorry they aren't in order. I uploaded them in order and they went all out of whack and photobucket is really hard to rearrange. Hope you enjoy anyway!

http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/2009/2009-06-26/