Changes

This morning I woke up and it was overcast! And only 84 degrees at 730! As we were leaving the gym there were a few sprinkles. As Ethan put it, "it's raining! It's not sunny anymore!"

Today was my 39 week appointment. The last 3 appointmentd my measurements haven't changed. But this week I went from dilated "about 2" to 2+, 50% effaced to 80% effaced, and the baby dropped from -2 to -1 station. The doctor doesn't think I'll make it to 41 weeks, but I'll still plan on it so I don't get my hopes up too much. With my family's history, overdue is the safe bet (even though I am letting myself hope a little that I won't be induced). Two doctors have told me they think the baby is average or smaller. The doctor today said the baby feels like he'll be about Ethan's size (6lbs 12oz), but they thought Ethan would be big, so who knows.
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PS

Add to that wonderful weather that the pools, and after this weekend, the splash pads, are closed/closing and I'm getting a bit bored around the house. Thank goodness I can still go to the gym every day! This summer would have been so much worse without the gym!
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Weather

Quoted from ABC15 (ugh, especially when full term pregnant):

We already tied a record for the first day of September. If our temperatures do not drop below 90 degrees at Sky Harbor today, we will tie the overnight record of 90 degrees, set back in 2007.

Thursday marks the 11th consecutive day under an Excessive Heat Warning (highs over 110, lows above 80), breaking the record of nine days set June 15-23, 2008.

This August is officially the hottest August of all time in Phoenix and the heat continues!

Our 110+ degree days continue and we tied the record of days above 110 this year. The record is 32 days set back in 2007 which we tied today. It also looks like we will add a few more days to easily break that record.

We are also approaching the record of most lows at 85 degrees or warmer. That record is 51 set back in 1981. We have several more lows in the upper 80s in the forecast through the holiday weekend.
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20 Minutes

In trying to establish some balance for us we now live by a timer. I get to be productive for about 20 minutes until the timer goes off and then I play with Ethan for 20 min, repeat, repeat, repeat...

Today I got out his little computer and fortunately he was into the mouse control games (I get a break from trains!). He likes one game where it tells you left or right, you move the mouse that direction, and the monkey jumps to an island. If you do it the wrong way he falls in the water. Ethan loves it when the monkey falls in the water, as you can see in this picture. He does know his right from left and will at times help the monkey get to the bananas on the island, but overall the reinforcement for choosing the right answer in this game is not nearly motivating enough! Silly kid.
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Little Hands

I love that his hands are still kind of chubby with knuckle dimples.
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Arizona Summer

Here are the rest of the highlights from our time at home this summer.  Please excuse the disjointed post.

Did you hear about the crazy "haboob" that came to Phoenix?  I didn't know it was coming so I didn't see the multiple mile high wall of dirt coming in, but I did notice how the sky matched the paint on my walls.  I went outside to secure things that were flying away and then go to the gym, and that was one crazy dust storm.  We have had a lot of dust storms this summer and they never cease to amaze me.  I have not been enjoying all the humidity.  What happened to, "but it's a dry heat"?!?

Another thing that has kept us busy this summer has been the tours my friends set up.  We missed a few, but here is one at the Hall of Flame, a museum of firefighting.

 Nana came out to visit a few weeks ago!!!  Ethan was very excited.  He has learned the word "Missouri".  He knows it is where Nana and Papa live, and also uses it as a synonym for far away.  As we read the scriptures at night, he also hears "misery" every time it is read and associates it with "Missouri".

Anyway, we got in a lot of quality time with Nana while she was here.  Here Ethan is playing with Nana at Grammy's pool.  Nana was a trooper and played the same game with Ethan for at least 45 min.  That's way longer than I made it!

 At Grammy's house Ethan will launch himself off the step along the side and
swim pretty far to us!

 While Nana was here we went to her pool, the aquatic center, and Grammy's pool.  We spend a lot of time in the water around here!   I even had to get a new swim suit because the elastic wore out in yet another one of mine.  At Ethan's request, Nana also came over and played trains with him in his train room.

Ethan will occasionally eat popsicles...here is one of those occasions.

 

Another tour we went on was to Cabela's.  I was totally impressed by all of the displays they had and that the animals were actually real, stuffed, animals!  Ethan loved it!

 Ethan had a great time with his new friend Larsen.

 One of Ethan's favorite parts was this tent.  He and Larsen chased each other through it for a looong time.

 And then they chased each other in this tunnel/cave.

 We got to feed these trout.  They would jump up when getting the food-very cool!

 And we got free tokens to try out the shooting range.  The whole trigger thing is still beyond Ethan.

 Of course this summer has been filled with BBQ to keep the house cool.  Mike can now grill ribs and corn on the cob with the best of them!

 This is Ethan's face when he thinks he is being funny and tricky getting away with something.

 On our 6th anniversary, Mike and I went to a quick dinner while Ethan was at a friend's house.  Then we took Ethan to our local ice cream shop to use his last free scoop coupon of the summer.

Ethan seems to have a sensitive stomach this summer, and he always looks so pitiful when he has a tummy ache!

With the exception of our big family reunion trip in July, I am about caught up on blogging, phew!

June 2011

This has been a fun, busy summer, so much so that I haven't really been blogging I guess.  We stayed busy with the kids summer movie deal at the Harkins near us, lots of doctor's appointments for me, going to the gym, and staying cool as much as possible.

In June we took a Wednesday-Sunday trip to visit Mike's mom in St. George.  This was about a week after starting potty training with Ethan (another thing that has kept our summer busy).  Here are some of the many faces of Ethan on a roadtrip:

 Notice the toilet that traveled with us so we could pull over if he needed to use it.  Through all of our road trips this summer, no accidents in the car!

 In St. George we were out for a walk and as Ethan walked along this spillway he slipped on moss and got covered in mud.  He was sad, but it was really funny too.

 Sweet sleeping.  Potty training really messed up Ethan's sleep routine, which has been hard on both of us.

 We felt like Ethan was stalled or regressing on progress, so Mike got him some jelly beans for going potty. We also got a jar and gave him a noodle (as opposed to marbles he could choke on) every time he stayed accident free all day or all night.  When it was full I would take him to the "water park", which means any of the many water featured parks in the area.  He loved this and has been doing great every since.

So that fills in the rest of June.

Full Term

I am 37 weeks today, meaning the baby is free to make his entry at any time, hopefully on his own in the next few weeks. Mike makes fun of me for not smiling in my self-portraits that I post, but it looks so goofy.

This pregnancy is going by SO fast!
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Tipping

My feelings about having a second baby are like a teeter totter tipping between scared/overwhelmed and excited. Tonight I'm folding all our newborn clothes and that definitely tips me in the excited direction. So little and cute!
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36 week appointment

I'll post another picture soon, but today was my 36 week appointment. The baby's head is down and I am dilated to almost a 2, which was quite a surprise since I was not even to a 1 at 41 weeks with Ethan and at a 1 less than 5 hours before he was born!
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Help!

I just washed and put together our Graco infant car seat, but I have this piece and I don't know what it is for...it looks like a headrest, but there is another one I used before and the one pictured here isn't on the pictures online. I also have two shades. I have the matching stroller and pack n' play with bassinet. Any ideas on where this headrest goes? Or the second shade?
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After Church

Ethan and Mike come in to the Primary room to say hi each week after Nursery.  This week Ethan stayed with Mike a bit longer and got to practice the 1st Article of Faith: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."  This video starts at "Eternal Father".  I think it is so cute with him at the Primary microphone.  He'll make such a cute (wiggly) Sunbeam in a few months! (Sunbeam is the name of the 3 year old class in Primary).

32 weeks

Wow, time is flying!
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Like Rorschach Ink and Clouds,

but grosser.

This is a post I've been debating about posting because it is another potty training one, but I really want it to make it into our blog book for us to remember.

Last Friday Mike bought jelly beans to give Ethan when he goes potty in the toilet (instead of a sticker chart). We also have a jar that Ethan gets to put a noodle in each day and night he keeps his underwear clean (noodle because it isn't a choking hazard like marbles). When he gets enough noodles we go to a water park, and did so on Friday. Between those two exciting things Friday, and Mike being home for the weekend and helping me recover from the negativity of an overwhelming week or two, all the sudden Ethan started being in a much better mood, using the toilet all the time again, and even sleeping in later most mornings!

Anyway, onto the real story. Now that Ethan is going #2 in the toilet again, I've been reminded of another little quirk he's developed. He still prefers using his little training toilet most of the time. When he goes #2 he always names his accomplishment. Sometimes he just says big or little, but most of the time it is something like these actual examples: Mickey, snake, dinosaur, pickle, etc. "Look Mom, a pickle!". Then he opens the toilet "open the lid, open the seat" and dumps his training toilet. As he flushes the toilet he'll bid a fond farewell, "Bye pickle! Bye pickle! The pickle went down!". It cracks me up! He has even done this when his pee did not cover the bottom of the little toilet so a hole was left behind, he'd name the shape of the hole. These names are used throughout the day as he remembers his accomplishments or shares them with others.

On a side note, Ethan's vocabulary is increasing a lot. For example, we have never had pickles in our house and Ethan won't eat them, but one of his favorite books lately mentions pickles. I showed him a black and white picture of me from my college days (wearing a beanie) the other day and asked him who it was and he said "woman". I had no idea he knew that word. He's soaking everything up and changing so fast!
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You know he was raised in the desert when...

He lifts the flap to see what is climbing the tree and says, "lizard!" every time.
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Change of Scenery

Phoenix heat really changes 4th of July celebrations. This morning Mike let me sleep in and then I went to the gym, but before I even turned on the treadmill I got a sharp pain in my head. I thought it'd go away as I started exercising, but as I continued with my circuit of treadmill and weight machines it got worse and I got nauseous, so I called it quits. I walked home and collapsed in bed where Mike rubbed my neck and shoulders with peppermint oil until I could fall asleep. I stayed in bed until the afternoon.

Ethan took a long nap and we decided to drive up to Tempe so I could get out of the house. The first place we went was Barnes and Noble where Ethan found a train table. Good thing we drove all this way to play with trains! :). Depending on how Ethan does with his attitude and underwear (one pair down one to go) we may spend the evening at a splash fountain and/or watching a big fireworks show from the air conditioned comfort of Mike's office.
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Thoughts from this Weekend So Far

I should have been drinking more water while weeding yesterday morning; the effects are still with me.

I'm glad Mike sent me in at 9am this morning. The 90 degrees didn't feel bad, but I've still felt worn out all day. Mike stayed out a lot longer. Who knows how hot it got before he came in this afternoon, but it is currently 115.

I am so tired of driving trains around and around and around Ethan's track, but he really wants me to, constantly!

Ethan correctly uses the word junction (along with other technical words) while playing with trains: "no, Mom, leave Spencer at the junction!"

Mike was laying down in the train room after getting tired of driving trains (post yardwork). He had is arm over this face. Ethan pulled his arm off and said, "wake up lazy bones!". Which is a line from one of his favorite Thomas stories.

Ethan keeps trying to take my phone as I type this. "Phone away, phone down" because I have not been excused from playing trains yet.

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Personality

My goal has been to not write too much about potty training, because no one wants to hear gross specifics, but there has been one funny aspect of Ethan's personality demonstrated repeatedly that I have to share, and in order to do so, there will be some potty talk, so please excuse me (or stop reading now).

First of all, we weren't done after the 3 day program.  Two days after we finished that, Ethan got a stomach bug for the first time.  A few days later we went on a 5 day trip to Grandma's in St. George (no accidents in the car!!!) and some time in that window he got a new molar.  These are the reasons I'm giving him for regressing on potty training two days after the big weekend. 

Anyway, one of the areas he really regressed in in St. George was going #2 in the toilet.  His schedule is to go #2 during bedtime or nap time, so it has always been a concern.  We heard him wake up from his nap at Grandma's and went in to find him without any underwear.  Upon further investigation we realized that he had independently done exactly what I would have done had I found him with dirty underwear: he took off his underwear, put the poop in the toilet (although I wouldn't have used my hands), and then put the underwear in the tub to wash them.  He was very proud of himself for having his poop in the toilet.  He did this again yesterday morning.  We heard water running in the bathroom and found him cleaning up poopy underwear in the toilet.  We're making sure to be very clear now that it only counts as going in the toilet if he goes straight into the toilet, keeping his underwear clean.

His efforts at cleaning up #2 may not always be helpful, but if he goes #1 by himself, he is very good at dumping and cleaning out his little training toilet all by himself, even though we've never asked him to.  He can be very independent and tries to be good and helpful.  Now if he would just get the motivation to put underwear on all by himself rather than have me do it he could be so much more independent (he takes his underwear all the way off every time he goes to the bathroom, but won't put his feet back in by himself).

London Bridge is...

 

This one is worth clicking to enlarge!

In Lake Havasu City, AZ!  We took a slightly longer way to St. George
so that we could see the London Bridge and Lake Havasu.  Ethan LOVED
getting out and running around for over an hour.  The fountain was
very exciting, but not as exciting as the army man he found in it
(he's holding it up in one picture)!  He calls it Toy Story.  While I
took pictures of the bridge he chased pigeons underneath it.  I've
never been to London, but chasing pigeons seems like it would fit into
a mini London experience, at least a Mary Poppins one.  Overall, we
were unimpressed with Lake Havasu City.  Maybe we missed something,
but it seemed run down and kind of dirty, including the lake water.
It was also frustrating that it took us three tries to find a
convenience store/fast food place that had a drinking water spigot to
fill up our water bottles.  It was a good break for Ethan though, I
got to check a site seeing spot off my list, and we got a really yummy
shaved ice as we were leaving, so I'm glad we went.  It was 107 while
Ethan was running around for so long, so we all needed a cold treat!
The high is 113 in Phoenix today; I guess summer is here!

--
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-Mike