I Love You Forever

I need to apologize up-front for the randomness and length of this post, but our lives lately have seemed to be really random. We have been busy preparing for the big changes to come and it's funny what things have seemed to become important to get done. I had practically given up on getting several things done on my "to-do list", when last week I get a bit of a kick in the rear from my midwife. (let's just say that some bloodwork came back with some strange results that could have resulted in an induction) It was actually good, as I was able to finish the most important items on my list in two days. This week I've been concentrating on the little things that I didn't think I was going to get to do. Some of those include purchasing bedding for Kai's new beds and curtains for his room, stocking up on food, buying Kai new art supplies, etc. In some ways, I feel that I've been a shop-a-holic this last week. But then I remember how hard it was to get out when Kai was an infant, and with the flu going around, I'm not sure that I'm going to want to go out so much after this new baby arrives. Hence the need to stock up now--like a squirrel for winter I guess.

Old man winter raised his ugly head this weekend
with freezing fog!

What I've been most excited about in the last week was the arrival of a new chest freezer. We have so much room for frozen food now!! I went to CostCo with Kai this week and bought some frozen meals, veggies, fruit, meat, you name it. It's so fun to know that I have more storage room to work with and a bit more of a stock pile.

Kai has been an angel, for the most part. He's always a great helper--he wants to do anything that I do. And he doesn't seem to mind the shopping or driving. He's also done a complete 180 degree turn on how he feels about his big boy bed. The mattresses to the bed arrived on Tuesday and he has slowly warmed up to the idea. In fact, if we let him, he'd be sleeping in there right now. We're holding out until tomorrow night so that Reid can spend the night with him. It's a daddy/Kai sleepover!

Testing out his big boy bed

My only concern with Kai is his interaction with other kids. He has recently really taken to hitting and pushing. And he doesn't need to be provoked to do it. I've been at a loss as to how to handle it, although we haven't had a big problem since I took away his Thomas train last week for pushing a little girl. Time-outs just weren't working, but taking away Thomas seemed to help. Despite his problem with other children, Kai has been nothing but sweet with me and Reid. For at least the last week or so, we have been blessed with random hugs and statements of "I really love you, momma/daddy" at least 15 times a day. No kidding and that's not an exaggeration. I can't decide if I like the "I really love you" more than I like the "I'll love you forever" that he also says. Both melt my heart. I don't know if this increased outpouring of love has anything to do with the changes he is sensing in the house or if it's just an unassociated phase. Either way, it's adorable and sweet and we love it.

How Kai eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

With everything else that I've been doing around the house, I've also wanted to make sure to get some quality time in with Kai. One of his favorite things to do is go to the library, and so we've tried to make a habit out of that every Thursday morning. They have toddler time at 10am, so we go and sing songs, listen to books, and do tickles (Kai loves those) and then we color at their table, pick out new books, read other books, and finally get some duck food from the front desk to feed the ducks at the pond. It's always a fun outing and I have to push Kai back into the car after an hour. It's something that I hope we can continue to do once I've gotten a little more settled handling him and a baby.

Feeding the ducks

Other than all of that (isn't that enough?), we're just in a holding pattern, waiting for this little guy to decide it's time to make his arrival. Kai showed up pretty much right on time, and that's what I'm hoping this little guy will do. Of course, my mom's pregnancies just got longer and longer (ugghh), so I'm really hoping that's not some sort of hereditary thing. If you haven't cast your vote yet (most of you haven't), please due. I'd love to see your guesses and who knows, maybe I'll find some great prize to share with the winner!