What a day...

Well, I thought I'd continue the theme of 'terrible twos' with a post of my own. If you don't know already, I am on spring break. This means LOTS of 1 on 1 time with my little bug. Now as a disclaimer - this is a GREAT thing. I love spending time with Ben. Today however...

- Got up at some disgustingly early pre-dawn hour (again)
- Was the best little dude ever up until naptime (he even promised not to tell Mommy that her flowers were purchased to disguise the fact that Daddy bought King Kong at the ONE DAY ONLY amazing price of $19.99)
-Would NOT go for a nap. This is after Grandma and I talked yesterday about how AMAZINGLY he goes for a nap. Well, he refused today. ("I'm awake" was the quote of the day.) So I finally capitulated (sp?) and let him stay up.
- He was okay until about 10 minutes before we had to leave to pick Mommy up from work, at which point he pulled a Bill. For those of you that don't know, that involves the eyes closed head-bob while sitting on the couch. When I woke him up (which was about as easy as waking up Bill) he started BAWLING.
-I got him dressed and ready to go. Once in the car I took a left - he wanted to go right. 10 more minutes of bawling.
- We went shopping (with Mommy) to find him something to block the light from coming in his window so brightly in the morning. He was only happy when allowed to do EXACTLY what he wanted, when he wanted to. Any suggestions to the contrary were ignored.
- When leaving the mall, he stood in the line to Moxies saying "French Fries". Although we were amazed at his memory skills, and were loving his cuteness, his obstinace was a little unnerving. We managed to get him away only after teaching him a new word - McDonalds.
- When putting his jacket on, he freaked out.
- When not turning right into someone's front yard, he freaked out.
- When pulling into Burger King (and NOT McDonalds) he freaked out.
- When forced to eat a french fry (this makes no sense to us either) he freaked out.
- When having a bath, he freaked out.


Now, I realize that most of these freak-outs were the result of no nap. We kept telling him "When Daddy tells you it's naptime tomorrow, GO FOR A NAP." But yeesh. My patience has not been worn as thin EVER in the last two years.

Again - don't get me wrong. I LOVE my little man - sometimes I am in awe of how much. It was just an off day. He is now sleeping like an angel in his new bed, with his wee tushie poking up in the air. What a guy.

Rant, rant, rant. We are going to Chapters tomorrow morning for the big chain store version of what my sister does for a living. (Among other cool library things, she hosts (hosted?) a very popular children's storytime in an Ottawa library). Hopefully the intense concentration required will exhaust him - leaving him in a near catatonic state from which I can just duct tape him to his bed for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Thanks for all the comments, crazy comment people! It's always nice to know you're out there. (And no, my fingers AREN'T broken - and the phone works - but you all know what I mean!)

TTYL

The ramblin' Gordo

p.s. I think Ben's cutest word right now is puh-STIP-tons. Anyone want to guess what that means?

What a week...

Where do I start?

Last Saturday, we went furniture shopping. The horribly ugly but kinda comfy couch and loveseat we currently have - well, we've had enough. While we were out searching and sitting (a lot!), my chest started to get really itchy. I didn't really think anything of it, but it got worse and by Sunday, had spread to my upper arms and a little on my big tummy. Then it spread some more. Can you say unbearable?

I had an OB appointment on Monday, so I asked her what on earth it could be. She said it looked like an allergic reaction, but I scoured my brain for something that would have triggered it and came up empty. She said that I could take Benadryl and she gave me some hydrocortisone cream as well. I ended up only using each once, 'cause the itchiness had subsided by Tuesday.

Monday night, Ben woke up throwing up all over the place. Not fun. He had a bit of a fever, but had puked himself out by about midnight. He did wake up a couple more times heaving, but in the morning, he seemed okay (so we sent him to daycare - of course, his babysitter and one of the other boys have since got whatever Ben had).

Tuesday, my throat started to get scratchy, which I'm figuring is because my immune system went down a bit after I was up all night with a puking child. So, I got a chest cold, which isn't so bad when you're pregnant. Then, on Wednesday night, it crept up to my sinuses. Hell, I tell you. I can't take anything besides Tylenol. Urgh. So Thursday and Friday, I stayed home sick. Saturday and Sunday were better - I was still stuffed up.

This is all made worse by the fact that Ben won't sleep past 6 a.m. now. Grrrrrr.

So I thought I was good to go back to work today. But I was up visiting the toilet all night. Then this morning, I puked my guts out. What is wrong with me? I think that I'm just catching everything all at once, since I've had a healthy pregnancy and winter so far. I'm just paying for it all in the span of a week.

I won't say whether the boys have caught anything, as I don't want to jinx them.

And we bought a new sofa and loveseat - here they are.

I'm going back to bed...

Master manipulator

Ben has discovered that different emotions elicit different responses. For example, this morning, I told him to come lay down on the floor so that I could change his supersoaked diaper and get him dressed. He then looked at me with downcast eyes, and said, "No. Ben sad." I guess he thinks that by saying that he's sad, we'll fall all over ourselves to make him feel better, which would hopefully include not making him lie down to have his diaper changed and to get dressed!

Ben was awake at 7 this morning, which is quite early for him. He better not be up that early tomorrow morning - Mommy wants to sleep in! Anyways, I was in the shower and I glanced through the shower door and saw that the bathroom door had been opened and that there was a little blue figure standing in the doorway. Sure enough, Ben came looking for his mommy (awwwwww). I hope I never forget how he looked though - his big blue eyes were wide open and his hair was fuzzy all over. You may not believe me, but the sight of my son in the morning, bedhead and all, is just beautiful!

c

Introducing...

Fiona and Ruby!

Odds 'n ends...

Not much is new with the Sheppards, as usual! We went to Morden on Saturday, just for the day, so that Ben could visit with Great Grandma Lil, Great Aunt Nancy and Great Aunt Simone. He charmed the pants off of them, as expected! He cheered them on while they were curling - and they won! Gord wants to take credit for being their good luck charm, but I think it was Ben...

Ben is using a new phrase now..."How 'bout nooooooo!" (from Austin Powers, I think. Daddy apparently says this to Ben, and now our little shadow has picked it up. It amazes me every day at how he picks things up. "They" say that kids are sponges, and boy do we know it!

Baby #2 is good. Gord commented last night that I'm "getting big", but then he tried to backtrack and say that maybe I'm just carrying differently. Nice try hon! So now I'm afraid to go to my prenatal appointment on Monday...I'm demanding that my OB tell me how big this baby might be. Last time, she kept saying that Ben would be average - um, hello? 9 lbs is NOT average! I need to be prepared...

Now, an update on the Ottawa babies - Fiona Beatrice and Ruby Amelia! Both are doing very very well! They've been drinking from bottles really well, and Ruby didn't have an infection after all, so her IV was removed. From all accounts, they are "soooooo cute" and both have dark hair. Kathy is likely going home today, so she'll have to travel back and forth to the hospital a lot, but it should only be a couple of weeks, if things continue to go as well as they have been. Still no pictures though...

c

Well that was unexpected!

So last night I was talking to my sister on the phone - she told me that they were going to give her a c-section around next Saturday "if she could make it that long."

She couldn't.

Last night (this morning actually) at about 3:00 a.m. she gave birth to 2 little baby girls! Congratulations! The babies are doing very well considering the early birth. They are both breathing on their own and the doctors are very positive about everything so far. They are going to have to be in the hospital for a while - but things are as good as can be expected!

If you're reading this Kathy (or Greg) we're extremely happy for you and can't wait to see the cute little babies!

I'll post again when the names are finalized.

Way to go Ottawa team!

Gordo

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath...

At my prenatal appointment, I'd only gained a pound in two weeks! Whoopee! My doc even said that it was refreshing not to have to give the speech again - she'd been giving it all morning! So there - I'm at 24 pounds so far. I'm still not counting my chickens yadda yadda yadda - I still have 5 weeks to go. Otherwise, the baby's heartbeat was good and he/she is measuring on target. I did have to have the group B strep swab taken - I'll spare the details. I tested negative earlier on in the pregnancy, but they retest near the end too (I was negative both times with Ben, so I hope my luck will hold!). I go back on the 20th, and then I'm down to weekly appointments - I'm sure my manager will love that.

Gord's sister Kathy was out of the hospital, but now she's back in. They're hoping that she can go back home, provided that baby A is behaving! Gord's mom (Susan) went out there this week to help her out, 'cause she's on strict bedrest and Greg (the soon-to-be-daddy) has to work - someone has to! Anyways, keep the positive thoughts coming.

Ben has been on ventalin for the past couple of days - Monday night, he started wheezing a bit after some active play (consisting of chasing Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Chris around the house). All that night, he coughed and wheezed and didn't let Mommy get a lot of sleep. So I took him to his pediatrician's on Tuesday, where the ped said that it didn't sound like croup, but maybe asthma. Hence the ventalin. Ben's stopped wheezing now, but he still has a cough and his nose is running like crazy.

Gord's schedule has changed again - his classes don't start until noon. So he and Ben spend their mornings together, waking up when they want, leisurely eating breakfast and getting dressed. This morning, Gord said that Ben wandered into our room at about 20 to 9 - so I guess he woke up, opened his door, and went searching for his Daddy. (Not yet sure if this is a good thing or not - Ben realizing that he can get up and wander around, but time will tell...) We've been keeping his door open during the night, so I can hear him better and his room stays warmer, but I usually close it in the mornings when Chris and I are getting ready for the day so we don't wake him up.

That's about it. Ben being sick has shadowed the whole week. Oh, I bought the latest Harry Potter movie when it came out on Tuesday. We've already seen it, but it's pretty exciting nonetheless, dontcha think? :)

c

It's all happening so fast...

Gord and I finally got our act together this weekend and finished setting up Ben's new room. We had to put up some new trim, hang some curtains and arrange the furniture. Check, check and check! Saturday night was Ben's first time sleeping in his big boy room. He did pretty well, easily going when it was bedtime. We were both a little choked up when we went to check on him before we crashed for the night - he seems so little in the bed! Where did our little baby go? I was woken up around 2:30 by him crying, so I went in to check on him. Here he was, curled up on the floor, bawling his eyes out. I think he woke up and was freaked out being in a different room. So after I told him that he couldn't go back to his old bed (which he really wanted to do), I got him settled back down and told him that we were very proud of him and that he was such a big boy. I think he went back to sleep fairly quickly, but I sure didn't! I just lay there, trying to figure out if the squeak from the fan was actually from the fan, or if it was Ben whimpering. I didn't really get back to sleep until 4:00. And then at 8:30 this morning, I went to listen at his door, and I could hear him playing in there. I went in, and he was still in bed, but he had a bunch of books sprawled everywhere and was playing with his little James train.

Today, he napped in there no problem, and then went to bed just fine too! So far, so good! We'll have to post some pics of the new digs, now that it's all painted and set up. I'll put in on our "to-do" list...

Otherwise, not much happened this week or this weekend. Gord went out to a monster-truck show today. He had a good time, but said that it was crazy loud. And there were apparently lots of little kids there, most of them plugging their ears! Ben and I stayed home - he napped and I baked lots of cookies. I love cookies...

I am convinced that baby #2 is a wild child. There was a 10-minute period tonight where I don't think the baby stopped moving. And he/she has a foot up near my ribs, and boy does it hurt! We have another prenatal appointment tomorrow - I'm sure I'll get heck for weight gain...she's been pretty forgiving lately, but it'll catch up with me sometime!

Speaking of babies, send good luck vibes to Gord's sister - she's due with twins in April, but is currently in the hospital. She should be able to go home tomorrow, but I think she'll really have to limit her activity so that the babies don't come any sooner than they need to! So babies, if you're listening, stay put!

Take care all...
c