almost 3 1/2

Kyalo turns three and a half in October, but we have a few things happening before then that might distract us, so wanted to get in another month-by-month type post, filled with updates and (too many) pictures.  Hard to imagine what life will be like once this baby shows up in a few weeks!

Overall, this summer has been hard.  The transitions that we've been going through have really thrown Kyalo off, and he has been, shall we say, challenging?  It does seem it is settling down now as we get more settled and more into a routine, but wow, there have been days I've wanted to throw in the towel on this whole mothering thing!

August 3 - 3 years, four months

Kyalo is generally an easy going, sweet-natured  boy.  In addition to getting comments about his hair (oh! the comments.  If I had a dollar. . .) I often get comments about how even tempered he is, how he seems so well behaved, etc etc.  He also seems to be very thoughtful, always wanting to share something with me, or Dexter, or a friend.  We like to call him 'the negotiator' because if we tell him ' two more..' (books, minutes, whatever) he'll say, ' no, three more'.  

I've signed him up for a little Montessori preschool which starts next week.  I'm excited for him to have two mornings a week that are for him - away from me. I think it will help him transition with the baby's arrival, and I think he'll love it.  I like the Montessori philosophy, too.  I'm also hoping he'll learn to count to ten without skipping a number.  :)  We'll see how this year goes before I decide about the coming years.  Apparently there's a big homeschooling community here, so I'm eager to learn more about that in time.

Of course, his favorite people in the world continue to be Grandma and Grandpa.  (And then, anyone else other than us after that).  

This week we finally transitioned him from his crib to a big boy bed.  We need the crib for the baby, after all! He's been climbing in and out of the crib for months, so that's not the issue...we just didn't want to have to get something new in NJ and then move it to Maine.  Dexter and I got a new bed, so Kyalo is the happy recipient of our 15 + year old double bed.  He's pleased with himself about this.

Last weekend we had some friends take some family photos of us.  Kyalo was in an especially ornery mood, and wouldn't cooperate.  Thankfully we have a few photos that turned out, but most of the day he's doing things like this:

August 16 2014

One day when he should have been napping, I heard suspicious noises and went upstairs to investigate.  This is what I found:

He just needed to brush his teeth.

I'm still not entirely sure how he got into the sink, as we have no stool there for him.  I think he climbed up on the bathtub and then into the sink.  However he did it, it was a cracked skull just waiting to happen! But that's something else people notice about him - he's very industrious when it comes to getting what he wants.  He'll find a work-around that suits him just fine.  This could be a good life skill.  Right now it is just challenging!

He is still all baseball, all the time.  Maybe some day we'll see him on the Red Sox!

he's ready!

Every night he is sure to give the baby a hug and a kiss before bed.  He really wants a big brother though, so I'm afraid he's going to be sorely disappointed in a few weeks.

Today I had my former boss from the UAE, and his wife, stop by, and they asked him where he got his hair.  He said, 'Jesus.'  How's that for a winning answer?!

Of course, these pictures don't show the whole story. . .like the fact that he picked up a lollipop in Walgreen's and ran around the store screaming with it (and opening it) and generally making a scene.  Or how he can get so angry he starts punching things.  We're trying on helping him to figure other ways to channel his energy and frustration (frusterated as he says).  We're working on the concept of obedience (hard - if you have tips, send them my way) and listening/following directions.  Some days it feels like entire day is a battle. Some days are perfect.  I guess that's the way it goes in the life of a three year old.  

To think, we're about to start this all over again!

No matter what, no matter the hard days when I'm in tears more than him, when I'm not sure how to get through to him, when I'm really at the end of my everything, I just love him so much. I can't wait to see who he becomes and where life takes him! 

big baseball guy

We're having a pretty good summer.  In the midst of all the unpacking, organizing, shopping, painting, etc, we've managed to have some relaxing days of exploration around here.

So far there have been days of. . .

 swimming at nearby lakes

 feeding cows at a near(ish) farm

 swimming and relaxing at a pool

 trying out his new scooter

 visiting Papa at the dental clinic in one of Papa's old school scrubs - he insisted on wearing that all morning: at the grocery store and even on the walk to the clinic.  If you notice the purple on his forehead, that's because he'd been busy in the morning drawing all over himself.

and weeding and planting with Judy who visited last weekend and brought lots of plants to help spruce up our overgrown gardens.

But if we had to sum up this summer in one word, it would be: Baseball.  At some point this summer, Kyalo discovered a pretty intense, all consuming love of baseball.  It started by playing 'bats' at Grandma's house (hitting balls back and forth with big plastic bats) and has fully escalated into playing catch and hitting, and insisting that someone (any warm body will do, thankyouverymuch) go to a park and play baseball with him.

He's even spent some time studying up on the finer points of baseball.  He was thrilled to find a book about baseball at the library the other day, and even checked it out himself.  Once we got home, he spent time looking at the pictures with his bats nearby.  We'd even find him practicing the skills mentioned in the book (lots of pictures!).

not sure you can tell, but he's talking to himself, telling himself what he needs to do. . .

However, it didn't take long for him to realize that his baseball equipment was sorely lacking.  He started putting out very specific requests:

there's a boy who knows what he wants!

Grandma was very happy to help him reach his goals, and got him a new baseball shirt and brown glove just his size, which we got last week when we were home for a quick trip. (Have I mentioned Dexter has Wednesdays off? Dream.)

Do you think he's happy?

He liked his brown glove so much that he fell asleep with it on that night.  And when he woke up in the morning, the first thing he did was put his shirt back on and get outside to play baseball.

Later that day, while Dexter and I were running errands and taking care of business, he went to the park with Grandma, his balls, glove and three bats to play more baseball.  He likes to say, 'I'm a big baseball guy'  which I think sums things up pretty accurately these days.  And the best part about all of this?  On our way home, he fell asleep in the car at 5:15 and slept until 6:15 the next morning. Playing baseball with Grandma for the win!

the shirt and glove never far away!

I have a few more pictures to post, but I guess we'll wrap it up there for now.  I'm probably off to play some baseball (if, sitting in a chair and tossing a ball to him counts).

34 weeks

Sunday marked 34 weeks in this pregnancy, which means we've got six to go.  I calculated the other night, we've really got about 5 baby-free weekends left! Yikes.  In that time we need to do small things like figure out a bed situation for us/Kyalo so that the baby can have a crib, get the baby's room set up, wash all of Kyalo's old clothes (which are far more stained than I remembered) so baby can leave the hospital not naked, and, I don't know. . . perhaps pick out a name?  Details.

Got a few more pics of this growing belly on Sunday.  A few posts ago I was complaining about feeling 'large and in charge' now I look back at those pictures and yearn for those days.  Because now I am seriously huge - and I know I am only going to get bigger.  I'm in that stage now where I'm barely sleeping (which is one of the mean things about pregnancy. We should be getting as much as possible prior to the sleepless nights of babyhood. . . ) and have zero energy to get things done, also not fun when I have a house to set up and a toddler to keep up with!  Sigh.

As I've mentioned previously, this baby moves a LOT.  It makes me wonder what life with this little person's going to be like - Kyalo was a much calmer pregnancy, so far as I can remember, and he's hard to keep up with.  :)  I feel like this baby is really high - up in my ribs all the time.  I won't miss that feeling for sure.  Otherwise, this has been another smooth pregnancy and for that I'm really grateful.

 August 3, 2014

There's the belly, in all its glory!

I posted the top picture on Facebook, and had a few people say, 'It's a boy!' and one person said, 'It's a girl!' So, I guess it is still a toss up as to what's hanging out right now.  Dr Kim is convinced, based on some Chinese conception calendar, that this is a boy. And I and a dream a few nights ago that we had a boy!  I go back and forth with what I 'sense' this baby could be.  I think I'm back in the boy camp, but couldn't say for sure.

But no matter - we'll know soon enough!  And we'll live in hope that baby will have a name when the time comes!

progress report

We've almost been in our house a month, and it has been non-stop action since then.  When I think of all that has been accomplished in these last few weeks, I must say, I'm impressed. When I think of all that still needs to happen to get ready for baby in just about six weeks, I get a little nervous.  One day at a time, I guess.

I should state clearly and upfront that I have done about 0.3% of the work, and the rest has been all Dexter.  He's the one who sanded, painted, rehung and added new hardware to 24 cabinets, he has painted three rooms, the stairway, and a whole bunch of trim.  He's unpacked most of the suitcases.  Clearly, I'm useless these days :)  I've been doing the less exciting, but no less important tasks of getting utilities set up, changing addresses, getting the car registered, etc etc.  And I've been cleaning and contributing as I could.  The landlords left behind their shop vac industrial vac for a few weeks, so we took full advantage of that - they had three (THREE!) Golden Retrievers here, and the amount of dog hair that we've uncovered has been. . .horrifying.  I could probably vacuum this house top to bottom every day for a month and still find dog hair.  Sigh.  But it is getting better.

And things look SO MUCH better.

Unfortunately, the pictures don't do the changes justice.  So, come on over and visit sometime.

First up was the master bedroom.  The carpet was being replaced the week after we moved in, so we made that a priority.  We decided to go with a color we thought would be a deep blue-grey-y color, but the results are mostly a pale blue.  Even though it wasn't what I envisioned, I love it, and I think the master is my favorite room of the house!  As my dad said when he saw it, 'It's not appalling, it's appealing.'  I think that about sums it up perfectly.

 Kyalo wanted to help

 ta-da!

Then, the nursery. Again, the color wasn't what I wanted.  Whereas the master was more muted than I expected, the nursery turned out to be a bit bolder/brighter in the green variety than I had hoped.  I'm coming to terms with it (we didn't have time, and the store didn't offer samples, to do a lot of little swatches).  With some decorations and curtains and things, it'll be pleasing, I think.  And anything is better than that purple that was there before.

we have our work cut out for us in here!

We got new couches -- one a sleeper sofa -- delivered this week, in a sort of emergency status since our nearly 3 year old (for us) Craigslist sofa collapsed on us last week.  Thankfully we'd already selected out what we wanted and it was just a matter of a phone call.  Phew!

They're super comfy but way bigger than we anticipated!  Still, we're grateful to have new couches, and a place for visitors to sleep when they come.  I wouldn't mind changing the paint in the living room here - even a lighter shade of brown - because the room just feels dark all the time.  I'm not sure Dexter is up for it in the same way, though. 

We are turning the front porch into Kyalo's play room.  It isn't insulated (we assume) so it will not be used in the winter but it is great to be able to keep his stuff corralled out of our space!  It needs some more organization but it has been a great space so far.  

see those crystal clear windows?  Dexter spent about a half a day washing them all of all the street grime that collects there.  Made such a huge difference!

Lastly here's the stairway and the entryway.  This was also a pale grey color - but it is really very very pale. Almost looks white.  Maybe some day we'll kick it up a notch, but for now, it feels clean and fresh, and 100x better than the floral wall paper that was there.

 Dexter painted that trim today!

and Deb, the owner, has been coming to work on the stairs.  Here the paint looks white or even grey, but other times it can look like a really soft blue.  Funny how the light can do that to paint!

The kitchen looks so much better too.  No pictures of that yet - I need to get the counters better organized first.  Are you sensing a theme here?  

The to-do list is growing, not getting shorter.  I'd welcome your favorite organizing tips - for just about any room of the house - as well as decorating ideas.  

Every day it feels a little better.

30 weeks

Today marks 30 weeks of this pregnancy, which means there's just about 10 to go.  This pregnancy is zooming by, that's for sure.  Given all that we've been doing the last few months, it has been hard to keep track.

I mentioned before that this pregnancy has felt so different from my pregnancy with Kyalo.  I'm so aware of the baby all the time.  He or she is really, really active, moving and kicking and making his/her presence known.  I feel big and uncomfortable, and have to do the dreaded 3-point turn at night in order to change positions.

Another way this pregnancy has been different is that I've been sick a lot.  Just random things - fever one time, an awful stomach bug for about 48 hours another, and then, most recently, Hand-Foot-Mouth disease which I think I picked up at a church picnic.  If you've ever had it, you know the pain and suffering I went through with that!  I hope all these illnesses don't have an adverse affect on baby.

I got a couple of pictures yesterday, back in my parents' beautiful back yard.

I had my first appointment with the local OB's office last week.  Turns out that they don't do VBACs, so if I want to deliver at the hospital that's a mile from my house, I'll have a C-Section scheduled the week before my due date (September 14).  I'm sad about this - I like the idea of at least laboring a bit - but not sure I really want to travel 30 or more minutes for appointments at other hospitals and to deliver.  So, we'll see what happens.  Other than that, I do hear good things about the practice.

As you can tell, we still don't know what we're having.  Kyalo is still mostly adamant about having a sister, though recently he said, "I want a brudder AND a sister!"  and someone asked me if he was seeing into the future.  I don't think he is.  One more seems like enough for me!!  What do you think I'm having?  I really have no motherly instinct on this.

Lastly, I got this great picture of Dexter and Kyalo yesterday afternoon as well.

July 5, 2014  Kyalo, 3 years, 3 months

grand tour

OK, so grand tour is definitely a misnomer. This is really more like the before tour, the oh-boy-what-have-we-gotten-ourselves-into tour of our new abode in Maine.

These shots were taken quickly yesterday morning, a grey day in Maine, so they aren't the greatest, but will give you a glimpse into what we're working with.

First up: the kitchen

This is already a work in progress, as you can see. Dexter was in Maine for a week before us, and in the house, so he was able to do a lot of sanding and painting of the wood cabinets.  With 24 cabinets/drawers there's a LOT to be done.  Sanding, painting, painting, painting, hanging, adding hardware.  It is more work than either of us really thought through!

 please note the dishwasher - moving up in the world!

That green wall? Formica!!  If you have any idea how to cover it/get rid of it, let me know!

Love this little nook.  There's not a whole lot of natural light coming in through those windows, though, so we're glad to lighten the place up with white paint.  The stove and microwave reside to the left of this picture.

Off of the kitchen to one side is the dining room and a bathroom with a shower.

again, not a whole lot of natural light here, and that light fixture hangs really really low.  Even still, we don't have much in the way of plans to redo it.

the previous owners already redid this bathroom, so I think we'll leave it as is.

The Laundry Room/Office.  

I'm pretty excited about having a dryer in the house!  We'll try to find a desk to put under the shelves there and make that our office space.  

On the other side of the kitchen is the living room.

complete with a pouty baby, and our itty bitty couch and coffee table!

And then, the entry way (foyer?)  that they've recently drywalled and primed. We're working on a paint color.

That stove in the corner is a pellet stove, to keep us warm through the winter

For some perspective, here's how it looked when we first saw the house:

Much, much better, no?

The stairs are definitely a work in progress, something the previous family is still working on, I think.  Or maybe they've just decided they've done enough and will leave them as is:

that works, right?  :)

Upstairs is a little quirky because the house was originally a two family home, so there's the remnants of  a full kitchen there.  The previous couple used it for their master bath in a way, so I guess that's what we'll do for now, too.  

That's the master bedroom.  The previous couple had a King Size bed in there, so even though it looks small, there's plenty of space. Our full size is going to look puny!  The maroony-brown paint color is too dark/heavy for us, so we're going with a light grey wall and a dark blue rug, which will be delivered Thursday morning.  In the meantime, we're camping out in Kyalo's room!

 Here's what I'm calling the powder room.  We (Dexter) will likely paint this grey as well, just to tie it in  with the master.  

A narrow, mustard yellow bathroom. At least it has a claw-foot tub!  No plans for this room yet.

The nursery:

Mike & Deb, the owners, are priming this for us because the room was a deep pinky-purple color:

I'm not sure this picture does it justice, but at least you get a sense of it.  Since the wood floors are painted a silver/grey color, we're going to go with a pale green color in there.  I'm hoping it will feel calm and peaceful! {And, of course, that the baby will SLEEP in there :) }

Rooms not photographed:  Kyalo's room - we're all living there right now so it is basically chaos - the attic room, which we think we'll turn into some kind of guest room.  

I have a lot of dreams for this house, but realistically, a) we're renters so don't want to spend all our money here, b) we're having a baby in 10 weeks, c) Dexter works full time and Kyalo doesn't play independently so there's not much I'll be able to do.  So with limited resources I hope we can make this place feel like HOME and OURS.  Even if we're only here a year or so.

Now, who wants to come help Dexter paint??