Guilty Pleasures

1. Mall pretzels - they are why I go to the mall. I get the cinnamon and sugar pretzel with a side of light cream cheese and a diet coke. Sometimes this counts as my lunch. Yeah, I like to keep things classy.

Auntie Anne's is my favorite, but I'll eat Wetzel's if you twist my arm.

2. Diet Coke - It's just so good. Yo's first gift to me was a 12-pack of DC. He knew the way to my heart. When I was pregnant with Kai I didn't have more than a sip or two of soda. This time around I've decided to limit myself...not deprive myself entirely. Some days I do better than others.

3. The Bachelor(ette) - I know it's mind-numbing, contrived, and never works out, but I don't care. It is entertaining and sometimes I catch myself grinning a goofy grin as I watch complete strangers "fall in love" on the small screen. I don't have any personal investment in the romances that do or do not develop during the course of a season, but I can appreciate the cute moments that happen week-to-week as much as the next girl. (To make up for my poor taste in TV shows, I'm a total movie snob.)

4. Amazon - I'm working on curbing my addiction and dependency on Amazon now that I'm not working (ok, I work, I just don't make any money if you want to get technical). But it's not easy. You can buy anything on Amazon... with the click of a button... and have it delivered for free 2 short days later. It's amazing.

5.  Nap times - Unfortunately I'm not a napper. It is a rare occasion that I can lie down during the day and actually fall asleep. But I sure do appreciate Kai's nap times...which can be 2 or even 3 hours long. Sometimes I use nap times to get things done, but usually nap time is ME time. I watch dumb TV, blog, surf the net or lay in bed and think about how nice it would be to be able to close my eyes and actually fall asleep (oh how I envy you, Yo).

Counting sheep...

Like I shared before, Kai transitioned to his big boy bed brilliantly. But for the first couple of weeks he started getting up a little bit earlier and earlier each morning.

When his 7:00 AM wake-up turned into 6:45, Yo and I figured that we would just deal with it. But when that turned into 6:30 then 6:15 then 6:00, we knew we had to do something. The day that Kai came bounding into our room 5:45 AM, we were about ready to throw in the the towel and put him back in the crib, but then I came across this...

It's like an alarm clock for toddlers. The picture of the sheep sleeping is illuminated until whatever time you set the alarm for and then it illuminates the picture of the "daytime sheep". I figured that it was at least worth a try.

It has worked like a charm!

Every night when Kai goes to bed, we remind him that he cannot get up until the sheep gets up and every morning Kai waits patiently in his bed until 7:00 AM...on the dot...when the sheep "wakes up." Then he runs into our room and announces, "It's day time! The sheep is awake!"

Best. Purchase. Ever.

Kai's big boy room

Do you remember that time that I wrote about my plan to have Kai share his room with his baby brother? And how I was so excited about the bunk beds and dressers that we bought to go in that room? Well, plans have changed.

Before I ordered this new furniture I meticulously measured Kai's room and every piece of furniture I intended to go in it. I then used a fancy app to figure out how it was all going to fit into Kai's room. This is what I came up with:

Cute, right? Unfortunately, what I visualized on screen, did not translate so well when the furniture was delivered. Once the beds and dressers were assembled they left almost no floor space in the room.

Let's be honest, I could have made the room work (while HATING it the entire time), but would that really make sense when we have a 4 bedroom house to begin with?

Yo came home from work excited to see the beds, but could tell from my face that we had more to discuss. Before the night was over, I convinced him to let me pack up our guestroom furniture and turn that room into a nursery for the new baby. When I originally mentioned the room change-up Yo looked at me wearily and asked, "We don't have to do this tonight, do we?"

"Of course not!" I answered.

Despite what Yo thinks, I have some restraint. In fact I not only waited until the morning, but 5 whole minutes after Yo had left for work, before I started tearing my house apart.

While Yo was gone, I:
Disassembled a queen-sized bed and removed it piece-by-piece from the guest room; Packed up the rest of the guest room furniture and knick knacks; Emptied two closets; Disassembled, moved and reassembled the crib; Moved (1) bunk bed, (2) dressers, (3) bookshelves, (1) changing table, (2) rugs, (1) glider and miscellaneous room decor 1,000,000 times over until I had everything situated just right in both rooms (it was nothing); Installed (2) window treatments; Put pictures on walls, toys on shelves, and otherwise cute-i-fied the rooms; Organized the closets and dresser drawers; And, in my crowning achievement of the day, managed to get two single mattresses onto the bunk beds--top and bottom. That took a little creativity. 

Yo came home to two totally redecorated rooms and one very self-satisfied wife.

He was a good sport about it, acting only mildly annoyed. Let's just say that this wasn't the first time he came home to a "new" house after leaving unsuspectingly for work in the morning.

Here's the fruit of my labor....

I love how it turned out, and it seems like Kai does, too. He is spending more time playing in his room than ever. As for the nursery, I still have a few finishing touches to add, so stay tuned for a future reveal!

Like mother like son...

I grabbed my camera to capture Kai merrily sweeping. Yes, this is our idea of fun around here. But I had to share when my dialogue with Kai went an unexpected direction. Disclaimer: I did not coach or prompt Kai in any way. This is all him....

Kaari, if Kai and Beezie end up together someday, you know I'm playing this at the wedding.

Feeling spoiled...

My boys came through on Mother's Day in a big way. Thanks to a very thoughtful husband I am the proud new owner of this:

Honestly, I could kiss the genius who created a contraption to mop my floors at the push of a button. So now I can lie in bed watching The Bachelorette and feel totally productive knowing that my floors are simultaneously being swept and mopped. I'm in heaven.

So drop by anytime, unannounced. Me and my clean floors are ready for you.

And yes, Oslo, this means that you get to stay, too.

That face

I am a total sucker for this little face........

Gettting bigger....

It has been a landmark few weeks for my BIG boy, Kai. When I found out I was expecting back in the fall, there were a few goals that I hoped to accomplish with Kai before the baby was born. First, I wanted to break his binky habit. Second, I wanted to transition him to a big boy bed (mostly because I didn't want to buy another crib). Third, I figured we'd at least begin a dialogue about potty training and see if it piqued Kai's interest enough to give it a real go sometime this summer.

As I reported a few weeks back, Kai is officially binky-free. I am also happy to share that he is now sleeping in his big boy bed (even for naps, miraculously!), and last week he went in his potty for the first time!

We've had his potty for a while and he's asked to sit on it for months now, but showed interest in actually "going" on the potty... until we bribed him with a cool truck that he'd been asking for. We bought the truck and told him that he'd be allowed to play with it when he went to the bathroom in his potty for the first time.

Apparently that incentive was all that he needed because it only took a couple of hours before he made it happen.

One proud boy playing with his new truck

After his initial success, we created a sticker chart for Kai. Every time he goes in his potty he gets a sticker and for every 8 stickers he gets a little reward. The sticker chart has been a big success. Kai is going on his potty several times a day at his own request and racking up the stickers like crazy. At this rate, Kai might be well on his way toward potty training before the baby comes.

When did he get so big?

So right now, I'm sitting here feeling really proud of my little man. I'm also realizing that with all of this focus on preparing Kai to be a big brother, I've only got a couple more months to enjoy having him as the baby of our family.

The bump....

Yesterday I was looking at the calendar when it struck me that I have less than 3 months to go in this pregnancy. As much as I'm not a fan of being pregnant in general, I have to admit that this pregnancy has been flying by in undramatic fashion. One week seems to blur into the next, and all I have to show for it is an increasingly rounding mid-section.

Between work and church and keeping up with my very active two-year-old, there haven't been very many quiet moments to sit and think about the little boy that I will be meeting in a few short months. Poor little guy, not even born yet and he is already being over-shadowed by his big brother. So I thought I'd take just a moment to reflect on my pregnancy and all things related to preparations for #2.

1. Second time around and I'm still not a fan of pregnancy (as ridiculously easy as my pregnancies have been), but I am more prepared this time around. I've got plenty of maternity clothes and instead of waiting around for that pregnancy glow that everyone talks about I'm faking it with an awesome bronzing illuminator by NARS. Feel free to admire my glow next time you see me. It only cost me $24.99

 
2. Now that I'm in my last trimester, I finally feel like I'm allowed to "nest".  With this gal, nesting is not some weird instinct that kicks in during the last trimester. Rather it's a convenient name for a compulsion that inconveniently resides in me year round, whether I'm pregnant or not. Last week I figured out the layout for the boys' new bedroom. This past weekend I reorganized all of our closets. Today I took all of Kai's old baby clothes out of storage to begin sorting and washing them. At this rate, I'll be ready for baby 2 by next weekend... Then what will I do?

3. It's been harder to get excited about this baby since I'm having a boy and don't get to buy all sorts of new baby things in preparation. So instead, I've thrown all of my creative energies into redoing Kai's room so he can share it with his little brother. After some persuading, I convinced Yo to let me get bunk beds and some matching dressers for the new room. Opting for quality, I am planning on this furniture to last my boys for many years to come. I don't want to give everything away before the big room reveal, but I found some inspiration for the design in this picture:

 
4. We finally found a baby name that stuck. I've shared it with a few of you, but in general we are not yet ready to share it with the world. What I am happy to share is that it is NOT one of the following: Armand, Erling, Edvard, Ludvik or Magnus. These were Yo's contributions to the great name debate. So when we do reveal our (awesome) name, if there are any dissenters out there, just remember the alternatives and know that we had the best interest of our child in mind. (For all of you Magnus supporters...and there were more of you than there should have been!... while I did not jump on the Magnus band wagon, I've agreed that Yo can name his next dog Magnus. Magnus and Oslo go together way better than Magnus and Kai.)

Now, Magnus and Maximus would have been a different story. If only we'd had the foresight.

5. Most people consider a certain perkiness that pregnancy brings to be a real perk. I am not a fan of any of my bumps growing. So pardon my cleavage. It makes me more uncomfortable than you I promise.

6. Turns out I get a few less common pregnancies symptoms. For one, my right eye tends to twitch. This happened when I was pregnant with Kai, but I wrote it off to a highly stressful job. But when the same twitch recurred in the same eye at exactly the same point in this pregnancy I realized it might be from pregnancy itself. It is sooooooo annoying. But luckily seems to have passed.

7. My favorite pregnancy symptom is that my leg hair basically stops growing. Seriously, I can go 3 weeks between shaves. Let's be honest, I may have gone 3 weeks between shaves on occasion before I was pregnant, but now I barely have stubble to show for my laziness. Which is such a relief because it was hard enough to shave my legs in my overly small shower before I had a belly to work around.

So that's where I'm at. I'm glad that I'm in the final leg of this thing and glad that I still have a few months left to enjoy life as I currently know it (and to sleep). But I'm also getting more and more excited to have a baby in my life again. And I'm so curious to meet this little guy and to see how he is similar to and different from Kai. Here's to a happy, fun-filled summer and a happy, healthy 3rd trimester!

How can you look at this little guy and not want a newborn in your life?