2 year olds will argue about anything…

Jack’s friend Abby is over today, and while they enjoy playing together, the natural tendency of those of this age to fuss and argue is always an issue. I can understand arguing about who gets to open and close the garage, who is the owner of a particular lump of Play-Doh, and even whose turn it is to play with the lid to the hairspray can, but… when we descend to arguing about who gets to flush Abby’s peepee down the toilet I think we’ve gone over the edge. Somehow the explanation that it’s Abby’s peepee and she gets to decide if she wants to flush the toilet or if she wants to pass on that particular pleasure, just does not get through to Jack. Of course, that may be partly due to the fact that he boo-hooed so loudly about the whole issue that he couldn’t hear me explaining that to him.

Jack @ 33 Months

This month has been incredibly trying with Jack. It seems we’re in a new testing phase and he’s pushing this battle of wills to the outer limits. Mark and I are working on being absolutely consistent with the discipline, because we know that’s the only way we’re going to achieve some measure of peace around here. I’m just praying that we can get through the worst of this before David comes along.

Singing a lovely aria with a double-cheeked piano accompaniment

Jack has always been an early riser, and so am I, so that’s not so terrible. But, since we’ve been here he’s been waking up between 6-6:30am every day, and that’s just TOO early as I look down the road a couple of months at the coming nights when sleep will be scarce. He responds well to sound cues indicating when things should happen, such as the mantle clock “bonging” and telling us we have to go to bed, or the timer going “ding” to tell us we have to get out of the tub. It’s amusing really- if I tell him it’s time to get out of the tub, he screams and fights about it, but if I set the timer, when it dings, he almost never fights about getting out. Anyway… knowing this, I bought him a CD clock radio, and put in a Laurie Berkner CD to serve as the alarm. It’s only been a couple of days, but I think it’s going to work well. I don’t really care when he wakes up, but the rule is that it is not morning time until Laurie starts singing, and he may not get out of his bed. I’ve set the alarm for 6:45 for now, but my goal is to get to at least 7am. It took a couple of weeks being out of the crib, but Jack has finally figured out that he doesn’t have to call for me to get him out of bed. This morning, he came into the bedroom at 6am: “I climbed out Mommy!” I sent him right back to bed and reminded him that it was not morning yet, and he must stay in bed until he heard Laurie Berkner, and I didn’t hear a peep until then!

Jack’s current raison d’être is the garage door. He lives to open and close it. I was trying to wake him up from an extra long nap the other day, and just couldn’t convince him to wake up, until I said “we need to go to the store, do you want to open the garage?” Like Lazarus from his tomb when Jesus said “come forth!”, Jack woke from his dead sleep and ran for the garage.

There may already be signs of the coming jealousy when David comes along… when I pull up my shirt a bit baring my tummy so Jack can feel (or see) David kicking, Jack might put his hand there briefly, but has very little interest, and soon gets frustrated saying, “can you close your tummy Mommy?! Need to play toys!”

Up to no good

Boys will be boys?

I had my first appointment today with my new OB here in Dallas, and really liked him. When he asked if we knew what we were having and I told him it was another boy, he said, “Well, at least they’ll keep each other busy beating each other up.” He proceeded to tell me about when he and his brother (2.5 years older) were young, his brother beat him so bad one day that both of his eyes swelled shut for several days. When he could finally see again, young Jeffrey waited for his brother to get home from school with a rake in hand. The end of the wooden handle had been broken off and what was left was pretty sharp. As his brother came towards the house, he threw the rake at him as one might throw a javelin. The rake went into his brother’s mouth and exited through his cheek, and IMPALED him to a tree.

And I thought the fact that Mark still had BBs embedded in his back from when he and his brother used to try and kill each other was bad…

An old friend and a new friend

One of the nicest things about being here in the Dallas area so far is seeing my best friend from high school and college frequently. Sheila is only 20 minutes away, and we’re both trying to get through the day with a 2 year old, so we’ve seen a lot of each other this week. Her daughter (exactly 1 month older) and Jack have played together really well, considering they both firmly subscribe to the Toddler Rules of Ownership:
1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine.
9. If it’s yours and I steal it, it’s mine.

It’s really interesting to see the difference in Jack playing with a girl vs. with a boy. When Jack’s friend Micah would come over to play, before we moved, he had a decidedly male, competitive, sort of territorial response. They had a great time together, but there were constant battles, most of which seemed to be Jack’s issues with another boy being on his “home turf”. With Abby he’s entirely different. He shares much better and just responds to her differently. Maybe it partly has to do with spending so much time with Emily… who knows. Anyway, he’s enjoying having a new friend.

Here’s a picture of them in the sandbox, just before they mutually decided that it would be a great idea to move all the sand over to the little picnic table.

Settling in

Well, almost all the boxes are unpacked and things are put away for the most part. We are enjoying having more space in our master bedroom, and are glad to now have a spare bedroom for company and extra storage. We have so much junk (as anyone who helped us pack the truck will tell you). Thank goodness for the garage. It has some extra storage space, and though it is just a garage and a half really, Mark is able to squeeze both cars in there.

Here’s a picture of the house. It’s not much to look at, but it’s been well maintained and we’re grateful for a comfortable place to live. My parents have been a huge help, especially in getting the yard into shape. The back yard was overrun with weeds, but it already looks much better. The front yard was not bad, and Mom prettied it up with some flowers. Isn’t that a great tree? It will be nice to have some shade during the summer months when we’re baking in the heat.

There is a little boy next door who is just a couple of months older than Jack, and the boys have already been talking and playing ball across the fence. There is a park within just a couple of blocks, and the big park in town has the largest playground I’ve ever seen, and also has a “sprayground” with water fountains and sprayers, etc. that will be fun during the summer.

Jack has made the switch from the crib to a twin bed. We had bought him a cool bed tent over a year ago, and he really likes it. Though he has been rather clingy to me since we moved and has done more screaming and whining than usual since we’ve been here, he has made the transition very well. I’m sure he appreciates the fact that we are no longer telling him to have “quiet feet” every other minute to try and keep him from disturbing the grumpy neighbors below us.

Mark’s commute to work has not been bad - about 45 minutes. He likes the people he’s working with, and enjoys the fact that his boots are no longer a “fashion statement” but a fairly normal thing to see in the workplace!

Buried in boxes

We’re here! It took about 21 hours travel time over 2 days (we stopped a lot to keep my pregnant legs from swelling and to wake up from the mind-numbing boredom of staring at the rear end of a Penske truck).  We were glad to pull into the driveway and get out of the cars for good. Jack did really well on the trip, and didn’t seem to mind getting back into the car when it was time to go again. We were really grateful that Mom was here to help with the packing and driving- we could not have done it without her. She drove Mark’s car and we followed behind Mark driving the moving truck.

The movers were scheduled to arrive on Friday morning, but we ended up leaving earlier from our hotel in West Memphis than expected, so we called and it turned out they had a crew that was available to meet us at the house when we arrived on Thursday late afternoon. It was SO NICE to drive up and have them immediately start unloading so we could sleep on comfortable beds that night after the horrible tiny hotel beds. The only reason we made it here as early as we did was that one of the cats started yowling at about 5:30am and wouldn’t stop. We finally gave up and got out of bed since we couldn’t sleep through the the racket he was making. We jokingly speculated that maybe God sent an angel to disturb him so we would be able to get here in time to get the stuff unloaded!

There’s no way I can express how grateful we are for those who took Galatians 6:2 literally, helping to bear the burden of the furniture and boxes on Monday night as the truck was loaded, and for all the packing help that Mom and Laura provided. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be around for the fun of loading the truck, as Jack was dealing with a lovely intestinal virus that was thankfully very short-lived.

More to come… must get to bed since it’s after midnight and we’re getting up early to drive down to visit the church we went to while I was in high school. Should be fun looking for some familiar faces!

Getting ready to roll

Well, there no doubt we’re moving in a couple of days. There are boxes everywhere and many more left to be packed. My mother and sister have been very helpful over the past week, and we’re especially grateful that Mom flew back up from Texas to help with this move. Last time we packed up an apartment we were moving from Chicago and Jack was 4 weeks old and it was just us, so we certainly appreciate how much easier it is with people here to help.

We took a trip to Dallas just over a week ago and found a house to rent after a very frustrating day of searching with a local realtor. The lease market is very tight right now, so we were grateful to find one. We are REALLY looking forward to saying goodbye to apartment living and downstairs neighbors who come up and threated to call the police because Jack is running around up here like a normal 2 year old boy. Jack will have a fenced in backyard to run around in down there, and we’ll have a garage to park in, and even a spare bedroom! Jack and David (have I mentioned we’re naming him David?) are going to share a room once David gets to the point of sleeping through the night.

Say a prayer for no rain on Tuesday evening while we’re loading the truck!

A perfect day for sledding

This morning, since church was canceled, we went to the home of some RBC friends to enjoy some sledding. It was a PERFECT day for it. Not too cold… nice and sunny…

Jack had a good time for a while, especially riding down the hill with our friend Stephanie.

I even went down once- here I am just about to get a face full of snow. Once was enough… it was more fun taking pictures.

I’m not going to post all the pictures here - it’s nicer to look at them in Flickr. If you click on the ‘View as Slideshow’ link on the top right of the page, you can view them more easily.

Hugs

Don’t move to Texas Jack!!!

Okay Jack, you can let go now…

This is why I love the internet

We’re looking at some listings from a realtor of homes for lease in the north Dallas area, and as we googled the addresses to get a clear picture of where they are on the map, some of them have street level views in Google maps. We can see exactly what the neighborhoods look like on many of them, and even “virtually” drive around the area and see what’s around. Check this one out for example. You click on the “street view” link next to the little picture, and then click on the arrows on the street to drive around the area. Your little orange guy moves along the map, so you always know where you are as you go. How cool is that?

Here we go again…

About two weeks ago, Mark heard of an open position in his company at their location in Dallas, TX that was similar to what he is doing now. As he has wanted to move to Texas ever since we took our first trip there soon after we got married, cost of living is better, and since his whole department may get moved to Delaware or offshored to India sometime this year, he looked into it. Fast forward to yesterday… they hired him and we’re moving in a month. [Gulp]

Moving to Dallas is like moving home for me, in a lot of ways. I went to high school just south of Dallas and went to college just north of Dallas, and I have a couple of friends I’m still in touch with who still live there, one of whom is my best friend. So… if I have to move anywhere, I guess Dallas is the place I’d want to be- it’s a really good place to live. We sure hate that it’s SO FAR away from my family though. That’s nothing to dwell on though, as I want to always follow Paul’s example from Phillipians 4:11, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

The last time we drove to Texas was when my grandmother died 3 years ago, and I was about this far along in my pregnancy with Jack. We didn’t realize that I needed to be getting out and walking around more often, and my legs swelled up to ridiculous proportions. Funny that we’re repeating the trip while pregnant again. We’ve already got a house-hunting trip booked for Mark and the moving truck reserved, so we made good progress on things last night. We’re loading up the evening of Tuesday, March 25th and hope to move into our new place in Dallas on that Friday.

So, say a prayer for us, especially as Mark looks for a place for us in a couple of weeks. We really need to get into a house if at all possible. Boys need a place to run around, as I have learned, and with another one on the way, we’re praying we’ll have a yard. I’m just hoping I can get through this next month without my pregnancy hormones running wild and making me cry at the merest mention of leaving those I love here…. shoot, there I go again… where is the box of tissues?!

How to care for baby

Finding this site is well-timed, as I needed a refresher course before baby #2 arrives this summer.  Here are some examples of their baby care tips:

It’s a boy!

We had the ultrasound today and everything looks perfect. Very easy to tell that he is a boy. They had 4D ultrasound capabilities, so we got a couple of pictures that look a little creepy, but nice to be able to see his face. So… any name suggestions? Mark is VERY picky when it comes to boy names.

Jack @ 31 Months

Another month has flown by, and Jack continues to entertain, challenge and amaze us. While he still is very strong willed and throws a tantrum now and then, he finally understands the concept of needing to be in his room until he calms down. I can put him in his room when he loses his cool, and most of the time, he will stay in there a while screaming out his frustration, and then get over it and come out and say “I calmed down Mommy.”

He is very visual, and his memory of things he has seen in the past sort of amazes me. He was looking at Mark’s mother’s cross necklace yesterday, and said “that’s at the church!” We’ve never pointed out the cross before, but he remembered where he had seen it. My mother bought me a white blouse while we were in Texas, and while we were there I tried it on briefly and told Jack I was going to show Mommaw that it fit. I had it on for maybe 2 minutes and took it off again. This morning I pulled it out of the closet for the first time since we got back almost 3 weeks ago, and Jack pointed to it and said “you going to show Mommaw it fits?”

I keep trying to get Jack to sing some songs, but he just doesn’t want to much. Lately, he’ll sing the alphabet song with me, but for some reason he feels he must put his hands over his eyes when he sings. It’s like he’s shy about singing or something.

Daddy finally got to buy Jack some boots yesterday- they’re cute on him:

He rewarded Daddy by asking him in a nice loud voice this morning in the church foyer after Mark came out of the bathroom, “did you go peeepeeeee Daddy?”