The Baby in the Belly- 31 Weeks!

Well, here it is- the belly at 31 weeks!

It's... well... it's big! My husband made the comment last night that he doesn't remember me being a whole lot bigger than that when I had Roman, and I still have 2 months left! Ahhhh!!! And I haven't even gained a ton of weight yet, reasonable, but not a ton! I gained over 40 lbs with Roman, so we'll see! I am just carrying this babe so differently!

I can say that I have been a little bit more stable and pulled together this week- I don't know if my husband would say the same thing, but I am feeling a little bit more on my game. Yesterday was very productive for me- lots of nesting, cleaning and organizing. In fact, my trusty little sidekick even pitched in and helped me out far more than I ever expected! Here he is helping me mop!

He also helped me cart things up and down the stairs (a huge help!) and he pulls the clothes out of the dryer for me so I don't have to bend over (also very nice)! All in all we have been giving Roman more responsibilities, such as making his bed, putting his clothes in the laundry room and taking his dishes to the sink after meals. He has been doing really well with all of it and has even had a cheery attitude about it!

All Roman's progress with his new chores has given me high hopes for how helpful he will be after the baby arrives! We have been talking a lot about he can help by grabbing me diapers and being patient while I am nursing, and he seems to be responding well and understanding, at least in a small way, what is to come. He even told me a few days ago that he just wanted his brother or sister to be here! It was so sweet! I am sure the wait has seemed impossibly long for him!

Other than my cleaning and general planning for the birth, I have also been putting a dent in my knitting for the baby. I finished the "just in case it's a girl" newborn hat a few days ago, and the "just in case it's a boy" newborn longies are almost done! I hope to have both sets up in a Knit Bits meme by the end of the week, so stay tuned!

Until next week... wish me well... and pray that the stretch marks stay at bay!!

An Interview With Roman! (Highly Insightful!)

So there is a note circulating on Facebook for you to interview your toddler about yourself and I thought it would be funny to see just what Roman would have to say about me, so we gave it a go! Here it is...


1. What is something mommy always says to you?
Roman: It's mama's belly! (he was seeing my profile picture while answering) Come out the baby! And it be a superhero baby!

2. What makes mommy happy?
Roman: Happy with your belly!

3. What makes mommy sad?
Roman: Sad with your baby is your cry (apparently everything relates to the baby or the belly!)

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
Roman: blazubadubadubazoobdoo! Haha- I talkin' to you!

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
Roman: Umm... I don't Know! I gonna go downstaris and daddys gonna give me my red truck!

6. How old is your mommy?
Roman: You too old!

7. How tall is your mommy?
Roman: Your tall with the ceiling!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Roman: You like to do flips! With my big Ya-Ya (a song he likes)!!!

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around?
Roman: I don't know! I do know- Ice cream!

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Roman: For a baby!

11. What is your mommy really good at?
Roman: You're really good and I just love you!

12. What is your mommy not very good at?
Roman: Your not very good with your belly (once again, looking at the computer!)

13. What does your mommy do for a job?
Roman: A trailer hitch!

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
Roman: Your favorite food is all gone!
Mama: But what is it?
Roman: It's the food babies eat when they're hungry.

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
Roman: I don't know.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Roman: You a character with my Sesame Street!

17. What do you and your mommy do together?
Roman: Umm... I don't know.

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
Roman: Ummmm... I love you!

19. How are you and your mommy different?
Roman: I love you different!

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
Roman: What? I love you and another one I say I love you and a not done! Nine! (you got me! Your guess is as good as mine!)

21. What does your mommy like most about your dad?
Roman: What you do with my daddy is go home.

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go?
Roman: Go Hawaii!!

Our best Totschool Week Yet!

Wow- what a week for Tot School! We did so many great activities that I recently got off the web (namely at 1+1+1=1 and Totally Tots) and Roman LOVED them! (Check out this site for some really helpful ideas and explanation of tot-trays- the main idea we were running with this week) Every activity was a hit with him and many of them he put his own spin on which was so fun to see!

W started off the week with color hopscotch. We set pieces of construction paper all around the living room and I told Roman to jump on the color when I called it out. I quickly learned that my wording seriously influenced the outcome of this activity- you see, all Roman wanted to do was jump over the colors and never really stopped to listen what I was telling him!
However, as soon as I told him that I wanted him to find the color I called out and just stand on it, he did MUCH better. At that point we started to have much for fun and he actually concentrated on what we were doing!
He also had fun adding his tractor to this activity! He decided to drive his tractor to the colors I called out, and when we were done he picked up every color with his tractor and brought it to me. We will definitely be doing this activity again and will probably try different versions as well (such as numbers, letters and shapes). I also want to eventually buy colored foam sheets to use instead of the construction paper so that they will hold up a little better.
Painting was another first for us this week and also a HUGE hit! Roman got to wear one of daddy's shirts (which he kept on all day!) and loved showing off his art work!
Later in the week he had a lot of fun working with paste and turning his painting into a birthday card for daddy. I printed some birthday related clip art off the internet and he pasted them on the card, that he then proudly presented to daddy with a rousing toddler rendition of "Happy Birthday to You!"
We worked on the Letter V worksheet I made for him (the letter with pictures of words that begin with that letter) and he tolerated it, however quickly moved on to other things. This is a hit and miss activity- he likes it more some weeks than others.
We laced shape cards that I made out of cardstock for him. They quickly became flying numchucks though in his crazy little toddler hands, so we moved on!
The bean bowl was a huge hit- I mean HUGE! To start with he helped me pour an assortment of beans and lentils into a large bowl (super cheap at Walmart). I then hid a bunch of small cars in the bean for him to fish through and find. He loved running his fingers through them to find his prizes.
Once he had re-hidden and found the cars himself a few times he wanted to move onto stirring so he went and found a whisk and stirred those beans for probably a half and hour! It was just so much fun to him! On another day I gave him a funnel and a cup to work with in the bowl along with whisk, which we also immensely enjoyed.
We beaded pipe cleaners another day. He was surprisingly better at this than I had anticipated him being, after he started concentrating- at first he just wanted to fill up with truck and trailer with beads!
This week I am looking forward to adding cutting, sorting, and more counting and letter activities. Should be another great week!

Letters and Love!

The past week and a half or so we have been incorporating lots of ideas I have found on my favorite Tot-Schooling blogs: 1+1+1=1 and Totally Tots! I love the constant inspiration I get from these blogs and it helps to keep Roman's interest as well!

Our first new activity has been pages for a letter notebook. Basically, what I do is make a page with a certain letter and pictures of words that begin with that letter. I then tell Roman to find the different pictures which he then "circles." So far, we have worked on letters "O" & "L". Along with letter recognition this has been a great way to work on his speech. Granted, he is not even three yet, but it was the perfect time to get him to say his "L"s better- we had him stick his tongue way out when he said the names of the pictures so that he made an "L" sound instead of a "W." He especially loves having his work up on the fridge to show off! Much to my surprise he even traced inside the lines of the "O" all by himself!
Another way we worked on letters was with these Thomas the Train flash cards my grandma just gave us (one of the many awesome learning hand-me-downs we just received from her that belonged to my cousin!). Roman's favorite activity with the cards is to hammer them! We set a bunch of cards out and I call out a letter- he then tries to find the letter and hammer it before I grab it away. He loves this game- just the kind of high-activity thing he needs to stay interested!

Our other main tool this week has been our LOVE poster! We got this idea from this post on Totally Tots. We have 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 hung above the poster and an envelope with a bunch of hearts- each of which has a different aspect of love written on it as described in the verse. Every day (or every other day) Roman gets to choose a new heart out of the envelope and paste it on the poster. We then talk about what that heart means and review all the others. We try to do some practical activity to demonstrate what the concept means and continuously talk about whatever concept we are working on throughout the day. Much to my surprise, one night before bed Roman actually told me that he needed to be patient for morning so he could do the next day's activities! I guess something is getting in that little head! It is always nice to have those rewarding moments when you know all you are working with them on is not in vain!

This next week I am very excited to work on a few other awesome ideas from the blogs I have mentioned above, including lacing cards, stringing beads, pouring things and transferring! Stay tuned!

A little Creme Brule' Anyone?

This week I have tried to keep TotSchool as hands-on and active as possible, since that typically seems to be how my energetic little man thrives the best! Being that he is also a very musical kid we decided to bring out his musical instruments, pop on a kid's Bible songs CD and let him have at it! His favorite, this particular morning, happened to be his drum, which he beat so wildly that I am sure even the neighbors could hear the ruckus (but then again, that is probably nothing new for them)!
He did manage to sit (or stand, rather) at the table for a bit and do some coloring in his Bible stories coloring book. I was amazed when he found a picture of an old man in a robe and said "Mama! It's Moses!!" It was ACTUALLY a picture of Noah, but hey, I'll take it anyway! I was just so impressed that he even knew the name of the old testament character that I was beyond thirlled!

The last good 3/4 of the time he spent "coloring" was actually put towards connecting all of his markers end-to-end, but he was having fun and experimenting with color, so once again- I'll take it!

This morning we attempted to make Creme Brule' for a treat for dad when he gets home from work today. I say attempted because our oven has been on the fritz lately and in order for it to stay hot at all you have to set the temperature above 400, which doesn't tend to work too well when your recipe calls for 350! Up to the actual baking part, though, everything was going great! Roman helped me pour in all the ingredients...

and stir them up... and then use the strainer as a hat... and as though he was a Samurai warrior!
All in all, it has actually been a fairly good TotSchool week! Oh, and if your oven does happen to be working, here is our Creme Brule' recipe- it really is amazing when cooked correctly!

Creme Brule'
1 Pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 Tbsp Vanilla extract

Topping: 4 Tbsp sugar to 1 tspbrown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Heat cream over low heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan.
3. Beat egg yoks and sugar together until thick and smooth, about 3 minutes.
4. Gradually beat egg/sugar mixture into cream.
5. Stir in Vanilla and pour through fine strainer into 6oz. custard cups.
6. Place custard cups in baking pan and add enough water to pan to measure about 1/2".
7. Bake until set, approximately 45 minutes.
8. Remove cups from water & refridgerate until chilled.
9. Sprinkle cups with2 tsp sugar blend each.
10. Place under broiler until top is medium brown.
11. Chill before serving
12. Enjoy!
    

What a great morning!

Well, I can genuinely say that Roman and I had a wonderful morning with lots of Tot School learning and activities going on! It all began at breakfast when, of his own accord, he began lining up his grape slices and counting them! I was so proud!

"See Mama? Two!"

From there we did our morning Bible reading in Matthew and then I did some work on the computer while he sat under the computer table looking at alphabet flash cards and books. I decided it would be fun to do some more hands-on crafty activities today (especially since our weather took a turn for windy and rainy today). So, upon Roman's request to play with play dough I decided we should make some again, since the batch we made in January has long since molded and been thrown out! We went with Red this time and thoroughly enjoyed squashing it through our fingers and making a variety of shapes out of it! Roman also requested that I make a spider (spiders are on the brain lately since we have had too HUGE ones in our downstairs bathroom since Sunday! Both of which, might I add, I had to kill! They are the cartoon character looking kind, with the big hairy bodies and spring-like legs that appear to be ready to jump at your face on a moments notice! Horrible! I refuse to shower downstairs until we can bomb!). For the complete directions on how to make this playdough you can check out this post.
From there, we thought it would also be fun to make some finger paints! I have been wanting to buy some for quite a while but have been hesitant about Roman smearing chemical-laden paint all over his arms just for a little artistic fun! This morning, however, it dawned on me, "Why don't I just make some finger paints?!" So, I went online and googled Homemade Finger Paints, and found this great site (along with many others). We went with this recipe, and although a bit gloopy (kind of like thick jello) it worked quite well and Roman LOVED it:

Cornstarch Fingerpaint
4 cups water (divided)
1 cup cornstarch
food coloring

Directions
In a medium saucepan, bring 3 cups water to a boil. Dissolve cornstarch in a separate bowl with 1 cup water. Remove boiling water from heat and add cornstarch mixture. Return to heat, stirring constantly. Boil until the mixture is translucent and thick (about 1 minute). Remove from heat.
As the mixture is cooling, divide into separate bowls and add food coloring. Let the child(ren) carefully mix in the coloring.

Hints:
1. Add 1 tbsp of glycerin to make the mixture shiny. You can find glycerin in most drugstores or pharmacies.

(these are the paints, pre-food coloring!)

See our Beautiful Masterpieces!

All in all, we made 8 different colors (since the recipe yielded quite a large amount of paint)- Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple, Orange, Black and Brown! Although when asked what color something is Roman without question answers, "BLUE," he is much better at picking out a certain color that you tell him to look for, making this the perfect color-identifying activity!
After we had tidied up our finger painting adventure, Roman helped me fix a scrumptious lunch of Turkey, Bacon, Ranch Wraps: ...which we both gobbled up and then headed downstairs (luckily, without any more spider encounters... yet) to do a little reading before Roman went down for his nap and I came up to work... and blog! Last week we took our first (successful) trip to the library, where we got a few books that Roman simply adores! His favorite new selections are Slithery Jake (a whimsical rhyming book about a little boy who looses his pet snake) and The Oak Inside the Acorn (which I think Roman really only likes because there are numerous trucks throughout the book). If nothing else, it has just been nice to mix some new titles into our reading times since we are trying to read an hour a day in order to complete our Library Summer Reading Program by the end of August (we signed up late and have to read 15 hours! Oops!).
So, here's to a terrific morning and hopes that Roman will wake up in an equally well-tempered and enthusiastic mood this afternoon!

Things I love!

Tonight I thought I would blog about some things I love!


First of all, I love my long lost friend Brooke, who I recently reconnected with (via Facebook of all crazy things) and who brought me a wonderful bounty from her parent's garden on Monday before she moved back to Michigan (sad :( ). Tonight we ate the green beans in a teriyaki/garlic/chili sauce and we had some of the zucchini and yellow squash in a teriyaki/sesame sauce over sticky rice! It was delicious! So thank you Brooke! You can all check out her cute blog @ This Ship Will Never Sink.

Next thing I love- beautiful fabric!! I just received my Pink by Post newsletter from Pick Chalk Fabrics and I want practically all of the new fabrics so badly! I can just picture a beautiful and trendy quilt, or an awesome table cloth, or even some beyond cute diapers (if I had a little girl!). The My Folklore fabrics and Mendocino are especially stunning- in my opinion! Anyway- I will try not to let myself get carried away, but man- I just love 'em!

Next thing I love- free movies!! Roman and I had a little mother-son date this morning at the Garland Theater for a free kid's showing of the Veggie Tales Movie- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. It was very cute- entertaining even for adults, and Roman LOVED it! He was so cute- totally absorbed! It was the first movie he has gone to in the theater that he has actually sat through and watched! I have heard a rumor that Horton Hears A Who will be playing in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we will be able to catch that one too!

Okay, another thing I love- the Library Summer Reading Program! It has really lit a fire under my butt to read more with Roman! I signed him up online and, as I have heard, once you complete 15 books or 15 hours of reading you get a prize that includes a pass to Mobius and a free book- both of which Roman would adore! Wish us luck as we aim for 1 hour a day of reading! I think I am going to drop by the library tomorrow for a fresh stack of books to keep both of us interested (although I am sure Roman would be perfectly content with reading Thomas and the Great Race and Millie's Secret over, and over, and over- I don't think I could keep my sanity!).

Alright, one more thing I love- The Word of Promise audio Bible! It is a dramatization of the word (but doesn not stray from the actual NKJV text) and is read by amazing actors, including Jim Caviezel and Jesus, Kimberly Williams-Paisly as Mary Mother of Jesus, Richard Dreyfus as Moses, and MANY more! It is so wonderful to have on in the house during the day- just being surrounded by the word instead of having the TV on as background noise. It is currently only available in the New Testament, but they are working on the Old Testament and it is very reasonably priced! I encourage you all to look into investing in a copy for your family!

Well, those are just some of the things I love! I would love to hear about some of the things that you love too! Leave a comment- or better yet, write a post and then leave a comment with your blog address in your comment! I look forward to hearing about the goodies you have to share!

Just one of those days!

Actually- I think I should start with last night. You see we went out to the Coeur d'Alene Street fair yesterday afternoon with Jer's parent's (where my parents also had a booth for their business- Labor of Love Creations). It was lots of fun to look at all of the booths (both good and bad) and of course to eat the food that can only be found at such events! My favorite was the chicken artichoke crepe with basil cream sauce- can you say YUM?!?! Anyway, when we got home, Roman insisted on washing his feet off before he went to bed, so I thought it would be fun to let him use my foot bath- compete with jets, Epsom salts, and Lavender Essential Oils. He loved it and what started out as a foot bath quickly became a full body endeavor! As he puts it "Mama, I washin' my hairs!" How can you resist that?!

Now onto today- aww yes, today! Well, to begin with- check out Roman's faux-hawk! Isn't it adorable?! I couldn't resist! Anyway, the day started off with lots of phone calls and general craziness and quickly became ridiculous as I ran my errands. First, at the bank drive through, I dropped the little container that you send your checks through with, which of course rolled under the car! So in front of rows packed full of cars I had to get out and crawl under my car to retrieve it! Just a little embarrassing, to say the least!

Next we went to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up a few supplies to make Roman some Ditto Daddy training pants (really cool training pants that look like boxers or boxer briefs- you can buy them pre-made or just the pattern- check them out here). With Roman's help we found some Cars fabrics to add to the stash of fabrics we had already picked out for his trainers. I am hoping that the combination of having underpants like daddy's, PLUS having his favorite characters on them will give him the motivation to make the final push into using the potty full-time! Just to reinforce our need to get the potty-training taken care of, Roman peed as soon as we got to the parking lot and of course his diaper decided to repel that pee and send it flooding down his leg and into his new shoes (which Grammy got him yesterday, by the way, and he loves! Check out the guitar and Lightning McQueen!)! As Roman calmly explained "Peepee mama. Keen up," I tried to use the wet wipes, I luckily hand in my bag, to the best of my ability so we could try to complete our errands before returning home.

Eventually we were able to relatively quickly get through the grocery store and go home. I gave Roman some lunch and tried to get some much needed work done on the computer while he was eating. I should have known by the intermittent sloshing sounds and otherwise silence that something less than wonderful was happening. Wouldn't you know it? Roman decided to wash those hairs again AND "wipe" down everything else is sight, with yogurt of all things! After a short but thorough bath I got him down for his nap and tried to knit as fast as I could to complete the hat for our friend's daughter's birthday party that we attended tonight, which of course I was not able to finish! But hey- I made a noble attempt and one woman can only do so much!!! When it came right down to it, I just didn't think that I could really finish off my day without letting all my friends out in the blogosphere share in my craziness and maybe even relate to it! Ever had a day such as this? If you have kids, I have no doubt!

Cars TotSchool

Just in the last week or so Roman has been soaking things up like a sponge and seems to all of the sudden be interested in learning his colors, numbers, shapes and letters. In an effort to foster this new interest, I have been trying to do more TotSchool activities. We made this Cars Totbook a month ago but it is just now that he has fallen in love with it! He keeps telling Jer and I, "I show you! Cars!" He loves pulling out all the number cards and looking at the letters of his name!

He has been counting numbers all by himself and even has about the first four letters of the ABC song down! He tends to think that EVERY color is Blue, but hey, we're working on it! I am just glad to see that he is interested!

Dad even got in on the action and read to Roman this week. Roman loves reading, but I think it is extra special when dad is the one with the book!
I am now in the process of figuring out our fall TotSchool curriculum. I am hoping to do a sort of walk through the Old Testament with some main stories and end up at the New Testament by Christmas. His Easter Lapbook was a big hit this year so I think we are off to a good start. This week we will be doing the Ratatouille book off the TotSchool site, however, as we finish out the summer. If any of you need great ideas for teaching tots, you MUST go to the TotSchool site! Carissa is brilliant when it comes to teaching tots!