L is for Lucy

That's her name. I've known that would be her name for years. But Brian's only been able to say it with certainty for a couple months. He took a bit longer to come around to it. I know most people wait to announce the baby's name until he/she arrives, but we know it's her name and we already call her Lucy, so it's not a very big secret for us. The jury's still out on her middle name- we're having a much more difficult time deciding.

Originally, I planned to do the nursery in pink. I even bought all the pink buttons for the monogram wall art seen above. But all of Porter's nursery decorations were green-- and we purposely bought them unisex. So to save time, stress, and money, I recently gave up my dreams of a pink nursery and bought green buttons instead. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end- better than having a half-finished nursery and a stressed-out mommy! Because let's face it, when would I really have time to sew the pink, ruffled crib skirt I imagined (when I don't sew very well and won't be out of school for another month)? And how can I justify spending over $150 on the curtains I just had to have to match the crib skirt? I'm sure she'll be just as happy and beautiful in her green nursery as in a pink one.

Investment

Back in March, Brian spent all his birthday money on a mini trampoline for Porter. At the time, I thought he was a bit crazy-- especially since there were plenty of things I knew he wanted for himself AND it was still snowy when he bought it. But he waited till winter was mostly over, then set it up. And I quickly realized just how wrong I was to judge him for this purchase!

This has already been the greatest investment-- and it's not even summer yet! Porter spends so much time out in the backyard playing on this thing. The size is perfect for him and it's pretty safe with the nets and all. He has been so happy and has finally had an outlet for all of his pent-up energy (and let me tell you, that kid has a TON of energy).

I'm grateful I have a husband who likes to spoil our son so much that we happen upon these great investments!

Hey, Baby!

Here's a tummy picture. I'm almost 7 months pregnant. That means over 2 more months of growing. :) Everyone assumes I'm about to pop any day. Nope. When they find out I'm not 9 months pregnant, they often ask if I'm having twins. Nope. Funny thing is, I actually feel like I'm smaller with this one than I was with Porter. I guess I just get rather large- which is no wonder since Porter was such a big baby . . . and I'm sure this one will be too!

My 1st graders have stopped telling me how fat I am everyday. But . . . they have moved on to a new, rather embarrassing quirk. They like to tell the baby hello when they come each day. When some of my little boys see me in the hall before school or when they're walking into the classroom, they usually ignore my hello, then tell my tummy "Hey, Baby!" It sounds cute and all. But it's not so cute when you think of how it might look to a parent or other teacher walking in the hall who doesn't realize they're talking to my tummy and not me! I panic every time they say it!

Porter's starting to call my tummy "Baby" too. That one's pretty cute, though. I love that he's becoming aware of a new baby coming to the family. We are all so excited to meet her!

An Easter Post

I swear holidays get better and better as Porter gets older. It's so much more fun to have holiday traditions when he's actually becoming aware of what's going on around him.

This Easter, I took Porter to the Saturday morning egg hunt at a local park. TONS of people, but it was lots of fun. We didn't go for the whole thing, so we missed the Easter Bunny. But we got to see and pet baby animals and hunt for Easter eggs with the thousands of other people crammed into that park! Luckily, I had my mom and little brother there for back-up. My mom took Porter to collect his Easter eggs. She said at first he tried to pick up eggs and put them in other kids' baskets for them. Such a funny boy!

On Saturday evening, we dyed & painted our Easter eggs.

Sunday morning, Porter woke up to find yarn strung all the way through the house, leading to his hidden Easter basket. I think he liked the yarn more than the basket! I intended to have him do an Easter egg hunt in our backyard before church-- but we ran out of time. I also planned to take pictures of him in his Easter outfit-- but that didn't quite work out either. Oh well! He was cute, you'll have to take my word for it!

After church, we went to Brian's parents' house for a family dinner and another egg hunt. Aunt Katie helped Porter find his eggs this time.

While we were there, Grandpa Nye brought out his 4-wheeler with a trailer and pulled all the grandkids around the backyard. I cannot even tell you how delighted Porter was as he was on this "ride." He was in heaven and would have gone for hours if he could have!

And here's our official Easter family photo:

Porter throwing a tantrum, Brian trying to fake a smile, and me being stubborn about everyone sitting together for a nice family picture. Oh well- maybe we'll get a good one next year!

Little Moments

Yesterday, I watched Porter squeal for joy, then glue himself to the window to watch the garbage truck come by to pick up the trash.

Earlier, I helped him open up our caterpillars that came in the mail (part of our butterfly-growing kit). He was so excited to watch the "buz" (bugs) move all around the cup and just had to carry them around, ever so carefully, for quite some time.

And while I was folding laundry in his room, I couldn't help but smile at his leg-kicking position as he played with the iPod on his old crib, waiting for me to finish so we could play.

All those moments yesterday (plus a hundred more) made me so grateful that I have this week off to enjoy every minute of the day with my little boy. But it also made me a little sad. These little moments are happening every day while I'm gone. I hate that I'm missing out on these things. And while I absolutely love teaching my first-graders how to read and write and be responsible citizens, I think I'd rather be home blowing bubbles with Porter.

Hopefully, my stay-at-home-mommy days will come soon. And when the day does come, I really hope I remember to enjoy all of these little moments and not take them for granted.

Potty Training: Day 1

Being on Spring Break this week, I figured I wouldn't get a better time to potty train Porter. And so yesterday we began. I tried to do this "Potty-Training in One Day" method that I found on Pinterest. We made it to 1:30 before I gave up.

The method was really great and Porter did learn a lot from our morning, but he didn't quite respond the way that was expected when using this method. He wore the underpants all morning and learned that it's bad to go pee pee on the floor (and in the underpants, and on the chairs, and everywhere around the house!). But the part he didn't quite get was how to overcome his fear of actually going in the toilet. So I ended up with a little boy sobbing by the toilet, trying not to go potty where he wasn't supposed to and scared to death of going potty where he was supposed to. It was heart-wrenching. So I finally got out a diaper and put him down for his nap. He (and I) slept for 3 hours, then woke up just as Brian was coming home.

After venting to Brian about our long, unsuccessful day, Brian and Porter went upstairs and I started vacuuming. Within minutes, I heard Brian shouting over the vacuum sound to come upstairs because Porter just went potty. I didn't believe him . . . but it was true! After months of me trying to convince Porter that it's fun to sit on a toilet and an entire morning of practicing . . . every . . . 15 . . . minutes, he finally went -- for Brian. Of course!

So I've decided to give it another shot. We'll try again today- maybe with a few adjustments and hopefully less tears. Wish me luck!