The Big Purchase

Russell has been saving for an X-Wing Fighter. It costs $45 and he was certain he really wanted it. So we told him that he'd have to save his own money. He had about $20 initially and he earns $3 each week if he does his jobs around the house. And, then sometimes, when he goes above and beyond his chores we slip him a little extra!

All summer he has been saving. We even made a money chart and he'd cross out a number every time he earned a dollar. Sometimes we'd be shopping and he'd want something and we'd remind him he would have to spend his own money. He'd think about it and then decide he still wanted the X-Wing Fighter!

The day finally came today, he had saved enough money to buy it. We had to make a quick stop at his school for PTO stuff and he told everyone in the office that he was going to buy his X-Wing Fighter and always added a 'woo-hoo!' or some type of exclamation at the end. It was so cute.

When he got it home, he carefully took it out of the box - twisty ties and all and put it together. We are really proud of him for setting a goal and sticking with it over such a long time period. Great job, Russell!!!

Why?

Rachel has started asking "Why?" She's not even 3 yet, so I thought I had more time before this whole WHY thing started. Russ, with the speech delay, didn't go through the big why phase. He was 4 when he started asking it, but he never asked it a lot.

I did get some recent experience with the whys. My friend, Tracey, has a 3 yr old and he started the why campaign. One day I was watching him while she was at the doctor and after being asked why about 3,ooo times, (well maybe not THAT many, but it felt like it!!), I finally figured out if I answered with a big word that he didn't understand, he stopped asking. You know, like he didn't want to admit he didn't know the word. Why is Rachel's hair curly? Genetics. No response. Hmmm.... And the big word doesn't even have to make sense, you just answer it with authority. Why can't you paint on the walls? Multiplication. Why can't you scream your loudest inside the house? Plyometrics. You get the picture....

Okay, I have been keeping a short list of some of the funny things my kids say and want to post a few for fun and just remember them....

"Where's my hug?" - Rach to anyone she wants a hug from, especially Russell.

"Mom, I have to play with Rachel because she's my friend" - an excuse to get out of cleaning his room.

"That's a lot of belly" - Rachel said to Adam when he was putting on his shirt. In all fairness she will say "That's a lot of teeth, hair, eyes, nose, etc." to anyone she is sitting with.

"Dr. Olson is a doctor like Dr. Seuss, not Dr. Bruno" - Russ said about the vice principal, Dr. Olson, at his school. Dr. Bruno is our pediatrician. I thought it was such a funny and smart observation that I thought that's what they told the younger children at school, so I asked, and nope, he came up with that one all on his own.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, eleven, eleventeen, twelveteen" - the great 2 yr old counter. Usually she can count very well to 10 in English and Spanish, but sometimes seven and eleven get interchanged : )

"We could do time out together" - Russ said to my step mom last summer when he was trying to convince her to give him something that I said No to. And Pam was telling him they would get in trouble if she gave it to him, to which he said....

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, how I wonder what you are, I like to move it move it, you like to .............." - the Rachel medley.

"You have old air" - Russ to his speech therapist when she had bad breath. Luckily, she thought it was funny and not rude.

"Ooooh, how cute __________" - Rachel says about anything cute - babies, her friend Maddie, herself when she's done done something she finds clever or cute.

Photos, Baby Books and Hormones

Not a pretty mix!

Since I've been preggers and the weather is hot and humid, seizing the yard has been put on hold. Believe me, I tried, but it just isn't physically possible. So, I have now turned my yard obsession into a 'get all of these photos organized and into books' obsession.

I thought the first and simplest task would be to finish the kids' baby books. I always kept up the info in them, but never the photographs. I had an envelope for each child that I have had for years filled with photos for their baby books. So, I get started and finish Russell's, no problem. Then I start on Rachel's and I can't find her envelope. I look around, I can't find them. Her ultrasound pictures are in that envelope and I start getting worried. We only got one sonogram session for her, so they are very important.

Then I remember cleaning out old pictures a few days earlier - had I thrown out her envelope??? I was sure I had even though I knew I hadn't. So, off I go to the outside garbage bins, latex gloves and all. I did not see it. Well, I decide to print her pictures again, they were mostly digital, no big deal, but the ultrasound photos were no where to be found. I felt horrible. I was even wondering if my Dr. in OK still had them in my file. The hormones are really kicking in at this point. Poor Rachel, she won't have those pictures in her book, how could I lose them, on and on.

So, I print out some photos glue them in the book and put the book back in the cabinet when what did my hand touch??? Her damn envelope!!! I almost cried! There they were, right where I thought I had put them. So, I officially finished her book and it felt great!

I did manage to get some photos in some albums, but the rest I would like to scrapbook - I have gotta get my scrap back! Ha! I did figure out this week that I can scrapbook on the computer. I can use these templates to insert photos which will save me so much time. Then I can print out my pages and pop them in the book. I wish I would have figured that out about a year ago.

Progress on the Potty?

Hmmm, well this what my life has come down to - getting excited over poop in the potty! (My apologies to those who have no interest in this!!) Ha! It finally happened, Rachel made an effort to do number two. Now usually when the #2 happens, she will start saying "Where does poo poo go? In the potty!!" And that meant of course she had pooped in her diaper/pull up. But last night she was in the shower and stuck her head out and said something to the effect of that she needed to go potty. Success? A lot of stinky success! I used the nausea bit to get Adam to wipe and clean the potty. It wasn't a lie, it stunk and I am queasy. We were more excited than her about the whole experience. Maybe her indifference will equal more success? We'll see.....

I went to my first OB appt. last Friday. I liked the doctor, he was very nice, friendly, etc. I had a sonogram and saw the baby. It is about the size of a strawberry and you could see its heart beating, very cool. Everything is good. The official due date is February 10, 2008. The sonogram pictures are a little fuzzy, so I am not going to post one, but I'll get another sonogram in about 10-12 weeks. Those should be easier to see and I'll post it then.

Oh and before I forget.... Thank you for the all the name suggestions! The most interesting suggestion was from Schelley - Raavi. Everyone she knows with this name is a lot of fun and we'd definitely be giving the baby a good chance at a lifetime of fun if we chose that name : ) We are going to expand the search to A names and see if anything grabs us. The R names just don't seem to stand out like Russell and Rachel did to us. We definitely still have a lot of time and who knows what will sound good in 2 months?