Pre-Baby Chaos

Well, it's official. The pre-baby chaos has started. It makes us more than a bit fearful for the inevitable post-baby chaos. But we'll take one day at a time from here on out and hopefully we'll all truck through.

Last weekend officially turned on Mike. I felt so bad for him as the hits just kept coming. But as the week has gone along, he seems to be climbing back on top.

• It was 90-100 degrees all weekend. While not a personal slap against Mike, the boy does not do well with heat. I know it is officially summer every year when Mike begins to say daily, "That's it. We're moving to Duluth." To add insult, the AC went out on Sunday. It was 82 degrees in Fiona's room when I put her to bed that night. But the guy came out first thing Monday and we've been cool ever since.
• Something died in our storage room - or the vicinity of our storage room. My super pregnancy sniffer spotted it first, but by Saturday morning, Mike could smell it too. He spent the entire weekend tearing the room apart, looking in everything, looking down vents, hunting in insulation. To find ... NOTHING. It is/was driving him crazy. Internet research basically said that at this point, if you can't find it, wait the smell out. So Glade air fresheners are on the shopping list. 
• Speaking of internet, the internet has been going out from 9 am to 7 pm for a week. So he also got to fight with our provider over that.
• Mike's dad is coming down this weekend to help him build a very needed shed. The forecast is for mid-90s and hot. I told him that Fiona and I will keep the lemonade coming!

I am busy at home, just being the wife and mom. But work is my chaos right now. I have a very long list of projects to complete before my leave, but I keep getting scheduled in all day meetings. It's very hard to work on the list when you aren't at your desk! This baby better not come early or I am in big trouble. And in Baby 2 news, my appointment on Monday showed a baby who is head down (woo hoo). And I'm not dilated at all (here we go again ...).

Fiona is still working the big girl bed transition. We had two great naps in the bed last weekend. Although she fell out on Sunday at the end of her nap. When I went in to "rescue" her, she told me "I bonk my body" but "I'm okay." She cracks me up. We are still not quite ready to commit to the overnight there yet. But she seems to be feeling more at ease with the bed. Which is great.

Finally, we are terribly sad that Mike lost his Grandpa B last week. While we knew it was coming, we are very sad to lose this wonderful man. One of my favorite memories of Grandpa is arguing with him over Justin Morneau (the year he won the AL MVP). Grandpa was convinced that he was a crab because "he never smiled" and I debated that he was "Canadian." Mike sat there laughing for the entire game and later told me that grandpa liked that he had found a girl with a "bit of a backbone." Well, Grandpa, we gave you a great-granddaughter with a bit of one as well!

"Great" Grandpa and a very little Fiona

Fiona's Joke

When I got home from work yesterday, I was greeted by a "knock knock" joke from Fiona. Mike had taught her his favorite one and she tells it very well. She was so excited to share it at day care today and when I dropped her off, the first thing she said was "joke." However, stage fright got the best of her when all her friends waited in anticipation ... so Mommy told the joke.

We practiced again at dinner tonight and got it on video. She knows she's pretty cool stuff when she tells it and that cracks us up almost as much as her telling us that she "is funny."

Baby Steps to the Big Girl Bed

Look what came to live at our house! When we got a new bed for our guest room, we gave our full bed to my co-worker for his 5-year-old (who had outgrown her toddler bed). In exchange, their toddler bed moved to our house.

We've been inching into acceptance of the bed. She thinks it's awesome to play in ... until bedtime. Then we are all about the "cribbie." We have several things working against us.

• She thinks both the crib and the bed are HERS - not so sure she'll be open to sharing when the baby comes (we did not anticipate this issue).
• The bed and crib are in the same room. So there is no absence to make her forget about the crib.
• She's too darn smart and totally knows we're trying to get her out of the crib. She's going to make us work for it.

I thought we made a huge step on Saturday when she successfully took her nap in the big girl bed. She and I celebrated when she woke up and she got to call Daddy on the phone and tell him all about it too. But she has had even LESS interest in the bed since then. I think she thinks she's checked the box on the bed and is done with it (again - did not anticipate that turn of events).

She's not a girl where "tough love" and forcing her into the bed will work. So we'll just keep working at it. I know we'll get there. Until then, we'll keep baby stepping toward those pink sheets on the big girl bed in the corner.

Fun Friday: Water Table Fun

Trying to beat the heat of the last week!

Laughing Fit: Take 2

We took a video of Fiona's giggles in the swing because it reminded us of this laughing fit when she was just over 4 months old. We totally love that it is the same joyous belly laugh. And we can't help laughing ourselves every time we watch it.

Fiona also loves to watch "baby swinging" and laughs and mimics it. What a fun girl we have!