Easter Prep

Today we had a pretty low key day. Patrick had to round early this morning and was pretty worn out from not using his crutches. His knee is much better - but not great yet. He didn't want to be hobbling around in front of patients - but I think it really aggravated his knee worse than he thought it would. So he was resting it the remainder of the day. In the afternoon (during Evie's nap) Gavin and I worked on some Easter preparations. We dyed Easter eggs and got our famous pretzels ready to give to the neighbors. Gavin is getting really good about helping, so you will see I let him put most of the M&Ms on. Although, there were a few times when he would turn his head (all sneaky like) and eat some secretly (or so he thought). It was cute!

Then Daddy tried to get Gavin to wear off some energy since the kids were cooped up all day, so he tried to get him to do push-ups. It's so funny! Check out the video!

We hope everyone has a great Easter and gets to spend time with loved ones. Patrick is semi on-call (hopefully he will not get called in) and we are sharing Easter Supper with our friends/neighbors the Christensens (Angie, Cory, Kelly, McKenna and Camille). We are very blessed to have such good friends to celebrate these holidays with!

What a girl wants...

This term cracks me up, because as we all know - we don't know what we want! One minute we want straight hair, the next, curly. We want babies, then we want a good night sleep (which never happens with a baby). We b*tch and complain that our husbands are never home, then when they are we complain that they are in our way!

Well that's what has happened with me! Since Patrick's knee surgery last week, he has been home almost all the time (except for the occasional PT appointments and going in to work to work on a presentation). Being the wife of a resident is very difficult, and I have learned that we girls go into "survival mode" to get through these rough years. We make friends. We go to playgroup. We find hobbies. We go to the gym (gasp). Anything to occupy our time so we don't realize how much we miss our husbands. So then we get used to this "surviving". We put ourselves first (and our kids) and work our husbands in our schedule when they are home.

But what happens when the husband is unexpectedly home for a long period of time? Vacations don't count because you can prepare for them. Weekends don't count because that is scheduled time you expect also (and short-lived).

I was about to pull my hair out in the first few days when Patrick was home because he was interrupting my survival routine. Slowly getting up with the kids, tv time during breakfast, getting dressed and rushing out the door to go to playgroup or the gym. Leaving dirty dishes in the sink until we come home. Meeting up with friends for lunch (either out somewhere or at each others' houses). Home for naps (and possibly taking one myself) or doing school-time with Gavin, or the occasional cleaning time. Quick clean around 4:30 or 5 (before Pat gets home) and starting dinner (to appear to be the perfect little housewife when he gets home). But when he is home all day he sees these imperfections I have created while "surviving". I tried to stay on top of everything - but just couldn't. I started to resent him for being home a little bit.

What I didn't expect was this time to bring Patrick and I closer. I admit, I have been using him being at home to be selfish...going to get pedicures, going to run errands alone, going to the gum without the kids...and he gets to see a bit of what it is like to be home all the time with the kids and what I go through without him. This week has been perfect too, because the weather has been so awful - he can't even get outside to take the kids for a walk or play of the swingset. He is inside, all day, watching what we do. Seeing Gavin melt down because I turned the light on in the fish tank instead of him. Watching Evelyn pull all the books of the shelves THREE times (until he learned just not to pick them up until bedtime). Having Evelyn laugh at him when he tries to discipline her. Having both kids cry because I turned the tv off at lunch. He saw what I go through and I think started to appreciate me even more. And tell me so. And I saw that I was missing the kids a bit, and how hard it is for him to be away from the everyday (fun) things.
We are learning how to give each other the personal time and space we have grown accustomed to, and at the same time, we have learned to help each other and be understanding of each other too. I don't want to kill him still - and I will be really sad when we don't get to spend this time together like this anymore.

Stamp Club

This month at stamp club we focused on baby projects. So many of us know someone who is pregnant, or just had a baby, or are pregnant ourselves (NOT ME!). We did the cutest baby onesie card, a 6x6 scrapbook page and an attempt at the new rub ons - onto cute $1 piggy banks from Target. The rub ons were not great on the banks, but everything else turned out super cute. Once I showed the club members how to make the onesie card, they were given creative license to make their own version using any of my supplies. I didn't have my camera to take pics, but there were some great ones made! We also did a swap, and I got to see what type of cards/techniques everyone did. They were awesome! I will upload pics later. Everyone was so excited getting and giving their cards! And I was so proud to see the talent that everyone had! I have some great members!!! The pics posted are from Ashli's club (which we do the same projects each month).

follow up

We seem to be back on track with the potty today. I guess it was just a really bad day yesterday for Gavin's pants.

We also had Gavin's pre-school re-observation today. It is the preschool in our development (3 blocks away) and comes with rave reviews (plus it is governmentally funded - so tuition is CHEAP!) The school is designed around a special needs preschool program and they have "peer models" in each room. There are 8 special needs children and 6 peers in each classroom. The peers just have to be average toddlers/preschoolers. They have found that the IEP children respond well when integrated with children their same age who are "typical developing preschoolers". Check out http://www.hilliard.k12.oh.us/pre/BIP.html for more info on the school and it's programs.

Anyway, to get "accepted" the kids have to be observed to make sure they can follow directions, respond to questions, show understanding of how things work, etc. Most important is to follow directions since the special needs kids are looking up to them in a way and may follow their lead. So when a teacher says to do something - you best do it! Gavin did not want to change stations during his first observation (he liked playing with the trains - go figure) and had poor fine motor skills, so they asked if he would have a second chance and come back to get re-observed (it has been about 2 months since the initial observation). So we started our little home-school sessions and it must have paid off because today they told me he was stellar! He listened and followed directions perfectly, and even helped a kid who was scared to calm down and start playing with him. They also noticed a major improvement in his fine motor skills, from cutting paper, to writing letters. So we are very excited!

Now I am dreading that day when I ship him off for his first day - I get teary already. Time flies!

Figures...

In classic ironic fashion...

After my last post about buying the fishies for Gavin for being potty trained, he inevitably ended up having THREE accidents today (4 if you include the one overnight).

I went and met Cara and Ashli for some coffee for Cara's birthday and when I came home, Patrick informed me that Gavin wet himself while they were playing in the basement together. Odd - but totally understandable for a 3 year old to get wrapped up in play-time with Daddy. A little talk about remembering how important the potty is and how we need to stop play when we feel that urge.

Then I decided we would join the Welshes for dinner at Red Robin (a craving Ashli got after Cara said she went there for lunch). As I was on the phone with Ashli's hubby, I looked up and saw Gavin standing right in the middle of the kitchen peeing himself RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! He was just looking at me, waited until he was done, then said "Sorry". This is crazy, I thought! He hasn't had one single accident in forever (except barely making it to the potty one time last month) and now he has had 2 blatant ones right in front of us (and one at night). Another change in outfits, some questions about why he did it (no answers though), another discussion about the importance of going on the potty and a statement from G-man saying he understands and he will tell us if he needs to go again.

He was pretty good at dinner, so when we came home we called up Angie and the girls to go for our nightly walk. It was very cold - but sunny - so we bundled up and went. We had fun - but were relived to get inside. Well, I guess Gavin was too relieved because we got in, and we were heading upstairs for baths and he totally peed AGAIN on the stairs.

The night one - I basically don't even count. Then the first one today I was like "No big deal". The 2nd time made me mad (I know - wrong reaction) but the third time made me confused/worried. He didn't even flinch when it was happening...which is weird because when he feels it come on, he starts the peepee dance and/or tells us he needs to go. He even gets nervous and upset if he can't get his pants undone quickly, for fear he will have an accident. But today - nothing. Not even an ounce of regret. Afterwards, he sees our disappointment so he says sorry - but it's like he can't feel it.

If anyone has any suggestions or stories as how this happened to them - please let me know because I am actually concerned now. 4 times in one day - it just seems very unlikely.

Fishies

So as promised, Gavin finally got his fish for being potty trained. We got a tank from a friend who was done with it (thanks Fatema and Lauren) and it came with almost all the supplies we needed. We ended up buying some new rocks and plants for it - but otherwise it was good to go. So we set the tank up first to make sure it would run properly. Once it was all set, we took a family trip to Petland and got some fish. The guy there was super helpful and very knowledgeable about fish and tanks and understood that we needed some very sturdy fish. So he explained how we should get these "starter" fish - that are basically there to create the proper environment inside the tank - and then would die. Sort of traumatic - but I don't think Gavin cares. He was just excited to see them swim and feed them. We already had one casualty...but the guy knew the fish was almost dead when we got it - but it would have been a pain to get it out of the bag - so he gave it to us for free. And he was right. About an hour after we let them in the tank - the fish was a goner. All drains lead to the sea... I posted a picture of the tank (it's a bad shot - but you get the idea) and you can see some of the fishies in it.

Gavin loves it and has been good about remember to remind me to feed them! But, of course, once we got the fish, he ended up having an accident last night in his sleep. It was the first time in over 2 weeks - so I am not surprised. I was more surprised that he hasn't been wet more often in his sleep. I still put pull-ups on him during the night - so no big deal.

Speaking of potty training...Evelyn is still going strong. Peepees about 3 times a day on the potty and is going poo too. Not everyday - but still way more than I could have imagined!!! I would LOVE to be diaper free as soon as possible!!!