Well, as I write this I only have about 4 more hours of work left! No more shifts until after Emma, which takes alot of pressure off:) We've ALL been anxiously anticipating her arrival...any day. Caleb has taken to walking around the house repeating over and over "baby OUT...Emma OUT...baby OUT" Three guesses who taught him that;) Its adorable, but Emma does not seem to be listening well to her big brother -- she is stubbornly pushing her arrival closer and closer to her evacuation date (aka date of scheduled C-Section), which I'm not exactly happy about. Honestly the last few weeks of waiting are one of the most frustrating parts of pregnancy I think. There is a chance I'm a bit of a planner **ahem** and I really don't like not knowing when something is happening -- I mean just, you know. something major like another human entering our lives. We have Emma's stuff all packed, my "side" of the hospital bag is packed, and there is a list of what else needs to go in it on top (in case Garrett is the one finishing packing).
I feel good about that. Also, the house remains in a pretty laundry-free, clean state, since I keep thinking "today could be the day". PLUS, we *cough* left the dog at my parents last weekend...no seriously, it really was a (happy) accident! We were sort of rushing to leave because it was getting late, and Caleb was having a bad reaction to leaving Nana and Boppa, so we were kind of focused on that. It wasn't til we were more than 30 min away that we realized it was strangely quiet...other than the chatting toddler, there was no whining or howling from the backseat...and we realized Maya never made it into the car! Of course my parents had tried to call, but since it was Sunday our phones were still on vibrate from church! Oops. When we called, they said they would just keep her for us...most likely until Andrew's wedding in September, since they were going to take her after Emma was born until then anyway! What great grandparents;) And let me tell you how much easier it is to keep the house clean without giant tumbleweeds of dog fluff all over everywhere. You think I'm exaggerating but I am SO not!
Well, any day now Emma will make her debut, and one of the things I am MOST excited about is seeing Caleb's reaction to her. I know he will loooove her -- the kid loves babies. As busy a little boy as he is, he visibly calms and gentles when he's around a baby -- its sooo sweet! However, we did get out and set up the swing a couple weeks ago, to teach him how to be gentle around IT, when Emma is in it. As expected he immediately put his animals in it, and nearly threw them to the ceiling with the thrill ride of their life. He's now learning how to sloooowwwly "wock-a" the swing, and to be geeeentle around it.
But I know he is going to be a wonderful big brother. I don't think he will have an issue with jealousy, as he's never really been clingy or "needed" us, but I will be focusing so much energy and attention on Emma I know he will notice a change. And I know I'll miss him. So until Emma, I'm trying to soak up all the "just Caleb" time we have left -- it won't ever come back! And he really is constant entertainment right now:) In the last few weeks Caleb has just exploded with his verbal learning -- its so fun! Garrett and I had an email going back and forth for awhile trying to get a "dictionary" together of all the words he said at 18mo -- it was around 120. But even since then its crazy how much that's changed! In the last month or so he's figured out the sentances thing, and he's up to about 4 words he can say now and its seriously adorable ;) So, I wanted to share a few "Caleb-isms" on here so we don't forget!
Yesterday I happened to notice the neighbors were having a yard sale. They have a toy mower that Caleb has been seriously coveting all summer -- its the only type I've seen that can actually push through grass, and he watches the little boy next door with it all the time. I saw the sale and thought maybe...yes!! They were selling that mower for 50 cents! I ran over there so fast and couldn't wait to bring it home to him -- and that is all Caleb did the rest of the afternoon and evening. "Poo Momer?" (push mower?) was what he kept saying, and he even cried when he had to stop to eat. Daddy took him outside for awhile with it, while I slept in preparation for tonight, and Caleb came bursting in the door to tell me "me momer, big momer, Daddy, grass!" which meant "I parked my mower next to the big mower that Daddy uses to cut the grass!" When he says that many words at once its in this adorable, halting, way so that he says them all in the right order but very impatiently because he's just exploding with what he wants to say and I can't even stand it its so cute;)
Caleb LOVES to look at pictures on our phones, particularly of himself. I asked him if he knew what this one was and he said "Me,hose" (which is his way of saying "my hairs"). It may be THE cutest word he says. He wants to take his toy Minion (happy meal toy) to the bath with him to "watch minny hose" (wash minion's hairs), he wants to borrow the comb for "Henna hose" (Howard's hairs)...and he's just recently figured out the "Me" and "You" thing, which he is quite proud of. A couple weeks ago I was taking him down the stairs and asked him if he wanted help. He very decidedly said "No. ME deedo" (downstairs). Reminiscent of a certain Uncle Andrew, and a story I've heard about a million times about his independence on the stairs...oh dear. But now every time we go up or downstairs he says "Me, deedo, you deedo" with a giant smile. Oh. So. Cute.
Maybe one of our favorite Caleb-isms is one he started about a month ago --"tinty poo" (Stinky poo). He has become very interested in that whole subject, so much so that if we weren't about to add Emma to the mix I might think about starting potty training. Everytime we change him he says "me. tinty poo" (whether he's actually "stinky" or just wet). When anyone goes into the bathroom that person is "tinty poo". A few weeks ago I heard him on the monitor say (when he was supposed to be napping and taking forever to go to sleep) "uh oh, tinty poo". So, I thought maybe thats why he wasn't going down, and I went up there to see...nope, just a toddler that didn't want to nap. However, he figured it might get me upstairs again, so the next day he tried again saying "Mommy, uh oh tinty poo!" during naptime. Ha. No way was I falling for that again. Then, the other day Garrett came home from work and told me he was going to change before dinner. Caleb looked at me and very seriously said "Uh oh, Daddy tinty poo!" Oh goodness how we laughed about that!
Well, like I said, he is really exploding with words now, and really putting concepts together -- it is SO FUN to see those little wheels turn! I can't believe how fast he is growing up and I know I say this at every stage, but this one might be my favorite:) A few more pictures of this summer...some favorite activities have been:
"Bugk" hunts
Car wash day -- he took washing the chalk drawings off his car VERY seriously
Hendricks county 4-H fair...watching the "neighs" especially. Although, when Garrett came home he was greeted by a tiny tornado shouting "Baa, moo, neigh, quack, COCK O DEE!!" which meant "I saw a sheep, a cow, a horse, a duck, and even a ROOSTER!"
Pool parties
Picnic in the park with the "quack quacks"
Visiting Daddy's office for lunch
"Nyucka" (yogurt) is the new favorite food
Lots and lots of park and swinging time!
And joining mommy on the many, many doctor appointments...here he is trying to listen to Emma's heartbeat! He's been so many times that when the doc gave the Doppler to Caleb to play with, he knew right away how to use it!
Well, hopefully my next post will include pictures of our little girl...
