More Cute Things Ryder Said...

After I got dressed for church the other day, I was looking at my outfit in the mirror. Ryder walked up to me and said, "You look like an angel, Mommy!"

Kevin was reading Ryder a book and something reminded him of Santa. He said, "It's like my friend Santa!" So they talked about Santa for a minute and Ryder said, "I didn't get to tell Santa thank-you for my trains!"

Ryder is the most polite little boy I have ever known. He is constantly thanking me for things throughout the day. "Thank you for changing my diaper", "Thank you for feeding me lunch", "Thank you for giving me kisses!" It always makes me smile!

Ryder was playing with his cars and made them crash really hard. He looked over at us and said , "That was incredible!"

While potty training, I asked Ryder if he needed to go to the bathroom. He thought and said, "no my pee pee's are still sleeping."

When flushing the toilet, Ryder always waves and says, "Bye pee/poop! See ya later!"

Ryder was giving me a hug and said "I love you so much!" Then he switched his head to my other shoulder and hugged me again and said, "I love you on this side too!"

Ryder was walking behind me down the hallway this morning and said, "I'm following your booty Mom"

Pregnancy Update

I am now 36.5 weeks along. Only 3.5 weeks to go! I have been feeling ok, but there's plenty I complain about regularly to Kevin. It's hard to breathe with this belly taking up all my midsection. It's hard to bed over to do anything! Putting shoes and socks on is ridiculous. I get so exhausted from doing just about anything. My feet and hands are swollen. In fact, I had to switch my regular wedding ring for a fake one that is a little bigger because it was getting to be really hard and painful to take my real one on and off. I know overall I am so lucky. These complaints are all the normal annoyances any pregnant woman goes through. I am measuring right on at all my appointments and baby boy seems healthy and strong. He feels a lot stronger than Ryder did, which I'm hoping means he is bigger. I'm so scared of having to deal with the NICU again! Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we can take this little guy home with us right away! I am showing a lot more than I ever did with Ryder which is reassuring. I am on track to gain about the same amount that I did with Ryder, which is a little more than they recommend, but only by about 5 pounds.
My feelings keep alternating between being really excited to meet and hold this little guy, and being terrified of all the changes that are coming and worrying that I wont be able to handle the stress of caring for two a toddler and a newborn. I know I will figure it out somehow, but it's just a little scary!
I have definitely been in nesting mode lately! I have a huge list of things I want to get done before baby boy comes. I feel exhausted all day, and then I always suddenly get a burst of energy late at night. It's when I feel like I want to get everything done, which isn't that great, because I end up staying up way too late and regretting it the next day. I have made a few things the past week. I made a homemade version of a baby carrier called the Baby K'tan". I think it turned out really nice and I can't wait to try it out. I also made a nursing cover/shawl. I made a big brother shirt for Ryder. I haven't been able to find either of the two car seat canopies that we had with Ryder. I decided just to make one. It was so easy and only took about 2.5 hours to make from start to finish. Everything is slowly getting done, and hopefully we'll get everything ready in the next few weeks. I can't wait to see this little guy!

 Ryder's new shirt

 The car seat canopy. Polka dots on the outside and a cute bicycle print on the inside.

This was taken at 35 weeks

Potty Training Ryder

(This post includes a lot of boring details about potty training Ryder, but it's mostly for my own future reference.) I was originally going to wait to start potty training Ryder until a few months after the baby comes. On a whim, I decided "what the heck!" and we just went for it. I had bought some underwear and potty chairs a while back in case I decided to try it out. I had him just go naked from the waist down the whole first couple days. He only had three accidents, and they were all when he was wearing underwear. He did awesome when he was naked! He had a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker chart and got to put a sticker every time he did pee or poop in the potty. When he filled up a row with stickers, he got a little prize, which were mostly new toy cars. He loved this system. We also gave him treats. I'm pretty sure he though potty training was the funnest thing ever! 

After a day or two, we tried underwear again, and he did awesome. By the second day, I wasn't even having to remind him to go potty, he just told me when he had to go. He has done awesome ever since. He loves to  flush the toilet and wave goodbye haha! For nap times, we have him wear underwear with plastic underwear on top. I would say 99% of the time, he wakes up dry from his nap. When we are out and about, we bring a little travel potty that folds up and fits in the diaper bag. When we are out, he usually has a lot of false alarms before he actually does the real thing. That's alright, I'd rather have him try several times than just having an accident. It's been three weeks now and it's like second nature. I think he must have just been really ready. I was the one who was putting it off because I was intimidated by the whole process! 

For nights, we just have him wear a pull up because I'm not sure he has the bladder control to wake up during the night to go or go through the whole night without wetting his pants. We'll tackle night time later. I'm so proud of him! He is becoming such a big boy!

I'm already anticipating Ryder having accidents when the baby is born. It will be a lot of adjustment and I know it's normal for kids to regress a little when there is a lot of change. At least it's nice that he has a solid foundation and I know he knows how it's done.

 Cute naked booty!

So happy about big boy underwear!