Prayers With Will

Last night, I shared with William the fact that a wonderful student and his family, Devon, needed our prayers. He only had a couple of questions about why he needed the prayers. We said his name after his usual prayers for Chuck E Cheese, the Giraffe Store, the Letter Store, and the Big Box Store.

Tonight, like every other night, I asked William for his prayer requests. And like every other night, he said, "Pray for Chuck E Cheese, the Giraffe Store, the Letter Store, and the Big Box Store." Then he added, "And pray for Simone's baby." (aka Baby Phillips, who will be Simone's baby brother or sister due to arrive any day!)

I asked him if he remembered about my student Devon from last night's prayers. He said he did and he remembered that, "Devon was sick, sick, sick."

When I said that was right, and that Devon and his Mommy, Daddy, younger sister, and younger brothers needed our prayers, he responded, "But don't worry mommy, he will get better. It just takes time. And you will have to be patient."

Oh to have that hope, faith, and naïveté again.

I kissed him on his forehead, sang him his lullaby (his choice was "The Santa Clause" one aka "Up On the Housetop", just slower), and recited, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" like every other night. Then, lump in throat, I left his bedroom.

I suppose William was more right than I thought at first. After all, he reminded me to be patient and that eventually he will get better. Maybe Devon won't get better, but maybe the rest of us will. It won't be today or tomorrow, and it definitely won't be on Friday when his adolescent body is laid to rest, but it will be one day. And I will need to be patient until that day comes.

Thank you, William. Your three year old wisdom has renewed my hope.

Don't let the bedbugs bite.

!!! Answers !!!

!!! Answers !!!

(A response to my earlier post from exactly one month ago called ??? Questions ???

Here are the answers to the questions Dominic and I were pondering ONE MONTH ago today:

? - What time will baby come? Morning? Noon? Night?

I started having contractions around 6am Friday morning. After getting the go-ahead from my OB, Dominic and I got in the van to head to St. Luke's hospital at 1:23pm and were in the ER by 1:45. After passing through triage, I was checked into a room at about 3:30. We got room 336, the pink room, so I knew then that it was definitely going to be a boy. Plus we think it was the exact same room we had William in! They started petocin at 4pm to speed up the labor because I had been leaking fluid for quite a while and was already having regular contractions. It was certain that this baby was going to arrive on Friday the 13th. Landon Dean Krupp was born at 9:03pm after about 3-4 minutes of pushing!

Taken Within 12 Hours of Landon's Birth

Pink Room! Again!

? - Will baby be born on a weekend or weekday? - Pulling for the weekend!!!

Friday night counts as the weekend, doesn't it?

? - Will baby be a June or a July baby? - Aka what birthstone will he or she have?

Rubies all the way! Landon not only made it to his due date of July 7th, he actually flew past it by five days!

? - Will I make it past the 4th of July? - I sure hope so!

Affirmative.

? - Will I make it to my due date? - I'm actually the weirdo who is still pulling for going LATE! Fingers crossed that this baby will be a Sunday baby just like his or her big brother, Mama, and Daddy. :) Or better YET - a Sunday the 15th baby like his or her big brother AND Mama!

Well I definitely made it to my due date, but I didn't get to have a Sunday the 15th baby, despite the fact that my induction was scheduled for 7:30 that morning. (I picked that day bc that was the day I originally wanted, but also to give baby enough time to go on his own.... Which he did! Just like with William, Landon didn't quite make it to his induction date.)

? - Will Dominic be at work 80 miles away when baby comes? - When we had William, he worked in Perrysburg. Even better, he wasn't even working! We went to the hospital over the weekend!

Dominic had decided on Thursday that he was going to take Friday off, so thankfully he was at home all day. I remember there was a moment around 6:30pm when I was experiencing severe contractions that I said to him, "If you would have gone into work today, you would just now be getting home!" Needless to say, I'm so thankful he had the intuition to take that day off.

? - Who will handle William when baby comes? - I know this will just fall together when the time comes.

My Mom was VERY helpful. She came up Friday afternoon around 12:30 and stayed with Will when we left for the hospital. Plus she stayed at our house that night. The second night Dominic came home to stay with Will and she went back home.

? - How long will I be in the hospital? - Fingers crossed that it won't be as long as last time!

It definitely was much shorter! Like I said before, we got there Friday at 1:45 and we were checked out almost exactly 48 hours later. What a whirlwind!

Our New Family of Four

? - Will baby be a boy or a girl? - We have to buy clothes either way, since William's will be the wrong size for the season. Or perhaps baby #2 will just be in a onesie and diaper all summer.

It's a boy! So far, Landon has pretty much been in a side snap shirt and pants. However, thanks to a few new outfits, I think we are pretty good with clothes sizes NB-3 months. Although I'd like to find some 0-3 month shorts! Do they even sell those?


? - What will baby's name be? (especially if it is a boy since we still haven't officially finalized one!)

We named him Landon Dean Krupp and it wasn't even for sure until the night before his birth. Even then we talked about our other options. And even when he was born I still asked Dominic if he was certain on the name! Now I can't imagine it as anything else.

? - How much will baby weigh? - My prediction is that this baby will not be as big as William was.

I was right about him not being as big as Will, but Landon was still a good sized baby at 8lbs 5oz. He left the hospital at 7lbs 12oz and was back to 8lbs 1oz by his first Peds check last Wednesday.

? - How long will he or she be? - See above prediction.

Yep- He was a little shorter than Will at 21 inches exactly.

? - Will this baby be tongue-tied like William was? - Man I sure HOPE not...

One of the nurses from his actual birth originally thought he might be SLIGHTLY tongue tied, and that was probably only because we asked. Since then, no one has thought he is (not even the pediatrician) and I certainly have noticed a difference in his ability to eat. It'll probably take until his Pediatric Dentist appointment to find out for sure, but it doesn't seem to be an issue at all.

William serving as BIG BROTHER!

? - Will this baby be on the bilirubin blanket like William was? - See above statement.

Nope! Praise God! He wasn't even significantly jaundice. He has been a great eater, pee-er, and pooper from the start!

? - Will I be finished with all of my work stuff before baby comes? - Uh, I better!

I feel good about where I left work. I was able to finish cleaning and organizing my room and I was able to meet with my sub and give her all of the necessary materials. I have a few small tasks to accomplish before the kids go back, but I'll probably wait until August to handle that. I'd also like to go to school to go through my orders if possible. That will take until our babysitter is back from vacation so she can watch William, which won't be until early August.

? - Will we have the baby before or after we move? - Preferably AFTER we move, but that's not likely.

We WERE able to move before baby! Thank GOD we were! I can't imagine life if we were just now moving. Originally we thought we'd move last weekend (the weekend of July 20-22) but thankfully Dominic is a doer and decided to get this done over the 4th-6th. We still had about four van loads of stuff to move after we got home from the hospital, but the major items had been moved in a Penske truck during the 100+ heat index over the 4th-6th. We slept here Friday, July the 6th after our BIG furniture move.

Our Moving Truck - GO PENSKE!

I loaded this carload up on my own a couple days over due and a couple of days before I went into labor... in upper 90s heat!

Exploring the New House!

? - When will we paint the bedrooms in our new house? Currently the plan is for Dom to paint sometime around July 4-6. But will we be having a baby then?

Dom's parents painted all day on the 4th of July while his brothers and Kasey helped us move and unpack. My in-laws did an awesome job taping, priming, trimming, and painting the three small rooms in one day. Cathy came back up the morning of the 5th and she and Dom finished touching up, a few final coats, and even did a fresh coat in the Master that we were originally not going to touch at all. I'm glad they did a fresh coat in our room though, because it looks a LOT better!

Painting the Nursery

? - When should I schedule to get the carpets cleaned? - As long as the paint is done this will probably be the weekend of the 7th, but that is my due date... So.... who knows!

The carpets were cleaned the afternoon of the 5th after the rooms had been painted, but before our furniture was moved in.

? - What washer and dryer will we buy? - Leaning towards the top-loaders now that the front-loaders have had so many negative "Mom Reviews".  We're also sort of waiting until we get a nice Lowes coupon in the "change of address" package because we were told by the Lowes worker that you can get that discount ON TOP OF the sale they are currently having (10% off appliances). Not bad, especially once we use our Discover reward gift cards!

After a couple conversations with Lowes employees and reading reviews online, we ended up getting the Whirlpool Cabrio Platinum top loading washer with a glass lid and the same dryer without the glass front JUST in case a kid was to smash and break the glass accidentally. We used Discover reward gift cards, a 10% off Lowes coupon plus a sale price, and then bought the rest of our gift cards at Kroger and Giant Eagle for fuel perks (we got $1.30 off a gallon at Kroger and $2.30 off at Giant Eagle because of this!) I am still figuring out all of its many features, but I've had plenty of time for this bc I have to do laundry about every day!

Day of Installation

? - Will we have our master furniture ordered and delivered early on or put it off until later? - I sure hope it's the former and not the latter. I don't feel like dealing with this once we have a baby.

Yay! We decided on a set and ordered it through a direct company in Michigan that Dominic leases trucks to. Originally we were told it would be delivered Sunday the 29th, but we found out yesterday that it'll be here THURSDAY! I'm so excited bc our master bedroom looks like junk with random piles on the floor and boxes still in the closet and master bathroom.

? - Will William be ok in his big boy bed? - We may find out tonight!  Dom and William are currently on their way to get the new mattress and we are transitioning him tonight in order to to slowly start all of his many changes.

William has done an amazing job with all of his transitions, especially this one. He sleeps very well in his bed; I think he realizes that it is much more comfortable than the toddler mattress. He curls up in the corner of his bed between two walls, which we call his "nook", so I haven't even been worried that he will fall out. I was a little nervous that he'd get upset about the fact that the nursery looks the same (just set up differently due to the room shape) yet it's not HIS room anymore, but he has been FINE with every bit of the bed and room transitions. Thank God!

First night in his big boy room in our new house.

? - How long will it take us to move? We have until early August to move out of our home on Mapleway, so we know we will be fine but we are hoping we can move all of our big stuff in a day or two.  The tentative plan is to move our big stuff the weekend of July 15-17.  Of course that depends on when the baby comes!

Well, like I already mentioned we moved in about three main days and then picked away at small loads for another week and a half. Although we had the keys until early August, we gave ourselves a deadline and the new owner an advantage by getting him the keys last Saturday (the 21st) so he could move in before his family vacation this week.

Cheers-ing at Bob Evans to Our Last Night at Mapleway

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Our Old House, Pretty Much Emptied Out

****************************************************************************************

Ultimately, the days since our closing date (June 30th) have flown by and have been packed full of craziness. We got the keys to our new home July 2nd, painted all of the bedrooms and cleaned the carpets by the 5th, moved in and slept here by the 6th, had a baby the 13th, came back from the hospital the 15th, and handed our keys over to Mapleway on the 21st. This may sound virtually impossible, but I have learned that anything is possible when you're married to Dominic and with our friends and family. A special thank you goes out to Matt McClure for being a furniture-moving beast on one of the hottest days in our area's history. Productivity and hard work is synonymous with the last name Krupp. William would even agree to this and say he can't talk long bc he has "work to do!" Now I am trying to train him that he has PLAY to do. After all, it IS summertime!

Weeding - Both WORK and FUN!

Mama Monday #2 - Finally Getting Ready for Baby!

I realized that most of my first Mama Monday post today was about my son.  See, even the posts about ME are about my kids.  That's what the life of a Mom is all about. Therefore I decided to do a second one... Which ends up being about my other child anyway!

Actually, lately I have been thinking that the life of a Mom is like one HUGE load of laundry with ups and downs in between.  That may sound depressing, but I don't mean it to be.  I have done laundry every night for a week.  I don't mind it... it's just crazy how much laundry there is to be done!

Speaking of laundry, I took the first steps toward preparing myself for the fact that this baby will be here soon... And only part of it involved laundry!

1. I washed the neutral baby clothes (although I have yet to put them away!) Man are they small!

2. I pulled out some baby rattles. Of course William was instantly drawn to these "new" toys, so I had to explain what they were for.  It was so cute hearing him say he wanted to teach the baby how to use a rattle or talk on the phone or help me change the baby's diaper.  I think the more we talk about baby and show him evidence of baby's imminent arrival, the better it is on William's transition.

3. Dom and I picked up the bassinet from Andy and Sarah's house yesterday and we set it up in our room.

4. I washed all of the bassinet bedding.

5. I pulled out some newborn diapers. I'm not sure where I should put them though, so odds are they'll end up in the drawer with the clothes. Eventually this baby will have the nursery which comes with the diaper stacker, but for now he or she is getting the "bare bone" treatment!

6. I washed my nursing clothes and started creating a pile of items I want to put in my hospital bag.

All of this was a pretty big deal for me after doing absolutely nothing to prepare for baby throughout the first 38 weeks of pregnancy. With William, all of this was done much earlier ... But then again we weren't in the process of moving. And we were like all other first time parents who worried about having everything perfectly in place in the nursery so it would look adorable and give the proper welcome to baby. Then we learned that babies don't even sleep in their cribs for a while (Will slept in the bassinet in our room) and rarely use the nursery at all for the first couple of months!

So what else needs done for baby? Not too much. I need to get a double stroller soon. I'm still holding out until Babies R Us sends me a 20% off coupon. I'm also going to borrow my friend's Moby wrap to practice wearing around a bit before I commit to buying one.

I had to get groceries today, and I noticed that the milk expires on my due date.  That was enough to get me thinking that I better start preparing.  Nothing screams, "Your baby is going to be here soon" like seeing the date slapped on a milk jug.

Good thing I was super productive at work today. :)

Mama Monday #1 - "Mommy? Can I talk to you a minute?"

My heart hurts for William. He was just at the top of the stairs calling down to me, "Mommy?  Can I talk to you a minute?"  This is how it all started last night.  How it ENDED was a couple of hours later after William had walked down to the living room, pulled out a few books and read them to himself, then had a few more books read to him back in his room, and then set up a campsite to sleep on (which was on the floor RIGHT next to his twin mattress.)

I'm baffled by what is causing this.  William has always been GREAT at going to bed (since we sleep-trained him at a year old.) I mentioned in an earlier post that he follows a specific routine before bed.  After I kiss him good night, he is almost always out like a light.  If he's not out, he has always been good at entertaining himself for a short bit in his bed (he never got up) and then falling asleep shortly thereafter.

However, this routine is changing as of ... this weekend.  I am not sure if this change in sleep pattern is because he isn't adjusting well to his new bed or something else.  It could be many other things since the sun is up so late, the weather is warm, he hasn't had an EXACT schedule in the mornings since it's summer (even though he's still getting up relatively early), he may not need as much sleep as he did a couple of months ago, he knows things are going to change for him soon... who knows.  Kids are hard to figure out because they simply can't tell us.

I'm trying to snuff out this staying-up-late thing so as not to start a bad habit, but then there is the ever-present Mom guilt that kicks in when your child is pleading with you.  I mean, seriously, how cute is it that he is saying, "Mommy? Can I talk to you a minute?"  My heart is melting.

OK, he just walked down the stairs and said, "I want to hang out with you.  Can we read a book?"  Then he walked across the room to the bookshelf and grabbed his Thomas book (of course the one that makes the most noise) He said, "Can I read this book?  This Thomas book?"

I guess this is my cue to go now. Wish me luck.

??? Questions ???

I want to document some of the questions that are running through our minds about the logistics of the next 2-3 weeks. And please don't panic, because we aren't!

Here are the questions Dominic and I are currently pondering:

? - What time will baby come? Morning? Noon? Night?

? - Will baby be born on a weekend or weekday? - Pulling for the weekend!!!

? - Will baby be a June or a July baby? - Aka what birthstone will he or she have?

? - Will I make it past the 4th of July? - I sure hope so!

? - Will I make it to my due date? - I'm actually the weirdo who is still pulling for going LATE!  Fingers crossed that this baby will be a Sunday baby just like his or her big brother, Mama, and Daddy. :) Or better YET - a Sunday the 15th baby like his or her big brother AND Mama!

? - Will Dominic be at work 80 miles away when baby comes? - When we had William, he worked in Perrysburg.  Even better, he wasn't even working! We went to the hospital over the weekend!

? - Who will handle William when baby comes? - I know this will just fall together when the time comes.

? - How long will I be in the hospital? - Fingers crossed that it won't be as long as last time!

? - Will baby be a boy or a girl? - We have to buy clothes either way, since William's will be the wrong size for the season.  Or perhaps baby #2 will just be in a onesie and diaper all summer.

? - What will baby's name be? (especially if it is a boy since we still haven't officially finalized one!)

? - How much will baby weigh? - My prediction is that this baby will not be as big as William was.

? - How long will he or she be? - See above prediction.

? - Will this baby be tongue-tied like William was? - Man I sure HOPE not...

? - Will this baby be on the bilirubin blanket like William was? - See above statement.

? - Will I be finished with all of my work stuff before baby comes? - Uh, I better!

? - Will we have the baby before or after we move? - Preferably AFTER we move, but that's not likely.

? - When will we paint the bedrooms in our new house? Currently the plan is for Dom to paint sometime around July 4-6.  But will we be having a baby then?

? - When should I schedule to get the carpets cleaned? - As long as the paint is done this will probably be the weekend of the 7th, but that is my due date... So.... who knows!

? - What washer and dryer will we buy? - Leaning towards the top-loaders now that the front-loaders have had so many negative "Mom Reviews".  We're also sort of waiting until we get a nice Lowes coupon in the "change of address" package because we were told by the Lowes worker that you can get that discount ON TOP OF the sale they are currently having (10% off appliances). Not bad, especially once we use our Discover reward gift cards!

? - Will we have our master furniture ordered and delivered early on or put it off until later? - I sure hope it's the former and not the latter. I don't feel like dealing with this once we have a baby.

? - Will William be ok in his big boy bed? - We may find out tonight!  Dom and William are currently on their way to get the new mattress and we are transitioning him tonight in order to to slowly start all of his many changes.

? - How long will it take us to move? We have until early August to move out of our home on Mapleway, so we know we will be fine but we are hoping we can move all of our big stuff in a day or two.  The tentative plan is to move our big stuff the weekend of July 15-17.  Of course that depends on when the baby comes!


And this was just the short list.  Hence the reason why I am focused on Philippians 4:6 right now.  Worry about nothing and PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING!  Or the verse below from Isaiah - one of my favorite books of the Bible. I know that God is in control, and He is the only one with these answers.  Therefore I am calm and leaving it up to Him!!!

Thank you, Lord, for handling all of these many stress-ers.  I appreciate not having them all on my shoulders.  I am already carrying enough baby weight!

What I Wonder: Our Upcoming Transitions

On Monday I had lunch with a couple of girlfriends who quickly commented on how extremely relaxed I seemed, despite all that I have going on right now.  I was flattered, as I know that oftentimes I am annoyingly stressed out, and I was very happy that the girls were able to note my calm demeanor without me having to say that I really DO feel calm.  In fact, it's bizarre how calm I feel about everything.  I know that I will be closing the sale of our current home and the purchase of our next home only nine days before my due date.   I know that I have absolutely nothing packed (well nothing more than what we binned in order to put our home up for sale.)  I know that I can't do a ton of work moving houses.  I know that my body is about to go through a lot during the birth of my second baby.  I know that soon enough I will be spending hours each day nursing, changing diapers, and NOT SLEEPING.  I know that I have virtually nothing prepared for my maternity leave and I haven't even talked to the person who is going to sub for me (in my defense, I was just given a sub a few days ago)... yet I feel completely calm.  At least for now.

I thought a lot about the positive comments from the girls after I left that lunch. Why am I so calm?  I should be flipping out in typical Lavender-style.  Perhaps it's because I already went through a month-long period of mourning leaving our home and debating whether or not we were making the right decision by moving.  Perhaps it's because I feel like I still have enough time to get all of my work done for school before baby comes.  Perhaps it's because a lot of this is out of my control.  MOST LIKELY it's because I am constantly reassured by my favorite Bible Verse:

Here it is again in a paraphrased version:

So yeah, I am personally at peace right now.  Mental peace.  It feels great.  So what do I wonder this Wednesday, you ask?  Well this is going to sound SO Mom-ish, so be prepared...

                                            I wonder how William will handle it all.

Toddlers are interesting.  I believe that they are truly creatures of habit.  For example, every night when we give William a bath we have to do the EXACT SAME THING.  Whenever someone watches William when we are gone, we assure them that he will tell them what is next if they don't know so they don't need to worry about it.

Here is the bath/Band-Aid/book/bedtime routine we have fallen into for the past... hmmmmmm... I'd say five months at least.

We let him choose what color tablet he will use to dye the water and then he throws it in.  We bathe him, then we rinse his back, then we rinse his head.  We lift him out of the tub and then we dry him off.  He says, "Brush your teeth is next" ... which it is ... and then when that's done he will say, "Band-Aid is next!" ... which it is ... We have to give him a Charlie Brown Band-Aid every single night that he plasters on his bare chest and marches around saying, "I got a Band-Aid!"  Then we put his diaper on him, dress him in his PJs, and then he picks out a "chair book" (which is a book we read in the glider).  He hands me the book and then walks to the ottoman where my feet are propped, grabs both of my ankles and hoists himself up to the ottoman, says "I climb Mommy Mountain!" and then, kneeling on the ottoman, he holds his arms out to me and says, "You got me?"  And I always say, "I will always catch you" and he does a little bit of a lunge/leap forward to the chair (over the small separation between the ottoman and the glider) and then we cuddle up with his blankie and mimi and read the "chair book" of the night.  After the book is over, he slides off of the glider and goes under my right leg, back to the bookshelf saying, "I go in the hole!"  He picks up one more book, walks it to his bed, and lies down.  I read him this "bedtime book" and then we say our prayers.  I always take prayer requests first and they have been the same from William for at least three months now.  He always asks that we pray for, "Chuck E. Cheese, The Giraffe Store, The Letter Store, and the Big Box Store" (translated that means Chuck E. Cheese, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, and Costco - and the ironic thing is that we've only take him to the first three of these places about two times each since he could actually remember... we are evil parents who always tell him that these places are sleeping when he wants to go there... I promise I will take him back to Chuck E. Cheese before baby comes though.  I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do that for him after months of praying for CEC).  So we pray and then do "tucky tucky" which sometimes is "mumify" which once turned into "Dadify" and then later "Lavender-fy"... so funny.  Then I kiss him on his cheek, tell him that I love him so much and then Dom does the same and we turn off his light and leave the room.  EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

So there, that's why I think toddlers are creatures of habit.  Not to mention how William has to give a hug, a kiss, and a high-five to everyone he says goodbye to... in that order.  He will literally grab your hand to slap it if you forget the high-five at the end.

Therefore, despite my personal calmness... I have come to realize that I am extremely nervous about how William will handle his upcoming changes.  I usually feel as though we are doing the right thing by changing a lot at once, so that we can just get it all over with, but perhaps that will make William go nuts.

What exactly are the changes that William will soon endure?

Well, for starters he will become a big brother.  When we ask if he is having a brother or a sister, he usually answers.  If he says brother, the name he says is Keegan.  If he says sister, the name he says is Hannah.  Neither of these are names we are using; they are the names of the youngest boy and girl at the babysitter's house.  Sometimes though, William will say NO when you ask him if he's having a brother or a sister.  I am sure this is perfectly normal, but it worries me a bit.  Life is going to be a LOT different for the little guy.  He won't be the only kid anymore.  I know that eventually he won't remember life as an only child, but I am sure the transitional phase is a challenge.

Another change is our big move to the 'burg.  William has only ever known this house to be his home, so I am worried about how he will handle the move.  He once looked at a picture of the house and said that it was Margaret's house (his babysitter's).  I realized that they do kind of resemble one another.  We ask him if he's ready to move to the big house, and again he usually answers "NO".

We are also moving William from the nursery (he has been in the crib converted into a toddler bed for a while now) to his "big boy room" when we move.  We figured it would just be easier for him to do the switch all at once.  However, we are keeping the same nursery furniture and bedding... which is b/c we have all gender-neutral stuff and because we are cheap.  I always said I was glad we didn't find out with the first baby so we could just cheap-out and use the same stuff over for the next kid, but now I worry about the fact that the nursery will be almost the SAME and William might think it's his room.  I am working hard to make his toddler room look more enticing than the nursery, but this is another unpredictable situation we'll soon be facing.

A couple of other changes that William must go through in the near future are getting rid of the mimi (binky) and potty training.  For now, I am not going to fret about either situation.  OK, so my 2 1/2 year old still uses a pacifier and wears diapers.  Well, I have bigger battles to fight right now.  I can't make him go through ALL of these changes at once, so I am not going to even bother.  In fact, my pediatrician told me to wait on the potty training until the end of the summer... so I might go with that advice.  I know my babysitter prefers it done over summer, but he won't even be three until November so I don't want to rush anything. At this rate maybe it will be NEXT summer. Not that I want to buy diapers for two...  He's not super interested in it right now, although he is starting to get the idea that he should be peeing and pooping in the Elmo potty and not in a diaper.  Even the change in the fact that now he tells us when he poops in his diaper is a positive one.  We are working with that and trying to remind him to tell us BEFORE he goes "next time".  Finally, I am going to switch his car seat position from behind me to behind the passenger seat.  This will allow me to hand him items easily.

I just don't want him to think he's "being replaced" by baby.  Or hate our new house b/c it comes with a baby.  Or get angry with Dom and me because we took him from the home where he took his first steps.

I will keep you posted on how William handles everything.  Of course many people smile and say that this is NOTHING and that their kids were perfectly adjusted within NO TIME and many others say it is a challenge, but like everything else we will get through it. I know all the lines.  I have heard them a million times and I am prepared to hear them a million more.  I am just not prepared to live it all out... quite yet.

Wish us luck! Chuck E. Cheese did!

 

Sunday Summary - June 11th-17th

What a Week!!!

For the first time since school got out, I finally felt like it I was "sort of" on VACATION!!

Monday, June 11th

• It rained today.  That was the first in a while.  We've had a pretty dry past few weeks.
• William went to his babysitter's house today, while I ran a couple of errands before going to work.  I needed to go to Hobby Lobby and Michaels in order to prepare for a craft project for William's big boy room.  I am going to do some wall art that I was inspired by from a Pinterest picture (below).  I am basically going to use this artwork as inspiration, but my final project will not be like this.  Since I am using a Cricut machine to cut the vehicles out, it will be like the opposite of this.  I probably won't use a map either, but this does look really cool!
• At work I got a good amount accomplished.  I did every single one of my POs for my seven classes (six of which are ones I have never taught before.)  That took a while, since I didn't really have any clear direction.  I hit a wall of exhaustion in the afternoon and actually contemplated lying down and taking a nap in the back corner of my room.  However, one thought of how gross my classroom pillows are really shook that thought out of my head and kept me plugging away.

 

Tuesday, June 12th

• Today I was NOT alone at work - hip, hip, HOORAY!  Two of my friends came to school to craft, so I took a break from my classwork to craft with them.  I worked on William's big boy bedroom project.  (By the way, I am not sure if I have ever told the Blog this but William's room will be done in trucks, trains, planes, and boats.)
• So, what did I accomplish during our craft time?  Well, not TOO much because I am not 100% sure what wall space I will be working with at our new house.  It all depends on where the furniture is going to fit and what furniture he will have in his room... In fact, we aren't even entirely sure which room William will have - although I am fairly certain it will be the pink and orange polka dot one (sans the pink and orange polka dots of course!)  I did, however, decide what size the vehicles I wanted to use in my frames and cut samples out to maneuver.  I went from originally thinking I would do four frames like the one above to just three.  I chose a truck, a plane, and a tractor since there wasn't a sailboat design. Plus I am going to spell his name out with the Choo-Choo train letters.  It was nice to chat with my friends and watch them be super productive making t-shirt quilts, and I feel excited about the project I have for William.  I just wish we could be in our house to get it STARTED!

Wednesday, June 13th

• Today I took William to the lake for the day.  It was VERY nice to have a day away from Toledo and WORK! Cathy had called me a couple of weeks ago to let me know that two of Dominic's cousins were going to be bringing their kids up for the day today.  That's a pretty big deal because we don't get to see them much and therefore William doesn't get to see/know their kids much either.  Unfortunately my sister-in-law could not come and then at the last minute Cathy couldn't come (Dom's Grandpa is having surgery tomorrow so she was busy preparing for helping him with that) but it was fun to see the girls and their kids and to hang out with Dom's Aunt Sharon for the afternoon.  
• When we first got to the lake, William was sad because of course he expected to see Grandma and Grandpa Krupp, but they were not there!  He got over it quickly once he dug out the toys from their shed.  He doesn't forget a thing, so he marched right over there and started pulling them out.  There are new lake toys that I didn't even know about since this was my first trip up there this year, but he remembered them from his trip with Dominic over Memorial Day.
• Later, when the kids starting arriving, William and his cousin Mitchell became instant friends.  It was adorable how quickly they connected.  I have a picture of the two boys holding hands that just makes my heart melt.  I will post it below.
• I will admit that today was a bit challenging being 9 months pregnant, running around chasing a toddler who is all-too-bold about going right into the lake.  I think I over-estimated my strength.  It was much harder to handle him today than it would have been if Dom or Cathy would have been there.  We still had a good time, but I was worried a lot about watching him. 
• William and I decided to come back to Toledo for dinner in hopes that we would see Daddy, but Daddy was out golfing so we had dinner alone.  We decided to get Chipotle (William's favorite) but he had a bit of a meltdown when we got home.  He was PERFECT at the lake, but the lack of nap did him in by dinnertime. All-in-all it was a wonderful day! 

Protecting his head while playing trucks at the lake

"Mommy, I got binoculars!"

Mitch and Will - My Favorite Picture of the Day!

 Big Day in the Sun + No Nap = Meltdown!!!

Thursday, June 14th

Playing in the river at the Zoo.

•  Today William went to the ZOO with his babysitter, her husband, her kids, and one of her son's girlfriends! He had two exciting days in a ROW!  Plus he was just at the Zoo last Saturday. He loved the Polar Bear again. The first picture below is a picture of him eating a "graham snack" on the way to the sitter's.  He said he was a camper and campers eat graham snacks.  I told him this yesterday and he remembered. LOL!

William is saying, "No pictures!"

• I had a good day as well.  First thing this morning I attended the first of our weekly staff brunches that we are holding over summer vacation for anyone interested in creating a more positive learning environment for our school.  I felt as though the meeting was incredibly upbeat and people brought a lot of great ideas to the breakfast table.  (There was also really good food.)  I am hoping that all of this work we will be doing over the summer will truly pay off.  I'm keeping an open mind and a positive attitude.  Perhaps we will even DOUBLE the size of this committee by the end of the summer!!!
• After brunch I had to run home because the couple buying our house was getting it inspected.  After that, I went to the Waterville garage sales.  I didn't buy nearly as much as I did last year, but then again I bought most of my stuff in Perrysburg last year.  This year I was mainly looking for stuff for William's big boy room since I don't know if this baby is a boy or a girl.  I did find him a Radio Flyer tricycle, which was another one of my main goals, and I was able to talk them down from $10 to $8.  I am going to save this for when we move so William will have something exciting at our new house.  Plus the driveway there is paved smoothly, which will provide a much better surface to practice riding around on.  I also found him a bookshelf for his room.  I got that for $8 as well, even though it was marked $10.  
• I headed over to my cousin Dawn's house toward the end of my time in Waterville and got to catch up with her for a while, so that was very nice!  She is always so generous in what she gives us for William.  Whenever he is wearing something nice, odds are it came from her.  Will gets all of his finest hand-me-downs from his cousin Zachary (Dawn's son).
• I ended the day at my 36 Week check.  You probably read all about that in Thursday's blog though!
• In the evening, Dom was able to get home early enough for us to check out some furniture for William's new room.  We grabbed Wendy's for dinner (and made the mistake of feeding a toddler some Frosty) before went to Value City Furniture to search for twin mattresses.  My favorite part of the trip was when I had William lie down on the mattress and he sprawled out his arms and legs, reaching way up high over his head, and exclaimed, "Mommy, I don't fit in here!"  Precious!  After that William's sugar-buzz kicked in and he was sprinting all over the furniture store.  It was time for us to leave.  We weren't planning on buying anything that night, just getting ideas.  So we left.

Friday, June 15th

• Well, since I hadn't been as productive at work this week as I had planned on being I went to work this day.  I did get a good amount done, but it seems as though these projects I am working on are never-ending!  I am just glad that this baby is providing me with a relatively clear finish-date.  Usually I spend the entire summer working at couple days a week.  This year I am going to be going in until the end of this month and then possibly a couple of days during the first week of July if baby is not here yet.  Then I am going to be FINISHED until October 1st when I come back from my maternity leave!
• This evening we went to a pool-party at our friend's house in Perrysburg.  I brought a tomato/avocado/corn dip that my friend made for our Home Group session a week ago.  I think it was a hit!  A picture is attached.
• William always LOVES going to this house and he had SO MUCH FUN tonight!  It was great to see him be so bold in the water.  I think part of this goes back to our trip to the lake this week and part is just him still being fearless.  He was leaning into the water on his tip-toes and then sort of falling into our arms.  He kept calling it "jumping" into the pool.  The only time he jumped was toward the very end.  His feet actually left the ground!  I am so proud of how good of a swimmer he is.  I really need to enroll him in some swim classes.  Once we move to Perrysburg and things calm down a bit, Dom and I want to get a Y membership.  Then we can do some classes with William.
• The evening ended with William's first S'more ever.  It was a hit!  The other day I told him that campers eat graham snacks, so he was alllllll over graham snacks again. 

What's Up With Will? - Camping!

So I'm not entirely sure when or where it started, but William is currently OBSESSED with the idea of camping. His babysitter thought it could be from an episode of Little Bill where Bill went camping. That could be it. Maybe it's a combination of that plus our talks about camping, his one experience camping last summer at East Harbor that we talk about a lot, and the idea of taking him camping this summer that we throw around a lot. Who knows where kids pick these things up! Regardless of where this new obsession originated, it's currently the biggest interest in Will's life. Let's just say that If I were to throw him a birthday party right now, I'd throw him a camping party.

It seems as though he thinks about camping from the minute he wakes up to the minute he falls asleep, and quite often in between. He has a special place in his room where he likes to "camp" which Dominic created a few nights ago when he "camped" with Will. Unfortunately, it's right in front of his bedroom door in a nook between the door and the wall. This is unfortunate bc the other night when he was awake after we said our prayers, he "camped out" and fell asleep in front of the door. He wedges himself, his blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals in this small space and then the door won't open. Although it is a bit scary (aka not fire code friendly), it was cute to see his hand peeking out underneath the door. I should have taken a picture of that little image.

William also thinks about camping first thing in the am. He has always been good about staying in his room whenever he gets up before I wake him up, which is RARE and only in the summer or on the occasional weekend when Dom and I allow ourselves to sleep in until 6-6:30am. Well this morning, he woke up while I was drying my hair and he stayed in the room as usual. Today though, he had created his "campsite" (once again right on front of the door) and even made a space for me. He wanted to camp before I could even get him dressed and ready for the sitter's. Even informing him that he was going to the Zoo with his sitter today did not distract him from his camping experience.

Lately, the kids at the babysitter's have been building a campsite as well. They take blankets and string them between a chair and the couch and then play under there. It's all quite adorable.

All of this fake camping will pay off soon enough when William camps this summer, even if it's only in our backyard and even if William doesn't last and ends up sleeping inside. Dominic is incredibly excited to take William camping, and I can only hope that I get to be a part of it as well... But that might depend on this baby's plans and ability to travel. Regardless, this will be a fun father/son activity that they can make a tradition for years to come!

William in the "Camping Corner" of his bedroom.  This was taken this morning when he had set up camp for the two of us.

"Camping" at his babysitter's house with his two friends, Aiden and Liam.

Email from 11-18-09 - The Birth of William

Here is the email that I sent my family, coworkers, and Masters classmates the first full day we were home from the hospital.  I thought I had posted it on this blog as well, but I see that I didn't. My apologies!

"I can't type much now, but I'll do my best. Here are the basics that everyone is asking about... I'm sure Jan really has been wondering about all the nitty-gritty details, but I'll leave them out.

I had been having mild labor pains all day Friday and finally after timing the early labor contractions at 3-5 minutes apart lasting for about 45 seconds to a minute, we decided to go to the hospital at 2AM. Luckily I showered before we went b/c I didn't get to for a loooooooong time after! :-P

After a really rough 29 hours, I delivered William Elixander at 7:32 am on Sunday, Nov. 15th. Dominic and I were both Sunday babies and our bdays were on Sundays this year, so we think that's pretty cool. Will was 21 3/4 inches long and weighed 8 lbs 14 ounces. Both the OB and nurse on duty said that the longest baby they had ever delivered was 22 inches, so our big boy was almost a record-tier. And I beat Carrie's baby size with Xavier so now I have all the bragging (or complaining) rights! William doesn't look that BIG right now, he's just really long. (Allison, our stories were unfortunately rather familiar! Have pains all one day, go in another day, a deliver a day after that - I think you cursed me when you told me your story - JK!) BTW - William is Dominic's middle name and Elixander is a name that my Mom found in my family lineage while doing geneology. Dom and I both loved the name Eli, but with Elijah being so popular now and that just not seeming like a name we would use we instantly fell in love with Elixander (pronounced like Alexander, but with an "L" sound at the beginning.) It is our hope that since we named William after Dom's middle name that Will will one day name his son Elixander something.... and he can go by Eli if he wants. Of course, you all know me to be the one who has her first grandson named already! Such pressure for poor Will!

BIRTHday Gift from St. Luke's

William Elixander Krupp - Born on 11/15/09 at 7:32am.  8 lbs 14 oz, 21 3/4 inches long

The "only two people per room" rule with the H1N1 virus made the time at the hospital really tough b/c we never knew if people were sitting in the waiting room waiting to visit ... so we'd talk to the people in our room for a long time without even knowing other people were waiting to see us. Due to this rule, we had to tell the same stories over and over when it would have been simpler to have all our guests listen to it once and stay in our room for a while and talk to one another as well as visit with the baby. Instead we were pretty much flooded with visitors from the first minute he was born until the day we left, which was awesome but didn't allow us much time to rest.

Proud Mommy - 11/16/09

Proud Daddy - 11/16/09

So anyway, we were at the hospital until Tuesday evening. Tuesday was the worst day of Will's little life because he got circumcised first thing in the AM, and right after that he had his tongue snipped b/c he was tongue tied, then he had three blood tests done, got immunized, had his hospital pics taken, had his hearing test, and on top of everything else he had to take a bath. :-( The entire day was a huge emotional roller coaster for both Dominic and myself.

We just got home last night (Tuesday evening) at about 5:30. It was crazy to be outside for the first time since Friday night, and it was really bizarre b/c the radio was playing Christmas music so I felt like I time-warped about a month... oh 101.5 The River.... but it was really cool b/c it just made us even more excited for Christmas now that we have the best gift ever. Anyway, we left later yesterday that we wanted to b/c Will had an elevated level of jaundice (his level was 14 and anything 12 or higher is considered elevated... if it was 20 or so he would have had to stay at the hospital) and so he has to be on a Bili Rubin (sp?) blanket. Sooooo we had to wait around because he had to get that blanket set up from a company who brings it in and explains it all to us. Don't worry if you have no idea what that means, b/c I didn't until yesterday, but it's better than having to be under the Bili Rubin lights. So all last night we hung out with our little glow worm and felt terrible for him. So much for playing fun dress-up games and hanging out in the bouncy seat. :-(

Our Little Glowworm - 11/18/09

We took William off of the blanket for a little bit, just so we could hold him better. 11/19/09

Sooooooooooo after our first night at home, we had to go back to get bloodwork tested today at St. Luke's to see if his level had gone down at all. Therefore we were right back at the hospital this morning on day 3 of his life. Sadly, his test results came back even higher, so we have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow and after that we have to go AGAIN to St. Luke's for another blood work test tomorrow. This is all so sad, emotional, and overwhelming. I just wish we could enjoy this time at home together on our first day as a family, but instead we went to St. Luke's this am and just got back .... and it's already 3:45. I feel like it was just morning! Added to the fact that we haven't slept much at all.... I have only slept 18 hours from the time I went into the hospital Friday night/Saturday morning at 2:30 AM until today...

Anyway, if you are a praying person please just pray that William's Bili Rubin level is down tomorrow so he can finally be off of the blanket and able to move around more.

I hope everything is going well for all of you."

Father and Son on Day #1 ... This Makes My Heart Melt <3