Smart Boy is at it again!!

It's the Alphabet this time...

At Christmas, when Finnegan was 3 months old, my sister-in-law sent Finnegan one of those LeapFrog Fridge Alphabet Magnet Sets. We pulled it out when he was 12 months old, and each of the magnets landed on the floor, just for fun. So we put it away and pulled it out again after Christmas. Since then, Finnegan plays with it each day. If you've never seen this toy, it has a magnet for each letter and when they are placed in the music box, it plays the name of the letter as well as the sound(s)of the letter. Crazy enough... Finnegan is 18 months old and he can recognize several letters and their sounds.

Tonight, he picked up his "Old McDonald Has a Farm" Book. An he always says "EIEIEI" when he picks it up -- its the cutest thing ever!! Anyway, I pointed to the F and he said "FFFF", and although he couldn't tell me the name of the letter, I was impressed. We tried another one... The "M" He knows this letter, and knows that it makes the sound "MMMMM". I then asked for the "D" and he said "Deeee". So precious!! Earlier today, we were reading another alphabet book, and he told me that the letter P made the "pa" sound. CRAZY!! Hopefully he'll know his alphabet by the time he's 2 :)

Update on some of the other topics I've raised...

We haven't decided about the bed. I will probably try to start switching him in a couple of months. And see how he does. I don't know that we'll get a toddler bed, but use the convertible bed that we have. But then just get another convertible crib for the new baby.

Potty Training: Well -- This has actually halted a bit. He is starting to tell us again that he's going, but after he's gone. So I'm sure in a couple of months or so, we'll have better success. He still likes to sit on the potty, but sometimes, he HAS to sit on it before having a new diaper on. Whatever makes you feel like a big boy, I suppose!! I ordered a couple of potty books last week, so hopefully reading those will spark more interest too. :)

Quietly playing...

This is one happy moment of my day...

When I don't have to entertain my toddler, and he plays quietly by himself... whether that means putting block in a zip lock bag and then out again, or playing with lego toys. So wonderful to watch him play and enjoy a few moments by himself.

So the verdict is in...

Today I had an OB appointment for the baby! I'm currently 13 weeks along! Only 27 more to go! :) While at my appointment, the nurse gave me the handy dandy chart for me to follow with all the tests on them that I'll be doing and when they need to be done and what they are. It is very helpful! On it listed the blood test and the diabetes test and the ultrasounds. The last line on the chart said "Repeat C-Section". At first I thought perhaps this was a generic chart she just plugs that dates into, and hands out... but then I asked...

"So, what is the Dr's policy on c-sections? Does he allow vbacs or is he a "once a c-section, always a c-section" Dr?

Let me back up a minute... Since I had a c-section with Finnegan (due to his breech orientation) I had never discussed this issue with my doctor. He seems to be an "old fashion" guy so I thought he might have an "old fashion" idea of how it should work. And I didn't really know how I felt about going either way. I'd never had the extreme desire to birth a baby (like some women have) and yet, I know that you heal MUCH faster with a vaginal birth, than a c-section. And this being my second child, I knew I'd need to be back on my feet a little sooner than I was last time to help attend to the baby and my toddler. Although with my medical "history" I always feel more safe being in a controlled environment, especially when dealing with the blood thinners and the blood volumes. So in that light, a c-section is a bit more appealing to me. So, it all boiled down to I felt more drawn to the vaginal birth due to the time constraints I'll be under afterwards, but health wise - for LABOR ONLY, I feel more comfortable with a c-section. I knew the doctor would be able to help me make this decision...

Back to the story... the nurse told me that it is the hospitals policy to not allow vbacs. WOW!! Really? Well, that really did answer my question and solve the problem for me!!

When the doctor entered, we talked about it for a few minutes, and he gave me an excellent explaination as to why the hospital doesn't allow it... One that makes complete sense to me, and I agree with the hospitals decision. (I can go into detail later if any of you are really that interested). And actually, the doctor went on to explain that I'm not a great candidate for having a vbac. He explained that a perfect candidate for a vbac is a women who's body has proven that she can deliver a baby vaginally without any trouble... So someone who's first child was delivered vaginally, the second child was delivered by c-section and then she wants to try a vbac for the third child. Because my body hasn't proven itself to be able to safely deliver a baby (especially with the family history - Andrea pushed for 2 hours only to have a c-section because the baby was stuck) it is safer to have a c-section, again. So, that's what's planned.

He has it planned for week 39 of my pregnancy - unless I go into labor first. So, there's the news... C-section it is.

Oh, and the countdown is on... On May 6th, we'll know if this baby is a boy or girl :) Anyone wanna take a guess of what we're having??'

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Also - please keep our friends Angie and Ernesto in your prayers. They had a very successful revival this weekend, but have received more threats from those who wish to silence them. Please continue to pray for their safety and their protection from evil!!

Big Boy Bed...

Well - Jess asked this question in the last post, so I'll tackle it and get your opinions on this one too...

Will we transition Finnegan into his big boy bed before the baby comes or after?

Um... I don't really know. We'd talked about doing it before and then we talk about doing it after. Since we've never done this before, I don't really know what to do. We had a friend who tried to transition their son at 15 months and he just wasn't ready. Finnegan is 18 months, and my inital thought is that we'd try around 20 months or so... that would be 4 whole months before the baby was to arrive, and enough time, I hope, before the big transition. So he'd be fully into a routine in his big boy bed, before the sibling comes.

Like I said, that was my inital thought. Then, I thought I'd let him stay in his crib and chill until after the baby comes and then try to attempt when the baby was 3 months old or so.

We have a "conversion" bed or an all-in-one bed. It transitions from a crib to a toddler bed (like a day bed) and then into a twin bed (you just add the mattress). But the thing with that bed, is that once it's a toddler bed, its a pain to make a crib again. Everything that I've read says that its best if you can do the toddler bed during the day and then the crib at night during the transition. How did you families do it?

Any other thoughts or suggestions on how to do it?? What worked for you guys??

To sleep or not to sleep??

Ok, Mommies!! I need your help!

We have a little bit of "problem". It's not really a problem, but a curious situation.

We put Finnegan to bed each night at 8pm. This means that at 8pm, he has jammies on and makes his way upstairs for teethbrushing, and hops into bed. He lays in his crib, I turn the music and night light on, while he lays with his Moosie and his Paci. I leave the room, closse the door and retreat to adult time.

8pm has always been his bedtime... even when he was a baby. But we're noticing that he is staying up later and later. Sometimes, its only an hour, awake, enteretaining himself in his crib. But last night it was 2 hours. Granted, yesterday, he got a later nap, but not much later than he's used too. (about 1.5 hours later - because we all got up late in the morning). Anywho --

Here's the questions we're toying with:

• Should we push his bedtime back until 8:30 (he is 18 months old)??
• If we push his bedtime back - even if he doesn't go to sleep any later than he already is - will he (in theory) wake up later in the morning??

Any thoughts??

Do you really understand what's going on??

Ok, so lets talk politics for a minute.

AIG bailout money... So AIG paid its former and current execs TONS of money as bonuses after receiving money from the recent government bailout. The government/media continues to use our emotions (based on our reactions and feelings of the recession) to envoke agreement with their currently headlines that AIG is in the wrong for paying these bonuses. Since when do we allow the government the ability to tell a company how it should be run and how it should use it's money? Granted, the bailout money was from the government and AIG and other companies asked for the $$ and help. But really... We really want to support a government that overlooks the line items of the original bailout - because we know most of them didn't read it, and neither did the president --that explained that the money was to be used for bonuses for AIG and other companies.

How about this... Have we really granted the government the power to CREATE A BILL to TAX a company so that it must pay back 90% of the $$ that the government gave in the bailout? REALLY?? What would stop the government from writing a bill to take 90% of my income... just because it wanted it "back"???

I understand from a countryman's point of view that the recession is rough and why would a company that is ready to go under, pay 165 execs bonuses, some worth over $1million dollars. However, have you looked at it from the companies point of view... The fact that most, if not all of those execs signed a contract at the beginning of the year, saying that they would be given and accept that bonus. Many of which could turn around and sue the company if they just up and decided NOT to pay the bonuses. Also, have we thought about it from the governments point of view... WHY is the government so hell-bent on exposing AIG's doling out of bonuses, rather than focusing on the cause of this problem... the fact that THEY signed to give this money too them!!

Ok, so I suppose the rant is over. Those are just my thoughts on the subject.

I think that writing a bill is wrong to get the $ back, and I think that its wrong for the government to ask for it back. What will stop them from doing this any other time, in any other circumstance?? Really?? A bit scary if you ask me!!

One Smart Dude!!

Here's a video of our smart boy! About 2 weeks ago we started teaching him the states. He does pretty good. He knows about 8 of them, which I think is impressive at 18 months. We add a new one every few days!!

Enjoy!!