Getting the news out...

Well, most of our friends and family now know that I am expecting Baby #4 in mid-September. I found out a few weeks ago and really wanted to make telling my husband a special event, especially since this is most likely our last one, but in the end I just blurted it out. And then I wanted to wait to tell my mom until she visits in April. I had visions of her getting of the train and just seeing my big tummy and being surprised. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait and told her over the phone the day after I told Chris.
I am going to hold out at work, though, and not tell anyone until early March when I go into my second trimester and have to bust out my maternity clothes for the 4th time. It's amazing that my maternity wardrobe has actually gotten larger than my regular wardrobe, but I guess that's what happens when everyone else who's done having kids just donates all their clothes to you. I am excited to wear some of my old favorites again and knowing this will be the last time makes it even more special for me. Once I start wearing them, perhaps I will post a few pictures of my best outfits. This will, of course, have to be when I still look "cute pregnant," not when I get really huge at the end. By month #8, I'm not sure anything looks cute on me!

Toyland, Toyland

I guess it's not the best thing in the world to let the mess of Christmas take away from the wonderful feeling you have when you see your kids DELIRIOUSLY happy, but it happened to me yesterday and again this morning as I waded through the living room to get ready for work. Where the heck are we going to put all this STUFF! My husband, like most men, is not a great organizer. So it will fall to me to figure out what to do with everything. Next year, I vow to clear out the closets and toy boxes right after Thanksgiving to prepare for the onslaught of shiny new things. (yeah, right!)
Despite the toy hangover, we had such a great Christmas ! It was the first Christmas with just our little family - no running around between houses, just us at home in our pajamas playing with toys and enjoying a fantastic meal. We got a beautiful new camera, so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and start posting pictures very soon.
Happy Holidays to everyone!

Sleep?

Well, another night riddled with interruptions. No, it's not the baby this time...it's Sammy. He has a habit of coming in at around 3am and saying "I yuv you, Mama." In the past, such a statement got him admittance into our bed so I could cuddle with him while the song "Let Them Be Little" played in my head. "Let them be little, cuz they're only that way for a while. Let them laugh, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle....oh, let them be little." But after several weeks of getting punched in the face for the remainder of the night, that song became less of an anthem and I chose sleep. Well Sammy didn't get the memo and still arrives with his equivalent of "Open Sesame" but it's not working anymore. This upsets him greatly and he goes back to his room in tears. I feel like a horrible mom!

Does anyone else out there have suggestions as to how to handle this? I feel pretty mean telling him to go back to bed after he just told me he "yuvs" me, but what else can I do? I have to get up at 6am for work and need to get at least 7 hours of sleep, or I am non-functioning. Any advice would be appreciated....

Peeing

I need help! Owen is 5 and has been standing up to pee for quite a few months now. His daddy (God love him) taught him how to stand up AND put the seat back down! It's Sammy that's the problem. He REFUSES to go standing up. Not only that, when he goes sitting down he insists on someone "yining it up." If he's not attended to, it gets "stuck" and he can't go.

This is a real problem considering we have a 9 month old baby to take care of and you never know when the urge will hit Sammy and he won't be able to hold it. Also, when we get the girl across the street to babysit, it's very awkward for her to "yine it up" so she just avoids it altogether and when we get home, Sammy is curled up in a ball on the couch in pain!

My in-laws bought us a toddler urinal a while ago. It's called "Peter Potty" and it looks like this:

Owen liked it a lot but by the time we got it, he was almost tall enough to use the regular toilet. I liked that this had an adjustable height because I figured I could almost train a kid as easily on this as a potty chair. Boy, do those things STINK! But this has absolutely NO ODOR since the collection tray is completely enclosed. Regardless, Sammy won't use this thing at all so it's sitting in the bathroom collecting dust until I attempt to get William to use it, which will be another year at least.

Has anyone out there had this problem with their boys? I really thought he would look up to his dad and older brother and want to be (pee) like them. Or maybe he is doing this out of a feeling of being neglected. It might be a situation where he feels that this is the only way he can get at least a few minutes of our undivided attention. Any suggestions?

Webcam

Not too long ago, my mom alerted me to the fact that webcams have come WAY down in price. So since we are in Wisconsin and most of our families are in Michigan, we thought this would be a good way to communicate with them and allow them to feel like they're not missing out on seeing the boys grow up. So we bought one for my father-in-law for his birthday and one for ourselves, with the vision of being able to have a conference call. When we set it up, I was initially blown away by how easy it was to operate. My husband thought it was great to use the "fun-house mirror" effect and take crazy pictures of himself like these:

Then he got the boys in on this and took these pictures:

But I digress...

We tried desperately to get my in-laws connected for a live chat with the webcam, but it just didn't work. Would you believe they have DIAL-UP? So although they are able to record nice little videos of themselves saying hello to their grandsons, the live conference call we had envisioned just doesn't seem like it's ever going to happen. Does anyone out there have any bright ideas? I mean other than for them to upgrade their internet. LOL