Breakfast with Bunny

Because Isaac adores all things bunny, we loaded up the car early this morning and headed out to our local community center for "Breakfast with Bunny." Although we know that Isaac adores the real Bunny who resides in our backyard, we were unsure of how he would react to large, adult sized versions of this springtime animal.

There were no tears or anxiety attacks, only sheer cries of utter joy over the fact that he got to see these Bunnies. He hugged them repeatedly, followed them around, and fussed when he was not within five feet of the bunnies. We could barely get him to eat a bite of his breakfast because he kept claiming he was "done" so he could follow the bunnies around the gym (However, we did trick him into eating some by saying, "Show bunny how you eat a banana." ).

Here are the pictures from our morning.....by the way, the best part of this whole deal was the fact that it was only $5 a person (Isaac was free), we got a Grandy's breakfast, numerous photo opportunities, crafts, and an Easter egg hunt. Pretty good way to spend $10.

Isaac got in line twice to have his picture taken with the bunny
Have you ever seen such joy?
Hunting for Easter Eggs

(He was satisfied with just having one egg, but Mommy made him fill his basket in hopes of getting lots of candy!)

Running towards a specific egg

Although Isaac sat for countless pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, he refused to sit with Mommy and smile. He is upset here because there is no bunny on the bench, just plain ol Mom.

Hugging the Bunny good-bye

After our eventful breakfast, we ran several errands this morning, one of which was to the Virgin Record Store. While Isaac entertained himself by putting every Elmo DVD into his stroller (we left without purchasing or accidentally stealing one thankfully), I stumbled upon this greatness:

So far there is no Volume 2 (which would be my Sesame Street Years), but we will be purchasing it upon its immediate release. (Although it might come as a shocking blow to Isaac that Sesame Street used to exist in a time before the creation of Elmo)

Happy Saturday!

Once Upon a Potty

Despite the fact that I am greedily hoarding my Pampers Points to Grow in hopes of getting the Elmo's World 3 DVD set, I think it is time to start potty training Isaac. I had not even thought about entering this phase of life with him until after his second birthday, but I think the child is ready. Yes, this might be the most insane thing I have ever done since I have a new baby on the way but Tobe and I are starting to become a bit concerned about the poor boy's kidneys and bladder (However, we do know he has kidneys and a bladder since Isaac was submitted to an entire x-ray and scan of his abdomen after he began vomiting stomach bile at the Emergency Children's clinic when he was three months old and they informed us his appendix might be on the wrong side---um, it's not and we now know that Isaac simply throws up until there is nothing left in his little stomach). Our concern (which is more amazement than concern) stems from the fact that Isaac typically has a completely dry diaper from the time I change him at 7:30am until nap time at 12:30. He wakes up with a wet diaper at 3:30, so has gone sometime during his nap. Usually he has a dry diaper again from the time he gets up from his nap until bath time at 7pm. Obviously the boy has figured out how to hold in the liquids (he is drinking quite a bit during the day so it is not a dehydration issue) and likes his privacy in doing his business.

So here is my question--what potty training techniques worked for you? Did you do the potty seat that fits on the toilet or did you do the individual toddler potty chair (If you happened to be of the school of thought where the potty sits out in the living room, please don't tell me. For whatever reason, I just can't go there....)?

Isaac understands the concept of using the bathroom in the toilet (thanks to the fact that I have to go about every 10 minutes and he feels the need to follow me into the bathroom and politely ask "Doors, Mommy?" This means, "Would you like for me to close the door to the bathroom and proceed to stand here and make sure you use the restroom successfully?" Then he eagerly digs into his stash of Curious George Band-Aids....). Last night at bath time as we were having a lesson on how to take off pants (I can't bend over anymore, people, so my child must fend for himself these days. Yesterday we also had a lesson in how to pick up Mommy's keys in the parking lot of the post office...), Isaac informed me that he had to "Pee-pee." He usually says this at bath time and we have tried putting him on the toilet a few times. This has not been successful because the child has no hips or bottom to speak of and has to be held over the seat. Anyway, last night he kept saying "PeePee, Daddy" repeatedly and then raced off to find Tobe. We aren't sure why he wanted Tobe, but we are pretty confident that we should give this potty training thing a try. Please share your tips, advice, warnings, or prescription for the anti-anxiety drugs I might need if we really attempt to tackle this feat with a newborn baby..... All will be appreciated!

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New Isaac sayings:

"Hold Dat" (when he wants to hold something that is considered to be "Contraband" such as Mommy's wallet)

"I-ik" (when asked what his name is)

"Hip-po" (Name for his stuffed Rhino--I think I accidentally caused that confusion)

He can tell you that the Red Light means "stop" (complete with hand motions) and the green light means "go"

Yesterday, he had a sippy cup of juice on the coffee table. He walked up to the table to get a drink, but first gave his stuffed tiger a drink out of the cup. Priceless. Tiger also joined us for breakfast and lunch and had his own bowl and cup of food.

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In the middle of the night last night as I tossed and turned my conscience started to nag at me. I worried that the tongue and cheek nature of my last post might offend people. Although I am nearing the end of the pregnancy with a bit of a grumpy Gus attitude and at times want nothing more than this baby to be on the outside rather than kicking my ribs, please understand how incredibly gracious and blessed I am to have a routine and a healthy pregnancy (my hands have not even turned Smurf blue this time like they did while pregnant with Isaac). I do not take pregnancy, healthy babies, or the miracle of life for granted. I have stood by too many friends who struggle with fertility issues, who have lost children, who have endured scary times of bedrest, and who have cried many tears in the early days of their child's life in fear of losing a baby. Although I gripe about what the man at Lowes might have said to me (or become easily annoyed at the lady at the park yesterday who snidely told me that I must be quite "ambitious" for having children so close together), I am quite grateful for 40 weeks of a healthy pregnancy, for the chance to wear hideous maternity clothes, and for extended hours of labor that result in a precious baby boy who calls himself "I-ik."

Pink is the New Baby

Fourteen. That is how many pregnancies this fellow Arkansan has chosen to endure. As I sit here in the final weeks of pregnancy number two ---with absolutely no plans to experience the joy of twelve more pregnancies to catch up with Mrs. Duggar--- I have decided that this lady must be part alien to want to be pregnant the majority of the time over the past two decades.

Yes, I have entered that long phase of pregnancy called the third trimester where I am incredibly uncomfortable and just a tad grouchy. Baby girl enjoys "cuddling" up against my ribs, causing significant discomfort. Isaac enjoys using my tummy as a pillow or an arm rest, which makes Evelyn angry and causes her to do a jig inside my stomach. She is not even here yet and they are already having some power struggles. I have also entered the stage of pregnancy where strangers feel quite confident that I am indeed with child and not simply fat and must comment on my mommy-to-be state. Being slightly reserved around people I don't know (this is an amusing thought to people who know me really well and wonder why I talk all the time), I am not comfortable with such conversations at all. Here is a sampling of things total strangers have said to me over the past few days:

1. "What are we having and when are we due?" (This one was at the QT beverage center and the lady seemed quite excited that "we" were having a girl. I wanted to tell her that "we" were not having a baby, that I was....and if she felt the need to use "we" then she could also feel the need to chip in some money for the hospital bill or at the very least buy a package of diapers.)

2. "You poor thing..." (This was the response by the cashier at Lowes when she heard that I was expecting my second child and my first child was only 19 months old. Thanks. I wanted to tell her there wasn't much I could do to remedy the situation unless I let this pregnancy have the gestation period of an elephant, which I believe is about 24 months. The cashier also kept calling me "Mom" and informed me my shoes were not practical for pregnancy. Nice.)

3. "Boy, right? I know its a boy." (This was said to me by another cashier at Lowes ---I was at Lowes a lot this weekend--who looked very disappointed when I had to tell him he was wrong about the gender of the child.)

4. "Table for six.....or how about seven?" (This was said by the host at Olive Garden last night. We were only with a party of six people, but he thought his joke about needing an extra seat for the baby was hilarious. However, I didn't think it was humorous to imply that I needed seating for two. This host also would not leave Isaac alone and made Tobe and myself quite uncomfortable. If I ever bump into this man in our local Target, I am running the other direction.)

So there you go---Lynley is a bit testy these days. Last week at my doctor's appointment I was relaying some experiences I have been having with contractions to my doctor. She told me what to notify her about and said once I hit a certain point, she won't do anything to stop the contractions. Uh, that certain point is in two weeks! Oh my! Until that point I am to cut my physical activity level in half (no three mile walks) and stay hydrated (which means I might as well live in the bathroom. Poor Isaac is ready to be potty-trained partly because he sees me going to the bathroom all the time and has started talking about "pee-peeing in the potty" whenever he sees a toilet.) I am hoping to make it to my birthday--which is mid-April--without an appearance of this sweet baby. However, I do relish the thought of wearing normal jeans and my ribs not aching as though I were a participant in a boxing match....

This weekend was "Make Room for Baby" weekend, meaning that all the grandparents, plus Tobe and my little brother, pulled together and transformed our old study into the nursery. Here are some preliminary pictures. Before you comment, yes, the nursery is pink and yes about four months ago I rebuked all things pink. What can I say, I am a hypocrite.

(Work done: Walls painted pink; bead board, trim and molding installed and painted; new blinds installed; new fan installed; new outlets installed--including a phone jack that connects to one in the garage--don't ask, the former owners of our house were quite eccentric; crib assembled, though not pictured; curtains hung)

In closing, here are the latest Isaac tricks, in no particular order:

*He says a pig says "ink, ink" rather than "oink, oink." Precious.

*He will sing the "E-I-E-I-O" portion of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" which is hilarious

*He is finally acknowledging the fact that he does indeed know how to count

*When asked, he can tell you the new room is for the "baby"

*This morning I handed him a package of pacifiers (pink) and asked him to put them in the baby's room. He hugged them close and said, "nigh-nighs, baby" and then put them in Evelyn's crib. We aren't sure how he made the connection between pacifier and sleep, considering he only took a pacifier the first two weeks of life, but it was precious anyway.

Yes, Bunny is still alive and still hops frantically in the opposite direction of Isaac.

Rise and Shine...

This morning I went in and woke Isaac up at 7:30am (daylight savings time is still killing us!). He immediately jumps up in his crib and points over the rail, saying "Uh Oh". There on the floor laid his precious giraffe. His next word was, "Ho nee" which means "hammer" (don't ask, we aren't sure how he devised that word from hammer). Our tiger wakes up happy and ready to get started on his day.

Here he is with his "ho nee" and a stuffed rhino that he decided to become attached to this morning (I think it is because the rhino has a nose and a horn, which Isaac likes to point out both and call noses. He is really into identifying other people's body parts right now, so I apologize in advance if he sticks his finger in your eye to tell you it's an eye.) Love that bedhead!


While I type this, Isaac is happily playing in the living room. I just popped in to see what he was doing and he had lined up all of his Baby Einstein movies into a perfect row in front of the fireplace. That boy loves to organize!

Tales of a Tiger

I know you only read this blog to see the pictures of Isaac. I am fine with that. I only read your blog to see the pictures of your family, so we are even.

Here is what our tiger has been up to lately....

St. Patricks Day at the Park

(By the way, Isaac knows when we are slightly near the park and will instruct us to turn the car in that direction. He loves the park. The poor boy cried and cried on Sunday when we passed a daycare ---which he thought was a park due to their outside equipment--- and did not stop to "pay")

Isaac has become the slide expert
Looking at the "A's"

(what he calls letters)


Mini-college roomie reunion

Isaac and Morgan, wondering why their Mommies and Ms. Laura repeatedly tell the same stories over and over, then erupt in loud laughter.

Monday, Isaac and I ventured out to a lady's house who redoes children's outdoor furniture to see if we could score any bargains. The poor boy wants to play in our backyard, but there really isn't anything to do. We were hoping for a sand and water table, but the only one she had did not get good reviews online. We did get a Little Tikes table and chairs for the patio area and a Step 2 red push car---each for only $15! Isaac enjoyed some indoor time with his new table before it makes the move to outside.

Because I am a nerd--or an 80 year old lady trapped inside the pregnant body of a 29 year old---I had to include a picture of our Bradford pear trees. In the five years that we have lived here, our Bradford pears have quickly gone from the barren look to the lush green look--often skipping the beautiful white flower stage that welcomes Spring. This year we finally were able to enjoy the white blossoms for a week before the tree turned to green. I have talked about these trees non-stop in the past two weeks because I am quite impressed with their beauty. (or because I am a nerd...)

In closing, I would like to identify two things that do not help the self-esteem of a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy...

1. Watching Dancing with the Stars and picturing my belly in one of those outfits.

2. Receiving a free trial issue ---addressed to ME---of Figure magazine, the only magazine made for women size 20 and up. Nice.

Top Ten Tiny Tiger Sayings of the Past Week

Somewhere ---long before I had my first child--- I read how important talking to your baby on a regular basis is in helping his/her vocabulary form. I have talked---alot--to Isaac from Day One, even when he was just a cute little blob who had no clue as to why this lady with red hair was always chatting on incessantly. Well, friends, I believe that his little vocabulary has formed and Mr. Isaac is quite the chatterbox. Seriously, he talks ALL DAY LONG from the moment he opens his eyes in the morning until his sleepy head hits the mattress at night. The only time he stops is when a stranger is near and then he becomes suddenly mute. I love this constant chatter, even when he asks me the same question fifty times in three minutes. Now I give you my top ten Tiny Tiger sayings of this past week:

10. "More nigh-nighs" This means for me to sing more of our special Mommy/Tiger song "Time for Nigh Night". You won't find this tune on any Toddler songs CD. Nope it is original--first created by my mother and then remastered by me. It is a bedtime diddy sung loosely to the tune of "Come to Jesus." (um, don't ask...)

9. "Sures" For some reason, Isaac puts an "s" on the end of some of his words when no "s" is needed. You can ask him a question and if his answer is "Yes" he replies "Sures" rather than just saying "Yes." Too cute.

8. "Mommy...boos...peas..." Translated this means, "Mommy, books please." This is what I heard over the monitor at 6:30am this morning as I made the bed. Isaac has a new habit of wanting some books upon waking and then lounging in his crib reading for about 15 minutes before getting up for the day. He takes after his mother, who would prefer laying in bed with a good book and a mug of coffee rather than getting up and facing the day. He hasn't figured out the coffee bit yet, but he did request a cup of juice yesterday morning (which I vetoed).

7. "Daddy...baths....bubbles..." Isaac is getting the hang of sentences and stringing words together to form a complete thought, but usually each word in his "sentence" sounds like its own question. He asks Tobe every night after cleaning up his toys if he can take his bath. Tonight he started asking him in the car on the way home from dinner. That boy loves his bath.

6. "No, No, No Mommy" This was said as I cheerfully pushed Isaac in his stroller to the local Cool Cuts for Kids for a haircut. Isaac had not been there since January and we had parked in a different location than usual. However, this child remembered where the haircut place was and started protesting--rather loudly--over the fact that he did not want to be subjected to a haircut. Quite smart. (Despite the protests, he did have his hair cut and did quite well with few tears and only one large bruise from the ordeal).

5. "Uh-ohs...trash" Again he puts an "s" on the end of the word "uh-oh". He said this to me today with quite the concerned look on his face as he found an old sticker on the floor. He quickly disposed of this offending trash.

4. "Bunny!!!!!!!!" This was heard repeatedly yesterday in our backyard as Isaac chased bunny around attempting to feed him a piece of bread. Poor bunny seemed a bit traumatized by the over-eager toddler carrying a half-eaten piece of bread running after him. Bunny finally crawled under our neighbor's fence to hide from Isaac.

3. When Isaac does something wrong after I have already told him "no", I usually say, "Isaac, what did Mommy say?" to which he will say, "No." Then I say "What do you need to do?" to which I reply "You need to obey." (Yes, I answer my own question) The other day we were having such a conversation and I asked "So what do you need to do?" Before I could answer my own question, Isaac said, "beys." (obey). Priceless.

2. "Mommy" Isaac and I have a new game. He will say my name and then I will say his--this goes on for several minutes. What makes this funny is that he will mimic the tone of voice I use. For instance if I say his name in a high-pitch voice, he will say mine in a high-pitch voice. If I whisper, he whispers. This cracks us both up. He has started playing the game now where I mimic him and is quite good at saying my name a variety of ways for me to imitate.

1. When Isaac starts to whine or use an inappropriate voice, we tell him to use a nice voice. He will immediately smile and say "Peas" (please), even if please really isn't the right word for the situation. To him, that is his "nice voice." Isaac had a rough weekend last weekend dealing with fevers and some new teeth coming through---add this to the fact that he is showing a desire to be independent---and had a lot of his behaviors redirected. He came into our bedroom to ask for something, but did so half-crying, half-whining. We asked him to use a nice voice to which he replied "peeeeeaaaassee...." in the saddest tone ever. Although the written text can't quite convey the extremity of this version of "please" understand it was hysterical and Tobe and I had to hide our laughter and put on our "parent face."

Although we get to hear Isaac talk all the time, you likely will just have to use this top ten as a substitution for hearing his constant chatter. Oh wells. Happy Friday!

What did you do yesterday?

Yesterday I bought $190 worth of children's pajamas. Before you think that I have completely lost my mind, I must share that I bought these PJS (15 pairs) for .97 cents each at Old Navy! Less than a dollar a piece, people, for Old Navy toddler pajamas!

You might be wondering how I stumbled upon the motherload of all PJ sales--well Isaac and I happened to be shopping Old Navy after a semi-successful haircut trip (I say semi because he left with a goose egg on the forehead after an unfortunate incident with a Thomas the Train table--however there were very few tears and the haircut is actually even this time.). The manager of Old Navy approached me with a large box, telling me they just found back stock of PJ's and were having to mark them down to .97 cents each----did I want to take a look? Uh, YEAH! Baby girl scored more PJ's than Isaac, but overall I walked out of the store with 15 pairs of pajamas for $15 and some change. If I was Ebay savvy I could turn around and sell these for some serious cash, but the idea of that just makes me tired....

(By the way, do you like the new blog design? The old one was zapping the creativity right out of me, thus the lack of posting the past week and 1/2. If you too would like a nifty new FREE blog design head over to www.zootsdesigns.com and Ms. Zoot will give you the hook-up)

"Bummy...."

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Above is video of Isaac and our beloved bunny, who he lovingly calls "Bummy. " Being the creative parent that I am, I figured "Bummy" wanted to eat some carrots, despite the fact that they were frozen carrots and a bit old.

Waiting for bunny--carrot in hand--to come out from under the grill...

Feeding the bunny carrots...

Calling the bunny in hopes he will come out of hiding under the fence ...



Looking for the bunny...



Feeding the bunny more carrots...

Contemplating eating a carrot his own self until Mommy said "no" (it had been in the dirt and chewed on by "Bummy")....

The newest addition to our house...."Ribbit", Isaac's new frog chair (his sister has a pig one)

Fun times at the park