This Last Weekend

Kate and I had a busy day on Saturday, starting with driving down to Kent to buy a dresser from a lady that I found through Craigslist, and then going to Ikea to settle my nesting crazies.

I was looking for a 6-drawer dresser (3 drawers down x 2 across) to use for both Kate and Oliver. Their bedroom is going to be cramped with a baby and toddler stuff so we are having to get creative with storage. I knew that there was no way we were going to get two dressers and a changing table in a room that already has a toddler bed, crib, wagon, art easel and stuffed animals. So I decided that I was going to get a 6 drawer dresser and use it for both Kate and Oliver as well as a changing table.

The first dresser I found on Craigslist seemed perfect. I was kind of nervous because if this thing went through this would be my first CL purchase. Especially for a pregnant chick and her child with no real protection if anything happened. It just so happened that when I go to this house the lady was really cool and her husband actually put the dresser in the back of my car for me. The dresser was perfect - in color and size. When we got it into the room last night it couldn't have been better.

I was so excited about the dresser that I really wanted to buy more items - which I knew wouldn't happen with my lack of money - but that wouldn't deter my nesting crazies and Kate and I decided to brave the long lines and massive crowds of Ikea.

Things started out ok when we found a parking spot right across the parking lot from the front door - I couldn't believe our good luck! There were people parking around the corner in the employee area as well as across the street in other company's parking lots. I had good feelings about this trip.

Good feelings gone the instant we get inside.

The first thing we see is the kiddie play area with the long line out front of people wanting to hand off their kids. I looked that that line longingly counting down the days until Kate could go in there. Kate was looking longingly as well - she threw a fit when she couldn't go in. Poor baby has to be potty trained and 3 years old. She's got the hard part down, it's only the waiting part now until Kate's three. Only a few more weeks. So Kate decided that she wanted to "show me something" every time we walked past a piece of furniture. We didn't get out of the first living room showcase for 10 minutes! This wasn't going to be easy getting through the whole store. I had to threaten her with a spanking a couple different times in the first 30 minutes alone and we weren't even out of the couch section yet.

Things were looking better when we got to the bed section, Kate decided it was nap time and wanted to climb into every bed that had covers on it. I finally let her lie down in one bed near the frame I want to buy for her and people were walking by laughing at her and commenting at how cute she was. I had to snap a pic of her in the bed, she looked incredibly comfortable and tiny in the giant bed.

Kate's actions continues in this "happy mode" through the toy section and after we left that area she started back up with the "I want to show you something" line. I was done by this point and was relieved when we got to the middle of the store around the back side of the play area. I decided that enough was enough and we were done with all things Ikea. I had to drag Kate away from the play area again, which was worse than the first time, back to the car (which, thank goodness, was right across the way from the front steps). Kate didn't stop crying until after we got home and I put her to bed - she needed a nap but I didn't put her down any later than usual. FINALLY I got to enjoy some peace and quite for the next couple of hours and then Kate woke up as happy as a clown.

Ahh, the joys of being a parent.

Like Father Like Daughter

Yes, that is a Wizard magazine Kate is reading....

Halloween Times are Upon Us

We went to a pumpkin patch this Sunday so Kate can pick out her very first pumpkin. It was the most amazing day and perfect weather to go. We had a blast tromping around acres of field to find the perfect pumpkins followed by having some roasted corn for a snack and picking up some corn and apples to take home. Kate had so much fun that besides Christmas this is her favorite holiday.

Looking at the daunting task ahead of her trying to decide which pumpkin to pick...


Kind of Children of the Corn-like huh? Kate loved the corn maze.
Kate and Daddy carving pumpkins. The two pumpkins we picked are the largest pumpkins I have ever carved! That was normal size at the pumpkin patch...

Kate's final product. She loves this thing!

Thanksgiving

We were planning on going to Coeur d'Alene for Thanksgiving but it looks like Lucky can't get out of working. Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention that he is now working at Borders part time to supplement the income that is not walking into the shop. He's not taking a supervisor position and has already demanded a specific schedule and time off when Oliver comes. So now that means to time off for holidays. I'm ok with it but I have a feeling my parents aren't going to like it too much. And because they won't get their asses over to this side of the state to see us, they are screwed. Sucks to be them.

Do you want to know what my world had been like the last couple of weeks?

It is all about the T-Mobile G1 baby!

We sent out 79 devices to our top editors/reviewers today and it was quite a process. We had about an hour left after the packages left and we didn't really know what to do. Shelby and I just kind of sat at our desks staring at our computer monitors, heads completely blank of what we had to do next.
















The FedEx guy got all the packages in one load however. Talk about the right person for the job!

Yeah, I don't really know what else to write, my head is blank and I have 15 minutes before I go home. It is raining here - I don't know why I like driving in the rain but I do. Wow, I'm yammering.

I'm leaving.

To Lucky

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight.
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Where the Sidewalk Ends
~by Shel Silverstein

I love you
~Erin

Potty Training and Just Plain Cuteness

OK, yes, I'm trying to become one of those moms that blog non-stop about their adorable kids but that is just because my entire family are in different states and I hate the phone. :) I've been recently talking to everyone about potty training Kate and how it has been something I have been dreading since before she was born. A lady I used to work with at Avista gave me some great PT advice informing me that the quickest way to get a child trained was to ingrain it in her head. Everyone out there in blog land is rolling their eyes going, "Duh!" I would like to say that piece of advice was easier said than done and go off on a huge rant about how difficult it was to potty train Kate but that was simply not the case.

The advice given to me was to take our kid to the potty every 15 minutes, whether she has to go or not, to let her know that this is where she goes pee pee or poo poo. It took a few tries but Kate picked up the habit, yelling in terror that she has to go potty and then I would drop everything I was doing and we would bolt into the bathroom to make sure she made it without an accident. Once she understood the bathroom concept, she would follow Lucky and I in or push the door open to grandly inform us that we were going potty. She would even clap for us and say "yay!" in congratulations. Do we really look like that when we congratulate her??? Needless to say, we haven't gotten any privacy in the bathroom since.

I also had the idea of making Kate a chart to show her potty progress and awarding her after so many successes. After every time she went in the potty, she got to put a star on her potty chart. After 10 stars she got a prize, ranging from ice cream to a new coloring book to a new dress. It has been going really well, and we figure that after she completes the chart she will be fully potty trained, but Kate has been filling up the boxes a little too fast. In one trip to the mall we had to buy her a new shirt, a coloring book and get her a cookie...So now instead of getting a star after every trip to the bathroom, she only gets a star if she goes #2 in the potty at home.

Here is a picture of Kate's potty chart.

Here are some more pics of Kate being stinking cute this morning.