D-day ( the dentist! )

Today was the day-- Jack's first trip to the dentist! Without even knowing what the dentist really did Jack was ready to hate this trip from the word go. When we would mention it he just kept telling us how he wasn't going to open his mouth. This morning Pete came up with the idea of Chuck E. Cheese. We hadn't taken Jack yet, but thought the combination of games and pizza would be good enough to get any child to behave at the dentist.

We arrive at the dentist ( a pediatric dentist by the way) and they have the names of all the new patients on an easel- cute touch. Inside they have toys, magazines, bright colors, the works, and Jack seems to enjoy the waiting room. They call him back and tell him he can pick the color chair he is going to sit in. Parents are allowed back but aren't allowed with the children. They have a little parents waiting area, you can see and mostly hear what is going on, but you aren't interfering with the process. At first things seem to be going well. He gets to pick out what color bag he wants, the bag contains a timer, a toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste, he is answering the dental assistant's questions, and I am the one being a nervous wreck. She explains how to brush and rinse, how to time how long to do it, and then comes the actual examination- things go downhill pretty fast. She wants to count his teeth- she gets to six then he is done. I am not sure what happened, but I know the next thing is putting the red fluoride on his teeth to see where he needs to brush better. Nope not going to happen. He begins to yell at her, he says no I am not going to open my mouth, don't do it, and he gets out of the chair and runs away! I didn't know what to do since we were put in our own area away from him-- I didn't know if we were supposed to interfere at all. Luckily, Pete decided that he was not going to have any of it and catches Jack to talk to him. The dental assistant said that Pete should sit on the chair and hold Jack while she finished. Again, I am not sure what happened, but I know that the fluoride never happened. She just called the dentist back. From my far away vantage the dentist seemed well suited to dealing with children like Jack. He brought a flashlight and let Jack turn it on. He looked in Jack's mouth and the began to discuss things with Pete. I know that the main thing was Jack's future need for braces. Now this is something we knew a long time ago because I had the worst teeth out of any one I have ever met. Poor Jack was destined to have horrible teeth. The appointment ended with Jack never getting his fluoride but he did get a blue bouncy ball gift!

I must say that while he wasn't the best patient he really did listen until she told him to open his mouth because when we got home he pulled out his timer, toothbrush, and toothpaste and began to actually brush his teeth. He also fondly remembers that the dentist used a blue flashlight to look at his teeth and tongue-- he thought that was amazing.

So what happened with Chuck E. Cheese? We thought that instead of punishing him we should try to make the experience as fun as possible- sort of an establishing the carrot so we can use the stick later- and went to Chuck E. Cheese.

what's going on here

Jack wants at least two of every character from the movie- Cars. I guess we have made it pretty clear that we aren't going to buy them for him, so Ms. Sally is going to buy them for him. Every day he asks to go to the grocery store, Wal-mart, or Target so he can wait for Ms. Sally. Apparently she is going to meet us and then buy him all the cars he wants. When we get to the store he picks out all the cars he wants and then we just stand there for 10 minutes or more waiting for Ms. Sally to come. We can't put them away because then she wouldn't know which ones to get. When we finally say ok well if Ms. Sally isn't here in two minutes we have to leave- he just breaks down. This happened shortly after this picture, he is no longer allowed to go to the grocery store. Pete took him to Target the next day. and Jack almost broke down until Pete reminded him how horrible it would be to be banned from Target as well. He talks about this all the time! I bought him a Ms. Sally and Lightening McQueen to give him after the baby is home, but part of me doesn't want to give it to him for fear that this will only perpetuate his obsession.

So we haven't overly publicized the new baby's name, but we have known it since well before we were ever pregnant. His name will be Luke, and as with Jack, it appears we have picked one of the most popular names of the year. We picked out this name a long long time ago when very few people were talking about this name, but now that we get to use it everyone is naming their child Luke or Lucas. The lady at Qdoba asked what we were naming the baby, and when we told her she informed us she was pregnant as well and was naming her baby Lukas. With a K because she has issues with Lucas Oil Stadium. Interesting. I would think that if you disliked Lucas Oil Stadium, so much that you would alter the spelling of your child's name, then you probably wouldn't name your child Lucas/Lukas at all. I mean if you wanted to stick it to them you could name your kid- Tom Brady or Gillette. Whatever.

As far as the Colts go-- Yay for our return to the Super Bowl! Now I just want to state for the record that Pete and I are partially responsible for this-- yes we are. When they won the Super Bowl last, I was pregnant with Jack. Now they are going again and I am pregnant-- you can say that is a coincidence but really I know it is more. :)

We have been reading Fox in Socks and there is a line that says- Come now come now you don't have to be so dumb now. When asked what dumb was Pete informed Jack that it meant you can't or won't speak/talk. I gave him a look because I knew what was going to happen. He just looked at me and goes - What? That is what it means. So today Jack was talking to me and said- Mommy you are being dumb. I looked at him and go- Excuse me? Jack: What, that just means you won't talk. Thanks Pete!

waiting....

There comes a point in pregnancy when you are done with it, but it is not done with you. I am only 34 weeks, but already I am done! It isn't that I am horribly uncomfortable because really I'm not. I just feel like we are waiting...waiting...waiting...
Today was the same as yesterday and will be the same tomorrow and we are just waiting. Jack was born at 37 weeks so if the same happens we could have this baby in three weeks, but until then we are just waiting. Some days he moves a ton, some days I have contractions, some days I am so sleepy I can't get out of bed, and then there are days when nothing happens.

We haven't really tried taking any pictures of me pregnant so I figured I would take a few today.

Other things going on around here:

Jack is living in a make believe world at the moment. Not sure about this, but we are just going with it. He loves the movie-Cars. He loves to play with cars and this has combined into a reality for him. He wants to go in his room alone so he can have conversations with his friends and they can come and play with him. His friends are Ms. Sally and Mater. He has long conversations with them and he believes they are there. He also uses them as "people" who will give him what he wants. A few examples of the latter:
Mater is going to buy me all the cars and candy I want.
After being told he couldn't have a cat since we already have a dog he said:
Ms. Sally is going to be buy me a black cat.
He lives in this Cars world most of the time. I suppose he could have worse friends.

Not much else going on. Jack was supposed to go to the dentist this week, but that has been rescheduled. He has never been but his response to going: I am not going to open my mouth. I can tell it will be a fun time.

olio

Below are a few of the pictures from our stay in KY. We had a good time visiting with everyone-- thanks again!



We have had sleep issues with Jack since returning. He doesn't want to stay in his room at all. He is pulling out the old- I need a drink. He has also gone to his ability to poop about 20 minutes after being put to bed. Prior to our vacation we had been keeping his door unlocked about 80% of the time so upon our return we went back to this method. Jack decided to take full advantage of it by simply walking out of his room and saying things like: I just want to watch the commercial real fast. What movie is this? I will just play with my toys for a few minutes. I am going to write some 9's before I go back to bed. After a few nights of that we started locking his door again, of course this didn't go well either. He just began crying and begging us not to lock the door. It was so pitiful sounding. Then when this didn't work he informed us he would just bang on it- which he did/does. We have decided, for now, to unlock his door before we go to bed, and this has led to him crawling into bed with us around midnight. This has also led me to think that maybe we should just keep it locked.

Pete and Jack went out earlier this week to find a mini-van. Pete walked in and told them what he wanted and they said no. However, once they realized he would not be toyed with they began to work with him. Seeing that he was armed with Jack they said: So is he your confidence man? Then right on cue with no prompting from anyone Jack said: How expensive are the mini-vans?
He is too funny. The one we had seen online was gone, but they found another that was even better. It was newer and had fewer miles, and the price was only about $800 more. We got an amazing deal because it was a rental car. We have heard both good and bad when getting a rental, but since it has so few miles and is newer, we thought it was definitely worth it. I have not yet driven this van since we only acquired it tonight, and I was not going to give it a whirl in this weather. We really don't want another wreck. It is pretty awesome-as far as vans go. We can now listen to MP3s and plug in our ipods. The side doors are automatic and so much more. Plus Tigran gets the back end of the car. Here is a picture of what our van looks like (this is not our van I just found this picture online).


In pregnant news the baby is currently in the head down position. They said he should stay there so that is good- we don't want a breech baby. I am measuring about a week more but that is not really significant. My blood pressure is rising but is still well within the normal range. I am bringing sexy to the pregnancy look by becoming so large that my stomach is not completely covered when I wear about half of my pregnancy clothes. I informed the nurse pa. that I wanted my cerclage out at my 36 week appt. which is on Feb. 2nd, after that when he comes is anyone's call.

Christmas in KY pt. 2 and other stuff

We spent the second half of our KY trip in Eastern KY. Pete spent the vast majority of his time playing World of Warcraft. It was an interesting sight to behold- Joe, Pete, and Luke all on different computers, all playing the same game. There was also a lot of family video watching going on during the evenings. It was fun to see everyone when they were quite young. I got to go to W.VA and "help" Cassie pick out her wedding dress. Let me just say- she will look gorgeous.

Jack got to zoom cars down a tube and through the kitchen


He got his hair cut by Cassie and Danny


He and Luke shared some special bonding time


Joe took him for a ride on the John Deere once the temperature hit 33.0


Of course there was time to just sit and play with all his new toys too


In other news- we were able to pick up our car today!! It looked absolutely beautiful. I couldn't believe how happy I was to have my car back. I got to drive for the first time in weeks -I haven't been able to drive the other cars. Even though I don't really like driving, I was glad to have the freedom to go where I wanted when I wanted. I love my car and think I may actually be sad when we have to get rid of her for a van. So for the next few weeks, until the big purchase is made, I will enjoy my time with my car.

In Jack news: He has returned home the sweetest kid in the world. He is so grateful for everything! He just keeps saying thank you for this that and the other. He keeps saying how great and awesome things are. He keeps telling us how much his loves us. Everything he does he is doing with such joy and gratitude. This afternoon when I asked Pete to help me take off my boots and exchange them for slippers Jack ran over to me and said: I can do it mommy!! He proceeded to take off my boots, find my slippers, and put them on me. When Pete tried to help he said: no I am helping mommy!