Ouch!

Poor N took a tumble at work yesterday and managed to bite his lip. It's swollen today and looks pretty sore but he's been fine in himself. Trying to keep him quiet so he doesn't open it again is proving to be tough. Our little man is 'all boy' and has to do everything at top speed. Once he gets around the big boy it gets even crazier!
Hopefully it will look a little better by the time Christmas comes around and he's in hundreds of pictures!

I was off work most of last week as my brother, sister in law and niece were visiting. It was great to spend time with them and watch the kids play together. But getting back into the swing of work this week has been tough. It feels like the longest week!! I can't wait until Friday when we are both done for the holidays. My guys are going to FL so other than working Boxing Day next week I'm off until January 6th.

Best laid plans

Yesterday started with a trip to our new Dr for N's 2.5 year check. J took him and he did really well, he now weighs in at almost 32lbs (50th percentile) and is 36" (70th percentile) tall. Which means he is finally tall enough for many of the rides that he was too short for over the summer! 

After an early lunch we decided to head to a local airport to see Santa fly in. This is what happened on the way there!

Once we got there with a sleeping boy we decided to stick him in the stroller and wait for him to wake up. But we got out of the car and it was freezing! We had the bundle on the stroller so we got it out and started to get everything ready,  then we realized that with the wind it was really COLD! I think that we debated for a couple of minutes about what to do and then decided that it wasn't worth it. Waking up and being in the freezing cold would probably not make for a happy outing with our boy. So we closed up the stroller, got back in the car and headed home.

We took a little detour on the way home to pass by a preschool that is on our list for N and while we were checking it out he woke up. He didn't mention airplanes or Santa but instead asked to go to the playground. We headed there, but once we got him out of the car he wasn't impressed with the cold and asked to be held. I suggested that we go into the library where we played in the warm for a while before going home for dinner.

I downloaded a cool color effects app on my phone and had some fun with it this afternoon. It's a little hard to get it colored exactly on the phone as my fingers are just too big. But I like the end result and look forward to playing around with it some more.

Helping hand

I'm sure that N won't always enjoy this job as much as he does right now but I'll take the help while it lasts!!

Sandy

Last weekend saw us preparing for the arrival of sandy. We shopped for supplies, pulled the generator (that we got after last years storms left us without power for 5 and 7 days) and it's instructions from the garage. Gassed up our cars, bought anything that could take flight inside or tied it down. Then we waited....
Monday was really quiet and the weather wasn't too bad. J even took N to one of our favorite indoor play places to burn some energy. Around 2.30-3 it started to get windy and wet, J and N made it home and we hung out, played and ate dinner.
Just after I put N to bed the power went out and the wind and rain picked up. We decided to go to bed and see what the morning would bring. It was scary at times with the wind howling around the house, but N slept through it all.
By morning the storm had passed, we still didn't have power and cell service was out too. We ventured out to see the damage and were pleasantly surprised. We were so lucky and had only minor damage. We lost the glass top to our outdoor table, a gate and tree branches came down, but no trees. At this point we still hadn't seen any media pictures so had no idea of the true extent of the damage caused by sandy elsewhere.
J went out to find gas for the generator and search for cell service. No local stations were open, but a call to her parents found they had power and their local gas stations were open. We all headed down there and saw the news for the first time. It was unbelievable to see all the damage, especially to the shore. It was so hard to comprehend - the place we vacationed just 3 months ago is gone...just wiped away.
We spent Tuesday night at home. All of us sleeping in our room with a heater hooked to the generator to keep us warm. N was a little unsure about not sleeping in his crib, but went to sleep quickly and stayed asleep all night.
Wednesday we headed back to J's parents house so we could shower and eat a hot meal. J tried again to get gas and this time waited online for close to 2 hours. People were getting really aggressive and the cops were called to settle a dispute. We drove home at bedtime to find a problem with the generator and the house cold and getting colder. After playing around with the generator for a while we decided to pack up, leave extra food and water for the cat and head back to J's parents.
For the next few days we hung with Gram and Pop. Poor N was so unsettled and totally not himself. He barely ate anything, had huge meltdowns and started throwing toys, even aiming at people. Sleep was shot, he woke frequently and I even ended up bringing him into bed with me to try and get some sleep. Twin (single) beds are so not made for an active toddler and his mama!! Dealing with N and trying to make him feel secure was probably the hardest part of the whole thing. He just kept asking to go home and no matter how we tried, we couldn't help him understand why we were not going home. We even went home for a while, so he could hang out and play with his stuff and made a quick stop at work so he could see his buddy, who was missing us too.
Friday night just after I'd put an exhausted little boy to bed we got a txt message saying that we had power again! We were amazed, as after the last storm we were one of the last places to get power back. They had been telling us it wouldn't be back before wed, so we had prepared ourselves for a long wait. Because N was already in bed we decided to wait until the next morning before going home. That ended up being his hardest night yet, I was so tired the next morning, but so excited to get home!!
Saturday saw the introduction of gas rationing. Luckily for me, my amazing wife was getting up super early to hit the gas stations when they opened so that the wait wasn't too long. We both had full tanks when we left for home.
I'm so grateful to J's parents for letting us stay at their place and basically take over their house. Many of our friends didn't have any other options and either stayed at their cold houses or spent hours in gas lines to keep their generators working. We invited some of the ones still without power over, but at this point most of them have found other options or have power back too.
We spent lots of Saturday cleaning up the house and clearing out the fridge and freezer. At one point as I was cleaning the empty fridge N asked 'where's all the food?' Throwing all that food away was tough.
I even spent time today vacuuming the glass out of the grass - a first for me!! It was the only way we could think of to get all the small pieces of glass up, so we wouldn't trash our mower and for our boy who loves to go bare foot.
Halloween on wednesday was postponed. We are looking forward to taking our astronaut trick or treating tmrw night. We are only planning to go to a few houses on our street, with our next door neighbors. N has been practicing saying 'trick or treat' for a while, but who knows if he'll actually be brave enough when the time comes!
J has been off work all week and it looks like she will be off for a couple more days. I'm probably going to head back to work tmrw after my week off. Not sure yet whether or not N will come with me. The family are staying at their grandparent's house, along with 4 cousins, so N may add to the chaos too much. Although I know he'd love to see the kids and they probably feel the same way about him.
We are so happy to be home and glad to see that N is settling down and almost back to his old self. We don't have cable or Internet access, but that is only a little inconvenience compared to having no power. Any thoughts that I had about living without tv are gone. LOL! I am so missing it and reading the blogs that I follow too!

Jumping

We took N to Sesame place yesterday - it was packed! I think that we were there for 4 hours and N probably went on 4 rides and saw 1 show. Anyway, he still had a blast and we ran into J's BFF from college with her son so that made it even better.

N is dropping his nap, so when we left the park at 6 we hit the local mall for some dinner and hang out time before heading for home. We knew that if we tried to drive straight home he would have been out and probably wouldn't have stayed asleep once we got home. Which would have meant a very late night for one of the mommies, so the local mall was a great way to pass an hr. We even found something super fun for N to do there! As I rode down the escalator with N he saw other kids strapped into harnesses and bouncing on trampolines and N said he wanted to give it a try. I asked if he was sure and he said yes, so I took him over, thinking that he'd change his mind. J showed up just as he was being strapped into the harness - she was not so sure about my bright idea. But he loved it :-) He listened really well to the girl running it and didn't mind the height at all - braver than me for sure!

Super N

I really need to catch up, but am facing the fact that it will probably never happen!

I had been worrying towards the end of the summer that my job was coming to an end. My boss had been planning to put the big boy in school until 3. Luckily for me Dad didn't agree with that plan so he gets out at 1, and may switch to 3 at a later date. Instead of loosing my job, the days that I work increased. Phew! I'm starting later, but now working mon, wed, thur, fri and either sat or sun. It's definitely taking some time to get used to. I feel like our house is a mess, unless I start or make dinner in the morning it's not the best, and there is no time to get stuff done. Poor N is still getting used to not always getting to nap, with mostly car seat naps when it happens. But we are thankful that I still have a job.

The boys are playing so well together and having so much fun. N seems to be playing at an older age level and I'm surprised by his imaginative play when he's playing alone and with the kids. The favorite right now is super heroes. I've lost count of the number of times they are in and out of costumes every day!!

Everyone wants to know if he's in school. And as he's not, why not. At this point I just don't think it's worth it. We go to story time, he plays soccer and when my work schedule allows we take part in moms club activities. All the kids that I've taken care of that went to 2+ programs hated them. They cried more often than not and it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth, especially when we didn't know what my work schedule or income would be. We will probably revisit the topic in January, but it's more likely that he won't start anything until september next year.

We made the mistake of telling too many people that N is shy. And we've been hearing that from him a lot lately. As in 'I can't say sorry, because I'm shy!' I'm making an effort to not say it anymore, as I don't want him to think of himself like that. His other favorite saying is 'I'm frustrated!' Which can usually be heard when his Lego tower falls over or if he's not mastering something that he wants to do.

Our TTC journey is moving slowly forward. I didn't get my BFP and was actually affected by it more than I had expected to, especially when I predicted it. Being the one trying is much harder than I thought it would be and it took over my life way too much. Hopefully next time I'll be able to be more relaxed about it.

Notes from the other side

I'm nearing the end of my very first TWW and although I still hold a little hope, I'm pretty sure that it will be a BFN. There was a short time when I thought I might be pregnant, but now I feel like AF is  on her way. I was planning to test on Friday (12 dpo) but now think I might just wait through the weekend and if AF hasn't shown after that then I'll test on Monday. Although I've been charting it has been all over the place, as I've also had a cold. My temp is still up, but before I O'd it was up and down like a yoyo! Even now it goes up and down every day, but remains over the cover line.

Being the one that's trying to get knocked up has been harder than I thought it would be. I told myself that I was going to try and stay calm, but have found that it's pretty impossible! Every twinge, real or imaginary leaves me wondering if just maybe..... 

I watched J go through 6 attempts before a BFP and see that many bloggers are getting BFN's with IUI and IVF right now. As another blogger pointed out there are no guarantees! 

We ended up deciding to do the insem ourselves at home. It was pretty straightforward and so nice to hang out in our bed afterwards and not have to worry about a nurse knocking on the door telling you that your time is up!

We are heading to see friends for the weekend and we are all really looking forward to it. The 3 hr drive, not so much, but it'll be great once we are there! We still don't have any set plans, it depends on the weather, possibly the aquarium, water park or beach. It will be a great break before we get back to the real world next week. Work has already picked up for J and I'm back full time on Tuesday.