YEA!

Back to Ohio we go! Clay accepted the offer from Ohio State earlier today, so starting May 18 he will be working back in Columbus! Now I guess I have to get serious about decluttering and packing stuff up and house cleaning. Which is what I should be doing right now.
Now all I need is for Beth to decide to show up . . . I am SO done being pregnant.

FINALLY!!

I think I've finally figured out what Thomas has been talking about the last several nights. I don't know exactly what he's saying (something that sounds like both "smells trash" and "more chest") but tonight he added in that he needed a tissue. I think he's talking about that his nose is stuffy (well, not actually stuffy, but he thinks it is!) and so he needs a tissue. Go figure. Here's hoping that's what it actually is.
Clay is home after traveling all day to get here - I think it would have been faster for him to drive - his first flight was delayed, so he missed his connection, and the flight he did get couldn't land at the airport for all the fog. So he was supposed to be home (our house, not just the airport) by noon, and he walked in at 6:45. Poor guy, he's exhausted, and Thomas was Daddy-obsessed, so he "got to" play with a toddler all night. They had lots of fun, but poor Clay! He's asleep now (can you blame him?) which makes for a very quiet night for me! Now off for a nice ice cream sundae again!

Now that we've gotten that out of the way . . .

Apparently the talk about nightmares being just like stories or movies (in that they aren't real) worked last night. Thomas slept until 10:30 (he didn't fall asleep until 11, so that's not a major shock except that he wasn't sleeping past 9:30 the days before) and went down fine at nap time . . . I put him down at 2 and he was out by 2:05. Now I just need to get the rest of the housework done! Clay was supposed to get back early enough for us to all do lunch today, but his flight to Philly was delayed and he missed his connection to W'port. So poor Dave gets to cover Clay's lab for the second week in a row, and we got grilled cheese for lunch instead of whatever fabulous thing we might have eaten. Maybe I'll talk Clay into dinner tomorrow night to make up for it.
Got some ribbon at the store yesterday to finish making the boyish onesies into girlish onesies, I think they're going to look really cute. Will post pics once finished. Lots more to do on the rest of the house before Clay gets home and/or before Beth arrives and/or before putting the house on the market. I'm a bit nervous about it selling, but it's such a cute house that I don't imagine it will be too bad. I hope. Sigh.
Off to more dishes, laundry, cleaning bathrooms, and general randomness.

Nightmares?

Thomas has been crazy-wild the last couple days, I thought it was just Clay being gone, but now I'm not so sure. I put him to bed tonight and he was all upset for me not understanding whatever he's been saying (still haven't been able to figure it out from the first time several nights ago). I left him to scream a bit because it wasn't going anywhere and I can tell a lot of it is a delaying device (he's good at those). Well, when I went back in and sat him down to rock, I asked him what was wrong. I didn't offer him ideas, no "Are you x? y? z?", which I would have thought I would have needed to in order to get an answer. He looked up at me, thought for a bit, and told me "Thomas scared." !!!!!!! Lots of mommy hugs at that, I held him and rocked and we talked a bit. I asked him what he was scared of, I gathered that he must have had a bad dream and is now scared of sleeping, which would explain the horrible nightmare lack of napping the last 2 days - no pun intended. That and he's scared that our cat will go into his room. Sometimes she pushes his doors open at naptime or when we're in there rocking before bed, though mostly that is fixed by shoving the "Nemo Pillow" in front of the doors before sitting down. I did some googling, this is around the age that nightmares start showing up as imagination really sets in (he started playacting with Bear a few weeks ago, so I know it's started kicking up). That and stress from things like potty training, switching to a "Big Boy Bed", other big life changes, etc. In the last 3 weeks we've ditched both sides of the crib in favor of bed rails, Clay's been gone for 2 1/2 days each week, I'm getting more pregnant (38 weeks today!), and we've been pushing the potty training. Poor guy. I think more than anything though it's the potty training - he was ok last week with Clay being gone; the baby is in fact not here yet and he doesn't really have a concept of what will change (everything) when the baby comes, or what the baby coming even means; we did the bed rails at different times and he wanted the second one, didn't really care or bat an eye. Which leaves potty training, which we've been sort-of doing for a while, but really started pushing hard on a few days ago. I'm going to wait and watch again tomorrow, see how he's doing once Clay is back, but if he's still a mess we are SO going to the pediatrician. Unfortunately, we've never seen this pediatrician, so they'll have no background idea of what he's normally like, but Clay's seen the same person (they have specialties in peds and ?allergies?, I think it is) and they sound like they're the listening/comprehending type that's not making sudden/unfounded assumptions. So right now I'm in a holding pattern but am not willing to wait long to get out of it - it really rips your heart in two to have your toddler son tell you he's scared. Out of nowhere. Anyway, now off for a big hot fudge sundae. Pregnancy heartburn sucks.

Crazy Day

Clay left for another interview today, and I'm pretty sure the day would have been a total wash without the Superbowl. I know absolutely nothing about football (Me: "Are we rooting for the blue people or the red people?"; Everyone else: Laughs; Dave: "Uh, the blue ones, that's the Pats!") but getting to go hang out made the world an okay place to be again. Thomas woke up early today and was in a Mood (you know, one of *those*), then Clay left which didn't help either. Oh yeah, before that even, when we got up this morning Dandy had peed on the floor again . . . not a good way to start a day after yet another rotten night's sleep. Anyway, we went to church, came back home and I laid Thomas down right away, no later than 2:30 - he jabbered until 4:30 or later! I ended up waking him up at 6, I didn't want to get him up any earlier because I knew he'd be a serious mess. Thankfully Jenn had invited us over for Superbowl, or I don't know how we would have made it through the night. Even *with* the promise of going over to Henry's it took 2 screaming (I mean scary screaming, not just goofy or throwing a fit) fits out of Thomas just to get in the car. I've never heard him go like that, it was actually kind of frightening. Anyway, we managed to get over there and after about a half hour of laying on my lap Thomas cooled down enough to play. He and Henry had a blast, especially later - they were chasing each other around the kitchen/hallway/dining room. It was so funny, Henry would slow down for me to be able to tickle him as they passed by. Jenn and I played a few games of Mille Bornes while half paying attention to the game, which was great - she knows more about football than I do (btw, just heard on the radio that the Pats lost - sorry Dave!) though how much that says is not much (see note on conversation above).
Back to typing from an extended break of talking to DH . . . he just left this morning, but already wishing he was home! To give a bit of an anecdote, Thomas loves to play with Lite Brite pieces (remember those toys we all played with when we were little? Still around, in travel version here!) and has been obsessed with playing with them every morning this week. I kid you not, we were up in his room for an hour playing with them Friday morning before he would ever come down for breakfast. And he didn't get up until 10:30. Anyway, before we ever even got out the door for church (which is at noon) he had managed to get them taken away. For them to have been taken away . . . it was a rotten morning. Did I mention how extremely grateful I am that Jenn invited us to crash their Superbowl party? Ok, I know I did say it a couple times already, but I honestly don't know how we would have made it through the night.
Ok, so definitely bedtime, especially if tomorrow is in any way remotely like today.

Pictures!

This is the newborn-size stuff I've made thus far, plus a couple Baby Belly pictures. The placements are being annoying with the picture versus the words, so a description of what you see:

Pants to girl-ify some of the NB onesies from Thomas.
A cute little lavender dress, I'm all proud of my decorative stitching at the bottom!
Me in my cute shirt from my mom!
A gray jumper I made - can be worn with any of the onesies (even the boy-ish ones!), though unfortunately thinner (more see-through) than I had hoped. Can't tell in regular lighting though.
A pink onesie I did today, very cute also under the jumper, as well as any of the pants.
A green sweater I crocheted ages ago in preparation, and finally get to use!

Anyone out there speak Toddlerese?

I just spent the last 45 minutes trying to decipher what my 2-year-old was trying to tell me as he lay in bed - to absolutely no avail. Totally frustrating, the only way I got out of the room was asking him to tell me a story about it tomorrow. That was my second trip in after Clay tried, too. I'm inclined to start pulling out my hair at this point, because even after pondering the entire 45 minutes what he could be saying I'm no closer. Oh, well.
Finished another newborn dress today, and made a onesie. I took an inch out of the pattern before I ever even cut it to make it thinner, and about another inch in the sewing, and it's still closer to a small than a newborn size - and can I just say that "narrow hems" suck royally when it's all curves? Next time I'm chopping off more of the pattern, and taking out the quarter-inch where they want you to "narrow hem", I'll just finish the edge then turn it under once. I want to make at least 1 more newborn-sized onesie before Beth is born, preferably 2 - one short-sleeved and one long-sleeved. We'll see what happens, I've got a lot on the To Do list. Anyway, off to hang out with Clay a bit, and eat a bowl of ice cream!