Like wrestling an alligator

For the most part Liam is very easy going. Well maybe not very, maybe just easy going. There has been very little that we ask of him that he absolutely refuses to do our wishes.

Except when I want to trim his toenails.

His fingernails don't bother him at all. His toes on the other hand will result in a wrestling match between us and him screaming the entire time. Today was no exception to the rule.

It literally took me 30 minutes to trim his toenails this afternoon. Mostly because I kept trying to talk him into letting me do it. We discussed how everybody has to do things that they don't like to do. Bruce, the shark from Finding Nemo, has to be nice to Marlin and Dory even though he really wants to eat them. Lightning McQueen has to fix the road that he ruined even though he really doesn't want to and would rather go to his race.  Woody has to be nice to Buzz.  When he was mean and knocks him out of the window so that he can't go to Pizza Planet,  he doesn't want to go find him to bring him back to Andy and all the other toys but he does anyway because sometimes you gotta do what you don't want to do.

With each example he would calm down, we would talk it over, I would grab one little toe and he would jerk his leg around screaming again making it impossible to trim his toenails without hurting him.

I even let him trim my fingernails so that he would feel more in control of the situation. It worked for 3 toes before he decided even that was too much.

I don't know what to do about this. Usually I will distract him with TV or a youtube video but because of how he was acting with even that on I had to threaten to turn it off if he didn't improve his behavior and then when he didn't, I had no choice but to turn it off.

I would love to tell you that he eventually saw my side of things and our pedicure ended with a happy toddler and mommy. But after 30 minutes of discussing and wrestling I had had enough. Do you want to know the most frustrating part is? At the end when I asked him if it hurt, HE SAYS NO!!!

Pretty sure I have scarred him for life. Evan said that when he leaves the house at 18 he will probably turn into the next Guinness Book Record Holder for the longest toenails.

Big dreams

Liam will soon be getting a new room to accommodate the new baby coming in about 3 months. There is a lot of work that needs to be done including new carpet, new windows, new curtains and most importantly a new big boy bed.

Evan and I have been throwing around lots of idea to each other about what we could do or what furniture we already have that we could repaint to make it more kid friendly. I finally realized that we had not asked Liam what he would like in his new bedroom. So yesterday we had this conversation:

M: "So, you're going to get a new room soon, what would you like in it?"
L:  "Maybe a shark."
M:  "Really? Ok, like a picture of one that could go on your wall?"
L:  "No, a real one."

Parental Differences

Evan and I are different. He is male and I am female. (Duh!) That statement right there should be enough to explain that how we parent our child is different from one another. A lot of times I like that we are different. I like that Evan is creative and loves to play with Liam. He is so good at that. I like to play with Liam too but feel like I struggle the whole time. Coming up with different scenarios for our superhero dialogue is challenging for me to say the least.

Where I'm not a fan of how we are different would be when I say he's too young to watch this movie:

And my dear husband puts it in for him while I was gone to meet a friend for lunch. Maybe the "fun" moments of this movie overcrowded his memory.

Luckily for us, Liam wasn't scared of The Wizard of Oz. He actually enjoys telling me that I was wrong and that he wasn't scared of the Wicked Witch or the flying monkeys. He thought it was funny. He really likes to remind me that he and Daddy watched it while I was gone. Like I'm not as fun as Dad just because I didn't want him to watch a movie about a girl who's home gets sucked up in a tornado and flies away to a different world. Where she's all alone and a crazy green witch wants to kill her to get her sisters shoes back. And flying monkeys try to capture her and her little dog too. At age 3 I thought it was a bit mature for our child.

Yep, I guess I'm the parent who's no fun. I'll wear the badge proudly. 

Happy Valentine's Day

I think someone is excited about their new fire truck tent! This morning he was wearing his fireman's hat but refused to allow me to get any pictures. He has since figured out that he can "drive" the tent around the whole house putting out fires along the way. The only thing is, and he may not understand how a real fire squad responds to a fire, he always asks for payment first.

Funny moments

On Sunday we went to Carlock for church to hear Grandpa Walles preach. They called all the kids down for children's moment and the message was about different types of animals and how God takes care of them. So we shouldn't worry because God will take care of us as well. The woman asked who takes care of you at your home? Kids replied with parents, grandparents, etc. The woman asked how do they take care of you? Liam listening intently the whole lesson finally piped up with, "They give me Kleenex."

Sunday night we were eating dinner at the table, no fooling around, everyone just eating. All of a sudden Liam fell off his chair onto the floor. With a giant thud and his screaming and crying following I was trying to hold back laughter. Thankfully (because that way I could hide my laughter better) he fell towards Evan so he picked him up and was trying to comfort him. After a couple of minutes Evan tried to get him back in his seat which he completely refused so we just let him leave the table. (he was almost done anyway)

Later, I went upstairs to check on him where he was happily playing in his room. He asked me to play with him and then said, "Mommy, I was crying downstairs but now I not. I just needed to be alone for a bit." So I said, "Yeah, let's talk about that, why did you fall off your chair? You've never done that before." "I trying to touch the floor." "Well you're too little to do that. The chair is too tall!" "No, Mommy watch this!" So up he climbed into his toddler bed where he laid down and then reached his little arm over the side to show me that he can indeed touch the floor.

This past weekend we stopped by Elliott's house to play for a little bit and Erik and Carrie gave us some of Elliott's old clothes and a few old books as well. Liam loves looking at all of the books but his favorite is a potty training book where you get to ride the potty train! He laughs every single time at the train because there is a roll of toilet paper on one of the cars. He also found the bag of shoes that I had yet to put in his closet. He found the Toy Story sandals and immediately wanted to put them on. Once he started walking in them he found out that they are the kind of shoes that light up with each step. Since then he has worn them every chance he gets (even naked) but instead of walking normally he bends over so that when he takes a step he can watch the lights go off. So far I've told him they are only an inside our house shoe and can't be worn outside yet but once the snow starts to melt I don't know if 'they're a size and a half too big for you' reason is going to work for why he can't wear them yet.

Here's hoping his feet grow in the next 4 months!

Some early morning humor

This morning after being woken up by a 3 year old who then climbed into bed with us, I told Liam that he should talk to the baby.

L: Hello, little baby. I say HELLO! Baby not talk back to me.
M: (laughing) No, baby can't talk back but can definitely hear you. You should say something else to the baby.
L: Hello baby......I can't see you.
M: No, you can't see the baby yet but keep talking. The baby can hear everything you're saying.
L: Mommy, we can open your belly button. Then we could see the baby.

Laughter from both Evan and I on that one. Wouldn't that be great if my belly button was like a window? We could take a peek anytime just to check in and say hello. How clever is he?

Growing inside and out

This week is my 23rd week of pregnancy. Well, actually at my Dr.'s appointment today I found out that I'm really only 22 weeks along with a changed due date of June 9th because of how baby was measuring last month at my sonogram appointment.

But who wants to look back? So, I'm just going to keep calling it my 23rd week and hope that baby will get a growth spurt soon. Today's appointment went very well. We were able to hear the heartbeat again and discussed some birthing options with my doctor. When Liam was born I was going to have a mostly natural birth and I was going to sit in the birthing tub and labor and use the hot shower to help with the pain of contractions. This was my plan. Ha Ha.

Liam's plan was to get out and get out now. The small contractions that I was having, that I couldn't even really feel, he couldn't handle. With each contraction his heartbeat dropped and when the doctor broke my water to try to get me into more active labor, there was meconium in it meaning he was stressed and we needed to get him out fast. No need for breathing exercises that we had practiced, no water tub to labor in, I couldn't even get out of the bed to use the toilet because the nurses didn't want to unhook me from the monitors. Everything went fast and was surprising and didn't go the way I had envisioned it at all.

After Liam was born and the weeks that followed I felt robbed. I felt like I had missed out on something I could have done. I was upset and continually asked my doctor what had really happened that caused me to have a cesarean. With my two pregnancies since then I was determined to push for a VBAC. (vaginal birth after cesarean) I wanted to know her success rate, I wanted to know my chances of succeeding and if I didn't like what I was going to hear I was going to find a new doctor who would tell me what I wanted to hear.

I believe I have grown in the past year. I have realized that it's not how you run the race but that the most important thing is the end result.  A healthy baby. Liam was so healthy and instead of focusing on that and what a blessing that is all I could do was focus on what I didn't get to do.

I don't know God's plan for this baby and how the baby will come into this world. But I don't care anymore either. I care that in the end I get a healthy baby and whatever we have to do to make that happen is what we will do. Do I sound like I'm maturing and growing up? Figuring out what's most important? Don't let me fool you, just one lesson that I'm starting to work out the pieces to.

Now, some photos to document my growing physically:

15 weeks (maternity pants but still squeezing into that cardigan)

18 weeks (this would be my I don't care look; I might want to start caring huh)

23 weeks (22 weeks according to the doctor)

Well, not only am I growing larger but I'm really bad at taking consistent shots. I'm wearing different clothes in every picture, as I get fatter I must be taking up more of the camera lens too because with each picture I take up more and more of the image. Well, there's no sugar coating it the second time around, Evan is shocked when I wear anything besides my robe.