Big Improvements

We've reached the 5th sticker on the poop chart. J took the big leap and did this one at school. My excitement is 100 times greater than words on this blog can express. Only 5 more to go until the Spaghetti Factory makes its way into our house. I guess I should buy one.

J had an egg hunt at school today. As he was helping me fill the eggs with treats yesterday, I could sense that he was going to have some major problems with giving up his eggs. I had to reassure him that everyone in his class was going to give up their eggs and that in the end, he would end up with just as many as he brought to school. He still needed help giving them to his teacher this morning, but he was thrilled with what he brought home.

The Springsteen concert on Sunday was amazing! He played 28 songs in 3 hours and never took a single break. His energy is amazing. I was disappointed that I was winded after singing about 3 songs. I forgot that my diaphragm is being squished by a baby. Oh well, it saved my voice.

1 week later update

Since I never finished that part of the post, there is more to say. J has been in underwear (DRY underwear, I might add) for a week now. He earned his spaghetti factory on Easter, which made Easter a completely underwhelming event for him, but that's fine. He took a look at his basket, read his books, found his eggs, and then he was done with it. But he spent over an hour making pasta on that little playdough machine.

I thought we would need to set up a new chart immediately after the old one was filled in, but there hasn't been a need. He tells us when he has to go and then gets excited that he's done his business. The funniest part is that he announces about ten times that he "needs his privacy" when he has to poop. Even if you shut the door, he has to remind you that it's his privacy.

We had a lovely Easter brunch with the gang on Sunday. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and all of the rain dried up just in time for cascarones smashing and egg hunting.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that we got a new car! This has been in the works for forever. We ended up with a Toyota Highlander (unfortunately we didn't have the extra 15 grand for the hybrid model). Now before you enviro-conscious people yell at me for putting another SUV on the road, let me offer our reasoning, and yes, I understand there are some holes in it, but nobody's perfect. We started seriously looking at Mazda 5s. They are considered mini-minivans. We almost bought one, but B had serious concerns about it not having traction control or stability control. That's pretty funny if you consider that he had been driving a 1998 Honda Civic with power/computerized NOTHING. The dealbreaker ended up being that the multiple times we ended up going to the various Mazda places, the dealers couldn't seem to fess up and be honest about the fact that their car was lacking something. We heard things like, "Oh, the upper model has traction control" and "our breaking system is just as good as stability control." None of that is true. I understand the sales pitch thing, but I don't understand flat out lying. Does traction control matter since we live in Texas and not in snow country? Well, my car has it and I've notice it kick in on several occasions after we've had rain and the roads are oily and wet.

Move on to the Forester. Really nice ride, comfy for me, lots more space, but it was lacking the 3rd row (and that was something that was important to me because we have so many people visit us that the thought of taking two cars everywhere because car seats fill up the back seat is just annoying.) B didn't find the passenger seat very comfortable in the Forester. Even though he would most likely drive whenever we were together and not be in the passenger seat, he decided we should pass on this one as well. What a picky guy.

Next stop, Toyotaland. I've liked Highlanders for a long time, but we always figured it would be our next car after this one-- our minivan of sorts without ever getting a minivan. I kept whispering "hybrid, hybrid" into my husband's ear, but he just didn't have the hearing aid turned up high enough. In the end we did the math and figured out that it would take close to 10 years to recoup the extra cost through gas savings on a hybrid even if gas went up to $4 a gallon again. Then factor in that you can't get a simple hybrid model with a 3rd row (they have to be completely tricked out). Then factor in that my husband called every dealership within 200 miles to get the best deal on a regular 2008 model, which had significant incentives on it. We ended up with one that was 125 miles away, black with leather seats, a third row, and a nine speaker subwoofer blue tooth dealio. Honestly I don't even know what that means. Point being that we got a whole lot in this car for a lot less than a 2009 and for just slightly more than what a Mazda or a Subaru would have cost us. That's what you can do when you buy a car that nobody in farm country would ever want because it's not a truck. Maybe at some point we can trade it in for a hybrid, but for now, we're just going to hope to keep it to at least 300,000 miles.

B painted the baby room and hung up some decorative chair rails. We are getting a new dresser for J this weekend (c/o my favorite store-- craigslist) and moving his dresser into the girl's room. Hopefully things will get much more organized quickly. How does J feel about giving up his furniture? He's pretty psyched about it actually because he thinks the new stuff was made just for him.

I have strong concerns that this baby is sideways. I have a dr.'s appointment on Monday and am going to ask for an ultrasound so I know whether I need to do some crazy position things like stand on my head or shine flashlights all over my belly to get this girl to turn. A sideways baby, also known as being in the transverse position can pose more problems during a natural labor than a breech baby. It most likely ends up in a scheduled c-section if there is no turning because the umbilical cord has a chance of coming out first and essentially cutting off your child's blood/oxygen supply. No bueno, no thank you. Now, I've read that a lot of transverse babies just turn at the very last minute, but I'd love it if all of you could whisper to my kid to get her head down in the right position so that things can be a lot easier for all of us. Thanks in advance for that!

Next post, pictures! I promise!