Ducks in the pool

I think it was the day after we opened the pool we discovered a male and female duck standing near the edge of the pool around 7:00 am. Once I opened our bedroom window to get a better look they flew away. The next day they were swimming in the water; again just opening the window scared them off. We had thought that maybe once the water was cleaner (it was a bit dingy after removing the cover) it would have no appeal to them. Well we were wrong.
During that week I saw them a couple of times, but not every morning, either in the water or standing along the side. Dave was talking to our neighbor behind us one night and she told him that she has found them under a bush on the side of their house so they might have a nest there.
This past weekend we saw them standing along the edge again and this time let Baxter out to scare them. Well all they did when he got near them was jump in the water. Of course Baxter won't go in the pool so they swam around for a bit until Dave turned the filter on and then they flew off.
Didn't see them for a couple of days until yesterday when I saw just the female swimming in the pool. I banged something on the patio and it scared her off. But evidently now the filter being on doesn't scare them off. This morning Baxter woke us up at 5:00 am barking at the sliding glass doors and low and behold when I looked out the window I could see the silhouette of a duck. Eventually it flew away. But then around 8:00 I saw the female standing on the edge and yelled at it until it flew away.
Did some research and discovered that usually a dog will scare them away for good after a few times of the dog going after them or the dog needs to go into the water after them (of course Baxter would never do this). I also read that it is suggested we float beach balls and other pool floaties in the pool and/or string mylar tape across the pool or some fishing line to distract them from landing in the water. So tomorrow I am off to the stores to buy some stuff.

No more pacifier

So I finally decided to get rid of Aidan's pacifier over Memorial Day weekend. The first couple of nights and naps went okay with him crying just a few minutes and then going quiet. He would sleep through the whole night without a problem and took his normal nap without a problem.

But after a few days of things going that way I thought it would get better, but it wasn't, it was actually getting worse. He would scream for 15-20 minutes at a time until he would finally quiet down. And now for the past week or so he gives us a hard time whenever we say it is night, night time or nap time. He used to go so willingly and easily. Now when we try to read to him or sing to him before we put him in the crib he fights us to get out of the room. Then when we finally put him in the crib he screams for about 10 minutes and then is fine and will sometimes talk until he goes to sleep.

I just thought that by now things would be so much easier and he wouldn't put up such a fight. I am praying that this doesn't continue until we switch him over to a bed because then I am sure he will not stay in the bed and will continuously get up.

Never thought it would be this long of a process; we are going on almost 2 weeks now.

"Why is Jesus on the cross?"

Yesterday was Reid's (my cousin's son) christening and I was the godmother so Dylan and Aidan sat with Dave and my parents. Well Adian got to a point where he just kept whining "momma, momma" so Dave had to take him outside. So Dylan sat with Grandma and I found out after the ceremony that Dylan asked my mom, "Why is Jesus on the cross and why did he die?" My mom told me she wasn't sure what to tell him so I told him that Jesus died so that we could all get in to heaven. He then asked why he was on the cross so I told him, "Way back then they used to put bad people there and they thought Jesus was bad". This led to Dylan asking, "what kind of bad people, what did they do?" I told him, "bad people like those people that steal things and those that aren't nice to others". Thank goodness this ended the discussion and he moved onto something else. The kid really keeps you on your toes.

15 weeks

Well as you all know by now I am pregnant with baby #3 and today marks 15 weeks. I am amazed at how much of the pregnancy has gone by already. Probably because I kept wishing for the first trimester to be over because I was so miserable with nausea. Now I am at that in-between stage where I no longer have the nausea as a reminder that I am pregnant and I am not yet feeling the baby move. For me, after having 2 miscarriages, I tend to worry when there is nothing to reassure me that all is well. So now I am wishing/hoping for the days when I can feel the baby, or as we refer to him/her, "pumpkin" move.
My next appointment is May 15 when I will have the opportunity to hear the heart beat and then after that my next appointment in mid-June is for the big 20 wk ultrasound when we will find out the sex. Yes, this time we have chosen to know ahead of time. That date can't come soon enough for me :)

Mighty Putty

So, this morning before The Backyardigans came on there was a commercial for Mighty Putty (commercials on Nickelodeon is one reason I don't like the channel). For those that don't know what Mighty Putty is here is their site https://www.mightyputty.com/spark/index.php?tag=mpsc100
Anyway after watching part of the commercial Dylan said "Mighty Putty is cool, how does it do that?" I told him not to believe everything he sees on commercials. From now on I will try not to tune into that channel until exactly 9:00 to avoid more impressionable ads like those for toys :)

OMG....I am 35

Yes, it finally dawned on me a week after my birthday that I am 35 years old. Can hardly believe it.
It was a nice birthday; I go some cards in the mail and gifts. I got a great gift from Dylan, Aidan and Dave.....I got a Nano Ipod. Was really shocked because I had mentioned it awhile ago on how it would be nice to have one so I don't have to always bring the boys' CDs back and forth from the car to the house and back again. Now I just need to read how to use it. Wish me luck! :)
Now that I am an old lady I need to go and get some rest.

gDiapers

To help reduce our contribution to the amount of garbage in this world I have decided to switch Aidan over from disposable diapers to gDiapers. I would love to do cloth but thought this transition would work best for us.

For those who are unfamiliar with what a gdiaper is here is info directly from their site:

"gDiapers consist of a washable, cotton outer pant and a plastic free flushable refill. They are made of breathable material just like sports clothing. So, babies stay dry and happy and are far less likely to get diaper rash.
Can't flush? It's ok to toss flushable refills because they're plastic-free. Or garden compost the wet ones. They'll break down in 50-150 days"

I started with a starter kit and found them to be easy to use so now I have ordered more and hopefully Aidan will be wearing them all the time (except at night when I will continue to use overnight disposables).

The thing I like best about the gdiapers is that I can still throw them out when they are too messy to flush and not worry about them taking up a lot of space or not biodegrading quickly. And once I get my compost pile started this spring I will be tossing them in there. And I just LOVE how cute Aidan looks in them:

The things he says/asks

Today I was putting Dylan in for a nap and I am not sure how the conversation started but here is how it went
Dylan: "God made me special" (he has listened to a Veggie Tale CD that is titled this)
Me: "Yes he did"
Dylan: "How did God make me?"
Me: "He put you in Mommy's belly"
Dylan: "And you took pictures"
Me (after realizing he is referring to the ultrasound pics on my dresser): "Mommy's doctor has a special camera that took those pictures of you and Aidan"
Dylan: "Did I see God?"
Me: "No, noone really sees God? Can we stop talking about this now?"
Dylan: "No. How did God put me in your belly?"
Me: "I don't know. God does things that we don't always know how he does them"
Dylan: "Does he have a magic wand?"
Me (sort of laughing): "No, he is magical and somehow puts babies inside Mommies. OK?"
Dylan: "Ok"


There have been some other things he has said that are comical, like one day in a conversation at lunch I told Dave that I had chocolate on my mind and Dylan said "I don't see any chocolate Mommy"
Then another time when having lunch with Grandpa Dylan was doing some annoying things and I said to him, "Dylan, you know you are really pushing the envelope" and he said "Where's the envelope?"

9 1/2"

That is how much was cut off of my hair Friday afternoon. I had decided awhile ago when my hair was getting long to grow it and donate it. Well it finally got to the length where I could cut it and make the donation. So on Friday afternoon I put my hair in a ponytail that measured 9.5" and told Michelle to go ahead and cut it. I am donating the hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. Here is a before and after picture. I never really did realize how long my hair was.

Dylan draws

Yesterday after dinner Dylan, Aidan and I were playing with their Magna Doodle. I decided to try and see if Dylan could copy pictures/symbols that I drew first. Well after doing circles, squares, and plus signs I drew a smiley face (mine is on the right) and then Dylan drew one of his own. I was quite impressed since he has never really drawn anything before.