Spring Fever...

Daddy and William spent 5 hours out and about on Sunday, playing at various parks. William is loving being outside again so much and so are we! I can't wait for the weather to make the full leap into spring, I am ready to open up the house and breathe the fresh air again. We grilled last night and stayed on the deck till it got too dark to be out. We spent Saturday evening shopping for books for William to open on his birthday. Jason and I get so tired of reading the same ones over and over, and with all the reading we do, it takes a lot of books to keep the rotation exciting. We got him some very cute ones and a couple of science books, one on nocturnal animals and one on artic animals. He has been into the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, including jumping from one couch to the other so he can eat grass on the opposite hill, and get "nice and fat". Too cute! So, I got him a copy of that. His fear seems to have greatly improved over the last week. He is back to normal, sleeping through the night, in his own bed again, so we are all happy again. As for little Charles, he is moving a lot, growing bigger by the day, and seems to be doing well. We will have a new Ultrasound a week from today to monitor his growth, but I doubt there will be anything wrong. William is 3 this Saturday, and I am still stunned! This year has gone by so fast, and he really seems like a little boy now, no longer a trace of baby about him. Wild!

The Bus Driver...

Fear...

Poor William has developed a SEVERE anxiety towards bedtime, and being alone. I am not sure exactly what triggered it, but it seems there is a certain episode of Thomas the Tank Engine that sent him over the edge. He has been a little weird for a while about being left alone in a room, but now he wants to be next to you all the time. So sad. Last night he came into our room and we let him stay, since he was so upset. I snuggled him up in my arms and he said "Thanks Mom for saving me." SO SAD! Who could send him back to his own bed after that? When you ask him what he is so scared of, he says it's one of two things: A cobra chasing him, or Percy and the ghost (from the Thomas movie). Jason and I are trying to reassure him constantly and we put his teddy and kitty on night watch duties tonight. I am sure they are up for the job. I am certain that this too shall pass, but I just ache for him. You can tell these fears are very real to him, and I remember all too clearly being scared to death to get up at night to go to the bathroom, simply because I was certain something was waiting to grab my ankles the minute my feet hit the ground! Yikes! It isn't easy being little.

Warming Up!

Will is trying to figure out the forward pedaling vs braking issue...
Practicing for the wall exercises, for his future in the Marines...

Enjoying watercolors...

Will and I took the trains outside today, I liked having more room to expand!

We have been having such delicious temperatures that Will and I have been living outside! Today was 66, and tomorrow is supposed to hit 69! They say it will be gone by the weekend, so we are enjoying every moment!

Harper's Ferry and Antietam...

Daddy and William laughing together...
William contemplates man's inhumanity to man...


Filmore the Frog and William playing on the trestle at Harper's Ferry...

Cleaning up all the rocks on the river's edge...

We were practically at the halfway point!

This is where the Shenandoah and the Potomac meet up...
Harper's Ferry is built on the point.

William prepares to pull the fire cart, just in case...

An old train car wheel...

William spent a long time pretending to be a train on this little hunk of track...

The National Historic Site at Harper's Ferry...

Today, I had the day off work, so we were going to drive up to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah. Thankfully, I called ahead and found out it was still closed due to ice and snow. We rethought our plans and decided to spend the day learning a little more history. Neither one of these areas took very long to see, we left at 10 am and were done by 4. Just the right amount of time for an almost 3 year old. Harper's Ferry was first, and we saw a lot of interesting paraphernalia related to old John Brown and his rebellion. I have always thought he looked just a little crazy in his pictures and honestly, after what he tried, I don't think I was too far off in my assessment! I admire his courage though, and I found out today that he lost 4 children to illness in just one month. When I learned that, I thought that maybe his lunacy was justified. The Appalachian trail also goes right through this town, and it was neat seeing the actual long haul hikers passing through. I can't imagine doing that trip, and after reading "A Walk in the Woods" I would never even contemplate doing it. After seeing all the sights, we headed off to Antietam. It reminded me very much of Gettysburg. Lots of monuments, and long winding roads showing you where each big battle happened. It is good to see these in person, because you can imagine how it would have actually gone down. When you see a cornfield in which 2,500 people were killed in 30 minutes, you can imagine how horrific that must have been. Especially when you consider how long it would have taken them to reload the gun! Yikes! I am grateful that we live so close to all these historic places, but I am happy to cross each one off my list and never revisit the depressing history which occurred there.... On a happier note, we ended the day at Cracker Barrel where I got my beloved hush puppies, so I was a happy camper!

Free Couches? Yes, Please!

The "New" couches...
Cowboy William enjoys some time in his pickup truck...

He demanded that the tailgate be UP! If he was a real cowboy, he would have wanted to remove it completely.

Our friends got new living room furniture and so offered us the old set. I jumped at the chance for some better stuff. We have been on a love seat that has been falling apart for the last 10 years, and I didn't really think it was going to last much longer. These are such great couches! They are really comfy, and the whole thing is covered with slipcovers that you can remove and wash. We rented a truck for the day and Jason got one of his friends from work to help us move it. William loved having a truck to play in for a few hours. He even climbed onto the top of the cab! I love to get such great hand-me downs!

Nature Center...

William and I went to the Nature Center again today. We checked up on our Eagle and Owl friends and William thought they seemed happy to see him. We also spent time checking out the reptiles and playing in the pioneer house. I can't wait for spring to get here so we can hike again!

Baby Charlie's Check Up...

For those of you who are not proficient at reading ultrasounds, this is a side profile view of Charlie's face. He is growing very well and is about a week bigger than average. They estimated him at 2 lbs 14 oz. which seems big! His heart rate was good, 142 and it looked like it was beating strong. We saw his little tongue wiggling around and he was waving and kicking. We did a little 3-D, but didn't get any good pictures from it. I can't wait to see what he looks like in person!

Another Cold, Wet, Day...

We have been trapped in the house for so many days lately, I decided to take William and go to Great Kids Village again. It takes about an hour to get there, but it is a place you can spend ALL DAY at, and your kid will not run out of things to do. Will had a ball! He did tend to forget to go potty however, so we ran out of pants after 2 potty accidents. He did tell me both times though as he was going, that he was having an "Accent" as he calls it. He spent a long time in the sand box and found some other kids to play with for a while. He was exhausted on the way home and fell asleep within 10 minutes. The other funny thing he did today was this: Jason and I watch the Jon Stewart show 4 days a week, thats pretty much it. We almost never watch any other shows anymore, and never when William is around. So tonight after the show, he says "You have been watching TOO MUCH TV Mom and Dad!" and went over and shut it off. So funny! This morning he also went upstairs by himself and as he was going up the stairs he said "See you later!" It's so funny to hear him use these mature phrases!

Bedtime Routine...

William has a VERY regulated bedtime routine. First we take a bath, then he reads books in our bed for about 30minutes, whilst drinking his bottle of milk, then he brushes his teeth, and says goodnight to me. He and Daddy then head in to the bedroom to rock for a few minutes while he watches his musical bird/light show thing. I have no better way to describe that thing. He then gets into bed and falls asleep on his own. The problem we are facing is the rocking chair. We kinda need to move it to our room for the new baby. So I can use it to rock and feed Charlie at night and at nap time. I am not sure how to go about moving the rocking part of Will's routine to our room...when he wakes up scared in the night, he insists upon being rocked for a few minutes before getting back in bed. I don't want to make him feel we are taking it away from him and making it the baby's, but essentially that is what needs to happen. I think if we move it to our room now, he may not associate it with the baby at all. Who thought it would be this complicated? Maybe I am just overly concerned....probably.