Catching up on photos.

In case you haven't been able to tell from my other posts, Garrett has been absolutely nuts the past few weeks (or has it been months!). We are finally getting a bit more of a routine lately, in that he takes fairly regular naps and can be CONTAINED in his room by me telling him to close his door. Beyond that, our routine is GO GO GO. This is how I found him sleeping tonight when I check on him. Even when he goes to bed, he can't just chill. He has to have books to read, and he tries his hardest not to let evil sleep overtake him.

I think I have posted numerous times how crazy he is in the pool. Today he kept jumping in without his wings on and even managed to make it back to the side a few times on his own. But I definately had to fish him out. This picture from a few weeks ago shows how nicely he is swimming with those wings . . . he just does his thing, and really doesn't care if you are there or not . . .

Last, but not least, I finally remembered to take a picture of Garrett with Laura, my midwife. Picture on the top is from a week and a half ago, picture on the bottom is from 6/12/2006. Here we come 2nd birthday . . . I can't believe how big he is now, or how little he was then.

Zoo Last Week

We went to the zoo last week with our friends Bonnie and Kelly. Garrett had a great time hanging out with them. Kelly is just a few weeks younger than Garrett, and they are pretty evenly matched in the adventure and energy department. They kids had a great time . . . they fed the pelicans and the giraffes. We saw the keepers feed the tigers (I WISH I had taken my real camera for that!!). Both the adults and the kids got the biggest kick out of the giraffes though, they were so neat!! (Check out the tounge!!)






After the giraffes, Bonnie and Kelly headed home. Garrett and I stayed around and did the rest of the zoo. He loves the aviary, where there are so many colorful birds. His absolute favorite, though, is the reptile exhibit, where he can see "snakes," "turtles" and "'izards!!" galore. He also had a funny moment where he found a stick and strapped it into his stroller . . . goofball!! Thank goodness for our zoo membership (or rather, thank you G-ma and G-pa Compton!!), we love it there!

Spring cleaning/Nesting

So I am learning that one of the perks of having a baby due in September is that you can nest and do your spring cleaning at the same time. Today I am tackling the office. The funny thing about our office is that is hasn't been a functional room in our house for quiet some time. I think we stopped using it when Garrett started getting mobile (and I started losing my mind). Part of it is that the computer is a piece of crap in there, and part of it is that the office has become the room I throw Brad's crap in when I don't want to think about it or look at it anymore. Once when he went away I hung all of his Oklahoma State paraphenalia, so I really have considered it HIS space.

However, I've come to the conclusion lately that if I hope to continue to work from home and keep my sanity, I NEED a barrier between Garrett and I. As it stands now, he climbs on the chair I am sitting in to work, he grabs my hand and tries to drag me off so I can play, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention the laptop is constantly floating around the downstairs of the house reminding me exactly HOW much work I have to do. Plus I think it is only a matter of time until something sticky, and ultimately damaging, gets spilled on my computer. Soooo, today I am tackling the office to once again make it a functional work space.

Garrett's "new" room used to be my space, where I had all my craft and Discovery Toys stuff. Its pretty nice to live in a house that is big enough for everyone to have their own space. But now the office is going to become my work space. I figure since I work from home, I do actually need a home office. I want to be able to step out of the office and be able to NOT think about work. I know I need to start setting time apart in the day to just work, so I can spend quality time playing with Garrett when I am not working. Thus, the office. With a gate at the doorway that the dogs are not happy about. And I am sure Garrett won't be happy about it when he wakes up from our nap. With the gate up, Garrett will probably play upstairs, hopefully in front of the door so I know what he is up to!! Hopefully this will help me regain my sanity . . . people look at me like I have two heads when they say "Oh, how nice that you work from home" and I go "Eh, it is and it isn't." Hopefully this will help me find the balance and again find the joy in our situation.

Check! Baby!

Today Garrett has decided to pretend we already have a baby. He put a toy in the crib, along with a blanket and some cloth books, and closed the door. "Shhhh, baby sleeping!" He informed me. He then, every 2-3 minutes say "Check, baby!" He would go in and "check" on the baby, and inform me that "baby sleeping" . . . silly man!

Our busy day on Monday

On Monday, we dropped Brad off at work at 7 so Garrett and I could go to My Gym with our playgroup. After My Gym, we went to an Environmental Center that one of our group's mommies works at. It was a blast!! Garrett was clingy at My Gym, but INSISTED on walking everywhere at the Environmental Center, pushing Blue Puppy in the stroller. Silly little man! He fell asleep on the way home from that, but then wanted to play outside as soon as he woke up. I, for one, was pooped! We even went to the pool in the afternoon so he could swim. Seriously, he never slows down. Today is the first day in 4 days we haven't been to the pool . . . he opted to play outside with his trike, chalk and his mower instead.

Garrett loves this slide

And the rings are his FAVORITE!

Garrett: Turtle!
Mommy: Actually, Garrett, that's a tortoise. He lives on land. Can you say tortoise?
Garrett: Turtle!!
(With friend Paula)

Convo with friend Tommy

Iguana. No zoom lense required. He was REALLY close!
I would tell Garrett to stay back, and he would say "Bite you!" That's right Garrett, get to close, he may do just that!

All of the kids standing around watching the iguana
Baby Alligator. Garrett wasn't too sure about him whenever he squirmed.

Bunny! Garrett thought the bunny was super cool. He hugged him at least 4 times.

Garrett pushing Blue Puppy in the stroller. He was the only little midget who insisted on walking EVERYWHERE. He hardly ever rides in the stroller anymore, but at least he pushes it.

Funny things Garrett has done today

*Taken a wipe and declared that Blue Puppy (who he was pushing in his pink stroller at the time) needed his nose wiped.

*Said "Ap-en, 'xcuse me" me when gray dog was in the way.

*Came running into the kitchen . . . saying that there was a lizard in the living room. And the lizard bit him. He is officially a story teller, because in the evening he further embellished the story in his own way . . . I think the gist was that he had to swing his arm and beat the lizard off. MAYBE there was a lizard in the house. Beyond that, I know he was spinning a yarn!

*Started saying "yes, sir" and "Yes, peese" . . . we're working on "Yes, Ma'am", I have NO idea where the Yes, sir came from!!

Things are seriously continuously entertaining (and exhausting) right now . . . he's doing something new practically every minute.

Finally, a nap at home!

For the first time in who-knows-how-long, Garrett is napping in his room. Not without a battle.

First Garrett used his airplane to climb over the gate. As soon as he knows he is busted, he immediately tries to climb BACK into his room. Repeat 3 times. I finally decide to lock his door. He humors me for 10 minutes, then UNLOCKS his door. He peeks out. I tell him to go to bed. He humors me again for a while, then repeats. I tell him to go back to bed. What do you know, he ACTUALLY does! Shocker.

I think I forgot to post that he locked me out of the house earlier this week. I had a call and he was running around the house playing like crazy, and loud as could be. So I stepped out the front door and leaned against it so he and the gray dog could not escape. When my call was over, the door was locked! I had to go around back and COACH him to open the sliding glass door for me. Which he eventually did, thank God. He thought he was pretty slick. We'll be adding a chain to our front door to at least keep him (and Aspen) IN the house. As far as me getting back in, clearly I will just have to always carry my keys. :-)

I'll post pictures later from the fun couple of days we've had with our playgroup and then a trip to the zoo . . . as soon as I get more work done!

Garrett's conversations with himself

I am trying (haha) to get Garrett down for a nap. For starters, I have to keep my door open to make sure he isn't climbing over his gate. The conversation, at present, is going something like this:

"Mommy, lizard!! Liiiiizard!! 'Arshall!! 'Arshall! Daddy, daddy, daddy!! Mow, outside!! Keys. **humming or singing I can't make out** Oh, oh, oh. . . .again!"

The morning started out in a similar fashion. He has been getting up so early it isn't even funny. Now I think he is turning his light on and off. **Sigh** Back to work while I can still ACTUALLY get something done!

Rooms

As promised, room pictures. Garrett's room is a disaster. I pick it up 2x a day, but if he spends any time at all in it, it returns to hurricane status!

The nursery looks like a nursery again . . . its amazing how having a fully assembled crib changes the room!

Stupid closet door has issues!

Mothers Day

We had an excellent, relaxing Mother's Day here. Brad and Garrett surprised me with a digital photo frame in the morning. We went to church, where they gave a beautiful devotional to all the mothers. Then we came home and went to the pool, where Brad got to witness first hand how crazy Garrett is. He showed daddy how he likes to jump in, saying "ready, set, go!" and how he likes to go looking for "lizards" so he can "cetch em!" He swam around and played ball with Daddy. And daddy got to enjoy the pool for a change. Then we came home, where Brad cooked me and excellent seafood dinner, and we spent the early evening outside just playing. It was one of the most relaxing days we have had as a family in a REALLY long time. I caught up on some pictures in the evening, so here they come!

Pretty Aspen

Silly faces

Note the chalk sideburns

22 Weeks

I saw my midwife on Friday. We had a nice visit, and spent as much time chatting about life in general and what Garrett has been up to as anything else. Reason number 734 I love midwives in general and mine in particular. All is well with baby bean, growing on track and kicking like crazy. The heart rate was in the 150s. I still am feeling boy. Brad put it well, saying at this point, we would either not be surprised at birth (if its a boy) or we will (if we end up with a girl). It doesn't matter to us a lick, I just hate not to get to use all those cute clothes we have again! Garrett was pretty well behaved at the appointment, and looked at me as if I had 2 heads when he heard the heartbeat!! Belly picture is from Sunday. I also have a cute picture of Garrett with Laura (my midwife) will post that once I pull it off my camera.

So much for gates in front of the doorway

I put Garrett in his room so I could take a nap (I always hope he will take one, but not likely these days) today . . . he's been great about playing for an hour or so, allowing me to take a quick catnap. I haven't been sleeping as much as I probably should with all the work I am trying to get done--night is the ONLY time I can accomplish anything right now. Sooo, anyway, about 15 minutes after I put him in his room and laid down, I hear the pitter patter of little feet, and my door opens. "Mommy, UP!" he says, and cuddles with me in bed. I figured he knocked the gate over (we're trying a pressure mounted one we had already, with the move to the new room). Yeah, gate is still standing. Stinker used his little stool and climbed over it. Keep in mind he has a CHAIR which would have probably saved him considerable effort, but he chose the stool. So it looks like my nap time is probably gone for good. He is fairing well without a nap--I am NOT! It's a moot point for night, since he always comes right to us if he wakes up and I am a very light sleeper these days. But oh, my nap . . . :-) Pity party over. No new pictures, mostly because my kid is either naked when we are home, or we are running. His potty training is back on track, he did great today, even pooped in his potty. He did have an accident during dinner, and he was MORTIFIED about it, crying and all. But he finished up on the potty for Brad and soon forgot the trauma. My house is almost back together again from the bedroom switch and us coming back from our trip. Garrett and I spent most of the day steam cleaning, with nice breaks for "books, eat, outside!!" He wanted to do everything all at once . . .

Another napless day

but at least Garrett went to bed in his new room sans problems again. I put him in his room for a nap, and took one myself, but he stayed up and played. Whatever, it is what it is. We cleaned all morning, went to the pool all afternoon, and now that he is in bed, I am working (Brad had a meeting tonight). I am still SO far behind on work it isn't even remotely entertaining . . . hoping to catch up over the weekend. Still no pictures (no time!!).

Nesting has begun

This is RIDICULOUS. I feel as if I will never sleep until my entire house is in order. Good thing I have 18+/- weeks for that to happen (its going to take that long). Unfortunately, I think I will probably drive my poor hubby crazy in the interim. Back to cleaning. Oh, and hopefully bed!

Crib bedding

With Garrett, we never splurged on crib bedding . . . too many other big purchases to be made, like a crib, changing table, and all that other baby stuff. This little one doesn't really need anything (seriously, no clothes-unless we end up with a girl!, blankets, or TOYS!) so I figured what the heck. Not to mention I got a REALLY good deal on this off Ebay. I had a hard time, when Garrett was born, justifying $150+ when we wouldn't use the bumper or quilt. This was so reasonable, and goes well with the room.

I'm working on a baby registry, but its going to be pretty short. I do know I want some things from http://www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/ to make MY postpartum recovery a little easier. Other than that, all I have so far is a breast pump!!

First night in the new room!

Garrett fell asleep in his new room (and new bed) without so much as a fuss tonight. It helped that he was exhausted. Hopefully everything else will go as smoothly as tonight did! Naps aren't happening lately, but oh well. Pictures to come soon. I've been busy working and getting the rooms organized. Garrett's room is completely done, and if he is good with sleeping there, I can finish re-converting his old room back to a nursery again. Today I unpacked all my baby clothes again. Its just hard to believe G-man was ever that small!!

21 weeks

Home safe and sound, and almost recovered from our trip! Garrett had a great time with the Criders (I hope to have pictures to share from his side of the trip soon!), and has been great since we got home. He is finally getting his lateral incisors in, and has been a little cranky due to that, but otherwise an angel. Brad and I have been taking turns getting sick since we got home. Combined with both of us trying to catch up with work, getting Garrett's new room ready, and generally just getting back into the swing of things, the rest of the week has simply flown by. On Friday we reached 21 weeks with this pregnancy, which is just amazing to me. Goodbye half way point, hello last 19+- (!!) weeks of having only one child. Now comes the fun part of the pregnancy, when I can actually feel the little bugger wiggle around.

The only other reflections I can make about our trip are these. 1. I don't plan on vacationing childless again any time soon, because I really missed Garrett this time around. 2. Our dogs missed me far more than my son did, especially Aspen. He gets so lonely so easily, and really has been a love (even for him) since we got home.
It seriously took me 3 hours to post all of this, and its 1:30am--I need to get to bed so I can pay attention at church tomorrow!! Enjoy reading the account of our trip, and don't forget to start with DAY 1!

04/28/08 Day 8

17:00
We are now at Hotel Buena Vista . . .another aptly named hotel! We've had a very relaxing visit here, and have enjoyed some much cooler air than in Montezuma!

Our return trip from the Niyoca Peninsula to the Central Valley was fairly nice. The ferry was better organized than we expected, save a stupid rule that only one person can be in the car to drive it on and off the ferry. We had a hard time finding the right road to our hotel, once again due to the lack of road signs, but we solved it easily enough. This hotel has been quite a treat, beautifully designed and with a friendly staff. Not to mention that excellent view it is named for.

We spent the morning doing a tour of the Doka Coffee Estate, which was fantastic and highly educational. I really had NO idea how coffee was made. The finest coffee beans are sun dried, and Brad had a chance to push some beans around on our tour.

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and just enjoying the scenery at the hotel. We swam in the pool a little, but it was fairly overcast in the afternoon. It was a very relaxing day and not at all a bad way to spend our last full day in Costa Rica. I would definately stay at this hotel before I would even consider entering San Jose again! We had a chance to take a ton of shots of the local flora and fauna, something we really hadn't done on the rest of our trip.

And for those of you who want a belly pic, here you go.
20 weeks and a few odd days :-)
(Weight gain still zippo . . . )

Tomorrow we head home . . . I can't wait to get my hands on Garrett. We FINALLY talked to him when we arrived here. Apparently the Criders had their ringer off and didn't know we were calling! It was nice to hear his voice, and when I asked him if he missed us he said yes. I got him a cute little stuffed turtle in Montezuma that I know will be a big hit. But we have definately enjoyed our time in CR!

04/26/08 Day 6

07:00

We're in Montezuma now--a lovely beach town on the Niyoca Peninsula. On our last morning in Arenal, the clouds cleared and we were treated to a brief glimpse of lava flowing down the volcano at 2am. I wish we could have captured it on camera. I have had some sort of tummy bug since I last wrote, so we took our time leaving Arenal. I dreaded the drive to Montezuma, in part because we have heard how bad the roads are to the Niyoca peninsula, and in part because I fear getting lost due to the absence of road signs. Of course, the roads we were traveling on actually had NAMES on the map, but I had no clue if they would on the road!! Turns out it was a nice, fairly straight forward drive. We didn't get lost, but the roads were quite bumpy in places. Along the way, we saw a pecciary (basically a wild boar), another pizote, and various birds.

The hotel we are staying at here in Montezuma is a quaint B&B over a restaurant--El Sano Banano. Its bare-bones, but nice. They have a sister resort right on the beach, complete with a pool and hammocks. When we arrived on Thursday, we wnjoyed the beach and pool. It is REALLY, REALLY hot here (keep in mind I am USED to South Florida Summers!). and we are very thankful to have A/C in our room. We sat on the beach for a while, too, but were "mugged" by a wave--not used to areas with such crazy tidal flux, since the tide here isn't much to write home about! :-)

Camera phone self portrait.

Yesterday we got up in the morning and hiked to Montezuma Falls. Apparently it has been pretty dry here, and the falls were small, but still beautiful. This is supposed to be one of the biggest touristy spots in town, so we were SHOCKED to have the pool all to ourselves for a while. We enjoyed a nice swim, with little fishies nibbling at our toes, until a few other folks came along. There were lots of butterflies as we hiked along the trail, including several blue morpho butterflies.

After an early lunch (pizza!), we headed off to the resort to alternate between the pool and the beach. However, it ended up being far more pool than beach, as it was so incredibly hot. We're talking scald you feet so bad you worry about 2nd degree burns hot! We mostly lounged in the pool and had some drinks from the bar (virgin for me, of course!) . . . and then there were the hammocks :-) We did spend a little beach time checking out all the tidal pools and the awesome volcanic rock formations.

We saw white faced monkeys at the resort, apparently they show up there every evening. We also heard (but didn't see) howler monkeys. The Magpie Jays we saw in Arenal are here in droves, and there are birds of every shape and color everywhere! We spend an evening on the beach while Brad smoked a cigar, but it was really hot even then. Despite the heat, we've had a great time.

This AM we are going horseback riding to another waterfall. Should be fun!

20:00
Funny thing about that horseback ride. When we booked it, the lady said 3 hours. Uh, yeah, it took six. It was incredibly fun, but so incredibly hot!!! Poor Brad got more than a little overheated, so I don't think he enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. Even though was a long day, it was beautiful, and something we wouldn't have done if we had to walk it. We crossed 7 different beaches, most of which were within protected areas and unaccessible by vehicle. The downside of being on horseback is that it is next to impossible to whip out the Canon and take pictures, so I only have photos from when we reached our destination. Our destination, by the way, was Cocolito Falls. Its one of only 7 waterfalls or so that falls into the ocean. Again, the weather has been very dry (Costa Rica is nearing the end of its dry season and the Niyoca Peninsula is REALLY dry during it), and the falls were small but still beautiful.

Cocolito Falls from down the beach

Hoofprints in the sand

Brad cooling down in the ocean

Little trickle near the falls.

Falls and pool--the pool area collapsed a while back and now blends with ocean water.

Shot from the falls area--we came from somewhere WAY over to the left!

No shorelines quiet like this at home!

Pinto and Tuca

Me on Pinto . . . .

Brad on Tuca!

Once we returned, we had a late lunch and laid down for a while. Brad was so pooped from the heat, he chilled in bed while I did some souvenir shopping. One of the few times I have actually enjoyed shopping while on vacation, since they had some great shops and some really original gifts!

We have been in Costa Rica for six days and I have FINALLY mastered the phones here. In the US, it usually costs more to use a calling card from a payphone, so we purchased our own card especially for international calls before we left. However, in Costa Rica, the payphones don't even take money-they take only Costa Rican calling cards. So we had to buy another calling card there. When we were in Arenal, we didn't even have that option, we had to use a credit card if we wanted to make a call. In addition, you don't need to use what I would consider an "area code" if you are calling anywhere in Costa Rica. Apparently they just changed the phone numbers so that mobile numbers have a 8nnn.nnnn, and land lines have a 2nnn.nnnn. I mistakenly was trying to dial 506 ahead of that . . . if I want to call my neighbor, I have to dial 10 numbers, for goodness sake. So, on our sixth day in Costa Rica, we have finally mastered making phone calls.

Side note on the pregnancy--I was 20 weeks on Friday, and Brad has gotten to feel the baby move for the first time. I am as convinced as ever its a boy, because this one is even more acrobatic than Garrett was. I'm gonna have my hands full very soon!

Tomorrow we are headed back toward the San Jose area, although we are not staying in San Jose. We will take a ferry and stay midway between Alajuela, where the airport is, and the Poas volcano. Not sure what to expect for the ferry ride, it could be an ordeal!