We've moved!

Well at least the blog has! You can now read all about Shane and his new sister at:
http://shaneandmadisongreenfield.blogspot.com/

"Baby Sista" tomorrow!

Shane is in for a big surprise tomorrow as it is the day of my scheduled c-section. I will be 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant! Of course we have been telling Shane that he is going to be a big brother for a while now, but he really does not understand. When he hears the baby's heart beat at my doctor's office, he says, "Baby Sista!" However, that is usually followed by him lifting his shirt and showing me that he too has a baby in his belly. I let him feel my belly, but I am sure that he has no clue that an actual person is moving around in there and that she will be coming home with us to live in our house and share his parents with him! We have moved his baby furniture into the third bedroom and told him the crib is now for his baby sister and last week Dan put together the baby stroller and we had the infant car seat installed. Shane acknowledges that the other seat is for his "baby sista" and that the double stroller is for him and his sister and he loves to go in her room. However, to him I think it is just a room that he calls "baby sista's room" and a seat to put his animals in. We definitely feel that he senses that something is up because he has become extremely needy for me and my attention. In fact, I am the only one who can do anything for him. If he needs a glass of milk and Dan tries to get it for him he takes the glass back and says, "No! Mommy do it!" I am the only one who can put him to sleep and read him his books in his car bed (Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit in that thing in your 39th week of pregnancy? It is LOW to the ground!) and it is me he wants to put his blanket over him, etc. I am feeling guilty about being in the hospital for 3 nights because I know how hard that will be on him. I have never been away from him for this long! In fact the longest was the night of Melissa's wedding when we stayed over at the hotel. That was a year ago and Shane at 18 months was not attached like he is now... I know he is going to be an amazing big brother and that he will adjust. After all, he is the most amazing little boy ever born!
OK, so on to what we have done this week. On Monday Debbie took us out (she is amazing) for my birthday! Shane had a great time hanging out with her, showing her his vacation pictures, and playing with the wonderful puzzle she brought for him. It was also great because Debbie will be staying with Shane while we are having the baby tomorrow. She will be bringing her doggie Ashley who Shane also adores so he should be happy! Here are a few pictures from the day! Shane is so lucky to have "Aunt Debbie"!




On Wednesday, Shane joined me for my last OB visit before the baby. We tried to prepare him by telling him it was the last visit before we had the baby so he spent the week leading up to the visit saying, "Dr. Kagen - one more time!" He truly loves going to the OB with me! He loved it when I got my progesterone shot, when we listen to the baby, and most of all when we walk in and the nice receptionists have a sticker for him. Now he says, "Sticka pease" as soon as we get there! To mark the visit, we took a picture of Shane with his favorite nurse (who shares my birthday) and of course with Dr. Kagen!


When we got home from the OB visit, Melanie came over! She is living in Michigan now and it is always such a treat to see her! Of course, I did not take any pictures! UGGGGHHHH! She made the baby this amazing blanket, sweater, and hat! She did the same for Shane and his sweater and blanket will be treasured forever, as will the ones she made for this baby. Shane sleeps with the blanket she made him every night! She also brought Shane some wonderful jumbo board books and he LOVES them! Shane is definitely more in personality like Dan than he is like me, but he loves to read like I do! He is silly and crazy like Dan though! On a quick side note, his new favorite thing is to repeat a silly phrase - any phrase will do such as "Ello Fellows, Elllllo Baby, Second Man, etc" - over and over again cracking up hysterically as he says them! He is a big goof like his daddy! Anyways, thankfully, he loves to learn and read like his mommy too! The truth is that Dan's outgoing personality will probably get him farther in life than my somewhat quiet and reserved one!
Ok, on to Thursday! We did one more trip to Aurelio's for dinner with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Shane's buddy Ryan came along and of course I have a few more pictures!



On Friday we went out for dinner for my birthday again! I am spoiled rotten!!! On Saturday my parents, Dan's parents, and Jorie and Jason came over for dinner and cake. We just ordered pizzas, opened presents, and hung out! it was nice! Shane loved the flashlight that Dan's mom gave him and had a blast playing with it! Here are a few pictures!


We let him take the flashlight to bed since he was so tired. I went in his room 5 minutes after he went down and snapped a few pictures! In the first one, it is a bit hard to see anything because I turned the flash off on the camera and his room is really dark. I also took one with the flash so you could see how cute he was in bed with his flashlight! The flash artificially lights up the room, though.


Shane also spent some time showing his beloved Aunt Jorie some of his vacation pictures! They did this after they ran around the house like wild ones for 30 minutes! I never got a picture of that though!


Next we opened presents! My mom's great friend Bertha made us some baby clothes and a blanket! She made 2 shawls that are just beautiful! As is the blanket! Again, these gifts, made with love, will be treasured forever! She also made Shane a beautiful blanket when he was a baby that he loves & uses all of the time! Inside the baby of gifts for the baby was an adorable stuffed dog for Shane! He loves it and is such a lucky little boy to have so many people who love him! Thank you Bertha!!!!!




Next up was ANOTHER homemade gift for the baby! This one was from Grandma Carolyn! She made a beautiful sweater, hat, and blanket for our baby! She did the same for Shane and of course it means the world to us! I know how much time and effort went into that set and we absolutely LOVE it! One day our daughter will be able to pass on her special hand made items to her own children! What an amazing gift!


Grandma Carolyn also bought a few outfits for the baby!

And for my birthday she gave me a wonderful gift card for Kohls and a nice top to wear post baby! I love it!
My parents also had presents for the baby! They included some adorable bibs - one of which said what happens at "Grandmas stays at Grandmas!" Too funny! The other was a Daddy's little Princess bib! Adorable! Some zip up sleepers were also in the bag - YAY! The worst thing in the middle of the night is a million snaps! My parents and Jorie also gave us some baby picture frames which are so needed! We have a million ones for Shane so we need to get her started! For my birthday, my parents gave me some cash for some new shoes - yay! My feet are so swollen that I think I have ruined all of my shoes and will need some new ones once they shrink back down! They also gave us some new pads for our steam mop! I definitely needed those!


Dan's cousin Kathy also sent a present for the baby! She is one lucky little girl! Kathy, the onesies are so cute!

After dinner it was time for some cake! Shane loves to blow out candles! He was singing the happy birthday song to his stuffed animals during his nap yesterday - so cute!


Finally it was time for a few family pictures!



Once everyone left, I realized I did not have anyone take a picture of Dan, Shane, and I - our last as a family of 3! We propped up the camera on the counter and set the timer - it is not the best picture in the world, but it will do! I am going to try and remember to ask Debbie to take one for us when she gets here tonight, but if I forget - a definite possibility - then at least I have this one!

This morning Shane and Daddy have been watching some Sesame Street while I finish this blog entry up - look how cute they are together!


OK, that is it for now! Next post will be full of pictures of Shane's baby sister! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Summer fun!!!!

This summer has been both amazing and crazy! We have been so busy that I barely have time to breathe let alone update the blog! I am pretty sure that life will continue to get even crazier in the next weeks as our baby girl is coming in 8 days! WOW! OK, let me start with catching you up on Shane's July and August!
July was busy, busy, busy! Shane took a summer class called Messy Masterpieces and it was WONDERFUL! It was by far the best class I ever took with Shane! He did fly swatter painting, plunger painting, record player art, etc. He loves to paint and this class was all about the messy process! Fabulous! Dan was able to attend a July class with us and then we had a free hand to snap pictures! We signed up for the class again in the fall and can't wait! Here are some pictures from the day that Dan came with!





Shane also had swim lessons in July. Our little man has loved water from the start of his life so we thought swim lessons were a no-brainer! We sure were wrong! Shane started hating them as they progressed. It got to the point where Dan and I had to both take him in the water. We think the structure and the pace of the class was too much for him. The lessons were every weekday for 9 days in a row. They started out in the zero depth pool and splashed and sang songs and then moved to the regular pool where more games were played and swim skills were mixed in as well. He does much better with play, but hated being told he needed to float or kick, etc. We tried to only work on one skill a day with him and ignore what the rest of the class was doing, but the stress never went away for him. In fact, once lessons were done, he was petrified of going into deep (by deep I mean deeper than he can stand) water - even in our arms with his life jacket on. It was awful to have regressed so much. Here are some pictures from the first day, when he still liked the lessons.










We have been working to get him over his swimming fear, by going to the pool a lot and by keeping it fun. Things have gotten better thanks in part to some magical eggs we got from Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Bob. We were at their house for Tommy's high school graduation party (no pictures :-( I forgot the camera) and Dan and Shane went in the pool. Shane was still really scared until we tried the eggs. Dan would toss them and Shane would let Dan move through the water to retrieve them. Bob and Jeanne let us take the eggs and they are helping tremendously with his pool fears!
In other news, we redid our kitchen counters this summer and went to granite. We had been planning/saving to do this for a long time and finally went for it! Here was our kitchen before:


And after:



Shane could care less about our countertops, but we knew if we did not do them now we never would!
OK, back to my "mane" man! We took Shane by my parents in July for his first pony ride! He loved it! Shane is all about the animals and while he really liked riding the ponies his favorite part was feeding them hay and petting them!








After the pony adventure, we headed to my mom and dad's for some dinner. Shane had a blast hanging out with them!


In typical Shane fashion he asks to see his papas - all 4 - on a daily basis. In fact, Shane asks to do everything he loves over and over again. We always here, "Back papas house soon? In a minute?" He has also been asking to go back to Aunt Jeanne's and Uncle Bob's, Aunt Joan & Uncle Cy's, Aunt Jorie's, Aunt Geri's, his friend Alex's house, his friend Ryan's house, my doctor (Shane LOVES my OB and his office staff! He is going to be super sad that we will not be going back much after the baby), Dan's eye doctor (he has good toys in his waiting room), a movie, the park, the zoo, Lisa, Jeff & Emily's house, Connor's house, on an airplane, to class, to dinner with Pooh and Tigger (more on this later!), etc! It has been so funny to watch him evolve this summer to a place where he knows what he likes and what he wants to do with his time! I LOVE IT!!!!! He also really likes doing everything from going to the store to my OB appointments to actual fun things like play dates!
One of the big things Shane did this summer was Grandparents class with Dan's mom and my parents! Papa Carolyn had the first class in July! Here are some pictures of the two of them!



Our good friend Paul came over for a play date with his son Brennan and the boys had a blast together! Brennan is about 5 weeks younger than Shane. We really need to do it more often! Here are some pictures! I especially love the ones of them hugging on the back step & on the chair!



July was also the month of Showers! Jorie and Jason's big day is fast approaching - Oct. 9th! I was able to co-host a shower for her on July 16th at Cafe 28 with my Aunt Joan, and cousins Andrea and Janice, and some pictures were snapped of me and my two cousins, Melissa and Susan, who were both also pregnant at the time. I saw were because Melissa(in the middle) went into labor 2 days later and Shauna Nicole was born on July 19th! Susan is still very pregnant and due in November! Shane did not attend this shower, but I am including a few pictures anyways!






Dan's mom was invited to the shower and we rode together - I adore her! Anyways, we had a great time together! After the shower, Dan met us at his parents house and we dropped Shane off for the night as we had tickets to the Goo Goo Dolls concert! It was a ton of fun! Shane loved spending time at Papa Bob's house and Dan and I loved our night out!


OK, now back to the star of my world - Shane! Our neighborhood Aurelio's sent an email saying they were having dinner with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. It was a pizza, past, and salad bar buffet for $8.00/adult and children under 4 were free. We had not seen the new Winnie the Pooh movie with Shane yet, but he already loved Tigger. Shane has a studded Winnie the Pooh and Tigger that we bought from Kohl's last year when they had the book and stuffed animal set. The books are still too advanced for his liking, but he fell in love with Tigger and he became his second favorite stuffed animal. Anyways, we thought Shane might get a kick out of the dinner. We were right! Very right! So right that we have been back 4 weeks in a row now! Shane eats basically nothing, but he is in heaven! He asks to eat with Pooh and Tigger all of the time! I keep saying I am done, because Aurelio's is not my favorite pizza and it is exhausting for Dan and I to chase Shane all over the restaurant, but we keep going back. This week will be the last time for sure since the baby is coming on the 29th! Here are some pictures from the first time we went to dinner with Pooh and Tigger.





Shane had so much fun that I have told all of our little buddies and their parents about these dinners! One week Kristine and Connor and Cathy, Dan, and Alex joined us! Here are some pictures from that night!






Last week Shane's new buddy Ryan and his mom and dad joined us along with Anna, Dave, and Auggie. Auggie was a little unsure of Pooh and Tigger, but Ryan was also instantly in love! Here are more Pooh and Tigger pictures from this last week. There are none with Auggie since he was not too interested in getting close! My favorite shot is Tigger in the window waving bye to Ryan and Shane - so cute!!!!





I had initially hoped to remember this as the summer of potty training. Instead, it will be the summer of Pooh, just not that kind of pooh! Potty training is not happening in this household this summer. Shane has ZERO interest in the potty. He is quite happy to have a poop filled diaper and he will tell me he has "no poopies" even when I can clearly smell that he has them! He refuses to sit on the potty - even for raisinettes - his favorite treat. Oh well! His potty time will come!
This summer Shane is becoming a big time Daddy's boy! Dan always wanted a little version of himself and now he has one! I have no idea how it happened - especially since Shane spends way more time with me, but he is so much like Dan! They have the same crazy sense of humor and Shane wants to do everything his dad is doing! Every morning when Dan hears Shane waking up, he yells "SSSSHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNEEEEEE" in a loud squeaky voice and Shane loves nothing more than yelling back "SSSSHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNEEEEEE" in a squeakier version of his dad's yell! It is one of those crazy things they do.... Dan threw his back out moving the furniture from Shane's room to what will be Madison's room. He still is in physical therapy recovering. Anyways, one day Dan was lying on the carpet with Ice under his back, elevating his feet and I walked in the room and what did I see Shane doing? You guessed it - lying on his back and elevating his feet! It was too funny! You can't see Shane's face in the picture - he is over by the couch with a pillow over his body.

Shane also was able to participate in the Toddler Dance Party at the library this year! He LOVED it! We went last year as well and it is a great event! My only complaint is that it happens just once a year! Shane loves a good dance party - which he calls a "music party" and him and Dan have one several times a week. Here are the pictures from the library version of the dance party!










Near the end of July Shane saw a commercial on TV with turtles and asked to go to the zoo to see turtles. I knew I was way too pregnant to attempt Brookfield Zoo, but I was giving a presentation at the Merchandise Mart for the National Board candidates on July 29th and suggested we all go and then head to Lincoln Park Zoo. We did and Shane loved it. I however learned that even a so-called small zoo does not feel very small when you are 35 weeks pregnant, swollen like a balloon, and walking around in 90 degree heat like I was! However, we did the entire zoo and Shane could not have been happier! Here are my favorite pictures from the day!










July 31st was Jorie's second shower hosted by my mom's good friends Bertha and Lynn! It was at Reggio's and was so nice! Shane was asked to come and I reluctantly brought him with. Thankfully he was amazing as usual and sat nicely through the delicious lunch! He even helped Jorie and Jason open their presents! However, because I had Shane, I snapped very few pictures from the day! Thankfully Janice took my camera and snapped a few or we would have none! Yes, I am wearing the same dress that I wore to the first shower. I did not feel like investing in another maternity dress!





In August it was my parent's turn to take Shane to the Grandparents class. Unfortunately, they had a teacher who had never taught before and dismissed the class super early (not good when we dropped them off) and was rather disorganized. However, Shane still got in some quality Papa time and had a lot of fun! Here are some of their pictures.


August also brought another Daddy and Me class! Shane loves those classes and they will be especially valuable once he needs to share his parents with his baby sister! Here are some pictures from their class.



My mom's actual birthday is August 19th, but we celebrated it early with dinner at her house. Shane happily helped her open her gifts and blow out the candles on her carrot cake!




Shane has been doing great in his toddler bed in many ways, but naps have proved a bit challenging. Shane knows he needs to stay in his room and never comes out until I come to get him; which is amazing! He does that in the morning as well! He stays in his room and plays until I come in. At nap time, the problem we are having is that he does not always fall asleep. We go through our entire nap routine of book reading and his goodnight song, but he climbs out of bed, pulls books off his book shelf, reads to his stuffed animals (it is adorable), and plays with whatever toys are in the room. I leave him there an hour and a half anyways, but he gets so cranky by dinner time with no nap. Sometimes his play wears him out and we find him asleep in strange places, like on the floor of his room surrounded by all of the books and toys he has played with! here is a picture from one such August afternoon!

Dan has been great this summer at taking Shane places with him so I can have a break. One day last week they went to meet Bill Melton, a former White Sox player. Shane loves the baseball card store so he tagged along. He would not get his picture taken with Bill Melton (he must be a true Cubs fan like his mom), so this is the best Dan could do!

Last Monday we headed out on our last big outing of the summer - The Morton Arboretum. They have a beautiful Children's Garden and Shane likes it there. Thankfully Dan came too so I was able to sit and rest quite a bit. I was 37 weeks and a day pregnant when we went so I needed to take breaks! When I look at my very swollen legs and feet in these pictures I am relieved that big outings like this are done for now! Here are some pictures from the day!













I first took Shane to the Arboretum last summer and I thought it might be fun to compare some of last years pictures to this years. Here are two taken last summer at two of the same spots in the park! Look how my baby is growing!


After this years outing to the Arboretum, we headed to the All Aboard diner for lunch. The food comes out on a train and there are trains everywhere in the place! Shane LOVES trains and had a blast eating there! Of course Tigger came along for lunch as well!



Speaking of trains, one of Shane's favorite things to do is to play "choo choo with daddy." He asks to do this all of the time and I know Dan could not be happier about it! Shane controls one of Dan's model trains and Dan controls the other. It is adorable! The other day we were in the car driving home and all he kept saying to me was "Play choo choo daddy in a minute." I had to call Dan and tell him that Shane was in need of some train time! Of course, Pooh and Tigger play too! Here are some pictures!


On Friday we met Kristine and Connor for dinner at Portillos! Shane LOVES Connor so it was nice to get them together! Unfortunately Shane fell asleep on the car ride to meet them and did not wake up until dinner was basically done. It was one of those nap free days! Here are some pictures of the boys!



Well, that is most of July and August - all that I had my camera for! Shane had a billion play dates where I forgot the camera and we hit Splash Station water park several times without the camera as well. But you can probably see that Shane has had a great and busy summer! It is hard for me to fathom that in 8 days, I will be having another baby! I am hoping to update this blog one more time before our baby girl arrives since we are meeting Aunt Debbie tomorrow, getting a visit from Melanie on Wednesday, and having my family & Dan's family over for my birthday on Saturday. I will try!
Thanks for reading!!!! Shane wishes his Uncle Bob a fast recovery from his shoulder surgery, a happy birthday to his Grandma Judy, and good luck to all of his cousins as they start school again!