Oskar Explodes. Again.

A nice peaceful picture from the cabin.

Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel like you lost?

Up until now, I thought I couldn't get sick (you know, besides 24 hour morning sickness for 4.5 months) during pregnancy. I had been around so many sick people and creatures (i.e. toddlers) and never had gotten sick while being pregnant. Hooray for something going well during my pregnancies. Last Friday though, I learned that a toddler with a cold who throws up on you while you're hugging him transfers exactly the right amount of germs to infect one with a massive cold. What makes it even better is that it has been over 80 degrees the last 3 days. Super fun.

The past few days have been rough. On Monday, I made the mistake of saying, "Dan, it's fine if you're not here for bedtime. It's hardly a struggle." Yea, that night Oskar was up until 10:30. Bedtime is 8:15. Tuesday and tonight were not quite as bad, but they aren't nearly the blissful bedtimes we had been blessed with. I'm hoping it's just the heat.

So, now the day is ending, and the fact that I was able to keep another human person alive for the 5 hours between the end of daycare and bedtime (9:00 tonight apparently) does not feel like an accomplishment that would put today in the win column. At best, we will simply say that we made it through with no tears. On my part anyway. Oskar had a fit when I told him he couldn't watch any more ballet today.

"Oskar, it's bedtime. You may not watch any more ballet."

I do not find it humorous that most times when Oskar throws up it is on me, while I'm hugging him and while no one else is around to help clean up the mess. This must be one of those very special perks of motherhood. I think the worst part of it is that while it's happening I have to keep hugging him because it scares him so much. Running to the bathroom would just spread the mess and I'm pretty sure pushing him off of me and getting out of the way wouldn't help him calm down any. Gross. Motherhood is gross.

I look like death in this picture, but clearly I have won.

See, I won.

I had my gestational diabetes test last week. It was not my favorite experience, but went much better than last time. I think this was partly because I scheduled it right after lunch. I don't think that is considered cheating. They called me with the results and I am good to go. For those of you who don't know, the test consists of drinking 50g of sugar in 5 minutes and coming back 1 hour later for a blood draw. Sounds easy, but it's pretty gross.

I investigated what the numbers they are looking for indicate- because I'm generally curious about most things. Mayo clinic says a normal level for this test is 130-140mg/dL 1 hour after drinking the stuff. They want to be sure that after waiting one hour your glucose level is lower than 180 mg/dL and Avera wants you to come back for the 3 hour test if you are over 140. Mayo also states that a normal FASTING blood glucose level is 95 mg/dL or lower. One hour after drinking 50g of sugar, my blood glucose level was 81 mg/dL. I really didn't feel too terrible during all this, but I'm glad I was sitting down for most of it. When she called she didn't sound alarmed and when I looked online (so you know it's correct) this is still a normal level and danger doesn't occur until below 70. I still found this amusing. Apparently I can process sugar like a pro. While sitting down. Otherwise history has shown I am prone to big tips.

Came home to this poor thing after vacation, not sure if it somehow got
trapped in the garage or what, but I feel pretty bad about it.

A lily pad is clearly something that warrants further investigation by these curious minds.

My little boat baby.

I've learned that it is not important that we understand what they are doing.
Let them explore and prevent them from drowning. Those are the rules at the cabin.

Dan and I were thrilled to make it to the MN State Fair this year and we were especially excited that Oskar is at a good age to try some of the food and enjoy the animals and other things. We all had a good time, but Dan and I decided that next year we will go with just the two of us. No toddler, no baby, no pregnancy. It will be a level of awesome we have not experienced at the fair since we lived at Luther.

Hot air balloons!

A while back we went to see some hot air balloon shenanigans. Because of life, we didn't get to see many of them actually take off, but we were able to watch them light up at the end of the night. We will definitely be attending on time next year if our schedule allows. Hot air balloons are a big thing around here and it's not uncommon to see them flying overhead as you go about town. Oskar has become a pretty big fan- who can blame him?

I don't think you are supposed to interrupt an artist while he is working. Right?

Oskar loves to paint with water colors. The problem is that he does it wrong. Now, I know it's not really wrong as long as he is having a good time, so I just hold my tongue and let him at it and come back when he's done to clean up the shredded wet paper and water puddles. He doesn't quite get the water, then color, then paint. He has a really good time though. God help you if you try to teach him how to do it properly so there is actually color on the paper when he is done. This is apparently not a goal of his painting. I really only have myself to blame. He comes into his room, sees the painting he did on the wall and then needs to paint some more. That's what I get for trying to expose him to different things.

Oskar decided that he wanted to play the cello.
That is the bottom half of his recorder and his drumstick.
Clever.

Then he reevaluated the situation and thought he could do better.
After getting his guitar out in one of the clumsiest displays of anything I have ever seen, he was making music.
I can call it music because you can't hear how out of tune that guitar was.

This is where he lost me. You think your kid is so smart and then...

Oskar is still obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, but we have viewings down to only about twice a week, so the rest of us aren't going quite as crazy. It's fun to watch him learn the songs and dance moves though. We also spend a fair bit of time watching the All Star Symphony Orchestra on PBS/Sling. That's what initiated the cello business.

Netflix has a new series called Dinotrux. Let us just say they had a demographic in mind and they nailed it. Dinosaur/truck hybrids running around playing, building things and solving problems. The next step is getting Oskar to speak correctly because while we are used to hearing Oskar talk, the rest of society may not find dinof***s and helif***er (helicopter) as acceptable as we do. At least he's cute.

I check on Oskar an obscene number of times before going to bed.
I also place a pillow right by his bed when I leave his room.
This is the reason I do both of these things;
dude falls out of bed and doesn't even wake up.

I generally cut Oskar's hair. I don't do a great job, but he is 2 so no one cares. The last haircut I gave him went particularly bad. Before you think I'm overreacting let me tell you that it took 4 days over 2 weeks. One time he was being restrained by my mom and continuous cuts were made while he was sleeping. After this I decided that while taking him to the salon would no doubt be terrible, at least I would be able to try to hold him down while a professional does the cut in considerably less time and to a higher quality than I am able. I suppose it went as well as 26 minutes of crying and wrestling can go. And my stylist was a champion (who received a sizable tip). Now he looks like a little boy instead of a toddler. This is upsetting at times.

My little boy. Being a little boy.

A belly picture at around 6 months. Oskar stole the show.