Bubbles, Big Boy Beds and Movember

Life is pretty normal around here these days.  When I think about it though, I wonder what normal really is.  Is normal a sudsy bubble bath on a cold winter night?  If so, our little munchkin has that one down.  The kid loves bubbles-what child doesn't?  We recently bought some new body wash at Costco and discovered that it is an AMAZING bubble bath.  One tiny little squirt of the gooey stuff produces mounds upon mounds of bubbles in the bath, and the best part is that they are soap, so they are cleaning the munchkin well as he plays.  We have to hose him down with the showerhead afterward, but that's part of the fun for him.  Bubbles truly are oodles of fun.

Big boy beds may not be so normal.  We knew we needed to switch soon.  We wanted Rusty to have a chance to get used to his bed before the baby came, but we had been to busy-and I think a little scared-to set it up.  I think the biggest thing we were worried about was if he would actually understand that he needed to stay in the bed.  I have seen friends do the switch and some kids handle it with no problems while other kids climb out of bed time and time again.  I guess in a way we were afraid he would be one of the climbers.  He has proven us wrong!

The time came to set up the bed.  Last Wednesday morning Rusty woke up because he had peed-a lot!-and I had to change him.  As I was putting him back into his crib I couldn't get close enough because of my huge, pregnant belly and I was sort of leaning over, while supporting his entire 35 pounds in my arms.  Suddenly, something in my back snapped, I actually felt it, and I dropped him into the crib.  I hobbled back to our bedroom, hoping it would feel better...it instantly felt worse.  All of that aside, Kev said, "Honey, the beds will be switched this weekend."

Rusty has taken to his big boy bed like a fish to water.  Maybe part of it comes from the fact that his naps at daycare are taken on a mat on the floor, but I am just so thankful it is not a battle.  Months ago Kevin bought Rusty his little stoplight alarm clock.  It is red when he is supposed to stay in bed and turns green when we think it is ok for him to get up.  We had used it while he was in the crib, and I guess it sort of worked to train him.  The last three mornings, even though he has been awake and we have heard him bumping against the wall and such, he has not gotten out of the bed until the light turns green.  The second it flips over he yells out, "It's GREEN!  It's GREEN!"  The last two mornings that has been accompanied by him coming out of his bedroom to tell us, which I am okay with, as long as he actually stays in bed until then.  The first two nights he fell out of the bed, but besides being slightly stunned, he seems all right.  Last night he finally made it through the night without falling out...we have progress!

Overall, Rusty LOVES his big boy bed.  The other night he was showing it to my little brother on Skype and he ran down the hallway saying, "Come see my big boy bed Unca Neil!  I not a baby anymore!"  He was so proud of that.  I hope it continues to go well!

The last very NOT normal event in our house this month has been Movember.  Maybe you have heard of it...it certainly is huge up here.  Men around the area take the month of November to grow out their facial hair-some of it normal, some of it ridiculous-and the purpose is to raise awareness for prostate cancer.  My husband, of course, wanted to jump on board with this.  I have never, in the almost 10 years we have been together, seen him with more than just a little extra scruff.  While I don't mind the scruff-in fact I think it is kind of sexy-I discovered this month that I am not a fan of facial hair.  It's not how it looks, because with the goatee he still looked good...it is the feel.  Ugh.  I hated that scratchy, tickly pokey hair brushing against my lips when we kissed.  Yesterday morning after he shaved it all off he gave me the best kiss...oh how I had missed those kisses!

Kevin chose a three pronged approach to the month of Movember.  He started with just general facial hair in the form of a goatee-mostly so I wouldn't be ashamed to be with him in public, followed by one day-this Monday-of the Fu Man Chu, and finishing with the creepy 70s porn star moustache yesterday.  My man can seriously grow facial hair.  It is thick and bushy, so it looked truly creepy.  I am so glad it is gone! Yahoo, my man is back!

Overall, this month has been busy, but full of fun.  We continue to march on, approaching the Christmas season and the birth of our new baby!  It has hit me recently that in a month or so we will be enjoying a new little one.  We finally got our car seat ordered and a few other things done in preparation, but I have to say, I'm thankful that there isn't much to do to get ready for a second baby, because I don't know how I would get it done!

To wrap things up, I just wanted to say that with December comes Christmas cheer!  Some people are all bah humbug if you try to bring in Christmas too early, but I happen to love it and I enjoy the cheer that comes to some people!  Just this morning I was in Starbucks ordering the decaf peppermint mocha that would start my day off right and the barista-if it is a guy do you call him a baristo?-said, "I've got your drink today!  I'll take care of it!"  Well, Merry Christmas!  This was followed by another nice gentleman opening the door and holding it for me on my way out.  Ho!  Ho!  Ho!  Holiday cheer is here!  Just 23 more days until Christmas!