Shumway Family: March

Well it has been a crazy few weeks, but a ton of fun! Nathan just got done with his second to last spring break and we packed a lot into the week! We took a couple days to just relax and then on Wednesday I took Calvin to the Denver Zoo. We went with Susan, Vera, Alex, Carlee, and Connor. It was really fun! We took Calvin to the zoo last summer when he was about six months old and he didn't get much out of it. This year he was actually old enough to appreciate some of the animals, especially the birds and the monkeys! One of his routine bedtime books is "Hands Hands Fingers Thumb" and he loves the monkeys, so he was able to relate when we saw the monkeys at the zoo. One of the funniest things from the zoo was when we were looking at the monkeys and one of them came right up to the glass in front of Calvin and another toddler. As we were standing there the monkey bared its teeth and suddenly swiped at the glass right in front of the other kid. The other boy got startled and started bawling. Calvin was startled too and scared that the other boy was crying so we told the monkey, "no, no monkey. Be nice". The other really fun area at the zoo was the aviary. The tropical bird areas are just open and the birds walk/fly all around you. There were birds that were walking right in front of us and Calvin was able to see them right up close, I even had to stop him from reaching out and touching a few of them. Overall it was a great day, it was about 60 degrees in Denver that day, so there weren't many people but it was plenty warm for us!

We went to the zoo on Wednesday and that night we decided to drive to Evanston. It was a pretty poor choice on our part to leave late at night. We thought Calvin would sleep through the trip but instead he ended up screaming the entire way, and it didn't help that Nathan and I were super tired, but we made it! While we were in Evanston we just hung out with my family and Cassidee and went to Park City for one of the days. Calvin sure does love being in Evanston, he gets so much special treatment from his Grandma, Grandpa, Unlces, and Aunt! Grandma had some little suction cup basketball hoops that he loved and played with the whole weekend. While we were there we saw him talking in his sleep and it was so cute! He would grin really big and say, "Nathan....Nathan" and then, "Slam Dunk...Slam Dunk". Haha, Uncle Nathan played with him a lot the day before and he loves basketball, so it is nice to know that he dreams about those fun things!

One reason we went to Evanston was to get Calvin's new toddler bed that Grandma got for him. I was worried about the transition from crib to toddler bed but I am AMAZED at how perfectly he took to the bed. He has seriously never slept better! We wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to transition before the new baby came, we didn't want him to think that the baby "stole his bed". I think he was completely ready for the switch. From the moment he saw the bed he wanted to climb up on it and sit there. We call it his 'big boy bed' and he gets really happy. He has slept through the night almost every night since we got it and wakes up happy and ready to go! He has his two stuffed animal buddies sleep on the bed with him every night (Mammo and Tiger). Since we got the bed we have changed our bedtime routine from rocking him to sleep to putting him on his bed and Nathan telling him a fun story about "the adventures of Calvin Shumway".

Calvin is getting so big and so smart. Nathan and I were just talking tonight about how we sometimes underestimate what he is able to do and how he is always surprising us! The other day he was running around without a diaper on and he came over to me and said, "poop". I was thinking, "oh great" and looked around for poop on the floor. When I didn't see any I just ignored it until he came up again and said, "poop". I thought that just to be safe I better put a diaper on him; as soon as I put the diaper on he went ahead and pooped. I was so surprised! I think it might be time to get serious about potty training if he is telling me when he needs to poop. Another surprise we got was on my birthday. Nathan sang Happy Birthday to me and then several minutes later out of nowhere Calvin sang, "Happy Birthday to you" as clear as a bell. It was SO adorable and SO crazy to hear my little boy singing (pretty much on tune) Happy Birthday. I seriously wonder how much this boy can do that I don't know about yet!

Another thing Calvin has been doing lately is different faces. We ask him to do 'happy' face or tell him to smile and he squints his eyes up and does the cutest grin ever. When we tell him to do 'sad' he just makes a sad noise and a worried face. We're working on 'silly', but it is a work in progress.Today was my birthday and it was a great day! I went to Cheyenne with Susan, Codee, Cassidee, Calvin, and Alex. We went and hung out at Sam and Kim's house, which is always a lot of fun, went to lunch at 2 Doors Down, and did a little bit of shopping. When we got home Nathan had flowers and some presents waiting. I got the new Bioshock game (kind of a joke, Nathan bought it for himself and wrapped it haha), the new Batman trilogy on blu ray (yep, it is my birthday...not Nathan's), and some of my favorite treats and a gift card to McAlisters! I have such an amazing husband and family. We celebrated my birthday with my family in Evanston and my Mom also got me some great new (and much needed) maternity clothes and of course she went above and beyond and sent me flowers today! It was such a great birthday this year!
In baby news, I am at the point in pregnancy where I have an appointment every two weeks! Getting so close! Things have been going well, she is not much of a mover, but the doctor doesn't seem to be too worried. He said that some babies just don't move as much or it could be the way she is situated. I can't believe I'll be 25 with two kids in just a couple months, I'm getting old!