ZumwaltOhana.com

Going to the Polls

Since it is the season for voting, (and time for us to get around to picking a name) I thought I would pose a question to help The People get warmed up for the casting that ballot (remember, use your legs not your back!). 

Zak and I have been pretty set on a boy's first name for a while now, but we can't seem to agree on how to spell it.  I won't tell you who prefers either option lest it turn into a popularity vote!  Let's just say, some of us are stuck in tradition and some of us are not...

The name for BZ2 should he be a boy is (C)(K)aspian.  So, let us know which one you prefer by voting below.  You can only vote from the same IP address once a day, so if there are multiple people in your household who would like to vote from the same computer you will have to space them out.  Try to plan your week around it, please.  We are counting on you!

 

 

By the way, I checked and there is no high speed Internet access at the birthing center (although, as a dear friend pointed out, if there was, that would be a perfect blend of Zak and Kathy), so we will not be able to give the moment by moment updates you may have become accustomed to in the past, but we probably will have Jessica or Wes high jack our blog for the day and give The People the news they so desire.  So, be sure to check back if you want to be "in the know" on the outcome!

The Proof is in the Picture

I thought we probably needed proof that a Zumwalt boy has actually washed dishes!

The Rest of the Family

Zak is right in the middle of midterms right now and has been working feverishly trying to make sure he is caught up and a little bit ahead so that if the baby makes an appearance soon he will not be scrambling.  A few days ago he worked for two days solid (yes, that includes through the night!) on a big paper that is due in a week.  He had two 20 page papers due the same day, so he wanted to have one of them finished in advance.  I admire his motivation to do that!  I got to proof read it and I think it is a very good paper.  It's on the book of Judges.  I think it was a little discouraging when he showed up to class the day after he finished it and the professor pushed the due date back by a week!  Unfortunately, the other 20 page paper (on Romans) is still due on the earlier date. 

He's been one busy guy these past few days especially, but they say this is the worst of it and if he can make it through October the rest of the semester won't seem so bad.  I hope for his sake the baby decides to wait to come just a little late.

Now, if we were talking about my sake...I'd be ready to meet BZ2.   I think I am getting a little anxious!  Of course as soon as I start feeling like I'm really ready then I think of all the reasons I'm not really ready to be a mom of two, yet.  One of those reasons is that Koa has suddenly stopped sleeping through the night!  For a while now he has been waking up once or twice a night by kicking his covers off and would call me to come cover him up again.  I would do it and then make one of my nightly trips to the bathroom, so it didn't really bother me enough to empower him to figure out how to get the covers himself.  However last week he started waking up like 8-9 times a night!!  Sometimes he would just lay in there awake and then call me like every 15 minutes at the top of his lungs!  He had every excuse in the book for why he needed me...covers, drink, too hot, too cold, "I need something", "Can I get down?"...it was infuriating!  So, I pose this question to all you moms out there...Is there some explanation for this that I haven't thought of?

I have started being a little more rigid with when he goes to sleep and when he wakes up since that has always seemed to make a difference for him.  We also have started being more purposeful about spending family time.  We try to make sure he sees Zak and I spending time together and also making sure he has daddy time for a while each day in case it is an insecurity thing.  The combination seems to be helping.  He hasn't been lying awake at night, but he is still talking a lot in his sleep and having very active dreams.  Usually when he calls me I go in there and he is still asleep.  So, at least one of us is getting sleep now!  It just makes me a little nervous about how it is going to go with him and the baby sharing a room...

Due to the lack of sleep there for a few days we all came down with a cold last week.  Fortunately we got over it pretty quickly and the symptoms never got too bad for any of us!  That was a real blessing!

Another great blessing we received last week was a beautiful new Moses Basket from someone we met on craigslist!  I had responded to an ad of someone selling a Moses Basket and let her know we were interested.  She apparently followed the link to our website that I have in the signature on my email and saw that we are new to the area and Zak is a seminary student and offered to give us the basket as a "welcome to Oregon" gift!   She recently graduated from Warner Pacific College, a Christian liberal arts school in the area and could relate to our situation.  How cool is that!?  It is a beautiful Moses Basket and now BZ2 has a place to sleep!

Speaking of BZ2, I don't have a lot to report.  I go see our midwife each week now and they do all the normal checks to make sure everything is working well and we are both healthy.  She is willing to check my cervix to see if there is any progress, but I opt not to since I know that doesn't really tell you much of anything in regards to when you will deliver and I'm concerned that if there is progress I will get all anxious and antsy and he or she will be just like Koa and not come until I am well beyond my due date.  So, I will just try to be content in knowing that God knows the time and I don't have to...

We have made some updates to BZ2's Most Wanted list for those who are interested.  We don't have a lot of things we need this time since the essentials are left over from Koa, but we came up with a few items for those who really want to spoil the new little one.

Lastly, I don't think I ever gave the final update on our insurance saga.  Anyway, I hope it is the final...  They have agreed to pay 70% of the birthroom and 90% of the midwife after our deductible.  So, the $900 (plus the insurance premium which ironically comes out to almost exactly the cost of the entire prenatal care and birth!) we already paid is the remainder of that.  Ideally, the rest of the bill should be covered by the insurance.  That's good to know since we are less than two weeks from the due date and I'm exhausted from all the haggling!! :)  Thanks for all your prayers in the midst of this.

My Baby Can Read!

OK, so "read" is an exaggeration, but he has memorized one of his favorite board books and now he will go through it and point at the pictures and "read" it to us.  It's pretty cool.  He's only recently started to pretend to read and the first day he did it I thought it was hilarious.  He will also try to read the signs when we are driving down the road and he'll say things like, "There's a Thai place."  We never know if he is right because by the time we realize what he said we are well past the place to which he is referring.

Speaking of Thai food, we have found a wonderful little Thai restaurant VERY close to our house.  Too close, really.  The first few weeks we were here before we had our kitchen in working order we were very tempted by their deliciousness!  In fact, one of Koa's pretend things that he likes to do now is take our order.  Any time he has a pen and paper he will cock his head to the side and say, "What you want?"  or "You want some Thom Kha?"  Sometimes no matter what we order he will tell us they are all out...except the thom kha.  At least he knows to keep the good stuff on hand...

He's gotten quite helpful around the house in lots of ways.  He likes to help move the laundry from the washer to the dryer.  Now that we have a front load of each and they are at his level I can ask him to do it and then walk away and he does a good job.  Sometimes I come back and both machines are running because he also knows which buttons to push to turn them on, but I usually don't go far enough that I can't hear the beeps.  

He also likes to help take things to the recycling bin (so much so that I found a plate in there the other day after Zak asked him to help clear the table...) and just this week he has started helping me wash the dishes.  Admittedly, he only does his job with scrubbing the dishes until he gets distracted by holding a puppet show with the two scrub brushes having a conversation, but it's nice to have company with my least favorite chore...and entertainment, too!

Edit:  I forgot to mention just how much Koa likes to help empty and clean his own potty now.  I also should probably mention that there are few things more likely to give a mom a heart attack than a two year old wielding a bowl of poop!

A while back we bought Koa a little fabric doll from the thrift store for like 10 cents.  It's been a great investment.  Recently Koa named the baby.  His name is George Mueller.  He plays with George all the time.  Occasionally he takes a nap with him.  He takes him to the potty.  (Fortunately he is fabric because there have been potty mishaps with the doll, as well, and he washes quite nicely in the washing machine.)  He straps him into the baby's car seat.  I'm curious how his relationship with George will change after the baby comes.  This should be an interesting saga to witness.

My one last little Koaism to share tonight happened the other day when he was on the phone with Grandpa Stimple.  Stimple was asking if he could come visit and then inquiring as to the protocol if he were to show up to the house.  It went something like this:

Stimple:  "When I get to the door do I knock on the door or do I ring the doorbell?"

Koa:  "No, you push the button and say, 'Mayonnaise!'"

Where does he come up with this stuff!?  

 

Date Night!

Zak and I escaped for a date tonight!  Yea!  It was much needed relaxation together.  I wasn't sure we were going to get another one of those before the baby came, but Zak surprised me and we ditched what we were supposed to be doing and took advantage of the fact that we already had babysitters!  Unfortunately now he is back to school work, but it was a nice break for a little bit.

Have you seen this movie?  If so, what did you think?

 

 

Potty Training Trials

I mentioned a while back that I would share some of our potty training trials for laughs and to remind me not to even bother with the next kid until s/he is ready to leave for college.  Well, one night I did that and then lost the whole post, so I shall try to attempt it again!  If it doesn't work this time--it's not meant to be!

Right before we left Hawaii we had gone to the mall (groan) for something and while we were there Koa needed to use the potty and they actually had a little kid's size toilet in one of the stalls.  The stall even had a sign that said "Keiki Potty" on the door.  It was really cute.  So, Koa used that one and then every time we used a public restroom in the future would say, "This is a keiki potty!" and was insistent that if it wasn't one of the really tall ones that he could "do it to myself".  (Add this to the ways malls ruin lives!)  As you can imagine the next several weeks as we were traveling, there were A LOT of public restrooms to visit.

One day while we were in Tennessee he needed to go to the potty and as I took him in there he insisted that I go in the stall next to him and let him "do it to myself".  He had been doing a pretty good job of doing that and since I needed to go, too, I apprehensively went in the stall next to him after reminding him to scoot all the way back and point down!  All of the sudden I hear and see this splash of "water" coming under the wall into my stall splashing all over the floor!  I don't even know how this is physically possible considering the height and position of a tiny boy on a large toilet, but this child can defy gravity when it comes to these types of things, I'm convinced.  So, I hurriedly told him to stay put and wait for Mama.  He did and I came over to clean up the mess.  While I was down on my hands and knees, in a public restroom with pieces of toilet paper wiping the floor, he realized he could reach the door from his comfy position and tried to close the door.  He only succeeded in smashing my head against the wall!  When I looked at him with fire in my eyes and started to scold him for doing such a thing, he said, "Mama, I make you crazy!"

Oh, how right he is!

When we got to Portland and had been here for several weeks, we were on Multnomah's campus for some event and as we were getting ready to leave with a group of people, I decided I better take Koa to the restroom before we left.  So, I asked folks to wait on us and took him into the restroom with the very shiny floor.   

He had had several weeks of practice by now and was doing pretty well by himself.    So, when he insisted on going by himself I conceded (because, once again I needed to go myself and thought this would be faster...my naivety is almost charming, isn't it?)  This time, however, he had figured out how to lock the door and insisted that he needed to do this--before I could stop him.  I could see how this could be bad, but I confidently reminded him to scoot back and point down and went into my own stall. 

Yep, you guessed it.  Shee shee all over the floor again.  This time, however it stayed in his stall.  Which would seem like a positive thing---except, remember the shiny floor and the closed stall door.  I explained to him that he was going to have to get down and open the door but would have to be very careful to not step in it!  Wasted words.  He stepped right in it and promptly fell to the floor, very upset.  I encouraged him to get up and get the door so I could help him, but no progress could be made.  Every time he stood up, he would fall down getting angrier with every fall. 

Try not to picture this, it will scar you!  Eight months pregnant mom on the floor, reaching under the door grabbing toilet paper and pulling it to the ground wiping up the mess (yes, this was one of the bathrooms without hand towels!), crying toddler sitting in it.  At this point I was also laughing deliriously because, well, what else was I going to do!?  Between delirious cackles I tried to soothe the angry toddler, but that didn't seem to help much.  I was just very thankful that no one walked it on that scene.  We eventually got everything cleaned up, the door opened and all of Koa's clothes changed.  As I walked out shaking my head and laughing, Zak said, "What took so long?"

These are the times I hope the next child is a little girl!

The Zumwalt Keiki

Kids today...

The other day I was showing Koa pictures of when I was pregnant with him.  Then some pictures of us at the hospital.  Then some of his brand new baby pictures.  I did this to help prepare Koa for the transition and make sure that this concept of a baby brother or sister is sinking in a little bit.  Soon after that I asked Koa if he wanted to talk or read to the baby in mommy's tummy.  He said, "I no can.  He doesn't have any batteries!"  Where in the world did that come from?  And for those of you who have lived in Hawaii, you know that "I no can" is a perfectly legitimate answer...

We had another midwife appointment yesterday.  I thought this next post was going to be great news about our insurance issue, but we're still fighting over that.  They finally agreed to cover the cost of the birthroom (or, rather 70% of what they deem necessary...oh great) but when the clinic called to verify this, the insurance company said they don't think they will cover the midwife (Jen).  I don't quite understand how she can be on the preferred provider list and yet not be covered by the insurance policy.  So, it looks like I will be spending a lot more time on the phone with Aetna again today.  Yipee!

We also had to go ahead and pay our part of the Dr. bill if the insurance covers everything they are supposed to cover...(a big IF)...and that was over $900.  I must say, I was never all that thrilled with Tricare, but I am learning that there are some great benefits to the military's version of socialized health care.  I suppose it's not a perfect world either way, but I at least have the perspective for how both types of health care work.

The good news?  God is good in spite of insurance companies!

The good news we got yesterday is that this baby is small!  Well, that's what the midwife is guessing.  I know it is only a guess, but I'll take it!  Of course we are five weeks away from when Koa was born and babies do nothin' but grow from this point on...  The other good news, though, is that there is some progress being made (dialation and effacement) which is much more than was happening at this point with Koa.  That is also good news--except for the fact that we don't have a name or a bed at this point.  I suppose I better get to my Craig's List shopping.....I wonder if I could find a name on Craig's List!?