shopping

We had a fun day yesterday in Loveland and Ft. Collins doing some school shopping. I only got 2 shirts, but Josh found some pants and Brecken got some things too since he's outgrowing his 9 month outfits. We bought him some jeans, and they're size 6 months, but we put him in them today and they're about right in length but when he's in them and you pick him up, they fall straight off. I wish I could find long pants with skinny waists! I can't find any baby belts either. :( I did find a website that sells them, for $18, but we're going to have to bite the bullet and buy one because B can't go pantless once winter comes!!

We also found "big boy" car seats we like. We bought the same pattern for both cars. Brecken sat in it at Toys R Us and had the biggest grin. He was patting the arm rests and laughing. I think he liked it. :) It's a Graco Pedic so it's super comfy to sit in. And the straps are bigger. He hates getting in his car seat now, and I think it's because the straps are so small he has to twist his arms to get them in. This is a forward-facing only seat though, so I hope he gets to 20 pounds soon so we can put him in the new seat so he's more comfy!

glasses

Both Josh and I had eye appointments in Rawlins on Monday. JOSH NEEDS GLASSES! I've had glasses or contacts since I was 9 years old, so I didn't feel bad for him. In fact, I laughed at him because he was always bragging about how he has such good eyesight. However, he's "very far-sighted" according to the doctor. HAHAHAHAHA!! Josh pouted all the way home- he's being a big baby about it. :) The office didn't have a big selection of frames though, but they had a Nike catalog, so he had them order a few of those frames for him to try out. :) He really couldn't see very well though because his eyes were dialated. He was a big baby about that, too.
Apparently, he's never had it done before. They did NOT dialate my eyes, so that one of us could drive home. :)

AND, we have a new babysitter! It's the lady that we tried to get Brecken into last year but she didn't have room for a baby. Josh called her again Monday morning and she said she'd do some age figuring and call us back. She called on our way home from the eye doctor and she said she could take him! Hooray! She's in Saratoga, so that will be nice. We've heard lots of good things about her. We'll go meet her on Friday. We'll still use Deb, because she'd be sad if she didn't get to babysit, but we'll use this lady, Laurie, the other days. I really liked how Dana was with Brecken last year, but now with her step-son's trial coming up this fall she won't be
around until that's over, and plus- her extended family freaked me out a lot. (for instance, her ex-husband isn't allowed in her house but sits in the street in his car every day so he can talk to his kids. That freaks me out.) So I'll send her a big flower arrangement to tell her thanks for being so great last year with Brecken.

gross and disgusting

Well I woke up to a disgusting surprise this morning. Brecken woke up at 6:30, so I put the dogs out before I went to get him. Birdie was in Brecken's room, so I don't know if she left me the surprise or if she was just checking on Brecken, and Hogan was sleeping next to my bed. I went out to the living room and there was diarreha (or however it's spelled) in a path from where the carpet starts next to the front door all the way to the kitchen. It was definitely from one of the dogs. GROSS. I cleaned up as much as I could (and I didn't puke- I was proud of myself!!) and called Josh, (who went to Casper Thursday for the Coach's Clinic) and he said to go to Rawlins to get a Rug Doctor from the grocery store. So that's what B and I got to do this morning. I got it home and Brecken had a snack in his high chair while I cleaned up the stains. Got most of it out, I put Spot Shot on the big ones that are still faintly in the carpet and when Josh gets home this afternoon (hopefully around 1) we'll do it again and the rest of the carpet, too. Brecken didn't like the sound, he cried, so it will be easier with 2 people here so one can take him outside while the other one cleans the carpet.

Dang dogs- neither one ever asked me to go outside during the night, so it must have been a really big emergency!

However, in the car on the way to Rawlins, I had in one of Brecken's kid CD's, and the "Patty Cake" song came on- he patted his hands right along with it! Then on the way home it came on again. He was drinking his bottle so he couldn't pat his hands, but he patted the bottle! That was the only song he did that to, so he must know!! He sang along with the songs too. He likes to sing.

Oh, and something funny to go along with my disgusting morning- while we got dressed and ready to go, the "Wonder Pets" show was on Noggin. Brecken likes that one because it's all music. Today, the Wonder Pets saved a puppy that had to go "wee-wee", but he couldn't because he was stuck in a house. I thought that was very appropriate for my morning. :)

sleeping

I think we FINALLY might have had a visit from the sleeping fairy- Brecken has been sleeping through the night for the past week or so. HOORAY!! (But now that I said that, he'll stop sleeping so well. Isn't that the way life works?) I had ordered a book a few weeks ago called "Good Night, Sleep Tight", and it's been a lifesaver. I ordered it because it's a much gentler way to get your kid to not rely on you in the middle of the night, and to teach them how to soothe themselves back to sleep. I cannot do the "Cry-it-out" method- it just seems incredibly cruel to me to put your kid to bed and leave them in the dark by themselves screaming and crying. This method, you put them to bed, and sit by the crib until they fall asleep so they know you are still there. You do that the first 3 nights, and do the same thing when they wake up during the night. Then the next 3 nights, you move your chair farther away from the crib, so they know you are still there but you are farther away. So on and so forth. We never made it that far though- he's been falling asleep great and staying asleep at night too. I had waited to start this until we got an OK from the pediatrician I took Brecken to a couple weeks ago. I didn't know if I should still be feeding Brecken in the night since he's underweight. The ped. said nope, his stomach is big enough that he does not need to eat, and he'll learn to eat more in the day. It's been wonderful to sleep through the night myself!! I had only done that 4 times since bringing Brecken home from the hospital.

another tooth!

Brecken's 2nd tooth popped through! It's his bottom left tooth. It wasn't nearly as miserable as the 1st one. No blood this time, and only a day or so of crying.

AND, he's getting SO close to crawling. He now can move both of his knees but when he moves his hands he falls down. He gets right back up to try again though!

This picture was taken right after a graham cracker snack. He gets a little messy when he's in a good mood, eating a snack. He was showing me how big he is, pulling up on his crib.

the joys of being mobile

Brecken is definitely more mobile and it's making me exhausted! :) Yesterday I was putting things away in his room after we got home from Casper, and he was playing in his crib. I looked over, and he was looking over the edge of the crib, while standing on his feet! He had pulled himself up to a standing position. I guess we need to lower the mattress now.

Then today, I was cleaning the kitchen and Brecken was cruising around in his walker. I was almost finished with the kitchen when I hear Birdie's food dump all over the floor. Brecken had cruised over there, picked up the bowl, and dumped it. There was a few pieces left in the bowl, and I got there just in time to watch Brecken put it in his mouth. GROSS! He didn't have time to form an opinion because I was over there getting it out of his mouth.

Oh, the joys of being mobile.

a doctor's appointment

I took B to Dr. DeHart today- the pediatrician that took care of him when he was born. We were concerned that he hadn't gained even a pound in 2 months at his 9 month appointment, and I wanted her to check on his heart murmer and his hernia. At 9 months, he weighed 15 pounds 13 oz, and today, at 10 months, he weighed 16 pounds 10 oz. So I was glad to see he gained almost a pound in a month- back to his "normal" gains. He got tall though- an inch and a quarter in the month! He's now 28 3/4 inches! That's in the 50th percentile, and his head is in the 60th percentile.

His weight is still below the charts, but she said since I was like that when I was little, we'll just keep an eye on it. If he continues to gain weight and stays in a nice curve below the charts, she'll be OK with it. If he goes even lower below the charts at his 12 month appointment, she wants us to bring him back and do bloodwork on him to make sure his blood counts are OK.

His murmer is still there- she heard it right away. I asked why Dr. Jake didn't really hear it last month, and she said with these kinds of murmers, they might come and go before they go for good, so that's why Dr. Jake might not have heard it.

Brecken's hernia is still there too- she said it's not totally uncommon in infants, and those muscles will develop later. You can see it when he arches his back, it sticks out his belly. :)

Brecken was really good at the doctor- he didn't like her looking in his ears, that made him mad, but he was smiley and waving and jabbering the rest of the time. She gave him a tongue depressor to play with to keep him busy- it was grape flavored and he sucked it all the way to lunch even. :)

Then I had to take the pickup to the Honda dealer to get something checked on the console, and the tires rotated. We ended up being there for TWO HOURS- they found a big huge ugly screw in one of the tires so they repaired it- I'm glad they found it so I didn't get a flat tire on my way home! Josh couldn't come with me today because his football team left for Sheridan to scrimmage tomorrow morning. Then he will meet me in Casper- we are going up there to meet my mom and dad, as well as my sister and her family, and hang out for the weekend. It's the only weekend we ALL can get together all summer long, so it should be fun. We'll be back on Sunday afternoon.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A TOOTH!

FINALLY! A TOOTH! It's just barely showing through, and knowing or luck, it will go back down and nobody will believe us, but honest to goodness, I saw his tooth for a brief moment! He only opens his mouth if you hold him upside down, but the second we try to look in, he shuts his mouth tight. :) And seriously, after all this drama, I only want him to have one tooth. We had blood dribbles the other night, severe drooling, severe CRABBINESS, constant (or so it seems when you're the only one home with him) crying, it was just not fun. So one tooth is plenty for me, if it means we don't have to go through this again.

*sigh* Wishful thinking.

And to update on B's bumped noggin- It wasn't his noggin. He woke up from his nap with a red bump right above his eyelid on his eye socket. :(

and the bad mommy of the month award goes to...

I sure have put myself in the running for the Bad Mommy of the Month award the past few weeks. First, while in Worland, Brecken threw himself out of my arms while we were in the swimming pool and he went completely under the water. I scooped him up and he came up sputtering and crying, but got over it eventually.

Then, while packing for our week away last week, Brecken rolled off the bed. I hadn't turned my back for more than 3 seconds and I heard the most sickening thud. He just rolled right off. I don't think he hit anything, but he cried and cried. Josh had run out to get the mail, but was back real soon after it happened and gave Brecken a head-to-toe assessment, and couldn't find anything wrong thank goodness.

Then today, while getting ready for a nap, I accidentally hit Brecken's forehead with my elbow. I think he cried harder about that then he did after falling off the bed, even. Granted, he was tired and everything hurts more when you're tired, but still. I felt so bad. He finally fell asleep and was doing the shuddering thing you do when you recover from crying hard. Poor baby.

And poor Mommy.

a new sister-in-law!

I see that Annie already beat me to this, so all of the Sandlian side of the family already knows this news if they read Annie's blog. But for the rest of you, I'm getting a new sister-in-law! Josh's youngest brother, Jeffrey, asked his girlfriend, Beth Brown, to marry him on Saturday. Beth teaches 1st grade at Jeff's school and they met last summer while getting their classrooms ready to go. It was fate that they both took jobs so far from home! Beth is originally from Alliance, Nebraska. She's super nice and we're excited that she'll be joining the family next July! After July 19, 2008, all the Sandlian boys will be married and Lennie, the mother of 3 boys, will have 3 daughters. :)

wow! this boy can move!

You should've seen Brecken scooting tonight! I laid him down on the floor in the dining room at Craig and Lennie's house so I could change his diaper, but the diapers were in another room. I went and got one, and went back, and he was almost to the kitchen, about 4 feet away. I said, "Hey! Get back here!" and he laughed and got all excited and scooted FAST the rest of the way to the kitchen!! Then he realized Lennie has lots of things in there and laughed at them and looked at us like "LOOK at these things I can touch!" He then realized the slick floor of the kitchen is fun to scoot on! He made it halfway through, then discovered that if he's on his back he can push himself backwards- he liked that too! Then turned over and made it the rest of the way through the kitchen, through the hallway and to the living room and about 2 feet away from the front door before he got tired and cried about it. But that whole time he was scooting, he was going fast and laughing, not crying and grunting! He figured out it wasn't that hard and that it was fun! He scooted all over the living room floor the rest of the evening, finding all the stuff he never knew was there. (After I had chased him down and finally got his diaper changed. :))

We had a fun time in Gillette- I'll post pictures when we get back home to my own computer. We had fun in Lingle before Gillette too- Craig and Lennie bought the 3 grandkids cowboys hats and we got some great pictures. Trevor especially will be very embarrassed when he turns into a teenager to see the pictures- teenage boys don't like to see pictures of themselves in a cowboys hat, a tank top, a sagging diaper, and cowboy boots and that's it. :)

travels

We are doing a lot of traveling lately. Monday morning, Josh and some of his football team went to Thermopolis for a football camp. I didn't particularly want to stay with Brecken by ourselves again, so he and I went to Worland to visit my Grandma. Brecken had never been to her house and she hasn't seen him since Christmas, so a visit was due. We got there Monday afternoon and had a great time. We went to water aerobics with my grandma twice while we were there and Brecken LOVED swimming in the pool. It totally wore him out! Tuesday night the three of us met Josh in Thermop at his aunt and uncle's house, then the six of us went out to Bev and David's cabin for dinner. That was fun. Wednesday morning, Brecken and I loaded up and went to Thermop to watch the end of the camp and then traveled back with the team.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Lingle. We'll spend a couple days there and then head up to my mom and dad's for the 4th of July. We haven't been there for the 4th since the summer we were married. Gillette always has a big parade and a fantastic fireworks display so it will be fun. Then it's back to Lingle for Matt's wedding, and then finally back to Saratoga. Phew! Lots of travels. Hopefully B will do well in the car.

scooting!

Brecken figured out how to scoot on the floor today! He scooted on his belly halfway across the living room to get to me this morning! And you would've thought it was the hardest thing ever, with all the grunting and sighing! :)

Baby proofing, here we come, I guess!

THE BEST NEWS OF THE DAY: Josh had his final EMT-AI test this morning and he passed! He is now an Advanced Intermediate EMT, which is one step below being a paramedic. He can do IV's, give drugs, shock heart patients, etc. And he's still not allowed to practice IV's on me. :) So not only did he pass, but he's now done with going to Rawlins twice a week for classes. Hooray!

rolling

Brecken figured out how to roll over and over, in order to get somewhere this afternoon! He rolled all across the living room and was pretty proud of himself. :)

football field

SHS is getting a new football field! They finally got the sod laid this week- Josh and Heath, the other coach, were pretty worried about it getting laid in time. They finished laying it on Tuesday night, but wouldn't you know, Saratoga is on a water restriction because a part at the water plant broke. The houses can only water certain hours, on certain days, and the school district isn't allowed to water the new sod on the field. The supertintendent was pretty worried about losing the grass, but the fire department is loaning them (read: Josh) a firetruck to go up there and water the grass. So Josh and Heath, along with Heath's daughters Macy and Lily, watered the sod all afternoon. They plan on going up again tonight after Josh gets home from his EMT class, and then early tomorrow morning, too. Heath ran the hose all day- he had a blast. So did Josh- he didn't want to leave to come home to get ready for class! Brecken and I went up for a few hours this afternoon. It was HOT, and Brecken never took a nap, but he was great the whole time we were up there! It was nice to come home to a cool house though.

new patio

We got our back patio all finished up yesterday and are now able to be outside enjoying it! We always had a cement pad out our back door, but never did anything with it. So over the weekend, we stained the concrete, we installed a sun shade above it, and yesterday put together the new patio set that we bought while in Gillette a couple weekends ago. Now it is a usable area! Brecken enjoys sitting out there with us- he can laugh at the dogs playing in the yard.

birthday party!

We went to Ryan's birthday party on Saturday. It's hard to believe that he will be 1 year old on Wednesday the 20th! I know I keep saying this, but MAN, time flies. There were lots of little kids there and everyone had a great time. Kristen and David got him the wagon that the boys are sitting in. Below is the water table that his Grandma and Grandpa Winegar got him. It was a HUGE hit at the party and everyone got plenty wet.

We got him a sandbox and my mom and dad got him a little plastic bike (like the Little Tykes brand) that first starts off as a rocking bike, then a bike with a handle on it so Mom and Dad can push it down the sidewalk, and then finally a "real" bike when he can finally reach the pedals. Ryan loves rocking on it.

His birthday theme was Elmo, complete with his own Elmo cake. David really wanted him to do a face plant in it, but instead, he was very clean and took teeny tiny little pinches of frosting, put it aside, and then took a teeny tiny pinch of cake and ate it very neatly. He finally got into the spirit a little later. :)

My aunt, uncle, and cousins from Helena, MT were on their way back home from a vacation in Alabama today and happened to be in Laramie over lunchtime. So Josh, Brecken and I got in the car and went and had lunch with them and Kris, David, and Ryan. We haven't seen my aunt and uncle since Thanksgiving, so they were surprised at how big both babies have gotten! My cousin Ian went to Space Camp in Alabama, so they made it a family vacation.

takes after his mommy

So I got out my baby book to see how much I weighed and how long I was when I was 9 months old. Sure enough, Brecken is taking after his mommy so far. I was 2 ounces heavier and 4 centimeters shorter than Brecken. I'd say that's pretty identical!

Brecken tried so hard to crawl tonight. Every time he was sitting up, he'd twist over onto his belly. He'd grunt and strain to try to move foward. He scooted an inch or so two different times, but that was about it. He's pretty determined though- he would try every time he was sitting up! It wasn't me making him try- it was all his own will. I don't think it will be too long now before he's at least scooting.

Josh had another EMT test tonight, over cardiac drugs. He passed! He was pretty nervous about it, because if he didn't pass tonight, he can't finish the class. He has two more classes, I think. After next week and one more test, he'll be an Advanced Intermediate EMT. YAY!

below the charts

Well, Brecken fell below the charts on this doctor visit. I thought for sure he gained a lot of weight because he's been eating a ton and he certainly FEELS heavier, but he hasn't even gained a pound from 2 months ago! At 7 months, he weighed 15 pounds, 2 oz. Today, he only weighed 15 pounds 13 ounces! That isn't even on the percentile chart. I'll have to go dig out my baby book and see how much I weighed at 9 months- I know I was below the charts until I started elementary school!

Brecken is around the 10th percentile for his length, at about 27 inches. He's gained about a half an inch in those two months.

The good news is, neither Dr. Jake nor the med student that was in with us could hear much out of the ordinary in his heart, so I think he may have grown out of the heart murmer! YAY!

Brecken has gained more in his "vocabulary" in the past couple days- he now says "nanananana." Still laughs when I ask him to say Mama! Yesterday, he began pointing at things. He pointed at his toys, and the tree outside, and the cat outside. And his new favorite food is Rice Krispies. Makes a mess of them on the floor, so the dogs love them now too. :)

summer!

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this! We have been very busy since school got out. In fact, Brecken and I have only been home for 2 days of summer so far! Last Monday, Brecken and I went to Denver to hang out with my sister and Ryan, who were down there while David was on a business trip. Josh had to work on Monday and had EMT class on Tuesday, so Brecken and I went down by ourselves. We had a great time. Monday, we went to the zoo! After Brecken got super hot and had to be stripped down to his onesie, he happily hung out in his stroller. And I mean "hung". He lounged back and kept his feet up on the cupholder tray and just totally relaxed!!

The zoo was fun, I hadn't been there in several years. We saw lots of beautiful animals and had fun walking around. Ryan did not have fun, he cried for most of it because he was tired and couldn't fall asleep in the sun and noise. But the other 3 of us had a blast.

Tuesday morning we loaded up and went to the Children's Museum. It was really neat, but it would've been more fun for the boys if they were a little more mobile. Since neither of them can crawl yet, the only thing they really appreciated was the infant area where they could lay on the "pond" and play with the mobiles. We will have to take them back in a couple years. We did get some good pictures on the firetruck for Josh though. :)

After the museum, we went to a great outlet mall in Castle Rock. They have a Carter's, Osh Kosh, Gymboree, Eddie Bauer, and a bunch more. We spent the afternoon there and got some great deals.

Brecken and I came back on Wednesday and met Josh in Cheyenne. He was supposed to be getting fitted for a tuxedo for Matt's wedding, but we got there and the tux place had gone out of business! They made new plans and we came home. I-80 was WINDY, so we both got off in Laramie and went over the Snowy Range. I'm not sure that was any better because we drove over it in a BLIZZARD! No joke. Snowing so hard we couldn't see the road at times.

Thursday was spent doing laundry and packing again. Friday morning we dropped the dogs off at the kennel and headed up to Gillette for the weekend. We hadn't been there since Christmas so it was good to go back. Brecken had a great time and even got to stay with Grandma one night while Josh and I went to Casper for the Shrine Bowl. Josh had 2 players from him team playing in it and Saratoga's head coach was a coach for the South team, so it was a good game to go watch. The South won, 20-17, so the trip was well worth it!! We weren't gone overnight, but 10 or so hours.

Now we are back and the house needs cleaned. We have a lot of projects lined up for the coming weeks, including finishing the outside paint, adding a fence in the back yard so the dogs can stay on half of it while we're out during the day, and we'll seed the bare spots in the other half of the yard so we have a nice back yard to play on. We also need to assemble the patio set that we bought in Gillette so we can eat outside, but before that, we need to stain the concrete so it looks nicer. We also need to figure out what we're doing with the kitchen- whether we should fork out the tons of money it will cost to replace the cabinets and countertop, or just refinish the cabinets ourselves and spend a little more on the countertop. Decisions, decisions, and it all means WORK!!

Brecken has his 9 month well baby check on Thursday, so I'll update then on how big he is now!