surgery

My nephew Ryan has to have tubes put in his ears. He's had almost as many ear infections as he is months old- and is constantly on antibiotics. They saw a pediatric ear, nose, and throat doctor from Ft. Collins today and are going down next week to get tubes put in Ryan's ears. He might possibly be getting his adnoids out too. The poor kid has had a stuffy nose practically since he was born, so maybe that would help clear his poor little nose up!

I was thinking in the shower this morning, "I'm glad our baby was born healthy." Then I remembered the $100,000 in hospital bills we accumulated when Brecken was born. :) So I then changed my thought to, "So after Brecken finally got out of the hospital, I'm glad he's stayed healthy." :)

I stocked up on teething tablets and toys that vibrate when bitten this weekend. The poor little guy won't quit whining. I'm sure it's because of his teeth that we can't see yet but I'm sure we will soon. He's been sleeping like crap lately, too. Hopefully tonight with some teething tablets right before bed, he will sleep a little better.

I have gotten the planners from the hospital in the mail. I just haven't gotten around to mailing them out. I will hopefully get to it this week. I have an elementary school program tomorrow night and after that, hopefully my life will slow down a little!

a day full of basketball

We sure had a day full of basketball- Josh's jr. high girls' tournament was today, in Saratoga this year. His B team was invited this year, and played Encampment first. The B team lost. :( Their next game was against Wamsutter for 5th and 6th place and won! So they ended up 5th place. That's pretty good for a bunch of 6th graders and some 7th graders! I sure felt bad for Wamsutter- they only have 5 tiny girls, and one of them is a 5th grader even. And one of their players kept fouling out of every game because she apparently thought the game was football and kept tackling girls.

Josh's A team played Encampment since Encampment won the first game and Josh's team had a bye, and Encampment surprised everyone by winning! Josh's team was bummed. But in the 3rd and 4th place game, they played Hanna and won, so they ended up in 3rd place.

Busy day for Brecken- Jeff and his girlfriend came over last night, and Craig and Lennie came over this morning. With all that and all the games, he didn't take a nap at all today. 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, but that is worthless. So this evening after we got home, he was crying uncontrollably- he was just so tired and couldn't settle down. Josh and I ended up having to take him for a ride in the pickup and drove 40 miles to get him to sleep and stay that way. Poor guy. Then we got home and he woke up 10 minutes later of course. I fed him some more and he was smiling so we hung out in the living room for a while, then he got cranky so I fed him some cereal, put his jammies on, and put him to bed. He's been asleep for an hour now, so hopefully he'll stay that way for a long time! :)

poor baby. (or should I say babies?)

My baby boy is sick. :( He finally got the cold that is going around. His friend Ryan had to go home from daycare early yesterday because of it- he had a high fever to go with it. Brecken doesn't have a fever, but his nose is so full, and he's coughing really badly, and his eyes are watering, and he's throwing up every once in a while. He slept OK until about 5:00 this morning and then he couldn't breathe very well on his back anymore. I called the clinic and I'm going to take him in at 4:00 this afternoon. Better safe than sorry, especially since RSV is going around our town.

My other baby, Josh, is hurting too. He slipped on the ice this morning while going out to start the cars. He caught himself, but twisted his knee. He wasn't as lucky when he got to school- he fell on the ice there too, and went down. His biology book hit his eye, so he's going to tell everyone that I gave him a black eye for Valentine's Day. He also cut his hand, but he said it doesn't need stitches. So he's at school miserable, with a twisted knee, a cut hand, a black eye, and a headache.

Maybe someday I'll get over MY cold and I can take care of my boys!

The BIG news for the day though, is that Brecken rolled over last night!! He was laying on the couch and Josh was working with him on rolling, and he did it, twice! From back to front even! Our babysitter told me this morning that yesterday, he had been trying really hard, and he finally succeeded last night. What a big week- starting to belly laugh, turning 5 months old, and rolling over!

5 months old already.

I can't believe Brecken turned 5 months old on Sunday! MAN, time flies. I took him to get weighed yesterday afternoon and he gained exactly a pound in exactly a month. He is now 13 pounds, 4 ounces. He has surpassed his cousin Ryan by a lot now- my sister didn't have a weight for Ryan at 5 months but at 6 months, Ryan was 13 pounds, 1 ounce. Soon, we'll be passing on clothes to Ryan and not the other way around. :)

This is Josh's last week of basketball. I can't say my feelings are hurt, it will be nice to have him home before 5:30 every day. It seems like he has lots of meetings for his ambulance service, his fire service, etc. So when he gets home at 5:30 and has a meeting like last night, from 6:30-9:00, it seems we never get to see him! So I will be kind of glad that basketball concludes this weekend with their tournament.

laughing

Brecken's been laughing a little for a couple months now, but this weekend he started REALLY laughing. It's not just a "ha!" with a smile anymore, it's all out giggling and it is so, so funny. Yesterday was the first time he's ever done it. He was in his jumperoo and I had his feet, making him go up and down. He was laughing pretty hard at that. Tonight, we got back from Laramie and he was pretty tired and grouchy, but when I laid him on his changing table to get his jammies on, he started smiling. (He loves his changing table for some reason!) I told him "You were a good boy today!" and for some reason, that hit his funny bone because he started laughing so hard he ran out of breath. I was laughing pretty hard too. What a great sound to hear- your little boy laughing for real, and laughing so hard that he runs out of breath. :)

mobile

Brecken has the Symphony in Motion mobile over his crib and he LOVES it. It plays for 15 minutes and you have a choice of Beethoven, Bach, or Mozart. There are fun little animals with polka dots and lines that move around and he will just stare and stare, and even laugh at it. The first one we had broke in November. The music still played but the animals wouldn't move around. We know the lady that owns the store my mom bought it at, so she was nice enough to exchange it for us. Today, the mobile quit again. The music still plays, but the animals don't move. I'm so sad. I changed the batteries twice and it still won't work. I'm completely bummed- Brecken LOVES that mobile and now it won't move around. I wonder if the lady at the store in Gillette will exchange it for us again. :(

calendars

If you want a calendar, let me know! Email us at jks@communicomm.com I heard back from the hospital and this is what the lady said:

Hi Kara,
Your family's photo is one of my favorites of the entire calendar! I hope Brecken is doing well. :)
I would be happy to send you as many calendars as you would like (free of charge) we appreciate you being willing to let us photograph you during such an emotional time in your life! It really comes thru in the photo and I think you can be proud of the fact that many people will be affected by that photo and (hopefully) take action with their elected officials because of it.
Just let me know how many you'd like and where to send them!
Take care,
Julie Snyder
Advocacy Coordinator
The Children's Hospital Denver
(303) 861-6253


So let me know ASAP and I'll send in an order. I think I'll get one for Dr. Keeler and for Dr. DeHart, who helped us so much in Laramie when Brecken was born.

the picture

Here are a few pictures of what went into Denver Childrens' planner. I took a picture of the November postcard we are on, a close-up of the picture they used (but my camera's flash made Josh's face look shiny...) and the inside front cover. No word back from the hospital to see if I can buy more of those, but our email server just upgraded and I think it's eating some of my emails. I'll have to try again this weekend.