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. :)