i'm so jealous.

I thought the Children's Hospital was amazing while we were in it last year. Amazing. The only complaint I had was that the little cubicles we were in were tiny, and you could barely fit the bed, two chairs, and the nurse in there. You had to do a lot of stepping over cords. Here is an article about the new Children's Hospital, with a slideshow of pictures. NOT THAT I WANT ANOTHER CHILD IN THERE, but I'm so jealous- what a beautiful place! And the NICU looks incredible- couches for the parents (much needed!), TONS of room in there, and lots of windows. I wanted windows so bad- I had no idea what it looked like outside because we had no windows!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/health_care/article/0,2808,DRMN_25396_5692042,00.html

happy birthday!

Brecken turned one today! This morning before we went to work, he got to "open" his present from his Gram and Gramps. I say "open" because it was too big to wrap, so we just put it together last night so he could see it this morning. They got him a Mickey Mouse fire engine that plays music and makes lots of sounds. It's like his tractor from his Grandma and Grandpa, you can ride on it and push it too. He likes to get up behind it and walk with it. He also loves pushing all the buttons and dancing along with the music.

Tonight we had dinner at the park with all the coaches and their families. He got a big board book from the preschool teacher in our group. And the gift that probably had the most thought put into it was from Deb's daughter Morgan. She's 3. She picked out a toy from her own toy box to bring to Brecken- a car that plays noisy sounds. Brecken loves it. She also had her dad write on a piece of paper, "Happy Birthday Brecken, Love" and then she signed her own name and drew him a picture. What a sweet present!

Then we came home and opened the rest of his presents. From Josh and I he got an Elmo laptop to play on. It has 10 or so keys on it and Elmo talks. It's pretty cute. We had him another present but somone else gave it to him so we have to exchange ours for something else. Loree, his babysitter, also gave him 2 presents. A book, and a Little People brand toy carwash. How fun. That was really nice of her.

Let's see- one year ago at this exact moment, 9:00, I had been moved to my own room at the other end of the maternity ward. It was a small room, because they knew my baby wouldn't be staying in the room with me like all the other moms. I told Josh that next time we have a baby, I don't want to be moved down the hall because that doesn't mean anything good! Brecken was under the oxygen hood, and I was begging a nurse to help me down to the nursery so I could see him. We had had a couple visitors, and Josh had to take them to the nursery to look through the window at him since he couldn't come to our room. That's another thing I want differently next time- I want a big room, with my baby with me in it, and the visitors can come IN my room and hold him and not have to look through the window at him!

Well, both cats are outside and it's supposed to get below freezing tonight, so I better go find them and go to bed. Both of my boys are already.

one year ago

One year ago today, I was sitting in a hospital bed, in labor, worried about what was about to happen. I hadn't eaten since about 11:00 that morning, and they wouldn't let me eat, in case I was to go in for a c-section soon. (turns out, I was.) They had tried to stop my contractions with a pill, and it didn't work. They tried to stop my contractions with a shot that HURT LIKE THE DICKENS- it stung so bad. The nurse said it would, but I never expected that much pain. And it was all for nothing because I kept contracting. The doctor on call (who I didn't like, by the way) did some ultrasounds and pushed on my belly to get Brecken to swim head down, and he did, for the first time ever, but then later that night I felt him swim back to head-up position. The nurses kept having to come in and reposition my monitor, because Brecken was moving around so much he kept knocking it off. I KNEW he swam back to the head-up position, but the dumb doc-on-call wouldn't believe me. I counted down the hours until he went off-call and my wonderful doctor, Dr. Keeler, came on shift. Nobody would let me eat, and it is VERY mean to make a pregnant woman with hypoglycemia not eat, especially when everyone else in the room was eating in front of me!

I know I keep saying this, but I really can't believe that was a year ago. I still get super emotional thinking about that rollercoaster ride we went on starting a year ago today, and I don't suppose that will ever go away. I woulnd't change anything that happened, I would keep it exactly the same, because I feel like Josh and I both are better people for going through what we did. You can never understand what it's like to be the parent of a preemie until you've been there. Sitting in the NICU day in and day out is a very draining thing but it brought Josh and I closer together, and I feel like we have a bond with Brecken that nobody else can experience unless they've had to do it too. And I still wonder, to this day, what has happened to little Joseph, who was in the Infant Care Center (ICC) next to us- he had a cleft palate and a short lower jaw, and his dad was terrified to do anything about it because he didn't want that poor baby to have scars. He did have surgery, and I hope he can breathe better because of it. He couldn't breathe and he would panic. And little Sam, who was also a 36-weeker but born with Down Syndrome- he sure was a cutie. And Karson, across the hall from us in the ICC, who was a 28-weeker that had been there a month already when we got there. And Gia, who's cubicle exploded with pink stuff. And that poor mommy and daddy next to us in the NICU who had to take that sweet baby off life support after being alive on it for 3 days. What a horrible decision to have to make.

See, now I'm all in tears. Denver Children's has a new hospital opening up- I'd love to see inside it some day (but on my own, of course- not because I have a child in there!). They are also opening up their own Ronald McDonald house so the other one can be used by the other 2 hospitals surrounding it. Both places hold special places in my heart!

Brecken's crying- I better go put him to bed.
Love,
Kara

"but little boys' knees are SUPPOSED to be black!"

That's what Josh told me yesterday when I said B needed a bath because he had black knees. B has been on a bath strike in the past couple weeks- screams and screams when we put him in, like it's burning him! It isn't- the water is the same temp as always, but he hates it anyway. Last night he wasn't sure about going in again, and started to cry, but then Ditka got in the bathtub too and B decided he'd be OK taking a bath.

What a strange cat we have! I've never seen a cat that likes the bathtub.

birthday party

We went to a birthday party this morning for Loree's son Carter. He turned 2 today. Brecken got a favor bag, even, with some crayons, a popper toy, and some sunglasses. He likes his sunglasses, because he always wants ours. :)


We had hot dogs for lunch and then a Mickey Mouse cake. B has decided he hates hot dogs, so he didn't eat too much. He thought it was pretty fun that Mom and Dad stayed at Loree's with him today, though. :) He showed us all the toys.

As we were leaving, Josh's pager went off. So we hurried and got B in the truck and we dropped Josh off at the ambulance barn and B and I took the truck home. As soon as we got home, B took a nap. I took one with him. :)

Then, we've just been playing this afternoon. I've dug dog food out of his mouth twice, so I put the food up on the table. We played outside, and we played with Ditka. Brecken was giggling up a storm, and Josh and I looked over, and Ditka and B were playing with the balloon that we got at the party. B would throw it and Ditka would bat it back. It was pretty cute. Ditka is a good playmate for B.

much better

Josh team played much better yesterday and beat Soroco, CO 39-8. They put their young guys in during the last part of the game and that's when Soroco scored. They held them to 0 points until right there at the end!

We went up to Heath and Peggy's house after the game with pizza. We didn't get home until 11:00. Brecken was asleep on their beanbag in the living room, with Macy (the 2nd grader) sleeping right next to him. It was his first sleep-over. :)

Craig and Lennie were here for the game but then went on to Lyman for the weekend. They'll be back tomorrow night, I think.

Right now, Brecken is sitting on the floor laughing hysterically at Ditka, who is playing with anything he can find. Brecken thinks it's hilarious. We are going to a birthday party later this morning- his daycare lady's son Carter turns 2 today.

a broncos game

Yesterday was school picture day. The Senior class always helps out with that, in order to make a little extra money. I'm Senior class sponsor, so not only was I here helping, but it was in my room. The guy from the photography place got talking with me and it came up that he has season tickets to the Broncos games, and he needed to sell the tickets for the first four games because he isn't able to go. He had four tickets for each game, so I went and asked Heath if he and Peggy wanted to go with Josh and I to the Raiders/Bronco game. So, that's what we'll be doing on Sept. 16th! We're going to Cheyenne on the 15th to have Stacey take Brecken's one-year pictures, then we'll stay the night in Cheyenne and on the 16th we'll bring B to my sister's house so he can play with Ryan for the day while we go to Denver with Heath and Peggy.

It's Friday! Hooray! Josh's team plays Soroco, CO here in Saratoga this afternoon. Go Panthers!

a new kitten

B and I had to go to school tonight. It was open house night from5:30-6:30. Yuck. I don't like those nights. Josh had practice and thena fire meeting, so I had to bring B with me.

Brecken got a new kitty for his birthday. One of my 2nd graders had them at the football game last week and was "selling them for free". They sure are cute little things- there were two of them, both solidorange just like Nugget. Brecken LOVED them. They sat on a little boy'slap and SLEPT during the football game!! A teacher Josh works with took one home. I told Josh that I almost brought one home because B loved it so much, and HE actually said, "Well, why didn't you?" Micaiah's mom subs at our school so the next day I told her I'd take the other one home. She brought it to me after school yesterday. That kitten came right in the house, jumped on the couch, and took a nap! Then he followed Brecken around all night. He went right next to him while B crawled, and rubbed his head on B's, and it even got to the point where B had to push him away!! The dogs are pretty excited, and we have to keep the kitty in the cat cage while the dogs are in, until they get used to him. Right now, the kitty is in the cage in the living room and Hogan is laying down staring at him. Charlie doesn't think too much of him, but hopefully she'll learn to like him so she's not lonely when we have to go out of town!

I think we'll name him Ditka. I wanted Satchmo, but Josh hated that, andI can live with Ditka.

I took some engagement pictures for Beth and Jeff this past weekend. You can see them on the internet at http://www.jeffreyandbeth.shutterfly.com/ It was fun- they're so easy to photograph!

a hard loss

The Panther football team opened their season yesterday in a game against Hanna-Elk Mountain. Luck wasn't with them though, they lost the game 20-13. First time in 20 years that we've lost to Hanna, someone said. That made Josh feel even worse. :( The head coach asked the boys if they wanted to practice tonight or if they wanted the long weekend to think about it, and the boys all wanted to practice. So we won't be getting out of town very quick tonight. Josh's school doesn't have school today, but we do, so they have to wait for the Encampment kids to get out of school and get to Saratoga.

Hopefully this will wake the boys up a little and they get their heads more in the game and we can win from now on!

tooth #4

I keep forgetting to mention that tooth #4 finally popped through on Saturday. Hooray! It was a rough one.

the sandlian snore

So B is laying in bed right now with Josh while I got up to take a shower. I came out of the shower and heard not one Sandlian, but TWO Sandlians snoring in the bed. B has inherited that "wonderful" Sandlian Snore!! All we needed was Hogan and Charlie, who both snore also, and we could've had a snoring symphony!

too funny

You have to read this, especially if you are a mom. It's an auction on Ebay that already ended, but the description of the item is totally hilarious. Perhaps the fact that I'm exhausted made it more funny, but I was laughing so hard I had tears while reading it. Enjoy!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675#description

casper

Brecken and I were out of the house by 6:45 yesterday morning so we could go to Casper to watch Josh's team scrimmage. Lennie and Pee-Wee came up, as well as David and Beverly, and some of Lennie's cousins, because their son plays for Wright, who Saratoga scrimmaged. My mom and dad came up also, and we had a nice day together. Brecken had fun flirting with everyone.

Lunch was a disaster, my mom and dad and B and I went to Old Chicago, which we all love. We waited 15 minutes for a waitress to come take our drink orders, and one never came. Finally the host had to do it. Finally a waitress came, we ordered, and we WAITED and WAITED. It's never been so slow when we've been there! I had asked her to bring B's food out as soon as it was ready, but it didn't come until my mom and dad's food was brought out. B was STARVING. So was I but my calzone didn't come with the rest of the order. The waitress said it was still cooking. She came back later and said they had to start over because they made it wrong. My mom and dad were done eating and I still didn't have anything to eat! I finally ate a piece of my dad's pizza and we told the waitress to box mine up because we were leaving. It was a disaster. The only good thing was that they took my lunch off the ticket.

Then we did some quick shopping and B and I headed home. He slept all the way to Casper, but not the way back! He slept for about an hour but then cried the rest of the way because he wanted out of his car seat. It's so hard to travel by yourself because you can't have one person in the back entertaining the kid if need be!

When we got home we got ready to go out to dinner with Heath and his wife and some friends of theirs from Worland. B was so tired but he did a great job- we didn't get home until 9:15 and he never once had a fit. What a great kid I have!

first cold of the school year

Well, we found out why Brecken was so hard to deal with on Tuesdsay and Wednesday. Wednesday night at home his face about exploded with liquids. I kept sucking out his nose and I was still wiping it every two minutes. Josh came home and asked why Brecken was crying. He wasn't, it was just his really watery eyes! And he about lost his voice. The little cough was so sad. He didn't have a fever, so he was still OK to go to Loree's house yesterday. I guess he had a pretty good day, too! The best of the week. What a relief. Hopefully it will stay this way. By Wednesday night I was sick to my stomach with worry that we were going to lose our babysitter. Hopefully he'll have a good day today, too, and then get over his cold this weekend so he's back to his normal self on Monday. Our backup babysitter always tells us that she wishes Brecken could come live with her because he is so much better acting than her own kids, so I KNOW he does a good job at daycare! Loree just hasn't seen it all yet.

B is on a milk strike at Loree's though. He will not take a bottle at all. Won't even let her put it in his mouth. He does fine at home though, so I'm not sure what the deal is. She finally gave him Pedialyte yesterday to keep him hydrated, and he drank that. Strange.

B had to go to Loree's house today even though Josh doesn't have school. There is an EMT conference somewhere and Josh is the only EMT left in the town that didn't have to work today. So he's on call, and when he's on call he can't be alone with B. So he's up at Loree's.

Tomorrow we are going to Casper to watch Josh's team scrimmage. My mom and dad are coming down so that will be fun. Lennie an Pee-Wee are coming to, because Josh's team is scrimmaging Wright, and some of that side of the family has kids playing for Wright, so they'll be in Casper watching too.

miserable day

Brecken had a miserable day. I don't know what the deal was. Loree even had to call me at work for suggestions. I called Josh and he went over to her house to help calm him down because he wouldn't quit crying. He can't do that tomorrow, since we have kids tomorrow! B had a slightly better afternoon, but I still feel really bad for Loree. I don't want her to change her mind about babysitting!! We all thought maybe he was just upset with the change in routine, but he was miserable tonight at home too. Crying lots and very clingy. He had medicine for his teeth, and Orajel, and food, but he was still miserable. Maybe he'll have a better day tomorrow. (LET'S HOPE!!!)

first day back

Today was Josh's and my first day back at school- we had meetings today. Our new babysitter called at 6:15 am saying she had a bladder infection and had to go to the clinic, and asked if we could find someone else to take B for the morning. Good thing we have a good backup babysitter! He loves it at Deb's. So we took him there in the morning and went over lunch to take him to Loree's. He had a pretty good afternoon at the new house. His teeth were bugging him though so he got a little grumpy toward the end. And man, you should have seen him love me when I picked him up- he was kissing me all over. And even a half hour after we got home, he'd crawl up me and wrap his arms around my neck and pat my back and go "mmmmm", then pull away and kiss my face. Then he'd play, but then come back for more hugs and kisses on his own every few minutes. :) I love that.

teeth

Brecken got tooth #3 on Friday- and tooth #4 should be here any day. They are his top middle teeth and boy, are they making the poor kid miserable! He won't sleep, won't eat, is whiny, and just wants to cuddle. I wish that 4th tooth would just hurry up and pop through!!!

bbq

The football team had a BBQ up at the school tonight to celebrate the end of 2-a-days. Then they had a "Madden Football" tournament on x-boxes. They set up about 6 x-box systems in Josh's room and they had big brackets and everything. I stayed long enough to see Josh beat Heath and then B and I came home. He needed a bath, because he found the one puddle in the whole county and laid down in it. He even put his hair in there. Silly boy. Luckily it was right before we came home, so I was able to stip his shirt off and he was OK. (He already had his pants off because he was hot.)

B sure had fun tonight, he's doing so much better with the separation anxiety thing. He let Macy, Heath's 4th grader, tote him around and all the coaches kids were playing with him and he took them walking around the hallways and showed off his crawling. He really had no interest in me, which is a big change from a couple months ago!!

brecken's birthday

Brecken's birthday is coming soon!! I can't believe how fast the year went. For those of you that are able, we are having a birthday party on Sept. 2 at 6:00 in Lingle. I've had a couple people ask what to get him, so here are some ideas:

Clothes: He is wearing 12 month sized shirts and 9 month sized pants right now. For the most part. Sometimes I buy him a pair of pants that doesn't fit so I have to exchange them for another size- baby pants are weird like that. He is wearing size 3.5 shoes too.

Toys: Toys are always good! We are getting him an Elmo laptop so maybe our laptop won't be so appealing to him, and a Leapfrog Fridge DJ. It's a little boom box that goes on your fridge and plays songs. Anything that goes on the fridge would be great- he loves being in the kitchen with his walker and playing with things on the fridge. I keep some pictures of my cousins up there and he likes to take them down and look at them, and then carry those pictures around with him. He also LOVES anything musical, so that is an idea too.

Other ideas: Bath toys, something to keep all the bath toys in, outside toys (he only has one- a slide.). He LOVES "The Wonder Pets" on Noggin- everytime it comes on he gets a big grin on his face and he dances and watches it- so anything Wonder Pets would be great too.

Some people give diapers- he wears Pampers Cruisers size 3.

Please don't feel you have to get him anything though. I just posted this because a few people have asked what he would like for his birthday!

sharing

Brecken is very into sharing today. He shared his lunch with Josh this afternoon, and a few minutes ago was sharing bites of his graham cracker with Birdie. And just now, I saw him take his bottle, pick it up, and try to put it in Birdie's mouth. I caught him before he could talk Birdie into it.

He's also now walking around the furniture. The cat isn't sure she likes that. Brecken just scoots right on over, stands up, and is right in Charlie's face. He made it almost all the way around the couch "walking" today. Now he needs to figure out how to sit back down!

We're about ready to get some long pants and sweatshirts on and go watch Josh's football practice. It rained this afternoon so it's kind of chilly out now. The thermometer on my computer says 69 degrees.

visitors

We had lots of visitors this weekend. Craig and Lennie came late on Thursday night and then Jeff decided to come over too. Beth was going home to Alliance this weekend to work a golf tournament, so on Friday Jeff rode to Rawlins with her and we all met him and took him home with us. Craig and Josh had been golfing in Rawlins and Lennie, Brecken and I went over to meet them for lunch, so it worked out perfect to get Jeff while we were there. While we were gone, I'm pretty sure we had a mini-tornado of sorts. When we got back to Saratoga we discovered a mess at our house. Brecken's slide was blown over, and the back yard was a disaster. Two of our heavy steel patio chairs were blown completely into the lawn, the sun sail was ripped off the house, and one of the big fat wooden posts that holds one of the ends of the sail in the yard was snapped off! Not taken out of the ground, it completely snapped the wood in half. And the grill was blown over into the yard on the back, too. And the dogs' swimming pool that we keep out there for them to drink out of and stay cool in was gone as well. Nowhere to be found. The strange thing is, the other two patio chairs were still where they were, as was the citronella candle, still sitting on the table where it was. It's the strangest thing. I'm super glad the metal ring attached to the sail that was ripped out of our house didn't go flying into the glass patio table. It would have shattered the glass and we would've been out a table!!

Saturday morning the boys went golfing and B, Lennie and I went downtown to Crazy Days. Not much out this year, so I didn't buy anything but a new swimming pool for the dogs.

Today we just took it easy and our company all left around 1:30, I think it was. Now we are trying to get B to go to bed. He's fighting it hard tonight. We're having to take turns getting him to sleep- while I was in there I laid him down from standing up 10 times. He's figured out this standing up thing and thinks he's pretty hot stuff. Now Josh is in there trying the same thing. I needed a break.

Josh starts football two-a-days tomorrow. The morning practices are in Encampment and the bus leaves at 5:30. Yikes.

lightweight

Josh took Brecken to get weighed today since he'll be 11 months in 2 days. We both thought for sure he had gained good weight because he really does feel heavier to us. However, he only gained 6 ounces in the month! :( He's 17 pounds even. I'll have to measure how long he is tonight when he's sleepy, so he'll stay still long enough for me to do it.

little daredevil

We've had quite a few bumps and bruises the past couple days. Brecken has decided to be a daredevil and it's not working out like he planned. He's a pro now at pulling himself up on anything and everything he can. The problem is, sometimes those things move (like his walker) and he goes down pretty hard. He's also decided once he pulls himself to standing in front of the couch (or chair, or table) he's going to climb up it. He then finds out that his feet slip off it and down he goes. And the other night, he pulled himself up to standing in front of his little green chair, then put his knees up on it so he was sitting on his knees in the chair, and then pulled up to standing, then put his knees on the end table so he could climb up there! Pretty smart, this little almost-11-month-old Brecken! He didn't make it onto the table though, his mean mommy was there to pull him off it.

We went to visit his babysitter, Loree, yesterday. Josh came with so he could meet her, and we let Brecken get to know her a little more. This time, he let Loree hold him. And he took her walking around the living room. He then found toys and played with them. And then the other 3 kids woke up and he let them play with him. YAY! I'm glad he seems to like it there. Even Loree's dogs laid in Brecken's lap. No joke.

whirlwind weekend

Boy, did we have a busy weekend! Saturday, Josh was golfing in a tournament in Cheyenne with our friend Mark, Josh's dad, and Josh's grandma. While they golfed, Erin and Avey (Mark's wife and daughter) came shopping with Lennie and Brecken and myself. We had fun. Then we all went out to dinner. WARNING: DO NOT ORDER A BOWL OF APPLESAUCE AT RED LOBSTER- It cost $4!! Good golly.

That night we went to Lingle to sleep, then got up and left for South Dakota. My sister was a camp nurse at the music camp we both went to every summer while growing up. We went up so I could show Josh the camp, and my mom and grandma ended up meeting us there. We took care of Ryan while Kristen did camp check-ins. We walked around camp and then took the boys to Mt. Rushmore. Then we went down to Keystone to see all the bikes since it's Sturgis Rally week. Crazy busy with all the bikes!

Sunday night we spent at my mom and dad's house, and then came home yesterday evening. It was a fast weekend but we had a lot of fun.

my friend

I got a call from my mom early last week, saying she had just gotten the mail and about fell over to see a wedding invitation from one of my very best friends from high school, Katie. I had lost touch with Katie, we really haven't talked since our freshman year of college, I don't think. I was really excited that I finally had a way to contact her again- I didn't even know where she was anymore! So my mom sent me the address that was on the return-address label and I sent her a card. I gave her my email address and I'm so excited- on Monday I heard from her! It's been FOREVER and it was so good to her from her again. She's getting married in Idaho over Labor Day weekend but she's living in Syracuse, NY now. She's a coordinator for an after-school program at their YWCA. That sounds like a tough job! We definitely have a lot of catching up to do- both of us have had major life-changing experiences since that long ago!

Anyway, I just had to share because even now, 4 days later, I'm still so excited to have found her again. YAY, TATORS!!!

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!

crawling?

Brecken crawled across the living room mostly on his own tonight! He's able to rock back and forth on his hands and knees now if we put him in that position. Tonight he really tried to get from sitting to on his knees so he could go get the cat. He couldn't quite make it so I put him in that position and then held his belly and he moved his arms and legs all the way across the living room! He was pretty proud of himself. It helped that I was taking a little weight off his middle for him, but he did most of the work!! Won't be too long and he'll be able to do it on his own!!

Sunday

We took Brecken to the park Sunday evening and he had a great time. We played on the swings and went down the slide. Then we sat in the grass and helped Josh study for his drug test that he has on Tuesday.

Saturday

We had a fun day on Saturday. Josh's football team was having a golf tournament and our friends Mark, Erin and their daugter Avey came to play in it, along with Brady, Stacey and Parker, and two of Brady's friends. The boys played golf and the girls stayed with the babies. (Avey is 2, Parker is 1 1/2.) We went downtown to see all the shops and then came back to the house to play since it started raining and we couldn't go to the park. We had a good visit with everyone. They all went home on Sunday morning.

koosh ball

Brecken got a Koosh Ball this past weekend. We were at the store and I saw one, so I handed it to him. You should've seen the look on his face when he felt it- he hated it!! He made a terrible face and pulled his hand away. I gave it to him again, and he got used to the feel and then played with it until it was time to check out. He thinks it tickles when I rub it on his feet, and he does NOT like it brushing on his head, but he'll play with it with his hands. What a great texture toy!

Brecken also started clapping this weekend. He thinks it's funny until he notices you looking, and then he will usually stop. You can hardly hear the clapping, it's very, very soft, but it's cute anyway. :)

Apparently, he has gotten to the phase where he cries when Mom and Dad leave him. Josh dropped him off at the babysitter's today and he burst into hysterical tears. Then when I picked him up, he was getting his diaper changed and cried just as hard because he couldn't get to me. As soon as he was done getting changed, I picked him up and he immediately stopped crying and grinned at his babysitter, like, "HA! I got my mom!!!" What a goof. He had a great day, he loves it at Deb's house. Luckily, if this phase is going to happen, he only has 7 more days of daycare before we get to stay home with him for the summer. Hopefully he will grow out of this phase before school starts again- although maybe after a whole summer home with Mom and Dad, it will be harder for him to go to daycare!

Deb said today that she and her husband were talking once again about how they wish their own kids were as well behaved as Brecken is. She tells me this a lot. She said Dr. Jake came home for lunch and their 2 year old was crying, their 3 year old was crying, and Brecken was happy as a clam, sitting on the floor playing with measuring cups. I'm so glad they talk about how good our baby is instead of what a holy terror he is. :)

books

We got a book exchange letter from Josh's cousin Holly the other day. It looks like fun! It is like the old fashioned chain letters that I used to hate, but this one is great- it's for kids. You mail it to 6 people and pretty soon, your child is supposed to receive 36 books in the mail. There's nothing better than books, especially for a kid in a family full of teachers! :) I am going to fill all my letters out today and then get a book for the boy on my list while I'm in Rawlins this weekend.

I realized while thinking of who I would send mine on to, however, that probably most of the kids on Josh's side of the family also received this letter from Holly. So please, please, please don't send it on to me again- I only know 6 other people with kids, so I don't want to have to break the chain because I'm not able to send it on again! Pick some other people that would NOT have gotten the letter from Holly and send it to them- every kid deserves books and being read to!!

Holly, thanks for sending it to us! How fun. And Kristen, it's coming to you, so be prepared!! :)

beautiful!

I need to start keeping my camera in my car. I saw the most beautiful sight on my drive home from my concert tonight. The mountains were dark and there was spectacular lightning going on on top of the mountains. The sun was shining in the west though, making the fields at the base of the mountains shine with a brilliant green color. There was a John Deere tractor in one of the fields, shining bright with the sun. And if that wasn't enough, in front of the awesome lightning, the dark mountains, the beautiful grass, and the tractor, a bald eagle went flying past. Talk about a beautiful sight!

screaming

We went to Lingle for Mother's Day weekend. It was HOT- in the 90's each day! Friday night,we woke up to the most eerie screaming I've ever heard, coming from outside. I thought it was in the yard. I ran outside because our dogs were outside, and I thought maybe one of them was very seriously hurt. They both came running up to the deck, so they were fine. The screaming continued. Josh and I thought they were coyotes. Craig and Lennie said the next morning that they thought they were coyotes, too. They said they howl and scream to call dogs out to where they are- I'm glad our dogs didn't go out there! I brought them in the house for the rest of the night- I was scared!! I was talking to a teacher at lunch today and she said that sounds like it might have been mountain lions- they scream like a woman, and that's what I was hearing!

Saturday afternoon, Lennie and I went to see my great aunt Dorothy while Josh and Craig golfed. Brecken cried and cried when he saw her- he's never done that before. He was tired, so I'm thinking that's why he did it. Soon he warmed up to her though and smiled and showed off. Then we went to see Josh's Great Aunt Lucile at her nursing home. She was playing bingo when we got there so lots of people got to admire Brecken. He enjoyed grinning at them all. He got to see a live fish tank, he thought that was pretty fun.

Josh and I got to go visit with Josh's best friend Matt. He just got home from a year and a half in Iraq. We are very glad he made it home safely.

Saturday night we had a BBQ here at the house. Jeff and Beth had come home, and Pee-Wee and Mae, and Joel, Annie and the kids were all there too, so the house was full and noisy! We had a good time though.

Sunday morning we went to church in Jay Em since none of them had ever met Brecken. Then had Lira's for lunch (YUM!) then came home yesterday afternoon. We are lucky- Brecken slept the whole way! He woke up about 5 miles outside of Saratoga. YAY for good naps! We only had to stop once- Josh looked in the rearview mirror while we were driving through the canyon and he saw Birdie walking around in the bed of our truck! We had put their travel kennels in the back, and she somehow got her door open and was walking around. So we had to stop and put her back in. Josh said he put her in and shut the door and she got mad and turned her back to him. Amazing what personalities dogs have. :)

We had quite the thunderstorm last night. It didn't rain but we got some good lightning and thunder. It didn't wake Brecken up, but Birdie (who is deathly afraid of thunder!) whined and tried to hide. I don't think Hogan even stopped snoring.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day! I told Brecken that I was pretty sure the law was "no whining from children" on Mother's Day, but he didn't listen. That happens, when church falls right during his morning nap!

ml's

I was looking at one of Brecken's bottles this evening and I just had to stop and go, "WOW". He is now eating about 6.5 ounces at a time sometimes. If you don't want to do the math, that means about 195-200 ml's. It honestly seems like just last week when we were struggling to get him to eat 58 ml's so that we could go home from the hospital. That 58 ml's would be eaten in one hour, if we were lucky. Now the 195 ml's can be eaten in about 15 minutes if he's hungry enough. Then I think about Brecken's first feeding, he ate 10 ml's and most of it was forced. He had tired out after 4 ml's. I am still amazed every single day at how fast he is changing. I love every minute of it but I am sad at the same time, he's not my tiny little baby anymore! He's now getting an attitude. He was mad when I picked him up from the babysitter's today because he was having a graham cracker snack and he wasn't done yet. He will also throw my hand away from him if I try to give him something he wants. However, his smiles outnumber that by far. You should've seen him this afternoon- he smiled at everyone we saw in the grocery store. He's such a wonderful little boy. And you should see him when I pick him up from the babysitter. He grins and drops what he is doing (with the exception of his snack today!) and when I pick him up, he wraps his little arms around my neck and puts his lips all over my cheeks. He'll kiss me forever and ever! I love that. I will NEVER tire of that!!

Enough of the sappy stuff.

We got to see Josh's cousin Kevin today. He was in town for a blood drive at Josh's school. He came right over and picked Brecken up from his stroller and Brecken loved every minute of it. We haven't seen Kevin since Christmas, I don't think!

Well, I better head to bed so I can get a tiny bit of sleep before Brecken decides to be hungry again. My goal tonight, while Josh was at his EMT class, was to get the laundry put away. Didn't happen. As the saying goes, "Why do today what will still be there tomorrow?" ;)

dada, mama

Brecken has started saying words we can understand! Too bad they don't have any meaning to him. :) Sunday is when he sarted babbling "Dada". Everything is Dada now. His little tiny sweet voice is the best! I especially love when he whispers. It's too cute. Even on the way to daycare, he'll sit in his car seat and whisper and babble.

This morning, he finally said Mama! I keep asking him to say it and before, he would just giggle. I don't know what is so funny about Mama! This morning, he said it so plainly and loud that you couldn't miss it. Too bad he was looking at his car seat while saying it! :) He did say it again while eating dinner tonight. He was looking straight at me when he said it, but I'm sure that in his head, it meant, "Yum, sweet potatoes and corn is so good!" :)

swinging

Here is a video of Brecken swinging on his cousin Ryan's swing outside this weekend!

on our own

Well, Brecken and I are all on our own this week. Josh left at 4:30 this morning for the Teton Science School in Jackson for the week with the 8th graders from his school. Hopefully they will have fun and hopfully Friday will get here soon!

all grown up.

My little boy is all grown up. He sat in the shopping cart at the store today instead of in his car seat in the basket. I kind of had to hold him because he kept wanting to turn around and see what I was putting in the cart, and he's not steady enough to turn and sit at the same time yet. :)

7 months old

Wow, has it been a while since I've updated this! Brecken is now 7 months old and hilarious. He jabbers and jabbers and I'd give a million dollars to know what he's talking about. No recognizable words yet but as much as he's talking, it shouldn't be too long! (even though I said that about the teeth, and we have yet to see one still!) He still laughs and giggles at the dogs and loves petting the cat, too. I took him to get weighed this afternoon and he is 15 pounds, 2 ounces. One more pound in one month. Way to go, Champ! I'm sure once he starts eating "real" food, too, he'll start packing on the pounds. Right now, he gets a piece of food to his lips and immediately starts gagging. Silly boy, he doesn't even know what the food is before he decides to start gagging! The only "big person" food he will eat is graham crackers. LOVES those and makes a big mess.

Josh has started his Intermediate EMT class so he's now gone two nights a week to Rawlins. I have to admit, I'm glad this class is in the spring and summer (through June), because last time he traveled for an EMT class, we lived in Lingle, and he had that terrible roll-over accident. This time the weather is nicer (knock on wood...) and he's carpooling with another EMT, so that makes me feel better. :)

I think my boy is finally asleep, so I am going to go to bed too!!

another contest

I entered the below picture into another contest. If you have a moment, vote for us!

http://photocontest.shutterfly.com/action/photocontest/vote?entry=183829

just have to brag...

Brecken and his cousin Ryan went to an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday. Afterwards, they checked out what was in their Easter baskets. (And yes- Brecken is sitting all on his own! He learned how to do that on Friday night!)

goopy eyes

I guess Josh called Dr. Jake this morning- the past couple mornings, B hasn't been able to open his eyes from all the goop that was seeping out of them. He LITERALLY couldn't open his right eye this morning until we cleared it all off with a washcloth (which B hated) so Josh called Jake and asked if it was still his cold and Jake said "enough of this- let's get him on meds." So now he's on 10 days of antibiotics. Hopefully that will get rid of whatever ear infection he still has left, too. The poor kid looks like he was in a fight- with one eye not open all the way!!

boy, was it funny.

You should've seen and heard my little boy on Wednesday night. The dogs wanted to play ball, so Birdie would put the ball in my lap while I was holding Brecken. I'd pick up the ball and have Brecken "help" me throw it. The dogs would go running, and Brecken would burst into the giggles. We played like this for probably 20 minutes. Birdie sometimes would sit right in front of Brecken and NOT give the ball, and Brecken would laugh and try to grab it out of Birdie's mouth. Our dog Hogan is famous for getting the ball and then laying down with it, and growing very loud when Birdie tries to get it to bring to me to play. It's Hogan's "game". He was doing this that night too, so I'd call, "Hogan, Hogan!" Brecken would just laugh. So I called, "Birdie!" and he didn't laugh. Something about the name Hogan must be funny!

The poor boy had to spend a lot of time at school this week, as Josh and I both had parent/teacher conferences Tuesday and Thursday nights until 8:00. Josh brought him with him on Tuesday night and B did so well. He sat in his Bumbo and watched his Baby Einstein DVDs, ate some dinner, grinned at people, had a great time. Yesterday he came with me, and did not have fun at all. He cried most of the night. Good thing I only saw one parent last night, and that was while one of our other teachers just happened to have taken B from me so I was able to sit down and eat some dinner!

I have a school work day today, but Josh does not, so B and Josh are hanging out today. Josh has a test this afternoon so he can take the Advanced Intermediate class for his EMT stuff, so I'll go pick B up and go to Walcott Jct. to meet Jeffrey to pass on some stuff as he goes to Lingle for Easter. My sister and brother-in-law and nephew are coming tonight to spend Easter weekend with us. My mom and dad went to San Diego for Easter so my dad could take a class. How fun- I'm jealous!!

vote for Brecken!

I entered Brecken in a cute baby contest on Shutterfly. Vote for B!!

http://photocontest.shutterfly.com/action/photocontest/vote?entry=181806

croup.

Brecken caught a bit of the croup this weekend so he's been miserable-crying at the top of his lungs and you can still hardly hear him. I feel so bad for him. It got bad enough that we called the doctor on call yesterday (who happened to be Dr. Jake) and took him in to the clinic where he ended up getting a nebulizer treatment and then the machine sent home with us to do every 6 hours. He hates it and cries, but maybe crying will make him breathe in the nebulizer air better. It's a little oxygen mask that we just hold in front of his face and he gets really mad when he turns his head and you move with it! The poor boy. I hope it goes away soon- his cough scares the living daylights out of me. His daycare person today is Dr. Jake's wife, and she herself is a labor and delivery nurse. So it makes me feel better knowing he's probably in better care at their house than he is at ours! Brecken's ear infection is back with this croup, and Jake looked at it again this morning when Josh dropped Brecken off at their house. He said we'll keep an eye on it this week and if it doesn't get better when the illness goes away, we'll start antibiotics. But for now we'll just keep an eye on it to make sure it gets better, not worse.

Brecken was breathing a tad bit better this morning and was smiling a little more, so maybe the worst is over.

well baby check

Brecken got his shots finally yesterday afternoon. He's up to 14 lbs, 7 oz. (10th percentile), 26.5 inches long (30th percentile), and his head was 43 cm. (50th percentile). Josh and I found a small lump in B's belly a couple weeks ago but didn't think much of it- but Jake felt it yesterday and called it something I can't remember, but basically it's a malformation of one of the stomach muscles, which he will most likely grow out of and it's nothing to worry about.

B LOVED playing with the paper on the exam table because it made tons and tons of noise! But he did not love his shots. He had a bath last night and when Josh took the band-aid off his leg, there was a lot of blood on it- so that one must have hurt an awful lot!! I gave him ibuprofen before bed though and not again, and he hasn't been whiny or anything, so that's good.

While in Chicago, B had peach baby food for dinner one night. A couple hours later, he was laying on our hotel bed and vomited like I've never seen a baby vomit before. It was not spit up, it was full out vomit. He puked about as much as a 4 year old would and it was very scary- he was choking on it since he was laying on his back, and thank the Lord we hadn't all gone to bed yet so we were awake for the whole thing. I had to scoop him up and turn him over and Josh was hitting his back to get it all out. It was so scary. We had to call the front desk and ask to get a whole new change of linens since it was all over the comforter, sheets, and pillowcases! So yesterday we asked about the peaches and Jake said not to give him any again until he's 2. He said the vomiting and diarrhea he had that night also, makes him think B's allergic to peaches so to wait until he's 2 again to try again.

We're getting quite the blizzard here- the interstate is all closed and so is the road from Saratoga to the interstate. Hopefully they won't close between Saratoga and Encampment, I don't want to get stuck here tonight!!!

something you don't see very often anymore

So I went to our local gas station today to buy a newspaper and saw something you don't see very often anymore: a guy standing outside the gas station, talking on the pay phone. I haven't seen that in years, now that almost everyone has a cell phone. I don't even know how much a call on a pay phone costs anymore!

We had a good trip to Chicago. Brecken did a great job traveling. He was asleep for his first airplane take-off so his ears were fine. He woke up later and liked looking at everything, including the thing in the seat pockets about what to do in case of emergency. He liked to "read" that. He was not asleep for landing, so his ears bothered him and he cried, but that was the only time. On the way home, he got to ride in his car seat because the plane wasn't full. He thought take-off was pretty fun- the plane started shaking and going fast and he grabbed his car seat and grinned. Then the pressure hit him and he didn't like that anymore!

My grandma's new assisted living place is very nice. She still gets a view of Lake Michigan, which was very important to her. And, her new apartment is 2 rooms instead of one like her old place, so her bed can be in a different room. It's actually two apartments, converted into one. It's very nice. We had lunch with her in her dining room the first day. I wasn't impressed with the food but Grandma was so as long as she's happy, that's all that counts. :) She had a wonderful time showing Brecken off to anyone who would look, which was most everyone!

Back to school tomorrow... It'll be a long haul until school gets out. We don't have any days off between now and then. And Josh was telling his mom what all we have to do every single weekend from now until then, and we're jam packed! Every weekend is booked with something or other! Hopefully that will make the time go fast.

a visit to the doctor

Brecken had his 6-month check-up yesterday. We get to the clinic and they said, "Your appointment was last week!" I said, "No, you specificallytold me the 14th!" She said, "Well if you come back tomorrow, we can probably squeeze you in." She wasn't going to let me see anyone, even after I told her I was pretty sure Brecken had an ear infection. So in walks Josh and goes, "We can't even see Dr. Noton today?" All of a sudden, the story changed and she goes, "I'll see what I can do." There was NOBODY in the waiting room and no cars in the parking lot, so it's not like they were busy. So we saw Dr. Noton. She checked Brecken's ears first, after I told her he hates laying down and he's been rubbing his right ear for the past couple days. Sure enough, I was right, he has an ear infection!! It's just a mild one though, so she didn't put him on antibiotics, intead she gave him a pretty heavy duty decongestant prescription. (Heavy duty price too- our share was $33!!) She's pretty sure it will clear up when his cold goes away, that's why she didn't give him antibiotics. I called my sister to tell her now that Ryan doesn't get ear infections now, he passed them on to Brecken. :) Anyway, since he's sick, she couldn't give him shots. We have to come back when B is well. I was going to take him next week when we get back from Chicago but Trish, a PA, is the only one in the office that week and I refuse to see her. She's an idiot. So we'll go on the 28th, when we can see Jake. They did weigh B though, and he gained almost another pound. He's up to14 pounds, 2 oz. Still in the 3-5th percentile. We measured him when we got home and he's 26.5 inches, and that's the 50-75th percentile. He's a long skinny guy. :) I looked up in my baby book how much I weighed at 6 months, and from what I can tell on the dot on the chart, he and I weigh about the exact same! I was about 2 inches shorter at that age though! I gave B his medicine at 7:00 and he ate and went to bed about 8:00. He wouldn't lay in his crib again, so I put him in his car seat in the crib and he fell right asleep. The medicine says it might make him sleepy, and I guess it does because he didn't wake up again until 4:00 to eat! Then I had to wake him up at 6:30 to get him dressed. The bottle says to give it to him every 6 hours as needed, and I only gave it to him the one time, so maybe it just made him feel enough better to relax and finally get a good night's rest! I told Josh this morning it was the best $33 I ever spent. :) So hopefully, he'll have a better day at Dana's today- he had a miserable day yesterday. Dana almost called me in the afternoon to come get him because he couldn't quit crying. I gave him medicine at 7:00 this morning so hopefully that will help a bit. He was still pretty stuffy, but I hope his ears feel better! He was smiling and laughing this morning so hopefully that's a good sign.

sick again!

So Sunday night, Brecken went to bed at 8:00. At 10:00 when Josh and I went to bed, Brecken had a cold. Somewhere between those two hours, it crept up on him! It was the strangest thing. The poor boy, he had a stuffy nose and couldn't breathe well, and a raw sounding voice. He didn't sleep any worse than usual, but when he did wake up, he'd cry in almost a panic because he couldn't breathe like he usually does.

Last night, he didn't sleep. I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep at ALL, because I don't remember sleeping any. I'm pretty sure I was up all night long- in fact, I lost count of how many times I got out of bed. I don't know why I bothered going back to bed at all. The poor kid just wouldn't sleep. And doesn't it figure- this morning he FINALLY fell into a good sleep, but at 6:00 a.m.!! How frustrating. I let him sleep until 6:45, then had to wake him up so he could eat before we left for Encampment. I didn't get him dressed though, I kept him in his jammies and threw his clothes into the diaper bag. I let the babysitter know that Josh could come get him if she needed him to but so far it seems to be going OK up there.

Josh's school had baby piglets born- the FFA is raising pigs and they had piglets a couple weeks ago. It was so nice outside yesterday, we took Brecken to see them. He loves the dogs and the cat so we thought he might love piggies, too. Only, he was NOT in the mood. The FFA teacher picked one up and it squealed and Brecken totally lost it. He cried SOOOO hard and wouldn't stop. So we took him home. We'll try again in a couple days, when he's feeling better. His ears must have been sensitive to sound last night because after we got home he was sitting on Josh's lap and Josh sneezed. Brecken cried and cried again. Granted, Josh's sneezes are NOT quiet, but Brecken's never had a problem with it before! Poor kid.

Brecken has his 6 month appointment tomorrow! That's right, he turned 6 months old on Sunday. MAN, time flies. I know I keep saying that, but really. I never expected it to go so fast! I saw a tiny little baby in the mall on Saturday and couldn't believe that mine was ever that small. Brecken no longer lays on his belly when you put him that way- he flips over right away. YAY!! I'm thinking it won't be TOO long before he figures out how to move. You can see it in his eyes, he really wants to run around with the kids at daycare but just doesn't quite know how yet. Once he does, we better watch out- this kid will be a mover!!

rolling

Brecken rolled over from his front to his belly yesterday, even though nobody saw it. I was in the kitchen and Josh put Brecken on his belly in the living room. He then turned to the couch to grab the remote control and when he turned around again, Brecken was on his back! He must not do it for an audience, because he has not done it again! But with that "trick" yesterday, that means he has now accomplished rolling both ways.

He is also spitting like a pro. Flabby lips and all. He thinks it is absolutely hilarious, of course, and it is, except for when he has something besides spit in his mouth! He gets funnier and funnier as the days go by. Yesterday morning, Josh was watching the news and not Brecken while he was in his jumperoo. So Brecken would do his fake cough until Josh looked over, and Brecken would just grin and laugh at him. As soon as Josh looked away again, the fake cough came back. What a goof.

We're off to Casper tomorrow to meet my family. My cousin's basketball team was playing at State Basketball this week, but got beat yesterday and today so they will not be playing tomorrow, like we all hoped. We'll all still get together for the day, however. My mom and dad have a wonderful GPS navigation system that talks to you and we are borrowing it when we go to Chicago next week. We will get it from them tomorrow and see if it navigates us back home. :)

a new trick

Brecken has discovered a new trick. He is now aware of when he has a bunch of slobber in his mouth and if he is laying on his back, he gargles it. If he's upright, he blows raspberries. He thinks he's pretty funny. What IS funny though is when he has cereal in his mouth and blows- the fact that he's blowing it out isn't funny, but his precious little face after he does it is hysterical. He blows the cereal out, then looks at you with the "MOM! Did you see that?!" look on his face and grins his beautiful little grin. Tonight while feeding him I had a coughing spell and he had a mouth full of cereal, so he coughed after I was done. Don't know if it was on purpose or not, but all his cereal dribbled out onto his chin. He belly laughed for probably a good minute about that one. It was too funny for me NOT to laugh, so I laughed right along with him. What a goofy boy we have!

Brecken got to come with me to work for a little while this morning. We had a late start day so teachers could have meetings. Our daycare lady always has all her relative's kids at her house on late start days, and I knew there'd be upwards of 10 kids over there until school started at 9:30. They get pretty wild, as any kid does when they are in elementary school, so I brought B to our meeting this morning and he did great! He even stared very seriously at my principal and listened to every word he said. I had to smile about that because he was better behaved than some of our teachers were. :) I dropped B off at 9:15 just as all the kids were leaving for school. Then it was just him, his little friend that is turing one year old next week, and our daycare lady's 2 year old. Much more sane. :)

spring! (or close to it)

It's been so nice out the past couple days. Yesterday wasn't really that warm, but it was 40 and the sun was out, so Brecken and I went for his first walk around Saratoga. He'd been on walks before in Gillette when we went to visit my parents, but not in Saratoga because it's been so dang cold. Yesterday I bundled him up and we walked all the way to the post office (halfway across town) to get the mail. It felt good to get out!

sleep

If you were/are lucky enough to have a baby that sleeps through the night, thank your lucky stars and don't take it for granted. Unfortunately, I am not one of those lucky ones. Brecken is turning 6 months old on Sunday (already! Yikes, where does the time go?!) and has slept through the night 2 times in his whole life. And before I get any emails saying that I just need to let him cry and he'll learn to put himself to sleep, I am not a believer in the "cry it out" method. Babies cry for a reason and I will not let him lay there and cry himself until the point of utter exhaustion. I know that he is not just crying so that I will come in and play with him. If he was doing that, he'd open his eyes, see me, and smile. He does not do that. He cries until he is fed. And it's not out of habit because sometimes he'll go 5 hours, and sometimes he'll go 2. He's just HUNGRY. I thought I might be running low on milk- so we gave him bottles for a few nights to see if he'd eat more and sleep longer. Nope, not the case. He just needs to eat. And frankly, I'm a bit tired of people assuming he's sleeping through the night and then telling me, "Oh, well my baby was sleeping 10 hours a night at 3 weeks, so I wonder what is wrong with yours." NOTHING IS WRONG WITH HIM. He will sleep through the night when he's ready to. I think I'm doing pretty good for not having slept through the night myself since last April. (that's when my bladder shrunk to the size of a dime.) It's OK- 25 years down the line when my kids are all gone, I'll be missing them and missing the time we spent together in the middle of the night. That's what I keep telling myself at 2:00 a.m. when I'm dead tired and my boy is starving. :)

Josh went to Denver for the weekend for a coaching clinic. B and I had a nice relaxing weekend- didn't change out of our jammies until noon, played, practiced rolling over, just hung out. I was glad to have Josh back last night though. He goes to a science camp in April, for a whole week. That will be interesting.

I just checked the temperature outside and it says 50 degrees! YAY!! I've been waiting and waiting for some warm weather.