"vacation"

We had a nice day yesterday. Josh's game got cancelled AGAIN (this means their girls haven't played a game in 3 weeks!!) even though the roads were all open and pretty favorable conditions. Josh was pretty ticked. But we haven't been out of town and haven't gotten to a Wal-mart since before Christmas, so we decided to go to Laramie and stock up on everything. We went through Encampment and down that way to Wood's Landing because even though the interstate said good conditions, it was WINDY and 3-way (the way we went) is usually much better. However, yesterday, it was NOT. Very limited visibility for about 15 miles of it, with snow drifts covering the whole highway. We had to go in the other lane to get around lots of the drifts, which was scary because we really couldn't see who was coming at us! We were too far away to turn around though- this all happened in the Colorado stretch of the drive. When we got cell service again, Josh called the Highway Patrol to see if they could get ahold of CDOT to either close the road or get someplows stationed out there!

Anyway, we made it to Laramie and had lunch at Applebee's with Kristen, David, and Ryan. Then K came with us to Wal-mart while D took R home for a nap. Then we went to K's house for a while and then Kristen and I went to watch "27 Dresses" at the theater while the boys stayed home. It was a cute chick-flick. I haven't been to a movie theater since last summer, I don't think!! B and Ryan had a great time playing together. B would dance and R would laugh, and they'd run around together playing. When Kristen and I got back, we all picked up the toys that were ALL dumped out of the bins, and then we headed home. This time, on the interstate. :) It was dry all the way, just windy. Got home about 8:30, got B out of the car (he was asleep before we even got out of Kristen's neighborhood!!) and put his jammies on and he went right back to sleep.

This morning, Josh left to go snowmobiling with our neighbor and B and I are being lazy. I love lazy days. :)

polar bear in a snowstorm

We have been hit terribly with wind and snow this winter. The "old timers" in the teacher's lounge have all said within the past week or two that they cannot remember a worse winter in our Valley. The visibility is terrible, the wind is even worse, and looking at the ground, you wouldn't THINK we've had much snow but that's becuase with 60 mph winds (and gusts up to 80), the snow all blows away. I honest-to-goodness can't remember the last time the snow fell DOWN here, it always falls sideways.

Way back in college, I used to draw "art". It was completely dumb- and I must have had too much time on my hands while sitting at the front desk of the dorm, answering phone calls and sorting mail for the dorm. It looked like this Photoshop rendition: (and don't laugh- this is the extent of my artistic abilities!)

I called this "creation" Polar Bear in a Snowstorm.

My drive home today looked extremely similar to the above picture. Here's the photoshop rendition of the trip that took forever:

That grey line is the reflector pole that I would be able to see just as I came up upon it. Our English teacher also lives in Saratoga, so we booked it out of school as soon as we could and she followed me back to town. It was not fun, that's for sure! The weird thing was though, that we got about halfway back and all of a sudden, instead of not being able to see anything, we had blue skies! Saratoga was nice and clear, whereas we drove through a white-out to get there.

Our cat Ditka had to go to the vet yesterday to get neutered. The vet comes from Rawlins on Wednesdays, so we dropped him off yesterday afternoon. I was supposed to go get him this afternoon, but there was no way I was driving on these roads, in the dark on the way back, to go get him. However, one of the vet employees lives in Saratoga, so Ditka got sent home with him. He was supposed to get here about an hour ago, however. I guess the vet clinic called Josh on his way to basketball practice to tell him that the guy got stuck at a roadblock on the interstate. I'm assuming that means an accident on the road. He was going to wait a bit and then see if he could still get here, or if he would have to turn around. (I would think they would all have to turn around- the interstate is closed again. It's been open for about 4 hours in the past 48.) We haven't heard anything since the initial call, so I think the poor guy is still sitting on the interstate. With a meowing cat. I can think of better things to be doing. :)

an owie

Josh went to pick Brecken up from Jake and Deb's today after school. Jake watches B on Tuesdays, because he has the day off and Deb works at the hospital in Rawlins. Here's how the conversation went when Josh walked in the door:

Jake: We had a bit of an accident today.
Josh: Oh, great.
Jake: You know how Brecken follows you around everywhere, wherever you go?
Josh: Yeah....
Jake: Well, I'm not used to that and I ran him over. He fell and bit his lip and I thought he needed stitches, he was bleeding so much. But he finally quit bleeding and he doesn't need stitches.

Poor Brecken!!! He's been whining when eating, I think it hurts him. And he's a GRUMP, you can tell it's hurting. And his lip started bleeding again a while ago, but I didn't notice because he's sucking on his mimi, and by the time I noticed, the bleeding had stopped. So I still don't know which lip it was coming from. Good news is, at least he got hurt at the doctor's house. :) I bet Jake would've done the stitches for free, too. :)

hungry, hungry hippo!!

Brecken is eating us out of house and home. No joke. For the past week and a half, he's been eating CONSTANTLY. He seriously eats all day long. And if he doesn't have anything handy, he goes to his high chair and tries to get up in it, saying, "bowl?" And even while eating all day long, he still does eat full meals and drinks lots of milk! He must be in one heck of a growth spurt. Yesterday we got home at 4:30 and at 5:30 I finally took him up to watch the end of basketball practice to keep his mind off the food! In that hour we were home, he had juice from a real cup, cauliflower, and Wheat Thins. Then after we got home from practice, he finished the 100 Calorie pack of the Wheat Thins and then ate a full dinner. Then a snack before bed, too. He's been eating Deb out of house and home also- we'll have to give her a raise to keep up with food costs!!!!

Josh said with B eating all day long, there IS some of his mother in him. :)

accomplishments

On a board I belong to for people that are struggling and have struggled with infertility, someone asked us on the parenting side of it to list the recent accomplishments our kids have achieved. I thought it would be fun to post what Brecken can do here, too, for those of you that aren't close enough to see him a lot!

Words: bowl, mama, ah-mee (mommy) dad, daddy, dit-da (Ditka the cat) kee (kitty), dog, woof, moo, uh-oh, see, this, juice, mimi (what he calls his pacifier), milk, tee (tree), ball, vroom (when he's driving his cars) and boo!

Body parts- he can point to the following body parts on his body or anyone else's: nose, eyes, ears, mouth, belly. (though he has to lift up his or anyone else's shirt to get the belly!!)

He is in size 4 diapers now, size 18 month clothes, and size 5.5-6 shoes. He has 9 teeth and is using them lately to the fullest- we can't keep this kid full this past week! He is CONSTANTLY eating. It will be interesting to see what he weighs next time we go to the clinic.

He understands what we say. He can answer questions like the best of them. He nods, shakes his head, and turns his little hands up in the "I don't know" pose when he doesn't know. 99% of the time, he answers the questions correctly, too!! Last weekend I didn't feel like putting much effort into getting dressed, so he ended up wearing what I pulled out first- a red pair of sweatpants and a purple Panters sweatshirt. Josh asked Brecken if his clothes matched. He shook his head no. He then asked B if he was sad about not matching, and he nodded his head yes! :)

No more bottles! He FINALLY gave up that nightime bottle this past week. Now we're full-time into sippy cups, cups with straws, and his new favorite- REAL CUPS. He does really good- doesn't spill anything! If we're at a restaurant, he will not drink out of his sippy cup- he insists on the real cups. He practices lots at home, too.

Sleeping is still sketchy- some nights he does great and sleeps through the night until between 6 and 6:30. Other nights, it's like he's afraid of the dark and wants nothing to do with sleep.

His favorite toys at the moment are cars and balls. And books. Oh, how he LOVES reading books. He's very much into climbing now, he climbs on EVERYTHING. The other day he wanted up on the side table next to the couch. He stood on his tractor to get there, but still wasn't tall enough. So he went and got on his chair, up on the couch, and over the arm of the couch to get on the table.

So, there's my (almost) 17 month old! It's so crazy how fast time flies.

new words

Brecken has two new words this week: Bowl, and ah-mee. Bowl means snack, because usually put his snacks in bowls. So when he's hungry, he'll walk around going, "Bowl." :) Ah-mee is him saying "Mommy" instead of "Mama" now.

Josh's games this weekend both got cancelled due to the weather. It's been weird to have him home on a Friday night and a Saturday afternoon! He did get called out on the ambulance about an hour ago, though. They needed an Intermediate for a transport from the nursing home.

Brecken's asking to read books now, so I better go. We've only read about 100 already today.

penguins

So we were singing a song from Africa in my kindergarten class today so I showed them on my map where Africa is. I told them that in Africa, most schools aren't as lucky as we are and they don't have fun playground equipment to play on at recess. So instead, they might play kickball in the dirt, or sing songs with games, and then a little girl raised her hand. She said, "OR, they might pretend to be penguins!"

Yes, yes they might.

giggles

Brecken had a great case of the giggles tonight while playing a new "game". It involved putting his cars down my zipper hoodie, then lifiting the hoodie up to let the cars fall out. We played that "game" for quite a while tonight- he would laugh, then I would laugh at his laugh, which made him laugh harder. It was quite fun!

I discovered teeth #8 and #9 tonight. His left bottom tooth next to the two middle ones finally came in. I also discovered one on his top right gum, in the middle of his mouth. He HATES us looking for new teeth. And the little man knows when we are talking about it somehow, and he shuts his mouth TIGHT and turns his head. In order to get a good look in his mouth, we have to get him laughing and hanging upside down so he doesn't have a choice but to open his mouth. :)

holy macaroni

I'm sure glad I made it home today- the roads were slicker than snot but it wasn't snowing or blowing. I pull into town and BOOM. The storm hit. I was inside getting B for literally 10 minutes and when I came back out, I had to scrape my windows. I couldn't see where my street was to turn on to until I was right there. B and I sat in the car for 10 minutes (with seatbelts on because I thought the car was going to get blown over!!) because I couldn't see the front door, which is no more than 10 feet away from the car. Then I decided I better get B inside before the tree blew over because the car sits underneath. So I covered him up and we ran for it.

Here is what it looked like from my front door. There IS a street and stuff beyond the yard, but you wouldn't know by looking at this picture. It's been like this now for an hour and a half.

fun with blocks

Stacey posted a year's worth of weekly challenges in her blog at the beginning of January. I don't usually have a ton of time to be super creative, but this week's challenge I figured I could get knocked out while playing with Brecken this afternoon. This week was "words". Here's my go at it:

It bothered me that the C and the O were the same colors- it's not very symmetrical this way. However, I couldn't find another color of either letter. So, I fulfilled last week's challenge, too- "Photoshop before and after" and did a real quick fix. Could be better, but at least the two letters aren't the same color anymore:

Like I said, it was a quick fix and actually now that I look at it, it looks pretty terrible. But here it is anyway.

reaction

Brecken had an allergic reaction to his antibiotic. I noticed a rash on his belly while I got him dressed this morning. He was going to Deb's house for the morning while we had a district in-service, so Jake looked at it real quick and confirmed that it was an allergic reaction. So, we quit that antibiotic and will start Amoxicillin (or however it's spelled) tomorrow. I hate that one- it's a LOT (1 1/2 tsp!), twice a day, for 10 days. Last time, B hated it by day 3 and I had to disguise it in his milk. I was really hoping this first antibiotic would work since it's only 1/4 teaspoon, once a day, for 5 days. But, the rash on his belly and back which is now creeping up his arms and down his legs, isn't worth it! B is now logged in the pharmacist's computer as allergic to a medicine. I'll have to write down the name so I can put it in all his medical records.

He sure is feeling better today though. He was easily aggitated this morning but when I skipped the work-in-your-room time at school this afternoon to go pick him up and take him home, he was having a good time. Jake and Deb are big BYU fans (and we are NOT!!) and they had a BYU jersey on B this afternoon. He sure was proud of it- he ran up to Josh and I, stuck out his little belly, grinned, and patted that jersey. Jake said he felt better because he had that thing on. We'll have to dress B up in his WYO gear on Monday. :)

We went to Josh's game tonight. They played Hanna here at home. No JV game so we just watched the varsity. With 15.4 seconds left in the game, we were down by 2 and one of the best players got fouled, but she got hurt on the way down. This girl reminds me of the Bionic Woman already, with her hi-tech leg braces on both legs because her knees are so bad, and she hurt her knee really badly tonight. They even called the ambulance. Josh went with her, as did the girl's mom. The team tried hard to win it, but were on the short end at the buzzer and we lost 55-53. Bummer. We didn't stay for the boy's game since Josh wasn't there anymore and B wasn't interested in watching more basketball, so we came home. Tomorrow the teams are at home again against Wyoming Indian.

oh, thank goodness, mommy's home!!

Man, did I come back to a mess when I got home from Sheridan yesterday afternoon! Monday night, Josh called me to ask if I would please come home. I couldn't for two reasons: I was chaperoning students AND the only way I'd be able to make it home was if I stole the school bus and left everyone there! I guess he had gotten the stomach bug and threw up all night.

Brecken had been whiny that day and that night, after Josh finally quit puking, came to sleep with Josh. Josh said he was really hot but he thought he was just getting some more teeth. Tuesday Josh stayed home from school and Brecken stayed with him but didn't have much life in him. Wednesday, B went to Deb's house where he still didn't have much life to him and when I got there at 3:50 to pick him up, Deb had to wake him up from a 3 1/2 hour nap, which never happens! I knew then that it wasn't teeth coming in, but that B was sick.

Since I knew he wasn't feeling good and all he wanted was to be held, he slept with me and Josh. I should retract that- there was not much sleeping going on. He kept tossing and turning and crying, which in turn meant Josh and I did not sleep. He was also BURNING up. I took his temp at 2:45 and it scared the daylights out of me- 103.5!! I about cried- fevers scare me ever since my niece Karlee went into a seizure because of a fever. So I called my sister and bless her heart, she answered her phone at that un-godly hour! She said to get some ibuprofen in him (which I had already) and get him to drink some cold water. He chugged it. At 3:15, his fever was 102.2. Josh went to the couch to get some sleep and I stayed with B. I didn't sleep. Actually, I slept for about 10 minutes and in that 10 minutes, B managed to fall off the bed. I felt so bad. :( He didn't hurt himself though, it just scared him.

I called in to work today and stayed home with Brecken. Josh called Deb and Jake to say we wouldn't be bringing B over today and Jake said to bring B into the clinic. He's seen lots of 1 year olds this week with fevers that last for a few days and then go away, but he wanted to make sure B didn't have an ear infection. So I called as soon as they opened and they said to come in right away. And B doesn't only have one ear infection, he has TWO! Poor kid- no wonder he wasn't feeling good!!! So we went to the store, got his antibiotic and some Pedialyte, and came home to take a good long nap. He's been very clingy this afternoon but I've managed to get one or two smiles out of him. Right now, he's sleeping next to me on the chair.

So, I got a big huge "Thank goodness! Mommy's home!" when I got back. I feel bad that I was gone while both of my boys were sick!! I'm glad Josh is feeling better. He went back to school yesterday. Let's hope it's not my turn to get sick this weekend!!!

brr

Brecken and I took the opportunity to go outside this afternoon while there was a slight break in the wind. It was so windy this morning that I could hardly see the deer across the street in the field because the snow was being blown sideways! We were only out for a few minutes but it was nice to get some air. This picture shows you his totally fake cry- he didn't think he wanted to walk in his snow boots and wanted me to carry him! Wuss.


Josh should be home in a little while. His team went to Farson to play on Friday, then spent the night in Rock Springs before playing in Cokeville today. His varsity team won their game last night but lost pretty badly today.


Tomorrow I leave for Sheridan. The All-State music convention starts tomorrow night and goes through Tuesday night. We are coming home on Wednesday. I had a choir student make it into the All-State choir, and we are going to travel with the 5 kids and 2 teachers from Saratoga, as well as the 1 student and 1 teacher from Hanna. Cross your fingers for a break in the storm tomorrow while traveling, and again on Wednesday when we come home!!

tooth #7

Josh found a new tooth in B's mouth on Sunday. We had been looking for one, but not in the spot where it was found! It's on his top left gum, in the middle of nowhere. I think it's the one next to the I-tooth, in-between that and the molars. We were looking at his bottom gums for new teeth- he still only has the front two down there! Guess we were looking in the wrong spot. We don't know when this new one came in- it's been there for a few days because there was quite a bit showing through. I asked B on Sunday if it was easier to chew with his new tooth and he nodded yes. Silly kid. I love asking him questions- he gets the answer right 99% of the time but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what all the questions mean!!

Also on Sunday, he picked up one of his baby socks, took it to Josh, and put it down on Josh's foot and pressed real hard for it to stay there. We laughed for quite a while about that one- B wanted to put socks on Daddy!!!

ping-pong

My best dog ever, Pongo, died yesterday morning. He was the dog we got when my dad and sister and I went to Casper one day and decided to adopt a puppy, even though my mom had said NO! We brought him home, this tiny little bundle of fur, and when my mom came home and saw him, she said, "What is that?" We said, "Duh, Mom, it's a dog!" She then replied, "Well, what is it doing here?" She eventually learned to love him, though she would pet him most when she thought people weren't looking. :) We named him Pongo, because he looked like those tiny little puppies from 101 Dalmations after they had rolled in the soot and then got rain drops on them. My grandpa always called him Ping-Pong. He was the dog that had to take a stuffed animal with him while on a walk to the mailbox once. He was the dog that always slept at the foot of my bed. He was the dog that loved car rides, but hated hotel rooms, so he was happier sitting in the car looking at the door to our room. We'd have to drag him in the room to go to sleep. He was the dog who knew I was moving to college and wouldn't drop his tennis ball to give me a lick goodbye- I cried more about leaving my dog than I did about leaving my parents! He was the dog that would pick up his stuffed football and do a victory lap around the house every time we yelled, "TOUCHDOWN!" He was the dog that somehow got into a zipped tight backpack, into a Ziplock bag, and opened a big bag of chocolate cookies and ate every single one of them. He was the most gentle dog in the world, and I'm going to miss him so much. He turned 14 years old last August and had recently gotten pretty sick. He had always suffered from a thyroid condition that was regulated with medication and a strict diet, but the vet discovered a tumor on his bladder a couple months ago. I knew when I saw him at Christmas that it would be the last time. I cried for miles after saying goodbye to him at Christmastime and I'm still crying today after receiving the news that my mom and dad had to put him to sleep yesterday after he took a severe turn for the worse on Friday. They said he was snoring before the injection was even finished, so they knew he was happy with their decision. And I'm glad he won't be sick and suffering anymore, but I'm sure going to miss my dog. He was most definitely the best dog ever. Hopefully he's up in Heaven with my grandpa, so Grandpa and Ping-Pong can keep each other company.

varsity debut

Josh made his Varsity coaching debut last night with his basketball team. The head coach is extremely pregnant and in fact is being induced on Monday if she doesn't go on her own this weekend. She was told at her appointment this week that under no circumstances was she allowed to travel with the team this weekend, so Josh is now in charge of the Varsity girls. The assistant boy's coach from last year is taking this year off but stepped in to help out while Amy is out of commission.

Anyway, the point of this post is, that in Josh's Varsity debut, they WON! The team went to Baggs last night and beat them. They traveled to Burns today and the last text message from Josh said the JV won and it was time for the Varsity to play. Josh was very nervous to coach Varsity, but I don't quite know why. I guess I just don't understand the game, because to me, a basketball game is a basketball game, whether it's Varsity or JV!

The football team was supposed to serve lunch at the speech meet at the high school today, but none of the coaches were in town- they were all gone for sporting events. So it was all the wives serving a taco lunch today. B is grouchy today and wouldn't let me put him down, so serving lunch one handed was a lovely experience. :) Good fundraiser for the team though.

a sleepover?

So Brecken LOVES his new babysitter. In fact, this afternoon, I had to chase him down to get him to put his coat on! He didn't want to come home. His friend Chandler, Deb's 2 1/2 year old son, told me, "Brecken can stay." I said, "Oh? Are you going to have a sleepover?" Chandler said, "Yeah!" and I look over and Brecken was nodding his head with a big smile on his face. :) I told him we probably needed to sleep at our own house but that he could come back tomorrow and play. Boy, was he mad at me for making him come home! I guess that's a good sign, that the new place is working out! I know he's getting a lot of attention there- Deb asked me to put new books in his diaper bag because she read each one (there were three in there) four times today. :)

Here's another one of B's new things: He now sits on the dogs like he's riding a horse while they are laying down. He thinks it's fun to bounce up and down on them like he's on his Bounce and Spin Zebra that Santa brought him. Birdie isn't so hot on it- she gets up and bucks him off. Good ol' Hogan though, just lays there and tolerates it. I swear, if dogs can roll their eyes, Hogan certainly is!!

playing

Brecken and I spent the day playing hard and reading lots of books. He's such a goof lately- laughing and flirting and trying to trick me- it's pretty funny. He has two new things that he does a lot- he will now say, "uh-oh!!" when something drops (whether on accident or on purpose!) and his really funny one- he turns his hands over and almost shrugs his shoulders in an "I don't know, Mom!" pose when you ask him a question he doesn't know the answer to. It's quite funny.

lonely

Well, Josh isn't coming home tonight. His teams were in Yoder playing ball this afternoon. The two buses decided to wait in Cheyenne for the Speech bus who was also in Cheyenne and then all decide what to do. Josh's principal was on his way home from Cheyenne and called and said the summit between Laramie and Cheyenne was pretty nasty, and then some parents of one of the boys called and said they slid off the road on the summit. I've been checking Road and Travel and after Laramie, highway 230 (through Wood's Landing and up through Encampment) is no unnecessary travel, but highway 30 through Rock River, Medicine Bow, and Hanna is normal- slick in spots and windy. One of the bus drivers freaked out and won't drive tonight, so they all have to stay. Josh is ticked- they keep getting calls from parents saying once you get to Laramie, the roads are OK if you pick the right road. Josh said they could've been home by now if they would've just kept going and not waited for the speech team. And his poor head coach really wants to be home- she's VERY pregnant (being induced on the 14th unless she goes sooner) and was barely even allowed to go on this trip, and now she's stuck overnight with kids, making her more tired. Josh said everyone is blaming me for being stuck in Cheyenne because I made Josh bring an overnight bag. I jinxed them. :)

So, I'm on my own tonight. :(

Don't know how the boys' games went but both girl teams lost. By a lot, from what I could gather. Josh didn't tell me the scores, but he was kind of laughing when he told me they lost, so I'm gathering they lost by a ton. I'll have to go look on the web.

new daycare

Brecken is starting with a new babysitter tomorrow. He'll now be full time at Dr. Jake and Deb's house. If you want to know the story, email me and I'll let you know. I don't want to post it on here because it's a public blog and I don't want say anything negative. But Josh and I are excited about the new plan!

15 months old

Brecken had his 15 month appointment before we left for Christmas. He's a growing boy! He's now 19 pounds even and getting closer to that percentile chart. His head grew as well and is in the 75th percentile and he is now 31 inches tall, in the 50th percentile!

We got some stuff taken out of his room and rearranged his room so that he can now have his bigger toys in it. He sure likes playing back there. And it's nice to not have everything he owns in the living room. :)

quick catch up

It's been a while since I've been around a computer to update everyone! We had a great Christmas. We went to Worland after Josh's game on Saturday and stayed for a few days. My grandma's friend down the street was gone out of town, so my family got full use of her house. It was WONDERFUL. We could let the boys leave their toys out and not worry about being in the way. :) Brecken did a great job on the trip and loved his presents.

Then we went to Lingle for Christmas with Josh's family for a few days. We had a great time there, too. We came hme with a TON of presents that almost wouldn't fit in the pick-up. I was holding some things in my lap. :) We came through Cheyenne with Beth and Jeff following us yesterday, all on our way home, but ended up getting stuck there because all roads in and out were closed due to weather. So we hung out at the mall and did some shopping, and then all stayed the night with Brady and Stacey. Sure glad they lived there so we had somewhere to stay! Josh's aunt and uncle live there too but not sure we'd make it out to their house in the country.

We finally made it home around lunchtime today. It's nice to be home finally!!!!

counting down

I'm counting down the minutes until school's out for Christmas break. And the minutes are going by VERY SLOWLY. The kids are horrible this week. Coal-worthy horrible. In fact, my jr. high choir was SO NAUGHTY on Tuesday that today during class, they will be reading their silent reading books. And that's it. I even bribed them at the beginning of choir on Tuesday, that if they worked well that day, I'd let them bring in Guitar Hero, which they've been BEGGING to play. Not even that bribe worked. They'll be very, very angry today. That's OK- they can think I'm the wicked witch of the west all they want- some day, they might realize that it's THEIR attitude that hurts them, not my "mood", as they put it.

Josh's school goes through today and they're out on break. We go until 1:30 tomorrow. :( It won't be too bad- I'll have my kindergarten class, then all the elementary kids break into groups to do centers, and the Spanish teacher and myself are in charge of teaching them a Christmas song in Spanish. Ought to be interesting since I don't know a lick of Spanish past "margarita, rapido!" :) Then during silent reading time and 5th hour, the whole school will be watching a movie in the gym. Then finally, we get to go home. I can't wait- it took a lot for me to get up and come to school this morning, so I'm definitely in need of a break.

Our babysitter's son was sick on Monday and Tuesday, so on Monday B went to Deb's house and Tuesday Josh had to stay home with him. Yesterday B was back at Loree's house and he even got a Christmas present from her! We opened it last night so that we didn't have to haul it to Worland with us. B is way into bows this year, so he got real excited when he started opening the present, but after he got the bow off, he walked off with it very happily and didn't care about the rest of the present. :) Inside was a Leapfrog letter school bus. He LOVES it. We vroom-vroomed it and danced to the songs all night last night. That's two things my boy loves- cars (he even makes the "vroom vroom" sound while driving them!) and dancing to music!!

Tomorrow while I'm at work, Josh will bring B in for his 15-month well baby check. I was thinking the other night about the fact we were supposed to have him in for shots at 15 months and then all of a sudden it dawned on me that we HAD an appointment scheduled, for last week! I totally spaced it. So he goes in tomorrow instead. Then we'll pack up and Saturday morning after dropping the dogs off at the kennel, we'll head up to Ethete for Josh's game, then head to Worland for a few days of snowmobiling, family, and CHRISTMAS! Then down to Lingle for a couple days and then finally home for a couple days of resting. If I don't get back here to blog before we leave, I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!

ho, ho, ho!

Brecken was in the bathtub this afternoon, when I heard sirens coming up the street. We live on the edge of a very quiet town, so sirens coming up the street are unusual. I got B out of the bathtub and wrapped him in a towel so we could run to the door and see what was going on. Lo and behold, there was Santa getting off the fire truck and coming up to our door! He had a sack of candy for B and tried talking to him and saying "Ho, ho, ho!" My suspicions were then confirmed: Brecken hates Santa. Oh, he cried and tried to get away from this Santa who was giving him candy. Santa was a good sport and laughed, then drove away out of sight, on the big red sleigh also known as a fire truck.

lion hunting

My friend at work said today that her husband was coming to my house today to hunt for lions. I guess the game warden called a group to come to town and try to find the mountain lion. I haven't seen tracks in our yard since last week but with the sightings around town, he's still here somewhere. No word on if they found it today though- I'm going to assume they didn't because I think the game warden would've called Josh to tell him.

It was 17 below zero when I left for work today. I knew it was terribly cold when I drove down the street and could see steam from the river above the trees all the way across town. What a beautiful sight that was!! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.

scare of the night!!

So last Thursday night, the game warden was over at our house until 10:30, tracking the mountain lion tracks that went across our front porch and in our yard. Talk about freaky- a mountain lion walking around your porch!! I guess there were a couple sightings around this past weekend. We've been told to be very careful walking outside since it seems to be hanging around this neighborhood. So tonight I hear a big noise on our porch so I tiptoed to the door to look out the window and this HUGE dog was looking right back at me. I just about had a heart attack. My heart is still recovering and the incident happened 30 minutes ago!

Please excuse the poor look to my post below, I really do put spaces in between my paragraphs but Blogger is not putting them in when I post, no matter how many times I edit it.

grandma's party

Well, Brecken and I made it to Chicago and back. We left about 9:00 on Friday morning and made it to Denver in plenty of time. The roads from here to Cheyenne weren't very good at all, but Cheyenne south to Denver was great! I'm glad we were early though, the interstate from Cheyenne to Ft. Collins closed that afternoon due to the weather that came in.

Getting through security was horrible. I got Brecken out of his stroller to get everything ready to get folded up and he took off into security and I had to run and get him. Folding things up and getting things into the bins with a toddler in your arms is horrible. THANK GOODNESS the next time I had to go through security, my mom and dad were there to help me! Brecken did great on the plane rides.

Saturday morning we drove downtown and went to Marshall Fields (now it's Macy's though) and looked at the windows that they do for Christmastime, then went inside to see the huge Christmas tree. We tried to see Santa but the line was absolutely ridiculous. Then we went to a few other stores, then back to the hotel for a rest before we needed to get to the party.

The party was fun- I got to see cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in 10 years. I also got to meet my cousin Beth's fiance, and my cousin Christine's pretty serious boyfriend. There were balloons for decorations so Brecken had a great time as long as he had those balloons.

Yesterday was a long day- we got to Laramie OK but then two out of the three routes home to Saratoga were closed. We didn't get home until 8:00 last night. I was exhausted.

Super quick weekend but it was a good one and I'm sure glad we had the opportunity to go.

busy, busy, busy

This week has been super busy for us already and it's only going to get worse! Tonight, I have my jr. high/high school Christmas concert. I also have to pack suitcases and get everything together for Brecken and myself to fly to Chicago tomorrow afternoon. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get from the car to the check-in counter and then through security with the suitcase, stroller, car seat, diaper bag, winter coats, and my camera, and then add Brecken along with that! Thank goodness after I get security, my mom and dad will be there to help me out. Then I'll have to figure out how to get all of it back to the car by myself after we fly back on Sunday afternoon!

Then Monday night I have my elementary school Christmas program. I can't wait until these concerts are over- a big load of stress will be lifted!!!

candy canes

I was thinking yesterday, "I need some candy canes so I can see if Brecken likes them as much as I do." Besides, I thought that would make a really cute picture. :) And voila! there were candy canes in my mailbox this afternoon in a birthday card from Barb! Thanks, Barb! You must have read my mind. She also asked about what I did for my birthday: Not much. Josh had practice until 8:00 so it wasn't much of a celebration. We were able to go out to the Hotel Wolf the night before though, for a fantastic steak dinner. So at least we were able to do that. The night of my birthday though, was just me and my best boy, Brecken, hanging out together!

I've been trying and trying to figure out the settings on my camera so I can take better inside pictures without using my flash. Today I found some of my settings were locked, and as soon as I unlocked them, things were much easier and lots less frustrating for me! Here's one I got tonight. Hopefully soon he'll be in a good mood so I can get some smiles, and in the daylight so I have some lighting help!!:

ear infection

I picked up B at lunch today because I had the afternoon off, and Loree said he'd been poking his fingers in his ears all morning. So I called the clinic to get him checked out before the weekend came. They managed to squeeze him in this afternoon. Sure enough, B has an ear infection. He did NOT like Jake putting the light in his ears, especially his left one, which is the one with the infection. Jake said it was medium-bad but was going to get worse and not better so B is now on antibiotics for 10 days. After the appointment, Brecken got to pick out one of the Ty beanie bears that was in the lobby to take home with us, but B wanted nothing to do with them- he only wanted to play with the bead rollercoaster thing!! Oh, he threw a fit when I made him put his coat onto leave!! He cried and cried and I had to pick out his bear for him. While we were waiting to get in to be seen, B had loved those bears and picked them all up, but hugged one of them, so that's the one I picked for him. :)

We didn't take his clothes off to get weighed today, but he weighed 19 pounds, 7 ounces! He only weighed 18 pounds 3 ounces 2 weeks ago. I don't know how much a onesie, jeans, slippers and a diaper weigh (and I changed his diaper before we went to the doctor) but he seems to have gained some good weight for 2 weeks! WAY more than the 3 ounces in a month that he gained last!

this is why i love my commute!

Driving home, I saw TWO huge bald eagles right next to the road sitting on a fence. I was 5 miles out of Saratoga and didn't have my camera. So I drove home, got B so Josh could go to basketball, grabbed my camera and headed out to see if they were still there. They WERE! Only, I got out of my car and they flew away. I could only find one and he was a long way away, so I zoomed as close as I could and had to crop the pic when I got home.

Josh had to go get Brecken at lunch today, Loree called him at work and said B wasn't feeling good and needed to go home. He slept from 1:00-3:00, which is crazy long for B! He's been pretty normal since then though. I'm not seeing much sickness, other than a few coughs.

home sick.

Not me, but Brecken. He woke up crying hysterically last night and it took forever for him to calm down. Then this morning, his nose wouldn't quit running and he couldn't quit coughing. He also woudn't quit crying and wouldn't let me put him down. He can't go to daycare like that, so I stayed home with him today. Josh has already stayed home once AND brought him to school with him, so it was my turn. So, I changed back into my sweats (I was already dressed for work) and got comfy with Brecken. He's feeling a bit better after a nap and some juice, and we managed to get my Christmas Village put up. It was quite comical- at one point, Ditka had shoved himself into one of the styrofoam boxes and Brecken was wearing another one of them on his head like a hat. Silly boys.

too funny.

My dad apparently has a lot of time on his hands, because he made this really funny video starring Brecken, Ryan, himself, and my grandma. It's hilarious to watch, check it out: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9559253829

Brecken is now walking. Saturday, he was only walking a few steps at a time and on Sunday he was walking a lot of steps at a time! He's getting really good at it!!!

I've been gone for a few days, I went to Wheatland with a couple of my students for an honor choir. We left Sunday and got home last night. This morning, B and I are finishing up packing and when Josh gets home from basketball practice we're headed up to Lingle. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

babysitting, sharing, and mountain lions

We have the babysitting thing all figured out. Whew! Josh talked to Jake at 5 am this morning (they go lift weights at the school together) and Jake said they could probably do Mondays and Tuesdays for us, even though Tuesdays are his days off. I felt really bad thinking he'd be babysitting on his day off!! He babysat for us today because Loree's husband had his surgery to repair his back, but Deb was home when I got there and she said she'd rather have Wednesdays and Thursdays so that Jake wouldn't have to use his day off. But then she said that if things get too crazy at Loree's, just bring Brecken to their house for the whole week. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it's nice to know we won't be scrambling if Loree changes her mind again!!!

Brecken has been very into sharing lately. He likes to force feed you. Yesterday he grabbed a handful of Cheerios and tried to shove them all in my mouth. He cried when I wouldn't eat them. Silly. He tried to force his sippy cup into Birdie's mouth the other day. Birdie was too startled to actually take it- otherwise she would've jumped at the chance to have B's milk!! :)

I guess our next door neighbor had a mountain lion on his front step theother morning. He went outside to leave for work and scared it and it went running. THAT'S a little scary! I worried about the dogs being outside while we're at work but Josh said the mountain lion wouldn't come
in the daytime- I don't know how he would know that... We now make sure both cats are in at night now though!!

fired

I was messing around at school the other day and created this photo. I thought it was kind of neat.

Well, we got "half-fired" from daycare today. Loree is pregnant, due in June, and is very afraid of having a miscarriage, since she had one earlier this spring. She's cutting down her daycare kids. She's keeping the 3-year old full time, but we only get to go half time, and poor baby Sophie doesn't get to go at all. What a frustrating feeling. Brecken is already going to Deb's house tomorrow, so we're going to ask her if she'd be a regular babyistter again and do two days a week, plus Fridays when Josh has away games. If she doesn't want to be that permanent, I don't know WHAT we'll do. And poor Sophie's mom- she doesn't know anybody to ask! I feel bad for Loree, I really do- I wouldn't wish a miscarriage on ANYONE, especially with our troubles to get pregnant, so I know how precious a new life is. But at the same time, I wish, for once, we could have a "normal" daycare situation!!! :) Annie, wanna move here and open one? You'd be rich!!!

sick boy

We found out why Brecken wouldn't eat and was whiny yesterday.... Josh finally got home at 1:11 this morning and just as he got into bed Brecken started crying. Josh went in there, thinking his coming home woke Brecken up, but instead discovered that Brecken had thrown up. :( Brecken cried and cried and cried. We had to change his jammies and pull the blanket from his pack and play mattress. No fever according to our ear thermometer but I think he had a bit of the stomach bug. So Josh took him out to the couch and he watched the end of the movie he missed, and a while later Brecken came crawling into my bedroom so he laid with me and fell asleep again. He wasn't interested in breakfast this morning, or lunch today, but is finally now snacking on cheerios and some milk. No more puking, luckily!

teeth, whining, blood, and an accident

Brecken sure has been whiny today and won't eat anything. I think his 6th tooth is about to come through and it's bugging him. Hopefully he sleeps well tonight.

I let the dogs inside right before dinner, they had been out most of the afternoon. Then I noticed blood all over the floor. Hogan has several puncture wounds on his head and one ear- I wonder if the dogs were wrestling and Birdie got a bit rough. We had to wash the whole kitchen floor. I let them back outside so we could finish eating, and after Brecken went to bed I let them back in and he still had blood droplets. So I held gauze over all of them until they stopped and he's laying on a towel now so I can make sure if he does bleed a little again, it's not on the carpet. Poor dog- wonder what happened?!

Josh and I were watching a movie and his pager went off, for an accident on some road I haven't heard of before. There were 4 patients though, and Rawlins had been called first so I think it's out that direction. Rawlins needed help because they cannot transfer 4 patients. The dispatcher said after Saratoga got to this road, call somewhere (she said some initials that I don't know what they stand for) for more directions. Sounds bad!! He might be gone a long time.

first steps!

Brecken has on quite the outfit right now: A white onesie and his black tennis shoes. He got into his diaper bag and pulled out the shoes and tried to put them on himself, so Josh put them on. We had been working on walking this afternoon, but after he put his shoes on, Brecken walked his first steps! They must be magic shoes!! He walked four very slow and deliberate steps from Josh to me! Yay! He had no idea why we were so excited, but he got excited with us after I said that deserved some Smarties. :)

YAY, Brecken!!!

moving on

We'll be moving on to a new sport in this house. Basketball season starts next week for Josh and football practice ended last week, though none of us knew it at the time. Josh's team had the semi-final game in Big Horn yesterday and it didn't end in our favor. :( It was a heartbreaking loss. The final score was 13-8, and if we had been able to do anything with our last position it might have ended with us on top, but it didn't work out that way. LOTS of tears after the game, I'm not sure I saw a dry eye anywhere on our side! Or on our side of the field- the boys were pretty teary, too. But WOW, the crowd we had! We had just as many on our side cheering for our boys as Big Horn did, I bet! And the field was really neat- you could pull your car up and around the field and that was so handy because my van was right next to the bleachers we were sitting in, so B could take a nap inside the car and out of the wind! It was a really cool field.

So, Josh now gets a week "off" after school before basketball starts. I bet he won't come home too early though- he won't know what to do with all that time, so I bet he stays at school and finds something football-related to do for a while each day. :)

We had a fun weekend though. I went up with Peggy Hayes and their two girls, and stopped in Casper for a couple hours at the mall, then we stayed in Buffalo at the same hotel as the team. Tons of our fans did too- it was neat to see the breakfast room full of purple clothes yesterday morning!!

"first" halloween

I say "first" because Brecken slept through the whole thing last year!

Brecken had a really fun Halloween yesterday. I picked him up from daycare (where he had a great day- he even ate all his lunch for the first time ever! Pizza and peas.) and took him home to get his costume on. Then I took him downtown to the Trick-or-Treat down there. He wouldn't say anything to anyone but gave good smiles and waves. And he loved it when they let him pick out his own candy!! He got REALLY excited at the art gallery because they were giving out helium balloons! He chattered and chattered about that with the biggest grin. He loves balloons. He got his picture taken at the newspaper office, so we'll see if it makes it in to the paper next week. When we got home he got into his candy bucket and held up a package of m&ms, way up high so I could see them and said, "Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?" He's never had candy before. He LOVED the m&ms! He had a blue nose to prove it.

Then we went to Encampment's Halloween carnival that happens every year. I bought him some tickets so he could play some games. We did the fishing pond a couple times and the first time got a treat bag with a small notepad in it, a bat tattoo, a little monster that when you squeeze it his eyes bulge (B thinks its funny!) and a couple other silly things. Then the next time he fished, he got a blow up black kitty! His eyes got real big and he grabbed that kitty and KISSED it! It was so funny. He also threw the football and did the beanbag toss too. :) He got to pick out his own candy for playing the games, and he would pick through the selection until he found something he thought he liked and then would put it in his bucket. Smart boy. :)Josh met us at the carnival after football practice was over, and took B home early so I could stay and make sure everything was cleaned up. The Senior class that I sponsor did easy booths this year because they didn't want to stay and clean. :) They did a basketball throw, a football throw, a booth where the kids guessed how many Tootsie Rolls were in the jar (397) and the closest one won the candy, and a bowling lane. Each booth took one or two tickets and tickets were 25 cents each. I have to count my class' tickets today and see how much money we made.

Brecken sure likes candy, for never having it before! Josh said he knew Brecken would, because that's what Brecken inherited from his mother. :) B was WIRED last night, and he didn't even have that much candy! He wouldn't go to bed. After Josh brought him home he gave B some dinner and gave him a bath and he said he was all over the bathtub being crazy. Crazy after I got home, too! We had one trick-or-treater all night while we were home (one of Josh's students) and a high school kid selling Christmas wreaths. On my way into our neighborhood, there is a house with lots of Halloween lights and decorations, and the main door was open so you could see into the house, and there was a HUGE buck deer standing right at the steps, staring into the house like he was asking for candy too. It was funny.

I'll post pictures when I get around to loading them on the computer.

lil' pumpkin

We had to take a roadtrip to Laramie today; Brecken outgrew his shoes and it's way too cold to be just hanging out in socks when he goes outside. We couldn't even shove his shoes on. So we needed to go to Laramie to buy some more for him today. While there, we stopped to see my sister and Ryan and take a few pictures of him in his halloween costume.

I of course had to take a few of Brecken, too!

semi-finals, baby!

Oh my gosh, what an exciting game we just witnessed! Saratoga WON, 26-20, against Tongue River! Tongue River was "picked" to win by the Casper Star-Tribune. Josh loves when they pick against Saratoga because Saratoga usually wins that week. It was a heart stopper, that's for sure- the last 2 minutes were especially intense. And the last 8 seconds- oh my gosh! Tongue River had the ball and threw a long pass and ALMOST got a touchdown to tie it up, then who knows what would've happened with the point after. What a heartbreaker it would've been to lose 27-26. LUCKILY, that didn't happen and we won!!! WAHOO!

The next game is in Big Horn. It will be Saturday, Nov. 3, at 1:00 p.m.

a world away from the world series

Josh and I, along with a gazillion other people, tried really hard to get World Series tickets. We were both online yesterday morning trying our darndest before we found out the whole server crashed! We tried again today with no avail. My dad was also trying- we figured if we all ended up getting lucky somehow, it would be OK to have 12 tickets because we surely would know people that would want to buy our extras! However, we don't have to worry about it, because like the other gazillion people, we couldn't get through the countdown page.

So sorry, we won't be asking any of you to join us at a World Series game. :) But how cool that our team made it- who knows how many more times in our lifetime the World Series will be just hours from us! GO ROCKIES!

home field advantage

Well the past 24 hours have been full of anticipation. We've been awaiting scores from around the state from football games last night and then the brackets to come out this morning. Saratoga tied for the conference championship, but it was a 3-way tie. We won against Pine Bluffs on Thursday so we were hoping for a Sundance loss to guarantee a home game in the first round of playoffs next week. Didn't happen that way- despite the 50 mph winds in Burns Friday afternoon, Sundance won. Hence the 3-way tie. We were all thinking we'd have to go to Riverside (Basin) next week, but then this morning we learned that we might be wrong about how the tie-breaker works. We thought the criteria might apply to all three teams, but then heard that they might just use the tie-breaker to figure out who would be seeded #1 in the conference, and then the tie-breaker would start over for the other two teams: Sundance and Saratoga. That would give us a home game. This is what we read on Sports Goulash:

Lusk, Sundance and Saratoga are all tied for first, and we know that Lusk wins that tiebreaker on the third criteria — strength of schedule. From there, we’re not exactly sure if the criteria starts over between Sundance and Saratoga or not. If so, Saratoga wins the tie with Sundance because of the head-to-head win. If not, Sundance wins the tie by having a higher strength of schedule than Saratoga.Our first projection had Sundance as the (3) and Saratoga as the (5). We’ve since changed that to reflect Saratoga as (3) and Sundance as (5). Sorry about the confusion.

So we waited all day for the news, and finally the brackets were posted. We get a home game! WHOO-HOO!!!!!!!! Josh spent the next hour on the phone. :) We are hosting Tongue River Friday afternoon. Wear your purple that day!!

Here are the 2A brackets for anyone interested... http://www.whsaa.org/stateevents/football/2a/bracket.asp

tired

Man, am I tired this morning. I drove to Pine Bluffs last night to watch Josh's football game with Peggy, the head coach's wife, and her 8 year old daughter and the 8 year old son of another coach. Brecken got pretty bored on the way over but slept the whole way home. I sure am glad Peggy was with me- she kept me awake on the way home! We didn't get back until 1:15 this morning. Yuck! 4 1/2 hours of sleep before coming to work isn't doing much for me today. Lucky Josh, with his 4-day schedule, got to sleep in with Brecken this morning. I had to wake them up to say goodbye when I left for work- I sure was jealous!

Josh's team won, 21-8! It was FREEZING cold though. The wind was howling hard. Luckily, there is a street that passed the football field that people can park on and watch from their cars. So that's what we did!

Now we need Sundance to lose to Burns this afternoon and we'll have a home play-off game next week.

adventures in babysitting

Brecken got to spend the day with his Aunt Annie and cousins Trevor and Karlee today. Loree's son was still sick so she wasn't taking kids today. Luckily Annie was here and she wanted to have Brecken over to her cousin Maria's house, where they are staying, for a play date. So today was the day. He had a great day playing with Karlee and Trevor and Maria's daughter Madison who is 2 months older than Brecken, and also Maria's preschool aged son, Geoffrey. Annie said he only cried when she turned on the vacuum cleaner. :)

Brecken gets to hang out with Aunt Annie tomorrow, too. Loree called Josh this evening and said Carter is still sick. I'm not excited about that- it's looking like we paid Loree $100 to watch Brecken for one whole day this week. A lady Josh works with sends her son to Loree also, and she told Josh today that she had a chat with Loree and said she's not paying her for any more days off. Loree's contract says she gets 4 paid days off, and she used her 4th one today, just since we've started there! So next week I think our check will be lower- docking tomorrow's pay and Friday's pay if she can't babysit on Friday too. Thank the Lord that Annie is here and is saving us!! The poor other teachers- they are paying double this week because they have to pay someone else to watch their kids! The science teacher Josh works with is new to town and today she didn't even know the lady that watched her baby- it's one of Loree's friends. How nerve wracking to have someone you don't even know, watch your baby!!

Anyway, when you read this, Annie, we REALLY appreciate you keeping Brecken for us!! How lucky we are that you are here in our week of need!

Brecken got his first haircut last night. Josh made me do it. Annie trimmed the back of his hair so he looks like a little boy now! I scooped up all that pretty curls and put it in a baggie so I can save it in his baby book. I was putting off getting it cut because once I did, he wouldn't be my baby anymore! He sure hated the clippers. Cried like they were slicing his head open the whole time. I think the vibrations on his head freaked him out. Poor kid. Afterwards, I was holding him and Annie picked up the clippers to put them away and he started crying again at the sight of them!

yay!

I took B to get weighed today after I got him this afternoon. I was hoping really hard that he gained more than 2 oz... and he did! He kept trying to wiggle off the scale and laughing really hard about it, but it finally centered on 18 pounds. Yay! A 14 ounce increase in a month. I was really happy. So was the nurse.

Josh got to stay home with Brecken today. Our babysitter called late last night and said that her son had a fever, but she'd call us in the morning. We didn't have a backup babysitter today- Deb works in Rawlins on Tuesdays and Jake had to go in to the Clinic today too. Loree never called, so I finally called her at 6:50 this morning. She said she was OK to take kids. Then she called 5 minutes later and said that Carter still felt warm so she was going to see what he felt like when he woke up. We didn't have that long to wait- Josh needed to get a sub ASAP. So he told Loree to forget about us today and he called in to work. I'll have to ask him when he gets home from football what the other two teachers that take their kids to Loree did today.

walk to d'feet

We participated in the Walk to D'Feet ALS walk in Fort Collins yesterday. My great-aunt Dorothy has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and her granddaughter puts together a team last year and this year to raise money and walk for this great cause. It was POURING rain yesterday, so it wasn't as much fun as it could've been. My sister went last year and it was perfect weather. Brecken didn't seem to mind the weather yesterday, he had on his winter coat and hat and mittens and was nice and cozy.

This picture is my uncle Earl, my aunt Dorothy in the middle, and her daughter Becky. It was on the CSU campus. I don't normally like CSU, but it was really pretty yesterday. Their leaves are just beginning to change colors. The loop we were walking in had green leaves, red leaves, yellow leaves, and peachy-pink leaves. How pretty!

another win!

Saratoga knocked off Burns this afternoon! Hip, hip, hooray!! We were the underdogs but we didn't even struggle, led the whole game. The score was 27-6. What a great homecoming for the kids, and an even better for those Seniors since it was their last regular-season home game. I think the win today made it official that we'll go to the play-offs. If it will be at home or away will depend on next week's score against Pine Bluffs.

men.

I think the most hilarious thing that has ever happened in one of my classes happened today. I was doing an activity with my 4th graders and our principal's son goes, "Mrs. Sandlian. You aren't supposed to make us guys' armpits wet!" Somehow, the discussion between the boys then turned to how boys don't sweat, men do. And at that moment, a normally very quiet, serious boy goes, "You guys, she's making men out of us."

I almost died from having to keep the laughter in!!

what a boy.

I picked B up from daycare today and Loree had quite the story to tell me! Apparently during his nap, Brecken managed to squirm out of his pants (not surprising since his pants are too big) AND his diaper! That has never happened before. She thinks she didn't put it on tight enough. Anyway, instead of waking up and leaving the diaper in the crib, he tossed it over the edge. That sounds like him- he tosses things he doesn't want anymore. I laughed though- what a boy thing to do! I told her I hoped it was an accident that he got out of his diaper instead of him figuring out how to do it on his own- that's a can of worms I'm not ready to open yet! :) He didn't mess with it at all tonight though, so I think it was an accident.

Josh wasn't on call tonight and Brecken was in a good mood so we tried to go out to dinner after Josh got home from practice. We tried our Mexican place and it was closed! So we went to the Saratoga Inn, and THAT was closed too! Wonder what the deal was. We ended up having to come back home and cooking a late dinner.

Josh has had a lot of heart calls lately. He had 3 on Saturday alone. The first one, the guy didn't want to go to the hospital, so they had him sign the forms to refuse transfer. As they were finishing, they got another call for a heart attack in Encampment. The people met the ambulance on the highway and the family was doing CPR in the car on the guy. They got him into the ambulance and continued CPR. The doctor in charge of emergency medicine was in Saratoga giving a class, so they called him to meet them in Saratoga. Josh pushed heart drugs for the first time ever, but it didn't matter. They lost the patient. :( I personally think the guy was gone long before the ambulance got there, but Josh sure feels bad about it. That was the first patient that he has lost. I felt bad that he was so sad. :( Then, late that evening, they had ANOTHER heart attack call. Good grief. This guy didn't want to go to the hospital either- they talked to his heart doctor in Casper and made a plan and didn't take him to Rawlins. Josh came home saying, "If that pager goes off again, PLEASE make it be for a broken arm!" :)

Busy week this week- it's Homecoming for Josh's team. Lots of practices and film watching and so on and so forth. This is the last home game of the regular season- here's hoping for a play-off game!

itsy bitsy spider

So here he is, the goofy itsy bitsy spider. I sure wish he would leave hats on, it completes the costume! (Not that you can see much of it as he is falling down the slide!)

win!

Josh called a little after 4:00- they won BIG against Pinedale! 39-0!! I knew they were going to because a guy at the game called the school this afternoon and that's what the score was when he called in the 4th quarter. :) Their quarterback had a record game for him with 6 touchdown passes. Now if Burns will beat Lusk and we beat Burns, we can be #1 in our conference!

So yesterday was so nice outside that I got home and put B in his Halloween costume to see if I could get pictures of him out in the leaves. He was not interested. He only wanted to play on his slide. It was HYSTERICAL. He'd crawl up, quite the feat in his fat round spider costume! Then he'd stand up and either go down the slide on his belly head first or belly feet first, and he'd go zooming down the slide. He was laughing so hard at times that he would fall down the slide. But in his rolly poly costume, it didn't matter because he'd be padded and he'd bounce a little bit, which would make him laugh even harder! I was out of breath from laughing so hard at him. What a goof.

a sleeping partner

Brecken has been an awesome sleeper for the past week or so. Hasn't woken up in the night. I put him to bed about 8:30 last night and shut his door all the way so the cats couldn't get in there. Josh and I went to bed about 10:00 and had just fallen asleep and Brecken cried. He fell back asleep but then about 5 minutes later cried again, harder. I went into the hallway and noticed his door had opened somehow- I must not have latched it all the way. Charlie was in his room on the glider, and I looked in the pack and play (where he sleeps now- he hates his crib for some reason) and curled up right next to Brecken was Ditka! It was so cute. Brecken didn't think so though- he wasn't awake, but he was crying and holding his arm up like he was saying, "HEY! There's something here that's not supposed to be and it's yucky!!" So I got Ditka out of there, put both cats in the hallway, and Brecken fell right back asleep (even though he really wasn't awake to begin with.) Poor Ditka- he loves Brecken and Brecken usually loves Ditka right back, but I guess he doesn't love his kitty when he's trying to sleep!!!

new picture spot

I was driving home from picking Brecken up yesterday after school, and as I drove down the hill, I noticed this beautiful old barn/garage that looks like it's about to fall down. The colors are really pretty though- the front is really weathered, more brown, but has a bit of green in it. The sides are more green. It was behind the house of a teacher I work with, so I asked her today if I could use it for pictures. It was probably the strangest question she's ever been asked at school, but she was really excited about it. I had to take Brecken down there this afternoon and take some pictures. When I picked him up from Loree's, he was in the greatest mood, laughing and playing peek-a-boo, but by the time we got down the hill, he didn't want much to do with the camera. I only got one semi-good one.

The sun was a little bright, causing bad shadows, and the other side of the garage was ALL shadow, so I'll have to find another time of day to use this garage. I'd love to get the green side of it!

aspen alley

This morning we got up and drove to Aspen Alley, on the highway past Encampment. We were a weekend too late, I think. There was several inches of snow up there and the aspen trees in Aspen Alley were dead and didn't have any leaves left. :( It was pretty with the snow and fog, but would've been breathtaking with the yellow leaves! Next year we will have to go a weekend or two earlier.

Some more pictures from our drive:

Here is the fog moving in. I'm glad I got pictures of this when I did, because on our way back you couldn't even see the lakes anymore!

football weekend

This weekend was busy with football. Friday afternoon Brecken and I packed up and went to Lingle, where Josh's team was playing. Saratoga won, 34-22. I really enjoyed sitting in their visitor stands- it was right there on the grass, in front of the track, so Brecken could get down and crawl and I didn't have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he didn't eat rocks! After the game Lennie served the boys dinner in the school gym. We didn't get back to Lennie's house until late- Brecken was soooo tired. It was 11:00 before we got there. Then we got up early on Saturday morning so we could go to Laramie for Josh's JV game there. It was cold and windy so I didn't stay for the whole game. My sister and Ryan were there too, so we left early and took the boys to lunch. We got home yesterday afternoon, and despite sleeping the whole trip yesterday, Brecken was TIRED. He fought hard to stay awake but finally gave in at 6:45 last night. He has never gone to bed that early! And he slept straight until 5:45 this morning. 11 hours is unheard of for him. He came to cuddle with Josh and I after he woke up this morning and then slept some more, until 8:30. He was one tired boy!

going home

So at this time on Sept. 26, 2006, I was at Kristen's apartment waiting for Josh to come get Brecken and I. I got to the hospital that morning, bright and early, just in case I happened to miss the pediatrician when he came for rounds before he went to his clinic. I didn't even bother to bring Brecken to his hospital room, I just hung out in the nursery with him, waiting, waiting, waiting. FINALLY Dr. Klep came and checked B out, and gave us the go-ahead to get out of there! I thought my face was going to burst with the big smile that was on there. I got Brecken dressed in his going-home outfit and took his "First Photo" picture that all newborn babies get when they go home. He was 2 weeks old by then, but we didn't get to get it taken when we were in Laramie originally because he was flown out of there.



Then the nurse got all our papers for me and helped me to David's car- he was on a business trip that week so I was lucky enough to have use of his car. (Even though technically I wasn't supposed to be driving for 4 more weeks due to my c-section- but what's a lady to do when she's by herself?!) It felt weird to be leaving the hospital with B in his car seat and me WALKING him out- most new mothers get to ride in the wheelchair. :)



It was cold that day, I remember that. We had to go to Wal-mart to get some things I needed for Brecken at home that we didn't have time to get before he was born, and then he and I hung out at Kristen's for the rest of the day. Josh had to work AND go to practice, because his boss wasn't being very understanding about the whole thing, so he didn't get to Laramie until late that evening. I was never so glad to see him though- I was beyond excited to be going home with our little guy! We stopped a couple times on the trip to make sure B was OK- he was, just sleeping and at one point was holding on to the blanket on his lap- we thought that was the cutest thing. :) The house was pretty quiet when we got home because the dogs were still at Craig and Lennie's house. I remember putting Brecken in his crib when we got home and he was SO TINY in that big huge crib.

Boy, how things have changed.

one year ago

One year ago, I was getting ready to feed Brecken my last feeding of the night before I gave him back to the nurses to keep in the nursery in Laramie for the night. I would head back to Kristen's apartment for the night, but I don't remember sleeping that much, because I knew the next morning we would be released from the hospital FINALLY! What an exciting night that was- knowing it was time to pack up our hospital room for the final time, get his going home clothes ready, and get ready for Josh to come get us and TAKE US HOME!!

drive

Josh went out on two ambulance calls today and had a coach's meeting this evening to watch film. I got bored at home so I loaded Brecken up and we went for a drive up the mountain a little way while the sun set. The colors are getting beautiful up there!

rainy day

Cold and raining today. I wanted to drive up to Aspen Alley and have a picnic and see all the pretty trees, but that will have to wait until next Sunday I guess.

Brecken stood all on his own last night! Actually, he did it on Friday night too, but only for 3 seconds so I didn't count it. :) Last night, he was standing at his ball popper with a ball in one hand and batting at the one coming out of the tube with the other hand and he probably did that for a minute! He wasn't supported on anything- just his own two feet!!

Josh's team lost to Lusk on Friday. 24-6 or something like that. Haven't heard how the JV did yesterday, Josh called Heath but didn't hear back.

Liliana Michelle

My friends Greg and Michelle welcomed their first baby into the world on Wednesday! Welcome to the world, Liliana Michelle! She was 7 lbs, 13 oz, and 20 inches long. And she's absolutely gorgeous!

a laugh

I always have to laugh when people use the following excuse for being late: I was in the library today and a lady walked in looking for the teacher she was meeting with. She said, "I'm sorry I'm late, I wanted to be here an hour ago but I got stuck in traffic."

Now, WHERE IN THE WORLD would she get stuck in traffic around here?! Encampment is all of 300 people and none of the streets even have stop signs. Saratoga has no stop lights in the whole town. You have to travel an hour and a half to find a town with more than 5000 people in it. Where is the traffic these people talk about?!

They must not realize that we're not dumb and we know that ridiculous story is a complete lie.

We have to go to Heath and Peggy's house at 7:30 tonight. We better leave now in case the traffic is heavy.


\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

(excuse all the lines. Brecken likes touching the buttons on the computer.)

skinny minny

Brecken had his one year check-up today. I'm a bit sad to report that he only gained 2 oz. in a month. That's right, TWO ounces. I thought the scale was lying to me. He's "up" to 17 pounds, 2 oz. That's still way below the charts. Dr. Jake said if we're comfortable with waiting for blood tests, he'd like to give Brecken until 15 months to see some good improvement. I'll keep monitoring him every month to see where his weight is, and I think if we don't see any improvement at all again next month, I'll ask for the blood tests. My thinking is it's better to get him tested and nothing be wrong than to wait and maybe miss a problem that needs attention. I'm not exactly sure what they would test for, but Diabetes is one of them. I'm sure he's just a skinny minny like I was, but I'd rather know for sure. I looked in my baby book tonight and at one year, I was 16 lbs, 12 oz. and 28.5 inches long.

Anyway, he is still 29.5 inches, like last month. As far as we know, anyway- I don't think length measurements are very accurate on babies since they move and squiggle- they draw a line on the paper where the head is and then strech out his legs and draw another line, then measure between those two lines. So we think he is 29.5 inches. :) Still has a big noggin, same as always. :)

He had to get four shots. It was horrible. Actually, I think it was more horrible for me than it was for Brecken. Josh has always held him for the shots, but he had football practice tonight so I had to do it. I was told that the Chicken Pox and the MMR shots were going to be pretty bad. Brecken cried, but only for a minute and then he was fine. The nurse said he was one of the toughest kids she's ever had to give shots too, since he didn't really cry! I got him out to the car and he was smiling already. I buckled him in and he immediately tore off all four band-aids like he thoguht they were for sissys and he's been playing and smiling ever since we got home. What a trooper. Much better than his mommy. :)

pictures

The picture above is one of the many beautiful ones Stacey captured this past weekend. We got to see them all last night and I am in love with them! You can see the rest at: http://www.flickr.com/gp/8125773@N08/790C8n

I'm so excited about them- they are absolutely GORGEOUS, Stacey! You captured my little boy perfectly!!

flying

I booked tickets for Brecken and I to fly to Chicago in December. My grandma is turning 90 and we're throwing a big party for her since she's not in the best of health anymore. I wish Josh could go, but that's his 2nd week of basketball and has a game the day of the party, so it will just be myself and Brecken. My mom and dad are flying out too, so I got tickets on their same flights. My mom and dad are flying from Gillette though, so I'll meet them in Denver. I now have to figure out how to get Brecken, the stroller, our suitcase, and the car seat from the car to the airport, and then how to get Brecken, the stroller, and the car seat through the airport all by myself!

...and your world comes to a screeching halt.

Phone calls at 6:30 in the morning are usually never good news. Josh's phone rang at that time this morning and it was our babysitter, calling in sick. Those are the worst calls. Your world just about comes to a screeching halt- now what are you going to do? We feel really bad today, because good ol' Dr. Jake, who has today off and was planning on working on his new fence, is now babysitting Brecken instead. His wife Deb usually does it for us but she works at the hospital in Rawlins on Tuesdays and Jake stays home. I hate when the babysitter is sick!! Not only do we have to scramble to find someone to take over for the day, but then Brecken has a really bad day because he's not used to going to a different house. Oy.

We had a fun weekend. We got up and went to Cheyenne on Saturday morning so Stacey could do B's one year shots. I think we got some great ones- we went to Frontier Park and found a little path that goes through a tree area, and there was a little stone shack down there too. So we took lots of pictures there, and then in a different outfit took a bunch in her pretty backyard. Brecken liked smiling for the camera. :) She now has 3 of them up on her blog, so make sure you check it out! http://staceyjphotog.blogspot.com

Then Sunday morning we got up early and went back to Laramie to drop B off with Kris and David. We met Heath and Peggy there and we went to the Bronco game in Denver. What a crazy time that was!! We had stopped at the store on our way into Denver and got sandwiches and chips to eat in the little park across from where we parked so we didn't have to spend a fortune on food at the stadium. Our seats were up in the upper level but only 6 rows up. Pretty good seats. There was a Raider fan right in front of me that wouldn't shut up and I thought a couple times there was going to be a fight. Yikes. But there wasn't. There was a lightning delay though. It happened right as Peggy and I went down to get something to drink and then everyone else came down beneath the stands too- I thought we were never going to find Josh and Heath. But we did. And then there was overtime, so we got home pretty late. After the game it took forever to get out of the stadium, then forever to get out of Denver. After picking up B, we got home at about 11:30. We were both pretty tired last night.

hooray!

Josh's football team won last night against the #2 team in the state, Sundance! YAY! Sundance is who we lost to two years ago in the State Semi-finals. So it was a good win last night. We won 28-7. Saratoga had a couple really good interceptions, including one that was run back for a touchdown. Our guy was wide open and the ball was thrown right to him. He could've walked back to the endzone and still scored. :)

Here's a funny story: The other night we were at Heath and Peggy's house for the traditional coach's get together before the game- and Brecken crawled into their kitchen, found the dog's water bowl, and leaned his head down to drink it like a dog. What a silly boy.

We're off to Cheyenne here in a little bit, and we'll be gone all weekend. Go Broncos!

airplane ride

Exactly one year ago at this time, Josh and Brecken were getting ready to go in the Flight for Life jet! I asked Josh after they landed and he called, if they had in-flight snacks for him. He said they had a cooler and the nurse said to help himself. :) They send a pediatric nurse and a respiratory therapist as the flight crew- I thought that was pretty neat that they sent specialists for specific problems to be the flight crew.

Then: all ready to get into the airplane

Now: