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!!!