We have a tooth! and Lift off! and Singing!

At eight months and 3 days, we have our first tooth. It's the front lower right hand side. So now it begins. Cal had gotten his first tooth the day he turned 6 months. So hopefully Cody's will just come in quicker and it'll be over with in a jiff. Ha.

In addition to that, we have initial lift off. Code pulled himself up in the bathtub tonight by grabbing onto the faucet spout. I nearly had a heart attack. He can barely sit up without falling over, I'm not sure why he suddenly felt compelled to stand up in the most slippery place in the house. To my young Jedi: one thing at a time.

All of that and Calvin is now singing songs with me at night. He can sing Jesus Loves Me, the ABC's song, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love his little voice, I would like to hold onto these days as long as I can. Oh, and Calvin said Amen when we said prayers tonight without me prompting him to. I just want to scoop up that yummy-ness and keep it forever.

Say Cheese!

Today is a good day in our household. Cal had a food challenge at National Jewish hospital and is now ok to eat dairy products!!! He LOVES cheese. And I'm so glad to be able to feed it to him. And ice cream. And butter. And milk. And cheese. And ice cream. And whip cream. And ice cream. And cheese. Oh glorious day!

I was taking a picture of him a few minutes ago and I said "show me your cheese!" and he gave this really super fake smile and said "CHEESE!" The smile was so fake I couldn't even keep it, though I wish I had kept it now. But at any rate, I took a picture of him eating cheese and I'm waiting for it to show up from my phone in my email inbox.

Pumpkin patch

Yesterady we went to the pumpkin patch and got pumpkins to carve this year. Cal picked out all of them. One for him, one for Daddy and a little baby one for little C. Cal with his first pumpkin.

We enjoyed burying lil'C in the corn box. Though we were pretty paranoid that he was going to eat and subsequently choke on the corn.

Here's lil'C playing at the pumpkin patch.

I can't get anything but action shots of this one these days :)

He's getting ready

It appears that the little C is getting ready to crawl. He's starting to pick his bottom up and boy oh boy is he trying to move. He does get around a little bit, this past week he started moving backward. And he's the king of rolling over now too.

Did I mention he's a happy guy?

Is it just me or does he need mini Popeye pipe?

Just another day...

It's been a very busy few weeks. I have a lot of projects going on at work and it's been taking a lot of my spare time. Also, I started playing FrontierVille on Facebook. Bad idea. I should really delete it. That also takes a lot of time.

Last night, Wade and big C were playing chase around the house and C was trying to close the pocket doors. I'm not sure exactly what happened but the little latch that you use to pull the door cut C's hand pretty good. It's a pretty good deep punchure wound. It bled quite a bit. Since Wade had been playing with him, he felt really bad about it. Not that he caused it but nonetheless, he felt bad. I stay super calm and was able to clean him up, and get him 2 bandaides. He didn't need 2 of them for the wound but since it was on his palm, I had to put another one around the back of his hand so the palm one would stay put. I can't believe I have a little guy who is little enough that 2 bandaides fit around his hand like a leg warmer. Ok, bad analogy but I can't think of another one... oh well.

We are looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa next weekend! Cal can say "grandma" now!! It's going to melt Grandma's heart when he says "wuv u granma," just wait, you'll see! :)

Allergies

This has been a long week. Work is really busy for me at quarter end so I need to spend a lot of time wrapping things up. Big C got croup for the second time this year and little C seems to be getting it now. He has the beginning symptoms so this should be a tiring weekend.

But the good news this week is that Big C had his allergy testing done yesterday for eggs and dairy. The dairy was basically a non reaction!!! He will go back on Oct 11 to have a food challenge and hopefully he won't have a reaction to dairy and we'll be good to feed him dairy products. Think of the possibilities: ice cream, cake, ice cream cake, mac & cheese, baked dishes that use "cream of" soups, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza. Oh, the good life! The doc also said he's going to talk to me about how to add baked eggs into his diet. He still shows an allergy to egg but it's decreasing and since it's decreasing, if you add a little bit of egg at a time (and when baked, it's less allergenic) then it will help desensitize the young one. On the other hand, if the allergy was increasing, it was sensitize the person and possibly make them more allergic. We won't be trying that will peanuts or tree nuts. Those will likely be life long avoidance items for him. We will have Little C tested when he's about a year old, siblings have a higher risk of having the same allergies so they recommend the testing. And since I had to cut out dairy and eggs from my diet for him too, I'm guessing he probably has some things that he's either allergic to or sensitive to as well.

So even though it's been a sick week at our house, at least we had good news too.

We are praying for Jerry too. I hope he's doing well.

September 24, 2010

It's my birthday and tonight we are going out to Red Robin to celebrate. Then Janet will be flying into town with JJ and we will do some activities and visiting with them this weekend. Should be fun!

So yesterday, I drank 1/2 of a green tea from Starbucks. Not that that in and of itself is anything to write about but I haven't had any caffiene for months and that tea must have oodles of caffiene in it because I was super jittery and wired. I couldn't believe it. Then I went to a happy hour gathering of other fine accountants and I had 1/2 a glass of sprite/citron vodka. It was yummy. And I was buzzed. I wondered if I was going to have to wait to drive for a while. Which I decided to do. After about 40 minutes, the effects of my 1/2 shot of vodka that was in my drink wore off and I was able to safely maneuver my automobile. Today, I'm tired. I think it was all the caffiene and alcohol, it's hard on my old body I guess.

Oh, and you can vote for me now in the next presidential election. Sweet!

Day Out with Thomas

Today the whole family went to "Day Out with Thomas." We got to ride on the train pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine himself. Calvin got to meet Sir Topham Hatt and gave him 5. It was at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden.

We left the house before 9am and went to the parking area. We were on the bus by 9:20 and heading over to see the infamous Toot Toot. We were thankful that we got there as early as we did, the people multiplied like crazy as the day went on.

So silly me, I thought we'd go, ride the train at our scheduled 10am time, and then get home around 11:30am. Oh no. We were gone for almost 5 hours. Also silly me, since we were only going to be gone for 2 hours, I didn't take a stroller. So I carried Code the whole time we were gone. Granted, I had a baby bjorn but still, he's almost 20 pounds. Pack or not, that gets tiresome. And I'm sore now. Not only my entire upper body but my stinking foot as well. I wore tennis shoes but my foot sure loves to be a pain in my foot.

A whole new kind of crazy.

So this morning I checked our voice mail at home, which I rarely do, and there was 5 messages. Wow, we never have that many messages. The first one was from Stephanie, Dylan's mom. She sounded drunk and went on and on and on saying things that I won't repeat in a public forum. What I will say is that what I heard was a type of crazy I've never heard, (and I know some crazy) and my children will never spend time alone with that family.

Labor Day weekend

So it's Labor Day evening. We aborted the potty training mission, decided he's not ready. He's physically ready but he keeps telling us he's a baby. So we'll give him a littl e more time.

Cody is sleeping. I swear when I put him down tonight, he looked at me for 1/2 second and then was promptly asleep. What a dreamy sleeper. I love it!

Codeman is also teething. He was enjoying his mommy's favorite beverage today: ice water. (If I can't have coke, it's water. A Coke sounds good right now!) He's such a happy guy, he was a giggle monster today. We're still working on the napping part of sleep training, he believes in 5 30 minute naps per day rather than 3 longer naps -- but he's doing great at night and I can't complain about that. Another week and he should be weened from night feeding and then I will be able to sleep - I hope!

I was going to take Cal to the library today but it was closed. So on our way back home, I stopped in a consignment shop that opened a few blocks away. I found a pair of shoes that actually fit Cal's chubber little feet, so I'm calling that one a success! Oh, and I got a tee shirt and a sweat shirt. He's going to need long sleeved shirts this winter, last winter's stuff doesn't fit. I know that's how it's supposed to be but a mom can hope for 2 things: not needing new clothes all the time and their little boys staying little boys.

When we got home, we all (me and the boys) took a nap. When I got up I decided to trim the bushes out front. I've been wanting to do that nasty chore for about 3 years now. I figured the time had come. It's looking nice now, I'm glad I did it. However, it's hard and dangerous work. My hands are swollen, and I'm scratched up from the devil bush on every limb. Hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. I did!

Mission: Sleep training

Friday night I began sleep training Codeman. He didn't cry initially but subsequently woke up about every hour. He never got hysterical (which Big C did) but he'd cry off and on throughout the night. I held out. Mostly. I held out until 5am and then I nursed him. At which point he slept until after 8am. I didn't sleep well at all. I am also used to sleeping with the little snugglesaurus so sleeping alone was a challenge for me as well.

Last night, he fussed for a few minutes and that was it. I got up and nursed him at my scheduled 3am time. I also got up and nursed him at 6:30. Both times, he went back to sleep with no problem. I still didn't sleep well and kept checking on him. It's a lot easier to check on the baby when he's in bed with you. But I made it through night two. Whew!

I'm hoping that my personal anxiety is a little less tonight and I get some real sleep. Time to feed the wild ones.

I wish everyone a very happy labor day!

Potty training for one, Sleep training for two

Potty training went ok today. He peed himself initially. We changed his clothes and then about 2 hours later I sat him on the potty chair and gave him my old 10-key to play with while he sat there. Then I remembered someone telling me as a teenager that if you put someones hand in warm water when they are sleeping, that they'll pee the bed. So I employed that tactic. It eventually worked and he peed a bit in his potty chair. Then he was watching Barney and he peed. A lot. All over the floor in front of the tv. So we changed clothes again. Then he came in Codes room with me because I was cleaning it out in preparation for tonight's crying it out and he found the Elmo potty book. So he was pushing the buttons on the potty book and went and sat down on the potty chair and POOPED!! All by himself. He comes running out of the bathroom and says BIG POOP! And it was. It was a big poop. After that he had one more accident before going to bed. Not terrible for the first day I think.

So now, as I'm typing this, I'm sleep training Code. He initially went down without a fuss but he was getting close to being asleep so I guess that was a fluke. I set him down, gave him a pacifier and he went right out. About 45 minutes later, he started to cry. I went to check on him. He wasn't entirely pleased when I didn't pick him up to cuddle. I went back 10 minutes later, same thing. I went back 15 minutes later, same thing. Then he seemed to fall asleep. But that only lasted about 10 minutes. He's not full blown crying - yet, but he's crying and stopping and crying and stopping. Now we're getting close to the dream feed time and I'm not sure what to do. I hate this part. I'm still weening him from night feeding but the books say to respond to their crying the same way, EVERY TIME. I'm afraid it's going to get too late and then run into hungry time. All in all, he's not hysterical so that's good, and he's definitely trying to fall asleep. He usually sleeps for about an hour, then would wake up and I would cuddle him back to sleep and he'd sleep until either midnight or make it all the way to 4am. So he just needs to get over this cuddle hump and we should be good. I was planning to feed him at 11pm and then go to bed myself. I am holding out hope that my plan will still work.

On a side note, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. When I'm getting ready to leave the house, and I'm almost ready to walk out the door, for some reason it seems that there's a time warp. I will look at the clock at 7:30 but I get in my car and it's 8:00. The time warp can vary from 15 minutes to 40 minutes. I know I really just need to pay attention to what I'm doing but this happens to me every day and it's starting to make me think it's not JUST me.

Naked? Moi?

So tonight, Big G came inside from his after dinner break and looks at Cal and says "why are you naked?" Cal points to the pile of clothes on the floor and says "clothes off." Well, I suppose that IS why he's naked, because his clothes were off. Perhaps next time we'll ask why he took his clothes off in the kitchen for no apparent reason.

And now it's bathtime. And hey, Cal got ready -- all by himself!

Potty training to commence in 36 hours. Wish us luck!

Morning routine

I took a couple pictures this morning when we were getting ready to leave for the day. This is Codes being entertained on the kitchen floor on his play mat. He really likes to grab things and try to eat them. Tonight, I became convinced that he's starting to teeth. The thing you can' really see in this picture are the little green frogs all over Codes jumper. It's so stinkin' cute!

When I came out of the kitchen, this is how I found big C. With a blanket wrapped around him like a very thick scarf and his Jesus Love Me bunny and baby bunny. This morning when Wade went to get him out of bed, C tucked the bunnies in under the blankets so they would stay warm. What a sweet guy. He's loving his bunnies right now, that's for sure!

Sunday outing

Yesterday we went for our Sunday afternoon family outing. We went to a little place by Red Rocks and there was this little stream going through. Like a lab to water, here was my 2 year old to mud. The picture was taken with my phone so not exactly high quality but you get the idea. (I need to find my camera, it has gone missing.) And Cal is always complaining that his shoes hurt his feet so off they come and there went our little "pitter pat." We don't get on him too much about being barefoot if there's no broken glass or hot blacktop to hurt him.

All those Saturday plans

All my grand ambitions for today went down the tubes. So instead, I did nothing. I took a 2 1/2 hour nap and woke up with a headache and belly ache. Seemed like a waste of a nap to me, aren't you supposed to feel better after a nap? Now I'm hoping to go to bed early and wake up better tomorrow. Both boys have runny stools today so I'm sure that's in my future shortly. We like to share and share alike in this household.

Earlier today, I was feeding Cody and I dropped his little bowl of rice cereal and sweet potatoes, which he apparently doesn't like anyway. It. Went. Everywhere!!!!! Wade had to wipe it off the ceiling and high on the cupboards and walls. I wiped off the lower cabinets, the counters, myself, the floor, the oven, the hood and the refrigerator. But none of it got on Cody, go figure.

After the feeding, I did go to Borders today and got Cody some little cardboard books. Calvin loves them! He's especially into counting right now. He says "one, two, tree, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten, forty!" And yes, that was tree not three, and skipped the seven and went to forty after 10. He does that pretty consistently too. We do it after him to show him that there's a seven but he's doing great with all this learning business. I also got a pop up numbers book for Calvin that I'll bust out next weekend when we're potty training. It was after the trip to Borders that I started to feel not so swell.

Saturday Mornings

It's Saturday morning and we all slept until about 8am. That's refreshing. Of course, Code is still sleeping with mommy and he pooped at 4:30 and kicked at 5:30 so mommy has been up longer but other than that, we're all doing good. When Wade got Calvin got up, Cal came in Cody's bedroom and they laid down and watched cartoons. then they sat up and watched cartoons. Cody is just learning how to sit and in a few weeks, I bet he's sitting up on his own. For now, he uses Cal as support.




Now I'm making pancakes for Calvin (with applesauce and rice milk since he's allergic to dairy and eggs) and going to put some turkey sausage on in a minute. Calvin is running around the house shutting doors and Cody is in his Baby Einstein bouncer. He loves that thing as much as Calvin did.


I probably should get off the computer before I burn everything, I seem to have a knack for that, but I'm going to take my chances.

Today we need to replace the garage window and I think we're going to trim the out of control bushes around the house. I don't understand why people plant bushes in a 3 foot space that are going to take up 10 feet if you don't trim them every other week. Since we've only been trimming them once a year for the past few years, it's looking pretty bad. Then if time allows and I'm REALLY ambitious, I'm going to paint. Don't tell the husband.

p.s. I didn't burn the food!

Backtracking - Trip to Minnesota and South Dakota

Grandma Deanna picked up Cody, Calvin and I and our first stop was to have lunch with Vicki, Jerry, Janet and Jacoby at Perkins. Since there weren't many people there, we let Calvin run around a table and he managed to get 2 different bruises on his head. Vicki holding Cody while Cody tried to get the ding dong frog -- with Jerry in the background.

Calvin wanted to help his buddy Jacoby walk. He's a sweet guy that Calvin, usually. :)

Sleeping baby

Cody sleeping in his crib with his hands behind his head. He's started to pull his ears when he's tired. One day last week, when I picked him up from Virginia's, he was sound asleep but was holding on to his ears. It was really cute. I can't believe how big he's getting already. The time just zips right by. At 5 1/2 months old, he's already 17 pounds. He's wearing 6-9 month old clothes. He's very happy and smiley. He can entertain himself but LOVES when Calvin comes to smile at him.

Eventful day. Too bad it wasn't good.

First I got up late. That's never a good way to start the day. I finally made it to work at 9:10am. Work went fine. Picked up the boys and was going to go to Target. Then Calvin was being testy so I decided Target would be a bad idea, so we just came home. I pull up and the garage window is broken. Wade accidently broke it, at least it wasn't a break in. Then I washed clothes without checking pockets. I washed the car key but it still works, unlike my phone that I washed a couple weeks ago. You'd think I'd learn to check all the pockets. Maybe I will now. Then the remote control for the TV we bought in December doesn't work. So Wade got new batteries in it and it still didn't work. Then for some reason he wasn't able to change the channel by pushing the buttons on the TV either. Great. Our $400 TV appears to be trash now. We'll check it out online and maybe call the company but I'm thinking we don't have an extended warranty and nobody warranties anything anymore it seems. So we'll see. Then I'm getting Cody out of the bath tub and I go in my room and Calvin, who didn't have a diaper on because he was on deck for a bath, peed all over my pillows, blankets, and sheets. All in one general area of the bed. Nevermind that I don't have other clean bedding to put on the bed so now I'll be up later than I want to be so I can wait for some of it to wash and dry. I'm saying a prayer now: Please Lord, watch over my family and let us see the good in each day, even the difficult ones. Amen.

p.s. While I was writing this, I burned a batch of cookies. I need to go to bed.

Kisses in the morning

This morning when I dropped the boys off at Virginia's, Cal usually shuts the door for me but today he was standing at the door asking me for kisses. I thought he was on the verge of tears. So I bent down to give him a kiss and I asked him if he wanted 5 kisses. He said "No, 2." So I kissed him twice on his right cheek. Then he pointed to his left cheek and said "2," so I kissed him twice on the left cheek. Then he was good and basically shoved me out the door and closed it.

Backtracking to continue, but for now...

Tonight when we were on our way home from Virginia's house, Calvin pointed out an airplane in the sky. He said that "me, Cody, Mommy, airplane" and I asked him if he remembered going to the lake after we went on the plane and he said "Austin" and I said yes, we saw uncle Austin. Then he said "Papa" and I said, yep, we saw Grandpa at the lake too. I'm so glad he remembers things now.

Speaking of thing he remembers, Grandpa Al had a large stuffed animal dog at his house and he always called him Woof. It looks like a Golden Retriever. When Al passed away, we inherited Woof, who is now in Calvin's room. Calvin knows it was Papa's and pets old Woof almost every night before bed time.

Backtracking -- June

All the boys having some fun cuddle time.

Little boys cuddling like bugs. But if Calvin really sees a bug, it gets squished. I sure love that!

Our first trip over Trail Ridge. Nevermind the breathtaking views, there's a BIG truck!

Happy happy Cody. Everyone comments about how happy and smiley Cody is. And in my head I think "and he sleeps pretty well." At least compared to how Calvin slept. It's like heaven --- so far :)

Backtracking -- Dallas in May

Aunt Jimmie holding Cody with Calvin nearby. The boys got to meet lots of cousins, their aunts Jimmie and Libby, and uncle Doyle. We stayed with Don, Kay and Lexi for the first part of our visit, then went and stayed with Diane (Dee Dee) and Tack. Diane sure can sing a baby to sleep. Calvin was yelling DeeDee before we left, he sure liked the Bible songs she sang for him.

Backtracking -- May 2010

Helping me make a special batch of chocolate chip cookies. These are the peanut, tree nut, dairy, and egg free variety... and they're actually yummy. Two dozen rarely last more than a couple days in our house!

Janet going away dinner. Too bad I forgot my wallet that night. I miss you Janet and Jacoby. We wish you were still here in Colorado.

I was showing Calvin how to do self portraits this night. He thought it was pretty fun to see the picture in the camera afterward. And he would point and say "Mommy, me!" And look at that pink tile in the background - that is the bathroom wall. Someday, it will be gone.

Happy brothers.

Backtracking -- April 2010

The brothers.

Sleeping on the chair.

The close up. I love the hand under the cheek.

Cody sleeping with Dad. Still a little peanut. Funny how perfect the nickname peanut seemed for him. Calvin was the football.

Backtracking -- gas

The peanut. A moment of pure bliss (aka gas). What a sweet baby. Wade took a great picture of a sleeping Cody.

Backtracking -- no smiles

There will be no smiling by Calvin for this picture. Forget it.

Backtracking - Calvin and Cody

Big brother Calvin with his little brother Cody. Cal loves to give Cody hugs and kisses and has liked sitting with him since the day he came home.

backtracking... night night kisses

A very tired Calvin giving his little brother a night night kiss.

Calvin giving Grandma kisses night night. We were very blessed to be able to have Grandma here when Cody was born. She stayed with me at the hospital when I needed her to and she stayed with Calvin when I needed her to. It worked out really well for us to have Grandma here with us that week. I was very sad to see her go and have missed her ever since.

Backtracking... Peanut

Our little peanut. Only 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 19 inches long. Cody Austin was born at 5:09pm on March 10.

Backtracking

This was right after Cody was born on March 10. The resemblance to his big brother is remarkable.

Grandma got to bring Calvin up to see his little brother soon after he arrived. He's been a great big brother since the day Cody joined our family.

Cody

Cody is now 4 months old. I will be getting some photos posted here to the blog soon. He is almost 15 pounds already, which is more than twice his birth weight of 6 pounds, 10 ounces. He is becoming very interactive these days and is smiling most of the time. He loves to lay on his play mat that has the toys that hang over his head. He grabs the toys and is already trying to shove them in his mouth. He has also recently discovered his feet. Feet are the best thing ever. Wade and I play a game with him where Wade will hold him up and zoom him toward me and I will touch Cody's face with my nose. He thinks that's the funniest thing in the world and will giggle up a storm while we're doing that. We call him the Coder most of the time.

He's usually sleeping pretty well. He's had a lot of colds in his short life and has another one right now (as does Calvin). I'm hoping that doesn't become a consistant theme in our house. He will have his 4 month check up next week. Then we are planning to take the boys up to see Grandmas and Grandpas in Minnesota and North Dakota. We're praying for good weather already.

Calvin is reciting every word that comes our of our mouth; it's like an explosion. It's amazing to watch. He's saying many words that I'm sure he has no idea what they mean but he can say them. He loves to give his "baby Cody" hugs and kisses and lay down with him and make Cody smile. I think they will be great friends.

Allergy Testing

I received the results of Calvin's 2nd year of RAST allergy testing today:

Milk was 1.76, it is now 0.67. This is what we were hoping for!

Eggs were 1.83, they are now 1.44, also going down!
Peanuts were 42.7, they are now 70.0. The opposite direction we were hoping for but not entirely surprising.

Other tree nuts, many of them also increased - some that he didn't react to before are now showing a reaction.

DOGS - up to 12.7 but I don't know what last year's number was. We are supposed to keep dogs out of his room and wash his hands and face if he comes into contact with them. I'm surprised about this one because he doesn't have any visable reaction to them when he hugs the dogs. He's 2 years old and sometimes he licks the dogs and no reaction then either. I wonder if he has to eat their fur for a true reaction...

So we will continue to be diligent about avoiding nuts. We are supposed to continue avoiding eggs and milk for another year when he'll be retested.

It's been too long since I've written on here.

On March 10, 2010, the newest blessing in my life was born: Cody Austin. It's been quite a transition for all of us getting used to another person in our family but we've come along well.

This past week, the four of us went to Dallas, Texas to visit some family. We stayed with cousin Don and his family over the weekend and with cousin Diane on Monday. We saw a whole bunch of cousins: Myron, little Myron, Sarah, Don, Lexy and Kay, David and Vanessa, Diane and Tack, and Carter, Ruthanne, Teddy, Sam and Josh, as well as aunt Libby, Aunt Jimmie and Uncle Doyle. That was the first time they met Calvin and Cody.

Both boys were very well behaved. Both aunt Libby and aunt Jimmie cried when holding Cody. They miss their sister, Wanda, who was Calvin and Cody's grandma.

The trip took us about 20 hours over 2 days each way. The boys did wonderfully in the car. Cody slept a good portion of the time. Upon arriving in Texas, Calvin learned the words BIG and orange and we were able to then point out the Big Trucks, Trains (most of them were orange), cows and horses with Calvin. We sometimes counted the Big Trucks because there were so many of them! All in all, it was a good trip for all four of us.

Play Time!

Today we attended the 2nd Birthday Party for Clay Smith, my boss' son. All of the boys had a blast, the worst part of the day was when we had to leave.


Clavin trying to keep up with the big boys in the bouncy house.

He loves to play in the playhouse!

He said BOO! when he opened the windows. I think he was drawn to it because of all girls playing in there. That's my little ladies man!