Oh, was I blogging?

He walked a week after my last post.  And hasn't stopped since.  He was home sick for two days in August, right when he turned 15 months and he took like 4 steps across the living room right in front of me.  And he's been going, going, going ever since. 

It's pretty fun now.  I still can't believe he went from nothing at his year appt, to crawling across the basement at Josh and Kristine's by the 4th of July to walking by the next month. 


Little Boy is almost 18 months now; just a few more days to go.  He really is SO much fun.  Cars (the Pixar movie) is the favorite right now.  Code name: "Vroom";  everything is "Mama" too; all objects and people.  And when you answer the right name to something he is pointing to, he says "YEAH!!!"

We think that he might have a slight allergy/tummy trouble with Mac-n-Cheese, but not totally sure.  Mac-n-cheese seems to coordinate with some sort of stomach bug he has at the time; but, they sure are some gross, gross diapers. 

I can't wait for him to be potty trained so I don't have to change them anymore.  All in due time. 

Livin' on the Edge

All of the crawling and cruising around on the couches and pulling up has morphed into cruising around all of the furniture with a very delicate hand hold, all around the kitchen, into the backroom.  Rinse and repeat.  :)

He is so close to walking, I can taste it.  Or maybe he can taste it.  The strength is there, now it's just the balance part.  His cousin was over late last week and he walks around all over the place.  Little Boy was standing holding on to a toy in front of the TV watching J and I could see the wheels turning in his head:  "Hey!  I can do THAT."  And therefore, he will.  Because that has been his whole life so far -- I'm not gonna ANYTHING until I decide that I want to.  Which is very, VERY much like his mother.  Hopefully, we can take that personality trait and make it something useful, instead of counter-productive, as my tendencies swing.

We were at the baseball game on Saturday night, which was very fun.  We lasted almost the whole game -- sat in the stands and cheered and got a bit scared by fireworks and when the Brewers were scoring runs -- Miller Park is very loud!  :) 

We went to the State Fair on Sunday morning.  It only rained about an hour in the morning, so while it was raining, we had breakfast:

It was delicious!

I think that we have our annual tradition with him -- I plan on taking month pictures with the next baby too, and I tried my best with Little Boy, but these are good too:

2009 - Almost 3 months old

2010 - Almost 15 months old

What a difference a year makes!  :)











The cream puffs are really good too!  Little Boy slept through those again this year too.  But, he does go with his daycare on Friday, so I'm sure that he will get one then.

I'll post video of him walking soon.


If more than two people read this, I would publicly out my sister-in-law, but since nobody does, it's not really publicly outing her.  I will say that I'm kind of excited that they are having another baby in January.  I don't know if I'm ready or not to have another one.  I waiver back and forth.  If these money things would go away, I would be set.  Until then...I'll just be excited for them.  In my totally stone-cold, anti-excited way.  Especially if they have a girl.  Because then I can buy dresses and make sweet stuff that involves me using up all my girl colored yarns and fabrics that I've been traveling with for the past 5 to 6 years.

Stormy Weather

Current weather map; we are also watching cars try to wade through 2 feet of water trapped under the Green Tree Rd overpass on I-43 near Good Hope Rd.  And a guy just got off the bus on 43 and got onto another bus. 
They closed the storm drains because of construction debris and now the interstate is flooded; actually, both main North-South highways (43 and 45) are closed because of standing water covering the roadway. 



This is some crazy stuff!  There was 7.2 inches of rain at Channel 4 WTMJ, which is basically downtown, for lack of better geography. 

We have a small lake in the basement, because the gutter was overflowing onto the ground by the NE corner and it just runs back into the house.  We should fix that.  Whoops! 

In other house news, we are working on refinancing the house.  Much better rate, much lower payment = amazing.  We can possibly save $150 a month, which will go nicely on the credit cards; I'm thrilled!

Next up:  Car refi to dump the 9.75% interest rate that we currently carry, which is totally absurd. 

Little Boy is doing well -- lots of crawling and cruising and kneeling and babbling.  I'm thinking that he will be walking by the end of summer; hopefully, once he has mastered that skill, the language will start to build again.  He will babble in sentences; you can't understand him, but he speaks in sentences.  Also, he has 99% mastered the toy that he got from my aunt and uncle for Christmas; I'm generally pretty impressed.  With all of our worrying and fussing about him, he's turned out to be a very funny little boy.  A very funny Daddy's boy.  :)

Lovely New Things

So, in honor of Little Boy learning to crawl and pull up and generally get into everything that he can, we purchased a new TV console/stand from BigLots!; everything was 20% today too, so it was only $109 with tax, instead of $130 plus tax.  Best deal evah! 

I know that I was just complaining about money; but this was Jake's summer gig money AND we needed it so Little Boy would stop turning on/off the power on the receiver; you can tell him 'no', but he likes to push the buttons anyway...Plus, we came up with a plan for the money situation, so I don't feel so badly about spending $100 for a super good deal. 

Since Husband and I are insane, we waited to reset everything until 8pm and just finished right now; it's very, very nice, but that was a lot of work!  It makes the living room look a bit bigger because the old one covered up the windows like 50% of the way. 

So, now, Little Boy can go to town on cruising along the TV stand, but the volume will not be touched.

The next tooth came through today -- the center top right one, when you are facing him.  He was VERY crabby all weekend; after 3 days of constantly being around him, I am ready for the break of working!  I feel terrible for saying that, because I really do love him and he is the funniest little boy most of the time, but we spent a lot of time together this weekend and he was kind of cranky for most of it.  But, we are up to 5 teeth now!  I suppose the next top center one will start to come down and make a nuisance for a while. 

My daycare was closed on Friday, because of the flooding, so I was home all day with Little Boy; we went out in the morning, as I was trying to force him through to just an afternoon nap (they have great success with this at daycare) and he passed out on me at 11am; he didn't wake up when I carried him in the house, when I changed his diaper and clothes, etc.  I was shocked, but then again, he only slept an hour or so.  Then, he had a nap from 3:15 until 4:45, so we could go with Daddy to his gig Friday night, but even then, he was wiped out by 8:30.  Poor Little Boy.  We ran him ragged all weekend.  I think that there are times when he would prefer just to stay home and chill.  We should probably be more sympathetic to that some days.

Since it's 10:30, it's probably time for bed for me, but more laundry awaits. 

14 months

It's been a while and much has happened; Little Boy turned 1 and had a very fun birthday party with his cousin, J.  The weather was really great and his Grandma flew in from MD to see him and J and all of us.  It was a pretty good weekend; except Little Boy did not really enjoy the whole cake thing.  Cookie was much more promising. 


Little Boy also had his 1 year check up, which was great; I was worried about the fact that he wasn't crawling, or pulling up or any of that pre-walking type stuff.  I shouldn't have worried, because within 1 week of that appointment, he was sitting up on his own, from his stomach, then army crawling, then regular crawling.  Now, he crawls and pulls himself up to standing on lots of items.  He can also sit on his knees and balance quite well.  I give him the end of the summer before he's walking.  Once he figures it out, I have a feeling he will be tearing through the house.  He is just such a big boy now, it's amazing. 

We really need to baby proof the house, but we are both too tired half the time to do anything during the week and the weekends have just been really, really busy lately.  We'll get it soon. 

The only other frustration that I have right now is that, while I would love to have another baby very soon, we just can't afford it.  I try to figure out a way to pay things down and pay things off and whatnot and it just seems like it's impossible.  I wish I could just stumble upon $10k (heck, even $5K would be beneficial at this point) to pay off credit cards and be done with it; if we paid off debt down to under $5k, I would be much, much happier.  But, I will figure out a way to get through it and come out good on the other side. 

Then, we can start all over again.  :)

1 year ago

It wasn't raining, but it was as gloomy.  Weird.

Little Boy won't be 1 until 8:41pm tonight, but he's still ONE!!!

Happy Birthday Little Boy!

Pics later on.  I'm at home today to try to clean up before we have people here next weekend.

I must have changed something...

I decided today that two things have happened, almost at the same time; or at least, they converged to change over at the exact same time, making neither Mama or Little Boy very happy at bedtime.

I think that Little Boy has decided that it is time for him to go to bed at 6:30, instead of 6 (or earlier!).  Naps are much longer during the day.  Unfortunately, I am not used to having to entertain him for this extra half hour, but I will oblige him this week in learning and thinking up new ways to entertain him for 30 more mins.

Additionally, I must have slowly started to change his bedtime routine to where there is NO bedtime routine.  Just me deciding that it's time for him to go to bed.  Both these changes have lead to screaming like the world is going to end at bedtime.  Tonight, for instance, I tried to give him his bottle and have him go to bed at 6pm -- he looked tired and I thought he was ready.  However, after listening to him crying brokenly for 15 mins, I went back in, picked him up and rocked with him while he finished a last 2 ounces and then he just laid with me and watched his mobile from the rocker.  After 20 minutes of doing this, I laid him back down and all was well.  And now, I think that he's probably asleep.  or close.  Silly Mama.  Not doing what the little boy is telling you that he needs to do.

So, starting tomorrow, the bedtime routine will start around 6 or 6:10 instead of 5:30.  and I will stick to his old one of jammies, a bottle in the rocking chair and then bed -- with all his animals and toys.  I don't care if he plays in there for another hour, as long as he's happy and getting himself to sleep.

As the weather gets warmer, we can go for a walk or go outside for a bit after dinner; the sun will still be out and it will be warm enough for him.  That will really help.  Then, we can come inside at 5:45 or 6 and get ready for bed.  We'll see what happens.  Maybe I will try this and it won't work and he'll be crying brokenly at 6:30 instead of 6.  But, considering that he's been waking at 5:30 for the past few days, I think a later bedtime is in order.

Another problem that we are having is with his diapers -- he had leaked through 4 of them in the past twenty four hours.  I don't think that he's ever done that ever.  So, I'm going to take all of them and strip them with Dawn and rewash everything.  I don't know what the hell happened, but something did.  And Jake changed the bedsheets once and I did once in the past few hours.  Which is super annoying.  And I'm just hoping that Little Boy doesn't leak out overnight.  Because if I have to get up tonight, I will probably cry.

My friend at work forced me to read the first one and I have since finished the Twilight series.  It was ok.  It was a good story, but after the heartbreak of Harry Potter, I have decided to not expect too much from books, especially "series" books.  My expectations will probably not be met.  I would not mind more books on the characters in the story -- some of them were pretty good characters and I would have like more story. But, I suppose that is what fanfic is for.  And I should know, I have read enough of it (X-Files and Harry Potter).  I was going to wait until the last book came out on paperback, but I decided on Saturday that I couldn't wait until then, so I bought the hardcover.  It was very enjoyable.  I know many did not like it, but it was a good read for just getting lost in a story and not having to think about the real world.  There was only one thing that kind of pulled my focus, and that was a small conversation where one of the characters quoted the Simpsons.  It was kind of out of place for me.  But, no matter.  I kept going.

I guess if you're just looking for a good book to read where you don't have to think much, that would be it.  :)

Off to wash diapers.

New place

my life is here now

Springtime is (almost) here!

Hooray for springtime!  I'm glad it's a bit early this year.

Little Boy is getting bigger and bigger.  And he is just such a happy guy all the time now.  He is cutting some teeth right now, we think, but he's still very enjoyable to have around.  Lots of smiles and giggles and laughs and all that cute baby stuff.  That is the best part.  I have been waiting for this part.  Where he can walk and talk a bit and be a bit more independent than before.  It's a couple of months away from walking at least and same with talking, but you still see the growing and changing and it's wonderful. 

He has nearly 99% switched over to table food.  We told the new daycare to just try table food with him and he has really taken off.  He'll gum down anything we put in front of him, pretty much.  He loves peas and chicken; he has eaten pizza (both Toppers and homemade), hamburgers (McDonalds and homemade), fries, brats, green beans, pancakes -- you name it and he's probably tried it.  He loves his food!

End of the "30 Day Shred"

So, did I really last all 30 days? No.  I would take a break here and there because my knees needed it.  And I pretty much blew off the last week, because of needing the mental break.

My results?  Mixed.  I really haven't lost any weight, based on the scale, but two days ago, the answer would have been different -- I would have lost 4 pounds overall, but I ate like crap the last weekend and I am paying for it now.  oops.

Overall, I have lost 15 inches.  Now, that's a LOT of measurements:  Neck, Bust, Chest, Waist, Lower Waist, Hips, Thighs, Calves, Upper Arm and Forearm.  But, there is a noticeable difference in the major ones -- I lost a lot of the extra back padding from being pregnant, so it's a little more good curvy back there.  Now, I just need to lose this tummy padding.  Stupid C-section.

My overall opinion:
It's a great way to kick start a workout regime for yourself -- if you can do the 30 days, then you can keep moving forward with something else.  I definitely have more energy and my knees are doing MUCH better, since they are stronger.

The new plan:  Level 3 workout from the Shred every other day, alternating with walking outside at work until we change buildings and I have access to the workout room.  THEN, I will probably be working out on my lunch time every other day, along with the Level 3 Shred.

I am still trying to lose about 20 pounds before May 13, which is looming large at this point, but it still doable. I will at least try and that is the part that matters!


Little Boy had bronchiolitis this past week.  Stupid RSV.  He was fevery, then was a little better, then a cold, then back to fever and coughing and hacking and SNOT like you wouldn't believe!  But, there is nothing to be done except to let it run it's course.  And sure enough, by Friday afternoon, he was getting better.  He's MUCH better as of today, and I am happy because he is sleeping all night again.

He is 10 months old now!  I think that he's starting to get testy and frustrated with us, because he wants to do more moving around, but he can't, because he doesn't want to learn to crawl without a major battle and isn't really taking to the standing and holding onto things very well.  He just isn't using his arms very well.  Hands, yes; arms, not so much.  I don't know how I feel about that.  I'm going to give him another month and then I might call the office and talk to the other female doctor at the pediatrician, who, coincidentally, I went to high school with.  That was definitely weird.  I'm not super worried about him, but it's a little odd.  He's just my little weirdo.  :)

Fever

So, I get a call from Little Boy's daycare (which will be his old daycare as of next week) at 4pm yesterday -- it was the director, letting me know that Little Boy had a fever.  Man, did he ever!  He was dozing on one of the girls (the one that I don't like! grr...) in the rocking chair in the baby room -- they had me all packed up, so I could just grab him and go.  I hadn't given them Tylenol, so they couldn't give him any for me.  They just used cool compresses on his head, which I think helped.

I got him home and laid him on the couch and took his temp -- 103!  Whoa!  That baby got Tylenol and went to bed.  He woke up a couple of times between 5:15 and 9, but then was asleep until midnight; then he had more drugs and a bottle.  And he slept until almost 6 this morning and his temp was almost normal, which makes Mom happy.

The reason old daycare is now old daycare is because we have found a new place.  It's called Nonni's House and it's a mom and a daughter that live in a duplex more toward the center of West Allis.  They are awesome!  And he can go three days a week and it's only $35 a day.  I can handle that!  They are really nice, normal people too.  And I feel like I know the daughter, but I don't know why...She's only 24, so I don't think it was HS.  I am just so glad that we found a place very easily that we both love and Little Boy will get the attention and care that I think he wasn't getting at the old place.

So, I call the director to ask what I need to do to leave the place.  Now, three weeks ago, I asked about him coming more days.  She told me that she really didn't have anymore room for him -- he could come Thursdays, but not Wednesdays and there was no room really to move him around, because the whole place is full.  When I called yesterday, man, had that story changed!  Suddenly, there was room for him for more days.  Well, lets see  $180 vs. $105 a week.  Gee, let me think...

So, we've started a new place.  LB's Grandma was very, very sad that instead of watching him on Thursdays, she works.  I think that she wasn't ready to give up a day.  But, she will still see him Tuesdays.  And when it's nice out again, we can go to her house more.

Also, this week (on Monday, actually), my friend Julia had her son.  She works at a hospital not too far away from where I work, so Tuesday afternoon, I stopped to say hi and see the new adorableness.  And both Mom and Dad looked really good -- they didn't have that new parent look to them at all.  And her son was very, very cute.  I got to hold him for a bit and he was so sweet.  You could tell that he knew I was someone different, but that didn't stop me from rocking him back to sleep.  sucker!  :)

I think that whenever we're monetarily ready, I'm ready again.  The monetary part might be a little longer coming here, but the tax returns helped a bunch.  I don't feel so strained.  I'm hoping we can pay a big old chunk down this summer.  Cleaning out the house would also be a good thing.  I'm taking off May 13 and 14 for LB's 1st birthday, but I will probably use it to have a garage sale Friday and Saturday.  I'll spend the time before that to clean out the whole house and basement.  I would like to get rid of 50% of the stuff that we have.  That way, we can have a nice playroom that isn't my living room.  Actually, I'd love to move the living room around so it's more open to the "dining room" area -- then the toys could go there and you could still see LB playing from the living room.

OH....so many ideas!!!  I love spring.  Time for some spring cleaning!

Manic Baby

Little Boy has been totally manic the last couple of days.  It's amazing.  Smiling and happy one minute and crying in abject horror the next.  Diaper changes are the worst.

The bucking and kicking and temper tantrums are interesting to witness however.

I'm thinking that the inability to communicate and the lack of mobility are starting to catch up with him.  Because I feel like he is trying to tell us something, but what = ???????  I wish he had a word or two that he could use.

Additionally, since tummy time also makes him insane with rage and tears, I have decided to try to start to get him to learn to stand on his own and cruise around on the furniture.  It's actually going ok -- you stick a laptop in front of him (real or fake) and he loves to hit it.  Which makes him stay up longer.  But, like everything, it's going to take some time.  So, we can do tummy time and standing time.  Gotta do something.  He's gotta start chasing these cats around by the end of the summer.  I really am looking forward to filming him chasing the cats around.

But, he is definitely my child -- he will not do a damn thing unless he wants to.  You can't make him do anything, or he will pitch a fit.

The shred is continuing.  I'm on day 14 tonight.  I have to wait until Little Boy goes to bed, because I am unable to function for 20 mins afterward.  But, I am seeing a change (except for my c section belly), so it's a good thing.  That belly is going to hang on forever, I think.

But, it was worth it.

Babies are awesome! and some Birthday related things

I went to a friend's baby shower today and had a really, really good time!  The glass of wine prior to lunch helped too.  She has a couple of friends that live in town and it does two things:  Makes me miss my close friends that all live out of state now and makes me wish that I had close friends in town.  :)

Little Boy did not come with me though.  I wanted to bring him, but he's either had a couple of off days OR his nap schedule is changing AGAIN (silly babies) and he's eliminating a nap, despite his insane tiredness by 5:30 or 6pm, so the beginning of the shower fell at nap time for him and then I was too tired to have him come down.  But, I think once my friend's little man is here, we can have some play dates and such.

I love babies...

In other news, I am trying to set up a birthday part for Little Boy and J, his cousin.  I don't know if J's parents will be able to do that, but the question has been raised.  I think that the Gary Heyebrau company is going to brew some specialty beer for the occasion.  I'm thinking May 22 or 23.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.  I'm leaning towards the Saturday, because then there's recovery time the next day.

Nothing like a good yard/driveway party to lift your spirits!

From Mama's Corner

I'm on Day 2 of the "30 Day Shred" from Jillian Michaels.  It pretty much kicks my butt.  And I'm only on level 1.  8 more days and I'm on to level 2.  10 days on Level 1, 10 on Level 2 and 10 on Level 3.  You're supposed to be able to lose up to 20 pounds, but all anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that you should only really expect 10.

I'm more about the inches.  I don't care about weight so much as being able to fit into my old pants.  I know that some women have trouble ever fitting back into their pre-pregnancy jeans due to "hippage", but my body did not change shape all that much.

So, 30 days to get rid of the rest of Ryan weight.  And, at this point, it's really cheeseburger weight, as apposed to Ryan weight.

9 Months Old!

Little Boy is officially 9 months old, as of Saturday!

His Aunt, Uncle and Cousin J came down Saturday to hang out.  J is a crazy man, who eats like a horse and lives to climb things.  But, he is pretty funny, and it's pretty funny to watch an 8 1/2 month old cram food into his cram-hole until there's nothing left to do.  But, he must have rubbed off on Little Boy, because on Sunday, Little Boy started to feed himself his sweet potato puffs (sweet potato flavored rice puffs).  We're working on the sippy cup.  He's definitely going to be right handed -- that's the dominant hand, for sure.

His doctor appt was very good.  He's 28 inches and 19 pounds.  I think that he's longer than 28 inches, but that height thing can be a bit subjective.  If you don't get the leg straight or get the head line right, it can be skewed.  Head size is still 95th percentile.  We're transitioning to table foods the rest of the way in the next three months, and should be converted to whole milk and table food by 1 year.  He's much better with chewing now too, so that's a very good thing.  No teeth about to make their immediate arrival, but they are coming eventually.

I'm amazed that it's been 9 months already!  Before I know it, it will be May and I will have to be thinking about birthday parties and such.  I'm looking forward to my first Mother's Day -- missed it by three days last year.  I'm thinking brunch at Brocach would be amazing.  Even Little Boy could eat some eggs and biscuits and whatever else.  and I can have myself Mimosas until I can't walk.

Snowstorm

Little Boy saw his first real snowstorm today.  We've had a couple in his first winter, but this was the first one that actually dumped a lot of snow on the metro area.

I think that he enjoyed the snow.  Well, at the very least, he enjoyed his Daddy jumping around like a fool while I took a picture.