My Blogging and Such

PaPaw "met" our crazy neighborhood lady. Gave her a wave when they went to get the mail yesterday. I did not hear exactly where she was for this wave but I assume it wasn't in our yard or anything or they probably would've mentioned that part. That's the latest from her.

Today we ran to the library. Got a few new books and movies. Got to show it to the grandparents. Not that they read the blog regularly, but the Alabamaws do and when they tagged along for all our daily activities they said they felt like they were "living in the blog". I really wish I was a more interesting blogger sometimes but the wandering Vietnamese lady in the 'hood is the most exciting you'll hear from me. Sadly.

Anyway, the blog really does journal our lives. I like when I look back on old posts. That's why I started the blog anyway. To chronicle things for the out-of-towners...namely The Maws at first. Then my audience just kind of grew. I have lots of secret readers too. Well, I wouldn't say "lots" but from the amount of hits I get versus the amount of comments...well, where are all you people? You can speak up now and then. :) Nah, I'm really not fishing for comments this time.

Looking forward to the long weekend. No big plans...just hanging with Garol. The Garols? Not sure how to label them.

Dalton did more cereal tonight. He ate a 1/4 cup of dry oats...so, once I mixed it with milk who knows how much food that is??? I made it really thick and he did even better than last time. We were pretty sure he'd be "ready"...waiting till 6 months like we did and he's always interested in what we're eating. Still is. I'm excited for when we can branch out to some more exciting flavors than oatmeal. I think Dalton will continue to do well.

Alright, well I may head up to bed here before long...both boys had me up last night. Easton's having bad dreams, I think. He'll cry. But one time I went in and he mumbled, "I want to ____ the bicycle". The ____ was something I couldn't understand. Who knows what he was dreaming about?

Okay, I'm going to bed. Sorry for the no pictures...I'm on a different computer.

Garol is Here

Garol meet Dalton:



Garol is my not-so-clever combination of Mimi's and PaPaw's actual names.

Easton had a MUCH better afternoon than he did morning. Whew! We went out to eat and he did really well. He was a total joy.


When we got home from dinner we gave Dalton his solids for the first time. Mmmmm oatmeal. Mimi commented that he looked like he'd been doing this for awhile.

The mess on his bib was only from Jason and I dripping the runny oatmeal.

He ate the entire bowl I made.

It did not make him suddenly sleep through the night. I did not think it would.

Anyway, Easton's having fun with the new people in the house already. E and PaPaw in a round of "chase":

Please ignore that Easton isn't wearing pants. His shorts kept falling off of him. Somehow he is skinnier than he was on my birthday and when we went to Six Flags. He wore those shorts those days (12 month size from The Children's Place). They didn't fall off him then. When we were at Wal-Mart I discovered him with his pants around his ankles. Wondered how long he'd been riding around like that. But it wasn't his doing...I watched them fall off him numerous times. He's eating better yet he's skinnier. What the heck!?!?

With our visitors here Dalton is bunking with us again. And I was immediately reminded why we booted him out of our room in the first place. He is not a quiet sleeper. And he's sensitive to our noises too. It didn't seem so bad when we were all in the hotel room together. Except for Easton's snoring. Man that child can snore. You'd think he was a much bigger person with the sounds coming out of him. Anyway, D is in with us but in the Pack and Play. When I got out of the shower this morning (a quick one as usual) I found this:

I had Dalton propped up in there but E was on my bed. He liked it better in there with his brother. :)

Today we took Mimi and PaPaw to Gym with us. Easton had another good day there and Mr. Ken called Dalton a girl again (he was wearing yellow and white this time, though). Anyway, he said "she" and I immediately interrupted with a "He he HE!!! And a smile. He was like, "Sorry...I think I did that to you last week too" and I added a very helpful, "And the week before..." Miss Stephanie (who is only 20) did a "Dang! She told you!" kind of thing. Dork. I did say that I knew yellow was tricky and that I didn't really care. I don't? I sure mention it on the blog an awful lot for not caring. But maybe now he'll stop calling him Easton's sister and crap like that.

Anyway, Easton did not do so great once we got home. Dalton needed milk and Easton needed a time out. It didn't go well. I did what I had to do--the buckled booster chair came back out. Afterwards when the time-outing and milking were over Easton was super-duper sweet and polite. He was "Yes please" and "more please"ing me at lunch time. Then I was changing him into his jammies for his nap and we bonked heads. It was a total accident. Immediately he went, "I sorry Mommy!" and then saw my face (with pained expression) and he said, "That made Mommy sad" followed by a "I don't want Mommy to be sad." Oh. My. Gosh. He was so sweet. He went right to sleep quietly for his nap.

I'm ready for this phase to be over. I was ready for it to be over last week.

Dalton is still the sweetiest. I didn't give him any oatmeal today because I didn't have any fresh milk to mix it with. That's my excuse. But also, I forgot how LONG it can take to feed a new eater some solids. Perhaps tomorrow. Or as Easton always says, "Maybe next time..."

This Might Be...

...my worst day with Easton ever. And that is saying a lot because one day he almost died. Although I had the "benefit" of a lot of drugs in me back then so it didn't seem quite as bad as it really was. Anyway, we are having a heck of a day around here.

Started first thing...before Jason even went to work. Awful.

My sweet baby Dizzle has been sleeping for a lot of it. Bless him. I hate having to deal with so much from Easton when Dalton is awake.

So...we had lengthy timeouts this morning. He won't stay in his corner. I've had to buckle him into his booster seat in the corner a few times lately to get him calmed down enough to eventually stay put in the corner on his own for his "official" time out. Him staying in the "naughty spot" himself is key to us. This morning he was in his booster and one time he tipped it over backwards. Not good. Another time he was able to get out and stand on the seat. Lovely. So, now my booster chair technique is gone and I just have to battle with him to sit down and stay sitting.

He used to do so well.

It's almost like he's posessed today. Gonna be real great to show him off to the granparents like this, eh? I'm worried of what they'll think of my parenting skills after they see him. Yes, of course I care what they think. And I know I'm a good parent but if you saw us in Wal-Mart this morning you might question that statement.

Wal-Mart started off lovely. Then I put Easton in the back of the cart (Dalton was in his seat on the front). Easton likes to push the buttons on the "Try Me" toys in the baby aisle and if he's been good I let him. So he goes in the cart so he can reach. Fine. Then I leave him in the cart because it's easier to finish my shopping. Well, he starts trying to straddle the back of the cart. Not cool. Got him to stop that. Then he tried sitting on the rim! Absolutely not! I ended up carrying him and pushing my cart but Easton was being unruly and loud and trying to climb me. At that point I had to squeeze Dalton in his seat into the back of the cart with my groceries and buckle Easton into the child seat in front. Then he kept trying to pry my hands off the cart. Little booger.

Finally we got home...I probably forgot a ton of groceries. But we got home and Dalton went to sleep. I was putting away the groceries and Easton went to find Cuddles. Or so he said. Instead he went into Dalton's room, climbed up on it and started yelling at Dalton to wake him up! Argh!

We went into another lengthy time-out battle again. Once he was done we were snuggling and talking about things: we don't hit, we don't scream to wake up Dalton, we sit for time-outs... and then he started throwing another fit over wanting more juice.

Nap time!

Getting him to sleep (early, even!) wasn't too hard. And today I'm letting him sleep for as long as he wants. I really hope he shakes this 'tude. It is no fun. Hopefully having some new people around will help him--it used to. We shall see. Jason's on his way home to get the car to go get them right now.

I don't want to completely focus on the negative, although right now it's hard not to. So, to help me (and you lovely readers) here are some pictures of happier times to remind me of the sweet boy hiding somewhere inside today:




Sharing with Dalton:






Sweet love pats:


Cheese!


Boys in a basket, looks like E's loving a little tight, eh?


Snuggle:


Kiss:


And I can hardly stand how sweet this one is:


Come out, come out wherever you are! I look forward to the kid in those pictures coming back again. Soon!

Just a video (or 3) before we go:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Easton is a great big brother most of the time...when he's not trying to wake his sleeping brother.

Okay, gotta run. Company's coming!

The Well-Baby

So, we're home from Dalton's 6 month well-baby check. He's still well.

His 6 Month Stats:
Weight: 18 pounds, 7.5 ounces
Height: 27.75 inches
Head: 17.5 inches

Okay, well, he has really slowed down in his weight gaining. Not even a half an ounce a day anymore. The doctor said they actually expect this. And she also said, "It tells me it's time for solids". According to her charts he is 75th-90th percentile for weight now.

The height...well, we all know how inaccurate I think Tina the M.A. is. If that measurement is right then he's nearly 3 inches taller than a month ago when we went in for pink eye. He was 25 inches at that appointment (5 months). He was 25 1/4 at his 4 month. See what I mean about that Tina... I might measure him myself later. Just to see.

So, the plan is to start him on some oatmeal tomorrow. When Paw Paw Gary and Mimi get here. They actually haven't met Dalton yet so it'll be fun (we think) to share this "milestone" with them. We'll see how it goes. I made the mistake of asking our doctor's advice for starting solids. To her credit she didn't say anything till I asked. But she did have a very specific order in which she recommended introducing various foods. I'm not going to listen because it doesn't matter all that much. She does have a good theory, but it's one that's never been "proven". Such as start veggies first (the green leafy ones, then corn, then the orange ones like carrots and sweet potatoes, then beets...). With Easton we alternated introducing a veggie, then a fruit. Yes, he is picky now but he wasn't before. I'm not sure exactly how I'll do it this time. I think maybe starting with avocado. That was one of Easton's least favorites (till we mixed it with bananas). But it's different so maybe we'll try that first. It is a great first food. Well, after cereal... We're starting with cereal first.

Anyway, the doctor was impressed with how easy going Dalton is, even with all her poking and prodding. She thought he was an excellent sitter (good thing she didn't see his face plant last night). She gave me an "A+" as always and didn't say much to make me mad at her. That was good. She did shush Easton before she listened to D with her stethescope but it wasn't too rude. It was more of a, "I'm about to listen and apparently need complete silence" kind of shush. No biggie. And Easton did great. He was an excellent tag-along today. Excellent.

Dalton did get 2 shots. He's getting tougher. He didn't cry much at all, but a little. He is sleeping them off now. No Tylenol yet. Big boy!

Then we went to get smoothies with Jason. I called J on the phone to tell him about the appointment and Easton was shouting, "Want to talk to Daddy!" from the back seat. So, I gave him the phone and he launched into a convo with his Dad about how he wanted to go get smoothies and how Dalton had shots and cried. Very cute. So, then when we hung up to drive over to J's office Easton said, "We're going to see Daddy! Hurry Mommy! Drive fast!" And shouted "Drive faster!" various times during our voyage. Cutie. I told him I was going as fast as the speed limit would let me.

We stopped at the library on the way home and then drove through the car wash too. When we got home Easton did not want to cooperate with naptime and ended up having a longish time-out session but then went to sleep. As I said, Dalton is O.U.T. from the shots for now.

Tomorrow some grandparents come. We haven't seen them since they came out for Easton's first birthday. That is a long time. Easton has talked to them on the phone a little and has seen pictures. He loves people so I'm sure it'll be fine. I know Jason is looking forward to introducing his second son to his dad. And Easton always a pleasure to show off too. Well, usually.

Anyway, there ya go. Here's one last D picture before you leave...

Mountain Getaway Mini-Vacay

Or rather, we were there. We're home now. We left Friday hence the no blogging since then.

So...you know when someone warns you "Picture Overload" and you're like, "Yeah, that was a lot but it's just like any other day over at Kristin's Blog..." Well, this is serious picture overload on steroids. There's gonna be a ton. A ton, I tell you. Okay. Now that you've been warned...

Friday around naptime we left our house for our drive up to Steamboat, CO. My mom informs me that Steamboat has turned out more Olympic skiiers than any other city...in Colorado? The U.S.? I don't know...but either way: It's a ski town. I've heard that the high school up there doesn't even have classes on Friday so that everyone can ski. So, being that it's August and all...you'd call that "off season" and you can find some great deals. My very generous mama sprang for the rooms (they came too) and off we went. We had some kick-ass rooms, too. The two rooms were connected and one was a condo with a full kitchen, separate bedroom, pull out couch, fireplace and all that. Very nice. The second room (which ended up being ours) had a king bed, fireplace and one of those gigantic jacuzzi tubs. Oh, and a balcony--known as a "lanai" to our family because we like to pretend we're Hawaiian giving our son a middle name like Kai and all... Anyway, during the "peak" times of year these two rooms together would go for around $900 a night...let's just say, it wasn't even close to what Moosie paid. But it was still a $900 set-up. We're still very greatful for living large for a weekend.

Oh yeah...so, we left around naptime but Easton never slept. The drive wasn't too bad and took us maybe 3 hours. Jason took the day off work so we could make the most of it. We got there a couple hours before my mom and Lauren and hung out in the suites. And on the lanai:

That picture was taken about 10 minutes after receiving some very good news (which I'm not going to share just yet, sorry. Oh, and no we're not pregnant.)

Easton doesn't share my fear of heights:

Not that I have a true fear, but anytime he'd hang on the railing and dangle his feet through the openings it would make my heart totally flutter. Stomach too.

The view from our little patio:

At the highest point in the picture is a little white speck. That is a restaurant where we have brunch later in the trip...just tuck that away for later.

You think I was nervous when Easton hung on the railing then just imagine how scared I was when we put the camera up there on timer to capture this family shot:

You know how much I love the camera. I'm kidding about it being more important than Easton, of course. You guys got that, right?

Once my mom and Lauren arrived we did dinner at an Italian restaurant and dined al fresco. Very lovely.




Easton showed off his new piggy skills to Gramoo and Low-rin (that's what E calls her now). He ate a ton of Lauren's alfredo. He had some of our stuff too but their marinara was a little spicy so he preferred the white sauce. Check out the 3 plates in front of him!


And his messy face:


He got so messy that we stripped him for the ride back to the hotel:

Oh, and he "want Low-rin to sit next to E-tin". So she did. Nice auntie. Poor Gramoo had to drive by herself.

Dancing on the window seats back in the suite with Lauren:

There were two of those window seats so they'd dance on one, jump down, then dance on the other, and jump down to go back and forth. Very fun, apparently. We ended up pulling one of those "mattresses" out of the window seat for Easton's bed at the foot of ours.

The gigantic tub:



Dalton got in too and we have video (that I can't share) but apparently no pictures. Oh well. He loved it too and kicked his little feet all around but it was quite hard to hold onto him over such a deep tub. I got in with them both the next night but you won't see any pictures of that. Don't worry.

Easton never napped Friday and we didn't get them to bed till after 9 that night. They both went down just fine:



But Easton ended up having a rough night. He kept not knowing where to put his head and would curl up at the foot or fall off or whatever. Sometimes he'd just cry out for no reason. It was a long night. Dalton did pretty well, though. He was in the Pack and Play for most of the night but did come in with us for a bit too.

Saturday morning we went to a New Orleansy type place for breakfast. Dalton continued to be the happiest baby while we were there:

Easton was not quite as happy...a little sleep deprived, I think.

He cheered up when he got to help push Dalton in the umbrella stroller's maiden voyage:

We've got D ready for a morning in the sun--we found shade, though. He was too little to enjoy the alpine slide action.

Easton's first time in a chair lift up to the top of the mountain with Daddy:

Lauren and I were in front of them.

Then, riding back down the mountain on the alpine slide:

That's me "winning". Naturally. :)

Easton and Daddy:


Gramoo waited at the bottom with Dalton and took the pictures. There was a second round. Gramoo took Easton:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jason and I waited with D and he enjoyed some milk and photo ops:




By the third round, when I got to go with Easton, he was an old pro:




Back at the room we eventually got him to take a nap. He really needed it but it was rough. Then we had to wake him which didn't help his mood. But he's still a goofyball at heart. Even though there was plenty of standard seating he chose to get comfy under the coffee table:


Daddy and Dizzle stuck with the couch:


After the naps it was time to go swimming! Diddlebug is ready:




Of course, Easton froze again:

Jason even took him in the hot tub. Lauren did her auntly duties and kept Dalton in the shade of her head as best she could:

D and I headed back a little before everyone else.

That night we had Mexican for dinner. Jason's margarita was excellent. I was sad I ordered just a house margarita once I had a sip of his. Oh well. There will be other margaritas in my future, I'm sure. We left to get the boys ready for bed and Gramoo and Lauren did a bit of shopping. They had a moose store! Anyway, me and my little men before baths:


And E in the bath again. "Are you looking at my bum? Cheekymonkeys!"


It was a rough night for E again that night. You wouldn't know it from this happy pic the next morning:


We got ready to check out after that. We had to be on the top of the mountain for brunch at 10. Dizzle had to squeeze in naps whenever and wherever he could:

Put him in the carseat for his nap so we could just get him and go when we were ready. Easton and Lauren posed for a few final photos in the room:




Easton really liked "moose":


In the hotel lobby:


The gondola ride to the top of the mountain:



I saw this and went, "Why did I do my hair like that?" and Jason went, "That's not my favorite shirt of yours."



Dalton enjoyed it but didn't appreciate it like the rest of us:


Easton looking down:

It really was quite lovely.

The view from the brunch building:


A post-brunch shot of the family:


And my awesome mom and sister:

Easton is clinging to Lauren's leg in this picture.

One proud Daddy:


Somehow we still weren't at the tippy top of the mountain. Trying to get another family shot with the slopes behind us:

We like how J is pulling E's finger out of his nose. Classic.

What we could manage:


What we were going for:

What a great picture!

Dizzle and Gramoo:


We did some browsing around the town again once we rode the gondola back down. No slide this time, darn it. The boys don't ever get to go to toy stores, but we went to a couple and Easton had fun. So did D:



We bought Easton a little something for the drive home (he didn't know it, though) and Gramoo bought him a big something for the drive home (he wanted what she had in her bag, but still didn't know it).

How much of the weekend was spent:


What we'd look like coming at you on the street:


A final photo op before we left, the giant horse near the moose store:



He's doing a "yee haw!" there. And check out his foot positioning for his potential future as a jockey.

"Whoa there, ol' boy!"


Dalton patting the nose:


It started raining then and we began our drive home. Check out the name of this hotel we passed:


And playing with the car toy from Gramoo.

He liked it a lot till he decided to make the last hour a rough one. He slept for the first hour and a half or so. Till we stopped for gas.

He continued with the huge fits once we got home too. I went upstairs with Dalton and pumped out 13 ounces of milk! Then, nursed Dalton too. I could've kept going. Things were quite full and I was so relieved to be by my pump again.

Eventually we got Easton to come around. We went outside to buzz Jason's head and Easton played in the ice from the cooler. They say preemies have higher thresholds for pain:



Wacko. He does feel the cold, he just likes to shock us, I guess.

Dalton slept and we had a simple fend-for-yourself dinner. Easton and I did macaroni, two utensils for him:


Both kids slept quite well last night. Easton woke moaning once before I went to bed but was good after that. He slept till after 7 again. We got our doughnuts this morning but had a very rough time once we got home. His mood seems likely related to his 100.3 fever (without adding a degree because I took it in his pit). Not entirely sure what's going on yet. He went down quickly for his nap without any fuss. I should probably wake him so he'll go to sleep around his normal bedtime tonight but if he's gonna stay in that mood and if he needs it then I kinda want to let him sleep too...

Dalton's down at the moment too. Maybe I'll wake E when D gets up. Maybe. We'll see.

Anyway, if you made it this far I applaud you. That was a long one. Tomorrow is Dalton's 6 month well-baby. I know you all like to hear how fat he's getting. Stay tuned!