I Think I Have a Job

Okay, wow...two posts a day for two days in a row. I hope no one is overwhelmed by all this entertainment. :) I obviously do not suffer from "bloggers block". It's just that at the very last minute, Jason was invited to go jam with some fancy pants local band. So he went to do that with my encouragement/blessing. And, E went right to sleep at bedtime so I'm left all on my own with a belly full of Mexican food mixed with what was a super delish strawberry coconut margarita. My goodness, that thing was strong too. Granted I don't imbibe too often these days, still breastfeeding and all...hey, maybe that's why Easton went straight to sleep tonight? Oops. Hmmmm, I sure hope he stays asleep. My bad. Anyway, I'm happily full and it looks like I've found myself a little part time job to boot.

You see, Jason's co-worker recently came back from maternity leave. Her inlaws are watching her baby this month but then they go back home so she was looking for someone super (um, that's me--tee hee!) to watch their baby 2 days a week. We had dinner with them tonight to "discuss" even though she's already been telling everyone else at work that I'll be watching her son after her inlaws go home. Whoa...we had never talked about it till tonight, but luckily for everyone it looks like it'll work out okay. Their baby sounds very mellow and easy going, just like his parents. That sounds so unlike Easton--at that age especially. I wouldn't commit to anything long term just yet, if E doesn't seem like he can handle it then we'll (read:they'll) have to figure something else out as it wouldn't be worth it to me. But, it'll also be good practice for another potential Setzer baby someday and I'll be making a little bit of money for us. Hopefully it'll work as well as it sounds like it will. I feel pretty good about it, other than Easton calling the baby "doggie" tonight. I guess we will see how it goes next month. I wasn't looking for a "job", it just kind of worked out this way but we're not complaining...at least not yet!

And, just for fun tonight I made another video montage. Click here to see it. Jason was doing a little work in the backyard which Easton found amusing to watch. He liked it most when Daddy would come up to the glass but also had fun banging on it with both his hands and his head, doing a little twirly jig, and pushing his playyard across the kitchen. He is so fun! The song is part of Jack Johnson's "Upside Down" which is from the Curious George movie. Enjoy!

Nothing Exciting

I'm not sure I can top the Osmond-excitement ever again. :) But, Easton does have a new "thing"...climbing into his toy box. Jason and I looked over yesterday and we couldn't see him but we could hear him laying in his toy box, next thing we know he's happily sitting up in the box. Goofball. Click here for video. Jason offered to help him out once dinner time rolled around but E wasn't interested in help or in getting out. So, we actually sat down to eat without him and he climbed out and came to join us a short time later. He ate 2 bites of an apple slice and a E-spoon sized bite of rice with one pea. Oh yeah, and 2 cheddar bunnies (they're the size of goldfish crackers). That's it. Honestly. What am I going to do with him?

But, he has been sleeping well his last 3 sleeps or so. The night before last he slept for 11 1/2 hours. Then he took a super long nap yesterday too: I woke him up once it occured to me he'd been down for over 3 and a half hours! What the heck? Maybe he's growing? But, don't you need food for that? Anyway, last night he slept great again. From about 8 o'clock last night until after 9:30 this morning! And even now, he's just passed the 2 hour mark of his current nap. I don't know what's gotten into him but I like it! Too bad it's sure to be short-lived.

Tonight we're going out to dinner with one of Jason's co-workers to talk business. Yay! It's actually potential "business" for me plus I get to eat out. I love that! Tomorrow we're having friends over for dinner: a pal of mine from high school and her new husband. She lives fairly close to me but we sadly haven't seen them since before I got pregnant with Easton! That's just not right. They're excited to finally meet Easton in person, she says she feels like she's been watching him grow up through his album photos. Funny, other people say the same thing :)

Easton's 1st Celebrity Sighting

That's right, we saw Marie Osmond today! I'm known for bringing the camera just about everywhere but darn if I didn't have it today. I never expected to see anyone famous in little ol' Thornton, Colorado...let alone at Wal-Mart Ha ha ha!

Here's the scoop, Easton and I pulled into the lot and I saw a couple of news vans. I must admit my first thought was along the lines of, "Oh no...was there a shooting or something?" But alas, no emergency vehicles were present so we ventured inside. There was a small crowd gathered at the entrance so I asked the friendly Wal-Mart greeter was was going on. He told me Marie Osmond was supposed to be arriving. Fun! We did a little shopping and then heard cheering so we came out of an aisle to see Marie and her handlers (that's for you, J). Then we crowded around with everyone as she put on her blue Wal-Mart vest with her "MARIE" name tag and I can only assume she talked about the Children's Miracle Network. We couldn't actually hear her, but how appropriate is that for Easton's first celeb sighting?! He liked looking at her because she was standing in front of the big Children's Miracle Network hot air balloon that they use in their logo. He said, "ba", of course. What fun!

Later, we were at another store and the cashier asked if I wanted to give to the Children's Hospital. I hilariously (not really) told her we'd given about $80,000 to the Children's Hospital. A ha ha! She thought it was amusing too, however, and said, "Oh, you're one of those." Okay, so in all honesty we only gave the hospital $250 for E's admission and insurance paid the rest, but still...

As we were leaving that store we heard a firetruck coming, so loving them as I do I pointed it out to Easton and we waved...one of the firefighters waved back! Yippee! As I put E in the car we heard more sirens and he did a perfect impression. It is obvious my son has the gift of imitating sounds like that guy from "Police Academy"...I mean, you heard his perfect imitation of Blitz on that video right? Plus, he likes to imitate the sound of the Dust Buster and my Swiffer Vaccuum. Sure he doesn't talk much but he can do those sounds perfectly.

Well, sorry for a second post today, the news was just too exciting not to share right away.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Woo hoo...check me out! Now I've got a little music playing on my blog via video. I hope it's not too annoying. My current video is from a group called The Fray. The last two songs I was interested in turned out to be by The Fray so now I decided I'm a fan. And, they're from Colorado. How cool is that?! It should give J some hope, right? What would be really cool is if I could figure out how to play J's stuff on my little bloggie. Hmmmm...

Well the weather is yucky again today. Why does it have to do this on Fridays? Ugh. Not that Fridays mean any more to me than other days of the week, but still.

Jason was healthy enough to go to work today. Our short nap yesterday and early bedtime yesterday backfired and Jason ended up getting up WAAAAY too early this morning. Oops. Easton certainly takes after his Daddy in the poor sleeper area. *sigh*

Well, we have no real plans for today. We need to run to Wal-Mart to get the things I forgot yesterday and to the regular grocery store to get the things you can't get at Wal-Mart. Since we didn't go last week maybe we'll try the indoor pool again this afternoon. Easton's still got quite a cough, though, so I don't know. I'll stop rambling now...

A Plethora of Videos

Well, Jason stayed home semi-sick today. He's just a little under the weather. Nothing serious. He was healthy enough to where it almost felt like just another day off--Yay! However, that also means my computer time is a little more limited. Plus, last night was really crappy as far as Easton and sleeping are concerned so I had to try to rest while he napped today. J and I got a little snooze in but not for long so we're planning an early bedtime for ourselves tonight. I'm always a fan of going to bed early-ish and tonight with Jason being "sick" I was able to talk him into it. Plus he didn't come to bed till 1 or so last night and that's right when Easton started up...for the first time. Argh!

So, anyway, tonight I'm just going to share some recent E videos instead of "blogging it up" too much. I know it's fun to see Big E in action. This video is of him imitating Blitz the cat. That's Easton making all the sounds you hear. He does a very good impression, no?

This video is him going down the stairs by himself. It's something he learned in the last couple weeks. We still plan to keep the gate up most of the time he upstairs but it's still encouraging if he ever gets tall enough to climb out of his crib at night (when the gate is open).

Easton is getting better with communicating lately and that includes signing. In this one, Jason is trying to get him to sign "drink" but he is signing his version of "milk" which looks more like a wave. Oh well, I think it's so cute--just look at his excited little face and arm pumping. It's from Tuesday when we went to have lunch with J.

The last one I'm sharing tonight is from yesterday morning. Easton is feeding himself with a spoon. He's still getting the hang of it, of course. We gave him a spoon at dinner and it encouraged him to eat mac and cheese (9 noodles!) and broccoli!! Previously he wouldn't have even tried either of those. He normally hates pasta (crazy kid) and vegetables, especially green ones. I probably don't have to mention he got bites of dessert after that performance! He was so cute, though...he can't pick the noodles up with the spoon so we'd put one on it for him, or just put them on his tray. The cute part was that he'd pick it up with his fingers, touch it to the spoon briefly and then put it in his mouth with his fingers. I guess he wanted the spoon involved somehow. Hey, whatever works. Before long I'm sure the novelty of utensils will wear off and he'll be back to his old non-eating self.

Well, hope you enjoy all these videos. Our day was rather uneventful otherwise, Easton and I went to Target and he picked out a sippy in a new color: blue. I lined the "acceptable" colors up (not yellow 'cause he has that already and not the "girly" colored one either) and he picked it off the shelf from the line up and tried to take a drink. I felt bad then, like I'd tricked him or something, but he happily carried the new empty sippy all through the rest of the store till we could get my tub of Archer Farms Milk Chocolate Filled Peanut Butter Covered pretzel nuggets. They are yum-a-licious. I highly recommend them. They're in the "indulgent snacks" section. Okay, off to eat some pretzels and hit the sack early...

Someone was Mean to Easton!

Okay, it was only another little kid, but still...this was the first time someone has been mean to him. It broke my heart. We went to circle time at the library and he went up to play with this big firetruck. It can hold several kids at once. Easton was simply standing next to it and trying to touch the "lights" on top and the meanie poo-head kept batting his hands away saying, "Get off!" Apparently, Easton thought this was funny and kept doing it, why shouldn't he be able to play too? I didn't intervene, I thought the other parent should have if anything but the kid's dad didn't seem to notice. Then, the big bully decided to push Easton away! He made contact with my little angel's forehead and knocked him backwards quite a ways. He landed on his little butt right in front of me. The little look on his face was heartbreaking. It was such a confused, "what'd I do wrong?"/"what just happened?" shocked face. I gave him a few kisses while the other kid's dad said, "You need to tell him you're sorry." So, the 2 year old terror went, "Sorry" to my little guy. Then that other dad made him "take a break" from playing and said, "you shouldn't push the little guys around." He shouldn't push anyone around, but whatever. The dad never even looked at me. Easton decided to move on to coloring after all that went down. Poor guy. They hadn't been at circle time before and I hope they don't come back.

On a happier note, here is a video of Easton and Daddy last night. Easton loves this "game" and will lay down on the floor hoping J will play.

Du Du BAAAH!

Yeah, I don't know what it means either. Easton woke up saying it. It was like he was happily trying to tell me something. I wish I understood. I think he's feeling better already. He's still a little congested sounding when he's nursing but otherwise he's fine.

He slept in today which was nice. Once he woke up we had breakfast and I gave him his own spoon with oatmeal on it. He made a royal mess and was proud to be a big boy. Good thing I didn't give him his own bowl yet. I'd still be cleaning it up.

This is him the other night with a spoon and mashed potatoes. He put potatoes in his eye so it's all red.

Not too long after breakfast we headed up to my old hospital in Boulder to pick up a refill at the pharmacy. I ran into a former co-worker there and she told me about all sorts of changes on my old unit so I had to go investigate for myself. All my old work pals are always so glad to see Easton. They call him "our baby". "How's our baby?" they ask. It's sweet. He impressed them all, of course. One of his former nurses asked if he was 2. I was pleasantly shocked. I guess when you're used to preemies, kids that are Easton's size now look much bigger than they are. We saw a cute little set of twins in one of the NICU suites. E called one of them "doggie". It's hard to believe sometimes, that he was once so small. I did experience a fleeing anxious moment when I saw the respiratory therapist that worked on Easton. It surprised me. I didn't even know she was the RT that was there the day of his crash and resuscitation until Jason told me today. So, that surprises me even more that I inherently "knew" she had yucky memories associated with her. I don't remember a ton about that dreadful day on my own (thanks to the drugs) but Jason remembers it all and has to fill me in from time to time.

Anyway, one of my old work pals blew Mr. E a kiss. He didn't know that trick yet but I helped him blow a kiss back to her and it stuck! When we went up to have lunch with Jason, E was blowing more kisses complete with a "mmmmm" sound--his version of "mmm-wah"! I forget sometimes how quickly kids can learn things. When they want to, that is. That's how it goes in E's case, anyhow. So, a new trick: blowing kisses! I'll have to see if I can get video sometime.

In the meantime here is a little page of laundry fun yesterday. My little daredevil likes to climb in the basket. Yesterday he even rocked the basket and fell over twice. Here is video of one of the times. I "stole" this layout idea from my pal Kirsty, but in scrapbooking circles it's called "scraplifting". Hope she doesn't mind!

My Eassie Kai is Sick

He's only got a minor cold, but still...I hate when he's sick. He took two naps yesterday and threw up 3 times (our first clues). But, he was in an awesome mood last night after his second nap. He was so full of energy and so fun. By bedtime, though, he was ready for sleep and threw up for the 3rd time.

He slept his regular 10 hours last night and woke up just a little warm: 99.2, while not "feverish" officially it still tells me his little body is trying to fight something. He's been a little extra cranky today and did not want to go down for his nap just now. After the fiasco last week I refused to rock him completely to sleep today, although I did have to finally go in and rub his little soft head and "shhh shhh shhh" him until he was out. I would want someone to at least do that for me if I wasn't feeling my best. Hopefully he'll take a nice long nap to help him fight off this little bug. He's not too congested but he's being very loud while nursing today. Plus, he's had snot running down his lip a couple times today. Eew! Luckily he's not one of the continuously snot-faced rugrats.

That's probably where he picked this little virus up: some other constant booger face. :) It might have been someone at Circle Time at the library, it might have been at the MOD walk, it might have been one of the times we let him ride in the shopping cart (as opposed to the Snugli). He loves riding in the buggy at the store--he thinks it's a ride. Especially if Daddy is "driving". I might go back to the Snugli for a little while longer. Anyway, back to my point, I know germs are out there and kids are gonna catch stuff. I've just tried really hard to keep him healthy with his lung "situation". I don't want him to have asthma or anything later from have too many respiratory infections at this age. Not much I can do, I guess, but I still try. Or at least I like to think I'm trying.

Hopefully this will be short-lived. It's really not too bad.

On a lighter note, here is the other half of that scrapbooky collage from E's album.

And, I have something else to recommend: Bertolli's Skillet "Dinners for Two". This was the easiest "meal" I've made in months. And it was pretty good too. We had the Chicken Parmigiana & Penne. Jason's review, "Well, it's not like I'm wondering where it's been all my life, but we can have it again." There ya go. I found the suggestion on someone else's random blog and I had to try. Everything is in the bag and you pour it into a skillet then heat it for 10 minutes, stirring once. That's all! They make it so easy, the "sauce" is frozen into little ice cubes so it's faster. The chicken (white meat only!! yay!) was in nuggets so it heated quickly too. I was impressed. The only thing I didn't like was that it's really not a ton of food. I can eat a lot (which I like to blame on breastfeeding, true or not) and anyway, I made garlic toasts for us but I could've eaten more. Despite the smallish size, we'll be trying other varieties too. It was just that easy, seemed high quality, and was tasty. Needless to say, I recommend them!

Okay, now that E's finally down I'm off to watch my TiVo'd "Grey's Anatomy". The re-cap show last week has got me a little more interested again.

Ugh, as soon as I posted this he woke up crying (it had been just half an hour) and wouldn't go back to sleep without the head rub/shushing combo. He's back asleep now, I'm quietly keeping my fingers crossed.

No One Actually Marched

I would've liked it if they did. I like funny people. Well, we're back from our 10K walk...I never paid attention to the length of the March of Dimes walk beforehand. It was apparently 10K...did you know that's 6.2 miles?! No wonder my feet are a little sore. I'm so sadly out of shape. Easton did so awesome. He was so good and wore a little preemie sign on his stroller so he was noticed by lots of people. Some congratulated us, others asked questions...it was great to see how many people turned out for the cause.

The weather turned out to be perfect for our journey. Not too sunny, definitey not hot but once we got moving I was the perfect temperature and eventually had to take off my jacket. We got sprinkled just a tiny bit with rain but no one was complaining about it. I just couldn't believe how well E behaved nearly the whole time. He fussed a little at one point but we gave him some cheese snacks and took off his coat in case he was warm too. He had a little ballon that he held onto most of the way. Looking at the pictures now that we're home is amusing. He's got his little fist closed around the string in almost all of them. Tee hee. He loves balloons. As soon as we got there he started chanting, "ba ba ba". So we sought one out for him. Once we finally finished they had a bunch of free food and beverages. KMart hot dogs or Papa John's pizza. Yeah, we went with the pizza. Children's Hospital provided cookies and Pepsi gave away sodas. I love free stuff!

J listened to the NFL draft on his Walkman about halfway through the walk. Now I owe him a massage. I predicted the Saints wouldn't take Reggie Bush...that they'd trade him for more draft picks later. I was wrong. Bummer. Although, I might cite a little illegal insider info as J checks out sporting news daily and I usually just hear it from him. Oh well, I knew what I was getting into.

Easton is now fast asleep in his crib after a long morning of stroller and carseat sitting. J is watching the draft and I'm left to do my own thing. No complaints here!

Marching Tomorrow

Wow, we met our second March of Dimes goal and even exceeded it by $5!! So, tomorrow morning we'll be heading downtown to do our Walk America. Right now it is 36 degrees and rainy. I'm hoping for much friendlier condtions at this time tomorrow. Yuck!

Easton and I were planning a walk/playground trip with some of our playgroup pals but not in this weather. I'm considering taking him swimming (indoors) at the rec center after his nap this afternoon. We'll see. I had to go exchange his little swim diapers yesterday. I accidentally bought the pink Little Mermaid kind instead of the blue Nemos. Oops...we couldn't have that! Even if they do go under his trunks. I don't know if this is good or bad, but his little trunks from last year still fit. They're pretty cute so I'm glad about that, I just wish he wasn't so small sometimes. Last July...

Oh, he remembered his belly button trick! And, on a whim Jason quizzed him on hands, feet, and nose and he knew them all! I missed it! By the time I got there he was ready to move on although I did see him with his finger on his nose and saying "no" (for nose)!! I guess all those readings of "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" have paid off. Yay E!

Moving along...there is a new yogurt I have to recommend. Easton loves it too! It's the Yoplait Whips Chocolate Mousse Style yogurt. Delish! I'm not sure if it's really a "guilt-free" way to enjoy chocolate but its very yummy and Easton gobbles it up with me. Our favorite is probably chocolate cherry. Yum-O.

Easton is still being a pretty bad eater overall and yesterday he was a horrible sleeper. His nighttime sleep was his usual 10 hours or so. I'm very jealous of mom's with kids that sleep 12-13 hours at night. I wouldn't even mind too much if he woke up to nurse after 10 hours and went back to sleep. Sometimes he does but that's rarer and rarer, although I admit I always try it. :) His "nap" yesterday is what was so awful. I nursed him and then put him in his crib thinking he'd go right to sleep, but no, he played for 15-20 minutes before I went and laid him back down. That made him quite mad and he cried and cried for the whole 2 minutes we let him. Then I went in (and he had a big yucky boog from all the crying) and decided to rock him to sleep. It worked and I put him in his crib. He woke up screaming after 30 minutes! I tried 2 times of our 2 minute intervals to get him to go back down and the second time he was so upset he threw up! :( So, desperate, I rocked him again. Three times. Each time I stood up to put him in bed he'd screech until I sat back down to rock. The third time I fell asleep rocking him. I then tried to bring him to bed with me and we cuddled awhile but he was wide awake and soon got down to play with all the drawers. Sigh! It took him 30 minutes to finally go to sleep last night too. Luckily he's still asleep now, he nursed 2 hours ago but went back down...whew! Maybe he'll make it to 12 hours total today after all?