blogging hiatus

Well, as you can tell from lack of posts that i really dont blog anymore. Its not that i dont have anything interesting to blog about - trust me, there is plenty - i just dont have the time or the enthusiasm for it right now. Perhaps in the future i will pick it up again, but for right now i am on a hiatus. I posted one last pic of monkey and dada at zoo boo...enjoy!
Till then, take care.

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I have an app for that!

I just downloaded an app for my phone that will allow me to post blogs directly from my phone - yippeeeee!
Anywho, dane is doing soooo well at school. He is repeating everything everyone says, is washing his hands after he eats (the sink is really tiny and really low to the ground), and his hair is actually growing!
And as you can probably guess, he is going to be a monkey this year for halloween!!!!! I know, shocker right?
Darren has become quite the craftsman....he has created a desk for dane that moves up and down, tilts or lays flat, is a chalkboard, has a drawer for pencils and paper, in addition to a bench complete with storage and a shelf for books. This is going to be something dane can use for years! I will post pics when its all done, but just wanted to say dane is so lucky to have a dad like darren. Having something quality made means soooo much more than buying something. We all traced our hands in chalk and darren clear coated it so it will be a part of it forever!

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Our BIG little Boy man

Dane has been doing OK in the toddler room....he was such a big boy in the infant B room, and now the switch to the toddler room i think gets to him every once and a while. There are so many kids his size that he cant be "top dog" anymore. Zoila, his new teacher, says he hates being outside. That is SO out of character for him. She says he sits at the door and just cries because he wants to go inside. Once he is inside he is happy as can be. She thought maybe he was cold? Nope.... thought maybe his shoes didn't fit? Nope.... I think its because he can see his old room (infant b) from outside and misses that room and his teachers, and it makes him sad. Poor guy :(

At least he hasn't tried to bite anyone though since his transition! That is a plus!!

We finally cut his baby mullet too. I thought I'd be more upset, but it looks much better now so it really didn't bother me. He could have cared less too - the sound of clippers didn't even phase him. I kept the hair of course and will put it in his baby book. It was only a small section in the back where his hair seems to be growing - unlike the rest of his head! :o)

His vocabulary is outstanding at this point...he "knows" a ton of words - and can repeat almost anything you ask him to. He is signing like crazy too. I didn't think he'd ever get into signing, but since he's been in the toddler room (i know, its only been a week and he's learned so much!) he signs "more" and "eat" and he used to only sign "all done". He also is pointing to his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, feet, toes, fingers, hands, knees, legs, hair, head, and button (belly) and can say each of those things. He loves to try on every ones shoes too - and i caught him trying to walk around with mine on - it was so cute!

Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo?

Oh my, Dane has a girlfriend! Her name is Eva and she is just the cutest little thing. Every day at noon it's her nap time. So - they put her in her crib. Her crib is next to the half wall that separates the sleeping area from the play area. Dane will hang out next to that wall and Eva will stand in her crib and look over that wall so they can see each other. It's the cutest thing. But - yesterday - Dane decided he was going to pile two chairs (the small kiddie chairs) on top of each other and climb up on top of them so he can be eye level with her! What a smarty - and how romantic? It was too dangerous though for him, so his teachers put him in the crib next to Eva so they could stand and talk to each other. This lasted about an hour or so - OMG its so cute! My little Romeo....

My little cheese monkey!

Oh my gosh this kid is talking up a storm now! ANYTHING i say he is repeating. it's awesome!

He helped me wash Cora yesterday, he manned the hose while i rubbed in the soap. He was actually pretty good too - he knew to hold the hose so the water would go on her, and when i said "get under her belly" he would move the hose down to get under her belly. He is so stinkin smart - i wonder where he gets THAT from...haha!! Oh, and I was saying "good girl Cora" and he would say "goo garrll goo garlll" over and over - it was so adorable!

He also sits on his snack chair and says "cacker mama" when he wants a snack and pointed to my bracelet and said "pre-eee". I cant wait for him to say LOVE YOU - we are working on that. It will melt my heart when he does!

Monkey was having WAY too much fun in this video - he was eating mac and cheese and cottage cheese (hey, the kid hardly drinks milk, so this is how i get him his calcium!)...at the very end he says "bye bye!" and signs "all done"!!

And his hair IS growing, i swear....he has sort of a baby mullet going on. Its longer in the back than on top/in front - but I assure you it is growing! Its a light brownish blond with red highlights...so we aren't exactly sure what color his hair is going to eventually be!

Wakey Wakey Momma! It's time to cry wolf!

For the past several nights monkey has been waking up at midnight and two am. No idea why - but I'd sure like to figure it out! He cries his loudest shrillest cry, so I go to him, try and calm him down, but he reaches his cute little hands out of the crib and hugs me and says "momma"...so, before my heart rips out of my chest I pick him up and cuddle with him on the glider. He snuggles in and starts talking to me. We have hours and hours of conversation! Once my back and butt start hurting, I put him back in his crib and he screams and screams. I say "good night" once again, close the door and he immediately falls asleep. Could this be separation anxiety all over again? I know I shouldn't go in to him, but this is so out of character for him that I don't know if something is really wrong (poopy diaper, teething, etc.) until I go in and check.
Ugh...I cant wait for him to start talking for real... :o)

it's 6, not 4

Monkey has SIX teeth coming in, not FOUR :( poooooooor guy. Luckily it really isn't phasing him too much. As long as i keep him pumped full of ibuprofen and teething tablets. I also make sure he has plenty of things to chew on and keep him busy playing.

Yesterday we asked him how old he was and he held one finger up - where did he learn that? It was so cute! He also knows where his belly is, head, ears, nose, feet and eyes. This kid I tell yah....

When i push him on his bike all i have to say is "ring your bell" and he starts ringing it - and when we are playing/swimming in the pool all i have to say is "kick your feet" and he does! Its amazing what he understands. No wonder kids his age get frustrated that they cant speak yet. He KNOWS what we are saying, he just cant communicate it back. Of course, he is learning more words each and every day!

When i took the tour of the toddler room I was informed that some of the kids only a few months older than Dane are already pooping in the toilet! Holy Cow! So, now anytime Dane is pooping we are saying "do you have to poop?" so hopefully he "gets it" and we can start putting him on a training toilet. Don't worry - we wont rush it, but hey - if we can get him to do it why not?

It's Official

As of September 7th, Dane will be moved to the big boy toddler room at school! Maybe now the teachers can stop mumbling about how is has been ready for the toddler room since 11mos....haha! In actuality, some of the teachers were in tears over this. They are going to miss my little man, but at least there is a giant window separating the two rooms and they can look in on him from time to time.
Dane isn't the only one in his class to transition - his little love triangle is following him. Brady and Ava are coming with him. Brady is Dane's BFL (buddy for life) and Ava is the girl they both fight for her attention. OMG its so cute....
We will be given a tour of the new room and a run down of the daily activities. The only major change i notice is that the kids sleep on cots instead of in cribs. Dane doesn't take naps there so it wont really effect him. They also allow the kids to use forks and spoons (monkey uses them at home) and allow the kids to drink from a cup and not a sippy (again, he does that at home). But, i am sure after the tour i will have more insight into how much different the infant rooms are from the toddler rooms!
My big boy is growing up sooo fast!

Another one bites the dust

Our little monkey was sent home with yet another incident report....he bit another kid....yowza! Honestly I think I am more worked up about it than anyone else. The teachers could care less..well, they care, but there is nothing that can be done and it is completely normal. It's just yet another reason he is ready for the toddler room!
We finally got to go out in the pool yesterday - after a week long hiatus. It was just too darn cloudy and windy, but yesterday and today it's been hot hot hot and sunny! Did I mention it was hot?!?!
I decided to throw Chai in the pool to see if she could swim....nope.....she sunk.....to the bottom.....and then freaked out. It was sooooooo hilarious! She didn't think so....

I love to eat with my feet!

This morning I gave Dane a bowl of cheerios to eat while he watched Mickey Mouse Club House.....I am eating my own cheerios as I mess around on Facebook, and look over at him and he is picking up cheerios with his toes and eating them!! What a goof!!!

He also learned a new word last night...."cack oooor" (cracker)....For snack last night we had saltines and kept saying "cracker, do you want another cracker? are you done with your cracker?" and things like that and I guess he picked up on it! Just now he pointed to a box of Nilla Wafers and said "cack oooor mama?" GOSH his mind is like a sponge!! Guess I need to start watching what i say.....ha!

Last night we were sitting in the living room playing and all of a sudden he goes into other room and comes back and throws - and i mean THROWS - his shoes at me and says "ou ieee" (out side) ACK! So another word he learned out of the blue!! Plus, the fact that he knows he needs shoes to go outside is just incredible....

I wonder what we are going to learn today? :o) We are going shopping for a new bed, probably going to go with a sleep number....so maybe by the end of the day we can get him to say the word "bed" !!

I changed it!

I changed the background - let me know what you think!!

Now onto changing the pics....they are so old, but it's nice to reminisce about how little Dane used to be!!

Oh Geez

Here I go again, slacking when it comes to the blog....
I just think there is SO much going on, and it's SO beautiful outside I don't think to sit down at the computer and type...but, since you've bugged me (just kidding!) I will blog....
Here we go!!
Since it's been so long, I don't know where to begin. I guess I can start by saying that I didn't even notice that the picture I use for the background isn't even available anymore, so I guess I have to start looking for a new blog template!
Monkey is doing FANTASTIC! He has 4 teeth coming in all at once, his two bottom molars and two other teeth on the bottom. They keep coming to the surface and going back down. Some days he can handle the pain and others he just cant deal - who can blame him?
He LOVES going in the pool - oh yeah, we bought a pool! It's 12 feet in diameter and about 2-3feet deep. It goes deeper, but we only filled it up to about Dane's chest. I put arm floaters on him and he just walks around playing with toys, its so fun! I straddle the floating raft and put him on it to and bounce up and down - saying "ride em cowboy!" he has so much fun it gives him the hiccups every time. He has only pooped in the pool once thank goodness, and thank goodness for filters, chlorine, and the skimmer. Sheesh - that was a fiasco in itself! I had the wrong size swimmers (the diapers that are made to get wet) on him and it just kinda fell out into the water - GROSS! But its all clean now!
I bought him a tricycle - its so fun to push him around in it! It has a handle that i hold on to that steers the bike, so we use that when we go on walks instead of a stroller. He likes to ring the bell and pretend he is "driving".
He is learning more and more words - and can usually repeat what we say but takes him a bit to associate what the work means to the item. He does say and associate banana (nana), pizza (pizza), water (wah), dog (dog), no (no), taco (taco), bye bye (bye bye), hi (hi) and a few others. He still signs "more" and "eat", but usually only has been signing "all done". When he wants something he will point at it and say "aaah?" and we know what he wants. Oh, he can say "ball" too, and "shoes". He will actually give me his shoes and hat when he wants to go outside and play! What a little man....
Daycare almost every day keeps telling me how ready he is for the toddler room - it's getting to the point that i think they are complaining...but i cant make September come any faster! Its their rules, not mine. If i had it my way he'd be over in that room already...it's bigger and more fun things to play with. They also use utensils over there, which he uses at home but not currently in the infant b room. So, to keep consistent with home it's preferable to be in the toddler room. An added bonus is that when he moves to the toddler room, daycare cost decreases! Woo Hoo! I am not sure by how much, but any decrease is good for me! The ratio for teachers to kids goes from 1:4 to 1:6 - so they need less staff, which means less $$.
Anywho - we are completely enjoying our summer so far and i hope everyone is too! Sometime before the end of summer I'd really like to get to the zoo - i think monkey would enjoy that!!

Slacker!!!

Yep - that's me! Its almost been a month since I've written a blog....oops!

So much as happened in a month.....we spent a wonderful two weeks in PA with family, we had an absolute blast! I loved watching Dane play and interact with my sister's three kids. They got along splendidly! I cant wait for our next trip back, or they can take a trip here! *wink *wink :oP

All is going well with mister Dane...he ended up weaning himself from breast milk while we were in PA. He wanted nothing to do with it, which was hard for me at first, but now that I haven't been breastfeeding it's really nice! I don't have to wear tops that are conducive to it, and I can now eat (and drink) what I want! I also can now diet the way I want too...only a few more lbs before I hit my pre-pregnancy weight!

While we were back in PA Dane cut two top molars! Luckily it happened while we were staying at my sisters because he was too busy to notice the pain. When we left her house to go to Darren's moms, he wasn't as active and started to notice the pain and was super cranky (which is totally acceptable!). I kept him pumped full of Tylenol and it seemed to keep the pain tolerable for him.

I think he has officially started his terrible twos though...I know, I know, he is only 14 months old - but he throws temper tantrums left and right! I was discussing this with his teachers actually today and they said that he is the youngest toddler they've ever met (they have said that to me on many occasions actually) and that he is hitting milestones in record succession. He threw some temper tantrums before, but nothing like he does now. He arches his back, throws his head up, lays on the floor and just wails! I just ignore it of course, but sometimes its just so frustrating I walk away from him and count to 10. I know its a stage and we will get through it, but sheesh!! That's why i guess they call it the "terrible" twos!

He has also learned to walk (well, sit and slide) down the steps! I don't think we need to keep the baby gates up anymore (unless we don't want him to go up or down of course). He does really well getting up and down that sometimes I lose him! I looked away for honestly a split second yesterday and he was already upstairs in my bathroom! The little bugger!


Oh, and one more thing to mention, he loves coloring in his coloring books and on the sidewalks with chalk! He's my little Picasso!! I am going to buy him some of that writable soap for in the tub. Actually, i DID buy some but it melted in the car...oops!!

Dane's Lawnmowing Service

Anyone need their lawns mowed this summer? How bout your leaves raked? Dirt Shoveled?

Call 1-800-WILL WORK 4 BANANA'S

We are having SO much fun so far this summer!! Dane loves to push his mower around the yard, and loves to watch daddy push his mower around the yard!! We go to the playground almost every day (there is one in our neighborhood) and monkey loves to swing (of course)!!

One Year Old!! Oh My!!!

Can you believe my little monkey is now a TODDLER? *sigh* where has the time gone?

We took him in for his one year check up yesterday (I know, I know, mean mommy and daddy getting him shots for his b-day) and he is 24.7lbs and 30 1/2 inches tall. He is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. What a big boy! He passed all his tests too (basically just questions that i had to answer, like if he is picking stuff up, walking, talking, etc.) and the doc said he is excelling in all areas for his age!! Woopeeee!! But we already knew that :o)

So, a funny thing happened at daycare.....As you all know, Dane has been bitten a total of three times (that I am aware of) at daycare. Once by a boy and twice by the same little girl. The third time he was bitten I was extremely upset - asking what the heck is going on at this facility that my child keeps getting bitten? They told me that they haven't had biters in over a year, and for some reason this age group of kids that he is in just seems to have biters. My main concern - not only of his safety - but is that he will learn that biting is OK. WHELP, he learned that biting.... is..... OK..... Wouldn't you know it, as I was sitting there playing with him and another little girl, this little girl went to take the toy away from Dane, so he leaned down and bit her arm! I was so shocked! I loudly said NO BITING and tapped him on the back. He immediately starting crying because I've never yelled at him like that before and it startled him. I don't think the little girl even noticed she was bitten. There was just a lot of slobber and small indentations on her arm. (I plan to check her arm out when i see her next for bruising, because every time Dane has been bitten it was hard enough for bruising).
Anyway, I didn't want to be like "I told you so" but that is exactly how I felt. He learned that biting is OK, so now i have a biter on my hands. Now, i completely understand that kids will be kids, and at this age everything is oral and most of them are teething, BUT - biting is not OK. I am just so beside myself about this.

Anyways, Monkey has learned to blow on his own food to make it "cool"! I guess from watching me blow on his food, he mimics me, and before he takes bites he blows on his food - how cute!

He hasn't learned too many new words, it's still mama, dada, nanoo (banana), pizza, dah or dog, dat (that), mieee (mine), woof, dayee (doggie), yah (yes). He has started to sign too - they gave me a "cheat sheet" today to start working with him on some signs, but he already knows the sign for more and done (of COURSE his language revolves around food...haha!)

We leave for PA soon - yippeeee!! It will be great to see the family and have them meet Dane!

He's ready for the toddler room???

Today I was told that Dane is doing so well with walking, not taking bottles (he actually hasn't had a bottle in months), and no morning nap (he kicked the morning nap about a month or so ago) - that he is essentially ready for the toddler room. Normally kids aren't moved there till they are 18 months old, and I asked them if they plan on moving him and they said no, but just wanted me to know that he is well ahead of the game and is the youngest kid ever to be ready for the toddler room at 11 months! Whoah! He really is growing up too fast!!
He is doing really well eating with his fork and spoon too. He likes the fork much better than the spoon because he can spear the food and i guess its fun. They wont let him use a fork at school because of the danger and the chance for injuries, but they do let him use a spoon.

Can you believe he is going to be a year old in two weeks? yowza!!!!!!

Phah? Nanoo?

Dane added two new "words' to his vocabulary. He now says "Phah" for phone (he is always playing with my cell phone) and "Nanoo" for banana! I can see the wheels turning when we are teaching him a new word, its so fun to teach him things and have him catch on and learn so quickly! His other words are Mom, Dada, Woof (when he is barking with the dogs), Dat (that), Yah (yes)....i think that's it. He babbles so much I might be missing one or two, but will add them as I recall them!

He is still a walking machine, and has learned to bend down, pick something up, and then stand up. He doesn't have it mastered yet, but he CAN do it - which is just awesome. This whole walking thing just hit us so fast - it's so fun to have him walking! I love it! All though the "potted plant" stage was much easier, and sometimes I miss when I could just put him somewhere and he would stay there, this by far is much more fun! I find myself saying "no touch" all the time, but hey - he'll get the hang of it!

Energizer Bunny!

That's monkeys new nickname! He just keeps going, and going, and going! Now that he knows how to walk there is no stopping this kid! He gets frustrated when he isn't walking! I got to daycare today and he was walking all around the room picking up peas on the floor (it was lunch time, so it's not like there were random peas on the floor). He doesn't have the whole bending-down-and-standing-up-again down pat, but he'll get it soon.

I was also told today that Dane is grouped with the older kids in class in regards to gross motor skills (walking, interacting, eating, etc.) and he is the youngest to ever enter that classification or group or whatever you want to call it! The other kids in this so called group are 13,14 and even 15 months old or older, and here is my monkey at 11 months doing what the big kids do! Go Dane! Ugh...if growing up isn't fast enough, I think he is growing up WAY TOO fast!

These darn eye teeth (or canine teeth, i think they are called too) of his won't come in! It feels like he has been teething forever, and I should buy stock in Motrin, Tylenol, and oragel at this point. This poor guy is in pain all the time it just sucks. I can see the tooth, and it's a little sharp when i rub my finger over it, but that's it. It hasn't moved from that position in about a week. Poor guy....soon my little man, soon!

What hasn't been happening?

Sheesh! So much to tell you!!

I will start off by saying that Dane has been walking more than crawling lately! It's awesome! He does so well, and is so happy with himself! He holds his arms way up in front of him and laughs the whole time he is walking. When he falls (basically just sits down) he claps and laughs, and then crawls to a place where he can stand up again and start walking! Its awesome! I am so glad he is walking because now we can play outside and I don't have to worry about making sure the deck is brushed off and whatnot (dirty hands and knees from crawling).

And yes, he finally learned to clap and play patty cake! Mema (my mom) flew out from PA to visit for a few days and taught him. It was such a great visit, and she got plenty of Dane time. She even did the laundry for me and cooked and cleaned! She can visit anytime....haha!

While mema was here, Darren and I decided to take advantage of having a "live in babysitter" and took on some projects around the house - we rented a dingo and ripped up all the bushes and plants around our house (and even the neighbors house), built a 4 foot tall retaining wall, removed all the rocks around the house and re purposed them to a little patio thing on the side of the house for the garbage cans, dug a hole for a new patio (we have to flatten out the dirt yet and fill it in with a ton of lime stone pebbles which are sitting in our yard waiting for us) and planted new trees and bushes and layed mulch down. We moved almost 10 tons of dirt and rock by ourselves....my muscles are so sore! Mema has most of the pics (which she will be emailing me soon), but here are a few that i took with my cell phone. Enjoy.

Monkey has entered a new stage in his life - separation anxiety :( Its really hard on me, but I am being strong (well, trying to be anyway). When mema was here, I couldn't leave the room without him freaking out. I would have to sneak out so he wouldn't see me leave and then he was fine. I even had to whisper so he wouldn't hear me talk. If he saw me or heard me all hell broke loose and he was a crying screaming mess. He usually is fine too when Darren drops him off at daycare, but he is starting to freak out now. His teachers swoop in and grap him and divert his attention, so hopefully this stage is quick and painless. Even though this is really tough, it's a milestone. He is learning that he has emotions and it's a good thing!

For some reason it never dawned on me to be teaching monkey to be eating with a fork or spoon. I would just dump his food on his tray and he would feed himself with his hands. It's how they do it at daycare, so I figured it was all right. But, mema questioned why i feed him that way and it got me thinking.....so, i went out and bought him some toddler forks and spoons and suction cup bowls and didn't even have to teach him anything! He speared the pineapple chunks with his fork and ate them! What the heck?!?!? I thought this was going to be a tough thing to teach him, but boy was i wrong. They don't use silverware at daycare, so I guess he just knew how to use them by watching me eat. What a guy! Yesterday I put his mac and cheese in a bowl and he used his fork. He doesn't get as messy and it's so fun to watch him eat! Yay! Poor dogs though, not as much food falls on the floor anymore. Maybe they will start to lose some weight....haha!

Swingy Swingy Swingy!

It was such a beautiful day out today, and monkeys fever finally broke so we decided to take a walk to the Zachary Road Park. They have swing sets there for little itty bitty kids, perfect for our monkey - so we put him in and low and behold, he knew how to move his body back and forth to swing! He's never been in a swing before! Darren and I just stood there watching him in amazement. I don't know if this is some big huge thing, but we are just astounded and impressed! He kept himself swinging for a while, and was just chilling in the breeze! What a guy!

I didn't realize!!

I didn't realize that throwing a temper tantrum (like Dane did yesterday when I took away something that he was playing with and should not have been) was a milestone! I was just chit chatting with the ladies at daycare and telling them about Dane's 20 minute crying episode where he was throwing his body at me and very angry and they said "Good Job Dane!!" I gave them a weird look, like why are you instigating my child to throw a tantrum? She laughed and explained that it's a milestone that kids don't usually reach till well above 1 year old, and Dane reached it at not even 11 months! So, WAY TO GO BUDDY! I guess I can't be too frustrated at him when he is freaking out because its what he is supposed to be doing!

No girls allowed! (except for mom)

This is what the shirt that Dane was wearing yesterday had written on it. Apparently the flirty girl toddlers in the next room can't read yet because I heard they were flaunting their stuff and flirting with my little boy.... haha! The ladies told me that their outside play area's are separated by a chain fence, and Dane crawled over the fence so he could pull himself up and walk along it. When the girls came outside they immediately went over to the fence and started playing with Dane (through the fence...they were on the other side). They were sticking their fingers through the fence and saying how cute he is and oogling over him. I guess he was overwhelmed by all the estrogen because he sat down and just stared at them. The girls freaked out and wanted to know if he was OK! Miss Venette had to assure them that he was indeed OK, he was just sitting down for pete's sake. How cute!

I was also told that the other teachers love to fill in during break time because they get to have Dane hugs - how stinking funny is that!?!? He not only gets attention from the wee little ones, but from the adult females as well!! Gosh, he is going to be a heart breaker.

He is being a little stinker lately - remember me telling you a few days ago that if he has a hold of something that he shouldn't, and i take it away, he screams his tiny head off? Well, its not getting any better. Yesterday he cried and cried and tried to keep climbing up on my lap so I would hug him because I wouldn't let him have something (I don't even remember what it was). I crossed my arms and didn't pay attention to him. If he got really out of control I said calmly
"Dane, calm down. We do not cry when we don't get our way. Once you calm down we will play" Once he finally stopped crying (20 minutes later) I started playing with a toy and he joined in and was fine and dandy. I guess crying it out works for other things, not just sleep training! I just hope this lesson is learned quickly because I don't want him to cry every time I take something away from him, it's really stressful!

He hurt himself AGAIN at daycare. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure if he wasn't at daycare he'd hurt himself just as much, it's just that every time he is hurt, it just happens to take place at daycare. With that said I will move on.... He was trying to push himself up to standing and his hand slid on whatever he was pushing himself up on and he fell forward and his top teeth dug a gouge into his bottom lip. It's pretty significant, but wounds inside the mouth tend to heal quickly, and here it is two days later and it's almost completely healed. It hasn't affected his eating so I didn't think a doctors visit was necessary.

Steps, steps, and more steps!! He is a walking machine! The most he's taken in a row is 5 steps, and he's mastered the art of not falling once he is done walking. He just stands there for a bit, then sits down and starts crawling. It's so fun that he is starting to walk! I can even put him down on his feet and he will stand! I don't have to put him down on his butt anymore (unless he holds his feet up which was cute at first.....but then......)

Hopefully it starts getting nice out here! It's been in the 50's all week and I'd like to spend some time outside - especially with the dogs. Cora is in desperate need of some exercise. I've been putting her on the treadmill again, but her hips are bothering her. I think it's from laying around all day and old age - poor girl. If I don't get a chance to take her for a walk outside, I will put her on the treadmill. Hopefully she starts to feel better soon. We've had her on a diet (we've cut the volume of food in half) and she doesn't seem to be losing any weight, maybe she has a thyroid issue? I'll ask the vet when we take her in for her shots this month. I know she is getting old, but I am just not going to accept it! She needs to stick around FOREVER!!!

Those shoes were made for walking!

It's time to buy Dane some walking shoes because HE TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS last night!!

WOO HOOOOOOO!!!

He was holding onto the ottoman and Darren was sitting a couple of feet away from him, and Dane took three steps towards him!! He is growing up so fast I cant take it! But, I am super excited about him walking, I think it will be so much fun outside this year to play in the yard and not have him crawling in the grass (dirty knees and hands). GO DANE!!!

I WANT that!

Dane is a super pointer! He points at everything now and either says "dat" (which I think means "that") or he said "yah" (which I think means "yes") The funniest is when the dogs are outside and he is pointing at the dogs through the window and yelling at them (or barking....hahaha!)

He also is getting bad habit which we are trying to break. If he has a hold of something - whatever it may be - and I take it out of his pudgy little hands he grabs on real tight and tries to not let me have it. Once I do get it from him he SCREAMS like he is so incredibly upset! I do not give him the item back, but I do say "we do not cry when we cant have our way" and i either give him something appropriate to play with, or I rub his back and tell him it's OK, and then I walk away till he calms down. I certainly hope that's the right approach - he doesn't cry for long and moves on quickly to something else. Hopefully this stage doesn't last too long!!

Going Banana's!

I had to redo the blog ( I accidentally screwed it up because I was messing around with the new blog templates and when I hit "preview" it changed everything and I couldn't get it back...ARGH!) so how do you like the new look? Monkeys for my monkey!!!!

I can kazoo - can you?

Monkey learned how to use a kazoo today! We got him one a long time ago and he loves to put it in my mouth so I can kazoo some of his favorite songs. Well today he was sitting on the floor playing and all of a sudden I hear him kazooing! He was laughing and kazooing! It was so cute! OF COURSE I didn't get it on camera....

He also has another ear infection/sinus infection. He got it on Tuesday - poor guy. Daycare called me to let me know they think he has pinkeye because his eyes were all goopy. His eyeballs weren't red - so I didn't think it was pinkeye, but in order for me to bring him back to daycare I had to take him to the doctor. I am glad I did because he has a double ear infection and an sinus infection! I didn't even really know he was sick! He does a really good job of hiding it...ugh, men.... :o) He is on Omnicef and is feeling better - in great spirits and his eyes are clear of the goop. He still has a nasty chest cough, but it's getting better too.

On Wednesday one of the ladies at daycare said "did you know your son barks?" Err.....no! Apparently he barks when he is at daycare?....I really need to either get Cora to stop barking so much, or separate the two of them! I think they might be misconstruing his babble for barking, but either way it's funny!

Today I was told that Dane likes to push other kids around on the little scooter car thing. They say he is a perfect gentleman and waits till they are ready to go and then gently pushes them around on it - so cute!! I wish I could set up a video camera in there all day and just watch him!!

It's official, I've had to throw away all the breast milk that I stored up. Even the most recent milk that I froze (Jan/Feb) made monkey's tummy hurt. It's either my chemistry, or the way I froze it. I've read that everything has to be sterile (well, I washed everything everyday, but there's no way to keep it sterile unless I would find a sterile environment to pump in at work, which is SO not the office in which I work) and that you have to freeze the milk right away. Well, I'd be at work for a couple hours after I'd pump, so the milk would be at room temperature before it was frozen. SO - needless to say, it could have been numerous things, but the end result is the same, it has to be pitched. It's pretty painful to throw away what I've worked so hard at hoarding - but if it's making his tummy hurt there is no sense in keeping it.

And besides, he is doing great at daycare with no bottle!!!! I was worried about that, but the ladies said it's like he doesn't even notice it's missing from his schedule. He is so good at going with the flow it's amazing!!

Comments....

Hey all, I have been having troubles leaving comments on your blogs - do you have troubles leaving comments on mine? I get "your request cannot be completed at this time, please try again later".....

Stephanie, I wanted to comment that it looks like you had a great birthday!!! That cake looks yummy! Happy Belated Birthday!

There were a couple of others that I wanted to comment on, but I just can't for some reason?!?!

Sorry!

Defense!! Defense!!

Is my monkey too little to learn some self defense? Apparently he is going to need it to protect himself from a bully at daycare. As I am sure you are already aware, he was bitten out of anger on Friday. Kids this age should not have the know-how to be doing anything out of anger, which makes me wonder - what is going on at his biters home? Luckily Dane is OK, and the bite did not draw blood. Had it drawn blood, the biter would been expelled (I asked why just because it didn't draw blood...biting is biting...and the teacher couldn't answer me). I was told that biting is not tolerated....um, the biter is still there so it IS tolerated in my book. One of the teachers said that this kid is a bully and they don't like him. For obvious reasons they cant tell me who it is, but I have my suspicions. When I hang out at daycare there is this one little boy that I always see pushing the other kids over. He is really big compared to anyone else in the class and honestly I think he should be moved into the toddler room. I do think that if Dane keeps getting hurt (almost every week I have to sign and incident report) we are going to switch day cares. It really sucks because I love the ladies at this center, but if the kids in Dane's class are bad, there is nothing that can be done I suppose. Anyway, my mixed feeling continue with this whole scenario. I've decided that since I cant figure out who I want to be mad at, I am not going to be mad at all. My monkey is OK, that's all that matters. Moving on....

We survived our first road trip!! Granted, it was only to Silver Bay, MN - which is about 3 hours away....We left in the morning and Dane slept the first 1.5 hours. Once he woke up I hopped in the back and fed him some snacks. He was great until he realized "hey, I've been sitting here for a long time!!" When we were about 30 minutes away from our destination he started to get crabby. I sang him some songs and let him play with whatever I could find in the backseat of D's car. We made it all in one piece!

We spent the day at the Smith's hanging out with their adorable new addition Isaiah. He is cute! He reminded me of how little Dane used to be, and it was weird holding him. I forgot how to be gentle! Makes me sad how much my monkey has grown up!

The trip home was great....we left at bedtime and Dane slept until we got to Duluth (about 45 minutes) There were so many street lights that it woke him up and scared him a little. I sat in the back with him and sung him some lullabies and he calmed down. Once we left Duluth the street lights went away and Dane was able to fall asleep. I climbed back into the front seat and I too fell asleep (sorry D!).

All in all it was a great trip and gave us a glimpse of what we are in for during our drive to PA! 3 hours is nothing compared to the 18 hours it will take us!

Age is just a number.....

Because it apparently means nothing when buying clothes for my monkey!

I received a $100 gift card for xmas (yes, I was supposed to spend it on me, but hey....) so I went to Kohls and bought Dane a whole bunch of P.J.'s as he grew out of all of his (they were all size 9-12 month). I bought him all 18 month thinking he would grow into them....whelp, boy was I wrong. Some of them are so tight I cant zipper or button them, and some of them fit perfectly, which means I will get about 2-3 weeks out of them. I should have bought 24 months, but that just looked so HUGE to me in the store!

I also bought him some summer outfits in 18 months, and like a dumba$$ washed them already and hung them up (cant return them now). Hopefully they fit and the P.J.s are just a fluke - oops! (hopefully baby #2 is a boy because he will have plenty of clothes that's for sure!)(and no, baby #2 is not even planned yet...so no high hopes mema and nanny!)

Dane is really into feeding me, or the dogs. Whatever he is eating he like to hold out so I can take a bite (not good for my diet, so I pretend I am taking a bite) and he is so happy when I do! He does this even with toys, if he is playing with or chewing on a toy, he will hold it out for me to play with or chew on....I guess I don't have to teach him that sharing is good behavior!

We almost made it a whole month!

We almost made it a whole month without going to the doctors office! Last time we were there was for monkey's 9 month checkup.

I took him in because he has been tugging and pulling at his ears a whole lot and just wanted to rule out another ear infection. Luckily his inner ear is not infected (yet). There is a lot of fluid behind his ear and the doc said that it could go either way. It could get better on its own (cross your fingers, eyes, and toes) or it could get worse. I just have to keep an eye on it. He said to make sure Dane is drinking lots of fluids and for me to put saline solution up his nose every time I change his diaper. Poor guy, if you've ever had to put saline solution up your nose it's not a pleasant experience.

On another note, he now weighs 22.5 lbs! He gained a whole pound in a month! What a little piggy! I think he actually grew too because all of a sudden none of his 9-12 month pants fit him anymore. They are all too short! He is now wearing 12-18 month jammies, pants, and shirts. He can still fit into some 9-12 month onsies, but some not. It all depends on the brand. He is still wearing size 4 diapers, but I might buy him size 5 to see if they fit better. I wish you could just buy one diaper of each brand and size to try them out. I have a closet full of infant size diapers because when he was really little we were trying out all kinds of diapers to find the best ones.

I have this lovely bruise on my neck from my vampire baby! When we were in the waiting room at the docs office Dane and I were dancing around and he leaned in to hug me and all of a sudden "CHOMP" he took a huge bite of my skin right above my collar bone. Boy did that hurt! I am trying to not make a big deal of it when he does it because he will only think it's funny and do it again, so I just say "OW - don't bite mommy" and I don't even think he realized he did anything wrong.

Not pumping at work is going great for me, not so great for Dane. I love the freedom of not having to bring all my supplies to work, and not having to clean and sterilize them every night, and then also having to ask my coworker to leave our office during "booby duty". Unfortunately for Dane, the frozen milk I have been giving him has been making his tummy upset. The milk is 6 months or less old and it has been in the deep freezer, but I don't think it's good anymore. He has had major diarrhea and some (sorry if TMI) stinky farts that puts our German shepherd Cora to shame! Luckily I have about 3-4 weeks worth of milk that is 3 months or less that I will use instead and just throw away the older stuff (I HATE to do that...ugh). I don't even think he needs a bottle at daycare, but they insist I bring one for him because just in case he doesn't eat what they are providing or whatever. I am OK with it, but once I run out of breast milk I am either going to have to pack my own snacks for him in case he doesn't eat what they are serving, or bring along a bottle of formula (gasp! I don't think that will go over too well with Dane, he HATES formula).

I am also on the fence with his whole morning nap too. At daycare they are able to keep him up until lunch time, but during lunch he falls asleep while eating. That to me is a sign of sleep deprivation?!?! I don't know how they keep him up, but on the weekends I am unable to. Maybe because there is more stimulation at daycare than at home? Either way, I sent a note to daycare stating that if he is tired to lay him down around 10, but don't let him sleep longer than 10:30. If he gets tired around 11 without having a nap, then just keep him up. I want him to still take his 1-3 nap and if they let him sleep longer than 10:30 he wont go down for his nap until 2 or 3. I dunno what to do. He does sleep 10-12 hours at night, so I don't think he is too sleep deprived, but I just don't like that he falls asleep almost every day during lunch time. Hmmm, maybe I will call daycare and tell them to disregard the note....ARGH!! I don't know what to do!! Well, maybe not...I think if he has been going this long without a morning nap, I dont want to digress.....ARGH!!

We are driving up to the north shore this weekend to visit Ken and Denice and their new little one Isaiah. I can't wait to hold him and it will remind me of how little Dane used to be!

To ween or not to ween

Man this is a hard decision.

Dane is eating table food so well that there really isn't a need for breast milk (as nutritional intake) anymore. During the week I nurse him first thing in the morning, then pump 6 ounces at work for his bottle at daycare for the next day, then I nurse him to sleep for his afternoon nap and then again at bedtime. During the weekend I only nurse him in the morning and before his nap and bedtime. I just think it's time to get rid of the bottle at daycare. (plus I'd really like to stop pumping...it's getting to be a hassle ever since I started sharing an office with someone! I have to ask him to leave every time it's "booby-duty" time).

This is a hard decision for me because I feel like I am letting monkey down for some reason. I don't know why, it's not like I am stopping breastfeeding altogether. I am just removing one of the feedings.

I talked to the ladies at daycare and they weren't very supportive. They like to have bottles on hand just in case the baby doesn't like whatever table food is being fed. But, Dane eats anything and everything.....Plus, I plan on bringing a box of snacks just in case (graham crackers, animal crackers, etc.) he is hungry in between breakfast - snack - lunch.

I also thought about how I am going to use up all the breast milk I have frozen (144 ounces). I think what I decided to do was just stop pumping at work, but still bring bottles of milk to daycare until all the frozen milk is used up, then stop bringing a bottle all together. If I start that tomorrow, then there is 6 weeks of frozen milk. In 6 weeks he will 11 months old and I am SURE he will not even want that bottle anymore anyway. The ladies say he really doesn't even finish the bottle during the day anyway.

My apologies. I am rambling and going back and forth on this. I must have called my sister 10000 times about this bugging her asking her what I should do. Ack!

Smugmug :)

We've finally uploaded some pics and videos to our smugmug website

Hartenstine.smugmug.com

Darren is still working on more videos, so check back daily! (the videos always seem to take the longest, dont they?)

Bandit and the two pugs

What is it with me and stray dogs? They seem to find me everywhere!!
A couple of weeks ago this georgeous huskey named Bandit wandered into our yard. Darren was out of town and I didnt know what to do. He kept coming on to our back porch and freaking Cora and Chai out. It was really really cold out and I felt bad for him, so I tried to get close to feed him and then try and get the phone number off his tag. After about an hour of this, I was finally able to lure him into our garage and got his collar off to call his mom. She came to get him and all was well. (The story was much longer....but I think I already told this story)
Well, thursday Bandit was back!He came right up to the back porch, I opened the door and said "Bandit, get in the garage" and he walked right into the garage. I called his mom and she came and got him - too funny! I told her to just program my number into her phone so when Bandit runs away to just call me because he seems to come straight to my house!

Yesterday when I was driving home from work I saw in the distance to little things running in the street. As I got closer I saw it was two pugs! I had to completely stop my car because they were in my lane standing there barking at my car. I got out to shoo them away and to see if I could catch one of them and look at their collar to call their owner, but they werent wearing any collars. Boy was it funny, they kept running in front of my car and parking their fat bodies in front of it and barking.....eventually I just decided to drive really slow and they moved. I hope they made their way back home, but it was quite comical!!

Can I wrap him in bubble wrap?

It sounds like a good idea to me! Poor guy has so many bumps and scratches on his noggin. I received two incident reports at daycare in the past two weeks! One time he got hit in the head by a rogue toy...and the other time he bumped his head on something. Sheesh!

The other day I went upstairs quick to grab something and Dane was in the living room playing. I thought he would be fine for - oh, the three seconds it took me to run upstairs and down again - but no, i was wrong! I hear and "boom" and "WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!". I run downstairs and he is sitting in the middle of the living room with a red mark on his forehead. I have no diea what happened, nothing was near him to have hurt him, but something did! He is fine of course. I asked the ladies at daycare if Dane gets more incident reports than other kids, and they said "oh my goodness - no!" Some kids are sent home with them weekly....even daily! I just wanted to make sure Dane isnt a klutz...ha!

He has completely deleted his morning nap from his schedule! Go Monkey! It was hard at first, but thanks to the ladies at daycare for keeping him up for me! He would usually take a 10-15 minute nap at 10:00, but I just felt that wasnt necessary. When he was taking such a short nap in the morning, his afternoon nap would be short too which would cause him to be so incredibly tired by 5:00pm. It was hard to keep him awake till bedtime. And Darren only gets to see Dane during the week after 5:00pm, and when he was tired and cranky (Dane, not Darren) it wasnt any fun for Darren to be around him...SO - it's a success! Dane will nap from 12:45 - 2:30ish...it's great! and it's his only nap during the day (I am knocking on wood this schedule sticks!)

We've picked our dates in which we are coming to PA. We will leave MN on June 9th and come back June 21st (or later, it all depends) We are going to have Dane's First Birthday Party while we are in PA so the family can come and see him! (and meet him for that matter!) I picked Blue's Clues as the theme - that is Dane's favorite morning show! His favorite afternoon show is Yo Gabba Gabba. We've moved on from the Wonder Pets I guess....

I need to get him a rocking horse of some sort. At daycare there is a rocking dog, and Dane just loves to sit on it and rock! He is really good at it too! Maybe he'll get one for his b-day?!?! He loves when I push him around in his car, he can even push himself backwards in it! I guess frontwards is a lot harder.

And in case anyone didn't know, I am from Lebanon, PA. There is a movie coming out called Lebanon, PA and it was filmed in my hometown and in my highschool! How cool is that? The link below is to the website.....

Lebanon, PA Movie Link

Can I have my cake and eat it too??

Why not?!?!
HA!

I am SO happy that monkey is sleeping through the night....10-12 hours straight through each night - yippeeee!! I feel like a new woman....but the only thing that stinks, is we don't get to sleep in on the weekends! His body clock gets him up between 5:30 and 6:00am (which is what time he gets up during the week)...So, I guess I can't complain. At least I am getting at least 8 hours of sleep in a row!! I really do miss our cuddle time in the middle of the night. I know I know, I am the one with separation anxiety - not him! Because he has been sleeping through the night, I am confident again to stay up late (8 or 9) and spend some time with Darren watching TV or whatever. We haven't really done that in 9 months! I would go to bed right when Dane did because I just didn't know how long I had until he would wake up.

We've also had success with getting rid of his morning nap! I asked daycare to help with this. I'd rather he be there at daycare and not sleep (who wants to pay that much money and then your kid sleeps?). Plus, he is old enough now to only have one nap a day (especially since he is sleeping so well at night). SO, he gets up around 6:00 in the morning and makes it till 1:00pm! Sometimes he even makes it till 2:00pm! Then I let him nap until 3:30. Even if he only goes down for a nap at 3:00, I still get him up at 3:30. If I let him sleep longer than that, he will never go to bed at 7:00. This week he has actually been going to bed closer to 6:00pm. I think since he is learning so much (milestone after milestone) and also going through a growth spurt (another one!) it is making him extra sleepy.

Speaking of learning new things, monkey climbed the steps all the way to the top! I stood behind him of course in case he decided to lean backwards, but he did it!! That is good and bad.....good because he learned something new and was so proud of himself for making it to the top, and bad because now we have about 100000 baby gates everywhere. We have two flights of steps that he just loves to play on! Thank goodness they are carpeted and not hardwood.

He is still eating like a good little boy, he loves broccoli, fresh apple slices, bananas (his favorite!), pizza (another favorite!), meatloaf, pasta, rice, well...you get the picture.

He is also still cruising like a champ. He will even let go of whatever he is holding on to and stand by himself. He tries to take a step and wobbles then falls, but is getting better every day!

We are driving to PA in June...it's about an 18 hour trip straight through (we aren't planning on making it straight through, but it would be nice!). Has anyone taken that long of a trip before with a one year old? Any tips? We plan on leaving at bed time so he sleeps the first half of the trip, and when he wakes up we will stop at a rest stop for a while and play. We also plan on borrowing a portable DVD player for him to watch some Blue's Clues and Yo Gabba Gabba, but if anyone has any suggestions I welcome them!

He's more like Cora every day!

Dane sure does love his Cora dog, he loves to play with her tail, play with her toys (blech....) and even growls just like her! He even likes to look out the window to the backyard and yell at birds and squirrels!!

His new favorite thing to do is carry toys around in his mouth while he crawls around - just like Cora!! He will even carry his sippy cup around by biting on the nubby thing and carrying it in his mouth!

I went to pick him up at daycare today and he crawled toward me with a plastic "sunny side up" egg in his mouth, it was so funny and cute! I wish that I would have a video camera on this kid 24/7!




Dane is still going strong with sleeping through the night!! It only took him 9 months to learn! Yippeee!!!

Here's to 9 months!!

Monkey is 9 months old today - can you believe it? My, time sure has flown by....

Today he is 21.14 lbs and 28 3/4". He is in the 75% percentile for both. He is wearing 9-12 months clothing, which are a little snug. He is in size 4 diapers. The doctor gave him a head to toe exam and said I couldn't ask for a more perfect baby! He kept commenting on how bright Dane is and how he just looks around and "soaks everything in". The doc was asking me all types of questions about what Dane can and cannot do - and said that Dane is far exceeding most 9 month olds - woop woop! It's all those Wheaties he is eating...haha!


Speaking of eating, He fell asleep again last night during dinner and this time I got a good video of it! I hope you enjoy...it's hard not to laugh, but it's so gosh darn cute!

We are going to try and skip Dane's morning nap. He is sleeping through the night (YAY!!) now and I don't really fell he needs a morning nap anymore - but we will see. He only takes about a 15-30 minute nap in the morning, and then doesn't want to nap in the afternoon, so he is extreeeeeeemly tired by 5pm, and that's just too early to go to bed....SO - we will start trying this out tomorrow!

The art of sleep-eating

Well, it's official...monkey can climb steps!! I got a few good pics of him, but only when he was on the bottom steps. Once he was able to get up to step three and four I wanted both my hands free to catch him WHEN he falls (notice I didn't say IF he falls?)....Cora would taunt him at the top of the steps and he would work so hard to get up there to her!!

He was so funny today eating dinner....I DID get video, but it's sideways. So I.T. (Darren) is working on getting it right side up...(when I use the video on my cell phone it for some reason saves it sideways....) anyway, He was up from 5:00am till about 1:00pm, then only took a 30 minute nap, so come dinner time he was uber tired. He was falling asleep while eating his dinner! I took a bunch of videos of him (a bunch because my cell phone can only take 1 minute videos)(i know, you are probably wondering "why use your cell phone then?"....well, i will tell you - because if i would have gotten up to get the real camcorder Dane would have woken up from his "eat-sleep"... :o).....) So, once Darren gets those videos corrected for me I will post them!

The car seat pic is really for Aunt Cindy to see how Dane looks in the car seat she gave him! I bought a cover for it (it's pretty cool! Moo Moo!) because Cindy used it for daughter Meghan and it was a little girly. I liked it, but I am sure Dane would be embarrassed to sit in it.....hee hee.

This morning I was getting ready for work and Dane wanted to come into the bathroom and Cora would NOT move her big butt!! So Dane was stuck....and he stayed there for about 5 minutes - or however long it took me to blow dry my hair! She wasn't moving for anything....Meany!

A crazy couple of days!

Sheesh, what a crazy couple of days it has been!!

On Friday:

I got a call from daycare stating that Dane was hurt, his head is bleeding and he is just sitting there dazed. Well, of course I am thinking "OMG he is bleeding to death and has a concussion". They asked me to come right away and decide whether I should take him to the doc or the E.R. I was so incredibly freaked out - and it seamed like everyone in front of me on the drive to daycare was going under the speed limit!!! ACK!! I couldn't get a hold of Darren at work (he was in a meeting) so I was uber upset about that too..if I had to take dane to the ER I didnt want to have to do it alone....I get to daycare and Dane looks FINE. He was laughing and playing just like any other day - except he has a little gash on his eyebrow. I think they over-reacted a bit, but I guess for legal reasons or whatever they had to have me come and look at him - which I understand. I still took him into the doc because it looked like it needed stitches. The doc cleaned it up really well and said that he might get a scar, but she tried hard to glue and steri-strip it so there wouldn't be too big of a scar if it does end up scarring. She also sent me home with a pack of steri-strips because she said "you are gonna need them since you have a boy...ha!". As you can see from the pics, it's not that bad...but it's bad enough.

Apparently Dane was trying to climb on top of the lunch table and fell off and hit his eyebrow on the corner of the table. All of the teachers felt really bad - as they should I think!! Why wasn't anyone stopping him from climbing on the table? One of the ladies said she saw him doing it was about to go get him....um, about to go get him? Why didn't she go get him? I know they have other babies in there, but c'mon....I wasn't upset at first, i was more relieved that he wasn't hurt more than he was, but the more i think about it the more i am mad. I know things happen and they cant stop everything...but its different when its your child that gets hurt. I dunno, I am kinda wishy washy about being upset about it....I see both sides.

When I brought Dane home from the docs I fed him some lunch and while he was eating he decided to poop. Now i don't usually talk about him pooping (like anyone cares about my childs poop), but this one was a doosie! I went upstairs to change him and as i pulled his pants off the poop was filling up one of his pant legs....OMG it was everywhere! I decided to just wrap him up in a towel and throw him in the tub. Ack!!! Nothing like bathing a baby in a tub full of poop water...and him wanted to play with the wash cloth....ewwwwww!!

Anyway, Darren and I had a date planned on Friday - Dave and Busters!! Daycare had a "parents night out" where you could pay them $25 to watch your child from 6:30-9:30pm...so we took advantage of it! We had a few drinks (that night I realized that I cant drink like I used to....the hard way) and played some games. It was a lot of fun!! When you play games you get tickets...and then you can "buy" stuff with the tickets. We had some left over and usually what Darren and I do in this situation is walk around and pick a kid to give the tickets to. Well, Darren left it up to me to pick the kid this time. I walked up to this boy and gave the tickets to him....and wouldn't you know it, the little bugger didn't even thank me or acknowledge me. He took them from me and just continued to sit there....I WISH i would have just taken them back from him, but I didn't want to ruin my night so I just turned around and tried to forget about it. That kid is going to grow up to be a jerk in my opinion.

On Saturday:

My friend Hieu offered to watch Dane for us while we went to the movies (THANK YOU AGAIN!!) and we saw Avatar in 3D! It was amazing! It was a beautiful movie and a wonderful story and if you ever get the chance to see it - DO!

That night during bath time I was about to get Dane out of the tub when I noticed he needed to pee...so I let him sit in the tub a little longer...thank goodness I did because not only did he pee, he pooped too! This was the first time he has ever done that, and I tried not to freak out - but it was so gross....and luckily Darren was right there to help out. Ack!! Two poop situations on one weekend is quite enough!! (I know, I know - another poop story, but I thought this one was funny!)

Today:

Happy Valentines Day! Darren made Dane and I a HUGE breakfast...which we loved! He also has cleaned (and I mean CLEANED) the kitchen for me! THANK YOU!! Dane has been napping since 9 - and it's noon now. I hear him rustling up in his crib so I need to go get him soon.

Oh, I forgot to mention - Dane has been pulling himself up to standing on just about everything! He even stands alone for a couple of seconds!! Stairs are also becoming quite interesting to him, he likes to try and climb up them! I think he might be walking soon....ACK!!

Also, Darren has helped me all week in getting Dane to sleep through the night (no, he still hasnt been sleeping all the way through) so basically what we did this past week was Darren would decide when it was time for me to go in and get Dane. I guess I am too much of a softy because I would have gone into get Dane like almost every time he was crying, and Darren kept saying "he's fine, he's fine" and wouldn't you know it, he was fine...he cried himself back to sleep - and I hope I am not jinxing this by talking about it, but for the past three nights Dane has slept all the way through the night! Yahoo!! I know, I know - usually it's the parents fault when a kid doenst sleep through the night...and honestly speaking, I believe it! Shhh, dont tell anyone....haha!

Vampire Baby

OK, so I know that I read the entire Twilight series and a few other vampire books whilst I was pregnant, but I didn't know that would turn my child into a biting vampire baby!

He really is enjoying having top and bottom teeth. He bites EVERYTHING! It hurts so bad, and he actually drew a little blood on my neck. I am so happy he isn't biting me while nursing, I've nipped that one in the bud when he got his bottom teeth (cross my fingers he doesn't start doing it now) I've read that I am not supposed to make a big deal of it when he does bite me on the neck or wherever because he will keep doing it because he gets a reaction. I am supposed to calmly pull him away and say "no biting, that hurts mommy" in a flat monotone but stern voice.

Well, I've tried that and the kid still laughs hysterically and bites me again! Now I hope you all don't get this visual of Dane coming at me with his mouth wide open trying to bite me, that's not how it is. If we are hugging and he has his face nestled in my neck he will just bite, or if we are playing he just bites....he isn't attacking me or anything, so you can relax!

Does anyone have any advice? I know it's just a stage and he is learning to use his new chompers, but I don't want my kid to be that kid at daycare. :o)

He has also starting crying for me A LOT. If i put him down he cries and cries and cries. If i leave the room, he cries and cries and cries. At first I thought something was wrong with him, like he was hurt or something, so naturally i picked him up and he was miraculously fine. But I caught on that he just wants to be held by me all the time. If we are playing on the floor he will crawl to me and climb on me and he has to be touching me. It's flattering, don't get me wrong....but it's also really annoying. I want him to be able to play by himself sometimes and not be climbing on me, and I'd like to be able to leave the room without him freaking out! Alas, this too shall pass.


I am finally starting to feel better. I woke up on Saturday with two ear aches....That was the last straw. I don't have the patience for ear aches...I had way too many growing up and it's the worst thing ever. I went to the Minute Clinic (LOVE THEM!) and the doc told me I have a really bad sinus infection and two ear infections with a lot of fluid behind the ear drum. She prescribed Amoxicillin - finally! I dont know why the doc didn't put me on antibiotics when i went in two weeks ago?!?! After almost a month of feeling like death warmed over, it's nice to be feeling somewhat normal again.

It's us again!

That's what I say every time I take Dane into the pediatrician now because I feel like we are there all the time!

If you remember, I brought him in on Friday of last week because he was pulling at his ears, not eating, and had a low grade temp. The doc said he had an ear-infection (after I made her clean out the wax to look behind it, which is why I think she missed in a few weeks ago when I took him in) and he was put on amoxicillin.

Well, poor guy got a yeast-rash from it all over his boy parts, his legs and feet :O( I called the nurse on Monday and she said to just put Lotrimin AF on it for a few days and it should clear it up....Nope, actually it's worse! It's now EVERYWHERE! He looks like he has the chicken pox or something. So I took him back in today (I love our pediatricians office, they have this program called "ready care" and I can just bring him in when it's convenient for me - no appt necessary) and I saw a different doctor (thank goodness) and she said not only is his ear infection worse (it is now pusy instead of just red) he has both of his ears infected. So not only is the amoxicillin not doing anything for his ears, it's causing my poor baby to break out in a yeast rash!!

She prescribed Nystatin for the rash and Omni-cef for the ears. It's a different and stronger antibiotic....so we will see how it goes. Poor guy!

+++++

When i picked him up from daycare today one of the ladies said to me "Did you know your son absolutely loves pickles?" How funny?!?! She said that she gave him one just to see this funny face he makes when he touches wet and slimy food and instead of making a face, he gobbled it up - so she gave him another, and another, and another! He kept whining until she gave him more! Guess I have to go get my boy some pickles!!

+++++

I am not feeling any better really. I've had bronchitis and who knows what else for almost 4 weeks now. I am still going to work everyday - who has time to be sick these days anyway?!?! I do think that if I am not any better by next week I am going to go back to the doctor. I wasn't put on anything other than codeine to help me sleep because the coughing keeps me awake, and an inhaler to help with the wheezing...but I figure if i am still sick, there's gotta be something else going on with me. I don't really ever get sick, I actually cant remember the last time i was sick - but when I do, it really grabs a hold of me and doesn't let go! I know sleep is probably the best medicine....yeah, OK - maybe in my next lifetime I will be able to get some of that..... :o)

All Systems Normal

Dane is back to normal!!!

He is back to eating us out of house and home (last night he had taco's....and LOVED the re fried beans!). His tummy is back to normal, and even though I am sure his ear is still hurting, he isn't pulling at it anymore.

Yay!!!!!!

___________


Cora and I both got our hair done yesterday (and NO Cindy, not by the same hairdresser!). I just got a trim and Cora got the works - bath (shampoo and conditioner), furminated (this brush that really works to get rid of hair) for 3 hours, nails trimmed, ears cleaned, and teeth brushed. She looks great!! Oh, and Chai got a bath too....at Le' Hartenstine Salon in the kitchen sink by master salonist Nicki....hee hee.

Like Mother Like Son

Well, there are a few things Dane takes after me with, his big brown eyes, his smiling face, and his long body....aaaaaaaaand his ear infections :(

I took him into the docs today and his right ear is infected again...well, the doc said it might be the original infection from a few weeks ago that just never went away with one round of antibiotics. After this round of amoxicillin, I am to take him in to make sure the infection is gone. Poor Guy!

I got some answers as to his other symptoms:

Diarrhea: was from him not eating solids (due to teething) and his snotty runny nose (he was swallowing a ton of mucus)...she said it really wasn't diarrhea per se', just loose stool. (what's the difference????)

Cough/Congestion: He has a cold (duh)

Ear Pulling: His ear is infected (duh)

Not Eating Solids: Teething, he has lost 3/4lb :(....that doesn't seem like a lot, but it really is!

He actually ate today at Daycare!! He had carrots and pizza. This is the first time in about a week he has eaten solids!! I am really glad I stockpiled all that breast milk or I wouldn't know what I would have done....he HATES formula....so it all worked out really well!! And i still have about 120-150 ounces of breast milk in the freezer for next time....heehee!

I think all in all he is getting better, no fever and only really coughing at night. So hopefully once the amoxicillin kicks in he will be good to go!!

Downward facing dog....

That is Dane's favorite new position to put his body in to! He gets up on all fours, then sticks his hiney waaaaaay up in the air! He doesn't know what to do then and gets frustrated, but it's the cutest thing! (of course I don't have pics or videos of it yet....)

He has also been very sick all week (me too, I was diagnosed with Bronchitis (was told if I waited any longer it would have turned into pneumonia) and pinkeye in both eyes) plus he is STILL teething! Three teeth have popped through, so we are just waiting on one more.

He has had diarrhea for 4 days now, but according to the doctors office it isn't enough times a day for them to be concerned. He only has 2-3 poopy diapers, and they would want me to bring him in if there were 8 or more. Also if he wasn't producing tears when crying, or if his mouth is dry, or if he is not wetting his diapers.

They said to try and give him pedialyte - I've tried 4 different flavors, warm, cold, frozen, diluted, in a sippy cup, bottle, or big boy cup and he will not drink it! It's OK though, breast milk has plenty of electrolytes in it so I am not too worried.

What I am worried about is he wont eat any solids whatsoever and I can tell he is losing weight from only intaking breast milk for almost a week now. The doctors office said it is more than likely from teething and that only breastfeeding him is perfectly fine, but how long should this go on?

Am I overreacting????

His coughing is really bad too....so I think I am going to take him in to the doc whether they think it is necessary or not. I'd rather be safe than sorry at this point. If i have bronchitis I am sure he does too. Plus he keeps pulling at his ears again, so he might have another ear infection....POOR GUY!!

The Hartensickies

All three of us are sick! Sore throat, coughing, congestion, low grade temps, itchy watery eyes, and my new symptom is I woke up this morning with my eyes glued shut! gross! We haven't gotten out of our PJ's at all yet this weekend, and we just all kinda lay around coughing and sneezing....

Last night Mr. man woke up screaming his little head off at around 12:30. He was really really warm so I took his temp and it was 102 :o( I took his clothes off and rocked him to sleep - it took about an hour - poor guy. I put him back in his crib and he slept for about an hour, and then woke up screaming again. Our bedroom is much cooler in temp than the nursery so I brought him into bed with me and he slept from 2:30 till 7:30. I am so glad I did that because we both needed some sleep! Had I kept trying to put him in his crib he would have been crying all night and I would have spent the entire time awake....This morning his temp is back to normal, so the sequence of events broke his temp thank goodness!

Darren is feeling the best out of all three of us (or he is hiding his symptoms) and he is actually up and about today doing projects around the house (go darren!!). I have a ton of housework to do that will just have to wait!

Woodchuck!!

Our monkey has turned into a woodchuck!!

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Ha!

Dane has learned to pull himself up in his crib - and as a result he can now chew on the crib itself! Those little tiny teeth of his sure do some damage! I need to make a run to Baby's R Us and get one of those crib protector things (they don't have them at Target...boo) but until then I have to make sure when he wakes up from his naps he isn't eating his crib!

We are still waiting on the three upper teeth to come in (there are 4 total, but one already popped through). The upper teeth are much harder on him than the bottom two were. Poor guy. If I give him Motrin and the Teething Tablets, he will sleep from about 7:00pm till 11:00pm...which is better than before. I will then give him another dose of Motrin and more Teething Tablets and he will make it till about 2:00 or 3:00 depending. I do let him cry it out when he is "sleep crying", but if he is hollering I go into get him....It must be so confusing and scary to have your mouth hurt so bad and you don't understand why :(

Dane LOVES his new classroom at daycare! There is so much more to do and play with and crawl to! He is getting really good at army crawling! He still rolls/falls to the side every once and a while, but for the most part he is crawling! I won't put it in the baby book yet as "official" because he still needs more practice on staying up on all fours, but he gets around and is mostly army crawling at this point. He is also furniture cruising! If I put him (standing) next to the sofa, he will walk along the sofa holding on! We also "walk" him around the house so he gets the hang of putting one foot in front of the other. He is really good at it!

I packed away even more of his clothes this weekend....he is now wearing 9-12 months shirts/onsies, 12-18 month pants, and size 4 diapers! He fits into the size 3 diapers still, but the weight limit goes to 22lbs, and he is 23lbs or so.

He is also enjoying being in the big boy car seat. I HATED it at first, but I am growing to like it. Before, when he was in the infant carrier/car seat - we would put him in the car seat inside the house and get him all bundled up so that when we went outside he was warm and cozy in his little cocoon of blankets...now the car seats are left in the car so we carry him to the car and bundle him up in there. It is bittersweet - my arms and shoulders feel so much better now that I am not carrying him in that thing, and Dane doesn't seem to mind at all....actually I think he likes it because now when we go to the store he gets to sit in the shopping cart like a big boy (those shopping cart covers are AWESOME by the way!) and he gets to look around when I carry him to and from the car. The only part of this transition I am not too fond of is now it takes about 3 minutes to buckle him up and bundle him up in the car seat....that's 3 extra minutes I am standing outside in the freezing cold. Oh well! Luckily it's been pretty warm lately (when I say warm, I mean like in the 20's - 30's - which is warm for MN this time of year)

Hopefully I will get some video's uploaded to our SmugMug site....I haven't quite figured out how to do it, and I.T. (Darren) has been really busy with work stuff....soon!! I promise!!

G.I.Joe and the Mouse Tail

My little monkey has learned to army crawl!

He's my little GI Joe! I will have to get it on video (among other things, I know I know!) He is just so close to actually crawling it's incredible! I can't keep up with him sometimes....I look away for a second and he is halfway across the room! We thought we had everything baby proofed, but boy were we wrong! He gets into EVERYTHING! I am also vacuuming every stinkin' day too...ugh...I think this summer we are going to shave Cora - haha!



Speaking of Cora, her surgery went well. She had two cysts removed and has a total of 10 stitches. She already popped two of them because she wont stop licking them, but we took her into the vet to have them re-stitched and they said she is healing so nicely that there isn't a need to re-stitch - yahoo! She is on 1250 milligrams of Cephalexin twice a day - that's a lot of antibiotics if you ask me! We did put a long sleeve t-shirt on her to see if that would deter her from licking the stitches, but she just rolls the sleeves up....smarty pants!



Dane is still going strong with eating table food - and in fact last night he had pepperoni/mushroom pizza! He of course loved it! He really liked the mushrooms - yay! Now I am not the only one in this house that will eat them! He even had BROCCOLI today!! I am so glad my little man loves his veggies!

He has also moved into the Infant B classroom - which is for mobile infants...waaahhhh! It's bittersweet - he isn't going to be in the itty bitty baby room anymore, but the Infant B room is just so great! Miss Lera will still be his teacher which I am so happy about! He is already learning sign language (apparently him waving his arms at his sides and making "spirit fingers" means he is finished...I just thought he was excited or something...oops!) and is eating like a big boy at the table (an itty bitty table naturally) and they are going to start being stern with a schedule for him - I think it goes like this (she went over it really fast with me today so I can't be too sure, but you get the idea):

• 8:00am breakfast
• 9:30 - 10:00am bottle/snack
• 10:30 - 11:30 nap
• 12:00 lunch

By creating this schedule for him (well, all kids in the Infant B class are on the same schedule, makes it easier for the teachers) it makes it easier for me on the weekends too - and easier on Dane. If I keep the same schedule he has during the week, Monday's wont be so bad for him. And if any of you know me well, you know I love schedules!!!!



Sleeping through the night is still a no go....He cut a tooth on the top, but still has three more just at the surface. I've been brushing his gums with his toothbrush (the dentist told me to do that because it helps the teeth come out quicker) so hopefully any day now the next three follow suit. I did give him Hylands Teething Tablets and they worked the first night - he slept almost 9 hours in a row! But for some reason they aren't working anymore (at least I think they aren't since he wakes up every two hours or so crying and wont go back to sleep no matter what I do...nursing him is the only thing that works, and honestly I've missed the cuddle time from when he was sleeping through the night, so I am happy to do it again!). I still give the teething tables to him, they are all natural and hey - it's better than nothing. He does get Motrin at night too, but I don't think that is helping either....these darn teeth just need to pop through already!

He has been napping since 1:30 today and it's 4:30 - so I guess he had a busy first day in Infant B!


****
So, I was sitting here at my desk (at home) and I have a spider plant on my desk. One of the leaves started moving and I thought "I don't feel a breeze in here, where is it coming from?" I look all around to see where the breeze might have been coming from (open door or window) and didnt find anything so I just forgot about it. A couple of minutes later I see it again and this time, it's not the leaf I see - but a MOUSE TAIL!! ARGH!! About a week ago we noticed we had mice downstairs, so we've put out traps and plugged holes, etc....and we actually caught a few of them....well, one of the buggers must have made it upstairs (hopefully only one) and must have fallen off the dining room floor onto my desk (we have a split level house and my desk is level with the dining room floor) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I haven't screamed like that in such a long time! I gave myself a headache! Luckily Darren was home, so we trapped the darn thing (took us about 30 minutes and a lot of screaming)....I wouldn't let Darren kill it (or at least tell me he killed it) so luckily today was trash day so he put it (alive) in the trash and now the mouse is in hog heaven eating all kinds of trash and whatnot. I am now going to spend my day disinfecting all of Dane's toys that are on the floor, and disinfecting the floors themselves....I've already bleached everything on my desk! Wah!!! Hopefully that was the last little bugger....I am so scared to walk into the kitchen anymore, and the dogs were USELESS!!! Cora and Chai just sat there...literally...and watch the mouse run all around while Darren and I tried to catch it...sheesh.