His Favorite Gifts - Tent and Vacuum

Tooting My Own Horn

I am going to toot my own horn a little. I was the only person in my Optifast group not to gain weight over Christmas. In fact, I lost 0.5 pounds, which is amazing considering all the goodies I snitched!

I will have to update you on Christmas later. Back to the cleaning.

Missing My Baby Boo

I didn't know what to do with myself tonight. My Baby Boo is not here. He is in Osky with Grandma and Grandpa. Daycare was closed today, so they agreed (leapt at the chance) to babysit today. They came and picked him up last night and are bringing him back in the morning. I really have no idea what to do with my time. I am taking down the Christmas stuff and cleaning - all those things that are much easier to do without a toddler around. I am hoping that he wasn't looking around for me to pick him up tonight and that they figured out that he has to hold his pacifier in his left hand while he drinks his last bottle of the day, or else he won't go to sleep. I am never going to make it when I have to go to North Carolina for a week in May!

Tomorrow we have a playdate at the indoor playground with Caleb, Sy, Chaelinn, Caelin, and Cashlin. It should be fun. I haven't seen the Barbours since May!

Hooray!!

Monday we took Ryan to the cardiologist for his 6-month checkup. I am happy to report that both holes in his heart have grown shut! He doesn't ever have to go back to the heart doctor. We are thrilled :)

Poo on the Carpet!!!

A sick cat got into our dining room and pooped green diarreha all over our carpet!
Not exactly. I dropped a jar of broccoli & chicken baby food on the carpet, and it sprayed all over the wall. What a mess! It did look like cat crap though.

Much Better Today

Ryan was naughty, naughty, and cranky, cranky, cranky yesterday, even with a nap. He also has diarehha from the antibiotics. I am feeding him Yo Baby! yogurt (which he loves) twice a day to help with the diarehha.

Two molars more molars have finally poked through, but not all the way, so his gums are still really swollen. I guess I would be crabby too! Last night he fell asleep at 6 pm and slept until 7:30 this morning. It was the miracle cure. He is not crabby today! Hallelujah.

Yesterday I paid the bills, wrapped some gifts, and did a tiny bit of scrapbooking. Today, I have been tidying up and doing laundry. We have let the laundry pile up too long. Ryan has 3 loads just himself! I believe I am on load #5 with atleast 4 more to go. Ugh.

This Pretty Much Explains How Saturday Morning Went at Our House

Like Stealing Candy From A Baby

This is kind of funny. Tuesday Ryan still had a high fever, so I came home at noon from my computer class and assumed my parental duties from Todd. I called the pediatrician and got an appointment within 30 minutes, so I had to hustle to get Ryan ready as the stern nurse insists that you be 15 minutes early for all appointments. Anyway, we got there and waited and saw the doctor and all that. Then I had to get him dressed to come home. I suddenly took ill. I realized that in all the commotion I hadn't drunk my shake, and I was having low blood sugar. I was afraid I was going to pass out, but there was no one outside the door and Ryan was still naked and crying. What was I going to do?


Solution: I stole Ryan's bottle from him and chugged the whole milk. I was better in minutes, but felt more than a little guilty! Ryan just looked confused.

Trying to Escape

Fever Boy No More

Ryan had a high fever for no reason for a whole week earlier in November, so when he came down with a 103 fever on Saturday I figured there was nothing I could do. By Sunday it was 104, so I hauled him back to the doctor. This time I got lucky. He had an ear infection! You have never seen a mom so happy to hear her kid had an ear infection! This meant antibiotics. Todd stayed home with him all day Monday, and I left my computer class on noon at Tuesday. He still had 104 fever and had to be held all the time. He was limp as a dishrag. So, I took him back in and they increased his antibiotic. Within 3 hours, the fever broke! He was back at daycare yesterday and is sleeping in his crib some. When he is sick we always have to hold him 24/7 and sleep with him in the recliner, so when he gets better then we have to break him from being held. Ugh. I also managed to clean up the house a little and finally put the ornaments on my tree (it took me until 12:30 am). Every thing always seems to go to hell when you have a sick kid!

Update

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving! Well, let's see…
Ryan ended up sleeping on Thanksgiving afternoon for four hours so I got all my Christmas decorations hauled down from upstairs. Todd ended up sleeping for fifteen hours, so he missed Thanksgiving all together. He didn't wake up until 3 am Friday morning! Friday we went to the Target sale but got there too late to get the camera we wanted. Then we went out for lunch. Todd had a turkey dinner and Ryan ate his first cottage cheese, which he loved. Then we went home and put up our new Christmas lights – an animated penguin.

Saturday afternoon I drove Ryan to the farm so we could go to my great-uncle's 90th birthday party on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. I got to see all my Arnold cousins, but we mostly all stayed in packs of our immediate family. Ryan enjoyed running in and out of the men's restroom, climbing on Uncle Kurt, being fawned over, and pushing around my great-aunt Donna's super-cool walker called "The Cadillac". Apparently it is nicer than any of the other assisted-living people's walkers, so they named it "The Cadillac". We left for home about 2:45, hit Wal-Mart in Ankeny for baby food and diapers and arrived home about 6:30 pm. Then I unloaded the car, gave Ryan his supper, gave Ryan his bath, chased him around, and rocked him to sleep. I was exhausted.

Last Thursday we went to Stephanie's for a Pampered Chef party. We made omelets in Ziploc bags, which was fun. Ryan screamed hysterically all the way over and was really fussy after we went into the house. I finally took off his shoes, and he perked right up. He loved going up their stairs and running into Rylan's room. He also discovered that they had a Christmas tree. Luckily he only pulled off a few ornaments. I was exhausted by the time we left.

Saturday Tami and Preston and the boys joined Ryan and me at the Cookie Festival at the WDM Methodist Church. It started at 9 am and was freezing cold. We got there at 9:15 and it was packed. We hustled the kids in and then stood in line for over 30 minutes. I was roasted and groaning holding my almost 27 pound munchkin, but every time I put him down he would sprint down the hall. Caleb had a good time twirling his cookie bucket, which T & P did not appreciate. An hour later, we left with buckets full of awesome cookies. Go figure – there were only 5 people in line when we left! Then Ryan and I drug H's first wedding dress to the Ebay store, only to be told that they don't sell clothing, then we hit the St. Theresa's bazaar which was pretty small.

Sunday I went to the Nine Lessons and Carols program at church. Rachel was supposed to go with me, but she came down with strep throat. It was beautiful with a men's quartet doing all the songs. They also had a two guest sopranos, bells, and mambo drums. It really put me in the Christmas spirit, even though I had only a Christmas tree up with no ornaments!