Poker

For all you poker ladies - I'm still waiting to hear back from a few people, but it looks like it will either have to be Feb 2 (Super Bowl weekend), or we will have to wait until March.

Toddlers!

This toddler business is not for the weak. Ryan is CRAAAZY. We had wedding receptions to go to both Friday night and Saturday, and of course Todd was at work Friday and in the wedding on Saturday, so I was on Ryan patrol. That boy can move fast. Saturday Ryan could not comprehend why he couldn't go be with Daddy on the altar (Todd was best man), so he and I spent the ceremony in the Sunday School Room. Then we were at the reception (at Stein's) before he fell off a barstool head-first and wen Splat! facedown. I looked at him and then I looked up, and it was like everyone in the room had frozen and all had these horrid looks of shock on their faces. I was more worried about someone turning me into DHS than I was about him I think. How did he manage to fall when I was less than 6 inches away? He ended up not being hurt, but he was already feverish and sleepy, so we went straight home. Some wedding. Sunday we went to Walmart and he kept trying to get out of the cart, and Monday we went out for supper and he wanted out of the high chair the whole time. He has also been in timeout again (he's only 15 months!) and knocked his head 3 times in the past 2 days and keeps climbing out of the bathtub.

He isn't that bad though. He does funny stuff too. Last night he poured and entire container of fruit puffs onto the carpet, then laid right in the middle of them, shoving them in his face as fast as he could. He kind of rolled in them too. Very funny!

He has also started breaking my heart. He now cries and tries to escape from the high chair every time I leave him at daycare, and Terri says he cries when the other kids' mommies pick their kids up. I wish I didn't have to send him to daycare...I just keep reminding myself that everyday I go to work I am getting free health insurance for my family, and that alone is worth something.

Ryan Says Happy New Year!

Ryan Update

It is fun watching Ryan develop into a little person. He has a new word this week - dog, and he now says very clearly 'Wake Up Daddy! Wake Up!'. He has been getting new teeth like crazy. Tonight I counted and he has 15. 8 on top and 7 on the bottom. He still won't touch much meat or any noodles, but he feeds himself peaches, bananas, and green beans. He is still obsessed with lights and light switches. Last night was the first time I ever put bubbles in his bath, and he was terrified! He kept trying to scrape them off his legs - crying the whole time.

Today he was put in timeout for hitting. Apparently all the other kids were being naughty and whacking each other, and he copied them. Terri Anne said she had so many kids in timeout today that it was more like a prison yard than a playground! I guess the time out worked and he actually sat there for the whole time. Terri Anne has a rule - You Hit, You Sit, That's It!

He still wants to be rocked to sleep, but is getting too big to get comfortable. Tonight he wriggled around and finally slid off my lap walked over to the middle of the living room, laid down, and was asleep in 5 seconds.

Some Good News

Well, some finally some good news regarding my purse. Our homeowner's insurance is going to pay to replace the contents of my purse and purse (wow, a whopping $15 for the purse) and up to $200 in cash. So, I will be able to get another cell phone and iPOD. My health insurance is going to pay 80% of the blood sugar machine. It is just irritating to replace all this stuff. I still have no driver's license because I need a copy of my birth certificate with an official raised seal, but I can't order one over the phone from the courthouse in Audubon because I have no credit card or checks, and I have to go to the doctor to get a prescription for the blood sugar machine even though I already had one. Ugh. Also, I went to pick up Todd's prescriptions today and I had to leave one there because I didn't have enough cash on me!

Also, between the time my purse was stolen and I called Wells Fargo, the thief made one charge using my debit card. It was for $2.25 for Auntie Anne's Pretzels at the mall. What the heck?

Happy !@#$ing New Year

New Year's Eve was not a good day. I was grumpy because my newspaper was wet, my vacuum cleaner won't suck, my email wasn't working, and my husband was gone. Little did I know it was going to get worse.

About 3:30 Ryan and I went to K-Mart to buy an elliptical machine. First I returned three pairs of pajama pants for which they gave me a gift card. Then we shopped. A lady in the curtain section asked me a really weird question and asked me to help her, then disappeared. I thought it was strange, but nothingelse. So, we finally get up to the counter and I unload my stuff, and I HAVE NO PURSE!!! That lady distracted me with the question, and then must have stolen it. It was between Ryan and the back of the seat!!! The store manager looked all over, to no avail. In the meantime, Ryan had pooped and I was crying, so I took him home and changed him, called Wells Fargo and Verizon Wireless, then went to the police department and filled out a report. I finally got home at 6:30. I lost my license, insurance card, debit card, checkbook, new iPOD that I got for Christmas, my cell phone, my blood sugar meter, the Kmart gift card, the Starbucks gift card I won in the Halloween cooking contest, and A LOT of cash. I never carry that much cash, but I was going to spend it in the store and then take the rest to the bank.

There is no good side to this story, but at least they didn't hurt Ryan and I had my keys in my pocket so I was able to drive home. I have been doing laundry today and just trying to enjoy being home with Ryan. I don't have to worry about finding time to pay bills (they closed our account and it will be 10 days before I get checks) or dowload music onto my iPOD, so I have lots of time on my hands!

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!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! It has been a quiet but good day at the Stein house. Todd got home from work early this morning and then stayed up until noon. It was fun for the three of us to hang out and play. We don't get much time together. I fed Ryan turkey/rice and carrots for his lunch in honor of the holiday. At 1:30 I took Ryan out for walk in the stroller. He fell asleep, so when we got home I just rolled him into the backyard. Then I spent the next 45 minutes cleaning off the last of my garden debris. Stupidly, I wore short sleeves. I now have a rash up to my elbows! I covered my arms with diaper rash cream and put on a long sleeve shirt.

Ryan was still asleep, so I actually read the paper in quiet! Then I came upstairs to get the Christmas decorations out, but ended up reorganizing all my tubs of baby clothes and supplies. All that stuff adds up! I have no idea where I am going to store the exersaucer. I have 3 tubs of clothes that are still too big for him. I got them from one of the mom's at daycare. How lucky am I? I have clothes all the way up to 4T just waiting for us.

That's all the news from here. No thanksgiving dinner for me - I am sticking to the liquid diet. But, I am not too disappointed since I need to dig out a tub of smaller clothes from the attic! Well, off to do some Christmas decorating before my boys wake up (Ryan is still in the stroller in the dining room - in his coat! It's now been 2.5 hours!)

Wild Child

Tonight was an interesting night with Ryan, aka "The Tornado". When we got home we chatted with the neighbor in our driveway, and he took off. He made it all the way across their front yard and almost into their driveway before we caught him. The boy can walk fast.

Then we went inside. When I closed the baby gate he had a fit. He stomped over to the recliner, beat his head a few times, then laid down on his back and kicked and screamed, then rolled over to his stomach and kicked and screamed. Yowzer.

Later we were playing in his room, and I turned my back for a few seconds to put something in the closet. I heard a little cry and turned around to find that he was hanging by his hands from the side of the changing table with one leg dangling in mid-air and the other leg on the arm of his rocking chair! This child is going to make my hair turn white fast!

First Haircut

Last night we took Ryan to Great Clips for his first hair cut. It was looking pretty raggedy in the front, and the back was getting really long.

The hair cut went great. He sat on Todd's lap and ate a biter biscuit. He didn't cry or anything. I took lots of pictures and the stylist gave us a certificate and some of his hair.

I hate the hair cut. I wish I hadn't done it. He doesn't look like my baby anymore. It makes me sad.