Sunday, December 17, 2006

Christmas is in 6 days!

I cannot believe how fast Christmas came this year! It feels like just yesterday we were wearing shorts and spending our weekends at Great America!

This weekend we are finally all well and spent all day Saturday cleaning and straightening up the house. Today we are going to have our friends Steve and Lisa over for her birthday and to exchange gifts. And in less than a week my Mom and Randy will arrive :)

This Christmas is an exciting one - at least for me. I remember as a kid being so excited that Santa was coming. I couldn't wait to see what presents he left me under the tree. I looked forward to our big family celebrations where I could hang out with my cousins I hadn't seen since the last holiday and goof off with them (which also meant being teased a lot by our Uncle Pat). Making cookies, eating cookies, helping my mom make some yummy candy for Christmas. Decorating the tree and putting only MY ornaments on it.

As I got into my teens the magic went away. Yeah, all those things were exciting but they weren't as special as they were when I was five. Over the years the magic became less and less with each passing year. Sure, I looked forward to spending time with family, eating great food and getting new stuff...but it never really felt the same.

This year the magic is back! This is Kian's first year of understanding what Santa is all about. His eyes got wide when we bought the tree out. He has enjoyed the bit of candy I have made (completely nut free - even the chocolate!) I cannot wait to see him open pretty much all those gifts under the tree! :) This is going to be a fun Christmas for the entire family :)

Sarah's Wishlist

I have put a new link to my Wishlist on Amazon.com in the sidebar (to the right) so it can easily be found.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

EA's Christmas Party

EA’s Christmas party was last night and we all had a blast!

Kian went to the daycare onsite while we went to the party. It sounds like he had a GREAT time. I wasn’t sure how well he would do because when I take him to our class sometimes he doesn’t want to leave my side – he’s afraid. Luckily when we dropped him off there weren’t a lot of kids. He didn’t really seem to care that we left - he was too busy exploring everything.

EA goes ALL out for their parties. This campus has about 2500 employees. And all those employees can bring one guest – so you can imagine the amount of people were there. It was insane!

This year’s theme was a Vegas. We were greeted with glasses of wine and entered into rooms that barely looked like the rooms they normally are. There were amazing shrimp and calamari cocktails, sushi, egg rolls, salads, sirloin freshly cut on slices of French baguettes – honestly I can’t even tell you all of the food they had there because well – it was crazy! Jamie didn’t indulge too much as his stomach is still in recovery mode – but I sampled one of everything especially since we didn’t have dinner. We were given two drink tickets each and you could get pretty much any sort of drink you wanted. I stuck to a good ole Corona with a lime slice ;) We gave the rest of the tickets to one of Jamie’s bosses (because we saw him headed up to the bar to buy a drink – good timing on our part!)

One entire area was converted into a casino. There were roulette, blackjack and poker tables everywhere. We found a blackjack table and played there for the entire evening along with some friends of Jamie’s. It was really good to have some familiar people to hang out with :)

And what Vegas themed party would not be complete without the Rat Pack - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. (okay, impersonators but you get the picture!) I personally was serenaded by Dean Martin – apparently I’m his one and only you hehe And Sammy made his rounds with some $25 American Express gift certificates. He came to our table and said that whoever wins the next hand gets the money. Luckily our dealer bust so ALL of us got a certificate! WOOT!

Throughout the night Jamie checked his phone about every 15 mins (mostly by my prompting LOL) to make sure we didn’t miss a call from the daycare. We were concerned about him since it was a totally foreign environment for him to be in and we dropped him off at his bedtime! So we had no idea how long we would be able to stay at the party – but since there were no calls we figured he was ok.

At about 11:45 we headed over to get Kian. He looked all cozy in his PJ bottoms with his blankie watching Cinderella - he was so happy to see us :) One of the workers asked us if we gave him a Red Bull before we brought him LOL Apparently Kian was in full force while he was there and just explored the entire time lol I think most of the kids there attend daycare there so they are used to it – with Kian he just wanted to check it all out.

So, we all had an awesome time and next year we won’t hesitate to use the EA daycare. The workers were amazing and Kian had an awesome time :) I think it was worth it to all of us :) And thankfully Jamie staying home all day yesterday and spending it in bed resting helped us in being able to go. I’m praying this weekend he will make a full recovery AND that I don’t get that nasty bug.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Sick Central At the Dural Household

Ever since our trip for Thanksgiving Kian has had some stomach issues and wasn’t eating much. Nothing too bad, but it had gone on for over a week. On Friday I decided that if he wasn’t better over the weekend, I was going to take him to the doctor. Well, Saturday that call came to a head Saturday morning with after Kian had his milk – he had a bad case of the stomach flu.

This last weekend we had a lot of plans of things to get done around the house which of course went out the window and piled into this coming weekend. Kian wasn’t able to keep anything down until Sunday morning – we all had a sleepless night on Saturday. Sunday all Kian wanted to do was just cuddle with me and watch “shows” so we watched whatever he wanted and he munched on saltines and sipped watered down apple juice.

The countdown began for me or Jamie to get sick. Jamie is the first casualty. He stayed home sick from work today – this is not something he does unless he’s pretty bad off. Last night when he got home he went straight to bed and has been there pretty much ever since.

I am hoping and praying that somehow I avoid this virus. The EA Christmas party is on Friday and we have already paid for Kian’s spot in the EA daycare for the evening. This is literally the only time that me and Jamie get to go out during the year and thankfully we have the EA daycare to watch him or we wouldn’t get able to do that either.

So, if you are the praying kind say a little prayer for us – that we are all healthy so we can all enjoy a wonderful evening on Friday night.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Cars - The Movie

Kian has a new love. The Disney/Pixar Cars. Before we left for our big trip for Thanksgiving, we bought him the movie and planned to let him start watching it on the trip. Well, he watched it a few times in the car and this morning he asked to watch it – for the SECOND time just now! This is the first movie he’s actually sat down and watched (well for the most part) during the slower parts of the movie he plays with his toys but the exciting parts he actually sits down and watches. I think that we will be able to take him to the theater the next time a good movie for him comes out :)

Right now I am trying to do some researching into different toys related to the movie. Kian enjoys playing with his cars more than anything else in his toy box and since the movie is well…cars I think he will love them :)

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Our Thanksgiving :)

So, we are back from Mayberry – I mean Ferndale, CA ;) (Martin calls it Mayberry so it’s okay hehe) Kian did AWESOME on the trip thanks to our DVD player and several movies. We got up there around dinner time on Wednesday (took us about 7 hours to get there because of several stops and really intense rain for part of the drive in the mountains). Of course when we got there Kian just wanted to walk around and not sit in his chair to wait for our food at Curley’s. We did meet up with Jon and Ester (the people who hosted Thanksgiving dinner, own a part of Full Sail, and have a recording studio in Ferndale that Martin is the audio engineer for). I was too busy wrangling Kian and trying to eat the same time to really be able to converse with everyone but heard bits and pieces here and there. Upon walking the half block back to Martin’s place he told us that Eater opened the “parsonage” to us and we would probably be more comfortable staying there. Just catty-corner from Martin’s place is a BIG, old church that Jon and Ester own along with the parsonage behind it. Let me tell ya, when I think of a parsonage I think of simple living, small place but this was QUITE the contrary! It is a Victorian home but has been restored on the inside completely! We were MORE than comfortable there and felt very blessed by Jon and Ester for opening this house to us – pretty much complete strangers.

Thursday there was quite a crowd at “the ranch” (a 19 bedrood 19 bathroom place!!). It’s on top of a mountain that overlooks the ocean. Kian had a great time running around outside on the vast land, playing with the pool table, and trying to love on Ester’s little dog named Lilly. Turkey dinner was AMAZING! Ester and several helpers cooked everything for the 20 some crowd. It was an amazing meal :)

Friday we got up and had breakfast at Papa Joe’s. A bit of a longer walk this time (instead of a half block it was 2 hehe) and we had an AMAZING breakfast there. It was one of those places that offers just a few things on the menu but each one is awesome! I guess a lot of the ranchers go there after they are done milking their cows. Oh yeah, this area is definitely a big part of the dairyland of California. I felt like I was in Wisconsin with the amount of cows we saw. It was very odd to see cows grazing and the ocean waves rolling in the behind them!

After eating breakfast we walked down the main street in Ferndale and looked at shops (most of which had pieces of paper taped to the windows that said “Closed Thursday through Sunday Happy Thanksgiving!” Ferndale is a cute little town :)

After our short walk home we headed up to the studio to check it out. This place is AMAZING…I think our tour lasted about 2 hours to cover the whole place with stories and everything. That place is amazing! The artists and record pretty much anywhere in the house (including the bathroom!) for different sounds. And it’s not only a studio but it feels like a house that has a lot to do so the artists and those working with them will feel comfortable. There is even a chef that works up there to cook for those who are working! I know I am not even giving this place justice in what I am saying – it’s so amazing I’m not even sure where to start or how to talk about it lol!

We left late Friday afternoon. We were all pretty tired and I’m sure Kian was sick of hearing no touch all the time. Kian did great in the car again – that is until we would stop and let him stretch his legs. He didn’t want to get back in the car…poor guy! We got home in just under 5 hours! Thanks to not a lot of traffic, no rain, and not a lot of stops (Kian’s dinner consisted of dried fruit, toddler crackers, and Kix washed down with some whole milk so we wouldn’t have to stop for over a half hour for him to eat).

I think we were all happy to be home and sleeping in our own beds (Toby included). Kian was up an hour earlier than normal – he was doing that when we were in Ferndale – and he went to bed about an hour and half later than usual so today is our recovery day. But we all had a great time and were very happy to spend the holiday with family :)

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Friends and Thanksgiving :)

We had a wonderful visit with my friend Jen and her three little boys. Kian did amazingly well sharing his toys. Since we don’t have many little ones visiting our house, I wondered if he might have issues with sharing. At times he did but in general he was into the sharing deal :)

Thursday her and her husband traveled back to Phoenix. It was about a 12 hour drive – although I wish it were only 12 minutes! Everyone seemed to have a really good time. I know I enjoyed the company a lot!

Being an introvert, I was kind of tired when they left (getting energy from spending time alone). Physically tired but emotionally rejuvenated. We really need to try to meet up again in 2007 for sure!

We Have a Place to Go for Thanksgiving!

I thought this Thanksgiving would be the first that we spent alone. I was geared up for it and mentally had planned a menu of Thanksgiving foods but on a smaller scale (thanks to some brainstorming I did with my mom!)

Well, last week Jamie’s cousin Martin called and invited us to have Thanksgiving with him and some friends! It will be about a 6 hour trip north – not including stops. This will be the first time we made a trip like this with Kian so we are geared up for many stops and have a TripTik printed off from the AAA website to help us in planning those stops. We have also geared up with some new DVDs for Kian to enjoy on the trip along with a new book so hopefully those things will keep him occupied for the most part. We will also have Toby in tow as well! So it will be a family affair with furbies and all lol We are really looking forward to it leaving tomorrow morning!

Friday, November 10, 2006

Kian update and Special Visitors!

Kian is doing much, much better. I think he had some sort of 24 hour virus or something last weekend. He’s definitely back to himself!

Wednesday was our last day of our class (Terrific Two’s) until January. Since Saturday is Veteran’s Day, the teacher brought in flags and played a marching song for us to march around the room and have the kids wave their flags. She allowed the kids to bring home the flags if they wanted – Kian has had the greatest time dancing around and playing with his flag! Isn’t it funny how they love to play with the simplest things even though they have a toy box full of toys.

On a different note, we are gearing up for some special visitors this weekend! When I was pregnant I started posting on a message board for mom’s who were due in May 2004. That group has stayed together and I have made some good friends. Well, one of the mom’s is coming to our area! Her husband has some business in the Bay Area and he is going to drop off his family (her and their three boys) so we can spend the next 5 days together! I am so very excited to finally meet my friend, Jen, in person and for Kian to have a playmate :) We have plans to go to the zoo and take them to EA for a tour. Jen has two older boys and one is very into video games so I figured this would be a very neat thing for her guys to do :)

Speaking of visitors, I have been trying to straighten and clean our house since it’s been neglected a bit due to a sick kid and lack of motivation. I am so looking forward to having some good conversation over a few cups of coffee every day next week :)

Monday, November 06, 2006

Update on Kian

We just got back from seeing Kian’s Ped. He is fine. Has a bit of fluid in one of his ears but we are to continue his antibiotic until it’s gone. He had the beginnings of an ear infection about a month ago and I am pretty sure it was in the same ear.

We were told by Urgent Care more than once that Kian needed to see his doctor on Monday or Tuesday. So that’s why I made the appointment. But I was asked at least three times if he was still sick – it seemed to me like the lady was wondering why the heck we were there if he wasn’t still sick. I figure I’m paying to come in here to make sure he’s rechecked out because I didn’t really trust that yahoo in the UC that looked at him (he said that Kian’s vomit was spit up…2 ½ year olds don’t spit up anymore and when he looked in Kian’s ear he looked at it like 2 feet from his head like the guy needed bifocals or something…so I just wanted to make sure he was ok).

So, as I am sitting in the waiting room I finally get a chance to look over the paperwork that Urgent Care gave us. It says that we didn’t have to see Kian’s Ped unless his symptoms continued! Huh? No wonder why they lady berated me about coming in :(

The doctor we saw was not Kian’s normal one…just the one that sees sick kids for the day. She was nice and answered all my questions.

Before we ended the visit I asked her if she could sign a form for our electric company for having Kian’s HEPA purifier running in his room 24 hours a day 7 days a week (the form gives us a discount on our electricity since it’s a medical need for him to have it). Of course I didn’t look at the form before I gave it to her so I fumbled over the paper work. She asked me a million questions and seemed like she wasn’t going to sign it at all! It’s just a form for his HEPA thing…it’s not like I’m making it up! I think she talked to me for about 5 minutes asking me why we didn’t get rid of our pets, telling me he needs a physical, telling me we need his medical records (which they have), asking if he’s been hospitalized for his asthma….this went on for at least 5 minutes! After giving her answers for everything, pointing out that she has all his past medical records, explaining that he has been in the ER for an asthma attack…she signed the darn thing! Before she left the room I wanted to make sure I was clear that I needed to set up an appointment for a physical (since she asked 4 times I was sure she wanted him to have one but I wanted to ask HER this time). She asked if he had his two year visit yet. I said yes he did, in May….she said “well, your insurance won’t pay for it until next year so you can do it then” HUH?

So now I feel like the village idiot at our Ped’s office. Although we were doing what we were told to do. If any lesson is learned here, it’s to read paperwork! GRR! This weekend was not a fun one and it was rather busy…but still I should have made time to look all this junk over. It might have saved me the humiliation.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

My Sick Kian :(

Yesterday was our first trip to the ER for the year. Kian spiked a high fever suddenly when we were on our way to go shopping yesterday. He was really clingy and moaned and whined a lot…which is so not like him. He wouldn’t drink or eat anything either which was concerning to me since I was afraid he might be getting dehydrated.

I finally was able to get him to lay down in his crib and he took a nap. We weren’t able to get the fever down with Tylenol and after his nap he felt very hot still. I had heard that alternating Tylenol with Motrin can help reduce a high fever. So I gave him some Motrin and Jamie and I headed to the Urgent Care center…it’s closer than the ER.

On the way over to Urgent Care he drank an entire sippy cup of diluted juice. Once we got there he started acting a bit more normal and of course by the time he was assessed his fever was gone. On the way back to see the doctor I discover that Kian had vomited on his blanket while he was sleeping…it was dry but I know it wasn’t there before. I notified the doctor of it and he wrote it off as spit up…last time I checked a 2 ½ year old doesn’t spit up anymore! But he did discover that Kian had fluid in his ears and had the beginnings of an ear infection. So, we went home with a script for antibiotics. At least we are tackling the ear infection and since we need to see our Ped on Monday I feel much better....especially because I really trust our Ped.

When we came home he ate a late lunch – early dinner and drank a little bit more. About an hour or two later he didn’t seem to be himself again. His fever was returning. Right before bed I could give him more Motrin so I did that. We also gave him a cool bath…which he did not like but we felt it was best with his fever to do that. He went to sleep quickly and we checked on him every half hour to an hour to make sure his fever wasn’t rising. I even got up at 2AM, when he would need more meds, and made sure he was feeling ok. His head felt fine.

This morning Kian woke up crying. He didn’t feel warm but it was apparent he didn’t feel well either. He didn’t want me to let go of him at all. He didn’t want to go downstairs or do anything that he normally does. After rocking with him a bit I was able to tell him that we would go downstairs and I carried him down. He saw his milk and ran over to drink it. I thought he was ok. Jamie went out to get the paper and I got Kian’s antibiotic ready. When I started to give him his meds, he screamed…this is not even close to normal for him as he’s a great medicine taker and these meds taste more like candy than anything. I asked Jamie to help me when he got back inside and Kian started to vomit (sorry for the TMI!). Luckily it ended up on clothes and was easy to clean up.

Jamie and I got a quick bath ready for Kian and we both changed. After getting Kian calmed down we gave him some saltines. At first he didn’t want them but when I showed him they were squares he was very interested hehe I knew that they would help to calm is tummy down. He ate a few crackers and had some more diluted juice. Since then he has been very much like himself. He only wants to eat those square crackers though. But I figure that when I am sick only certain things sound good to me. So, he’s had about half a package of saltines this morning (which about ¼ has been shared with Toby).

I’m just hoping that it’s only up hill from here! I will try to update again when I have some news. Hopefully it’s only good news from here on out!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

A little update...

Our Halloween :(

Well, unfortunately Kian didn’t have much of a Halloween. At least he has no idea what’s really happening so it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I still feel bad! Kian started coughing and had a BAD stuffy nose on Monday. It got worst on Tuesday so I didn’t think the cold night air would be good for his immune system or his asthma so we stayed in. We had a few trick or treaters. Kian’s going through a bit of a shy stage so he wasn’t too much into it. I would tell him “Snow White” was at the door or a “duck” and he would come out and check it out. I really look forward to next year when he can pick out what he wants to be and we can take him around the neighborhood. :)

Blue’s Clues

For the last few weeks Blue’s Clues has been sidelined among Kian’s requests to watch different kid’s shows. Today he requested to watch Blue’s Clues after seeing the beginning at the very end of a Tivoed Go Diego Go! show. I have been a bit worried since Santa told me he bought him some Blue’s Clues things and my mom bought him something Blue too – at least Blue is still loved in our house :)

Toys R Us Catalog

It’s a ritual in our house to dig out coupons and ads in Sunday’s newspaper. This Sunday brought the Toys R Us catalog. I paged through and I think Jamie did too. I left it on the table along with some other ads. Kian saw that the cover had something with Diego on it and started to talk to me about it. I think he sat down for about an hour (yes, my son sat down for an hour and he wasn’t strapped into a carseat AND he didn’t complain!) and looked at the catalog pointing out Elmo, Dora, Diego, cars…you name it. Every day since then he has sat at the dining table next to me and looked through this catalog. I know he’s only two, but man I have a feeling he’s going to have a list as tall as me of toys he wants! But at least he’s enjoying such a simple thing! Of course it has to be the virtually free things he enjoys the most hehe

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Who do you think this is?




Jamie is working on a game based on The Simpsons and had me and Kian "Simpson-ified"! How neat is that!!! It was a little extra birthday gift he had done for me :) What a sweetie!

Monday, October 23, 2006

Wish List at Amazon.com

Yeah, I'm one of the hardest people to please when it comes to buying me stuff lol Pre Jamie's prompting I made a Wishlist at Amazon.com. Here is a link to it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3MU9X0JU562L4/102-2156942-1545755?reveal=unpurchased&filter=all&sort=priority&layout=standard&x=9&y=16 You will have to copy the link and paste it into your browser because Blogger won't let me make it a link. I only have a few things on there right now, but I will add more later on :)

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Slide Show!

I created a quick little slide show of some of the photos we have up at winkflash :) I will make more later - but this is a good place to start!


Create Your Own!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Winkflash

So, I just spent the last hour on the phone with someone from winkflash. Last weekend I was having issues getting photos uploaded. And this week I was having issues adding people's ID's to my contact list for viewing.

I think I finally got the bugs worked out! I ended up actually calling them for assistance and received some great tips as well as a direct email to this person for further help if needed.

SO, if you have signed up through the winkvitation I sent you and you cannot see our photos (make sure you click on the friends tab to get to our photos) please email me with your ID you are using on winkflash and I will add you on this end or take care of the problem.

PHEW! I'm glad I finally got to the bottom of this before I moved all our photos to another hosting site!

Also, remember that when you sign up for winkflash it's totally free. If you want to order photos you can - that's the only time you will pay.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Kian has a new love in his life



DORA THE EXPLORER!!!!

Kian has been asking to watch her show a lot. He has even learned to say "Blue" and "Yellow" in spanish and he says "Oh Man!" a lot which is also from the show.

Last week all he asked to watch was Dora or what sounds like "War-ah". Unfortunately we only have three episodes recorded - Dora is on at the same time as the Rachael Ray Show and unfortunately Rachael comes before Dora (well at least according to Mommy!) Needless to say, I was sick of hearing about Rojo the Firetruck and watching Diego (Dora's cousin) help her take pictures of animals.

Luckily this weekend Blue's Clues was back in rotation hehe

But Kian sure does love Dora. He even recognizes her toys when we are out and about. Today we went to buy him a winter coat and there were Dora toys around...of course when I told him we had to say goodbye to them he had to say goodbye to ALL the characters on Dora lol He's such a little nut :)

Pumpkin Patch!

This morning we all headed to a local pumpkin patch. I had seen it in the paper and heard about it in the class I go to with Kian. It was really neat! They had A LOT of pumpkins, a little old west town, pony rides, cows, chickens, sheep, goats...we had a lot of fun!

Today is very overcast here and it's pretty cold in terms of being California. I wished we had a winter hat for Kian since he just finished his antibiotic for his ear infection. He did have on a hooded jacket for him. After Kian's nap we are going out to get some warmer gear for our little guy.

Despite the cold, Kian had a great time! He loved feeding the goats and couldn't stop talking about them (he was calling them sheep and saying baaa..lol close enough!)

We left without buying pumpkins...weird I know! But they were a tad on the expensive side and since Kian doesn't really know the difference between me buying one there or at the grocery store I figured I'd wait to get them some where pretty cheap. The main thing was that we all had a great time and only spent .75 on feed and whatever we spent on gas :) It was a lot of fun...it wiped Kian out for sure though...he asked for a nap about a half hour after we got home! That's not normal for him! But he's out like a little light :)

I have pictures uploading on winkflash right now of our time there. I put them in the October 2006 folder and in a subfolder called Pumpkin Patch. Also, note one winkflash it has been taking some people quite some time before their ID is recognized as linked to my account. If you can't view photos right away, wait for about 24 hours and check back. If you are still having issues, email me and I might be able to help you out on my end.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

More New photos!

I posted a bunch of new photos at winkflash. Make sure you press the "Friend" button to view them. I have them in folders marked September 2006 and October 2006.

Also, just a FYI, Winkflash is a free service. You don't pay for anything unless you order prints from them. Just make sure when you sign up you do it through our invite and you will automatically be put on our friends list.

And once again, let me know if you have any issues at all :)

Monday, October 09, 2006

ATTENTION: New photo hosting

Just and FYI everyone. We have changed where we will be putting up our photos on the web. I have sent invites to those of you that I have email addresses for. You have to create an account with Winkflash through an invite I email to you inorder to view our photos.

We hope to have photos up more often and it gives those of you who want to print off photos of your own a good service to get prints from (it's really reasonable according to what I have seen on other sites like this).

Anyway, if you want to view current photos and didn't get an invite, just send me an email and I will get one right to you :)

Kian's First Wedding!

Saturday was Kian’s first Wedding! Our friends Steve and Lisa tied the knot on Saturday a beautiful golf course/country club in Gilroy. Jamie stood up as one of Steve’s groom’s men. Kian and I faired pretty well! Especially considering he had no nap and was going from about 1:30 until 9:30 (drive time included). I of course had my bag of “tricks” with me filled with snacks, a small truck and some Color Wonder books and markers. We also got to sit at the head table where Kian almost started the clinking of glasses by tapping his spoon on his macaroni and cheese bowl. He normally has plastic dishes at home so I guess it made a neat sound lol Kian had a great time dancing too! We didn’t hang around long for that though. Our car ride was about an hour and a half long. Thank GOD for our DVD player and Blue’s Clues. By the time Steve and Lisa cut their cake, Kian was saying “bah-bye” – basically asking to leave. Luckily we drove separately so Jamie could hang around longer.

All three of us were beat on Sunday and just took it easy. We did make a short trip to Target where Kian had a melt down…that was so unlike him :( He usually can get interested in something else easily or he just whines – rarely does he cry. Jamie and I figured that his well over due bedtime combined with a fairly early wake up on his part (I did let him sleep as long as he needed) AND that the fact that the poor guy has an ear infection just compounded into one. Heck, I was even cranky yesterday myself lol! I just didn’t burst into tears in the middle of Target ;) Things are back to normal today though. Kian seems more like himself although I am still dog tired!

Speaking of Dogs…

Toby still has a “cone” head. He has become used to it being there and a lot of times accommodates for his head being about 4 times larger all around then usual. He doesn’t seem bothered by it at all unless he has an itch under the cone…I usually help him with that.

He has started pretty much not caring if he barrels head first into anything. The cone now is pretty dented up. Before Toby was moving at a slower speed and if he ran into anything he would just stop – we would have to coax him through things lol Now he just barrels right past stuff…let me tell ya my legs will be thankful to have that thing off of him at the end of this week! His wounds look great and I think his stitches are very ready to come out (but what do I know LOL).

I think the first thing Toby will do when he gets that cone off is rub his paws all over his head and then enjoy chewing on his cow bone – all he’s been able to do all week is just hold it in his mouth.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Ants and.......

MICE (insert puking sounds here!) YUCK!

So, I have known we have had a bit of an ant problem for a while. When we first moved in they infilltrated Toby's food (which was outside at the time) and I found some in our pantry area of our house. Well, the rainy season is now starting around here. Rain = Ants when you live in California. If you have ever lived here, you will have ants at least once a year...it's just inevitable. Jamie felt we could solve our problem with some ant traps. I knew it would be fruitless but I was willing to spend $5 instead of $105 and having a bug guy come out.

Last night we bought a new food container for Toby's food and filled it up with a brand new 35lb bag. This morning I went to the pantry to get some things right away in the morning and notice a HUGE infilltration of ants all over our recycle bin and Toby's food. I showed it to Jamie and told him we really needed to call a bug guy. He luckily still had the card from the guy that did the inspection on our place before we bought it so we called them. AND boy, and I am glad we did!

The bug guy showed up and looked all around and suggested different types of service...we are now on a bi-monthly plan and it's a darn good thing because he discovered that our hotwater heater closet (which is located right off the back paito) has rats or mice.... YES I have the eebie-geebies thinking of mice/rats running through my house!!! In fact, while he was spraying outside and cleaning off cob webs from the house - I heard a click....we caught a mouse within 5 mins of him setting those traps!

Our house does butt up against a big open field so mice are something I kind of expected to be around...BUT NOT IN MY HOUSE bleck! He showed me areas of the house that we need to make sure are closed up - areas where they rodents are slipping in. Apparently they can get in anywhere that is the size of a quarter!

Hopefully our pests of all shapes and sizes will be gone quickly. Right now I am a bit grossed out.

But boy am I glad we called them! It was worth it!

Kian's Vist to his New Pediatrician

So today Kian and I met his new Ped. I REALLY REALLY LIKE HER! She's a no-nonsense kinda gal, which I like! She’s also very informative. The office is fairly big with a lot of Dr.s but we got in right away (I wasn’t even able to finish our new patient paperwork until AFTER the visit!). The staff there is very kid oriented – it really gave me flash backs of what Dr. Bravo and his staff is like. And of course our beloved Dr. Bravo will always be the comparison for whatever Ped we have for Kian :)

Kian wasn't sick (that I knew of). We were going to get his prescriptions for all his breathing meds and fluoride stuff redone (there is no fluoride in the water here!) as well as him getting his flu shot. She suggested that he get it toward the end of October since they are only good for 4 months (I had no idea!)

She checked him all out and discovered he had an ear infection! We honestly had no idea!!! We were all sick a few weeks ago and I am wondering if it was from that. Kian also has been sleeping a lot lately – I figured it was maybe a growth spurt or something but now I think it might be this infection.

We left the office armed with scripts for our pharmacy to have one file and one for an antibiotic for his ear…poor guy :(

As for the flu shot, he is scheduled to get it at the end of October. Kian is in a high risk category - first of all he's under the age of 5 (which is considered high risk) and second of all he's an asthmatic which puts him in the must have category. He’s had the shot every winter since his birth.

The pediatrician told me that their office is only giving them to kids that have health issues (like asthma). They aren't even doing any kids unless they are under three - not even up to five because of companies buying up the vaccine that sell them to drugs stores and other places for people WHO REALLY DONT NEED the shot!!! GRRRRRRRR! It ticks me off to the nth degree that people who don't have a risk of DIEING are getting the flu shot and those who are labeled in the high risk category have to be evaluated just how high risk they are. At Costco, Walmart, Safeway...all these blasted places have the vaccine but yet my Peds office is in short supply.

This is not only sick but it’s wrong in so many ways :( Sad...very, very sad....

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Toby Update and Cows

Toby is doing very well after his surgery. He has an incision that’s about 5-6 inches long down his leg where they removed the tumor. And one that is half the size where his neutering was done. He seems sore, but in pretty good spirits. He has pain meds for the week and we are trying to keep Kian’s interaction with him fairly minimal. Kian has a habit of wanting to chase him with is play lawnmower or kicking him. Of course that was squelched right away (the lawnmower will be in our downstairs closet until further notice). For the most part, Kian has been good with him – I just hope it continues through the week too.

Toby has a cone on his head which makes it hard for him to get around or get to us to have us pet him. He’s getting used to it though and I’m sure he will be a pro getting around with it before the two week is up. Yep! Two weeks he has to have that thing on! bleh…not looking forward to that! He hasn’t eaten much or drank a whole lot either. I’m sure he’s not feeling so hot. I will be putting a call into the vet tomorrow though to see what they say about that just to make sure.

Yesterday….

Yesterday we were sitting at our dining table eating a meal together and Kian said something about a cow and made a mooing sound. He was looking out our patio door toward the hill in the back of our house. I had shown Kian the moon a few nights ago and we have been saying the nursery rhyme at his class that has the line “the cow jumped over the moon” so I thought that might be what he was thinking about.

Well, this evening we were eating again as family. Jamie was facing the patio door this time. And all of a sudden he said, “there’s a cow!” I turned around to see at the top of the hill there was a cow grazing! Apparently Kian DID see a cow the other night lol! So of course for the next 15 mins Kian asked, “did you see the cow?” lol It was so cute!

Also, for those of you who don’t know our patio butts up against a fairly steep hill. The top of the hill has barbed wire and the land up there is protected. I guess that also means that a farmer has access to it. Our realtor told us that in the spring there will be sheep grazing up there this spring so I guess Kian will be in for a treat then :)

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Do you Have Poo-Poos? And other random tidbits

For a long time now both Jamie and I ask Kian one question a few times a day: Do you have poo poos? It’s taken him a while to realize what that is and that he needs to inform us when he has one, but in the last month he’s been telling us when he needs a change. Of course we praise him when he tells us and apparently that hard work over the last few months has paid off! Last weekend Jamie told me that Kian walked right up to him and asked “Do you have poo-poos?” Sure enough, Kian had them (not Jamie! hehe). Kian hasn’t done this with me until this afternoon. Just out of the blue after he had bee playing for a while on the floor with his trucks he walked straight up to me and said, “Do you have poo-poos?” Of course he had them, so at least we have one step conquered in the potty training area.

Cooler Weather – We Weclome You!

Living in the area where we live is quite a bit hotter than places that are a bit closer to the coast or to the bay. Since our place has a hill butted right up against our back patio it shades us from direct sunlight until about 1ish. Anytime between then and 5ish we are hit with direct sun. My temp gage on my kitchen window reads in the 100’s then! So, Kian and I avoid the patio area for this time. After dinner usually me and Kian head out to the patio where he is loving his new sand box.

Today, I sit at our patio table in the yard with my laptop typing this. There is a light, cool breeze in the air. It reminds me of fall back in Wisconsin with the leaves are changing and you can smell crunched leaves in the air. Of course we don’t have the changing leaves around here really, but the air feels crisp. We are welcoming Fall with open arms in the hopes that me and Kian will be able to wear jeans and go for more walks without the worry of getting overheated.

The MOON!

Last night I showed Kian the moon for the first time. We have read about it in books. He’s seen it on TV shows and they also talk about it his class we go to weekly. Last night I showed it to him and of course he had to say “Hi Moon!” and Bye when we went inside. Tonight when we headed out the first thing he said was “Hi Moon!” The funny thing is it’s not really even dark but you can see the moon just over the top of the hill behind our house. I think my kid is a sponge retaining more knowledge than I think!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Recovering and other news

This week was kind of a recovery for all of us. Jamie is back to normal hours which means we get to see him (hooray!) We are all feeling better but still battling the remnants of this cold we have. Kian’s also cutting his two year molars which has meant some late night wakings and some crakiness. We kind of stuck around the house this week – thankfully we have a sandbox in our back patio area that Kian enjoys along with some of the other things we have out there for him to play with.

We did go to our Terrific Two’s class. Let me say it doesn’t even stand a flame next to Gym Kids (which we went to before we moved 45 mins away from it.) The teacher is not the nicest person either – she has made some off handed comments about Kian (like him being demanding that he wants two stamps instead of one…that’s what the teacher would do at Gym Kids for everyone not to mention he’s only two!) I know they have three different teachers and I will just try out a different one next time around. Kian does seem to enjoy most of the class and I like the fact that he’s getting to play with other kids his age.

Poor, Poor Toby

Well, not this past Friday but the Friday before that Toby was sprayed in the fact by a skunk. Well, this Friday he’s going to undergo surgery to remove a large growth on his leg (it’s the size of a golf ball) and to be neutered. When we first got Toby, we thought we would stud him. We haven’t done that in the last 6 years and since it’s such a big thing to turn cancerous and that Toby is half way through his life span, that we better have it taken care of. The growth is something that would just get bigger and bigger quickly and if not taken care of could become inoperable. So, D-day for Toby is Friday morning. I just hope that he’s able to rest and Kian doesn’t hang on him too much.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Welcome to Sick Central!!!

Well, since we moved Kian hasn't had to have his breathing treatments pretty much at all. He was sick when we were in the process of moving and needed treatments until that was over - since then it's been almost two months since he has needed a breathing treatment! (He usually can only go one week without one.) That all ended this week.

Last Wednesday was our first day of Terrifc Two's a gym type class for Kian. I'm pretty sure we picked up this nastiness there - people always seem to think it's ok to bring your sick kid to functions like that which in turn exposes everyone to what their kid has. For Kian that's a dangerous thing. On more than one occasion a virus has landed Kian in the ER and even in the hospital - thanks to his asthma. I'm hoping that we have that under control - our last ER visit was Father's Day 2005.

So, when Kian's sick we all get sick. Right now what makes it worse is that Jamie is working late hours so it's really hard on all of us. In fact, I think right now Jamie is sicker than me or Kian. We all feel run down, have some dizziness, a cough, runny nose, and have bad stomach pains after eatting - none of us can even finish a meal or even eat half of it. Jamie's cough is getting really bad though. He wasn't even able to sleep more than three hours last night. And the night before he took a non-drowsy cold medication on accident so he was wide awake all night. With that said, I haven't been able to sleep well AT ALL from all the moving and coughing....thankfully at about 4AM Jamie went downstiars to try to sleep in the recliner to hopefully stop his coughing fits. At least I slept well from 4 until 7:30.

Let me tell you, a cold and working until about 9:30 at night each day is not a good mix. At least the deadline is Friday - but that also means SUPER late hours Friday night as well....I hope Jamie is able to bounce back over the weekend.

This has been a pretty rough last few weeks for us. I was even sick last week with something entirely different! I just hope the germs stay way from us and we all can enjoy each other again once this deadline is over.

For the time being, coffee will be my friend. Then the couch once Kian goes to bed - unfortunately it's near impossible to lay on the couch at all since Kian thinks I'm there to be his jungle gym lol

Ok, enough complaining for the day! I'm singing this crabby butt off!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Pee-pee on the Potty!

Kian went pee-pee on his potty for the first time today!

We have been letting him sit on his potty when we are in the bathroom as well for the last few weeks – mainly with his clothes on. Just this week he started to take his own pants down and ask for us to take his diaper off. And, just a few minutes ago he started did his first pee-pee in the toilet!!!!

For now we will just take it slow and let him just continue to do what he’s doing – just sitting on the potty when we do…that is unless he tells us he wants to! At least one milestone has been accomplished! :)

Monday, September 04, 2006

More Entertainment from the Mr. Man

Kian is saying more and more things clearly. He’s been talking for quite some time now, but we just couldn’t understand what he was saying all the time. More and more every day we understand more words. In the last week he started saying “yeah.” When I would ask him a question he would tell me yes or shake his head profusely no lol It’s so cute!

One funny thing this weekend was the events that happened Sunday morning. He had several time-outs in the first hour he was awake (btw, this isn’t normal for him) and after the last one I said to him, “You’re having a rough morning, huh?” He said through tears, “Yeah!” LOL I about lost it!

Kian also has found new freedom as we took down a gate that kept him out of the kitchen and dining areas (mainly because my laptop is parked on the dining table and I need it to work and make sure I’m on top of work emails). Most of Kian's timeouts stemed from the fact that he was touching my computer. Daddy had a great idea and found an old keyboard and mouse that Kian has had a great time pounding on. It's also helped him to fight the urge to do the same to my computer!

I think Toby and Allie are adjusting to this as Toby doesn’t have much other places to go and Allie well, she’s just her old sassy self lol Kian discovered Toby’s food bowl today and and all day has been feeding Toby his food one morsel at a time. If you know our dog, he won’t take any food or item from anyone unless he is told “okay.” After each morsel Kian would tell him “oh-tay” LOL Poor Toby! At least he’s ok with Kian sticking his fingers right in his food though!

Also, this weekend we got Kian a sandbox! It took a while to search one out that we liked and felt like Kian would be able to grow with. He’s enjoyed digging in the sand, but only on the outside of the box. He’s not real fond of the feel of sand apparently, but I figure he will get used to it as we go out there and play off and on throughout the day.

As I type this Kian is running back and forth from the landing on the stairs to the dining area where I am using my lap top. It’s amazing to think he really hadn’t quite mastered walking yet at this time last year! It’s amazing how many changes he has made over such a short period of time. How time is flying by!

OH and I almost forgot to add that apparently Kian has inherited my Wisconsin genes! Today, Labor Day, we grilled brats (which of course were parboiled in beer and no it does not make the brats be full of alcohol which was one of Jamie’s questions) and had corn on the cob for lunch. Kian’s not a meat fan but he does like sausages. A brat is like a sausage so he gobbled it right up! He also was asking me for some sauerkraut since he saw me put some on my brat. I wasn’t sure how he would do with it but as soon as he had a bite he said “mmmmm” I guess he’s definitely his mommy’s son!

Sunday, September 03, 2006

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!! CHEESE CURDS IN CALIFORNIA!!!!

Well, this week I made a wonderful discovery!!! We received some coupons in the mail for A&W Rootbeer and there was a coupon for CHEESE CURDS! YEP!!! (for those of you who don’t live in Wisconsin you can learn more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_Cheese_Curds

For me it’s a taste of home and reminder of Tom’s Drive Inn – a local fast food restaurant in the area I grew up in Wisconsin. And of course they serve cheese curds there :)

This week we had dinner at A&W one night and thought their food was very, very good! So, we decided we would eat there as a family tonight for dinner. Kian had a great time entertaining people in the restaurant, including a guy who worked there named Steve which we learned from looking at his name tag.

Funny thing is when we walked in the door of the place a man was standing behind us and Kian said, “Hi Steve.” I informed Jamie that he calls every man he sees Steve – I think Kian thinks it’s how you say “man” lol The poor little guy only really knows 4 men: Jamie, Joe on Blue’s Clues, Steve from Blue’s Clues and our friend Steve. So, every man is called Steve by Kian lol

Well, back to Steve the A&W worker – in the restaurant they have a jukebox and were playing a lot of oldies songs. “I’m a Believer” from the Monkees came on and Kian started dancing. Steve started dancing and playing with Kian. It was really cute – especially when Steve said that Kian was a real “knee slapper” and slapped his knee. Kian slapped his knee and said “knee slapper.” I don’t think Jamie and I have laughed so much in our lives!!

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

CORN and Kian's first Crush

Kian LOVES corn…I mean LOVES it!!! He loves to eat corn on the cob and canned corn – it’s the point where I have to hide the fact that we are having corn or he won’t eat anything else! When he’s done gnawing on the cob he has to say “bye corn” to it before I can throw it out (or he would just keep eating it!). Tonight he had canned corn at dinner. When he finished eating that he asked for more corn. I told him it was gone (because he needed to eat the main dish on his plate) and he said “bye corn” hehe He’s such a cute guy! Who would have thought a little kid would love a VEGGIE so much!

Speaking of being in love, Kian has his first crush……on Minnie Mouse! This summer The Disney Channel came out with a show called Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that has all their main characters: Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Jamie and I thought it would be a great intro for him to Disney since we hope to take Kian to Disneyland in the next year or two.

A few weeks ago I started noticing that whenever Minnie would show up on screen he would say “Mee-mee” and have a grin from ear to ear. I thought it was a fluke but he does it EVERY time she comes on screen! I also found a Disney coloring book and the only thing Kian wants to color is “Mee-mee” which is frustrating for both of us since there are only a few pages with Minnie on them lol

I guess we will see how long this lasts lol For now it’s so cute :)

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Fall is approaching!

It’s not time for the dreaded sort through Kian’s fall type clothes and see what we have to buy for him. I’m amazed at how many times we have to buy a full new wardrobe for this little man!

Luckily he’s slowed down is his growing a bit so now I can take pretty good guesses as to what he will be wearing for the following season – I have been shopping the clearance racks at stores we go to and scoop up t-shirts for Kian. Last year I bought shorts for him thinking he would be in that size this summer but he wasn’t there yet, so hopefully those shorts will fit him next year. If not, we are only out about $2 each pair. There are so many cute pairs I sure hope they don’t go to waste next year!

Tomorrow I will be headed out shopping on a girl’s day out with my friend Lisa. Outlet mall here we come! I’m hoping that the trip yields some good fall finds for Kian – including maybe a deal or 2 at the Stride Rite so I won’t have to give my arm and leg for a pair of tennis shoes for the little guy.

Man, kids are expensive!!!! But they sure are worth it :)

Monday, August 21, 2006

A Pillow and the Coloring Fiend!

Kian is getting to be more and more of a big boy! Jamie and I thought it was time for him to have a pillow. I’ve been so leery of letting him have one with the risk of SIDS…although at this age it’s just something in the back of my mind that never leaves! (yes, I still check to see if he’s still breathing every night before I go to bed). Anyway, Kian has been pretending to sleep downstairs with a blanket and pillow and lately I have seen him curled up with a blanket and pillow watching TV – pretty much like what you and I would do lol

So, this weekend Jamie and I bought him a pillow. Last night was the first time he slept with it. I thought it might think it was a novel idea and have a hard time sleeping but he went to sleep right away! When I checked on him a few hours later, the pillow was on his back and he was back to sleeping how he normally does lol Jamie went to get this up this morning and he was on his pillow again :) Apparently he does like it :) Hopefully nap time goes well with it too.

Kian is a coloring FIEND! I bought a new book coloring book for him last week and he’s colored on almost every page! If there is even a hint of crayon on a page he’s done with it! I’m hoping I can make this book last for the rest of the week – well – he’s just going to have to deal lol Buying coloring books on a weekly basis can be an expensive endeavor even if they are only $1.25 each! Not to mention, his So Big crayons by Crayola are looking very worn lol Good thing I have another stashed away! I think total during the day he spends at least 2 hours coloring! He loves it :)

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Thank you Crayola!

Kian’s new favorite thing to do is color! He doesn’t care about staying in the lines or even staying on the paper for that matter! lol Thankfully Crayola figured out that Toddlers needed BIG crayons that are washable. The crayon comes right off of where ever he misses the page (although he does know he needs to color the paper and not the table hehe). He doesn’t care much about what he’s coloring either. I bought him a cheap coloring book at Target and he just flips around making his mark where ever he sees fit. He does the same in his Blue’s Clues coloring book – so I save that for special coloring sessions lol I’m amazed at how much he knows of his colors. He pretty much knows all of them in the box except for green, orange and brown. He really like black which he calls “BLah” and there is “YELL-no” which of course is yellow and one of his favorites to identify and the CUTEST to hear him say!

I’m really glad he enjoys coloring so much since with my bummed knee chasing after him or even walking to the play area in our complex is near impossible. Jamie has been doing some trigger point therapy on my leg and it really helped it today. Hopefully it just continues to get better.

Other than that, we are really enjoying the cooler weather we are having and haven’t had to turn on the AC much at all….which is a GOOD thing seeing our electric bill was through the roof last month because of all heat wave.

Monday, August 14, 2006

It's Official!!!!!

It’s official! We have a big boy in the house! Friday I brought out Kian’s booster seat, cleaned off his highchair for the last time and put it in storage! He’s now sitting at the table like a big boy (with a Spiderman placemat to help keep his mess a little more manageable hehe). I remember the first time I put him in that high chair…he was not even sitting up unassisted and we had him strapped in there to the hilt lol Toward the end we weren’t using the seat belt anymore and his legs were starting to get too long to even put on the foot rest! It’s amazing how time flies!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

House and Kian Update

House Update

This weekend was a house weekend…we just stayed home and worked on stuff that needed attention. Jamie did A LOT of work putting on child locks, putting together a bookcase and taking a load to storage. There was a lot to be done to feel more settled, but we finally have some pictures on the walls! I think the last box will be unpacked tomorrow (or this evening depending on how long it takes me to fold laundry) and we will finally be settled in! Jamie and I talk about how surreal it is to own our own place FINALLY! We love the area and we love our new place – especially now that we are making it more like ours :)

Decorating more intensely will come with time – I am doing an Ireland themed bathroom downstairs that needs a few more things added to the walls. We hope to do some kind of an animal theme in Kian’s bathroom – which that will take some saving up to do but of course Kian doesn’t mind that it has no theme :) We still need to get Kian’s room Blue’s Clue’s-ified lol We have the stuff but just need to get it up! now that we finally have things where we want them boxes unpacked, we can really start concentrating on the little touches :)

Kian Update

Kian is getting bigger and bigger all the time! Sometimes I look at him and wonder where the time went when he was just a baby in my arms to now being a little kid! He is so amazed at the world around him and it’s amazing to watch him interact with everything :) We are starting to consider potty training, thinking about switching over to a booster seat and now have the gate to the kitchen area down because I feel he’s trustworthy and will listen to me when I tell him no (ok, most of the time anyway lol). He’s always on the go and I have to steal little hugs and kisses when I can….I sure enjoy the snuggles right after a nap when he’s having milk or right before he goes to sleep when we rock for a bit.

Kian has also become quite the socialite. This weekend he started a new thing of saying “hi” to everyone that passes by him in the store. We were at Costco today and he yelled “hi” to everyone who made eye contact with him lol It was cute but a little scary to see how friendly he is with strangers…. Not to mention the fact that he YELLS it lol He definitely has the Zuelzke/Zimmerman genes in him – poor kid! ;)

Well, that’s all the news we have here for now! Next weekend we get to play and take another trip to Great America with our friends Steve and Lisa. All three of us enjoy spending the day there :)

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Two, Eight, Nine!

That's how Kian's counting now lol! He can count to three (although I'm sure only mommy and daddy would understand it) but now he's saying two, eight, nine lol Maybe one and three are just too hard to say so he's replacing them with other numbers ;)

Ok, mommy brag time....Kian can identify the WHOLE alphabet! Yep! We have foam letters in the bath and he knows all their names (although X is not one he will say - guess it's too hard). But we are proud of our little man identifing letters even outside his bath.

He's also started saying "where is _____?" and then "There it is!" It's so cute!!! :)

Oh, and he's also become quite the climber. He can now climb on top of our couch and annoy the cat while she sits on the stairs right behind the couch and just out of reach lol He has also started using his kitchen/grill set as a climbing station which gives mommy a heart attack at times but I figure he's a boy and as long as he doesn't do that on my countertop in the kitchen I'm ok with it lol

On another note, we are fairing the hot weather well in our air conditioned home. It's been in the 110's this last week! So, we haven't been out of the house much. today seems cooler at about 87 degrees at 10:30AM and if it stays fairly cool we might head out to the play area in our complex this afternoon.

Other than that, no big news here! We are really enjoying our new house and are very, very happy with it!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Grateful

Ok, so this morning I woke up and realized that all I did was complain about the move but didn’t even say anything positive about it! Yesterday was not a good day for any of us and because I have a tendency to think of things as the glass is half empty instead of half full it makes it hard to see through lots of things going wrong.

First of all, good news is that Kian is feeling MUCH better! I didn’t get a chance to post about it, but Kian had a really, really bad cold to the point where we had to visit the Dr. and I was afraid we would end up in the ER. It was really bad. Gratefully, the Ped said we arrived on the worst day of the cold and the next day his fevers were gone and his cough wasn’t as much. Now he’s not really coughing at all and when he does it sounds productive.

Kian is also enjoying his new play area downstairs. My smart husband was able to get our gats to work on the stairs in a safe way and has kept Kian from going up there unless we are with him. He loves the stairs and is such a little daredevil! We have to watch him close.

There are so many positives to this place. Of course number is one is that WE OWN IT lol! This place also has more light than any other place we have lived in since we moved to California. This place also has more sound damper which makes watching a movie at a normal volume ok – before we had to turn it way down and have subtitles on! Kian would wake up because he could hear a phone ringing on TV in his room.

Downside for us right now is that Jamie went back to work today so this is the first I am on my own trying to unpack everything. Also, when I went to bed I started to feel like I had a sore throat and now I am starting to feel a bit run down. I think I am catching what Kian had.

The good thing is that we can unpack at our own pace without time constraints….although I want to get it done as quickly as possible.

Well, speaking of unpacking, I should really get back to it.!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Murphy's Law....

This post is going to be one huge complaint....just a warning that griping will follow in case you don't want to read it.

We love our new place, but man it's hard moving with a two year old! Not to mention, we have had a few things - important things break or need fixing.

First, right before we moved (most of our stuff was gone from the rental condo) the Tivo was acting up. That is my lifesaver for me when I have to give Kian breathing treatments that can last up to 20 mins (the kid won't sit still for 2 mins let along 20). Also, because of Tivo we have a ton of Blue's Clues recorded along with other toddler type shows that Kian enjoys....I was counting on having those shows so I could actually unpack stuff. The two hour nap Kian takes (if that) is not enough time for me to do a whole lot. SO, the Tivo is broken and Jamie called they are sending us a replacement and we send the broken one back to them. Which is nice...but it takes about 7-10 days shipping time for the freaking thing to get here bleh! Let me tell you, Kian has a limited amount of DVD's that we have located and I am about to try to go somewhere to pick a few more up.

Cabinets - well don't get me started there. They are the originals (built in 1983) which doesn't bother me because they have been painted over and given nice drawer pulls. The thing that is so aggravating is the fact that I have 5 drawers that barely fit anything and two HUGE spaces in the cabinets below that has a 1 ft by 1.5 ft access to either shelf. That shelf is so big and so hard to reach that I couldn't even clean most of it. It's usless space. bleh! So, now I am trying to weed through some things and figure out what can go on the shelf the tallest man in the world could reach on a step ladder and what needs to go to charity.

Our washer.....We didn't use our washer and dryer over the last year because our condo had them included and were in a very tight space....no biggy - they sat in the garage of where we were renting from. Today Jamie goes to start it up to only find that the spin action won't happen. We have to get Sears out here to fix it - can't come until Friday and will charge us $70 JUST to make an assessment on it! MAN! This washer is only 3 years old and I loved it!! So, we are hoping it won't cost much to repair or we will have to search for a new one and ASAP as I thought I would be able to do laundry when we got here so now we are even limited on clean linens, clothes and other things.......

It's Murphy's Law....when you don't want to spend a lot of money you end up spending it on things you thought worked in the first place. Thank GOD I made a good chunk of cash on ebay selling stuff we didn't need or want anymore. Although, we did spend that all TODAY on things we needed for the new house.

I'm sick of boxes. Sick of how nasty some areas of this house was left in by the previous owners. And sick of things going wrong :(

This evening when we went to dinner (we can't even get our chairs into our dining room yet and I have nothing to make meals with) I heard the song "Stuck in a Moment" by U2 playing in the background. It reminded me that this is all "just a moment, this time will pass" Man, I need to remind myself of that more than ever right now lol

Ok, I'm done ranting for now lol I just needed to get that all out. BACK TO UNPACKING!

Monday, July 03, 2006

We have officially moved!

Last night was our first official night in our new house! :) We are very excited, but have a lot of unpacking and work ahead of us!

I am suspecting I won't be around too much over the next few weeks. I am going to try to drop in from time to time and check email. Other than that Kian and unpacking are the two things on my list and wow I'm not sure which one is more work! lol

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Happy Father’s Day!!!

Today we decided to take a break from packing and spend the day celebrating the Fatherhood! Jamie’s request was that we got to the Great America park near our house (we have annual passes). We spent the entire morning there :) Jamie got to ride a big coaster (which is fine because I am not into that). Kian got to ride some kiddie stuff with daddy and had a BLAST! We also went to the water park area and Kian ran around with Daddy in a sprinkler, wet type area. They had A LOT of fun! :)

Also, Kian got to meet Blue! Our Great America is affiliated with Paramount which I guess is apart of Nickelodeon so there are Dora, Rugrats, Sponge Bob Square Pants and Blue’s Clues stuff around that area. Blue made an appearance and Kian about flipped! Blue gave him “five” and also played peek-a-boo with him hehe Kian thought it was the best things! We didn’t bring out camera but we did get one of those park photos. I will have to try to figure out our scanner to scan it in for you guys to see :)

We all had a GREAT time at the park and plan to go there a lot more often once we get settled in our new place. It’s nice because the pass we have we get free parking, free admission to the park without blackout dates and a discount of 20% on all food and other purchases!

After that we came home and rested a bit, called our dads and then got ready for dinner. Per Jamie’s request we bought steaks and I made potatoes for Jamie to cook on the grill along with the steaks (Kian had hamburgers of course) :)

I think it was a great Father’s Day all-in-all. I hope you all had wonderful days as well :)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Kian's 24 month Well Visit

Kian had his 24 month well visit with his Pediatrician today. Kian now weighs 23lbs 6oz. and is in the 3rd percentile for weight. Height he’s 33.5 inches and in the 20th percentile (that’s up from 15% from what he has been for pretty much ever!) He is staying on his own personal curve which is good…after all someone has to be in the 3% sometime! lol

He checked out great as well and we answered yes to all the developmental questions this time! (hooray!)

I did talk with the Ped again about the reaction Kian had to the ranch dressing. Kian was tested for an egg allergy last Sept. and had no reaction. He really shouldn’t have a skin test until he’s about three and our allergist actually recommended it. The ped seems to think it’s not a big deal though and to maybe try to get him to try to eat it without getting so much on his face (yeah right – he’s two! lol!) He did say that it could be a skin reaction – that if you or I put ranch dressing all over our face we might break out too. I can see what he’s saying but I’m not so sure I am willing to expose Kian to eggs in dressings and such until I know for sure he’s ok with it all. I also plan to talk to our new Ped about it when we see them in the next few months so we can be re prescribed the things that Kian needs to have to keep going (he has breathing treatments daily).

Kian’s also not a big meat eater – in fact he won’t eat meat most of the time. I tell Jamie he’s a self-proclaimed vegetarian lol The kid eats veggies like they are candy! Anyway, our Ped suggested we put him on Iron drops again because we don’t want him to be anemic. Our first Ped in San Luis Obispo could test iron levels right in his office and I am hoping our new Ped will be able to as well to make sure he’s getting just the right amount.

On a different note, he did get a vaccine this time for Hep A – something that is being nationally required now for all kids. Kian didn’t even cry! He just rubbed the spot after the nurse put a band-aid on and said “bye” LOL I can’t believe what a big boy he was and from what the nurse told me he was a treat since he said he was the first one he’s had in a while who didn’t cry at being weighed and measured (Kian doesn’t care when you look in his ears or anything!) – I told the nurse that Kian is a rare breed…he proved that right with the shot!

So, we are very proud of our big boy – growing so fast!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Kian might have an addional food allergy :(

Just a bit of background. Kian has a severe nut allergy that manafests usually with hives around his eyes. I read labels carefully so he doesn't get anything that's even processed near peanuts because, well, the eye hives are a dead give away of even having been processed near peanuts.

Also, last week I made a salad for him with tomatoes, cucumber, mayonaise and salt. He has had this before without reaction, but he broke out in a rash around his mouth that looked like he was wind burned or something. I gave him Benedryl and called the Ped who said that it could be the tomatoes.

So, last night I made chicken parmesan and made salads for all of us. Kian has never had a reaction to tomato sauce or katsup (which he eats by the spoon full when I give it to him). So honestly I never thought about a reaction from tomatoes in the sauce at all.

Kian has never had a salad before, but I thought that he might enjoy it and put some ranch dressing on it. I gave him a small taste of the ranch (since he had never had it before) about 5 mins before serving him, and he didn't break out at all. After he started eating it and getting some on his face, he broke out in ONE HUGE hive around his mouth and everywhere that the ranch dressing touched. I gave him Benedryl again and again he wasn't even bothered by it! It just went away after about an hour or so after eating. I did take away even the chicken parmesan because we weren't sure what was causing this. We took photos of it for me to show his Ped (Kian's 2 year visit is on Wednesday thankfully!).

Right now I am at a complete loss of what the heck he's having a reaction to! There is egg in both mayonaise and the ranch dressing - but he can eat cake, breads and other things that have eggs in them. I have never given him just straight on eggs though - mainly out of fear he might have a reaction even though he tested negative for during his allergy testing last Sept. The only other thing I can think of is the acidity in the vinegar - both those things have vinegar in them. And he had no reaction at all to me giving him a taste of the dressing (he only reacted to the areas that had ranch all over it from his messy eating).

Hopefully I have some answers on what is causing it and figure out what the heck I CAN feed him :(

Friday, June 09, 2006

House Update!

Well, Jamey’s reply to one of my posts made me realize that I had not update about the house process! (thanks Jamey!)

Well, everything is a go! There haven’t been any bumps or ANYTHING in this whole process for us….there were a few things we requested that they fix in the house (a broken fan in the laundry room, the lacking screen door to the sliding door in the back of the house, and putting smoke detectors in every room as the inspector told us to do). So! Closing is on June 28!!! We have already given our notice to our landlady at this place and we are starting to pack up things! Thankfully we rented a storage place not far from where we are living and we are putting some things in there already. The bummer is that it’s a 45 min drive one way (if traffic is good) so that will make for a time consuming move. Thankfully we have some friends helping us out with the big stuff and one of our friends to be Kian’s “nanny” so he won’t be ignored while I am trying to pack and clean on our days of moving from here to there.

My posts here might be few and far between for awhile. The next three weeks are going to be very busy for us all! I will try to do my best keeping you all apprised :)

Keep the prayers and thoughts coming for us – stress is already mounting in the house and we sure could use them.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Photos Upload!

Yes, I know it’s been a long time….we finally have photos and video clips uploaded to our website! Our website is not updated completely, but the photos are there and they are current! There are photos of Kian’s birthday and zoo trip too! Here is a link to get to them: http://www.jamesondurall.com/family/Pages/pictures2006.html

Sunday, May 21, 2006

EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

First of all, Jamie got a promotion and a raise!!!! A big congrats to him - Kian and I are so proud!!!

Well, Friday Jamie found out about all this with his job and we were ready to go looking for houses! We called our realator that night and she said that she was just about to call us because she was free on Saturday! So, we met up Saturday and looked at about 6 places in our price range. With Jamie's raise we will be able to do a 3BR place!!!! We found one we really, really, really liked and put in an offer! Well, the contract would expire tonight by 9PM and at 7PM our realator called and said, "Are you sitting down?" I knew then that they had accepted our offer!!!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!! The only contingency that they would replace the awesome fridge with one that was 3 years old...that's totally cool with us. Our realator ROCKS! The seller's realator called her and she let him know that we were interested in another place in that same complex (which is true) and we would pursue that if this didn't go through! And we even offered them 20K below what they were asking for! Anyway, we are in escrow right now!!!! I'm SO excited! Our realator is going to look at the fridge tomorrow to make sure it's not a junker and then if it's okay then she will put the papers through the start the process I seriously can't wait! June 28th we will move in if everything goes well!

Here are links to the photos of the place. We LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's 3BR, 2 full bath, one half bath and the back of the townhouse is up against a field :)

http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/0/40163576_0.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/1/40163576_1.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/2/40163576_2.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/3/40163576_3.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/4/40163576_4.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/5/40163576_5.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/6/40163576_6.jpg
http://www.mlsh.com/pix/CAMAX/main/7/40163576_7.jpg

Friday, May 12, 2006

Kian's Second Birthday Party and the Zoo!

This has been a pretty crazy week for all of us! Thursday night Jamie’s Mom flew in for a long weekend. Kian sure did enjoy the time he had with his Granna! Saturday I was in the kitchen literally all day preparing food and baking Kian’s cake for his party on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday night Jamie put together the kitchen/grill set Jamie, me, Jane, and Russell bought for Kian. It almost felt like Kian was waking up to Christmas with all the exciting things around! Of course I had everything decorated the night before the party – but after Kian was in bed so it would a surprise. I bought a balloon bouquet for him with a HUGE balloon of Blue’s head. Kian wouldn’t stop talking about BLUE! Hehe He was so cute! After we showed him his kitchen/grill set he was in AWE and wouldn’t even eat his breakfast because he was talking about Blue so much and wanted to get back to playing! He was so cute!

The birthday party was great :) Our friends Steve and Lisa were here for most of the day and later on my friends Ann and Wes stopped by with their little guy Tre (who is 15 months). Kian and Tre had a great time playing together and Kian did a GREAT job sharing!

Monday we were off to the zoo! It was Kian’s first time seeing real live animals like the ones we have always talked about! It took us a little bit to help him see the animals – he was pointing in the air and saying bird and plane – finally he saw the zebra Jamie was showing him and said “Zzzzzeeeeeee” which is his word for zebra hehe I think that the lions were his fav though…he kept saying “rar” in a low, whispery voice while we were watching them. It was amazing! The San Francisco Zoo also has a petting zoo area where Kian got to pet a donkey, feed sheep and goats and see chickens. There was one rooster who kept crowing! It was really neat and I think Kian had a great time :) To be honest, I think we all did!

We did take lots of pictures, they just need to be uploaded to our website. Once they are there, I will send out an email :) Oh! And don’t forget that we also have mini videos on our website too so you can hear Kian’s cute little voice!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Kian's 2 Year Photos!

Last week I had Kian's photos done at Sears. They took 14 shots and this is all that turned out because he wouldn't sit still lol Typical toddlerman! hehe Some of them turned out really well though! I do apologize for the grainy photos. I saved these from when Sears put them online for me to view and of course they don't put them up there in the best quality so people can't just print off their own photos. Enjoy!







Monday, April 17, 2006

The Easter Bunny and Ice Cream!

The Easter Bunny Came Yesterday!

We decided to skip visiting the Easter Bunny this year to avoid the terror Kian had with Santa Claus. But we still colored eggs together…Kian had such a good time that he was pretty sad there were no more eggs to color :( Poor guy!

The Easter Bunny brought Kian a basket full of goodies! He brought some nut-free chocolate, peeps, sand toys, and a Noah’s Ark with Little People by Fisher Price! The Easter Bunny thought it would be a good idea to give him that no since his birthday is in a few weeks and Jamie and I are taking him to the zoo :) Kian has had a great time with his new stuff! He has been acting like his sand toys are a bowl and spoon and have been feeding mommy and daddy his “meals” throughout the day. He also LOVES the ark and all the animals. When he picked up his toys yesterday he had to put all the animals back in the ark ;) What a cutie!

Kian didn’t really care for the Peeps or the chocolate at first, but I gave him chocolate again on Monday after his lunch and he LOVED it! I guess we will have let Santa know where to buy that special chocolate for this year!

We also had a nice meal of ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and strawberry shortcake. I even made the angel food cake from scratch thanks to my new Kitchen Aid mixer! Yum-O!

WOHOO for Breyers!!!

I just called Breyers ice cream to see if they process their food along with any nuts and found out that they will run only one flavor for a week, sanitize their machines over a weekend and then start a new flavor! It is virtually nut free for us to have the vanilla!

Along with Kian’s ice cream, I plan to make my first layer cake for him! I hope it turns out lol If it doesn’t look the best I am sure he will still love it ;)

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Toby's Not Doing Well Again :(

Here’s a bit of an update:

We were given carafate to give him and Pepcid AC (the human stuff lol). I forgot to give him his meds on Sunday and Monday he seemed fine – no vomiting although he did seem like he was a little off (lethargic a bit and just depressed looking). So, this morning he vomited bile. I started his meds back up. About 4 hours later he vomited again and it looked bloody to me. He hasn’t eaten anything all day (although that’s normal for him). I called the vet and told them about what was going on. A tech talked to our vet and we were told to not give him food at all today and to continue the meds. If he vomits again we need to bring him in and he will need a scope.

So, I asked about how much a scope will cost. Total it would be $1050-1250! That’s just to figure out what is wrong with him! That is so not something me and Jamie are able to afford. I had some more questions and left a voice mail for the vet. She got back to me this evening and said the scope was more of an investigative thing (and a money maker in my opinion lol) so it was not necessary. She said if he was older they would wonder if he had stomach cancer...which he could still have...but if the antacid meds are working to just continue on those. She refilled his script for two weeks and said she will call us back in a week and see how he is. She said she has no problem just keeping him on the meds if he's doing well. She also told me she has ulcers and didn’t do a scope herself (because you are awake when it’s done she said) so she just stays on top if her meds and she’s fine. So at least she understands! I really like our vet a lot – she is mater of fact and caring too.

WHAT A RELIEF! Jamie and I don't mind giving him the meds. Although they are a little bit of a pain because he has to have an empty stomach! But we can make due with that! We would rather have Toby around :)

So, at least that is good news - for now at least.

Friday, March 31, 2006

CHOCOLATE FOR KIAN! and an update on Toby

Kian will have Chocolate for Easter!!!!!!! :)

As you all know Kian is severely allergic to peanuts - which extends to all nuts since they are usually processed together...and since chocolate is processed with nuts most of the time that has ruled out Kian even having a taste of it.

WELL, on my message board for people who had babies in May 04 someone asked if you were going to give your child candy for Easter. I posted that all I could do was Peeps because we can't do chocolate and most other candy is too hard for him to have.

A friend of mine on my board found this company that is COMPLETELY NUT FREE! They have a webpage so you can order things directly from them! Here is the link: http://www.vermontnutfree.com/index.htm The prices are very reasonable and the shipping seems to be a flat fee of $6.95! I have already placed an order for Easter :) I'm so excited that Kian will be able to have his first taste of chocolate and that there is now a place where we can get it from for a reasonable price AND worry free that Kian will have a reaction!!!!!! :)

Update on Toby

He's doing very well! We have to give him some stomach meds for a week which is not all that fun. I have become the medicine giver around here lol! One of the meds is a tablet that we have to dissolve in a water filled syringe and squirt it in his mouth. Let me tell you, his mouth is like a steel trapped door after having to give him this three times a day over the last few days! I also have to make sure that he doesn't eat 2-3 hours before he has it or and hour afterwards. At least we are close to being done with it all! He is also taking Pepcid AC! Yep, the human stuff...just once a day. Thank God Target had a generic brand because that stuff is expensive! Anyway, the vomitting has stopped and he's totally like himself.

Also, the vet that saw him called the day after he was seen to make sure he was doing well! I feel very good about bringing our animals there because they honestly seem to care a lot (but then again this might be standard for all vets as we have never had an emergency before like this). I also talked to her about what could have caused the ulsers and said I was concered that Kian might be causing him stress. The vet responded by saying, "I doubt it's your son. Labs are a type of breed that you can drop a brick on their head and they won't care." LOL! I told her that was true! She said that he might have got into something or it might have been some kind of cleaner... she said a lot of times they never find out what caused the problem. She also said that a lot of times dogs need a little help getting over something like this and that's what the week long taking meds is going to do for him. She said if he started getting sick again to call and they would find out exactly what was going on. Hopefully and prayerfully he's gotten over this and he won't have any more issues :)