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.

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 :)

Toby’s Visit to the Pet Hospital

Yesterday Toby vomited and it looked like blood was in it. Jamie and I decided to wait it out and see how he was doing. Today he vomited 5 times and the last time it looked like blood was in it…it was already 5PM and I wasn’t sure what to do…Jamie wouldn’t be home until 7ish. So I called a vet we were suggested by someone at Petco and the vet tech was great at answering my questions and helping me decide what I needed to do. Ended up that me and Kian rushed out the door to take Toby there and Jamie was going meet us there. We didn’t arrive until 6ish and Toby wasn’t seen until 8ish so it was good that Kian and I left! (Kian’s bed time is 7).

Toby is ok. They took x-rays to see if there was an obstruction – thinking he could have swallowed something. He was clear. They did say that he might have an ulcer so we are giving him some meds as well as OTC Pepcid lol They also pumped him full of fluids to help him out since he vomited so much today. Hopefully that will help with the vomiting and he can get back to normal a bit (and I can stop cleaning up vomited and running for papertowels!). The vet does want us to call her tomorrow to let her know how Toby is – if he’s any worse we have to bring him back in.

Jamie and I were both very impressed with this place – plus they are a hospital so they are open 24 hours….of course things are more after 7PM but at least we know they are there and we trust them.

Friends, Dancing and New Words!

Steve and Lisa ETA May 1^st!!!!!!!!

Steve and Jamie worked at Oddworld together and became great friends – I too became very good friends with Steve’s fiancé Lisa. This was all before Kian was born! They were actually at the hospital and saw Kian before I had a chance to after surgery! So, they have been a big part of our lives since we moved to Cali. Steve took a job in Seattle last year before Oddworld shut down so they moved far away. Through the distance we still remained close. Lisa’s family lives in San Jose so when they would visit them they would stop by here for a visit.

Well, last week was the GDC (Game Developers Conference) and Steve flew down for that. He also interviewed and was hired on at Perpetual which is in San Francisco! They expect to be back in the area by May 1^st! We are so excited that they are coming back down here! Kian and Steve had a GREAT time together when Lisa and he visited us on Friday night (Lisa was down here doing wedding stuff so we got a visit from both of them!) I know Kian can’t WAIT for Uncle Steve to be back in the area :) Not to mention, now Kian will have more people at his second birthday party which will now seem more like a party with Steve, Lisa, Jamie, Kian, Jamie’s mom, and me :)

Kian’s Dancing

Kian LOVES to dance! In the last week he’s become a Dance Machine! hehe He is dancing to music on commercials, music from toys, literally anything that plays music lol! And when he dances he looks more like he’s doing a work out with the way he swings his arms around and stomps the floor…with a HUGE grin too hehe He’s such a cutie!

Plane-plane and Nin-nin

Kian has started to identify airplanes and helicopters! It’s pretty exciting since we live fairly close to the San Jose airport. Yesterday I was outside pulling weeds and had the door open and a plane flew over. Kian pointed to it and said “plane-plane” – it was the first time he ever said it!

Also, in the last week he has started saying “nin-nin” when he is done eating! He has been doing the sign for finished for quite some time and now he has started saying “nin-nin” with it! He sure is branching out and saying a lot more.

I almost forgot that he is also trying to say the ABC’s! I have been singing it with him a lot lately. He doesn’t have the letters right but I can tell by how he’s saying the random letters that he is really trying to sing it! hopefully we can get him to start saying them right hehe

Corned Beef, Turning Pages and ABC's

Kian Loves Corned Beef!

Kian hasn’t been eating well these days… I guess another stage in toddlerhood. I made corned beef and mashed potatoes and corn for St. Pat’s day. I got a corned Beef Brisket from Trader Joe’s and let me say that we will do it again next year! The spices they added to the brine were AMAZING! Not to mention Kian devoured it! He also loves mashed potatoes and corn. When he would sign to me he was finished, there would only be a few piece of meat left on his plate! I guess his wee bit o’ Irish is coming through with that corned beef and potatoes hehe

I also made a WONDERFUL Irish Soda bread. It’s SO easy and really really yummy! It honestly is better than a family recipe I made from my Grandma Kesler’s cookbook – sorry but it’s true! Here is the recipe in case you want it. I got it from www.foodtv.com

Marilyn O'Reilly's Irish Soda Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons caraway seeds, optional
1 cup raisins
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt and stir well to mix.

Add the butter and rub in until the butter disappears into the dry ingredients.

Stir in the caraway seeds if used and the raisins.

In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk and egg together and mix into the dough mixture with a rubber spatula.

Turn the dough out on a floured work surface and fold it over on itself several times, shaping it into a round loaf. Transfer the loaf to one cookie sheet or jelly roll pan covered with parchment or foil and cut a cross in the top. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes more, until well colored and a toothpick plunged into the center emerges clean.

Cool the soda bread on a rack and serve with plenty of sweet butter and bitter orange marmalade.

Turning Pages

Since Kian was about 3 months old we have had the same bed time routine (well, pretty much the same minus breastfeeding and a sippy cup now). We get him in the bath, dress him, read him a story while he hugs his blanket and sucks his binky, a little bit of rocking and then lay him down. Jamie usually reads him his story. It’s the same story every night, “Guess How Much I Love You.” A few nights ago Kian was holding the book and as Jamie read Kian turned the page at the right time – EVERY time lol! Last night Jamie was out with some friends so I read him his story and he did it for me too! I have to say that I’m not surprised he has memorized that story since I know it by heart – but where the page turns are! Wow! hehe There is even a part that says Big Nutbrown Hare “leaned over and kissed him goodnight.” And we always kiss Kian’s head when we read that. Now Kian leans over to us when he knows the kiss is coming! He is such a smarty pants! :)

Alphabet!

Kian is now starting to recognize letters and putting sounds to them! He has letters that he plays with in his bath and we talk about different letters throughout the day. His first letter was “S” which he makes the sound for it by putting his tongue in between his teeth and blowing lol At least he’s making the sound! He also knows the letter “P” and says “pah” when she sees it.

Yesterday he just started saying sock which he says “sah” but he’s close enough hehe He can identify it without prompting too! I guess putting on his socks and shoes a million times have helped that lol

We just ordered a DVD through ebay for him where Blue from Blue’s clues teaches the alphabet. Jamie and I figured that it was a good way for him to learn it while he’s watching his favorite show from time to time! :)

Speaking of identifying things, when I shower I put on Baby Einstein DVD’s for Kian. The latest one we have is called Things that Go and it’s all about forms of transportation. Today we as we were getting out of the car he heard a helicopter and Kian stood there pointing at it! He was excited but he was kind of wondering where it went when he got out of sight lol It’s amazing what he has picked up just from watching certain shows!

Kian’s 2nd St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!

I hope you’re wearing green or a leprechaun might come and bite your toes lol (I just made that up! hehe!) Even Jamie is wearing his Jameson Irish Whiskey shirt today…Kian has his new St. Pat’s Day shirt from Old Navy on and I of course am wearing green as well :)

Well, this morning we started off with me attempting to make shamrock shaped pancakes…not sure how in the world the little video I saw of it was made so perfect - I need to practice I guess lol Then I made cupcakes with little green sprinkles on top (I did not attempt shamrocks this time lol) and then off to make a very easy Irish Soda Bread recipe I found at www.foodtv.com! It looks good and got some great reviews so I hope it tastes good! :) And right now I have my corned beef in my crockpot – the aroma is filling the house! I hope tonight’s meal goes over well :)

Other than that, we are kind of taking it easy at home today. I unfortunately caught Kian’s bug and am feeling a bit run down. But we are celebrating nonetheless!

Nothing else to really report here! Same old stuff really…just add in lots of rain and that’s us in Cali hehe

I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!

ERIN GO BRAUGH! (that’s Gaelic for Ireland Forever in case you didn’t know hehe)

Blue's Clues and Language :)

Blue’s Clues Education and our little Blue’s Clues Nut!

For some reason it came to my mind that maybe not everyone is familiar with Blue’s Clues hehe Here is a link to the official website of the show http://www.nickjr.com/home/shows/blue/index.jhtml There is an interview with the creators of the show as well as some other tidbits.

Here’s a bit of a run down of what the show is about:

The show is about a blue dog named “Blue” whose owner is named Steve or Joe. Steve was the first host who wore a green stripped shirt in every episode. He “left for college” and his “brother” Joe took over hosting. Joe wears a shirt that has squares on it – he has several colors that he wears but in the same style (I posted a photo of Blue and Joe together). Blue also has friends like Tickity (who is a clock), Shovel and Pail, Mrs. Salt and Mr. Pepper and their baby Paprika…you get the point hehe At the beginning of the show Joe (or Steve) will talk about what him and Blue are doing today. As they are talking usually Joe will ask Blue a question and to figure out the answer we play Blue’s Clues. Blue puts a paw print on 3 things that Joe will find throughout the show and put in his “handy dandy notebook. Before finding the clues he sings a song about how to play Blue’s Clues. The clues are found throughout the show as Joe and Blue interact with others and talk about the topic for the episode. There is also a time when the mail comes and Mailbox brings the mail – Joe sings a song about getting a letter and opens it up (it’s a video of children talking about the episode’s topic). Once he has found all the clues, he sits in his thinking chair and talks about the clues. When we figure it out he sings another song about how smart you are :) At the end he sings a good-bye song :)

Well now that you have a bit of background on the show I can tell you that my Mr. Kian is a total NUT for “Beu-beu” (Blue’s Clues hehe)!!!!! He now knows all the sign language movements to the Blue’s Clues song and does the Letter dance with one of his play letters as Mommy sings the song for him hehe Jamie took some video of Kian doing the Blue’s Clues signs this morning – hopefully we will have it up on our site soon! :)

Kian also asks to watch the show now! He will say “bue-bue” over and over again and get kind of cranky if you don’t turn it on! lol I usually don’t have his shows on at all while I am able to be with him – I usually have them on if I have work to attend to or something that needs to be done without distraction. I have a feeling his intake of Blue’s Clues is about to go up lol!

Language explosion

Kian continues to learn more and more words everyday. We are working on animals and he makes some very funny noises when it comes to what animal makes what sound! He can identify a cow, pig, sheep, and horse! They all have their own sounds…but there is no way I could try to type that down here lol I will have to get some film of him doing the noises….they are sounds only mommy and daddy will know what he means lol But he’s getting really good at it! :)

Kian is also getting an explosion in sign language! I have been teaching him the sign for “more.” He didn’t do it until we were out grocery shopping and he was having one of his favorite snacks (toddler cookies, which he only gets when we are out and he’s having a snack) and needed more! lol He got upset and started doing the sign! (here is a link to what it looks like: http://www.signwithme.com/video_display.asp?ID=29&search=more ) I have been trying this sign with him for over a year and he FINALLY got it! hehe! He now uses it when he gets excited about what he’s eating and tells more! What a cutie! :)

Video Shoot, Kian Growing, More Words, and Kian's Birthday Plans

Video Shoot

A lot of things have been going on in the last few weeks! Two weekends ago Jamie had Full Sail come and video record our family for the entire Saturday! It was pretty crazy to have a camera crew here! Kian was very interested in the camera and the camera guys were very accommodating to his toddler curiosity. They were only at the house for a few hours and then they took off for EA with Jamie to do some shooting. It was kind of weird to have people interested in our boring lives here lol But they wanted to capture what it was like to be in the game industry and have a family so they can show the tapes to students.

Kian is growing like a WEED!

Last weekend we discovered that Kian’s feet had outgrown his shoes. I had been checking them every few weeks and he seemed to have a good amount of room left. Well, I checked his feet on Saturday to find out that his toes were all the way at the end of his shoes! I think they have been that way for a while and I never noticed because I believe he was curling his toes every time I checked!

Kian has wide feet (so do Jamie and I so that’s no surprise) but that limits our choices of shoes to expensive or expensive lol I ended up taking him to Nordstrom’s on Sunday to get measured and get a new pair of shoes. Thankfully we saved a lot of his money from Christmas gifts so we could do things like this for him without going broke. The shoes are super cute though…I am just hoping they last him more than just a few months!

Right before Christmas Kian started outgrowing most of his 6-9 month pants so we were transitioning him to 12 month pants. Well, now it looks like we might be making the next step up fairly soon! I am keeping my eyes out for 18 month (or 12-18 month) jeans on ebay. I already have a nice selection of shorts in that size so I hope those will help him make it though summer! I just can’t believe how much he’s grown! He’s getting to be a little man.

Experimenting with sound

Kian is really making an effort to say some new words. He says yogurt “go-go” and snack (which is also the same for lunch and dinner) “nah” and Blue’s Clues which is “boo-boo.” And he’s trying out a lot of other sounds too! Right now we are working on animal noises with him and he tries his best to make the noises lol Most of the time they don’t sound close to what they really make but he is consistent with the sound he makes for those animals. Thanks to the Little People Farm and See-N-Say he got for Christmas he’s having a ball with it :)

Planning for Kian’s 2nd birthday!

Can you believe that in just a few months Kian will be 2! Time has flown by so quickly! I already started looking for things to buy for his “party.” Of course we are having a Blue’s Clues theme. I got a great deal on some party stuff on ebay! I plan to get the other things I need at the local party store…but we do have most of it now. I am also planning to make Kian’s birthday cake. Since most bakeries use peanuts I don’t think I we can risk having Kian’s cake made anywhere else but home. Right now my main search is for little Blue’s Clues things to decorate the top of the cake with – I’m not good with art so that is not an option hehe

Jamie and I are also trying to come up with things that we can do with Kian that he will enjoy on his special day. The San Francisco Zoo isn’t too far of a drive for us so that is definitely an option as well as the San Jose Children’s museum. We have several months to figure out what we want to do as a family, so we have plenty of time to decide :)

On a side note, thankfully Kian’s birthday is almost a week before Mother’s Day so I get to have my own day to myself…the first two Mother’s Days I had were not all that great or relaxing for me (the first one I was in a hospital bed fighting for my life and the second one was on Kian’s birthday so I honestly feel like I have never had a Mother’s Day – this will be nice for a change).

Church, "Doe" and Spoons!

Church Shopping Might be Over…

We tried a new church on Sunday and both Jamie and I really liked it. It’s a larger church but it reminds me somewhat of Appleton Alliance (the church I grew up in) combined with the church we attended when we were in Nashville. I wasn’t able to listen to all the sermon or participate in the worship (they sang a lot at the very end) because Kian was getting antsy. I took him to the Toddler room and hung around with him – although I could have left because he was so busy playing he didn’t even know I was there! The unfortunate thing is that at snack time one of the kids had a cold and pretty much sneezed on Kian. Monday morning Kian woke up with a cold. Wednesday morning I woke up with it and Friday morning Jamie had it. I guess it’s the gift that keeps on giving! lol


“Doe”

Earlier in the week Kian and I were going about our daily tasks. He was sitting his high chair eating a snack and I was coming back inside from putting some things in the recycling. I said to Kian, “We have to shut the door.” And Kian said to me. “Shut the door.” I think I almost fainted! lol Kian doesn’t say a whole lot of words and for a long time he hasn’t tried a whole lot to repeat things after us. He hasn’t said “shut the door” again but he has said “door” which coming from his mouth sounds like “doe” but the way he says it is it almost sounds like someone is saying “duh” LOL it’s so cute!

We bought Kian a Little People bus with some of his Christmas money. It has two doors and three little people with it. He opens and closes the door and says “doe” every time he opens or closes them hehe I have also started to ask him to say things after I say them. And he seems to be trying a bit harder. For a while I was afraid he was behind with speech. That was until I read an article that said that a child Kian’s age should know anywhere from 5-100 words! That’s a HUGE gap! But Kian fits right in there. And now with all his trying to say more and more it has definitely encouraged me.

Spoons!

This week I started to allow Kian to use a spoon. I had given them to him before but he would be so distracted by it (and not really be able to use it) that he wouldn’t eat. This week, when I was grocery shopping at Traders Joe’s, I was reminded of Yo-Baby yogurt and thought that would be a good thing for him to start out with. (Yo-Baby is an organic yogurt made with whole milk.) I used to give Kian this when he was first eating baby food as a part of his breakfast and stopped when he started to feed himself.

Kian did great with the yogurt! I give him a half container of it for a snack either in the afternoon or before bed time – I like before bed better because I can strip him down and have him eat in his diaper and just put him in the bath to clean him off.

He has been doing GREAT with the spoon! So, as the week went on I started to give it to him with his other meals. I even bought some of those toddler spoons that are shaped like a handle instead of just straight and he seemed to do best with those. He is still practicing and a lot of the times he will try to scoop things up on his spoon but then resort to eating with the other hand lol But, at least he’s trying!

Babble, Babble, Babble

Kian has started babbling in more and more sounds today! Different sounds all put together and sound like they are strung out in a sentence! I wish I could somehow type out what he is saying, but I’m finding a hard time doing it lol

I have a feeling he thinks he’s saying something we understand, so we try to talk to him about what he’s looking at or doing to seem like we are adding in.

He does say some words very clearly though. Right now he is eating lunch. When I sat him down he took a drink from his sippy cup, sat it down, and said “ahhhh.” Then I opened up a container of fresh green beans he said “mmm” hehe He loves green beans! After I put that on his plate I put some mac and cheese next to it and he said “mmm” again and then made a blowing noise. I taught him that hot means (blowing noise) so when he touches anything with heat he blows :) It was just so cute!

I can only hope he will like green beans in five years as he does now!

Speaking of green veggies. I love veggies but the only one I hate is peas. I cannot stand the taste or the smell of them. I buy frozen peas for Kian and he eats them like I put little pieces of Pez on his tray! Sometimes I wonder if he’s mine ;) (just kidding of course!)

Remembering, Dancing, Cars and Stacking, and Mommy's Little Helper

Remembering...

I cannot believe that on the 8th of January, Kian was 20 months old! Time has really flown by! Some friends of ours have recently had children. Seeing the photos of these newborns makes me remember how warm Kian was and how much of that "new baby" smell he had which has all but faded. I remember about a year and a half ago I couldn't do anything unless he was in my arms or he would scream! Now, I can't even get him to sit on my lap for a MINUTE lol Well, I can if we are playing the game of "where's Mommy's nose?" "Where's Kian's nose?" (etc.) Now, I look forward to the nights when I feed him his milk and rock him to sleep. He's so still and cuddley...just how he was when he was a newborn. Gosh, if I could see myself writing this now a year and a half ago I would have thought I was out of my mind! lol How things change as time goes on.

Dancing

Ok...moving on! hehe Kian's knowledge of what goes on around him amazes me daily! His understanding grows more and more everyday!

As most of you know, Kian is a HUGE Blue's Clues fan. When I am busy in the kitchen or with something I need just a few minutes of time with I will ask Kian, "Do you want to watch Blue's Clues?" And he will go running into the room, sit down in his little Spiderman chair and say "Ahhhhh." lol He will sit in that chair for the entire show!

Well, I do have to admit that sometimes he will stand at the beginning of the show so he can do his very excited dance that looks like he's marching hehe He's so cute!

Kian also has learned the dance to Breakfast with Bear where he sings the song "Morning Mambo" where Bear says, "now reach your arms up high, high and touch the sky. Let's do the morning mambo. Let's do the morning Mambo. now bend and touch your toes, yeah, you know how it goes!" Kian does the streching up and down with Bear (inbetween his marching dance and twirls) hehe

Most of Kian's day is spent playing with any car or thing with wheels he can get his hands on! He loves to make a car noise as he goes which is so cute! He has really enjoyed the little Fisher Price Garage that my Mom got him for Christmas....although he tries to put his Weeble Camper on it and the thing is pretty much the size of the top of the garage. What imagination children can have lol

Cars and Stacking

The other thing Kian loves is stacking! He has really enjoyed some blocks and our friend Steve and Lisa got him for Christmas. In fact, a lot of times he doesn't want me to stack with him, he just wants me to hold the blocks as he stacks lol He does the same with his board books that we bring out about a half hour before nap and bedtime to help Kian wind down. I end up with most of them on my lap - not from reading but from Kian just stacking at 29 or so on my lap!

Kian started to give Toby treats too! Toby gets a treat after he eats his food. Well, I started letting Kian give Toby the treat which he LOVES! Toby does take advantage of the fact that Kian is so excited to do it so he doesn't wait for my release command to actually take the treat from Kian's hand! lol We are still working on that one!

Mommy's Little Helper

Kian also started doing things to help me around the house (he has for some time now but I keep forgetting to post about it!) He now turns the light on and off in his bedroom when we go in there to change clothes or diapers. Jamie and I praise him and tell him what a good helper he is! Kian also started to do GREAT putting his bath toys away which helps Mom out but also teaches him too! He has foam letters in the tub and I tell him the letter and the sound it makes as he puts in the net for the evening.

Well, that it on this side of life lol Not a whole lot exciting news to report. But I am trying to keep things updated for all our friends and family that live so far away.

VICTORY!!!!!

Ah, yes! I didn't want to type this too soon to avoid being jinxed, although I hope I am not jinxing myself right now as it's hard to knock on wood and type at the same time hehe....BUT Kian took his name from noon until two yesterday...no crying...nothing...and went to bed from 7:40ish until 8AM! VICTORY!!! He finally got back on track and he's happy for the most part. He's also waking up very happy as well!

As I type he is in the middle of his nap! He went down the same way as yesterday! WOOT!

Now I am going to have some lunch before a load of work arrives at my doorstep!

Thanks for the prayers and thoughts you all sent for us!! I am sure they really helped!

Update to Creature of Habit Gone Awry

Well, we are still trying to get Kian back on track. We would put him to bed and finally had to resort to making him cry it out :( That is not something we have ever done - mainly because before he was sleeping through the night he was having night feeds - he basically learned to fall asleep on his own. He only cried for about 15 mins before he fell asleep and I have to say those were the longest 15 mins I have experienced (and at 12:30AM when we decided this was the only thing we knew would work).

In the mornings I have been getting up at 8AM to wake Kian up so he's up at the time he normally would be. The last two days he's been my alarm clock at 8AM so we are ok there. Now he's not crying to sleep anymore (that only happened for about a day and a half), which is good! Now we need to get naps nailed down. Today he just played and played and played for about and hour and a half. He was very tired when I did his nap time routine though!

Jamie and I gave this whole thing two weeks and then we would reevaluate, but I have to say that having to deal with a cranky toddler all day and with little breaks myself has really been draining! I have a lot of work to do (I work for my mother-in-law) and finding not a lot of time to do it or to have time to just sit down and relax. On top of that my house is in dire need of attention and there are some other personal issues I am dealing with that are not very pretty....nothing like it hitting you all at once!

Oh well, this too shall pass...hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

My Other Blog :)

Yes, I have two...one is for family and friends and the other is for just my ramblings lol

I have created a trivia game for us all to have fun doing! :)

You can get to my other blog by following the link that is on the right hand side of your screen - it's the last one called "Sarah's Random Thoughts"

Creature of Habit Gone Awry

Babies thrive on schedules. At least that is what I have read in many books and some even have different philosophies. This includes the same bedtime, nap time, eating times, what is done to help them know it’s time for bed in the bedtime routine (which even includes reading the same book). I read all of this to help Kian learn to sleep through the night. That was a little over a year ago, and it seems that I had forgotten all the things that I had learned from those books.

Our little “creature” has been thrown off kilter. Kian started to no sleep very well around the time that Christmas came and we had a lot of visitors coming and going. Also, Jamie had off for two whole weeks so Kian saw him a lot (when he’s used to about 10 minutes a day during the week). (Side note: Please don’t get me wrong! We love having visitors and want people come out and spend time with all of us!)

Earlier this week Jamie and sat down to figure out what we should do with him. Kian wasn’t falling asleep for about two hours after he went to bed, but was napping well during the day. We thought we should move his bedtime – bad idea since it was the DAY before Jamie went back to work (which was Tuesday). Kian woke up and hour and half later than usual and Jamie was already gone – when I put him to bed Jamie wasn’t home yet and he was still staying awake. Then his naps got bad and he would fall asleep at the time that I would be feeding him lunch – when he would wake up I would end up giving him lunch at 4PM! I was at a loss for what to do and very frustrated – since a lot of times I plan to do things that I can’t necessarily do when Kian is awake.

Finally, I went onto one of my message boards for Mom’s with babies born in May 2004. One of the mom’s posted that she was having problems with her baby sleeping. She listed off all the possible things that could make a baby not sleep: doing something new, growth spurt, teething, over tired… She said her baby was not doing any of those things right now so she couldn’t figure out why her child wasn’t sleeping. Later she came back to post that she figured it out! Her husband had gone back to work and that was the only thing different in their lives! Once I read that I told Jamie. He said that Kian is such a creature of habit and we just changed his schedule all around on him – not to mention all the other changes going on around him!

So, we decided to start just doing things for Kian at the time we would normally do them. And instead of letting him sleep later than 8-8:30AM (this is the first time ever that he has slept later than that!). The last few days Kian has not taken a nap but I get him out of his crib at 2PM like normal to feed him lunch. He has been really tired the last few days and has gone right to sleep at 7:30 when his bed time routine is over. He’s actually been asleep before I lay him down in his crib which is very unlike him!

Jamie and I decided to give the schedule that Kian has been on before a chance for the next two weeks and see if things are better. I have a feeling Kian will do well once we help him get back into the swing of things. Until then I am trying to keep myself from going insane with the lack of time I have to do things during the day.

Freezer or Mixer? We finally made a choice!

Well, I had this HUGE delima after Christmas....do I get a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer with the money I had left over or a freezer. Yeah, I know what you might be thinking...a freezer with her Christmas money! LOL Well, it's something that I have been wanting for almost as long as I have wanted that Mixer...AND since it would benefit the whole family Jamie and I decided that we would use money from extra pay checks we will get in March (our budget is for four week months and not five...the rest of the money is put on debt which is AWESOME!). BUT we saw that the freezer was on sale now so we thought that it would be more beneficial for us to get the freezer now and for me to use the money in March to get the Mixer (although in my mind, I am getting the Mixer with my Christmas money as it sounds better LOL and it's just for me :)

Here is a photo of the Freezer we got:

We originally were looking at getting a chest freezer but I talked to my mom earlier today and oddly enough their freezer (that was like 35 years old) stopped working and they decided to get an upright so that they could save space and that things wouldn't get lost in the bottom of the freezer. I am so glad I talked to her before we left for Sears because after I looked at the chest freezers I realized that I would probably fall in the freezer getting something from the bottom (and that I am not joking about!) This one was only $70 more than the chest freezer and we figure that we will have it for a long time. And we don't have a whole lot of space in our garage for the freezer so this will actually work out a lot better than a chest!

It won't be available for pick up until Tuesday but I am SO excited to get and start filling it up! We are going to be able to save a lot of money being able to buy things on sale. It was frustrating when I would wait for something to go on sale again and have to buy it at full price! (ok, most of you should know I am the coupon queen - I am also the bargin shopper too).

Watch out Costco! Here I come! hehe

Last teeth, Jamie's project and vaction is over

The last TWO!

Kian is cutting the last of his teeth! FINALLY! The last are the top “fangs” (as Jamie likes to call them) and they are some of the most painful to come through. He is doing pretty well with it though except when it comes to nap time – he usually needs some Tylenol and teething tablets to get him through. I don’t think his molars are all the way in yet but at least they have broken the surface of his gums.

Back to the Same Old – Same Old

Kian and I were pretty spoiled over the last two weeks. Jamie was home on Christmas vacation during that time. Unfortunately, I spent most of it in bed sick with some odd illness. But that gave Daddy and Kian some great time together! We did enjoy having Daddy home with us though!

Today was the first day back as “me and Kian” in the house. To be honest, it seemed a lot quieter – which is odd because most of the noise comes from Kian lol! I guess it just seems quiet because to be honest, it’s hard to carry a conversation with a 19 month old!

Next week Gym Kids starts back up – which I know Kian is looking forward to (and so am I because I think we got into classes with our favorite teacher starting on the 19th – we have one more class with the teacher we have now on the 9th). Other than that, we are back to our weekly shopping trips and hopefully weekly visits from my friend Angela. Nothing too exciting around here – just the same old stuff.

Jamie’s new Project!

Well, we can’t reveal much but we can say that EA now has the rights to make games based on The Simpsons…you know Bart, Homer and Maggie….those Simpsons! Jamie should be moving to start on that project in the next few weeks – which also means he gets a real desk!!!! Right now he’s stuffed into a small conference room with about 6 other guys! It’s pretty cramped in there! Anyway, I am so proud of him and he is very happy to be going there soon (I am too since that means that he won’t be crunching for a while hehe)

Rain, Rain Go Away!!!!

It’s been raining cats and dogs here lately! It’s been so rainy that Allie (our cat) has refused to go outside during the day. In the morning, she usually cries at the door for me to let her out into our fenced in patio area! Today she finally did go outside as the rain had let up. In fact, I couldn’t get to come back in this evening after Kian went to bed! She loves being out there – which is great because Kian LOVES her and she does not like him at all lol

Christmas at the Durall's

This Christmas was very nice :) Jamie's Dad (Grandad) and Step-mom (Nan) came for a few days and spent Christmas with us! It was very nice to have family here for Christmas :) I made a nice dinner for us all (that gave us A LOT of left overs) and I think that everyone really enjoyed the ham with my special glaze (I was pretty proud of that - even Kian loved it!)

Kian had a great time opening gifts - although he really wanted to look at and play with each one so it took a lot of coaxing for us to get him to open them one right after another. We asked Santa to put all the gifts outside of the gate (we have a gate surrounding our tree) so that Kian could get to them. Kian didn't want to drink his morning milk on Christmas morning because he wanted to get to his gifts! Also, Santa brought him a basketball hoop that was Santa assembled and had under the tree. Kian LOVED that an still is enjoying it :) Grandad and Daddy sure liked it too ;) He got so many toys that we decided to open a few at a time so he could really enjoy each one - I am about to go into his stash to open another box for him tomorrow :)

Kian also had a bit of a language explosion of sorts over the holiday. He is now saying "please" among other things (I can't think of exacts but he's really trying hard to say everything we ask him to). I sure wish I knew what he was saying most of the time hehe but I know that we will in time :)

Right now we are all recovering from the holidays. Jamie has had off for the last two weeks which has been great! Me, on the other end I have been sick so I have been in bed most of the time :( Jamie sure has been a great help in that department though! He's been really keeping up with the house and with Kian wonderfully! I wish I had words to thank him for being such a great Dad and Hubby!

Well, that's all for now! Hopefully I can get back into the weekly updates - it's a New Years Resolution ;)

Kian didn't like Santa :(

We took Kian to see Santa today...he's been a bit cranky lately from the last of his teeth coming in, so part of me wondered if he would cry.

This Santa was awesome! He had a real beard and everything! When I sat Kian on his lap, Kian bawled and bawled! So Santa told ME to sit on HIS lap with Kian LOL So, we have a photo of me sitting on Sant's lap with Kian on mine with a binky in his mouth and screaming bloody murder...the lady taking the photo wanted him to look at her...I was like...we took 5 photos already! This is like torture! So, we ended up picking the best one (considering the situation lol) and I figure it will be good for Kian's scrap book....

On a side note, I am on a message board for Mom's who had babies in May 2004 and there were several kids there that freaked out at Santa. I felt good knowing we was not alone! Although, you have to admit it is a little strange to tell you kid that it's ok to sit on this oddly dressed man's lap lol!

Sorry we don't have any photos! We could not take any with our own camera but Jamie did get some video of it. I plan to take a photo of the picture and see how that turns out to post.

Hopefully next year it will be better.

Welcome to the World, Cambria Dawn!

Jamie's best friend from High School (Michael) and his wife Jamey just had a little baby girl on December 4th! She is so cute!

http://babynet.baptisteast.com/default.asp?group=27089

Congrats Michael and Jamey on your new little addition to your family :)

Kian has more signs!

Kian is on a roll with being able to do sign language! He did the sign for I Love you not long ago (see previous post) and now he's doing the sign for "Hot" (we do as blowing - like on food) and "Thank you" which is .

The other day Jamie was said, "say thank you" and did the sign to him as he handed him a wagon wheel and he did it back! Then a few days ago I warmed up some food and put it on his tray..I said it was hot. He touched it and then started to blow on it! He's so smart!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Jamie always shows Kian the "I Love You" sign when he says I love you and he does it at least several times every day. Well, a few days ago we noticed that Kian was trying to do it too! He was just using his index finger and thumb though...but this morning Jamie said I love you and showed him the sign and Kian had his thumb, index finger AND pinky up! I said to Jamie, "Did you see that?!?!" Jamie agreed that he had done it! And later on Kian did the sign again! I didn't think he would be able to do the sign right for a long time because it's kind of difficult lol!

In case you aren't familiar with this sign here it is: http://www.signwithme.com/video_display.asp?ID=42&search=I%20love%20you

Also, on a side note... My mom has always used that sign with me and my sister. When I would go away on long trips to places instead of waving we would show the "I Love You" sign. I used to travel a lot by plane and when I would get in my seat I would put the my hand right up to the window and do the sign so she could see where I was and she would know I could see her too (our hometown has a VERY small airport). It's something that is special to us and I am proud that Kian can now do it too :)

Update a month overdue!

Well, it’s been a while since my last update! Our home became grand central station over the last few months! Jamie’s sister came to visit for 9 days then his cousin Martin was here for a weekend soon after that and a week after that my mom arrived to spend Thanksgiving with us PHEW! lol! We sure have loved having the company though! :) I have been trying to do Christmas shopping and get our Christmas letter ready so my time has been pretty limited. All of that on top of taking care of a household and a toddler along with trying to do my warranty company work has left me with little time to spare. So, needless to say I haven’t had a lot of time lately to bring my blog up to speed :)

We are all staying well (for the most part). Kian’s wheezing is pretty much under control thanks to the steroid he’s using when he’s sick. We did have to pull out the Albuterol (for wheezing) a few weeks ago but we didn’t have to use it for very long which was great!

The Godfather: The Game is wrapping up soon and Jamie is getting ready to head to a new project – I don’t think I can say what it is yet but everyone will have an idea of what it’s about once it’s revealed. You can also take a look at Jamie’s blog for other interesting news at EA or just daddy stuff hehe

Kian is doing great! He seems to be learning more and more everyday! He finally did the “dance around in a circle” dance at gym kids on Monday! He was quite the little show off too because he was the only one doing it by himself! He even does the part where you kick your leg and hop hehe He’s so cute!

He also can point to his belly, head, hand (he gets those mixed up sometimes though!), foot and nose! He still enjoys playing with his cars – which he plays with ALL the time. He also applies the “finished” sign to pretty much everything – stories, songs, dances, playing or when he’s just plain done with a toy or going to stop something you told him “no” about a million times lol And at times I believe he’s becoming more of a toddler everyday lol A trip to the grocery store can become Mom’s worst nightmare! In general he’s very well behaved – I think this is all apart of him discovering where the boundaries are and how far he can push.

Kian’s new tricks include standing in his highchair and being able to reach things on the counter – even though he’s a small fry he can still reach things pretty easily!

Kian’s Stats!

I forgot to post Kian’s stats from his last visit to the Ped for a well check! It was for his 18 month appointment (at the beginning of November). Kian’s height was 30 ¾ which puts him in the 10-15% and his weight was 20lbs 15oz. and that puts him in the 3-5%. The Ped was not concerned though and said that these are the right numbers for Kian and his growth is making the proper curve. I figure someone has to be in those percentiles – it just happens to be our little guy!

Winter is here!

Yeah that is a little exciting because it means that things are finally cooled off and we can bring out the long sleeves! Our winter consists of rain pretty much and things get cooler. Today it is POURING outside – Thank God we don’t have anywhere to go. The last few rains have brought my flowers outside back to life – yeah, I know that sounds strange but its true! I have kind of neglected watering them toward the end of the summer (forgetfulness combined with a doubled water bill when I was watering them several times a week).

And with winter comes Christmas and decorating for the holidays :) We have our prelit tree up already and we will decorate it this weekend.

Kian is up from his nap now and I need to go and spend some time with him :) Signing off for now but hopefully I will be back to weekly if not biweekly updates ;)

Kian’s New Tricks!

Last week was our last week at Gym Kids and we had a make-up class with my favorite teacher (Vicki). At Vicki’s class Kian started to show signs that he’s catching on to things! Every class is pretty much the same – same structure and everything. When we arrive we play on the equipment for about 30 mins and then the teacher rings a bell to let us know it’s “circle time” and all the kids get a bell to ring for a few minutes. In circle time we sing a song that usually has movements, then we do the Big Bird Song which the kids LOVE and has movements, then we get out a parachute and sing songs and do fun things with that, and then we say goodbye with little Gym Kid Clown puppets and sing a song.

Well, last week Kian heard the bell of a second (Vicki rang it a tad early) and ALL the kids stopped in their tracks! It was amazing to see that Kian knew EXACTLY what was going to be next! After that we sang our song and got out the parachute – the kids are invited to go on top of it when we first get it out and Kian immediately jumped on without my prompting!

Then on Saturday Kian started do the movements to the Big Bird Song! One of the song’s parts says “Dance around in a circle” (I spin him in a circle) “we all fall down!” (and we fall to the ground patting the floor with our hands). Well, Kian started turn in a circle himself! So I started to sing the song and next thing I knew he was down on the ground patting the floor! So now he spins in a circle and then pats the floor hehe It’s so CUTE!

Kian will be Blue for Halloween

I bought Kian's costume on ebay for more than half off the retail price! I was really excited and it is very cute! I JUST fits him now so I am hoping he doesn't grow too much so he can wear it for Halloween :)



I thought that we might take him around our Condo are Trick-or-Treating and earlier in the day take him to our friend Erik and Angela's place for some candy.

Although, I don't know what Mr. Allergic-to-Peanuts can have from the candy basket so I will have some Gerber Wagon Wheels for him.

Even so, we will still carry around his Trick-or Treat pumpkin that Great Aunt Lori got him last year. It has his name put on it melting letters - very cool!

New Blog

Well, I decided to start a new blog for more of just my random thoughts and ramblings....it's a little goofy but I think it helps me get out the stuff I have floating in my head throughout the day. Check it out when have some spare time (or maybe you don't and just need to waste it LOL)

MORE teeth, Dancing, Fall? and Allergy Upgrades

Houston we have FOUR teeth!

For the last week or so, Kian has been whiney and complaining a lot. That’s usually not like him! Last week I noticed a tooth was getting ready to poke through…one that is next to his top two front teeth. Well, a few days ago I got a chance to look in there again and noticed a molar had poked through and he is getting his eye teeth on the bottom…from what I hear those eye teeth are some of the most painful. From what I can tell he has about 4 bulges right now in his gums! Gosh! I can’t wait for all this teeth to be in!

Kian could also use your prayers...he's got a runny nose and an on and off fever I think from teething...he's miserable at times...so keep him in your thoughts.

Kian’s new tasks this week are…

Every week it seems that Kian is into something new! We have sliding doors that hide our washer and dryer and he has recently learned to open them. I am waiting to hear screams from him getting his fingers stuck…but he actually hasn’t so far…I am thinking about trying to get something so he won’t be able to open it at all.

He also has learned to climb on top of our shabby-sheik trunk! He likes to throw his toys behind it and once he was trying to get one of them and he climbed on top! Once he was up there I could tell he was a little scared being up there lol! To be honest, I was scared too! He’s quite a daredevil!

He’s a Dancin’ Machine!

Yeah, Kian has finally learned to dance! My friend Angela noticed him dancing one day a few weeks ago so no when I see him bobbing up and down I encourage him to do it more hehe It’s so cute because he dances to EVERYTHING! The music on toys..I never thought he would get down to “I’ve Been Workin’ On The Railroad,” music that is played over head in stores, music that’s on TV….we sure had fun when Bon Jovi was on Oprah last week! He really liked that!

FALL….WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!

Please, autumn hurry up and get here! Today it was in the 90’s! Is it really the end of September or is it July!?!?! It cooled off for a while up here and then it warmed back up again. They say it will cool off into the 70’s this weekend and I can’t wait for it! I just went out and bought Kian’s fall wardrobe and now all those nice new things (and nicely used items I got on ebay) are just waiting for him!

Allergy Upgrades

Yeah, we did all our allergy upgrades for our Mr. Turkey Toes. I am so thankful that we have a subscription to Consumer Reports because the air purifiers that people were suggesting to me (Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image) was rated one of the worst out there (mainly because it puts out a toxin from it’s exhaust…yeah, weird that an air purifier would pollute the air!). Anyway, I am glad we did our homework! We ended up getting a great deal on the purifier we got through Target.com (it wasn’t in stores). It has a HEPA filter which is what the allergist suggested.

We also got a new vacuum! Thanks to a nice 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond I saved us over $50 on it! We needed to get a vacuum with a HEPA filter on it since I am now vacuuming daily (well, I try to!) This vacuum was rated #1 by Consumer Reports and I have to say that it was worth it! It’s so much easier to use than my other Hoover (both our new and former vacuums are Hoovers) and all the tools are on board so I don’t have to go searching for anything!

We feel like Kian has already made leaps and bounds of progress…now if his teeth would stop this runny nose thing from happening I could get him off the Pulmicort for a while! Good news is that he hasn’t had any wheezing at all! :) That makes us all very happy!

Stain Removal Recipe

Wow! An online friend of mine shared this receipe for stain removal on our message board and IT REALLY WORKS! I used it on some of Kian’s clothes that I was unable to get stains out of and they were gone right before my very eyes! I also used it on a shirt I got for him from ebay that had a very small stain on it and now it’s gone!!!

The reciepe is as follows:

You need Oxyclean powder and Boiling water (yeah, I know it’s weird).

Wet the stain
Rub some powder on it
Pour the boiling water over it and let it sit for a while
Wash like you normally do

That’s it! No fading or anything! I actually did this in my kitchen sink and I saw the stains disappear right as the boiling water hit them! I let the water cool down until I could handle the clothing…not only did it get the stains out but it also gave me a clean sink LOL

I will be using it on EVERYTHING! This even worked on some clothes I had put through the dryer! Amazing!

Update on Kian’s Allergy Tests and other things

Update on Kian’s Allergy Tests

Jamie and I went to see Kian’s allergy doctor yesterday. Kian is HIGHLY allergic to peanuts as well as dogs and cats :( The doctor said that these are usually life long allergies.

With the peanuts we have avoid ALL nuts since they might be processed in the same place with peanuts. And ANY products that say they are processed with peanuts or nuts. That might even mean that if Kian goes to a birthday party that we bring our own cake and ice cream for him because we know it’s safe (that is something the doctor said that parents do). :( We are also supposed to not let Kian have ANY fish of any kind until he’s three as that can be a high allergen too. He was not allergic to any other foods that he was tested for.

As for the cat and dog allergy, the doctor gave us ideas of what we can do to keep the dander and things down in our house. We have already done a lot of these things and they have helped A LOT. (those things were keeping the animals out of Kian’s room and keeping the door shut all the time as well as vacuuming more often.) We saw the significance of that over the last few weeks because I got a cold (for the first time before Kian) and Kian got it but did great and had no wheezing thanks to the Pulimcort to prevent that. We are now looking into buying an HEPA air filter and a new vacuum with a HEPA filter too. I will be vacuuming everyday now.

We feel right now that things are significantly better but in a few months we are going to reevaluate everything to make sure that Kian is thriving.

Funny thing that Jamie brought up a while ago is that before Kian was born and we knew he was a boy we called him "Peanut" - isn't that strange! lol! I guess we will need to be careful with a nick name next time...maybe not after a food! ;)

Fall is Quickly Approaching!

Well, this week we started to pull out our long sleeved stuff. It’s starting to get cooler around here. In fact, I just went though Kian’s things and tried on some shirts I thought would still fit him and he only had ONE long sleeved shirt that he could wear! Thankfully last weekend there were quite a few sales so I was able to pick up some stuff for him…and I also won an auction on ebay for some shirts too. I’m trying to gear myself up for a little bit cooler winter than the one we had in San Luis Obispo.

Our New Friend :)

Yes, I made a new friend :) Her name is Angela and she is the girlfriend of one of the guys who worked at Oddworld and went to EA before it shut down (he helped get Jamie’s foot in the door at EA). We have been getting together every week for the last month or so. It’s been nice to have someone to get together with, talk and go and do things with. She is so nice and Kian LOVES her :)

Well, that’s all the update I have so far from our boring little lives here in Sunnyvale.

Mommy and Daddy's non-weekends and Kian's Eventful Week

Last week has been a pretty stressful one (and to be honest Monday didn’t start on the right foot either). Jamie is working lots of hours to meet an upcoming deadline. He worked through this weekend as well (and did last weekend). It’s really hard on all of us because he doesn’t get a break and neither do I. I pretty much do the same thing I do during the week which is stay home and talk to my 15 month old who really is no conversation at all :( Ah yes, my life seems pretty sad… Annually making friends is no picnic and is getting harder and harder for this introvert to do.

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s Monday. It feels like it should be Saturday. I cannot wait for this project to be over so I can have my husband back along with our weekends together!

This last week has been an eventful one for Kian though.

Kian’s Molars

Kian currently has 2 molars (on the left side) that are almost all the way in and the top right one is coming through right now. Those molars are pretty painful for him and he’s had many wake ups at night because of it. Poor little guy! The bottom right molar is bulging too so I have a feeling it will poke through soon. I can’t wait for him to have all his teeth for now! Wow! What a crank he is during the day! For now we keep the Tylenol flowing and the Hyland’s Teething Tablets going.

Climbing!

Kian has figured out how to climb up our leather recliner. Yesterday Jamie told showed me he had gotten up there. I figured we would just need to keep an eye on him and I was happy to see that he was getting down off of it backwards as I have taught him. Well, later on yesterday I was watching a TV show and noticed he got on the chair. I when back to watching my show and then turned back to him and saw him climbing up the back of it and almost getting over the top part of the recliner! I almost had a heart attack!

Since I can’t be in the living room all the time, Jamie and I decided that we needed to up to something up to block him from getting up in the chair. Jamie found a box that would fit in the recliner and put some heavy books in it. There was still room for Kian to move the box so we too two 12 packs of soda and squished them into the seat lol It’s actually worked so far! He has tried to move the 12 packs and get up on the chair but he has yet to succeed. lol I hope he doesn’t because I have no idea what we will put there!

“Finished”

Since Kian was bout 6 months I started doing the sign in sign language for finished. I would do the sign when he was done eating and a lot of times I would ask him if he was “finished” and he would do the sign to tell me that he was. This is what it looks like: http://www.signwithme.com/video_display.asp?ID=30 He finally started to do it himself at about 9 or 10 months and then used it at the right time (not when I asked him if he was finished) at about 11 or 12 months.

Well, this last week Kian started using finished for things other than mealtime! He was having a rough time napping. I thought I would let him cry and see if he would just fall asleep again – but he didn’t. So, I went in his room and picked him up and said to him…”what’s the deal?” and he did the sign for finished! LOL I almost died laughing although he was very serious! He did it again yesterday morning when I went to get him after he woke up. I have to put the cat outside and I get his sippy with milk warmed up before I get him so he cried a little bit and when I went in there again he showed me the finished sign….it was like he was saying “I’m finished sleeping, Mama” LOL It was so cute!

I have been meaning to show him other signs but keep forgetting to look them up or do them consistently. So now I am teaching him the signs for “drink” which is: http://www.signwithme.com/video_display.asp?ID=20 and the sign for “more” which is: http://www.signwithme.com/video_display.asp?ID=29

Kian's 15 Month Photos

Here are most of the photos we had taken at JC Penney at the begining of August. We had some problems with our order and the real prints are going to take up to another 3 weeks to come in! I am hoping its not going to be that long.

Anyway, I wanted to share his shots :) He has had a hair cut since so he looks more like a little boy than anything now! I can't believe how much he's growing!

Kian's bed time stuggles

For about 2-3 weeks Kian would play, talk....whatever at night for 2 hours after he went to bed....YES TWO HOURS! It was driving me mad! I was checking in on him to make sure he didn't poop and then sometimes he would scream becuase he threw all his binkies and blanket over the side. He can't sleep without the both of them.

I tried all different things....more soothing environment when I put him to sleep...whispering to him while I get him dressed.... That didn't work.... Then I tried putting him to bed later because I thought he wasn't tired yet....that didn't work! Finally I brought out a basket of board books and cheap little regular books...he loves to look at books and I usually set these aside so he won't wreck them.

I bring out the basket about a half hour before he goes to bed. My plan was to read to him the entire time but he won't last more than a book...so I read him a story and then he unloads and looks at all the books! It worked like a charm (that along with the calming environment stuff) and he falls asleep right away now! I might just hear him a little bit but nothing more than 10 mins! I am so glad because I know he was really wearing himself out!

The Events of the Past Few Weeks

Kidney Stone
Well, first thing is a few weeks ago Jamie passed another small kidney stone. He wasn’t in as much pain as the last time but it was very painful. Thankfully he passed very quickly! He brought it in to the our Dr.;s office for testing and we get results on it in a few weeks.

Allie the Outdoor Cat (well, now she’s doing it part time)
Second thing is that Allie (our cat) has bit Kian. She did this a few weekends ago…she bit him on the hand and then on the head the next day….both times she left marks. She didn’t do this to be viscous…she was protecting herself from Kian who was pulling on her tail…the thing is that when Toby gets annoyed he leaves the gated area…when Allie gets annoyed she stays for more action!

After the last bite, she was locked up in Kian’s bathroom (where her food is) for the day until we could find a new home for her. Unfortunately its kitten season so no shelter would take her (well no no-kill shelters anyway). We were told by one of the shelters that with her history they the pound would put her to sleep. They also offered other suggestion of what to do with her and the best thing for all of us was to put her in our fenced in patio during the day. Our patio has 6 ft high fences that are totally made out of wood…no way for her to get out or in besides through the house.

For the last two weeks she has been out there and she loves it. In the morning before I get Kian out of his crib I open the door to outside and she actually just walks out there on her own. She has a little litter box, food, water and even a little shelter we bought her and put an old blanket in.

Kian’s Allergy Tests
Kian’s testing went fine today. They did not do a skin test because I guess he’s too young. We were prescribed Epi-Pen which is a shot I give him if he is having an allergic reaction. After I administer it I have to call 911…pretty scary. Anyway, I am glad that we will have it now.

They are doing a blood test on him for all different allergens. Let me tell you that the blood draw was no picnic especially because they couldn’t find the vein and searched for what seemed eternity before trying the other arm. I felt so terrible! Although I think I am more traumatized by it all than Kian was. He’s fine and I still thinking about it lol

We have an appointment on September 19th for the results. I am PRAYING he is not allergic to the dog or cat because if he is it could be the reason why he is wheezing when he gets sick :( The Dr. told me that we might want to start considering what we would do with our animals if that is the case. I guess we will find out more answers on the 19th.

Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers. Please continue them as we wait for the testing to come back.

Phew! I guess that’s it for now! I seriously hope that our next few weeks are pretty uneventful…. I know we could all use it!

New Photos 8/11/2005!

Yes, I know we are once again long over due for posting photos and videos lol

Here a link to the photos: http://www.jamesondurall.com/family/Pages/pictures.html

I have no listed under the photos what they are (takes a lot of extra time) so I am posting here what is on each page of photos.

Kian Walking 1 –
Photos of Kian eating Mac and Cheese for the first time! He eats it all the times now! And there are photos of when Kian’s Great Uncle Joe was in San Francisco before he went on his bike trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles as a fundraiser for a cure for AIDS! We were so glad to meet up with him for a short visit :) The photos of our visit with my Uncle Joe are continued on page 2.

Kian Walking 2 -
Visit with Great Uncle Joe continued
Movie is of our visit with my Uncle Joe
Kian pushing around his tricycle (that he likes to run Toby over with lol)
Movie is of Kian pushing around his bike with a little help from my Mom
Kian playing with the magnets on the fridge
Our visit to the Golden Gate Bridge
Kian being silly hehe

Kian Walking 3 –
Kian with my Mom
Kian pushing around his “car” which is the laundry basket
Movie is of Kian pushing his “car” and steering around objects
Kian in his “car” hehe
Kian wearing the cute frog outfit that Aunt TyTy got him

Kian Walking 4
Kian’s frog outfit continued – and he found the empty catsup bottle lol
Kian eating with Mommy
Movie is Kian in his high chair doing more talking than eating lol
Kian’s first time in his pool
Movie is of Kian in his pool
My friend Martina and her boyfriend Paul on the 4th of July

Kian Walking 5
Kian on the 4th of July
Kian in his “EA Baby” shirt…but he kept blinking when I was trying to take the photo!
Kian eating lunch and being cute

Kian Walking 6
Kian eating lunch continued
Movies are of Kian eating lunch with two hands…he eats like he’s never had food before! The other movie is of Kian being silly at a different meal time
Kian starting to walk!
Kian being a busy guy playing in the kitchen and the living room
Three short videos of Kian playing - one where I tried to get him walking and the other one is another attempt but he was more interested in the camera than in walking hehe

Kian Walking 7
Another movie of Kian playing
Kian in his first U2 t-shirt that Mommy bought him hehe
Kian eating lunch…what a messy guy! Notice his eyebrow is full of food hehe

Kian Walking 8
Messy lunch continued
Movie of Kian having the hiccups from giggling about this messy meal hehe

"Meh-meh," Toby and more teeth!

“Meh-meh” and other words

That word might not sound like much to you…but it’s actually what Kian calls Jamie (meh-meh) LOL Kian is actually calling “Daddy” by his first name! Since I noticed that he was doing that this weekend I have been trying really hard to call Jamie “Daddy” when Jamie is around. He does say Da-da and on Monday was looking for him and calling “da-da” so I will take that as a good sign hehe

Kian is learning more and more words every day. I bought him a play phone and he will put it up to his ear and say hello which sounds more like “eh-o.” He will also put a measuring spoon or any other object to his ear (well, the back of his head lol) and say “eh-o” hehe And the yesterday as he was eating he tooted and I said to him, “say excuse me” and he said something like “mu-meh” and is trying really hard to say it lol He’s so cute :)

Kian’s Favorite Past time but not Toby’s lol

Kian LOVES to push his little tricycle and hippo that eats peek-a-boo blocks around. This week we started to figure out that if he runs toward Toby with it he will get up and jump out of the way in a hurry (believe me, I would too! I have been run over by those things before lol). So, now Kian likes to chase Toby around the house with these toys and giggles and giggles about it. Toby actually likes it (most of the time) too…Toby is so good with Kian and I know that they both enjoy having each other as playmates. I knew that Toby and Kian would be “friends” someday but I didn’t realize it would start this soon! Hehe

We have another tooth!

Kian I think started to cut another tooth last night! It’s one of the four front bottom teeth. He got the other in the pair several weeks ago and just today I saw the fourth one poking through. Kian woke up a few times last night (but quickly put himself back to sleep) and I thought that maybe his arm was bothering him from his shots….but now I am pretty sure that tooth was involved. He also has two of his one year molars in on his left side (one on bottom and one on top)…those are NO fun for anyone when they come in lol

After this tooth pokes through Kian will have 8 teeth and many more to go lol

Kian’s 15 Month Check-up

Kian has his 15 months appointment today. He got two shots :( But he did great! He even stopped crying before we even left the office! The Dr. also told me that he was shocked that Kian wasn’t crying when he was looking in his ears and his mouth…I figure he’s like that because it happens at least once a month with the amount of Dr.’s visits we have had hehe
The great news is that he was weighted and measured (weight is a naked weight so it’s pretty accurate).

Weight: 20lbs 4 ounces (7th percentile) - up from the 3rd!
Height: 30 1/4 inches (15-20th percentile) - up from the 10th!

Milestones

Kian is walking all the time now :) He’s a pretty busy guy! I have taken advice from friends that say to not let your child out of the cart or they will not want to sit in it when you shop...basically he doesn’t realize that he can walk in the store if I let him lol I also did that at the Dr.’s office today because I didn’t want him to throw a fit when I had to bring him back to the room and I knew he would want to touch everything in there anyway lol
He's also moved on from Baby food completely! LOL Of course about 2 weeks ago I bought a TON because I had coupons and it was on sale :P I am going to try to return it since I still have the receipt. If they won’t take it back I hope to at least get something for it on ebay or something!

Allergy Testing

I requested a referral from our Ped to have Kian seen by an allergist. The ped didn’t say much about the referral…just that he would give us one… I was so afraid he would say no because he told us in a visit about two weeks ago that we can’t do anything about allergies and that it would be a waste of our time. But for me, I am starting to get afraid of giving Kian fish, strawberries, eggs or anything that is considered a high allergy food. Not to mention, he’s been sneezing more than usual lately and I am wondering if he’s allergic to dust, pollen or something like that so I can watch those things and know that he’s not getting sick he’s just having a reaction that I need to watch incase it turns to wheezing.

Kian and Blue, Walking and Growing!

Kian Loves Blue :)
Kian is SO cute! The other day we went to Toys R Us and I saw some Blue dolls (Blue is the dog in the TV show Blue’s Clues) that talk. I showed one to Kian.... I have never seen a child's face light up so much! lol He was hugging and kissing her and saying "bubububu" lol Which I think is him saying Blue :) He loves it when I play it with Blue and still gives her hugs and looks at her like he’s surprised to see her…he loves Blue :)

Kian’s walking more and more!

Kian's also walking more now! I would say he's walking about 50-70% of the time now! I finally went out and bought him a new pair of Robeez because he outgrew his other ones. He hasn’t worn shoes at all this summer as there wasn’t really a need. But now there is! He’s walking now up to about 3 feet lengths and growing! He’s bound and determined to get as far as he can and then he almost immediately gets up and starts again…although he does crawl at a lightening speed so if he wants to get somewhere fast that’s what he does. He's doing so good and so quickly! I would say he started walking a bit on his own on Friday...and then he's just taken off! Its bitter sweet in a way...he's growing so much!

Speaking of growing…

Kian has already out grown his size 12 month PJ’s! I’m dreading what is next….I feel like we are always buying him clothes! lol His diaper has been leaking through a lot lately and I think it might be due to his shorts being too tight…so tomorrow the hunt begins. I am hoping to find a consignment shop here that I can get some at…I found some when we were in SLO at a consignment shop and they did us well :)

No PB&J, No Fluffer Nutters....No Peanuts for my Peanut :(

Tuesday I thought that I would give Kian a peanutbutter and jelly sandwhich for lunch. He has never had PB before so I spread it on pretty thin...I could see the bread though it. He started eating and I noticed that the look on his face was one that he wasn't enjoying it....but I thought I would let him go at it just to see if it would grow on him.

Then he started to rub his eyes...and he was rubbing a lot! So, I got a washcloth to wipe his eyes because I thought that he got something in them. As I started to wipe, he started to get bumps all around his eyes where he was rubbing and all on his mouth and face. I called the pediatrician and the Dr. got back to me and said to give him Pulmicort and Albuterol and then some Bendryl (which I didn't have) but he said to give him the breathing treatments first before going to the store. As I am preparing his breathing stuff, I heard him crying and thought he is just complaining because I wasn't in there. I checked on him and saw that he vomitted all over the recliner and floor :( I called the Dr. back and he said if he vomited again to take him to the ER. He said that it was good that he got it out of his system. Thankfully he didn't vomit anymore...

Kian's eye was a bit swollen for the rest of the day and for the entire day yesterday. Tuesday morning I had made an appointment to get his pictures taken (yeah we are two months late for doing our one year) so I had to call and cancel. The last time I made an appointment was before Father's Day which was when we were in the ER with Kian with an asthma attack! I'm a bit afraid to make our next appointment! lol!

We did have an appointment with our Dr. to talk about Kian's breathing issues and he did talk to us about the peanut allergy that Kian had. I am glad that the Dr. got to take a look at him and his eye. Kian's doing fine now...but I'm a bit shook up about even having peanuts or peanut butter in the house! I don't think I have ever been so scared in my entire life :( It all happened so quickly...

A word of advice, make sure that if you give your kids a new food that could be a high allergy food...make sure you do it early in the day and on a week day so you can call your Peds office! I am so glad that's what we did or I would have spent extra money and time at the ER.

We Bought A New Car!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday we went to the car lot just to look….Jamie had to go to work so we figured if we found something we would come back on Sunday. Well, we found a deal too hard to pass up! We bought a 2005 Toyota Matrix! It’s silver and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! hehe The salesman took a photo of all of us with our new car and is suppose to be emailing it to us – once I have it I will post it here (if it’s any good!) But here is what a Matrix looks like in case you haven’t seen one: http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/2005/matrix/exterior.html

It took us about 4 hours from start to finish. Kian was past a nap (although he did fall asleep for about a half hour in the Matrix while we were test driving which had me SOLD pretty much! He NEVER falls asleep in the car!) And then the only things I had for him to eat were Geber Wagon Wheels and Beechnut Toddler Banana Cookies (which he LOVES). So, I gave him as many as he wanted until we could get home. He actually did pretty well considering that he has a cold and his teeth are bothering him.

One other GREAT thing is that they took our ’86 Volvo! Take a guess at the blue book price….$238! Nice huh?!?!?! They said they would give us that for it but that they would take out charges for the smog and some other stuff so we ended up getting about $50 for it! lol! I figured it was worth the $50 just to put toward the loan and not have to worry about the car later on. I have to say I don’t miss that car but that Volvo was my very first car that I purchased myself. It served us well – no problems at all over the last 5 years.

Michael and Jamey Are Having a GIRL!

I am so excited for Michael and Jamey! Michael was in our wedding and Jamie was in his a few months after ours! They just found out on Saturday that they are having a girl! Her name will be Cambria Dawn…how pretty :) We are SO excited for them! If we can get them to live a little closer, Kian would have a little girlfriend ;) We can’t wait to see little Cambria in December!

More Tooth Drama

Kian (aka Mr. Crank E. Pants) has been a bear to deal with this last week. Today he was laughing and tilted his head back and I saw that he has the other end of the molar poking through now….boy oh boy are those things really hurting him :( I have been keeping him on Tylenol and trying the Hyland’s Teething Tablets but the tablets don’t seem to be working for him…I give them to him anyway incase they do anything…right now I just want to help him in any was possible.

What will Kian be When He Grows Up?

Someone posted this question on one of my message boards. She said, based on their current interests, what would your baby want to be when he grows up. One person said her son would be a hairstylist because he's always playing with people's hair, another said her daughter would be a dentist because she's always sticking her fingers in people's mouths hehe

I said Kian would be a driver of some kind...maybe a race car driver....a driver of pretty much anything would please him! He pushes literally ANYTHING around that he can LOL A laundry basket with clothes in it (which he will unload along the way), Leggo box, dump truck, car, empty box....whatever he can get his hands on he will try to push around lol!

In fact, a few weeks ago at Gym Kids the teacher got out a bin with balls in it of all different kinds for the kids to play with. Guess what Kian did.....he took the bin and pushed it all around LOL I had to take him away from it because none of the kids could get the balls...and heck there are other things to do.....he can push stuff around at home LOL I guess it could be worse ;)

One Small Step for Man............Houston, we have a tooth!

Ah, it was a day of milestones today! First, Kian got another tooth (to make 5 1/2 - he has half of a molar) and the one that came through today is right next to the two bottom ones :)

THEN! Tonight I was on the computer and he was cranking to get my attention (he can't come in the computer room) and I walked over the gate to him and was standing a bit away from him. He stood on his own (he has started to actually free stand more lately) and then took about 4 steps toward me! I was in shock! I called Jamie immeditaly to tell him the new :) I hope that Kian can save some of those steps for Daddy when he's home :) I have a feeling that Kian won't really be walking for a while...but those first steps are always a milestone :)

He does push things around a lot and can actually walk pretty well...he pushes around a dumptruck a lightening speeds around the house (he really doesn't have much to hang onto when he's doing it so I know he can do it without it!). Right now he just needs a little more confidence :)

Hopefully now that that tooth has poked through Kian will be a little more like himself. He's been SUPER cranky over the last few days...although those teeth come in pairs so I need to brace myself for the other half of the molar, it's partner, and the tooth on the otherside on the bottom...phew! hehe

Battle Cold #206:(

Kian was up until about 2AM last night. I went in there to tend to him about 4 times in an hour and finally I asked Jamie to go in there…usually he will stop if Jamie goes in…and sure enough he did! We all didn’t get much sleep last night….and we all are still battling this cold thing…how in the world do we get colds in the summer time! Unreal! I swear, if someone has it we get it :(

Kian is starting not to eat very well. I can understand how he feels as I have no appetite either. He is drinking a lot of fluids though which is great. I gave him the Pulmicort again this morning and we don’t have any wheezing at all…thank God! Seriously! I have decided to hold off on calling for a referral for a while. I want to see how Kian responds to this treatment plan we have now and do some praying about it for various reasons. Please pray that I have wisdom to make the right choice for Kian.

Keep us all in your prayers too as Jamie is working those long hours (16 hour days at least for the next week or two) and we are all sick and run down :(

Free Standing, Teeth/Cold and Gym Kids

Free Standing!
Kian is now free standing more often and for longer periods of time! I think that going to Gym Kids has really helped him since he’s seeing other kids his age walk. I seriously expect him to stand more often and start walking in the next few months :)

Today was our second to last day of Gym Kids. It doesn’t start back up until the end of August! I can’t believe that it will be that long! I know that Kian really likes it! He actually was venturing off without me for most of the day today! He really is doing great!

Kian has another tooth!
Today Kian was looking up with his mouth open so I took the opportunity to take a look and sure enough there was part of a molar sticking through! It’s on this top right side and only half of it is through. I also gave a bit of a feel to make sure it was a tooth and not just something white and I felt a few more bumps where teeth are getting ready to pop out…also molars. Not looking to the fun of those coming through and I am sure he’s not either! But I know he needs more teeth than the 4 (almost 5) that he has now :)

4th of July
My friend Martina and her boyfriend Paul came over to celebrate the 4th with us :) Martina is a friend of mine from college and she lives in Denver right now. Paul lives in Fresno (which isn’t far from here)….they met through eHarmony :) Paul is a really nice guy and we all had a great time together! I can’t believe that it’s been about 3 ½ years since I have seen Martina! We had a lot of catching up to do! Not to mention, she had to get used to the fact that I have a baby! lol! I sure wish she lived closer, but I am so thankful for the time that I did have with them.

Kian’s cold/teething
Kian has a bit of a cold or it’s symptoms from teething…right now I am not sure. He has a really runny nose and a bit of a cough. He’s also been really cranky…so it could be sick and teething at the same time. Last time I thought he was teething he ended up in the hospital with respiratory problems. Kian’s Ped told me that if he started to show signs of being sick I am to give him the Pulmicort…we just stopped it on Saturday :( I can’t believe that I am going to be giving it to him again. I am going to give him a breathing treatment with the steroid (plumicort) tonight before bed. Tomorrow I am going to put a call into the Peds office for a referral to a respiratory specialist…hopefully we can get this looked into more and see if there is something more we can do or what the best way of treatment is. I would feel better talking to someone who just handles breathing issues.

So, if you think about it, say a little prayer for him and for Jamie and me as we have this cold too (runny nose, cough…)…Jamie’s been battling it for about a week now and I just started getting it a few days ago.