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 :)

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.

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!

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 :)

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!

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.!

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!

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

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 :)

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!

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 :(

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.

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

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 :)

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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!

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!

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 ;)

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)