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Meet Dart!!

We would like you to meet Dart. Our new German Shepherd puppy who came home yesterday afternoon. He'll be 8 weeks old on Wednesday the 24th. We had a beautiful litter of puppies to choose from but Dart here walked right up to Christopher and calmly licked his little hands and
hung out with him for the duration of the visit. Most of the other puppies were jumping on him or nipping him. Dart wasn't shy by any means, just very gentle with our very special little man. We knew he was the one.

So far he's been great and we only expect more of the same to come. He sleeps at our feet, slept most of the night, and hasn't had any accidents in the house yet (which would be hard anyway as I'm taking him out almost every hour!!) Adam and I plan on taking training classes with him and I would love to do agility with him, we'll see how it works out.

For now enjoy these pictures of our fabulous new addition.

Go potty, what?

It's play time!!!

Full attention on mommy.

Dart and Christopher adoring each other.

Keeping busy.

I've been keeping pretty busy the last couple of weeks. Making gifts, sending cards, getting ready for our puppy (who comes home this Saturday!) formulating a business venture and many many other things. It seems that there is a never ending avalanche of responsibilities rolling over me and this time of year it's at its worst. I'm tired, I could sleep for days I'm sure... ok, probably not but I feel like it so I'll push through, handle the S.A.D. and enjoy the season and my awesome family.

Maddie (our golden) got a great Christmas present this year. It's very cold outside, and she's very old so she's been staying in the house... well, she's stinky and I was tired of smelling her. We took her to the groomer yesterday and she got a full makeover. Clippity Dippity Cuts did a fantastic job and I'll be taking her back again. No more stinky dog in the house!!!!!

We've taken quite a few pictures the last couple of weeks so I'd thought I would share some of them.

Trying to get a few shots of Christopher for our Christmas cards. He wasn't cooperating but ended up looking very cute and adventurous.

We took Christopher out in the snow. He was not happy and started crying, it was probably just too cold. When we got him inside he was very upset at us and wanted to go outside again. He just couldn't make up his mind.

He made a snow angel... or we made him make one.

Getting closer.

That's right. We're getting very close to the 20th. The day we get to go and pick up our puppy. I'm very excited and just trying to get everything together so that when the little guy gets here he'll have all his needs taken care of. It'll be fun taking him on all our Christmas stops, as I can't see leaving a puppy we've had for just a few days home alone. Here are the pictures of the litter. We'll be getting one of the boys! Less than two weeks, I can't believe it.

I've started working on Christmas cards today, and wrapping some gifts. I only have two that require any shipping which makes it easy on me. Most friends and family will be getting tasty treats made by me, saving me precious money and making the gift that much more special. I hope you are all well out there in the world and enjoying the season!

He didn't have a chance.

Poor little Christopher. He didn't have a chance, what with my side of the family being completely allergy ridden. It started small, he reacted to cinnamon... getting a little red around his mouth and his face just a tad splotchy. Then it carried on to strawberries, citrus and egg whites. All these foods we avoid as well as we can. No life threatening reactions to them, simply a very red and bumpy goatee with some mild splotchyness of his face.

Well the other night I was eating a peanut butter and honey rice cake. I broke off a tiny little piece, maybe a pea size worth of peanut butter on it, the first time I'd be giving any to Chris. Within two minutes of eating it his lips were swollen and blistered and his face had red angry looking bumps wherever he touched it with his little peanut butter hands. It was the worst reaction he's had. I was scared and I watched him very closely the rest of the evening. It slowly cleared up but I'm keeping it as far away from his as I can now.

I feel so bad, there are so many foods he can't eat, yummy foods. He CAN eat wheat.... as far as I know. I won't be able to start deducing if he's got a wheat issue until he can tell me how he feels when he's eaten it and he becomes more "regular." Hopefully he'll grow out of them and will someday be able to eat cinnamon, eggs, strawberries, citrus and peanut butter. For now though, they are off the menu.

Terry Goodkind Fans.

If you're a fan of Terry Goodkind and have been reading his Sword of Truth series than you may be interested to know that there is a television series based on the books running right now. It's pretty good for a TV short series, and better than I expected it to be. Just putting the word out there.

A little side note, the new season of Top Chef started running last week. I LOVE this show. Wednesdays on Bravo. Watch it.

Chugging along.

Adam is home after a long week of being gone. He went to Minnesota to visit family and get a little business in. His first day out hunting he downed his deer, a nice young (not to young,) buck that will be tasty to eat. I'm glad to have the extra meat in the freezer as it means less money out of my pocket. So, all in all he had a good time and is happy to be home.

I had an uneventful week. Went shopping with my mom for Christmas gifts, took a Quickbooks class... cooked, cleaned a little. Christopher got to play with Katie and spend some quality time with the grandparents. (He also got to play with Beckett and Grason today, so he had a busy week.)

I've started a gluten free blog. Living Without Wheat. It's not much and I probably won't post more than once a week but I thought it was important that I share what I know about eating gluten free, and that it might be fun to have a food blog. I'm open to recipe suggestions so send them my way if you have any.

It official, WE'RE EXPECTING!!!

I just found out that we're expecting. That's right, December 20th 2008 our baby will arrive. He's tiny yet and we won't have pictures until he's 5 weeks but we're very excited. We'll be getting a little boy from the L litter. Talk about a Merry Christmas. I can't wait. You can check out Geyer German Shepherds to see his parents in the meantime. We'll keep you posted and let you know when pictures of him are up. December 20th can't come soon enough.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman

Halloween was fun this year. Christopher is still a little young for the run of the mill trick-or-treating so we headed to the mall with him. We met up with Jen, Joel, Matt, Ashley and Brandi... with all the kids so we had quite the little group going. Christopher is such an observer that with all the commotion he barely said a word the whole time we were out, was to busy watching everything. It was a fun day, spent with friends.

Helping mommy carve the pumpkin.

My handy dandy work.

Christopher was rather upset that Geoffrey the Toys R Us girrafe walked away.

Walking on daddy's feet... think he was trying to fly.

The boys, waiting on the girls.

Tonight.... is Halloween!!

Happy Halloween. Enjoy this as much as I do. Odd, I don't think so. Best song EVAR!!!!

Say Cheese!

Christopher loves to wear his mommy and daddy's sunglasses. This is my attempt to get him to say cheese for the camera. As you can see he was a little over enthusiastic. As soon as the picture snapped he ran around to my side of the phone and asked to see, "peekers!" Sure do love this kid.

Good times...

Today was a great day for Christopher. His friend Katie came over and played for a while. They ran around and giggled their little heads off. I told Katie to tell me when she was ready to go home, she never did. Her mom ended up coming back over to get her. Guess she was having a good time.

Adam has started doing a lot of business and so has been using a lot of minutes on our cell phone plan, so we went to the AT&T store today to change our plan to fit our new needs. While Adam talked shop with a salesperson I ran around the store after Christopher. He ended up running into a display... was to busy looking the other way while he was walking and now he has a nice little scratch to show for it. The highlight of the cell phone outing however was the discovery of a little girl in the store... she was 13, maybe 14 months old. This little girl wanted to say hello to Christopher so she slowly tottered over to him, he of course just stood there with his usual look of discernment. When she was maybe a half a foot away from him she started to lean in, she was trying not to touch him.... it was clear she was hesitating just a tad, but she took another step, grabbed his shoulder and planted one on him. That's right, Christopher got his first kiss today at the AT&T store, and it was from a younger woman! He didn't even have to do anything, his charm is that powerful. She then proceeded to pine after him and chase him around the store. Christopher being the big softy that he is was unsure how to handle such brazen advances and wanted his mommy.

I'm sure you've all experienced it, the wondrous feeling of a new piece of equipment... the kind with the plastic over the delicate parts to keep it from scratching... Oh the joy there is to be felt when you first peel the plastic off. Ok, so Adam and I really enjoy new stuff where we get to do that. Well, Christopher pulled his first piece of protective plastic today, from Adam's new phone. He had a big grin on his face so he thought it was fun too. Christopher had a great day!

The Pumpkin Patch.

It's fall, I love this time of year. Yesterday was special, we took Christopher to the pumpkin patch at the Pasco Country Mercantile. They had a haystack maze for the little ones, a haystack mountain, bounce house, animals, wagon rides, pumpkin patch and more. Christopher is a little to young to appreciate all this of course so the outing was more for Adam and I to enjoy watching him discover and be fascinated by the wonderful world around him. He loved the animals and kept going back to the barn and he also enjoyed wiping the dirt off the pumpkins, I think it felt "cool" or something. We ran into a couple of people there and had a good chat as well as enjoyed some of the samples the mercantile had to offer. We came home with 5 pumpkins of various sizes, some apples and cider. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

The last couple of weeks.

The last couple of weeks have been busy, and stressful to say the least. We had a couple of birthday parties on Saturday the 20th. One for the neighbor's little girl and one for Olivia's "babies." It was great getting to see Olivia and her family, Amanda and Dom, and seeing Lisa and her kids was a pleasant surprise. That was a whirlwind day and by the end of it Christopher had a fever of 102. Which has only just yesterday decided go away. (Started writing this last week or the week before.... so the dates are off.) Still no new teeth.

My grandmother underwent a Carotid Endarterectomy which went well. She was home a couple of days and started feeling poorly, dizzy and tired. So off to the hospital she went and the last couple of weeks have been spent mostly having her and my grandfather in my thoughts as they went through the trials of major surgery and the ICU. We had a few touch and go nights. I won't put all the details here, but thank you to all of those who contacted me and asked after her. It meant a lot. She's at home now and will continue the process of recovery where she is loved and hopefully more comfortable that at the hospital.

Halloween is coming up, I'm really excited. While I want to throw a party, I just don't know if I can pull it off this year. With Adam not working for Symantec anymore, and the multitude of unforeseen things being thrown into my lap I just don't know if I'll have the energy. If I do have a party it will be on the 24th or 25th so tentatively pencil in those dates. I'll let you know in the next couple of days. It'll be a costume party, however I won't be such a stickler due to the late notice.

Sick baby!

Christopher is currently suffering a fever of 103.2. In an attempt to cool him down we've given him Motrin and he's in a tepid bath as I type. We think it's a teething induced fever. He really has no other symptoms except for a stuffy nose and some delirious rambling (I'm sure fever related.) I sure hope he feels better soon.

Also, please have my grandma in your thoughts. She's having a hard time with recovery from her surgery and can use all the help she can get.

A new toy!!!

Christopher loves to drum! He runs around the house yelling "drom" and bangs on things with a big smile on his face. This morning I suggested Adam bring in his drumsticks and an old drum so Chris could drum on something meant to be drummed on. He's loves it and we can't get him to put the sticks down. I think we have a future musician on our hands. Hopefully the neighbors won't hate us.

Super Fun Saturday

Yesterday Rachel, Chris and I spent a fun day out. First we went to the Pasco Fiery Foods Festival, then to the park and finally Chris and I built a fort. It was a really fun day!

Chris trying to climb up the tube

About to go down the "big" slide for the first time!

I thought forts were awesome when I was a kid, I found out that they have still not lost their appeal. Chris and I had the best time in the "pillows" (as he put it).

A little sprinkling of Christopher.

Today was pretty fun. Christopher slept in until 8 this morning, giving me of course a morning I would consider getting to sleep in. We did some dishes (dishwasher currently out of service so this was by hand,) folded some laundry and vacuumed. We had a wonderful lunch together of some pasta with sauteed tomatoes and garlic. The neighbor called and we took our kids to the park. Katie loves playing with Christopher and visa versa so it was a good time. Here are a couple of pictures.

From Christopher Michael

From Christopher Michael

From Christopher Michael

After the park we went to Fred Meyer to visit grandma. Christopher has chosen the terms amma for grandma and papa for grandpa. It's very cute and he actually asks for them now.

A couple of weeks ago I made Gluten Free onion rings. Very tasty. Adam and I decided to let Christopher have a go at one. He loved it, a messy meal but very worth it. Hope you enjoy the little update and the pictures.

From Christopher Michael

Adam is currently spending his last week away from home as a Symantec employee and we're very happy to have him home full time. The end of September is coming fast and we're excited and nervous to really get nGenuity going full swing and be done with Symantec (hopefully for good.) Keep us in your thoughts and send some positive vibes our way.

My babysitting charges.

This last weekend a good friend of mine headed out of town. She's been fostering some kittens and she needed somebody to watch them for a couple of days. I volunteered. I would hope that somebody would do the same for me if I needed it. They arrived Friday morning, 3 very cute little kittens that definitely need some TLC, thank you Erin for taking them into your home. The smallest could fit in the palm of one hand. They are very playful, as kittens are and gave Christopher something to look forward to throughout the day, while he couldn't pet them he did enjoy watching them frolic. Here are a couple of pictures and a short video of the cute little kitties that Erin took back yesterday afternoon. I've always wanted to foster for one of the animal shelters, this gave me a little taste of what that would be like. I think I would enjoy it and may look into it further.

The little lover of the bunch, and the boy.


The adorable trio.

I Quit My Job!

That's right. For those of you that don't know I have put in my resignation with Symantec to pursue running my own company (nGenuity Information Services). (Not totally mine, I have a business partner as well, no way I could do this alone!)

It was not an easy thing to do. I have been there almost 6 years and will be leaving behind many friends and great experiences. It just really is the time to move on and up.

It took a few years (yes, years) of planning to finally get the company incorporated and the ball rolling and to get to this point. Luckily I have a very supporting family backing me up and motivating me to succeed. I figure if I'm going to be putting this much time away from home traveling for Symantec, I might as well be home, see Christopher and Rachel, and plot my own course in... Well my two friends Pinky and the Brain say it best. Please wish us the best of luck.

Pinky: Gee, Brain, what are we going to do tonight?
Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!

A Post for Local Dog Lovers.

I'm not sure if anybody was aware of, or cared... that for those of you local to the Tri-Cities there is a dog show coming up on the 27th of September. It'll be at Columbia Park and most breeds will be represented. It's a good way to spend a little time outdoors and to take a look at some breeds you normally might not get exposed to. I know I can't afford to go to the big shows like The Westminster or AKC/Eukanuba National Championship but I can sure do something local. So check it out, enjoy a day at the park and see some puppies. You can find the information (time/place) HERE! Enjoy and hope to see you there.

Mobile Blogging.

So I've now set it up to be able to blog from my iPhone. Maybe this will help me post more often.... probably not. We'll see how it goes.

Don't pass this resource up.

As an expecting parent many of my friends told me about Ready for Kindergarten. I didn't think much on it or even look into it until Christopher was about 3 months old. I've been involved ever since. Ready for Kindergarten is a free (to Kennewick School District residents, $40 to those outside of the district) program for parents with children between the ages of birth to 5. The parents go to an hour and a half long "class" 3 times during the school year, Fall, Winter and Spring. In these classes you learn methods to teach your child skills they should be learning at their age, you get toys/books for your child to utilize in learning these skills and you get to be a part of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library getting a new age appropriate book for your child in the mail every month you are in the Ready! program (free!) I suppose what I'm saying is if you have a child in that age range and would love a free tool to help you educate your child and get them ready for schooling this has been great. Christopher loves going to the mailbox to check for his new book, we come right in and read it everytime it shows up. He also loves the toys he gets from the classes, a couple of them are his favorites. I know its helped give me direction as far as what he should be learning. The classes for this year start in October so take a look and give it a try.

Puppies!!

Yesterday we went to Geyer German Shepherds to visit with the owner and see the facilities and dogs. I've been trolling her website for almost 3 years and have liked what I've seen, so I called her up and asked if we could go visit. Granted I did this back in June when her schedule was hectic enough she told me to call back in August when she had some free time, haha. She has some beautiful shepherds and all of them were quite friendly with really good temperaments. We were lucky enonough to play with some very sleepy 4 week old pups. Christopher was very good the whole time, in fact if we hadn't been holding him you would have hardly known he was there. We even got him to give one of the puppies a kiss. I had fun and enjoyed getting to see so many nice shepherds.

When we got home we spent some time outside. Christopher managed to get his first wasp sting. He thought it was a bug and picked it up, quickly dropping it when it stung him. It didn't swell too bad or seem to cause him too much trouble... although he acted a little off the rest of the evening. This morning all you can see is a little red dot on his thumb where it got him.

A little bit of Chris.

Tuesday we went to the fair. We met my parents there and listened to Chicago, they were pretty good and I'm sure Adam enjoyed the drum solo! We got there and went through the animal barns first, the pigs were being herded to the show ring so were walking right past Christopher, pretty much at his level... his little eyes were wide with wonder and I hardly got a word out of him he was taking so much in. He was pretty much in the same quiet, wide eyed state in the cow barn too, but once we got the the chickens and bunnies he was smiling and pointing... "Birdie, bunny!!" It was cute, he even got to have a bunny in his lap. He's very good at patting the fuzzy animals nicely as we practice with Kiro kitty at home. He was in heaven. Here's a picture of Adam and Chris at the concert.

Lately Chris has taken to running around the house with my baseball cap on. Usually backwards, but occasionally with it facing forward, completely covering his face. He of course can't see like this, but it's very fun for him and he giggles and runs (slowly, almost in place,) every time he does it. I thought I would share a goofy picture of him with my hat on. He likes to get very close to the camera right now for some reason.

This last photo is an interesting one. Christopher was being very quiet in the living room. I was washing dishes I think and so I decided to check on him. When I looked over the couch to see him sitting on the floor I discovered he was "hungry" and since mommy was taking to long to feed him he took it upon himself to have a snack.

That's right, he ate his nerf ball. I don't actually think he swallowed any, he was just biting the pieces off and setting them on the floor. By the way, that foamy stuff feels gross when it's all covered in slobber.

The little Mr.

Christopher is getting so big. He's now just shy of a year and a half. He's got a great personality and manages to amaze us everyday in some small way or another. Just this morning when I picked him up out of the crib he pointed at a book and said "Moo!" (It was his Mr. Brown can Moo! book.) When he looks out the window across the street he points at the neighbors house and says, "Katie,"(he's next door playing with her right now) he knows which house is hers. He's up to a 3 word sentence on occasion, is signing and saying at the same time and even counted to 3 last week without prompting... although that is a wonder yet to be repeated.

He got to go swimming in a big people pool for the first time on the 11th, and he took to it like a pro. He loved being able to float and kick and not touch the bottom ( I didn't have a floaty for him so had my hands on him the whole time.) Christopher didn't want to get out of the pool at all, he kept trying to climb back in no matter how many times I thwarted his efforts. I'm encouraged to maybe get mommy/kiddo swim lessons now that I know he enjoys the water so much, I put it off as I wasn't sure how he would react to so much water.

Another great development, Christopher and Maddie (the dog.) Christopher is now able to be out in the yard playing, with the dog in the yard at the same time. She is no longer so out of her mind excited that she knocks him down when he's out there or running up to him so fast that he gets scared. In fact he will take her toy from her (she's gentle and doesn't mind,) and throw it in his pool, when she comes and gets it and lays down again to chew on it, he'll get out of the pool and start the whole cycle over again, it's very cute. So they are playing together and so far all is well. I'm no longer nervous about their interaction, I never worried that she would bite him but I was a little concerned with how over exuberant she gets when playing. She did step on him once and had him screaming bloody murder, more because he was scared then because he was injured.

He still has only 4 teeth, but I'm sure someday more will pop through. He still in 12 month clothing, which is fine... I get more use out of what I have. It's nice not going through clothes like crazy. He eats everything you put on his plate and has a very healthy appetite. He has a well check coming up and I'll be able to tell you exactly how much he's grown. We're both just so proud of him and he truly is our little star.

A health report.

Well, I went to the gastroenterologist on Monday and he scheduled me for a scope the next morning. Why did I go to the gastroenterologist you ask. For the past 5 months or so I've felt like I have a ball in my chest (not every day though, every 4-5 days) when I have this feeling my saliva would get very sticky and if you touched it it would do the mozzarella cheese thing (stringy) wierd, it would be hard to swallow and I wouldn't have any appetite... I dealt with it. Each episode would last about 12 hours, I'd be uncomfortable but could live with it. Well the last month or two it had become so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep through it anymore and dealing with this issue and hives was bringing me to the breaking point. So I went to see the gastroenterologist.

When you get a scope done, they give you some pretty heavy medication to sedate you during the process... meaning you can't drive home and you shouldn't use the kitchen or other potentially dangerous items and you most certainly should not be left to care for a very active 17 month old all alone. Adam, my hero... picked up an emergency flight home Monday night so he could watch the little mister and Suzy, bless her heart came and picked me up to take me for the procedure (at 7 in the morning) and drove me home. The Dr. found that I have candida esophagitis... aka a yeast infection in my esophagus. So I'm on meds for 2 weeks and it should hopefully clear up.

On a hive note: I have chronic idiopathic urticaria and so will just have to live with them until they decide to go away. I'm taking a tiny pill 3 times a day to keep the flare ups down. The medicine does not cure hives just helps make me comfortable. I have a couple of Dr.'s yet to see but my allergist is feeling very firm in her diagnosis. I'll let you know more when I do, however it will probably be very similar news.

On a side note. Please keep my grandmother in your thoughts, she's going in to have a completely blocked artery cleared out and we are all very worried about her. It would be much appreciated.

A long week.

So, on the morning of the 19th I left for Cheerleadership Camp. It was going to be 7 long days and a lot of work. I'd spent the previous months coming up with a lesson plan for the class I would teach on Tuesday (4 times.) I'd packed for the hot weather and lack of air conditioning I would endure while staying at the dorms at Central and I had prepared myself as much as I could to be bombarded by 250+ cheerleaders.

Saturday and Sunday was more arts and crafts than any one person needs to cram in a day. We made door signs so the squads would know which rooms were theirs to stay in, we made signs to welcome the kids to camp, we made schedules and rules to paste anywhere and everywhere the girls would be to try and give them some sense of direction. Scissors, glue, glitter and tape invaded my dreams.

Monday, they arrived. I had two squads, 28 girls in total that I would be "dorm mom" too. I must say I was lucky, I had two great squads. These were girls that wanted to get as much as they could out of camp both from leadership staff (me) and NCA staff. These girls were kind hearted and genuine. I had it easy and although I tried to learn all thier names in the 4.5 days I was with them I only learned about 23 out of the 28.

My Grandview Girls

My Todd Beamer Girls

It was a good week. I think I did ok being away from Christopher and Adam, there were a couple of moments where I was really down and even cried but the girls I had were quick to cheer me up and keep me busy so I didn't have much time to think of missing home. I must say I grew quite attatched and hope that I made camp fun for them. There were tears when we said goodbye so I'm pretty sure I was a good "dorm mommy." I'm looking forward to next year.

I must say that while I was gone, Adam did a great job. He was teaching Christopher the whole time I was gone and I came home to lots of new voacbulary spewing from his little mouth. Adam also managed to clean the house and keep it that way. Although in the few days I've been home I've managed to make a complete mess of it again. Partly because I have a bad habit of not cleaning up right away and trying to do to many things at once, never actually finishing any chore I start, and also because once I got home.... Adam stopped cleaning too. Soooooo, needless to say I've got chores to do.

Beep Beep, Beep

Rachel is off leading and teaching at a cheerleader camp so I'm a single parent for the week. After one day so far so good, as expected.

This morning I woke up, did the morning routine and then the beeping started. It sounded random and was REALLY quite. I immediately thought it was one an Annoy-a-tron due to the sadistic nature of my wife and friends! Took about 15 minutes to locate the culprit. Turns out I was being driven mad by a digital thermometer that got wet when I was washing dishes.

Good job Buddy!!

Christopher is a regular electronic expert. He can make my computer do things I didn't know it could, rate my Tivo shows, eject dvd's from my computer... and take the remote apart. Yup, you read it right. Here he was being all cute and quiet this morning and when I took a look to see what he was up to he had disassembled the TV remote.

From Christopher M...

Christopher has been busy. He's been working on his 4th tooth for a couple of weeks now. It just doesn't want to pop through and most days he's been a little bit whiny about it. Some more than others. One pitfall of new teeth is the fact that he's not used to them being in his mouth and so when he toppled from his box the other day he gave himself a big fat bloody lip. I must say, lips bleed a lot! A mesh feeder and some ice was our savior, keeping the swelling down and helping with the pain.

The little guy is gaining vocabulary like crazy, he's repeating everything and signing well. Most days he'll use his signs instead of crying for what he wants, sometimes though he just feels like letting me know he's there. Like right now, as he's woken up from his nap and is screaming at me to come get him.

Thought I would share.

Just something I feel strongly about and thought I would share with everybody. You'll probably only care if you have children still in carseats or plan to have children.

Smoothies and a shrimp!

I got a blender for my birthday. A nice Oster blender. It has On, Pulse, and off. It's the best. All metal parts and no frilly extra's. Kicks an ice cubes butt it does. I've had fruit smoothies for breakfast the last couple of mornings and they are really tasty!!! I can't believe I've never owned a blender before. Thanks honey.

I suppose you are wondering about the shrimp.... well that would be the little mister. He had his 15 month well check yesterday. Nothing much new to report, he's healthy like always and doing great. He has 3 teeth now and is spurting out new words all the time. He's also signing much more clearly which is so nice. I tell you what, it's way better than hearing him whine for what he wants, instead he just quietly signs it.

His new stats are and hence the shrimp part:
Height: 29" (up from 28.6" at 12 months.) This puts him in the 2.97th percentile
Weight: 20 lbs 8 oz (up from 20 lbs 1 oz at 12 months.) This puts him in the 3.7th percentile

Had a great day.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was probably one of the better birthdays I've ever had, I truly enjoyed the whole day.

It started off first thing in the morning with my dad bringing me a Dutch Bros coffee. That in itself might have made for a perfect day. Then my sister came to visit, bringing me a gluten free brownie mix and a movie I've been wanting for a while Howl's Moving Castle. Before she made her exit my friend Suzy came over and brought me bath stuff!! We talked for a while and I thoroughly enjoyed her company. I don't see her as often as I would like and it made the day that much better. The neighbor and her daughter came over and brought me chocolate and a card knowing I couldn't eat anything with wheat and hoping chocolate was safe, they left a little dissapointed that Christopher was taking a nap as they love to see him whenever they can!!

For dinner I BBQ'd and my parents came over. We had steaks, asparagus and potatoes, all done on the grill. It was pretty darn tasty. We watched a movie on the big screen and had a cocktail (my dad and I did anyway.) I'd been wanting to try Baileys new caramel flavor, it was yummy. Christopher behaved beautifully all day and went to bed after dinner with no fuss. All in all it was a really good birthday. Had Adam been home it would have been just that much better.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Everyone call and wish Rachel a happy birthday today!

Ahhhhhh....

So last Wednesday I went to the allergist, I was all ready for a 3 hour appointment which would involve poking and prodding and getting to the bottom of what was causing my hives. It was not to be, while the Dr. would love to do the testing, she can't. Why you ask?!?! I have hive flare ups whenever you pretty much touch/prick/scratch my skin even slightly. This would cause any testing to show a false positive as every time they poked me that spot/area would flare up. Sooooo, we have to get the flare ups under control before we test.

I'm taking a histamine blocker 4 times a day as well as Zantac twice a day (they use it to treat hives as well as heartburn..... who knew.) I go back in on the 18th. Since I started the meds I haven't had any flare ups, it's so nice not to itch non-stop and look like I have some weird disease all over my skin, it's a short lived experience however as it's not a permanent solution. I'll have to be off the meds for 7 days before she can do the allergy testing. I'm just hoping that we can solve this mystery as I'm completely miserable.

What to do...

So it's been a few weeks, I still have hives. Not only do I still have hives, I'm starting to get them places I haven't had them for months, like the bottoms of my feet and my scalp (along with all the usual everywhere else places.) When the hives first started 14 months ago it was on the palms of my hands and the bottom of my feet, let me tell you it feels like you're walking on bone when you have hives on your feet. Now that I'm facing a miserable hive-y existence that my OBGYN says he doesn't believe is related to breastfeeding but rather that "giving birth" changed my chemical structure yada yada in such a way that I'm now allergic to something I wasn't previously, I'm a little dismayed. If you Google chronic hives, those people are not happy people... in fact most have had it as there is not much to be done. So, my Dr. told me to see an allergist. I will, then I'll let you know what said allergist says.

This last weekend was eventful. We found that we have birds in the attic, with lots of babies just chirp chirp chirping in there. They are actually in the house exhaust fan tube. Adam was unable to get to them this weekend (couldn't quite reach the nest,) so Gar won't be getting his ladder back until next weekend.

Adam was hard at work in the backyard getting the last corner weeded, he put down landscape fabric and a drip line. He also planted a dwarf japanese maple for me. Now I just need to figure out what else I want to plant back there and put down some bark-a-mulch. I'll post a picture soon.

Bittersweet

Christopher is growing so fast. I suppose he would now be classified as a toddler, being as that's what he spends most of his time doing, toddling around. He's using signs, talking, eating more and a larger variety of foods. He's still in 9-12 month clothing and only has his bottom two teeth, but he doesn't let his size slow him down or his lack of chompers stop him from eating anything.

We reached a bittersweet milestone however. I took a weekend hiatus to prepare for a week long one coming in July and I decided if Christopher did well with Adam over the weekend and didn't seem to miss nursing much than I would wean him. We were down to one session a day as it was, nursing just when he woke up in the morning at 6 a.m. or so. I've had awful hives the entire time I've nursed, they started as soon as my milk came in and have not gone away. After consulting with 3 doctors or so we've come to the conclusion that I'm allergic to the hormone breastfeeding produces. I enjoy the half hour or so in the morning when he's just cuddling with me and was a little worried I'd have a hard time giving it up. I was pretty sure Christopher would be ok, he's never been "boob crazy," tugging at shirts or demanding it, it was really just food to him and not so much of a comfort thing.

Well, he did great with Adam and took to getting whole organic milk instead of breastmilk just great. I wasn't having any engorgement issues and was doing well with the transition emotionally, so we weaned him. I'm proud to say I nursed him for 14 months. I know many moms who didn't choose to continue it that long and I know many who, had they had the hives I have would certainly not have gone as long. So, I pat myself on the back for a job well done. It's been a week, I still have hives. I'm hoping they will go away, if they haven't within a month which I believe should be enough time for the hormones causing them to subside, then I will have to consult a specialist and maybe go get some allergy testing done. They truly do make me miserable and I can't see having them for much longer being as I've put up with them so long already.

New Appreciation

This weekend I had the experience of being a single parent as Rachel was out of town for a planning session for the cheerleader camp she helps out at every year. I have to say that I have a new appreciation for what Rachel has to do every day, by herself while I'm out of town traveling for work. It was an adventure....

Getting up before the sun does, changing diapers while 1/2 asleep, feeding Chris while 1/2 asleep (and having him be upset that I don't have boobs), keeping him entertained all day while trying to clean up the mess from the day before, all while trying to keep myself fed, entertained and clean. Hats off to you mama!

This weekend Chris learned a new trick. There is a spot on his high chair tray where he can't reach. That's where we put the cereal we don't want him to immediately shove into his face. He learned that if he throws his pacifier into that area it will knock more cereal within reach!

Oh and Mario Kart for wii is out...w00t

A great dog, my best friend.

From FurBabies"

Zoey, I remember the day you were born. Ruth held her toy (the icky yellow one we'd found on the side of the road one day, her favorite,) in her mouth for the entire labor and delivery. You were one of the only black and whites out of the litter and one of the only females, an important quality as mom and dad were only looking to keep a female.

I would visit you and the litter, just sitting there. You'd just crawl in my lap for loves or a nap while the other puppies all played together. We were best buddies from the get go. I always thought it was cute how you slept in the food dish as much as it annoyed mom. Somehow I convinced them that we had to keep you, even though they wanted the little liver and white female that showed early signs of a good hunting drive.

You were so eager to please and tried to do anything asked of you. You learned fast, sitting, fetching, shaking... just a few of the things you could do. You were supposed to be dad's new hunting dog, the whole reason we bred Ruth, like mother like daughter he hoped. Somehow though Ruth's hunting drive didn't translate. Instead of doing what you were supposed to do you would just walk in front of me in the field and trip me all day. The word "hunt" to you meant, "where's the ball?" and though you were an ultimate failure as a hunting dog we still took you with us, you loved to go swimming and running around and it was still fun. Well aside from all the burs I had to comb out of your coat. Ruth did all the work, it's ok.

Even as big as you got, your favorite thing to do was sit in my lap and even though you were a big slobbery mess and I always had to change my clothes afterward, I loved it. You were my buddy, and you always made me feel better. I'm going to miss you.

I've been preparing for today for a long time, I thought I had come to terms with it since I've been expecting it for about a year now, but I still have some tears to shed. Here is my farewell to the best and most loyal of friends. Goodbye Zoey, I love you.

Christopher's favorite new trick.

Christopher has recently discovered that if you push on a door, it moves. So, he has been pushing on doors like a happy little door pusher the last few days. He's relatively quiet about it and most of the time I won't even know hes been doing it until he starts yelling, and generally not because he's trapped, nope. He's yelling because he's shut himself in a room and the door won't move anymore. So, I'll open the door for him and he happily goes about closing it again until he realizes the door no longer moves, it's been a happy little cycle of joy. Yes, I know I could keep the doors closed and solve this time sucking problem but he is awfully cute while he does it, and who doesn't like cute.

Rice Chex!!!

I'm so excited. Rice Chex, a cereal I would love to eat, with blackberries and sugar on it... has been off my menu since I've gone completely gluten free. Well, now I'll be able to eat it again, the are going gluten free!! Replacing the monster ingredient, barley malt, with molasses. Here is the article if you care to read it. Go General Mills!

Trying New Foods.

Christopher is not mine. I know this because no son of mine would actually LIKE avocado!! That's right, I don't know why I tried it, maybe some other mom said their kid liked it, who knows. I fed Christopher avocado, straight up... and he likes it. I can't stand the stuff (unless it's in guacamole form.) I don't think Adam likes avocado plain either. Strange child.

I also decided to try giving him some kiwi fruit, which he loves as well. The little seeds get all over everything, but he eats it right up. I suppose the reason I'm trying new foods is due to the fact that I'm not feeding him any "baby" food anymore. I haven't bought a jar of baby food in a couple of weeks, in fact his last jar was used on Easter. It sure stretches the imagination coming up with baby friendly foods in forms he can pick up himself and in pieces small enough he won't choke.

Christopher is just walking like crazy now, he loves to do it and is getting better and better at it every day. He also has started signing "more" to me, and while he can only do the one sign himself he understands the others. This has been great because I know that all the work I've been putting in trying to get him to sign will pay off. It's been a game of patience but hopefully will be well worth it.

Adam is in Vegas, again. His parents are on their way home from AZ so decided to visit with him in Vegas for a couple of evenings. I'm sure they are having a good time hanging out.

Over this last weekend we were busy. Saturday we went to the Art show at the Trac. Saturday night we headed to the neighbors for some Texas Hold 'Em. It was a good time, I learned how to what to do as I lost my chips, Adam had a couple of really good plays and Christopher was laughing so hard at one point he just curled up into a ball on the floor and giggled until he couldn't breath. He slept well that evening. Hopefully we'll play cards again in the near future. He slept well that evening. Sunday we went to a birthday party for Tomas, who turned 5. He received a lot of cars.

Little bits of wisdom from Christopher!

1. Being naked makes everything better.

2. Yogurt trumps banana.

3. Stairs = The best toy ever!

4. The cat has a tail so you can eat it.

5. It WILL fit through the cat door.

Eat Cake.

Christopher, as cute as he is can sure get himself into some mischief. All I have to say is you better keep the bathroom door closed.

His first birthday party was great. All the immediate family came (aside from Theresa and crew, who were there in spirit.) Fritzy and Athena came with Sam and Eileen (who is just the tiniest, most adorable little baby.) Christopher was rather sleepy for the most part, that is until the food came out and he woke right up. I made him his very own mini cake which he summarily smeared all over his face.

Christopher also had his 12 month well check this last Monday. No shots this time as he had a cold but in two weeks he'll get those darn vaccines.

At his well check we got his currents stats too!!
Height: 28.5" up from 26.5" at his 9 month well check which puts him in the 9th percentile He was 26" at his 6 month well check, 24.8" at his 4 month well check and 23.3" at his 2 month.

Weight: 18lbs down from 18.15lbs at his 9 month putting him in the 1st percentile. He was 17lbs 6oz at his 6 month, 15lbs 6oz at his 4 month well check and 11lbs 1oz at his 2 month.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Christopher is the big 1 today. It's so hard to believe that a year has gone by. To think at this time last year we were in the hospital waiting for the little Mr. to work his way into the world, and now he's not only here he's walking (a little,) talking (a little,) and making a big impact on everyone on everyone he meets. We like to think so anyway. It's been such a great year and he's been a great little baby. Sleeping through the night, in his crib, hitting his milestones and being the best thing since sliced cheese.

So to celebrate we're having a BBQ and ice cream cake. In a Winnie the Pooh theme. I'll post pictures after the party. So wish him a Happy Birthday and know he'll be enjoying his special day!

Here's a link to some of the pictures we've taken over the year.

Christopher Michael