11 months today

Our little guy is 11 months old today. It is hard to believe he will be one year old shortly. We are starting to plan for his first birthday party. I wonder how messy he will get when he eats his cake. I'm sure his mom will have the wet wipes out to keep him clean!

The other night I was helping Brighton walk by putting his feet on my feet. He just giggled and snorted the whole time. What a silly little guy.

Until next time . . . Dad.

Another Day, Another Dollar

Brighton had his first swimming class yesterday. I think he enjoyed it although he was much more of an observer at first. He carefully studied all the people and the pool and the toys before he decided he was OK with it. He's just like his daddy. At home, he's murmuring up a storm, but get him in that kind of a setting and it takes him a while to come out of his shell. But that's OK. He got the hang of it eventually. The only thing he REALLY didn't care for was when we sat them up on the ledge and had them "jump" into mom or dad's arms. (Mom in this case, dad didn't go). He got up there and despite my coaxing he gave me a very worried look then started to shiver. So I picked him up and we tried again later. He did do it, eventually, but only once. Next week will be better. My sweet boy is growing up.

Backing up a day, we went to the Wisconsin Gourd Show on Saturday. It was a nice day and I'm SUPER glad we got the Jeep stroller. Neither of us realized that the show was outside, on a hillside. The show was small, but we got to take a stroll through the little town afterwards. Lots of great artists in that town. Check it out at www.mineralpoint.com .

Today, the big news is we went and applied for a home loan at Linn Area CU. We found a little house that just went on the market about a week ago and we put an offer in on it last week, the offer was countered then we accepted their counter. SO...We might be new home owners here pretty soon. The house is a small two bedroom, BUT it's got a .6 acre lot, a walk out basement (clean, 1/2 finished I guess or finishable), new roof (2 years) new windows (2 months), new heater. The outside is brick.

Well, supper's done better get going!

Maybe I should change the password...

OH I'M ONLY KIDDING! I do like it when Andrew posts. It's good to see his perspective on things. We decided to go with Amy for day care so far. She does a great job and it's only for a couple of months. It's not her I worry about, I'm trying to adjust to Brighton being around "big boys" but I can manage. I'm sure she wouldn't let anything happen to him.

Moving on...As Andrew mentioned, Brighton learned to climb the stairs this last weekend. WOO HOO...Even though I was IMMEDIATELY behind him, like almost with my hand on his rear end, it still freaked me out a little. He'd go up a few steps, stop and turn around and look at his progress. Then he'd get really excited, snort, bounce and off he went again. It really was cute.


This weekend was a good one for new things. He got bubbles for Easter which he liked to try to pop,

he encountered grass for the first time and found it very disturbing.
AND he got a new stroller. I tried explaining to Andrew that three strollers really isn't that bad. There's the every day mid size stroller for mall crawling, an umbrella stroller for a quick jaunt to the store, and the all terrain stroller for walking around town. I don't see anything wrong with that. I mean, we don't have to pay insurance on them or anything!!!

Today we went for a walk around Mount Vernon and down to the park where he swung (is taht right?) for the first time in a park swing. He had a grand time then promptly fell asleep as soon as I got to the car. So I kept going and into the nearest coffee shop until he woke up. We had a great day. See more pics on his picture trail site, but here are a few for you to get you interested.

A climbing I will go!

This weekend we went to visit auntie Amy and Brighton discovered the joy of stair climbing. As he went up every step, you could hear a little giggle of joy. We let him do this three or four times while we were there.

Brighton is also the owner of a stroller number three. This one has bigger tires which will allow us to navigate the broken sidewalks in town. Last night he enjoyed the stearing wheel for him to play with. Maybe we will go for a walk around town before mom gets home from work.

Until the next post from Daddy . . .

Tooth Number 2

Brighton's second tooth finally popped through yesterday. We had fun brushing both teeth last night.

That's all for now.

Dad

Back to Normal...for now...

We're at the beginning of a new week, and the weekend went well. Bright is sleeping right now which is why I'm able to update this blog. But I'm guessing it will be quick. Anyway, we got the fingernail out of his eye...after going to the doctor then to an opthamologist. After he stayed at work with me and screamed all day unless I was holding him. Everyone kept telling me that they couldn't believe that he wasn't screaming and fussing because something like that in your eye should hurt. He seemed a little fussier than usual, but he'd had quite a weekend and we figured he just didn't want to be away from mommy. Because otherwise, he acted totally normal! After the Dr. got the nail out of his eye, you could see immediately that he felt better. I don't think he's shed a tear since. Poor baby!!!! Talk about feeling terrible. We'll know next time just how high his pain tolerance is. HIGH!

Brighton has started to pull himself up on things to stand. Yeah. Next he'll be walking. Don't I sound excited? Well, I kind of am, but I'm kind of not ready for the little man to be walking all over the place and I'm not ready for my BABY to be all grown up! I know, it's not like he's turning 18, but he's not my squishy little baby anymore. Now he tells me when he doesn't want me to touch his carseat (excuuuuuuuse me!) by grabbing my hand and pushing it away. Though he's still not really saying "words" he communicates in other ways. Maybe I shouldn't push the talking either ;)

We're starting swimming classes on the 23rd of April. I'm pretty excited about it, but I'm not very excited about having to get into a swimming suit...BUT it's not about me and what I look like. I'm not going to punish Bright because I eat too many oreos. I know Brighton will have fun and I'm sure we will too. We MIGHT share the pictures...but don't count on it!

Well, I'll leave you with one more fun note. Brighton's favorite new finger food is...ladybugs...yep. Lady beetles to be exact...I suppose it's only the beginning and at least he's getting some protein.

Oy Vey!

If it's not one thing it's another. We came home from the hospital on Sunday Evening around 4ish, then promptly went to Grammies house for shelter from the impending tornado/thunderstorm. But, thankfully, everything was fine, our house is still on the foundation, there are no more trees to fall on our house, and everything was fine. Monday, we all just chilled a home, dad stayed home on Tuesday with Brighton, and Wednesday we finally went to get some groceries.

Wednesday Night:
About 8:30 PM Mom in her brilliance decided to clip Brighton's fingernails because Brighton kept pinching mom's boob while nursing. So I'm clipping away,not paying a whole lot of attention. I go to pick him up and there's a fingernail in his eye!!!! YES YOU READ CORRECTLY-A FINGERNAIL IN HIS EYE! Which of course he promptly CLOSES and squeezes shut as if it's some kind of prize in a new hiding place. I'm franticly trying to pry open his vice of an eye while he's screaming bloody murder. Apparently he thinks I'm trying to pluck out his eye, which is the only possible explaination for his wailing. I grab my Dr. Sears book, thinking "there has to be something in there! Dr. Sears thinks of everything!" Well, apparently Dr. Sears has never come across a fingernail in the eye. Nothing. So at 9 PM I call dear sweet Dr. Clark. Who after I tell her what happened, I can tell is forcing back hysterical laughter. She gently tells me that if I have saline drops for contacts, to drip those in his eye until it works itself somewhere that I can grab it with a tissue. Naturally, we don't have saline drops on hand any more. So I use eurithromyacin. (or however it's spelled). She says that's ok. Andrew and I are sitting on the bed, Bright between us, both of us poking around in Brighton's eye trying to see this fingernail and trying to drip breastmilk straight from the cow in his eye to "work it out". Finally at about 9 45 we give up and go to bed. The only good thing is that Brighton is now exhausted and will sleep. The fingernail doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. It's bothering mom more than baby, and I'm sorry to report that the fingernail is apparently STILL in BRighton's eye this morning. We're headed to the Dr.'s office today to remove it...

Day Two

Here we are at day two in the hospital (if you don't include Friday night). Thank God Andrew went home and brought back his laptop. It's the only connection to the outside world that we've got. We were supposed to be going to Andrew's cousins' retreat today, but since we're here we won't be doing that. I suppose Andrew could go and I could stay home with Bright today (that is IF we are able to go home).

I suspect that Bright is going to be cleared for takeoff today. He's in much better spirits and is starting to show signs of my sweet little stinker. Though he's dropped almost every toy he's got (his favorite new game) on the floor and I don't need to tell you how gross hospital floors can be. So he's whittled himself down to just washable toys. Ones that we can wash here with soap and water. That leaves about three...

Mom just wants to vent now about this stay...so if you're not into B-ing and M-ing, stop reading here. You would think that at a pediatric unit where parents are obviously going to stay, you could make it more comfortable for both parents. Andrew and I have swapped between the "bed" and the "recliner" both terms I use lightly. The "bed" consists of four or five inch couch cushions less than the width of a regular couch. The recliner is just a sad excuse for a wooden chair with padding. And we have to pay full price for our food. At least Mercy offers you coupons or discounts. They do here too, but the office where you get them is only open during the week. Convenient. So our 160 dollar a night suite includes a crappy breakfast that we have to pay 5 dollars each for (generous at one piece of french toast, one piece of bacon and gross oatmeal), a stainless steele cage for our son, a sofa sleeper (ha ha) a rocker/glider that has seen it's better days given the scarred seams on the cushion, a recliner that leaves your feet swollen like sausages and your arms and hands asleep when you wake in the morning after holding a 18 pound baby with a 3 pound diaper. I could go on but my wonderful breakfast is here and Brighton is complaining about having to be in his cage while we eat. (the Cage is actually a cage disguised as a crib).

Our night at the hospital

We spent the night at the hospital last night. Brighton's mom thought it would be a fun vacation from home since she didn't go to her gourd thing this weekend. The bed was a nice wooden shelf with some cushions on it for padding. Good thing we have a new mattress at home, it will make us appreciate the new bed even more.

Ok, now on to the reason why. Mr. B. thought he would vomit every time he had a snack of breast milk since Wednesday night. He is doing better now, but we won't be allowed to leave our vacation destination until Sunday.

As you can hopefully tell, this isn't a typically entry by Brighton's mommy, his dad thought he would be a little funny today.