Germany pictures

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Milestones

Blaise is 11 months old today! I can't believe how many things he can do. I'll try not to brag, because I can't remember when Rae started doing these things and I don't know if he's as extraordinary as I think he is!

Of course he's an excellent walker now since he's been walking for 2 months now. He's starting to run and it's a pain to be constantly chasing him.

He uses a fork better than Rae does. He won't eat unless he has a fork.

He likes to imitate so many things. The other day he saw Roy brushing his teeth, so he ran and grab a crayon and pretended to brush his own teeth! He's done it again on several occasions, and now we give him his own toothbrush to use.

He likes candy - especially suckers.

He likes to dance.

He'll walk up to us and give us something and when we say thank you he grunts and nods and walks away. Then he'll come back and take the item from us and then do it all again.

He's starting to say "yeah" when we ask if wants something or wants to do something.
He's also starting to say "mama" and actually mean it.

He yells (not just a cry, but a really angry scream) if I do any of the following:

Take away something he shouldn't have
Refuse to nurse him
Leave the room when he's not distracted
Put him in his crib when he's awake
Refuse to pick him up
If Rae is trying to do something specific with her toys and won't let him touch them

He likes to attack Rae. He's not a very nice brother. He attacks her when she's vulnerable - like when she's a zombie watching tv.

He just brought a book over to me for me to read to him. He's starting to enjoy books

He's a pretty fun little boy. He's high-maintenance though. He wakes up at least 5 times a night and takes a long time to fall back asleep -even if I nurse him in bed. Last night Roy took care of him till about 2:30am and then I finally gave in and nursed him. He seriously needs to be night weaned. He'd be a lot happier during the day if he slept better at night. And so would I.

Anyway, I just can't believe he's been around for 11 months already. Where did this year go?!

New Freebie

Check it out

Not much to report

Yesterday I washed a used disposable diaper. Yes, in the washing machine. Yes, with a load of laundry. Must have missed the trash can and went into the hamper. That's the kind of day I had yesterday. But the laundry smelled fine and the diaper stayed perfectly intact, so I didn't bother to re-wash the load.

Kids slept in till 6:00 this morning. We are making progress! Actually, Rae went to bed extra early last night because I had an Enrichment activity at my house and Roy doesn't get home till 9 (which is why the activity was at my house - so I could actually attend) and I needed Rae to get to sleep so I could try to get Blaise to sleep in time. Roy usually gets him to sleep, so Tuesdays are always a little difficult. But I did it! And I got my house all cleaned up (even vacuumed - which is hard because both kids are scared of the vacuum) and I got my soup made (it was a cooking club Enrichment) all with a few minutes to spare! I was pretty proud of myself. The kids didn't get baths though. Just a wipe down with baby wipes.

Anyway, I should be taking better advantage of Blaise taking a nap and Rae watching a movie. Anymore suggestions on a humidifier?

I want

My favorite Slickdeal of the day: This mirror I wouldn't have anywhere to put it in our apartment, but someday when I have a house I want something like this.

Need some advice

Even though we've been here for several winters, we don't have a humidifier. I really think we should get one soon - especially since we've all been so sick already. Once when we were at my parent's house we used their humidifier because Blaise was all stuffy and it worked miracles. But I don't know what kind to get. I know cool-mist ones are safer for in a kids room. But what if I put it up high and Rae is not the type to ever mess with it - and I pretty much ALWAYS know what is going on in their room since our apartment is so small. Do cool mist work the same as warm mist? I know you have to make sure the cool mist ones stay really clean because it doesn't warm up the water and kill off the bacteria in it. I've done a little bit of research, but I just don't know what to get. And should I just invest a lot of money into a really really good one, or are the cheap ones okay? I need YOU, my lovely readers, to enlighten me with your experiences and opinions! Thanks in advance!

Oh, and the kids were up at 4:45 this morning! Maybe they will sleep in a little each morning and we'll get back on track sometime.

Are you kidding me?!?

We turned our clocks back last night. We figured Rae would wake up around 6:30 or 7 the old time, since she usually sleeps 11-12 hours. Well, no, for some reason she woke up at 5:30 the old time!! So, 4:30! And Blaise woke up at 3:30 (the new time) with a leaky diaper and general grumpiness. I finally got him back to sleep just seconds before Rae started waking up. I would have made Rae stay in bed, but she was saying she needed to pee (she's never done that before- she still wears a diaper at night and often poops in it before even getting out of bed) so I really wanted to encourage this new behavior. And when I got out of bed to get Rae, Blaise woke up too. So it's friggin' 5:45 in the morning and cartoons aren't even on yet, we've already had breakfast, and I think Blaise is ready for his first nap. Sigh. I think I can wake Roy up in about an hour or so, and I can probably get a nap before church (hooray for 11:00 church).

I stayed up to watch Spiderman 3 last night. It was good, but a little cheesy. Topher Grace is way cute. Blaise wants out of his high chair...better go.

Happy Birthday Bryce

I don't know if you ever read this, but I hope you had a good 18th birthday. Don't forget to register to vote! :) I can't believe my baby brother is 18!!

Halloween

On Tuesday we went to the party here in the apartment complex. Rae wore her cowgirl costume because it was pretty warm outside. I don't have any pictures from that day. I dressed up like a pirate. I just put on some black capris, a black and white striped shirt, a red tie around my waist and a red scarf. Oh, and I had an eye patch, but I just kept it on my forehead the whole time. The party was fun, but we stuck around the whole time waiting for the university's pep band to show up and they never did. That was a bummer.

Halloween morning we dressed up and went to Music Makers - which is always a ton of fun. And we went straight from there to Nut Tree Family Park because they were letting anyone wear a costume ride for free. (It's always free to get in). We stayed there for like 2 1/2 hours. Rae's friend Natalie showed up too and they had a blast together. Usually we go there and Rae gets to pick one or two rides to go on, but this time we rode each of the rides (well, the 3 that she is big enough for and that she likes) at least 2 times.





I forgot Blaise's costume, but I had an extra scarf from my pirate costume, so I just tied it around his neck and it went well with his white shirt and blue jeans. While Rae was on a ride he got a turn with her hat. :) What a cutie!



I couldn't seem to get their attention. Rae cried on this ride. It looks mild, but it jerks you around each corner. She tried it a long time ago and cried that time too, but this time she wanted to try it again because Natalie was going on it.





The "Rescue Squad" ride. It's a great ride because each rescue vehicle has room for 4 kids and each kid gets a steering wheel and a button that makes noise.

After we got back we rested for a while and then I took Rae trick-or-treating around the complex while Roy stayed home with Blaise and handed out candy. Rae got a ton of candy (I took care of all of the good stuff last night). Then we bag up some of it and gave it to the guys who have been cutting down all the trees near our apartment (they are always really friendly to Rae). Now we just have some of the nasty stuff that doesn't tempt me too much - like suckers with a hand as the stick, and eyeball bubblegum and gummy brains. I do have some M&Ms left, and Blaise has discovered that he loves them. He yells at me when I won't give him anymore. And Rae talks about candy all day long and is constantly asking to "just hold some". Hopefully she'll lose some interest soon.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun but we are ready to move on to Thanksgiving! Bring on the turkey! Oh, wait, does anyone want to come visit and cook us a turkey? Looks like we'll be having Dennys or pizza or something. Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Trunk or Treat

Here we are at the ward trunk-or-treat Saturday night.



Mother-daughter witch team!



That is one cute devil! The broom is turned around the wrong way. He was carrying it because it says "dirt devil" on it. Heh.



The Halloween costume Rae was most afraid of? Spiderman (it was the full head-covering mask that really bothered her)





Helping himself to some of the loot.

Festivities leading up to Halloween

Here are some of the things we did "Halloween week"



Picking out a pumpkin at "Grandpa's Barn" (We didn't end up buying one because the line was really really long.)



Rae pointing out a rotten one.



Blaise thinks he's pretty strong.



This was the best we could get of them together.



Rae brushing a horse.



Rae's favorite part of "Grandpa's Barn"...the hay pyramid.




Practicing for Halloween. We play dress up on a daily basis around here. Check out his eyes - this was when he still had pink eye.

Long time no post

Things are going pretty good here. We are all relatively healthy and happy. We had fun at the trunk-or-treat Saturday night and I will post pictures later today. Rae doesn't like her witch costume very much, so I think she'll be wearing her cowgirl costume from last year for the rest of the Halloween festivities. And my witch costume is a bit warm, so I'll be dressing up like a pirate. Today there is a party in the apartment complex that should be a lot of fun. And then tomorrow we will wear our costumes to Music Makers and from there go to a nearby "amusement park" that is offering free rides if you wear a costume. And then we'll go trick-or-treating after dinner (just to a few apartments) I think I am going to dye my hair today...haven't decided yet. I bought the hair dye yesterday. Hmmm. That's all for now I guess.

Past Halloweens

Last year








2005 - She had two costumes



2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA

Very sweet. Really sums it up.

Pink eye update

So, apparently Rae didn't have pink eye. Her eye discharge cleared up without any medicine, and her eyes never got pink or itchy. Blaise's eyes got worse though, and after finally getting the antibiotics Monday night we gave him his first dose, and in the morning we could see that his eyes were significantly better. Now they are pretty much completely better, and I don't think he's contagious anymore. My theory is that both of them had bacteria in their eyes (the greenish stuff) but only Blaise's eyes actually had a bacterial infection. I don't know if that is medically correct, but it makes sense to me. So, you don't necessarily have to worry if you were exposed to Rae.

And that's all the time I have for now.

Counting blessings

Now I'm a little more sick. I've got a bit of the stomach bug that the kids and Roy had. Nothing too bad though. But as I headed for the bathroom I thought to myself "are you kidding me, what else is going to go wrong around here!?". I went to pick up the prescription for the kids and there were problems with their insurance, so no medicine yet. I have to call the insurance in the morning and figure out what the problem is. But they are both acting happy and "un-sick", so I'm not too worried about it. Maybe this way is better, because maybe they can actually be seen by a doctor before starting the antibiotics.

Anyway, I started feeling like I was complaining too much. Things really aren't that bad around here. The house was a wreck today, but I was able to get it all cleaned up while Roy bathed the kids. Now there's just one more (huge) load of dishes to be done and things will be pretty much back to normal. And it is hard to keep the kids away from other kids, but we can go for walks and I have a couple of "rainy day" projects tucked away that we can do tomorrow. And I am definitely grateful for all the great stuff we have to do when the kids aren't sick. And I'm grateful that Roy has a pretty flexible schedule (ahh! what am I going to do when he's not a student anymore?) and can help out so much. I'm very blessed and actually have it pretty easy compared to a lot of people.

I don't know if any of you have heard some of the criticism going around about Sister Beck's talks from the General RS Broadcast and then from General Conference. If you hadn't heard any of it, sorry I brought it up. But I had, and was pretty bothered by it all. Well, I finally got a chance tonight to sit down and listen/read to both talks, and I found them really humbling and inspiring. I really, really enjoyed them and have this renewed energy and confidence in my capabilities and I just want to do better and really be the best that I can be. I really felt the spirit and really needed to hear those words tonight.

And now I am going to go to bed. Ahhhh, being in bed by 8:30 is delightful. Goodnight.

The dreaded "pink eye"

Late yesterday afternoon I began to suspect that the kids had pink eye (one word or two?). They woke up Friday morning with colds and lots of discharge from their eyes. Saturday it became apparent that their eyes were actually getting pinkish. This morning it's for certain that Blaise has it but I'm still not completley sure about Rae. She has had soooo much green discharge from her eyes but they aren't nearly as pink as Blaise's. I just spoke with a doctor and they are going to call in a prescription for both kids. Blaise is pretty cranky but doesn't seem like he's in that much pain and Rae hasn't complained of any eye pain. But I'm going to go ahead and do the drops today and the doctor said if they aren't showing any improvement by tomorrow then it may not be pin keye and I need to take them in to see their doctor. Now I have to start making the call that no one ever likes to make... "hey, sorry, your kid was exposed to pink eye".

Rae is very sad that we are missing church today. Especially since Roy had to go and prepare the sacrament and Rae is like "can I go to church". Poor gal. Roy is going to come home after sacrament meeting so we can go get the prescription (well, and mainly because I don't want to be alone with the kids for 3 hours while he's at church) I'm feeling pretty sick too. No pink eye (yet) but I had a bad headache and a cough that hurts my chest. :( I just want to cuddle up in bed and watch all of the conference talks that I missed. But Roy has to finish grading midterms by tomorrow (he has to go today and trade stacks with another TA) so I think we will have a pretty boring, tiring, patience-trying day. Sorry if you are reading this and were exposed to Rae on Friday or Saturday! :(

Pictures

We received these beautiful flowers from Baerbel and Dale last week. Thank you so much!



Did you know these exist? It's Mr.Potato Head pieces for your pumpkin. Turned out pretty cute, huh?





The kiddos being cute this morning with a cheerio snack. Blaise was amused that he got to sit on the couch with his sister.

SO SICK OF BEING SICK!

Well, no, not ME being sick...the kids. I did have a cold for a couple of days, but nothing too bad. (I'm exhausted enough every night that nothing can keep me from being able to sleep peacefully - except Blaise)

But this has just been a month of illness! First in September the kids had bad colds. Then we got a break for a couple of weeks and then we had the nice barf, fever, diarrhea fest. Then Roy got it. And then I got a cold and now the kids have it. But it's not the nice kind of illness where they just want to lie around all day - they are just sick enough to sleep badly and then whine all day. AND, since they are sick I can't just send them over to a friend's house so I can have a break. Ah! It's times like this that I wish we lived a little closer to a grandma! :(

The good news - I've managed to keep the house pretty darn clean. Last night I went to bed at 7:30 with the house completely trashed. But when I woke up this morning I was able to get it cleaned up really fast. Now I just need to do dishes and laundry - and since we'll all be stuck inside today that should be pretty easy to do. Oh, and another bad thing...when the kids are sick we don't really have anywhere to play because other moms don't really appreciate you bringing your sick kid to the playground. Having our own backyard will be nice.

Oh, today is the anniversary of Roy and me meeting in person. Six years ago today he made that first trek to Blythe to come and meet me, and we began to fall in love. I had planned to do something special for him since a friend said she would babysit for us - but now since they are sick I guess he'll just spend the day grading quizzes. Fun. I've got some cute pictures to post, but I'll have to do that later when I can use the other computer. Maybe I'll have something more upbeat to say too :)

Things I keep forgetting to mention

Blaise recently went through an obsession with the phone, and anytime I used it he would want a turn. Well, the other day I gave him a turn (so I could get some computer time) and he called 911! What the heck!! I didn't notice, so I just hung up and then of course they called me asking if everything was okay. Good thing Rae wasn't throwing a tantrum in the background or something! Needless to say, he doesn't get any turns with the phone anymore.

Roy found my first gray hair a couple of months ago. And then a few days later I found another. Well, yesterday I found one more. I don't know why, but I'm already struggling with the idea of getting into my "mid-twenties" and adding gray hairs to the mix doesn't help at all!

Blaise claps and waves all the time now. And he babbles a lot, especially first thing in the morning when I'm begging him to go back to sleep. Notice that it's 6am as I write this. He woke up at 4:30 and has pretty much been awake since then. I'm about to go wake Roy up so I can get a few more minutes of rest. Oh, and Blaise loves to stack blocks (that's what he's doing right now.) It's so cute. He makes up for his grumpy moments by being so expressive and entertaining when he is happy.

Rae is a crack up as always. She's always doing something to try and get Blaise to laugh. She's constantly talking and is now using some of my favorite phrases against me ("don't aruge with me", "can you just not talk to me right now", "don't say that to me", "say you're welcome".) Fun stuff. And she's awake now, so I better go.