Austin

Austin
1st B-day Party

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Little Fussy Mussy and Top 10 Update

Well we have a little fussy mussy on our hands! He officially freaks out if he doesn't get want he wants or you take what he wants away - primarily tv controllers and adult phones. He is having these little fits where he arches his back and cries out, tossing and turning violently. It is actually kind of funny.
It is so interesting to see how his little attitude is emerging. He is also freaking out now when I put him in his car seat or lay him down to be changed and when I put his creams on (even more upset than previously)! UGH!!

WHAT TO DO?? I think I need to do some more reading on the topic. I did get Baby Wise 2 from a friend a week ago and need to open that up and read as well.

Other news:
1. He now has his 2 bottom teeth!
2. He turned 8 months old this past Tuesday the 23rd!

3. We finally got Your Baby Can Read in the mail and watched the instructional dvd and started him on the program last night. I think Justin is a believer in the program now and said that "if this works, it will be the best money we ever spent". :) I KNOW!!
4. Tomorrow - Friday - will be Austin's last day at daycare! I am sad that he won't get to play with his little friends their anymore and see his awesome sitter, Cece!! But it will be good to get in the new daily habit of having him here all day with me. I am excited and a little nervous. I have been trying to clean and organize like mad today while he is there.
5. We have all been sick since going to Vegas. Austin started it all!! hehe But his nose is running constantly, I have been sick, Justin has a sore throat, his mother, brother and cousin (all in Vegas with us) are all sick too!!
In Vegas

6. Our high chair's leg is broken so I called and they are sending in a new part today. (Marcy - I did not have to use your info, I just used mine and they are taking care of it. But thanks!)
8. Justin's mom is flying in Friday night - so excited to see her again and hang out. J and I may take up the free babysitter and go to dinner and out a bit Sat night, if we are feeling better.
9. My real dad and step mom are coming the following weekend to visit and see their grandson for the first time. I haven't seen them in a couple years either so that will be nice. It is a quick trip but anything is better than nothing!
10. And my last living grandparent, my grandma Fehringer is not doing so well right now. I just want her to be happy and not suffer, so I may be going back to NE soon for a funeral. It makes me sad.

I must stop, I really need to get back to cleaning and organizing this house. I hate the way it is and I still need to baby proof as A is on the freaking move all the time now!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Vegas Baby - YEAH!!

Yep, we are heading to Las Vegas tomorrow morning as soon as we can function and get on the road. I am super duper excited.
The first reaction I received from everyone when sharing this news and excitement was, "fun, are you taking Austin?". They were confused because we are. But when you think of Vegas you think of the Strip, Gambling, Alcohol, Clubbing, Making out with the cutest boy from each bachelor party (a new party every night), More Alcohol and Shows. I now think of family.
Justin's brother and his wife live there so now my mindset is that we are going to see them. However I have done all of the above in other "fun friend" trips. Love you girls!
I spent all of today preparing, packing and loading the Tahoe. We are almost there and even though I am very tired due to my crying baby from 2-3:30am, up again for food at 5:30am, baby, I can't seem to want to go to sleep. It isn't even my shower and I am so freaking pumped I can't take it!!! YAY!!! WHOOHOO!! I am also excited because we are staying in a Casino (off strip) by their house and where the actual shower is taking place(apparently that is normal there). So J and I are are sort of taking a little mini family vacation together. SO EXCITED! I honestly am happy that I didn't buy anything else for the shower because the Tahoe is at its max!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Good Husband, Now Sit!

Justin did something he has never done before... wait for it.... He bought me a Valentines Day present and a CARD! WHOOHHOOOO!! I wondered if this day would (or could for that matter) ever come. But it did! I mentioned a couple times that I got him something but didn't think he would do it based on his belief that V-day is purely a commercial holiday. Our past arguments about this day were more along the lines of reasoning (on my part) that even if it is a commercial holiday, it is important to me. If something is important to me and you love me, it should be important to you to accept that.
He got me a funny talking Simpson's card, chocolates and a DVD of the Family Feud game!! He even got an Elmo book for Austin. Very sweet and it make my giant card and Mikes Ikes looks like nothing.

Today he finished our taxes than went in the garage and put together the wheel barrel we bought to help do our backyard in a few weeks. I had to assist him but he did most of it himself. I am more of the handy-man of the relationship so this was quite the accomplishment!! GO JUSTIN! I made him take this pic.



It even motivated me to clean out our garage, sweep, spray the cockroach prone spots and re-organize. :) It was a good Presidents Day.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy V-Day - Update

Well Happy Valentines Day!! WHOHOO!! I hope you got a little something sweet thing morning like I did. Justin gave me a funny card (I don't like mooshy ones), some chocolates (not dark but still nice) a small watermelon (my fav food of all time) and a DVD of the Family Feud game. I have been watching it a lot. It is fun to watch and J likes it too, so it will be fun to play together. :) I got him an over sized funny card, referring to his nice bum, and his fav candy - Mikes Ikes. We have a friend's child's 2nd B-day party at 1pm today and going to make steaks for dinner. Good V-day! Oh and he even got Austin a cute Elmo book!! So sweet!

UPDATE:
Austin's skin looks normal!! I have never seen his skin look like this, ever. It is super soft and this light skin color - not redish. I am shocked, amazed and extremely relieved and delighted. It only took a couple days of the right meds to do the trick! YAY!!!!
Austin had his first tooth break through the skin on Friday as well. It is his bottom one and the other way down there is trying to make its way out. He now enjoys getting those teething tablets as he is realizing they are bringing him some relief. I can't wait till he can try some big boy foods - so exciting.
Austin is also now on the move. He has mastered the Army crawl and can go so far so quick. I finally recorded some of it yesterday. He will get up on all 4's and try to do the traditional crawl but than goes back to using mostly his upper body to pull himself around. It is so cute and crazy! I really need to baby proof!!
Yesterday I helped my friend Tina with her garage sale. OMG - She had a TON of stuff to get rid of. I am so glad I convinced her to have a sale and not just goodwill it all. I am all for goodwill, but there was so much and it was all so nice. I just can't imagine not trying to get some of it back. So she had like 4 big totes of baby girl clothes. SO NICE too!! A few people came and wiped her out taking the totes, not even going through it. She gave me all her maternity clothes because my Beautiful SIL is pg and they are the same size. It is over 100 pcs of extremely nice mat clothes. So expensive, I just can't believe how much she had. I had like 4 pair of pants and 6 or 7 tops - total! I did pull out a few of the baby clothes for their little girl - stuff I know is super expensive and will help out later. I would have pulled more but seriously, I didn't have time. But she did really well and her goodwill pile was pretty small. I would say she sold 85% of everything. I even took some other stuff, baby books, a diaper genie, a boys jacket for A for next year, hats/mittens, and some breastfeeding supplies. SO excited to take it all to Marcy(SIL)!!

That is it for the update! Have a great day/weekend!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Eczema

At first I was pronouncing and spelling it incorrectly, but have it down now, after lots of research on the topic.
Eczema is a rash that develops on the skin. In infants and small children asthma and allergies come through as eczema. Austin's body is covered, literally his entire body, with Eczema. From the scabby red patches on his head and limbs, to the red bumps all over his chest, back and sides to the more recent (1month) thing happening to his little baby package. The pedi gave us yeast medication for that but it was NOT working after 2 weeks, 4 excruciating applications a day, later and just appeared to actually get worse. On Tuesday night, I made an executive decision to try putting the 1% hydro-cortisone cream on his "area" instead of the prescribed yeast/anti-fungal cream and it was less red the next morning. Also A's desired to pull the crap out of it decreased oh so slightly.
Why did I try a different cream on Tuesday night? During his bath, he attacked his "area" again. I tried to stop him as much as I could but I only have 2 hands (my hubby's 2 hands were busy trying to win another video game battle) so I wasn't able to keep him from going at it. I quickly took him out of the bath - no play time when that is what he wants to play/grab with. I was drying him off and there it was, BLOOD! He freaking made himself bleed. I began to tear up (as I am doing now while typing this) because he is SO MISERABLE! How can I make it better, I have to try something else and I just can't wait any longer (till Thursday Morning). I am so glad I tried it.

Today I took A into a pediatric dermatologist to examine him because his pediatrician advised us to. He isn't getting better with age, but worse. I have a family and personal history of severe asthma and allergies. If you know me (and if you are reading this, you do know me), I am allergic to basically EVERYTHING! Do you know how much it sucks to itch all the time, every single day? To not be able to breath going up the stairs in my home at times? It sucks and to have passed this horrible disease to my first baby boy, it just makes me sick. It is the one thing I prayed for the most while being pregnant. "Please God, do not let this little boy suffer as I have." But nope, he is suffering. The doctor (and her 3, yes 3 assistants) all commented on how happy of a baby he was knowing how miserable and itchy he was all the time. I am blessed to have such a happy baby and yes, it could be so much worse. I am thankful for his general good health.

I was told that he will grow out of it and was given 3 new prescriptions. Okay well 2 are the same things we are already using but in slightly stronger doses. Plus an antihistamine for night time. It is supposed to be more effective and last longer than the Benedryl we were giving him. I will continue to lube up my baby from head to toe in his 2 medicated creams and his super thick lotion/Vaseline 2 times everyday. He cries and screams and hits me every single minute during those little sessions that last about 20 minutes each, but I will stay strong and continue to work on his little body until it is better. The doc was confident that this will all clear up in 2 weeks, but if history is any indicator, I will be doing this for a very long time.
Why couldn't Justin's genes come in to play more here? Seriously, lets go J's little chromosomes!! Dominate!!

I hope A gets better soon, I really do but it is hard to be optimistic every time he screams at me because he hurts. OH and it doesn't help that his 2 bottom teeth are breaking through right now. That is another blog post for another time.

We have a crawler!

On Tuesday night after Austin's bath, I had him on the floor playing in his nursery while I was picking up some things in his room. A new fav toy of his, little blue squeaky football player my dad gave me before he knew I was going to be a girl, was just out of his reach. He got up on all 4 (hands and knees) and went two steps to get to it (steps with knees). I started Screaming so naturally Justin came upstairs. But he is pulling his whole body with his hands/elbows around the floor now.

This all started about a week ago, he is freaking on the move people. Yesterday (Wed) he went from sitting facing his little house toy, to on his belly facing the opposite direction and through the door of the toy, to the other side of the red rug where are weights are than all the way over onto the tile floor next to the elliptical. It was like 10 feet!! He did this in less than 10 minutes as I was in the kitchen cleaning dishes/bottles. I check on him a lot and that is the progress he was making each check! Isn't that AMAZING??
NOW WE HAVE TO CHILDPROOF!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Babies Toys - sort of a Rip Off

Austin is 7 months now and he loves his toys! He is a boy after all and even big boys (Justin) loves their toys (TV, Receiver/Speakers, Computers etc), so I should have known. I do not want my first born baby boy to go without something, but holly smokes, these things can get expensive.

Here is Austin in his 7 month photo

Luckily I have purchased most of his toys at garage sales! I have saved so much money, that it is unfair to others. GO ME! I have purchased a few toys/baby tools at the store but have always had a coupon good for 15 or 20% off. And A has received some toys from his Grandparents. OH I love the grandparents.
There is one toy, in particular, that I just knew Austin would love. But it was like $70! Well it was on sale and I had a coupon. I went to buy it when my MIL Ann was in town and she wanted to buy it for him! I LOVE ANN! Of course I gave her the coupon so she wouldn't spend as much and it was his big X-Mass present.
Fast forward like 2 1/2 months, I finally open the box to the Laugh & Learn House toy. I spent over an hour one Saturday afternoon putting it all together. I was so proud of myself as I am the more "handy" one in our household. Justin got home from work and I couldn't wait to show him and put some batteries in it to show it off. Of course he was impressed with my building (reading directions) skills. I open the little battery compartment and something is wrong. SOMETHING IS MISSING!! WHY WON'T THIS FREAKING PIECE OF CRAP WORK!?!
Okay, you know the little wire spring thing in all battery compartments, well this one was missing one of those. That is what holds the battery in place and connects it all so it will work. YEAH, this one was missing therefore it DID NOT WORK! Justin, being an engineer thought he could rig it up to work, but he was not quite getting it. I was so disappointed. Due to J's extreme passive ways, he did not want me to return it for a working toy but wanted to try and fix it himself. Yeah, that wasn't going to fly with me.
The next day I called the manager of BRU (Babies R Us) and he said I could exchange it. Luckily I called before hand because the girl at the counter looked at me as if I was asking for her first born. I got the new one and quickly put it together as I remembered all the steps. I was pumped, my baby now has his super expensive toy G-Ma Ann got him for X-mass!! WHOOHOO and it Works! I also bought A a little jeep walker and put it together that day too. Seriously, I am so handy. :)

Here is A playing with his new "working" toy

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Softball Success!

Before I got pregnant I played on 2 softball teams. I loved my teammates and the game and I would like to say I was pretty good. I actually can hit and run home runs, oh and I am a girl! hehe
Well my former teams were not signing up so I put my name in for a Queen Creek team and got put on a team. I live by/in QC so this is very nice, I do not have to drive more than 5 minutes to my games.
I have not been playing that great and my hitting has been horrific! Well, last night I finally hit the ball pretty well!! I got on base every time at bat except for one strike out. Keep in mind we play 2 games back to back. When I was running into home plate the first time, I hit the base and my cleats skid across it, I took a few crazy steps and tumbled to the ground. I was told it was very graceful but my knees are really mad at me now. The left knee I banged up every single game and it really bled on my last night. BOOO! But I was safe.
So here is the craziest inning! I was up at bat and hit a Triple!! I ran in and one girl needed a runner (she is preggers). I run in again and another girl needs a runner right away because she had a surgery a week ago and wasn't up to running the bases yet. I am on third and the guy at bat is the one before me in the line up, meaning I am up next. Luckily he hit well and I was able to run into home. I grab my bat immediately and hit a HOME RUN! It was so much running and everyone was laughing about it. That along with boot camp in the morning yesterday, I totally burned some calories.
A couple of us went to the bar for a beer after as well, it was a good night!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Missing Baby Socks: FOUND!

About a week and a half ago I lost 2 of A's socks, one each from 2 pairs. I was annoyed but knew they would show up. Fast forward to 4 days ago, I lose another 2 socks. That is now 4 single socks missing their mates.
REALLY??
I looked every freaking where. I even whipped out a flashlight and sent under and through our amazingly comfortable couches. I went through all his toys, his changing table, his clean clothes, there were no dirty clothes as I had just washed them all, through all the rooms, even the adult laundry... NOTHING!
Today, my first official day home as a Stay At Home Mommy, I had an epiphany. What if they got caught in the dryer thingy. So as I put in some wet clean clothes I looked with excitement. NOTHING! WAIT - another epiphany. What about the washer. I have a front loader and there is this rubber piece in which I have found one of my own missing socks in previously. Sure enough, all 4 different colored baby socks where there!! WHOHOO!!
I put them in the next load of laundry and now I will have all socks back in my possession. It is all about the little victories.