Happenings in the Jurgens House

It has been some time since I have updated and I apologize for not being prompt on my posts. I am on Facebook as well as momslikeme.com daily and I post info and photos of what is going on.
I think it is time to write some updates here too!

* Brandon is now 1 year old! WOW how it goes so fast. He enjoyed his birthday on April 21st with Mom and Dad. Once Mom got home from a big presentation at work we all went to the MOA. We visited Underwater World and saw the sharks. Brandon really liked it. He oooed and aaaahed. After Underwater World we headed to the fun park and went on one small ride that goes in circles. It is the rides that you always saw outside of KMarts growing up! He liked it. Pretty soon he will be riding the BIG rides. After the quick ride we ate some ice cream. Brandon thought he could eat his and dads!

* Brandon's birthday was on Sunday the 26th. We had a full house and lots of toys and food. I was disappointed in the cake situation. I had planned on making him a bear cake and even practiced and prepared. However a few days before the party I had to have a discogram on my back which put me in bed for a couple of days and there was no way I could stand to make a cake when I could barely walk without help so we opted for Sam's Club. He got his own cake. He mushed the entire thing and wonderful Auntie Key gave him a bath. The issue was getting him from his high chair to the bath so dad stuck him in a garbage bag with his head sticking out...it worked.

* Most of Rob's family wasn't able to make the party due to a bad accident. The day before the party Rob's step-dad was in a serious atv accident in northern MN. He broke almost all of his ribs in many places. He also punctured both of his lungs and was placed into a coma. From my understanding he is very lucky to be alive. He is still in the hospital in Duluth and it will take a few more weeks before he is stable to be transfered to the cities. From what I have been told he will be in the hospital down here in the cities for some time as well. I believe he is done working and it sounds like will take months to 'get back to normal'. We await updates periodically.

* We have a new addition to our family! Little Oliver Gus-Gus Jurgens joined our family on April 23rd. He is a baby, orange, tabby cat. He was a rescue and fairly unhealthy. We have been receiving free vet treatments since he was a rescue. He only weighed 1 pound 10 ounces at 8 weeks of age. Needless to say we are stuffing him with water and food. He is doing better after a week or so with us. The other 2 cats, Ash and Allie had a rough time getting used to him but after 3 days they all loved each other and play together and sleep together. It is fun having a little kitten in the house again. Brandon does well with him too. He likes to rest his head on the kitties bellies like they are pillows.

* Brandon is walking. He tumbles every now and then but he can walk down the hallway and around the house. He does best with no shoes and being on carpet. Sometimes shoes just weigh him down. We do our best to encourage him to walk and walk and walk but he still knows that crawling is just faster!

* Brandon has discovered some new fun things. 1- Moms camera actually takes photos. 2- The TV has an on and off button and it lights up in red when it needs to be pushed. 3- Toilet paper comes off the roll rather quickly. 4- The toilet paper goes well in the toilet. 5- If not interested in the toilet paper he just likes to splash in the toilet. 6- He likes to wash his hands under running water.

* Brandon is down to one nap a day. Oddly enough it is at 11am when he normally goes down. It is rather odd since most kids nap after lunch- he would rather nap during lunch time. He always gets lunch when he gets up.

* Food and Drink: He is now doing milk but we have to do it slowly since the first few times it upset his tummy. He just needs to get used to it. He still loves his favorites- Nutrigrain bars, puffs, crackers, ritz with cheese, plain cheese, yogurt, applesauce, jelly sandwiches, toast, apples, peaches, pears, pudding, mandarin oranges. We have struggled with meats. He is a picky kid- which doesn't surprise us since Rob and I were HORRID eaters growing up. We would starve before we ate anything. There are some great premade food items in the toddler section. It has a veggie on one side and entree on another. We decided to try it and he loves them. We use this to get some meats in him since he won't eat it any other way. It is frustrating. He also now drinks out of a straw. He can be messy with it but he loves being able to drink from a straw. As for bottles he gets about 3 a day. We can start weaning these down but we are waiting for some positive iron tests. More on that next...

* We have to take Brandon for his one year check up. We were 3 weeks late on his 9 month so we are pushing the 12 month one off for vaccine reasons. We are really hoping his hemaglobin tests come back better. If it does not then that means more blood work and we need to try something else. The low iron levels he first had were hopefully diet related. Now that we are bombarding him with iron rich foods if the test comes back bad then it could be a blood disorder of some kind.

* Brandon's car seat now faces forward. YEAH!!! He loves the new minivan (as do I- even though I miss my convertible). Doctors are recommending he face backward until he is 2 but because he is so tall that is not possible. His legs would be crunched up if we left him backwards.

* We go on many outings with Brandon- Como zoo, EP Center, Playgrounds (loves slides but hates swings-odd), MOA, Landscape Arboretum, Pool, Walks around lakes (small ones for moms sake) and Gmas and Gpas often.

* When we are at home Brandon has lots of new favorite toys- his car that winds up and races across the floor, the workbench with all the tools, his Chuck fire engine, touch and feel books, his Igloo tent from Auntie Key for his BDay, his shape hippo, construction blocks (mom and dad had to put them all together), books, baseball and bat, 2 learning tables, mom and dads cell phones, Playstation controller, matchbox cars.

The post on my back will come later. That is a long story.

So, why do I post all this stuff? Why tell people what his favorite toys are? The main reason is actually for Brandon. I have started printing out pages of the blog and putting them in a book for him so he can always see it and will know what he did at what stage. This blog is mostly for Brandon. I have kept a baby book and calendar of special days but this blog is also an addition to that. I just can't wait until I get to write about embarrassing stuff he says!