Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Healthy
It is about time that we are all healthy again!
Brandon took a while to get rid of his cold but he is now all better. His ears both drained and most likely ruptured the ear drums.
I was very proud of him that he learned how to cover his mouth when he was coughing. Kind of funny!
Right now I am just glad we are all better.
Brandon took a while to get rid of his cold but he is now all better. His ears both drained and most likely ruptured the ear drums.
I was very proud of him that he learned how to cover his mouth when he was coughing. Kind of funny!
Right now I am just glad we are all better.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Skittles....ewwww
Within a matter of minutes Brandon found a bag of Skittles and dug into them. In less than a minute he was covered. What a mess!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The past few weeks....
The past few weeks have been a bit trying on our family. I can somewhat see the light at the end of the tunnel so I am feeling MUCH better about things.
1. On Jan. 25th I (the momma) had surgery on my foot to remove a simple cyst. It was rather large and actually dug into the joint a bit so the surgeon had to dig to get it out. The goodness for good drugs! While being transferred from the OR Gurney to the recovery recliner chair the recliner slipped and caught my foot (mostly my toes) in between the recliner and gurney. Not just 'stuck' it slammed it. As recovery was slow I asked my surgeon about it on my post op appointment. He took xrays and found I had a couple broken bones in my foot from the incident. The wound wasn't healing well either so I got a few more stitches. The pain is okay but my foot swelled and has been black and blue. About 3 weeks later I am able to wear a few kinds of shoes. I am DYING to get back into the gym too.
2. Daycare, Daycare, Daycare! Oh the dreaded DAYCARE! Rob and I decided it was time Brandon went to daycare at least 2 days a week. My work was picking up and it was too tough to work from home and care for a toddler. I love being home with Brandon but it can also be more stressful than treking into an office every day. We decided on Tutor Time close to our house. I worked at a T.T. in high school so I knew about the center and their reputation. We decided on half days (6 hours) and only 2 days a week. EEEK....that alone was $163 a week! NUTS. After the 3rd week my gut was sick when I dropped off Brandon in the mornings. He would scream and cry like I never seen him do before. I finally had a total breakdown in the directors office after his teacher scolded me and rolled her eyes and did a heavy sigh when I brought Brandon in to class one day. She just snapped at me. I cried galore...it was the first time someone has basically said they don't like my kid! After that day I kept a watchful eye. My 'issues' list grew in a matter of 2 days....1- He wouldn't eat a single thing while he was there. 2- He never napped but was forced to lay on his cot for 2 hours but he always naps well at home. 3- The 4 times I picked him up during snack they wouldn't let the kids have anything to drink with the snack. 4- When I picked him up he was so dirty and gross. His hands were never washed and his nose was running into his mouth- along with all the other kids. How hard is it to wipe a nose? 5- One sweet gal that I LOVE there (Brittany) disclosed to me he cried for 2 plus hours one day. She wasn't supposed to tell me that. No one called me, no one said anything. I would pick him up and his eyes would be blood shot from crying so much. 6- He never once sent home an art project or coloring or anything from the ciriculum they were doing. 7- His diapers were going left and right. Do the math- I bring in a pack of 30. He gets changed there 3 times a day...he goes 2 days a week (6 diapers a week) and they were out of the 30 diapers in 2 weeks. That doesn't add up. 8- We were supposed to get daily written reports of his day and after 4 weeks I only got ONE. 9- I complain and they take photos of him and send it home with me to show he was playing with toys. Nice! 10- I finally brought food in for him and gave it to them in the morning. The director was fine with it- but he never got the food. They kept it from him. 11- Many times I would do a drop off his teacher was alone with 14 kids. WAY beyond the ratio. 12- He had one main teacher (the mean one) in his class but so many rotating through. He never got to know anyone else really well- he was scared. There was such a high turnover and change rate. So after a weekend of Brandon meeting 20 new people in a day and running off to play with them and not crying once my gut told me something was wrong. I didn't even think twice and the next day gave our 2 week notice. BUT- he only went once out of that 2 weeks because he got so sick (from daycare) and I still had to pay $163!!!! I just knew it was the right thing to do. After I gave our notice I felt a huge weight off my shoulders. I literally grabbed Brandon, hugged him, looked right in his eyes and said. "I am SO sorry you had to deal with that. I didn't know it was going to be that bad. I promise you...you NEVER have to go back there again." And I left it at that.
3- NEW DAYCARE, NEW DAYCARE, NEW DAYCARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you tell a difference in my title? After giving our notice at Tutor Time I started googling and researching for a new home daycare. I found a gal on craigslist who sounded good- I looked up her website and it seemed good. BUT I had to be careful since we had just been through hell and back with daycare. My main concern was that she just started in Jan. 2010- so she was pretty new. Our goal was to find a home daycare with a much smaller environment that would fit Brandon a bit better. However, we just didn't want someone who let the kids play all day long, watch tv, and do nothing. We wanted some learning activities and structure. AND WE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!! Every time I talk about Mrs. Jenny I get tears in my eyes. We are SO BLESSED and LUCKY we found her. Rob and I did a long meeting with her and decided we would give it a try. Poor gal, we put her through the ringer. She was very professional, kind, to the point and totally listened and cared about us and Brandon. She is a licensed provider (which helps a lot) and half her basement is a total school like room. She has a theme every week with a story time, song time, arts and crafts and large gross motor activity around that theme. She only takes up to 5 kids (one being her own 3 month old son)
Our first day he cried when I dropped him off. That was to be expected. BUT when I picked him up I was so happy. He had a pretty airplane picture he colored for us, he did all the activities and played with his new friend, Bella.
Fast forward to 2 weeks later....drop off he will cry for a few minutes but then is totally fine. He has had SO MUCH FUN with Mrs. Jenny. I pick him up and get great art projects, stories, great reports that are detailed and descriptive. They celebrated Valentines day and he got treats and brought home 3 cookies he decorated for us. He will now walk around our house singing songs and doing activities from Mrs. Jenny's house. He participates every day in all the activities. He LOVES his new friend Bella (who is a few months older than him-so a perfect age). He loves the 2 other babies there and plays with them and makes them laugh. He loves their 2 dogs- Denver and Sconnie (Pugs). And....he eats like a piggy. He eats foods there that he doesn't eat at home???? What happened to my boy? Mrs. Jenny communicates well with us about no nuks at the table (sometimes he has it in after nap) and that he has to stay at the table until everyone is done eating. We love that rule and have installed it in our house. When I pick him up from 'school' he goes and waves bye-bye to Bella and the babies and gives Mrs. Jenny a hug every day and signs "Thank You" and blows a kiss. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. OH- I forgot to mention he goes to school 3 days a week and it is about half of Tutor Time although I think we should be paying her more. I can't begin to tell you how lucky and blessed we are. Every day when I drop him off I am relieved and comfortable that we have a great, safe, fun place that he enjoys and does well at. YEAH MRS. JENNY!!!!
4- Sickies....Yes, with daycare comes the sickies. Dad had it for a bit, mom had a couple days of ickies but Brandon has been fighting it for a while. He first started with an ear infection, went on meds for it...went back to the dr. and did a well-baby visit to find everything is ok except his iron levels are still really low. Hours later, after we were home, his temp spiked and he grew super sick. For 6 days he had a fever (100-102) even with meds it wouldn't go down. He would sleep on and off all day long and just want mom/dad. We laid a mattress out on the living room floor and just camped it out for a few days. When he could sleep on the mattress he would or we would hop in the recliner and rock and sleep there. It was nice to feel so loved by my sweet boy and cuddle but I also felt terrible for him. After the 6 days of fever I noticed his ear covered in what looked like dried orange juice. After looking closer I noticed his ear was draining. We called the pediatrician and they said his ear drum probably ruptured and to let it drain. He showed no other issues so we let it drain for a few days and he started feeling better. He now has a small cough and runny noses at times but is feeling much better. What a ride!
5- New additions to our family....besides our new 52 inch tv (which Rob thinks is a total new addition to our family) we got 2 new creatures in our house. They are 2 little Hermit Crabs. I have passed by the stand at the MOA too many times and think they are the darnest, cutest things...so Brandon got little hermit crabs for Valentine's Day. We have yet to name him. This now means we have 9 living creatures in our house....3 humans, 3 cats, Pete the fish, and 2 Hermit Crabs. My, we are like a zoo here.
6- Bye-Bye Mommy. Yes, I am back on the road. This past week I headed to Portland for the most stressful, annoying, roughest trip I have ever had. It was beautiful there and our client is one of my favorites. I was just anxious about leaving the boys and hoping Rob would at least remember to feed the fish! I knew they would be okay but as the momma...I was just worried. I was also still in my orthopedic shoe from my surgery because my foot wouldn't fit in a shoe and we do lots of walking at the hospitals so I knew it was going to hurt. The crappy thing about this trip was that we wanted to get in and out ASAP. So we flew in early Tuesday morning, went right to the client, stayed one night, back to the client in the morning and flew home a few hours later. It was nice to be gone for not even 36 hours but it was so tough on me. I got little sleep and lots of walking. My foot hurt and I learned I HATE airports and flying. I don't mind if it is an hour flight- or even 2 hours. Our flight there was almost 4 hours and coming home our schedule was so messed up. We took NWA there and United home with a layover in Denver for 2 hours...all in all we spent 14 hours in airports/airplanes and 6 hours with our client- that is just not right. I am heading to St. Louis on Wednesday for a day trip. Yeah- a quick flight! April is going to be another bad month and most likely traveling every week. UGH- how does my sister do this every week to Chicago. I like my house, I like my routine, I like my own bed, and mostly---I like my sweet boys!
7- New words. We have been worried with Brandon not speaking too much. The pediatrician however lectured us that he is saying more than the normal toddler because of his sign language abilities. It is amazing to me how he picks up on his sign language. I got a video at the library and put it in when I need to shower in the morning. After watching it twice he was saying 4 new words in sign. He now can sign (these are all the words I can think of):
More, eat, milk, juice, drink, giraffe, frog, elephant, please, thank you, sorry, help, up, bath, cheese, slide, rain/snow (those are the same for him), airplane, car...I know I am missing some.
He is also figuring out how to talk actual words now. He will say: oopsies, kitty, Allie (one of our cats name), Auntie, I love you (a bit blurry), Ash (other cat-also a bit blurry), home, mommy, daddy, Oma (Grandma), Opa (Grandpa), Oni (Gma Joni), Vroom (for car), Bye-Bye, Hi, Cheese...and I know I am missing some here too!
He will point to body parts- mouth, eyes, cheek, chin, hair, toes, legs, shoulders, hands, fingers, arm, ears, nose....all the normal parts...even booty.
He will sing "OOOO, OOOO" after you sing Black Eye Peas "I Gotta Feeling". That is his favorite song right now.
It is just fun to see him learning and growing every day. He is such a big boy...no more baby in him.
Speaking of baby....yes, we are trying for number 2. We aren't rushing it or being picky about tracking everything. We have decided when it happens-it happens!
Whew, what an update. Maybe I should be better about keeping his blog updated.
1. On Jan. 25th I (the momma) had surgery on my foot to remove a simple cyst. It was rather large and actually dug into the joint a bit so the surgeon had to dig to get it out. The goodness for good drugs! While being transferred from the OR Gurney to the recovery recliner chair the recliner slipped and caught my foot (mostly my toes) in between the recliner and gurney. Not just 'stuck' it slammed it. As recovery was slow I asked my surgeon about it on my post op appointment. He took xrays and found I had a couple broken bones in my foot from the incident. The wound wasn't healing well either so I got a few more stitches. The pain is okay but my foot swelled and has been black and blue. About 3 weeks later I am able to wear a few kinds of shoes. I am DYING to get back into the gym too.
2. Daycare, Daycare, Daycare! Oh the dreaded DAYCARE! Rob and I decided it was time Brandon went to daycare at least 2 days a week. My work was picking up and it was too tough to work from home and care for a toddler. I love being home with Brandon but it can also be more stressful than treking into an office every day. We decided on Tutor Time close to our house. I worked at a T.T. in high school so I knew about the center and their reputation. We decided on half days (6 hours) and only 2 days a week. EEEK....that alone was $163 a week! NUTS. After the 3rd week my gut was sick when I dropped off Brandon in the mornings. He would scream and cry like I never seen him do before. I finally had a total breakdown in the directors office after his teacher scolded me and rolled her eyes and did a heavy sigh when I brought Brandon in to class one day. She just snapped at me. I cried galore...it was the first time someone has basically said they don't like my kid! After that day I kept a watchful eye. My 'issues' list grew in a matter of 2 days....1- He wouldn't eat a single thing while he was there. 2- He never napped but was forced to lay on his cot for 2 hours but he always naps well at home. 3- The 4 times I picked him up during snack they wouldn't let the kids have anything to drink with the snack. 4- When I picked him up he was so dirty and gross. His hands were never washed and his nose was running into his mouth- along with all the other kids. How hard is it to wipe a nose? 5- One sweet gal that I LOVE there (Brittany) disclosed to me he cried for 2 plus hours one day. She wasn't supposed to tell me that. No one called me, no one said anything. I would pick him up and his eyes would be blood shot from crying so much. 6- He never once sent home an art project or coloring or anything from the ciriculum they were doing. 7- His diapers were going left and right. Do the math- I bring in a pack of 30. He gets changed there 3 times a day...he goes 2 days a week (6 diapers a week) and they were out of the 30 diapers in 2 weeks. That doesn't add up. 8- We were supposed to get daily written reports of his day and after 4 weeks I only got ONE. 9- I complain and they take photos of him and send it home with me to show he was playing with toys. Nice! 10- I finally brought food in for him and gave it to them in the morning. The director was fine with it- but he never got the food. They kept it from him. 11- Many times I would do a drop off his teacher was alone with 14 kids. WAY beyond the ratio. 12- He had one main teacher (the mean one) in his class but so many rotating through. He never got to know anyone else really well- he was scared. There was such a high turnover and change rate. So after a weekend of Brandon meeting 20 new people in a day and running off to play with them and not crying once my gut told me something was wrong. I didn't even think twice and the next day gave our 2 week notice. BUT- he only went once out of that 2 weeks because he got so sick (from daycare) and I still had to pay $163!!!! I just knew it was the right thing to do. After I gave our notice I felt a huge weight off my shoulders. I literally grabbed Brandon, hugged him, looked right in his eyes and said. "I am SO sorry you had to deal with that. I didn't know it was going to be that bad. I promise you...you NEVER have to go back there again." And I left it at that.
3- NEW DAYCARE, NEW DAYCARE, NEW DAYCARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you tell a difference in my title? After giving our notice at Tutor Time I started googling and researching for a new home daycare. I found a gal on craigslist who sounded good- I looked up her website and it seemed good. BUT I had to be careful since we had just been through hell and back with daycare. My main concern was that she just started in Jan. 2010- so she was pretty new. Our goal was to find a home daycare with a much smaller environment that would fit Brandon a bit better. However, we just didn't want someone who let the kids play all day long, watch tv, and do nothing. We wanted some learning activities and structure. AND WE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!! Every time I talk about Mrs. Jenny I get tears in my eyes. We are SO BLESSED and LUCKY we found her. Rob and I did a long meeting with her and decided we would give it a try. Poor gal, we put her through the ringer. She was very professional, kind, to the point and totally listened and cared about us and Brandon. She is a licensed provider (which helps a lot) and half her basement is a total school like room. She has a theme every week with a story time, song time, arts and crafts and large gross motor activity around that theme. She only takes up to 5 kids (one being her own 3 month old son)
Our first day he cried when I dropped him off. That was to be expected. BUT when I picked him up I was so happy. He had a pretty airplane picture he colored for us, he did all the activities and played with his new friend, Bella.
Fast forward to 2 weeks later....drop off he will cry for a few minutes but then is totally fine. He has had SO MUCH FUN with Mrs. Jenny. I pick him up and get great art projects, stories, great reports that are detailed and descriptive. They celebrated Valentines day and he got treats and brought home 3 cookies he decorated for us. He will now walk around our house singing songs and doing activities from Mrs. Jenny's house. He participates every day in all the activities. He LOVES his new friend Bella (who is a few months older than him-so a perfect age). He loves the 2 other babies there and plays with them and makes them laugh. He loves their 2 dogs- Denver and Sconnie (Pugs). And....he eats like a piggy. He eats foods there that he doesn't eat at home???? What happened to my boy? Mrs. Jenny communicates well with us about no nuks at the table (sometimes he has it in after nap) and that he has to stay at the table until everyone is done eating. We love that rule and have installed it in our house. When I pick him up from 'school' he goes and waves bye-bye to Bella and the babies and gives Mrs. Jenny a hug every day and signs "Thank You" and blows a kiss. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. OH- I forgot to mention he goes to school 3 days a week and it is about half of Tutor Time although I think we should be paying her more. I can't begin to tell you how lucky and blessed we are. Every day when I drop him off I am relieved and comfortable that we have a great, safe, fun place that he enjoys and does well at. YEAH MRS. JENNY!!!!
4- Sickies....Yes, with daycare comes the sickies. Dad had it for a bit, mom had a couple days of ickies but Brandon has been fighting it for a while. He first started with an ear infection, went on meds for it...went back to the dr. and did a well-baby visit to find everything is ok except his iron levels are still really low. Hours later, after we were home, his temp spiked and he grew super sick. For 6 days he had a fever (100-102) even with meds it wouldn't go down. He would sleep on and off all day long and just want mom/dad. We laid a mattress out on the living room floor and just camped it out for a few days. When he could sleep on the mattress he would or we would hop in the recliner and rock and sleep there. It was nice to feel so loved by my sweet boy and cuddle but I also felt terrible for him. After the 6 days of fever I noticed his ear covered in what looked like dried orange juice. After looking closer I noticed his ear was draining. We called the pediatrician and they said his ear drum probably ruptured and to let it drain. He showed no other issues so we let it drain for a few days and he started feeling better. He now has a small cough and runny noses at times but is feeling much better. What a ride!
5- New additions to our family....besides our new 52 inch tv (which Rob thinks is a total new addition to our family) we got 2 new creatures in our house. They are 2 little Hermit Crabs. I have passed by the stand at the MOA too many times and think they are the darnest, cutest things...so Brandon got little hermit crabs for Valentine's Day. We have yet to name him. This now means we have 9 living creatures in our house....3 humans, 3 cats, Pete the fish, and 2 Hermit Crabs. My, we are like a zoo here.
6- Bye-Bye Mommy. Yes, I am back on the road. This past week I headed to Portland for the most stressful, annoying, roughest trip I have ever had. It was beautiful there and our client is one of my favorites. I was just anxious about leaving the boys and hoping Rob would at least remember to feed the fish! I knew they would be okay but as the momma...I was just worried. I was also still in my orthopedic shoe from my surgery because my foot wouldn't fit in a shoe and we do lots of walking at the hospitals so I knew it was going to hurt. The crappy thing about this trip was that we wanted to get in and out ASAP. So we flew in early Tuesday morning, went right to the client, stayed one night, back to the client in the morning and flew home a few hours later. It was nice to be gone for not even 36 hours but it was so tough on me. I got little sleep and lots of walking. My foot hurt and I learned I HATE airports and flying. I don't mind if it is an hour flight- or even 2 hours. Our flight there was almost 4 hours and coming home our schedule was so messed up. We took NWA there and United home with a layover in Denver for 2 hours...all in all we spent 14 hours in airports/airplanes and 6 hours with our client- that is just not right. I am heading to St. Louis on Wednesday for a day trip. Yeah- a quick flight! April is going to be another bad month and most likely traveling every week. UGH- how does my sister do this every week to Chicago. I like my house, I like my routine, I like my own bed, and mostly---I like my sweet boys!
7- New words. We have been worried with Brandon not speaking too much. The pediatrician however lectured us that he is saying more than the normal toddler because of his sign language abilities. It is amazing to me how he picks up on his sign language. I got a video at the library and put it in when I need to shower in the morning. After watching it twice he was saying 4 new words in sign. He now can sign (these are all the words I can think of):
More, eat, milk, juice, drink, giraffe, frog, elephant, please, thank you, sorry, help, up, bath, cheese, slide, rain/snow (those are the same for him), airplane, car...I know I am missing some.
He is also figuring out how to talk actual words now. He will say: oopsies, kitty, Allie (one of our cats name), Auntie, I love you (a bit blurry), Ash (other cat-also a bit blurry), home, mommy, daddy, Oma (Grandma), Opa (Grandpa), Oni (Gma Joni), Vroom (for car), Bye-Bye, Hi, Cheese...and I know I am missing some here too!
He will point to body parts- mouth, eyes, cheek, chin, hair, toes, legs, shoulders, hands, fingers, arm, ears, nose....all the normal parts...even booty.
He will sing "OOOO, OOOO" after you sing Black Eye Peas "I Gotta Feeling". That is his favorite song right now.
It is just fun to see him learning and growing every day. He is such a big boy...no more baby in him.
Speaking of baby....yes, we are trying for number 2. We aren't rushing it or being picky about tracking everything. We have decided when it happens-it happens!
Whew, what an update. Maybe I should be better about keeping his blog updated.
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