Sick again

Back to normal, yes. Ryan is sick again. He had a little fever last night and a nose that I have to wipe every 2 minutes. He hasn't wanted to do much either. It makes for a really long day. Tuesday, we had to renew our registration on our cars and then we were planning on going to the gym, but Ryan realized that we had passed our house and started to cry so violently to go home that I turned around. Yesterday, we stopped at the library for a while because we owed movies back and had stuff to pick up and today we aren't leaving the house. So today, I decided to try something new and let Ryan paint. We've finger/body painted outside before, but this is the first time we did it with brushes at the table. After 10 minutes of set up, he painted for about 10 minutes! Then another 10 minutes of clean up. Not sure if we'll do that again. But here are some pictures of painting and the final product.

Back to Normal

Well, this week we are all feeling better and getting back to normal. Kris was in California as usual and right now is 'playing' with his friends at work on some car for a junker competition. If you want to know more about it - you'll have to ask him.

Ryan and I had a lot going this week. We had our friends, Rachel, Simon and Monica over to play on Monday and then had library class in the evening. On Tuesday, we met with the coordinator of First Steps to talk about Ryan getting help on his speech. The next step is the evaluation, which is scheduled for Monday. They say everything has to be started within 45 days but I'm hoping for it to start much sooner. The sooner we get more words in this boy, the happier I'll be!

Then Tuesday afternoon, Nana drove down here to visit. She stayed until Friday, taking us shopping, playing and watching Ryan so that I could go visit some preschools in the area. We had a great time with her, and Ryan was upset this morning when she wasn't in 'her' room. The preschools on the other hand left something lacking. Because we are out in the middle of nowhere, there aren't a lot of options. I visited two preschool/day cares, which were both over priced for me. I can't justify spending more than our car payment when there are people spending less than $100 a month. So I had to ask some friends for some help. I have a few churches that have preschools in the area that I still have to check out. One I know is more in our price range, but it isn't 'our' church, so I want to see about 'our' church first.

Friday, we had a playdate after saying goodbye to Nana. Ryan had a great time at Kidville playing with his friend Will and having pizza for lunch. Today while Kris and Ryan went to soccer, I went to the gym. Kris met us there to switch Ryan between us. Ryan and I finished Kris's birthday shopping and then came home to bake a cake for him. After nap, we have to frost it - this should be fun.

Ryan Feeling Better, Mom Feeling Worse

It's Friday. 5 day since Ryan got sick. He is feeling so much better. He's been running around like his head was cut off since yesterday. I am feeling worse though. I got his cold and it multiplied 20x. I have a dry cough and a runny, stuffy nose. I swear I can't be well during this pregnancy. I think I've been completely healthy for about 1 week of the 25 weeks so far.

Monday, we were back at the doctors because Ryan's fever spiked again. But there wasn't much they could do. We went back on Wednesday for a recheck and to discuss Ryan's speech - this appointment was scheduled before he got sick. He got some medicine for his ear, which everyone said wasn't infected but just didn't look good. We also got a referral for First Steps. They called today and set up an appointment for next Tuesday. Thursday, we just couldn't stay inside any longer so we did a little Christmas returning/buying. Ryan was very excited about a new Curious George book and video. Mom was excited to get a memory card and case for her new camera. Today, we went to the gym. Although I haven't been feeling well, I've needed some time away from Ryan so the gym is a great place as long as Ryan is not sick. So he got to play and I got to watch Regis & Kelly in peace.

Oh - forgot to mention. Ryan was submitted for the Regis & Kelly Beautiful Baby search. This is the 3rd year I've put him in and never seen him yet - but they announce the finalists on Feb. 11th. I'm just hoping to see his picture on TV, so tune in. Of course, if he were picked we would have to go to New York during that week and I've already scheduled a flight to see Kris in California. But I think plans can change for that!

Isn't he cute??

Bad Day here..

I thought yesterday was a weird day. Ryan went back and forth between wanting me and then not wanting me. He went to soccer with Kris and spent the afternoon playing with me. Then went outside for a while with Kris vacuuming the car and playing. After dinner - where he really didn't eat which was our first tip - we realized he didn't feel too well since he cuddled with me and watched the end of the football game. When we took his clothes off we realized he was very warm. So we put him in a cool bath and gave him a dose of Tylenol. Our thermometer wasn't working - it kept saying H - like yes, we know it's high!

Anyway, this morning Kris went to church without us since I didn't want to take Ryan. We had plans to go to Chuck E Cheese with friends for dinner so I gave them a call to say Ryan wasn't feeling well and we wouldn't be going (their pizza seems to upset his belly anyway). We were playing 'Little People Village' in the basement when I called her and while I was on the phone, Ryan keeled over. He ended up having a seizure from the fever. I was freaked out, but glad the phone was nearby. I called 911 and we got to take a ride in the ambulance over to the hospital. When we got there his temp was 104.5. We were there for just over 2 hours, they gave him Ibprofen and made him sit without a shirt and his temp went down to 101 when we were ready to leave.

He ate a little for lunch and took a nap. After nap, he sat with me for a while then we played some more. He seemed to be feeling a lot better - Much cooler. But after dinner, he started to get warm again. He sat and watched the Amazing Race with me until we were ready to give him more medicine, give him a bath and put him to bed. So he's asleep now. But I am hoping that he is ok. I am so thankful that everything worked out ok so far, especially that Kris wasn't in CA and that we weren't at church. Here's to hoping we all feel better here!

Goodbye Diapers, Hello Claire

We have finally finished off all the diapers in the house. Of course, now that I write this I will probably find a pack somewhere. That's what happened last week when I thought I was done and then found 20 more in a spare diaper bag in the car. Anyway, we're ready to move Ryan to pull ups so that he can start working on that skill before he has to learn the potty part. He's actually pretty excited about it. But when I asked him today if he wanted to use the potty tomorrow he said 'Noooo', in this long drawn out way of saying it that he's been doing for the last few days. So I'm trying to talk the 'big boy' stuff up now. As far as I'm concerned this is the last major 'big boy' step until school starts. I'm waiting for a time when we don't have anything planned for a few days so we can sit around here and drink water and eat pretzels all day long. Looks like that will be in about 2 weeks as we are full next week.

Ryan and I joined a gym yesterday. I'm pretty excited, but I wish my mind would not think of it in terms of 'what extra food I can eat'. We signed up and worked out yesterday (me not Ryan). Today, we went and Ryan played in the play area while I worked out and then we went swimming together. Ryan had a great time. Later, we went to the park since it's 50 degrees here, and took a long walk. I will be amazed if he doesn't sleep until 10 tomorrow with all the activity. Of course, when I ask him what he liked most about the day he says it was being with Momma! How cute.

On a great note, my friend Sarah had her baby, Claire. She was 6 days late and did a VBAC - so I'm very proud of her as I'm hoping for one this time. Claire was born on 1/7/08 at 6:54. She was 8lb, 7.5 oz and 21 inches long. She joins her brother Max, who is one of Ryan's good friends out here. Here is her picture.

Grow Baby Grow

Ryan and I are getting back to our normal schedule and Kris has left to go to California again. We have a bunch of playdates scheduled for the next few weeks to keep us busy as well as doctors appointments for both of us. I had one today and everything looked fine. I was cleared to travel until April, so it was good news for us. I scheduled a first evaluation for Ryan at his doctor's office for next week to see about his speech. Hopefully, we'll move on after that. Tomorrow, we are going to Silverlake gym to sign up there. So I can get my lazy butt in gear and stop gaining 6 lbs a month.

Ryan has been busy putting good use to all the toys he received for Christmas. On Thursday, Kris put together Ryan's kitchen - with Ryan's help of course. This has been his new favorite toy as we knew it would be since we talked it up for months. He also loves his doctors kit, his Curious George books and video and his bath crayons. If you can't tell - he wrote on his face! And he hasn't even opened all his toys yet!

Christmas is Over.......

Our whirlwind trip has come to a close - thankfully. It's really hard to be gone from home for almost two weeks, sleeping in strange beds - especially for Kris....... I mean Ryan.

We travelled on the 27th to PA to spend some time with Kris's family. We got to visit Kris's mom, Grandmother and Aunt at various times in addition to seeing most of the Harper side at various events. Kris's mom, as always, had way too many gifts for all of us. And both his parents had way too much candy (our cupboard is now full!). We had a great lasagna at his mom's when we celebrated there (7 layers) and had a turkey dinner at the farm. We were able to celebrate Aunt Sharon's 60th birthday while we were there and have a game night at the farm in addition to a New Year's game night at Kelli's house (thank you for hosting).

Overall, we had a great trip, but we are so glad to have made it home. We still had to open the gifts from Santa here. And Ryan is thrilled with his kitchen - now if we could only get it out of the box and put together!! We got way too many wonderful gifts from everyone. Thank You! We had to ship ourselves 6 boxes home, hopefully we'll get them sometime soon!

Now we are trying to get back to normal. Putting things away, doing laundry, grocery shopping. Unfortunately, we had to return some doubles or non fits already and have a few more to do in the next few days. Kris will be travelling again starting next Monday, so it will really be back to normal!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Years!!!