New design and set up!

I am so proud of myself I figured out how to do something a bit more interesting with my blog design. Also - I also opened it up for anyone to leave comments even if they do not have a blogger account! So comment away - we are always curious to see who is reading!

The weather outside is frightful...

We were supposed to be out running errands and seeing Santa today - but instead we are bored at home waiting for all of the ice to melt! So in the meantime I figured I would post some December photos. I was saving some of these because we used a few on our Holiday Card - but oh well, the next 10 days look pretty busy before we leave for Michigan so I will post them now.

While I am at it - Rece is 10 months tomorrow! A couple of quick updates:
He can pretty much stand on his own with out support
He pulls to standing on everything but is getting better and sitting himself back down
He is finally interested in picking up food and putting in in his mouth rather than picking it up and then flinging it on the floor
He has had his 5th ear infection in 6 months and we are scheduled to have ear tubes put in on Dec 21st.
So far during his first holiday season he is mesmerized by our Christmas Tree and cracks up when we tell him that Santa says HO HO HO!!
He has 5 teeth and is working on 6 now.

Some Thanksgiving Photos

A few pics from Rece's first Turkey Day! (For those of you anxiously awaiting a new post - you know who you are Sue ;-)

3/4 of a year..

Rece is 9 months old! As we speak he is thrashing around in his crib, struggling to get to get settled in to sleep, I believe because he has another tooth coming in. On that note, lets get right to the stats:

-He pulls himself to standing on anything and everything, including things that do not support him and tip, along that line, he had his first fat lip this past weekend. Went from sitting to face plant onto a toy. Ugh, as I know it is the first of many boo-boo's.
-He also tries to turn and get to the next item of support but can't quite coordinate the thought with the feet yet.
-He just started clapping his hands by himself. I think this is the cutest thing he does, it is so adorable.
-He crawls like a madman
-He has 4 full teeth and one that is just poking through. His two top front teeth are pretty far apart and we joke that he looks like Michael Strahan ;-)
-His hair is so long in front it is in his eyes and I can't bring myself to cut it
-He is close to dropping his late afternoon nap, and he goes to bed around 7:15 pm and sleeps until 6/6:30am (if we let him babble on the weekends, he will drift back off until 7 ;-)
-He clearly says Baba and Dada but not in the direction of those things. He also says GaGa and my favorite the AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, he stretches it out like when you take a drink after you have been really thirsty. He and I do this back and forth and he loves it, all smiles. He more or less combines all of his "words" into his own baby babble fest.
-He loves Emma, he squeals with delight whenever he sees her and tries to chase her, she runs away as fast as she can.
-He was almost 22 lbs, 28 3/4 inches long and his noggin grew from the 35 percentile to the 68th percentile.

All Dogs Go To Heaven...Especially Angel.

Even two weeks later, this is going to be a hard post to write for me. I have intentionally put it off. Probably doesn't help that it is 10 pm on Saturday night and I am sipping on my 3rd glass of Vino. (Don't judge)

Two weeks ago Jeremy and I had to put our 12 year old Rottweiler to sleep. As my brother put it "She had a lot of miles on her" - and she did, she had a great and long life. She just got old, and I am not going to focus on her ending - besides it is too hard to talk about.

I say "our" but she was always and will always be, Jeremy's "girl". Just over 12 years ago, one of Jeremy's college roommates had a litter of Rottie pups that were born in the house they were renting together. There was a runt. She was too small to nurse so she needed to be bottle fed, and that is when Jeremy and Angel met. (At least that is what I think the story is) Ever since that time, they have been pretty much inseparable. I entered the picture somewhere around 8 years ago and hence had also become quite attached to the ol' girl.

I could write pages about the "life and times" of Angel Rellinger. But what you really need to know is that Angel was a very very special dog. It is hard to describe really, and people reading this might think "Yeah, ok, it is a dog, I get it". No - You Don't Get It. (Sip of Wine)

This was not any other dog. Angel was the sweetest, most personable, most obedient, most loyal dog.....ever. She was known for her "drive by" licks - she loved to give kisses to everyone she could reach! She was loving and gentle and she was nearly human really...and she was a part of our family. She was Jeremy's....and my companion for the last decade and she will be missed.

That is MR. Yoda to you... ;-)

Some snapshots of Rece's first Halloween!

Yoda, deep in thought....

Concentrating...

Havin fun

Assault and Battery....at Target

On Wednesday I had Flint Town Flashbacks.... I was in Target, picking up some "polysporin" because you can't use good ole neosporin on stitches (I had a mole removed, yuck I know). Anyway, I get my POLYsporin and I am on my way out. And I hear this weird yelp type scream. I can't see anything but I begin to hear raised voices. I hear:"How do you like that?!?!" and then "Watch where your going from now on" and then "You can't have me arrested"- all of these by the same lady's voice. Then I see her fly by me, she is about 5'4" and has a mullet and is wearing what I can only call "mom pants" whose waistline is up somewhere close to her bra. I am of course staring...and she shoots me a look like "what the H are you looking at" to which I quickly precede to looking back at the coffee makers that I was standing by. (Mullets and Mom pants scare me) Come to find out she and another lady accidentally bumped into each other coming around the corner and the mullet/mom pants took offense and slapped the other lady across the face. WTH?!? It isn't even Black Friday yet!

The early bird gets the worm...apparently those who wait get nada....

Update from my Flu post....This is kind of an ironic story actually.

I was on the fence about getting Rece the flu shot(s) and then we had the scare with the bronchitis and having the doctor think it was pneumonia I was decided I would get the shots and help our odds. With day-care exposure, the fact that we live so close to PSU, and Rece's tendency to not just get a cold but OWN the cold until it turns into something else, I knew I wanted to do the vaccine. But as I am sure you can predict I now cannot find the vaccine....Anywhere.....neither the H1N1 or the seasonal shot. Lots of places offer clinics from time to time but none of them will vaccinate a child because, for one reason, children (especially those who have not gotten the shot before) have to have two doses 30 days a part. So I am on a waiting list at my pediatricians office. And I have spent every lunch hour this week calling health departments etc. trying to find vaccine. The response "We don't currently have any, we hope to get some soon, call back next week" - Ugh.

Then to today, I take Rece in for his ear check after the illness of yore has come and gone. All is declared well, lungs sound good, ears look good. And then the Dr. drops this bomb on me: "Well..." she says "If I were to bet, I would bet that what he had was the Flu...and...if it was the Flu it was probably H1N1 because that is what we are seeing." Huh? She goes on to tell me that the rapid onset of Rece's wheezing and horrible cough and then fever are all leading her to believe that is what it was. Then I ask "But he had the flu swab at the Hospital" to which she replies "In kids there is a 40% false negative rate" - DOUBLE HUH?!? - That horrible pipe cleaner that was shoved up his nose to the back of his throat, not once, but twice and made his little nose bleed- has just a little over a 50/50 shot of being accurate!?!?!?!? Before I can process much of this she concludes by saying something along the lines of "but we'll never know - so get him the shots". Full Circle. I am back to needing to find the shots.

Final irony, I get home tonight from work and there is an news articles on my phone browser from the CDC indicating that 1 in 5 kids probably had some level of the H1N1 during October so far. Do I have the 1 in 5? I will never know. I do know that either way - I am happy he is over whatever that junk was and back to being himself for a while. I know that every time I read an article about the Swine Flu and how it greatly it impacts kids of all ages I feel a little sick. And, I know - I have to find the shots....

Pics as promised

Here are a few as we closed out summer and have begun our first Autumn as a family.

Mommy is letting me sit in the grass!

" I think I want a my pumpkin a little bigger. Yeah, like this big..."

I like to chew my sippy - a lot

I stuck some pumpkins in my cheeks to take home ;-)

Deep Breath

Wow. It's been a while since I have posted. It has been a very busy couple of months. Rece has seen the 7th and now the 8th month milestone come and go. Jeremy and I have celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary. I have traveled for work a couple of times, we are announcing major benefits changes at work along with all of the other craziness that comes with the end of the year at work (READ - LONG DAYS FOR HR LADY). I had a sinus infection while traveling. Jeremy is taking a class which takes up a lot of his time. It snowed 5 inches on October 16th here - the first year I am driving a car in my life - and winter starts 2 months early. Rece has had a sinus infection, an ear infection, bronchitis (for which we made our first ER visit for a chest x-ray and flu swabs-and flu swabs are AWFUL!!)his two front teeth are coming through and now the diaper rash from Hell has set in. Deep Breath....

I don't want to sound like I have ONLY complaints. But seriously it has been a long few weeks. I am tired.

Deep Breath...

Now for the positives. Rece is crawling like a pro and loves his walker he flies around our living room and babbles as he zips around for added entertainment. The one top tooth that has come through the gums is so cute, can't wait to see them both sticking out. He has been such a trooper through this whole mess trying so hard to be a happy camper. He is still growing like a weed. He is wearing 12 months size in pretty much everything, 18 months in a few things. I would guess he weighs about 21-22 pounds and is now long enough to have long since graduated out of his infant carrier into the big boy car seat. One of these days I might actually find the time to post some pictures from end of the summer and our, rather eventful, start to fall. There are probably some other positives, but my mind is starting to fuzz. Like I said, it's been a long few weeks.

Deep Breath...

Rece is Crawling!

Flu Shot?

Are you getting a flu shot for your kid? What about the H1N1 shot? I am conflicted on what to do. This year because of the two different shots - and because they give two shots (I am assuming half doses) for each that is 4 flu shots for babies over 6 months old. I can't imagine Rece getting 4 flu shots! That seems unreal.
I just read a really good, unbaised article here. I really don't know what to do. Those with little ones - what are you doing? I won't judge, I don't have an opinion either way as of yet.

Blog Number 2

Hello Readers! I have started another blog here is the address/link.

6 month pictures at Sears

We took Rece to Sears last week for his 6 month photo's, since he will be seven months on Monday, I was a bit behind but oh well. He decided taking a good nap before the pictures would be silly and since he only slept about 30 minutes that morning, I was worried that they wouldn't go well. But this guy is a HAM!!

First Swim

I got this baby "splash pool" for Rece at Wal-Mart for a buck over the weekend. He likes it. We also got a new Rubber Ducky bath tub (thanks Julie for the tip!) since he grew out of his infant tub.

The Tooth Fairy might be cool...but the Teething Fairy Sucks.

Alas we have come to the "unofficial" end of summer. The Labor Day weather has been cool and cloudy out here which is okay, because it is a good transition into having to go back to work tomorrow. The rest of the weekend was awesome! The weather was great, the company was great (Jeremy's mom and dad were here), the football was great and the happy hours (plural) were fantastic. It was nice to have such a long, laid back family weekend. Rece was a champ Thurs - Saturday and since then the Teething Fairy has made a visit. The amount of chewing and drooling and crabbing and not napping have been tremendous. He has his bottom two choppers in and I have a strong suspicion that the top two are just about ready to make an appearance. Or he could have a virus - hard to tell since he has only recently added "Ga" to the vocab, when you put that in a sentence with "Oh" and "GRRRRR" and "Eh"- it doesn't really add up to a definitive diagnosis.

Posts to follow from the weekend:
First "swim"
6 month "Glamor Shots" at Sears
Grandma & Grandpa's Labor Day visit

Update

Implemented a new schedule on Monday - so far it has worked great. Rece is going to bed between 7:30 and 8 with no real issues so far and is also napping better during the day. He also started a new day care on Monday so hard to say if it is that or the new schedule or a better sleeping environment but either way so far so good. (knocking on wood right now)

Suggest a schedule?

Calling all mommies - I am looking for advice on how to adjust Rece's schedule to move his bedtime up. You would think I could figure this out....But I am having trouble determining how to keep building in the solids and begin to move up the bedtime. Any suggestions and sample schedules you used would be appreciated! Here is his current schedule/pattern that we have been on for a couple of months. We aren't anal about it, but these are the general times. He has 5 feedings a day and takes 4 naps, usually 2 are an hour or more and the other two are about 45 mins each, sometimes less.

6:30am - Wakes up - We dress him, get him ready for Daycare
7am - Day Care Drop off
7:15am - Breakfast (6-7 oz + cereal)
8:30 - Morning Nap
9:30 - Wakes up - Playtime
10:30 - Bottle #2 (6 oz) - fruit
11:30 - Mid-Day Nap
1:pm - Wakes up playtime
2pm - Bottle #3 (6-7 oz)
3:30 - Nap
4:15 - Wakes up plays
5pm - Bottle #4 (5 oz) Cereal + Veggie
6pm - Eve nap
7pm - Wakes up (sometimes we have to wake him up here sometimes he only sleeps 30 mins)
8pm - Last bottle (6-7 oz)
In bed and sleeping at 9.

I would like to get him in bed and sleeping around 8 and eliminate the last catnap. He just seems like he is really tired by bedtime and needs to go to bed earlier. Not sure if I should move some of the feedings to do this or what. Dr. said not to reduce the amt of formula (he takes about 32 oz a day) but I also don't want to flood him if he goes to bed earlier by shrinking the times between feedings. Not sure what to expect either as he gets older and starts wanting more solids - will he eventually drop a bottle feeding? Just wondering what other mom's have seen/done.

Rece's first baseball game!

Last week we took Rece to a State College Spikes game, the local Class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Some of Jeremy's baseball buddies from his county league team had tickets so we met them there. They share their stadium with Penn State Baseball and it is just across from the Football Stadium. As you can see he started off and ended the night the same way....sleepy...

6 months and counting

Rece was 6 months old just over a week ago, and since then we have had our check up at the Dr. and the dreaded shots. He was 28 inches long (90th percentile) and 18lbs (50th percentile). We have started solids and he is a pro at eating like a big boy. From about the second bite off the spoon it was old hat. He has had rice, sweet potatoes and carrots thus far and squash and then green beans are next on the docket. I am going to wait a good while longer before I do fruits because if he is anything like his momma his sweet tooth will kick in and that is ALL he will want. Here are some other stats bullet style:

-Rolls over both ways

-Sits up pretty well, still a little wobbly

-Lots of babble and some "yelling" when he wants your complete attention

-Has just started getting on hands and knees and rocking back and forth, this is creating some sleeping issues, as he rolls onto his belly he then gets up on all fours and just starts rocking. Apparently the best time to do this is before naps and at 5:30 in the morning. Half the time we find him doing this half asleep. Or he gets going before a nap and won't stop and go to sleep.

-Grabs onto toys with both hands and reaches and rakes them in.

-Scoots backward on his tummy notsomuch forward.

-Has two bottom teeth!


Overall he is a REALLY happy baby. He gets cranky when he is tired but that is about it. He loves stroller rides and hanging out in his jumperoo/exerciser! He is constantly giggling and showing off those choppers! His little personality is constantly developing and he definitely knows how to woo mommy and daddy. A few pics of the 6 month milestone!

Up and Up

Not sure why I am all about the customer reviews lately but I feel the need to share in case anyone out there is thinking about trying a new brand etc. that I happen to be trying. So in my quest to find the best diaper at the cheapest price I am trying store brands. I shared about Wegmans "supreme" and they were good. But now I am onto Target's new Brand "Up and Up". Results Thus Far: Better than Wegmans. Roomier/more flexible and do not leave red marks from the elastic, better tabs/fasteners and softer and more like pampers. Plus - I got 96 diapers for the same price as 80 some Wegmans diapers and they are like 10+ bucks cheaper a box than the pampers sale price! Will continue to "test" them I am sure as we continue to embark on our solid food journey, but so far so good.

6 month update coming soon!

New Car....blah, blah, blah

So I ended up getting a new car. I thought I would be driving my Sorento, which I loved and never had a problem with until last week, for a few more years. And then I would not have a payment for a couple of years and then I would get a Volvo XC 90 or something really cool! ;-) Notsomuch....Rather I go pick up a new car tomorrow and instead of feeling excited, I am glad a bad situation is finally ending. Jeremy and I spent the entire day car shopping, we looked at Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, GM's, Kia's, Nissans, etc. etc. etc. In my mind because of all the arguing I had to do all week to no avail, I did not want a Kia, but in reality the Sorento was good to me, for the amt of miles I had on it, I put A LOT less money into it (other than preventative maint) than I did on the two Chevy's prior. So even though I am bitter I can't forget that.

Because I have owned my car for just about 4 years and I financed for 60 months - I still owed on the Sorento. Because of that, I was in a situation where I had to get a good car, with the longest bumper to bumper warranty at a good price and with some darn good financing and incentives to help me with my payoff. After all the searching, I am blah to say its a Kia again. I really didn't have a choice. I got an Optima, it gets 38-40 mpg and has a 5 year 60k warranty - bumper to bumper, which I did not have any issues with last time. It is a nice car and all, it will take me a while to get used to a car vs. an SUV, but the fact is, we only need one 4x4 vehicle.

Kia had the best financing and the best incentives as well. So because I am in a corner I didn't get to hold my grudge for long. I really wanted a Ford, but the price was higher (even with my Avery discount), the mpg was lower, the warranty was only 3yr and 36k and the incentives were half. Booooo. Oh well, it is a purchase of necessity. It will get me too and from work and Wegmans ;-) And at the end of the day, instead of sinking money into a car with 98,000+ miles, I will have a new car that will get me a long way, and I don't drive half as much as I used to. We go pick it up tomorrow. Sigh.....

BTW- No cash for clunkers, I met all criteria BUT one, you have to have the title in hand, and to do that it has to be paid off. Since cash for clunkers isn't expected to last much longer, that wasn't going to happen in time. I did get money for trade, but not much as you can imagine.Your car doesn't trade for much when half of the engine dropped out on I-80.

Ugh

This has been quite a week, my car died on the way to work last Monday and I had to wait for a tow. I mean it really died, it shook and my power steering went out and every light that could light up did. It sucked. Since then I have been without a car (I have a rental now) and last Friday Kia informed me that not only do I need a new engine, the work won't be under warranty. I do drive this car A LOT and when I lived in Michigan there were two years when I drove it 120 miles a day for work on most days. So I have 98k on it, the warranty is supposed to cover up to 100k on the engine and powertrain. NOPE - a bolt failed that was on the "exterior engine components" - it is the interior engine components and the transmission that are covered. So the story goes on and on from here and includes me spending which at this point feels like days with Kia corporate and the dealership on the phone arguing my main points (I have a list, which I won't bore you with here) but if I told you - you wouldn't want to buy a Kia. I need a whole new engine which costs more than is logical to spend. So at this point all options exhausted besides getting an attorney and going for who knows how long without a car, I am going to cut my losses and look at getting a new car. If the dealer can make it "drivable" I can qualify for 4500 for cash for clunkers and there are some good incentives. I am looking at a Ford to start.

On a positive customer service note: I am a Wegman's customer for life. Already LOVE that store, (I can only imagine it must be like the grocery stores in Heaven, since they have an espresso bar and great sushi ;-) now they have really wowed me. I was in there two weeks ago, standing in the diaper isle, contemplating the best diaper deal with the coupons I had and also debating if I wanted to try anything other than pampers which I love. Wegmans has recently come out with "Wegmans Supreme" diapers and I have thought about trying them, but you only really save when you buy the big box and that is a lot of diapers to buy if they can't hold water - so to speak. A manager happened to wander through when I was there and I just made the suggestion to him that since the diapers are new, I would love to be able to actually see what they look like etc. So he asks me what size and walks over to the self grabs a 40 pack and says "I will leave them at the customer service desk for you, if you like them you can get a box next time" - so sure enough after I paid for my groceries I picked up a free pack of diapers waiting for me at the desk. And I really like the diapers, so I indeed go back and get a box, and I made sure to find a manager and tell them that I did indeed by a box. (BTW- I am still using Pampers Baby Dry for nights)
Oh, and one other shopping/product type thing since I am on this - those Debbie whoever "Green Bags" you might have seen on TV or in the store that are supposed to keep your produce good longer - yeah, they work awesome. They get my two thumbs up as well.

Wish me luck with the car drama...

Other updates and more pics

Hi again, so I am far enough behind that it requires a post on back to back days, in addition I am traveling one night on business and I have some free time.

Let's see, what else has been going on....? Well Jeremy was playing baseball...link attached to one of his plays, he is robbing a home run, that made the paper. Even though the ball looks far away he does end up catching it ;-) Also as you will see from the link you can order this image on a wall sized poster, a t-shirt, a coffee mug or a button! ;-) Anyway, he WAS playing baseball, but on Sunday he tore his groin muscle (ouch). So he is on the DL for the foreseeable future.

Other than that, things have been going well, I went to Pittsburgh for training and survived being away from Rece and Jeremy for 4 days! While we were on vacation we went wine tasting in Traverse City and I brought home a case of wonderful Michigan wine that I now can't bring myself to drink because then it will be gone, and I don't know how I will get more!!! And being a mom is more and more fun everyday, Rece is getting such a personality and I miss him so much when am at work. I need to start playing the lotto so I can get rid of that job thing...

A couple more pics...

Until next post...

5 months already!

Wow - I just realized that my last blog post was when Rece turned 4 months, here we are a full week into month 5. Talk about slacking on the blog. What can I say there just aren't enough hours in the day anymore. Case in point: tonight while Jeremy is giving Rece his last bottle, I am making perogies at 9pm and at the same time watering the plants in the front of the house....and yes dinner did burn.

Since the last post we went on vacation, so the 5th month pictures are also the vacation pictures. We went to Michigan and made the state tour, visiting all the fam. The highlight of the trip was Rece's Christening on Grand Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan it was beautiful. Overall our vacation was great. A lot of driving, a lot of family and friends and one cold and one ear infection for the little man....oh well.

5 month updates:
Rolls over back to tummy now
Sleeps unswaddled! Finally!
Talks all the time
Sits up well supported and likes to sit in Bumbo and just slap the tray, no toys needed
Loves to grab your face, especially daddy's whiskers
Laughs at the dogs when they give him kisses
Is getting bigger and bigger and bigger everyday!

I have a couple of other update posts to catch up on - but for now here are some new pictures.