Spin Master Wesley

Wesley has been spinning stuff for several weeks now and I thought a video would be nice. Enjoy. P.S. Thanks April for the awesome toy!!

Adventures in Baby Food

Sunday I spent several hours making Wesley his homemade organic baby food. It took about three hours from start to finish and it made one heck of a mess, but it was fun. I used the book Blender Baby Food, it gives instructions and cooking times for everything...made it all very simple. It was interesting to note that each grouping of veggies only made one ice cube tray of food, for example four pears made one tray, four apples one tray....they don't go too far once they are cooked down. One ice cube tray makes 16 cubes and he eats three-four cubes a day. After doing the math it is actually cheaper to make your own baby food by about .50 a day verses buying the jarred organic baby food, plus it is healthier and satisfying knowing he's getting fresh stuff. I labeled them and put them in freezer bags, now I just pop cubes in a bowl and microwave them. Pretty cool.

During my countless hours of web surfing I found this neat item called a Sassy Self Feeder. It is a little mesh bag with a handle that you can put chunks of food in and let your little one gum the food through the mesh bag. This way Wes can have whole foods without the possibility of choking. We've tried a chunk of banana in it and he spent about 20 minutes sucking on it before he chucked it over the side of his high chair. I'm going to try peaches in it next.

Wesley Up Up

Little man has learned some new stuff. Now when he's lying down on his back you put your hands in front of him and say "Wesley Up Up." He will smile like crazy and throw his hands up to yours and will pull himself into a sitting position, then once he's sitting he will lock his little feet in place and will pull himself up until he's standing. It's way too cute. Then he'll just stand there holding onto your thumb with this giant toothless smile like he's so darn proud of himself. We do this like 10 times a day. I'll have to get a video sometime soon of it. Here are pictures of him being a big boy on the couch with Dad this weekend.

Girls Gone Shoppin'

My friend Jessica and I flew the coop yesterday to have some much needed girl time without the babies. We said "Screw you weather" and took off. First stop was a really cool organic supermarket. You see Wesley has only gotten organic food since he started the whole food experience. My original goal was to buy the organic produce, cook it and freeze it and be all Suzie Homemaker like. Well then reality hit and I discovered I had no time to pick my nose some days little own cook up batches upon batches of baby food. So I bought the wonderful little jars of organic food and decided that was good enough. Then I hear of a big recall of organic jarred baby food, something about the applesauce possibly containing botulism. Great. So I decided back to square one. The organic supermarket. Very cool place, full of organic, healthy, very expensive stuff. I bought lots of apples, pears, sweet tators, squash and carrots. My plan is: today hand Wesley off to Sean and head into the kitchen to peel, dice, simmer, blend and freeze everything I purchased yesterday. I will then pour this concoction into ice cube trays, freeze them and put them into zip lock bags. I will report later on how this goes. Wish me luck.

Back to our outing. Next stop was Carlos o'Kellys. You see it is a tradition to go feed our snouts on mexican food a month before either one of us is about to have a baby. We did this with her first one, then we did this a few weeks before Wesley arrived and now today we did this in anticipation of her little girl due in April. Third stop was Babies R US (or Baby Hell as Dru calls it). We waddled around there for almost two hours taking in all the new and mostly useless baby gear. I was thrilled to see they started carrying Seventh Generation products. If you haven't heard of them take a look at their website. In our families' ongoing effort to Go Green I have researched this company and was anxious to find a store that carried their environmentally friendly, non-toxic products. I bought a bag of their Chlorine Free diapers to see if they're any good. They are about 3 cents more expensive a diaper than Huggies so if they are good I will definitely make the switch. Interestingly enough, they are brown diapers....kind of look like a brown paper bag on your babies butt. It was worth buying them just to open the bag and not get that strong, nauseating chemical odor like the Huggies bags. I bought their phosphate-free dishwasher detergent and laundry soap as well. We'll see how they work. Anyways, that was my day...Sean had Wesley for a whopping 5 hours, I think the longest he's ever had him alone. They had fun, man bonding time. In seven months I've never been away from Wesley for more than 5 hours, that's insane.

Rubber Ducky

Wesley and I watch this video everyday and I sing it all day long. He loves it. You gotta love classic Sesame Street. This clip is from 1970, nine years before I was even born.

Month by Month

Now that Wesley is seven months old I thought it would be neat to see him change month by month, with that being said here it goes:

Two Days Old....we called him our little Ompa Loompa, poor little guy was so swollen.


One Month Old


Two Months Old....by far my favorite picture ever.


Three Months Old....little guy was sooo tired when this was taken.


Four Months Old


Five Months Old


Six Months Old


Seven Months Old.....the poor kid got his Mom's crazy afro hair.

Goodbye to the Devil

We are officially getting rid of our cable TV. I've decided that TV is the devil. Before Wesley was born I had my regular shows that I would watch throughout the day. I sculpted all day and sat around watching TV. There really isn't much to do while sculpting. I would turn on the television in the morning and watch the TODAY show and it would remain on all day long, until we went to bed in fact. Many hours during the day it wasn't being watched but still remained on. Then Wesley came along. My addiction to TV died soon after he was born. I found more entertaining and purposeful things to do with my time. Most of which included trying to make a screaming Wesley stop screaming. Like a crack addict I slowly weaned myself off of my regularly watched shows. Goodbye Dr. Phil. See ya later Bob Barker. You won't be missed Regis and Kelly.

Anymore the TV would come on in the evenings and would be turned to reruns such as Law and Order that we've seen at least 12 times each. About a month ago we both started saying to each other "we could totally live without a TV". We would always laugh it off but more recently started thinking we really could cancel our DISH Network subscription and be much better off. It makes me feel better knowing Wesley won't be raised in a house with shows like CSI (how many dead decaying bodies do you really need to see in a day?), Law and Order SVU (let's all watch stories about incest), Dirty Sexy Money (the title says it all) and Sex and the City (those women are so screwed up!). We will put up an antenna so we can watch the news and weather if needed but that's it. I'm excited to start reading some books I've been meaning to read. Heck and the $40 we'll save on cable is just icing on the cake! Yea for us!

Stupid Weather!

I seriously don't think this winter is ever going to end! Just when we get some 50 degree weather the next day we'll get an inch of ice and 10 degrees. I don't even remember what it's like to look out the window and see green grass and leaves on the trees. My friend Jessica and I planned a girls day out this Saturday morning which consists of Carlos O'Kellys and Babies R US (aren't we wild women?!) and it looks like we're going to have to reschedule since more ice is predicted. After the week of caring for sicky hubby and screaming Wesley I desperately need a day out of the house. Please Spring.....hurry.

Biscuit Stealer

Priceless.

Household Updates

Sean has officially become un-quarantined from the basement. Poor guy stepped foot on the main floor of the house for the first time since Wednesday. We were talking, this is the first time he has been sick since we got married almost seven years ago. Not bad. I suppose we're bound to get the flu every seven years or so. Looks like Wesley and I made it through without catching it (knock on wood). They are saying this years flu season is late and will run through March. So I guess Little Man and I will be staying locked in this house until March. Fun stuff.

Cisco Bob is doing alright. The contact from the vet school confirmed that he believes that it is bone cancer. So for now Cisco is on Prednizone twice a day to relieve the inflammation and relieve his pain. I guess when the pain gets worse we'll look at our options. He's back to his happy, jovial self though. Depositing tennis balls and other assorted toys in our laps whenever possible. We feel guilty throwing them because it probably just worsens his joint but I'm sure his quality of life is much better with toys being thrown and retrieved.

Wesley seems to be changing by the day. We've finally hit the fun separation anxiety phase. I can't even leave him alone to wash my hands without him screaming bloody murder. The poor kid had a pretty tough time with Sean being sick and away downstairs. Sean usually takes Wesley in the evenings so I can go outside and feed livestock and everything else with a mouth, so instead he had to go in his crib. He screamed the entire time I was outside every evening. I mean bright red, tears streaming, angry crying. I think he's probably the happiest that Sean is back among the land of the living.

Wesley got his first official haircut two days ago. He looks very cute. I cut it while he was facing out in the Baby Bjorn. I think I cut about two inches of fuzz off. I collected a little bit of it and put it in his baby book.

A new thing he's doing: the second I take a big spoonful of applesauce and place it in his mouth he blows a raspberry with is lips and I am covered with applesauce. Every single bite he does this. How can I be angry? It's so darn funny.

In the Breast Feeding Trenches

He's starting to bite. No actually he's not biting, he has no teeth....he's "smushing". Think of a vice closing. It's not pleasant. He does this and then adverts his eyes to mine and when I look down he gives me this huge grin while still biting. Little turkey. I can't believe I've been breast feeding for seven months, it's truly amazing considering the problems we had starting out. I'm thrilled to have been able to go this long. He's eating five times a day right now, so five times a day for the next five months...I have 750 more feedings until he's weaned. Oh that's depressing. Only 750 more "smushings". Maybe we'll reevaluate the situation at 9 months. Oh man, I just had a thought....teeth will be appearing any day now. Maybe we'll reevaluate when teeth appear.

Happy Valentines Day!

Oh what a spectacular Valentines Day it has been! I'm not only caring for Wesley 24/7 but also a sick husband. Poor Sean came down with the flu yesterday and has been quite ill today as well. He's had a 103.9 degree temperature all day and now he's hacking up a lung as well. We've been dosing him with medication but it's not doing much. He's been quarantined to the basement where he's got his laptop, playstation, tv, cell phone and quite a few movies. I'm hoping Wesley and I don't get it, a seven month old with the flu is something I'd rather not experience. Who takes care of a baby when both Mom and Dad are sick? That's a scary thought. Wish us luck.

Our Little Devil

Here is some video shot in the tub yesterday. He really enjoys his bath time.

Seven Months Old!

Happy seven months old Wesley! I still can't believe he is our little boy. He's such a joy to have in our lives and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't count my blessings. It seems lately Wesley is changing by the day. His hand eye coordination is improving by the week. He can roll and spin things and when it stops spinning he'll reach over and spin it again. It's so cool to watch. He also can't get enough of his little board books. We'll sit him in our lap and read him his books and he gets so excited. I've been buying several lots of board books off of eBay lately so his library is growing quickly. We really like reading Dr. Seuss, he's our favorite.




My father is a model train enthusiast and went to a train show this past weekend. While there he bought twenty raffle tickets for a train layout. He called to let me know he won it and that he was bringing it over for Wesley. This train layout is 4 feet by 6 feet and has track and trees, buildings and streams. It comes with a train and is all electronically powered, it's ultra cool. Wesley just sits there and stares at it. Of course he's got a good seven or eight years before he can play with it, but what a neat present! Thanks Grandpa!

Adventures in green beans

The saga continues.....

Ok, I've had my banana's. Life is good. What are you gonna feed me next?

Wait just a minute...this is NOT banana's!!

Oh my gosh are you trying to poison me?!

Is this dog food? This can't be baby food.

No more of this stuff. Ever. I plead with you, for the love of pity, spare me green beans forever more.

A Work Day

We've finally figured out that if we want to finish all these house renovations we have going we have to start working on them again. They don't magically complete themselves (too bad). We haven't done much of anything since Wesley was born. So, on that note, Sean went to the local Rental store and rented a 60lb jackhammer and went to town on the concrete decking that surrounded our pool. He started at 10 this morning and came in every few hours to take a break. He finished up around 6 with most of the big stuff done. His hands and arms are killing him. Poor guy. I'll be surprised if he can get out of bed tomorrow.















I spent the day outside with Wesley enjoying the beautiful weather. I let the dogs run around the back acreage, Cisco did a good job keeping up with the other two. He's feeling no pain on the Prednizone. He then tried depositing tennis balls onto Wesley in the stroller, the dog has a one track mind. It was a good day.

Jumping Bean

I got a little bit of video of him finally jumping in his Jumperoo. We've had it for over a month now and he's just now getting the hang of it, I think another week or two and he'll be a mad jumping fool. Today he was in it for 45 minutes and just loved every minute of it. There are little toys all over the tray and he'll sit there and spin the wheels and push buttons endlessly.



He hasn't rolled again. I think he did it just once to let us know he could but chooses not to do it ever again. He will, on the other hand, scoot on his back all over the floor. He's getting quite good at that. And he loves to stand up in front of the mirror and look at himself. He's quite the goof ball.

I have finally fallen into a reliable (knock on wood) schedule with him. He wakes up at 10 am, is up until 1 pm and naps for 2 hours. Then he'll be up until 6 or 7 in the evening and then will take a 45 minute nap. He goes to bed around 10 pm. I stay up until midnight sculpting and painting. I've actually been able to get stuff done, it's amazing. It's good to know it takes roughly 6 months to get some part of a routine back after having a baby.

Relaxing on the couch

A trip to the vet

With Wesley strapped to my chest and Cisco hobbling next to me, we made it into the vet today to have Cisco checked over for the third time. Once again the vet ordered an x-ray. It had been a month since his last one and it didn't show anything wrong. The results of the new one were not so great. The x-ray showed a definite change in the bone density and there are rough edges which more than likely means bone cancer. The veterinarian is sending the scans to his friend at the vet school just to make sure but that's what he thinks it is. Our sweet lovable six year old golden retriever might have bone cancer. I cried all the way home from the vet. The options aren't good at all. First option is do nothing, give him pain meds and let him have as good end as possible....1-3 months expectancy. Second option is amputate the leg, but he thinks the cancer would have spread...6 months max. Third option is the works, amputate and radiation through a specialist, no guarantees, price starting at $3500 and goes up. Vet said he sees a large amount of animals with bone cancer, said it's very common...that surprised me. For now he's on Prednisone and feeling better, even eating again. I'm not thinking about anything in the future right now with him, just one day at a time. Why do animals have to get old so fast?

Super Sunday!

It's been a super Sunday for many reasons. For one it is Superbowl Sunday. Yes I am celebrating the big game not because I love or even like football, but rather because it signifies the end of the football season. Yippie! It is also an occasion to eat junk and not feel bad about it.

The second reason it has been a good day is I got to clean the house. I know how sad that sounds but I can't do much during the week days so today I made Sean take over babysitting duties while I vacuumed, mopped, cleaned carpet and other fun stuff. A clean house makes me happy.

Third reason I'm happy is because of prunes. Let's just say Wesley's been stopped up for the past three days. We tried the prunes and an hour and a half later they had worked their magic. I'm thankful for prunes and I'm thankful for a husband that will clean lots of poo and not complain about it.

Tomorrow I will be taking Cisco Bob our golden retriever back into the vet for the third time and will not be leaving until they do something for him. He was limping and went and had an X-ray done that showed nothing wrong so they put him on glucosimine which upset his stomach and he stopped eating his food four days ago. I've been able to get 4-5 milk bones down him each day but today he stopped eating those and he looks BAD. I hope they can do something for him, I'm really worried about him. Of all the dogs, he is the best around Wesley and I'd really like Wesley to grow up with him. Keep your fingers crossed for Bob.

Family Picture Time!

A friend of the family took some very nice photo's of the gang at Christmas time. Wesley never would smile for the camera, it was nap time after all.



And here is Wesley with the slightest smile. What you don't see is me behind the scenes dancing my butt off trying to get him to smile. Victory.



Photo's posted with permission.