Back in the Saddle

So. Wow. Several weeks have passed since I've updated my poor little blog. Well, starting about May, my thyroid condition started to get worse, leaving me fatigued. I swear there are sometimes that I think my middle name is fatigue. Anyway, then a TON of family on Jeff's side came into town. His parents stayed for two weeks, it was a blast. Then right after they left his aunt and uncle from Texas visited while they were in town for a wedding. It was nice to see them again, they hadn't met Doug. Then we had a break for about a week, and then Jeff's aunt and cousins from Alabama came to stay with us for a week. While they were here another one of Jeff's uncles from Kansas City was in town with his family. They were all here during Jeff's birthday, which was really special, as he never has family here then. There were a LOT of people, but we all had a good time.

At around this time I started seeing a new rheumatologist for my fibro. It turns out that he's leaving that practice, which is really annoying, as I had done quite a bit of research to find him and I liked him. At least he was up front and honest about treatment. He started me on a new anti-depressant to see if it helped my skin sensitivity. It did not. Even if it did, I wouldn't take it. I'm just now getting over the side effects from it-more fatigue. I couldn't make it through the day without a nap, unless I slept in. There were days in which I really couldn't get out of bed for quite a while. Sundays were the worst. We missed a LOT of church. Today is the second day in a row I got up at 9 and did not take a nap. Praise God! I'm starting to feel more like myself again.

A week and a half ago, I was starting to get things back together. We were on our way to church, when we got into an accident. An SUV pulled out in front of us from a gas station, another SUV was on it's tail, he didn't see us on the main road. Jeff swerved to avoid hitting him head on and the other driver ended up hitting us, on my passenger side door. In the car port is my THIRD rental car in two years. Ridiculous. Anyway, it was pretty low speed, but I felt tired and sore for a few days, but it's alright, because Doug was fine. I don't think I saw the other driver hit us because I looked back to check on Doug. He didn't even realize there was an accident until he heard his daddy swearing a blue streak! I don't blame Jeff there. We're hoping we're done with car accidents in our life time.

Doug is being Doug. He's still signing tons. I'm pretty sure he says 'dada'. The trouble is, when he babbles, he mostly babbles 'da da da da da'. But I can tell there are times he says it with meaning. He will also say "bubu!" complete with blowing for 'bubbles' at times. I've noticed that he can say the first sound in some people's names, with intent. For example, if he's looking for my brother John, he'll say "Jah? JAH!". Doug will say "guh?" for 'grandma'. So we're just waiting for him to add more words and sounds to his repertoire.

So that's all for now, I'm hoping I'll be able to post more regularly.

Ear Lowering

As you can see, both my guys desperately needed a haircut. We've trimmed Doug's ourselves before, but he's never had it done by a barber. Just cutting Doug's nails is an ordeal, so we dreaded the day we'd have to get his hair professionally cut. As he was starting to look more and more like Justin Bieber, we thought the sooner the better.




Doug did amazingly well, Jeff, the barber and I were a bit stunned by Doug's relative calmness about the whole ordeal. He watched Jeff and several other men get their hair cut first. The lady who was cutting Jeff's hair had her 15 mo little boy there. After a while, he and Doug began pulling toys out of the box and running around. I suppose the barber feared total chaos with two toddlers running around and so he summoned Doug and I to his chair. Doug wouldn't wear the apron or anything, but he sat in my lap and didn't squirm too much. The barber was great, he was quick and ready to improvise. For some odd reason, Doug didn't mind the razor, but he wasn't a fan of the shears. So the baber was able to finish the job using mostly the razor. If I do say so myself, the pair of them look quite handsome with their hair cuts!

The Padawan

Doug has grown by leaps and bounds since I last posted, particularly with language development. At ten months he began saying 'hi' to everyone and everything. I thought that since his first word came in under the year mark that he'd have many words by this point (nearly 15 mo. old). The only other word he's acquired is 'hot'. I think he began saying it sometime after his birthday, but I wasn't ready to give 'hot' second word status. Initially, he would only repeat it when we said it, mimicking the sounds. Because he wasn't applying it, I didn't think it should count. I know, I'm a tough cookie. Then about a month ago Doug and I were playing in the yard while Jeff was grilling. When the fire began blazing out of the grill, Doug started staring at it. He began whispering 'hot, hot'. I decided we could officially call 'hot' his second word. Since then a number of things have been 'hot'; food on the table- including salads, grills, ovens, erupting volcanoes, fireflies* and Elmo. I have to admit, Elmo is the funniest, but it gives us some in-sight as to how he classifies some things as hot- colors. Red and orange things tend to be called hot.

Then there is Doug's signing. Even though I've taken several sign language classes, I bought a book on signing with babies when Doug was about four months old. I was very excited about it, but then the idea was put on the back burner when we put our house on the market. When Doug was about ten months old, I started to feel guilty that I'd abandoned the idea of signing with him, I was worried it was too late to start. I started with a few signs, but put a lot of emphasis on the sign for 'bird'. Doug loves watching our parakeet as well as wild birds. Sure enough, he mastered the sign in a few weeks. Shortly after, he made up his own sign for lotion- both hands rubbing. Since then he's been using quite a few signs; more, all done, swing, fan, and air plane. I picked things that he has a lot of interest in. 'Swing' was the sign he mastered the fastest; in less than a week.

It's been very exciting watching Doug learn to communicate with us. At times, I swear you can hear the gears in his head turning! I can't wait to see what he'll come up with next!



*He may have eaten a firefly the other night. I pulled one out of his hair to show him. It lit up in my palm, Doug declared it 'hot' and picked it up with his fingers. He considered it for a moment and then popped it in his mouth. I have no idea if he actually ate it or not. I screamed 'NO!" and Doug fell down. I have no idea where that poor firefly went.

One Happy Boy

Today Doug's birthday gift from his Kansas City grandparents arrived. The company we bought it from delivered and set it up, the whole thing took a little less than two hours. And of course, luckily, the rain held off so it could be installed and so Doug could play on it.



Doug gave it a quick once over, and then ran over to the baby swing, which he very much enjoys. I think Jeff and I are going to have very buff arms after this summer. Or need physical therapy.


He was able to climb the ladder surprisingly well, once he got the hang of it.






The slide is fantastic. It was the one element that I was worried about playing with him on it on my own. It's design allows the child to slow down at the end, so Doug doesn't go shooting off of it. So, once he's sitting down on it, you can just let him go and not worry about catching him.



This child has frightening strength. He needed less help than we thought on the rock wall. Maybe I stood in front of the microwave too much when I was pregnant?



Best of all, half an hour on the swing set = nap time!

May The Fourth Be With You!

Do you ever have those days when you wonder what on earth is wrong with humanity? The other day I had several separate incidents in which I wondered what was wrong with this person!

Yesterday Doug and I met my mother and my grandmother for lunch at Red Lobster. We were seated in a large booth across from the hostess's desk. Before we left, I took Doug to the restroom to change his diaper. On the way back, across from our booth, we crossed paths with this elderly couple. The lady was using a cane to walk and walked several steps out of her way over to me. She looked up at me and said, "Can you do something for me?". I was a bit taken back, so I stumbled, "Uh, sure?". She opened her hand and she had two balled up Kleenexes. She asked me if I could throw them away. Totally taken aback and now shocked, I did. I walked 4 feet (!) to the desk and threw it away in the trashcan there. After I was done, I was a bit confused by the whole encounter. Normally, I wouldn't accept such a thing from a stranger. I understand that she was using a cane, and that walking wasn't easy. Believe me, she couldn't have found some one more empathetic. But she walked out of her way to me, she was closer to the hidden trashcan than to me. Also, why couldn't she have had her HUSBAND do it? Sticking them in her pocket wasn't a bad idea either. Needless to say, I purelled the heck out of my hands and vowed to never do such a thing again.

About an hour later I arrived at the store. Doug was passed out in his car-seat, so instead of carrying him around, I decided I'd get his stroller out. Now, let me tell you, that this week I've been a bit more fatigued and tired than usual. Also, possibly a bit whinier about it too. So, when I saw a spot that wasn't a handicapped spot and was close to the door, I nabbed it. It was actually the last regular spot and was next to a handicapped spot (on the driver's and car-seat side). I went and opened the trunk and began to unfold the stroller. Then I went and put my bag underneath the stroller, and lastly I got Doug out. His stroller straps are numerous. I'm not sure why, perhaps the makers thought the stroller would be involved in some sort of stroller demolition derby. I'm surprised it doesn't have a roll bar. But anyway, it takes a moment to get him all in, and during this point, I vaguely heard a car honk and I ignored it. After I was done, I noticed a van parking in a handicapped spot across from my car. As we came even with the first car in the handicapped spots, I saw a woman sitting in it with her window rolled down. She leaned out of it and said something along the lines of "the nerve of them honking at you when there are plenty of spaces!". So, basically, I got honked at because I was putting my BABY in his stroller and it wasn't happening fast enough for these people. I won't say that I didn't send a glare their direction.

Last night we were having a plumbing emergency*. At about ten thirty the plumber arrived and was getting his tools out of his truck when we got a phone call on our house line. Jeff answered it and said,"No, no, she doesn't live here. No, you have the wrong number." He then proceeded to give the caller the number she called (she asked) and then hung up. The plumber came in and Jeff followed him downstairs. I decided to try to start to get Doug ready for bed, as it was waaaay past bed time, when the phone rang AGAIN. Now, I think just about everyone agrees that past 10:30 it too late to call people. It's just rude and annoying. Also, it gets your adrenaline going, because you wonder, "Oh my gosh, what's wrong?", because decent people only call after then for emergencies. I answer the phone. The caller ID tells me that this is the SAME number that called five minutes ago. Sure enough, the caller asks for the SAME PERSON. Now, normally, I'm not rude to callers. I can and will be curt, but generally polite. But this person was clearly not getting that Annie did NOT live here! So I told her off (long day, plumbing emergency). I won't swear I didn't use obscenities, but I think I avoided it. It must have worked, because she didn't call back for Annie anymore.

This last incident happened today when I took Doug to the doctor's. It's more humorous and exasperating than the other incidents. Today we saw the nurse practitioner because Doug has a rash that I thought was eczema. The rash was apparently something seasonal and common that toddlers get, it goes away on its own, basically no big deal. So after she gave me this info, she proceeded to ask how things were at home. You know, who's at home with us, any more kids? Anything else going on..... (looking intently at me)? I was a bit flustered, about this and had no idea what she was getting at. I said no, just Doug and I, Daddy works.... Then it dawned on me that I must actually look how I feel for once (very sore and very fatigued). The undertone I was getting from her was like, "Well, does your husband throw you down the stairs every night?". I was amused that I must have looked how I felt, but I was too tired to get into the whole "Well, I'm a hypothyroid person with fibromyalgia, and if you could not use big words today, that would be great. Also, don't call CPS on us, because we're totally cool.". Maybe I should print up some handouts for next time? Too exhausting to go through it each time I see them!



*Very long, uninteresting, expensive story.

Down On The Farm

Saturday we took Doug to a petting farm about 20 minutes from our house. It was the first time he'd seen animals other than household pets. At first he was fairly cautious, but as the animals ran over to greet him, he became increasingly more comfortable with them.



Baby goats! So cute!





Doug was so delighted by this little guy that he plopped down to watch him. I'm fairly sure Doug would have been content to just hang with the goats all afternoon. We walked him away from the enclosure to show him some other parts of the farm, but he just kept running back to the baby goats.



He also fell in love with this little lamb. We were initially a little nervous about him petting an animal that was obviously a newb, but both he and the lamb did well.


Doug is fascinated by birds and was excited by the ducks.


At one point, Jeff put Doug on the ground near the pony's fence. Doug realized that he could crawl under the fence to see the pony and was thrilled, until we stopped him, that is.

The other part of this property is called 'The Enchanted Forest', and they have some fairy tale themed play ground equipment and some other things, like this pirate ship and wooden train.






The farm is called Clark's farm and it's out in Columbia. It costs about $5 to get in. There is a gravel/dirt path so you could bring a stroller or wagon* if you wanted. The area where the animals are is on a field, so if it's been raining that might not work out so well. It was quite a lovely afternoon, and I encourage all of you with small ones to visit the farm.



*That was my biggest question- was the place stroller or wagon friendly, and the website did not tell me! So, now you know.

Spring Shearing

We both knew that a haircut was coming soon. Doug was getting rather shaggy on the back and sides. Jeff declared that Doug was getting a mullet. It was time to act. We'd been debating about how to best go about separating Doug from his hair. A barber shop would probably do the best job, but it would probably be a blood bath for all involved. Doug doesn't like loud noises and we thought the shaver near his ears would be a little too traumatic for him. And us. We thought that having him watch Jeff get his cut first would be a good idea. Unfortunately, being a toddler, Doug's attention span is only so long, so I wasn't sure how effective that would be.

Last night though, Doug presented us with the opportunity to do it. He'd just finished his bath and I was putting lotion on him (he has patchy dry skin again) and he was sitting quite still and quiet. So I called for Jeff to bring the scissors. Doug held still for the front of his hair being trimmed. I died a slow death watching the pointy, sharp scissors so close to his eyes (totally buying blunted scissors TODAY), but he did well. It wasn't until Jeff started cutting the hair over his ear that Doug started to get upset. I'm pretty sure it's about only 1/3 of the amount of meltdown we would have seen at a barber shop though.






The haircut is a little rough in some places. But we all survived, and hair does grow back.