Sick^3

Peter is sick. He mostly sleeps in 2-3 hour batches, although he hasn't been napping well*. Very runny nose. nasty sounding cough. We took him to the Dr. and he said it seems to be RSV (croup). Not terribly serious, it just sounds bad. He also said that most of Peter's discomfort is teething. his gums are all swollen. It appears that his molars are coming in... 4 - 6 teeth all at once. No wonder he can't sleep.

Tera's also got a cold. It's similar to Peter's in some ways, but totally.

My nose is starting to get runny.

Yuck

I haven't mentioned if the girls are sick because I don't want to jinks them.

* Oh, that makes sleeping fun for the adults

I can't believe noone mentioned this

Peter had pink eye. It cleared up in a day, so we did 5 days (it said 5-7). A couple days later it came back, so we started over, this time we are going the full 7 days. We are at about day 5.

Peter HATES the drops. For the last 10 days we've needed both of us to do drops, pinning head and hands in place, while prying his eyes open. It's so traumatic that he hasn't been sleeping good.

Today we got the bottle out for comforting afterward and he reached for it. Tera let him hold it and he started to drink. He laid there eyes open and didn't blink as the drops went in.

Dammit, that would have been nice to know 2 weeks ago.

Sicko

Tera got sick Thursday (not too bad). Diana got jealous and picked up a totally upper respiratory infection. She's got a fever, but the Dr. said it doesn't need prescription, just TLC.

Happy Halloween

Our little community has a parade around the neighborhood, led by fire trucks. The heavy rain was down to a light sprinkle when we got to the park, and it stopped shortly after the parade started. Tera and I didn't dress up, but we had the cutest little monkey.

I carried him in the parade, and then we used the stroller for trick or treating. He made it through about half the neighborhood before falling asleep, so we let the girls finish off and took him home, because it was cooling off.

Mom and Dad handed out candy while we were out. We had about 35 - 40 kids. The decorations were a big hit. Only a few kids appeared scared. One wouldn't leave until he saw the end of the "movie" on the front window.

Four not on the floor

My dad was watching Peter at our house. He watched him crawl all the way across the kitchen to the door to the porch. He watched as Pete carefully went sown the 3-4 inches to the platform. Pete hung out there a couple minutes and then ventured down the other step, with Dad hovering close by. At first Peter looked like he was going to make it, but at the last minute he crashed to the ground. He got a little scrape on his nose and cried for about 10 seconds.

Dad felt bad, but it's not so bad.

Speedy Pete

Mom and Dad clocked Peter for me. He crawled 30 feet in 40 seconds. At that rate he could:
get back home from there house to ours in 15 hours and 5 minutes.

If he took off to visit Grammy and Poppa he'd make it in 10 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes.

If he felt he deserved a trip to Disney world he'd be shaking Mickey's hand in 82 days, 2 hours and 35 minutes.

There is a down side to having an engineer for a father.

Duncan shares, but not everything.

Peter was out on the porch with Tera's Dad, playing quietly. Tera's in the shower, I was making breakfast. Note, I told Poppa I was going to make breakfast, I didn't ask him to WATCH Peter. All of a sudden Duncan (from another room, 15 feet away or so) starts to bark. I glance over and he isn't looking at the front door, he's looking at the back. As I start over to see what's going on, Poppa starts laughing. I look and Peter has one piece of food in each hand and one in his mouth! Duncan was the only one not amused.

I'm glad we have the good dog food :)

time to move stuff up

Peter's been doing directed rolling for a while. Last week he graduated to "scutching." That means he sits up, wiggles back and forth and goes forward. Slow, but he can cover a lot of ground. He has officially begun crawling. We have to start moving things up.

Good boy!

Peter has a bit of a head cold. He started fussing while I made his lunch. Duncan walks out of the room and returns a minute later. I hear a cluttering noise and I turn to see a very proud puppy.

He brought me one of Peter's pacifiers :)

Spoon wars

Peter verses the spoon. Peter has always been good about eating from a spoon. Now that he has his front uppers and lowers he has decided he likes to bite the spoon that feeds him. Tera said the first time he would smile at her while doing it. I haven’t played tug-of-war (I just wait patiently for him to let go), so maybe that is why I don’t get the smiles. And he doesn’t do it with plastic spoons, just the rubber coated metal ones.

Just for a second

I heard an ad for Travelers Insurance this AM. It announced that they’ve been under the red umbrella since Lincoln was president. My first thought was: they didn’t have color then…
Sigh.

I caught it right away, but in my defense: the pictures are always black and white. How would they KNOW the umbrella was red?

Sleep

Saturday AM I woke up at 5 AM. Peter hadn’t been up at all during the night! I snuck into his room, and he was still out!.
I woke up again at 6 AM, still silent!!!
At 6:45 I woke again. I heard him talking to himself quietly, so I let him stay in the crib. Tera woke at 7 and couldn’t believe Peter was will in bed. He heard us talking and decided it was time for breakfast. He slept until 5:45 AM Monday morning and almost 5 on Tuesday! Sunday was not so good (woke up twice) and up at 3:30 today, and but we appear to be moving in the correct direction with sleep… We just need to re-train Daddy!!

Deck is Done!

Some friends of Tera's came over and helped finish off the deck. Mostly they handed me stuff and I did all the hard stuff. Or maybe it was the other way around. There is a slight chance that they did most of the hard work ;-)

Tera and I also stained the front of the house from a dark natural to a sage green.

What's that on the floor?

That's never a good thing to hear. The thing on the floor is never a $100 bill. Especially when the thing is under the baby who is in the jumpy seat.

A diaper can act like a pastry piping bag under the right (or very wrong) circumstances.

Enough said.

boogitty boogitty boogitty

Peter has specific things that he finds funny.

Mommy has discovered that boogitty boogitty boogitty will make him squeal with joy. Every time.

Daddy has discovered that boogitty boogitty boogitty will get him a look of "what the heck are you doing? Wacko" Every time.

When will the teasing end?

25-30 years ago our family walked into church a little late, in our father's day best, right up to the front. They were already singing the first song. Before we could get the hymnals opened to the right page, the song ended. And the minister gave the benediction and the sevice ended. Followed by a roar of laughter.

My church does service an hour early in the summer (10 instead of 11).

We start on Father's day. Every year people make a point to remind us specifically. Still.

I was a little late, but we have a baby. Mom and Dad weren't there when we strolled in. During the second song I snuck out and called them. Dad answered the home phone. I asked "did you forget something?" We laughed as he went to tell mom. They made it for the last song :)

The teasing probably won't stop soon.

Father's day

Tera and the girls (their father couldn't come up this weekend) joined Peter and I at church for Father's day. We then went out for dinner with some of the people from church, and my dad.

A nice, relaxing day.

Kaaahhhnnnn!

Peter has been doing this thing where he holds his hand out, palm up and growls / grunts at it. It sounds a lot like Shatner in the Wrath of Kahn.

you swine

Swine flu has made it to the girls' school. All the confirmed cases (8) are in the middle school, which has hallways that connect to the high school. The schools remain open. The number of students out with flu-like symptoms went from 58 Friday to 31 on Monday. The last 2 days we didn't let the girls take the bus, and the middle school student got picked up right after the final she had.

Had a roll over today!

Peter has rolled from his back to his front and just this week his front to his back, usually un-noticed. Today Diana, Tera and I watched him roll from his back to belly, we started to cheer, but he kept right on going, all the way back to his back! We cheered louder :-)

too much fun

I put Peter on his belly this morning for a little tummy time while I got ready for work. He usually does less than five minutes before complaining, but I got close to 10 this morning and still no complaints. I went back to check on him and he's playing quietly, on his back!

Last night I watched while he grabbed his sock and pulled. In a couple of tries he had it completely off. Seconds later it was in his mouth :)

Peter woke Tera up for a little snack around 5 am! If some inconsiderate jerk hadn't woke her up with his snoring at around 3 it would have been another solid night's sleep.

Bad Dan

ahh sweet, sweet sleep

we put Peter to bed about 9 and he quietly fussed a little while. When my alarm went off at 5:30 he was still asleep! He finally woke about 6:30 with some quiet calling. Yay!

if only I had been able to get to sleep at a reasonable time.

Grandparents > babysitter

Mom and Dad watched Peter while the girls and I when to the track banquet. They took the baby for walks, fed him changed the diaper AND did the dishes! That last one is my mostly job, so I really appreciate them.

2 ah ah ah

Second tooth is clearly visible. No wonder he's kinda cranky.

Mr. Cranky pants

Peter's been pretty fussy and not sleeping well the last couple days. Probably teething (toothing?) related. It's a good excuse to hold the baby, but he'd rather daddy walk him. My arms thank the daddy pack.

one, ah, ah, ah

I was helping distract Peter while Tera put lotion on his belly. He grabbed my hand and stuck my thumb in his mouth. As he is gumming away, I noticed a slight grating sensation on my thumbnail. Sure enough, there is a little glimmer of white on the lower front gum line. Not quite a tooth yet, but definitely a tooth wanna be.

Catching up - Peter

Smiles - Peter loves to smile, he does it often. Sometimes just seeing family from across the room is enough to light him up.

Giggles - it's pretty easy to coax a giggle out of Pete, sometimes even a full out laugh.

Talking/rasberries - Peter does a lot of vocalization. Especially when he wants attention.

Spinning - Peter can and at least daily does spin. On his back and on the activity mat or in the crib he can spin 90 or 180 without too much trouble.

Rolls - Peter sticks his feet straight up, they fall to one side, and we have a baby on his side. He does this all the time. He can get back to his back easily. He also seems to choose which side he wants to be on.

Flip - One time Peter got from his side to his belly. We didn't see how he did it, we just noticed that he had done from back to belly. He still doesn't like belly time much.

Toes - Peter has them and loves to play with them. He can grab one with both hands or both with one. We even saw him with his foot touching his forehead. That must come from Tera because I would need surgery for that to happen.

Sick - Peter caught a cold either from daycare or his sisters. Coughing / boogies. He also started occaisionally making this loud wheezing noise about the same time while breathing in through his mouth.

Dr. - The wheezing must be for fun. Lungs are clear, phem is too, so nothing to worry about. Peter at almost 5 1/2 months is 18.5 pounds. He was on his best behavior, so the nurse took him down to the nurses station to show off what a cutie he is. All smiles for the Dr. when he came in. He was impressed at Peter's ability to grab his toes, that doesn't usually happen for another month.

Catching up - Life talk

Deck - My father-in-law was going to help me replace the weathered deck boards and weak railings on the front steps / deck. I started to remove the skirting and Tera sent some pictures to him. Based on the pictures we've had some other knowledgeable people check the supports out and they agree: the deck should be falling apart. It is in fact rock solid, but no one believes it, even while standing on it. That will make the project much more expensive.

Storage - My plan to put a second shed on the property has been revised. We couldn't decide where the best place to put on is. No place is ideal. The original shed has some issues. We need to do some small repairs on it (doors don't work right, some of the T-111 needs repair / replacing). So we are thinking about a bigger shed in the same place. If we do a pole barn style instead of the kit I was going to buy it shouldn't be too much more.

Tera - Is back to work. It's been hard on her, and Peter got sick week #2 in daycare, but he seems OK with the travel and daycare.

Rachel's Room - Grammy and Poppa came down and put tile / carpet in her room. It came out great!

Tera's Dad with my brother's help replaced the chimney on the porch with sky light. Even at dusk or clouds it looks there is a light on.

Tera and her mom organized the porch so it can be used as a dining room.

Gazebo - it's huge (12' diameter). The weather hasn't cooperated much since we got it done. but it should end up as a nice place to hang out.

Happy Valenties day, birthday, anniversary and Father's day from Tera! Dad and I put together the grill Tera got me. It's really nice. Ran out of gas the first time we used it, but we were almost done.

Weeding - there are a lot of nice flowers hidden under years of weeds. Tera has spent a huge amount of time working on the flowerbed reclaimation project. Her mom, the girls and I have helped some, but she's done most of the work.

Zerbert part 2

Peter was a little fussy as I was walking around, so I gave him a zerbert on the cheek. We've done it before and thought it funny.

Today it led to about 10 seconds of pouty lip follow by screams of protest. It took five minutes of walking and rocking to quiet him down.

sorry Pete

Zerbert part 1

Peter likes zerberts on his belly. I often give him one after a diaper change. It makes a baby smile. This morning he smiled and responded with one of his own. An actual zerbert is beyond him right now but a toot sounds a lot like one. He was quite proud of himself.

Holy cow

Last week, after some mega diaper changes the boy weighed 15.1 pounds. This week, only a minor mess today, 16.3!!!

but enough about the little things, we got a happy boy! Smiles are pretty easy to coax out of him. He coos a lot and even puts out some real laughs a couple times a day.

He is such a great little man.

and holding...

Peter weighed in at 15.1 pounds again. No noticible weight gain. How bizarre. I guess that happens. but he did enjoy playing Wii fit in the daddy pack instead of daddy's very tired arms.

2 nights in a row he has slept for 6 hours straight! Such a good boy. Yesterday I went in and he stopped fussing and just smiled at me. I rubbed his belly to see if he would go back to sleep and he just kept smiling and drifting off. After a couple minutes he remembered that he was hungry and we went in to wake the mama, but we did smiles with her for a couple minutes before we had to start eating.

Never mind

After 5 messy diapers in one day (all normal, except Pete usually does about that many in a week), Peter now weighs 15.1 #. Much more reasonable growth rate.

Back on track at 11.

So last week Peter seemed a bit light. He made up for it. 15.4 pounds! And that's without formula. Peter had a rash so the Dr. gave us a new formula to try. Peter wouldn't touch it. after a week we tried the old one. Rash came right back. So Tera's doing it alone. Thanks sweetie

10 weeks

We weighed Peter on the Wii and he showed up as only 14 pounds, about 5 oz. less than last week. We aren't worried because that's about 1 dirty diaper.

Anybody missing a small dead animal?

I think it's hiding in Peter's diaper. Actually it's better today, but the last couple of days were pretty smelly.

110%????

Peter turns 9 weeks old today. We had a Dr. appt. He's 14#, 5 oz. and 26 inches long! That's 95% for weight and 110% on height. Tera has trouble understanding bigger than 100%.

My take: if there were 100 kids Peter's age in a room, Peter would weigh more than 95 of them. He would be taller than all the kids, plus some in the next room.

interesting fact: Peter is only 3 feet shorter than Tera :)

New tricks

Peter has started of get very smiley right after a diaper change. Just as you finish getting his clothes on... the smile does too. A nice thank you :)

A couple nights ago as I was preparing to swaddle Peter he laid perfectly still, arms at his sides. I picked it the blanket from his left, trapping the arm in place just as I got to his right arm he shot it straight up, with a huge smile on his face. We (Peter and I) laughed for a bit and I tried it again. Sure enough he pulls the same trick with the same big smile. Of course he hasn't done it since, but he seemed to know exactly what he's doing

and I thought my move stunk

It took my sister longer than planned to pack, that happens. At about 7 last night she was done, except for the stuff going in the cab of the pickup, which we were going to do after it got put on the dolly. My brother went to start the moving van and nothing... the battery appears completely dead. my brother checks and it has 3 batteries. Neither Mike or I have our jumper cables but we found Lisa's The truck wouldn't start with just one set of cables, so it was wait for the one pair to charge 3 batteries or use another set. Friends of the neighbor came over and we were on with 2 sets, but still nothing. We saw the battery voltage up into the "normal" range and still nothing. At this point we start checking over things. Maybe the doors need to be closed, seat belts on, etc. Still nothing. My sister finally gets through to someone with the rental company. They will send someone out. It's now almost 8. My sister had planned to take a nap and be on the road by midnight. My brother and I left, telling her to call us if the repair guy won't help her load the pickup onto the dolly.

10 PM I get an IM from my sister. Repair guy is going to have to come back in the light.
Noon. The repair guy came back and the truck started right up. He can tell that the starter has been hit a lot, and someone has tried to hook jumper cables direct to the starter (we didn't try that). He told my sister to not shut off the truck until she reached her destination, because he couldn't find a new starter. He's gone before my brother and I get there to put the truck on the dolly. That goes pretty well. so we get the last of the stuff loaded in.

And then my brother noticed that the tires on the dolly look soft. Mike and I ran up to the true value and pick up a compressor and pressure gauge. Sure enough, the tires are 25 instead of 40-50. we pump her up and she is off.

aboout 6 pm I get a call. there is about 1/2" of snow and ice on the road and accidents all over the place. traffic slowed from about a mile in an hour to stopped for 20 minutes. They ended up almost 2 hours in the same spot.

In normal weather they would be half way to Pittsburgh,

8 ah ah ah

Peter hit 8 weeks and 13 1/2 pounds on Monday.

We took him to Diana's concert last night and he was a big hit. People love the hair and the happy (or at least quiet) baby.

Last Friday we took him to lunch with a couple friends, shopping at the mall and Wegman's and dinner there too.

He was having too much fun to nap, which made for a cranky baby Friday night. After sleeping most of Saturday he was back to his normal self.

7 ah ah ah

Yes, Peter is 7 weeks old. And 13 pounds!!! No wonder my back gets tired.

He's been getting up once a night recently. We aren't totally exhausted anymore :)

Dilbert isn't funny sometimes. Sometimes it's a little too close to my company.

My boss is pretty good, and the co-workers are great, but management seems to try extra hard to kill the atmosphere.

was this thing supposed to come with an altimeter?

Peter turned 6 (weeks) a couple days ago. He is getting bigger and smiles a lot. At a visit with the in-laws over the weekend, we discovered a couple of things.

1) Peter discovered that he can coo. He doesn't do it often yet, but he seems to be pretty happy when he's doing it.

2) Either Tera or her dad noticed that the model baby we got came with an altimeter. Sometimes the act of standing alone is enough to stop him from crying. I understand that sitting might disturb a baby because of accidental movements, but quieting because of the act of standing, even before walking? very bizarre.

so pretty

on my way to work there were little tiny snow flakes. Perfectly shaped but about an 8th of an inch. You couldn't see them at home until they blew across the blazer. There was a blue sky, they must have been squeezed out of the air by the bitter cold.

When I got to work you still couldn't see them in the sky, but when the sun was in the right position it looked like the sky was full of glitter. what a beautiful way to start the day.

4 ah ah ah

My little man hit 4 weeks today. What a cutie.

Three weeks!!!!!

So, Peter hit three weeks old yesterday! The last three weeks have been a blur of working from home, into the office part days, holidays and a sick day. It was also my first full day in the office. All day with no Peter and no Tera. It was tough. Not getting a nap didn't help either :)

Peter is getting better at sleeping for long stretches, but not so much at night. He's in his swing now. At first he didn't seem to like it, but he's good with it now. I'll release him when I'm done here, because I'd rather he sleeps at night.

Peter is recovering from is cold. Mostly a stuffy nose, post nasal drip cold. He seems to handle it better than I did (he caught it from me). We put him in the bathroom when taking a shower and use baby saline drops and he stays pretty clear.

Gotta run