Sick Again

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be going to the doctor three times in one week. Monday we went for Joshua's well-baby check-up, which he looked amazingly well and she is very pleased that he is growing and thriving.

Then the next day he develops a nasty cough that we just brush off to all the moving and kicking up dust. My nose has been extremely, painfully, dry for the past couple of weeks so this was not good. Well, on Thursday Joshua's temperature shot up to 103.2, the highest it has ever been. He was burning up to the touch and very cranky. I called the office and they got us in that afternoon. We went for an x-ray of his chest again because he had limited, shallow, breathing in his right lung. All came back clear. He was tested for RSV and the Flu, both of which were negative. She asked us to come back the next day to see how he was and make sure it wasn't getting worse.

So after being up most of the night and sleeping on the blow-up bed in the living room with my little man in nothing but his diaper to get his temp down, I set off for the doctors office again today. His cough is now phlemy sounding, but supposedly a good thing. Apparently he is on the mend.

I stopped at Cornicopia (a health food store) and picked up some Silver Biotics. They boost the immune system naturally and will knock the cold out within 36 hours. I hope he is well by Sunday to catch the last meeting with the North San Marcos Congregation and then the Memorial on Tuesday night.

Sixteen Months Old and Other News

Joshua turned 16 months old today. In just a couple of months he will be 18 months old and we'll be taking him on his first camping trip. He is going to be a little fish like his Aunt Anastasia when she was younger. I remember she could practically live in the lake/pool all summer long if we let her. He already has a great floaty for being in the water. Will need to start teaching him how to swim soon.

He is getting so big and starting to take on such a boy personality. He plays with his little toy cars all of the time and loves driving them over the bed, night stands, boxes, ground, lamp stands, etc. His favorite part is crashing them together.

His new words these past couple of weeks are: Blue, Please, and Cheese. Occasionally we can get him to say "Up" when he lifts his arms up wanting to be held.

In two weeks we are going to Crowe's Nest Farm with a group from the North San Marcos Congregation. It will be in Manor so we will most likely meet them there as it is right next door to Elgin. It will be a lot of fun and I can't wait to get pictures of him on a working farm. Daddy even said he would try to take that Friday off work to go with us so he can see how much fun Joshua has.

Too Tired To Play

So Joshua wouldn't take a nap this morning no matter how hard I tried to lay next to him until he fell asleep...he lasted maybe fifteen minutes and has been going all morning long as I sift through things in the office wondering how I accumulated so many things.

So he had been begging to be picked up, but I just don't have time to hold him through a two and a half hour nap and he always wakes up when I lay him down. So I let him fuss (I know I am a horrible mommy to all those moms that just can't let their kid scream and pull at your clothes and just make you want to pull your hair out). He finally laid down with his tractor and the result....he fell asleep all by himself on the ground. This is only the second time he has ever done this.

Mr. Mom - Lonestar

This song goes out to all the Stay-at-home-moms. There is so much you do in one day that no one else will EVER understand. Especially those that think you sit around in your PJs all day long watching daytime television and taking naps. If only life were that easy.

Our House Sold

Well, the home Joshua has grown up in thus far has been sold. We signed the contract today and closing is on March 31st (twenty-one days from now). In a small way it will be hard to leave the house and I am most likely to cry as we pull away for the very last time. This is the home that we moved into after getting married, we had many happy memories...I can remember digging up the grass to extend out the flower bed closest to the house...planting all our roses, and most of all....bringing Joshua home from the hospital to this house. He learned to roll, crawl, stand-up alone, and walk in this house.

Although I am looking forward to starting new memories out on the land as we build our house and get my huge vegetable garden, chickens, and the cows (or as Uncle John says...home grown steaks). We aren't going to have a huge amount of animals...the ones we will have will be for food (so I probably shouldn't name the goat, Billy). I am hoping to make the home as self-sufficient as possible. Plant and grow what vegetables/fruits we eat regularly in meals so that I can can them and keep them always on hand when it is not growing season to do it all again the next year. The animals will be taken to a butcher to have the cuts of meat put aside to put in the freezer for later.

I know many are reading this asking...where are you going to live while the house is being built. Well, we are going to be living in a 5th wheel. How confining!!! I know that you thought that just now...well, most of the time is going to be in the summer time. Where do most kids want to be in the summer? OUTSIDE. And when you have an animal loving child like I do what better place to be than playing with the animals and swimming in your pool (well the blow up kind). Then there is always story time at the library, the park just down the road, and of course there are bound to be some play dates with any kids in the Elgin Congregation.

Here is the floor plan to the 5th wheel we have been looking at and fell in love with:

So, he won't have a crib set up, but I was thinking of this flip out sofa for him that can be put in the living area to be used for naps and eventually night time until the house is finished. What do you think?

Nap Time Sleep Training

Well, today I started with sleep training...we will start with the naps before moving onto night time. The things I have to do because I didn't get blessed with a baby that miraculously slept all night long from birth. So in the morning which he has now decided that he will wake up at five o' clock in the morning and say good-bye to Daddy and not go back to sleep will push his nap time to either 8:30 or 9:00 am. At 8:30 I changed his diaper, put his sippy and lovey's into the crib, kissed him on the forehead and told him I loved him and into the crib he was laid down. I turned and walked out of the room and closed the door. Since I had worked out early I got into the shower and took a long leisurely shower (actually got to shave my legs). Joshua screamed the entire hour he was in his crib. You'd think with how tired he was he would have just laid down and fallen asleep because it feels so much better to sleep than be exhausted. When I walked in to get him after the hour was up I found all his toys thrown out of the crib, his sippy on the floor, and yep you guessed it....his pants on the floor too!!!

He was so mad and kept screaming as I changed his diaper again. Then I put him down and went about doing some picking up of toys around the house. He followed screaming the entire time holding out his arms to me. I shouldn't have given in and picked him up, but I can only do so much screaming in a day. Although after this afternoon's attempt he will not be held so he can go to sleep because he won't sleep at night.

So, on we go with the sleep training.

Loving Mommy's iPhone

Joshua loves the apps that I have on my phone just for him. He's learned this one so well that he can do it all by himself and he LOVES it. If he's in a bad mood I put this one on and can always get a smile and laugh.

Eating Like A Champ

At about 1o months old we stopped giving Joshua any type of purees and tried to get him to eat more table food with us. It didn't quite work out so well and he ate mostly applesauce with cereal in it. At 12 months we stopped that and he had to eat what we gave him or nothing. It was a long drawn out battle, but it worked...in a month he gained almost a pound.

Today...he rarely even has applesauce at breakfast, but I always keep it on hand for those days when we are running behind and need to get food into him quickly. Most mornings it's toast, yogurt, and a fruit of some sort. At lunch it's yogurt, a fruit, some lunch meat, and crackers. At dinner it is usually what ever we are eating. He eats fish, steak, hamburger, pasta, turkey, sausage, etc.

So the other night we had spaghetti and the results were priceless...spaghetti sauce all over his face and he enjoyed playing with the noodles all over the table. Then for breakfast when I make a protien shake he will get his own little glass and will sip it all up with a straw.

We go to the doctor again on the 22nd and Raul and I are predicting that he will have gained at least two pounds. What do you predict he will have gained? His weight at 15 months was 20lbs 5oz (he lost 10oz from his 13 month check-up due to being sick for two weeks before).

Eating a banana

Having Spaghetti

Drinking his smoothie with Mommy