Zoo

So on Friday it was in the low 80s which even for TX is a little hot for February. We decided we would go to the Zoo on Saturday thinking that if it is already 80 in February it is going to get really hot really fast and we better enjoy the Zoo while it is still bearable. Saturday morning when we left for the Zoo it was 55 and when we got back it was 65. I am not sure what happened to the 80 degree weather but it was such a nice day. The wind was really blowing but there were times when he took our jackets off. All in all it was definitely better than 80 degrees.

Our little eaglets.

This slide was a little fast for B and he kinda flew off the end and landed on his bum. There were lots of gasps from other moms and dads but I couldn't get to him in time because I was trying to take the picture. Yeah, I kinda felt like a bad mom but in my defense he didn't even cry.

G gave him some motivation to crawl through the log. I love the smile on his face.


B got to pet the goats for the first time. He wasn't really sure about them and really wasn't all that impressed but he did pet them and he wasn't really afraid until he got knocked down by a goat because another kid kind of pushed the goat into him on accident. After that he just wanted to be held.

I like how he is sideways looking at the goat in this one.

G picked the gorilla for her carousel ride. She was excited to ride but made sure I stood right next to her.

B's first carousel ride. He got the impala by default (it happened to be next to the gorilla) but he didn't care. He liked holding on to the ears and horns. Once it started going he was a little clingy to T but he stayed on the whole time and didn't cry. He is much braver than G was for her first time.

Our Little Monkey

I was putting B's laundry away and I saw him trying to climb into the rocking chair but I didn't think he could do it. He must have heard my thoughts and decided to prove me wrong because about 30 sec later I turned around and this is what I found. He is quite the little monkey!

Wonderful Weather

We have been having wonderful park weather lately. We have to take every chance to get outside before it gets too hot.

B is finally getting the hang of the slides. He even had some smiles.

Swinging together. G still sometimes get a little nervous on these kinds of swings and B is still not too sure about them at all.

B chasing the birds. I happened to take the picture when he was looking back at T. He is getting so good at walking.

I think he still might be a little too small for this one. He actually almost fell off right after the picture was taken.

This one is obviously not from the park. I was trying to capture B's 'squishy nose' smile. He can be such a cheese sometimes.

G wanted to see the fish so bad. I wouldn't let her sit or stand on the edge because I was afraid she would fall in so she decided to lay down to get a better look. She even saw a few.

G likes these swings a lot better but she still tells us to only push her 'softly'.

Another great expression while sliding. We love our G!


It wasn't all that long ago when this wall was way too hard to G. Look at her now.

Still a favorite toy even though she looks a little big for it. Maybe I am just comparing her to B :)

B and no nap

This is what happens when B doesn't get a nap. Poor little guy! At least he had finished his dinner. His forehead eventually rested on the tray and he never woke up. T moved him to the living room floor (it is way too late for him to take a long nap and still sleep tonight) while we finished dinner and he stayed asleep the whole time.

G and sleeping

G had a bath, put her jammies on, got her hair combed, ate her vitamin, brushed her teeth and went to the bathroom. We said prayers, gave kisses and hugs, read a story and sang a song. Now comes the stalling.
1. "Mom, I need you sing me 1 more song." Now this really could go on all night but I open her door, stand at the door and sing her 1 more song. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

2. "Mom, I need my baby." Ok, this is a reasonable request so I go in to get her baby. Not the 1st or 2nd baby I offer but the 3rd. Whew, at least I found the one she wanted pretty quickly. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

3. "Mom, I need you." I ignore this because I don't think she really needs anything else.

4. "Mom, I need you." Maybe she does really need something so I go and check. She needs her baby's bottle and binky. I understand that in her mind her baby really needs these things to go to sleep so I find them. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

5."Mom, I need my Wonder Pets book." This was the story that I read to her right when she was going to bed. I had brought it out with me on accident so I knew exactly where it was. I guess she needed to read it to her baby...in the dark. Here's your book. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

So now I go downstairs because Blake needs to nurse.

6. "Mom, I need you!" and she is crying. T goes up. She needs her clothes (for the next day including panties, socks and shoes) by her bed. If I have to come up again you get a spanking. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

7. "Mom, I need you!" More crying. T goes up again. She gets a spanking, but only a light one. She needs her hat which is downstairs. T convinces her that he will bring it up and put it by her bed when he goes to bed and it will be there when she wakes up. Somehow this works. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

8. "Mom!" T is a little frustrated by this point but he goes up and this is the conversation that follows
T: What do you need?
G: I need Mom.
T: Why?
G: I need tell her about my hiney.

T: What about your hiney?

G: You spank my hiney.

T: I did spank your hiney.
G: Be nice to my hiney.
Good night G. I love you go to sleep.

Blake is done nursing, is asleep and in his crib.

9. "Mom, I need to go tt." Ok G, get up and go in the bathroom. I go up to make sure she actually goes and to remind her B is sleeping and that she needs to be quiet. Out she comes and she goes straight to the bathroom. She does go which isn't always the case when she is trying not to go to sleep. Good job G, I am so proud of you for going to the bathroom. Go back to bed. I'll sing you 1 more song. Good night G, I love you. Go to sleep.

Finally, 45 min after staring the bedtime routine she is asleep. She did wake up at 2 am to go to the bathroom which is very rare but I was already up with B and her pullup was dry this morning so I guess that was worth it :) I am just glad every night isn't like last night :)

10 months

As of February 12 B is 10 months old. He is turning into a little boy! Here is a list of B's accomplishments/tricks:

*He walks just as much if not more than he crawls. He gets better everyday!

*He eats and loves table food. He eats just about everything we do. (chopped up, of course)

*He can say Uh-Oh and Bye-Bye. He also says Ma-Ma and Da-Da.

*He give high fives and low fives.

*He loves to give kisses.

*He has a "motor" sound. He goes around the house saying "thicka thicka thicka" really fast.

*He spits (not a very good trait) and then laughs about it (also not a very good trait).

*He claps, especially when you say "Good job B!" or pat-a-cake.

*He crinkles his nose when he smiles or laughs.

*He follows G around and wants to do everything she does.

For those of you wondering about the previous ER visit post, we have decided that he was chocking on and swallowed part of a board book. We never found anything plastic but we did find a couple good-sized chunks of cardboard.

ER visit

B wins the prize for the first kid to require an emergency room visit. He should definitely not be proud of this. He was playing in the hallway with one of G's soft dolls. I went down the hall to his room to put a blanket away and we I cane back he was choking on something. I stuck my finger in his mouth to try and get it out. I felt it in the back of his throat and then he started chocking more so I turned him upside down and patted him on the back. Then he swallowed it. Then he crawled away and kept playing. I have no idea what it was. My best guess is that it was some plastic part of a toy but really I have no idea. I called his Dr. and explained to the nurse what happened. She asked questions such as "Did he turn any colors?" "Did he stop breathing?" No he did not. Then she said that because I didn't know what it was she would talk to the Dr. and then call me back with further instructions. She did and said that the Dr. said we should take him to the ER. Not just any ER but one with a pediatric radiologist on call. She gave me 2 choices: Texas Children's which is downtown and St. Luke's in the Woodlands. We opted for St. Luke's so we wouldn't have to fight downtown traffic.

Now for the timeline. It all started at about 2:30 in the afternoon. By the time the nurse had called me back and Troy had gotten home. It was about 4:00. We dropped G off at a friend's house. (A big thank you to the P family!) After following the wrong blue and white H sign we finally found the ER around 5:00. They were definitely in no big hurry. Then there was the whole debate of the x-ray. The first nurse that I called said they probably wouldn't x-ray because I thought it was plastic which wouldn't show up. When we got to the ER the registration nurse there started to order an x-ray and then someone told her not to because of the above mentioned reason. When we finally got to see the actual Dr. he asked us a few questions and touched his tummy for about 2 seconds said it 'felt good' (whatever that means) and then ordered an x-ray (just in case there was some metal and they needed to fish it out). That was at about 6:00. At about 6:15 the radiologist came in and it took all of 5 min to get the x-ray done.

Finally at 7:00 we asked someone if they could check on the x-ray. About 7:45 the Dr. came back in and said there was nothing on the x-ray and that we would just have to check his diapers until it passed and to come back if he started throwing up. Then he left and said he would be back to check us out. Someone (not the Dr.) came back at about 8:15 gave us a paper on chocking hazards and told us we could go. We went and picked up G and got home about 9:15. What a way to spend the afternoon/evening. G had lots of fun though and I have some pictures that were taken while she was at the P house that I will post later.

So basically we paid $100 for them to tell us he probably swallowed something plastic, tell us to watch for it to come out and give us a handout on chocking hazards. All of which we felt pretty confident about. I know it is better to be safe than sorry and following the Dr.'s advice is generally the thing to do but what a waste of $100!

B was such a trooper. He did cry (ok scream) for about the last half hour but that was only because he was practically starving. We had to wait for the x-ray results before I could feed him. After we got to the car and I fed him he was his happy go-lucky self again. He slept the whole way home.

So now we wait and search through poop to find the mysterious object that he swallowed. Diaper count so far : A-2, T-1. Stay tuned for the results!