Sesame Street Live

Becky in her seat getting ready to watch Sesame Street Live


Bode was there too! He found us during the intermission ~ which made it just a little too long for kids to sit!


Becky really seemed to enjoy the show. I think her favorite part was the strobe light though. She kept looking at the ceiling saying, "Look at that. Wow. Look at that. Pretty." Gotta love a kid's perspective! Becky was also very concerned about the characters and every time they went off stage, she would say, "Where'd they go?" All in all, though, it was a great time. Even Al didn't hate it because Becky was having fun. I think he may have been a little relieved to see so many other dads there too!

playground

Becky, Bode, and I went to the park in Spencer with Larry and Donna the Saturday of Memorial Weekend when it was nice outside for like an hour. Brrr!!! The kids sure had fun running around, and I had fun taking pictures until my camera batteries died and I had no back-up with me!

cool cousins

Becky and Bode on their bikes eating suckers. Looks like trouble to me!

Becky lovin on Emma. She is going to have fun teaching her all about princesses one day, I just know it!

bedtime struggle

As many of you know ~ or don't because I haven't blogged in forever ~ Al and I have both been struggling with Becky going to bed on time. She has become a master staller and somehow ends up not going to bed until 9:30 or 10 and then waking up crying in the morning because she's so tired. Well...this week we decided we would just make her go to bed and let her cry. Monday night her and I did our bedtime routine for 30 minutes. I asked her if she wanted to rock three times. She did not. At 8:30, of course, she did. I left her in her crib standing up crying. I then got on the internet to make sure I was doing the right thing. It's so hard to listen to your child scream at the top of their lungs for you! I went and checked on her in 15 minutes. I had calmed down by then, because as you can imagine, Al and I both are at our wits end by the time we leave the room at night trying to make her go to sleep. I realized something had to change when she was playing with a bear telling it, "Go to sleep. It's ridiculous!" That's when I knew maybe our "routine" wasn't working out so well. I tell you what, it's really humbling to see your child playing back the way they see something happen. They are so always paying attention. Anyway.. at 9 on the first night, I hear, "I wanna lay down!" I went up, she laid down, and I covered her up. It only took 15 minutes the second night and 10 the next before she was ready to lay down after screaming.

Tonight...she's in her crib without the railing. I had asked her if she wanted a big girl bed and she said yes. So I took off the footrail tonight. She hasn't gotten out of bed once! Granted I'm paranoid and she would so be asleep if I hadn't checked on her five times to make sure she hadn't fallen out. There is no guardrail on it, so I'm sure I will be a nervous wreck all night. She seems to really like it though. The only time she cried out was when one of her pillows fell on the floor and she wanted me to get it. The last time I checked on her, I heard something fall. Granted, there was no crying or screaming so I should have left her alone. However, the paranoia made me think, what if she is unconscious and can't? Of course the bang wasn't that loud. It was her book I told her she could keep in bed to look at if she stayed in bed. She did, the book didn't!

So I think my baby girl is growing up to be a little girl. While I am sure her staying in the bed this first night is a little bit of a fluke, I'm going to pray it stays this way for a while!

pooped in the potty!

Kid you not..she really did. I think at first she was just stalling not wanting to lay down for her nap, but she told Al she wanted to sit on the potty. He brought her downstairs and let her. She told him to leave the room. He did. A couple minutes later, Becky comes running out and says, "Mommy, I did it!" I went in the bathroom, and sure enough there was poop in there. Now, you think only a mom could be so proud. Nope, just after I had dumped the turd in the toilet, here comes Al with the camera! (That's a husband truly after his wife's scrapbooking heart for sure!) We decided it wasn't something we needed a picture of, even though it was a perfectly formed turd. Becky was very excited too. Kept saying, "I did it!" and clapping her hands. At least now we know she can do it!

RECESS

Becky and I went to Recess in Ankeny with Julie and Drake this morning. After the kids got warmed up, they had a great time running around. If you've never been, it's great for toddler age!

Easter dress

Here is Becky in her Easter dress! She actually kept it on the entire day. WOW!!!

more pics soon

I'm not sure what is going on with Blogger....the pictures are doing weird things. I don't feel like trying to guess what's going on, so I will try again real soon, I promise! I've got some great pictures of Easter I want to post. All is well with us. Hard to believe March is almost over already!

A good friend of ours, Mandy Baumgarten, was diagnosed with leukemia and is in the hospital in Pheonix undergoing chemo. It is a very agressive form of cancer, and she was pregnant when she found out she had it, so there will not be a baby. It was not an option for her to wait the nine months before starting treatment. She wouldn't have made it. She is doing very well and is very optomistic about it, but my heart just breaks for her and her family. She is in our thoughts and prayers. We pray for a speedy recovery.

Also, our friends Brian and Sarah Thompson's little girl, Calla, is in the hospital with RSV. It has now turned into pneumonia. She is also in our prayers.

Al is no longer in nursing school. He started a full-time job in Waukee three weeks ago, and really seems to like it. He is doing collection work, but it is with a smaller company. So far it seems to be going really well.

Becky ended up with another ear infection. I thought she might have one as she was waking up in the middle of the night. On the 17th, she went to the doctor. I was right. She got some new medicine, that tastes a lot better than the stuff she had last time, and an appointment to go back in a month to try to figure out if it's gone or if we need to consider getting a tube put back in her left ear. The doctor said we may also do a hearing test just to make sure her eardrum hasn't been damaged. I'm afraid we shouldn't wait a month. She was just messing with her ear tonight and telling Mommy it hurt. Trying to figure out if she's for real or if her molars (which still haven't officially come in) are just causing pain radiating up into her ear. Oh...the guessing game of being a parent!

Guess there has been a lot going on. Have just been too busy to take the time to post, I guess. In fact, I should be working on a transcript right now, but I just had to post about Mandy. She is in my thoughts and I wanted everyone to know so they could say a prayer for her as well.

I will get Easter pictures posted this weekend if not before, so make sure to check back!

February pics

For some reason, I'm not able to see where the pictures start and where they end, so I'll just give a description here. Becky got to help Daddy shovel the snow, got her first Barbie for Valentine's Day, got to wear her "hair tup" as she calls it, got to pose in her Elmo dress, and got to ride the train at the mall. What a busy month!

Mystery bug

Well...Becky has been home sick most of the week with strange symptoms. She had to be picked up from day care early on Monday because of fever, and then she vomited. Poor thing! Stayed home with me on Tuesday with a mild fever. No vomiting. Woke up at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday with a fever of 103. Took some medicine. No fever when she woke up at 9 a.m. Had a great day. Played hard, hung out, had fun. Figured it must have been some sort of flu bug and she would be able to go back to day care on Thursday. Threw up out of nowhere at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and again at 4:30 p.m. Too late to get into the doctor, so decided to just stay home one more day. Wednesday night my dad came over to visit and give Becky her Valentine's present. Was running around being silly and having fun. No signs of fever or sickness at all. Ate pizza for supper and had candy and kept everything down. Slept through the night. Woke up at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Threw up at 9:30 a.m. Called the doctor to get an appointment. Went to the doctor. It's an ear infection!! The tube in her left ear has fallen out and her eardrum is all red and swollen. (The doctor thought the vomiting was probably just due to drainage from the ear infection.) Not ear infections again! I am hopeful that this is just a one-time thing. She got some medicine (which she only seems to be able to take if she is bribed with candy) and hopefully it will get better soon. If they seem to be recurrent again, we will have to head back to the ENT to see about getting tubes put in again. Al is home with her today and they seemed to be having a good time when I called. She was very excited to be watching Shrek the Third for the 20th time and hanging out with her daddy.

January pics

Since I haven't posted for a month, thought I would post a few pics. I really haven't taken many because there just hasn't been much going on. Becky has gotten so big this last month though! This first picture is how big she was on December 15th...look at her in reference to the ottoman....

Here she is just a month later!!! What a tall girl!
Crashed out with her hand in her snack cup...this was one of the days she just wouldn't lay down for a nap.
Bode came over to play with us this morning...
Becky and Bode trying their best to play together

Snow fun

What a great day it was to play in the snow! After Becky woke up from her nap and had snack, the three of us went outside and got to build our first snowman. Becky actually liked walking and playing in the snow this year. I couldn't get her to lay down and do a snow angel...maybe next year!

peed in the potty!

Just had to share that Becky peed in the little potty tonight! She sat on the big one before her bath, so I got the little one out. She sat on it too, but didn't pee. When she got out, she said she had to pee. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty, and she said, "my pee." So I sat her down and she went. It was great!!! I am sure once she moves up to the two-year-old room at daycare, potty training will be pretty easy. We will just have to figure out a way to convince her she can't take her sippee cup to bed!!

Christmas at home

We had a great Christmas at home this year. Becky had fun opening her presents. Even got a picture in front of the tree in her pajamas. I got her to finally look at the camera by having her say "Hi Mommy"

Look at what Santa brought. Wow! She was really excited when she saw it. I didn't get a picture though ~ I was videotaping!



As always, for more fun-filled pics, click the Shutterfly link!

Christmas in Spencer

Can't go anywhere without my new baby!
opening presents

This is pretty fun! Bode and Becky in their new pajamas!

How cute am I?

We had a wonderful time in Spencer celebrating Christmas. As always, we felt like we were at our own home. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Dad's hip surgery

For those of you who didn't know, my dad had hip replacement surgery on Monday morning. He got to go home from the hospital yesterday. It is absolutely amazing to me how fast he was up and walking around in less pain than he had been in for a long long time. He said it was the best he had felt in 10 years!! We are praying for a speedy recovery as he plans on being back up in Des Moines to begin the legislative session in three weeks. So far, he's right on track and doing very well.

Christmas in Des Moines

Here are a few of my favorite pics from Christmas this past weekend in Des Moines with my family. To see more of the madness, click on the Shutterfly link to the side. What a wonderful day it was! I am so blessed to have family that gets along so well and enjoys spending time together around the holidays and always. Love to you all!





Becky just plain pooped out after everyone left. She fell asleep watching Elmo! That is definitely a first!!!