First Boo Boo

Uncle Ryan stopped over last week and gave us some advice on the medicine front when he asked if we'd tried bribing Rylee with money.  Duh?!  Why didn't we think of that!  The routine still involves nose-plugging, chase liquids, and chocolate, plus it costs us $2 a day - but at least one person can handle it and it only takes about 20 seconds.

Unfortunately 20 seconds is all Jace needs to get into trouble these days which is why he's sporting his first shiner (a mini one at least).  He tried to stand up using Rylee's green chair and it tipped over on him. 

 

 

We usually keep the chair up on her table because Jace desperately wants to chew its antique lead-based paint, but I had forgot to put it back up.  Strike one for Mommy.  I was also the one on watch when it happened.  Strike two for Mommy.  When I picked him up, the top part of the chair was near his mouth so I thought that was the area of injury.  I didn't notice the black eye until I put him to bed about a half hour later.  Strike three for Mommy!  

Rylee vs Jace

Another busy week flew by here.  I'm getting set back up for subbing next Fall so I had three days worth of appointments for finger-printing, screening etc.  Luckily, my Mom is still in town to help with babysitting (thanks Mom!).

I've been meaning to post a picture of Rylee (when she was around Jace's age) to compare their resemblance. Here goes...

Rylee at 10 1/2 months...

 

 

Jace at 8 1/2 months...

So what do you think?  Maybe this view of Jace is better for comparing (don't mind Jon!)...

This isn't a great picture, but it does show Jace standing
(which is all he wants to do right now) and it's my whole crazy crew...

 

 

Doctor Days

We're all trying to get our doctor appts in before we leave for Minnesota in March, that meant we had a doctor appt every day last week - whew! 

Tues - Jace's checkup, plus Rylee had a recheck for her urine infection (turns out she still has it)
Wed - Rylee's allergist appointment
Thurs - I had a routine blood test (the kids came with as a sort of field trip for Rylee since...)
Fri - Rylee had to get her blood drawn for some allergy testing

Rylee was a trooper getting her blood drawn.  This is actually the third time she's had it done although she was pretty little the last two times so she doesn't really remember it.  She was a little scared when it actually came time for the needle and cried just a smidge... until the nurse actually stuck the needle in!  Then she smiled and apologized for acting silly since it didn't hurt.  :)

I only wish she could take her oral medication with such ease.  The first round of antibiotics weren't so bad.  I could mix it in with something and she would eat it.  This is double the amount and a different flavor so she's not having it - literally!  It takes both Jon and I to get it down her.  Let me paint the picture...

First, chase Rylee upstairs.
Then, break into her locked room with the little master key tool.
I sit and hold her legs and arms.
Jon sits and holds her head.
I manage to get a hand free to pry open her lips and shoot in the medicine.

You'd think it would be over about then, but no...

Rylee sits up and plugs her nose.
Then she drinks some 7 Up to add to the mix.
The she holds it all in her mouth until basically she can't breathe because she holding her nose plugged...
And then she swallows!
(And finally chases it with a piece of chocolate candy bar.)

And we have to do this twice a day for 7 more days.  Good times, good times!

8 Months!

One last Christmas photo! The two kids in their pjs before opening presents on Serbian Christmas...

 

Jace had his 8 month checkup today. He didn't have any shots at this appt, but he cried anyway. He's starting to get scared of things so he's crying a bit more these days (although with him that's still almost never).

Here are his stats:
Height - 29 inches (89 percentile)
Weight - 20 lbs 2 oz (56th percentile)
(I don't have Rylee's percentiles in her baby book, but comparatively she was 27.5 inches and 19 lbs 3 oz.)

So what's been up with Jace...

He's Got Teeth!
I know I posted about his top two teeth coming in for Christmas, then he got his bottom left.  He's still working on his bottom right.  It's just barely poking out right now.

He Can Crawl!
He's definitely on the move.  He still uses the army crawl, but he is fast.  He barely needs toys right now, he mostly likes to explore.  He especially likes to crawl under and through things so his jumpy toy, his high chair, our kitchen table and our dining room table are his forts.  Occasionally you'll hear him cry when he gets stuck between the chair legs and can't get out. 

He Can Stand?
He loves to stand up.  He'll crawl to you and use you to climb up.  He can even pull himself up to standing on Rylee's step stool in the bathroom.  He's started playing with Rylee's musical table and he'll stand up and hold on with one hand and play with the other.  Eventually he topples over, but it's a start.  :)

He Speaks!
He can say "Dada" and "Mum-Mum."  He likes to say things in three's so sometimes it's "Da-da-da" or "Mum-mum-mum."  He talked up a storm over the holidays and then quit talking for a couple of weeks.  He's been back on a talking kick again this week.  He's working on some other sounds.  To me it sounds like he's trying "hey" or "hi", "Ry," and "Gaga."

He's Scared of...
Number One on his terrified list is the Dyson Air Blade hand dryer.  He used to only cry if someone was actually using it to dry their hands, but now he knows what they look like.  We walked into the Sam's Club bathroom the other day (which we've never even been in before) and he saw them on the wall and immediately started to bawl!  Poor little dude!  When we met Jon at the checkout, he was like "was that our kid?"  Jace basically NEVER cries and that was probably the first time Jon had ever heard him cry in public.

Number Two looks like it's going to be the doctor's office.  He cried both times the nurse and the doctor laid him on his back on the table.  I'm sure it's because he associates that with the shot position now. 

I think that's all for now.  I'll leave you with some photos of him crawling around with the dogs (and Rylee).

 

 

Christmas Day - Presents

After brunch, we finished opening presents.  I only took a couple of pictures that day.

Rylee opening the light saber her Daddy made for her. 

(She has to share it with her brother some day too.)

 

 

 

Here's Rylee playing with the iPad my parents bought for our family

(so we would stop borrowing theirs!).

Rylee and Jon working on the dinosaur excavation kit he bought for her.  She was sooo excited over the safety goggles.  She had actually planned to wear her scuba mask
(when she saw the kid on the box), but luckily the goggles were included.  :)
 

 

My parents bought Jon a pizza tray for the grill so we made homemade pizzas for Christmas dinner.  They were amazing!  Rylee said they were better than any restaurant pizza and we all agreed.

*I didn't take any pictures, but Christmas continued for my kiddos with Serbian Christmas (which was a week ago Monday).  Then they were surprised with a few more presents the following day (Tuesday) when my friend brought them back a few things from Prague.  Rylee, for instance, got the most adorable hand crocheted doll with a Princess & the Pea set: bed, mattresses and pea.  The book that goes with it is written in three languages on each page.  So spoiled!

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve
I should have uploaded this with the Christmas Eve photos, but oh well. Here is the note (and milk and cookies) that Rylee left for Santa.

 

She dictated the note to me: "Dear Santa, I hope you like the cookies. Wish you a Merry Christmas. Thank you for my presents."   After signing her name and Jace's, she had me add: "Hi to the elves from Prep & Landing."

Rylee was obsessed with those cartoons this year. If you haven't seen them, they are very funny. Prep & Landing 2 is our favorite. There is a colorful coal elf who says crazy things like "Jingle Bam!" It became our catch phrase for this Christmas season.

Christmas Day
Jace woke up relatively early on Christmas morning, but Rylee was so wiped that she slept in.  We finally woke her up to get things moving.  :)  The four of us looked at/played with the Santa gifts, then my parents came over for brunch.

Here are some family shots from Christmas Day...

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve - Presents!

I'm sure everyone else has moved on, but I still haven't finished posting pictures from Christmas so here are a couple of cute present-opening photos.

 

Jace couldn't wait to try out the new teethers Rylee bought for him...

 

 

With Gaga's help, Rylee sewed this changing table pad for Jace. 

(She is actually quite talented on the sewing machine and sews straighter than I do!)

 



 

 

Jace, trying on one of his new bibs 

(the poor kid got tons of practical presents this year)...

 

 

Rylee was excited to get her winter boots (we're heading to MN in March this year).

They also make good mittens?

 

 

Hristos Se Rodi!

Christ is born.  Merry Serbian Christmas!  Rylee kept asking to open her "Serbian presents" today.

I find myself with little time for blogging tonight so I'll just pass on a quick story...

The four of us went to the park on New Year's Day and Rylee and I were talking to each through one of those tube devices.  We couldn't see each other, but we were having a nice conversation until...

Rylee: "Mommy has a big butt." 

Me: "Don't listen to a thing your father says."

"OK" says someone who is obviously not Rylee (a little boy).

Oops! 

Christmas Eve

I'm finally getting through our holiday photos, but I don't have much time for blogging tonight. I'll start with a few posed photos from Christmas Eve.
 

 

 

 

 

More to come...

Happy New Y...ER

I can cross something off my parental firsts list: taking my kid to the ER.  As far as ER trips go, it was pretty quick and painless, even for Rylee - the patient. 

I would have preffered to take her to urgent care (she had blood in her urine so she obviously had an infection), but unfortunately I was away at book club that night (Sunday).  By the time Jon told me what had happened and I came home, it was already 11 pm.  I didn't want Rylee to have to wait till the next day to start taking meds so I decided to go the ER route.  My mom and I had driven together for book club so she came with us on our "adventure."

The ER wasn't very busy and everyone treated Rylee like a VIP patient since she was up way past her bedtime.  They rushed us through the paperwork and got us a room right away.  The nurses were really friendly and did lots of cute and funny things to keep Rylee entertained like wearing the thing that was going to catch her pee like a hat (so if you ever hear Rylee talking about peeing in a hat, you'll know where that comes from!). 

Jon doesn't like it when I gush, but the ER doctor was soooo handsome and had the nicest hair.  He made McDreamy and McSteamy look like McNothings!  Personally I don't think doctors should like models, it's kind of distracting.  Anywhoo, tests confirmed she had an infection, we got her prescription and were on our way.  We were in and out within the hour so that meant we were leaving right around midnight.  We pretended it was New Year's Eve and shouted Happy New Year in the car. 

This is about where my plan went awry.  I called all the 24 hour pharmacies and they were out of the medicine we needed.  Doh!  So in the end, she went to bed without her meds anyway.  Speaking of meds, getting her to take them has been interesting.  I have to hide the chewables in a marshmallow (similar to the cheeseball trick I use for the dogs) and the liquid is a battle of negotiations and bribery.  I remember similar fights with my Mom when I was a kid.  It's exhausting!   

Overall though, Rylee's been a real trooper.  She's hardly complained or fussed at all even though I know it hurts.