RSV, Pork, 5mos

So we are still sick. I hate sick. Ugh. Last Friday I finally went in because I figured after weeks of sick it probably wasn't going away. The doctor laughed at me and said, next time, it's okay to come in sooner, I admire your attempt to not over dramatize and throw medicine at things but let's take care of it. And for the 3rd time this year, we took Grady into the doctor too on Monday. They think he's got RSV but because the treatment would be the same with or without the official diagnosis, we didn't test for it. Oh, and he's got another ear infection. My poor little baby has to sit on a nebulizer a couple times a day. Makes my heart sad but after just a few treatments he's already seeming to be feeling better. Meanwhile Eleanor continues to be the queen of Kleenex. Ugh... we need to catch a break.

This weekend was all about the meat. Matt and my family butchered hogs while I stayed home to watch Peppa Pig. Matt loves this stuff from the butchering to the sausaging to the smoking... he thoroughly enjoyed himself. These hobbies are a little easier to stomach than some others.


On Sunday, he smoked, I folded laundry and hoped for long naps and then Mom and Dad came to help wrap and spend a bit of time with the kids.

Someone turned 5mo old this past week and aside from peas, we've added sweet potatoes to his diet. He's good with that.

Wendy (Developmental Screener): yes, they are right on track. Regarding language, encourage Eleanor to use 2 word phrases: more milk, help up, bye bye, hi puppy. You'll start to see these emerge.
One month goes by.
All in living room, playing.
MJR puts feet on EER's chair, where she is reading books
EER pushes them off.
MJR puts them back on.
EER growls and pushes them off
MJR puts them back on.

EER puts her fist up to her face with her little pointer finger sticking out: No, No, Dad, No. No.
ALR starts to chuckle: Well, Wendy said she's start using 2 word phrases.
MJRR: well, I didn't think it would be that!

Snot, Dagmans, Peas, Splishsplash, Bye

This week is brought to you by the letter S for snot or maybe it should be K for kleenex. Ugh. Matt's snotty, I'm snotty, Grady is congested and booger-ey, and Eleanor is the queen of snotsicles. She knows where every kleenex box is located in each house and will go get 1 or 2 or 15. My Amazon subscription is sending a supply refresh next week and it's good timing. I even stayed home on Friday to try to get ahead of it. I'm not sure it worked.

On Saturday we had the Dagman Christmas. We had rescheduled earlier due to my Grandmother being in the hospital but it all worked out to go out to Merri's and celebrate. It was a nice day, a little hectic with two kids - especially at present opening and considering that was golden nap time. But it all worked out. Was fun to see Eleanor play a bit with her cousins and is good to catch up with the family.


Grady had a big milestone... he started to eat "real" food. We had tried oatmeal cereal at Christmas but when his ear infection hit, things came to a stall. We finally got back on track. Peas! He took it like a champ, we hope we are moving closer to maybe sleeping through the night but who knows.

We also had another big first...shared tub time! There was a lot of splashing, but also a lot of giggling!

EER walks into GRR's dark room: Bye!
ALR: Eleanor come on, let's go. Grady's trying to sleep
EER: Bye!
MJR rocking GRR: Good Night Eleanor.
EER starting to walk out but turns back: Bye!
EER goes up to MJR and makes kissey sounds
MJR reaches down and kisses her: Good night Eleanor
ALR: Let's go, Eleanor, it's bed time.
ALR escorts EER out of room into her room.
ALR begins to grab pajamas out of drawer turns around to empty room
EER has pushed door open again: Bye!

Ear Infection, GoodNightGoodNightGoodNight, Rice

Kid updates...

Grady has found his voice! And thinks he's great to hear. I will admit, I think it's pretty great too! HA! He'll shrill and coo and laugh and then blow bubbles and gurgle. He's woke up two mornings in a row just cooing and calling out. That's much better to be woken up to that than cries... He's still waking up about twice a night and both Matt and I would like to see that change but it is what it is. He is still the sweetheart of the office with all the women gushing over him. We did have to go into the doctor this past week as he had an ear infection. But ear infection or not... that doesn't stop all the splashing and kicking in the tub...I think that's his favorite thing most days.

Eleanor. Oh my Eleanor.
We are still working on the potty, we have gone twice in one day but other than that, they are few and far between. I keep telling her we'll get there one day, not sure who I'm trying to convince - her or me. She has been good about saying good bye to her "business" which is fine except when she also tells the toilet good night at night. Her favorite toy of the week has returned back to books - which is fine except Matt and I have wanted to hide some of the books because we've read them so many times. Dang, Goodnight Gorilla. If you also ask her what a rooster says, she'll make you smile with "doo-doo".

Other than that... it's been effing cold lately, -20below and whatnot. We haven't wanted to go anywhere. Work is picking up for both of us as I've been pulled into a couple conference to help with logistics.

Best meal: We had walleye that we pan fried and put a dill cream sauce on it served with steamed veggies and rose water saffron rice. The toddler didn't handle it too badly... she loved the rice, tried to Helen Keller it off our plates.

MJR: Eleanor, take these down to the laundry room.
EER takes 3 articles of clothing down the stairs.
ALR: We are building our staff?
MJR: Yes, it's about time.
ALR: It's like we have our own little Amelia Bedelia... she'll do the work but you aren't sure if it will turn out good.
MJR: I'm concerned that one day this helpful attitude will just disappear.
ALR: Oh, I'm sure it will.
MJR: And her allowance will reflect it.
ALR: I didn't have an allowance.
MJR: I did as I didn't have cows that proceeded to give me profits in the fall for my effort.
ALR: yes, I suppose I grew up in more of a socialist regime. The effort was expected for all for the good of all. 
MJR: you see, mine was more communist ran by a dictatorship where I was paid for skills and my job performance. And my work wasn't always paid by the going rate. Johnny down the street got $2 to take out the trash but that didn't mean that I got that. Maybe 25 cents, maybe a dollar. Meh.

Alice, Snowman

This past weekend, we had the Petroffs over which was so nice. Shantelle has been one of my very best friends for years and no matter the miles or time, it's always easy to catch up and talk even if we don't get to as much as I'd like. Not only was it fun to visit but to see the girls play together... something that her and I had talked about when we were engaged, was one of the best parts. We could compare notes on personalities, preferences, developments.. we do the same things with John and Allison and it reminds me how wonderful it is that our best friends are going through the same phases that we are. We had big plans to go out with everyone but with the bitter cold and the fact that we had everything at our house, it worked the best to just stay put.

The girls played well together. I use the term together pretty loose as they played next to each other but liked to be doing similar things. Alice was in LOVE with Grady and wanted to give him hugs and mother hen him. Shantelle and I also gave the girls a bath together... what a hoot. Alice was perfectly content sitting and enjoy the water, Eleanor was a fish... all over the place!

After they left on Sunday, we all bundled up and headed outside as the temp had finally broke. Eleanor's interest/inclination toward the snow has greatly improved since last year. Don't think I'm overselling... she's not elated about it but she at least she didn't have a full out meltdown. Her and Matt sledded and built a snowman. She wasn't too sure about the snowman.

EER takes off across the kitchen realizes Alice isn't with her.
EER runs back to Alice: Up Up Up
EER begins by trying to pull Alice's hand but when that doesn't deliver the result she wants begins to attempt to life Alice by her head
Alice: No. No. Nope. No. No.

Moo, Bye, Spider, Potty, Roll

With the winddown of the holidays, I figure I should give an Eleanor update...
1. Animal identification
While it was a sad day for me when I realized that she quit doing "what a frog says" she's moved on to other animals... She's still got the crab down and the cow is her standby favorite she's added sheep, wolf, and monkey to the list. You can also ask her what a skunk and a raccoon say... they may not be accurate but it's entertaining in the least.

2. Bye (with wave)
I have three bags that I regularly take to work: my purse, the diaper bag, and a black and white catch all bag. It usually has my lunch, pump parts, spare bottles, and anything else that needs to go to work that day. Eleanor's new thing is to hoist this bag onto her shoulder, give a wave and a "bye" and start heading down the stairs with it. The other day, she grabbed it, said bye, to which I "bye'd" her back, she walked over to give me a good bye kiss, and then headed down the stairs... it was 6:30 at night. Ha!

3. Itsy Bitsy Spider
With these animal cards, we are working on identification because EVER.Y.THING. is "whatthis" so when the spider card came up, I started singing... now she does the cutest rendition of the song. She doesn't all do it in one go but it's getting there.

4. Potty Time
We have the equipment (chair, stool, books) and she's interested in sitting on the putty but so far out of the thousands of minutes that we sit on the potty and think about life and read Vegetables in Underwear and Big Girls Wear Panties, we've only peed once. It's great she wants to sit there and since she sits there, we sit there. I've never sat on the floor of the bathroom for so long and been sober. We'll get there but I have a feeling it's not any time next week.

Grady...

1. Rolling over.
This in my mind is the first biggest development that starts pushing babies into the mobile zone. I know I was all excited for Eleanor to roll over until she did. Now with Grady rolling over, I'm not sure how I feel about my littlest baby growing up.

ALR: Eleanor, should we go play in the living room?
EER: nah-uh
ALR: Do you want to go upstairs for your bath?
EER: nah-uh
ALR: Do you just want to go to bed?
EER: nah-uh
MJR: Do you know what "nah-uh" means?
EER: nah-uh