Going around again!

We're expecting our number two in June! I've pretty much gotten over the nausea - only comes around for a visit every once in a while in the evening, but I just end up going to bed and wake up just fine in the morning. I've been pretty tired - but that has been getting better, too. I'm still tired, just not exhausted. There's a big difference.

Tyler hasn't been doing super-well in his big-boy bed in the past few weeks... mostly because we've been going to bed early and he's just not tired yet. SO - he's been hanging out in our bed until he falls asleep and then we take him to his bed. He stays in there all night if he doesn't wake up, but sometimes we find him stumbling his way back to our room. Actually, one night he only made it to the hallway and fell sleep on the floor there. Poor little fella. I think he needs a roommate...

I've been dreading the task, but this past Monday my bulbs finally got planted. Josh gave me a hand and we got all 256-ish bulbs planted in the front of the house. I'm hoping that we'll have a bunch of pretty flowers to look at this spring! I also managed to plant some peonies - just don't know how well they will do in our soil. I did plant them in some "real" dirt, but don't know if it was enough!

Take a look on our photo website in late January for some 20-week ultrasound pictures!

KNOCK ON WOOD

I'm hoping I don't jinx myself in saying this, but Tyler has been super successful at sleeping in his twin bed. He hasn't rolled out and there hasn't been much stress in getting him to sleep in there. As usual, he cries for a few minutes before going to sleep, but he stays in there! Aside from one night where he came out at 5am and was at the gate to the stairs saying "please" - it was either that or he was at the bathroom door saying "pee" but since he hasnt' even peed once in the potty, I'm thinking it was more that he wanted me to "peas" open the gate to go downstairs. Well, I walked him back to his bed and he had to cry a couple minutes and went back to sleep. I wasn't sure how (or when) the transition would happen, but it has been fairly smooth.

Last night could have been a big setback if I decided to be a softy. He said "sleep" and went up into our bed. We told him his bed was in the other room - he declined to leave our bed, so Josh said "Okay, Mommy and Daddy are going to sleep in your room." We have the mattress for the top bunk on the floor and we both laid on that in his room. He came into the room and tried to get on the mattress between us (which there was obviously no room) and went back into our bedroom. I decided that was enough with the shananagans, and told him it was time to go to bed in HIS bed. He wasn't happy at hearing that, but he crawled into his own bed with the voice of protest (crying). Once again - he cried for just a couple minutes... and it's more or less a whimpering cry.

Let's knock on wood and hope this trend continues because I'm pretty pumped at not having to lay on the couch with him until he falls asleep. As sweet as it is, it kinda wears on you when it's time to go to bed and he's still awake. And it stinks if you have stuff you want to do for that last hour before you go to bed besides be a captive on the couch - even if it is folding laundry or emptying the dishwasher.

On a side note... I almost caught Tyler before he #2'd in his diaper. I heard him passing gas, and asked if he had to poop. He proceeded to make a grunt noise and I rushed over to take him to the bathroom.... and alas he already used his diaper. So we emptied his diaper into the potty. Apparently this is part of the "pre-potty training" process. I'm not pushing it, but I'd like to get things started. He's been asking for the potty, but I think it's more of the novelty of sitting on it and not that he knows what it's all about. It'll come in due time... I just wish he hated sitting in a wet/poopy diaper.

Morning Laugh

The answer to everything is no longer "no". Actually - it was more like "nope". However, in the last few weeks, Tyler has started having an opinion... saying yes or no. This morning we went downstairs and he didn't like that I opened the curtains. I asked him if he liked it better shut, and he said "ah huh" while nodding. Then I asked him if he wanted oatmeal for breakfast.... "NO". Do you want a banana?.... "n.... yyyES!" (He almost said "no" out of habit, but before he got the whole word out, he thought about it and started to say "yes" slowly and then with gusto when he was sure a banana is what he wanted.)

Long Overdue...

Let me get you up to speed briefly on a few things... in no particular order.

We spent a week out on Colorado in August - Josh and his brothers did a 100 mile mountain bike race called "Leadville Trail 100" with Lance Armstrong. How exciting! They all finished, which is quite a feat in itself. Tyler did well on the trip out (we drove through the night) but got a little antsy on the drive back towards the end of the second day (we didn't drive through the night)

Josh did another bike race (cyclocross) this past weekend in Cleveland. We didn't know exactly how to get to where the race was, but managed (even through all the pedestrian traffic 20 minutes to the Browns' game kickoff) He did well - I'll have pictures posted on the website soon.

Tyler gained a couple more cousins - Lauren Rose born July 18, and Grant Matthew born July 26. He gets a little jealous when Mommy holds them.

Tyler's birthday party went well - Great Grandma Basinger even came out to celebrate!

Tyler has his halloween costume for this year already - from eBay. I'll keep it a surprise on here until I get some pictures of him in it.

The baby crib is officially taken apart and stored downstairs - Tyler has been in the big boy bed for about a week now. I decided to give it a try one night when he wailed as I laid him half-asleep in his crib. I picked him up and put him in the twin bed and he stopped crying and fell asleep. He did really well - slept all night without rolling out - for two night's straight. Then, we had visitors, and he didn't do super-well, b/c he rolled out both nights, but didn't wake up in the process. I let him sleep on the floor after rolling out. Then, he slept without rolling out again for two nights. Next step... potty training! I haven't been in much of a hurry in getting that started, but I'm thinking about doing it in the next month or so. I have some borrowed books and washable training pants to get things going.

Well, I think that might be just about it for catching up on the bigger news around the Hoblet Household. We're looking forward to the fall - watching the leaves change, going to the pumpkin patch, dressing up for Halloween, and watching Buckeyes football (too bad the game against USC didn't end well, but that won't be a sign of things to come, right?) The cooler weather can't be all bad, either - although we haven't really had a hot summer to start with. Hopefully this winter won't be super cold!

Oh Dear!

We had a couple visitors Sunday morning in our backyard...



More pictures and video on our website.

All Painted Out.... for now.

I finished painting in the house (for the time being) on Friday evening. So far I have painted the nursery room (x2), the spare bedroom (x3) our bedroom, both bathrooms, the living room, dining room, entry hallway, and half the kitchen (the wall that is common to the hallway). I am at a standstill basically because I have absolutely no clue what color(s) I want to paint in the downstairs living space. It needs it (as the rest of the house did) but I'm not sure it'll get done before Tyler's birthday party. I want to put some color on the walls, but I don't want it to look smaller (the ceiling is already a little lower than normal), nor do I want it to look too dark. I've toyed with the idea of blue, but I think that'll be a little too "woah". I'm now thinking of doing a light mustard color. That shouldn't be too much of a change in color tone from the rest of the house. Any thoughts, anyone???

In other news...

This weekend, Josh was putting the original springs back in the car so that it sits higher (and we can buy less-expensive tires and also have a better chance at making it up the driveway in the snow). He managed to change out the two back springs, but wasn't able to change the front ones out without buying expensive tools he'd probably never use again and then he still wasn't sure if it would be too hard to do. So, we found a place that'll change them out for us - so within a week, I'll be getting new tires! Yea!

Tyler is becoming a barrel of monkeys. As with just about any toddler, he makes you laugh doing ordinary things and with his expanding vocabulary he makes you laugh by trying to say new words. He's starting to become more and more self-sufficient (getting his own drinks out of the fridge and feeding himself most things). He's gotten much better about telling you when he wants something, but has quite a way to go yet. I'll be excited when he is potty trained, which we're not in a hurry to do so. I would rather make sure he's ready and do it quickly instead of dragging it out for months. Which, there is no guarantee that it'll be quick no matter when you do it, but I'm just crossing my fingers.

I have been trying to get his new room together when I'm not painting walls and changing diapers. Right now, I'm waiting for Josh to change out the blade for the scroll saw so I can cut out the pieces for the wall plaques. The bolts are tightened beyond my ability to loosen them. To explain the plaques... I'm making 16" x 16" wooden "plaques" to match his bedding. Each plaque is going to have a different animal on it with leaves in each corner. The animals and leaves are what I'm cutting out. I'm going paint them, then glue them to the big square plaques so it'll have a sort of 3D look to it. I just hope they don't turn out looking dumb, but I'm still using them if they do!
Right now, Tyler's "big boy" room has the bunk beds up and the double bed in there, too. It'll provide more sleeping for his birthday party guests - and when he starts sleeping in his "big boy bed", I'll have the double bed to sleep in if I have to stay in there with him at first. I'm getting tired of sleeping on the floor (yes, he still wakes up at night on occasion and we end up laying on the floor beside the crib for a little bit. We put a pillow and blanket in there and we usually end up falling asleep for a couple hours-not fun for the back!) I have his name in wooden letters put up in there, but that's pretty much all the new wall decor for now. I have some shelves that I painted, but I'm not sure where to put them since I don't have the right furniture in there currently. A trip to Ikea may be on the docket to get a dresser and chest of drawers - if I can't find a suitable "cheap" set more locally (as if the 45ish minute trip to the Ikea in Pittsburgh is so far away!)

We are also still planning to get a swingset built for Tyler yet this summer. I guess so far Grandpa Basinger is planning to help put one together the day before Tyler's birthday party. I just want something relatively simple - a basic A-frame for swings and a platform off the one side for a slide. Caleb and Dreya have offered for us to take their swingset equipment... which includes a slide. So, the plan is to use that swingset (which is pretty old wood that is splintery) as a plan for a new one. Heck, we may be able to re-use the bolts if they're not stripped and too rusty.

Till next time...

I'm not creative enough right now to come up with a title!

This past weekend, we headed home for my 10-year high school reunion. It was nice catching up with the few people that were there... all 9 of us. Where were the other 80-ish people? I know of a few that couldn't be there for one reason or another, but that was a seriously pathetic turn-out. The only class we beat in attendance was the class of 2004 - no one was there from that class.

Anyway - in other news, Josh has been getting quite a bit of work done on his canoe project. I'm not sure if he's posted any new pictures or not. Tyler has been steadily increasing his vocabulary and has become a little jumping bean. We're planning to get a swingset/playset built for him this summer. He's becoming quite the entertainment and such fun to play with. He knows almost all of his letters - I think he's actually learned them all, but he certainly knows some better than others. He doesn't know the alphabet - just recognizes random letters (and loves to point them out to you!)

I'm planning on getting some more painting done tomorrow while Tyler's at the babysitter's. Hopefully the whole living room/dining room will be finished by the end of the day. After that, it leaves just the upstairs hallway and the whole downstairs. I'm going to have a problem trying to get the hallway painted because it's almost a whole story and a half tall over the bottom of the stairs, so that could be a difficult project and may not get painted in the near future. If you think I'm nuts painting our whole interior... you should just see what I have to start with. Before we moved in, the whole house was painted with the cheapest flat off-white paint that could be found. Everytime you even think of touching the wall, a mark appears. SO - you can just imaging what the walls looked like after moving in... and then having a child. Our walls are such an ugly mess. I'm slowly getting there, though! Tomorrow will be the biggest painting project I've done... I have several walls to do, and a couple are part of the peaked ceiling, so they are 1.5 times taller than the average wall. I'm excited to see the final result! I'd better get some sleep tonight - it's going to be a long day!

Need a break...

Well I think I'm finally going to get a break... this weekend will be the first weekend that I'm not working and don't have any event to attend. The past couple months have been plum full of events - mostly baby showers. Everyone decided to have a baby at the same time, so I had baby showers to attend (and one to help plan) all at the same time. It all turned out well, but I'm glad it's over.

Other than that, nothing much has been going on the last month... However, this week is another story! Josh has been gone to a meeting where there's little to no cell phone reception (how convienent). Well, all was well until Dreya and I went out for dinner on Wednesday evening. Since both of our men were gone, we decided to go to Olive Garden because the boys don't like going there. On the way back to her house to drop her off, my car window wouldn't go back up. We tried to help it up with no luck. It just so happened that I was able to get in touch with Josh through Dreya calling Caleb so I could get the code to be able to get the truck out of the fenced in area at the office. So, I left the car in Dreya's garage and she took me to pick up the truck. Meanwhile, the mosquitos were biting us like crazy. Anyway - so Tyler and I finally make it home around 9:30. The next day at work, I get a phone call from Brandy, my sitter. She's telling me that one of the bites on his forehead is a little swollen. I give her the okay to give him a bit of benedryl. He takes a nap and wakes up even more swollen. I mean, this poor kid looked like he had a huge goose egg on his head. I call the pediatrician on call and he tells me to give him a 1/2 teaspoon of benedryl, so we go ahead and do that.

The next morning I take my car to get fixed and Dreya was able to give me a ride back. While I'm in the truck driving back home, I get in touch with the Dr's office and end up taking Tyler there instead of going home. After being in the office for 10 years, we walk out of there $15 lighter and carrying two prescriptions: allegra and augmentin. So, I get that filled and give him his first dose at 11:00. By the time he wakes up from his nap at 4:15, the swelling looked like it was creeping into his other eye. (It had already made his lt eye puffy during the night.) So, I call the Dr. on call AGAIN and end up going to Akron Children's where we were in and out (THANK GOD!). The ER physician tells me to stop using what was prescribed earlier in the day and just give him a teaspoon on benedryl 3 times a day. That's gotta do something! Well, benedryl is supposed to make your child sleepy - well it doesn't. But at least it doesn't make him hyper either! We're not sure, but we'd like to think that the swelling is starting to go down. My only frustration is that I have this antibiotic that I have to throw out in 10 days with only one dose used. (I'm glad I don't have to give it to him, but I wish I wasn't prescribed it in the first place.) I'll be able to keep hold of the Allegra if we run into more trouble with bug bites this summer - I just hope this is an isolated event and he doesn't swell up like this again! It's just frustrating b/c I feel like I wasted my time and money going to the Dr's office this morning.

Oh - and our AC hasn't been working, so I was supposed to have someone come out on Wednesday afternoon - their appointments ran over, so they were to come Friday morning (today). I called and left a message saying that I needed them to call before they came because of having to take Tyler to the doctor. Well, when I knew what time I was to be home, I called and left another message asking if they were still planning to come out today or not. I didn't get a call back until probably about 3:30 when they were on their way. I'm glad that I got the AC fixed and the guy was very nice, but I was hoping for some communication so I knew what was going on. Oh well - it's fixed... for now. (There's a tiny leak somewhere, so we'll either have to get more freon after awhile (like next year I hope) or replace the unit... yea! - we have started a fund that anyone is welcome to donate to. It's also the same fund for our new roof that we'll need to put on soon as well. Ahhh - the joys of home-ownership!

Well, I told Josh he is no longer allowed to leave, because everything goes wrong and breaks when he's gone. Tomorrow, I plan to sleep in (Tyler willing) and RELAX!

A Lovely Day...

Saturdays are usually pretty slow, so it's either sit idle inside at work without a window, or leave and enjoy a little of the unseasonably warm weather. I chose to use some PTO hours and leave. I got home and watered my flowers (inside and out) because they looked a little thirsty. I found another species of flower seed decided to sprout in my indoor basins. I have probably another couple weeks for the other flower seeds - they are to break through 21-28 days after planting (according to the packages). Today was day 8 - I figure I'm doing pretty good for having two kinds come up already - or poorly because I only have two kinds up!

I turned on the air conditioner today because it was crazy hot in here. Unfortunately, it took a good 3-4 hours for the AC to cool down the house even 3-4 degrees. We're thinking the poor thing needs a tune-up. We knew last summer at Tyler's birthday party that it was having a hard time keeping the house cool, but we figured it was probably due to all the bodies in the house. I'm not so sure that was 100% of the reason anymore. I'd hate to think "they" didn't put in a big enough unit when the house was built, but it wouldn't surprise me.

For supper tonight we ate in the "downstairs" portion of our house - it's amazing how much cooler it was just a half-level lower. Also, the couch sits right underneath some vents, so you have the wonderfully cool air blowing on you. I think many summer days will be spent down there (now that we have a TV on that level.) We just need to get a new door to replace our really crappy sliding glass door and we'll be all set!

In "Tyler" news, he's been a major echo and copy cat. He's still quite the monkey-boy, climbing all over the furniture and doing the nestea plunge all over it. His latest is he's learning how to spell his name. It's more like he's just recognizing some letters. He thinks a lot of letters are O, but he seems to know T and Y. He has some foam bath letters that he plays with in the tub. We had him playing with just a few at a time to avoid being overwhelmed with all the 26 letters (and 9 numbers), but he's all about having as many toys in the tub as possible. We've been working on teaching him O-H-I-O "Hang On Sloopy" style. He gets to O-H, and then just giggles and doesn't finish the rest. We'll get there soon enough!

He went on a bike ride today with Daddy. He really seems to enjoy riding in his trailer. Heck - I would, too if someone pulled me around! It's kinda like a hay-ride without the hay. Daisy would enjoy it if we had a trailer for her, but that's just crazy to buy that to take your dog on a ride when it can just stay home. Speaking of Daisy - Tyler has been increasingly mean to her. He's starting kicking her... not KICKING kicking, but more so trying to herd her with his feet. He gets so upset when we tell him not to do that. Daisy just "smiles" at him. Poor girl - that's all she can do, because she knows we yell at her if she lays her teeth on him. He just doesn't get the whole showing-teeth thing. I paint an evil picture of Tyler in regards to Daisy, but he really does love her. He gives her hugs and kisses all the time, gives her treats when she comes in from outdoors, and he plays ball and squirrel with her. He'll throw her sticks and floppy for her outside as well. We keep telling Daisy that they'll be best of friends one day - she doesn't think so.

On a side note, I uploaded a few more pictures today. Since Tyler is now in his last quarter (1 3/4 yrs old) I have a new album started for him. There's just a couple pictures in there right now. I also added some pictures of a few flowers that I have blooming outside in the "Ann's Hobbies" section. I have two tulips so far - with many more to follow (hopefully!)

Facebook & Friends

I recently created a facebook account so I could get in touch with family and friends. Josh had an account and I would look on there at what everyone was up to when he was signed on - so I decided to go ahead and sign myself up. I don't know if it'll end up stagnant like my Myspace page was, but if so, then oh well. I already have somewhere along the lines of 44 friends - i think. I have really enjoyed "snooping" around on everyone's info pages seeing what they are up to and where in this world they are living. It seems to be a really nice networking tool to keep up and share little tidbits (significant and insignificant) about what's going on with you. I like seeing everyone's beautiful children... wasn't it just yesterday that we were kids? Makes me feel kinda old, but also makes me feel good knowing everyone has found their place in life. I can't wait to see everyone at the 10-year reunion this summer. I know a couple girlfriends won't be there since they are going to be busy birthing babies (and they will surely be missed).

Last weekend I saw a lot of those friends who are going to be birthing babies soon, and other friends from high school as well. It was a lot of fun catching up and seeing everyone's kids. My what a good-looking bunch of kids we have! Can't wait for Chrissy, Michelle, and Tracy to add more to the mix! To see some pics of the weekend, go to our picture website and look for "Chrissy's Shower Weekend". There aren't too many there, but there are some good belly shots and pics of our kids all together!

Wiggle Dancing!

Tyler used to run to the laptop to watch The Wiggles on You Tube. That may change, because today he got a DVD in the mail - a live concert of The Wiggles called "Wiggle Dancing". It contains many of his favorite wiggle songs including "Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car" and "Hot Potato". It's so funny watching him because he trys to do the hand motions along with the song. Now, he won't know where to go (the TV or laptop) when we start singing one of the songs! I'll have to try to get him on video dancing to the DVD.

In other news... I'm planning to do some painting tomorrow. Oh Joy. I've decided that it's one of those things that you put up with doing because you like the result. And I'm pretty excited about the end result. I took the day off work and am sending Tyler to the sitter so I can dive into this with no distractions and I don't really want him around smelling the super-fresh paint smells. I'm hoping it'll be warm enough that I can open the windows and get a fresh breeze blowing through. I'll eventually post pictures of the paint job on our website. Be on the lookout if you are curious!

Busy Weekend and Video Conferencing

This weekend we were visited by Uncle Mark, Aunt Tina, and Cousin Alex. While Tyler and Alex played together well at times, there were just as many times that they didn't. They made a little scene in Babies R Us which resulted in us getting two carts to keep the boys separated. Fortunately, the people around just chuckled and sympathized with us. It didn't help that they were tired and hungry... All in all, it was a fun visit. Short but fun. It always seems short, and it is when you bum around most of the morning and only have a few golden hours to do something before the boys need to eat and nap. It was actually easier to make a day of shopping when they were babies because you "carried" their food with you and they would nap in the stroller/car seat! However, we were able to do our shopping and go through our finds while they napped. Next time we do this, we should really plan to get an earlier start to the day than we did (or leave the little boys with the big boys!)

Also on the happenings for the weekend was video conferencing. Mom and Dad recently upgraded their internet from the old-time dial up. True snail-mail was probably faster than their email! Now, they have the wireless internet throughout the house. I'm not sure how much they've been utilizing the wire-free life, but I'm sure once Dad finds how nice it is to sit in his Lay-Z-Boy recliner while surfing the web, he'll never sit at the desk again! Anyway - so I was trying to talk Dad through how to get started with Windows Live Messenger. It was like pulling teeth, but you can't blame a guy for trying. I'm not all that good at explaining how to do computer things over the phone to start with unless I can go through all the steps on my own computer at the same time. I wasn't able to explain it clearly enough to Dad, so he ended up having to wait until Philip came home from work on Friday. Well, it just so happens that he got things working as Mark and Tina came walking in the door, so they were able to watch Alex and Tyler playing in our living room from the "comfort" of their kitchen table. (They obviously didn't take advantage of being wireless.) So, we've decided that Christmas morning should be pretty interesting with Grandma and Grandpa being able to watch Tyler open his presents through the internet.

This coming weekend we'll be heading home, so more tales to follow!

Back to normal

Things are back to normal with Tyler. He's 100% again. However, now Josh isn't feeling well. He just has an upset stomach (could be partly due to the Chipotle he ate last night for dinner in 2 seconds flat) and he has the chills. I had him take some ibuprofen and he's been upstairs sleeping for the past couple hours. I'm sure he'll be better once he wakes up. He's been putting in some early mornings and not really getting to bed any earlier than usual, so all that probably put some strain on his body. On Saturday, I felt the exact same way - upset stomach and chills. Ibuprofen fixed me up just fine, so I'm sure it will for him, too.

Other than that, nothing much new has been going on this week. Tyler continues to say more and more and has started being able to jump - and he actually gets both feet off the ground. I haven't been taking many pictures of him lately, but there are a few in the camera. I just don't take the time to download them off the camera for just a few pictures - therefore, the picture website hasn't been updated lately and just might not for a little while. There's potential for Mark, Tina, and Alex to come for a visit this weekend (pending everyone's health!), so there's hope for more pictures and a website update soon!

We hope everyone else is healthy and not catching these bugs going around!

My poor little man!

Just as soon as Tyler got better from his cold, he came down with what is assumed to be rotavirus. Granted, Tyler did have about a week in there of good health, but that all changed Thursday morning...

I stepped into his room. Golly, it stinks pretty bad in here. That new diaper pail must not be containing smells as well as I hoped. I stepped up to the crib and proceeded to get Tyler up to take him to the sitter's. "oh boy, Tyler. You are super stinky. Let's get that diaper off you." We proceed to the changing table upon which I realize I've got a super duper mess. There's a poop puddle where Tyler was laying, his pjs (which consisted of a white onesie and a footed fleece sleeper) where drenched in soupy poopy mess. After peeling his clothes off as carefully and cleanly as I could, I realized that Tyler needed a bath. Crap, I'm going to be late for work! "Josh, I need some help in here! Get some bath water running! Tyler is covered in poop!" Meanwhile the poor child is crying and certainly not happy to be tossed in the tub minutes after being plucked out of his crib. I'd have to say it was a rude awakening! After getting all cleaned up and dressed, I had to have Josh take him to the sitter's to save myself 5 minutes on my trip to work. Good Morning, Mommy!!!

That night, he cried in the middle of the night. I got up to change him (clothes too), hoping to avoid changing bedsheets and having to soak the poo poo out of them. I managed to do just that. Yippee! Well, now Tyler doesn't want to go back to sleep. He's a little fussy and he feels a little warm, so I get Josh up to draw up the Tylenol. I tell Josh that my belly doesn't really feel so good... Meanwhile, Tyler throws up. Luckily we were on the linolium. He's crying, I'm trying not to hurl myself while cleaning up the bulk of the vomit. We get a new (third set) of pjs on him and I bring him upstairs to his room. (I have no clue why) Then he starts throwing up again. This time I face him so he throws up on me... better than the carpet. (The things I'll do to make clean-up easier!) At this point I'm REALLY not feeling well, so I decide to have josh coat the couch with blankets and the two of us lay down on the couch. Meanwhile, Tyler falls asleep and I decide to put him back in his crib. I figured that if I need to throw up, that I would be better off being upstairs closer to the bathroom and not having him laying on top of me. I ended up feeling better in the morning, and suprisingly so did Tyler. I decide not to call the doctor because we are seemingly okay now. And, we went half the morning and the whole afternoon without any more episodes.

Saturday afternoon, Tyler has about 3 watery diapers in an hour... I stop by the store for pedialyte on my way home from work. We seem to be getting better by the end of the day. Sunday morning - he has 3 more watery diapers. By this time, I can't tell if he's peed or not since the poo poo is water. So, I consult Dr. Internet. Everything I read about diarrhea in toddlers said to call the Dr if it persists for three days. Crap - this is day four and symptoms aren't showing signs of improvment. Okay, we need to take him in to see if anything can be done and to make sure he's not REALLY REALLY sick. So, $100 later, we find out there's nothing that can be done to stop the diarrhea and just to keep him hydrated to replace the fluids lost. Great - well, at least I bought peace of mind. So, we are on day 5 and the ER doc said symptoms could last as long as 14 days depending on the virus he has. She said it is likely rotavirus, but they didn't do any testing on his stool, so that is just a guess. They did end up checking his blood sugar which was 83. So - I guess we'll keep hoping things return to normal soon!

Things always happen to get to the "see your doctor" phase over the weekend, don't they?

On a side note... grape pedialyte makes poop turn colors!

What a shocker...

Josh is actually coming home EARLY! What a surprise! He told me this morning that he was going to be heading back the next morning because they have completed their task, met their quota, etc... Whatever- the point is.... he's actually going to be home early this trip instead of the usual "later than planned" arrivals. And I'm not talking about just hours - I'm talking DAYS! I'm in shock and it's two days next week that I don't have to inconvenience everyone else around me by having someone come let Daisy out during the day and keep Tyler way past normal hours. Everything seems to run smoother when Josh is home. I get a few peaceful moments to shower, I can actually use the restroom with the door shut, I don't have to let Daisy out to potty when Tyler is all calm and almost asleep on my lap, AND I don't have to be the only one changing diapers. I'm sure there are many many many other things that I could mention, but those are the clear "winners".

Tonight, my plan is to get home and hopefully get finished packing up for the weekend in record time. My goal is to be on the road by 8:30 which puts me at Mom and Dad's around noon. That is assuming that no blue-hairs get in my way and construction doesn't cause slow-ups (not to mention the po-po) Now, in order for this to be realistic, I need to get myself up at 7:30 to shower, pack up the car and get Tyler up by 8:00 so I can dress him, get him breakfast, and out to the car. I'll be taking Daisy with me - she obviously doesn't require much packing, but I need to hunt up the leash that I discovered a couple days ago is no longer in the car! (Dreya and I went for a walk earlier this week and Daisy would not have been able to go along because none of the 100 leashes (exaggeration) that we have were in the car where I usually keep at least one. Lucky for Daisy, Dreya had one at her house.) Anyway - SO, that is just one more thing I need to remember to do tonight.

SOOO - I'm thinking sleep will not come at a very early hour. However, with the way things have been going, I won't fall asleep until 11:30 no matter how early my head hits the pillow. Alas - I'd like to think that Josh not being there has nothing to do with it, but it just may. Not for the fact that of him not being there physically with me, but for the fact that I think he has me so used to falling asleep with the TV on. Dammit. That wretched TV. I wish I didn't even have it in the bedroom, but a certain someone won't let me take it out. Probably because that certain someone can't fall asleep without it and obviously now has me sucked in, too. I was originally blaming it on the time change, sometimes blaming it on the possible consumption of an early afternoon cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage, or the pondering over paint colors, but I was only kidding myself. I refuse to leave the boob tube on after I roll over. And so sleep will not come at an early hour for reasons other than a lot of things to accomplish before hitting the sack...

Mommy's Little Helper

Tyler has been cleaning up lately. Well, not ALL the time, but he's caught me by surprise quite a few times. Just lately, he's picked up all his mega blocks and put them back into the mega block wagon and then put the wagon back into the corner where we put it. All without me asking or helping him or any kind of prompting from me. He has also put his sippy cup on the "dirty" side of the kitchen counter when he was done. When Daisy is done licking plates and bowls clean, he picks them up and brings them into the kitchen. I haven't decided if he's trying to be helpful or just craves the big cheery "thank you" and hug that he gets from me for helping out. He's turning out to be quite a good little boy!

Last night, Tyler had fun playing on mommy and daddy's bed. He would stand up and then fall backwards doing the "nestea plunge". Then he would giggle so loudly and get up and do it again. His favorite thing to do is run around and be tossed into the air and flipped around. He's gotten tall enough to go for piggy back rides. Thank goodness because "pony rides" hurt mommy's hands and knees after awhile!

6 days down... 8 more to go of Josh being gone... but I'm not holding my breath that I only have 8 days left... I'll believe it when I see it.

The latest

Not much has happened in the past couple weeks. Josh spent a week in Jacksonville for work while Tyler and I stayed home and dealt with a prank caller and another major windstorm. Those kinds of things always seem to happen when Josh is gone!

The past couple days I have been working on making Tyler some fleece footed sleepers. I have 3 done in the 3T size and I have another cut out for a 4T size and enough fleece for a couple more. I just don't have the zippers, so my projects has been put on hold until I can get to JoAnn's. I'll post the pictures of the completed sleepers on our website soon. I just have to get them off the camera.

Tyler has perfected his useage of "no". Lucky us. I'll ask him for a kiss and pucker up for him and he'll turn his head and say "no!". He had a mixed up schedule this week, too. He was a grouch for Brandy on Monday and Tuesday. He failed to take a nap on Wednesday (which made him not as grouchy as one would assume). He was still not acting normal on Thursday - a crab-butt as I like to call it. On Friday, he wasn't too bad - that's when we went to JoAnns to get sleeper supplies. He hammed it up for all the ladies in the store - his favorite thing to do.

He's been going to bed awake for the past week as well. As long as you lay him in there with something to play with, he'll play for about 10 minutes and then fall asleep. An added bonus is that he has something to play with when he wakes up so Mommy might be able to get a little bit more sleep before he yells out "HEY!" for us to get him. It was awesome that this morning he yelled out "DADDY", so Josh had to go get him - too bad I was already awake and couldn't get back to sleep. He has yet to yell for mommy in the morning, but maybe that's what he means when he yells "hey". I'd like to think not.

He's been giving Grandma all kinds of kisses over the phone lately. He says "mmm ahhh" up to the phone. Grandma gets more kisses than I do anymore!

Well, in up-coming news... Josh will be heading to Texas the first weekend of March and won't be back for about 2 weeks. I just wonder what catastrophe awaits us! Tyler and I are planning to head to Grove for a visit while Josh is gone, so he'll have lots of chances to give Grandma kisses in person!

A Major Update is in Order!

Tyler went to the Doctor on his 18-month Birthday, January 20. He grew quite a bit since his last check-up. He now weighs 30 pounds, 5 ounces and is 33 inches long. That puts him in the 90th percentile for his weight and 75th for his height. He has just gotten so big!

His latest word is..... NO! However, I don't believe he always knows what it means, but I'm sure that is just a matter of time. Today he was messing with the computer buttons and I was pulling his hand away and he kept saying "no" each time, so I guess he's getting the idea.

He shared some Ghiradelli chocolate squares with me today and he loved it. He was grabbing for more, so I guess I have a little chocolate fiend on my hands! A boy after his mother's heart!

Tyler has been trying to get on top of his cozy coupe car. He succeeded a couple times using the ottoman. Other times he just tries to scale the side of the car. It has only fallen over once on him and he hasn't tried to climb on top of it again... yet. This little monkey boy has also been able to get on the couch without any help from his toys (he used to use them as step stools). Earlier today he managed to climb onto the back of the couch - not completely b/c I thawarted his efforts, but he was almost there. He also has sticky fingers - stealing everything out of my pantry and the one cabinet I can't lock. So, he walks around with BBQ sauce bottles and cookie cutters. I get a little upset with him, but it's terrbily cute when he's hungry - he will go to the pantry and open the door for us and try to reach for a snack. Now, if we could just get him to fix his own dinner!!!

Our little man is also a salsa lover. If we turn on the salsa music channel on the TV, he comes running and starts dancing in front of the TV. Just in the past week he's brought out some new dance moves. It's an easy way to get him to stop doing "bad" things like carrying around Daisy's food bowl. He can't ignore the call of the music!!!

I worked on some video footage and posted the clips in a new place on our website. There's two folders just for video - for the first year and the second year. I don't think there were any additions to the first year folder, but several to the second year.

In other news, Josh has been busy trying to get back into shape. He looks forward to doing some bike races this summer. Just about every day he is downstairs riding his bike on the rollers. Every now and then he manages to get my fat butt to the Y for a workout. Most of the time, the timing is wrong to go. When we do manage to go, we end up eating dinner at 8:00 by the time I get it fixed. And we can't always go after dinner because the Y's child care is done at 8:00. So, like I said, the timing is usually off. Just an extra half hour (closing at 8:30) would make a world of difference.

We've also been trying to eat better. Not that we really ate bad before. Josh has been packing his lunch almost every day (which has also been good for the pocketbook!) I've been buying more apples and bananas to snack on and once the ice cream in the freezer is gone, I'm not buying any more. It's only going to be for special occations - which probably means just birthdays. Salad has become a side dish we eat several times a week - although I'm not sure how long that is going to last. Tyler has been eating more table food, but not always the same table food we are eating. About half the time I end up fixing him something different. He has been doing a much better job of feeding himself, too - only finger foods. I haven't let him try feeding himself with a spoon much because it's far too messy.

Well, I guess that just about does it for now! Feel free to check out the new pics and video on our website: http://hoblet.phanfare.com/

Mr M... with a munchie mouth!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS8GTWOSA60

Just wanted to share a bit of memories from kindergarten!!!!
Gotta love the letter people!!!!

First big snowstorm of the year!

It started snowing Friday night and hasn't really stopped. We have over a foot of snow out in our yard and it keep on coming down! We went out on Saturday afternoon after Daddy came back with a toboggan for us to slide down the hill in our yard. Tyler really liked it, but not when we would crash and he would get some snow in his face. On Sunday, Dreya came over and we bundled up and went out to play in the snow again. Tyler didn't seem to like it quite as well as his did the day prior. The moment you would put him on the toboggan he would start to whimper. It was a little colder than the day before, so that might have had something to do with it.

In other Tyler news - he's had all of his teeth (except for the 2-year molars) for a couple weeks now, so we don't have fevers and grumpiness associated with that to deal with - until the 2-year molars come in! Tyler has his 18-month check-up next Tuesday, so I'll have an update on his height and weight soon. He's been doing this diving thing when he wants you to carry him down the stairs. He will just practically jump off the stairs into your arms. Problem is - just a few minutes ago, he tried to do that with no one there. Luckily enough Josh caught him in time to keep him from smacking his head on the stairs. He's also been a big help doing the laundry and unloading the dishwasher. It's so darn cute, but it takes sooo long for him to pull out the utensils one by one. The laundry actually is a help because I don't have to stoop over to pull out the clothes, but he doesn't do so well at getting the clothes in the basket and loading the washer is out of the question!

His new favorite word is "up" - he's been saying it a lot and at the correct times. He has a laptop toy that says "up" when you push up on the mouse and he repeats after it. He also has been imitating animal noises from his See-N-Say toy. His favorite seems to be the rooster.

I uploaded lots of pictures on our website today, so take a look and enjoy!