One Word Wednesday

**Shooter**

Mouse

There’s a MOUSE

In my HOUSE!

He’s so cute…

That I think…

I just might let him stay :-)

Snowed In

The Blizzard of 2010 has come to an end…but that doesn’t mean we can get anywhere.  We’ve been snowed in since Friday, and I must say, it has been perfectly fine with me!  I took Ryder back to the Doctor on Friday because he developed a horrible cough and I started getting worried about being snowed in and him getting severely sick.  Luckily they listened to his lungs, checked his ears, all that good stuff, and everything was perfectly clear.  He was just really congested and there was nothing they could do for that.  As the weekend has progressed, he has gotten better…each day a little less fussy and a little less congested.  His cough still sounds bad, but I can tell he’s feeling much better than last week. 

So…what do you do when you’re snowed in for an entire weekend??

Well, we’ve eaten most of our meals over at Poppy & Nana’s house.  They live just a few streets over, so even though I still consider it being snowed in, we do have a little escape!  We discovered that Ryder has a slight obsession with French Toast… We’ve spent lots of time watching movies, cleaning, relaxing, playing with Ryder’s toys, naming everything he points at, and finding random ways to entertain ourselves.  Like tying this balloon to his walker…he thought that was the greatest thing ever!One thing we didn’t do…is build another igloo.  Sorry to disappoint!  With all this snow, it probably would’ve been as big as our house!     

Beasley & Bentley

Remember this post where I introduced our dogs?  Well I haven’t said much about them since, but I’m sure you’ve seen them peeking their big heads in and out of pictures and videos.  They’re still a huge (literally) part of our lives but have obviously moved down a spot on the “who gets our immediate attention” list.  They have no reason to complain though, they are still spoiled rotten and living the life of a Prince & Princess! When I was pregnant, one of the questions we got the most was “what are you gonna do about the dogs??”.  Our plan was….nothing!  We weren’t going to do anything about the dogs.  This was their home, and we were having a baby and this was going to be his home, and we were all going to figure out a way to live together.  And that is pretty much what we have done.  When we first brought Ryder home from the hospital, both dogs were very curious about what Mommy & Daddy carried everywhere and guarded with their life!  We would let them get a few sniffs in, but that was it.  Separation was key at that point, and it turned out to be pretty easy.  Ryder was always either in our arms, in his swing, in his bassinet…always in something, so it was easy to let the dogs get a sniff and then direct them elsewhere.  Eventually their curiosity subsided and having a baby around became the norm.  After the newness wore off, we started to be a little more lenient and not intervene immediately when the dogs went near the baby, only when we felt like they were taking advantage (too many licks!).

We tried to do as much as we could to include them, so that they didn’t feel left out, like going for walks, or bringing them to play in the water at CJ, Angela, & Carters house!

There came a point where not only did the dogs notice the baby, but the baby started noticing the dogs!  I remember the day that Alan sat down on the couch and supervised interaction between the two (Ryder was 5 months old here, so it was a slow process getting everyone used to eachother). As you can see, Bentley (Bubba) is way more into bonding with Ryder.  Beasley just wants to get a good lick in and then go about her business (following Uncle G around!), but Bubba lingers…he is ALWAYS hanging around his little brother and Ryder is always pointing, reaching, or looking for Bubba! Things are getting a little trickier now that Ryder is mobile, we’re definitely not to the point where we feel safe putting Ryder on the ground while the dogs are roaming free (only because of their size), so they just spend time out in the backyard or in their crates while Ryder has his floor time.  Of course, he spends his floor time visiting and chatting with his best buddy Bubba:

There’s not much floor space left uncovered in this house filled with 2 enormous dogs, 3 adults, and a bouncing baby boy…but there’s never a dull moment, that’s for sure!

Sick Day

I took the day off and stayed home with Ryder today.  I’m glad I did because he’s really not feeling good and probably needed to be babied by his Mommy.  He woke up in the middle of the night with a runny nose and has been coughing all day today, but luckily he seems to have gotten rid of the fever.  They’re calling for a huge snow storm this weekend, so it looks like we’ll have lots of time indoors to nurse our sick little baby back to health.

  

I love how he takes his medicine all by himself now, like such a big boy! 

One Word Wednesday

**Buddies**

Strep Throat!

Yes, Ryder has strep throat, I can’t believe it!  Vicki called Monday afternoon and said that Ryder wasn’t acting himself and felt really warm.  So I went right over to get him and see what was going on, and sure enough, he wasn’t talking, laughing, playing, nothing…and his temperature was 101.7!  That’s the highest his temp has ever been so it scared me a little.  Daddy took him to the Doctor first thing Tuesday morning only to find out that he has strep throat.  Poor guy :(  His Dr. said it was great that we caught it early and can get him on medicine now because strep throat left untreated can effect your kidneys…yikes…so this will be his second day on the antibiotic and he already seems to be feeling better.  Back to playing,Pointing,

 

and mostly wanting to be picked up!