A Gift from Kate

Kate liked her ball so much, she thought Aiden should have one too! Verdict: He loves it.

Another good one from the park...

Pink and Blue

This weekend we went over to visit Aiden's long lost friend Kate!! We haven't been around to see her in a while because Aiden and I have been sick and didn't want to pass anything along to her.

Kate is only one week older than Aiden, but I find it amazing the difference between the two. Kate can crawl on her hands and knees. She can easily go from crawling to sitting. She can kneel. She gives kisses. None of which Aiden can do. Aiden on the other hand, is more talkative than Kate and he smiles a bunch more. That's not to say Kate is unhappy. She's just the more serious type. She likes shoes and bags. He likes trucks. I cannot believe how strong the gender differences are at the tender age of 8 months.

Man, that girl is a rockstar!

She followed Aiden around for 15 minutes with this pig, trying to give it to him.

Kate has eight teeth. EIGHT.

"Hey. Where you goin'?"

We only stayed for about two hours. Aiden got cranky when it was time for his nap. I was disappointed. It is SO MUCH fun to watch him interact with another kid. I know he really looks up to his friend Blair, but Blair is much too quick for him to keep up with at this point. He'll be there soon!

Sunday we met up with Kate again for an hour at the Moody Gardens playground. It looks like it will be a lot of fun whenever Aiden gets a little older. Since they didn't have any bucket swings, there wasn't much for them to do.

I think the best part for these two were these colorful metal pipes. Funny. We tried the slide, but as you can see in the first picture at the slide, Aiden was not a big fan. I did go down a VERY small one with him in my lap and he seemed indifferent. But the second I set him on the slide by himself, he wanted nothing to do with it. I didn't have the guts to try a big slide. I was worried I would go butt-up or fly off the end. I felt more confident in my decision not to use the slide after Nadya's mother, Babushka, gave it a try with Kate in tow and ended up in the mulch on her butt. They were both okay, although I think Babushka's pride may have suffered a little.

He'd rather stand than sleep

Had to use the "nanny cam" to get this one. Little stinker would never stand up in front of me, so I was unable to get it on camera. I sure showed him!

Standing Up from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Ready to trade in a junker

Travis and I have come to the conclusion that we must get rid of the Murano. It has been nothing but problems since we bought it. Luckily, the majority of the repairs have been covered under the extended warranty that we bought with the car. We should have another three years with this warranty, but the idea of owning that car without a warranty makes my skin crawl.

I brought it in to the dealership yesterday to have the tires checked out. Whenever I drove, it sounded like there was a stick stuck in my tire that hit something every time the tire spun around. It got faster as the car sped up.

The mechanic called me in the morning to tell me the wheel bearing was bad. Okay, fine. "How much is it going to cost me?"

"$500 + tax"

WHAT?! Are you joking me? "That's not covered under the warranty?"

"It looks like you cancelled your service plan in 2008. It would have been covered under that."

Now I am unsure exactly what all the warranties are that we have, so I decided to tell the guy not to do anything until I speak with my husband. I called Travis and he had no idea what cancelled plan the mechanic was talking about. I asked Travis if he would call him back and talk it over. When he did, the mechanic told him the same thing. Travis' response?

"We BOUGHT the car in 2008. We cancelled nothing."

"Oh ya, look at that. The name on the cancelled warranty is different than the owner on this vehicle. Huh."

"Uh, ya. Could you look into that again and give me a call back?"

Sure enough, it's covered under the warranty that we have never cancelled. THANK GOD.

By this point, Travis is irate. He proceeds to tell the mechanic to check the other wheel bearing on the front axle. If one is out, why wouldn't the other one? He also tells the guy that we are tired of bringing the car into the shop every four months to have something repaired. We have been lucky thus far and, like I said, most everything has been covered under the warranty. But still, this car was supposed to make me feel safe on the road - which I DO NOT.

When I asked the mechanic how long the car could drive with the bad wheel bearing, he said there was no telling. It could be a day or it could be a year. And when it does go out, there would be no warning. The tire would either get stuck and stop spinning, or it would fall off. Neither of which would be that great going 70 mph down the interstate.

Point is, Travis told the guy to check everything that is covered under our warranty to see if there is anything else that needs to be replaced. Supposedly there was nothing else wrong. I have my doubts that they actually checked anything, but I do feel better that Travis let them know how we feel about this piece of junk.

So, $100 later, my car is driving smoother - like the day we bought it. Now I just need to get the AC serviced. The other day when I turned it on, it squealed at me. I'm hoping its not the belt, since we just had that replaced a few months ago. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another's Fail is My Win

I didn't have time to get a video up that I wanted to share - hopefully I'll get that for tomorrow. Last night we brought the Murano back to the shop. Surprise, surprise! There is something going on with the tires. Actually, it's not the tires, because I took it to a tire place and they said the tires were fine. But there is definitely something wrong with the ride. There is some sort of whirring noise that gets faster as the car gets faster. Hopefully it's not something ridiculously expensive. And if it is, hopefully it's covered under the extended warranty that I am thankful we purchased along with the car. It's always something with this vehicle (as you can see if you follow the tag 'new SUV').

I want to point out something I hadn't noticed until recently. If you are bored and in need of some online entertainment, click on the link to FAIL Blog I already have listed in the sidebar. Then if you scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a section in blue called the Cheezburger Network. There are 40 links to different blogs similar to the FAIL Blog, except they are more specialized. A few of my favorites?

• Babies Making Faces (Better enjoyed by those with babies in their lives.)
• Totally Looks Like (Colorado totally looks like Wyoming. LOL!)
• Ridiculous Poses (I mean come on. Who doesn't want to see a creepy Santa holding a deteriorated bag with a giant skull falling out of it?)
• Hacked IRL (What will they come up with next?!)
• Epic Win (FAIL Blog's antagonist)

The Party I Missed

Blair's second birthday party was this past Saturday. I am bummed to say Aiden and I did not make it. Aiden has been sick for a while now, but things escalated and he developed a fever on Saturday. I was worried about him being contagious and didn't want all the kids at Blair's party getting sick on my conscience, so I kept Aiden home. I didn't see why Travis should have to stay home with us too, so I sent him ahead with the camera. It was his first day off, in two weeks, so I wanted him to get out of the house.

As much as I appreciate Travis trying to capture a few birthday moments for me to see, I am not impressed with his shots. I guess he hasn't had much practice at taking photos. I think the best pictures he took were of their new patio. LOL!

Singing happy birthday...

Rachel and Scott were there!

Opening the gift from Aiden, Travis and I.

Travis said it was a packed house (the outdoor festivities were forced inside due to rain), but Blair seemed to enjoy everything nonetheless!

Stuck

Soooo, I came home Friday to Sagira yowling from our bedroom. She was lost IN our duvet.

Then on Saturday I grabbed this shot of Sagira and Callaway sharing a food dish.

New Elevations

It's official. Aiden can pull himself up. It started Saturday with him pulling up on his knees at his table toy (seen above). I made a comment to Travis that night that we needed to lower his crib mattress so he doesn't pull himself out when he stands in his crib. BUT we didn't get to it that night.

The following morning, I laid Aiden down for his nap. He just WOULD NOT go to sleep. I could hear him talking through the baby monitor, but let him be since he was not upset. After 45 minutes of chatter, I decided to go in to help him get settled. The kid needs his naps! To my surprise, Aiden was STANDING in his crib. I freaked and pulled him out immediately to lower that crib mattress. Thankfully it only took about 10 minutes by myself (Travis was working at HD).

Fifteen minutes later, Aiden was STILL not asleep, so I went back in to lay him down and this is what I found:

Untitled from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

He ended up only getting 20 minutes of sleep during that nap, which was unfortunate because he is sick. He spent the entire day before (so sad we missed Blair's birthday!) fighting a fever. Then Sunday, we both had severe sniffles and a cough (same cough that we've had for TWO WEEKS).

Aiden still cannot crawl on his hands and knees. He's mastered the army crawl though. He can hover on his hands and knees, but the second he tries to take a "step" he falls to his belly. I guess the reason he can pull himself up onto furniture is because he can hover in the crawling position. Gives him some height.

I tell you what, it was a little bit of a shock once he started army crawling. Suddenly he cannot be left alone for even a moment, nor can he be trusted with anything on the floor level. I put away a bunch of stuff that he could really hurt himself with, including a guitar on a stand and I pushed the DVD towers into a corner together. We put a baby lock on the cabinet under the sink where we keep our household cleaners.

Aiden recently showed an interest in outlets (the one in the hallway in particular), so I told Travis I wanted to get outlet covers. He told me that Aiden could not electrocute himself by sticking his fingers in an outlet. He said that there is no way he could get his fingers in far enough to reach the electricity, plus he'd have to have his fingers in both holes at the same time in order to get a shock. My response? So you don't want outlet covers? You'd rather risk our son's life? What about forks? Or other items he might actually be able to fit into the outlet besides his fingers. Travis said, "No, we should get outlet covers." THEN WHY ARE YOU ARGUING WITH ME ABOUT THIS? Sheesh.

Ugh, anyway. My point is, I thought Aiden being able to move around on the floor was a shock. Saturday when Aiden was able to pull himself up on the coffee table I just about had a fit! A whole new level has opened up for Aiden. Guess that means it's time to start packing up anything below 3-4 feet. I guess we'll be ready if another hurricane ever hits.

One, Two, Blair!

One year ago:

It is amazing to see how much Blair has grown in the past year. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAIR!

This is just WEIRD: Part Deuce.

After some web surfing, I found out that the "little guy" in this video is a real person - Leon Botha. He is an artist from South Africa, suffering from Progeria, who has done some very interesting work using himself as the centerpiece.

This video reminds me of the movie District 9. Not so much because of the aliens. Mostly because everytime they say the expletive f-word, it sounds like they are faking their accent. It just does not sound real to me.

You can go to their website (DieAntwoord.com) to hear the entire album free of charge. Travis and I actually went through the whole thing the other night. At first I thought this video might be a South African spoof of Eminem or something, but after really listening to their stuff I find it intriguing.

This is just WEIRD.

My Russian co-worker Zhenya translated the title in the beginning:

"I'm very happy because I'm finally coming home."

It's more weird now.

***************UPDATE*******************

Zhenya found an interview with this guy. Turns out this video is from the 60's, while the Soviet Union was still together. They decided that his lyrics were not politically correct, so they told him he had to sing the song without the words. How do you sing a song with out words, you ask? This is how.

Hoping the leprechauns bring sleep...

It's been a rough couple of days. Travis has worked every day since a week ago Sunday. Then he worked 7am to midnight Monday and Tuesday. I am ecstatic that he has the rest of the evenings off this week. ECSTATIC.

Last night I was SOOO busy. After I picked up Aiden from daycare, I went to the grocery store to pick up food to throw into the Crock Pot for dinner tonight. When I got home, I found my dog covered in mud, hiding under the house. I left him out all day without checking the weather first - sure enough it rained. I took Aiden inside and worked on cleaning out under the kitchen sink because last night the sprayer hose sprung a leak.

The next 30 minutes were a blur - Aiden drank a bottle while I gave Callaway a bath, made spaghetti and then fed myself and Aiden our dinner. Somewhere in there little man played with his toys and I threw the saturated throw rug in the wash. After Aiden went down for the night, I emailed Alex addresses for his graduation party invitations and sent Travis photos of the leak under the sink so he could pick up a replacement part. Oh and I cooked a couple butternut squash to freeze for ze bebe. I was too tired to puree it, so that'll have to get done tonight.

I'm hoping for an early night this evening. I have to pick up Aiden up from daycare so Travis can get more stuff to fix the sink. Dinner should be ready in the slow cooker just a couple hours after I get home. BUT, it is bill night and Travis is going to work on the sink. I can't wait for that thing to be fixed! It's difficult to wash bottles in the bathroom since the sink is not very deep. I need a caffeine IV drip, please.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Open Windows

Oh how I love the spring and fall here in Texas! It's usually the perfect temperature, between the oven-baking-hot of summer and the wet-humid-cold of winter. It also means I get to open the windows in the house and let in a nice breeze. Unfortunately it is still humid, which means my hair will permanently be a fro and all the papers on my fridge will wilt over. It's the price we pay for fresh air I suppose.

Despite the fact that my husband was gone all weekend working his butt off, we had a delightful weekend. Friday night we took it easy and watched the movie 2012. It was a pretty good movie with all the great graphic, but it's not one I will purchase. The beginning contained a ridiculous amount of impossible feats, including ramp jumping a limo and an RV and flying through a falling city. I think they included ten too many close calls. Throughout the entire film I was disturbed by the thought of being in those situations with a child. It was almost too much to bear.

Saturday I did a little cleaning around the house and started going through the boxes that my parents brought down here from their storage. I packed these boxes up the summer of 2002 just before moving to Texas for college. Oh my the memories! I've been reminded of my friends from Student Council and Sea World summer camps, the fact that I was accepted at ISU (also contemplated Ohio State and Oregon State) and had a music flashback when I came across several CDs including Will Smith Big Willie Style, White Town in Technology and OMC How Bizarre. WOW. I may have enjoyed toys of the 80's in my childhood (My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Cabbage Patch dolls, etc), but I am definitely a product of the 90's.

Saturday afternoon I went up to Chris and Alexa's to get a little adult time into my day while Travis went to his electrician job. Sometimes I forget that I have plenty of friends with kids slightly older than Aiden that have an endless source of experience with child rearing. It was nice to get some tips, and at the very least, hear that others have dealt with the same stuff and survived. Not that Aiden is a difficult child by any means. I just worry that I might do something wrong and doom him to a life of therapy.

Anyhoo, Alexa had to run to the airport to pick up her parents, so I ran home to meet Travis - that way we could ride one car together. We don't have much time to catch up with each other these days, so a 30-minute car ride can be precious time. When we got back to the Ramby's house we headed over to their neighbor's house for a crawfish boil. Again, I have NO PICTURES. I've really been slacking with the camera lately. How will I ever remember these activities without a photo to jog my memory?! Gah. We had a great time, even though I don't have hard proof. We were idiots and stayed there until 11, so the next day was a little rough on both of us.

Sunday, Travis worked at Home Depot. I took a nap at the same time as Aiden in the morning, which means my AM was shot. I went through one of the storage boxes again and then we drove down to Galveston to meet Travis for lunch. Mmmm, Subway. This was our first chance to try out the nifty disposable placemats we bought for using at restaurants with Aiden. It was just as handy as I had imagined.

After lunch, we dropped Travis back off at work and headed over to Target for some shopping. Aiden was overdue for some older-baby toys and I needed to grab a couple of other items (Blair's birthday is next weekend). I love Target. I mean really, I think that place is my favorite place to shop, ever. The toy section is a whole new adventure for me now. I finally remembered to pick up some rice cakes for Aiden to try out. He really seemed to enjoy them last night, so I'll have to get the other flavors later. For now, Mommy can share the caramel-flavored rice cakes with him (the only kind I like).

Sunday night, Scott and Rachel came over to celebrate Pi Day! We watched Napoleon Dynamite for the 300th time, ate pizza and of course, pie! Apple, to be precise. With a side of vanilla ice cream. Oh how I love nerd holidays.

PS - I learned that there is a bonus scene at the end of Napoleon Dynamite that I never knew about! HOW COULD I NOT KNOW ABOUT THAT?!

Pub Golf

I didn't go into much detail about this when I mentioned it a couple weeks ago and had a request for more detail, so I thought I'd throw up a couple photos from Pub Golf. One of the requirements of the game was wearing argyle. Here's the group all dressed up:

The game was pretty simple. It was basically a pub crawl with rules. At each bar, you had to have a certain type of drink (cocktail, mixed shot, straight shot, etc.) and the number of gulps it took you to finish the drink was your number of "swings". Each place had a par dependent on the type of drink. We were only allowed to use the bathroom or drink water at designated "water holes".

Needless to say, it was an expensive game. I didn't even get a drink at the last two bars. It was strange seeing people out that I knew. It's been so long since I've been out on the town that I forgot other people still did that. We even went to one bar that I haven't been to since we lived in an apartment across the street - and that was two years before I got pregnant!

Happy Birthday Mary!

Natalie, Mary, me and Bridget

These are the same girls I went to New Orleans with two years ago for another girl's bachelorette party. Oh those were good times! Now days I am more than happy to spend the evening at home with my boys.

8 Months Old

New tricks:

• Aiden can wave. We're working on waving during the correct situation, as opposed to whenever it seems fun.
• He is an expert at going from sitting to laying on his stomach. Can't do the reverse just yet.
• He can put the spoon to his mouth with food on it. It's a slow process though, so a lot of that food ends up in his lap.
• He loves clapping.
• We are working on drinking from a sippy cup.
• We are also working on the pincer grasp.

A couple nights ago I let him go at it with a spoon and some pureed broccoli. Oh man was THAT a mess. He went straight from the high chair to the bath after that one. I was proud of him grasping the concept of using a tool to get food into his mouth though. He'll just need some time to hone the skill.

Drinking out of a sippy cup is also a slow moving task to learn. Sometimes he will drink from the sippy cup, but only if it is juice. He doesn't seem very impressed with water. He also will only drink from the sippy cup if it is upside-down. If it is right side up, he flinches away like he doesn't like it being in his face. Not a big deal except that it is harder to get juice into the mouthpiece when it is upside-down and the pressure-release hole drips on him the entire time. We'll figure it out. Eventually.

I'm stoked he has been working on his pincer grasp with CHEERIOS! I LOVE Cheerios. This is the first food I can fully share with Aiden. Anything else I give him has to be changed in some way to make it edible for a baby. I've been offering him Gerber cereal puffs, but they only have sweet flavors. Funny enough, that is a little bit of a turn off for Aiden. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of Cheerios as a replacement. I read it in a magazine and immediately rolled my eyes at myself.

A couple nights ago Aiden tried cheese bread. I read that he can have hard cheeses now and I found another article that recommended melting cheese on a slice of bread or bagel. The dilemma for me was should I cut it up in little bitty pieces? Or give it to him whole? I ended up cutting it into slices, so they were the same size as his biter biscuits. He seemed to like it and as a plus, he didn't choke!

Yesterday he was playing at his toy table. One of the stations is a book that has one flip page. When turned, the page initiates music to play. Aiden got SOOO annoyed with the book at that table when he couldn't get the "next page" to turn. =( Poor guy! He's just figuring things out, like books have multiple pages of turning delight, when BAM! Life throws him a curve ball and gives him a one page book. That is glued to the table. Ugh, the NERVE!

Ignorance is Bliss

We have a Bengal named Sagira. I have mentioned her on here a couple of times.

Bengals are a strange breed. Our Sagira will walk on a leash, she enjoys playing with dogs (preferably small ones), she likes perching in high places and she loves water. While I doubt she would happily go for a swim (although I have not actually offered it), she is very fond of playing on the surface. And oh! the number of places to play with water in the home! The kitchen sink, the bathroom sink (she will actually let me turn the water on and let it run over her body as she lays in the sink), the bath tub, the toilet (hence the constantly closed lid) and my new fave, a glass of water.

For years I have left a glass of water sitting on my nightstand at night. Sometimes I wake up thirsty and if I don't wet the palate I will lay there forever thinking about how thirsty I am and end up getting out of bed for a drink anyway. Sagira has recently discovered this glass of water, this cup of wonderment, the epitome of zeal! I am sure there has been the occasional romp into my water glass in the past. But then, I was unaware of any midnight party on my nightstand and therefore still able to drink the water in the morning. (Gross, I know. Please re-read title of post.)

As of late, it is blatantly obvious that someone has been cavorting with my drink. There are little wet paw prints all over my nightstand and clumps of CLAY at the bottom of my glass. For those of you who may not follow what clumps of clay may represent, let me clarify. Nowadays, most cat owners use what is called "clumping cat litter". The litter itself is just little dry granules of clay. When exposed to moisture, the clay instantly absorbs the fluid and adheres to any neighboring moist granules of clay. Hence, clumping.

Unfortunately, the moisture that was meant to be cat piss has now become my glass of water. I'm thinking I may have to forego the water for a few weeks in order to get Sagira to forget about her nightly visits to my nightstand.

New Employer

Travis just got a second job working for Home Depot. Booooo.

Not that there is anything wrong with Home Depot. It's just that I will miss my dear hubby and father of my child! He normally works 48 hours a week as it is. Now he will be working more? Ugh. (Two more nights and one weekend day, to be exact.)

Thing is, Travis recently began doing the bills. I always used to be the one to do them. I don't know the reason for this sudden interest in paying our debt, but I will take it! Bill day (Wednesdays) used to always be a source of mood kill every week. Now I only have to deal with it if Travis finds something that isn't adding up right. I think that because of this, he realizes the level of money that goes out each month and would like to do something about it.

This job has a three-month "probation period" at the end of which he can leave, or they can let him go, without penalty or reason. I hope dearly that he will only work for three months so we can pay off our hospital bills (from having Aiden and the subsequent visits) and then quit. I want Aiden to know his father and I want Travis to know his son.

I keep telling Travis that he is going to miss everything. He is convinced that he won't miss too much since Aiden goes to bed at 7 or 7:30 anyway (he should be working 6 to midnight two nights a week). I wish he would see that those regular days can mean so much. Then there's the exhaustion he'll be battling on his days off that will probably hold him back from activities on those days.

My plan is to sit back and let him do this for a couple months so I can build up hard evidence to defend my case. As quickly as I want June to be here so the three-month period will be up, I don't want Aiden's first year to go by any quicker than it already is!

Happy Birthday Robert!

This past Sunday we went over to Robert and Ariel's new house to celebrate Robert's birthday with a crawfish boil. Since it is the still beginning of crawfish season, the critters will a little smaller than hoped, but they were still tasty as can be! I LOVE crawfish. The first batch wasn't spicy enough for me, but the second and third pots were awesome.

The festivity as a whole was a little stressful for me. Despite Aiden being cranky with sickness, he did really well. We sat outside for a couple hours on a blanket. At first it was okay, but once all the guests began to arrive it seemed that every single one of them had brought there dog. 300 dogs = mass chaos. They were running all over the place, chasing each other, deciding who was top dog with displays of dominance. It was too much to take with my vulnerable baby sitting on the ground. I quickly sent Travis upstairs to grab the travel crib so Aiden would have a barrier between him and the unruliness.

Beyond the dogs, there were various other issues. Crawfish eating is not meant to be done with a baby in your lap. That meant we had to take turns eating until we had the bright idea to bring down the crib. The other minor issue was that we brought the wrong nipples for Aiden's bottles. He was so frustrated with the slow flow that he gave up several times. AND that meant we spent more time with Aiden while he ate, since there was no place to set him up to feed himself like we do at home - at least not with 300 dogs roaming the yard. Again, the crib solved this issue.

Things got a little better after half of the dogs were sent to the front yard. We headed home at 7:15 so we could get Aiden to bed. No, more so we could get me to bed. I was EXHAUSTED. I seriously was in bed by 8:30. And I still woke up worn out the next day.

Strategic Exponentials

This was just so funny to me. Aiden has gotten into this kick where if you say short words (ie, ma, da, poop, etc.) he thinks it is the funniest thing on this earth. If you lengthen the word, then it's not so funny...

Short words = funny. from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

PS - Travis just made up that phrase. I doubt it actually means anything.

Official diagnosis is in...

Doc says it's pink eye AND an ear infection.

In the past when friends told me their kid(s) were sick, I always felt bad for the kid. But now I have a whole new level of sympathy for the parents. Dealing with a sick kid is hard in so many more ways than I knew. Not only is the sick one suffering, and therefore difficult, but the parent is suffering, knowing there is not much they can do except ride out the sickness and/or medications.

In Aiden's case, we get to ride out the antibiotics: ointment for his eye and oral suspension for his ears. I can't even begin to imagine how much fun medicating with that ointment is going to be. Obviously, his eyes are bothering him, so he spends a lot of his time rubbing them. How do we stop him from rubbing long enough for the meds to do their job?

We get to change his sheets and clean his toys tomorrow, to prevent reinfection. Our sheets are getting washed today, since Travis brought Aiden to bed to give him his morning bottle. By Sunday, the conjuntivitis should no longer be infectious. That means back to daycare on Monday! Did I mention Mommy has a headache?

BBQ at the Ramby's

This past weekend we went over to Chris and Alexa's to try out some smoked brisket. It was totally worth it. Unfortunately, Alexa was not feeling very well in her fragile, prego state. We are definitely appreciative that we were able to enjoy the nice weather in their back yard.




We are currently dealing with a sick kiddo. Aiden has spent the past week progressively getting worse. Over the weekend it was just a runny nose. Sunday the eye discharge started. Monday came the cough. Tuesday came the nightly fevers (but not in the mornings). And yesterday? Yesterday his right eyeball was pink when I picked him up from Auntie Ariel's.

The daycare won't let him come back for 24 hours after a recorded fever. That meant he couldn't go back to school until 4pm yesterday. Since it's a busy week for both of us, we recruited Ariel and Robert for the day.

Today, Travis is taking the day off to take Aiden to the doctor and keep his pink eye away from everyone at daycare. We don't have doctor confirmation that he has conjunctivitis, but I am fairly confident with my "diagnosis". I feel so bad for him, he has been rubbing his eyes non-stop since yesterday afternoon. =(

The only reason we haven't taken him into the doctor yet is because every time I take him in because he has a high fever, I pay the $30 co-pay to have the doctor tell me to give him Tylenol. I feel bad about not taking him in sooner if this actually is pink eye, but then again, his eyes weren't pink before so it would have been difficult to diagnose.

We did speak with the nurse several times this week over the phone. They always said to just give him lots of fluids and to bring him in if his fever elevated or if his eyes became pink or swollen. I'm pretty sure we've hit pink and swollen. This morning he couldn't even open his left eye because there was so much gunk in it. EL YUCKO.

Kardashian Epidural

Holy crap. Did anyone see the Keeping up with the Kardashians episode where Kourtney has her baby?!?! My jaw absolutely dropped to the ground when the doctor asked if she wanted to grab the baby as it is HALF inside her and she pulls the baby the rest of the way out.

All I have to say is there is no way my epidural was working if that is what it was supposed to be like. You know, just pulling the baby out yourself. There is NO WAY I could have done that. I wanted to push SO BADLY once he was part way out. It was all I could think about. THAT'S IT. Pushing was all my brain could do.

Kourtney probably had two epidurals considering how calm she was through the whole thing. Not fair. Next time I have a baby, I want to be rich. Then I can just slip the anesthesiologist a few hundos and get the good treatment.

And yes. One of my guilty pleasures is Keeping up with the Kardashians. Deal with it.

If you want to see the clip of Kourtney in the hospital, in all it's gory glory, check it out here at The Frisky. Khloe's reaction immediately after the birth says it all. Oh and the baby is hairy.

I love my drive into work

Every day when I drive to work, this is the view I get. When I first got a job in Galveston (as a receptionist at a vet clinic), I would drive on Seawall all the way to work. After we moved closer to my job, I had no need to take the ocean drive. I was extra bummed when I moved off the island and the only time I saw water was on the ride over the bridge.

The location of Aiden's daycare has since rerouted my drive so that I may take Seawall across most of the island. I LOVE it. Especially since it is right after the sun comes up, meaning I have a great view of the sun over the water.

That first photo is of the statue on the Seawall. You can see a better photo of it here (not my photo). And here is a photo of a pelican that was just hanging out on the sidewalk...

Big Boy

Aiden's moving up in the world. Or at least up in height. Now he can see out the windows better when he is in his car seat. His feet have been jammed against the seat for a couple weeks now, so we decided it was time to get him a larger car seat. After doing a little research on consumerreports.com and reading the reviews at Babies R Us, we went with an Evenflo Triumph.

So far I like it, but we've only used it once. The only downfall is it is so tall that I can barely see the mirror I have on the back seat so I can see Aiden through my rear view mirror. It's nice to check on him to see if he is asleep, or to see what he might be looking at through the windows while we are stopped at a red light.

While we were at Babies R Us, we picked up a bath tub faucet cover. I can't wait until Aiden is old enough that we can put bubbles in it for him to use whenever he wants. Then again, that might not be a good thing. We are doing full on baths now. No more baby bath tub for Aiden! On Friday, he decided that he HAD to lay on his belly, so I let out a bunch of water and let him splash away. I may purchase a rain poncho to wear during bath time.

Aiden officially has two teeth now. Everyone I know has said that the second the tooth breaks through, the fussiness goes away. Which is why I am now convinced that there are at least 10 teeth trying to emerge all at the same time. I cannot describe the level of crankiness this boy has been exhibiting in the past 24 hours. It's unreal. He woke up twice last night screaming bloody murder. I have this fear that it could be night terrors that are freaking him out, and not his teeth or bowels. I don't have anything to back this up, it's just an unfounded fear of mine.

This weekend was interesting. I went out Saturday night for a college friend's birthday party. There was a big group of people who got together to play Pub Golf. In theory, it could be a lot of fun. But I am thinking I may be past that part of my life because it was a little hard on me. I was passing out on the drive there, since we were within an hour of my normal bedtime. We went through McD's drive thru to get a frappe to wake me up. In the end, I just had a headache. I had a good time in the beginning, but then the headache and exhaustion got the better of me. My DD, Travis, came to get me at about 1am.

Travis was awesome and let me sleep in the next morning - I was up by 9:30. But then, for some reason, my entire body felt like I had run a marathon. I didn't dance at the bars, so the only other conclusion I can come to is it was because I was walking in heels all night (flexed leg muscles)? And screaming over the bar music (tensed torso)? Not sure, but it was tough to get moving on Sunday. It will probably be a while before I will do anything like that again.