A little TLC

Yes, today was another Doctor's visit. We had a follow-up with our new and improved friend. The news was a little better. The bronchitis seems to have cleared up but the ear infection is still going strong after a full week of meds. We have our fourth perscription for little guy. Let's hope this one works!! Tyler also is moderately anemic, therefore he gets to go on a liquid multi-vitamin with iron. The doc says he is, "batting 950" Not bad!

We tried to avoid three co-pays in one month so the kind nurse gave us Tyler's 9 month check-up early. The eight-month (TODAY :) ) numbers are...

19lb. 6oz. and 27in...

funny because he was 27.5 two months ago???

We'll get a better update when we go back in a few weeks for another follow up visit.

Even with our little boy being slightly under the weather we are greatful for many things today. Ryan's job has taken a lot of his time from us but it also has something called family time. PTO baby! Ryan was able to come home early yesterday to help out with Tyler. Then I ran a fever and Tyler didn't sleep all night so Ryan came in to say good-bye and saw that I looked less than my usual fabulous. One call in to work and his wonderful supervisor said take the day and do what you need to do. We have been so blessed to have daddy home to play with Tyler and let me nap a little more. We will miss him tomorrow on heart day- but we were glad to have him around to give us an extra dose of TLC.

We love you daddy! Happy heart day.

A little Update

Following up on my goals from last week. I DID organize one thing :) Our closet! It looks great. Not that it was terribly messy before, but there were a few things on the floor. During one of Tyler's naps I got to re-fold, re-hang, re-color code, and re-organize. It was great! Other than that, I just accomplished the usual house cleaning, food making, diaper changing, bath giving, grocery shopping, errand running, finance balancing, and medicine giving.

We were able to get some really cute pictures of Tyler this past week or so. I think we need some smiles on here after last week's sad pic so here we go.

The weather has finally warmed up (never thought we'd say that in Las Vegas!) so we made some crawling space outside. Tyler and daddy had some good quality time this weekend. My two boys are soo cute!

Satuday was finally a day off for Ryan so we all spent some time outside. Ryan was washing cars, which he does so well, and Tyler was studying the art ;) Tyler stayed in the garage for most of the morning but he made a running start and cleared our make-shift barrier. He rolled right down the driveway to the sidewalk and he didn't stop there. Tyler and daddy went for a little walk to the neighbors and giggled all the way!

Tyler gave us a great smile and we finally caught it on camera so just enjoy the goofy grin.

Finally we got an adorable picture of our sleepy head. This is his new favorite sleeping corner. Isn't he adorable?!

Good News

We are having success! Our cute little boy is giving in to the breathing treatments. I found a way to distract him with Cheerios in his high chair while doing the treatments. Thanks to my mom for the idea. It has been much easier to give Ty the medicine he needs when I don't need a straight jacket to do it! Also, I got an updated weight at the pediatrician's office yesterday...

7.5 months 19 lbs 11 oz.

Holy HUGE boy!!

In other GOOD NEWS for today, Ryan was told at work today, around noon, that he would have an interview TODAY around 3pm for a promotion! Granted, this was just an interview, I think that is pretty sweet! The panel said that he interviews very well and they still love the work he is doing in the office. No idea when we'll get follow up to this exciting news. I am just so proud of my wonderful husband for being such a hard worker. He hasn't even been in the office 5 months yet and he is at #1. That's my baby!!

News from earlier...

Cutest BUM ever. Tyler figured out how to stand up in the tub. Fun times. We also enjoy messing with his hair right after. It is getting so long- but I am way too scared to trim it. Just enjoy the craziness.

This is how Tyler and I spent the day on Monday. He wanted to be held ALL DAY. I broke down and just stuck him in the front carrier so we could hang together every minute. It's a funny thing because it is so sweet when they want to be with you, and so annoying at the same time :) Part of doing that mom thing I guess.

Lastly, Tyler is pulling himself up on everything! Toys, walls, doors, his crib. We missed the part when he was standing, but here he is on the recovery.

Sick Little Boy

Our little boy had a Dr. visit today. I was hoping the Doc would say, "Oh, it's nothing. Thanks for the $500 though." Instead he said to the medical student accompaning him, "Do you hear that?"...not so good. It was pleasant to have a nice Dr and a med student even so that I could overhear everything being explained. Tyler has some mild bronchitis and an ear infection :( He had one breathing treatment at the office and I got my very own nebulizer to torture Tyler with at home. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that insurance picks up the tab on that one. We'll try to get a picture of the next torture session, a.k.a. breathing treatment. You can see Tyler's cute little dinosaur mask thing. He still doesn't care for it much. Oh well. Hope the next post brings news of a healthy, happy little boy.

Just thinking...

Thinking tends to happen on Sundays. This week has been full of thinking and worrying. Tyler is sick with the worst sounding cough. Ryan even took a sick day this week for the first time at this job. We also did some wonderful budgeting... I don't think any marriage would be complete without the "budgeting years". I hope that these end sooner rather than later. I have always been a big saver. All through High School I would shop with my friends, then go return whatever I bought usually within a week. I have been baby sitting and tutoring since I was about 10. During college I even worked in the dorms for two additional years to save money and get out of college debt free. B.B. (before baby) I even worked three jobs because I always felt like there was never quite enough in savings...you know, just in case.

Needless to say, with a history like that, cutting back to one income has been a challenge. I have had to let go of controlling the income and just do my best to limit the outgoing cash. Ryan is learning of the strange sense of responsibility that comes with being the breadwinner (I was making the money earlier so he could take crazy heavy loads at school and finish faster). He is so amazing at working hard and working well. He was hired before he left the parking lot from his first interview. They loved him then and we hope that they will continue to love, and promote, him. Then maybe, when we can put away what I want into savings, then I'll stress a little less...at least about that one aspect.

My next area to get a handle of is organizing my house. At work I was maticulous about planning way ahead, always being prepared, and staying on top of everything. Now that I "just stay at home" all day it is so frustrating that plans aren't made that far ahead, I'm not always prepared, and I am most definitely not on top of many things. I am trying though. I keep wishing that I could get one of those home shows to come make-over the organizational aspects of our house and then I could just keep it up. Until that day happens I'm trying to tackle one area at a time. Well, those are the goals for now... those and watching Tyler grow and loving the chance I have to be around him and "just staying home".

Here's to hopefully accomplishing another goal in the next seven days!

Photo Update

Grandma and Grammie Anita were visiting. Grandma Denos is handy with the sewing machine and made Tyler this great shopping cart cover. So talented! We love how it turned out- the colors are great.

Tyler got to give it a test drive when we went out to dinner at Claim Jumper to celebrate Grammie Anita and Aunt Heather's birthdays. It was so cute to see Tyler and Madelyn sitting at the table like the rest of us. They were the best behaved babies in the place...and the cutest by far!

Tyler got to have his first play date with Grammie Anita in about a month. They used to get to play a lot when he was a few months old and we lived in California. Grammie would come over so I could fold laundry, shower, or take a nap. Little Tyler used to always need to be held. Now he is quite the mover and play dates now consist of more watching and laughing than holding.

These are a few of my favorite things...baby feet. Why are they so cute? I do not know, but I love these two little feet more than just about anything. His little feet are pretty ticklish and I can almost always get a laugh out of him if I work it just right. These little feet are at least a size 2 already though...maybe Tyler got some height from his Crooks genes.

"What did I do?" You can't really tell from the picture, but Tyler is standing up between Dad's legs. He has learned, or should I say, is learning, to pull himself up. In the process of learning to get up, he is also learning that falling is not much fun. He is getting a little better,and a little more adventurous each day.

Fun Friday

Fun Friday originated when I was a daycare manager. It all began when I had a stinkin long week with 20-something kindergarten aged children and I could not stick to my lesson plans one more day. This particular group of kids could not follow instruction for the life of them...even if it was a messy, fun craft or outside games. Thus, Fun Friday was born. On Fridays we all took a break. The kids got to do whatever they wanted for about a half hour inside then about a half hour outside. The staff and I even brought in fun, healthy sancks on occasion. (The healthy part is a whole blog in itself...California public schools banned junk food in 06) These days turned out to be so much fun and helped us bond and create relationships and friendships even better than we could have hoped.

So, what's the point?! I have officially decided to re-instate Fun Friday in the Crooks household. That means I get to do whatever I want all day. I can wake up when I want to, eat when I want to, work out, go shopping, read, scrapbook, clean, organize. It will make life happy again. Tyler will, of course, play quietly with his favorite toys, sleep on command, feed himself, change his own diapers, and clean up after himself. It will be great. We will keep you posted on progress ;)

Stinky, a.k.a. Tyler, has been a funny boy this week. He is battling his second cold/stuffy nose/cough of his little life. It turns him into a fickle boy who wants to be held one second, play another, and cry uncontrollably the next. I had an opportunity to teach enrichment last night so Ryan picked up the little guy on his way home from work. I figured Ty would go right to sleep, but I heard it was quite a different situation when I came home. Poor Ryan, who is also sick, had a very unhappy boy on his hands. No fear- Ryan turned into super dad. He changed a diaper, soothed a sad baby, and even used the snot sucker. By the time I got home Tyler was soundly asleep- thanks to his great daddy!

I'll try to post pictures in a minute...the computer is not agreeing with me at the moment.