Fun Outings with Sean!

Okay, since last night was pretty serious, I'll post something more light-hearted today.
On Sunday, July 19, 2009, my little brother got married! i am so happy for them! I love my baby brother so much and his new wife is an absolute doll. I wish them all the good things in life.
Sean was very good at the wedding. I was standing up for D 'n' B so Sean hung out with my Aunt MaryJane and her daughter, Kaymie. Sean only lost it one time when he saw Nate come to sit down after being usher, but settled down once he was in Daddy's arms. It was a lovely day

Last week, Sean's grandparents, my in-laws, were in town. Dave helped fix the floor right under our toilet on Tuesday, and Sean and I were stuck at my folks after being there all week the week before. So, to make up for it, Grandma and Grandpa took Sean and myself to the zoo and met up with (Auntie) Amy and Austin.
We had such a good time! Sean was in awe of the tiger; it was pacing back and forth and Sean's little head just followed him wherever he went. I would bet anything that his eyes were as wide as saucers behind his sunglasses. Nate called when we were looking at the tiger, and just then, he started to roar. The look on Sean's face was priceless! It was saying, "What is that sound and where is it coming from?"
The only thing that would have made it better, was if Nate were able to come instead of being stuck at work.

The icing on the cake was when my mom took Sean (so that means me too, seeing we're basically tethered to each other) to the Heritage Carousel. We had so much fun! I honestly think I had more fun than Sean did; he was getting tired and was simply mesmerized by all the sights and sounds, it was just too much fun to watch him! All in all, we went around four times!
The carousel has all sorts of different animals, so Sean road two different horses and then the tiger, since he liked it so much at the zoo.


After the excitement of riding the tiger, Sean conked out. Nate was done working with his brother-in-law, so Mom said she would take Sean to their place so he could sleep and Nate and I got to go swiming, just the two of us.

I love my family so much. With everything going on with Stellan and the rest of the MckFamily, I see how truly blessed Nate and I are.
My heart still breaks for the MckFamily and I pray for everything to work out acording to Gods plan. I really hope that plan means that Stellan will be okay; but as hard as it may be to acept, I do understand that God may have other plans. I'm praying for his heart to be okay, but mostly, I am praying for peace.

God bless you, everyone, and have a good night.

Sometimes, I just don't understand God...

I have lived my entire life reading, studying and being taught the Bible and God. How God created the heavens and the earth and all living things; that God is love; That God sent Christ, his only Son, to die a humiliating, painful death so that we may be saved. And as much as I'd like to say that I understand and 'get' God, I don't.

A wonderful lady who's blog I follow and occasionally communicate with has a son, Stellan, who is right around my little Sean's age. Stellan has Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) which causes his heart to beet dangerously fast. Stellan in in the hospital tonight literally fighting for his life. Today his heart was racing at 224 beats per minute. Around 20 minutes ago, Stellan's blood pressure was at a dangerous 57/32. Anyone reading this, please pray for Stellan, his parents and three older siblings.

But like I said, I just don't get God. Both she and I did everything 'right' during our pregnancies. This was her fourth baby, and everything was suppose to go wonderfully. I just don't understand why my baby turned out to be the closest thing to perfect a baby can get and her baby is seriously sick! How does God choose who lives or dies or who is healthy or who suffers? I would just love to get the slightest glimpse of Gods ever present, omnipotent mind; I would just love to know that Stellan will be all right and that his mom would post on twitter that Stellan is cured and I wouldn't have to hit refresh every 60 seconds to see if there is any improvement and just know that Stellan is okay.
The only comfort that I can find is that everything is in Gods hands and that His plans are for hope and prosper. But my heart is still breaking for this mother! All that I can do is pray, so pray I will.

UPDATE:
Stellan is not doing well at all. Instead of me posting what is happening, as I don't know the story in it's entirety, pleas check out MckMama's blog or on Twitter.
Please, continue to pray.

Sleepless in... Des Moines?!?

I don't know why, but I have been having very severe insomnia. I just cannot get to sleep. Once I am asleep, I stay asleep; it’s just the getting there.

It really is frustrating. I always have been a night person, but not like this. There are nights where my mind doesn’t start to slow down until 2am… or later. Then the next day, I have no energy. Usually, I need to get 9 or 10 hours of sleep to function properly, always have. Since Sean came out, I’ve been fine with 7 ½ - 9 and can get through the day. It’s just the past few weeks I’ve been averaging 5-6…3 ½ last night, since Sean didn’t sleep well. And I’m still awake and NOT BY CHOICE!

It’s not like I’m staying up on purpose! I just cannot slow my mind down; it keeps running a mile a minute! I’ve tried going to bed earlier, but my mind will race and I’ll just get frustrated and aggravated if I stay in bed… and Nate get’s frustrated, too because I’ll keep him up. I would just like it if someone would hit me over the head with a rock me to sleep!

Does anyone else have this problem?

But, hey, good news id it’s ten ‘till midnight and I’m starting to settle. I may get to sleep before 12:30! YEA!! I’m booking it!

~ ’Night

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy Independence Day, America!
I can hardly believe that in just one week, Sean will be eight months old! That's 2/3 of a year!!
But today, we celebrated the 4th of July in a fairly traditional way: we went to a bar-b-que.
Sean even got all festive for the day!

A friend gave us the cute outfit and the cap is a wonderful hand-me-down (I love hand-me-downs! I grew-up waring them... by choice!)
Some good friends of Nate and mine, Eric and Annie, hosted the barbie and we all had a wonderful time! Here's a photo of Sean with his "Auntie" Annie

And I have never been one to cook bland.

Yummy. Tapioca Cake! I'm real happy with how it turned out, both appearance and taste!

The only thing that spoiled the night were the fireworks. In the state of Iowa, it is illegal to own fireworks. Professionals come in to put on their shows, but someone like me could not go out and buy some. BUT, in Missouri, fireworks are legal. So most people will just cross the state line, buy a lot (some buy up to $1000!) and bring them back to fire them off.
Most people don't think it's a huge deal and the cops hardly do anything about it, but it is a bother to me. At the show by the lake, a lot of people were shooting off fire crackers/works/bottle rockets/etc. Some were shooting over the crowd! That didn't sit will with me, seeing that 1) if one tipped over after being lit or sparks falling down, there could be serious injury and/or death and 2) so many people were just shooting off one right after another, there were too many strobe-like flashes that it reeked havoc on my epilepsy. So, in the end, Nate, Sean and I missed the professional show and I was barely able to walk bake to the car.
You can see why I'm upset about this... I'm going to write to the local PD about this, seeing we saw three cops and they did nothing.

But... all-in-all, it was a wonderful night.

Food is Fun!

WARNING: This post has an image of me nursing Sean. If you are wierded out by boobage, do not read.

I love feeding Sean! I know that may sound strange - but his main way of eating is still nursing.

It is such an intimate time for the two of us and part of me wishes that he would stay small forever so we could still do that... only part, though. The sad reality is, Sean is getting to be less of a baby and more of a little boy. It's getting harder and harder to nurse him simply because of how long/tall he is and how much he wiggles. But when he's getting tired and ready for a nap or bed; oh that is our time!
I also love feeding Sean from the spoon and even his mesh feeder (that's what we call it, I don't know the proper name). I love the feeder! It's a huge lifesaver for times when Sean is hungry and the dishes are piling up. Slip some avocado or squash in there and he will go to town!
It's also a great way to feed him when he is having discomfort from teething. I'll slip in the food when it's still frozen and he loves the food part as well as the 'it feels good on my toothers!' part. It also works great with ice or 'juicy cubes' (diluted juice that is frozen).
Here he is eating some sweet potato from it:


And if you haven't guessed I do make most of our baby food. We do have jars of store bought food for when were traveling/out and when he's at my Grammy's (I guess I could make some for her, but for now, this way works) It's real fun to see his reaction to new foods.
Today, Sean tried egg for the first time. He tried to pick it up by himself, but it crumbled too easily and didn't get any in his mouth, so I helped. He must have liked the tasted, but I think that the texture was weird to him; every so often, he would get a 'yuck!' face after some gumming, but still wanted more! I wish that I had my camera to catch that look!
And just the other day, Sean had his first taste of dairy that didn't come from me. My dad and I were hanging out and having some lunch and I casually mentioned that Mr. Sean was old enough to have cottage cheese (Dad was eating it, so that's what made me think of that). So Granddad scooped a little tiny bit on the end of his spoon and offered it to Sean, which he opened his little mouth for. He gummed the curds once and then got this look on his face that said "What in the world did you just put in my mouth?!" I think he was confused by A) the texture and B) it was cow dairy, not Mommy dairy.

Okay, totally off the food topic. Check out Sean and my new favorite hair style for him:

I fell in love with the look when he woke up form a car ride all sweaty and his hair got pushed up. So now, when I style it like that I just use some water to style it and a little bit of baby loation to keep it up. I just think he looks so super cute!

Okay, I'm calling it a night now. Keep it real!

EDIT:
I snapped a few photos of the "egg face" during snack time on July 3, 2009.

Why I Love my Family

1. I can goof off and they thing nothing less of me.
2. I love to cook for Nate... and he loves to eat my cooking!
3. Two words: Tobey kisses.
4. The huge smile I get in the morning from Sean.
5. Most Saturdays, Nate lets me SLEEP!
6. Doggy and baby snuggles.
7. The laugh Sean makes when he's playing with his daddy.
8. All the help that my parents are so willing to offer.
9. Singing Theme From A Wiener Dog Riding A Skateboard in the car with Nate to settle Sean down.
10. They're MY family.

Theme From A Wiener Dog Riding A Skateboard has a 7 out of 10 success rate of calming Sean down.

Burnt Out

I am burnt out.
I'm just going to do a quick review of the past two weeks.

• Sean decides he doesn't have enough toys out in his room.

(Full story in later post)

• Nate hates his job right now and I don't blame him.

• Sean's pink eye cleared up. (Yea!)

• My friend Lacy came to visit Sean, Tobey and me one afternoon. :)
  

• I get the stomach flu.

• Sean turns 7 months!

• Sean keeps pooping out his diapers.

• Nate and I messed the Tony's because the tape didn't record! (*cries*)

• I find out that Tobey sleeps really funny.

• Sean is fussy from his tooth.

• Sean is trying to cut a top tooth.

• I'm going crazy; nothing new.
  

• Sean gets a new toy.

(A play yard! So much fun!)

So...

Sean had a tummy ache and teething pains yesterday, wouldn't stop screaming, wouldn't take a nap, finally settles down just in time to go get his shots! He slept well last night (we were at Grandma and Grandpas from baby sitting and we were traveling with them today), but woke up at 5am with poop leaking out of his diaper, running down his legs and between his tows, all over the porta-crib and then won't go back to sleep!
We traveled to Auntie Mary Jane's today to give her her retirement gift, stayed for about two-and-a-half hours, then turned around and came home... a six hour trip both ways. Sean is not happy! At least he's asleep.
And speaking of sleep, I'm going there now. Thank you for listing to me vent! :)

Two for Tooth

Well, that other tooth of Sean's is stubborn, but it finally cut through today! Again, just the tiniest tip is sticking out and Sean is not happy about it one little bit!
On a better note, Sean's pink eye is looking a lot better today. He's had two rounds of eye drops and already a lot of the puffiness is down and the whites are less red.

On a completely different note - I have no Idea how he got into what he did!
All four of us were in the front room; Nate was half reading, half watching a movie I was on the sofa with Tobey, half watching the movie, mostly keeping an eye on Sean who was crawling around on the floor. We have some arias barricaded off with boxes, the ironing board, a suit case, things of that nature that we already have and he can't climb over.
Sean starts crawling over toward Tobey, wanting to play and just babbling up a storm. As he gets closer to the sofa, I notice that Sean is making a chewing motion and something is in the corner of his mouth. I wipe it off and pick him, and there is a big, mussy glob of blue paper stuck to the roof of his mouth! What in the world?
I have no idea where he got that! I was keeping a fairly good eye on him and I don't even remember having any blue paper! Anyway, we got it out of his mouth and in the garbage with no harm done.
I think this kid is going to like surprising him parents...