We got our first walk in, oh yeah!

The weather finally got warm here in Green Bay, WI and on Monday, Ryan and I finally got our first walk of the year in! It was awesome to get outside and get out of the house for awhile! I mean, you can tell that I’m excited about it just from the fact that I’m using so many exclamation points! LOL

Anyway, it was a lot of fun from the standpoint that he got to look around and see what the outside world was all about. Sure, he did make it outside as an infant, but that doesn’t really count since he was pretty oblivious to what was going on. I mean, he basically just sat there and slept when we rolled around the neighborhood while I tried to get back into shape! Occasionally, he did whimper and open his eyes, yet, that was about it.

Ryan looking at Beaver to his right,
and yes, that's sun on his face!

So when I took him out this time around, he could actually check things out. At first, the only thing that he did was look and laugh at our dog Beaver walking next to us It was hilarious, every couple minutes, he would just giggle at him and clap his hands. And, he would giggle and clap even harder when Beaver would bark at something or jump up on the jogger that Ryan was in. It was nice to see them get along something that bodes well for Beaver's future! :0)

Ryan finally looked up,
he's checking out some trees!

Then towards the end of our walk, Ryan finally looked up and saw what was happening around him. It was completely cool to see him just be in awe of everything. I pointed out the trees to him, the houses, the mailboxes, the cars, and basically anything he saw, I told him what it was and then spelled it out to him. It’s not like he understood what I was saying, but I used the experience as a way to start teaching him things. It was a fun bonding moment between us that is something I’ll remember for quite some time. When we made it back to our house, it was almost like he didn’t want to go inside because of what he saw and it was almost like he wanted us to keep going. I told him that there’s always next time and I’m hoping that the weather heats up enough for us to make it out again today!

Well, that’s about all that I got right now about our walk. On a side note though, if you have a little one, give him or her a hug and hold on to them tightly. The bombings that took place yesterday at the Boston Marathon have made me realize even more that life is precious and not something that can be taken for granted. My heart goes out to the everyone involved in that horrible incident and if Ryan and I are able to get out for our walk today, we’ll be thinking and praying about all of you while being thankful for everything that we have. God Bless. 

Teething is a bitch...

There’s not if’s, an’s or but’s about it, teething is a bitch for infants. Seriously, it’s horrible and frustrating and yes, this mom is pretty much at her wit’s end!!!

Currently, the only time that my son Ryan doesn’t cry is when he’s sleeping. Otherwise, it’s tears and screams and I just want this tooth to break through his swollen gums so he can feel better. I mean like, holy buckets, he has cried more in the past four days than he has during the four and a half months of his entire life.I'm not kidding, he cries so much that it almost makes me cry. :(

Ryan's arsenal of teething toys!

He’s typically a happy and chill little dude, but not now, nope, he’s all over the place and it’s been crazy to try and handle. It makes me feel like I’m a bad mother given that I can’t help ease his pain. Sure, we’ve tried the teething toys along with giving him some weird Oral gel stuff to put on his gums, yet, it just kind of masks everything that he’s going through for a few minutes and we end up right back where we started with him being uncomfortable. It’s a vicious cycle and I just try to comfort him the best that I can by holding him and doing the momma bounce all around the living room. Sometimes it helps, other times not, and one thing that I’ve found out is he really loves it when I sing to him, so, if he’s totally going off crying with the whole lip quiver thing, I start singing and he actually likes it. It makes me smile to see him kind of happy when he’s dealing this sharp little razor blade breaking through his gums. 

Oh and one thing that I forgot to mention with how much teething is not fun is all the snot that has been pouring out of Ryan’s nose and the drool that has been ooking out of his mouth. I had no idea that one little kid could produce so many bodily fluids. We now have two separate burp clothes to clean up the mess so we don’t cross-contaminate because we don’t want him to end up getting a cold, which he kind of has already. We know this because Dave and I took him to see our pediatrician due to the fact that Ryan was running a fever and that we thought he was teething. The pediatrician told us that Ryan had a bit of a cold and that he was in fact teething. He said that we had to really watch everything we do with him so the cold doesn’t get worse. That means, sucking out snot from his nose (which he hates), standing in a hot, steamy bathroom with him with the shower with him to help with the snot drainage, running a vaporizer in his room, and giving him cold medicine every once and awhile to keep his fever in check. So far, it all seems to be working. :) 

What’s keeping me from going off the deep end and going completely insane during my son’s teething is Dave. Without him, I don’t think I could take Ryan being so unhappy and his support has been pretty outstanding. We take turns holding and comforting the little man, taking over for each other when it becomes too much. I’m going to be honest here, having our son scream and cry and snot and drool and cry and drool and cry and scream and cry and snot can be a bit much at times. However, because we are doing it with each other’s help, it’s been way easier to deal with. Thanks honey, love you!

With that, I’m going to end this post for the day! Hopefully the next time I blog, it will be about Ryan officially getting his first tooth! :) Geez, I’m hoping it happens soon!

Checking into daycare places…

Yesterday, my husband, Dave, and I went to visit the place where we’re thinking we’re going to take little Billy Bubba for daycare.

It might seem like we’re jumping the gun a bit on finding him a spot somewhere. However, in all honestly it isn’t because I’ve heard nothing but horror stories from moms about doing it too late only to be on pins and needles when they do find where they want to take their child, only to end up being put on a waiting list. That doesn’t sound like very much fun at all.

So, this is one of those things on our to-do list that I wanted to cross off as soon as we could and I think we found where we’re going to take him. We went on a tour yesterday at KinderCare located in Green Bay on the Eastside. We met with the center director who was very nice and received a tour of the infant room. There are four infants to one adult. The ladies seemed to like what they were doing and all of the babies were doing quite well when we saw them. One was being fed, two were playing, which doesn’t consist of much since they’re super little, another one was about to be fed, and the others were sleeping. Everything this was clean, nothing smelled, each infant had their own personal crib and storage area, and all in all, I thought it was a good place. Dave also has had personal experience with the location since his grandson was watched there and seemed to like it. He mentioned that the staff was always friendly and very attentive to his grandson’s needs. Before we make our final decision, I’m probably going to look into one or two more spots, but as for right now, I think we found our day care provider. Once I make the call and actually reserve his spot, I have a feeling that I’m going to totally relieved to get this big decision taken care of. Let’s keep our fingers cross that, that actually happens! :)

Along with taking BB to an actual day care, my mom, Nancy, said that she would be able to take care of him one day a week when my dad, Don, and her are not wintering in Florida. She took care of my brother’s kids when they were little too and to have her offer the same thing to us is really special. She really, really, really loves children, and yes, my Dad does too, so it will be good for BB to be with family and I think it will be good for my parents too. Thanks Mom and Dad, you’re the best!

Well, I think that’s enough talk about day care for one day, until next time, this is Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off.