Such a helper

Spencer loves feeding the dog his dog treats. The other day he decided to take matters in his own hands. The funny part is our dog's strange obsession with lines on tile. Tongua calls him our "high-functioning autistic dog". Kirby is convinced the evil tile lines will get him if he walks on them too much, so it took all his courage to get near enough to eat the treats. Spencer couldn't understand this, so he kept pitching treats to him. Funny stuff.

Let it (not) snow, let it (not) snow, let it (not) snow!

Snow. Oo, pretty! Okay, over it.

Today I broke down and called the pediatrician and begged for some form of drug to give my child. His nose has been leaking like a faucet, albeit a gross one, for 6 days now, and it's time to get down and dirty with it. All the child advice says Thou Shalt Not Give Babies Antihistamines, but I am all about it if it helps this baby sleep. I am not keeping Spencer out of Mother's Day Out again if it means I have to shove corks up his nose! So I called the pediatrician first to see if I could dodge the bad mother police. They advised Benadryl. Ahhh...drugs... So I hotfooted it to Kroger, and whattya know, it really does help. I'm so relieved. And so is he, I can tell. Ferris asked if he could have some too, so we might all be taking baby benadryl before long.

I also got some top secret birthday presents for Ferris, so next week should be fun. He's cooking something delicious for Valentine's day on Sunday evening. He grumbles that Valentine's day is a Hallmark conspiracy to make up a reason to force men to spend money in February, so Ferris bucks the system by refusing to get me flowers or bears with heart t-shirts or even cards, usually. But he cooks me lamb chops, so I have no complaints. Ferris can tear it up in the kitchen when he puts his mind to it. He hasn't told me what the menu is, but 5 bucks says it's lamb chops, asparagus, and a glass of wine. Mmmmmm.......

The Saints Went Marchin' In!

It's rare that I pay attention to the actual Super Bowl over the ads, but this time I sure did. What an exciting game! We went over to Ferris' mom's house. She was taking a break from the hospital, and we got to spend some time together. She hadn't seen Spencer since Paul checked in 2 weeks ago, so we were due. He was very suspicious that I was going to leave him at Nana's, like so often happens, so at first he was clingy, but he warmed up quickly and had a ball. Donna got to bathe him, feed him, and laugh at him, which was the most important thing. We would tell him to bring this toy to Nana, and off he would go, waving his Elmo figurine like it was the Heisman trophy. Then we gave him his stuffed monkey to give Nana, and he got right to her and did a u-turn, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Wonder where he gets that.

We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. Ferris put in a Christmas cd, it was so pretty and white. Then he tried to drive in it. Now it's just raining, and the magic has worn off. Mother's day out was cancelled, but Spencer would have missed anyway, with his runny nose. Grumblemumblegrr...

Joy comes in the morning

After another bad night (read: little sleep), Spencer woke up fever-free and raring to make up for lost wiggle time. Cats, watch out!

Mother's day in

Well, Spencer's day has not gotten much better. He stopped vomiting, but by evening he ran fever and was very fussy and unhappy. Finally we got him in a bath and asleep with some Tylenol. He can keep the Pedialyte down, and some bananas and toast, so at least I know he isn't dehydrated.

He will not be going to Mother's day out tomorrow, needless to say. *sigh*

On a happier note, he did learn how to hiss like a snake. He has developed a liking for Dora the Explorer, and he will even drag a toy to the tv to be his "backpack" like Dora's. I am now entering the world of children's television. As long as it's not Barney, I will be ok.

Womitin' bad, sir.

The title of the post is from James Herriot, a family tradition. Womitin' is what Spencer has been doing all night, so we're all a little fractious this morning. He's been doing better this morning, so hopefully we are past the storm. I have now learned the reason why you only give liquids to vomiting babies in small sips. He didn't have fever or any other symptoms, just a restlessness that I could tell was from discomfort. He is playing with his daddy now, so we seem to have bounced back. Whew!

Snow baby

Well it seems we won't have our snow around much longer. We've had a balmy January that felt pretty much like spring, until this weekend. We had over an inch of snow fall, after a day of freezing rain, so Spencer and I have been housebound for 2 days. Ferris managed to make it to work on Saturday, but "whistle britches" and I preferred to stay home and play in the snow. Spencer saw a teeny bit of snow a few weeks earlier, but he seemed to have no idea what was going on. This time he was more aware of things, and he loved it! He noticed the peculiar muffling quality of the sound, so he was squawking at the top of his lungs. The crunching under his feet excited him, until he stomped his feet hard enough to fall down. He wasn't wearing mittens, so he was surprised at the cold and wet. He would shake his hands vigorously, as if to say, "I did NOT expect this to stick!". Then I would rub his hands until they were warm and dry, and off he would go to do it all again. I didn't have a camera with me, but I did take pictures of the first time he saw snow, so that will have to do. This Sunday morning, I have never been so determined to go to church as I was today. I am LEAVING THIS HOUSE! Spencer was not at all happy to have me leave after 2 straight days of 100% mommy time, but when I came back to pick him up, he was happily munching snacks and flirting with the nursery ladies. That's my boy, no problem too great to be solved with snacks.

Spencer's new tricks

Spencer's first word was "light", but he hasn't been interested in saying it for a month now, so we were pleased when he came up with a new one. (see video)

And since Grandpa Paul is such a Star Wars fan, particularly of Jabba the Hutt, here is a little something we like to call Divine Justice. (see video 2)

Enjoy!

P. S. I am tinkering around with ways to get the video to play correctly online, so ignore the type across the movie screens. I'll get it fixed eventually.

Back from the void

After a year and a half of neglecting my poor blog, I have a motivation to update it more regularly. Part of my reasons for not blogging is that the small things that make up my life didn't seem important enough to share with the internet at large. Now, however, we have a child, and a grandpa with leukemia that won't be able to see him for at least a month, so I will take more pictures and videos and post them here so our entire family can stay current with Spencer's ups and downs.

The funny thing that happened this morning was over our Star Wars pop-up book. Ferris actually got the book for himself, but it is a fun way to entertain the baby. He is fascinated with it, (the baby, that is) and has learned to expect when I open the flaps to show him the different characters. I make a sound for each character, so today when I opened the Jabba the Hutt page, he laughed like Jabba and pointed. Ho ho ho ha ha.... Only 14 months, and already Spencer is strong in the ways of the force...