No more snake tongue!

If you missed the back story, you can read it here.

We got up bright and early this morning to get to Kaiser by 6:30 am.  Andrew was a happy camper like normal and smiled at everyone he saw.  We started in admitting, then went immediately to pre-op where they weighed him, took his pulse ox, temp, etc and gave him some medicine to help him relax (Tylenol with codeine and a two others I didn't recognize).  In the 20 minutes this was happening, he'd already "met" about 15 nurses and doctors charming them with smiles, high fives, and bumps.  There were several seniors around us having out patient surgery done and I'm sure they were probably annoyed at the amount of attention Andrew was getting.  He was given a doctor teddy bear that he held on to tightly. 

Anyway, he was happy and being fun.  Dave and I were calm.  After talking to the surgeon and anesthesiologist, Andrew was just barely getting tired looking but it was time to go.  He willingly went with the RN without tears (I have just a brave boy) and we went back to the waiting room at 7:30 am.

A very long 15 minutes later, we were taken to recovery.  When we walked in Andrew was up and wiggling around in the RN's arms trying to get down.  He was happy to see us, but irritated that the pulse ox thing was still on his toe.  We did our best to distract him (dog app on Dave's phone, apple juice, the iPad) and keep he calm.  It was clear that the "drugged" sensation was completely worn off because he honestly just wanted off my lap to walk/run/climb. 

We talked to both doctors about his surgery.  They reported he was perfect, only needed the mask (vs. the IV) to go to sleep, and now has three stitches in his tongue to put it back together.  As much as he may find the snake look cool as a seventh grader, this mommy is glad it is back together! We were given discharge instructions (liquids only today, soft diet for Thursday, soft diet/normal food if he'll take it after that, Tylenol every 4 hours for pain, don't let him play with it) and out the door by 8:30. 

As he was getting in the car seat, he saw a baggie of Cheerios and quickly let us know he was hungry NOW.  He polished off a baby food pouch within 30 seconds and then finished an apple sauce packet, but really wanted the Cheerios and was mad at me that I wouldn't let him have them.

When we got home, he was still wobbly, but showed no signs of slowing down and was climbing onto furniture within two minutes of walking in the door.   This video of Andrew and Reese is from 10 am (2.5 hours after surgery) just so it's clear that he's "good."

Wordless Wednesday-Ouch

A boy and his dog

We're working on a great relationship here friends.  Andrew and Reese share mommy and this past week or so, they have starting sharing each other.  Reese enjoys licking Andrew and Andrew now pets, pulls, and laughs at Reese whenever she is close enough.

Here is the conversation that occurred between them and me...
"Mom, this kid can't seem to keep his spit inside his mouth, I'll clean it up for you," Reese, the ever present helper said while Andrew grabs at his ears and whiskers. 

"Mom, this game is old, I'm tired," yawned Reese.

"Andrew, you may be bigger than me now, but my legs are still longer than your arms.  I win," Reese smirks as she wins the pushing battle.

"Reese's tongue tickles," Andrew giggles as Reese continues to help clean up Andrew's throw up.

"If I sit here a bit more, will you pet me Mom?" Reese pleads with her eyes, "Andrew, I'm waiting for mom, you don't have to pet me too."

"This kid even has spit-up on his toes Mom!  Don't worry, I'm taking care of it for you."

Andrew and his dog

They have a special relationship. 

Most of the time, Andrew doesn't know that she exists; however, I think we're getting closer to him "getting" who she is and actually touches her whenever she is close enough. On our trip to San Diego, he looked at her in the car for a while and actually smiled right at Reese.

Reese, knows Andrew exists and has actually become the guard dog.  She looks for the baby when he isn't with mommy by running in and out of rooms until he finds Andrew.  She stands nearby when he's crying and tries to calm him by licking his toes when he's in the car seat.  She even has decided that she likes the taste of his spit-up and "cleans up" for mommy (really disgusting, I know).

Who knows why he made this face, but I had to share...

Reese and HER baby

I walked into the dining room the other day and found this.

Believe it or not, Reese has figured out how to get onto the dining room table and decided that she wanted to be in the Little Lamb with the baby. She was actually curled up sleeping, but I reacted loudly and she sat up pretty quickly because she knew she was in trouble. I, of course, had to take a picture before I took her down!

Wienerfest

Gotta love free, fun things to do in Riverside!

This past Saturday, we went to Wienerfest at Fairmont Park.The event was advertised at the Plaza and it caught my attention before Andrew arrived as something we should do. We drove to the park, put Andrew into the Baby Bjorn and walked around for two hours. Not only did the event brag about having wiener races, old cars, and a costume contest for the dogs, but they also had a ton of booths set up with every rescue organization represented. Most booths had adorable dogs and puppies that were adoptable. I'm sure that a lot of people went home with new pets. There were wiener dogs everywhere you looked--I had no idea that there were this many wiener dogs in the area!
This poodle was representing a traveling dog groomer company.

Dave enjoyed the old cars while Andrew enjoyed sleeping on mommy.

Mommy enjoyed being out of the house.

Tummy Time

I've been told that most babies hate tummy time... not my son!

He can be WIDE awake and cooing at me and as soon as I lay him on his tummy he falls alseep. After a particularly long day on Tuesday, when he fell asleep on the floor I left him there for awhile (considering he'd been awake all day and when he did nap for short times is was only in my arms and he woke up every time I tried to put him down, I don't feel bad), I washed bottles and came back into the dining room about 5 minutes later and found this...

Clearly Reese is attached to Andrew already.

Walking the Dog

One of Reese's favorite things to do is go for a walk, so Saturday afternoon we loaded Drew up into his car seat and into the stroller and did just that. Turns out that Drew enjoys going for a walk too! He was wide awake, alert, and quiet the entire time. The nice part of where we live is that there is many places within walking distance to "entertain" us. This time, we chose to go to Tuxies.

Daddy with Andrew

Mommy and Reese

Dave got a strawberry milkshake and I got a mango smoothie. The best part of this place is that all the fruit is fresh. My smoothie was amazing!

Dog Park

With almost perfect weather this weekend, Dave and I took advantage and had some "outdoor" time. It is kind of surreal that this could be the last weekend of our lives that it is just the two of us...

Anyway, we took Reese to the Carlson Dog Park in Downtown Riverside. It's a pretty neat place. They have separate fenced areas for puppies, small dogs, and big dogs. Reese was not having the small dog park and did not like the other small dogs, so we ended up spending most of an hour with the big dogs. They have a really neat toy area with ramps, tires to jump through, and even a see-saw for dogs.

She met some big-dog friends.

Everyone (people-wise) there stared at me.

Why?

I don't look that huge... I'm only 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant.

After awhile in the dog park, Reese got bored and wanted to escape the fences, so we walked around the base of Mount Rubidoux.

Dave and Reese did some exploring (look closely to see Reese in the cave).

We ended the morning/early afternoon outing with Subway.

Maternity Leave, Day 3-5

In the spirit of relaxation, Wednesday started with pedicures and manicures with Melissa, Desiree, and Sandy (Des' Mom). I think I was in a little bit of heaven with my ten minute leg massage! 39 weeks, 3 days and ROUND everywhere... look at that round, pudgy face... (can I say, Weight Watchers needed NOW) Anna did a fantastic job :)

After getting our nails beautified, the four of us headed over to California Pizza Kitchen for a nice, long lunch. I could eat pizza five times a week and be happy, so it was all good. After lunch, Melissa and I headed to the mall and Toys R Us on search for a perfect stuffed animal for Andrew's monthly pictures. Found one (you'll have to wait and see it when he's born!).

Thursday, began with Dave and I heading over to Kaiser to have my blood pressure checked out (on Tuesday at my appointment, it was elevated and although all the blood tests and urine test showed their was no pre-eclampsia involved, my midwife wanted me to have it rechecked before). It was, of course, normal and "great" according to my RN. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home and off Dave went to work.

I waited another few hours for Melissa to wake up and we headed off to go "shopping" at Costco and Walmart. At the Super Walmart, I spent way too much time buying desserts. Oh well. It was so stinkin' hot, I thought I was going to die. I survived.

We rented movies and watched two late into the evening. While I attempted to lay on my side (which I've been instructed to do by the midwife), Reese, Andrew and I had some snuggle time.

Friday, I dropped cupcakes by Arlington for Read 180 and saw some friends there. Next stop of the day was the Farmer's Market at Sears (pretty cool stuff, I wish I had more than $3.25 cash on me so I could have bought more) and a Weight Watchers meeting at Wendy's friend. It was wonderful to be in the meeting room and I can't wait to start going again.

Wendy and I enjoyed a few hours after the meeting at Starbucks. Afterwards, I came home and actually napped (amazing!). Dave and I finished up the week with dinner at Roadhouse and a redbox movie.

Third Trimester Already?!?

As of yesterday (26 weeks and 6 days), I have entered into my third trimester of pregnancy. I'm feeling pretty good, but looking pretty huge. My mother in law told me on New Years that I looked like a Christmas bell. Dave looks at me with a strange combination of "oh my gosh" and "how cute." Tomorrow when I go back to my kiddos after two weeks off, they should be pretty cute.

Reese, on the other hand, doesn't really like the bump. In the above picture, she is sitting on the bump as I mess around the computer, but over and over again she tried to climb up and sit on my shoulder to avoid it. She has also left her normal sleeping position at my stomach to find a new spot on my neck or over with Dave. It is hard to believe that we have 13 weeks left before baby Drew is here :)

a bit early

My elf sized doggie helped me starting putting up Christmas decorations today. I know it is early, but I LOVE them and would leave them up all year long if I was allowed to.

A letter to the weather

Dear Rain,

I am glad you're here to give us Southern Californians some change of scenery. You've done your job; actually, you've done your job so well that you're over doing it. Now you're causing other issues--like flooding Lincoln, parts of Magnolia, and the slow lane of the 91 Freeway. You're job is complete, you can move on now.

I'm just a So Cal girl. I know more about living without water, than living with you coming from the sky for seventeen days in one month. I don't really know how to dress for your presence in my daily life. My pants are too cold, my shoes are slippery, and my "rain" jacket isn't all that stylish. Reese, my dog, really hates you. She refuses to go outside for the sake of her dainty paws, which of course, means she doesn't use the bathroom correctly. She is tired of getting in trouble; for her sake, can you move on now?

My students don't know how to deal with you either. Yes, high school is a much better environment for rain than middle school, but they still haven't understood that sweatshirts don't protect them against you. Umbrellas are unheard of, not that they are too "uncool," but that the stores only carry a few and every single store is out of stock. My students come inside really quickly because you're visiting and want to "hang out" with me at lunch while you're here. This is fine... but I sort of liked the "me" time. Can you move on now?

Again, I am grateful for the fact that you've raised our water reserve levels and you've gleefully covered my surrounding mountains with snow. I'm sure that all the brush along the 15 is happy as a clam. My backyard of dirt has loved your visit; the mushrooms, three-leaf clovers, and other assorted greenlings have taken over the dirt. Despite my gratefulness, I'd kindly ask you to move on now.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

Fall Evening

Last night, friends and family came over and my house transformed into a fall, festive atmostsphere! Thanks to Dave's hard work, the house was cleaned and more "put together" than it has since we've lived here. There were candles burning and wassol (spelling Robyn?!) was simmering on the stove.

We ate pizza (yes, David make it into a picture this time); Dave and David admired their hard work with the front lawn.

We carved out the gook of our pumpkins and saved some seeds for roasting (yummy!).

Reese wore her fuzzy jacket and Melissa drove up to spend the weekend with us :)

Even though Sammy was sick, Tawni stopped by to spend some time with us and helped supervise the pumpkin carving!

Robyn attempted the "boo" scariness on her pumpkin.

The pumpkin carving kit that I got at Walmart for $1.50 came with "jewels" which I decided were my pumpkins nose, eyelashes, and ears!

Dave used a stencil to carve out a very detailed ghost!

Melissa went super arty with a "Welcome" carved out and star shaped opening.

David added a jack-o'lantern face to the front of Robyn's pumpkin. In order, we have Robyn/David's pumpkin, mine (with a missing tooth that I accidently broke off), and Melissa's.

We also made carmel apples... another post on that coming soon!

It's been awhile...

Sorry about that!

The end of July was just as busy as the beginning of July!
After coming back from San Francisco, I have had non-stop activities.

Gone to lunch , dinners, and movies with several great friends,

spent time "playing" with other great friends,
three days beach camping in South Carlsbad with my parents and the Buxtons,
helped Tawni sort-of surpise Rob for his 28th birthday party at John's Incredible Pizza and played with my big boys,
survived four days of Yearbook camp with seven kiddos from Central and teaching two classes,
and last, but certainly not least, pushed, prodded, and nagged Dave into finishing the bathroom (pictures of that coming soon--it is so huge, it needs it's own post!!)! And loved my doggie over and over again.