Toronto Trip Pics-phase II

So, the stadium was great, the people were great, the game...not so much. The first 2 or 3 innings went by so fast. We got our food on the way to our seats and before we finished the nachos and (nasty, rubbery) hot dogs, the first few innings were over.

This picture of Giambi made me laugh. Why wouldn't you take a nicer picture, knowing it would be broadcast on every TV, every jumbo-tran, the entire season? Oh, Giambi!

Here's Giambi batting...

And...striking out

Here's Betemit. He actually got a hit and made it on base.

I haven't got this "take your own picture" thing down just yet.

Here's Kevin's review of the game:

Yep. They lost. Bad.

Toronto Trip Pics - phase I

We left Thursday after lunch for the Yankees vs. Bluejays game that night-a birthday/anniversary present. After the game we stayed in a new hotel room and walked around the city for a bit on Friday before making our way to Niagara Falls again, then home.

I get bored very easily in the car, so I took a ton of random pictures while Kevin was driving. On our way into Toronto, we crossed this bridge, around Niagara Falls I believe. It freaked me out. It was very high.

And here is looking down from that very high bridge:

We got stuck in the wrong lane about 30 minutes outside of Toronto and ended up going west. We needed to go east. So, of course the next exit was a construction site and blocked off, forcing us to go farther west out of our way, before going back east again. We hit Toronto at rush hour because of this-and this picture doesn't do it justice. It was packed!

Here is what greeted us upon entering the city:

That purple monkey and some funky buildings. We don't see too many tall buildings in Rochester or Spencerport! Us silly Americans.

Rogers Centre (or the Skydome) was awesome. It was a new, clean stadium and the people were so friendly. They even sympathized with us when our team did poorly. It was completely different from the Bills games I've been too with beer thrown all over me. It was extremely enjoyable. When the game started, the sun was began to set. This is when I wished I had brought the Nikon, and/or had an awesome camera. The view was great!

Here is my attempt at creating a panoramic shot of the stadium. Don't hate me for not having awesome cameras and Photoshop. I've given up trying to keep up with the Joneses and Smiths and whoever else...

Tomorrow I'll actually show you the game pictures! =)

15 Month Check up

I cut out early from work to bring Kian to his well child check up. A nice break from all the craziness and paperwork and phone calls. But you don't care about that (maybe not even this post or this blog, but oh well). So, on with the stats.

Weight: 23lbs 13oz. This is up from 20lbs at 12 months, putting him back into the 40th percentile-as opposed to the 13th where he was hanging out for awhile. So they are pleased with that. Me, I say whatever, as long as he eats healthy, develops properly, he can be thin or whatever his body type may be.

Height: 31 inches. He grew 2 inches in 3 months, again up around the 50th percentile. Really, though, do I care he's taller than 50% of kids his age, and shorter than about 50% of them? But, I am glad he's grown because it didn't seem he got much taller. He can still wear 12 month jeans and they are just starting to be a tiny bit short, but not much yet.

*I have to take him back for another iron/blood test to see if he's still borderline anemic or not. I gave him some iron drops for awhile but when they ran out I went to vitamin/iron drops then just upped his meat and iron-rich food intake.

*They seemed surprised with his vocabulary and language skills. I felt like they almost didn't believe me when I told them he had about 30 words. Of course they're not all intelligible to unfamiliar people, but Kevin and I can understand them.

*I was annoyed with the doctor because he always makes a point to tell me that they can start his vaccines whenever I am ready. I told them I will let them know if/when I am ready to vaccinate him. I told him straight up that I am not comfortable with ingredients in the vaccines. He says "well, we are comfortable with what's in them and comfortable giving them." I'm thinking 'that's great because you don't have children yet and of course some of your paycheck comes from pharmaceutical companies'. I'm not on the Autism bandwagon, I am on the "not putting mouse tissue, aborted fetal tissue and cow vesicle tissue in my child" bandwagon. Oh well.

*Here's a confession: I always make sure I look good when I go to the pediatrician's office; more so there than at my own doctor. I also make sure Kian is dressed cute and clean, etc. It might be wacky, but I know, and I feel like, they are judging me as a parent-because they are- (especially bypassing on the vaccines) and so I need to present this amazing, clean, good-looking, smart, educated family and parental unit 'front'. Weird huh? Please tell me you do that too.

*My only concern going in there was that Kian's ankles turn in slightly. I know he's a new walker and that might have something to do with it. But, working in EI with all kinds of kids with all kinds of delays, I see a lot of kids with AFO's (ankle foot orthotics-aka-braces) for various reasons, some being misaligned feet/ankles, etc. So I had the ped look at them. He said that Kian does have a bit of a flat foot and it does turn in slightly (roll to the inside). Told me to get him a good pair of sneakers with an arch support and we'll watch it but at this time isn't anything bad. We'll watch it and check at his 18 month visit.

*Other than that...I'll stop boring you with my mundane life details =)

It's gone.

My mind. It's gone. All the things I had stored up there to blog about when I finally had a free moment are just gone. Vanished. Oh well. It's not like I have a crowd of eager, waiting fans. So, you'll get another random update.

132. That's the poundage I remain at. I am actually okay with it (still can't believe I let the world know my weight, that's a huge thing for me). But, my ultimate goal, before having another baby is to lose 7 more pounds and weigh in at 125. Wow. I haven't seen that number since I was playing JV Tennis. That would be just awesome. I don't know how possible it is, since it's toning that I need now, not weight loss. And we all know that muscle weighs more than fat. So I might end up weighing the same but be toned. I can deal with that.

Kian is well into the 'no' phase. Even if he means 'yes', he says 'no'. Do you want juice? "no". He says it with such a cute inflection too. His vocabulary is just exploding right now. He's going to be well over the 50 words "required" for 18 month olds. Yesterday, he was in the stroller after returning from our walk and he saw his bike in the garage. He says "bike, pease, bike". Of course I had to let him out and get on it, even in sock feet, just for putting all those words together. He says please a lot, brings us books to read and says please, or to open tops of things. He used to say thank you (his version of it) but he hasn't done that in awhile. Not for my lack of trying.

Kevin and I are going to Toronto Thursday for the Yankees game (Kevin's birthday present) and then staying overnight (our anniversary present). Friday morning's breakfast is included in the hotel stay. Then we will do a little shopping and sight-seeing before returning home Friday night. Kourtney will be staying with Kian. I am a little nervous as it is the first time we've left him for more than 8 hours. But, I think he'll be fine. Let's hope Kourtney is too. ha! We're excited to get away for awhile by ourselves. It will be nice to have a break from work, housework, etc. and just be together for a bit.

Work is still ridiculously busy. I have almost 60 cases still, having to see 1/3 of them this month. And still keep up with progress notes, reports, record reviews, phone calls to the other 2/3s I haven't seen yet this month. Right. That will definitely happen. Oh, well. I'm not stressing. I just do what I can, do what the clients need, and well, the rest will come later. I refuse to stress myself out about work, which negatively affects Kevin and Kian, my home, my entire attitude throughout the week. So, if things are late or not done on time, oh well. I'll do my job properly, take care of my clients to the best of my ability and get what I can finished on time. It will be done eventually.

Kian has his 15 month check-up tomorrow. I know he's definitely gained weight. So they shouldn't say anything about that. I'm curious if he's grown much taller. I think he may have grown a bit, but nothing significant that I can see. He is still wearing lots of 12 month clothes, some 18 month. But, most of the 18 month sizes he has are still pretty big. I'm fine with him being a little peanut for now. I know he won't be super tall, since neither Kevin or I are-we're just 'average height'. I am watching his one ankle. I know he's a new walker, but his right ankle tends to roll/turn in a bit and I don't particularly like that. I think it will get better, but being so involved with development, delays and all these disorders I am hyper vigilant to these things. It's a curse and a blessing. I'll give an update on the appointment tomorrow to bore you more. =)

Now, it's off to watch the season premiere of HOUSE!! I *heart* that show!

Too tired to blog properly...

So you get pictures. Kian meets chicken pesto spaghetti...

Concrete

Concrete 2

Baby gear reviews

Specifically-cups. I have so many sippy cups in my house (and bottles) that never got used! We tried them all and, between Kian and I, we became picky. We found some good ones, some great ones and some not so good ones.

I had an Avent training cup (with handles) in the cupboard and tried giving it to Kian a few times around 4-5 months old for experimenting. He couldn't get anything out of it. He chewed on the flat, thin spout. I took the valve out and then he got too much. I poked a few holes in the valve and that helped a bit, but he never liked the flat, thin spout. I put it away for when he older I thought. I'll give this one thumb up.My next purchase was the Nuby training cup. I love, love, love the Nuby training sippy cup. I started Kian on it around 4-5 months (after the Avent failure) with some water just to get used to it. It has handles and a very soft, flexible spout with interesting holes and no valve. I think the flexible part was the key. The other spouts on other cups may have been "soft" as in not hard plastic, but they weren't flexible in his mouth. It's touted as the no-spill cup. And it virtually was. He did well with it and we had no issues whatsoever with this one. Still one of my faves. I give it 2 thumbs up!
So, as he got older and really began using the sippy cup more, we branched out. I had been given some Playtex cups. I tried them around 6 months, once he had the sippy cup thing down with the Nuby cup. The valve created a problem again here. It was too hard to suck with the valve and too much liquid came out when I took the valve out. The spout here was also hard plastic, molded right onto the lid. Kian didn't care much for these cups. I give this 2 sideways thumbs, didn't like them, didn't hate them.

*Here's my developmental expertise tangent: Bottle nipples and sippy cups (especially with short, hard spouts) require that a child use the front mouth and few tongue muscles only. This is okay. But, not great for speech and language development. Cups with straws and open cups, as well as breastfeeding require a child use the jaw and tongue muscles that are further back in the cheek and mouth. This ensures more strength in the child's jaw and cheeks to have the ability for form multiple, various speech sounds. Speech therapists hate bottles on children over a year and they don't care for sippy cups either. They all have "the discussion" with parents about getting the child on at least a straw cup and working towards an open cup. Try it. You will notice if you take a drink from a sippy cup it's all front motion and straws require back movement. Okay, that's over with.
So we went back to square one. I went back to the store and bought the Nuby cup without handles, in larger sizes. I began sending these to daycare with Kian for snack time use as well as using them at home for dinner, while he was still nursing and on a bottle. They worked fine for small amounts. One issue with these is that while they are pretty spill-proof, the way the spout works there are slits in it that when the child sucks open up more to let the liquid out. Kian figured out somehow, that if he bit it a little he could get a lot of liquid to just come out without sucking. This led to pooling in his mouth and either pouring out his mouth or some choking at times. But not a bad cup overall. Another thing Kian figured out with this cup is that while it doesn't spill when you turn it upside down or throw it on the floor, it does make a great paintbrush. He will turn them upside down and drag the spout across his tray, car seat, body, clothes, table, couch, whatever, and the pressure opens the spout and it leaves pretty water paintings. So, not really a traveling cup if you're child's an artist. I give this one thumb up.In the meantime, I had some cups that resemble the old school (also contemporary) Tupperware cups we had as kids. The basic plastic cup with a pinched spout, no valve. I gave this to Kian one day and he did excellent with it. He drinks the right amount and can set it down easily because it's not bulky, it's lightweight and he likes it even without handles. These also do not spill easily. I just ordered some more (real) Tupperware cups, as they travel well too. It gives him control over how much to drink, without being too hard because there is no valve. 2 thumbs up!
Recently, we began giving Kian a straw. He's fascinated by straws and loves to make sure we all use ours at restaurants. I bought the Gerber twist straw cup, because hey it's a straw cup and it twists closed for traveling. Great idea...right? At first, yes. The straw is very soft on top so that it can be bent in the lid for traveling. Not bad. What it actually is, is a multiple piece lid. There's the lid, covered by a rotating lid that closes the straw in. Inside this lid is the soft, flexible straw on the top for drinking and storing, then inside is a hard, larger plastic straw that attaches to this soft one and sucks up the liquid. Yeah, I hate multiple piece things-more cleaning. The problem is that the hard plastic, inside straw falls out a lot. So Kian will be sucking away and then suddenly not be able to get anything because it's detached from the soft straw and is floating inside the cup. Talk about a pain. Secondly, the flexible straw on the top flings around because it is so wimpy. Opening and closing it, setting it down, it falling on the floor, any little movement and the soft straw sprays everyone in a 4 foot radius with milk droplets. Not so fun. The more we use this cup the more I dislike it. But, I will give it 1 sideways thumb for now. =)

We are sticking with the Tupperware sippies for now, but Kian does an open cup fairly well and we continue to work on that. I may look into buying a Baby Einstein straw cup. But since they are expensive I'd like to really see what they look like inside and out before buying it...any thoughts? This is where the Mom's Club huge sale will come in handy next week! yay!

Saturday Morning Post

So..I haven't done one of these lately. It's been a busy week, a busy August and this month is promising to be just as busy-if not busier. All I know is that October looks calm so far and it had better stay that way!

Work-oh work. Where do I start? We survived the August rush. Barely. Got all our transitioning kids out of our program to where they need to go. Then another employee is quitting. This means since June this will be the 5th person to leave in our department. We went from 8 to 6 to 7 now we'll be at 5, and hiring 2 new ones hopefully soon. My boss promised we'd have some reprieve from the craziness. She lied. We are back up to 60 cases each. That is the state limit, or else we know she'd be giving us a lot more. And they are horrible cases. Either it's just a really crappy case due to the client or it's crappy because the previous coordinator didn't do their job and it's a mess with a lot of work needing to be done on it. Either way, it's bad. So, we're all highly stressed with all of us not even bothering to hide that we are always keeping our eyes open for new jobs.
Plus the county and state continue to change everything. Every regulation, every policy, every wording, every form, it doesn't matter what it is, they just want to change it all. This means a lot more work for us. Always. I'm kind of over this job. The only good thing that has come of it recently is that I was informed when I started back in April they put me at the base salary and not as someone who had experience so I am going to be making $1,200 more per year. That's good. It's now a ton, it is only $50 per pay period/paycheck, but it's more. Plus I am owed about $500 from April to now that needs to be given to me very soon. This will help towards Christmas, I hope.

Kian-the week started out a bit rough as he realized this was the new daycare he would be going to each day. I still feel a bit guilty but I feel good about Pearce. I felt that twinge today as we drove down the road past his old daycare doing errands this morning and he was watching out the window. I watched him to see his reaction as we drove by the old building. He recognized the road and the center and he kind of went "ooh oh". I think it's more that he knew the kids and was beginning to play with them, wave hi/bye to them and I just kind of pulled him out of that right into a new place. What has helped him adjust quickly is that there is the same teacher and assistant every day. Miss Angela and Miss Kelly are there from 7-3 every day. They greet him, play on the floor with the kids, make sure he's settled to have a good day when I leave. Then from 3-6 Miss Danielle and Miss Emily (Roberts students) are there. They are super fun and have lots of energy and love to sing. Tues and Wed he cried a bit when I dropped him off. I watched in the window Wed and he stopped crying after 5 seconds. Thursday and Friday I hugged him and he was off and playing. That was it. That makes me feel so good. It's definitely a happier, brighter, calmer place with a fun energy.
He is so enjoyable and so fun right now. People always say this is the age that's so great and it's so fun and I was always thinking "well I think newborns are great too, 6 month olds are fun..." But, now I get it. I still do love that newborn, sleepy, cuddly stage. But he's so interactive right now and loves to make us laugh. Kian is adding at least one new word every day, if not more. At least 10 words per week. I can't even keep track anymore. I used to know he has 5 words, now 10, about 20. Granted juice, shoes and cheese all sound very similar, so that mostly I can tell them apart and no one else can. He says cheese for the camera now and I didn't teach them to him. He's just so cute and it's horrible when every store I go in they tell me that I really just want to say "I know, isn't he?!" I don't, I just say thanks.
He is also independent and wants to do a lot for himself. He refuses to learn to go down the stairs on his butt or crawling backwards down them. He sees us walk up/down them and that's how he's going to do it. He'll ask for my hand for help but walking is the only way up and down stairs. He's so smart (I think) that he watches us doing something and will then go over and do it just the way we do. He's figured out so many toys, games, equipment, whatever it may be by watching us once and then just doing it.

Kevin-also super busy. Work is going alright. Working at a gym has it's ups and downs, and not just on the bench press. hehe. I don't make good jokes. His clientele and numbers wane at certain times of the year: back to school time, end of spring, etc. He has good, full days in the summer when all the college and school kids have off and want to bulk up or get in shape for certain sports; around or after the holidays-people wanting to get rid of those Christmas cookie pounds or for their New Year's resolutions. Now is not as full but he's picking up more weekly. He is still consistently training Mayor Duffy. That's a huge plus for him to have on his resume. He says "Bob" is nice, normal and funny guy. One time he trained a woman who was the daughter of the Zweigles empire, I mean owner.
Yesterday was Kevin's 28th birthday. If I was a really wonderful wife I would have dedicated an entire post to him yesterday n'est ce pas? He wanted to go to Rohrbach's for dinner, and he didn't even have the local beer. What's wrong with that boy? I got him Yankees tickets. How good am I? It's a birthday/anniversary gift. The anniversary part (for me too!) is the hotel in Toronto, where the game will be played. This means we'll leave the 25th for the game, then spend the night, hang out the 26th in Toronto (Eaton Centre mall-6 floors baby!) before coming home. This will also be the first time I leave my baby anywhere besides daycare or with a grandma for a couple hours. Eek. Kourtney will be staying over here to watch him. I didn't want him going anywhere without us the first time I leave him overnight. Yes, I'm a paranoid mother. Oh well. Anyways, Kevin got some other good gifts, that I just can't recall right now.

Random-we are always on the lookout for a house with more land. We both feel the need for more space, more trees and perhaps bigger bedrooms! Not that we're planning on moving anytime soon-unless the right one comes along-but we like to peruse the ads/websites to see what is available in our area, or another area. We recently looked at a huge old farmhouse with 5 acres and kind of love it, but it needs work, we still talk about it. Not sure if anything will come of that.
It's supposed to rain a lot this week too. Which is a bummer. My yard needs a little help, and I wanted to find garage sales to go to, but neither is looking promising. Maybe next weekend? We shall see. Hopefully all my family in FL and Texas made it through Ike alright! I'll have to check! Eek.

Have a great weekend!

Transition

So, Kian had his first day at Pearce Child care yesterday. It went okay. He had played fine there the few times we went to visit. But, somehow he knew today I was actually leaving him there. He didn't want me to put him down from the very first step in the door. He was nervous, but we got him interested in some toys. The teachers actually helped me help him adjust and move into some playtime and feel okay. He did cry a bit when I left. That made me feel horrible. It made me feel like I should just run back in there and drive him back to the previous daycare where he knows the kids and teachers and routines. Like, why am I making him do this all over again?

But, I know in the end it will be better. There's more security, stability, calm, happiness here. I am happy with a much more secure system- coded, locked doors, sign in/out with a receptionist not just with the teacher in the room, and she gives you a little card to prove the child's been signed in and out and you present that to the teacher when picking up the child. Sure it takes a few more seconds but I think it's worth it. That card tells the teacher that person has been identified as an authorized person to take this child. That's a plus. Teachers that have been there at least a year, most of them at least three years-yay for stability and consistency!

I do feel a little bad, that I can't quite explain this to him yet, the change. I can tell him until I'm blue in the face that "this is your new school, new friends, new teachers" etc. But, he obviously isn't able to grasp that yet and why he's not at the other place where he was comfortable most of the time. Yes, children are resilient and bounce back easily. But I still feel a bit guilty taking him from the kids and routines he knows. And I remind myself that there was constant change there, a lot I didn't like and that is why we did make this move.

I know this will be a great experience for Kian. The one thing I noticed that I am kind of bummed about, is that there isn't much diversity in this center. It is through a church, and a little more costly, but I had thought there would be more diversity. At the previous center Kian had a mix of white, black, Hispanic kids and teachers. At Pearce I've only seen white. I'm sure there's a few non-white kids but I haven't seen them yet. I know Pearce is mostly a white, middle-upper class church, but I had hoped... I liked that Kian was exposed to all colors, races, and variety of kids, parents and teachers at the previous daycare.

And while I'm comparing... I didn't pay attention or understand this at first, but they do not serve breakfast. They have dry cereal available while the children arrive and then have a snack (crackers) at 9:30. The afternoon snack is also a cracker type snack. Blah. So, I either have to feed him breakfast in the morning at home or bring something substantial for him to eat. They also do not put them down for a nap until 12:30. Which means Kian won't fall asleep until closer to 1. This is okay for them, but bad for me! He still takes 2 naps on the weekends, which is a pain, but I am thankful for. The boy needs lots of sleep. So by 12:30 he would have taken one nap at home already, but will be extremely exhausted at daycare. At the previous center they had them going to bed at noon and that worked out a bit better. He is the youngest in this class right now too.

My poor baby was a hot mess last night, crying over everything and just wanting to be held. I know he'll be fine after this week of adjusting to all the new things, people and environment. But, I still can't help feeling a bit bad, and this is an adjustment for me also...

No?!

I knew that having a toddler (is he really, already?) would mean that the word "no" would come along soon. And I know it will be used with much more force, meaning and drama in the days to come. But, I just didn't expect it to happen already!
Last Sunday Kian began imitating us when I had to tell him "no". I try not to use that word much, but he was trying to get into the toilet. Fortunately, he hasn't used it to tell us "no" yet. He does understand exactly what it means and told Ace "no, no" with finger pointing and all when Ace tried to sneak out the door.
I tried to get Kian to say words for me on video, but it wasn't easy. So, here's some snippets of it. He's added water, flower, and meow over the weekend. And more I'm sure that I just don't remember.

Zoo pictures!

Thanks to Jon, we now have a Zoo Membership! Yay! We took Kian for the first time last Saturday. He loved it. I wasn't sure if he was too young, but he did so well, walked a bit, sat in the stroller awhile and got so excited about all the animals. (wishing I had brought the video cam!)

We *heart* meerkats! She's even posing for us.

Trying to pet the meerkat through the glass-

Eagle-1 of the 3 there

The real polar bears were inside due to the heat. We caught a glimpse of one on the way out. And the next day he died! So sad!

Howler Monkey?

No, baboon. He looked at me when I snorted at him.

Trying to dive in the elephant exhibit.

Not thinking I was going to be in the picture.

It was nice, they are adding on to the zoo with more exhibits. The elephants have a bit more room then before. But, really, it's not a lot of room for any of the animals and it makes me sad. Kian enjoyed pointing at all the animals he saw and we will definitely make good use of that membership this year!

Wordless Wednesday

Breakfast Egg "Muffins"

I think this recipe was passed along from my mom's friend, but I've modified it. Because, well, I don't do recipes. I just cook. Therefore, I don't measure; I guess, I eyeball it, I add and taste and add some more.

The original calls for cooked breakfast sausage. However, I find that too fattening, so I use Al Freso All Natural Chicken Breakfast sausage. The nice thing about this sausage is that it's already cooked, so it takes less time to put this together. I also add in whatever vegetables I have handy.

3 sausage links, chopped into bite-sized pieces
(or bacon, or no meat, whichever)
1/2 of a medium green pepper, dicedjust under 1/4 cup onion, diced



Then, I added 12 eggs
1 cup milk
about 1 cup shredded cheese


Mix all together. Spoon into greased muffin pan. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. This makes roughly 20 'muffins'.



I put a few in the fridge, and freeze the rest. You can take them out one at a time and microwave them for 30 seconds and they're good to go. Or split them in half in between an English muffin for a breakfast sandwich. I just like that they're always ready.