Happy Holidays!

Andrew's first haircut, quite the debacle!

He had to have combs and tools to play with, so that she could do her work.

Andrew looking very studious, reading Horton Hears a Who!

Christmas morning in our pjs. Andrew opened the Curious George bath set and was so enthralled we had to open most of the rest of his gifts.

Merry Christmas!


It has been one busy and hectic year! We finally bought a new laptop computer, a Sony Vaio. It is fabulous, now if only the internet would stop going out every time we get on. I posted first haircut pictures from October (he needs a new haircut already). We enjoyed the fall by attending the home Cowboy football games. Andrew now says C-O....B...Y and cheers with us, who needs a W and another O? He also believes that the only purpose for a tv is "football game!" There is no doubt that Andrew is all boy. Besides football his favorite things are horses and cars. We hear lots of neighs and vrooms.

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Andrew has really begun to talk, a lot. We can't keep track of all he knows how to say anymore. He will say things each day that we haven't even taught him, they are complete sponges. Granny yelled out Yee-Haw in the car yesterday and we heard a big Yee-Haw from Andrew right back. When Ryan told him no for touching the ornaments on the tree Andrew responded by shaking his index finger at Ryan and saying "don't touch!" We found out that he learned that from his babysitter, Ms. Margaret. I am really enjoying this age so much!

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Ryan's parents joined us at our house for Christmas and we all had so much fun! We cooked a 17lb. prime rib (yes for the five of us!) and we never got out of our pjs all day. Santa was good to Andrew and he is having a good time playing with all of his new toys.

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We look forward to new adventures in 2009, and wish everyone Happy Holidays!

Meez

Pumpkin Patch

Andrew selecting his gourds.
Andrew and Daddy walk the rows looking for the perfect pumpkin.
Andrew happily filling the wagon.
Andrew immediately after the little pig bit his fingers!

Last weekend we had quite the time at Bartels' Farm pumpkin patch. I knew it had to be good place when I saw the name, my maiden name is Bartels. Andrew had a fun time running around picking up gourds and looking for pumpkins. There was also a pumpkin launcher, which shot them so far I never saw them, but Ryan thought it was pretty cool.

The petting zoo was a big hit too until Andrew, after encouragement from mom, attempted to pet the little piglet. However, this pig thought that a hand coming toward it meant food and it bit Andrew's little hand. As you can see this was VERY upsetting. He screamed for a good while. I decided because the whole thing was my fault he deserved a treat and he had his first Capri Sun which was a big hit and definitely made his hand feel better.

Overall the pumpkin patch was a success! Thanks to Stacey for the recommendation.

The Biter

So, some of you may remember my fretting about Andrew's biting and whether it would get him into trouble at daycare. Well, we have not had any problems with Andrew biting anyone (except me occasionally), but, Andrew has been getting bitten. It started with a huge bite on his arm all the teeth of the little child were imprinted on his arm and a bruise surfaced a day later. The daycare was aware and knew which child was the culprit we were sure that it wouldn't happen again. Then he was bit again and yet again! I truly do think that the daycare workers were doing their best, but seeing that this little biter was in the same age group as Andrew they usually played together and it was difficult to get the child to stay away from Andrew. So, the daycare followed their policy and held a conference with the parents. Then Andrew was bit again so, the daycare suspended the biter for two days. After day one of suspension mom of the biter comes waltzing in to daycare and begins yelling about how she'll lose her job and she can't stay home and this isn't teaching her child to not bite (which I did feel sorry for her, I mean what do you do?). Well, our daycare held firm to its policy and the mom said fine I'm finding another daycare! So, Andrew is no longer getting bit, which is a big relief, but how ironic considering I've been the one worried about getting kicked from daycare for biting!

15 months

Andrew is officially 15 months old and he had his well baby checkup this morning. He weighed in at 28lb. 6oz. (95%) and 33in. tall (90%). So, he continues to be a big boy, but his growing has slowed some since his 12 mo. checkup. Unfortunately, he had to have 4 shots! He was not happy that mommy let those women poke him! But, after some cuddles and some craisins he was happy again.

Ryan and I had a great time Saturday night at Cody Prom (Buffalo Bill Historical Center Patron's Ball). I wore a beautiful long black halter top dress and Ryan wore a tux for the first time since our wedding. We stayed out until 1am dancing and drinking and visiting with old friends and family (We went with Ryan's parents). It was a fun night out with adults. Very little talk of diapers and sippie cups. We had our picture taken by the photographer there (not digital) so I don't have any pictures to share. We are looking forward to not traveling this next weekend and staying home!

Before and After

After

Before

Recently we had our upstairs bathroom remodeled at our house. And we are really happy with the results. No more gold! See before and after pictures above (again not in the right order and I couldn't delete the picture that is turned wrong)!

Also, Ryan is doing much better. Thanks to everyone for your support and inquiries. He has been diagnosed with migraines. Unfortunately, the doctors have said that he can expect to have them fairly often in the beginning and the beginning of each migraine is always the same; he can't speak and he feels numbness in most of his body. This is not fun for Ryan or anyone in the family, but it is better than what it could have been and he now has medication which helps curb some of the symptoms.

We still desperately need a new computer! Somehow it is working tonight, but VERY SLOWLY. Remember dial up? This is worse.

I travel for work this week, which makes me a little nervous to leave Andrew with Ryan and his new health issues. But, I'm sure that I am worrying for nothing and all will be well.

Update

I haven't been blogging for a couple reasons. First, our computer is on the fritz it is definitely time for a new one and we are undecided as of yet which new computer to buy. So, I haven't been able to get pictures downloaded. We will want a laptop and we are currently deciding between a Mac or a Sony. If anyone has any suggestions or strong opinions on laptops please let me know.

Second, Ryan has been having major health issues this week. On Monday morning we had to take him to the ER because he was unable to speak clearly and his right arm and hand were numb. It was exceedingly scary. The first thought in all the doctors minds was that he may have had a stroke. Fortunately, all of the tests (MRIs, Cat Scans, heart ultrasounds, EKGs) showed that he was in good health and did NOT have a stroke or other serious conditions. The diagnosis was that it was caused by a severe migraine. Then this morning he had another severe migraine. This time he was vomiting and was in serious pain. Finally, after seeing our family doctor today he has gotten some appropriate medication and he is sleeping now and hopefully will feel better soon.

Once we get this computer working or buy a new one I will be back to more frequent updates with pictures!

Bacteria!

So, our doctor called today and the stool sample he took from Andrew on Aug. 5 has finally revealed that he has a bacterial infection in his intestines. We will be able to start antibiotics today, so hopefully the diarrhea will finally cease. We are now on day 17 of diarrhea, poor kid. Apparently to determine whether bacteria exists cultures need to be done to see if any grows and this just started to grow today! It is a weak strain so it didn't show up right away, but it has been causing major problems for Andrew. Now, we should finally be able to clear up his diaper rash, hooray!

We are heading to Riverton tonight to drop off Andrew and Penny (dog) with the grandparents for the weekend. Ryan and I got a room at the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone for the weekend. This will be the first time we have both gone somewhere together without Andrew. We are pretty excited for some time alone! We'll try to take some pictures to post later. Have a great weekend everyone.

Flood?

This is our neighbor Tom in the street.

Here in Cheyenne water always seems scarce. We have watering restrictions because of the "drought" we are in. However, I heard the director of the Department of Agriculture on the radio recently and he said that at some point it can't be considered a drought anymore and we have to come to terms with...gasp...climate change. Yes, even the conservative rancher director has had to accept that we are facing climate change. With this change comes not only long boughts (will it ever end?) of things like drought but also wacky and wild weather.

My father, who lives in Omaha, NE, has had numerous stories for the past year of their very extreme and unusual weather. Tornadoes galore, for starters, and recently crazy hail and wind storms which caused him to have to re-roof and re-side his house. Now, granted Nebraska has always been known for its summer tornadoes and thunderstorms, but they are having much, much more this year. They had the amount of rain average for the year in about four weeks.

Well this week Cheyenne saw some of this wacky weather when we got hit with a torrential downpour of water. As you can see from the pictures we had a little of a flash flood in our neighborhood. Apparently, in other parts of Cheyenne whole cars were under water. Cheyenne is not equipped with the storm sewers and drainage system for this kind of rain, because, well it doesn't rain like that here. Until now.

Also, this week Andrew has been sick. He has now had diarrhea for 10 days and the doctor believes it to be a virus. He said that as long he doesn't get dehydrated he'll be fine and we can't do much for him. As you can imagine his diaper rash is out of this world. He screams and cries crocodile tears everytime he gets changed. I have been using a butt cream that the doctor suggested, but if any of you moms out there have a great solution to diaper rash I'm all ears.

Happy Frontier Days!

Another Frontier Days has come and gone and we have all survived. Andrew partook again this year. His first rodeo was last year with Great-Grandparents Bartels and Oma Sybille. But, this year he intently watched as the horses and cowboys took center stage. The first Saturday we all went to the Parade with Aunt Amy and Andrew's best buddy Jonathan. It was hot to say the least! We even left a little early for fear the two boys were getting too much sun. But, hey it is a very long parade and we saw most of it.

Then Wednesday we went with the rest of Cheyenne to Auntie Dame's and Uncle Troy's for a bbq. Both Tues and Thurs nights Ryan and I got babysitters and went to work/frontier days events to glad hand, but we had a nice time and it was good to get out on our own. Friday we had Wade, his girlfriend Lettie and their friend Chen-Pin stay with us. We all went to the rodeo on Sat. and Chen-Pin enjoyed her first rodeo! I think it was quite the cultural experience for her (she hasn't ventured too much outside San Franciso). Sat. night we got a babysitter again for Andrew and saw Bill Engvall at the night show. He was really funny. Randy Owen was the musical act and the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra was backup. The orchestra was amazing, Randy Owen was a little much, too schmaltzy for my taste. Regardless though we all had a good time.

Sunday was buddy Jonathan's first birthday and he had a good time with his cake! Overall it has been quite the busy week and we are exhausted from all the celebrating, but who can complain about celebrating!

p.s. sorry about the pictures without any captions, they are also in the opposite order I wanted them in...I am still learning how to work this blog...bear with me

We've Got a Biter

So, Andrew has been having a wonderful summer. He has learned to walk and he has begun to talk. He loves all the walks in his stroller and playing in the yard. However, we have been having a new problem with our little Andrew. He has begun to bite, hard and often. He bit me so hard last night it left a mark on my arm. We expect of course that he is teething again. He currently has 4 teeth on top and 2 on bottom. We are giving him plenty of teething toys, but he throws them down immediately. We push him away and tell him "No Biting!" But, he continues to try to bite constantly. Any suggestions? My fear is that he'll bite another child at daycare and we'll really be in trouble.

Another update is that work for me is going really well! I enjoy the cases so far and the amount of travel won't be as bad as they made it out to be. I'll try to post some pictures this week. Our camera battery died, but it should be up and running again today!

What a Weekend!

So, we have all finally recovered from a very fun, but very exhausting weekend. On Thursday night I joined all the girls to go with Ryan's sister out on the town for her Bachelorette party. I haven't drank much at all since I had Andrew last year, not to mention the 9 months before when I was pregnant. So, needless to say it didn't take many drinks and I was having a good time! Then Friday night was the rehersal dinner followed by fireworks and Saturday was the wedding and reception. Thank goodness my dad and his wife Lauren came out to help with Andrew, we couldn't have made it to all this without their help. Haley (Ryan's sister) and her now husband Zac had a gorgeous wedding. I was privileged to stand up for Haley. The wedding was held at St. Albin's chapel in the Snowy Range, it was breathtaking scenery, but the mosquitos were ridiculous. My pictures don't do anybody any justice because they are just a few quick shots of people. I am excited to see what the photographer captured!

Wedding Weekend

We are heading over to Laramie for the 4th of July and for Ryan's sister's wedding on Saturday. I will be a bridesmaid (I've been dieting for several weeks, hopefully I'll look okay in the dress). I will do my best to get some good pictures to share after the long weekend. I love the 4th of July and Laramie puts on a pretty good fireworks show, so, I'm excited! Happy Birthday USA!

Mommy and Me

This weekend was a blast! Ryan was out-of-town once again, for work. He was in Jackson with the Gov. you may have seen the Gov. on Meet the Press Sunday morning from Jackson. Anyway, that meant that it was just Andrew and me for the weekend. I had a stressful week last week and another to come. My new job switch is proving to be a lot of work, not just because I have to phsyically move offices, but I have clean out my old files and now tackle a whole new set of files. (FYI, lawyers engage in tons of paperwork). So, I was somewhat upset when I realized that because I had to watch Andrew all weekend by myself there would be no working. However, sometimes we get exactly what we need.

Andrew and I went to Superday on Saturday, and we partook in a number of fun activities: shopping for sandles for him, walking, playing in the grass, malt making and eating, pizza dinner with friends, phone talking with family, and playing with Penny. Andrew is also still enthralled with all his new toys from his Birthday. This weekend also really opened my eyes to the fact that Andy and I can really communicate now and enjoy each other's company. When Ryan is here we mostly talk with each other, our adult serious talk, while we care for Andrew. But, without an adult in site to talk to I had to talk to Andy. Now, with his expansive vocabulary of dog, hat, mama, and dada you would think this would be quite the boring conversation. But, au contraire! He is communicating now quite effectively with body language and facial expression. So, we had many conversations full of smiles, laughter, clapping, pointing and squealing with delight. Not, to mention scrunched noses, head shakes indicating No, and even a few tears. All the exploring and sunshine really wore us out, so we were early to bed and late to rise. I also got to dress him in his cute overalls that his aunt in Germany made for him. (Ryan thinks they make him look like a girl). Overall, this weekend was the least stressful and most rewarding I have had in a long time! Thanks, Andy for such a great time!

Andrew's 1st Birthday!

This past Saturday we celebrated Andrew's 1st Birthday. He will officially be one on Wednesday the 25th. He had a lot of fun at his party. He was so excited with each present and card. He loved the chocolate cake and as we sang Happy Birthday it was all I could do to hold back the tears. I just can't believe how fast he growing. It has been the best year of my life being a mom and seeing him learn and grow, I know this next year will be even better! Happy Birthday to my little Roo!

New Job

I have just accepted a new position in my office. I will now be representing the Department of Family Services which will include child support enforcement, terminations of parental rights, child welfare cases, and any legal issues which may arise from this state agency. I am very excited about this new opportunity especially since it will mean more litigation, which is what I truly enjoy. However, acceptance of this new position is not without trepidation, while I know I can do it change is always difficult and this position will definitely mean more travel around the state and less time with my family. So, here I am again struggling with this balance. I feel that this is a good decision for my career, but whether it will be good for my family is yet to be seen. Here's hoping!

Daddy's Day

Sunday was Father's Day, the first for my husband. I tried to make it nice by making breakfast, lunch and dinner and generally trying to give him a break. But, his friend could only come to help with the yard that day, so he ended up doing a lot of yard work and working really hard on Father's Day. Not only that but when I attempted to grill chicken for dinner I dropped his chicken breast on the ground. He then had to go to the store for more chicken and I asked if he would just do the grilling since I am terribly unskilled with the grill, he agreed. So, unfortunately my husband's first Father's Day was not terribly memorable or relaxing, but here are a few pictures of him as a dad this year which I think show that he has really come into his own as a new Father and doesn't need a special day to celebrate it because he celebrates being a dad each day with our son. Thanks sweetie, for being such a wonderful daddy!

Resourcefulness

It is amazing to me how resourceful I have become since becoming a mom. The amount of multi-tasking blows my mind sometimes. I call family and friends in the car on the way to and from the baby sitter's house. I run errands, play with the dog and pick up the house over my lunch hour. I make my to-do lists at work. I purchase most things over the internet to save a trip to the store. I go shopping for myself on business trips, because then I can actually try on clothes.

Last night my family and I went to Target. My darling son has started this phase (well at least I hope it is a phase) of screaming all the time. So, when I just couldn't handle the screaming anymore I went to the food aisle found some goldfish crackers ripped them open and started feeding him. It helped with the screaming. Of course we paid for the crackers, but until now I would not have dreamed of doing such a thing. But, motherhood will do that to you, send you to desperate measures that I refer to now as "resourcefulness."

Can't We All Just Get Along?

One thing I have learned since becoming a parent is that parenting styles are extremely different and there are huge debates between parents (mostly moms) regarding all kinds of issues with children. Breastfeeding; binkys; vaccinations; circumcision; bumper pads; co-sleeping; staying home; infant sign language; toilet training; brand of formula; starting solids; and the list goes on and on. Often these topics are the cause of heated debates between mothers. But, most often these topics bring certain disapproving looks, tone of voice or the infamous questions meant to be somehow disguised as "just questions" except anyone with a brain knows that these "questions" are really a dig on your parenting. For example, "you are using that brand of formula, hmmm?" or "wouldn't he take a pacifier?" or "why is he circumcised, are you Jewish?" When confronted with these "questions" it takes every fiber of your being not to retort with what you really want to say, such as, "you really think what brand of formula matters, at least my kid doesn't eat his boogers!" or "at least my 3 year old isn't running around with a binky in his mouth!" etc. Why can't we just agree to disagree and not care so much about what other parents choose to do with their children? Unless what they are doing is abusive it really isn't our place to say what is right or wrong. We should all parent the way we see fit and move on.

Certainly, I have been guilty of judging other moms as well, but I try at the very least to keep it to myself or only discuss it with my husband. It isn't my place to make comments directly to the other mom. Therefore, I hereby make a pledge to stop the judging and start supporting other mothers in their parenting. Becoming a mom for the first time is very challenging and we should be there for each other as mothers, no matter what our parenting style is. So, next time you have a strong opinion, just keep it to yourself and don't try to disguise your disdain in the form of a question, you aren't fooling anyone.

Working Mother

The phrase "working mother" is redundant. ~ Jane Sellman

Can we working mothers really have it all? This is the question which most quantifies my life at this point in time. I am sure trying to make it work. I work full-time as an attorney AND as a mother to my little 11 month old son, Andrew.

I recently read the fiction novel "I Don't Know How She Does It" and I couldn't believe how much in it truly resonated. The central theme of the book being, can working mothers really have it all? It is a fun, fast read and I recommend it. But, the part that continues to haunt me about the story was that the conclusion was, no. We can't be good mothers and wives and workaholics at the same time. Now, granted I would not put myself in the "workaholic" category. I don't often work more than 40 hours per week. But, I still can't help wondering if my story is the same and the answer is, no.

So, join me on my first blog experience as I discuss the daily challenges of mommyhood, family, and career.