Those Beautiful Eyes

We had to use up some flex spending account money so we decided to head to the eye doctor. Well, the part where the doctor gets all up close and personal to look inside your eye and you secretly wish he was good looking and not an old gray haired man and then you ponder if they really are getting a good look at your eye or doing it all for show. Well, today I had a finding. My old gray haired doc asks me if I have ever been told I had cataracts. I respond with a crazy "no, I am only 31, old people get contacts and I am not old" he informs me that I have cataracts and I am correct usually old people get them however I have them. So off to an ophthalmologist for me. We know these blue colored eyes of Ellery's come from her daddy, lets hope she doesn't inherit my cataracts.

Out but not Out and About

Man your position......Our morning rituals started when we had Ellery and Rob was basically gone half the month of March. Mason is our early riser and the first words out of his mouth are "Nemo" it was cute in the beginning and easy for me. I would take Mason and Ellery back to bed with me and while I fed Ellery I put on Nemo to keep Mason occupied. Therefore, I could dose in and out of sleep and stay in the horizontal position longer. Well, Ellery is now 4 months old and we still do the morning ritual that consists of watching Nemo while feeding Ellery while in the horizontal position. After 20-30 minutes of Nemo Mason starts asking to eat. Some days Ellery is awake and comes down stairs with us and other days she is fast asleep in our bed. This particular day I left two asleep in bed.

2 Year Check-up Mason

Mason had his two year check up today. I was smart and made his early since we will be moving in 2.25 weeks. I was also smart to make them together so I only had to make one trip.

His stats come in at:

Height: 37.5 inches (97%)

Weight: 31lbs (80%)

Head Circumference: 49 cm (55%)

We gave Mason peanut butter last week and he got a rash on the back of his neck and on his cheeks. He didn't have any respiratory problems, but we did give him benadryl because it seemed to be an itchy rash for him. We informed Dr. West of our findings and she wants to refer him to an allergist and gave us a script for an epinephrine pen. Oh boy, I am a ex adult ICU nurse and didn't mind poking other people, but it is going to be different for me with Mason. On a positive note 20% out grow peanut allergies, and we are hoping Mason is in that 20%. I will now have to find an allergist once we get moved to Omaha. We thought we would have time to shop around for a general pediatrician, but we will have to move quicker so we can get in to see them and then get the referral to the allergist.
I also talked to her about our big plunge out of the crib. He needs to come out of the crib, but she supports me not doing it until we move. So once we move Mason is going to graduate into a toddler bed and we might hit Nebraska Furniture Mart and get a twin bed?

Other than peanut problems and falling out of the crib, Mason is doing great and even doing things they expect him to do by the age of 3. He is an accelerated child, and I wouldn't expect anything else.

Needless to say our next pediatrician has a lot to live up to. We absolutely LOVE Dr. Pam West and I would recommend her to anyone. Her style fits mine perfectly and she has been wonderful to us. I think the reason I bonded with her so quickly is because when we went to our first dr. appointment with Mason she looked at me and said, "he, referring to Rob, won't find anything a big deal because he sees the extreme cases in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, so don't ever hesitate to call me" It really stuck with me and her words were very true. Mason falls down and is bleeding, Rob states it's no big deal. He is correct, but I will just leave it at that......BUT.

4 Month Check-up Ellery

Ellery had her 4 month check up today and her stats come in at:

Height: 24.5 inches (75%)

Weight: 12lbs 10 oz (50%)

Head Circumference: 39 cm (20%)

Compared to Mason she is a lot smaller. At 4 months he was 14lbs 10.5 oz and 26.75 inches long.

She got 4 shots today and she let us know that she didn't enjoy it. It breaks my heart to see her like that. Rob held her for her first round of shots, but he was post call and at home sleeping so I had to take one for the team today. Her report comes in clean and happy. We are blessed to have such happy healthy babies. We also got a round of applause for having babies that sleep through the night. Dr. West told me to have more children since we produce cute as a button children that sleep through the night.

4 Month Ellery

I can't believe my little peanut is 4 months old already. Time is just flying by. If anyone gets bored with their life I have a suggestion to help the time pass: have a kid, put your house on the market, travel for interviews, go back to work, and plan a move and your time will slip right by you. I feel like if I blink I might miss something.

Anyways, Ellery is such a happy baby. Her smile lights up the room and brightens the days that seem to be flying by. She has recently discovered her hands. She will hold them up and look at them and sometimes go cross eyed from trying to figure out what they are. She loves her mobiles or any toys she can look up at. This morning Mason and I were playing with the trains and we put Ellery on a quilt on the floor. I look over at her after a few minutes and she has rolled over and over again and over again and was wedged halfway under the couch. Not a peep from her, she was just excited to be around us. She does squeal and try to talk to her toys and to us. She is surviving Mason's flying toys and surprise kisses from him. She doesn't look so startled now when he comes flying in to give her a kiss on her head or face. She loves her bumbo chair, and is starting to laugh out loud at Mason while she sits in it and watches him eat.
I feel bad, I haven't taken her in for her 3 month pictures. I guess now they will be 4 month pictures. People are correct in saying the second child doesn't get the royal treatment like the first. Not to mention since summer is here she only gets bathed twice a week if she is lucky. We have a lot of Mason pictures of him taking a bath and only a few of Ellery.

Update on the Javier Adventure

I haven't heard from Josie, the lady interviewing us with the camera man from court tv from our "u" turn incident. Rob thinks they found much more exciting things than a drunk passenger with a chatty kathy wife. I should have asked to be handcuffed, the cop was cute I should have requested to be frisked. Darn it, my prime time debut will have to wait.

Lauren the Babysitter

Lauren has been babysitting for us a lot lately and I think we might use her a few more times in the next 2.5 weeks. I have a massage gift certificate to use, gift certificates to a fancy restaurant, and would like to go to Summerfest one night and listen to music. She came over this evening and watched Ellery while Mason and I went to swimming. I left Ellery in one outfit and I came back and she was in another. Poor Lauren got the Ellery royal treatment in changing a #2 diaper.

We are sad to be leaving Lauren, she has been great with the kids and the added bonus is she lives across the alley. We did leaver her with both kids the other day while we went to Rob's fellowship graduation luncheon. Rob's phone rang 45 min after we left and we gave each other the "uh oh" look and it was Lauren, but only wanting to know if she could eat some of our leftovers. What a kid, I can't get Rob to eat the leftovers.

Snap

The new word at the playground is "Snap". Mason and I were playing at the park the other day and some older kids were playing tag on the play structure. When one got tagged, "snap" when they fell down unexpectedly "snap" I came to the conclusion that "snap" is just another word for crap, but accepted by their parents and peers. I came home telling Rob I know the new hip word on the playground and told him about "snap" and he informed me that he has a co-worker who uses "snap" at work. When she misses a page "snap" when a high lab value comes in "snap" I thought I was hipper than my husband and I learned he is hipper than me but he didn't realize it so I still think that makes me the hipper one. Needless to say, thank goodness Mason is too young to use "snap".

On a completely different subject, I knew my kid was tall, but this picture really reinforces and hit home for me on how long he really is. I was aware we would get funny looks on the playground because people think he is older than he really is. You can see it in their expressions, they think he is a delayed child until they ask his age and then give me the awwww saying and expression. I think next time someone does it I will confront them on the thought.

Fellowship Certificate

It is officially official, Rob received the paper work and certificate for the completion of his fellowship. Although he still has some research to complete, transport shifts, meetings, and one more call, let the balloons fly Rob is done! If you could hear me shout for joy right now your ears would hurt. Also, I want to give my appreciation to the researchers. I try to be supportive, but research sucks for someone that has a life and really bites for someone who has a life and a family. I give a huge pat on the back for taking his project on and I hope the data he found improves patient care. I also hope he gets published and presents it at a fun conference next year at an exotic location.

Congratulations Rob

We had a party last night at Paddy's Pub to celebrate Rob's fellowship completion. We had it in conjunction with another fellow named Rob as well. The last three years really have flown by and I know Rob is thrilled to be done and I am ecstatic for him. He is no longer the peon of the PICU. He is joining the attending world and I have a feeling he will love every minute of it. We are extremely proud of him and all of his accomplishments. I know I wavered on how I was going to make it through some of his hard months and I wasn't the one doing the actual work. Needless to say we are beaming with joy for him so I threw him a party. We had a great time at the party. I am sorry to say I forgot my camera, but it was a successful fun night. We left the kids with our babysitter Lauren who will be turning 15 this month or next. She is our usual babysitter for Mason, but we hadn't used her for both of them. I wanted Ellery to be older before we left her in the evening. I am happy to report no phone calls were received and she was successful in watching them. Mason was already down for the night, but she did have to feed and put Ellery down. Ellery didn't take the bottle, but Lauren did get her asleep and in her crib for the night and that is where she stayed until 5 am.

Back to the party story...... We left the bar at 1am and I was the sober one driving us home. We of course had our GPS, that I have named Javier, and Rob wanted to be adventurous and go Javier's way home. I should have known not to listen to Javier or my drunk husband. Javier lead us into construction and as he is telling me directions Rob is telling me to go as well. I am trying to explain to Rob that Javier isn't aware of the closed ramp due to construction, but I drive forward just to show him. I then decide I better flip a u-turn or I am going to have to drive along the lake for 10 min before I can turn around. I assessed the situation and I did see the NO U-TURN sign but I decided to go for it. Of course when I go for it over the hill comes a car and can you guess what kind of car? A cop car. He goes through the light and then pulls to the side of the road to witness my illegal u-turn, sitting like a cat ready to pounce on the poor mouse. I then get in the left lane to turn, I get the green arrow and a Milwaukee unmarked Sheriff truck blows through their red light and almost t-bones us. I guess someone running a red light and almost running into you makes the cop finally decide to pull us over. The cop approaches the car and the first thing I say is that car ran the red light, not me, but then I notice a camera man on me. I immediately ask if I am on the news, and we find out it is a camera crew for the old court tv channel. I can't remember what name it got updated to. Anyways, you are looking at potential stars of the show. We had to sign waivers and everything and they say they will call me before I air, but it was hilarious. We explained about the party and how Javier and my drunk husband lead me astray. I think he got a kick out of us so he let me off with a warning. "Illegal "U" turn at controlled intersection"

Needle in a Haystack

I was out shopping today and when I went to admire how I looked before I made a big purchase I noticed I was missing a diamond earring. Rob had given them to me for Christmas 2 years ago. The year we only gave each other things that fit into stockings. I cheated and bought a stocking that came up to my waste where Rob stuck with the traditional size and filled it with shiny sparkling earrings that I adored. I of course hit the floor at the department store looking for my earring. I even took off the other one that I had and placed it on the floor to give me a visual of what I should be looking for. I had no luck at the store and walked out with my eyes glued to the floor and sidewalk hoping to spot something sparkly. I came home with tears in my eyes treating the earring like it was some sort of family pet. Rob was very supportive and said, maybe you lost it here, but call the store just in case they find it. I called the store and left my name and number. About 3 hours later Rob comes walking down the stairs and says, look what I found in the shower and pulls out my diamond earring. MY HERO. I had given up on finding my earring and wallowing in my pity when he saved the day. He wasn't taking a shower, but just looking around the house on where I might have lost it. I am happy he is completing his fellowship and going to practice medicine, but his CIS skills could be a back up for him. The crazy thing is that the store called later to ask me how big the diamond earring was because they think they had found it. I informed them that we had found my missing earring, and it goes to show their is honest people.

Ellery left behind

Mason is back in swim lessons and Rob was busy working the other day so I was able to go with Mason. That meant we had to leave Ellery with a babysitter. I left Ellery with Nadina the 12 year old girl who lives across the street. I think she is still a little young but it was only for an hour and she really enjoyed holding and playing with her. Every time we are outside playing Nadina comes over to play with Mason or hold Ellery for a bit. We also went to music in the park last night and Nadina and her family came over to say Hello. They then held Ellery for the rest of the night.

Mason is doing great in swimming lessons. He will float on his back with a lot of encouragement and isn't afraid at all. They have us take the kids to the side of the pool and make them climb out and then they are supposed to sit down on the side and lean forward back into the water. Mason climbs out like a champ, but he doesn't want to sit to get back in, he wants to stand and jump back in.

Choooo Chooooooo

I love my sister but not when she is in my train space. Mason wasn't too thrilled when he found Ellery inside his train track. She was delighted to be free and wiggling all around on the floor. He is asking for me to move her and then he tries to roll her over on his own to get her out. Too cute watching them together.

For the most part he does great with her. He really likes to help when it comes to taking care of Ellery. He gets diapers for me and will bring me a burp cloth when they are out of reach. If she isn't with us when we are eating or playing he asks for her. When it is time to go, he tries picking her up or lifting her in her car seat. He also tries to roll her back over to her back when she does roll over onto her tummy. He doesn't like her on her tummy for some reason??

The Thump

I was getting out of the shower and I could hear Mason playing in his crib. He was awake from his nap and I thought I had a few more minutes before going to get him. It isn't that unusual that he plays for a bit before we go get him. I went to get dressed and as I was getting dressed I hear the big "thump" followed by a loud cry. Mason finally crawled out of his crib. We thought he might be a little more graceful on his dismount, but we were wrong. When asked where it hurt he pointed to the back of his head so one could assume it wasn't a belly flop but a back buster. After the tears were dried up he kept saying "fall down" and when we went back into his room he would say fall down and point to where he landed. I then got the camera and this is all he would do for his falling down debut. Now the decisions on what to do about room and bed assignments.

Happy Fathers Day

We celebrated Fathers Day yesterday since Rob is on call today. We didn't do anything that spectacular, it is very difficult to plan things on the weekends with your house on the market. We are happy we had a showing yesterday, but it puts a damper the plans. We decided that since we just got the mac book, my mom just bought us a gps for our big move, and since we are moving we weren't going to celebrate Fathers Day with a big gift. I did peek out on craigslist and found a photographer that I had come over yesterday morning and take some family photos. A friend of mine said I was crazy having him come to the house, she thought he might chop us all up instead of take our picture. It made me chuckle. He only charged me $50 and he gave me all the images on disk. Bonus. I am happy with the pictures and the purpose of him coming over was to get Mason in a scrub top. I decided to put Mason in one of Rob's scrub tops for a photo opportunity. I plan to take a picture of him in the same top every year for Father's Day. It turned out very cute.

So this Father's Day I want to celebrate the father of my children. Rob is the greatest dad and it warms my heart when he comes home every day after work and he has the biggest grin to great his family with. No matter how tired or stressful his day was, he always comes home and gives me and the kids hugs and kisses. Sometimes Mason gets them before me and I do get a bit jealous of that, but he gives them so who can complain over that. We are very proud of him and all of his accomplishments the current biggie is completing his fellowhship. He is a great dad and I wouldn't be able to take care of these kids without his help, love, and support. THANK YOU ROB!

23 Month Mason

I can't believe Mason is going to be 2 years old in a month. So much will be changing around his birthday with our move to Omaha. His current obsession is bubbles. His last word of the night and first word of the day used to be basketball, but bubbles is moving in. We have been through many bubble containers. Mason hasn't figured out gravity and when he bends over, he dumps the bubbles out. I did buy a spill proof bubble tumbler and I highly recommend it. He also hasn't quite mastered the bubble wand. Thank goodness they are non-toxic because he places the wand on his lips and then blows. He does get really excited when he remembers to blow before it hits his lips and he produces bubbles.

He has mastered all of his colors, and will say the alphabet by himself up to E. He does count to 5, but most numbers sound like 4 and he tends to whisper them. Not quite sure why he whispers when he counts. He has also mastered animal sounds and body parts. He still loves basketball and anything to do with balls along with coloring. He now picks out his own books at night to read and some nights he reads them by himself silently or out load and other nights he lets you read them to him. He is still a finicky and picky eater. Still won't touch cheese. He is getting more adventurous and will take a bite of things. He did take a couple bites of asparagus the other night. Oh, and he took a 3.5 hour nap the other day. I didn't know what to do with all that time. He usually takes a 2 hour nap. Still an early riser but he sleeps so good for us at night. We are contemplating on what to do with bed situations once we move. Ellery is still in a portable crib and Mason is in a regular crib. We would like to get Ellery into the bigger crib, we have found her with lips out and smushed up against the side on the portable. The million dollar question is when we move do we keep Mason in the crib and wait for the "thump" or do we transition him into the toddler bed????

Sick Mommy

I had full intentions to catch you up on all of our weekend fun but I have been a bit under the weather. Speaking of weather...it has been a crazy one here in WI. We spent Saturday night in the basement waiting out crazy tornado warnings. Rob was off on a transport and ended up stopping at two different hospitals on the way back to Children's due to tornado's and flooding. It was crazy but he eventually made it back to the hospital and then home. Someone needs to do an opposite rain dance for us. We have received over 9 inches of rain this month and it is forecasts to rain another 5 days starting tomorrow. A few people have had water in their basements due to flooding and leaks, and we are very fortunate that we are not dealing with that.
What I am currently dealing with is a GI bug. We played volleyball last night and I came home and hung out with my head in the toilet. Lets just say Rob is the greatest dad ever, I manned my horizontal position on the couch and he has tended to the kids for me. I don't know what I would have done without him. The cutest thing this morning is that I got up to go to the restroom and Mason crawled up on the couch and covered himself up and placed himself in the same position I was in. Too cute!!!!

Working 9-5 What a Way to Make a Living

My maternity leave is officially over. I am back to work at Cerner part-time as of today. I added a few weeks of vacation onto my 12 week leave, we had to go buy a house in Omaha. Mason is going to daycare and I am currently keeping Ellery home with me. I had such a hard time putting Mason in the infant room, and I don't want to experience that again. I thought Mason was a good baby, but compared to Ellery he was just average, she is an excellent baby. As long as she is in the room that I am in she is happy. She is either happy or mad, no in between with her and she leans more on the happy side. Plus I can leave her open on the floor more since Mason isn't here and she really enjoys her freedom. She must sense she is safer from trips, kicks, random hugs and kisses, and falling objects when her big brother isn't around.
I am only going to work until October. Cerner has a big push to bring virtual associates back to KC or place them in full-time travel roles. Since I am not moving to KC and unwilling to travel this is the best gig for me right now. I will be let go before the 4th quarter begins in October. Just in time to be off for the holidays! Not sure what I will do once I am done with Cerner and get through the holidays. I might just stay at home for a few months or years.

Wall Art

I was feeding Ellery the other day and reading a magazine while sitting on the couch. I thought Mason was being good and sitting at his table and coloring on his books and paper (the couch pillows were a bit in my way). Little did I notice that he did a bit of wall art.Hard to punish and discipline for it, but I let him know that it was wrong. I haven't had a chance to clean it up and I took a video of him in front of it. He was answering no to my questions of "do we color on the walls" before I turned the camera on and clammed up once it came on.

I can say my name

Mason finally said his own name today. He actually said it for Rob yesterday, but I didn't get to witness it until today. We thought he would say it sooner since he says the dogs name, Hudson, all the time and they are somewhat similar. He now points to the pictures hanging on the wall and will say his own name when we point everyone out. It is really cute.

He loves to put on shoes and walk around. I should get one of him in my heels. It is hard to believe that he is going to grow up and fill these shoes out someday.

Ellery Rolled Over

How I titled this blog makes me think of Hudson, but our little girl is growing up. She rolled over from her back to her belly this afternoon. She didn't cry when she was on her belly and stayed playing for a bit before she got fussy. She doesn't enjoy her tummy time like Mason did. Mason loved his tummy time. He rolled over at 13 weeks and I couldn't keep him off his tummy. I remember getting up in the middle of the night to flip him back onto his back because we would find him on his tummy every morning. It really didn't matter if I flipped him, but it made me feel better. She isn't rolling onto her tummy in her crib yet, just when she gets some floor tummy time.

Brewer's Baseball Game

We took Mason and Ellery to a Brewer's baseball game tonight. They did very well considering we just got back from our house hunting trip to Omaha. Mason was cranky before we left, but once he saw all of the commotion at the tailgating party and the game, he was good to go. Rob's work had a big tailgating party before the game. Mason wall all over the place and wouldn't sit down to eat. Since he had a chocolate chip cookie the night before while on the plane, we thought why not have more cookies tonight. We also learned he loves cheese puffs. He basically had junk for dinner and loved every minute of it.

It was difficult to get a picture of him with the field in the background because he was really into watching what was going on. It didn't keep him enthralled for too long, I think the game is a bit to slow for an almost 2 year old. We had to keep telling him where to watch when they were pitching the ball so he wouldn't miss it. He also got multiple walks around the upper deck. Ellery was a big hit and passed around to multiple people needing their baby fix. I felt naked without her, but it was nice not having to worry about her. The roof was open for the game and in the process of us leaving and walking out it started raining and they closed the roof. We missed the process from the inside but saw a bit from the outside.

5 Generations Minus One

My Great Grandma lives in Omaha along with some extended family. It is going to be nice moving closer and reconnecting and establishing relationships I never had with them. We met everyone out for lunch on Sunday and we were able to capture 4 generations in one picture. My Grandma Wilson is missing and we hope to get a complete picture when she comes up to visit us. Not everyone can capture a 5 generation picture and we are very fortunate that we can.

Shopping Spree

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Get your own

We went on a huge shopping spree in Omaha. We found a house on day 2. We are very excited and close on July 16th. Now we have to get in contact with the moving companies through Children's and get it all organized. We are very excited about our house. We are in a very nice neighborhood and the park is right down the street, but we already have a play structure in our backyard. Not to mention that we have a community soccer field in our back back yard. It will be heaven for Rob in teaching Mason soccer. We have 4000+ square feet finished including the basement. Our house here in Milwaukee is only 1400 square feet. We might need a map of our new house along with gps tracking so we can find everyone. We have a wonderful office off the kitchen with built in desks and bookshelves. Our kitchen flows into the living room with a nice fireplace. We have 4 bedrooms upstairs and 3 baths. Let me just say I could live in my bathroom and if we have another kid I could put a crib in our closet and not be cramped. The basement is open and big with 1 bedroom and bathroom along with tons of storage. Our 5 year plan is to get a bar built in the basement and change the counter tops in the kitchen. We are blessed and I can't wait to move in. A nice bonus is our neighbors have a pool. I didn't take as many pictures as I thought because our realtor had it listed on his website. The link will work until we close if you want to see more pictures.

http://markrenner.com/DispListing.asp?ListingID=116674&AdminID=444&PropertyType=A&BuyerID=