Dash is nine months old!

What??!!??
Seriously.. Guess I better start thinking about little man's first birthday party. He'll be nine months this Saturday while I'm away with my girls for the weekend, so I'm doing this one early.

He is still sporting size 3 diapers. After his surgery he lost a pound, so after our appointment on the 3rd I'll post his weight. Hopefully he's back up above 18 pounds.

Dash is able to go three, four or sometimes longer between nursing sessions. He's nursing about four times a day with a before bed nurse and a just waking up nurse.
He still loves solid food, especially after he got his appetite back following surgery. He's still eating purees and some puffs, since he has no teeth!

We haven't tried too many new foods in the last month, again mainly because of the surgery and recovery.

Hmm. this seems like a repetitive post but following surgery we had to go back to some sleep training. For day naps, I rock him, nurse him if he's due for a nurse, and put him in bed sleepy. He cries when I lay him down but mostly as I leave the room he's settled. He just started sleeping better at night (only to have caught a cold today, so we will see if that continues).

We are on a much more consistent nap schedule for both Delaney and Dash and we're able to balance them so that our day doesn't revolve around naps.

We still have a momma's boy on our hands, but I think we "might" be coming out of the fog. I think crawling will help us with that.

Dashy is still avoiding tummy time, but I think he's doing it for longer stretches than last month. He rolls where he wants to go and looking at how he's starting to work on crawling, I think he might be an army crawler.
A big development: he stood up supported on his play table today. I snapped a picture but his head was moving and it didn't come out.

He has beautiful green eyes, and dark curly hair. His hair is the hit wherever we go.
and no teeth. not even a nubbin. oh well, one day, right?

Dash now knows and does the following signs: more, all done, "yay" (clapping), and "hi" and "bye".

Dash and I go with just each other to babygym twice a week while Delaney goes to Murphy's house for lunch and I think we're both loving the mommy/son time.

mama's getting away this weekend

and I'm getting excited. But I'm also feeling really anxious. I'm hoping that Dash will take the formula, since I wasn't able to pump enough breast milk for him.
I have no fears or anxiety about Zap taking care of them for 48 hours on his own. I mean, that's why I had kids with the man, right?
I know that my anxiety is coming from the fact that I won't be in control while I'm gone. That's it. I'm not worried about what the kids will or won't eat, what they'll wear, what they'll do, or anything else. Just that I won't controlling what they eat, wear, and do.
I'm going with a group organized by my friend Christa and its about getting our "GLOW" back in our life. It's needed. It's time I take a break from these little guys. Some days can be rough.
Except that today was a great day and I'm totally rethinking it :)
We'll be going to a cabin about an hour and a half away and we have no agenda for the weekend except to enjoy the company, read books, and enjoy relaxing.
I'll be sure to post pictures!

woah. we've been busy.

and crazy.

On Monday, April 12th, Dash started getting very fussy around 9am. I put him down for his usual nap, but he wouldn't sleep. I went into his room to check his diaper and once I opened the diaper, things just didn't look right. After watching things for a while, I noticed that his scrotum had started to swell on one side, so I grabbed Delaney and we all rushed to our pediatrician.
They got us in and we saw Tammy, one of the nurse practitioners. Tammy looked at Dash, who by this time was pale and sleepy. I was really starting to get scared.
Tammy believed that Dash has a twisted testicle and called Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital, in Tacoma, to let the ER know that we were headed in.
I called Zap at work, who thankfully had driven that day, and asked him to meet us there. My mom was on her way down to us, so she just met us at the ER. Jerry, Zap's dad came along as well so that he could watch Delaney and help out and be there for us.
We got checked into the ER around 11:30 and by this point, Dash was pale and scary lethargic. This was no longer my child.
The ER doctors immediately recognized it as a hernia and they talked to us about how to place it back into the correct place. At first they tried it without sedation, which seemed like it was worth a shot, but the hernia wasn't budging. Then we headed to ultrasound so they could visualize the hernia. After that, and remember that few things happen quickly in an ER unless you are critical, we went back to the room and they sedated Dash to attempt to manually reposition the hernia.
This was hard to watch, but I wanted to stay in the room while he was under sedation. It seemed like those ER doctors were pressing so hard on his scrotum, but they said that it just looked painful. I just knew he'd have bruises after, but he didn't.
They were able to manually fix the hernia and after another ultrasound to verify their work, I was able to nurse Dash. After he nursed, he was back to his old self, which was so reassuring for us. We left the ER around 5:30, so it was a very long day for us all.
They let us know that he would need surgery, and I think I was expecting a few weeks out. Before we checked out, the surgeon came in and said "I've got you scheduled for 8AM this Wednesday".. What?? Already?? Ok. I'm just processing this experience and now I've got to process putting my infant under sedation again and letting you cut into him??

So bright and early Wednesday morning, Zap, Dash and I headed back out to Mary Bridge. Thanks for friends and family, Delaney stayed with Grandpa and our friends Natalie and Emma.

We got checked into our personal surgery room and Dash thought it was a great day.

(the picture was taken from my iphone, sorry for the quality).

We spoke with the surgical nurse, the surgeon, and the anesthesiologist before they took Dash back. I knew I'd be okay with everything until they took him away. I'm just never not near the kids and it is so hard to be away. He went right back with the nurse and they sent us to the surgery room.
We were able to watch his status on a tv in the waiting room. It changed from "in OR" to "incision closing" and when it switched to "recovery room" the waiting room volunteer came to get us. We sat in a conference room and talked to the surgeon. Everything went well and just like she expected.
Right after that, we headed to recovery to see him. He was looking a little groggy, but he snuggled and nursed right away. The anesthesiologist had given him a pain/feeling block so his legs were HEAVY! We spent about fifteen minutes in recovery with him then we all went down to our original surgery room so that he could be observed another hour.

He did really well with everything. We kept him on Tylenol and Motrin the first few days, but a few days after surgery he seemed to be feeling much better. He seemed to be a new baby; he was less fussy and clingy than he typically is.
Starting about five days after surgery though, he started to come back to fussiness. We're still working it out and we've seen the surgeon once about it. She said he looks great and that he seems like a little guy who is four weeks past surgery, not one. We've also been seeing our pediatricians and some theories we are working on is that he's coming out of the anesthesia still and having some stomach upsets from that.

Delaney has been doing well. She learned to sing "Sally the camel has two humps" and it is so adorable to hear her sing it.
We're working through some tantrums and trying to figure out the best way to let her have some independence in small tasks through the day.
She's working on riding a tricycle and pedaling the wheels.

That's about it. I'm off to take Dash to a follow up appointment today.

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter as a family. The Easter Bunny visited and hid all of Delaney's eggs and left Delaney, Dash, and even Mama some really wonderful Easter baskets.
However, I do remember asking the Easter Bunny to pass me by this year. He didn't, but I'm not going to complain about some incredibly tasty chocolate. Persistent bunny :)

Delaney hunted for eggs in the early morning, then my mom joined us to go to the Easter service at our church. We had a great time at the church service and after being away for a few weeks, it was nice to get back and see everyone. After church and some socializing, we came back home for naps.




Following our naps, we all went to Joyce and Jerry's home to do Easter with the Riecken side of our family. We had so much fun, laughing and talking with everyone. Delaney hunted eggs with Lance and we all ate a wonderful dinner.



I've got some great new pictures to add, but because there's so many, I'm going to put them in smaller. If you want to view them larger, click on them :)

life with an eight month old :)

Dash turned eight months old yesterday and we spent the day at the Seattle Aquarium with my mom and our friends Kate, Mike, and Bridget, who were visiting from Las Vegas.
Delaney enjoyed the aquarium, but I think she enjoyed the space to run around in and the touch pools most of all.



Dash continues to wear size 3 diapers; He was 18 pounds 11 ounces on the 19th, so I'm sure that by his nine month appointment he will have crossed into 19 pounds.

He nurses every three to four hours now. He's loving solid food. His favorite is the zwieback toast. He can put it away!
He loves oatmeal and he's enjoying the mixes I made for him the other day. I made chicken, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, corn, green beans, and brown rice. Then I mixed all those up into various batches (i.e. green beans, brown rice, and chicken stock). He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner in solids and snacks on puffs and zwieback toast.
Dash is still a very sweet and gentle nurser.

Zap is sleep training Dash to fall asleep on his own at night and it seems to be going well. He goes to bed around 7pm and he wakes up around 6. He does sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, but he is able to go back down on his own with not too much work.
Naps are another story; I'm still typically putting him to sleep and laying him in bed then. I'm still struggling with a consistent nap and activity schedule for both kids.

Dash continues to be a mommy's boy. I'm not sure if it's his personality or if he's going through some separation anxiety. We've had some hard days here because it seems he cries unless he's being held and that can be frustrating. He's doing some floor play time and I'm working on putting him into his jumper to work on supporting his weight on his feet; which is another skill he's having a hard time with.
Dash has mastered rolling and uses this skill to avoid tummy time :) He is able to roll where he wants to go and he can push up and go in a circle.

Dash's eyes are more green most days now. His hair continues to be dark and has some curl to it. It's pretty awesome.

Still no teeth. Maybe that's good for our continued nursing. Maybe by 9 months?

AND... the big development!! Dash signed "more" at the aquarium yesterday!!! He apparently loves fish and found them motivating enough to sign for and was quickly rewarded with more fish!! I was so proud of him, but it did make me wonder what else he knows that he's been hiding.