the birthday surprise

(thursday, 20th march, 2008)

this poor blog has been a bit neglected lately... i had to watch how i worded my last post, because cole and i were actually at mom and dad's in wisconsin! grandma pheifer's 80th birthday was on saturday the 15th, and at the last minute, i thought it would be fun to fly in for that. so, on saturday the 8th, i booked me a ticket, courtesy of hotwire.com and got a pretty good deal. i had about a day and a half to pack for myself and for cole, for a week's worth of travel. not an easy task, packing for a baby, no matter where you go and for how long... i definitely don't recommend doing it in a day; give yourself at least a week! and for the future, i shall remind myself to never board a plane without another set of arms along. thou shalt not fly by thyself with a baby. there's a new commandment for ya! actually, it went better than i thought. cole is a very strange child in the fact that altitude changes don't seem to bother him one bit. sitting in-flight for more than 20 seconds does... too bad there aren't any 15-second flights out there...! and much to my amazement, he slept the ENTIRE flight from cincinnati to phoenix. of course, then i wanted to sleep; rather, i wanted to stay awake but the sandman seemed to have a loitering problem just then. cole and i happened to be on an aisle seat (for the first time over the course of the whole trip), which would have been great had he been fussy. in this case, it meant almost getting whacked on the little noggin with one of the carts loaded with overpriced goodies. i had no energy to keep my arm tucked up just so, so down flopped my arm with every intention of pulling back up should there be traffic in the aisle, but like i said, the sandman just couldn't take no for an answer, so while i was busy trying to take care of him, snacktime on flight 1565 rolled around and i was SO not with it. fortunately, the flight attendant was paying more attention, so we avoided a potentially nasty bump. after that, this particular attendant considered it her calling to tell everyone to "watch your elbows, watch your feet, watch the baby's head" everytime she made the rounds. hmmm, nothing like being singled out for being an inattentive parent! no, really, it wasn't that bad. just sorta embarrassing, that's all.

back to the trip- sarah, ted and i managed to keep this all a secret, so mom and dad didn't even know cole and i were coming. we got to mom and dad's around 11 pm on the 11th, and sarah met us at the door. in we went, tiptoeing around so the 'rents wouldn't wake up... we were successful! as they lay sleeping, blissfully unaware, sarah was making her way to their room with cole in hand. poor mom- awoken by sarah asking her to turn on the light, but whatever annoyance she had completely disappeared when she realized what was going on. i can't describe the looks on their faces... people are funny when you wake them from a dead sleep with a surprise visit! they were pretty happy to see cole... and we were really glad to be there! we got to sleep pretty late and of course, that didn't stop cole from getting up early. sarah had thought that since wednesday was a half-day at school, mom and dad would let her stay home once they found out cole and i were visiting. unfortunately for her, they told her she still had to go- after all, it WAS a 1/2 day so she'd still have the rest of the day to spend with us. but- in a nice little turn of events, mom told sarah she could stay home after all since i had a fever of over 102... i'd need a bit of help with cole, so auntie beans got her wish! we had a pretty relaxed day; cole got plenty of attention from his lovely auntie!!

as for grandma's party, it was a wonderful day. mary and dale came up to mom and dad's: eric, audrey, addie, konrad, adrianna, truman and ? were there, as were dawn, rebecca and keenan (quick), sarah, ste, kristian and erin too. it was a full house- 22 people including the two babies! grandma was up at the farm on wednesday, which was a possibility neither sarah nor i had taken into consideration when planning this, but as it turned out, cole was napping when grandma stopped over, so i stayed in the bedroom with him. how she missed the bottles, baby food, formula and the carseat sitting out is beyond me, but she remained clueless until saturday! it was great to be around all the cousins and aunts and uncles again... it's funny how all those little kids can be! so much energy...

on monday we took a drive up to clintonville to see dan and ruby... all the grandmas and grandpas in one trip- wow! cole hardly knew what to think... anyway, i stopped at the house, just to see if it's still standing. it is. i went inside, thought to myself, "it's really cold in here", and walked back out. the furnace is only running at about 40 degrees, right where we set it. good. then we headed over to the office to visit and stayed for almost 2 hours. cole had a grand time riding around in grandpa dan's office chair and chewing on his keys. later, he tried his hand at typing on grandma ruby's computer and managed to pull up some stuff via keyboard that i didn't think one could pull up. oh, he had a grand time!! it was really great to see dan and ruby too, even though time was pretty short. then auntie sarah had a choir concert- amazingly, he slept through most of it! i didn't have to take him out once... which was awesome, because the concert was amazing! they had mostly irish selections in honor of saint patrick's day- REALLY neat! i've heard plenty about how sad "danny boy" is, but never heard it until that night. wow, it IS sad! beautiful song, though. anyway, about cole sleeping through an entire choir concert but not being able to sit all the way through meeting- someone needs to get his priorities in order... :)

so now we are home and getting back to normal. cole fell asleep on kelvin around 7 pm (a bit earlier than we hoped for) and slept very well. he got up around 4.45 am, early because of his early bedtime, but at least he slept through the night well! i'm a little anxious to see what today will bring... it seems that the second day home after a trip is the worst. a wise, experienced father of four told me that once... (hi, dad!) so far so good, though. cole's had his bath, ate well for breakfast and doesn't seem much more demanding than usual. once again, hurry up, teeth! and crawling- i hope he gets that soon too, because he'll be so much happier. this morning i noticed that he's rocking on all fours (has been for the past week or so) and now it's rather violent rocking- like, accidental nose-dive into the carpet rocking (oh- he did that at mom and dad's, had a little rug burn on his nose for a day or so). it won't be long- all he has to do is figure out how to move his arms in sync with his little legs and he'll be off!



one more thing; a question, really. why is it nearly impossible to get a simple apology from the tsa? on the way to wisconsin, my checked baggage was randomly searched...no biggie, that's absolutely fine with me. i'm glad there are certain security measures and policies in place, but some items never made it back into my suitcase- cole's cereal in a tupperware, a package of unopened baby applesauce and four jars of baby food. i notified the tsa and delta airlines, and received an extensive apology from delta. the tsa, however, seems to care less. they emailed me, telling me to fill out a form so they could reimburse me and all that jazz. if they had actually read my email, they would have seen that i don't care to go through the trouble; all i wanted was to alert them of the situation so that they are more careful in the future...i responded, telling them that i wasn't going to seek reimbursement, all i really wanted was a simple apology, or did i have to fill out a form for that, too. i got a reply this morning- it was an explanation of the procedures and policies and why they search things...still no apology. really, how hard is it? so, i emailed them yet again to let them know that i was fully aware of all that and still don't have an apology and will continue to email them until i get one. apparently i need a life and/or something better to do, but i will keep you all updated... and so that everyone is forewarned, should you choose to travel with the airlines and have a similar experience with our lovely tsa and it's "policies", they seem to not give a hoot when it comes to good customer relations. good luck to all who travel the skies!

oh, and the connector cable for our camera is stuck in wisconsin, so no photos until it makes it's way back here- SORRY!!!

the toothbrush

talking to auntie sarah on the phone


not much news here...welcome to the land of boredom. maybe that's why cole slept so very well last night! he got a good 9 hours, which was wonderful, because i really need some sleep; i usually manage to avoid the flu bugs and other various nasties that seem to run rampant in the winter months, but this year i got one. or rather, it got me. yes, a fever, aches, chills, cough, all the good stuff. i've had it since tuesday, and today it seems to be easing up...my fever is down quite a bit (to the mid 99's), so that really helps. and thankfully, not only did cole sleep through the night, he's in the middle of a nice, long nap! wow- i can hardly believe my luck...





mom said that when my siblings and i were babies, some of us liked to chew on a toothbrush; apparently it kept us pretty occupied. so, hearing that little tidbit, i got cole a toothbrush of his own to see if the same would hold true for him...it does! he LOVES it! what an over-achiever- almost 7 months and already "brushing"- maybe he'll grow up to be a dentist (lol). maybe the toothbrush is the key to him sitting all the way through meeting on a regular basis... we'll see!





in other random happenings, cole got his first bruise! he was pitching a fit while i was in the shower, which was weird because he is usually infinitely happy when he's in his johnny- he smacked the side of his head against the door frame and it left a pretty small bruise... it hardly phased him but i feel so bad! we'll have to start padding the door frames... and once he's a lot more mobile, we'll have to pad everything. then we can tell people, "no, we don't have a padded room, we have a padded house"- that'll get some looks, guaranteed.

he thinks he's big stuff...

"TA-DAAAAAH!"

our little man is getting so big! i got two pictures of cole on his hands and knees, and also noticed that he's all of a sudden figured out how to creep forward, especially if he sees something he wants to get into (usually something that doesn't qualify as a plaything). he's so close to crawling, and we're pretty excited about it, although i'm kinda sad- he's getting more independent! he is also a big goof- this morning i was folding clothes and was snapping the wrinkles out of his blankets, and he got the biggest kick out of those blankets! every time i snapped one, he would laugh this goofy laugh, so i got the camcorder and got several minutes of him cracking up over these blankets...how silly!

i'm very happy to say that cole again slept thru the night- no noise from the living room! that's 2 really really great nights in a row. i'm guessing that the precautions and tricks we've been doing with his feedings has something to do with it. in fact, i'm almost 100% positive... today after lunch, cole did NOT want to stay in his chair, so we made it about 10 minutes, then i figured i would put him in his swing where at least he'd be somewhat upright. guess it wasn't enough- he was kinda half-reclined and then slouching abit, so of course, out came lunch (not all of it, but the swing seat cover is in the wash right now). so- if i had to guess (because apparently the medical professional we saw here had nothing to offer on the situation), i'd guess he probably had infant reflux. if he didn't, i doubt we'd have any positive results from all the stuff we've tried. at least he'll outgrow it, and through all of wednesday and yesterday, he only spit up once, and it was hardly anything.

i'm also posting photos from the last few days, now that i have a little more time. today, of all days, i have time...crazy, since i've beens just flying around the apartment all morning cleaning, doing three (plus the swing cover) loads of laundry, ironing, straightening everything up and getting the house back in order and organized so that when we leave tonight, andy and casey won't have a problem finding anything or tripping over the clutter. yes- kelvin and i are going out tonight! we're pretty happy to be able to get away for a few hours (the past month has been so stressful and we haven't been able to sit down by ourselves, just the two of us) and andy and casey are really looking forward to getting their "baby fixes". yes, cole is mighty popular these days...must be those blue eyes everyone comments on. so- can't wait to reconnect with my kelvin!

these are from tuesday when he had his shots- you can see the bandaids on his legs, poor baby! he was NOT pleased, but as usual, a bottle always makes the world a better place...

six months and going strong

cole's 6-month check-up was today, and of course we had a new doctor... i really wish we had dr h from back home! this one was nice, really enjoyed cole, but seemed very unconcerned about cole's poor sleeping habits and continual spit-up issues. dad suggested, after talking to 'mum' that could it be infant ger (reflux) and that i should ask the doctor. i mentioned both issues- dr's reply was that it's completely normal for babies to spit up until they are at least a year old and as for the sleep (cole's doing about 5 hours a night and maybe an hour total for daytime naps, on average), well, parents aren't supposed to have it easy. hmmmm. either he has no kids or has no clue- either way, he doesn't have something. i guess i'll have to do a little research on infant ger and see what i come up with. i tend to take extreme measures to avoid any type of confrontation, which really impedes on my ability to speak up and be insistant when i should. if nothing else i can always call nursedirect back home and see what they have to say. all i know, is his behavior lately is not normal for him. and kelvin and i are tired. and cole, poor baby, is exhausted too- he has circles under his little red-rimmed eyes and he has baby-bags too... babies shouldn't have bags under their eyes! i'm worried about him, so if anyone has any suggestions, PLEASE leave them in comments!
anyway, cole's growth is great! he's now 19 pounds and 27.5 inches (75th and 80th percentiles, respectively). he's no longer a little bouncy ball, all short and fat! now he's averaging out... and still bouncy. that's his favorite activity now, bouncing on whatever you happen to stand him on. he's even getting the hang of the johnny-jump-up. this morning i put him in it so i could take my shower, and somehow he got himself sitting a but cock-eyed, so when he went to bounce, both legs were going, but one was sort of angled out and the other was doing all the bouncing; he was bouncing in a circle with his one leg kicking out to the side....it was like a really funny hoedown dance or something! i did get the camcorder to catch it. what a silly boy!
not much else is new here- no pics today, since we've been on the go since early this a.m. and didn't have a chance to snap anything. guess that's ok...he looks the same today as he did yesterday. we did get some pretty asian-inspired fabric from walmart that i'm going to sue for a sling for cole, one of those really long wrap-it-yourself deals. since he wants to be held all the time and the snugli get uncomfortable for long periods of time, i figure i'll try a wrap sling and that way, it can expand with him. it's definitely more comfortable... i just have to get a sewing kit to finish it off and viola!

on hands and knees...

just a quick post because this is really exciting for us- cole pushed himself up on his hands and knees last night! i had him in the pack-n-play while talking to dad, and he was just kinda moving around and stuff, when all of a sudden, up he went! unfortunately, i didn't have the camera ready and when i was finally prepared, camera in hand and shutter half down, all ready to catch him in the act again, he was finished. i distinctly remember trying to catch him smiling for about a month and a half before we finally had documented proof. so anyway, it won't be long and he'll be on the move...i'm willing to bet that by the time mom, dad and sarah visit at the end of april, he'll be the little blur that somehow is everywhere at once :)!

prodigal paci's and the incredible ikea

i think it may have a lot to do with paci- cole's best friend upon leaving the hospital after he was born, paci was never far from sight or reach. until a few weeks ago. all of a sudden, paci was shunned with a sudden scowl and we thought that it was then end for paci. maybe it's unfair to label paci as 'prodigal' since cole more or less pushed it away, but it make for a good title. anyway, at my wits' end this morning, after several hours of cole dozing for a few minutes and then waking in a vicious, sleep-depriving cycle, i decided to give paci a try. i have no idea why i thought it would work...it did. oh mommy of little faith, sometimes old habits come to the rescue; just when it seemed certain that paci was a goner, we all witnessed a great come-back. from here on out, only time will tell if paci's just passing through or if it's once again a revered member of the brotzman household. i'm hoping for the latter- i need sleep!

as it turns out, this cool place called ikea really is cool! yesterday afternoon, we all headed over to chandler to the ikea with andy and casey- we hit up applebee's first and then to see the marvelous wonders of ikea. i was pretty impressed, cole just stared and kelvin was bored out of his skull. he was alone on that one, since andy seemed to be having a good time... it was like walking through a museum...all these little 'rooms' decorated and stocked with the wonderful wares ikea has to offer. wow- my head was SO full of ideas! and the prices were great- just in our budget! unfortunately, if we do happen to make a purchase or two, it will probaby have to be on-line and after we get home. kelvin says there's no room in the trailer...bummer. but, i found what i like! so, i am proud to say i have been to the ikea store and will definitely be going back- they even have kitchen cabinets, just like the ones i've always pictured in my head (they DO exist)! and we didn't leave empty-handed- we got a wooden pull-toy that lookes like a frog for cole. the package said 18+ months, but it works as a chew toy too, i guess.

today is baby-food day. this is a lengthy process because i like to make double batches and freeze most of it into funky looking ice-cubes. i only have 4 cube trays, so it can take quite awhile to get everything done. today it's green beans, carrots, peaches, pears and bananas. one of these days, i hope to find some zucchini (it would be easier if walmart would label all their produce because not everyone likes guessing games) so that cole doesn't think that the world is made of carrots and beans....there's more out there, baby! i guess it would be easier to go buy jars of baby food, but when you can make almost 3 cube trays of green beans (a total cost of less than $2), making it at home has it's advantages. plus, the sound of the blender is beneficial in that it temporarily masks any screaming coming from the bundle of personality that is my son. actually, though, he though it was pretty hilarious when the blender was still going and mommy took the cover off...not much of a mess, but cole thought it was great. :) he's almost out of cereal too, but i think i will skip the rice cereal and do oatmeal or mixed grain cereal. i read an artical about how rice cereal may be the easiest thing for babies to digest and all but since rice is a starch, it causes major flucuations in babies' insulin levels as it digests. hmmm...could this have something to do with our night-time issues? we'll see...anyway, oatmeal is a bit more filling and has more fiber. i think it's time to ditch the rice cereal.

tomorrow is cole's 6-month visit and vaccinations. finding a doctor down here was a real process thanks to our insurance's lovely customer un-service. i'm hoping we like this one- i wonder if dr houlihan would like to temporarily relocate to sunny arizona...! anyway, i can't wait to see where he's at with his growth and developement, and i really can't wait to ask the dr about cole's sleeping issues. i've read all kinds of stuff- the ferber method, letting babies cry it out, using a transitional object, even an article on cafemom.com that it's not normal for babies under a certain age to sleep all the way through the night. i beg to differ, but some good arguements were used on that one. (thanks ashley for the recommendation for cafemom!). with all the opinions and advice out there, something is bound to work for us...any suggestions from anyone would be great...just post it in comments along with your email address so i can thank you profusely if your advice works :)

fun, sun and "stroller sass"

what a day, and it's not even over! i'll start at the beginning...

cole graciously allowed us to sleep until about 6.15 or so, and i woke up to the sounds of him jabbering away to himself. turns out, he was on his tummy, head up high, staring at our door and 'talking'. cute enough, right? not! i went to get a diaper and wipe from the bathroom, and when i came back, he had the side of his face pressed against the mesh of his pack-n-play. he was staring at me, one side of his face all flat and squished, the other eye twinkling away...he looked so funny, i burst out laughing! he pushed himself up straight, grinned really big, then squished his face back into the mesh...apparently he developed a major sense of self-awareness overnight, because he KNEW he was being funny. so the game continued until he got tired of it- like, a minute or so. i took a picture of him hamming it up, but it doesn't show up very well...we also picked up a toy for him yesterday; it's a little palm tree with three animals, and it spins like a windmill. it has a suction cup on the bottom, so i figured it would be a good investment, as it would cut down on the amount of time i spend picking toys up off the floor, only to have him whip them from his highchair tray again. good idea, until we put it into action. he LOVED the toy, but it took him all of 30 seconds to tear it off his tray and...well, lets just say i now have one MORE toy to pick up off the floor. go figure.



later in the morning, we bummed round town for awhile. kelvin went to check out a motor sports store, have the oil in his truck changed,and then we drove around, looked around at a few random places, then stopped to eat at this neat-looking place we had seen called macayos. it's a mexican restaurant, reminescent of chi-chi's...definitely not mcdonald's prices, but the food was awesome! and cole was so good, not one shriek from him the whole time! maybe next time we'll split an entee so we have room for dessert...the menu included fried icecream and chocolate cheesecake burritos.



when we got home, we decided that since it's such a beautiful day (over 80 and sunny), we'd check out the pool...after stepping into swimsuits and slathering on sunscreen, off we went. the water was pretty chilly- cole cried when we put his feet in the water, so that was that. into the stroller he went to play with his toys that don't necessarily require water, while kelvin and i layed out to catch some sun. eventually cole got bored and had a few things to say about being strapped in his stroller, so out he came and then went right back in- he fell asleep! by this time, there were quite a few kids from the other apartments out, braving the chilly water...including this particular boy and his dad. decked out in his spiderman trunks and trying to convince his dad (who had a rather impressive mullet...) that he wasn't cold so could he PLEASE stay longer, he came to the realization that one tends to feel lighter in the water. out he climbed, dripping and suppressing the shivers, to tell this to his dad...the discussion progressed rather slowly- he couldn't have been more than eight or so- until he finally decided that he felt too heavy out of the water, at which point he stated that he "wanted to feel lighter". dear old dad simply replied, "then get back in the water." i couldn't help it- i laughed out loud.



so- i do have photos of our pool excursion...at least, photos of kelvin and cole. i did have my suit on, stretchmarks displayed for all to see, but i am not quite ready for evidence that i was out and about with that much skin showing...:) i do have some tan lines, though!

hopefully, cole will sleep very well tonight; the sun and fresh air tends to make most people feel tired at the end of the day, however, our son seems to be exceptional in the fact that nothing wears him down! we'll see...