No More Baby Food, Snorting, Apple Picking, Choking, "Ooooo", Reading at the "Library" & Waking Up From Poops

Wes:  10 Months Old

Ty:  2 Years & 11 Months Old

Last Friday was a major milestone for Westin.  I decided that we were done with “baby food” and that I was going to try to feed him variations of what we eat.  Because I am so fearful of choking, I stayed with Ty on the pureed baby-baby food for way too long and then he had problems with anything with texture.  I was afraid Westin was headed down that road if I didn’t branch out his diet.  I just am not good in this phase.  I am good in the straight baby food phase and the eating everything phase that Ty is in.  How to get from one phase to another is what stresses me out.  So I started with breakfast on Friday and gave Westin what Tyson had for breakfast – which was yogurt and French toast.  Obviously the yogurt was not a problem, and I just cut the French toast into very small pieces and he was able to feed himself!  He did great!  Ty didn’t do so great during breakfast.  In true OCD fashion, he burst into tears, having a fit, because some yogurt spilled onto his French toast!  Are you kidding me?  Something else that happened that was difficult to believe involved Heath.  He drove himself to work to have to turn around and come home.  Since I had taken Heath’s car the day before to be serviced, he had taken the Outback to work on Thursday.  He completely forgot his laptop in the Outback and went to Lebanon without it.  He is dead in the water at work without his laptop – they don’t use desktops.  So he came home and worked from home on Friday.  And he actually did work!  I tried my best to keep the kids away from him, but it is difficult because both boys are pretty obsessed with him.  I don’t know if I have mentioned Westin’s affinity for Heath, but it is non-stop “Da-da…Da-da” whenever Heath is around!  Not another one! (=  Something else I’m not sure if I have mentioned is Westin gets into everything!!!!  Now that he is non-stop moving…he is non-stop action… and non-stop trouble!  He really is!  It is hard to remember Tyson at his age, but I keep saying, “I don’t think Ty was this active!”  Heath agrees with me, but maybe we forget!  After Heath’s “work day” was over at 5 PM, we all went to the grocery store together and then DQ.  Nice family times!

Helping Daddy work

Tyson "working" too

He actually looked at the camera - it is a miracle

This is right before he climbed up three stairs - we have to shut the gate all the time now!

Grocery store stickers!

On Sabbath we went to Laconia for church.  The funniest thing happened at Sabbath School.  There was just one other boy in class that day and when it came time to take up their offering, Tyson and the other boy gave them their pocketful of change.  The crazy thing was they both brought exactly $1.02!!!!  Heath had grabbed just a handful of change and so did the other mother, so it was very bizarre that they both had the exact same amount!  On the way back home, Tyson said the sweetest thing to Westin.  Out of the blue, Ty just looked over to Westin and said, “Westy, Ty loves you.”  That just warms a mother’s heart so much!  What didn’t get warm that day was my oven!  We have had trouble with our oven timer before and now it is official…I will never use it again!  I had made Special K loaf and I had the timer all set, so that it would be done when we arrived home from church.  No such luck.  It must have just started cooking, because the inside was still raw!  So we had to move to Plan B.  What a pain!  After lunch, Ty decided he wanted a “sippy” (vegetable/fruit pouches) for dessert.  Ty likes 1 specific kind the best – it has yogurt and strawberries in it.  Well, a couple of times I have surprised him with that special kind (he didn’t know I bought it).  I had him cover his eyes and then said, “Surprise!” and then handed his favorite sippy to him.  Well, now he insists on doing “Surprise!” every time he gets a sippy.  He insists on picking it out himself (I have a bunch of them in a bag), hands it to me to take the cover off, and then covers his eyes and says, “Surprise!”  It is so cute, but I’ve got to work on explaining what exactly a “surprise” is!  After the boys took their naps, we went over to Shannon & Sean’s neck of the woods and looked at some property with them.  It is a really beautiful piece – with potential mountain views and this beautiful small river.  The only downfall with the land is that you actually have to build a bridge to get over the river to get to the land.  It will probably cost about $30,000-40,000 for this type of bridge (it has to be weighted for 100,000 pounds, so a cement truck can come across to bring the cement for a foundation).  It sounds steep, but the land is very reasonably priced (probably because of this fact) and since we would be splitting the bridge (and then would do a right of way)…it is doable.  But I don’t think Sean & Heath are completely sold.  There always seems to be something holding us back!  We can’t seem to find the right land yet!  The boys walked the property for 2 hours while Shannon & I tried to keep the kids amused.  It was a bit hard, I tell you.  A few times we looked at each other and said, “Why did we come again?” (=

Enjoying Sabbath School

Ty loves Westy so much that he tortures him!

Not impressed

On Sunday, Shannon, Griffin & I got up mighty early and headed up to Conway together.  We had planned a surprise 60th birthday brunch for my mother (only a month late)!  She had been gone almost non-stop, so this was the only weekend that we could do it!  We had Leigh ask her to baby-sit (Leigh hated to lie to her) and we thought we had the perfect plan.  Shannon & I got to the house a bit early and were trying to put a few decorations up and set out some cupcakes (with coffee frosting, in honor of my mom).  Shan & I were wondering if Mom might come to the house before she went to Devin & Leigh’s, but we decided to wing it because we didn’t have any other choice.  But, of course, she did show up and we were busted.  We didn’t tell her anything but told her that she was NOT going to be taking Mia & Bode to Storyland, like she had planned.  (That was a real bummer).  We ended up blind-folding her and taking her to the brunch spot.  There were 15 of us and we had a blast.  Mom seemed very pleased and cried a couple of times.  She had her closest friends from Vermont & Maine come and some church friends.  Her sisters all had other prior engagements, so that was the only downside.  We had a delicious brunch and then went back to the house for some more visiting and the cupcakes.  Devin & Bode stopped by so Mom got to show off her 3rd grandchild.  I felt bad that I had left the boys with Heath (and Shan left Fin) but they would have been off the walls. We had a lovely time!  So glad we got to honor my mom!  She is the best!  When I got home, the boys had just gotten home from apple picking!  I was sorry that I missed it, but I’m glad they had a good time and got to do something fun!  I had missed them so much, though!  We got Mexican take-out that night and had a nice time together.  There might have been some snorts heard that night!  Something I haven’t mentioned, but I have heard both of them snorting when laughing on a few different occasions!  Poor buggers, but it is so funny!  It makes me laugh harder!

She hated the blindfold!!!!

Some of the ladies

Group picture - the restaurant is right across the street from the covered bridge

Bode after eating a cupcake

Griffin is growing up!

Bode is saying "all aboard!"

It looks like Westin is planning an escape in the background!

Monday morning, I tried to give Westin Cheerios for breakfast.  I made them a little soggy, so he wouldn’t choke, but he wouldn’t touch them!  Aren’t all babies supposed to love Cheerios?  Aren’t they born with that ingrained into them?  Not my buddy, I guess.  I worked on Monday night and Ty said that Westin was an absolute animal and just attacked the Tupperware like crazy!  He is unreal!  What is also unreal is the news that I received at work.  I am going to be forced to get my Bachelor’s in Nursing.  I knew that this was the trend that was happening, but I never in a million years thought that I would be forced to do it – I thought that I would be grandfathered into it.  I have officially gotten my letter that by 2020 all nurses at my hospital must have a BSN to work there.  I first thought that there was no way that this could be legal.  How can they change the requirements for my job after I have been employed there for 10 years?  But I did some research and countless other hospitals in the country have already done it, so you know that they have gone through legal channels to make sure this is legit.  The only place you will be able to be employed with an ADN will be the nursing home or doctor’s offices – two places that is not for me.  I’m not really sure how I feel about this.  I do have 7 years to get it done, but I feel like I have school hanging over my head, if I don’t get going with it.  I just wish my kids weren’t so young right now!  I don’t want to be busy with school and miss out on anything with them!  I don’t know what to do…I could wait a few years…I’m just not sure.  I have always liked school, so if it goes well…maybe I would continue on and get my Nurse Practitioner, but I kind of doubt it.  I love what I do now.  I’m not sure I want that to change.  Well, we’ll see.

"Get these Cheerios away from me!"

Tupperware animal

On Tuesday I recovered from my horrendously busy 3a-3p (I didn’t get to sleep until 5:30 AM) and ended up researching a lot of online schools.  I found something interesting.  I had found a list of top online schools in the country that are most inexpensive for the RN to BSN degree.  #6 on the list was my Alma Mater – Florida Hospital!  I might end up getting the degree from there, because I know they should accept all my credits!  I’m waiting to get my transcript and then I’m planning on contacting 6 different schools and seeing how much it will cost, how fast I can do it, what credits will transfer etc…and see what school ends up on top!  Tuesday morning, Westin had a pretty big choking episode.  They scare me so much!  He was eating little pieces of a waffle, but the problem with Westin is that he loves food too much!  He stuffs so many pieces in until he chokes!  How do you change that?  Well, he was choking pretty badly, so I leaned him forward in the high chair and starting hitting his back pretty hard.  He was able to clear his airway, and then he started crying!  I’m sure I scared him with the hitting, but then he flipped a switch.  He immediately stopped crying and then started laughing hysterically! (=  Nervous energy?  Then after breakfast, Ty had to go to the bathroom.  After he had gone, he cried, “Mama, my bum hurts me!”  When I asked him why it bothered him, he said, “Too much pooping!”  So funny.   What also is funny is the new thing that Westin is doing.  To everything, his response is now “Ooooooo.”  He exaggerates the “o” face so much!  I think Bode used to do this all the time – it is funny how certain family traits get passed on!

The "ooo" face

Another one

Is Ty making fun of Wes?

On Wednesday I started a full cleaning on the house.  Ty must have not appreciated this because he told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted “another Mama.”  I asked him “why” and he said, “Cuz you yucky, Mama.”  Nice.  I tried not to let it get to me (but it did hurt a little bit) and I was glad I waited.  Ty said, “No!  That’s funny!  You pretty Mama!”  So did he mean it or not?  On Wednesday night, Ty was washing his hands in the upstairs bathroom and I had just changed the soap out.  Ty was not a fan.  He said, “It has crumbs in it.  Ty doesn’t like it.”  The “crumbs” were actually sea salt beads!  So funny!

On Thursday Westin turned 10 Months old!  I can't believe it!  This year has flown by so fast!  Thursday I finished the full cleaning on the house.  Nice to get that done!  Westin only took a 1 hour nap on Thursday AM because he pooped and woke himself up!  He has actually been doing this for a couple of weeks and I just haven’t written about it yet.  More often than not, he poops while he naps and wakes himself up!  He also will poop first thing in the AM and wakes himself up then too!  Westin did not poop for his AM naps on Tuesday & Wednesday and slept for 3 hours both days…and then he only had the 1 hour nap on Thursday!  Not good.  I remember Camille telling me Acadia did this too.  It is so frustrating because there is nothing you can do about it!  Speaking of pooping, Ty had a first on Thursday.  He had gone poop on the potty and was reading a magazine at the same time.  Well, this is the first time that after he went, he didn’t  just get right up…he actually wanted to stay there and keep reading!  It was pretty cute!  Thursday night we went out to the Mexican restaurant with Adam & Sonia and had great eating as usual.

I wish I hadn't stopped recording - he didn't even cry at all!

Have a great week!

RANDOM PICS/VIDEOS

Too bad it's fuzzy

Could he be left-handed?