Visit from Gran and Pops

Jacob's parents drove up from Tulsa to visit us for a few days this weekend! Rick and Jacob spent a lot of time on the golf course, and Karen and I spent lots of time spoiling Mitchell :) I mean, let's be honest....he was the primary reason they were here! Jacob and I were just an added benefit-ha! He was such a good little boy all weekend. We even had his first meal at what I'd consider a REAL restaurant. We took him to Hereford House with us for dinner. He did wonderful! He's still going to bed super early these days (between 6 and 8, but usually right around 7), so we had an early reservation.

Now that he's standing on his own, I'm trying to break Mitchell into shoes slowly (basically that means that I only have one pair, so I put them on him when they match his outfit!) He's got them on in the above picture.

This picture was taken after one of the 1,000 tumbles Mitchell took this weekend. He can pull-up on his own pretty good, but isn't nearly as graceful at getting down! After an awkward fall, he cries about 80% of the time and I was fairly certain most of the crying is just for show rather than due to pain....and this picture just proves it! His pout quickly turned into a smile after a hug from Gran! :)

Another call from daycare?

I just wanted to tell a little story about daycare, but since I know most of you visit the site to see pictures rather than read my stories, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite pictures of Mitchell from Chicago. They are included in my slideshow, but are just too cute not to post by themselves.

On with my story....as previously posted, daycare called Monday and Tuesday asking us to pick Mitchell up early due to a low-grade fever. I kept him home on Wednesday, so I was REALLY hoping he'd be there the full day on Thursday. I was rushing back from lunch to a 1pm meeting that I was leading and my cell phone started ringing...it was the 'dreaded' daycare number. Ugh! However, when I answered, it was my favorite daycare gal giving me a GOOD report! She said that she felt bad that she only got to call for negative reasons, so she just wanted to call and tell me that Mitchell was having a GREAT day! WoW! What a great feeling! I figured I complain about daycare enough, that I should feel compelled to tell a good story too :)

Once the babies are done eating pureed baby food, the Daycare Center provides breakfast, lunch and a snack. Mitchell is starting to eat their food more and more. Ms. Michelle also reported that Mitchell LOVED LOVED LOVED his mashed potatoes. For those of you that know me well...you know that if there is one thing that I hate....it's Mashed Potatoes. If I hadn't given birth to this child, I'd really start to wonder. Ha! Just kidding! I'm thinking Thanksgiving might be his favorite holiday this year! Ha :)

Eight months old!!!

Mitchell is 8 whole months old today! I'm staying home from work with him to celebrate. Ha - just kidding. I am staying home from work with him, but only because he's sick :( He got sent home early the last TWO days in a row due to a low grade fever. I think it's a germy souvenier from Chicago. We have a doctor's appt later today, but I'm guessing it's just a cold that will have to pass. Yes, I know what you're thinking....he doesn't look too miserable in the pictures! He is still a pretty happy baby, just a low fever and some congestion.

Our daycare policy is super strict! His low grade fever was a 99.3, so 7/10th above normal. Between his sick days and our vacations, I sometimes wonder why we bother with daycare! Ugh!

I'm enjoying my day with him though! He is pulling up all over the house and has become a fan of stairclimbing. My Dad is going to take him on a walk later this afternoon so I can get a few things done for work and prep for class tonight.

Miami Vice Mitchell

Mitchell's new trick

Mitchell has a new trick! He can now pull up into a standing position! He's still pretty wobbly...kinda reminds me of Bambi when she was learning how to walk....but he's up! And he's got a new bump on his forehead to prove it! :(

Thanks to everyone for voting in the Halloween poll! I'm going to order the Monkey costume this week - you'll see lots of pictures in October!

We got another sick call from daycare today :( He's had a runny nose the last few days, but no other symptoms, so I thought he'd be fine...apparently not. He had a low grade fever and wasn't eating for them. Jacob was in town today - whoa! (Don't get too excited, he's leaving at 5am tomorrow!) I HAD to get a bond offering out today, so he agreed to go get Mitchell. We discovered the cause of the symptoms...he is getting his first upper tooth (3rd total tooth)! It's coming in slowly, but just broke through today!

Chicago is....my kind of town!

What a GREAT weekend! I'm not sure why I was worried about finding kid friendly things to do in Chicago! Thanks to some recommendations from my friend, Lisa, we found LOTS to keep us entertained. The weather was beautiful!!! We honestly put at least 20 miles on the stroller to places like the lakeshore...




and Sears tower....



We even hit up a Greek festival, where Mitchell tried his first Greek food! He ate more than we've ever seen him eat before!
He must've liked it!



And when we weren't strolling around town, we could take in some sights from our hotel room windows.

We really enjoyed our trip! We'd go back in a heartbeat!

Pfffewww!

It has become very apparent when Mitchell is done eating! Pfffeewwww! He was doing his normal 'done' eating routine the other night when Jacob was trying to help him finish up his dinner. The remaining items on his tray are a variety of pieces of chicken, cherrios and puffs...he had already finished his plum...now that's a combo that McDonald's hasn't tried yet!

Jacob and I are attending a training in Chicago on Friday, so we're taking Mitchell with us - his first trip to the windy city! Our EY office has a daycare close by that Mitchell will go to while we're in training. We've been to Chicago several times before. Typically, we take in a play, have a few dinners out followed by some frosty beverages....what do you do in a big city with a baby???? We'll find out! We're thinking of hitting up the aquarium or zoo and maybe try a baseball game?

Do people put carseats in cabs????? For example, if we took a cab to the zoo, and used Mitchell's carseat and then we'd have to lug the dang thing all over the zoo!?! Hopefully we can just use the stroller on the subway. I called my friend Taby to ask her opinion today and laughed when she said "I'm trying to remember what they did on Sex and the City?" Ha! :)

Mitchell and I fly out tomorrow afternoon for Chicago. Jacob has been in Indianapolis since Sunday night, so we'll meet him there.

My JCCC acctg class that I teach on Wednesday nights starts tonight. I have seriously been stressed out since Spring thinking about all of the Wednesday nights that I'd have class and Jacob would be out of town. Thankfully, my dad and Sherri offered to be my permanent Wednesday night Mitchell watchers. Whew - what a relief!!!

Blues Clues Boy

We took Mitchell to the pool on Sunday - hard to believe it'll be closed in a few short weeks. :( I took his cute little blues clues robe to wrap him in post-swim.

We hadn't been to a zero entry pool since Mitchell could crawl, so we tested him. We put him on the cement outside the pool and watched him closely to see if he'd crawl in on his own. Not only did he crawl in by himself in a matter of seconds, but he also tried to continue crawling deeper and deeper and deeper.... I need to find us an inexpensive indoor pool for this fall/winter. He enjoys it too much to make him wait until next May.

Can you see how big his little teeth have gotten? We still only have 2.

What should Mitchell be for Halloween?

I can't decide what Mitchell should be for Halloween, so I thought I'd let you guys decide. I found three adorable Halloween costumes (pictures below). I'm going to order in September, so take a look and see which one you like best and then vote in my poll at the top of the website.
Lion- suits Mitchell because he is big and round, and smiley and sweet like the lion in the Wizard of Oz. He may not be the king of the jungle, but he's certainly the king of our household :)

Monkey - Doesn't this little boy even kind of look like Mitchell!!! Monkeys seemed to be Mitchell's favorite animal during our zoo visit, and this costume even comes with a little detachable stuffed monkey that he could play with (see picture). Mitchell may not be wiry and scrappy like the traditional monkey, but he is playful and curious!

I have absolutely no idea what Mitchell would have in common with a Rhino, but I just thought this little costume was adorable! It looks soft, warm and comfy since it almost ALWAYS cold and rainy on Halloween.

I don't want to work....I want to bang on the drums all day.

Jacob made yet another home depot run for "basement" stuff. We helped Mitchell turn them into a set of bongo drums. He enjoyed it! I don't think he'd get arrested for playing them in the buff like Matthew McConaughey. :)

Notice that Mitchell is still in his pajamas. Jacob is becoming notorious for not bothering to dress Mitchell before taking him places. I hit up a 9am aerobics class at the gym this morning. Jacob apparently thought Mitchell's pajamas were suitable attire for Home Depot. Now that isn't too terrible, given the fact that it's a home improvement store and there are always people dressing in paint clothes, etc roaming arond.

But it gets worse - last Monday I went into work early and Jacob took Mitchell to daycare before heading off for Omaha. Apparently Jacob took Mitchell to daycare in his pajamas (little t-shirt and diaper!) Thankfully, he did bring an outfit for them to change him into. The daycare girls kind of got a kick out of it. I was confused when I picked him up as to why his sleep shirt was there, so she told me the story. ...followed by "don't get mad at him!" Ha :)

Ginger what?

I had to crop this picture down to cut out his little hands because they are moving so fast these days that they are literally a blur in pictures. You can make out the left hand blur if you look closely! :)

I can hardly believe how red his hair is getting these days! I can't believe I'm going to admit this on the blog, but I'm a little tramatized by something Jacob told me. He told me that guys sometimes call other red haired guys "ginger balls". I don't want my son being called that! :( Ugh! My only hope is that he stays in the 90% percentile for height and weight...then other guys will be less likely to call him names! Ha!

You'll be happy to know that Mitchell was the first child picked up from his class yesterday! He even came with me to my book club last night. Two other girls brought their kids, so he had a great time playing with them. He really does "play" with other kids now, it's really cute. It's a lot of poking each other in the face and crawling on top of eachother like bear cubs. :)

Happy Friday!

Looooong Day

Things have not slowed down much at work (although I think the end is in sight). I had an Audit Committee meeting today at 3:30 that lasted until after 5pm, so poor Mr. Mitchell had to stay at daycare ALL day. Jacob is in Omaha again this week. By the time I got to daycare to pick him up, it was 5:40 and eventhough they don't close until 6pm, he was literally the LAST kid at daycare. His teacher was the only teacher left there and she was pulling him around the playground in a little red wagon. He didn't seem nearly as upset as I was. :( I felt like the worst mom in the world. I am going to try to take off early tomorrow to make up for it. :)

It's funny how different things are now with Mitchell in my life. I remember going home after this very same meeting last year and feeling like a cheater because I'd gotten off EARLY! We used to eat dinner at 8:30 or 9pm. Last night Mitchell and I ate dinner togther (salmon and blueberries) at 5:30pm.

Mitchell is back on his 7pm bedtime ritual, so I've begun my ritual of working while watching the Olympics. I missed gymnastics last night though, dang!

Ol' Blue Eyes

If there's one thing I know....it's that Mitchell is consistent. From the day he was born, we've commented on his red hair and blue eyes, saying "oh, they'll probably change." Well, 7 1/2 months in, they're still as colorful as they were on December 27th.

He got yet ANOTHER little cold at daycare late last week that is slowly clearing up. I think he'll be immune to EVERYTHING by the time he starts kindergarten! :)

When I went to pick up Mitchell yeterday from daycare, they were laughing at him because one of the other boys was eating an afternoon snack in their mini-high chairs and Mitchell was pulling himself up onto his knees and trying to grab his food! What a bully :)

Walk for Amy

Kansas City's Race for the Cure 5k was on Sunday morning. My good friend, Amy, who I went to junior high, high school and college with was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer. :( See the picture of her cute little family above. Her son, Harrison is a few months older than Mitchell. She was also breastfeeding, and unfortunately what she thought was a clogged milk duct was diagnosed as stage 2 breast cancer. Within a matter of weeks, she's already had one breast removed and is struggling to regain strength before starting chemo and radiation. :( In her honor, my high school girlfriends decided we'd walk this morning's 5k. There were about 25,000 walkers/joggers...most of which were wearing the names of their beloved friends/family affected by the disease.

Mitchell joined us, in his little backpack. He was entertained by all of the people for the first half and conked out the second half. :)

More pictures from last week's trip to Wisconsin/Minnesota

My mom and David have this cute welcoming bear outside of their log cabin house. It has become the 'picture place' for visitors. The bear was nice enough to let Mitchell sit on his face. Good thing he already has a fish in his mouth...otherwise Mitchell might be next!

Aunt Kelli talked us into going to the Como Zoo on Saturday. It's a free zoo in St. Paul, MN. It had lots of pretty flowers and landscaping and some animals too! Watching animals (particularly dogs) has become Mitchell's favorite activity. If there is anything sure to solicit a giggle from him, it's a dog. If the dog has a ball....even better!

We're crawling!!!

Jacob kept saying that Mitchell was waiting until he was back to crawl...of course that couldn't be true, right? Maybe it's just a coincidence that after being gone for 11 days straight, Jacob happened to be there on Friday, August 1st for Mitchell's first crawl. See above for a little video of him crawling. He's not too fast and not going too far yet, but he's certainly crawling! Guess what we're doing this weekend? Baby-proofing the house!!! :)

We flew back from Minneapolis yesterday afternoon after visiting for 8 whole days. He was wonderful on the short flight. I was worried about daycare today because he has been spoiled rotten for the last week! He would make so much as a peep and somebody was picking him up to entertain him! The daycare gals were expecting a rough day, but we were all pleasantly surprised! He had a wonderful day today!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A post in honor of one of my most loyal blog followers....my mom! Happy Birthday, Mom! I'm not sure how old I was in this picture, but my sister is not in it, so I'm guessing Kel wasn't born yet. See the mountains outside the window, it looks like she took me all of the way to Colorado for this picture - ha!

For those of you that say that Mitchell got his red hair from me....notice how blonde my hair is!