Dang shots!

Mitchell got his shots on Tuesday at his doctor appointment and they did bad things to him :( Daycare called on Wednesday because he wasn't eating breakfast and had low-grade fever. I brought him home, gave him a warm bath and dressed him in some comfy clothes (that's what I like to do when I'm sick!) He got worse and worse throughout the day :( Fever, throwing up, coughing, runny nose, wheezing, fussy, no appetite (even bananas!)...you name it, he had it. Although it was really painful to see him like that, the ONLY advantage is that he was super snuggly! We literally just rocked and layed around all day.

Jacob stayed home with him today. Mitchell started out about as bad as yesterday, but quickly got better and better throughout the day. He was back to his joyous old self this afternoon! Yeah! We'll see how he's feeling tomorrow!

Now, I can't blame ALL of this on the shots alone. He's been fighting a cold for some time now, and I think they might have sent him over the edge! :( We hope we've been through the worst of it!

13 Months!!!

Mitchell is 13 months old! When I told Jacob it was "chair picture day" yesterday morning, he said "Isn't that over now that he's one? You know he's going to outgrow that chair at some point, right?" I responded, "Yes, and then we will get a new chair!" Ha!

We had his well-baby check up with the pediatrician yesterday too:
Height - 31 inches - 75% percentile
Weight - 26 lbs, 4 oz - 90% percentile
Our little giant isn't quite as giant as he once was! It's nice to see him back on the charts :)

She was surprised that he could already say up to 10 words, but seemed to think that based on the number of words that he spoke he'd be able to follow short commands by now. "Mitchell, bring that to momma" type commands, which he doesn't always do...sometimes, yes, but it's still unpredictable. She said that'll probably be the next thing to look for.

Jacob and I usually try to come up with a list of questions to ask her when we go, and food related ones topped this visit's list.
Question #1 How many bananas is to many to eat in one day? No kidding! Her answer - 3! Good thing he usually only has 2 :)
Question #2 Is it okay to feed him soy milk instead of cow's milk? Her answer -Yes, as long as it has the fat that he needs for brain development.
Question #3 What foods should we continue to avoid giving him? Her answers: a) Eggs - oops! He's been eating them for sometime now! b) Peanut butter - oops! Jacob and I are peanut butter fanatics and Mitchell wants a bite of anything and everything we have, so he's certainly had peanut butter. c) Shellfish - opps! He ate Lobster on his first birthday! Guess we failed this test, but he's never had a reaction to any of them, so lucky us! :)

Unlikely toy box

We have a printer in our home office that we can print to from our work computers. Jacob was sitting in the living room and printed something to the home printer and I could hear paper crackling. It was having a hard time spitting the paper out.

Upon inspection, I quicky realized why the paper was having a hard time.

It was blocked with Mitchell toys!!! :) 1 8x10 picture of him, 1 CD, 1 top to a box, 3 palm crayon holders and 1 stuffed santa!

I've never considered myself much of a printer troubleshooter, but I was able to fix this one :)

Weekend fun

Mitchell is having so much fun with all of his Christmas toys. We have a rotation going now. I have four toy boxes that I store in the attic and rotate them each week.

We had dinner with our friends, Jill, Andy and their adorable almost 2 year old, Addison. Our Atlanta friends Jason, Kari and their 18 month-old daughter, Kate are visiting their family in KC this weekend, so we met them at Science City this morning. We really enjoyed it and can't wait to go when Mitchell's a little older and able to enjoy all of the fun things!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Bays!

Grandpa Bays -

I hope you have a happy birthday today!
We didn't get a card in the mail, so this will have to due :)

My birthday wishes for my Grandpa Bays --
I hope it reaches above zero today, because I know you love the sun (especially the Mexican sun)
I hope you are feeling well, because I know you have been fighting a cold.
I hope Grandma lets you warm the house to a reasonable temperature, maybe you can just pretend that I am visiting!
I hope you get to eat lots of cake, because I know about your sugar obsession.

I look forward to visiting you in March (and my mommy just found out that she might even have a short visit in a couple of weeks)!
She is trying to work out the details.

Happy Birthday!

Love, Mitchell

Ski pictures

I finally dug our little camera out of the camera bag this weekend. Here are some pictures from Jacob and I's ski trip day in Maine over Xmas! Isn't it just beautiful? :)

I wish we lived closer to the mountains and that skiing wasn't so dang expensive!

We had so much fun!

Quick story that I still remind Jacob of...

In the spring of 2003, after Jacob and I had been dating for a few six months or so, Jacob started talking about taking a vacation together.

Jacob - "We could go to Colorado on a ski trip.....Oh wait, have you ever been skiing before?"

Mandi - "Yes, I love skiing. Why did you ask it like that? Because you wouldn't have wanted to go with me if I'd never been?"

Jacob - "Well, no...umm...maybe. I'm not sure I'd have the patience to teach you."

Little did Jacob know, he'd struggle to keep up with me :)

New groceries

Yes, ladies and gentlmen...we're done nursing! The transition wasn't easy, but we're there none the less. It is surprisingly bittersweet. There is something very special about "providing" for your little one. Although it sounds strange and confining - the fact that they have a need and you're the ONLY ONE that can fulfill it, creates such a great bond! The best part about it is the snuggle sessions...which I've learned don't necessarily have to go hand and hand with nursing. In fact, we had a great snuggle session this morning while eating his morning banana.

Yes, he is still obsessed with bananas! We have to HIDE them in a cabinet rather than leaving them out, and even when we get close to the cabinent he will start signing banana like crazy! Speaking the word has the same results, so we're now spelling it instead....usually borrowing the Hollaback Girl tune from Gwen! B-a-n-a-n-a-s! )

The obvious advantage of weaning is that for the first time since March 2007, I can eat and drink (mostly drink!) whatever I please and not worry about it's effect on my growing boy! Also, I will certainly NOT miss pumping at work (which I haven't had to do since he dropped daytime bottles a few months ago).

He's not taking to milk as well as we'd hoped, so we're challenged with finding other ways to get him his calcium needs. Bring on the cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt :)

This morning

Background:

Jacob's one night stay at home last night was like a pleasant tornado. Pleasant because we were happy to see him! Tornado because he literally blew in, threw things everywhere, repacked and headed out again.

He carpooled to Omaha today with a co-worker (and friend!), Paul. Paul met Jacob at our house at 7am this morning.

Mitchell did NOT sleep well last night (so neither did Jacob or I). I'm not sure why? He's been so good for the last few days! He woke up much earlier than normal, and was a fussy mess this morning. I am usually rushed to get ready in the morning, but Mitchell's foul mood made it even more challenging for me to get ready and be in Lawrence (45 minutes away) by 8:30am.

Setting the scene:
Jacob is making himself a coffee drink in the kitchen, Mitchell refuses to be put down, so I carry him around on my hip while I attempt to gather my things. I do not have time to apply make-up, so I bring it with me to put on in the car after dropping Mitchell off. I set Mitchell and my make-up on the floor while I run to get our coats and much to my surprise rather than cry, Mitchell finds my make-up facinating and begins to play with it! Whew!

In walks Paul....

Paul: "Good morning! Oh, hi, Mitchell! Whatcha doin'? Are you playing with Mommy's make-up on the kitchen floor? (confused)"

Mandi: "Yes, I was trying to occupy him while getting our coats."

Jacob: "Mandi, why are you letting him play with your make-up?"

Mandi: no answer, roll of the eyes

Jacob: "Paul, don't get any ideas. He just got done playing with all of his manly GI Joe's."

Jacob: "And he drank a beer for breakfast"

Some other small talk ensues...Paul and Jacob begin to exit.

Jacob: "Oh, you might want to take that one away, Mandi. Mitchell just opened it and stuck his finger in it. See you Friday!"

caaaat?

The stand-off

This picture was actually taken on Mitchell's birthday, but I just think it's the cutest :) Mitchell continues to be obsessed with cats! He literally says and signs "cat" probably 20 times a day. He finds cats in his books, cat stuffed animals and obviously most of all - he really enjoys real, live cats! He always says it like there is a question mark at the end...."caaat?"

Jacob is finally coming home tonight! Yeah! He's been gone for 9 days now (not that I'm counting, or anything)..but unfortunately the bliss won't last long...he leaves again tomorrow morning. :(

Bananarama

Sometimes after Mitchell has gone through a fussy/sick time, I forget how pleasant he really is when he's feeling well! He has been a JOY the past couple of days! My dad watched him on Friday night for a few hours so that I could attend a quick work happy hour and claimed that he didn't cry once. Mitchell and I played ALL DAY yesterday, and he was soooo fun :)

It is so cruel that is was SIXTY ONE degrees in KC on Friday....and barely 40 yesterday :( We would've loved to have spent some time outdoors, but it was just a bit too chilly for us. What do you expect for January, right?

Jacob has been in Chicago since we returned from our trip on Sunday night. He'll be back on Tuesday night, only to leave for Omaha on Wednesday morning. Mitchell and I are having lots of alone time and now that he's a happy boy again, that's fine with me :)

One quick story - the little man LOVE bananas! He goes crazy when he sees them. I've been trying to use the sign for them, but it's kind of a tough one. We were grocery shopping yesterday and Mitchell saw the bananas before I did and starting furiously signing banana. An older lady fellow shopper was so amazed...and so was I! We bought a bunch and barely made it through the checkout before feeding him one! :)

My cuddly man is starting to resurface!

Just a quick update. Mitchell seems to be doing LOTS better! He slept until 6:30am this morning! Yeah for both of us! His teacher said he had the best day yet at daycare and is so impressed with all of his words. He's added "up" to his vocabulary....mostly due to wanting desperately to be picked up and carried around :)

Last night when I was filling the bathtub with water, we started saying and signing "duck" because he associates his rubber duckies with bathtime (eventhough is duckies weren't out at the time).

It's so fun to see what he'll learn next....

Rough times

It has been a rough week for little man (and his mommy!) We are both struggling to get back into our routine after returning from two weeks of vacation. I spoiled him while we were gone and allowed him to sleep with us more than usual, so I'm trying to break him of that habit now and he is trying desperately to defy me :) Man, is he strong willed!!!!

So he's not sleeping well at night and then he's no longer getting his morning nap at daycare, so the poor little guy is kind of a fussy mess :( Plus, I think he's getting his canine/incisor teeth too! Ugh!

He woke up at 4am on Monday morning and never went back to sleep; 5am on Tuesday and 5:30am today. Maybe he'll sleep until 6am tomorrow!

His new poor daycare teacher must think we have it in for her. She's had a trying couple of days :(

These cute pictures were taken during happier times :) We can't wait for those times to return!

We're home!!!!

We made the long drive back from Wisconsin today. It was so much easier than expected! Little man slept most of the drive! Yeah!

Here are a few of my favorite Wisconsin pictures....


Mitchell was lovin' on his Aunt Kel.

We had a little birthday party for Mitchell. Lots of smiles and laughs had by all...

The whole crew :)

L to R:
Mark - Kel's beau
Kelli - My sister
Patti - My mom
David - My step-dad
Jacob
Mitchell
Me



Mitchell graduated out of Grandma's sink - into her big tub. Lots of fun!

Mitchell really enjoyed playing under the tree...he's going to be so sad to see ours go!

Mom, David and Kel - THANKS for everything...the Xmas presents, the birthday presents, the babysitting, but most
of all the quality time spent together. Love you guys!

A few family pictures from our trip to Maine

Here are just a few family pictures from our trip to Maine.

















The first is of the Folks/Flint women...and Mitchell, of course :)

From L to R:
Mitchell
Me
Skyler - Jacob's youngest sister (15)
Allie - Jacob's niece (12)
Diane - Jacob's stepmom
Amber - Jacob's sister in law
Katy - Jacob's sister (25)



















And another of Jacob's sisters - Skyler (15) and Katy (25).

We travelled back to Minneapolis from Maine without too much trouble. Mitchell was a WONDERFUL traveller!

Jacob and I had to attend a training in Milwaukee today, so we left Mitchell with Grandma and Grandpa Bays overnight last night. Apparently, my mom and Mitchell are BOTH napping today to catch up from the sleep lost last night! God love my mom! She's got more patience than the ER after a natural disaster. :)