Sickies. Kind of.

I have been very pleased with the fact that Taislee has made it all the way to 9 months old without getting sick. I was crossing my fingers we could make it a whole year without her getting sick. Totally seemed like it was going to happen. 

Until Friday.

You see, she was laying in bed with me, sleeping, and she woke up and started crying. I sat up to pick her up, and she felt so warm to me. SO warm. I didn't know if she had a fever for sure or not yet, because there have been NUMEROUS times that I thought she felt warm, so I take her temperature, and she's completely normal. (I have this HUGE fear of fevers, so it seems like that thermometer is in their ears like every week lately)  But she felt EXTRA warm this time. And I just knew she wasn't in her normal 98-degree range. Ryan was already up with Bransyn. B was on the couch watching some 'toons, and Ry was making himself some coffee. I went straight to the medicine cabinet and pulled the thermometer out. Ry asked me if everything was okay, and I waited until the thermometer was done to respond. "Nope, she's going to the doctor RIGHT now! Get Bransyn dressed, please!" And I rushed off to get Tais and myself dressed, and as I was walking away I said, "Her temperature is at 103.6! I need to get her in right away!" This girl has never had a fever before. And for her first one to be almost 104?! Yeah, that puts me in a straight panic. So I get her diaper changed, and dressed, and get myself dressed, Ry got B dressed, and we were out the door. Ry had to work, so he helped me put the kids in the car, and we were off. I called into the St. George Clinic just to see if I could get an appt with her pediatrician right away, instead of using the walk in clinic, but they didn't answer, and I didn't have time to wait. We got to the clinic, I told them what was going on, and they got us back to a room pretty quick. The nurse weighed her, took her temperature and asked a few questions, then left to let the doc know what was going on. 

Dr. Pendleton came into the room a few minutes later. He checked her ears, listened to her heart & lungs... the usual. Everything looked perfectly normal. He said that it is possible that she might have a UTI, but it's really hard to tell with babies, because it's really hard to get them to pee in a cup. He said he could get a urine sample with a catheter, but it was totally up to me to do that. I figured that was our best bet, cause who knows if or when we would of been able to get the girl to pee in a cup. I was suuuper nervous for this. I didn't want to watch her go through that. But I stood right next to her, and held her hand and talked to her, while the nurse held her legs still, and the Dr got the sample. She kind of tried to squirm, and made little noises like she was uncomfortable (understandable) but it was over so quick, and she didn't cry at all! My brave little babe :)  So we waited for those results for about 15 minutes, then he came back in and said everything was normal. Good thing, but frustrating that we still don't know what is causing such a high fever. He gave me a script for Tylenol, and said that if it gets any higher, or doesn't go away by the next day, to bring her right back in, but he's pretty sure it's just a virus that just needs to run it's course, then will go away.  So the plan for the rest of the day: Tylenol, snuggles & watch her like a hawk.

So Saturday comes, and I take her temperature and it is ranging 98.8-99 degrees. PERF. Her fever is gone, thank goodness, no clue what caused it, but we're just glad to see it go! No need to go back to the doctor.

Then comes Sunday. I check her again, and her temp is up in the high 99's. Still a low grade fever, but it had gone up from Saturday.... weird? I just decided to watch it & see what happened, and if it didn't go away completely, we'd be taking another trip to the doctor.

Monday comes, and the fever is still there. Except now it's higher. Not TOO much higher, but it was over 100 now. I decide to call into the pedi's office, but I just kept getting a recording saying all the receptionists were busy, and my call would be answered in the order it was received. Well, to make a long story short, I didn't wanna wait, I drove over there, and they were closed for Presidents Day. BOO. So, we got to wait until Tuesday.

Tuesday comes, and Tais still has a fever. And not only her, but now BRANSYN has a fever, too. Justttt awesome! So I get them ready, and we head off to the doctors to get them checked. Luckily this time we got to see their normal pediatrician, Dr. Hubbard, because the other guy was just a wee bit awkward ;) haha, anyway. He asked me questions about each of them, we went over what went on when I took Taislee in a few days prior, and he said he wanted to test them for RSV, because it has been going around a lot lately. It wouldn't be too horrible for Brans, but since Taislee is still an infant, it would be pretty bad for her to get. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for the results for their RSV tests, and when Dr. Hubbard came back with them, he confirmed both of their tests showed up negative. Thank gooooodness! I've managed to keep my babies RSV free for this long, I'd like to keep on that streak ;)  He said that there are a bunch of viruses going around right now, and they seem to have caught one. He said it lasts about 5 days, and all it really is is a fever. Tais should be just about over it, but since B's fever just started, he will most likely be dealing with it for a few more days :(  Just gotta keep an eye on them both to make sure the temp doesn't get too high, and that it goes away completely within a few days, annnd, even though I hate to, keep giving tylenol to keep the fever from getting too high, and hopefully help it pass quicker.

So there it is. Viruses suck, but I'm glad it's nothing worse! I'm just glad my babes very rarely get sick. Actually, this is the first time Taislee has ever been 'sick'.

3 1/4 years.

Mr. Brans is already a fourth of the way to four! Whewww, this is goin craaazy fast. Here's what the little bugger has been up to for the past little while :

• he no longer uses a sippy cup (hasn't for a while now, actually) he is 100% drinking out of a regular cup, and home boy rocks it. he very rarely spills, and does so, so good with it!

• I'm pretty sure he is practicing to become a professional arguer. it is insane. this kid will argue with ANYONE on ANYTHING. You say, 'the sky is blue' and he will argue that until the cows come home.

• he can dress himself if I ask him to. but when he doesn't want to, he will say he's not strong enough, or start whining. so i have to remind him that he needs to TRY before he whines, or says that he can't do it.

• he's stripped down to his undies by 11am, usually. kids a stripper.

• one day he came up to me asking for chocolate milk, and he was picking his nose. I told him he better stop picking his nose if he wanted chocolate milk. so he put his other hand up to block me from seeing him pick his nose. when he was done, he asked for chocolate milk again. I asked him why he was picking his nose, and he said, "cause I have boogers in it, and I need to get them out." so I said, "well you need to get a tissue instead of using your finger." and he said, "no, cause I gotta use my finger to push them out. then I pick them and eat them. pick pick pick the boogers out."

• he got this truck for Christmas, it looks like a semi truck, but the back of it carries tools in it. the wheels, and the stacks come off with the tools. it's pretty nifty. but anyway, he named this truck allll by himself. it's name is "Pater" makes me laugh every time he says it, cause he totally just rhymed that with "Mater" which I actually think is pretty smart of him to already know how to rhyme stuff :)

• he reenacts scenes from the movie Cars. he'll get his Mac truck, his mater, and his Lightening McQueen cars, and act out the scenes from Cars. it is beyond cute, and SO SMART if I may say, because how many 3 year olds remember scenes word by word from a movie and reenact it?! (granted, he HAS seen this movie eight thousand times, but that's beside the point... he's still a smart little cookie ;)

• if I say a line from a movie, he will tell me what it's from.

• he's always saying random words. like, making them up and we have no idea what he is saying! haha

• he also says REAL words that we have NO idea where he got them from. (not swear words, haha) like, big words. and he'll say the most random phrases.

• one day we were in the car getting ready to leave, and I put the kids in their seats while I put some other stuff in the car. well, Taislee was tired, and crying, so Bransyn started talking to her, and suddenly I hear him say, "where's the baby?! THERE HE IS!" and I look over at him, and he's covering his eyes while he says the 'where's the baby' part, then moves his hands and in a deeper voice says the 'there he is' part. Taislee started CRACKING UP. he'll do that every time she cries now to cheer her up, it is just the cutest thing in the world. he's such a nice big brother ♥

• when he asks for chocolate milk, he asks me "can I have some fresh brown milk?" and it's ONLY the pre-made kind, that comes in the milk gallon. if it's just mixing ovaltine with regular milk, he will just ask for chocolate milk. I think it is so dang hilarious how he puts the 'fresh' part in there. every once in a while, he'll ask me for some "fresh white milk", too! haha

• one day when he got up to the counter to eat his lunch, he looks at it & says "this is the best lunch I ever seen!" of course he didn't really eat it, but just the fact that he randomly said that was super silly.

• one day he came up to me and told me to throw one of his little foam puzzle pieces like a frizbee, so I do, then he excitedly says to me, "Good job, mommy!" and kept doing it!

• he is still not a huge eater. I don't know WHY, but the kid just doesn't like to eat. it is SO hard, because obviously he NEEDS to eat, and it is a struggle getting him to eat 3 meals a day. he is still the pickiest kid on the planet, too. which makes things even MORE difficult! he loves breakfast food, and of course Nutella. so he thinks that's what he should have for every meal. it's hard to tell him no on that, because at least he would be eating if I gave him that, but then again, we need to teach him that lunch/dinner is lunch/dinner, and he needs to eat what is given to him. if he doesn't like it, that's a different story... we wouldn't force him to eat something he truely doesn't like (I HATED being forced to eat something that was making me gag because it was so gross) but the thing is, he DOES NOT even TRY it before he says he doesn't like it. so it usually takes us a good half an hour of bribing/begging to get him to TRY his food, which 98% of the time, he actually ends up LIKING. super stressful. I'm really hoping he grows out of this, because it is seriously one of the hardest things to deal with!

• when I give him food, he will always say stuff like "I loooooove chicken!" or "I looooooove green beans!" (and yes, he TOTALLY puts the emphasis on the ooooo part! haha) but then I tell him to eat it if he loves it so much, and he won't. I don't know why he says he 'loooooves' it, if he won't even eat it! haha

• one day I heard him yelling/screaming in the kitchen, so I told him to stop because Tais was sleeping, and he says to me in the MOST soft and innocent little voice ever, "I'm just saying rawr. I'm just a tiger saying rawr. I'm not screaming."
• one day we went out to breakfast, and he saw those little packets of jam on the table, and asked for one. he had Ry open it, then grabbed his spoon and started eating the jam right out of the packet!

• I'm pretty sure he has no understanding of what "be quiet, your sister is sleeping" means. he wakes her up from being loud all.the.time.

• we were at walgreens one day, and we passed the toy aisle, so of course, Brans had to stop and look at all of the toys. after letting him play with the center aisle display of some toy cars for a  few minutes, I told him it was time to go. he told me he was still playing. so I told him okay, I'm leaving then! (usually when he doesn't want to leave somewhere, I tell him i'm leaving and he will instantly walk away and come with me!) he said okay, and just continued playing. I went and stood at the end of the aisle, where he couldn't see me, but I could see him. he just continued playing, thinking I was gone. other people started to walk down the aisle, and he would kind of stop playing & look at them, then look around for me, then go right back to playing with the cars. about 15 minutes passes, and I'm STILL watching him, just waiting for him to come looking for me. all of a sudden, I see him doing a little dance, and looking down at his feet. he peed his pants. AWESOME. so this is when I go tell him he is done playing, and we are going because he just peed his pants. he starts screaming, and trying to get away from me, kicking me, hitting me, scratching me, biting me! it was horrible. I get up to the register to pay, and everyone is looking at me - the lady holding onto the screaming child so that he doesn't run away! it's finally my turn to pay for my stuff, and the cashier asked what happened, so I told her. she tells me, "next time bring the toy up with him, and I'll take it after you're done paying." ummmmmm. no. because then he's going to THINK we're buying it, and throw an even bigger fit when he has to give it back! haha. so I left the store with my hand ALL scratched up, and it was probably the most embarrassing thing I have ever experienced! haha, he got to ride home with no pants & no undies on, cause it was supposed to be just a quick trip, and he usually tells me when he needs to go potty, so I didn't have any extras.

• he is so obsessed with playing with his tractors and trucks in the dirt, it's been hard on him with it being too cold some days to not be able to go play with them. one day he was begging me to go out back, and it was rainy, and freezing outside, plus he was working on getting over a cold, so I told him that he couldn't because I didn't want him to get even sicker, and be cold. He tells me, "but I love being cold, and I love being sick!"  now every time he wants to go play in the dirt, he tells me "I love being cold! can I go play with my dump trucks?!"

• I asked him what my  name was one day, trying to see if he remembered my actual name, and he tells me "mommy" so I say, "what's my other name?" and he answers with "mommy Tabet" haha. I'm glad he gets the concept of last names, even if he doesn't realize that I have a different last name than him!

• he loves to climb into Taislee's bed and play with her in there. they have the funnest time jumping around in there with each other :)  kind sucks when he does it when she's supposed to be taking a nap, though!

• he is CONSTANTLY asking to go to the farm. yeahhh... the farm we went to in OCTOBER. every time I tell him that they are closed until Halloween comes again, and he always tells me, "NO! THEY'RE OPEN!" don't ask me how he STILL remembers 4 months later, this kid has one heck of a memory!

• one day he was in the kitchen playing with is toys, and I kept hear him saying over & over, "who let the dogs out? ruff, ruff!" it was HILARIOUS.

• we went to the wildlife museum here last month, and the whole time we were walking through it, he kept pointing to the animals and saying, "That's an ELK! That's a BIG HORNED SHEEP! That's a DEER!" kid knows his animals, and as much as I don't want him to, he's gonna be a hunter just like his daddy and grandpa! :(

• he'll randomly start dancing, and say "go Bransyn, go Bransyn!" or he'll do 'tricks' or dance, and tell me to say that! haha

• he likes to share. but ONLY if it's something of YOURS that he wants some of. if I have some candy, he'll say, "let's share, mommy!" but if he has something, and you say let's share, it takes a little bit of begging to get him to share ;)  although, one day we were laying in bed snuggling, and he says to me, "let's share, mommy" and puts half of his blanket over me. melted.my.heart.

• he pronounces words that start an 'SM' or an 'SP' with an F. so if he's saying smile, he says it like 'file' smelly is 'felly', smart is, uhh, well, I'll let you figure that one out ;)  if he says spoon, it's 'foon' or sparrow is 'farrow'

• he is obsessed with YouTube. like, COMPLETELY obsessed. he asks to watch 'monster truck mater' daily. he even knows how to choose other videos once monster truck mater is over. didn't think my THREE year old could know how to work a laptop! haha, he could literally sit on YouTube watching videos for HOURS if we let him!

• he loves playing games on my phone. I have a few toddler apps downloaded for him, and he knows how to get to every single one of them by himself, and what to do on all of them. i swear he's gonna know how to work my phone and computer better than me within the next few years! haha

• we got his hair cut a few weeks ago, and we had the guy put 'designs' in his hair, and now he loves showing them off :)

• he is a nose picker! AND booger eater! totally disgusting, I know! but the kid just won't stop. he thinks it's so funny. we tell him that if he doesn't stop, he'll grow a tail... apparently the kid want's a tail!

• 95% of the time that I tell him to get dressed, he asks "where are we going?!" thinking that he's just getting dressed because we are leaving the house. then when I tell him we're not going anywhere, we're just getting dressed, he says, "NO! WHERE WE GOING?!" so half the time I don't even dress him, because I know this will happen! haha

• every time we drive by Baskin Robbins, he says, "I want blue ice cream!" he gets 'blue ice cream' every time we go there, and he now knows exactly where it's at, so when he sees the places that surround it as we're driving by, he instantly starts talking about blue ice cream!

• he loooooves target! (just like his mama ;)  anytime I tell him we're going to the store, he asks, "are we going to TARGET?!" in a high pitched, excited voice. I feel so bad letting him down if we're not going there, haha. he always says he wants to "look at the toys, but not buy anything" haha. he also gets so excited when he realizes we're pulling into the parking lot, and says "Yay, we're at Target!"

• he announces when he farts. he'll either say, "I just farted" or "I just tooted". He'll also randomly say, "I hate to poop!" then run to the bathroom Umm, yeah... thanks for keeping us updated on your bodily functions, kid! haha

Valentines Day!

VALENTINES DAY 2012!

Alright, so these first pictures are totally out of place, but if you blog, you know how annoying and time consuming it is to rearrange a bunch of pictures. SO, since I am a very busy mama of two, and have very little time to blog lately, they will unfortunately have to remain like this... annoying, I know :(

ANYWAY, we had an awesome Valentines Day, and these pics will tell you why :

Babies got a special goody bag from mommy and daddy.

I had the CUTEST Valentines in the world. Hands down.

I made heart shaped PINK pancakes for breakfast! Yummy.

Brans colored pictures for his mama & daddy.

While Tais watched.

There's those pink pancakes again!

I free-handed the hearts... don't judge.

Babies were so excited about their gifts.

Brans got:

A book

A Valentines cup

Valentines Skittles

Valentines Cars Chocolates

Tais got:

A book

A Valentines big

Yogurt

A new cup

{finding Valentines goodies for a 9 month old is kind of tricky}

We had heart shaped turkey sandwiches and heart shaped bacon (per Bransyn's request) for lunch.

I made chocolate covered strawberries for Ryan, {since it's impossible to BUY him something for Valentines Day} and they were DELISH.

And made chocolate covered banana's for the little boy.

I am one lucky girl to have had the best Valentines ever.

Ryan and I went out to dinner at Chili's with the guys he works with, and their ladies {my good friend, Sarah, being one of them}

Ry gave me my Valentine gift a few days earlier... which was the new Twilight Saga movie, Breaking Dawn. I got it early, because we were a wee bit impatient, and wanted to watch it the night it came out! I would normally say no to early gifts but, it was BREAKING DAWN. I was dying to watch it again ;) 

Our Valentines Day was just fabulous, and exactly what I wanted... to spend time loving on the 3 people I love the most. 

Happy Valentines Day, hope yours was just as fabulous! ♥

Nine months in, nine months out!

Our little Tais-girl has officially been here for the same amount of time she was in my belly! I don't know about you, but to me these past 9 months flew by MUCH faster than the first. . . ! I can't believe I have a NINE month old! T-minus 3 months until I cry my eyes out more than I ever have before! :(

Here's what our little busy body 3/4 of a year old girl has been up to:

• she is an EATER. she eats sooo much, and that makes me entirely too happy. she eats more than bransyn does (although, that's really not hard to do, since the kid eats like a bird!). you wouldn't know it just by looking at her little 15lb 9oz body, but girlfriend can put it away. she still nurses every 2-4 hours through out the day (although, I'm pretty sure it's more just out of habit/for comfort than food, half the time) PLUS, 2-3 meals a day, AND multiple snacks. for breakfast the other day, she had TWO blueberry muffins, a handful of cheerios, and a handful of raisins. that's just one example, she's always stuffin' herself. I reallly hope she continues to eat so well, because I don't think I could handle TWO super picky kids!

• she has like most everything she has tried so far, except potatoes. that makes me super sad, cause this mama could LIVE off of potatoes, but I guess she's just taking after her daddy & brother :(

• she has been climbing off of our bed, booty first first! the first time she did it, I didn't know if she actually meant to, or if that's just how she ended up, so I put her back up to see if she would do it again. she did it three more times in a row! she doesn't do it all the time, though. I still have to watch her very closely when she's on our bed, just to be safe. but i'm glad she's learning these things, so that she can be safe!

• she is no longer in her 'reclining' bath seat, she's in one that sits her up all the way, and she loves it!

• she's been saying mama for quite a while, but now she has started saying dada, baby (sounds like 'behbeh' and she's said bye bye a few times! i'm trying to teach her to say bubba (for brother), but she's not quite ready for that one yet, apparently! her favorite word right now, definitely has to be dada. she is CONSTANTLY saying it! 

• bransyn has this barn toy that has a bunch of little activity things on it, and one of them is sticking shapes in these little slot thingy's. well, it apparently drive taislee NUTS if the shapes are in the slots, because every time, without fail, that she sees them, she has to go over and take them out. it is soo funny!

• she now has five teeth! the two on bottom that she's had for 5 months now, and 3 on top. the two in the middle, and then the one right next to the center left one. I can tell the one next to the center right one is going to be popping through any day now, though!

• she has learned how to 'run' from me. one day i noticed she had put something in her mouth, and I started walking over to her to take it out, and she turned and crawled away from me so fast! she does it all the time now, and thinks it's so funny.

• she is OBSESSED with bubba's bike he got for Christmas. she is always going over to it, and standing up next to it. she even CLIMBED onto it, all by herself, and sat on the seat! 

• she loves pushing her little baby stroller all over :)

• daddy taught her to feed him. he'll go over to her when she's in her chair eating, and open his mouth, and she will pick up whatever she has, and stick it in his mouth. he also taught her how to eat out of HIS mouth, haha. he'll put a goldfish, or something in between his lips, then she will take it with her mouth. it's super cute ♥

• sleeping. it's still a struggle for her sometimes. she takes 3 naps a day, and she does pretty good with them, sometimes she'll fuss a bit when I put her down, but for the most part she does pretty good. she'll usually do good at night when I put her down, too. but if she doesn't get ALL 3 naps, she wakes up 2-3 hours after going to bed, and it's HELL trying to get her to go back to sleep. we seriously try everything, and nothing works. on the nights that she DOESN'T do that, she does AWESOME. she'll wake up 2, sometimes 3, times to eat, then one she is done, I put her back in her bed, and she is out without a peep. she also can NOT fall asleep if I am holding her. she just can't, I dunno why. she will fall asleep if Ryan's mom is rocking her, or even if Ryan does, but she will not sleep in my arms, it's kinda strange.

• she stopped doing her 'scrunchy face' for a while, which made me super sad, because it is TOO STINKIN' CUTE! but she just started doing it again the other day, and I love it! :)

• her hair is starting to get a bit longer, and thicker. I can put it like I'm gonna put it in a little pony tail on the top, but I feel like I'm gonna pull it too hard when I put a band in there to hold it, so we're holding off on that for a bit longer :)  plus, I feel like that will make her look soooo much bigger, so I'm good with sticking to headbands & bows for now ;)

• she's a little dancer! she shakes her little booty all the time, and loves when we dance with her :)  can I just say a dancing baby is probably the most precious thing in the world?! cause it totally is.

• when she is done eating and she still has food left on her tray, she will either move her arms across her tray over & over again really fast so that the remaining food falls off, or she will pick it up, and drop it on the floor. she does that with her sippy, too. if she's done drinking, she'll just toss it on the floor.

• she seems to be warming up to other people more. she doesn't freak out so much if someone else holds her, even if she can still see me. she's not 100% over her fear of other people yet, but we're makin' progress here!

• she becoming more & more of a daddy's girl as the days pass. she just loves her daddy. she'll hear him talking after he walks through the door when he gets home from work, and if we're in the bedroom, she will crawl out saying 'da? dada?' and look for him. or if she's in the living room, or her high chair, she gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees him. love it ♥