Arts Festival Oklahoma!

This Labor Day weekend brought the Arts Festival Oklahoma back to OKCCC. Dolton, Ryan, and I were joined by my dear friend Mary Ray, along with my next-door-neighbors Tanja, Jessie, and Larissa. We all had a wonderful time! Of course, it was so hot that we didn't stay too long - the boy was getting a bit cranky by the end of the two hours we spent out there. All we had time to do was eat fair food (yum!) and play in the Children's Tent. Ryan was most excited by the prospect of a funnel cake, and didn't even complain about being dragged to one of my arty-farty things. Seemore Art, the Festival's mascot was there, and I got a great shot of him eating a random child's head! We also ran into Cheryl Humphries and her family. My little monkey had a great time, until he dropped Cow on the ground. I wouldn't let him have Cow back after that because he was filthy, and shortly after the boy started fussing to leave. But all in all it was a great day.

Ear Infection!

I took the boy to the doctor today (because of his cold), and found out that he has an ear infection! Poor little guy! Dr. Harvey said that it wasn't a bad one by any means, and that I probably wouldn't have known about it at all if he wasn't sick with a cold virus and had come in to get checked out. He gave me some antibiotics for it, which baby boy hates, and the ear should clear up in a few days. The cold, however, will probably take 10-14 days to get over. My poor, sweet little boy! I feel so bad for him. He's sleeping a lot, and doesn't want to eat very much. I can't say that I blame him - when I'm sick I like to sleep a lot, too.

We have colds...

Well, the boy made it to four and a half months before getting his first cold. Ugh. We're just miserable over here! I don't feel well, either, so taking care of a sick baby is doubly hard. The poor little boy has a stuffy nose and has been running a low-grade fever. The worst problem is the fact that it is very hard for him to nurse right now, since he can barely breathe though his nose. Lots of tears and sad faces in my house at the moment.

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I did finally get some pictures taken of my latest FOs - Moldy Cupcakes! I made half a dozen of these cute little things. Notice the fuzzy mold patches that match the green moldy icing. The ribbing turned out nicely on the bottoms - almost looks like the paper baking cups!

Again, you can just click on the pictures for a larger view. I finished these up last month, but just recently got the pictures taken. It seems like there's always too many other pictures to take with the boy! My current WIP is a giant crab for Ryan. I got the pattern for 'Crabius Maximus' from Lady Linoleum at Monster Crochet. I love her patterns! She is my crochet hero. You can view her blog here. Now all I have to do is decide what to do with all of these cupcakes...

Four Months Old!

Today is Baby Dolton's four-month birthday! We had his pictures made with Papa today, and these are the ones we decided to get. The boy was a little bit cranky, so we ended up not getting a lot of them. By the time we got to the last picture, he was screaming! Not a good look for him. Anyway, here are the pictures. Notice the 'boys' are both in Hawaiian print shirts! Too cute!

This one ended up being my favorite - I love the expression on his face!

These are just the proofs ... When I get the actual pictures in, I'll update this page with the better quality ones. Check back at the end of the month - they take forever!
*These are now the actual pictures 10-11-07*

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Baby Dolton goes tomorrow to get his four-month check-up and another round of shots ... I think I'll tell him we're going for ice cream or something. I'll be sure to post again tomorrow to let everyone know how he's doing.

Divorce

Congratulations are in order, it finally happened! I'm officially divorced. Hooray! I'm glad it's over. It feels so nice to be Lindsey Askins again.

Baby boy met his father for the first time today. It went better than I expected. The visit was at the folk's house. Robbie was really good with him. Except for when I let him change a diaper by himself... When we got home, I realized that he'd put one of Emily's diapers on him - it was three sizes too big! Ha ha. Strange the things men don't seem to notice. Like the fact that diapers shouldn't come up to a baby's armpits...

The Monkey is growing in leaps and bounds - at his last weigh-in he was up to 14 pounds and 24 inches, and that was two weeks ago! He really likes to stand up, and can totally support himself when doing so. He just needs help balancing. We've now discovered our feet, and the fact that toes are fun to play with. Unless you try to take your hand away without letting go first. That makes us cry. It's the old cause-and-effect thing rearing it's ugly head again. Oh well. I'm sure he'll grasp the concept one of these days! The boy also likes to blow spit bubbles, suck on his fingers, and watch his Baby Einstein videos. It is too cute seeing him sit in his Bumbo seat, watching Baby Beethoven or Baby Noah, totally enthralled, laughing his head off! We also have My First Signs, but as he's still a bit young for it yet, we haven't watched it. Actually, I should probably start watching it now myself, so I can begin using the signs as I talk to the boy. For now, though, we're enjoying the other two. It's kind of nice to go around with classical music stuck in my head, as opposed to the crap that's usually in there. Last week I went around humming the Band-Aid Brand theme song to myself - "I am stuck on Band-Aid Brand, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me..." It was awful!

Baby boy also likes to play games now! We have several - Fly the Baby, where I hold him horizontally in the air and swoop him around; Don't Lick The Baby, which we play with Sabrina - I hold him out to her and say "lick the baby," she does, he laughs, and I then pull him away saying "don't lick the baby!" (they both love this one); and Horsey, which is rather self-explanatory, with the addition of me singing the theme-song to Bonanza during it. Speaking of singing, that child loves to be sung to! He'll watch you intently as you sing, and smile and laugh while you do so. His favorites seem to be songs by either Alabama or the Oak Ridge Boys. Although he did rather enjoy his papa's version of "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys"... Sometimes I think he laughs because the singing is so bad! Ha ha.

Baby Dolton's Children First nurse, Nancy, comes again tomorrow, and he's got an appointment with Dr. Harvey on the 9th for his four-month shots. I'll let everyone know how he's doing after those two check-up! Bye for now...

Dolton goes to Kansas...

Baby boy had his first road trip! We left Thursday to go to Pittsburg, Kansas to see the family and introduce my little man to everyone. Of course, getting ready to go was a feat in and of itself! Military strategists have an easier time than we did trying to figure everything out.
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The first issue was the fact that I had to take my car in to the shop that morning before we left - still not entirely sure what was wrong, but supposedly it's fixed now. The second issue was getting all four, count them, FOUR Great Danes up to the Lucky Dog Lodge (also known as 'camp') to be boarded. The third issue was the fact that Dad needed to drive separately as he needed to come back earlier than Mom and I, and the last issue was doing all of this with the boy, who needed to ride in either my Jeep or Mom's Nissan, as they have the car seat base.
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After much debate, it was decided that Dad would drive the minivan to my house with his two dogs, put them in my yard, and take my car to the dealership. Mom met him there, and took him back to their house to get the Hummer. They both returned to my home, to load up my one suitcase and the baby's twenty-eight-million things (amazing how much one little tiny person needs), and to get the Danes loaded into the van. Poor Dad drove the dogs to to LDL, with Mom following in the Hummer and the boy and I in the Nissan. This took more time to figure out how to do than it did to get accomplished!
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Once the pups were dropped off - Dad had been 'dog-ed' on the way and was covered in paw-prints and dane-drool - he took over the Hummer and Mom and I took the boy in the Nissan for the rest of the trip. I had fed Baby Dolton just before we left the house, and my angel baby slept all the way until about ten miles outside of Tulsa. We stopped at a fast food joint and I fed and changed him, and then he slept till about five miles outside of Pittsburg. Baby boy is such a good traveler!
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When we got to Bopper and Birdie's house, my aunt Sandy, cousin Todd, and his wife, Amy were there waiting to meet the guest of honor. This baby wasn't left alone for one second the whole four days we were there! Not that I leave him alone for hours on end, but I do put him in the swing to go to the bathroom or shower or whatnot. Not this weekend! There were oh-so-many hands waiting to hold the boy! It did get a bit confusing around my mom's folks - I call my grampa Papa, and that is now what my dad is going by as well. Mom and I tend to refer to Dad as Papa when we're talking about the baby or Emily, and I'm sure you can imagine how it went with two Papas!
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My little Monkey discovered his hands while we were up there! It is ever so much fun to play with your hands. He likes to pull on his fingers, and chew his fists, and he is now trying to grasp things. Baby boy has grabbed things before this, but always on accident. He would also hold small objects, but only if I put them in his hands first. Now he's starting to reach for things on his own! This morning he sat for quite awhile regarding his feet. Well, actually just his right foot. Lefty apparently held no interest for him. It was too cute!
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The best part of the whole trip was when the boy exploded all over his Grammie! She was holding him, and he let out the loudest fart... only it wasn't a fart. When Mom went to change him, poo squirted out the leg hole of the diaper all over her hand! She was hollering down the hall for me, and when I got to the bedroom, all I could do was laugh! We ended up having to give him a bath, but it was still freaking hilarious!
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He did almost as well on the way home - I did have to pump a little to feed him in the car seat once. But it wasn't the tenth level of hell I was expecting. It wasn't even purgatory! Now I sound like I'm Catholic. Well, it's late, the boy will need to be changed and fed, and I need some sleep. I'll put up the pictures that go with this post as soon as I get the chance.

So Late!!!

I know I have been rather remiss in posting lately, and for that I apologize. It seems like there is always too much to do! I rarely even have time to return phone calls anymore! I'm either nursing or changing diapers or rocking... Ahh, the life of a mother.
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Here are Baby Dolton's two-month pictures. He is such a doll baby! He did really well until the end, when he started to lose patience. Notice the last picture in this set - poor little boy has tears in his eyes and the saddest look on his face! That one ended up being my favorite.

As I was oh-so-late in updating my blog, I also have his three-month pictures for you! These were taken July 3rd, so they're a bit early for his three-month birthday, but that's okay. Cousin Emily went with us, and they have the cutest matching outfits! The second picture of baby boy is my favorite, and the last one of Emily is my favorite of her. She looked so BIG next to my little man! And with their big blue eyes and shining round faces, they look like they could be brother and sister instead of cousins! So adorable.