Oh, here we go again....

Poor Larry, it seems that when we get a good thing going, it has to up and stop on him. Our babysitter who was keeping Larry does not have enough kids full time to make ends meet so she is going back to work full time. We've interviewed with another lady who runs an in-home daycare, but she said she had a spot for Larry and then called us back to say that when the other new baby (a six week old) gets there, she just didn't think she could handle another toddler. She has 4 other babies (2 and under right now). Which I have to admit did kind of make me wonder how she was going to do it all. Oh, well. Back to square one.
Larry is now obsessed with putting objects into another object such as a trash can, box, the cat's bed...whatever. See picture above where Larry is trying to shove his pooh bear into the diaper bin. In addition to his beautiful head, he also has good looking baby feet. See below as well. I just love that boy. He also loves to play on our bed, I guess because it's a pillow top and kind of squishy compared to his bed. (which by the way, he has still not tried to climb out of yet!) yea! We've also had to raise his car seat straps to the highest level. Poor kid, when he's got his winter coat on, he can hardly move his arms and they almost stick straight out when he's strapped in his car seat. Maybe we can find something a little more movable.

Larry has the most beautiful Head......

I am now convinced that my son has the most perfect head. When he is playing facing away from me, I just marvel at how beautiful it is. So I thought I'd post a picture for you. It seems as if he grows another inch everyday. He is not walking yet, but we think he's close. He walks really well when you are holding on to his fingers. We also think he's hit another growth spurt because he eats a whole bunch and then wants to sleep a whole bunch. I've also posted a picture of him and Katie at the seminary BBQ that was held a couple of weeks ago. Larry is also doing really well at Mrs. Rachel's. And anytime that he's not over there, he's with Daddy.

Larry's 1

Wow, time sure can get away from you fast. We had a good time in Ohio, and while Larry was ok without me, they said that he really relaxed once I got there. Jeffrey's mother, grandmother, and aunt all came in from out of town to see Larry and the family.
Charlotte (Jeffrey's sister) really enjoyed getting to do Larry's Birthday party! And boy did she do it up right. There were balloons and streamers and a nice meal. And cake. Larry's birthday cake was an ice cream cake. It took him a minute or two to figure out he liked it, because we don't let him have sweets like that, but we figured this was a good time to break the rules. At one point we rubbed a ballon on his head and it stuck, but then everybody laughed at him, and he did not like that! We made it back ok. Larry slept a good bit of the way, and when he was not asleep, I would get back there with him and play while Jeffrey drove. Jeff said it was much, much better than the trip out there which he described as hellacious. :-(
Since we've been back, Larry has started daycare at Mrs. Rachel's. She keeps a number of kids, but they all come and go, so they are rarely ever all there at once. She calls Larry her "little buddy" I am so proud of him for adjusting so well. There is this other kid who is the exact same age as Larry (same birthday and everything) and he is a complete pill.
We also think Larry is close to walking. We'll keep you posted!

Larry in Ohio

Hello,
Well it has been a very quiet week for me so far. Jeff and Larry made it to Ohio. While Larry is soaking up the attention from Grandaddy, Aunt Charlotte, and Auntie Anna, he has really been clinging to daddy. Jeff says he won't go to sleep until he's just dead tired and basically passes out. I think he realizes that I'm not there. I talked to him on the phone this morning and Jeff said he really lit up. I can't wait to get there and get my 'baby snuggles' I've really missed them. I think we are going to go shopping and get some fall fashions for Larry. He really doesn't have anything long sleeved or a jacket or anything. Then Jeff and I will drive back on Sunday together.
One funny thing, I was a little concerned with Larry starting to walk in Ohio when I was not there. Aunt Charlotte said not to worry, if Larry started walking she said she'd push him down until I got there!! :-) Hopefully, I can post some pics when we get back.
Much love from St. Louis to Columbus!
Julie

A Hard Day's Night

Wow, Thursday night we had one of the roughest nights we've ever had with Larry since he was about a month old. He had been running a fever and on Thursday it went up to 102.2, so I gave him some tylenol and called the doc. They said that everything looked good, so it must be a virus and we might even be waiting to see a rash once the fever breaks to confirm the roseola virus. Anyway, he went down around 7:00 and then woke up around 11:15 burning up again. I gave him motrin and checked his temp to make sure we did not need to go to the hospital. yikes. Anyway, it was 101.9, so I gave him so pedialyte and put him back in bed. Then I stayed up until just after midnight. Then I went in and ever so craftily sneaked the thermometer under his arm and took his temperature. 99.1...good. Fever down. I went back to bed. Around 1:15 Larry woke back up and would not go back to sleep. We tried everything. I would get him to sleep in my arms and then place him in bed, and whammo...awake. We ended up having to stay up with him, take turns. I swear he thought he had missed a day of play and by golly he was about to make up for it. Finally, around 4:45, I was able to give him a bottle and put him back in bed. But for the next 1 1/2 hours he would sleep for 5 minutes, cry for 1 minute, sleep 5, cry 1 and so on. I told Jeff that if Larry's fever was still gone and if he seemed ok, I would go ahead and take him to daycare, so that at least one of us could get some rest in case we had a repeat on Friday night. Thankfully, Larry did well at daycare on Friday and then came home and slept all night. But I did go to bed right after he did, I wasn't taking any chances.

Things I learned the hard way this weekend....

This weekend, Larry stayed with some friends while Jeffrey and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. He had a great time, and they really must have worn him out, he slept until 7:30 am Saturday morning.

However, as the title suggests, over the weekend, I learned a couple of things the hard way...

1) Whole milk in a sippy cups sets up---fast. Like overnight. If you don't pour that stuff out as soon as Larry is done with it, you will be dealing with a solid milk blob. Good thing that it was me who discovered this because Daddy would have barfed all over the kitchen.

2) On Sunday, before going to pick out my anniversary prize, we had lunch at The pasta house company. Kids eat free on Sundays so we got Larry a bowl of spaghetti. I cut it up and put it on his mat and let him dig in with his hands. He had a great time trying to shove it in his mouth and was doing good until Mommy tried to get involved. I noticed he was slumping in his high chair, so I leaned over to try and straighten him up. He immediately wanted out of the high chair and reached his pasta covered hands over to the front of my shirt and took hold. Oh, man, what was I thinking. The next thing I know, I'm covered in grubby little prints of spaghetti sauce. Oh, well. Note to self. Keep the messing handfeeding at home...or at least stay far enough away to avoid becoming mommy napkin.

We got some pictures of Larry doing the self-feeding of the same spaghetti later on at home. I'll have to post them later.

I just love this dragon outfit that Jeff's sister Charlotte got for Larry. He thought it was fun to rock in his rocking chair.
Today, our friends Ruth and Roland moved back from vicarage, so daddy went and helped while mommy and Larry went to the re-sell it shop and to the food-bank. Larry rode on my hip in the hip-hammock and did really well. After Larry woke up from his nap, he had a grilled cheese sandwich (courtesy of mommy). Then playtime and another nap. I'm not sure he's sleeping so well up there at daycare, so I think he compensates with longer naps on the weekend. Good for getting things done, but bad for spending time with my baby.