Good News!

They have an opening at Children's tomorrow at 10:30! Someone cancelled. So we will be heading to the great city of Denver by 8:30. Oh, and I took this picture of Rodney for his 11 month birthday. I have been far from regular with getting those pictures, but I guess he hasn't changed much either....

All About Rodney

Well, I can't believe it but he is really 11 months now! People have always said that I needed to soak in every day while Rodney is little because it goes by so fast... it does. He seems to be getting more of a personality every day. He has us laughing multiple times a day. He has learned a new trick of blowing raspberries. He will give the couch raspberries, legs, bellies, he will even pause during nursing to give me a raspberry! Then he looks at whoever is around to see the reaction....already? I didn't realize he would already be aware of what other people think about what he does! He took his first step at Grandma's house in Utah over Thanksgiving. He is really good at standing up alone and standing up without pulling up on anything. There are two doors he can hear opening from across the apartment. The fridge door and the bathroom! He never crawls so fast but to get in before they get closed again! He love, love, loves stairs. He has a great respect for them. He fell down two stairs once and ever since then, if he even gets a little unbalanced on the stairs he freaks out not wanting to fall! After watching the other nephews on the stairs at Grandmas for the wedding he mastered the stairs. He figured out how to stop climbing and sit down to see what is going on behind him. He also learned how to go down the stairs there too. Rodney loves dogs and cats. He will pet them and not yank. Maybe a little smack here and there but no pulling.... He loves the cell phone and has for a while. But just this month he started to put it up near his head like he is listening to somebody. He will listen when I give him the phone with somebody on the other end, but just the other day he started talking back. It was too cute! He has done it once again since. We are just smitten with the little guy! Good news, he gained two ounces just in the 3 days between doctor visits! And after all that at the hospital the lady didn't get all of the labs. We went back to the other guy that did it the first time so wonderfully...and he got 10 ML of blood in no time! I told him that nobody is ever going to poke Rodney except for him...and he told me he's retiring! :( And the doctor called us to tell me that they needed to cath rodney because the urine sample said he had a UTI. She said that she isn't suprised because the urine was in constant contact with his skin since we did it through a bag...but we just needed to make sure. That was fun....not! But then they checked him and he had two more ear infections. So one more round of antibiotics before our appointment on friday with the ENT specialist. Otherwise, Rodney has been sleeping like mad, and eating more too (I didn't know it was possible) but, Mark and I both think that his face is filling out more. Hopefully it isn't just in our heads!

Rough Day...

Today was kinda a rough day. I don't want to make this sound like a sob story, but it just may come out like that... Rodney was born just right as far as weight and height and everything else was concerned. Now, he has just kept dropping ever since birth in the %-iles and he is off the charts after today's appointment. It started at his 9 month appointment our Doc started to get concerned about his weight. So she sent us to get labs done to make sure that his thyroid was ok. The thyroid turned out just fine but he is anemic. So she had us taking 250% of his iron intake everyday in vitamins alone. Ouch. Lots of crying until I figured out that it wasn't bad as long as I gave some to him in the morning and some in the afternoon... duh! Anyway, So I went in today for the check in for his weight and height and more labs to check on his anemia. Well, we found out that he is off the charts for weight and his %-ile fell for height. Then she sent us to the hospital for labs. They gave us a bag to put in his diaper to catch the urine specimen. We ran a couple errands to make sure there was pee in it only to find out that it leaked once we got to the hospital and we had to wait for more. Then the lady couldn't find his vein. I guess he was dehydrated just enough. (I just think that she didn't really know what she was doing with infants....) We tryed twice to prick him (and prick him and prick him) and listen to him scream (and scream, and scream, and scream) before she just gave up on finding his vein and pricked his heel and squeezed (and squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed) while Rodney screamed ( and, well you get the idea) Finally we got to leave just in time for me to make it to class this afternoon. He is extremely exhausted, today wore him out. (and me.) I have to keep talking myself out of blaming myself for all this weight stuff. The doctor is sending us to Childrens Hospital to the nutrition department to make sure that there isn't any other reason for all of this. She said that they deal with this stuff all of the time. She said that she doesn't want to freak me out (too late), but she just doesn't want to miss something just in case. We will see I guess. The closest appointment for childrens is towards the end of Jan. Long wait here we come.

Cake Decorating

One of my classes this semester is Art Appreciation. In place of our second test she assigned an art project. I asked if a cake would count and she said "of course!" So, I decided that this would be a great time to experiment as much as I want because I wasn't giving it away as a gift and she was grading on effort alone! So I experimented every step of the way! I tried a new cake recipe, that didn't work. So I used the boxed cake that I had as backup. (I have tried the recipe again since then and it worked...yum!) Then I did three layers on the bottom, two chocolate with a vanilla layer in the middle. I also tried doing a raspberry filling. The top tier is the vanilla cake, two layers with the same raspberry in the middle. The top tier was a first for me. I made the fondant and it turned out great! It was super easy to make and work with, which was quite a surprise! What did I learn? A LOT!! Next time I will: make the original recipe for the cake (with the changes so it will work), different raspberry filling and more of it, use more buttercream under the fondant so it is more smooth, no matter how small the top tier seems it will need a support system underneath so it doesn't sink into the bottom tier, start earlier so I have time to do something cooler than polka dots, figure out a better way to do letters. I would love to do this for fun and make a little money on the side too. One of my friends in class is in the singles ward and will probably be getting married so we talked about me trying to do her wedding cake. I would totally do it for cost just for the experience. We will have to see. I would have more experiments before I really agree to that though! The best part, I got an A! So what if everybody else did too....

Rodney's First Beater!

This is goooood...

Mom, there's more in the middle! How do I get it?!

Ooooohh, that's how! I get it!

Winter Outfit and Halloween!

I just had to take this picture of Rodney in his warm winter outfit. We got this hat at Walmart. I had to find one that he couldn't pull off on his own. If it doesn't strap on then it lasts about 2 seconds before it is off of his head! So, this has a chin strap and really it was just too cute to pass up! The first time I put it on him he just screamed and pulled on it until I took it off. But the trick was to put the gloves on first and he was so busy trying to figure out what they were that he didn't even care about the hat! Such a goober! But really, doesn't that look warm?! I wish I could fit into it!

Last night we went to a really fun Halloween party with Justin and Sarah at the Hull house. Mark and I weren't planning on it so we didn't have costumes. So after a while Justin found Mark and wig to put on. Mark left it on for a while (under the baseball cap of course! It was pretty goofy looking.) But then mark put it on Rodney's head to see what he would look like if he really had hair. I had to take a picture. Rodney closed his eyes but we only had a 2 second window before he grabbed it off his head. But, personally, I think it turned out even cuter that way! So here is your preview of coming attractions, Rodney WITH hair!

Fun Day in Denver!

We had a super-fun day in Denver on Tuesday. We started out by visiting with Heather and Brooke for a few hours. She was here sibling-sitting. It is getting to be more and more fun seeing the babes together because Rodney is getting old enough to be interested in other kids. It is so fun to see him grow! Then we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Friesen at the temple. They had some quality time with Rodney while Mark and I got to go to the temple. They are making it possible for us to make our new goal possible. Once a month to the temple! So far we are going strong, 2 months! haha

This is Rodney and I while we were at the BEST restaurant ever! Saigon Palace. And you bet, we got the Super Bowl!

After dinner we went across the street to the Army Surplus store. Rodney LOVES his Grandpa Friesen. Grandpa can get him laughing like nobody else can! I don't know what it is, but Grandpa's got it!

We had to get a few pictures of the cousins together. I just think this one is so funny. Brooke has the biggest smile and Rodney is just trying to figure out what the heck is going on!

Like his shirt? Can I just tell you how much I love the thrift stores lately!?