games and fun

Our camera is going on the blink...the lens in it keeps doing weird things, so the pics aren't real good, bear with us until we get something else done. :-)

Last night we played mexican train...Brayden learned how to shuffle the dominoes and how to throw them too. :-) He had a great time with all of it. Now its back to just the three of us and Brayden is having along nap. Must need to catch up real good. He has been down for 2.5 hrs now, he should be in rare form this afternoon. Its been a busy weekend for all of us. Its nice to wind down and be quiet.

Now only one!

Two olives

Note the two olives on the fingers...had to teach him that, every kid needs to know they fit like that!!

Thanksgiving

First Thanksgiving Dinner and Brayden got served first. Daddy was helping him eat while I took pictures. He didn't eat real good, but with 14 other people at the table perhaps its no wonder. Over all he had a real good day. He was a bit clingy and whiney, but with so many people in the house on his turf I am sure it was very strange and unsettling. We have so much to be thankful for, it was good to have family around here and share all our new fun with them.

Big HELP!!

Today we had a BUSY day!! Here he is helping Granny wash windows. Its time to get the house cleaned for Thanksgiving!! That deep detail cleaning that may never get done again, at least not without help. Here he is helping out soooo much by spitting on the window, too bad she started with the bottom one! :-)

Its been a good week, but nothing real special has gone on. Its amazing to feel like he has always been with us. We miss all the little changes in him because hes just always here. Good that others notice the changes and mention them to us so we can be reminded that we really have been home just about 3 months. Lots of changes in all of us for that short of time.

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still on the phone!!

Another place we like to sit, how nice that it is sooo near the phone!!

Chatting with Grandpa

Grandpa called yesterday afternoon, I was on the business phone, but didn't want to let the answering machine get it, so I picked it up and told him it would be just a couple of minutes and handed the phone to Brayden. They just chatted up a storm for the 10 min it took me to wrap up the business call. Brayden wandered around some while he was talking to Grandpa, but he sat and rocked most of the time. He just chatters away, constant, not much of it makes sense, but he is getting the idea of talking anyway.

Ready for Church

Just ready to go to meeting. No smile though, not sure why. The shades though, they make the boy!!

In the Pile

Not sure what he thought of the whole thing, he had to swim off the pile!!

Big leaf pile

Getting ready for the pile!!

Late again!

Friday came and went again. Too much stuff going on and too much to get done. Last weekend we spent Saturday cleaning the yard up, raking leaves etc. Brayden loves to be outdoors and it was a lovely day to spend out there too, a bit nippy maybe, but mostly comfortable. Well for November in Wyoming anyway. This last week as been busy too. Wednesday got a bit too exciting for mommy, Brayden wasn't feeling real good. I had noticed he was a bit warm on Tuesday just sometimes I would notice his head felt warm, then wednesday a bit more often I noticed. He wasn't acting right either, but I wasn't just sure what was up. We were going to go to town early to install a cabinet and then have supper and go to church, I went up to see if he was up from his nap and found him awake in his crib just lying there with his head on his arms and his butt in the air. He looked up at me and didn't even wiggle. Normally he jumps right up and wants out right a way, but not today. I reached down and picked him up and he was HOT. Took the temp and it was 104, scared me to death!! The doctor said to come right in there was time to see us, of course its a 45 min drive to Lander to see the dr. We got there and he checked him over, still can't see in that left ear. Everything else seemed ok, strep test was neg, blood test showed elevated levels for a bacteria infection. The dr guessed it must be that left ear and it must have an infection. We got our prescription and instructions and headed for Riverton and the pharmacy. Brayden and I got home about 7 or so, had a bite to eat and then took all his clothes off, he was soo hot. He was drinking some, but not alot, so that was something I had to work on a bit. We just sat and rocked mostly. Finally about 9 or so the fever just wasn't budging, so I ran a tepid bath and put him in to see if we could get it down. Found out that is how we could get him to drink water, he loves to drink his bath water!! :-) As long as there hasn't been soap in it yet, I figure its safe enough. His fever finally came down a bit and I got him down to sleep. He got about 2 hrs and was back up again with a hot fever. Mommy got a little sleep after the midnight bath and Brayden did too. Thurs was a bit better, but he still wasn't real good. Finally today we have gotten ahead of it and he isn't playing or tugging on his ear all day. We have a couple of other things to try on the wax in that ear after we get a few more days of antibiotic in him. Maybe we will get it cleaned out better so it can drain too. This week we have had a clinging whining boy for the most part. Tonight he was near normal and was playing independently again. MUst let this do for now and get some sleep, got to keep up ya know.

Just riding by!

This birthday toy has been a lot of fun and good while mommy is cooking. It helps keep him occupied so he doesn't want held all the time!

Bye Bye, time to go

He has the wave down, but the word starts with a "d" not a "b".

Anybody remember this little guy?? Its amazing the changes in him over the time we have been home. Just thought I would put this on here so others would see the changes too. Wednesday November 1st was the appointment with the cardiologist. The doctors come up from Denver Childrens once every three months, so this was our visit. The dr said he has a very boring heart. He listened to it rather extensively I thought, but that means he heard all there was to hear. That was excellent news. Can't complain about that at all. Of course getting the EKG was interesting. Brayden apparently remembered the thing about nurses because he gave this one fits. She wasn't even armed with a needle, and he still gave fits. She had to put 10 sticky tabs on his body, one on each ankle, four on the chest, two on the collar bones, one on each side, then attach the little wires with clips to each tab. He screamed and fought that with everything he had. She got kicked so many times I am sure she lost count. AFter she had him all hooked up she stepped back and I could get his entire attention on me. He quieted down pretty good and she said the third EKG was the best reading one. That would be once the screaming stopped. Taking the tabs off then was a whole new screaming situation. Anyone would have thought it hurt really really bad the way he was reacting. When we were finished with that dr I stepped next door to our regular dr to have his ears checked again. We are still having the wax battle. Dr Barnes cleaned out his left ear with a tool and said that should help, and the right ear is looking lots better. He is even talking a bit better all the time, so must be hearing better too. Dr Barnes also explained the EKG a bit to me, all looked normal and he said it was nice to wipe his Russian medical records completely clean with no evidence of truth in them. That means that should we need to change insurance companies at any point, there wouldn't be anything there to keep another company from insuring him. Good to know why we are jumping through all these hoops and dr visits that we really hadn't intended to do. Feels a little like having a dr that watches out for your interests. When we finished with all of that we went to see mommy's dr, just to introduce them, was fun to just stop in and say hello. Even the ladies from the accounting office came out to say hello. They gave Brayden his first sucker. I am not a fan of suckers and still NOT, after I got him buckled in I exchanged his sucker for a cheese stick. He loves string cheese. A pretty good trade I would say!! All in all a good week. AFter the dr visits though he has gotten pretty clingy, hope that gets better in a few days. We hope to rake some leaves tomorrow if the weather will cooperate. Would be so nice to have a good day outside, like last weekend.