Taz strikes again

A long time ago, my mom and Dan nicknamed Ryan Taz. They called him this due to his propensity to go from room to room and destroy it in the blink of an eye. It only gets worse when he gets tired. Also a long time ago, Joel and I transitioned Ryan into a toddler bed. He did great, but for some reason after a few months he decided he wouldn't sleep in it anymore, and went back to his crib. Today when I put the boys down for naps, Ryan figured out how to crawl out of his crib. I had a couple large piles of Kaleigh's clothes on Jake's dresser to put away (after the room switch Jaz got her dresser). I was having a meeting with our social worker and suddenly heard a lot of commotion from the kid's room. Ryan had tossed all the clothes, diapers, humidifier, and basket of lotions off the dresser, ripped the sheets off Kaleigh's crib, and was making Jake seriously mad by being in his crib while Jake wanted to sleep. What a stinker. I couldn't help but reach for my camera.

Size Comparison

Here's a picture of Braeden's foot and Kaleigh's foot. Keep in mind, if you use Kaleigh's adjusted age-(based on her actual due date, not her birth date) she is one week older than Braeden. Kind of a fun way to see just how small she really is.

Finally...more pics of Braeden

Due to all the illnesses we've had running through our house, we've been unable to visit with Baby Braeden. I haven't seen him in a little over a month, and it's been driving me nuts. We just couldn't risk getting that little...er chubby guy sick! Thankfully, we've all been healthy for a while, and Dan and Sarah brought him up for a visit today. I can't believe how much he's grown. He's a totally different baby from the last time I saw him. He's absolutely adorable, and I simply couldn't get enough snuggles and kisses in before they had to leave. He's looks like a combination of Sarah, Dan, and Ryan as a baby. No matter who he looks like....he's cute as can be.

Another child in the house...

We are excited to welcome Jazmin back for her 3rd stay at our house. The last few visits were on the short side while her foster parents went on vacations. This time she's going to stay for a few weeks! We're taking her to give her current foster parents a break. They are super busy, and we are happy to give them some well needed respite. Once again, I can't share pictures, but she is not only cute....she's a total ham:)

Sledding Again

We took the boys sledding again. We went to a local hill we tried earlier in the season. It's very close by, and just the perfect size. With the warm spell we've been having, the hill was very packed down. You could go really far on just a normal sled. One spot was super icy, and the kids were going down it without sleds. Ryan saw this, and thought he should try it. We were a little leary at first. Most of the kids looked over 6 and Ryan's just 2. But, we let him do it. He then proceeded to do it about 15 more times!! He loved it, and eventually started trying to go back down when he was only 1/2 way up the hill, he just couldn't wait to get to the top. We also brought Great Grandma Peterson with us. She was able to enjoy watching us all sled, and got lots of good pictures on her camera too.

Monkey See...Monkey Do?

A couple days ago, I forgot to hook the "lock" on our fridge door. Jake got into it, and made a bit of a mess. Thankfully, the dogs were ever so willing to help clean it up. Then this morning, Ryan pushed a "step-stool" over to the counter, and spilled yet another jug of creamer. Man, that stuff is NOT fun to clean up, it doesn't soak into paper towels, and takes forever to rinse out of washclothes. As you can see, neither of them were very happy about what they did. Even though I stood there taking pictures and telling them it was okay. No use crying over spilled....creamer!

Video of Walking Nakey Jakey

I have been trying to capture video of Jacob walking for almost a week now. That's how I got that random shot in the bathroom of him in the mirror. Anyway, after some pleading from Nana this morning, I finally was able to set him upright, and walk away and capture the video. It's not very long, but it sure is CUTE! Way to go Jacob, mommy and daddy are proud.

Peek a Boo....I see you!!

Jake's Finally Walking!!

Another monumental moment happened this last weekend, and I completely forgot to mention it. Jacob started walking "for real"!! He still will only do it when he wants to, and if you try to make him, he lays down and thinks it's a game:) But I think he finally realized it's quite fun being upright. He's getting better everday, but still prefers to crawl when he really wants to get somewhere fast. I'll try to get some good pictures of video of it and post it soon.

Daddy and Grandpa's Surprise for Mommy

After returning from urgent care with Ryan, we ate supper, and the guys went back to the task at hand....installing the new toilets. I let the kids play and then went to toss them in the tub-bub. We were a little out of our element since Grandma usually bathes them when they are over, but I was able to find the bath toys and get the boys into the tub. Only then did I notice the "ever so subtle" practical joke Joel and his dad played on me. Of course once Ryan saw Jake's tattoo he wanted one for himself. Unfortunately, there weren't any of the super big ones left, so he had to settle for a regular sized one. Thank goodness they are only temporary!

Ryan's First Stitches

This afternoon we were visiting Grandpa Peterson. Grandma is in the hospital recovering from a hip replacement. Joel and his dad were installing a new toilet in the bathroom and Ryan was "helping". He was carrying around the tools, and pretending to "fix" things with them. I went to lay him down on Grandpa's bed to change his diaper, and his hand bounced up, wrench and all, and smacked him in the mouth. Immediately he was bleeding and crying, and after a few seconds we realized it was probably going to require stitches. So I hauled him off to urgent care and left the guys to fend for Jake and Kaleigh. Ryan was an absolute trooper through it all. He put on his brave face, and let the Doctor put in two stitches. He barely even fussed when they injected the lidocaine. Once we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, he finally looked in the mirror, saw the stitches and asked me to kiss his owie.

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm not much of a believer in all the hype on Valentine's day. But I'll wish it to others just the same. Last year Joel came home with Chinese take-out, and a six-pack of Honeyweiss. Now that's a present! Not only did I not have to cook, but I got to relax after dinner with a cold beer! Today the boys and I got Duchess a new winter jacket. She looks pretty cute in it. Then we went to ECFE for playtime. Jake goes to the childcare, and Kaleigh stays with Ryan and me. Ryan's "best friend" was there. They looked pretty cute sharing the car. Most of the kids fight over who gets to be in it. But not these two, they figured out a better way.

Playing Playdough

Ryan loves to play with playdough. He hasn't done it for a while, but we pulled it out again today. He likes to roll it out and use cookie cutters to make different shapes.

Kaleigh weighed in today at 7.11 lb not so great. She's only gained 7 oz in the last 21 days. Hopefully she'll start packing it on again soon. She was doing so well for a while, but seems to have gotten stuck! We've got to make even more of an effort to fatten her up than we already are. Not sure how to do that!

I spoke with my friend Missy today. She and hubby had a beautiful baby girl with a full head of brown hair. They named her Lyla Ann. She is lucky to be born to such good people, and we couldn't be happier for them. Everyone is doing well, although sleep deprived. Welcome to the world of parenting.

Little Hams

Things are finally getting under control around here! All the kids are starting to feel better, and get back up to their normal energy levels. Our respite foster child went home, it was nice to have her, but with sick kids it does add some extra stress.

Ryan and Jake have been haming it up for the camera lately! They are fairly happy kids anyway, but now that they're feeling better....they're really piling it on. Jake's still not walking on his own. He's perfectly content to crawl where he wants to go. Ryan has a "best friend". His name is Colt, and he's in the same ECFE class as Ryan. They are two peas in a pod. Ryan talks about him non-stop, and apparently Colt does the same. It's fun to watch them play and interact with each other.

Joel is going on a business trip to Texas next month. It will be a long week without him, but we'll manage. He's very good at what he does for Medtronic. They are always utilizing his talents for one thing or another. I jokingly call him "special project Pete".

Kaleigh is starting to come around. She still is fairly congested, and vomits every day, but I think we're getting it under control. She really needs to start gaining some weight again!

An update

It's been a busy and stressfull week at the Peterson house. After Jake's short hospital visit, my mom came up to help out a bit. It was great having her around, and it ended way to soon. She left Friday morning to go home for work. Kaleigh had to have an upper GI test done to help determine the cause of her projectile vomiting, which causes her to choke and then turn blue. This has been getting more and more frequent, so it was decided that it should be done Friday afternoon. Then her Pulmonologist got wind of what was going on, and said he wanted her seen in the ER afterward to test her for RSV. A friend thankfully took both boys so I didn't have to drag them all the way to Mpls Children' s Hospital. Her upper GI didn't show anything, but her RSV test was positive. That BITES!! She's even on a vaccine monthly to help prevent it (around $1300/mo) but still managed to catch it. So they decided to admit her, even though at the time she wasn't showing any symptoms. So long story short, I got home from the hospital around 11pm, tried to tidy up a little, crawled into bed and was up at 5am to head back down to the hospital Saturday morning. I couldn't convince them to discharge her, so she stayed, and I headed home to prep for another child who was coming to stay with us for a few days. She's been here before, and is a lot of fun. But she has a lot of equipment, and takes up the whole bedroom, plus she has 24/7 nursing. She arrived, and we got her all settled in and I passed out from exhaustion! That night Jake was up having coughing fits numerous times, and needed two nebs in the middle of the night-and then thought he should be up for the day at 6:30. So after a pot of coffee, and dozens of phone calls to the hospital to convince them I really am Kaleigh's foster mom, and they can send her home with me....I left to pick her up. By the time I got home the superbowl was well under way, and I had a house full! This time it was fun stress though.
Jake's hopefully going to have a better night, Ryan's finally asleep, and Kaleigh has stopped coughing and fell asleep too. So, I'm about to go give Jake his nebs again, and then I'll head off to bed!