Aunt & Uncle Visits

Rolly is one lucky little guy to have loving uncles and aunts. I'm not officially an aunt myself, but I can only hope to be at least half as wonderful an aunt as Rolly's Aunt Brianna, or Nana, as the kiddos say. She loves him and he knows it. Sometimes he carries her family-photo flash card around the house or gives her photo a ride on his truck. I'm not kidding. And her photo is the only one lucky enough to have been offered a ride. So cute!

Rolly and Aunt Brianna at the pumpkin patch. The best thing about these two together is that Rolin doesn't seem to have much stranger danger with her. Soooo nice!

Everyone was, of course, excited when we moved back to Washington, particularly because we had a baby on the way. We had lots of family come visit while we were there, mostly to see Rolin, the main attraction. Naturally, they all feared Rolly wouldn't remember them very well when we moved to Arizona, so we've already had multiple rounds of visits from both sides of the family, and expect Grandpa Lee and Grammy again at Christmas. We are blessed with family that wants to and is willing to come visit. (I'm sure the Arizona weather has something to do with frequent visits, too, but I'm going to pretend it's really the three of us that keep everyone coming back, teehee.)

Aunt Brianna came out to visit in October. It was perfect timing as Justin had to work again that weekend, and I'd unpacked to a point where the necessities were out so there was a 98 percent chance it would take me a year to get other things out of the boxes. With someone here to play with Rolly, I was able to get more things unpacked, hang some pictures and get some work done without Rolin tugging on my pant leg. Plus, I got to introduce Brianna to "Steel Magnolias," and she got to watch me turn into a blubbery mess at the end (it gets me every time!). Good golly...it's even worse to watch as a parent, yet I willingly subject myself to it again and again.

We went to the pumpkin patch while Brianna was here in October. This one was much more than just a patch...there were rides, food stations, trains, pig races...the works!

He did not want to get his face painted. We walked away with only one swipe of yellow that he screamed about until it was removed, ha!

Just over two-feet tall this fall.

Back to school, back to school...

We rode the carousel.

And the train. It was hot. Jeans were a bad choice.

We picked out pumpkins.

Rolin loved this pumpkin so much he kept giving it hugs.

There was lots of snuggle time and game playing with Aunt Brianna.

Rolin and Nanna had pompom fights, too. Rolin thought it was hilarious to grab a handful of as many pompoms he could and throw them at Aunt Brianna. The giggles lasted a long time :)

Aunt Brianna and Uncle Joe came back to visit in November. We'd been practicing with our family photo flash cards so Rolin was well practiced in saying Uncle Joe and Aunt Brianna / Nana by the time they got here. It's so stinkin' cute!! 

I think Rolin's favorite part about that trip was all the lounging on the couch watching football with Uncle Joe. 

And playing shapes with Uncle Joe.

And giving Uncle Joe and Aunt Brianna high fives.

And just having Uncle Joe and Aunt Brianna in the house. There was always someone to play blocks. 

After the farmers market on Saturday we went to lunch at Joe's Farm Grill. Had to take a picture, of course. 

And on Sunday we went to check out Arizona State University. The stadium was open, so we helped ourselves. 

Rolin loved playing on the stairs in the center of the courtyard. I thought this was similar to WSU's "nipple of knowledge." Coincidentally, this structure is also positioned atop the library. 

We're so glad to have visitors, and our house is always open to whoever, whenever! Come on down!

The great outdoors

Oh, how I love the sunny days in Arizona. I'm sure at some point we'll long for snow, or even a foggy morning, but, for now, Rolly and I really enjoy the weather and our (almost) daily trips to the park.

Here are a few vids of him at the park doing what little boys do best...running, playing and hurting himself.

This was the first time he went down a slide by himself, and on his tummy, no less. You don't actually get to see him go down because I freaked and jumped off the toy to meet him at the bottom. I'll tell you what happened instead -- his shirt came up on the way down, resulting in a wicked slide burn on his belly. He shook it off in a few seconds, but did not like when I busted out the hydrogen peroxide to clean it off at home. Doing so produced a nasty scab and what looks to be a scar he'll have for life. He wears onesie shirts to the park now. This video is from mid-October:

This was a sleepy day at the park...most of the time was spent sitting in the rocks, looking at and saying "moon," and watching airplanes. I can't help but laugh every time he starts putting that rock up to his lips. This was taken the day before Halloween:

This next video is a barrel full of laughs. He's on a steep hill (much steeper than it looks in the video). I recommend you bookmark this one, in case you have a day when you need a good laugh:

Rolin LOVES to wear this monkey on his back. He'll wear it for the better part of a day, if we let him. Sometimes he'll wear it at a store, sometimes to the park. Other times it's just around the house while he rides his truck in the kitchen or plays blocks in the living room. He likes to check out his reflection in the oven when he wears it. This monkey is actually one of those child leashes, but we don't use it as a leash. Right now it's just a source of entertainment for our little boy who has a growing imagination and personality. This video was taken in early November, the day before his eye surgery:

Shortly after I took this video, Rolin fell. He fell hard. He fell flat on his face on the sidewalk. There was blood. Lots (ok, not that much) of blood. I couldn't tell if he put a tooth through his lip, chopped a tooth or lost a tooth...all I knew was I'd never before seen that much blood come pouring out of my baby. I scooped him up and power walked home where I called my dad while I waited for the doctor to call back. Daddy-o suggested a popsicle, which seemed to heal and cheer Rolly right up. In the end, it turned out he just bit his lip pretty good. He was completely healed in a few days. Whew!

If you look closely, you can see his puffy lips. Poor buggy. He was a champ, though. I would have cried harder and longer if it'd been me!

No, the blood didn't come out of my shirt. But that's ok.

Get on my feet!

I'm sorry we've been lacking in posts. Rolly is a lot  more interactive now, and I feel bad sitting at a computer trying to do something other than work when he wants to play. Especially when he comes and takes me by the hand to go on a baby adventure or to play blocks.

When he's napping (which is getting better!!) I find other things to do, like eat Halloween candy and watch "Harry Potter." When he's down for the night, I find other things to do, like eat popcorn and watch "New Girl."

Dishes? Laundry? Well, I leave those for Justin, of course ;) Kidding, kidding. We pretty much share those things...they get done eventually.

Here are a couple silly videos from October. I look at Rolin every day, but I don't realize how much he changes in even one month until I look at old pictures or videos. Even since I took these he's grown to look more like a little boy than a baby.

Hairpane!

Rolin's latest obsession = airplanes. He can hear them about 20 seconds before either Justin or I can hear them, and he's also brought to my attention that we apparently live over a flight path to the municipal airport.

I had no idea so many planes flew over my house!

"Hairpane! Hairpane!" I hear this about 35 times a day. I think it's adorable.

He can even spot them through car windows.

This is him at the park about a month or so ago, when he just started spotting airplanes. I think he thought he could catch up with them. What I love most is how he squats down and points. I call it his Lewis & Clark stance.

We've ridden our bikes to the airport a couple times to watch the planes take off and land. It practically blew his mind. 

Baby Owen!

Something very exciting happened last week! Baby Owen was born to Maggie and Drew!

As soon as the name was revealed, I followed Rolin around the house saying, "Hi, Baby. Baby Owen. Happy birthday, baby Owen!" I tried my darnedest to get him to say it back.

I finally (sort of) succeeded:

Welcome, baby Owen! You're a very special gift to your wonderful, loving momma and daddy, and of course to your brother and extended family too.

Tear ducts

As I mentioned in my last post, Rolin had a surgical procedure Friday to open his tear ducts. Things went fine and he seems just about back to normal today. 

In the prep room, wearing his "one size fits none" hospital gown. They even gave him little hospital socks with the grippers on the bottom.

Poor baby didn't know what was coming.

We had to check in at 6 a.m. and were there until about 10:30 a.m. or so. We stayed about an hour and a half longer than expected as he had a rougher than expected recovery from the anesthesia. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that on my own, but the nurses and doctors kept saying so. 

I know everyone's prayers helped with our nerves -- I felt just fine the whole time. Tears were shed though: mostly tears of joy that it worked and he woke up, but they were mixed with a little sadness for how mad, sad and completely out of it Rolly was in recovery, and how hard it was to get him to calm down at first. Plus, it was sad seeing blood in his tears and coming from his nose. 

Snuggles were about all that helped. 

I also had an unfortunate snot-string incident happen when the ophthalmologist came to chat with us again... I said, "oh I'm fine..." [wipe nose with hand...something comes away with hand...doctor and husband give  me a 'ew, gross' look...someone hands me a tissue]. But I suppose I'm not the first mom he's seen in that situation. At least I'd like to think that. 

I was pleasantly pleased with the way the ophthalmologist, anesthesiologist and the recovery room nurses kept coming by to check on him and explain things to us. He had to wear an oxygen mask on and off for a while to get numbers back up to a good level. Things were looking ok so we thought we'd go, but then the nurse asked if I was sure about three times, which made me think I wasn't, so we stayed longer. I'm glad we did. After another 20 mins or so, his numbers were even better and he stayed awake on his own for about five minutes. By that time you could tell the nurses felt better about his status, which, of course, made me feel a lot more comfortable going home. 

He slept most of the day away, ate a little bit and played a little before bedtime. On top of all his daytime sleep, he slept from 8:30 p.m. to 5:22 a.m. in his room. Tired babe! He still has some blood-tinged boogs and tears today, but he really seems back to his normal, active self. 

Snuggled with the bear the hospital gave him. He carried it around and hugged it all day. So sweet!

Couch cuddles are uncommon since he's usually on the move, so we enjoyed a day of snuggles with the little bug. 

What they did: They put little tubes in both of his ducts that go down into his nose. The tubes poke through the membrane in the duct that was either completely blocking the duct or was just making it a tight squeeze for the eye goop and tears to drain properly (so he had a goopy, crusty eye most of the time). They'll either work their way out or be taken out in three months. Hopefully that does the trick and we don't have to go back in to try again or try something different. 

When we were there, we met a family with a 14-mo-old boy. This was his eighth surgery. Eighth! The sweet little love. He was born with Spina Bifida, something they didn't know until he was born. They were in good spirits, considering, and were joking a bit about how on top of everything, their baby had bad tear ducts too. I wish we could have chatted with them more -- they seemed like a strong, kind couple. 

Milk!

Guess what! We had Rolin tested and discovered he is a 0 on a scale of 0-10 allergic level to milk protein! Yahoo! Praise God!

I'm both ashamed and proud to say we chose mac n' cheese as his first milk meal. He wasn't very in to it...I think because of the noodles. The last time he ate noodles willingly was the night before he woke up with diarrhea :(

It wasn't any trouble at all to switch him from almond milk to dairy. I think he likes milk more than anything right now, especially because he's teething and not the biggest fan of chewing.

We're easing into other milk products -- he'll eat yogurt like it's going out of style, but isn't a huge cheese fan. Either way, now that he can have dairy there are many more options for meals, and we don't have to pack a meal for when we're going out to eat or we might be running errands into the lunch hour (although I still haven't stopped doing that...it's a hard habit to break).

We'd like to ask that you keep our little bug in your prayers this week as he's having surgery Friday. He's had a clogged tear duct since before he was born and it just isn't opening on it's own. We started visiting doctors and getting ready to schedule the surgery before we even heard the word Arizona, but because of the timeline and our move south, we had to start over once we got to Arizona with a new ophthalmologist.

He'll be under anesthesia for 20-30 mins and we'll get to leave the hospital the same day. It's really more of a procedure, I suppose... and I'm doing my best not to be nervous about it, even though I have a good reason to be nervous. I had the same procedure done when I was 6-months old and had to be resuscitated. So. There's that. However, I trust the doctors, and they have confidence in the anesthesiologist at the hospital.

They say he'll have a bit of a bloody nose after, but that should be the worst of it. I'm sure he'll have a nice ice cream treat after dinner Friday night.