Holy Humidity!!

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Weekend. Dan spent the weekend working so we didn't get to do anything fun. :( I'm already looking forward to my birthday next Monday. Dan took the day off work to be with Kalvin and I!!!!!!!!!!! It has been way too long since we had an entire day without Dan working!! In fact, I can't even remember when it was...

Any ideas of fun things to do for the day?? Last year for my birthday we went to Como Zoo and then went for ice cream. It was a really fun day but I was 8 months pregnant. Walking around in 90 degree heat was a bad idea!! I felt like a big fat sweaty whale!

Speaking of being sweaty...Our house is so incredibly humid!! It was pretty hard to sleep last night. I'm getting pretty sick of living in this old house :( The windows don't open and even if they did...there are no screens so critters would walk or fly right in! I don't want another bat in our bedroom!! EEK! Someday we'll live in a new place!!

Here are a few pictures from this morning!

And this is what's going on at this very second:

I snuck in to take some sleeping pictures of Kalvin. He always looks so peaceful. I still have the crib bumper in because Kalvin uses it to calm himself down. When he's trying to fall asleep he'll touch those bumps on the minky fabric.

And here's Vera! I had to physically carry her back in the house...all 40lbs of her! She didn't want to come in. I don't blame her! It's beautiful (but windy) out! I'm scared for Vera to spend time outside because I don't want her to get bit up again! The fields and tall grass behind her are breeding grounds for bugs (and snakes!!).

Maybe after Kalvin wakes up we'll slather sunscreen on Kalvin and brave the wind so we can go for a walk! YAY for not having to be so sheltered in the house anymore!

A wonderful day!

AHHHHH!! Today has been an amazing day compared to the rest of my week! I got the lawn mowed, Vera's neck is looking slightly better, the house is (kind of) clean, went for a play date with a great friend, Dan had a productive day at work, Kalvin is in bed, and now I'm finally enjoying some supper and a cold beer!

Here are some pictures from today:

Vera always scoots her butt right up to Kalvin's face and then he grabs her tail...It really grosses me out and I always scrub Kalvin's hands with anti-bacterial soap after this!

Kalvin got his faced licked...notice the hair sticking up on the left! He got a bath tonight to clean off the layers of sunscreen, dog spit, and dirt!

Our lilacs are also blooming!!! They smell AMAZING! I love having fresh flowers in the house!

I was so excited about the mason jars full of lilacs that I called Dan and told him how good our house smelled...He didn't seem impressed...I guess he's allergic to the pollen :( Rats!! I guess it's good he's not home much because I'm not removing them from the house! He'll just have to suffer the 7 hours he's home to sleep :) he he!

**WARNING**Nasty pictures of my puppy...Do not scroll all the way down if you have a wimpy tummy!!

OK...I'm Serious...these pictures are pretty disturbing so consider yourself warned if you choose to scroll down. I'm not responsible if you throw-up in your mouth a little or if you have nightmares...

Two days ago, Vera was outside for a couple hours in the afternoon. She was busy playing and never complained so I left her out there to burn off some energy. Well...while she was out, mosquitoes decided Vera tasted good. She literally has thousands of bites on her body :( Soooo sad!! I bought her some OTC doggy benadryl hoping that would help her stop itching.

By yesterday afternoon, One of the spots on her neck was seriously raw, bleeding, and swollen. I didn't know what else I could do and I didn't want an infection to set in! I called the Vet in town, woke Kalvin up from his nap, and drove our dog in for an emergency appointment.

I'd never been to this Vet but I will definitely be taking her back there!! They were so good with Vera and extremely helpful!! Her neck was starting to get infected so they shaved the area and scrubbed it really good. We were sent home with antibiotics, steroid pills and a medicated shampoo (and a $200 Vet bill!!!!) I hope it gets better quickly because I want my healthy puppy back!! Also...her wound smells like raw meat....sick...there's a reason I'm a vegetarian!!!!

Vera's belly

This is her neck before they shaved it and scrubbed it. Poor baby!

The bites are everywhere :(


Her white face mostly looks pink from the bites :( She was sleeping/relaxed...that's why her tongue is out!!)

I had to throw one cute one in! This was from a few days ago!

Hope everyone kept there food down! Lets pray these next few days are better and Vera heals up fast!!!!

This has been my day...

We tried another egg yolk with Kalvin this morning. It went okay... He didn't really get many bites in. He mostly just wanted to play with it and push it all on the floor. He did get a red blotchy rash on this hands and tummy about 15 minutes after I took him out of his chair (hmmmm) He also had some pretty nasty poopy diapers this afternoon (sorry if that was TMI). I'm not sure if that was related. We may have to try it again when he'll actually take a few real bites.

Kalvin was a big messy pig after playing with the egg so I stripped him down!


Kalvin has been busy exploring the house. He pretty much pulls himself up on everything. He hasn't taken any steps yet but I can tell he wants to!

Because he's been so busy exploring the house...I emptied out the bottom part of this cabinet for him. It was filled with glass serving dishes and platters and I was getting really sick of telling him NO all the time. So the stuff is moved and I've given that cabinet to Kalvin. He's a happy boy! He enjoyed crawling in and out of it!

He had a long afternoon of playing and now he's been napping for 3 1/2 hours! All this playing is making me sleepy too! I can't believe how exhausted he makes me at the end of the day! He's becoming so silly though and everyday I'm thankful for being able to stay home with him! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

I guess I've been busy!

Woofda...Almost a whole week since my last post?!? I guess things have been kind of busy! My days consist of making sure our mobile child is safe. I feel like I can't get anything done right now! I still need to figure mommyhood out I guess!

Over the weekend we went to a wedding. It was so fun seeing our old college friends and introducing them to Kalvin. Dan and I aren't used to staying up late anymore so we were pretty tired yesterday! Dan also didn't feel the best!! :)

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! I'll try to be better about posting this week!!

WILD Child!

Kalvin has officially turned into a wild child! I can't get him to sit still! He has too much stuff to do! He's gotten really good at standing up on things. Enjoy the pictures from yesterday:

He's been sick so he's been making this face a lot...he also makes this face at me when I tell him No. He doesn't realize that outlets and cords are not good toys!

He's so proud of himself!!

The white blob in the corner is something I was holding up. I had to tempt him with something to get him to come my way. :)

He also got his other top tooth!!!!! It has been over a month since he got his first top tooth and I was beginning to get worried he was only going to have one front tooth forever. I have a bad habit of googling everything and then getting scared! Web MD said sometimes a baby tooth never does come in but then they are more likely to never have a permanent tooth grow in. EEK! I was worried Kalvin was going to have snaggle teeth!!!! Woofda...We're safe this round!! ha ha!

Happy Birthday Dan!!

Today is Dan's birthday! He's the big 2-8! For some strange reason, he always seems to hate his birthday. Much different than me, I pretty much have a count down going a few months before hand because I'm so excited!

Kalvin and I wrapped his gift. As you can see in the second picture, Kalvin even did a little artwork on the gift tag. Then he cried when I took the pen away...

BTW...Check out that awesome gift tag! It was my splurge last week. I bought a Creative Memories gift tag punch at a garage sale for $5.00. I never seem to buy anything for myself anymore so this was a big deal. Dan was even proud of me for spending money on myself. ( funny that my husband is proud of me for spending money!! haha). I've used the punch for 2 gifts already this week and can't wait to get some fun paper and use it for many more gifts!!!

Well time to get my snotty little boy and I ready to go visit Dan at work and deliver his gift.

Garage sale find...

Kalvin and I did a little garage saling yesterday. I really enjoy shopping for bargains!! I found a super nice (almost new) BodyGlove infant life-jacket and it was only $4.00!! Dan's parent's have a pontoon and it's a law that every person has to have a life jacket to ride on the boat. We only go on it a few times a year and I was dreading paying full price for a new one and then only using it once or twice...PROBLEM SOLVED!! Kalvin was a little unsure about the purchase...he didn't like how he couldn't move freely because it was so bulky! Now we just need warm weather!

I also bought Kalvin a bunch of "play clothes" that were only .25 each! So now he can go for as many rides in the tractor as he can take and play in the grass as much as he'd like :) His closet is pretty well stocked with clothes until he's like 2!

I mentioned earlier in the week that Kalvin went to the doctor for his 9 month well-baby checkup. Here are his current stats:


Weight: 19 lbs 10 oz 37th percentile (50% is the average child)
Length: 27.5" 25th percentile
Head: 17 1/4" 13th percentile

So it looks like Kalvin is turning into a little peanut!!!

A few days ago he learned to clap which is really funny! He also has been standing ALOT! It takes him a long time to fall asleep at night because he's so busy just standing in his crib! I can't help but peak on him because it's so fun to watch when he thinks no one is looking :) Yes...I know...that sounds pretty creeperish!!

Kalvin and I were supposed to go to a bridal shower today but we're not going to make it. Kalvin woke up in the night very sick :( His cough sounded like a barking seal. I didn't think having him passed around by 30 people was probably a good idea... So now he's napping with the humidifier running. Hopefully his other top tooth comes in soon, this sickness goes away quickly and the weather warms up!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!! (Whew...that was long!)

Eggs = Allergic Reaction????

Today I gave Kalvin a hard-boiled egg yoke. He absolutely loved it! He also liked smearing it around on the table :) About 5 minutes or so after he ate, he started getting a bright red blotchy rash with little white bumps around his mouth. He ate an egg about a week ago and has also had 2 flu shots with no problems. But this time was definitely different!

I called his doctor who said to wait a week and introduce it again and see what happens. It's scary to think about trying it again! She also said if it is an egg allergy, each time he's exposed to it the reaction could be worse! That's scary too!

I'm hoping it was just a fluke because he REALLY enjoyed his egg! I guess we wait and see...

Vera's tongue issue...

Isn't this weird??? Sometimes when Vera is sleeping, her tongue hangs out!!! It always freaks Dan and I out!

Last night I finally decided to googled it. Turns out, she's fine...some dogs just do that when they get super relaxed. Even though she's fine...it still weirds me out and I'll continue to try to shove her tongue back in her mouth every time I see it like this!!

Did anyone else know about this tongue issue???

Happy Planting!

My family has been busy planting 5 more acres of grapes for their winery! Check out the awesome building and the beautiful field of {future} vines! Pretty cool!

The building will feature a very cool tasting room and outdoor patio with a small kitchen that will specialize in pizza and other foods that are yummy with wine. The large production room will be a great venue for hosting wedding receptions and other large events.

Here are the vines from last year. They are already pruned for this year's growing season so I guess there isn't too much to look at :) But isn't that clover on the ground cool. It stayed green all winter!

These are the newly planted vines!

Who wouldn't want to enjoy a glass (or whole bottle) of wine here??

Calum was helping plant too but mostly wanted to eat the dirt :)

I'll be letting everyone know when the grand opening date approaches!

Special Dog/Mommy time!

I'm just waiting for Kalvin to wake up from his nap (he's already been sleeping 3 hours!) I thought I'd cuddle with Vera and take some pictures of us! She was mighty happy to sit on my lap! She wasn't shy about crawling right up!

My parents beagle, Roma, wasn't so happy about all Vera's attention!

PS...Any tricks for keeping my eyes open for pictures???? I'm thinking eyelid removal surgery maybe?

Kalvin is definitely my child!

Kalvin can't seem to get enough of my parents vacuum! He'll crawl across the house just to get to it! He's definitely my child if he enjoys cleaning! I'm A-OK with him playing with it because it seems to keep him occupied and if he's occupied...he's not pinching and scratching at my neck!!

Kalvin also learned a new trick (yeah...I know...that sounds like he's a puppy). Since he was a tiny baby I did the thing where you say "Kalvin, how big are you?" and then you raise their hands above their head and say "SOOO big!" Well now Kalvin raises his own hands when I ask him! He can't really get his hands completely over his head...mostly just to his ears :) It's pretty cute!

Poor Puppy :(

I picked Vera up from the vet today. She's been so sad and droopy all day. As nice as it is to have her so calm...I wish she felt better. She's not even pestering my parents dog!!

Kalvin and I have just been hanging out. My mom has been busy all day and my dad is FINALLY in the fields! YAY! It's nice hanging out in a spider free/snake free house!!

I think it may be time for a glass of delicious wine :) Happy Tuesday!

Cute Cousins

Aren't they cute together??? I really enjoy Kalvin having little cousins!! He likes it too! This morning Kalvin got lots of hugs and kisses (and a few random pokes in the eye) from his cousin, Henry and then spend the afternoon with Calum.

These two love to do everything together. If one is doing or holding something, the other wants in on the action! They even mimic each others noises! VERY CUTE!

I think it's time for bed now! I go to bed MUCH later when I'm visiting my parents!! I'm exhausted!

1st communion

My favorite (and only!) niece had her first communion this weekend. My sister asked me to take a few pictures. She looked beautiful in her fancy white dress and the vail my mom made her! Maybe I'm a tiny bit bias but I think she looked the best!! :)

I'm at my parent's house all week so Kalvin and I are happy for a week of hanging out with family! Bring on the fun!!

Vera gets her womanly parts taken out tomorrow. Call me a bad dog mommy but I'm SUPER excited for a 24 hour break from her!!!!!! 8am can't come soon enough!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!