Thursday, January 31, 2008

sleepy times

Bright slept for 8 hours straight last night. A new record! I think I may have gotten 5-6 hours myself. He has been taking more steps every night and figured out how to climb up on to the couch by using one of his toys as a step stool. Yikes!

The poor guy is now working on his molars- if you can believe it! He is drooling up a storm and biting down on his fingers way back in his mouth. He never seems to get a break from it. Seems like his teeth are coming in faster than some of his peers. Pretty soon he'll be able to eat steak- veggie steak, that is...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Sweet Surprises!

This weekend we had two nice surprises- one was a visit from some neighbors that had moved away. Their girls have grown so much in just a few months! Bright loves playpals and fortunately he had just woken up from a good nap before they came so he was in great spirits. Jordan and Christina- I hope you surprise us again!

The other sweet surprise was in finding a recipe for vegan cheesecake that might just be a good rival for the one sold at Sweet Life in Eugene, Oregon. Both Andy and I loved their cheesecake and would eat it as often as we dared. This recipe is great! My sweet tooth wanted to dump some canned pie filling on top like on a regular cheesecake, but Andy put his foot down and wouldn't allow it. In the end, he was right. It was great naked! Nice and smooth- more like a European Cheesecake than a dense NY style cheesecake. No saturated fat, or cholesterol.

This is the website for the recipe and photo- check it out. There are great things there. http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2005/09/imbb-19-i-cant-believe-its-vegan.html

(Vegan) Lemon Cheesecake

1-14 oz package firm silken tofu (we only had a 12 oz. pkg of soft silken)
1-8 oz package Better than Cream Cheese
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup lemon juice (we used a little less)
½ tsp almond extract
2 tbsp cornstarch (I upped this to almost 3 Tbsp to make up for less tofu)
1-9 inch pie crust (we used a graham cracker crust, not the reg. pie crust)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Place silken tofu and vegan cream cheese in the food processor. Process for 1 minute, then add sugar. Process until smooth and no sugar granules remain, 3-5 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and almond extract. Whisk in cornstarch. Pour mixture into the food processor and process until very smooth. Pour into prepared crust and bake for 45 minutes. (We baked it for 40 minutes)
Allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate overnight. (Only refrigerated it for a few hours- who can wait overnight to eat this)
Serves 10 ( Really??, We finished it off in two days..., just the two of us)


Saturday, January 26, 2008

Five Steps

Today Bright walked five steps unassisted, while I was taking out the trash. Dang!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

And it happened overnight!

So a picture first and then the news....

How did this little chub get up there? He climbed, without help. Yeeks! We not only have a baby that walks a few steps without assistance and lots with holding on to a single finger, we also have a climber! He tried it once by climbing on to Andy's leg first and then did it on his own. So, stairs, walking, climbing. Oh my.

The car issue was resolved today. A quick call back from the sheriff trooper who then called the guy personally seemed to be all it took. Check deposited, part ordered. Case closed!

Andy sold a bunch of old toys on Ebay and got some nice money from it! Double yahoo!

No tylenol needed today for any of us in the house- Bright or me. A good day.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Things we are thinking about....

First, some nice pictures and then on to the heavy stuff-

Here is Bright self-feeding, sort of. Notice we have moved on to plastic bibs with a sweet pocket at the bottom to catch all the runoff. Here we have a favorite at lunch time- Rice Krispies. Not a nutritious meal, but a good way to keep the boy's hands busy while we get some more substantial food in him. He now self-feeds sweet potato chunks, cheddar cheese, veggie booty, fruit puffs, cheerios, banana chunks, and apple chunks. Take that pediatric gastroenterologist!

Then we have Bright and Mommy on the couch- he is eating the remote. We used to try like mad to keep it out of his hands which just caused meltdowns- his or mine, depending on the day and patience level, but now we just let him have it. It amuses him for a few seconds and then he is off to something else.


Here we have Bright and his dad engaged in some nice play time- which was soon followed up with some hair pulling and feet to the ears.

Now the things that have been on our minds- Andy is hoping that the guy whose Christmas tree blew out of the back of his pickup and smashed into our car front on the road this weekend doesn't mess with us too much in the process of getting it fixed. He said he wanted to estimates- got 'em- and then thinks that he is getting jacked with inflated prices. Should have just gone through insurance with it instead of taking him on good faith. Crap. Stressor #1.

Stressor #2- Bright has lead in his blood. Not a lot but it's there- something like 3 point I can't remember how much. At 10 they get concerned, so his is considered normal. Where did it come from?? It's not naturally occurring so it must be something in the environment. None of his toys are on the recall list, this place is too new to have lead paint... Maybe the water? Andy did a quick screen for the presence of lead and damn, there it is. Crap #2. The little boy is only 10 months old and has had very little exposure to the water here so what will it be like in a few months or a year? Need a bigger, better filter.

Stressor #3 was hastened by #2- to buy or not to buy a house. Several tempting ones, all with drawbacks though too. Location here is supreme, but too many gossipy retirees that watch our every move, lead in water a definite drawback, lake is supreme plus, not wanting to touch the nest egg we have built is tough too. Too many unknowns in that decision. If only there was a rich relative sitting on a pile of cash out there......hello?? anyone?? :)

But on a positive, somewhat crazy note- Bright continues to live up to his name. Yesterday all of us were in the living room, each doing our own thing when I said "Have you seen my cat? Where is my cat?", from the Eric Carle book that we read to Bright regularly. He stopped what he was doing, looked up at me and crawled over to his books that were all strewn around the floor, dug through until he found the book and held it up for me with a huge smile. Holy mackerel! I love him.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Seven Whole Hours?!

First here are some pictures from recent events-

This is Bright playing with my cousin Brian's little girl. She is 11 months old. They were cruising around the apartment with Bright's walker/carts and had a collision.

Here is Bright with Andy- after he has cleaned out his cabinet. Bowlhead is a popular game. For both of them.

This is Bright with some of his toys. Wolverine is protecting the silo.

Bright with me. Note his sweet hair swoop.

Bright and Grammy.

Bright and Grampy.


Bright and his Rice Krispie beard.

So, last night #2 of the formu-lak experiment. We put him down at 7:45 and he slept until 8:30, when Andy flushed the toilet... Then again until 10:00 when I took him into bed. He slept straight through until 5:00 and woke up for a feeding and slept again until 6:30ish- at which time he was completely soaked through. Oops! Who knew that diapers couldn't go almost 12 hours? Anyway... we are trying it again tonight, without much hope for a repeat. He did not drink as much tonight so we'll see... Teeth definitely not bothering him as much today and the one on the bottom has popped out so that must be better for him. That brings the count up to 7 chompers for him.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Follow up on last night

Well, Bright slept from 7:30-9:00, then until 10:30, when I took him to our bed and nursed him. He slept then until 3 or 4:00 and then again until 6:30. Did the formula work? Who knows. We'll try again tonight. My cousin Kristy and her husband came to watch Bright today while Andy and I went out for an hour. Not a lot of time out- but that was all we needed. Thanks guys!!

On another note- Brighty's momma made him cry today. Andy and I were snuggling on the couch early in the morning while Bright was happily playing with his new box of diapers on the floor just out of our sight. Later on I looked at the box while he was playing with me and noticed that he had apparently eaten a large chunk of it while we weren't looking. He saw me see it, and when I said "Oh, Bright- we can't eat boxes, it will make you sick", he got the saddest face and began to cry. That was the first time that I really realized that he understands so much of what we say. I felt terrible. I didn't say it in a mean way- just to correct him. Lessons learned. A new day tomorrow.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Where we are after 10 months with Bright

Bright turned 10 months old on Monday! He is such a joy to us and those that know him. I truly believe that his purpose here is to brighten up spirits of those around him. I know, sounds corny- Bright, brighten up. But really- today we were out having lunch with a friend and there was an elderly woman seated behind us that seemed a bit down. She had been watching Bright eating his Cheerios happily and then when he turned and saw her he gave her the biggest smile and her whole face lit up! That happens with everyone that he meets. Even his shy snuggle into mommy when new people makes them smile. So- odd name or not, depending on your perspective, he is aptly named.

As far as developmental milestones go, Bright has met them all and surpassed some. He can crawl like mad, 10 times faster when naked. He cruises around the house from couch to chair to coffee table. He jabbers up a storm at home and with familiar people. He uses a thumb, finger grasp to find every piece of floor crud we have and then shows it to us- rarely puts it into his mouth. He is eating Cheerios whole, Rice Krispies ( they make a marvelous beard when he feeds them to himself and misses his mouth ), bites of banana that you hold for him, some apple bits (without the mesh bag now), pieces of bread, and thicker foods with a bit more texture than before. Hallelujah! Those around us have heard the saga of choking and gagging all too often last month and after the doc referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist we, or should I say Andy, got serious with his feedings. In the past I have had several encounters with the Gastro folks and more than my fair share of swallowing studies and I did not want to go down that path with Brighty. So, we became less scared of giving him things with texture an let him set the pace too. He does great with just about any challenge and now he is right where he needs to be. I ahve to say that the mesh food bag was a huge help though. What a great way to let your kid try new foods without worrying about them choking on it. We would put Cheerios in there for him to crunch away on, which was great for those sore gums, and then after he was used to the taste and had finished off the bag, we would give him one to eat while we held on to it. He would chomp very gingerly and then got the hang of it. Of course, when Andy told me he given him some of the blueberry yougurt from the fridge, I was not as excited- it has splenda in it. I don't even like to eat that junk.

Now the sleep side of things are still the same, not good. Last night Bright had a night terror, which he has not had in several months. If you have never seen a child have one, you are blessed. They are awful. Andy went in to check on Bright after he had been sleeping for three hours. He was crying but in a much different way. He was all jammed up in the corner of his crib, just sobbing, face down. His cries were just inconsolable. And he was still asleep. He picked him up and carried him into the living room, still sobbing the loudest deepest cries we have heard, with eyes shut tight. No talking, patting, lights or tv would wake him out of it. This went on for several minutes that felt like forever. Finally I grabbed his Ball Popper toy that makes some crazy tunes and held it right up to him and that ruckus broke him out of it. He looked so confused- like "Hey, why are you holding that up to my face Mom?". Then he fell back asleep. He sleeps off and on for 2-3 hour bursts still. No longer in bed with us for most of the time. He got to be such a restless sleeper that he would crawl in our bed and ram into the wall with his head again and again. So, most of the time he is in the crib.

Tonight we went down a path I thought we would never set foot on. We gave him a bottle of formula before bed. We are exhausted and his cousin, a month older, has been getting a little formula with some cereal before bed and her mom says that it seems to help her sleep longer stretches. So we made him a bottle and used some in his night cereal. He took it like a champ, about 3 oz. worth. We'll see if it makes a lick of difference. I feel a little bad about doing it, but I also nursed him right after it so we are not losing that connection. The only upshot to it was that we had about five canisters of formula in our cupboards that had been sent to us for free so we did not have to pay anything for this experiment.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Happy New Year!

Here is a brief check-in since Christmas. We went to my folks' for Christmas dinner and had a great time with Tess and Robert, Dave and Gale, Matt and Marilu. There was great food, lots of gifts and good laughs. Dad's light up Rudolph nose was pretty sweet, too! We got a chance to catch up with Tess and Robert again before they left on Friday. Bright seemed to take a real shine to them! I am glad we live on the same coast again. It will be great to see more of them. Then we didn't make it to Aunt Joan's for the big Family Christmas celebration on Saturday- Bright cried and cried and cried for most of the day and I couldn't see bringing him there and having everyone be as miserable as he was so we stayed home. Darn teeth! Good choice in the long run, but we missed some tasty treats! New Year's Eve was a semi-bust but we never do much at all for it. Last year I was uncomfortably pregnant and this year, well, Bright's bedtime is 8:00 and we don't have a sitter yet so not much happened here. we did go downstairs to one of our neighbor's apts. and had a nice snack before putting him down for the night. Andy and I are weeding out some of excess here and are taking things to the second hand shop. Still not able to part with the baby clothes though.

Here are some pictures:This is my Pop with Aunt Tess.

Here's Grampy showing Bright his flashing Rudolph nose.

Tess with Bright at the very end of the night- he's wearing his semi-smile/semi-frantic face here.

Bright with our teeny-tiny table top Christmas trees after all the packages had been opened. Next year- big tree comes back!

A familiar shot- Bright going for the camera strap.

Bright with the sweet plane that cousin Shay got for him. Thanks Shay!

Yes, Bright is in the the cupboard. Andy made him his own cabinet filled with tupperware and juice jugs in the kitchen so he would stay busy playing while we were working and one night he crawled in after cleaning it out.