ScrumpyDaddy

I can’t wait for spring to officially start. This past weekend (even though it rained) and the past 2 days have felt like spring is finally coming. Over the weekend we saw are first robin of the season eating worms out of our backyard. Abby is starting to learn and remember names of birds so we showed her the robin and made sure she learned its name. She already knows cardinal (Grammy’s favorite).

Then tonight Abby got out her bike and she rode it up and down our street for a bit and then we took a walk. Mind you when I say rode I use the term loosely. Abby does peddle, but it is so slow you might as well walk. She is so distracted by the world around her and all its wonders that she doesn’t really ride her bike. I hope she continues to find so much joy in the world around her and in nature. We then got to see our friends from 2 doors down outside. Abby loves playing with their daughters. It is great to start meeting up with people after work to converse about life and kids.

I can’t wait for summer!!!!!

I typically write about my 2 children Abby and Zach, but today I wanted to give tribute to the other love of my life, my husband Dave. He has been my other (better) half for over 10 years now. We started dating when I was a freshman in college in 1999 and were married in June of 2003. These past 10 years have been wonderful. Sure they have had there ups and downs. What relationship hasn’t? This past year has really made me appreciate all he does and how much he means to me.

This past year has been a roller coaster ride. We had our 2nd child in July, so now we are both full time parents and we each work. It has been quite the adjustment with two. Getting one child up and ready for school wasn’t too bad especially since we would pack a breakfast for her to take to school, so pretty much we just had to get her up, pottied, and dressed. Now, with our 2nd child it has become more intense, stressful, and labored. Zach is still nursing (8mo old), so he has to eat in the morning, get dressed, and he has to do daily breathing treatments of Pulmicort every morning and evening. The breathing treatment takes about 15 mintues to complete. On top of getting Zach and Abby ready of course we both have to get ready for work as well. Dave is wonderful at helping to get the kids up dressed and ready for the day so we each can get off to work at a reasonable time.

In the evenings Dave makes the dinner since he is the first one home. Typically dinner is hot and ready when the kids and I get home so we can eat right away. We then have time to play with the kids for a bit and give them baths. Dave typically bathes the kids and we both get them ready for bed. Each child enjoys their time with both of us at night. Then after all that is done the chores don’t stop. Currently, I am still pumping milk for Zach so we have to clean all the pumping stuff and make up his bottles for daycare the next day. Some nights it is hard to get time to relax with just the 2 of us, but we try.

Dave is also willing to take on my crazy projects and deals with my constant need to change things around in our house. I think I have moved the furniture in the playroom at least a dozen times in just the past year. I’m always trying to find a way to make it better for playing in and to find room for the increasing number of toys. For Christmas this year Dave and I made Abby a wooden, Barbie size doll house. Dave worked hard on getting this done in time for Christmas morning and making sure it was sturdy and fun. In the past we have remodeled closets, put in attic stairs, refinished our kitchen cabinets, put in laminate flooring, painted every room (exception is the playroom), redid the retaining wall, put in a garden, and various plumbing repairs as needed. He is hard worker.

This past year has also been emotional roller coaster ride. My cousin lost her 1 year old daughter this year to complications to the H1N1 flu and my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Dave has been there for me and my family every step of the way. My mom had a lumpectomy on New Years Eve and is now in radiation for the next 6 weeks. My cousin has been blessed to be able to adopt a new born baby girl. The adoption when through this week and Haylie Lynn is home with her new family. Dave has been my comfort and my rock.

Today especially Dave was amazing, which is what inspired me to write this post. He went into work last night for some stuff he had to do off hours. He went into work around 10pm and returned home around 8am this morning. I missed having him to help me in the morning, but we managed without any major breakdowns or tantrums. After working all night, with no sleep, Dave worked on getting us ready for our trip this weekend to Kentucky to see our best friends from college. He washed all the dishes (which was a large pile – we both hate to do dishes so sometimes it piles up until we can’t take it anymore), did laundry, and still got a wonderful dinner ready. He then played with the kids after dinner and helped get them to bed. He is tired, but he doesn’t complain. Now he will be heading down to the car to put in the kids DVD player for the trip. Wow! He is just amazing! Thank you Dave for everything you do to keep this family going.

I hope my children continue to love and adore each other as much as they do now.

Zach is now 8 months old. He is 22lbs. 12 oz. One nice thing about Zach being sick so often (daycare…yuck) is we always know his weight within a few ounces. Anyways…

Zach seems to have grown up so much this past month. He now has 2 teeth, which are the bottom 2 teeth. He has now had rice cereal, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, pears,and peaches. We will be giving him apple sauce and bananas in the next week. Zach also had some “real” food. He had a waffle. He loved gumming and sucking on it. He ate the whole piece we gave him. We will probably start giving him other finger food like puffs.

Zach is an accomplished roller and can now move himself all over the place. He can also turn himself on this belly to change which way he is rolling. In the last week he has started to  get up on his knees and rocking. He is getting ready to crawl. I expect he will start doing this in the next couple weeks. We think Zach’s best motivation will be our cat, Draco. He loves to watch him and whenever Draco goes by Zach tries to touch him.

Zach is also so noisy. He is always “talking”, whether it is happy or upset he just loves making noise. He has started to really make noise with his body as well. He is trying to clap his hands. He still needs work on that because he usually has one in a fist and one open, but he loves to try. He also loves to tap his hands on everything. He especially likes tables and Mommy and Daddy’s hands. He is good at patty cake with Mommy.

Zach and Abby got to spend a whole week this past month with Grammy and Aunt Becky. They came down for Becky’s winter break and the kids stayed home with them instead of going to daycare. It was a great week. They both were good for Grammy and Aunt Becky.

Lastly, Zach was sick again this past week. He had a double ear infection and was wheezing again. After getting a chest x-ray (came back normal) and talking with the pediatrician Zach will be starting what is called Pulmicort. It is an inhaled steroid. It uses the same machine as his previous breathing treatments when he’s been sick.This is to help keep Zach out of the doctor’s office and help stop his wheezing when he gets sick. He will have to do these breathing treatments twice a day everyday until the winter season is over. Then he will most likely, depending on how he does, move to just once a day. We will have to wait and see how he does for the rest of the winter season and see what the pediatrician has to say at his next appointment.