ScrumpyDaddy

You would think the title of this blog is self explanatory, but no. Here’s what happened.

I was asking Dave if he had listened to the new radio station K Love (new christian station in Pittsburgh). He said no and asked what station it was. I told him it was 98.3 the old Froggy station. Dave then said, “I was wondering why I didn’t hear country music on there the other day.” We then continued on in the conversation how Froggy had changed channels.

As we are having this conversation about K Love and Froggy Abby chimed in. She started talking about how Caleb lost his froggy in the water. At first we had no idea where she was getting this story from. I thought, what a great imagination, but was completely confused about the story. Then Dave figured it out. Abby thought K Love was “Caleb” and then she made up a story about how Caleb and Froggy (the radio station) were connected in her mind. It is wonderful how the mind of a child works in adult conversations.

Yesterday Abby turned 3 years old. I can’t believe how time has flown by that my little baby girl is not a little baby anymore, but a big sister. She is growing into quite the little girl.

During this past year she moved from the toddlers room at her daycare to the twaddlers room. She has done great in there. She is learning how to write and can write her letter A for Abby. She is also learning to recognize her letters.  Every time she sees a letter A she says A for Abby. She also is getting better at coloring and painting. She loves art projects. She is making great friends at daycare. Her bff is a girl named Cassie. She is always talking about how she played with Cassie and when she takes a stuffed animal or toy into school she says she want to share it with Cassie. She is so much more social than before going to daycare. Now when she sees people she says hi and will answer simple questions like how old she is and her name without hiding behind me or wanting to be picked up. She also loves to show off her baby brother and tell them he is Zach. Abby can even play on her and is becoming more creative with her toys when she plays with them. It is wonderful to see creativity blossoming in her.

For her birthday she took in cupcakes to daycare to share with her friends. She loved it! Unfortunately Dave and I still had to work on her birthday, but she didn’t seem to mind. When we got home from school and work we had lasagna for dinner. Abby loves any kind of pasta. She even said one day when we came home and Dave was cooking spaghetti, “I smell noodles.” She also said that when we went to Olive Garden recently when we walked in the door. She definitely knows her pasta.

After she was done with her lasagna, she said she wanted her birthday. She meant her birthday cake. We had saved some of the cupcakes to have with her that night. We put a candle in each of the 3 cupcakes and sang to her. Her face lit up with such joy when I brough the cupcakes with candles in them out. She waited until we were done signing to her and then she blew out each candle one by one without any help from Mom of Dad. She is so independant.

Abby also received a special call from Grammy, Gramps, and Aunt Becky to wish her a happy birthday. Grammy sang to her a special happy birthday song. It was a verson of happy birthday that I used to here as a kid at an italian resturant back in Rochester, NY, though I can’t remember the name of it right now. Abby loved her special call and told Grammy all about her day and how she had cupcakes at school with her friends. We can’t wait to see Grammy, Gramps, and Aunt Becky for Abby’s birthday party over labor day weekend.

After dinner and cupcakes Abby was given her birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy. We got Abby a big girl bike. It is a 12 inch 2 wheeler bike with training wheels. Abby said, “That my bike,” and immediatly wanted to get on the bike and ride it. We adjusted Abby’s helmet and took the bike to the street. At first Abby could not really work the peddles, but she was persistant and with the help of Mommy pushing she was able to peddle. Once she figured out she could peddle she kept pushing me off and saying she wanted to do it by herself. Of course the inevitable happened, Abby fell off her bike for the first time. Abby was so focused on her feet and trying to peddle she was not steering. She had the handle bars turned and was riding in a circle. The circle became too tight and the bike tipped over even with training wheels. Now and know why they insist on children wearing helmets. She ended up scrapping her elbow and knee. We put band aides on both and Abby was ready to get back on her bike. It didn’t set her back in the least. She began riding again and wanted to show the neighbors kid, Eva, her knew bike and show her she could do it by herself. We rode by Eva’s house and Eva waved from inside the front door. This made Abby very happy.

Of course it was time for bed and Abby had to put her bike in the garage and stop riding it. She was having so much fun she did not want to, but we were able to finally convince her that she could ride it again another day.

It was a wonderful day full of joy and fun. I can’t wait for her party. We have both family and friends coming to be with Abby on her special day.

Abby's birthday cupcakes

Abby sees her bike and helmet for the first time.

Abby learning how to make the peddles go.

Well, Zach was 7 weeks old when I first wrote this post. It was never posted because I was waiting to get pictures off the camera. Zach is now 9 weeks old. He was born July 1st, 2009. When he was born he was 7lbs 13oz after a month of momma’s milk he is now 12lbs 1oz. Mother nature is amazing!

During his first month Zach has been quite busy growing and visiting with people. Zach went to visit my co-workers at Single Source Property Solutions and went to Daddy’s work at Elliance. Each group of people loved holding him and said he was soooo cute. With our first child Abby we have been discussing how cautious we were. We didn’t go anywhere with her until she was over 6 weeks old. Knock on wood, he has not caught any germs from either work or big sister Abby. It is so interesting how much changes with your 2nd child. You don’t want to stop your life for the second child. You want to get out and do things. You want to continue to have your older child explore and not be confined to the house as Mommy and Daddy were the first time around. “Damn the torpedos full speed ahead.”

Well in the spirit of adventure we took a family trip Aug. 3-9 to see Dave’s sister and brother-in-law Edie and Pat (Zach 5 weeks, Abby almost 3). We went down to Cary, North Carolina to see them. While we were there we took 3 days to go to the Outer Banks and spend some time at the beach. See our other posts about the beach adventures. It was a great time and I hope to go back each year.

Zach’s Milestones in the first month: During his first month Zach is getting great control of his head. He is able to lift it and turn it while on his belly. He will also turn his head while on his back to follow someone. He has also smiled many times at us (and it wasn’t gas). Also, Zach has laughed already, true it was in his sleep on July 29th, but I will count it. Dave and I were watching season 5 disc 4 of Stargate Atlantis when Zach laughed in his sleep. Dave was sitting holding Zach in his arms watching the TV when Zach suddenly smiled and laughed. It is so wonderful to see a child’s joy even in their sleep. I wonder what Zach was dreaming about that would make him laugh so suddenly. Since that time he is now laughing and smiling while awake. Lastly, Zach is able to get his hand to his mouth to suck on it.

Zach loves his big sister. Whenever she is around him he follows her with his eyes and loves to coo and smile at her. Whenever he coos Abby will say, “He said oh at me.” She also points out every time he smiles as her. “Mommy Zach smile at me.” So far I am loving the joy and love between the siblings. I hope it will continue as Zach gets older and begins to play with the toys in the house.

Zach will be starting day care on Aug. 24th when I go back to work. Hopefully he will do ok. I will update with how he does.

Zach at the Beach, Outer Banks NC

A sleeping babe is so peaceful.

One of Zach's first smiles to Mommy

Zach is now 2 months old and has just had his first trip to the ER. Unfortunately, I’m sure it won’t be his last, after all he is a boy. It all started at 3am  Sunday morning. He woke up to nurse as usual and he was very fussy. Normally when he is done he goes right back to bed and lets mommy and daddy sleep a little longer. Not that morning! He would not go back to sleep unless one of us were holding him. We noticed he was feeling quite warm to the touch also. We wanted to take his temp because we believed he was running a temperature, but of course could not find the thermometer in the middle of the night. Well, Dave and I took turns holding Zach so we each could get a little bit more sleep. Then when our daughter awoke we began the search for the thermometer again. We finally found it and Zach had a temperature of 101.2. Dave called the doctor.

We, unfortunately, did not receive a call back from the doctor. We aren’t exactly sure if the answering service didn’t relay the message to call us or if the doctor forgot. An hour and half later we took his temperature again and it was up to 102.1 so we called the doctor again. This time she called us back immediately and said take him to the ER at Children’s Hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at around 1:30pm and were taken in right away. The new Children’s hospital is beautiful. Our first experience was great. It was so peaceful and well made. Once you shut the glass door to your room all the way you could not here anything from other rooms or the hall.

They took Zach’s stats at the hospital and he is now 15 lbs. He is growing like a weed. He is definitely a little porker. Oink, Oink.

The nurse took his temperature and they said he was running a fever. He then had to have blood taken and an urine sample. Unfortunately, to obtain a urine sample in a 2 month old they had to use a catheter and to get the blood sample they gave him and IV. They said that the doctor may give him anti-biotics later and it would go through that. He also had to have an x-ray done. He did a great job with all of it. He definitely didn’t like it, but calmed down fairly quickly after it was all done.

The doctor didn’t see anything suspicious. It is probably just a cold, but they are having a blood and urine culture done. If they grow anything the hospital will give us a call.

Zach responded well to the tylenol and they did end up giving him a dose of anti-biotics just in case. We were then released and left the hospital at 4 pm. Not to bad time wise.

Overall after Zach’s visit he is doing well. We are very pleased with our experience and that Zach is doing better.

Zach home with Daddy after his trip yesterday to the ER.