Gary Sinese and Me

Wow! If you ever get a chance to see The Lt. Dan Band I HIGHLY recommend it! This was the second time I got to see them, and it was even better than the first! We met him again earlier in the day to give him a photo of Ira's platoon with a flag, some unit patches in a nice wall arrangement. Two years ago he was given a flag by Ira and Kelly Bargas, for all that he has done and continues to do for the military and their families. This picture goes with the flag.

It was wonderful to see Gary again, and to listen in on a round discussion on theater that he did with some Theater majors at CSU Stanislaus.

Enjoy the pics!

FYI if you don't know who Gary is he is most famous for his roles in CSI NY and as LT Dan in Forrest Gump

Time just keep slipping by...

So my little baby boy now doesn't drink from his bottle (So far these past 6 days!), is learning to walk, has taken a few unassisted steps, and has started saying a few words and sounds.

He's growing up so fast!

If you remembered in my previous post I tried switching his bottle which didn't go too well. I decided to try to give him the Advent sippy cup with juice in it. It worked! I switched between the two for a day, then stopped offering the bottle and only the cup. And he took it each time! Ohhhh it seemed so easy. I'm still waiting for the backlash to come. Hopefully we are off the bottle for good!

Trying to pull a fast one

I've been trying to wean Anthony off of his special needs feeder. This has been a very hard thing to do. He will drink out of a cup, but only in the bathtub. I've tried so many different kinds of cups, sippy cups, everything. I have a cupboard filled with every kind. Nothing is good enough for him. So his infant development teacher says lets try a regular bottle, see if he will use that then move onto a sippy cup from there. So standing in the store I see a yellow bottle that resembles his usual nipple. Hmmm I think maybe he will see the color yellow and at least give it a try?

So as he was sitting eating dinner I put the regular nippled bottle full of milk on his high chair. He was eating away, picked up the bottle as if he was to start to drink, "OH" I think its going to work! He then stops as it gets closer to his face. He looks closely at it for a minute... touches it with his index finger.... then flings it across the room. Nope.

Silly Mommy for thinking that her brilliant idea of deceiving the baby was going to work.

Baby 3 Mom 0

So today was one of THOSE days.

I was bitten on the knee this afternoon. Anthony was discovereing the art of biting my leg, so I tried to change his attention elsewhere. A few minutes later when I was absentmindedly watching Martha whip up a chocolate pie Anthony played on the floor in front of me. My legs were stretched out on the couch in the most relaxing manner. To my surprise I feel this intense pain searing my knee. I scream out loud a resounding "YEOW!!!" I look down to discover my son's face coming back up from my knee with a look of shock at first from the noise I made. The shock was instantly replaced with joy from the reaction I gave him. I try to divert his attention away, but all he does is try to replay that wonderful sound. I check my knee to find that he has broken skin through my jeans! He grabbed a hold of my hand and pulls my finger towards his mouth. I see him open wide getting ready for a good chomping! I quickly pull away and decided that it was the perfect time to try and put him down for his second nap.

Which leads to the next section.

Of course today was the day of the 20 min nap. And only 20 minutes.
After running errands in Modesto, and returning to Turlock, Anth slept on the way home. That was his one and only nap for the day.

Nap Try One: I put him down for a nap. He wails for a minute or two then proceeds to play for a while. I take the time to sightread some new Christmas Solos I purchased today for myself and some of my students. I listen to the on and off again wailing and jabbering from his room. Which is normal. I then hear a while later an intense screaming, so I decided to break protocol and go into his room to investigate. I discovered that he was upset. He points down on the floor of the bedroom to his socks. He pulled off his socks then dropped them onto the ground. So I pick it up and give it back to him. He was happy. I leave and hope he might go to sleep, but nope. I give in... and he wins that round.

He plays for a couple hours, snacks on cheese, milk and eats a large helping of toddler cheese puffs things. They are gross, but he liked them apparently. After the knee biting incident I decide lets try to nap two!

Nap Try Two:
I put him down, he cries and wails his displeasure at me. This is normal which he usually (but not today) will cry himself to sleep, or just play for a while then fall asleep. I hear him doing the intense scream wail which is not normal for him. I check on my video monitor. I see him walking around the edge, so I decided to go in and inspect. I go in to find that he had picked up every stuffed animal friend and blanket and had thrown them out of the crib onto the floor. So he was left deserted and sitting alone in his bed. This is a new behavior for him. I decided he cried long enough and pulled him out.

Baby wins again.

I put him to bed 30 minutes early tonight for his own safety and my sanity. When he doesn't get his nap his is a little bear! He went to sleep like a champ.

Nothing is More Annoying Than...

A Pig that oinks Jingle Bells.

Anthony got this today from his Bama. It sqeauls when you pull it's tail. It sounds just like a real pig too! Of course he loves it, 'cus it sings and moves.

Just like his:

Dancing Turkey that sings Turkey in the Straw and Pink Monkey that sings Jump Jump


He loves them both so much. *sigh*

Pumpkin Fun

Earlier this week Ira, my mom and I took Anthony to the pumpkin patch for some photo ops! After morning with no nap, our little subject really didn't want to have his picture taken. He loved looking at the pumpkins, playing with the straw and crawling around in and out of the pumpkin maze. Of course the sun was bright and I got a million pictures of the top of his head. I was frustrated and wanted to bring him back later to get some more. After playing with my photo shop and messing around I realized I did indeed capture some beautiful pictures. I enjoyed going through and trying to play with my new yet simple program. So let me know what you think?

Here was another couple pics I played with

Ohhh LaLa!

I've been having the biggest cravings for Lemon Cream Pie from Marie Calenders this past week. As we drove by it last night. we decided to keep going on home to my disappointment. We were both tired, and sleep sounded better than pie at that moment.

So tonight I decided to try to make my own!

And the end result....

BIG YUMMY! It was soooo good. I also found some recipes for other fruit pies that I will be trying very soon in the future!

Still alive!

I'm still here. Life has been hectic getting back on track after the chaos of last month. And to top it off we added a day trip to Disneyland! WOOO! I will post a blog about that later with some pics. But we had a super blast, and can't wait to go back real soon.

Funeral Pictures

Here is a link to the pictures of Ira's fathers funeral.
Thank you to all who helped in preperations, food and helping it all go along smoothly.