Snow Update

We're up to 13 inches of snow now, and the news said we COULD get another 8 inches.  Yikes!

Snow

It's been a nutty week... we've had snow, threats of snow, melting and now more snow plus freezing rain.  I measured 7 inches of snow, with 1/2 inch of icy coating on top in our back yard.   August seems to like it - he's mesmerized by the falling snow.  

The hard part is not being able to go play in the snow much.  August is too little to stay outside very long when it's 20 degrees out, and Rob has been sick so we've all just been sitting inside watching the windows.

During naps, though, we were able to watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight this weekend.  I've been excited to see The Dark Knight, so I was a little disappointed after seeing it.... it's good but not wow the best movie ever like people were saying.

Here are some pictures!

New pictures

New this week:  August is saying Mama!

Here are a few new pictures.

Sadly, this is our best picture from Thanksgiving (with my mom and sister).  We all were trying so hard to make August smile that we forgot to look normal.

Here's Rob playing with August in August's room.
Happy to play with his little cups.

Santa!

I know it's a little bit early and August is a little bit... well... little, but we took August to go see Santa Claus over the weekend.  He did a great job!  He wasn't scared or anything and stayed calm and content on Santa's lap until the very end.  August made a little scared face, so Rob whisked him off of Santa's lap (I was doing video duty at the time) and all was better.

Rob and I are so proud of our little brave guy!

I think that Zira saved her life by eating her tumor

We have a rat named Zira, who is about 2-1/2 years old (pretty old for a rat).  She has watched her 3 rat friends die of various causes and has remained the last one for the past 6 months or so.  

Rob and I first noticed her tumor several months ago.  It started off pretty innocent looking.  Then it turned a little black and hard.  Next thing we know, there is no tumor, just a big red hole in her side.  With all of her parts showing inside.  No blood or anything, just a hole.  Our theory is that she ate her tumor.  We figured she would die shortly after, but she's had the hole for about a month!  

In the past week, she has grown 2 new tumors (both still intact for the moment).  The problem is that her old tumor's hole seems to be getting bigger and her intestines are starting to droop out a bit.  I dread looking at her cage for fear that her intestines might get caught on the bars of the cage and end up ripped out and strewn through the cage.  Luckily that hasn't happened, although that would at least mean it's the end of her.

Did I mention the smell?  

Sorry I don't have any pictures.  She moves too quickly to take a good picture of the hole.  She's amazingly active and happy!  I guess that's good news.  

I truly think that had she not gnawed off her tumor, she wouldn't be alive today.  So the lesson here is that if you get a tumor, chew it off and you'll live a long and happy life.

First Fever, First Tooth, First Beets

August has had a week of firsts!  Most exciting is his first tooth.  It's on the bottom and is poking up about half-way so far.  But he's not very cooperative when it comes to showing it off, although if you click on the "I Love Daddy" picture and look VERY closely, you can kinda see it.

Last week he also had his first little fever.  Poor guy... he was so sad.  I was sick too, so we took a day off together and just snuggled on the couch all day.  It ended up being a nice day.  

As for the beets, August likes them!  His poo is really freaky after he eats them!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy/Sad

August wasn't sure if he was happy or sad.

Pumpkin Patch

We took August to the pumpkin patch yesterday.  I think his favorite part was seeing the cow. He wasn't super impressed with the pumpkins or the other animals.  Next year should be more exciting for him.  Maybe next year I'll have the guts to try the deep fried Oreos they sell there, too!   

Snot, snot, and more snot.

Not much to report this week.  Both of my boys have colds (although Rob's is way worse).  August is a snot machine and he hates it when we try to wipe up his massive globs of snot dripping down his face after he sneezes.  I've tried to use one of those little suction things to clear him up but he absolutely won't let me near his nose with it.  I don't blame him!

Starting solid foods (and sitting up too!)

The tongue

One of August's new quirks is that he likes to stick out his tongue.  It's pretty cute.  He's also sitting up!  

Cheese

Rob loves cheese.  He enjoys sampling various types of cheese and sometimes buys some based on their name, without knowing much ahead of time.  So a few days ago, he bought a little ball of Paesanella cheese (never heard of it).  It looked nice and tame.  Today he finally opened it up after I kept nagging him to try it.  I personally don't experiment with cheese.  When we were in France several years ago, I would even insist on crossing the street when we'd pass a fromagerie just because I couldn't deal with the smell.

Anyway, Rob opened the cheese.  I instantly checked August's bottom because it smelled like he needed to be changed.  Rob (from the other room) asked if I had put a poopy diaper in the kitchen trashcan today.  Nope, both were clean.  Then Rob tried the cheese.  I sincerely wish I would have had the camera handy so I could post his face!  Apparently it was the nastiest thing he's ever tasted.  It has now become Rob's moral crusade to warn people about the evils of Paesanella cheese.  He calls it the "devil cheese".

What's the moral to the story?  Don't eat something that smells like your baby's diaper?  Don't try weird cheese?  I'll leave that up to you....

Otterboy

We've survived 2 weeks of daycare.  I'm really happy with our daycare, but this week we ran into a little issue.  August decided he doesn't like to eat there much.  On Monday last week, he didn't eat at all.  Then he ate a little more and now it's a little better, but not great.  When we get home, he gulps down a TON all evening long.  It's not disrupting his sleep, thank goodness.

I've been coping okay with juggling it all so far.  I'm very relieved to have an awesome assistant at school.  I don't know what I'd do without her.  And my kids this year are wonderful.  They talk a lot but they're really sweet and cute.  For instance, they're supposed to be quiet in the halls, but they all say thank you to the kid who's holding the door so they become noisy.  What a great problem to have!  I just hope we don't have someone move in to the class and change the whole dynamic.  It's happened before.  Many times.  I'm crossing my fingers!

We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago.  August loved the otters and the sea lions (hmmm... that happened to be our first stop).  He did NOT like the dinosaur exhibit.  There was a roaring T-Rex that scared him and August cried and cried.  It was hard to recover from that.  His scared cry is so sad!  It just breaks my heart.  

It's totally appropriate that August loves the otters.  He likes to lay on his back and play with his fingers while arching his head and feet up in the air.  Then he rolls over - just like otters do!  He's our little otterboy.

August pooed in my hand!

Yep, the big guy managed to poo in my hand when I was holding him yesterday.  Luckily we were just out in front of our neighbors house, talking with them.  It was gross, but still funny... he's not on solid food yet, so his poo isn't totally nasty smelling yet.

August also started "school" last week.  It went well!  He's a very well adjusted little baby.  All of the adults at his school adore him and say he's very easy going and cuddly.  He hasn't cried when I've left him, which is good too.  And luckily, my job is SO busy all day that I can keep myself distracted from being too sad about it all.  He's happy, and that's what's important!

Today's picture is from August's very first day at school.  See... he likes it!  Rob suggested I take a picture of my poo hand, but I didn't do it.

School!

I spent the week setting up my classroom.  My class this year seems great... I'm quite optimistic!  I only have 24 kids (I can't believe I'm saying "only"!) and when I met them at our open house they were very cute and sweet.  

August had his own open house as well.  He liked his teachers, especially one of them.  He's going to be surrounded by girls all day.  There's only one other boy.  Girls are good, so that's good.

After the open house, Rob and August came and helped me in my classroom, so I'm sharing a picture of that today.  The room will look a lot better once there is kid art hanging up!

Now I'm off to enjoy my last 4 days with my boys before school starts.

Last Day

Today is my last day home with August.  Next week, Rob will stay home with him while I set up my classroom at school.  Then, right after Labor Day, it's off to daycare!  I hope he does well.  

Mirrors are funny

August thinks that baby in the mirror is very funny.  He has a new best friend!

This Week

So what has happened this week in the Casteel house?  Well... for the first time in my life, I was stung by a bee!  I must have swooped it up with my sandal, because it stung me under my big toe.  All of my life I've been petrified of bees.  And I was always so proud to say I hadn't been stung.  That era is over!  It was really no big deal and after a few minutes it didn't even hurt anymore.  Weird.

Enough about me!  August is getting better at napping without a swaddle.  He still has a little bit of a hard time with it, but I think that's mostly because he has a little bit of a cold and isn't feeling so great.  At night, he's completely done with the swaddle!  The transition was super easy.  He's wearing sleep sacks at night now, which helps.  The only problem is that he enjoys pulling on his pacifier, so he pulls it out and swings it around in the air and tries to put it back in his mouth but he can't so he chews on the edges instead.  The whole process doesn't really help him sleep!  It's really cute, though.

Our garden is growing like crazy!  We have several tomatoes ready and have had several zucchinis so far.  Our corn should be ready by the end of the weekend, probably.  Same with our lettuce.  It's exciting!  This has been the best garden year yet.

Rob is taking off work in a week when I go back to school.  Hopefully it will go well.  I know Rob has been looking forward to it.  It will be a good bonding time for my boys.  Right now August is all about mommy.  When Rob holds August, August looks at me.  If anyone else holds him, he cries (August, not Rob).  I hope he gets over that soon!

5 months!

August turned 5 months old on Saturday!  He also got another shot today and was very brave.  He loves the nurse who gives the shots (her name is Cricket and he has a shirt with a cricket on it, so they have a special bond).  After his shots he invited all of his stuffed animal friends over for a meeting.

Right now Rob is whispering to August.  August thinks it's SOOO funny when people whisper to him.  It's good quiet fun!

Gotta love a smiling baby!

Here's August giggling a little.  This isn't his full blown laugh... hopefully I'll get that on video soon!

All caught up!

Whew!  Now you're all up to date on August's happenings.  Here are some pictures from this week.  In just a couple of days he'll be 5 months!  I can't believe how fast time is going by!  He's so big already and can do so much.  

Beach!

We took our first family trip to the beach in July.  It was a beautiful day... blue skies... cool breeze.  And the sound of the ocean put August to sleep.  All day.  He managed to catch a glimpse of the beach, but was mostly just awake when we ate lunch at a restaurant.  Then he managed to sleep all the way home.  Hopefully next time he'll spend more time awake!  I just kept worrying about August getting a sunburn.  Luckily, we successfully sunscreened him and covered him up all day.

The fourth month

August keeps getting to be more and more fun!  He really started laughing and smiling all the time in the 4th month.  He's a very mellow baby... he is sweet and gentle all the time.  He's always giving these little shy smiles.  August's favorite place in the whole world is his changing table.  On it, he kicks and laughs and thinks it's the best!  He LOVES to make Rob and I laugh all the time.