A night of shooting

I've been a little stressed lately. Mostly because I hate waiting for things to happen....like softball, we have been doing open gyms, hitting and pitching for months now. However tryouts are not until the 1st of March. I hate this time I get to think about what I want to do but not do it. I need to learn to take a step back and breath. So I took a night out after hitting/pitching and went with Kane, Phillip and Bradach to go shoot. I loved it, I have shot clay pigeons and done some target shooting before but there is nothing like it when you are wound up tight. The best part was that Kane brought his 9 mm handgun.....ahh this was the best. I hit the can first shot and then hit it again while it was laying down. I know I'm that good, lol. Every time I would shoot Bradach would say "whoa" but only when I shot. Phil hit a quarter that was mounted in a board, well at least we think it was him, it coulda' been me. As soon as we started shooting the coyotes started howling, it was cool. Here are some pics of this fun night.
Phil shooting at the quarters, I think this should be considered cheating since he used the truck to stay steady. Oh and notice how he is dressed in shorts and I in snow pants...it was cold!
My little buddy Bradach with Kane. Bradach had in ear plugs, don't think we neglect him.
Thanks Kane for letting me play with this gun, it was a blast!!!
Me shooting Phil's rifle....it was getting so dark I couldn't see past the end of the gun.
Phil and Bradach watching Kane...he was so nice to go last and let me shoot and shoot and shoot.

$ Saving and other ideas for making life easier.

• Shave your legs with conditioner instead of shaving cream. I buy it at a regular store and not the dollar store because you can sometimes get it for as low as .67! If you are saving by not buying shaving cream try this, your legs are just about as smooth as using the cream, and it lasts longer too!
• Wanna a cheap family night? We love to eat pizza but who can afford it every week?! Instead we make homemade pizza, it takes about 30 minutes to make and most kids will love to help! We use the Jiffy Pizza crust, about .30-.90 a box (usually found by the pizza/spaghetti sauces) we use two boxes for one pizza. Its just add water too, oh and we don't pre-cook it like it says in the directions. When we don't want to spend more than $2 on sauce we buy a can of already seasoned spaghetti sauce, a big can costs about .88 and you will have leftovers for something else. We usually add Italian seasoning once its on the pizza dough. The big spender on the pizza is usually the cheese. Then add the toppings! Bradach loves helping to do every step of this pizza making, and then he usually out eats us no matter what the toppings are. We usually cook ours on a cookie tray which will leave you room to make any size or shape pizza...try a heart for V-Day!
  
• Make your own baby food. Most people have already gone on to the next bullet...lol. But I did this and I have a strong opinion that my son has a better love for his "real" food because of it. When you feed or fed your baby peas did you taste it? Would you eat that? And when I made peas they were bright green, not that dull green. Also I tell you bananas do not stay that white not even when all measures are taken naturally to keep them that color. So what do they do to the food? Who knows, but when you make your own you know exactly! For example I would go out and spend a few dollars on some apples and sweet potatoes (maybe a bit of cinnamon), steam them, use that steamed water when I blended the food and poured it into ice cube trays, covered with plastic wrap, then when frozen put into baggies dated and labeled...just under $5 and I had enough for a few weeks, and I knew exactly what the food looked like before it was prepared. That's compared to $35 at .88 cents a jar. Bradach now loves his fruits and veggies and is willing to try just about everything, and a bag of apples costs about the same as a bag of Cheetos. Feel a little shaky about doing this? Go to www.wholesomebabyfood.com this site tells you how to prepare food, when your baby is ready for the food, the nutritional value, what goes good together and some tricks on storing and traveling with....plus loads more info. Still not going to be that mom? The web site can still guide you as to when to introduce foods.
• Saving Gas. Do a test drive if you commute to work on the interstate do the math. Find out your time difference when you drive 65 mph compared to 75mph. I drive about 45 minutes to my work and the 10 mph difference makes just a few minutes difference in time. But I do see a huge difference in my pocket book for gas. Try it, I hate driving slow but until gas is cheap I think I will slow down.
  
• Coughing at night? Tis the season! I can't say this works for adults since I haven't had a cough lately, but it works like a charm for my son. Get the vapor rub and put it on the soles and heels of their feet then cover with socks. Phil thought I was nuts one night until the coughing stopped instantly. No drugs to take, no measuring and trying to force nasty medicine. Plus I hate hate hate giving my son meds if not necessary.
  
• Diaper rash? Bradach has gotten some nasty rashes when he was first teething, nothing completely cleared it up only helped a little bit. This is one of the few products that you spend the money for it to work. Its Triple Paste and its about $8 for 2 oz. But even on the worst rashes it cleared them up within a few days. On mild everyday stuff within a diaper change or two. Try this before you go to the doc and spend a ton of money on a quick fix.
  
• Allergies? If you know me then you know I hate putting unnecessary medication into my body, and especially my sons body(is that repetitive?). Last summer we found Bradach has bad allergies outside. We tried a few different "non" drowsy medications for children but all of them had the same effect...falling down, sleepy, glazed eyes and not a huge difference in allergy symptoms. We spent the money and will continue to pay the price for Little Noses, its just a gel that you put around the nose and somehow it keeps those allergy symptoms at bay. And the best part, its not a medication! No drowsy side effect or measuring. But be prepared for the cost compared to the little tiny tube it comes in.
• Signing early. I'm not claiming this one to keep all tantrums at bay but it sure kept me sane. At about 10 months or so I started showing some signs to him for words that he would use regularly if he could talk. This helped him to not be so frustrated when he needed to communicate with me. The signs that I have found most useful and easy to learn are eat, more, up, milk, and please. You can look these up online, babies will pick these up if you use them every time you say the word. Instead of a guessing game you will know what they want. Bradach has continued his signing and now has over 20 signs that he does.
  
• Itchy dry spots or eczema? I think those are the same thing, but Bradach was blessed with this too. The doc suggested a cream with a steroid. I know its harmless, but how do I know for sure? We found that applying Disney's Eczema cream to the dry spots after baths and at least once a day cleared it up within a week. Just keep checking for those troublesome spots daily. You don't want to use that cream on their whole bodies though...its greasy, so I use it for spots then normal lotion. But it works and there is no steroid.

Well, I hope you may have gotten some new idea from this post. Please give me feedback, and I will keep turning my little wheel and thinking of things that have made my life easier.

Trip to CA

OK, this blog will have lots of Pics and vids so I won't do to much story telling. We had a great time, the weather was perfect 60-70 everyday and sunny. We went to the Discovery Cube, Children's Museum, Sea World, Huntington Beach, Knotts Berry Farm, Down Town Disney, and met some great new friends. We went because my mom had a scrap book convention to go to, and Bradach and I did all the fun stuff while she was working. Thanks mom for the wonderful time, and the great memories we created!!!
The hotel we stayed at was the Knotts Berry Farm Resort, Snoopy is the main man there.Every night Snoopy comes and tucks you into bed. Bradach was walking Snoopy to the bed.
Bradach has problems when he says "S" words the S always ends up at the end of the word so Snoopy was Noopys...its adorable.Petrified dino poop...what a good sport to sit by it.
This was all at the Discovery Cube, this place is amazing, I would love to go back.
He either drove the car or the bus almost the whole time we were at the Children's Museum.Our new friends...minus Paul, he was off flirting. And yes the big blankie lump is Bradach asleep.
This isn't a good picture of anyone but there is a story with that bird in the background. First off in the day when we fed the dolphins (prob not the same bird) a bird stole two of my fish boats, I paid $6 for each boat of fish! Then while we were eating lunch this bird swooped in and took the bun off of my hamburger. Yes that hamburger in the pic and that bird in the background. They are sneaky and mean.

The first one is me the second is my mom. Bradach was scared of them. It was a perfect day to be at sea world.
We sat in the Soak Zone during the whale show but never got wet. The show was great, the whole experience was bitter sweet. All growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist and train whales, moving to the coast to do this wasn't an option when I got older, I could never live without seasons and snow. Anyways, it was hard to see such beautiful animals penned up. It broke my heart, I know most of them were born into captivity and have no clue what could be but its still a bit saddening.

Bradach and I ate sandwiches on the beach, his had a little extra sand. The beach we went to is known for the waves and they were big that day. There was a lady on the beach with a blanket and pants and long sleeves, she thought we were crazy being in shorts and running in the water.
Last dog walk before we left to go home. Notice the crying children in the background because Snoopy is walking out without saying hi to them....my kid is mean. These are our last moments before we got in the car for the 2 day drive home. It was a fun trip, its sad that Bradach wont remember any of it though.

Bradach's First Time Skiing

Bradach is spoiled and got skis for Christmas. They are rented for the season, but I told myself the first ski season after he walked he would ski. I wanted to go about a month ago but just now got around to going. Today we went to Pomerelle and bought tickets for the magic carpet. I had prepped Bradach for this by letting him wear his ski boots in the house (anyone who has walked or worn them understands this) and pushing him around the yard in his skis. Well I hauled him up the hill in his sled, poor kid had a mountain of things in his lap. When we got to the carpet, which is like a conveyor belt that you stand on to take you up, he wasn't so sure but got on. He stood up like a champ the whole way, but made me hold his arms. After that first ride up he wanted to stand alone and be a big boy. When we got to the top he was laughing because of all the skiers around him. I held him between my legs and we were off! The kid said "wee" the whole time! He laughed and smiled, and when asked if he wanted to go fast he replied "fast!" I'm so glad he liked it. When we got to Grandpa's he told Grandpa "zoom", and "fast" and "whoosh", oh also "vvrrrrrrrr" for the carpet. I think he had a good day, I sure did, it was great sharing something I love so much with someone I love so much. I started skiing when I was 4 and I thought that its great Bradach beat me. He will be on a JR ski team in no time!
This pic he was looking at a kid eating a sandwich, prob wondering when I was going to feed him
Waiting in line for tickets to the best ride in town!
The magic carpet....sure is a lot nicer than a rope tow!! Check out his tiny skis.

Short vid I know, but I can't be picky when I didn't bring a camera person. Had to get a lame snowboarder to do it! LOL, hey he was a boarder and he was laying on the ground lame.


This sums it all up! This was one of our many rides up the carpet. Tell me the smile on that face says he had a blast.
All done...in the parking lot, one last pic to capture the day. He was great, not one time did he cry. Well one time, when I popped him out of his skis and he hit his forehead on the tip of my ski.That's one satisfied customer!
My first time skiing, the magic carpet there wasn't so magic, lol its just carpet.

Speaking of sleeping (the last pic of him), here is a pic of him in his "big boy bed" the first night he slept in it. Phil made the rails...he did an amazing job they look like they came with it.

Its been a year!

I started my blog a year ago at Christmas. Its been a fun thing, I must admit. I haven't posted pics of Christmas yet so here are some of them and a few others:This is Christmas Eve. Bradach was somewhat the entertainment. He ran around and the older kids followed. Finally they sat down and all took turns asking Bradach to say certain words and do funny things.

When the man of the hour showed up all the kids gathered around and took turns sitting on Santa's lap. This is as close as Bradach got to doing that. But he never cried! I think the fact that Santa's voice was familiar helped. Santa ended up handing out gifts and Bradach got a truck and a candy cane(first and last one of the season).
Christmas morning we got up around 9:30 and Phil made Crepes, we topped them with yogurt, strawberries and raspberries, powdered sugar and whipped cream. They were delicious, I think this will be a new tradition except Steven wont be so happy about that.
Christmas day was great, even more fun now that Bradach gets excited. Santa brought him a "BIG TRUCK" as he calls it. He pushes it everywhere. He also got a few other things, it was a nice Christmas and we are very very lucky to have what we have. Grandpa Rock got the gliding horse from Santa, a gift to him that he was instructed to share with all his grandchildren. We missed RJ and Amy along with Aunt Julie and EJ, TiTi and JJ. Family has always been a big part of Christmas for us and its hard when people are missing.
My dad had his knee replaced a few weeks ago (its about time). And Bradach has been a great help. Here he is raising his leg, doing the exercises with Grandpa. He takes the heat and ice packs to Mamo to put away. He helps pull Grandpa out of his chair when no one else hops up to do it, lol, and puts the slippers on his feet for him and gets the crutches for him. He is a very helpful little boy....don't let this fool you, he started a new game. First he helps Grandpa up, then gives him his crutch and hops in the chair and rocks and rocks.
Our home towns is covered in snow, so I figured the town next door with all the mountains surrounding it would have even more snow. Logical I know, but not right. We packed up the sled and headed to the hills. When we got there there wasn't much snow, but enough for a first timer. Grandpa got him this awesome sled and we had to try it out on something other than flat ground. Bradach loved the sledding, witch happened to be at the rugby field so we tramped over to the sign and took a pic for Uncle Steve.
This sure was a long blog, but its been a while, I will try to do better in the future. Hope all of your upcoming years are great.

Bradach is a year and a half today!!

This entry is mostly a diary type entry for my family to see how Bradach is doing at 18 months. I use the blog to keep far away Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles updated so this might not seem so exciting to some, and its very long. But enjoy anyways!
Bradach is awesome, he is always doing something. In most of these videos he is always moving while I'm filming. It amazes me how fast he learns. I know for the most part it is mimicking but he is a professional. Bradach's favorites include: trucks, trains, balls, dogs, cats, feeding horses, fruit of any kind, "All Dogs Go To Heaven", music and reading. He is running, climbing, feeding himself, helps do chores, and is a little performer. He does some sign language and can pronounce almost every letter in the alphabet. I'm trying to teach Spanish along with his English and its pretty fun for me. Some of the Spanish words are easier so he uses them....this ment Grandpa Rocks horse's name got changed from Red to Rojo.
Here are some video's that I took over the last week. I know this is just a brag blog, but like every mom I think my little guy is the best.

The obvious Once There Was a Snowman. He also does Itsy Bitsy Spider, 5 Pumpkins, Patty Cake, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and some wacky banana song with Grandma (mamo).


Its amazing to see his mind work through his actions.


I know the film looks rigged, but I swear he picks out all the blues, no matter where they are.


Here are some of the many animal noises he does....I tried 3 times to get the second part of the animal noises on, and it wouldn't work. I'll try to get it on a post later. I love the "ck" he does on truck and Rock. He is good at articulating the words he does use, but when he is on camera its hard to get him focused.



The book is full of pictures that he loves to point out.
Well that concludes my movies. Except my favorite one, and I will see if I can get it to work when its not 1 in the morning. When I started the blog he was 18 months, now he is 18 months 1 day.

A Nasty Little Bug!

Wed morning, the week before Thanksgiving, I woke up to a little boy that was vomiting. I gave him fluids and he threw it up, he was throwing up every 20 minutes or so. Bradach is a light weight to begin with so I was worried that he would dehydrate fast. And in my medical training they drill into us that hydration is a big thing. So I took him in to the clinic and they did a strep test that came back positive. Poor little guy, since he couldn't keep down fluids they started an IV, they gave him a full bag and then sent me home with a bag to give him later that night.

Here is my sweet set up. Reminded me of when I was prego and got out of staying in the hospital because I know how to run fluids and handle an IV.
Daddy and Bradach layed there and watched All Dogs Go to Heaven...well dad watched it anyways. Check out the spatchula keeping his arm straight. LOL, normally there would be a little board doing that....but I don't keep little boards handy.


The next day seemed better, Bradach kept down some fluids that morning and a couple of saltines. But by that evening he was crashing with a fever. Not to mention he started the diarrhea that day along with the vomiting. So my little guy got to go back to the clinic where they admitted him to the hospital. They tested him for Rotavirus and it was positive. 80% of kids get this thing and almost all of them go through it without even thinking it was more than a bout of the squirts and maybe some vomiting. Bradach however takes after his mom and if he gets it he goes the extreme. The nurses and everyone had to gown and glove up before coming in the room. The sign made me laugh because "stop" was in Spanish and English, now who doesn't know what red stop sign signifies? LOL.

This was after Bradach got some Tylonol to bring down his fever and got his new IV. He was like holding a fireball. His dad felt bad and kept trying to play with him, but the little bug was in no mood to play. He lost quite a bit of weight for a little guy, going from a whooping 22.8 lbs to low in the 21's. A week after all of this he weighed 21.13. A cute thing was that he kept calling the IV fluid juice. We were calling it water, but he thought juice was better. By day 2 in the hospital, day 3 in the ordeal he still hadn't eaten or drank anything. So we called in the Grandpa. Grandpa brought some of his favorite snacks, dried apples, and a banana by the time he had finished Bradachs belly looked like Grandpa's.
He still didn't feel great when we brought him home the next day but he was eating and drinking. For the next few days we just layed in bed and watched movies and read books. All is well now, we still are bleaching the toys and house everyday. The virus lives on surfaces for 10 days. Most of his toys are in quarantine. No one is contagious anymore, after I got it and Phil got it.

Fun news is that Bradach turns 18 months on the 7th so I'm going to try my hardest to get some of his cute tricks on camera.