First Halloween

Preston's first Halloween has come and gone. Since he's not old enough to trick or treat and mommy and daddy don't need the candy, we had a neighborhood get together instead. Preston is not spoiled in the least so he only had 3 costumes. Luckily he had the opportunity to wear each one. Of course he looked adorable in each costume and once again wowed our neighbors that hadn't met him yet. He never cried and was able to fall asleep even though there were 15-20 people talking loud right outside his nursery. Have I mentioned lately that he is absolutely amazing?? Next year we'll go with one costume and a little trick or treating, but this was definately a great first Halloween for Preston.

Cheyenne the Miracle Worker

It's amazing that a horse can be such a miracle worker. Today Preston and I went to see Cheyenne before we headed out for our afternoon walk. She whinnied and that got Preston to laugh his first real laugh. It was such a wonderful sound! Then I gave her a couple treats and when she grabbed them out of my hand he laughed again. I was surprised that it was a deeper kind of laugh because he squeals such a high pitched, girlish squeal. I was able to hear one more laugh on the start of our walk but I don't know if it was Holly, the leaves blowing or the fact that he liked to hear himself laugh that made him laugh that last glorious time.
This evening Rob got home from a ride and asked if I wanted to cool Cheyenne down. After riding her around the corral I asked Rob if I could take her down the driveway to the main road. Rob and Preston watched me as I made the longest solo trip I've ever made on a horse. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't more than a half mile roundtrip, and that's stretching it, but I enjoyed it. I'm slowing building up my confidence with horses and Preston laughed for the first time all because of Cheyenne the Miracle Worker!

The Past Few Days

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever looked forward to ending a day as much as I did yesterday. Before I get into that let me back up a day. Wednesday morning we woke up to snow on the ground. It was absolutely breath-taking and I was looking forward to staying in all day, getting house work done and relaxing with Preston. When Preston woke up from his morning nap he was screaming, which is pretty rare these days. I went to get him and he had vomitted all over our bed. I cleaned him up but he was still screaming. When I changed his diaper let's just say it wasn't pretty. I called our pediatrician and he said it was most likely a GI infection. He recommended Pedialyte for the next 24 hours. Since we didn't have any I had to take a quick shower (all the while Preston is screaming) and head down the hill to get some. After Preston drank some he settled down and went right to sleep for the ride home. Although I didn't wish for him to be sick, I got to eat a burrito for lunch complete with a caffinated glass of Coke. YUM! That and his grape smelling breath was the only nice part of him having to drink Pedialyte. When we got home, Preston was real clingy. He slept in my arms several times throughout the afternoon. Usually I don't let him take naps in my arms but I have to say I enjoyed snuggling with him. By that evening he was back to his usual self so I thought all was good again. WRONG!! Yesterday started out okay but by the afternoon he had turned into a monster baby. He would scream uncontrollably and I was unable to calm him down no matter what I did. By the time Rob got home I was about out of my mind, having flashbacks of when he was 2 months old doing this on a daily basis. I gave Preston to Rob and left the house to go for a long walk. Holly and I walked until it was almost dark because I needed to get away from the crying and screaming before I lost my mind. As soon as I got home, I was welcomed with the sound of him crying. Rob continued to hold him while I made Rob dinner. Nothing would console him so I fed him his night bottle/medicine early and put him to bed. By that time Rob and I were both pretty frazzled. Southwest was having an AWESOME deal on airfare so we booked two trips and afterwards I questioned whether I even put in the correct destinations. I ate a PBJ sandwich while taking a hot bath then crawled into bed absolutely drained! I am happy to say that today is 1,000 times better and Preston is back to being his happy self. I guess he likes to have "off" days once in awhile to show us how good we really have it with him 98% of the time.

Pumpkin Carving

It was supposed to storm today so I ran all my errands yesterday with the intent of staying indoors today. When we woke up this morning, however, there was a minimal dusting of snow on the ground. But, since it was in the 20's, I decided to keep Preston in anyways. Today is a long day for Rob so I created a long to-do list to make the day go by faster. One of the things was to carve Preston's big pumpkin. My suspicions were right: a 3 1/2 month old does not really participate in carving a pumpkin. I even tried to get him to play with the pumpkin guts (for lack of a better word) but he didn't want anything to do with it. He just wanted to sit there, grabbing at his feet, watching me and Holly. The progression of pictures is how it went (And yes, I put the camera on the auto timer to get pics. so Rob can make fun of me for it....ha!)By the end I was flying completely solo, as you can see. But, the finished product represents Preston as we call him "Boo" or "Boo Man". Maybe next year he'll be a little more into the whole pumpkin carving festivities!

Fun One......

This weekend has been a mixture of fun, productive and relaxing. Friday night both of the boys were asleep by 8pm so it gave me a chance to soak in a hot bath and read a book. I love our family time but I also enjoy my alone time once in awhile as well. Yesterday morning Rob hung out with Preston so I could run some errands before my parents came to town. We're having a little Halloween get together at our house next weekend so I had fun picking out decorations and treats for the party. Shortly after I got home my parents showed up. We all went for a walk while Rob rode Cheyenne. It was such a beautiful Fall day and Preston loves being outdoors so I really enjoyed getting exercise in the great outdoors of our neighborhood. Once we got back home I hung out with my parents for awhile before Rob and I got ready to head out for the night. We went to a comedy show downtown and then out to dinner. It was the first time that I didn't CONSTANTLY think/worry about being away from Preston. We throroughly enjoyed our time together and laughed a lot. This morning I made a big breakfast for everyone then we headed off to church. After church we enjoyed a nice big lunch at Texas Roadhouse, our favorite place to eat in town. I was ready for a nap when we got home, but that doesn't usually happen much these days. So I rode Cheyenne around the corral for awhile instead. I had a minor mishap when I didn't steer her away from the roundpin and will have a good sized bruise on my knee from bumping into it pretty good. Now we're back in the house and I'm doing laundry and dishes in between reading my book and relaxing with the boys. What a perfect weekend....I love weekends like this!!

One of Those Days

When I put Preston down last night I had a feeling it wasn't going to be a very good night. I'm used to waking up with him only once these days. But, last night he decided to wake up a few times which wore me out. Then, today, he wouldn't take his usual naps. In fact, he refused to take a morning nap at all. He was cranky, fussing at the drop of a hat. So, I put him in the Baby Bjorn to water the trees and say hi to Cheyenne. He liked being outdoors so much that I decided to take a walk around the block. About the only time he got excited with me all day was when we were on our walk. He squealed when he discovered our shadows and when Holly would run up ahead of us. The only problem was that I had not intended to go for a walk. So, walking up our road in flip flops, carrying a 13ish lb baby and being so out of shape really made the end of the walk interesting. But, he liked it so it was worth it. Once we got home he went back to being fussy (Me being tired probably didn't help). I was finally able to get him to take a 1 1/2 hour nap in the late afternoon by laying down with him. His startle reflex is still in full gear so I held his hands and that helped him go to sleep. When he woke up he was in a little better mood and once daddy got home he was in a bigger better mood. But, it was the first time in a long time that I was very happy when bedtime rolled around. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow will be better.

Noah's Ark

For awhile I was wondering if we should build an ark. We had 2 horses, 2 dogs, 2 of us.... But, we've downgraded our animal status...and upgraded our human status. As of yesterday we only have one dog and one horse. I was kind of bummed to get rid of Duke but knew it was for the best. He is big and doesn't realize it so we couldn't have him in the house when Preston was down low. It got to be burdensome to keep an eye on him outside all the time and I felt bad having him in the kennel all day. I also wasn't spending the time needed with him for the first two months after Preston was born so he wasn't really trained, other than knowing how to sit and staying in his crate. I hate to admit it but it was rather nice not having to dump food in his bowl upstairs this morning so I could trick him out of the garage to close the door (He's chewed up expensive stuff in the garage). It was also nice to look out and not see the neighbors' shoes, gloves, etc. on our deck. Someday I hope to get another dog because Holly is getting old and can't exercise with me all that well. But, for right now I think we have the perfect one horse one dog household.