Happy 4th of July!

I know it is no quite the 4th yet, but I figured we could tell everyone Happy 4th of July early. We have been keeping pretty busy since our last post. My mom (Grandma Melissa) came down last week and Hayden went to his very first movie. During the summer Regal is putting on a Family Film Festival, and Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10 there are free movies. Well we thought we would give it a try, since the kid can't stay still to save his life, and that way we would have spent 6 bucks on a movie we wouldn't sit through. Well he lasted 30 mins, and that is only because we had popcorn (His new favorite treat)! I don't have any pictures because they are on Grandma's camera, but they were super cute. He was double fisting.

Last Saturday we went to the coast. There were to festivals going on: The Pirates Festival and the Sandcastle and Wood Sculpting Festival. It was hard to pick which one to go to since we went to both last year, but we ended up going to the Sandcastle one because there was beach access where Hayden could run around. The wood carvings weren't as good as last year, but there was a super cool car made out of sand that you could stand in and get your picture taken in (pictures are on Flickr). When we got to the beach, there were huge kites being flown. Hayden thought they were balloons and kept calling them "boons." Once we got onto the sand we took Hayden's sandals off so he could run and play. Wow did he not want to be put down. At first he hated the sand and didn't want anything to do with it. However, once we got down by the water and showed him how to splash and stomp on the water, that was enough to convince him the sand was okay.

Hayden got soaked! I was smart this year and brought an extra pair of clothes, blanket, a wet wash cloth, and plastic bags. But, apparently I wasn't smart enough to bring them to the beach (I left them in the car), so Hayden ended up wrapped in my coat while we finished looking at the sandcastles. Amazingly enough the semi-pro sandcastles were ten times better than the pros. All in all we had a great time. Hayden is starting to talk up a storm, in words: flower (bower), chocolate (kacolat - I think that is how he says it), swing (wee), and a if you ask him to say a some words he can mimic you a little.

Anyway, this weekend we plan on going to the parade tomorrow. Hayden I am sure will like all of the sirens this year. Then tomorrow night we plan on going to the festival that Tumwater is putting on. Hopefully this year Hayden can play in the big blow up balloons they will have. We aren't going to keep Hayden up for the fireworks, because the kid has to have his sleep. We are probably going to do what we did last year: grab him from his crib, drive to the top of our hill and watch from the car. So Hayden may or may not get to watch them this year!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great Father's Day! We went to an air show, which was just down the road from us. We figured Hayden would have a great time because, every time he sees a plane in the sky he yells "bye bye" at the top of his lungs like he thinks the air plane is going to hear him. He also points and says "pain" or plane.

At the air show it was no different. It was "hi," "pain," and "bye bye" all day long. He got to sit in a transporting army helicopter, and he thought that was pretty cool. In a couple of the pictures on flickr you can see him in the drivers seat and also getting buckled in. However, after he did get buckled in he shook his head no and wanted out! After that he was very intent to watch the officer buckle the other kids in, he then wanted to figure out how to buckle himself in. He wasn't too happy when we took him out of the helicopter, but has quickly distracted by the flying air planes.

We saw a helicopter drop an SUV from probably 300 yards up and it just completely flattened. That was pretty cool! Jon had a good day, I was able to surprise him with his gift this year (The first time I was ever able to keep it away from him!). Anyway, we had a good weekend now we are just waiting for vacation to come. It couldn't come soon enough for either of us!

YAH... It's Summer!

The title says it all... It is finally summer and today was my last class, well until summer school starts June 22, but hey at least I get a little of a break. The summer weather has also kicked in, the last two days it has been 90 here, way to hot for no AC. Also I uploaded some cute pictures of Hayden eating watermelon (his new favorite food), they are too cute you have to check out the juice catcher picture.

Anyway, Hayden is starting to flourish with speaking. He is starting to mimic words a little if you ask him to say something and in the morning when he wakes up, he seems to be talking to his panda. We will try and get it on video. He can also tell you what a cow says, what a kangaroo does, what an alligator does, and what a monkey does and sounds like. We tired to get that on video but it didn't go quite as we planned.

Hayden is starting to hit the tantrum age as well. A couple of days ago he learned how to put the key in the car door. Well he tried putting the same key in our front door. I tried to explain to him that he needed to use another key and showed him which one, well he didn't like that too much and right there he laid down kicked his legs and screamed. It took all of me just not to laugh. Anyway I got him inside and let him finish while I made him dinner. Once he got a whiff of the food, he forgot all about the key.

I can't wait for vacation and a 4 hour plane ride... telling Hayden he can't move for that long period may just drive me and everyone around me crazy. We plan on buying a portable DVD player to play his Barney (the only thing the kid will watch), bring his puzzles, and books which he loves, but if anyone else has any suggestions for a 4 hour plane ride I would love to hear them. Less than 2 months to go! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Mariner's Game and Memorial Weekend

Finally... I have loaded new pictures and videos.

It has been a crazy month. Hayden is as active as ever, never stopping unless he is asleep. Now that it is nice out we have been spending more time outside. A couple of weekends ago we went to the Mariner's game. We were 8 rows up from the first base side. It was a great game (well the parts we saw). Hayden had a good time too. Jon and I both got beers and when I wasn't looking Hayden grabbed my beer and was tipping it to have a drink. Don't worry I caught him in time, but the couple behind us got a good laugh out of it. Hayden lasted 8 innings, but he was so tired that as soon as we got in the car he was out. When we got home, we got Dairy Queen. He ate his own bowl of ice cream, not well but he got the majority of it down.

This weekend, Hayden went to Grandma Melissa's house. I had to work and Jon ended up cleaning the apartment, since we didn't have a little man to "help" us clean. Sunday we checked out houses just for something to do, the houses were absolutely gorgeous, but they had no yards and if anyone knows Hayden, we need a huge yard. Yesterday we went to pick up Hayden from grandma's and we were able to stop at the Nike employee store and check it out. It was pretty cool too, we got some good deals on shoes. After we got home we went to a friends house for a Barbecue. Overall we had a great weekend.

Hayden slept through the night last night, and we came to the conclusion that Hayden needs a house, a huge yard, and a dog, because then I am pretty sure the kid would sleep through the night every night.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sorry about slacking on the updates

I am sure everyone is wondering how Hayden is doing. The little guy is fine. Last Tuesday he started acting more like himself. In one day our apartment went from spotless to a disaster. It is like everything is new again to him and he has to learn "no" all over again. Hence very busy mom and dad. I still have no idea where the camera cord is to add the hide-n-seek pictures or video, so you will have to be patient for a little longer.

School is getting crazy right now with only 4 weeks left, and for some reason work has me scheduled to work every day I have free. Jon has been at a conference all week in Vancouver. So needless to say it has been a crazy household these past weeks.

One other thing Hayden likes to do at night is cry and get up every hour or so, which means physically exhausted parents. Jon and I know we have to start over with a sleep program, only problem is his cries are not the same as when we was a baby. He now wails at the top of his lungs. You would think we are killing him. Anyway, before we can just let him cry in the middle of the night we have to warn the people above us in the apartments so they don't call the cops on us. I was thinking of getting her something (besides ear-plugs) to kind of show how sorry we are. Any ideas?

I know this weekend is Mother's Day and Lisa's birthday, so Happy early Mother's Day and Birthday (Grandma's and Lisa). We will talk to you all soon.

P.s. I will look for the camera cord this weekend.

Pictures and Videos

Posted Easter pictures and Spring Fair pictures. I also posted his Easter candy video. I have some hide and seek pictures and video to post yet. Hopefully I will get those on the computer soon. Miss you all and hope everyone had a good weekend!

Month from h _ _ _

What a month.

The weekend before Easter, Hayden started getting sick. Runny nose, drainage from his eye, fever of as high as 104…etc. We took him to the doctor and they put him on Amoxicillin thinking it was a virus. The next morning he woke up with red splotches all over his back and butt. Needless to say, we found out he is allergic to Amoxicillin. They put him on Azrithomycin for three days and we thought that he was feeling better. The Saturday before Easter he was doing better and we took him to the Easter Egg Hunt in Tumwater. Hayden even picked up his own eggs this year and held his basket. He likes candy.

Everything was good the next week, fever seemed to be going down and he was getting back to himself. On Sunday, we went to the spring festival in Puyallup. He loved all the animals, and we even got to hold a crocodile. There was an arts and crafts section where we made him a Frisbee which turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit a little short, Hayden felt a little warm. That night, his temperature hit 104 again.

The next morning, Amanda had to take him in for a blood draw. The following day, he was back to the doctor for the results. The blood results looked good, just a high white blood cell count…which means an infection. Just to be sure, they took a chest x-ray…sure enough…pneumonia. In both lungs. They put him on some more antibiotics and we hoped he would start feeling better. Friday night, after he went down for the night, he woke up screaming. You could tell he was struggling to breathe. His chest was heaving, when he inhaled it sounded like he was barking, and he was kicking his legs as he tried to get air in. So we took him to the ER again. The doctor there said…Croup. They gave him an anti-inflammatory with some steroids in it and sent us on our way after a 3 hour visit. If it happens again, they told us to take him right back to the ER, otherwise to make an appointment with his doctor on Monday. So…that is where we are at right now. Tomorrow he has his follow-up appointment with Dr. Duncan.

Stats for April (so far): 6 - Visits to the Doctor, 2 – ER visits, 2 – Nights of sleeping through the night.

He needs to get to feeling better…for all our sakes…and sanity.