Week in Review

Another week is over...and so is June!  We had a great week, filled with ups and downs.

Trigg and I really like to wrestle...he usually ends up pinning me!

...pinned ya' again!

Mom and Trigg hanging out on the coach and looking cute!

Monday night we were rolling around on the floor having some tummy time...

Trigg ended up barrel rolling till he was somewhat under the coffee table.  "Dad, hand me a wrench, this leg is a little wobbly."

He seems to be on the verge on crawling.  Arms and legs are moving...but not all at the same time

...and he has rolling down!

Tuesday and Wednesday were hot!!!  Temps hit 102...which matched Trigg's temperature on Wednesday.

Poor little guy felt crumby...his temp spiked up Tuesday evening and was still high Wednesday even with children's IBProphine.  We called our family physician and talked with him, he was out of the office but he suggested heading to urgent care.  This was the low point of the week, talk about feeling helpless, our little guy as so mellow and felt terrible and there was nothing we could do to help him.  We headed into urgent care and found out Trigg has an ear infection...

Thanks to Amoxicillian, he was feeling back to his normal self within an hour!  We even managed to get in a little play time before bed!

Riley photobomb...

After a day on his antibiotics, our little man is bouncing back.  That makes us all smile!

This was the first experience with sickness for these new parents and I would say that I didn't like the feeling of helpless I felt.  This ear infection reiterated the fact that I can do all I can do to help Trigg, but in the end, I am not in control.  I realize that this probably won't be the last trip to urgent care with our little guy, so in the meantime I will keep praying!  I am very grateful for urgent care clinics and the work they do.  I am also guessing that it doesn't get any easier as they get older...

So this was a rollarcoaster of a week but we are doing much better as the week comes to a close.  We are looking forward to the weekend but don't have a lot of plans.  How was your week?

Book Review: On Becoming Baby Wise: Book Two

I just finished reading On Becoming Baby Wise, Book Two: Parenting Your Pretoddler 5 to 15 months and thought it was great!  We are a baby wise family, getting Trigg on a schedule has worked great for us.  Trigg was sleeping through the night since 8 weeks and hasn't skipped a beat since.  We agree with the Baby Wise philosphy of parenting and as I said, it has worked great for us.We found book two to be very beneficial and informative as Trigg is starting to move into that pretoddler phase. 
The book starts with chapter 1 called "Back to the Basics" and they unpack the priority of marriage!  A healthy marriage is essential to the emotional health of children in the home.
They move on to the topic of Moral Foundations and stress how teaching your children self control from an early age will only benefit them and  you as your kids grow!  They also offer good tips on how to teach your children.
The book also addresses mealtime activities, highchair manners, waketime activites...all very helpful as we are getting to those stages!
They dedicate a chapter to discipline and being consistent in discipline.  The last chapter talks about naps and sleeptime.
They finish the book addressing language development, baby sign language and a few hints on potty training.
All and all, this book was very helpful and will be a good resource as Trigg continues to grow and learn!

Book Review: Wild Things, The Art of Nurturing Boys

I just finished reading Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James and David Thomas and I give it two thumbs up.  If you have a son or boy in your life, I would highly recommend reading this book!
They cover a wide range of topics regarding the life of a boy and his journey to manhood.  They split the book up into 3 parts:
Part 1 - The Way of a Boy
In this section the authors breakdown the phases a boy goes through as he grows up.  The Explorer (ages 2-4), the Lover (age 5-8), the Individual (ages 9-12), the Wanderer (ages 13-17), and the Warrior (ages 18-22).  They breakdown each phases and talk about what our boys need from us as parents and caregivers and how we can help boys grow and mature through each phase.
Part 2 - The Mind of a Boy
This section breaks down the different learning styles of boy and how we can help boys learn and how we can identify their learning style.
Part 3 - The Heart of a Boy
This section talks about the heart of a boy and how we can cultivate a boy heart into a mans heart.  They have 2 chapters, A Boy and His Mother and A Boy and His Father and they breakdown the roles mothers and fathers play in a boys development.  They finish with talking about rituals, ceremonies and rites of passage.
They also have an appendix labeled "Hot Topics" where they do a quick 1-2 page high level summary of different hot topics, such as "Spanking & Discipline", "Screen Time", "Talking with Boys about Sex", just to name a few.
All in all, I thought this was a great book, I made lots of marks and highlights and will return to this book often for ideas and encouragement as we start to raise a "wild thing" of our own!  Again, I would highly recommend this to parents of boys!

Week in Review

What a great week!  We had a lot of fun this week.  Last weekend, we headed down to Indianola on Saturday to celebrate Father's Day...Trigg was pretty excited!

Then on Sunday, we celebrate Father's Day at home!  Heather made this awesome banner and had tie-themed surprises for me throughout the day!

...Trigg and Heather also gave me an awesome Father's Day gift...a stamp for my books.  I had been looking for a stamp...but this one is awesome!  Well done babe, well done!

We had a great Father's Day meal to finish up the fun...with plenty of leftovers!

This week also featured fantastic weather, a little warm but it is now officially summer!  We got the hammock out to enjoy a few evenings!

Trigg likes to lay back on the deck and look at the trees!

Here is my DIY Potting Bench that I made from pallets...simple yet effective!

The wild man after his nap...crazy hair!

All smiles after bath time!

This was midway through a tickle match with Mom!

This weekend is dudes weekend as well as the Arts Festival downtown!  Lots happening at the start of the summer.

The Adventures of Trigg: Pudding Paint

Last Friday was a rainy day...so much rain that we couldn't go outside to play...so what should we do...

 Riley was even bummed out about the rain!  Let's try painting with pudding!

 Mom had made some chocolate pudding the night before...so it was nice and chilled.  Trigg wasn't too sure about the texture at first...

 ...but he got warmed up to it pretty quickly!

 Are we having fun?

 Check...all smiles from this dude!

So much fun...

 ...it was only a matter of time until the hands found their way into his mouth...and not surprising, Trigg likes chocolate pudding (sugar free)!

Painting with Pudding was a success, Trigg had a lot of fun and then it was off to the bathtub!  His highchair got a good scrub down too!  We have also seen the idea to use Cool Whip and a little food coloring as paint...lots of fun on a rainy day.

Week in Review

Another week in the books!  Trigg turned 8 months old and he keeps us laughing! 

 He likes to roll around and wrestle with his blankets, stuffed animals or even his dad!

 Legs up in the air and laughing!

 We also made some homemade all natural bug spray...it works great and smells good too!

 This week we also made some acorn squash, carrots, peaches and pears for Trigg! 

 We spent more time out on the deck looking at the trees, birds and clouds...

 Here I am explaining the difference between our oak tree and our ash tree...

 Thanks to bath time (slightly wet hair) and a roll around the crib, Trigg has started to style his own hair!

We made it up to the Beaverdale Farmer's market as well but forgot to snap any pictures...I also built a potting bench from some pallets...again, need to take more pictures.  Hope you had a great week too!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Wednesday evening, we headed to Pella to watch Nathan play t-ball.  We picked up Grandma Doreen and Grandma Great and made it to see Nathan (number 1) up to bat!  The evening's game pinned Team Dairy Queen (red) against Team Digital Solutions (green)...an epic battle!

Nathan got on base!  Here he is on third base, I thought he was watching for the signal to try and steal home...but no one gives signals in t-ball.

Trigg and Mom are excited to be at the game...and what a night for baseball, perfect weather!

 The crowd goes wild as Team Dairy Queen scores another run!

 Aaron chanting "Hhheeeyyyy batter batter batter batter, swinggggg batter"

 Coach Chad on the pitching mound.  The coach throws 4 pitches to the batter and if there isn't a hit, then the batter gets to use the "T".

 Nathan back in the batters box, watches a high fast ball come in...

 Trigg enjoys his squash while the game is going on!

 Nathan slides into home base...even though the ball wasn't close, he takes every chance he can get to slide!

 Trigg watching the game closely.

 After a close match...we aren't sure who won...but it doesn't matter because no one keeps score and everyone had a good time!  Me and the Big Hitter!

We had a great time enjoying America's favorite past time!  Go baseball!