Happy Thanksgiving

I am so thankful to be a Mom. It is such an amazing experience! When I look at my little man and he smiles at me with his little smile, I think, "Omigosh, he is mine, I made him and he is so amazing!"

I am thankful for my husband. His hard work is what gives us the life we have and everything we own. I am so grateful for that! He is a great Dad and Tre loves him to pieces, when he isn't here, Tre is asking for him, running through the house saying "DADA!"

I am so thankful for my family! It is always such a blessing to get the family together. Life gets so crazy and everyone is so busy with all that is going on that when we find a date that works, it is a blessing in itself.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We got together at my sister's house, they just moved there a few months ago and it is an awesome place. I hope one day to be in a place like that with a family like that!

I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving as well! I'm thankful that you take the time to read my blog!

Happy 4th Birthday Noa

Today was Noa's 4th birthday! Normally it's just a day where I think, awww...my little Noa was born today however many years. But this year I am extremely grateful that my little Noa is here. After his head injury I was worried that I could lose him or he could have problems going forward. But both things are not the case and he is improving at a fast pace and I am SO happy!

I am noticing a few things here and there that are different, like his bark sounds different and he has a little side step to his walk. But all in all, he is still my little puffball. He continues to shadow me (which can be annoying but I guess with almost losing him really doesn't bother me anymore because it means he is here), he continues to cuddle when I hold him and most importantly with the cuddling is he still rests his little head on my shoulder when I hold him which is one of my fav things, he is smiley and still loves to be in the basket of Tre's stroller when we go places.

Tre loves Noa so much and every day he goes to give him a kiss and a nuzzle when he sees him. The day after Noa's incident and he was in my bedroom in his carrier crate when we went somewhere that he couldn't go, Tre noticed something was different because normally Noa greets us with his anxious bark and there was no bark. Tre got down from my arms and started to walk around the house calling Noa's name. A quick thought crossed my mind, gosh, what if we had lost him. Then quickly that thought was gone with another thought, OMIGOSH, I am so grateful to have him still here with us.

Noa was my practice baby, I learned that when something depends on you for food, water and shelter, etc that you must be there for them no matter what. Not that I didn't really know that, but I really started to get how much little ones like that depend on you to be the caretaker. I couldn't just pick up and go somewhere for a few days like I could with my cats because Noa needed someone there to feed him and just be with him. I learned then that if a dog was this much work then a baby was going to be a million times more and I was ready. Thanks to Noa I was more patient and understanding and not so oblivious to others needs.

Happy Birthday to my little pup Noa! To many many many more birthdays! We love you!

Tre is 16 Months Old

Tre is now 16 Months Old...and here is what we had going on for the past month...

• Saturday, October 10th Tre and I went for a walk in the morning before his nap and then after his nap we went to Pat & Oscar's for lunch and then to Costco. Pretty mellow day!
• Sunday, October 11th we went for a walk with Jammer's Dad over by their beach house and then after Tre's nap we went and got some lunch and ran some errands. Here is a cute video of Tre dancing: click here
  
• Monday, October 12th we went to a Hullabaloo concert at the Encinitas Community Center. Hullabaloo is a kids band that Tre's play group loves.
• Tuesday, October 13th I met my friend Rachel and her daughter Ava at the North County Fair Mall for a little walking around. We ate some lunch and then walked around the mall and let the kids play in the kids play area for a bit. Then Jammer got home from work in time to be with Tre until it was time for bed.
• Wednesday, October 14th Tre and I ran some errands and then went to TGI Friday's for dinner. I had a free burger coupon and it expired on this day so him and I went out for a dinner date. Hehe. He was such a good boy and ate a lot of his food. During his bath he was being very funny saying "Choo Choo" click here to see the video.
  
• Thursday, October 15th was a fun-filled day. Jammer worked the late shift so him, Tre and I went to the Encinitas library for their story time, then Tre and I had a birthday party for one of his friends at 2:30pm, we hung out there for a couple hours and then got home to do the nighttime routine. Then after Tre fell asleep my neighbor Rachel came and hung out at our house so I could go to my Mom's Night Out event that I had planned but since Jammer ended up having to work the late shift I was left without a babysitter. It was a fun night out with some of the Mom's from our play group. We went to the Twenty/20 Bar at the Sheraton for their Thursday Tapa's night. It's always nice to get out with friends once in a while!
• Friday, October 16th I took Tre to a pumpkin patch in Del Mar. Yes, another pumpkin patch. It's like the parks of October. Hehe. I figure I'd take advantage of the many pumpkin patches while they are here and can get back to parks and such after they are gone. Hehe. We met my friend Sarah and her daughter Ella there and it worked out great because we hung out for a bit and then when Jammer got off work he met us there (since Del Mar is on the way home from his work) and he got to hang with Tre for a bit at the pumpkin patch as well. Banana's have become one of Tre's fav foods, check out this video.
  

• Saturday, October 17th we had plans to go up to my parent's house for Jammer and my brother in law, Ed's bday bbq. In the morning when Tre woke up we had a new plan to help stop the nursing. Jammer came into Tre's room 3 minutes after I went in which gave Tre just enough time to get about 2 mins and then was distracted by Daddy coming in the room, then I left the room and Jammer took Tre to the living room. Tre was a little fussy being taken away from me but after some Cheerios being presented to him he seemed to mellow out. After his nap we got ourselves packed up and then a little later than expected (which seems to always be the case) we got on the road and drove to OC. Dinner was yummy and Tre was entertained with all the things going on, until it came to be past bedtime and he was started to lose his cool. The last straw was when he saw Jammer wrestling with my niece and nephew and they were piledriving Jammer and Tre thought they were hurting his Daddy and started screaming. So confusing I'm sure. We had to explain they were just playing and Tre wouldn't leave his Daddy's side from then on. Ultimately, it was absolutely time to go and Tre fell asleep about 8 minutes after we got in the car, sleepy little dude.
• Sunday, October 18th we attempted our plan again and this time Tre was much fussier to be taken away from me, but thanks to Jammer we persevered through the tantrum and completed a simple 2 min nursing and then to the living room. We took Tre for a walk in the morning after breakfast and went to Starbuck's for a little energy boost for Jammer. Then back to the house for a much needed nap for Tre since he was still very tired from the day before. He took a great nap today which I was SO happy about because he definitely needed the extra rest (and so did I). After he woke up we got him ready and then went to pick up some food and went over to Jammer's parent's beach house to see his Dad while Tre played in the backyard and then Jammer took him in the jacuzzi. Fun filled weekend! Here is a few videos from this day: 1st video is of Jammer letting Tre fly onto the couch, click here. 2nd video is of Tre dancing at Jammer's parent's beach house, click here. And the 3rd video is of Jammer & Tre swimming in the jacuzzi, click here.
  
• Monday, October 19th we did our Daddy to the rescue situation again with only a 2 minute nursing and yep, Tre wasn't very happy about being taken away from me but amazingly those Cheerios saved us again, as soon as we put them out for him to eat he was happy and over the frustration.
  
• Tuesday, October 20th was the first day that Tre didn't request to nurse and didn't cry when I took him out of his crib without offering, plus he slept in until 8:30am. I wrote a separate post regarding the new transition click here if you haven't checked it out. It was a HUGE relief to not have the force of removing him from his room situation. Good thing because Jammer had to work that morning and it was only me. I don't know what it was but he left the room without a fuss. We had plans to go to the library for a story time at 10am. We got to the library and while at the library I started not feeling so good. I began to get the symptoms I've gotten before of mastitis (flu-like). Since Tre only nursed for 2 mins the day before and nothing on this day I was feeling very uncomfortable. By the time I put Tre down for his nap I was weak and not feeling like I could function so well. I had to text Jammer and hope that he might be able to get off work early to help me out. I was in pain! Thankfully he was able to come home and got here just as Tre was awake and wanting me to take him out of his crib. I could barely use my right arm because of the pain. I had planned a soccer play date for this day and was so happy to have Jammer there to chase Tre around while I watched.
• Wednesday, October 21st another no nursing day, looked like he was done, plus he didn't wake up until 8:45am. My Mom had planned on coming down this day to help me out because I had to take Cyrus to the vet (his asthma was flaring up). Thank goodness she was here to help because Tre was so off schedule, he didn't go down for his nap until 12:50pm and didn't wake up until 3:20pm and Cy's appointment was for 3pm, so my Mom stayed at home and took care of Tre while I took care of my furry son. He got his shot that helps him relieve the asthma and we were on our way back home. My Mom ended up staying and having dinner with Tre and I which was great to have her here to help. She also taught me how to hem my jeans so I learned how to do that and while she was here hemmed two pairs of jeans that I had recently purchased. YAY!
• Thursday, October 22nd Jammer had the day off and was pleasantly surprised when both him and I got to sleep in until 9:10am!! Couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the clock. However, I was awake before Tre because my body is so used to being awake earlier with Tre that I couldn't sleep in, but Jammer was stoked to have slept in so long. It definitely made for a weird day because of the delay of the start of our day. We ended up going to Target after breakfast and then took Tre to the park next to the Target for a little kicking of the ball, then back home for his nap. Jammer surfed while Tre napped and then after Tre's nap I fed him lunch. When Jammer got home from surfing he was limping, he had landed wrong while surfing and hurt his ankle. We had planned to take him to Cottonwood park for a bit, so Jammer sat on a bench while I chased Tre around (I guess it was time to return the favor for his help on Tuesday, hehe). Here is a video of Tre at the park, click here. After the park we went and got the car washed and then had dinner at El Caribe across the street from our house.
  

• Friday, October 23rd I took Tre to the park after his nap and met up with our play group, then went to Trader Joe's to pick up some things. That evening after Jammer got home from work we finished putting Tre to bed and then I went over to my friend Sarah's house for a little "Mom's Night Out" get together where we had a presentation of PartyLite products. After the rest of the guests left, my friend Selena and I hung out with Sarah for a while longer, chatted and had some more yummy food.
• Saturday, October 24th was included in my Halloween post that can be found here.
  
• Sunday, October 25th was also included in my Halloween post that can be found here.
  
• Monday, October 26th was Tre's 15 month check up, not a fun experience since he got 3 shots. Poor little man. He was pretty tough, he cried after the first one got him and kept it at a consistent cry but nothing major as soon as he was done he hugged us tightly and started to toughen up when he realized it was over. After the appointment we went home and had breakfast and then took Tre for a walk. Jammer had to work and after Tre's nap, Tre and I went to Costco to pick up a few things and then Jammer's Mom came over to visit with us until it was time for Tre to go to bed.

• Tuesday, October 27th Tre and I went to the library story time. Then brought him home and he went down for his nap around noon and it lasted for 4 HOURS! Tre woke up for a few minutes at 2pm and then went back to sleep. Such a weird thing, I didn't expect it at all. Because of the long nap we were able to attend our friend Mike's 30th birthday dinner in Point Loma, which was great because we got to see some of our friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like.
• Wednesday, October 28th was a mellow day. Tre and I went to the grocery store in the morning for some things and then we came home and he took a short nap. Figures, after his super long nap yesterday, I had a hunch this would happen. When he woke up he was in a very strange mood though, he was very upset and when I got him up in the morning and after his 1st nap he was grabbing onto me like he wanted to nurse. After a little bit of distraction he was all good, but it was looking like a rough day. I was wondering if maybe he was feeling the after effects of his shots. I decided we should probably stay in for today since he wasn't super warm but possibly had a bit of a fever, we played and hung out at the house. Then I had a board meeting that night and Jammer ended up having to work and so I had to bring Tre with me to the meeting. He seemed to enjoy himself for the first 30 minutes but after that slowly started to melt down, plus it was bedtime. I don't think I will be bringing him to a meeting again, it was a bit difficult to pay attention to him and what was going on.
  
• Thursday, October 29th was another mellow day. Went for a walk in the morning and then after Tre's nap we hung out for a bit and then went and picked up food and brought it home for an early dinner. With the weather being a bit chilly the yesterday and today we thought it'd be best to keep Tre indoors since he had a little runny nose.
  
• Friday, October 30th & Saturday, October 31st were included in my Halloween post that can be found here. However, one thing that didn't make the Halloween post was this video that I took of Tre attempting to bounce in the bouncy house at the Halloween party we went to, click here to see.
  
• Sunday, November 1st we took Tre to the Carlsbad Street Faire in the morning and then he came home for his nap, but I think we kept him up a little longer than we should have because he was past tired and into over tired which made it difficult for him to fall asleep and then also made it difficult for him to stay asleep (he only took a 40 min nap). After he woke up I kept him occupied until Jammer got home from surfing, then we hung out at the house until we decided to take Tre and his toy push car outside and we pushed him around the neighborhood and let him push it around as well until it was time for dinner, click here to see a video of Tre in his car.
  
• Monday, November 2nd I had to go down to my doctor's office to get my blood taken to check my hormone levels and stuff. Jammer stayed with Tre at the house until I got back, then it was time for Tre's nap. Jammer went to work and after Tre woke up from his nap we had lunch and then my friend Tiffani came over and hung out for a little while.

• Tuesday, November 3rd I took Tre to the Quail Botanical Gardens in the morning, it was great, I got there right when they opened and it was empty. We got a full 15 minutes before a soul showed up and even then it was people I knew so I was willing to share. Hehe. After his nap we hung out for a bit and then went to Terra Mar Beach where our play group was meeting to check out the tide pools. It was low tide so it was a fun to wander around, there was an octopus and some starfish (sea stars).That evening when Tre was taking his bath he was spouting off the word, 'Awesome' so when he got out of the bath and Jammer was drying him off I decided to catch it on video and then he ran around the house naked. Sorry for the nakedness in the video but he was being funny, click here if you want to see Tre say 'Awesome'.
  
• Wednesday, November 4th started out fine, Jammer and I took Tre to the soccer field before his nap, here is a little video of that, then Jammer left for work and after Tre's nap we got ready and was planning on running some errands until the day turned into a horrible day, if you didn't see what happened already here is the post about it. Click here.
• Thursday, November 5th I took Noa to the vet to have him checked out after yesterdays incident. The vet was pleased to see Noa had improved immensely but we are to give him some medication and watch him over the next week and hope that he improves. Jammer had the day off so while I took Noa to the vet he stayed with Tre. Then after Tre's nap we ended up running some errands to Costco and Trader Joe's.
• Friday, November 6th was a park day for Tre and I. We went to Leucadia Oaks park in Encinitas in the morning and hung out with my friend Carrie and her son Thomas. Then after Tre's nap we had planned on going to Aviara Park. My friend's Sarah, Selena and Carrie met me there and they brought their kids Ella, Madi & Thomas. Tre had lots of fun running around with the kids and of course interacting with the Moms as well. He has become very interested in the slides and is now confident enough to slide down on his own (with Mommy closely behind, just in case, but not sitting on my lap anymore).

• Saturday, November 7th started out with one type of plan for the day and ended up with another. I decided Noa was ready for a little stroll in Tre's stroller so I took Noa & Tre for a walk around the neighborhood. During my walk I saw some familiar faces. One turned out to be a guy that I used to work with at San Diego Volvo, him and his family were heading to Legoland. He said he actually had some extra free tickets and wanted to know if I wanted to go. I was like umm...SURE. They had to be used today, so he was going to place them at Will Call for me to pick up. I figured if I couldn't make it, no problem but at least I would have the option. Good thing I did give myself a back up plan because my original plan was for my friend Tina to bring her son Gibson over so I could watch him while they did some packing and moving into their new house. Ended up Tina wasn't going to be bringing him over so I was like, hmm..looks like we might be able to make it to Legoland after all. My friend Rachel and her daughters Ava & Olivia were going to come over as well to hang with us while I watched Gibson, so I called Rachel to see if instead of hanging at my house if she wanted to go to Legoland for free as well. She said Yes, so after our toddlers woke up from their naps we met up and headed to Legoland. It was a quick little trip but fun to wander around. Tre and Ava were so cute, they would be wandering around and Ava would yell "TRE!" and Tre would yell back "AVA!" I couldn't get enough of it! So adorable! Here is a video of Tre and Ava from Legoland, click here. That night was my sister, Jennifer's 40th birthday party so we had Jammer's Mom watch Tre so we could head up to Irvine for the festivities. We had planned a dinner at the Yard House and a show at the Improv in the Irvine Spectrum. Unfortunately we couldn't make the dinner portion but we arrived just in time for the show. The comedian was Mitch Fatel, can't say that I am a fan of him though, he's a little too dirty for my taste. The comedian that opened for him was pretty funny though.
  
• Sunday, November 8th Jammer had the day off so we took Tre for a little walk in the morning. Then after nap (short nap) and waiting for Jammer to get back from surfing, we got dressed, picked up some food and went over to Jammer's parent's beach house and hung out for a short while before taking Tre home for bedtime routine.
• Monday, November 9th...Tre's 16 month birthday!!! Wow, 16 Months! Unfortunately, towards the end of the night before, I noticed a little runny nose and as Tre was sleeping I could hear a little stuffiness and a few times he woke up crying. As I suspected Tre woke up the next day not feeling so great. Total bummer! Not a very fun way to spend your 16 month birthday. In the morning we took Tre for a walk in his jammies around the neighborhood. Then he took a pretty good length nap and then we hung out around the house. Just by the end of the day he was already looking like he was feeling much better.
  

Tre is a bundle of energy!! Things going on with him...well, when it is bedtime or naptime he is beginning to love his little stuffed monkeys that have been in his crib for quite a few months now. He used to just leave them alone, then started pushing them out of the way and now he is starting to grab them and hold them close. It is too cute to watch on the monitor. When we put him to bed and say "I love you" he says it back to us. It melts my heart!! As posted in a previous post, he is officially done nursing as of October 20th. Can't believe it! His weekly picture was actually taken on November 10th because he was in his jammies all day on the 9th and I was actually dreading taking the picture since he has been so difficult to photograph while sitting in the same spot as each monthly picture, but this time he actually posed for it. I would count 1,2,3 and he would look at me and smile or make a funny face. It was so funny!

Lastly, here is a link to the collection of pictures over the past month of Tre and stuff we had going on...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158912&id=541262742&l=d05bed9e7e

Not a Baby Anymore

October 20th was the first day that Tre didn't request to nurse. It was the first day that my little boy made the choice to leave his bedroom without sitting with Mommy in the rocking chair. It was a bittersweet moment. We had been gearing up for this for the past month and putting a little more pressure on him recently with Jammer coming into the room and being a little distracting as Tre was nursing which would then cause Tre to stop and we would play with him and take him out of his room. He wasn't very happy about it and would cry a little bit but he would eventually move past it as long as Daddy continued to make him laugh and play with him.

It was time and a part of me was ready, he was almost 15 1/2 months old and as much as I enjoyed the bonding time I was ready to have my body to myself again. I was proud, I had told myself make it to 12 months and when I went past that goal it was all bonus time at that point.

Looking back at the entire experience and remembering how I was feeling at the beginning, I kept thinking, there is no way I am going to make it to 12 months. It was so difficult to figure out for me at first and the constant wondering, was he getting enough to eat at each nursing? How are the foods I eat affecting his milk? When he is teething, am I going to get bitten? Which happened more often than I would like to remember - considering the fact that he was an early teether and had 16 teeth before 12 months of age. Why does he get so distracted so easily? Therefore not allowing nursing to be an easy process when we aren't at home. The different types of pain that a mother experiences throughout the process, mastitis being the all time worst for me and happened quite a few times towards the end where I would feel like the flu just hit me like a ton of bricks.

All things now that they are over are sort of missed because thinking about all the great moments him and I had when it was just us. The one thing that ONLY I could give him. My body fed and nourished him to help make the strong little boy that he is today! I would love how he would snuggle up to me and his little feet would wriggle a little as he was nursing. His hand reaching for my face and feeling the different features. It is amazing that women have this ability! One of the miracles of life!!

There definitely were some points over the past couple weeks where I think Tre would kind of want to but then would realize it wasn't going to happen and have minor meltdowns. Mostly when he would wake up in the morning or after his nap and he would begin to cry when he realized that I was going to take him out of his crib and we were going to leave the room without that rocking chair moment. But for the most part, he is doing very well and we have replaced nursing with his absolute favorite beverage, a smoothie. Milk, yogurt, frozen fruits of choice, broccoli and half a banana. He LOVES them.

Luckily and thankfully I have been blessed with the opportunity to be home with Tre so him and I can bond in other ways when no one else is around. Such a change in our lives to not have to worry about the nursing but it will be missed and I look forward to the next child and being able to go through this experience with them.

My NOA

Today was a horrible afternoon! My little Noa knocked himself unconscious!

For those that haven't seen Noa's reaction when I leave the house without him, I'll explain a bit. He has a tendency to get very upset when I leave him at home alone. Usually it entails excess amounts of barking and running to the door. Lately it seems to have gotten a bit more excitable, he actually jumps at the door and if I don't shut it quick enough he shuts it for me and then continues to bark. Today was like his usual reaction but a bit more spastic. He came running at a very quick pace and I shut the door just as he jumped at it again but this time he must've had a bit too much speed behind his run because he slammed the door shut and then bounced off the door and with a loud THUD the barking stopped!!

I knew right then something wasn't right so I opened the door back up and Noa was laying on the floor not moving! His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and it was blue in color. I thought he was DEAD! I had to use the door to move him out of the way so we could get back in the house. I immediately started crying, Tre didn't understand what was going on and started to cry too. I was quickly starting to freak out but trying to remain calm for Tre's sake. The tears were flowing and I just kept saying Noa's name.

Seeing how my reaction was affecting Tre I then decided to grab my phone and call my friend Monet who lives in my building. She helped me out by telling me she would watch Tre so I could take Noa to the vet. When Monet got here I left the house to take Noa to the closest vet I could find, as I was walking out of my house another neighbor offered to drive me to the vet, which was great because I did not feel comfortable putting Noa down. Luckily there was a vet right across the street! I walked in with my limp puppy and they immediately began to help him.

I explained everything that had happened and they began to check him out. After about 30 minutes of the vet and his assistant checking him out I was able to hold him while we discussed our options. During that time I was holding an oxygen mask to his face to help him breathe and slowly the blue color was replaced with his normal red tones. Tears just kept welling up in my eyes because I kept thinking, how could this have happened? Why didn't I just bring Noa with me to run my errands (we were going to go to Trader Joe's and stuff so it wasn't really Noa friendly errands so I thought I would leave him at home where he would be able to hang). Obviously in hindsight I was kicking myself for not just bringing him with me, but what can I do, can't take it back and can only move forward.

From the time we got there to the time we left I definitely saw improvements in Noa. But he wasn't able to move his right side and his eyes were shifting left to right pretty rapidly. After being there for over an hour the vet told me my best bet was to take him home and watch him and then bring him back in the morning. So they grabbed a box and put a towel in there and we placed Noa in the box and I walked my dog home carrying him in a box. I just kept talking to him and hoping that maybe the fresh air and us having some alone time would help him get better.

When we got home I called Monet to let her know I was home, her son had woken up from his nap so she brought Tre down to her house and the boys were playing. After getting Noa situated in his box/bed I came down to Monet's to see Tre and he was having a blast. He was playing with Monet's son Terje and our other friend Kate's son Liam. Towards the end of our time at Monet's house Noa had thrown up in his box just a bit and I got a little worried but then a great thing happened, his eyes stopped shaking! That had to be a good sign, right?

Then it was time for dinner and we came back upstairs and I put Noa in a place where Tre couldn't get to him and made Tre some dinner and got him ready for bed. Once Tre was in bed I attempted to see if Noa wanted any food or water but he refused. I brought Noa and his box/bed into the office so I could do some work on the computer and he would pop his head up every once in a while when he would hear a sound and was able to move around a little bit.

It is now past 11pm and Noa has been sitting next to me in his box/bed the entire time and I think he has been improving. So I am hopeful that he will recover, but we still have the entire night to get through and see how he does in the morning. His right side isn't as stiff as it was but there is definitely something off with his right side. He is able to rest a little bit better than earlier. I'm going to put him in his carrier next to my bed for the night so he doesn't wander off.

I pray over and over again that everything will be okay and my little puppy will be back to normal very soon!