Preparing for chili

Well, it is hard to believe that it is that time of year again! Time for the chili feed. This year we had a great surprise, Mimma came. It was so great to have her here to spend time with us and all the kids!

Ingredients...

Geese Tex, just because Mimma came to visit does not mean you have to put her to work!

Garrett doing his part.

Mimma and TJ... I love this picture!

I invited mom over for dinner and she brought with her a little surprise from Hawaii... Patti. I could not believe it! Patti came for Tristan's birthday, she came last year but she ended up not making it because she got sick and had to stay up at Tamarack. This was the best surprise ever!

We ordered pizza because the BBQ is having issues.

Mimma, Hanna & TJ

Getting the mummy ready.

The mummy is always a hit!

2 - 4 am, arg!

OK, needless to say, Tristan has not been to happy in his big boy bed because he hasn't been feeling great. I officially took the crib out of his room last week ans that kind of sucked because every night Tristan goes back and forth from his room to ours. I chalked it up to him not feeling well. Well, last night he drew the line. We gave him his breathing treatment about 8 and put him to bed about 10, no problem, About 2 am he woke up so I gave him another breathing treatment. What follows next is the crappy part.

Tristan is up and ready to go! Every time we put him in his bed he waits a few minutes and gets up, opens the doors and walks in our room. Not a peep just walks in taps me on the shoulder. So, I get up and walk him back to his room. Same thing repeats itself, over, and over, and over. So, I then lock our door because after sitting in his room while he was going back and forth I saw that he was doing just that. Walking in our room and then getting back in bed. No luck, he started pounding on our door. Then I try to stay in his room with him, silently, I wait for him to get up and I "usher" him back to bed. Now he is getting really cranky and so am I because Tex is sleeping comfortably in his bed... NICE! I then try to hold Tristan's door shut to keep him in his room, to no avail. He gets so mad he throw things at the door. This was the end of the line for me. Keep in mind this started at 2 am, Tex sleeping comfortably, and I am fuming! I proceed to go to the garage and get the crib and spent the next hour putting the crib back together.

When I was taking the crib down I found that I could actually take the "box spring" out and that would actually give me about 8 more inches for Tristan to have to learn to manoeuvre. I would be able to shove the mattress down to the bottom and he can not climb out any more.

While I am re-assembling to crib, my lovely husband walks in the room. Tristan must have woke him up while he was riding his horse in the corner of the room.
"Whats going on in here he says"? I am like, are you kidding me?

Once the crib was complete I put Tristan in it and he fell immediately asleep. Nice! I then go in and lay next to my husband and I am so fired up it is ridiculous! Tex and I began to chat about what transpired this evening. Many of you know I often refer to "my books" since I am new at all of this parenting stuff. Tex asked me, "So, what does your book say about this?". I replied, "I am still reading the chapter on what to do when my husband won't get out of bed and help". To which Tex replied, "and Tristan is laying in his bed reading his book... How To Piss Off My Mommy."

OMG, I have never laughed so hard at 4 am in my life. I could not resist blogging this!

Asthma?

Monday Tristan developed a cough. It was quit abrupt. I left for work at 3 and got home at 630 and he was coughing. Monday night he had a pretty rough night and was up and down through out the night. Tuesday I went to work as normal and when I got home he and Tex were having a nap. Tristan was breathing rather erratically. This caused me quit a bit of concern. I called the Dr. and made an appointment for that day. The nurse called me back and asked if I would come in immediately rather than wait til 4 so we were off!

When we arrived at the Dr they came to see Tristan and saw the he was "wising" and got us in a room immediately. First they tested him for the Swine Flu. I don't know if any of you have gone through that yet but it suck! They take a "swab" that is about 8 inches long and bendable and shove it up their nose until it reaches their throat. Needless to say TJ did not like that much! Then they check his "O2" count, they decided to give him a "breathing treatment" to improve that count. Let me tell you that this was horrible. Tristan fought this so bad. It was not hurting him but he wasn't sure what we were doing. He fought so hard that he not only started calling for daddy (because I was not helping him), he also fell asleep. When the Dr came in he said it appears that Tristan has "asthma", however, it can't really be called that until it is reoccurring. The Dr was not sure what might have brought it on, it could have been a virus, or not. We had to give him one more breathing treatment before we left. TJ slept for the second one.

The Dr. sent us home with steroids and a breathing apparatus. We were to continue the breathing treatments every 4 hours for 48 hours. The breathing apparatus help immensely!

Day 2 Tristan is doing much better. Still giving breathing treatments but he is back to his happy self. We have a follow up appointment on the 28th.

All Abord The Pumpkin Liner

Today we took a long anticipated trip up to Horseshoe Bend to take a ride on the Thunder Mountain Line. The Pumpkin Liner, as they call it, rides the rails from Horseshoe Bend to Banks and then drops you off at a makeshift pumpkin patch. A train full of kids was actually not too bad. It is a very scenic ride and they were all excited to pick out their pumpkins upon arrival. The ride back was shared by all while they enjoyed their pumpkin choice for the year. Another fun experience shared with great friends, Johnie, Sheree, Paige, and Danial!

We got super cute sheets!

So this week I was able to get some cute sheets for Tristan's bed. We made it and he has spent two nights in it now. The first night he slept all night and got up at 5 am... that was fun, not! The second night, which was last night, he slept until 8am... lucky for Tex. We'll see what happens tonight. If it continues to go well we will convert the crib this weekend.

Moving on up!

As most of you know Tristan started climbing out of his crib months ago. It was a pretty busy time for us so we we made a temporary fix, Dad would call this a work around, by turning the crib around so the tall side was in the middle of the room. This worked for a couple months.

A few weeks ago he found his way out of the work around. So we were off to buy a "big boy bed"! When we bought the crib we new it converted to a bed so we just got the mattress. My book says to set it up on the floor and leave the crib up in case you need to go back to it for a while. So that was what we did. He seems to like it!

"The Can"

A few months ago Tex started smashing the cans that are in the recycling to make more space. As Tristan watched he began to copy Tex and it has become a very cute little ritual in our home. I wanted to she it with all of you!