Happy Halloween

We had a fun filled night!

Dogs

Renna is very protective of her food... trying to get her out of this bad habit. Doesn't she look ferocious?

Buzz Cut

Colton's buzz cut.... wasn't looking to get it cut like this, but some little guy hates getting his hair cut and it was the fastest way to get it done.

And another...

Getting close to getting my Christmas shopping done.... the nieces and nephew are done along with my youngest sister and brothers. Just the grandparents left.... Ordered Xmas cards last night and got that out of the way. Whew....

• When asking Colton, 'What's your name'? He'll say, 'I'm Colton' and point at himself. We'll ask him our names and he'll, 'You Mommy, You Daddy.'
• He likes to turn on on the 'Wee Bee' with the 'mote'. (TV with the remote.)
• We got all the way out to the car yesterday and we had to turn around and go back into the house to give Daddy a kiss goodbye. Upset this morning that Daddy had already left for work by the time he got up.
• Calls a sucker... a sticker.
• Puts on my witches hat for Halloween and tells me he's a pirate. (That's what he'll be...)

Something in color

Pictures

You will see these pictures again... they're pics for our Xmas cards taken last weekend.

Random Colton

Colton's new bedtime routine the last couple of nights is to lay in his big boy bed first and then come into our room 5-10 minutes later and ask, 'What are you doing'? and then wants to rock and go into his crib. I'm glad he wants to lay in his bed, it's a good sign! I think the level of how tired his is will determine whether he actually falls asleep in the bed.

Colton sings and bops his head to the 'bum, bum, beedum, bum, bum, beedum, bum' part of the song 'Disturbia' by Rhianna. I'll try and catch it on video... it's too funny....

Chuck gives Colton zerberts (sp?) on his belly when he's playing with him, so now when Colton wants a 'werbert' as he calls them, he'll lift up his shirt and go to Chuck, 'Werbert'.

Big Boy

Colton fell asleep in his toddler bed last night... yah! I would have taken a picture, but both my cameras were in the car. He ran into his room and right to his bed, wanted his blankie and that was it. I left the room thinking for sure he was going to get up.... Five minutes later he was snoring away. I didn't leave him in the bed because I haven't brought the gate upstairs to keep him in his room if/when he woke up in the middle of the night. (I don't want him getting too far and starting wandering around downstairs...) The whole transition to the bed makes me nervous... I like that his crib confines him into one space during the night. He tosses and turns so much I know he'll be falling out of the bed, too. Anyway, this was a start, now we just have to get that darn pacifier away from him. We were doing so well for awhile and we seem to have gone backwards in our efforts.


The Escalade came just in time... while the car sat at the shop, many notice it was leaking transmission fluid and oil. Turns out, the car had a bad seal and if I had continued to drive it, I would have probably seized up the motor.... Never noticed any leaking before, although it's really difficult when you park on gravel... divine intervention....

What's new with Colton:

• Names all the kids in his daycare.
• He asks me, What's your name? and What's your name, Mommy?
• Notorious for saying, 'Okay, Mommy' when asked or told to do something, but it's a 50/50 chance he'll actually comply.
• Now calls is pacifier his 'Paci'... he always had some other sort of weird name for it and we've never called it his 'paci'.
• Gets through most of the ABC's with help.
• Loves shapes and colors and playing with is playdough. Circles, triangles and diamonds are his favorite.
• Building 'towers' with his blocks.
• Counts to 13.. the rest of the numbers after that are just teen, teen, teen
• Sat on Mommy's lap and listened to a WHOLE story for the first time.

Brief Update

Morgan will be having surgery to remove the bone spur that has formed on her hip November 3. Morgan has a form of hip displasia, but hers was a result of the inverted hip she was born with, not genetics. She will have to rest for 3 months before we can start any exercise program with her. The vet recommends she swims this summer. She may never hunt again depending on how well the recovery goes. Chuck doesn't want to jeopardize the longevity of her life and the health of her hips just to have her continue hunting. She's been whining all morning after Chuck had to leave her behind to go hunting. Meanwhile we'll have to really watch her weight as any extra weight will add more stress to her hips. We're suppose to try and get her to loose 5 lbs before surgery as she's a little overweight.


Jackson's condition is grim. He has advanced hip displasia. Chuck said looking at his xray he wanted to throw up. His hips have multiple bone spurs that have essentially fused his hip bones. There is nothing we can do... The vet said he is in pain and if we think he's in pain just looking at him, the pain he's feeling is considerably worse. Cold weather will make it tougher for him as it'll make him even more stiff. It's heartbreaking to watch him walk. The vet was willing to put him down on Thursday, but I think Chuck and I need to come to terms with it first. I want him to feel better, but there's nothing we can do 'here' for that to happen. I don't want him to suffer... We don't know the 'when' yet, but we know the end is near....

Dogs

Chuck took Morgan and Jackson into the vet today to get checked out. Morgan's been limping on her back leg... the same leg that's always been a little bit of a problem all her life. She apparently has bone spurs on her back joint and will be having surgery soon to remove them. Hopefully this will fix the problem. She probably won't hunt this year and will never be able to hunt hard like she used to after this. Jackson... he's been limping and showing signs of immobility in his legs... from the little information Chuck could tell me, his hips are bad, really bad. The vet said if we think he in pain (which we do), multiply it by 10 and that's what pain he's actually feeling. This is the news we were sort of anticipating, but the reality of it sucks. I don't know how winter is going to treat him as the cold weather will make him more stiff. I sort of think maybe this is the reason while we're still in this house.... Chuck and I were very concerned about moving Jackson into town because he so dearly loved living out in the country.... I don't want to think of what is inevitable, it's just too soon after Champ's passing. I'll find out more information from Chuck when I get home tonight. He was too distraught to tell me anything more.

Cheeeese

I now can get Colton to look at the camera and give me a big smile.... He says "Cheeese" and will smile until I get the picture taken... These taken just within the last 3 days, he sees the camera now and wants me to take his picture and then look at after it's done.

Football

Colton went with me to the Bison game on Saturday (Chuck was pheasant hunting). He did pretty good. We made it through most of half-time and decided to leave, which is what I expected. We have some really nice people that we sit next to and they were very tolerant of him. Still trying to figure out if I want to take him to Winnie the Pooh in December at the Dome. I just don't know if he'll be interested in watching a live show yet and also spending the over $40 to go if he doesn't like it would suck...

TV

This is the new TV... really big, almost gives you a headache when you're watching it because the living room isn't very big, could have gone a little smaller. Hopefully the next house has a big family room to accomdate the size. Oh, well.... Now we're looking for a new TV stand because it looks sort of odd on the little one we have.

Plan accordingly

Weekend events... Chuck and I went and purchased a new TV for the living room... 50" plasma. That should take up about 1/2 the living room.... little over-kill but it was a good deal. We needed another TV for the playroom or the living and either way we were going to buy a flat screen. My hair appointment was cancelled on Friday and the washing machine still isn't fixed. Amazing, everything that was planned... none of it went accordingly... oh well. Bison won... it was a really good and exciting game, but both Chuck and I started to come down with the cold Colton had which made it difficult to be there. Chuck put Colton's new 'big boy (toddler) bed' together. I know everyone says they are a waste of money, but we have a little boy who has a hard time with change and we thought if we don't make such a drastic change, the transition will go smoother. Being how he is, I have a feeling potty training with him will either go horrible or incredibly easy... I can't even get him to sit on his potty, he just puts the ring on his head. I digress.... his crib is still in his room for now and he'll be sleeping in it... just letting him get used to the bed.

Today we quickly rearranged the living room to prep for the new TV and that's about all we'll get done today. I wanted to get the playroom organized, but that will have to wait until later this week. Both Chuck and I are laying down and resting the rest of the day trying to get over this cold. We're both stuffed up and tired.... hopefully I don't feel this crummy tomorrow.

Weeks events

Colton got his first cold of the season. Monday night he had rosey cheeks and 'sick eyes' and he went to bed with a bad cough and was up all night. I stayed home with him Tuesday because of his cough and slight fever and he seemed to be a little better by the afternoon, but by bedtime he started running a significant fever. His fever seemed to be down Wednesday morning and we stayed home again. By the afternoon he seemed to be getting back to his old self, but still coughing, but getting better. Luckily I have a job were it's not an issue to take time off and was able to stay home with him the last two days. I'm sure Colton was happy to get out of the house after being cooped up for two days. Short week for me!

Got some stuff done during the last two days. Repainted part of the bathroom after we installed the new tub and started cleaning out the downstairs bedroom as we're going to make this the office/Cole's play & TV room. No sense in wasting the space if it's not being used. Still need to clean up the basement and do some more painting. Finally bought a new washer and dryer after we were fed up after constantly drying our clothes for 2 hours for them to be completely dry. Turns out the new washer doesn't work; it doesn't agitate and spin so we're left with sopping wet clothes. Just our luck.... Home Depot will be out to fix it on Friday.

It looks like the 'sale' of our house isn't going to go through due to a series of events on the buyers end. As much as I didn't want to be here another winter, Chuck and I have decided to take the house off the market, get the garage floor and some other stuff done (frame and sheet rock the basement, level the deck and restain, new kitchen and entry window and door and a possible redo of the kitchen cabinets and refinishing of the dining room floor) and put it back on the market in late winter. Hopefully these improvements and the economy will result in a fast sale with some profit next year. While I'm really disappointed, we'll get through it, and the house we're suppose to buy will be there when the time is right.

Chuck and I will be going to the Bison Homecoming game on Saturday and Chuck will be cleaning out the garage getting it ready for the new floor this weekend. I'm possibly going to do some painting and cleaning of the basement, setting up Colton's new bed and rearranging his room and I'm getting my hair colored tomorrow morning. We'll see how ambitious we are at getting this all done....