Things change so fast.

Tonight was the first time that Bertie has really tried to scoot.  And he's getting closer to getting up on hands and knees.  He loves clapping.  And he's getting really good at sitting up.

His lashes are so long!

A few pics from the dozens I took for his 8 month photo shoot.

See this pile of change?  Just more proof I'm the worst line chooser in history.  It's hard to see but the total is $50-something.  She dumped a huge pile of change on the counter.  And then after they had counted it all, she paid the remainder on a credit card.  Arg.  Really?

The Giants won the World Series tonight!  Our yelling scared Bertie a little.

Here is a video of Kaylee playing with Bertie.  It was really cute.  (Poor kid, she is having an allergic reaction right now).  (if it doesn't work here it's on my youtube).

I bought gas for $3.09 today!

My mom and stepdad are coming to visit in a month!  I'm really excited!

A quick funny.

The other day I was sorting a mountain of laundry on the living room floor.
Aaron: That's a lot of laundry.
Rachel: Yup.
Aaron: I guess that's what happens when you only do laundry every two weeks.
Rachel:   ...  What are you talking about?  I do laundry at least twice a week!

I think it might be fair to say that Aaron is a little out of touch with how much housework I do...

The Good.

A list of the good:

• I went to church by myself on Sunday.  I used to hate going alone.  But my goodness, it was delightful! I got to wear a regular, non-nursing dress.  I wasn't covered in spit and my hair wasn't pulled.  
• I made chicken fried steak for dinner tonight.  I've never made it before, I've never made gravy before.  It was so yummy.  The gravy was good, and the steaks were good.
• I got all the bills paid today, that's always a good feeling.
• Bertie started clapping yesterday.  It's adorable.
• Bertie took a 2 hour nap.  So I also took a 2 hour nap.
• Rain!  It rained today!  Not a lot, but it's finally starting to feel like fall.

Not all sunshine

You have to take the good with the bad.  There is no other choice.

It's been a rough week.  Aaron's been sick, and working a lot (by a lot, I mean a lot of nights).  Bertie has been really bad about napping, which means no break for mama.  The house looks terrible most of the time.  We had some unexpected financial difficulties (that I won't go into).  My depression is creeping back.  I've got a lot of weird rashes, and have yet to call the dermatologist. Aaron and I spent most of the day bickering.  And, of course, there's Julius; the world's worst cat.

But within all of this crap, there have been a couple rays of sunshine.  Like Bertie and I going on a long walk yesterday and stopping to share a plain frozen yogurt (no toppings).  I wasn't sure he'd like it, since he's only so-so on normal plain yogurt; and because of this (and that it was close to dinner time) I didn't get too much.  He loved it, and probably would have eaten it all, if I'd let him.

We did quite a bit of walking this week.  I'm starting to jog a little too, since I've all but given up on the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge this time around.  (Maybe I'll pick it up again, who knows?)  There are 3 parks near the house (within 0-1.5 miles).  Lately, when we pass one, I'll stop.  Bertie will drink a little out of my water bottle, and we go on the swings.  Two of the three parks have swings like this:

Meant for disabled kids, I think.  But it works well putting him on my lap.  He likes that a lot better than the baby swings.  See?

That's about the happiest he's ever looked on a swing.  Usually he looks depressed.  Anyway, I keep trying, because someday (I assume) he'll love it.

Other goodness: my new fitbit arrived this week.  My old one (that I got for Christmas last year) just died one day.  It wouldn't reset or charge.  But since it was under a year old, Fitbit sent a new one for free.  I didn't even have to return the old one!

Today I had the brilliant idea of a family trip to the pumpkin patch.  Bertie hadn't really napped, and fell asleep on the way there.  But I really wanted to get a couple pictures and get a pumpkin.  So I got him out of the carseat, assuming he'd wake up, but he didn't. 

I took one, Aaron took the other, and we got none with him.

And we didn't get a pumpkin.  Maybe we'll try again next week.

Julius

 

Don't let his cuteness fool you.  He's an asshole.

I've had it with this cat.  He is the worst cat I've ever had.

I was rocking Bertie, getting him ready for bed.  I watched Juli get up from where he was laying, walk over to the door that had shopping bags hanging on it.  He sprayed them, and then walked away.  I threw him outside and said you're not in the house anymore!  

I thought this problem was solved when he became indoor outdoor.  But he peed (or sprayed) in Bertie's carseat a week or so ago.  And I've been struggling to get the stink out ever since.  If it was just a stinky seat I could deal, but Bertie smells every time he gets out.  Arrgggh!  

It's been two weeks again!

A lot has happened, lets see what I can remember.

Bertie had his first illness.  It started out as a cold.  And then drug on forever.  He had the cold for a week, and then got a fever on told of it.  And his snot changed from clear to green.  I called the advice nurse last Friday.  I assumed he had a virus.  They said to keep an eye on it and watch for breathing problems.  He was sick all weekend, so Aaron called the advice nurse on Sunday and made an appointment for Monday morning.   I took him in after I got done with work.  He weighs 17lbs now.  He's chunking up.  Bertie had bilateral ear infections and bronchiolitis.  So he got amox and an albuterol inhaler.  He loves the amox (Aaron and I both remember liking it too) and he doesn't mind the inhaler too much.  It looks like this:


He's feeling better now.  Today was the first day he seemed like himself.

Bertie has tried quite a few foods: Rice and oat cereals, carrots, squash, sweet potato, green beans, peas, mango, banana.  He also had a snow cone with no syrup (so, snow, basically). And a couple tiny bites of mashed potatoes. He likes everything except peas.  I made home made peas.  I just bought baby food peas a couple days ago, so we'll see if he likes those better.  Maybe the smoother texture will be better.

I've been sick for a little bit too.  We all had colds.  Plus I've been remarkably tired, more than usual.  Exercising has gone by the wayside.  But I was getting my steps in.  Until Sunday, when my fitbit died.  Like dead, died.  I tried charging it, resetting it.  Nothing.  So Aaron contacted the customer service, and I'm in the process of getting a replacement.  It's sad to have no clue how much I'm doing day to day.  I'm looking forward to cooler weather.  Then Bertram and I can go for a hike on Tuesdays and Thursday.  And maybe the other days after work too.  I really would like to start getting fit again.  I managed to get my wedding band back on, but then it was stuck.  I managed to get it off tonight.  I'm going to send Aaron to get them resized.  If my fingers slim down again, I'll wear one of those ring snugger thingies.  But it may be like my feet, they're not going to shrink.

I've been working on getting Aaron's costume together.  It's a secret though.  Bertie has a cat costume.  But I'm seeing if I can find him a monkey costume for cheap, since I have a banana costume.  I thought it would be cute.  If not, I'll either go as a cat too, or a prairie girl, since I already have it.

A few weeks ago, Aaron started teaching me to drive stick.  I feel like I'm started getting it.  But I haven't been able to practice since.

Zelda's 9th birthday was a couple days ago.  We had a tiny party.  I made a cake, Zelda and Yoie loved it.

 

Bertie was very excited for the party. (This was in the height of his illness)

 

Zelda loved the cake!

He got a balloon at Safeway today.  He loved it.

Holding his balloon, and eating a rice cracker. (Today was the first time he tried them)

A couple nights ago Bertie fell asleep while Aaron was reading.  We left him in our bed.