Dane's 6th doctor appointment in a row!

This poor kid has been to the doctor everyday for the last 5 days and that includes Saturday and Sunday! He has ANOTHER ear infection (his 4th in only 3 months.) This time Dr. Smith went straight to the shot of antibiotics which didn't really start to make a difference until the third day of shots! Dane is so tough though. He, of course, cried while he was getting two huge shots each day, but once it was over he pretty much jumped off my lap and dove toward the blocks on the ground. He obviously has an extremely high pain tolerance - definitely higher than mommy and daddy! Dan and I would have milked these shots the entire day. "Oh, I couldn't possibly get off the couch, I had a shot today." :)

The good news is that we had our appointment with the specialist (Dr. Rastor) today and we've scheduled Dane's ear tube surgery for tomorrow. Here's the scoop on what will happen -

*Dane will receive general anesthesia.
*Dr. Rastor will make a small hole in the eardrum and remove fluid from the middle ear using suction.
*Dr. Rastor will finish by inserting a small plastic tube called a pressure equalization (PE) or tympanostomy tube into the hole in the eardrum. This tube will help ventilate and equalize pressure in the middle ear. This will help to prevent future infections and the accumulation of fluid, and will help normalize hearing.

The actual surgery will only take about 10-15 minutes and Dane should be home within a couple of hours. This is a relatively common procedure and we aren't too worried about it. We just want Dane to be healthy and not so sick all the time. This will definitely help! :) The nice thing about the tubes is that with future ear infections we can give Dane antibiotic drops directly in his ear. Antibiotic drops work better, faster, have fewer side effects and there is less risk of developing bacterial resistance. Good news indeed! :)




This is how Dane feels about having to
have surgery tomorrow...














And this is how I'm going to feel when it's all done and I won't have nearly as many ear infections. Yipee, yahoo and all that jazz!!

Big Boy!

Look at this cool new Batman chair Dane got today. As you can see, Dane absolutely loves it! He can get in and out of it all by himself (except when he gets his leg caught under the arm as in the picture!) But he prefers to just drag it around the house. Our poor floors!

Who wouldn't love daycare with a yard like this?

It was a sunny day here on Monday, so Dan went to Ms. Tina's (Dane's daycare provide

r & second mama!) to take pictures of him playing outside. Dane absolutely LOVED being outside as you can see by the pictures. He had all of his Juneau gear on: fleece coat, rain suit and he was even wearing his "big boy" shoes. He looked just like all the rest of the toddlers. I must say there was a tear in my eye welling up as I watched him play. My little baby is growing up so fast. He was so independent out there and he just ran from one plaything to the next. We had to pretty much drag him kicking and screaming out of there.

A boy through and through and he's got the dirt to prove it. :)

I choose this one!

Dane is doing the cutest thing recently. Daddy will tell him to go pick out a book and he brings one of his favorites to you. Then he crawls into your lap to have you read it to him. It's so adorable to see our little man picking out his favorite books. The not so adorable part is that he chucks the ones he's not at all interested in across the living room floor! How can a one year old be so opinionated?

Yesterday was National Card Making Day, so while Dan and Dane had Daddy & Me time, I went to go make cards at a card making extravaganza. I just love being crafty and I especially love it when I don't have to pull everything out of my guest room closet. It was such a treat to go yesterday and it's giving me the push I need to pull out Dane's baby book. I think I'll actually pull that out tonight after Dane goes to sleep. I really need to get that updated before the poor kid turns 18! :)

Dane's sweet giggle

The title says it all. Press play and enjoy! :)

A few of Dane's favorites

I thought it would be fun to list some of Dane's favorites at the moment.

Favorite food: Most definitely BLUEBERRIES! He could eat an entire plastic container of them if I let him. As you can imagine this leads to some pretty disgusting scat - it looks just like bear scat we find on the local trials up here!

Favorite book: Mr. Wishy Washy -He just loves the cat in the story. A few other favs would be Jamberry, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You Hear, any of the Skippyjon Jones books and any of the "How Do Dinosaurs " books (clean their rooms, play with their friends, go to school, etc.) So far, he really loves to sit with Mommy & Daddy and read books. We hope that stays that stays that way. :)

Favorite appliance to play with: The hands down winner is the washing machine! We could spend hours in the laundry room.

Favorite thing to play with that is a "no-no": This is a toss up between the trash can - YUCKY! and my curling iron or hair dryer. He loves to drag them around our room and try to plug them in the outlets. I'm not really sure how he figured out the plug goes in the outlet, especially because the outlet he goes to is behind a chair in our room and is never used. He sure are observant.

Favorite game: Peek-a-boo. He'll play this anywhere - behind a curtain, in his high chair, behind a wall, under his blankie...you name it and he'll play. :) I love that he has taken to being the one that hides. So cute. Here is a video of a recent peek-a-boo session.



Favorite thing to play with that drives Daddy crazy: Dane has this yellow truck that he can sit on and "drive" which is adorable, but the obnoxious part is the buttons Dane can push. Each button sings a different song such as "I'm a really big truck just hear me roar, I'm rough and tough and ready for more" and my personal favorite " I'm gonna bulldoze the earth and get it out of the way, for a new skyscraper or a new railway." We get to thank Lindsi and Erik for this wonderful truck!!!!

Favorite thing to play with that drives Mommy crazy: Dane loves opening up all the cupboards and pulling everything out. This especially drives me crazy when we're in the bathroom and I'm trying to get ready for work. Once I'm ready I just throw everything he's pulled out back in the cupboard and inevitably everything falls out when I open the cupboard the next time!

A major milestone!

Dane uttered his first words today: mama!!! I had just left to go to my bookclub and Dane was sadly crying at the door. Dan was trying to distract him and Dane just gave Dan this perplexed look and said "Mama" as if to say "where did mama go?" Of course, Dan called me immediately and that story just melted my heart. We have been working on saying words, but thus far he has just mimicked me. Tonight was the first time he used any word in context. I swear motherhood just keeps getting better! :)

I just got home from my bookclub and I have to say that I just love my Sworn Sisters. I always have such a wonderful time with this amazing group of women. Our theme tonight was Italian and everyone made such great dishes. I practically had to be rolled out of Rosary's house! I made Italian cookies and they turned out awesome. I got the recipe on allrecipes.com - I swear by this website. I find the best stuff there! Our book this month was The Time Traveler's Wife. The majority of us thought it was a good book. It was a heart wrenching love story and the heroin really puts up with a lot for the love of her life. Next up is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I read this book sometime in the 90s and I remember essentially nothing about it - how scary is that?

When I went in to check on Dane last night, this is how I found him! I love his little foot resting on the crib bumper. So cute! He just melts my heart!!