Brooke's Chart Update

Well we started Brooke's charts on Thursday night.  We decided to not push the "Bink" the first night, but more talk about it getting her ready.  Instead we pushed the "sleep all the way" chart, and I am very happy to say she got a sticker Thursday night for making through the night without waking mommy or daddy....it was great!

Friday night we decided there wouldn't be a better time to push the "No Bink Chart".  She's healthy, we had all weekend to work on it, plus she has slept for like 4 weeks with no "B" at daycare at nap time.  By golly, if Miss T can do it...we should be able to!  It took about 1 1/2 hours of calming her down before we could get her to sleep, and then she was up again crying from 2:30 to 4:00 a.m.  It was definitely a battle of the wills to see who would last longer, as we knew all we had to do was give in to be able to go back to sleep!  I was so proud we did it...o'ya Brooke too :)  She woke around 7:00 a.m. Saturday, but at least we survived the first night! 

We also woke Saturday, to find she decided to fill in her whole "No Bink Chart".  I guess she figured she made it one night, she deserved her new baby!  She did however to get pick out her new lipstick, which made her super excited.

Nap time Saturday afternoon wasn't too bad.  Bed time on Saturday was a little better with still about an hour of calming, and her only waking for about 30 minutes around 2:45.  I was able to get her back to sleep with just some apple...and then a little grape juice.  (We will worry about that battle another night.) 

Nap time on Sunday there wasn't even a mention of the Bink!  I am sure we aren't out of the woods just yet, but excited to think we are hopefully past the worst part...whew!

She loves her new goggles she earned after a successful nap time!

Now she just needs to make it through the week, and we head to Baby's R Us for her new baby next weekend!

Christmas in September?

Nick decided that he needed a Christmas present in September!  Ok I guess the kids felt the same way too. 

I don't see what the big deal is....isn't this sort of calming?

After some much needed advise from his wife, Nick got the new TV up, and functioning.  Lets just say at one point he was about to cut about 10 holes in the wall until his wife suggested him try something different with the wires.   Its just crazy to think the TV was only 7 years old, and the new one is much nicer and was only 35% the price of the original!  This also includes a slight upgrade from a 42" to a 50".

Erie Orchards

We traveled down to Erie Orchards, with the plan to do some apple picking.  However, it seemed like every route we tried to take was full of construction.  By the time we made it there everyone was pretty tired.  Brooke stayed positive on the whole ride with the hope of getting to see some ponies.  Unfortunately, we ended up skipping the apple picking, and spent our time on a pony ride, and saying hi to the goats and chicken.  We did pick up some homemade cider, which we were able to watch them make!

Happy Birthday Freddy!

Unfortunately, my father's side of the family live in primarily Cleveland, and Florida, and we don't get to see them too often.  My Uncle's wife, Paula, threw him a 50th birthday party.  Fortunately, it was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive, so we headed over for the festivities.  It was so nice to see my Uncles, Grandpa, Great Aunt, Great Uncle, and many more! 

Here are a few pictures from the evening!

Motivation...Lets see

I wonder if Brooke's new sticker charts will motivate her?  I will keep you all posted on the progress! 

 

Tyler is 14 Months Old

This past month Tyler accomplished many new milestones!  It's hard to believe everything that changed in the last month.  He moved from bottles to sippy cups with excitement, he changed his primary method of mobility from crawling to walking (running), and he is now up to 9 (maybe 10) teeth!  It's hard to keep up with the little guy....literally!

He is also becoming more true to the "boy" gender.  He broke our cabinet door off and in half, pulled the knob off the stereo, and got his first trip to the hospital for the risk of a concussion.  (Fortunately, he was just fine!)

We absolutely love our little man, and are enjoying watching every step of his adventure, even if we don't get to spend as much of it hanging out on the couch any more!

Just a few pictures for the evening!

A short ride on the bike.  Tyler is getting really good at going backwards!

 

An evening with the neighbors playing in the garden!  There must have been magic in this kids garden, as is produced the most vegetables around!  I think its up to like 10 pumpkins!

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

WARNING...May not be suitable for all audiences...

Don't say I didn't warn you!

38 Months...Hopefully next month will be easlier!

Brooke's 38th month of life was a little rough.  We got home from Nick's ironman race just in time to take Brooke to the doctor to confirm our concerns of an ear infection.  Then 8 days later Brooke had an awful reaction to the penicillin.  She had been on penicillin earlier this year without issue, but sometimes it takes ones body a little bit of time to decide, its had a enough.  Brooke allergist continuously states drug allergy aren't hereditary, however I have my suspicions.  I'm allergy, my older sister is allergic, Tyler is allergic, and now Brooke.

Brooke's reaction was much worse than Tyler's as we weren't able to calm down the hives, and ended up having to put her on a steroid, which finally helped.  (Note: if you ever need prednisone for your child make sure to ask your doctor for the dissoluble pill, which tastes like grape candy!  Most doctors will prescribe the gross liquid, which Brooke couldn't keep down.  Doctors prescribe the liquid due to the fact it comes in a generic.  Its worth the $50 versus $2!! )  If we had known about the pill, Brooke would have been on the steroid one day earlier, and we probably wouldn't have felt the need to take her into Children's Hospital.  It would have been much less than the $1000 bill we are going to get!

The below picture was actually only of the second day, and she got about 5 times worse.  Her hands, ankles, and fingers got so swollen, and entire body was covered in hives.

Unfortunately, we still aren't out of the woods, as Brooke is now having lots, and lots of joint pain as we are tapering her off the steroids.  Poor thing!  Plus on top of it all, her doctor said she still has the ear infection.

At least through all the madness, I did some how remember to take her monthly picture, which she was so excited about!

I love how her smile in the first picture is the exact same as the third!

Louisville Ironman!

We spent last weekend just "relaxing" down in Louisville, KY for the Ironman race. (2.4 Mile Swim, 112 Mile Bike, 26.2 Mile Run)  Its the third time Nick has done this race (2007 & 2008).  This year was extra fun though, because there was a whole cheering squad!  Nick's parents, Randy & his girlfriend, Emma, Simon, and my parents came down for the event.  Plus is was so nice having all the help with the kids! I know I couldn't have done it without my support team. 

 

To make things extra fun, I had shirts made by one of my neighbors at The House of Threads.  The kids shirts said "My daddy can ...... faster than your daddy," and the adults shirts said "Swim. Bike. Run" on the front, and all the shirts had "Team Buchman" on the back.  I am sure these shirts will surface again for more of Nick's races in the future!

 

Plus to make the weekend even more fun, Nick did a super job at the race. (Of Course)

 

There were just over 2900 athletes that competed this year.

 

His swim time was 1:39:19. (Overall rank 1979)

 

His bike time was 5:28:55..that's an average of 20.43 mph! (Overall rank 443) I think he does that on purpose, so he can pass like 1500 people!

His run time 4:25:27..or 10:08 min/mile.

Go team BUCHMAN!

Overall finishing time of 11:45:57 and 347 overall!  Way to go hubby!  We are so proud of you.