His First Cold

I believe that Raleigh has his first cold. He's stuffed up and has been coughing every now and then. It's hard to keep his nose clean because the snot dries quicker than we can wipe it off. Sorry if you were reading this blog while eating.

Even so, Raleigh is still a very happy baby; He must not realize he has a cold.





Josh is making his Mom's oatmeal bread today, and I guess I am going to attempt homemade chicken noodle soup. Hopefully they both turn out edible.

When Josh started the bread, he realized that the yeast that we had in our cupboard expired in 2003...oops...so I went to the grocery store to get some more. While I was there, I noticed a mom and her four kids. She had 2 boys and 2 girls, the oldest boy was pushing the shopping cart with the oldest girl in it, and the other boy was pushing a stroller with the youngest girl in it.

The mom looked about my age, but she didn't look happy...she snapped at the boys, who looked like they were being a wonderful help to her...and the kids look unkept and they weren't smiling either. I can imagine that it would be difficult having four children so close in age and I am not trying to judge the woman.

The reason I am even writing about her and her four kids is because it reminded me of my childhood except the opposite. My brothers and I were always smiling and so were our parents. Trips to the grocery store were fun...and if they were hectic for our mom, she did a good job of hiding it. I guess I am trying to say that I'm very grateful that my mother was able to handle four kids and make it fun for us to grow up.

Thanks Mom!

Happy Easter to you!

I'm tired...but that's because I had loads of fun this weekend at my parents. We drove to their house on Friday with a packed Ford Escort ZX2. I find it truly amazing how much we bring along when we travel with an infant.

The ride there was easy. Raleigh slept the whole 3 1/2 hours. The ride back almost took us twice as long because we stopped to eat, stopped to feed Raleigh, and changed two messy diapers.

In between those two drives, we enjoyed the company of family, died some eggs and savored Dad's cooking. Not only did he cook us breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, but he made a turkey and a delicious Ham for Easter dinner. He might have been watching the food network a bit lately; his Ham had apples all around it and I think I saw orange slices inside the turkey.

I also was able to see my newest nephew again. He's already 2 months old. The last time I saw him, he was a day old.

Here's a picture of Sam sleeping in his car seat. Cute little guy isn't he?



And here's a picture of Raleigh, Josh, and me all dressed in our Easter clothes. Raleigh is doing Superman on Josh's knee.



All the died Easter eggs back in their carton. Sometimes, I imagine them coming from the chicken that way and then thinking about the type of chicken that could lay eggs like that. I imagine it would be a chicken with brightly colored neon feathers and piercings in its nonexistent ears.



Raleigh sat on his Grandma's lap while everyone died their eggs. When he figured out that the wax paper could make noise, he just wouldn't stop grabbing at it.



Grandpa seemed to be the only one to get the boys to be alert and not crying at the same time for pictures.

April showers bring May flowers...

...but what happens if April brings snow? That's what I was asking myself this morning as I looked out my window at 6:30 am to view the near-blizzard like conditions.

Just two days ago, this is what it looked like out my window at 9 pm

Just tonight, I took this picture at 9 pm

...And of course, some more pictures of Raleigh

Crying in Progress

Content

Eyes Starting to Water

Completely crying

Raleigh video 3

I'll admit, this isn't my best video so far. However, it contains a bunch of fun clips of Raleigh making noise.

Enjoy!

"Raleigh and Mommy" photo courtesy of Karla

Look! No Teeth Yet!

Big Boy!

Raleigh is 14 lbs. 9 oz. now, which is below average, but according to the doctor, that is because he is a breastfed baby. She said he is a very healthy baby.

The nurse who weighed and measured Raleigh turned out to be the mother of one of Josh's highschool football teammates. Isn't it a small world?

He was also vaccinated with a bunch of vaccines so that he can remain a healthy and happy baby. We're lucky that he hasn't had any bad reactions to the vaccines. Both of my nephews had serious reactions to vaccinations. Raleigh cried so much with each shot...I wanted to cry too.

Some times he sleeps...some times he doesn't

Raleigh slept the whole night through last night!! I love that when it happens. The past two nights, it seemed like he awoke every 2 hours. I felt like I was running on empty this past weekend. So you can imagine my happiness when I woke up at 5 am this morning after having slept since 11 pm with no interruptions.

My mother-in-law is in town to visit and she has been a great help with Raleigh. She just wants to hold him as much as she can. It's a nice rest for Josh and I.

Yesterday, I changed the oil in our car (Josh showed me how), and I raked out and weeded the flower bed at the front of the house, while Josh cleaned out our car and cleaned off the deck. We're planning to put one of those plastic turtle sandboxes with a cover on our deck for Raleigh. I can't wait to get pictures of him playing in the sand.

Raleigh is teething right now; his fingers, and anything he can get ahold of, are constantly in his mouth and he drools more now. A while back, my parents purchased a vibrating teether for him and it's been working so far. His gums are white where his top front teeth are going to come out. It's hard to get a peek at his gums though, because he wants to chew on anything that get's near his mouth, including your fingers.

I love how things are always changing.

Minnesota is Winning!

According to Google Analytics, my blog gets more visits from Minnesota than anywhere else.



Come on, North Dakota, you can catch up!