BAD Pediatrician!

I wasn’t going to write about our experience with Coyer’s pediatrician…  but, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to share my story with other moms out there who may read this.  I want all other moms to know that they should always follow their instincts when it comes to their child’s health.  Speak up, voice any and all concerns you may have, get a second opinion, and please don’t be afraid to ask questions!

So, my story goes like this:

CJ (short for Coyer James), woke up in the middle of the night crying.  When I got him out of his crib, I noticed that he was breathing heavy and each breath had a very raspy, hoarse sound to it.  Even his cry seem to sound much different, more strained or whimpery.  It’s hard to explain, but I knew right away that something was up.

I tried to nurse him, but he kept gagging and choking because he just couldn’t catch his breath.  Eventually, like an hour later, he calmed down enough to feed a little and then go back to sleep.

The next day his symptoms continued to come and go, but then I heard that “barking seal” noise and I knew that meant something.  I just couldn’t remember which of the infant respiratory illnesses it was.  My neighbor, who works in medicine, was the first to mention that it sounded like CJ had croup.  My neighbor also suggested that I make a doctor’s appointment for the next day so that he could start breathing treatments and/or steroids to help.

So, I took off work and brought him in to see his pediatrician.  I ended up waiting 45 minutes in an over crowded waiting room with no air conditioning, holding a fussy baby with a fever.  As soon as the doctor stepped in, I started to explain what was going on.  Before I could finish talking, the doctor was listening to CJ’s lungs and looking in his ears.  He stops to tell me it’s just seasonal allergies and that he has another ear infection that looked worse in the left ear.  I asked if he thought it could be croup.  The doctor kinda shrugged his shoulders and said, “well… maybe.”

In a rush, as he was walking out the door, the doctor told me he was going to prescribe an antibiotic for his ears and runny nose.  He also said to give him benadryl at nighttime to help with his allergies.  I asked if he had a dosing guide to give me for the benadryl.  His response was “eh, give him like 2 ml or like a teaspoon”.

At this point, I’m seriously not happy.  I really couldn’t get out of that office fast enough!  I didn’t even schedule the 2-week follow-up appointment the doctor suggested to make sure his ear infection clears up.

I called my husband, who was also very upset about the diagnosis.  Just allergies?  And another ear infection?  We’re not buying this.  We know our baby well enough to figure out on our own when there is something more serious going on than seasonal allergies.  We decided to try to see another doctor.

So, two hours later, I took him to see a doctor at my family practice office.  CJ actually fell asleep in the waiting room before his appointment.  Another sign that something was definitely not right with his health.

He stayed asleep when the doctor came into the exam room.  This new doctor immediately noticed and mentioned to me that he could hear how difficult his breathing was.  He was wheezing and whimpering while he slept in his carseat.

I was very careful with my words as I described CJ’s symptoms.  I made sure to not mention the word “croup” or to say that he had been diagnosed earlier with an ear infection.  The new doctor asked me very specific questions about each symptom, when they seemed worse, and how long it has lasted.  He took CJ’s blood pressure, timed his breathing, listened to his lungs, looked in his throat, nose and ears.

Final diagnosis:  CROUP!  Oh, and his ears…  they looked great.  No sign of any ear infection!

Needless to say, but we will be finding a new pediatrician ASAP.  I’ve been so mad about all of this!  I feel cheated, lied to and completely taken advantage of.  Now, I have no idea how many true ear infections my baby has had.  We’ve gotten that diagnosis 5 different times from that BAD pediatrician.  Ugh, makes me sick to think about the other parents taking their children to this doctor’s office.  I feel like I should picket outside or something.  Ha!  Instead, I’ll just blog about it.

So, if you live in Phoenix, DO NOT take your baby to TWIN PEDIATRICS!  Both doctors, Ludwig Dumaplin and Yves Dumaplin, have mis-diagnosed CJ with an ear infection.  Oh, did I forget to mention this has happened to us twice?

The last time was about 3 weeks ago when Coyer was fighting a fever around 104 for days!  We just couldn’t get his fever to come down, and being scared parents took him to the ER.  At the ER, we explained that we took him to the pediatrician the day before and they said he had an ear infection.  The ER doctor told us that she could see no evidence of an ear infection in either of his ears!

Coyer is feeling much better now.  He still has a cough, but that has gotten a lot better just within the last day.  We are so ready and excited for this weekend to start!  I can’t wait to spend some good quality time with my favorite guys.  🙂

Hope everyone out there has a great weekend too!

 

Daytrip to Jerome, Arizona

This is my first try at posting on the blog from my new tablet!  My sweet husband gave me this tablet as a gift for 30th Birthday.  Yeah, that happened.  As of last week, I’m no longer able to honestly claim that I’m still in my twenties.  😦

So, anyways… about our trip to Jerome:

Ever since Justyn discovered that the lead singer of Tool opened a winery in Arizona, it’s been at the top of his bucket list of things for us to visit.  The name of the winery is Caduceus Cellars and it’s located in the historic “ghost town” of Jerome, Arizona.  It’s an old copper mining town that was once considered home to 10,000 people.  Today it’s more of a small “artsy” community with a population of less than 500.

I was a little worried about taking Coyer out of town this weekend because he had been super sick with a stomach bug for the last few days.  Luckily, he seemed to be feeling a lot better when he woke up on Saturday morning, so we decided to go ahead with our plans and drive up to Jerome.

For the most part, Coyer did really great on our first family road trip.  He slept for almost the entire time we were in the car, 1.5 hours each way, only loosing his cool twice – when he got hungry and when he was overly tired, fighting a much needed nap.

Below are some fun pictures from the day:

My Top 10 Baby Items (3-6 months)

As a follow-up from my previous post My Top 10 Favorite Baby Items (0-3 months), I also want to share my favorites from 3-6 months with Coyer.

*Side Note* It seriously took me almost 3 weeks to put this together!  5 free minutes here, another 3 minutes there, etc., etc., and finally my masterpiece is complete!  Ha.  I use the term “masterpiece” loosely. 

In no particular order, here they are:

1.  Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes

This is by far Coyer’s favorite toy!  The music, the flashing lights, the bright colors, this toy has it all!  He also loves to use the face/antennae of the handle as a teether.  Whenever Coyer is upset and I can’t hold him, I just turn on the music and hand it over… usually that will buy me at least 5 minutes to finish whatever I need to before I pick him up again.

2.  Saline Nose Drops/Spray

So, if you read my blog regularly, you know that we’ve had more than our fair share of sickness this year.  For baby colds, these saline drops do a great job of relieving dry stuffy noses!  Use these drops to help loosen things up before using the Nosefrida Snot Sucker that was on my first list of Top 10 Baby Items.  There have been many times when I’ve used just the saline drops when Coyer was awake in the middle of the night.  It would help just enough to let him breathe through his nose and be able to go back to sleep.

3.  Snuggle Puppy Board Book

Coyer loves when I read books to him, and this Snuggle Puppy book is our favorite.  It reads like a song… really, you can’t help but sing this book to baby.  It’s a cute short story and also very sweet.  The colors in the book are bright and some of the writing is very colorful too.  I’ve read this book to Coyer so many times that I actually have it memorized now!  “I have a little something to tell you and it won’t take long, the way I feel about you is a kind of a song…etc.”  It makes me smile just thinking about it.  🙂

4.  Munchkin Twisty Figure 8 Teether Toy

We have a bunch of teethers lying around the house, but this one definitely gets used the most.  It’s so easy for Coyer to hold and it has so many different textures to help soothe those teething gums.  It also twists into different shapes, making it a fun toy to explore using those little baby hands.

5.  Baby Buddy Secure-A-Toy Straps

These toy straps are awesome!  We were using the ring links to attach Coyer’s toys to the stroller, carseat, etc.  But he quickly figure out how to pull the toys off of the rings.  The baby buddy straps have strong snaps on both ends, keeping the toys super secure.  Actually, the teething ring above is currently attached to the carseat using one of these straps.  I also recently discovered that I can attach one end of the strap around my wrist while I’m holding Coyer (like in church).  So when he drops his toy it only falls to my side instead of all the way to the filthy dirty floor!

6.  Bright Starts Grab & Stack Blocks

Great for little hands!  They’re light weight and easy to grip so baby can pick up and hold by themselves.  Two of the blocks have a little rattle inside and the other two blocks have that crinkle material under the fabric.  Coyer really has fun playing with these… and of course, they also end up as teething toys!

7.  Homemade Hooded Towel

My mom made this hooded towel for Coyer.  It was way too big for him those first couple of months… but now it’s just perfect!  Coyer really enjoys bathtime, but gets so mad when we take him out of the water (probably because he’s cold).  This towel does a great job of keeping him snuggly and warm!  It’s way better than any of the hooded baby towels that we bought from babies-r-us.  Those are way too thin and don’t soak up the water very well at all.

8.  The Original Baby Bjorn Carrier

Oh the Baby Bjorn!  Love it or hate it, this thing is really great.  Coyer is definitely a Momma’s boy and always wants to be held – by me!  He is a small baby (10th percentile) but still, carrying around 15lbs all day is a bit too much for my arms.  We both love this baby carrier.  My arms get a break and Coyer still gets to face out to see everything that’s going on (grabbing at everything too).  I’ve actually started using this when I take him into the grocery store with me.  He does so much better in the baby bjorn than when he’s in his carseat/stroller.  Plus he gets a lot of attention from strangers too, which he totally eats up!  Such a little flirt.

9.  Fisher Price SpaceSaver High Chair

We love this high chair!  It just straps onto a chair that’s already at your kitchen table, so it takes up less space.  Coyer seems perfectly happy with it too.  He’ll sit there and play with his toys even if he’s not eating.  It’s so nice when the husband and I want to sit together to have dinner while Coyer is still awake.

10.  The First Years Jet Stroller

I really wanted to get a very simple basic stroller for Coyer.  No need to spend a crazy amount of money on a fancy jogging stroller for this momma.  Working full-time downtown, I don’t have extra time for running.  Okay, okay… even if I had the extra time, I’m sure I wouldn’t be doing any exercising.

Anyways, this stroller is just perfect for us.  Coyer has been able to sit up in this since about 5 months old.  We usually take it for short walks around the block or down to the park.  We’ve even taken it on the dirt trail behind our house.  It probably wasn’t the best stroller to use with that terrain, but it worked!

It’s so lightweight and really easy to break-down and throw into the car.  It’s perfect when I’m not using the baby bjorn while out and about with Coyer.

This blog thing of mine.

I really miss writing on my blog!  If only I had the time to share some of the thoughts going through this crazy new Mom brain of mine.

Well… now that I re-read that last sentence, maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have time to document my thoughts.  Y’all seriously might think I’m loosing it over here!

Juggling the baby, my job, our house, and being a wife.  Holy crap!  I get exhausted just thinking about it all.

Coyer has literally been sick for the past two months – straight. no breaks.  One thing always leads to another.  Since my last post about his bronchitis, he developed yet another double ear infection.  I think, and I really really REALLY hope he is finally healthy now (fingers crossed, knock on wood, or whatever else might work).

Justyn’s workplace moved to a different community, about an hour drive from where we live.  I also have the same commute (time wise) to my job.  We’re both struggling with the 2 hours a day, wasted in the car!  When all we really want is to spend time together with our sweet baby boy.

Thankfully, we really trust Coyer’s daycare and we know he is getting great attention and care from the teachers (for the nearly 10 hours he spends there each day).  Oh my, I hate thinking about that number… 10 hours!  Seriously?  Ugh.  Makes me feel like such a terrible mommy.

Both Justyn and I are constantly trying to think of ways we can adjust to make this situation better.  I’ve been able to telecommute (working from home) a couple of times this month.  I would absolutely love to make this more of a regular thing, but it’s just not possible yet.  And Justyn has been asking about getting transferred to another community that would be closer to where we live.

Anyways… on to other things:

Later today we have Coyer’s 6-month photos!  I can’t wait.  🙂  We are going to the park for pictures and it’s supposed to be a high of 80 today.  Perfect!

This weekend we will finally get to return the meal-delivery favor!  Right after Coyer was born so many people brought us homemade dinners.  It was incredible, we loved have a warm and delicious meal that we didn’t have to lift a finger for!

Well, our friends (Robin & Chris) recently had their 2nd baby girl on Feb. 3rd.  So, we are bringing them Chicken Stir-Fry this Sunday.  I’m excited, I love this kind of thing!

I recently joined a bible study group, and then quickly dropped out.  😦  I was so excited for this opportunity to meet some new people and dive a little more into my faith.  The group meets for 2 hours (7pm-9pm) every Wednesday.  Unfortunately, this just doesn’t work with our schedule.  So sad.

But wait! Justyn and I did sign up to be a part of the New Member Welcoming Committee at church.  Our first Welcome Reception is just a few weeks away!  I’m really looking forward to it.

So, what about this blog?  What do I have planned now?

Nothing.

I’d like to commit to posting a certain number of times each week/month/whatever.  But, that just never works for me.  I suppose I’ll just write whenever I get a chance, even though that hardly ever happens.  Maybe things will change as Coyer gets older?

I did start writing a post about my favorite baby items for months 3 to 6.  I really enjoy talking to other Moms about great baby products!  So fun to see what certain babies like or what works to make Mom’s job just a little easier.

Hopefully I can finish this post by the end of the weekend to share with you all!

Until then, here’s a picture of the little dude from this morning:

 Ah!  I love him so much.

My sick little baby boy…

Coyer got sick AGAIN!  Do I sound like a broken record yet?  Ugh…  when will this cold & flu season ever end?

No more ear infections, but he has bronchitis now.  Poor little guy has such a terrible cough, so deep in his chest and sometimes it even takes his breath away.  He’s starting to lose his voice now.  It’s all scratchy and deep, my husband keeps joking that it sounds like he’s going through puberty already. 😉

Like any other mom, I just hate seeing my baby like this!  Plus it always seems like everything gets turned upside down when Coyer gets sick.  Sleep schedule goes crazy, baby is miserable therefore only wants to be held, I miss work and get even more behind, and we worry nonstop about how fast Coyer is recovering.

I just want us to be healthy.  For at least a week or two – PLEASE!  This is just so exhausting and stressful.  I get it now, I really do… when parents complain so much about their sick kids.  It’s really a vicious cycle!

Daycare – yuck.  I hate you.

BUT, I also love you.

Coyer is learning so much and developing so fast.  He’s such a social baby and loves meeting new people now.  The other 3 babies play so well with Coyer.  It’s absolutely the cutest thing to watch!  Melts my heart and makes me happy that he gets to go to daycare.

Then, there’s the baby artwork that is sent home for us parents:

Oh my!  It’s our very 1st valentine from the little sweetheart himself!  This always makes me smile.  It might be Valentine’s Day all year-long at our house.  Just so that I can keep this on the fridge to enjoy.  I love it!

Just Because

I decided to take a minute over today’s lunch break to share a few new pictures of Coyer!

If his feet are naked, they go into the mouth.  Gross! But, it’s still pretty cute.

Playing with one of his favorite Christmas presents.  He loves the music and flashing lights!

Awww… my little cutie.  Love him to pieces!

Out for a walk in the brand new stroller.  Facing out is much more fun than looking up at the sky!  He really enjoys all the sights around our neighborhood… especially the other kids, he is so curious about what they are doing.

Coyer sits at the dinner table with us now.  He likes being at the same level as us and keeps himself entertained for a good 20-30 minutes just playing with that silly stuffed fish!  This allows just enough time for mom and dad to enjoy a quick meal.

*****

That’s all for now!  Hope you all enjoy the rest of the week and have something fun planned for the weekend.  We are going to the golf tournament this weekend with Justyn’s family!  Be sure to watch the Phoenix Open on TV and look for us at the 16th Hole 😉

Lookin’ like Mommy!

Last night we gave Coyer a bath and snapped an adorable picture… which reminded me a lot of a baby picture of my own!

Wow!  Look at that!  He’s actually starting to look like his Mommy now.  🙂

Coyer has always looked more like Daddy… and that’s awesome, but it’s also so exciting to get to see a little of myself too!

~~~~~

Surprised to see me posting on the blog today?  Yeah, I am too.  But I got a call from daycare while I was at work today.  Coyer has a bit of a fever, so I came home to take care of him.

This is him now… sleeping away the day and snoring like an old man!

I don’t think it’s anything serious.  Just a bit of a cold.  I’m blaming all those daycare germs again!  We are going to have amazingly awesome immune systems after this cold & flu season.

~~~~~

One more thing:  Coyer is 5 months old today!!!

It’s crazy how fast he’s growing up.  Kinda sad, but very exciting at the same time.

He’s rolling over like crazy now.  He’ll roll from one end of the living room to the other if we let him!

He’s getting better at sitting up, but still needs a little support.

Coyer has really started to notice the dog lately.  He’s been reaching out to touch his nose whenever Marley is close by.  It’s pretty cute to watch, but Marley still isn’t too interested in the baby.  He pretty much just smells Coyer then runs off to take a nap or eat something.

We’ve started a few solid foods:  rice cereal, bananas, peas, carrots, pears.  So far, he loves it all!  At first it took a while for him to figure out how to eat off of the spoon.  But lately he’s just about mastered this new way of eating!

We’ve got such a happy baby!  He’s always smiling and laughs more and more every day.  He brings so much joy to our lives!

There’s so much more to talk about with Coyer’s development… but I’m out of time!  Little guy is waking up and he is HUNGRY! 🙂

How do you define “Busy”?

¹busy

 adjective \ˈbi-zē\

: actively doing something

: full of activity or work

www.merriam-webster.com

We’re all busy, right?

1.  The college student who’s juggling a 16 hour semester, 2 jobs, and a crazy social life.

2.  The 20- and 30-somethings out there, building their careers and working an insane amount of hours just to prove their worth.

3.  The couple who just got engaged and now have a to-d0 list that’s half a mile long and two different families to keep happy as they become one.

4.  The new parents who have their hands full with diapers, feedings, crying, naps, and playing with baby.

5.  The family with three kids, always on the go.  Soccer tonight, dance tomorrow, a meeting with the school’s principle, the youngest has an appointment with the dentist, the middle child is having a friend over for dinner, and the oldest needs a talk with mom & dad about the issues happening at school.

6.  The grandparents who are still working full-time jobs and keeping up with the house repairs, but never miss one of the kid’s birthdays, school programs, basketball games, or their first communion at church.

I could go on, but I’m sure you get my point.  We all live very busy lives!

So, answer this question:  Who is the busiest?

(a)  The family with 3 kids

(b)  The college student

(c)  The grandparents

(d)  The engaged couple

Did you guess (a), or maybe even (d)?  Well, in my opinion, I’d say this is a trick question.  How can you really measure one’s level of being “busy”?  I’m sure if you took someone from each of the 6 lifestyles that I listed above, they would easily be able to argue that they are indeed busier than the next.  To be honest, I think (being new parents ourselves) that we are the busiest of them all.  But, I know that’s wrong and it’s really not fair to others for me to think that way either.

The other day, I heard myself say:  “I don’t have time for a phone call.”

Now that’s a pretty strong statement.  To someone else’s ears, I’m actually saying:  “I’m too busy with my life to talk to you about yours” (ouch).

Sure, most days I’m so busy making sure the baby has what he needs that my butt only finds the couch when it’s time for nursing.  And during those quick 20 minutes of nursing, I’m buried into my phone – responding to texts, checking email, facebook, instagram, etc.

I’m always busy, always going, always doing something!  That’s really nothing new… story of my life, really.  The things occupying my time have changed, but not the amount of free time.

So, what am I trying to say here?  Well, I don’t really know.

But, do you want to know what I’ve recently realized?  It’s that I can, and I should make time for a phone call.

No matter how crazy I feel like my life is, I really just need to take 5 or 10 minutes a day – yes, each and every day – to call someone I love.  A friend, a brother, a parent, even my in-laws!  I miss these people so much every single day.  But how would they know how I feel if I can’t ever find the time to pick up the phone and dial their number?

I consider myself blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  I really don’t want to take my friendships and family relationships for granted.

So, the New Year is upon us and it’s time for making resolutions.  And I can’t think of a better resolution for myself than a promise to make more time for phone calls!

I’m very excited about this resolution and I’m hopeful that it will help to build some stronger relationships in my life!

Happy New Year to Everyone!  I hope 2014 will be a wonderful year for us all.  Cheers! 🙂

hdwallpapersinn.com

**One last side note, just something to consider:  If you haven’t heard from a loved one in a while (they don’t return calls, emails, or even texts) it probably doesn’t mean that they are mad at you.  Maybe they are just struggling to make time for a phone call, just like me.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we’re all very busy people.  Just think of how great things might be if we could be more understanding of this and spend less time finding faults in our friend/family’s behaviors.  Spread the love people!  Don’t hate.**

Coyer’s First Christmas

The kid absolutely LOVED Christmas!  I never even imagined that his reaction to opening presents would be so awesome.  The wrapping was definitely his favorite – the bright shiny colors, the crinkle sound it made, and the way it felt in his mouth! 🙂

Coyer was also very curious about each one of his gifts.  He has played with everything already!  Both his dad and I were impressed by how quickly he seemed to figure out how his new toys worked.  It’s so much fun to watch as he learns new things… and it makes us proud to see his development!

We had loads fun and took many pictures!  Here are just a few  a bunch of pictures that we’d like to share:

Opening Gifts on Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve – Before we left for Mass

Skype Christmas with the Kearney family back in Nebraska

Kearney Family Update

There are many times when I feel like no one reads this blog of mine.  But then, I go a few weeks without posting and the whole world’s like “hey Becky, why don’t you ever write on your blog anymore?”  So, I thought I would take a few minutes this morning to write a quick update about our lives lately.

What’s happened since my last post?

– Thanksgiving:  We were invited to our friends’ family Thanksgiving dinner this year.  The weather was perfect that day, so we really enjoyed the time outside.  But the house was pack full of people and lots of loud noises.  I think it was a little too much for Coyer (the new place, new faces, all the excitement and different voices).  He was pretty fussy almost the entire time we were there.  It was an exhausting day for me since I spent all day just trying to keep him from screaming and I barely had the chance to eat anything at all.  Hopefully next year will be a little better for us.

– Coyer’s Baptism:  We had an absolutely wonderful day for Coyer’s baptism.  Again, the weather was just perfect.  We had some friends and family over to our house for a little reception after the baptism ceremony.  It was really great to relax a little and enjoy visiting with the company.  Coyer was in a great mood too!  He totally made up for the rough day we had on Thanksgiving.  🙂

– New Daycare:  The new daycare is going well so far.  This week will be Coyer’s 3rd week there, and it already feels like home to us.  The girls watching Coyer are so sweet and they just love him so much!  I think Coyer really likes them too, he always has the best reports sent home each day.  They say he only cries when he’s tired/hungry.  Even when I drop him off in the mornings, he always has the biggest smile for his teacher!  It makes me feel good to know he is happy while I’m away at work.

– Germs:  Yes, of course… we are definitely exposed to many more germs with Coyer going to a daycare center now.  After just the first week there, my husband and I got really sick with a terrible stomach bug.  OMG!  It was no fun at all.  Coyer was fine, but I guess that’s because he is breastfeeding.  Unfortunately, the little guy couldn’t be saved from all of the germs.  My poor baby got his first real cold last weekend.  It was so sad…  his little cough, runny/stuffed up nose, rosy cheeks, and watery eyes.  Oh!  I really wished I could have found a way to take it all away from him.  He’s on the mend now, but it’s certainly been a rough week for Coyer.

– Christmas Presents:  I totally planned on doing my Christmas shopping the same weekend that we ended up getting sick.  So last weekend was a complete scramble for me to buy my gifts (for 12 people), finish all of the wrapping, package the gifts in boxes to ship, and make it to UPS in time for them to be shipped back to the midwest!  Wow, so much work… but, I was able to enjoy it a little too (with help from my friends:  Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio)!

– Holiday Party:  Last Friday night our friends from church, Robin and Chris, offered to watch Coyer for us so that we could go to Justyn’s company holiday party.  It was our first night out since the baby was born!  We really weren’t at the party for long, but it was nice to have a couple of drinks, enjoy some good warm food, and visit with the other wives sharing stories of motherhood.

– Work:  My job has been crazy since I got back from maternity leave.  A new boss, 2 new projects to manage, short deadlines, and of course I’m still trying to play catch-up from being gone for 3 months.  At least I stay busy enough at the office to keep my mind occupied so I don’t obsessively worry about Coyer during the day.

Justyn’s work has actually seemed to slow down recently.  He still has enough to keep him busy during the day, but not so much work that he’s going crazy.  Justyn tells me they will get busy again after the first of the year.

What’s happening next?

– The Christmas Gala:  You guys, the new daycare center is putting on a Christmas program tonight… and YES, Coyer is going to be a part of it!  Holy crap.  I don’t even know how this is all going to work out…  isn’t 4-months a little too young to be in a production of any kind?  I think they are dressing him up as a snowman (aww), so maybe he’s just going to be a prop or something?  I just hope he doesn’t lose his cool right in the middle of it all.  But, whatever… I’m sure it will be really cute no matter what!  🙂

– Christmas Dinner:  Our friends from church (again, Robin & Chris) have invited us over to share in their Christmas dinner on Wednesday.  They have an adorable little 2-year-old girl, Lily, who just loves Coyer.  She’s practicing being a big sister so she’ll be better prepared when her new sister, Norah, is born in February!  Justyn and I are definitely looking forward to spending the holiday with these new friends.  It’s great to have something to do on Christmas day since we won’t be able to go home again this year.

– Date Night:  Now that Coyer is a little older and we’re starting to get used to this new lifestyle, Justyn and I are going to try to start planning a date night for ourselves maybe once a month.  For our first night out, I think we are going to try the new Teppanyaki restaurant not to far from our house.  We love those kind of restaurants… good food with a show, can’t beat that!

– Waste Management Phoenix Open:  It’s almost that time of year again!  We are so totally looking forward to the Waste Management Open this year.  Justyn has a cousin who’s boyfriend works at the Scottsdale TPC course (where the tournament is held) and he will be able to get his hands on quite a few free tickets!  So, there will be a big group of Justyn’s family (his mom’s side) in town for the big event.  We can’t wait…  less than 40 days until were drinkin’ beers at the 16th Hole!

Baby Pictures