2 weeks have passed...

Things are going good here, but obviously busy. Here is our last couple days in review:

Austin is doing great!

He is teething, so he is occasionally fussy...lucky for us, he takes Tylenol (or Motrin) like a champ--a single dose puts him in a better mood within 45 minutes. Poor guy...he varies between having a diarrhea and constipation in a matter of 48 hours. He has had 2 teeth break thorough in the upper gums, but nothing in the lower gums yet. Even the ones that are in the upper gums are being pesky/mean, by barely breaking the skin and hanging out that way for over a week with our little guy suffering through it all.


Little dude still has a great laugh
He is getting a larger vocabulary and is getting pretty smart regarding sounds that animals play and matching like (same) shapes/colors. His sense of humor is really cool...when we are matching, he purposefully places pieces in the wrong place then places his heads on top of his and says "Oops". We know he is goofing around because when he places them in the right place, he claps for himself...so he preemptively cheers for himself or says "oops" before anyone lets him know whether he is right or wrong yet.


Smart guy, huh?


Not perfect yet, but he gets a lot of them right!
For those concerned about is health...other than his teeth he is doing great. The nasty cough that plagued him earlier in the month is almost completely gone. His eating habits have changed, but we attribute this to the whole "teeth-thing". How has his eating changed? Previously, Austin's breakfast would consist of 6-8 ounces of milk, a bowl of cereal, a banana, an Eggo waffle, 2 adult handfuls of Cheerios and some water...now, he only has about 4 ounces of milk, a bowl of cereal, half a banana and maybe a few Cheerios. So, no...he isn't starving...he is just eating less.

Ulnar Nerve Subluxation

One reason that the postings were scarce for a while was that Keith spent a full week researching snowthrowers after waking up one morning with his hand "clawed", unable to straighten his fingers, and lacking sensation throughout half of his right (dominant) hand. After consultation with an upper extremity specialist, it was determined that Keith had irritated his ulnar nerve while shoveling snow. The repetitive motions of consistently shoveling snow (since before Christmas) had taken its toll on Keith's elbow, resulting in a nerve injury. The only solutions include: (1) conservative management (including splinting the elbow fully straight at night, no more heavy labor or repetitive motion activity) or (2) a surgery with a 50% success rate once things worsen from Keith being stubborn/cheap and continue to shovel.

So...after researching snowthrowers for nearly a full week, we purchased a 26-inch Snapper. It was money that we didn't anticipate spending, but we figured it was cheaper than a surgery...and it helps Keith spend about 80% less of the time clearing snow now compared to what he was doing before...and with the rest and immobilization, the arm is improving as well.

One tough morning...

Christine has been growing into her new home and community...teaching spinning classes (another spinning instructor job opportunity seems imminent), participating in the local mom's group (the group comes to our place tomorrow) and arranging for social outings with new friends. That is of course when she feels healthy.

Unfortunately, that was not the case about one week ago on Friday, the morning after being sick that night with a 24-hour stomach bug. After getting sick, Christine spent the better part of the next day recuperating while Keith played Mister Mom (using a personal day from work), taking Austin to the pet store to see the animals and taking him to the YMCA to go swimming while doing his best to keep up with dirty dishes and an ever-present pile of laundry. Meanwhile, Christine was at home lying on the couch and sleeping trying to regain some energy and suppress what was a killer headache. Fortunately, by Saturday afternoon, she was ready once again to handle our little trouble maker in all of his combustible glory.

To conclude...

We are all doing awesome and looking forward Super Bowl Sunday! We hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend...we will do our best to be in touch soon.


Tastin' some "suds"