5 Days until Vacation!!

Robert continues to amaze us with his new talents. This week he is standing constantly and a few times we've even seen him take a few steps! He loves standing and reaching for anything and everything he shouldn't have. When he's not getting into trouble he is often looking for our attention and showing us how he can clap and dance. Below is a video of him dancing!

I have one more week of summer swim lessons and then we are heading to the lake for a much needed family vacation. We'll be going to my Aunt & Uncle's cabin in Wisconsin from Friday to Wednesday and I can't wait. The hammock is definitely calling my name and I hope the weather is good.

Robert is putting the toys aside to read his books before bedtime!

What a smart boy!

Nothing New!

Boring Week!!!

This was a pretty uneventful week for us. Work was same as always for me. Eric is in the final stages of getting his real estate license reactivated and will be working for the Keller Williams, Maple Grove office (so if you want to sell your house or buy one let us know!). He'll be doing this along with still staying home during the day with Robert but once the school year starts we might look into daycare 1-2 days a week. Robert is now at 7 teeth (4 top, 3 bottom) and is standing for longer periods time by himself. He's into everything and everything goes straight to his mouth! We did do a little landscaping this weekend but nothing was finished so hopefully we can post more next weekend.


We wish Eric's brother Adam a Happy Birthday on the 22nd and hope he enjoys two more years in his 20s. For everyone else we hope you have a great week!

First Parade & Fireworks...with a little landscaping!

This weekend was Robbinsdale's Whiz Bang Days and we enjoyed introducing Robert to some of the festivities. Eric started on Friday by walking downtown with Robert and sharing some homemade ice cream. Friday night we went to the park that is a block from our house to check out the carnival...didn't attempt the rides but had some yummy food!

Today we took Robert to his first parade. He only made it through about half of it before nap time became a higher priority so we walked the few blocks home to get our little boy some rest. Unfortunately or fortunately (still not sure!) he must have gotten too much rest because he didn't want to go to bed. After 3 attempts and still having a wide awake boy at 9:30 I decided that we'd walk the block to the park to watch the fireworks since I knew it would be too loud at home for him to fall asleep. So off we went and enjoyed a great display while daddy stayed home and somehow managed to sleep through the fireworks, no wonder I'm the one always waking up with Robert in the middle of the night and he sleeps soundly! He did great and really enjoyed the show, plus went right to sleep when we got home. Let's see if he stays asleep all night!

We also started on some much needed landscaping at our house this weekend. We are tackeling the yard in small sections to help save on not spending lots of money at one time and also because we only have a few hours each day to work on it together while Robert naps!

Enjoy the pictures from our busy weekend!

Putting Robert's hat on at the parade for the millionth time!

Love this pic...such a serious boy!

East side of the house (Before)
and yes those are rocks, lots of rocks

East side of the house (After)
No more rocks!

Watching the fireworks!

4th of July

We enjoyed a great 4th of July with my side of the family in Red Wing. Friday night we hung out with my mom, brother, and sister and shot off some great fireworks that may or may not have been legal! Saturday we added more family members with my Aunt Sally, Uncle Joe, Cousin Rob and his son Aidan to the mix. We had a lot of fun playing lawn games, hot tubbing, and of course seeing fireworks at night (or at least I saw the fireworks while Eric stayed home with a sleeping Robert).

An update on Robert's bump...we think it probably was the cellulitis and not the cyst. The bump got a lot bigger on Saturday but then this morning it popped and I've never been so happy to see pus. I e-mailed our doctor waiting to hear his thoughts but hoping that all we have to do is finish the medicine and all will be good.

Other events from the week included going to another one of Eric's band concerts (only has 3 more for the summer!), closing on our 2nd home that we remodeled but then got stuck with it a lot longer than planned thanks to our wonderful economy, and Eric reactivating his real estate license. So with all of that our trip to Red Wing and Robert's bump it was a long week and we're looking forward to what we hope will be a quieter week.

Swimming with my swimmer Kayla when he went to work with mom

Daddy starting him young...

One of the smaller, legal fireworks

Robert and Rob hanging out

Nick and Aidan chilling inside during the rain

Aidan, Mom, and Me waiting for the fireworks to begin

Playing in his whale pool at G'ma's House!

Look it is the Olympic Rings!

Robert learned to clap on the 4th!

Bump on the Bum

A few days ago when changing Robert's diaper I noticed a bump on his bum right at the top of his crack. Today when changing him I saw that the bump was bigger and decided that I should call the doctor to get it checked out. I thought I was just being a paranoid mom but it turns out that it was a good thing to call.

I was able to get in for the last appointment of the day with our normal doctor so off Robert and I went. Eric is in Duluth for the night to take a test tomorrow to reactivate his realtor's license so we were on our own. By the way, it is much easier going to the doctor's office with 2 parents!!

The doctor still isn't sure what it is but thinks it could be 1 of 3 things.

The first, and the one that matches the most symptoms, is a Pilonidal Cyst. The only reason the doctor is doubting it is that he has never heard of it occurring in young children. The only way to fix it, if this is what it is, is surgery. In researching it once I got home it does sound like a simple procedure but that doesn't make it any better.

The second option would be strep. Children under the age of 2 get strep in the bum and those over the age of 2 get it in the mouth. Who knew?!? Unfortunately the doctor doesn't really think this is what it is and the quick strep test came back negative but we'll see what the culture says tomorrow.

The third option is Cellulitis. Which is a skin infection caused by bacteria growing under the skin. The only reason they aren't thinking this is what is going on is because usually there is an opening, or at least I think that is what the doctor said. Hard to concentrate when you have an overly tired child pulling on you! Robert had a bad diaper rash early last week and the doctor thinks that an infection could have occurred at that time.

So as of now we are treating it like it is Cellulitis and Robert has to take Amoxicillin 2x a day for the next 10 days. If for some reason it is strep, still crossing my fingers, the treatment would also be the same. If in 10 days the bump isn't better we will go back to our doctor and then probably be referred to a pediatric surgeon.

Robert is acting fine and currently chasing the dogs around the house...hopefully wearing himself and them out so we all get some sleep tonight and oblivious to mom crying at the thought of her baby having surgery. I wish Eric was home but I know that there isn't anything we can do until we give the medicine a chance to work.

I'll be sure to update as I know more but for now please keep Robert in your prayers and hope that the Amoxicillin does it's job so we don't have to go back to the doctor's office until is 1 year check-up.