Darr Family Blog

Our week started off great! Joseph continues to amaze us day by day with the new stuff that he’s doing (climbing up on top of the coffee table, plastic bins, etc.) and saying (just last night, Paul said that while Joseph was watching one of his favorite shows, Super Why, which focuses on vocabulary, spelling, and phonics, he said /k/, /k/, K! and /eh/, eh/, E! along with the characters…one more reason that I love PBS!). We had a rather low-key Valentines Day. Paul went to work, as usual, and I took care of the babe. After Paul got home from work, we exchanged gifts and had Panda Express for dinner (I picked it up and brought it home).

Joseph’s been fighting off a cold and cough, but he’s getting better little by little. He still hates getting his nose wiped and suctioned out (which I understand). I’m looking forward to when we can teach him to blow his nose! Luckily, we have the vaporizer and baby Vapo Rub which at least give him a little comfort. To his credit, he’s never really stopped being the giggly, lovey baby that he is most of the time.

Now for the craziness that ended our week. Friday night, I was picking Joseph up and felt a sharp twinge in my back. I put him down and sat down. As I got up, I didn’t feel anything, so I thought no more of it until later when I tried to pick him up again. This time it was a really sharp pain…so bad, that I couldn’t even bend over to put him in his crib. Thinking that I had just a sore muscle, once Joseph was in bed, I took a warm bath and then put my heating pad on my back. Apparently, that wasn’t a good idea, because the next time I tried to get up, I couldn’t. Paul tried to help me up, and my back started seizing up really bad…and continued to do so every time I tried to walk, sit down, or stand up (so basically, laying down was my only option, though I couldn’t even turn over by myself). About 2:30 A.M., we decided that it was time to go to the ER. Paul ran across the street and got one of our neighbors (they are in our ward) to come sit with Joseph so that we could go. It took Paul probably 5 minutes to get me down the stairs, and another 5 minutes to get me into the car. We got to the ER and they put an IV in to give me Valium, Morphine, and Benadryl (since apparently I’m allergic to Morphine). About an hour after that, they tried to get me to sit up, which still hurt SO bad. They then gave me another dose of the Valium, Morphine, and Benadryl, followed by another pain-killer (they said this one would last for a couple of days). They took x-rays (which showed up normal…*whew*). Finally they decided that it was a severe muscle strain (probably caused by lifting up Joseph, who’s pushing 30 lbs now) and sent me home with a muscle relaxer, some Ibuprofin 800, and some Norco (a narcotic pain reliever). After staying in bed all day yesterday, I’m finally able to walk around very slowly (with the help of Paul’s walking stick…I’m beginning to think that there was more than one reason that we decided to buy that thing when we went to the Old Town Helotes Market Day a few weeks back). I’m glad that Paul has work off on Monday, and I’m hoping to be well enough to take care of Joseph by Tuesday. I think it will just take me forcing myself to stay in bed the next two days, which, by far, has been the hardest thing. I’m so thankful for modern medicine and for a husband who is willing to pick up and help with everything. One positive thing: Joseph is getting in a LOT of Daddy-time, which he LOVES!

Well, another week has gone by, so it’s time to write another blog entry. 🙂 One of the highlights BY FAR this week was when the construction guys FINALLY decided to move the port-a-potty that has been residing practically in our front yard. Some time last week, a really strong gust of wind had tipped it over and blown it down the street (along with both our trash cans…THAT was a fun clean-up job)…I guess nobody missed it (considering the fact that there hasn’t been construction done on our street for a couple of months now), because it sat on its side until this past Monday when they came and got it. They moved it over to where there is actually construction going on. I did a happy dance when I realized that it was finally GONE! They also cleaned up the HUGE debris pile that was also right next to our yard. Our front yard looks SO much better now. Here’s Joseph doing one of the things that he loves best: checking out the construction workers (in this case doing the two tasks that I just mentioned):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another awesome thing that happened this week: I found out that I will not need surgery on my wrist for at least six more weeks (long story short: a while ago, while we were living in our rental house in California, I tripped over a baby gate, fell, and hurt my wrist. At the time I didn’t think anything of it, but when we moved to Texas, it really started bugging me. The orthopedics doctor did some tests and thought that I tore some ligaments. The hand/wrist specialist didn’t want to operate because he said that the test results said that there was a possible tear, so he didn’t want to go in unless it was for sure. If it still hurts in 6 weeks, we’ll reassess the situation). I’m glad to not have to have surgery (yet) and am hoping that I won’t need to.

Joseph is beginning to pick up vocabulary like crazy! Just this week he added “kitty” and “choo-choo” (in reference to his toy train). He is getting so big! At the beginning of March he goes to nursery, which he’s going to love! He is such a social little guy. He’s ready to hang out with other kids and play with all new toys. I just took him on his first official play-date with a little boy named Boone (who is only 3 weeks younger than him). He had so much fun, that when it was time to go, he actually started to cry! He calmed down after not too long and was my happy, smiling boy again. One funny thing that he’s been doing is trying out new places to sit. Here are the results this week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we wrapped up the week (or is it the start of a new week?) with a dance party tonight. Joseph likes anything with a beat, so Paul turned on some Muse. Paul and I started to dance a little goofy to get Joseph started, and then he went crazy! He was running around the room, flapping his arms and bouncing up and down. It lasted a good 15 minutes before we finally stopped. I love the time that we get to spend as a family. I’m looking forward to tomorrow evening when we get to take another walk around our neighborhood (another fun thing that we’ve been doing). We’re settling into life here and loving it!

It is insane how much has happened in a week. I don’t think that I can write it all down, so I chose four major things and I’m throwing in a bonus story that I forgot to write about earlier.

Story #1: The Dreaded Vacuum. This happened about 3 weeks ago. I pulled out the vacuum after a long hiatus. After committing my huge faux-paux with Joseph’s bath time (see previous post), I decided that I would be a little more careful about vacuuming with Joseph around. I mean, who knew if he would think that the vacuum could suck him up?! It turns out my concerns were not totally unfounded. While he didn’t freak out when I turned the vacuum on, he looked very, VERY concerned. I made sure not to point the vacuum directly at him, and he started to warm up to the idea. Then I took the vacuum upstairs. Where his toys were. That’s when it changed from interesting to hysterical. Joseph would take a toy, run up to the vacuum, and (almost) fearlessly toss the toy in front of the vacuum. He would then retreat to a safe distance to observe the effect. I came to the conclusion that he was doing an experiment to see if the vacuum would suck up the toys. When I finally got control of myself (for some reason, the whole escapade struck me as being quite amusing), I showed him (via putting the vacuum right up close to the toy) that the toys would not, in fact, get sucked up. He’s been fine with the vacuum ever since, lol.

Story #2: Waving bye-bye. This one is short, but sweet. We have been trying for a while now to get Joseph to wave bye-bye to people. For a little bit, he would wave, but almost always after the person had already gone. Just recently, he has gotten the hang of it, and now he waves bye-bye all the time. When Paul leaves for work, when my visiting teachers leave, when we leave after we’ve gone visiting teaching, when he says good-night to Paul, and…perhaps best of all…to ANY random person in a store. Yet another thing that I am ridiculously proud of and amused by. 🙂 Oh, and he’ll also do his own version of the sign “all done” (which is done by taking your hands and flipping the palms forward and backward) when he’s done with his food. Joseph’s version is more like waving his hands up and down, but considering the fact that he says “ah doe” when he does it, you can catch the meaning.

Story #3: The Bow-Tie: We recently decided that we needed to get Joseph some “real” church clothes. I was able to find him a couple of button-down dress shirts (he already had pants) and…some ties! I was excited because they are not clip-on ties. They have a loop of fabric (which is adjustable) that fastens in the back. Best.invention.ever. So now Joseph has a regular tie and a bow-tie. He wore the bow-tie to church today and got SO many compliments (I guess it helps that he looked ridiculously cute)!

Story #4: One, Two, Threeee! Another one for the record books. Not too much explanation, since there’s a video. I believe I posted about Joseph saying “two” after I would say “one”. Well, he’s now added “three” to that…only he seems to be under the impression that fun things happen when you get to three (it could POSSIBLY be from his experience that when we spin him in the computer chair, we count to three and then he gets to spin). Well, he decided to take things into his own hands. Enjoy!

Story #5: Gimmie “5!” Just tonight, we got Joseph to give us “5”. This is after many failed attempts by other people to get him to do it and Joseph looking at them as if they had lost their minds. Tonight I decided to show him by giving Paul “5” and then make the attempt again. Well, it worked better than I imagined. It only took him one time of seeing it before our little monkey was able to do it. 🙂