The "no"s have begun

While trying to get Roman dressed this morning he was doing his squirming and screaming and trying to flip over. It's always fun when he's in "that mood." Well when I told him to stop and put his legs in his pants he looked at me and in his twinkly baby voice very clearly said "No." Then just in case I didn't understand him (because I said "What did you say?!") he shook his head and said "Nu-uh."
Got it that time Mom?
Sheesh! Of course I bust out laughing. He glared at me. I got the pants on and turned to put him in my lap and he actually kicked at me while making the bratty "ugh!" sound that I *insert sarcasm font* absolutely LOVE hearing from kids. Yikes. I had to call Matt and let him know. He said he'd have laughed too. But now I have to get serious and nip this in the bud!

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Sickness

When they tell you a child will be sick for the first year they're in daycare- they aren't exaggerating. And don't you just love snooty comments from stay at home moms like "that's why my child isn't in daycare." No it's not. It's because you don't have a job. And one day your child will go to school where they will be constantly sick for the first year and miss out on valuable education time whereas my child will not only be advanced from being in "school" his whole life but he will also have a strong immune system. So there! Bah. People should keep their comments to themselves unless asked for them.

Roman has had this awful cough the last few nights. Saturday it started as a throat tickle cough. Sunday at nap time it progressed to rough cough. Sunday night he was coughing so hard he was gagging and turning colors and screaming in between which didn't help with the whole breathing thing. I tried 2 different german cough syrups (all natural) and a german balm safe for kids and then said screw it and used Vicks even though it's not recommended for kids under 2. I also gave him a dose of tylenol because there's no WAY his throat didn't hurt after all that hacking. He still coughed for about an hour after all this but finally we got some sleep. But not good sleep. I woke him up the next AM and he was NOT happy with me and tried to roll over and go back to sleep as I changed him. He's never done that! He had a very cranky day at school and home.

That night (which was last night) he did much better since we started right off with the cough syrup and vicks. Oh and he has a humidifier and his bed is propped up! Coughing didn't start until 5am. I gave him so meds and more vicks but he still coughed until I woke him up at 6:30. And me? Yeah I never got back to sleep. Blegh!

Even with the lack of sleep my kids at school have been awesome. Mostly. They're anxious, like we all are, but still sweet. I received an apology letter from a girl who had a rough day yesterday, a picture from another girl, and a note from a boy saying I was the best teacher in the world and he liked me. :-) Kids rock.

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Smartest Kid Award goes to...

Roman is 15months and 3 weeks old and he can now sort the colored shapes into his sorting ball!!! He received this white ball with the cut out shapes and plastic shapes to fit in them for his birthday. The ball is "self checking" because the color of the plastic shape matches the color outline of the shape cut out in the ball. Does that make sense?! Anyways it just shows that Roman can recognize colors and similarities in things which (not bragging or anything) is an 18 month milestone! ;-) My kid's awesome. I know this. He also can say nose and point to it (or mine) and now he grabs his belly when you ask him. Gah he's just so darn cute!

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Sadness

I love that I have the first 6 months or so of Roman's life documented so well and then nada.Well one quickie 8mo post. Seriously?! I realize how much I LOVE reading my older posts so I WILL get better. I love to write so why don't I more often?? Maybe it's because lately (well since I was pregnant actually) I have struggled with severe fatigue. My dad claims I'm just lazy but nope not the case. I YEARN to do things and cry because I'm just too stinking tired too. Then when bruising and joint pains became an issue I had some bloodwork done and basically I'm not anemic nor do I have luekemia (THANK GOD!) but I may be in the early stages of arthritis or lupus. They will repeat the tests in 3 months to know more. In the mean time I'm just supposed to caffinate up? Jen asked if working out gives me more energy and maybe it would if I stuck with it but after a week I am then physically exhausted and not just mentally.

I can finally say with confidence that my mental health is back to normal. Thanks to counseling and medication this Mama is no longer struggling with depression! I will be on medicine the rest of my life since depression is a recurring thing with me but I don't care. I get mad at myself when I think about the first few months of Roman's life and how I wasted time being miserable when I should have just gotten help.

Roman, oh Roman. He is not 15.5 months old and already hitting terrible twos! Maybe that means he'll grow out of it faster-ha! He's about 26lbs (probably more now) and I don't know how tall. He is very smart and pretty vocal- even if I'm the only one that truly understands that "shish" means "fish." He LOVES books which makes this Mama EXCSTATIC!!! He has even memorized his favorite book ("oos" by David Shannon) and can "read" it to himself in his crib. How crazy is that?! Some other words he can say (I just "tested" him last night with his flashcards!):
mama
dada
dog
woof woof
milk (nik)
fish (shish)
apple
banana (nana)
tractor
car
vroom vroom
choo choo
*snorts* for pig
shoes
bye bye
MUAH and blows a kiss
ball
mooo for cow
teef (teef teef! when he wants to brush them)
night night (ni ni- this also means pacifier)
more (mo)
please (pees)
thank you (tank chu)
uh oh
*puts hands on head* for oh no
*holds hands out palms up* for what happened?
no no
eat
nose
baby (buhbuh)
up
down
oo-oo-aa-aa (monkey sound!)

I think that's it... We are so proud of him!

Matt is still in Afghanistan but we can say he'll be home before presents! His deployment was shortened PTL! He's had a rough time with this deployment. I hope we transition back to normal fairly easy.

We're headed to London for a few days over Christmas break!! We're traveling with Matt's friend/bunk mate and his family who I've never met but feel like I know thanks to Facebook!

School has been 100% better this year. It still has it's kinks but a) having a curriculum makes ALL the difference and b) I know (mostly) what works! Currently I'm on day 2 of parent conferences. They've all gone very well! I have one more left...Here we go!

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