3 months old, Merry Christmas!!

Aside from being sick with croup earlier this week, Ruston has been a fairly happy baby for Christmas.  He's sporting the onesie Erica bought for him... and it suits him well. :)
I thought this was a cute picture... with his little turtle friend in the swing.  He was falling asleep, so he looks a bit sad in the picture.
This is Christmas morning... in his bouncer that was his "Christmas" gift from his Grammie and Papa Boo (my parents), although he's been using it for a couple of months.  In front you can see "the loot" still wrapped up.
And here's the unwrapped loot.
Daddy and Ruston on Christmas morning... I think daddy was more excited than Ruston was, mostly because he never got to celebrate Christmas growing up.
Ruston also had his bear picture on Christmas day since he turned 3 months old.  Here are a few attempts at a good picture where you can read his shirt and everything.

The bear is wearing a hat that Erica sent.  It has a face on it and reindeer antlers, but was a bit tight on Ruston.  I finally took a picture of it on Ruston this morning, but it's still on my camera, so I'll have to post it later because it's funny.
Then there's a couple more cute pictures of Ruston in his pj's.  Yes, the second picture has TONS on slobber... that seems to be his new thing.  He also enjoys chewing on his hands, and this morning figured out how to pull one of his toys to his mouth and chew on it. :)

Sleepover...

A couple nights ago, Brooklyn got to come to our house and spend the night... a VERY last minute request, but since Jason had the night off and didn't have to work until 1:30pm the next day, we decided it was now or never (seemingly).  

Jason and Brook got a lot of Wii playtime in.  They were going to go hunting the next morning, but with the cold and rain, Jason decided to NOT get Brook sick, so they played more Wii. :)  Here's a little video of them boxing each other... Brook beat up on Jason pretty good!!

(Sorry the video is so dark... it's darker than it was when I took it, but you can see both of them... and at the end, Brook beat him!)

Thanksgiving

I'm playing a bit of catch up.  For Thanksgiving, we went to Cindy's house where LOTS of family was... more family than has been in the same room in a long time, apparently.  I didn't take too many pictures because Ruston was a pill that day... I think he was overstimulated and overtired, but couldn't get himself to calm down to sleep.  As soon as we left, he was OUT in the car.  Anyway... here Ruston is with his Uncle Jacob.

Then Brooklyn wanted to serenade us with her flute skills...
And Jason decided he needed to try it... but first, he had to figure out how to hold it.  Every time he picked it up, he was holding it wrong!
Jeanie (Cindy's stepdaughter) was attempting to show Jason how to hold the flute, as well as play it, since she used to play it too.
Jason ALMOST has his hands in the right spot, and after MUCH trying, he eventually did get a sound out of it, although not a very good one. :)
That was some good entertainment for us. ;)

New Trick

Here is Ruston's latest trick:

He did this about 5 or 6 times before I finally got the camera... he was pretty proud of himself too.  10 weeks old yesterday...

2 month checkup

Ruston had his 2 month check up and shots today (poor guy!).  He is now 13 pounds (75th percentile), 23.25 inches long (around the 60th percentile), and has a head circumference of 16 inches (also around the 60th percentile).  He's definitely a little chunker, but he's cute, so it's ok. :)  The doctor was also impressed with how well he could lift himself up while on his stomach... she's predicting he'll be an early roller, so we'll see.  As for the shots, well, let's just say he was ANGRY after he got them.  No tears, just screaming... so he was more mad then actually in pain, but really, he took them like a champ for a 2 month old.  That little lip came back out afterward... I love that face.  :)  Now hopefully we won't be seeing any doctors until his 4 month check up!!

I'll post some pictures later this week since they're still on my camera...

Hospital Stay

Well, as per my catching up on my blog, I have yet to post the excitement that was Ruston's 8th week of life.  Monday the 16th was my first day back at work after maternity leave... it went fine, and Ruston stayed at Cindy's.  Monday night, Jason and I noticed Ruston was not himself and he felt VERY hot, so I took his temp to find out it was 101.9... way higher than the 100.4 that the doctor always stated we needed to head to the hospital if it got above.  So off to the ER we went since it was after hours for the doctor's office.  

We took him to the Carthage ER (which is small) because it was the closest; that was a mistake.  They can't do much beyond triage and don't know ANYTHING about pediatrics!  The doctor was cold and rude.  Anyway, eventually he called the on call pediatrician for recommendations, and since his temp was soo high at such a young age, they wanted to start him on an IV as soon as possible and transfer him to University Medical Center in Lebanon (where he was born).  After three hours in Carthage, we finally got transferred.  Of course since he had the IV, we had to take an ambulance.  Luckily, I got to go with him... actually, they strapped me on the stretcher and let me hold Ruston, who slept the whole way.  

In Lebanon, Ruston's pediatrician happened to be the on-call one, so she was there waiting for us, and ready to do a spinal tap in order to rule out meningitis.  After getting to the hospital and getting settled in and whatnot, it was 330am... I think I got about 3 hours of sleep Monday night!!

Each day in the hospital created more boredom and frustration at times... especially with no answers.  All the tests came back negative for tons of things they tested for, including meningitis, so it was ruled he had a viral infection, which explained why his fever didn't go down with the antibiotics in the IV.  We would have been able to go home sooner except that Ruston's temp would spike at night, getting as high as 102.8.  

Eventually, Ruston's little immune system kicked the virus' butt... and before having ANY immunizations, since he gets those on the 30th!  8 need sticks, 4 nights, 3.5 days, and taking his temp too many times to count, we finally got to go home around noon on Friday... I guess Ruston wanted one more week with me before I went back to work. :)

Here are some pictures of the poor little man and his IV and hospital gown.  Sorry if the pictures aren't the greatest... I only had my phone to use.

As you can see, Ruston spent most of his time in my arms sleeping.  Poor guy didn't have enough energy to cry or even smile.

Below is a picture of Ruston on about day 3 in the hospital... when he was actually awake a bit.
The last two pictures were after he got his IV out.  Just chillin' on the bed looking VERY tired... you just can't get good rest in the hospital!!
I know this last picture is a bit far away, but I wanted the full effect of where we were.  I slept in this bed with Ruston all week, but Ruston was enjoying a cozy moment with his blanket.

Ugh... alright.  That was our hospital stay.  Ruston was the favorite (and youngest) in the ward and all the nurses enjoyed showing him off.  Hopefully that filled our hospital stay quota for a LONG time!!

Bear Picture

Ruston is 2 months old now... it's going by WAY too fast.  Every month, I'm taking pictures of him next to this bear... this was last month:

And these next pictures are the ones from this month, on the 25th.  He's definitely grown... and has a lot better facial expressions.

Ruston now enjoys "talking" to us and is great at smiling.  He has ALMOST giggled, but not yet... we're getting there.  He can hold his head up like a champ, and definitely knows who mommy and daddy are.  He eats every two hours, and keeps me up at night too. ;)  He has his 2 month check up and shots on Monday, so I'll be able to give more stats, but I know he's good at growing.  :)

Deer- Alive or Dead

We have been amidst deer hunting season since Ruston was born, and Jason has managed to kill 5 deer to date: 2 in one day with a bow, then a doe and a 6 point buck with a muzzleloader, and then a 5 point buck with a rifle.  We have also had several close sightings of deer close by the house.  Although these first two pictures are very clear (taken through the window of the house...), if you look closely, you see Tucker on the left and a deer on the right. 
The deer have no fear of Tucker, no matter how much he barks at them, which is what he was doing with this doe.  See her?  She has her head down on the right side of the picture.  Tucker kept trying to get closer and closer and eventually scared himself before the deer to scared.  Haha.
Below is the 6 point buck Jason killed.
Another picture of the 6 point... he was certain it was an 8 point because the antlers had such a wide spread, but no... only 6.
And here is the 5 point that Jason killed most recently.
Another picture of the 5 point.  Also, this deer is being hauled on the hitch haul Jason got for his Trailblazer.  Yes, that's right, we now have 2 Trailblazers and no pickup.  Jason traded his pickup in for a black 2003 Trailblazer because his transmission was VERY close to going out, and we didn't want to spend the money to replace it since the pickup had its share of other problems too.

Anyway, so you see, Jason has still been able to get into the woods and hunt since Ruston has been born.  He's doing a great job at supplying everyone with meat, since our freezer isn't that big anyway. :)

Playing Catch Up!

It's a good thing I have a 4 day weekend this week because today is my day to catch up... laundry, dishes, cleaning, taking down fall decorations and putting up Christmas decorations, and best of all... catching up on the blog!  So without further ado, here are some random pictures of the last few weeks.

Jason and Ruston have been hanging out a bit more lately, especially since I've gone back to work.

Ruston has also decided he really likes his bouncer, and will talk to himself while in it.


I realized I hadn't posted any pictures of Ruston and his bathing experiences.  He LOVES baths.  I'm sparing everyone of the naked bathtub pictures, but here are a couple of him in his little robe while we were waiting for the water to get warm.  At least he can use this robe for awhile since it seems to be a bit big. :)

Giveaway!

So I never do these, but I saw this one on Tiffany's page and I couldn't resist because it would be neat to win it for Ruston.  Go to ThePinkKnot if you want to see what I'm talking about, and also if you want to enter to win.  BUT... if you do win, I expect to see at least part of it for Ruston. ;)  

The Progression...

Ruston has finally decided that he likes sitting in his bouncer/vibrator that Grammie bought him when she was here.  He really seems to enjoy staring at Pooh, even if this picture doesn't say so. ;)  Today he was talking to Pooh while sitting in the chair.

I also had the camera in Ruston's face the other night for quite awhile while attempting to capture his smile... here's the progression:  1.  the tease...
2.  The Elvis Lip
3.  Almost a full smile (my camera's little delay didn't help!)
4.  The Lip-- I've also been trying to capture this face for the longest time because I think it's really cute. :)  
It's amazing how quickly he can go from look 3 to look 4 in an instant.  Either way, I love his expressions, even when they are accompanied by screaming and crying. 

Giggles

 Before I forget, this morning we caught Ruston giggling a lot.  Sadly, he wasn't giggling at us... but the really cute thing was that he was giggling in his sleep and smiling a lot too.  He sat in my arms giggling in his sleep for a good couple of minutes, and had me in tears from laughing so hard.  Now hopefully we can get some giggles while he's awake!

Happy Halloween!

Well, Halloween has come and gone.  Our original plans were to go trick or treating with Josh, Shannon, and the boys, but they got sick, so that fell through.  Jason ended up working last night, so I took Ruston to Cindy's house to show off his costume and see Brooklyn and Angel in their costumes.  Although Ruston's outfit was extremely cute, he didn't seem too fond of it!  Here is our little angry monkey... and yes, there is a banana too.  

Cindy got a couple of pictures of him not screaming, as well as pics of the girls since I forgot to bring my camera to her house.  I'll post those pictures once Cindy does. ;)  Either way, Ruston's first Halloween is in the books!  Maybe next year we'll really go trick or treating and get some candy. :)

Ruston's first...

Well, on Sunday morning I was all sorts of excited because not only did Ruston turn 1 month old, but he decided to smile at me for real that day too.  I tried and tried and tried to get a picture of it, but this was the best I could do.  I think Ruston was less than impressed lol.

Then today, I took Ruston to the doctor because he was screaming his head off last night while attempting to nurse.  Nursing is supposed to be soothing, and it definitely was NOT.  I was thinking acid reflux issues (which I still think has some play in it), but we also found out that Ruston has his first ear infection. :(  No wonder he was screaming!  Here's my poor little man in the car seat when we got back from the doctor... he slept in the carseat from the time we left the doctor's office, while waiting and getting the prescriptions at Walgreen's, and then the entire drive home for a total of close to 2 hours (that's a long time for him).
Since we got home, we've been cuddling and I've been trying to soothe Ruston as much as possible... poor kid.  He finally fell asleep again... so passed out that the pacifier was out. :)
I feel like we live at the doctor's office, since we went there Friday, and then were there again today.  Crazy thing is, he was 9.6 pounds on Friday, and today he was 10.2 pounds... growing growing growing!!!

One Month Old!

Well, Ruston turned 1 month old yesterday.  I wasn't able to post yesterday because we had company and he was being a pill... but today works!

I am stealing Cassie Duchow's idea of taking a picture of Ruston next to something every month as he grows (she uses a penguin).  For lack of thinking and planning ahead, I had to search for something around the house until I can get something that will work better.  SO... I found this bear.  It was sent to me with a bouquet of flowers from Jason when he was in Iraq.  Eventually, I will get something else, but the bear works for now.

Ruston was getting tired of mom trying to get the PERFECT picture... the bear didn't seem to mind though.
My other bright idea was to use Taco as a reference, although this proved to be pretty difficult because Taco didn't want to just sit next to Ruston.  Here are my attempts... 1. Taco looks huge...
2.  Taco still looks somewhat huge, but it is more representative of their size.  We'll see what I can come up with for next month!

(Make sure you read the other two posts I made today.)