Brandon went to the doctor yesterday as he's had a runny nose and cough for a while now. Turns out they think he has allergies. when he was a few months old he was tested for various allergies (when looking for the cause of the constant puking) and at the time he did not have any. Looks like that may have changed.

The one suggestion we were given made me laugh. Use a pillow to help keep his head propped up in bed at night. Now if I haven't made it clear in posts here before...Brandon tosses and turns during the night more than an unsecured dog in a hurricane hunter plane! (best visual reference I could come up with.) If I could rig up a stop motion camera over his bed at night, I think he would manage to cover 98% of the bed throughout the night.

So he's back on the Zyrtec for the allergies and we're starting the process of changing things around the house to see what help. Should be fun.

Not sure what he's dreaming about but Brandon just sat upright from sleeping, yelled out what sounded like "boom" and then promptly laid back down and went back to sleep. Times like this it would be really interesting to know what he's dreaming of. It's better than the screaming fits/night terrors he's had but still seems so odd.

Then again, I apparently look for gophers in the bed when I'm sleeping so who knows!

With the weekend we've had, I think I have enough material to write a country song...you know the kind that usually entail a broken car, injured dog, etc.

Brandon continued to throw up anything we gave him over the weekend and was not even able to keep down the 1oz. of water we kept trying. Ended up going back to the doctors this morning because he was dehydrated and still couldn't keep anything down. I have never seem him so lethargic every....he fell asleep on the table at the doctors which never happens...he didn't move or even make a sound when they took blood (this normally requires mom & dad to pin him down for needles....just like dad!) and then for the finally, he got not one but two suppositories and slept through it.

So far he's been able to keep down the little teaspoons of Gatorade we've been giving him which is good since they told us to take him to the hospital if he didn't keep anything down within 3 hours. I was not looking forward to having to go to the hospital and have him get hooked up to an IV....not to mention I don't know who would be worse...Brandon getting it done or mom having to watch.

So far he's been drifting in and out of sleep...hopefully he'll get better soon and everything will get back to normal. I guess the only questions left is who gets it next, mom or dad, and when?

Update: So he's apparently gone over the hump and is feeling much better now because Brandon is back to his normal self...full of energy and getting into everything. Already had 2 time outs and at this rate I think the only way he's going to sleep tonight is if we tranquelize him!

So yesterday Brandon got whatever little bug has been going around and threw up all over mom...and then a couple more times. After a trip to the doctor we were told no food for 24 hours...normally not a problem since Brandon never wants to eat anyway.

Of course he seems to know this and spent the rest of the day asking for a sandwich, crackers, goldfish, and any other food he will occasionally eat....just because he can't have it. On the good side he started to seem better and was keeping down liquids at night so we had hopes that today would be better.

He woke up about 6am and after trying to get him to go back to sleep we figured we'd just get him to lay down with us and let him have some more Gatorade. A couple minutes after he had a few sips we really woke up when he started throwing up in the middle of our bed.

It was like having flash-backs to the early months when he had the really bad reflux. So we're back to no food again so it looks like it's going to be another fun day...NOT.

Yes I've been slacking on updating the blog lately. It's mostly my fault but there's been a few contributing factors...

On the good side of things, we were able to squeeze in a great trip to Disney in between storms two weeks ago...actually we kinda followed Fay up to Orlando....guess we just wanted more rain. The trip to Disney was unique with Brandon as he appreciated things a little more and we got to do more than usual with him. Went to the water park with him for the first time and he had a blast as did mom & dad!

I think one of the trip highlights was visiting the Reedy Creek Improvement District Fire Station (yes, that's the real Disney fire department) and getting a tour of the truck as well as getting to go for a ride in a real fire truck with light on and all. Brandon & I got to sit up front and mom rode in the back cap...the jury is still out on who was more excited, Brandon or dad! And yes Marlo, Nor has a photo of Brandon with all the firemen in their uniforms for you!

For those setup with the photo sync you'll see a lot of new photos from our trip as well as the Disney PhotoPass pictures that just came in....there are some really good ones.

I know it's been a while since I posted anything...I've been a little busy doing installations/upgrades and have been traveling around. Nice to be back home again. One of the things that made me laugh was having been home for a week Nor asked me if I noticed the tape on the floor in the utility room. I probably did see it but just didn't really think anything of it.

Apparently while I was gone she found a bug and rather than step on it and clean it up figured it would be easier to take a piece of packing tape and just tape it to the floor and let deal with it when I got back. So this thing has been stuck to the floor for about 2 weeks before I found out.

I just have to say how happy I was...Brandon walked over to the DVD collection and pulled out the Dilbert collection I have and announced he wanted to watch it.

That just made my day!

(Warning, this post has nothing to do with Brandon, just something I found humorous after the fact.) So they other day I was inspired by a commercial...a really bad commercial for a beer product I think has no taste...but that's besides the point. For whatever reason I was on a cleaning spree (male PMS I guess) and after cleaning the AC intake a lot of fuzz came out the vent and was stuck to the ceiling. Well, a paper towel didn't work to clean it off since it just ripped the towel and was leaving more towel there than it was taking off in dust. So what to do...

Get a stool and pick up the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the ceiling of course! I will say it worked really well....I just want to get a lighter vacuum or one with a longer hose cause it's a pain holding up the upright part with one hand while using the hose in the other to actual get the stuff off.

A little while ago we had a palmetto bug in the house...nothing new there, we live in Florida! Brandon however kept saying he saw the buggy even after we killed it and got rid of it. So while the three of us were lying on the floor, Brandon announces that I have a buggy on me. Now just to be clear, there was nothing on me but mommy decided it would be funny to tell Brandon to go get his shoe and get the buggy.

So Brandon proceeded to run over and grab my sneaker (the biggest shoe available) and come after me trying to smack me with it to get the buggy!

Did mom help....nope. She sat there laughing and nearly peed her pants.

It's officially been one full week without the pacifier now. I am very happy to say that it has gone much better than expected. When putting him to bed at night, he only asked me once for his sucky but I just old him he was a big boy and didn't need it anymore, he put his head down and went to sleep no problems.

I'm not sure if it has to do with sleeping without the pacifier but the last two nights Brandon's been waking up throughout the night. Not really awake I guess but more like the half-asleep dream state like I do now and then. He'll call for us but not really know what he's doing. After a couple minutes he goes right back to sleep.

Since Brandon is the poster child for YoBaby drinkable yogurt, we go through a lot of it...currently about 8 bottles a day. Since it's not usually stocked as well as more common items we've had a rather odd setup for a while now...Gamma goes to the Pulix and gets all the cases they have, usually 10-12, so we have enough to last the week.

Apparently they've been trying to figure out who keeps cleaning out their supply and had someone waiting for her the other day. When she started getting the yogurt the manager came up and asked how many she was taking. After going through the whole explanation and having to confirm again that he goes through 2 cases, not 2 bottles, but 2 cases a day...they are now stocking a 15 cases in the back just for us so it will always be available for us and we won't clean them out.

Now I have to say I give credit to Publix for this...they are without a doubt the best supermarket around just because they are clean and well stocked...but the customer service was well beyond what I would have expected. We just need to remember to tell them when Brandon stops drinking the yogurt so they don't have a couple pallets rotting in the back waiting for us!

We had a couple nights this past week where Brandon went to sleep without grabbing his pacifier, aka "sucky". So last night we decided to try putting him to bed without putting one in the bed with him....slept all night no problems. Woke up around 7am to "Dadddyyyy.....I want my sucky!"

So it's a great start....going to try repeating this from now on and hopefully we can get him completely off the pacifiers in the next couple weeks. I'm trying to be realistic here in that he's going to have some nights where he just has to have the pacifier....so while I'm going to try to have it gone within the week, I'm not honestly expecting that to happen....I just don't have that kind of luck on my side this week.

This has been a rather full weekend for us. Other than moving everything out of our bedroom, including the bed, to paint and put a new floor in (ripped out the original carpeting finally) Brandon has been getting better at going pee in the potty. He's not perfect by any means and we still have to clean up after but he's improved a lot in the past couple days. Hopefully it will keep up. I have to give credit to Nor for it though as she's been really good at it where I feel like a deer in headlights and have no clue what to do.

I wish there was a way to put into words what we did last night. To set the stage, we just have our mattress lying on the floor in the bedroom so we can put in the new floor. Brandon thinks this is the coolest thing since he can get up on the bed easily and thoroughly enjoys jumping on the bed and falling down on it, almost like a trampoline. So while he was playing he managed to get in a few shots on mom & dad, almost like a wrestling match with the guys jumping up to land an elbow or knee on the opponents face. We kept trying to figure out how we would explain to the ER what happened....who do they call when you've been attacked by a 2 year old?

The one bad thing this weekend was Brandon skipping his nap again yesterday while at Grandma & Grandpa's....I think they've lost their noon-time babysitting privileges for a while until they promise to make sure he naps. He got so tired he eventually fell asleep on the floor (which he's never done.) He looked like he just passed out on the floor in the middle of playing...and he didn't want to get up. Of course since it was 6pm we weren't about to let him nap long so he was a very grumpy bear.

After a good night sleep last night and one successful pee on the potty this morning he's doing good. Hopefully it will stay this way the rest of the day.

This past week we Nor decided to take potty training to the next level and go one step further than they do at school. At night and weekends Brandon is no longer wearing a diaper (except when he sleeps or goes in the car.) He just wears his (really small) big-boy underwear.

Now the advantage of this over letting him run around naked is that when he pees without telling us it doesn't go everywhere and he's not encouraged to actually aim and pee on something like the dog or cat! The downside of course is that he usually tells us he has to pee just as he finishes or starts peeing so there's a nice little puddle beneath him.

Hopefully we'll make it through this stage quickly as I'm already getting tired of running around with the paper towels and clorox wipes every 30 minutes (yes, he seems to pee about every half-hour.) We're bringing him in to sit on the potty regularly even if he says he doesn't have to go trying to encourage him to go on the potty and he knows he gets a prize when he goes on the potty.

I'm going to state or the record though that if we ever see a yellow stripe on the dog or cat...I'm not going to be the one cleaning them up!

I guess mom just enjoys cleaning up as she decided to skip the diaper this morning and just let Brandon wear underwear. While I understand the goal of trying to get him to understand when he has to go potty and to go to the bathroom....I see it as a potential major clean up when he decides to pee somewhere in the house. Only time will tell what happens I guess.

Earlier this week Brandon woke up with his usual scream for Mommmmmmmeeeeeeeyyyy! He tends to alternate who he wants every week or so...the good thing about him yelling for mom in the morning is that I don't have to go running in...the down side is it means I was the one to get called in during the night.

But back to the subject....after mom went in and I followed, we started the usual morning routine and asked if he wanted to get out of bed. He decidedly said "No. I want girlies." We both looked at each other and I think said at the same time...did he just say what I think he said. Yep, he said it again...he wanted girly in bed.

Well, guess it's time for the neighbors to start putting the bars on their daughters windows. I'm thinking the implanted GPS chip may not be such a bad idea...at least lets get it in before he gets any bigger and realizes what's happening.

Didn't get a chance to post this the other day but Brandon actually went poop in his potty this week. About 30 seconds later I decided I want to throw out his little plastic potty he has. Why you ask, when you walk into a bathroom and start to heave due to the smell of toddler poop siting in a plastic bowl you'll understand. I nearly puked while emptying the bowl and cleaning it out due to the smell. I like the little seat that comes off and attaches to the regular toilet so I think we're going to stick with that so he can use the potty and have it go right into the bowl to be flushed. I just can't handle the smell.

Oh, and the other part was that from sitting on the seat down so low, when he went pee, it doesn't go in the bowl, it shoot forward and sprays the floor.

So we had lots of fun trying to act all happy and cheering him on for going potty all while trying to resist the urge to vomit while cleaning up the pee & poop. Oh yea, looking forward to the next time he goes potty!

Just a quick update on Brandon's physical today. He's doing fine, current weight is 30.7lbs. and height is 34 3/4". This was the first time he did the height by standing up against the wall instead of marking the paper he was lying on to see how tall he was...stood on the scale too instead of the baby scale they lay in.

I have to say I was amazed when he got his latest shot...cried for about a minute and that was it. He handled needles better than I do that's for sure.

Brandon had nightmares last night about bugs in his bed...realized this morning that it was mommy's fault. He spilt his yogurt in the bed yesterday and mom told him he would get bugs in his bed if he did that!

Well when he woke up screaming, shaking, and terrorized that there were bugs in his bed this morning, dad got to have fun trying to calm him down for 15 minutes. He finally went back to sleep and just had the occasional scream without waking up the rest of the morning.

Unfortunately when he wakes up he's off to the doctors for his next set of shots....it's going to be a bad day to be Brandon I think.

Brandon went poop in the potty for the first time this morning. Looking back it must have been a funny sight to see Nor and I cheering and congratulating him for going poopy in the potty. He was all happy to watch the poop circle down the drain as he flushed it away. Not sure if he'll keep it up and want to keep doing it but it would be nice to not have the nasty diapers anymore. I'm sure the transition though will have many an accident we'll have to deal with along the way.