Casey is 3 months old

Time is flying! Casey is now 3 months old, and just the happiest baby. He smiles, laughs and coos. He even wakes up happy. Casey has been going to bed at 9, but he is starting to fall asleep even earlier, 8-8:30. The best part is....he is sleeping through the night! Just as I went back to work, he started sleeping til 5, then 6 and lately I am waking him at 6:30-7. Even after sleeping that long, Casey wakes up chattering and laughing! When he was still waking up at 3 to eat, he would smile at me when he woke up, which I figured was natures way of making sure Mom's don't eat their babies. He is much more of a morning person than me....he takes after Ryan.


Casey looks so much like Ryan, even strangers come up and comment how much he looks like Daddy, who could not be prouder! I sometimes think Ryan just might burst with pride and love. I love watching Ryan and Casey together, it is beyond cute! Ryan has Casey 2 or 3 days per week while I am at work, and they definitely have fun! Yesterday Ryan took Casey and both dogs for a hike up Badger Mtn all by himself! That's efficient! Casey likes the outdoors, we take him hiking, walking or out in the stroller. He has a big "Mom's cub" snowsuit he goes out in, and gets all bundled up. I love my jogging stroller, although I don't jog....just walk. Sometimes he sleeps, but he is always content if you are moving.


We wondered what Casey would be like, since he moved all the time in my belly....and he still does! I can't keep socks on that kid, he kicks his feet so much they come right off. And blankets? Those do not stay on him in the carseat, on the couch, in the swing....he never stops moving his arms and legs. Many people have commented on how busy he is. He loves to be sitting straight up so he can see everything, and for you to stand him up on your lap, he is so strong. He has a great grip, and likes to hold your finger, and loves to get a good fistful of hair.


Casey started at daycare, with my friend Rachel. Rachel has a baby 3 weeks younger than Casey, and an almost 3 year old. I am amazed at what she can do with 3 little boys, she takes them all shopping, to Mommy and Me classes and Dr. appointments. She just may be super-Mom, and I know he is in super good hands when Ryan and I are at work. Casey will give her big smiles when I drop him off. Work is going great, I am back in the swing of things and working with new families. I pump twice at work, luckily I have my own office, so this is no biggie. Just have to remember to shut the blinds! One whole wall of my office is a window that looks into a busy street...I haven't flashed anyone yet.

Tobie

I have been trying to write something about about Tobie, but I never know quite where to start. I can't find the right words to describe how much I loved him, and how much he meant to me. There just really aren't words that do Tobie justice.

I was looking for a puppy in the summer of 1996. I knew I wanted an 8 week old blue merle female aussie puppy with 2 blue eyes. I called a lot of breeders, but couldn't find what I wanted. I even called Tobie's breeder, Kim Buffum, of Country-Way aussies, and she told me about a 12 week old black tri boy she had, named Luther (at the time, I thought she was calling him Lucifer!!). I said no thanks, not what I am looking for! My Mom and I went to the Australian Shepherd Club of Washington's 4th of July show to look at puppies and meet breeders. We saw lots of puppies that day, but when I saw Luther/Tobie, I knew he was exactly the puppy I wanted! I watched him win Best of Breed Puppy, he had the day before as well. We went back the next day to pick him up, where he had won Best Opposite sex puppy. He was named Country-Ways It's In His Kiss, after the cher song and I decided to call him Tobie. It was love at first sight.

When Tobie was good, he was amazing, when he was naughty....he was super naughty!! Nicole nicknamed him "No-No-Bad-Dog". He was so incredibly smart, and that tended to get him in a lot of trouble. In college, Tobie let himself out of my bedroom one morning while I was at work, ransacked the house....ate all the garbage, stole the loaf of bread off the counter, and then went back in my room and shut the door behind him....all while Nicole slept and Rylie was crated. I came home thinking we had a raccoon on the loose!

Tobie was definitely a beautiful dog, he was my first "show dog". I showed Tobie in 4-H, where we were the overall grand champion in junior showmanship and red robin handling one year.
Tobie placed first in his class at nationals, over 40 other aussies. We also won best in match at an all breed conformation match. Tobie was an ASCA champion, and was on his way to being an AKC champion, when he had an emergency surgery and was then neutered. Tobie was so incredibly smart, but so very naughty in the obedience ring!! We did many classes together, but he just loved to embarass me in the ring, silly boy! In the long sit, I turned around to find him humping another dog once. Another time, he met another dog in the middle of the ring to play. On the recall, he saw Kim out of the corner of his eye and jumped up on the bench next to her, instead of coming to me!

What I loved about Tobie, was his love for life. Tobie loved everything and everyone. He was quick with his tongue, and was so accurate! Tobie could not control his licker!! Tobie was like my shadow, right up until his last day. He followed me everywhere I went. He layed in the bathroom while I showered, in the kitchen while I cooked, and on the couch while I watched tv. He never left my side...he was faithful and loyal, and so sweet with those freckles. Tobie loved to go camping, hiking, boating or just go for a ride. Ryan said he loved the way Tobie watched me when we met on our first date. Tobie really never took his eyes off me, how much more perfect could a dog be? When I first moved in with Ryan, Tobie was a little jealous of sharing his Mom. At night, he would go up and wake Ryan and act like he had to go potty. When Ryan went to let him out, Tobie ran back to bed and stole his spot. He did this repeatedly...pretty smart!! Eventually he learned to share, but spent most nights spooned against my legs. Tobie also unloaded our dishwasher once. Top and bottom shelf! We have pretty heavy plates, that he somehow got out. There was only one dish casualty....Tobie always kept me on my toes.

I could go on forever with stories about Tobie, but it could still never accurately tell how special he was, and always will be. Tobie saw me graduate high school, college, get married and have a baby. Almost 14 wonderful years. April 18th would have been Tobie's 14th birthday. Few people in this world are lucky enough to have such an amazing dog. I was lucky enough to have Tobie and Rylie. Josh and McKenzie have some pretty big shoes to fill.

I miss him so much.

Swagbucks

I have been using swagbucks now since June. It is a search engine, just like google, but it randomly awards you "swagbucks" that you can cash in for prizes. My favorite is a $5 amazon.com giftcard, for 45 swagbucks. I have now earned 9 of these! You can use them together, and I also have earned some amazon gift cards for a credit card I use (and pay off every month, I only use it to earn the gift cards), so I have gotten almost $150 at amazon for free! We bought a processor for our computer, and I am trying to decide what we are saving up for next.

Swagbucks also does codes to earn more bucks, and you can earn points off of friends you refer too. Everytime they earn a swagbuck, you earn one too (up to 100 per friend). It doesn't cost anything, you just use it like you would google. To try it out, click the swagbucks widget on my blog, or go to http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/McFrench and get signed up! Earn some amazon money! Or any of the other prizes!

2 month check up

I took Casey in for his 2 month check up today. He weighs 13.2 pounds and is 24 and 1/4 inches. That is 98% for weight, and 97% for height....at least my little moose is height weight proportionate! He has grown 1.5 inches and gained 2 pounds in a month. Doctor says he looks great, and is a big healthy growing boy. Sadly, he did have to get some vaccines today, the foirst was oral and he liked it!! The next 3 were shots in his chubby thighs and he did NOT like those. He settled down really quick, his cries were more "why on earth would you do that to me??" he loves his pacifier and he got lots of love afterwards. He has long since forgotten all about it.

We got a big smile from Casey the other day, and saw 2 dimples! We usually just see the one on the right....so it seems he has 2 dimples like his Mom. Last night, Casey slept from 9 till 5! That was 8 hours....I will take it! He has been at 5-6 hours, but lets hope 8 is his new habit.

I was going to add some pictures, but I can't figure out which SD card they are on, so next time!!

2 months!

Wow! Casey is already 2 months old...I can't believe how fast time has gone! More and more of his personality shows every day. We get more smiles and baby noises. Casey's sleep schedule changes weekly, this week seems to be an up till midnight week. He will sleep a 5 hour chunk at a time.

The dogs all love Casey! I caught Tobie with his head in the carseat, which was sitting on the ground. He was licking Casey's face, yuck! I ran over and pulled him away....Casey's face was all scrunched up and I thought he was going to bawl....but after a second he broke out in a grin and giggled...he liked it! Josh and McKenzie come in the house and immediately check on him, they like to check him out and are very gentle.

Ryan and I made the tough decision to sell the horses. With Casey, they just don't get ridden. They are going to a great home, and are going together! That was important to us, since they are very attached to each other. We are in the process of looking for a house closer into town, still with a big yard, but not the acreage the horses need.

We have been working the dogs in obedience, the dogs just crave it, they are such smart dogs, they continuously amaze me. McKenzie is so precise and sharp, and Josh is so steady. We can't wait to get to some shows this year, we have goals for titles this year. We want to finish their rally excellent titles and CD's, and get back to agility this spring.

I have 4 more weeks of maternity leave, it will be so weird to go back to work. I have been busy scrapbooking, and finished all the pages of my honeymoon album, now just have to finish the journaling. I am ready to move on to Casey pictures! I just had almost 500 pictures from last year printed....I gotta get busy!

I am so excited to fly to Seattle next week! My parents are flying me and Casey over on Wednesday and Ryan will join us for the weekend. Its going to be a great weekend:)

Well, I am headed to bed....sleep is so precious these days!

Shopping

I am especially proud of one of my latest shopping trips, so I thought I would share.

I went to Rite-Aid, a store I would never shop in, until I started playing around with coupons. Now I shop there all the time, since I don't pay much! Here is my latest, with the regular purchase price next to it. I don't buy things for full price....

I bought:
1 Huggies Pure and Natural diapers 11.99
1 Contac cold/flu tablets 6.99
1 Scrubbing bubbles Automatic cleaner kit 17.99
2 Scrubbing bubbles refills 4.79
2 boxes of tampons 3.99
1 2 pack of olay age defying bar soap 3.49
1 3 pack of zest soap 3.19

Before sales this would be roughly 52.00
Everything I bought was on sale, bringing the total down to roughly 46.00
Then I used almost 27.00 worth of coupons, and received 9 back in rebates, so my total was actually about $11. I always wanted to try the scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner, but not for the regular price!

Last week when I shopped at rite aid, I made $6 and got lots of stuff, including 2 of the new Olay regenerist facial cleanser and pore scrub...can't wait to try it out....for free, and a profit:)

This and that

I guess its time for an update! I still don't get 2 hands very often...I am typing one handed right now...which takes a long time!


Casey is doing great, still has a little stuffiness, but so do Ryan and I. This has been the longest lingering cold ever!! Casey gave me his first real smile Jan 2! I have seen lots of smiles in his sleep, but now am getting smiles while he is awake and looking at me! It's official...he has a big dimple in his right cheek!! Casey is also grabbing at the rings in his activity center and he is all over the place in there, he kicks his legs and turns himself sideways. He is also a fan of his swing again, it's been nice to be able to set him down to do some things, when he was really sick he didn't want to be put down for a minute! He is a great shopper, he likes his car seat and the car, and I am becoming a master at positioning the carseat in all the shopping carts. It's nice to get out of the house, because hanging out at home all the time is hard for me. Sometimes, when Ryan is at work, I take Casey to the store and just wander up and down the aisles...just to get out and get moving. Its way too cold to walk outside. At 5.5 weeks, Casey weighed 11.2 pounds and was 23 inches long. He is on the 97% for weight! He is a big guy!!


I had my 6 week postpartum check up, and was cleared to exercise! So I immediately went back to my pre/postnatal water aerobics class....where I was deemed a rockstar for having returned so quick after my appointment. The best part was finally getting to use the hot tub again! No hot-tubbing while preggo- can't hardboil babies. I love the water and this class. Motherhood and pregnancy are like a club you join, pregnancy is like your initiation to the club. I love chatting with all the ladies. Lots of us that have had our babies get together with the babies, which is lots of fun, and we go to the baby showers of the other girls. I have a feeling we will be attending a lot of 1st birthday parties next year!!


Casey is also now taking a bottle of breastmilk from Ryan, which means he can do some night feeding, so I can sleep longer!! He is a pro, sucked down the first one he got! (Sorry Kelly). Since I have to return to work the middle of Feb, this is very important for daycare.


We finally bought Casey's crib mattress...the first time he slept in his crib he slept 10-6:30!! Ryan had checked on him at 2, and I then checked at 5:30 to make sure he was breathing! He has not slept through again though. His routine is bed at 10, up at 3, then up somewhere between 6-8, then he takes a long morning nap. Well that has been this past weeks schedule. He is really good at getting himself to sleep, I put him in bed awake and he usually grunts a lot and falls asleep. Sometimes I have to go in and give him a pacifier to help.


I am really excited to go see my family the end of this month!! My parents are flying Casey and I over....yep, I am flying with an infant! Then Ryan will join us for his long weekend. The cousins will be reunited!!

Well, thats all I have for now...