Surgery

Living with Leo is always an adventure. He's been sick again. But we have had time for a little fun this past week. We saw Santa last Saturday and then went to a Christmas party for Raqs Awn. Aimee and Lowell always host an awesome Christmas party for the belly dancers. Here's a family photo. As you can see I live with a couple of clowns.

The last few weeks have been busy. We spent Thanksgiving in Iowa at my parents. We had a big family thanksgiving on Saturday with my Mom's side of the family. We got to meet Jacob my cousin Heidi's new son. It was great to see my Grandma and Aunts, Uncle and cousins. I could tell Leo wasn't feeling good the whole time we were at my parents. He didn't want to eat. If it wasn't for Grandma's homemade buns and butter I think Leo wouldn't have eaten anything. We got back to town on Sunday night and Leo started running a fever before bed. By 3 am it was pushing 102 and none of us were getting any sleep. Leo had a doctors appt already scheduled that day. Turns out he still had his ear infection that we have been fighting since Sept. The Doctor decided to give Leo antibiotic shots. Its a series of shots in both legs on Mon, Wed and Fri. We then had to see the specialist on Tuesday (yesterday). The doctor decided Leo needed new tubes put in his ears and as luck would have it he had a 7 am opening for today. We got up at 5 dug our way out of the 3 foot snow drifts and headed to the surgery. Our appt was for 7:15. At a little after 9 the doctor finally showed up. His service had called him to tell him he had a patient cancel and he assumed it was us. Turns out it was his 2:00. Leo was in good spirits before the surgery. Here's a picture of him in his hospital gown holding Monkey.

The surgery went well and only took about 15 min. Leo has been cranky and tired but is doing great. As we speak he is watching Curious George's Christmas video for the 10th time. Hugging his Monkey. We're hoping the new tubes help Leo feel a whole lot better for the rest of the Holidays.

Christmas is just around the corner!

We have been surrounded by gingerbread houses lately. I'm the gingerbread specialist for our ward at church. The last couple of Thursdays we have decorated houses at the church. I made 18 graham cracker houses for the primary kids to decorate. It took a few nights but it was so much fun to watch them decorate them. Ours where the first gingerbread houses at the trail center, I left them there when we set up last Saturday. This past Thursday we had the adults/families decorate houses. It wasn't a huge turn out but we had fun. I'm hoping there are a few families that decorated house of their own at home. Last night I decorated my house. I wish my camera let me up load pictures so I could show you guys how it turned out. We dropped it off at the trail center at 8:30 last night, the gingerbread display starts today. Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters
3215 State St
Omaha, NE 68112
Free admission. Open daily, 9 to 9. Visitor’s Center and Museum depicts the 1846-1860 migration of 90,000 pioneers to the Rocky Mountains. Displays include full sized log cabin, covered wagon, oxen and handcart. Optional guided tours. Nov 21st-Jan 1st Gingerbread Display.


When we were done dropping off the gingerbread houses, David, Leo and I went for a drive. Leo can finally see the Christmas lights from his car seat and likes to point at them and say, "See it"
Bayless Park in Council Bluffs had a ton of lights up already. Leo couldn't stay in his seat anymore he wanted to see the lights up close. So we stopped and took a walk through the park. He was so cute pointing at the lights and running around the squirrel statues. To bad I didn't have my camera. David and I talked about how great it is to be able to just stop and enjoy something like the park. We are trying to make more family memories instead of getting caught up in the rat race that life seems to be as of late. It also helps that Leo is a little older and we don't have to hibernate quite as much this winter. I'm so glad we were able to get him both the regular flu and the H1N1 vaccine. We are looking forward to the holidays and Traveling to Iowa for Turkey day.

Bellydance and Bagpipes a Baptism, Birthday Parties and Halloween

The last few weeks have been very busy for us. Tuesday night was Leo's Birthday, check out the great photos from that in his birthday post. Last Friday was Raqs Awns Little Hafla of Horror show at the Benson Pizza shop. We did a fundraiser for the Open Door Mission here in Omaha. We collected a ton of hats, mittens, and scarfs. We also were able to donate around $200 to them. I have to say this was the best show I've been apart of in the 6 years I've been dancing. I think we all had a blast. We had bellydancing chickens, a pirate song, Bollywood dancing skeletons and ended the night with Thiller. We really packed the Pizza shop, it might be time for us to find a bigger venue. If anyone knows of a place with a stage that serves food here in Omaha drop me a line. We like that people can have supper while we perform.

Saturday our niece Jet was Baptized. She turned eight in May and has been patiently waiting for her Dad to get back from training in Texas so she could be baptized. She had such a cute expression on her face as she told me that 6 months is a long time to wait Aunt Becky. And she just glowed with Happiness the whole day. After the Baptism we went over to Darin's house for a Birthday Party for Sky, and took along Leo's extra cake from his Birthday party. We spent the whole day there so that Leo could go trick or treating with his cousins. Leo had so much fun on his first Halloween out and about. When his pumpkin was half full, David and I thought Leo should be done and tried to take him home. Leo had very different plans. I was carrying him as went went past the first house with lights on after this decision, and all of a sudden I have a kicking wiggling mess on my hands. So I put Leo down and he walks right up to the house. We never did teach him to say trick or treat, but he asked for M an M at every stop. I just have to laugh, I swear David and I don't give him M&M's all the time and its a total coincidence that his favorite candy was on our wedding gift registry.
Thursday I took some time off of work, kind of a mental health day you might say. I spent the afternoon holding Leo close and just enjoying who he is growning into. I took him down to the Douglas county health clinic for the H1N1 vaccine. Leo was a real trooper. I let him walk back to the car. He loves being outside and on the go. Leo was amazed by all the leaves blowing around and loved to chase after one and then step on it. When he did he'd look up at me and just giggle with delight. My heart was just overwhelmed with loved for this happy happy boy. I find it so hard to believe how far he has come in the last two years. When we were sitting by his side praying in the NICU I never imagined the joy and happiness and love that I feel when spending time with him now. David and I are so blessed.
Last night was David's Bagpipe Band Mess. We dropped Leo off at our friends' house. (thank-you Lori and Kelly) and headed to the Upstream in west Omaha. Parking still sucked butwe didn't end up walking 6 blocks this year only three. The food was good and the entertainment a blast as always. It was great to hang out with other couples and enjoy an evening of being a couple again. And of course there is nothing like ending an evening with a dozen pipers and half a dozen drummers playing their hearts out.

I really wanted to put this at the bottom of Leo's birthday post but didn't want to upset everyone. But I've decide that this is my blog and I'm just going to do it. Happy Birthday Piper and Kevin! Mommy and Daddy Love and miss you very much.

Diaper Swap

Leo is sleeping in this morning so I thought I'd take the time to update my blog, I'm way behind on this post. I recently was part of a diaper swap hosted by Megan from http://www.newlywednewlybred.com/. This was a ton of fun, once we signed up Megan gave our info to a mommy and we got the information to a different mommy so it was a total surprise who was shopping for you. We were suppose to have our post up a couple of weeks ago but I ran into a small problem. You see Leo woke up from his nap as I was uploading pictures from our camera to the computer. I brought him out the living room where I was working, sat him down and went to get a sippy of milk for him. I'm on my way back when I hear a thud and Leo starts to scream. He tried to follow and tripped on all the cords coming from the camera. In the process we broke the cord to charge the laptop. And the camera so I can no longer just up load pictures to the laptop. I have to take them in and have them put on disk now. This has been on my to do list for a couple of weeks.

I finally had time so here are the pictures of the awesome swap gift from Melanie Judson her blog is at http://smjudson.blogspot.com/ I think this is the first time I have ever gotten mail from Canada. Melanie got me diaper liners, and a Bum genius diaper.This is the first diaper in our stash with Velcro. I love how easy the Velcro is, Leo hasn't started to take it off himself yet but I'm sure that will be just around the corner. He's starting with removing his socks and shoes. Leo can be a bit of a monkey, as you can tell from the pictures.

He didn't want to stay in one place so I could get a good one of the diaper on him. I put all of the photo shoot on here so you can see what a little ham we have at our house.

I had so much fun with this swap. Check out the awesome diaper cover I found for Cindy and her son Reid. http://justrmonsters.blogspot.com/2009/10/diaper-swap-fun.html I think Cindy loves the sock monkey print as much as I do. Can't wait to be apart of another diaper swap. I'm really not sure whats more fun shopping or receiving.

Happy Birthday Leo!

Leo's second birthday! We had so much fun as a family for Leo's Birthday. The festivities started with a weekend visit from Grandma and Papa. We went to Vala's Pumpkin patch on Saturday, Leo had a blast. He loved walking around story book land. He just giggled with delight for being out and having fun. We then took a quick nap and headed to church for trunk or treat. There was a spaghetti supper, followed by a puppet show. Leo loved the puppet show, especially the black light songs. Leo got his first taste of trick or treating after the show. He loved getting candy put in his pumpkin and taking it out of his pumpkin even more. Can't wait to see how he likes Halloween night. Sunday we had cake and ice cream with Grandma and Papa then opened presents from Grandma and Papa and my sibings. Leo was really into unwrapping presents this year so that was fun to watch. On Leo's birthday we decided to take him to one of his favorite resturants, Hollywood Diner. The Diner close to our house has juke boxes at each table. Leo loves to dance along to the great music. And he's a big fan of their french fries. And for deseret a giant clown sundae. Sorry the pictures loaded in the wrong order. But as you can see he loved the ice cream. I really think he was trying to kiss the clown when he realized it was yummy and ediable. We then went home and opened presents. We got Leo a fisher price CD player toy, and he loves it. We want to thank everyone who sent their love our way yesterday. We really appreciate it.

Leo is almost two!

Well I know that you all know that Leo is almost two. I'm just trying to get myself to believe it. Time goes by so fast. It seems hard to believe that he's walking and trying so hard to talk. His favorite words are Hi! with this super cute wave every time he enters a room and the never ending "what's that".
I had to take Leo to the Dr again on Friday, I could tell that his ear infection hadn't really went away with his last antibiotics. So now we have a new antibiotic. Leo's nurses all thought he was there for his two year check-up I laughed and said "Well our next visit was suppose to be for his well baby but Leo just missed you guys I guess." They got a kick out of that and told him it was okay to stay away. He's already in a lot better mood and sleeping better (midnight to 4 am). Can't wait until he's healthy and sleeps from 9:30 to 7 am.
Leo got to direct the music during Sunday School today and I guess he was awesome at it and had a blast. The use a rather large baton with ribbons on it. And Leo was real good at keeping time. Leo also discovered his piggy bank this weekend. I can't tell you how many times he's emptied it only to sit quietly and put them all back in. Just warning you if you come into the house with change Leo may hide it from you in his piggy bank. My purse is ten pounds lighter so I think I should thank him. Well he's starting to melt down so it must be time for me to put him to bed. I'm excited its before midnight for the first time in over a week.

Croup and a double ear infection

Two weeks have flown by yet again. We are busy as usual around here. David and Leo have had lots of guy time together. I had two extra relief society meeting last week. First on Tuesday night we learned about food storage. Decided I need to go, first the church is asking us to have at least 3 months of food storage then work requested we keep at least two weeks of food and water in our homes. Since I've never done food storage I decided to attend and see what I could learn. Then Saturday night was the general relief society meeting. We had supper at the stake center before watching the meeting there. It was a wonderful feeling to be in the same room as so many other women worshiping God. And I really got know a few new members in our ward. Sunday were all dressed and in the car on the way to church when we realized that Leo had a really bad cough and sounded like he was breathing hard. David dropped me off and took Leo home. David called in sick on Monday and took Leo to the doctor. We found out that he has croup, a double ear infection and a cold on top of all that. Tuesday David woke up with a 102 degree fever so he stayed with Leo again, and I got to go to work. Wed was the same thing. Today both David and Leo are feeling better but Leo's antibiotics have hit his digestive track hard. So David's back at work and I'm spending the day trying to contain the poo.
I can't believe that October already, I really need to give some serious thought to what we are going to do to celebrate Leo's second birthday. If you have any great ideas please share them, I'm kind of at a loss this year. Finding it hard to be in the mood to celebrate. Although I did find the perfect present for our little music lover. But you all have to wait until Leo unwraps it to find out what it is. Don't want anyone spoiling it for Leo.

Part three

I know three post in one day, I finally have a few moments to catch-up. Leo and I are home today. He seems to have caught a stomach bug. David and I had the unfortunate experience of waking up at 5 am to Leo throwing up all over both of us. I'm not sure how he manged it but he did. Leo's down for a nap now so I thought I'd take a few minutes and add our family pictures and tell you what we have been up to. Since I'm new to blogging I haven't quite figured out how to get pictures in the middle of my post. So you get three separate post. Leo is walking everywhere now, there is no stopping him. He's starting to talk a little more too. He throws out random words here or there to startle us I swear. He's pretty big on "what's that?" right now. Josh is at his post in Georgia, and it sounds like he is enjoying his new job. Seems like a fairly quiet town. We hope to be able to visit soon.
Grandma and Papa came down for Labor day weekend and we had a blast. We did some Christmas shopping, and visited Fort Atkinson state historical park. They were having living history days at the Fort, it was interesting to learn a little more of the history of the Fort. We also learned that Leo doesn't like old fashion rock candy, but is a huge fan of Turkish Delight just a couple of the treats that you can purchase at the store in the Fort. Labor day we travel to Neola Ia where David played bagpipes in the parade. The rest of us enjoyed the parade and taking turns helping Leo chase down candy. I loved watching how excited Leo was during the parade. I am lucky though so far he doesn't seem to have much of a sweet tooth, I'm going to use the broken suckers for stain glass windows in my Ginger bread house this year. I'm very excited to be the ward specialist this year. I have some great ideas to get everyone involved. I've been busy with work and belly dance too. We have another show coming up Oct 30 at the Pizza Shop in Benson. Little Hafla of Horror, come out and join us, practice up on your Triller dance and help us close the show. Well Leo just let out a cry so I'm going to close now and take care of him.

Family photos Part 2.

Family photos

While Josh was home, I decide we needed to get new family pictures taken. Leo is such a little peanut in our last photos, and he certainly wasn't happy to have the first set done. I love seeing how much Leo has grown, and how confident Josh has become since joining the Airforce. Enjoy the photos. I know I do. Photos by Emerald Eye Photography. http://www.emerald-eye-photography.com/

Adventures of the last few weeks.

I'm guessing a few of you have been wondering what is going on over here at the Schmelzers the last couple of weeks. We have been super busy. Leo was back at the Dr. again last Monday he just didn't seem to be getting over his ear infection. Turns out his ears are all cleared up, he caught a virus and his throat was bright red. We were very grateful that his ears had cleared up and he didn't need shots or new tubes put in. Last Thursday I felt so bad with a sore throat and headache that Leo and I stayed home and slept until 11:30. Its only the last couple of days that Leo has started to really feel better. No such luck for me. I'm home today and have a Dr. appt for this afternoon. Part of the reason we aren't getting better faster is that we aren't letting the sickness slow us down. Josh has been home the past two weeks and we've wanted to spend time with him. We all went to the zoo and had a good time. And we went to see the Disney christmas Carol train when it was here this past weekend. We also had some friends over for fondue. Saturday David had to skip pipes so that I could go to work for a few hours. Then Saturday night I had a bellydance show. It was so much fun. We are taking a small break and then right back at practices for the Oct 30 show. Little Hafla of Horrors.

Smartipants Diaper Winner!

Congratulations to #12 Life Happens During Naptime. I've sent an e-mail. If I don't hear back within 48 hrs I'll draw a new winner.

Smartipants Diaper Review and Giveaway Now closed!

At 20 months Leo was still not sleeping through the night. In fact we were getting up once or twice a night to change his diaper and then he needed a bottle to get back to sleep. What can I say other than David and I were tired. Always tired. I knew we had to change something. Leo has always been super sensitive about having a wet diaper. It was written into is Careplan in the NICU if he was setting off alarms and you couldn't figure out why, change his diaper. So we tried a number of different brands of disposables. This didn't help so I started talking with friends. I'm part of a Omaha Mom's group on line, and a few of the mom's use cloth diapers, and their little ones seem to sleep forever. I started asking lots of questions, believe me cloth diapers are not like the ones our parents used on us. No pins, no rubber pants over the top. I was really interested and then did a few online searches. I found smartipants diapers. https://www.smartipants.com/ Here's a quote from their web page. "Smartipants™ diapers feature our Leak-Guard Technology, keeping moisture contained, and your baby dry. Our diapers are made with “breathable” fibers and are free from any chemicals or irritants. Smartipants™ reusable diapers are designed to grow with your baby from newborn to toddler, babies 7lbs - 35lbs. PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA!" Their washing instructions are super easy and the inserts work their own way out in the wash, so you don't have to unstuff the diaper. That sounded great to me. So I talked to David, he said we could give it a shot. (I think he was just humoring me at the time, but he's totally onboard now.) Smartipants was having a sale on their three packs so we made the leap into cloth diapering.


I just have to say we love, love,love our cloth diapers. Smartipants are super easy to use. Since they are one size they have a set of snaps that you adjust to fit your baby, you only have to adjust these when the baby out grows the setting. Then you just put an insert into the pocket of the diaper and snap onto the baby. With Leo we have to double or even triple the inserts for overnight. He gets a big fluffy butt but that is okay because he will sleep any where from 8 to 12 hours wearing cloth diapers. Which means I get to sleep that long too.... Yeah!!!! The only negative I've found is that Smartipants only come with microfiber inserts. I've found hemp works better for Leo overnight. So I've just bought some hemp inserts from a local cloth diaper store and place them in the smartipants along with the microfleece insert.


Do you have a baby of your own that you would like to try to cloth diaper? Smartipants has offered one lucky blog reader a smartipants diaper in the color of their choice. All you have to do to enter is visit the Smartipants website http://www.smartipants.com/ and tell me what color you would choose. For an extra entry look around at their website and tell me one interesting thing you learned on the site. For a third entry follow my blog. For a fourth entry tweet about this giveaway. Good Luck ever one. I'll choose a winner from the entries on Sept 1.

Summer Fun

Hello Blog world

Well I've been thinking about creating a blog for a while now, but today when I updated Leo's carepage I couldn't add pictures anymore. So I decided today is the day to start a blog. Leo is too cute not to have his picture posted all the time for all of you to see him. And with a blog I figure I can update what is going on with all our family and not just Leo. Its a big day at our house. Leo started to walk today. Josh is home for a couple of weeks before reporting to duty in Georgia. David went back to work this week and Leo went back to daycare. And I'm super busy at work and super excited about my Bellydance work shop tomorrow. Rania is in town for the weekend, she's a bellydance superstar from California. She's friends with my dance troupe and is here to teach us some great bellydance moves.