Nine Months

Sorry for the delay in writing - it has been a crazy two weeks! I will first start off with your discovery that it was time to put away the bouncy seats (this is video Jim took one morning I left early for work). We also discovered the Teething Biscuits are loved by babies - but VERY messy! So now Brody only gets one on the nights before bath time!

He was so proud that he was so messy!

We started out the 4th of July week by going to visit Jim's family on the East Coast. His brother, Marty and family were nice enough to invite us to stay with them at their families beach house. When we arrived we were amazed by how close we were to the ocean - we only had to walk about a block to be on the beach! The water was very cold but Brody still enjoyed putting his feet in! I mistakenly asked to go to the Boardwalk - I'm not sure what I was thinking it would be like - but it ended up being my worst nightmare! For those of you who do not know I am afraid of pretty much anything with wings (ie. Seagulls!). It was a funny adventure for everyone else to witness me have a breakdown when the birds started diving in for our French Fries! Brody enjoyed the trip and even got to go for his first Arcade ride.

The Boardwalk did offer a good backdrop for pictures!

Brody had so much fun riding cars and swings!

Uncle Dave and Cousin Dylan

Cousins Amber and Jordyn

Uncle Brian - Aunt Kathy and Grandpa Raguckas

Grandma Raguckas - Uncle Marty and Aunt Gen

Cousin Nathan and Aunt Sue

My worst nightmare on the Boardwalk!

The family picture at the shore!

We left New Jersey on Thursday afternoon to head home and then left Friday morning to go camping in Harrison with my friend, Barb and her family. It was our first adventure in the new camper and we had a great time! The highlight of the trip was when my brother came to visit on Saturday and Jim, Neal and Kory (Barb's husband) managed to sink a 10 foot flat bottom boat in front of all of the people on the beach of Bud Lake! The only thing that would have made the event any better would have been being able to see it! Jim was the hero in bringing the capsized boat back in with him as he swam - luckily no one was hurt but fishing supplies were lost!

Our Camper

Brody enjoying the great outdoors!

Brody explaining to Jim how to keep a boat afloat!

Swinging with Uncle Neal while camping!

This week we have just been trying to recover from our week off and getting back into the swing of things. This morning was family haircut morning (only pictures of Brody's new cut included).

Brody looked like a little man getting his haircut! All his dark baby hair is gone now and he is now a blonde haired blue eyed cutie!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Thirty Five Weeks

Well it is official - the Raguckas' own a camper! We had been thinking about buying a popup camper for about a year but then we started looking and ended up going with a 29 foot trailer! It is really nice and we know that we are going to have a lot of good memories camping each year with Brody as he grows up. We found out quickly that most of the state parks in Michigan book early for the summer. I had been checking for the past few days for cancelled sites so that we could camp with my friend, Barb over the 4th of July weekend and we were lucky last night and one opened up! We are so excited - although Jim is a little nervous about backing the 29 foot trailer into a site that says the max is a 30 foot trailer - but I'm sure he will do fine (even if it takes a 20 point turn to get in!).



We attempted to take Brody's 8 month pictures this morning - I think we have a few keepers and one that shows his two bottom teeth! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

It's amazing how perfect Brody's posture is

I thought this picture captured how intrigued Brody is by EVERYTHING!

I thought I would include a picture of our house - all of my plants are starting to bloom and Jim is actually somewhat happy with the lawn (I don't know if the day he is satisfied with the lawn will ever come!)

Not the best picture of Brody - but you can see the two bottom teeth!

Thirty Three - Thirty Four Weeks

Happy Father's Day!!!

It seems like I am turning into the every other week blogger! I was doing so well but now that the weather is so nice it seems like we don't spend a lot of time sitting around at night. Brody has had another eventful two weeks. The day after I posted last time we ended up taking Brody into my work in hopes that there was a doctor around at 7pm on a Friday night because he was wheezing again! I may be a little more paranoid since he was hospitalized the last time he sounded like that - so I am sure Jim thinks I am crazy at times! Luckily one of the physicians was just finishing up for the night and he saw Brody - he ended up getting a breathing treatment and a steroid shot before we headed home. We followed up with our primary physician on Monday and it was decided that some further testing should be done to rule out Cystic Fibrosis since he has had so many respiratory infections. So we took Brody in for the Sweat Test last Thursday - it was pretty interesting to see what they did. They hooked two electrodes to his arm for about 6 minutes to stimulate his sweat glands and then we had to wait for 30 minutes while this little device on his arm collected his sweat. They then would test it to see the level of chloride in his sweat which would tell whether he had cystic fibrosis or not. Lucky for us I work at the doctor's office so we got the results by the end of the day on Thursday - It was NEGATIVE!!! So now we will just wait to see a pulmonologist to see if they think that Brody may have asthma. Until then we have everything we need to give him breathing treatments if he starts to wheeze again. He is sounding a lot better now - the only thing we are dealing with now is that he doesn't want to eat his formula anymore...so we have been struggling to get him to eat even 4 oz at a time.

Brody enjoys hanging upside down and being thrown in the air!

Jim had a nice 1st Father's Day yesterday. My parents and brother came to have a cookout and then Jim and I headed to the local park with Brody. It was an eventful trip! Lucky for us the park is only about 5 minutes from our house because by the time we got there we went to get Brody out of the car and he had poop everywhere! It was in his hands and all over his seat! We got back in the car and headed home! After we cleaned him up we headed back out and actually got to get out of the car. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera but I put Brody's feet in the lake for the first time and Jim took him down the slide. I think it was probaly more fun for Jim and I then it was for Brody!

He still loves to smile!

Brody knows exactly what to do when mom gets out the camera!

I hope that everyone had a great Father's Day weekend! I will try to post closer to a weekly basis!!!

Thirty One - Thirty Two Weeks

Brody and Uncle Neal with Daisy the Donkey

Sorry for the delay in posting. Memorial Day weekend seemed to go by so fast (with few pictures taken) so I didn't end up having a post last week. Brody is finally back to himself after his stomach bug. It took almost a week for him to get back to his smiley self. He has also had a growth spurt in the last week eating 6 tablespoonfuls of cereal and a vegetable each night. Since we started stuffing him full of food he has slept through the night two times!


Jim traveled to Indiana this week for work but was only gone for one night (the first night Brody slept through the night). Then on Friday we headed to my parents and Jim and Brody stayed there while I went on to Detroit to see my friend Barb. It was my first night away from Brody and I have to say that I did pretty well! It helped that my friend has two daughters (Skylar, 3 and Sydney, 5 weeks). Barb and I actually headed out with some of her neighbors on Friday night for a few drinks so it was nice to get out and catch up on each others lives and tell old stories from college. We both agreed that we hoped her daughters did not do some of the stupid things we did! Brody did very well with Grandpa and Grandma - he slept all night for them!



Last night was my Grandma's 95th birthday party so Brody got to meet a lot of family on my mom's side. Then this morning we went over to my brother's friend, Angel's house to show Brody her donkeys and horses. He sat on a few of them and petted them - it was pretty cute.


Here are some pictures from the last few weeks (one of the HUGE turtle that was in the road over memorial day weekend).


Hope everyone had a great last few weeks!

The huge turtle that was on it's way to our yard! He brought all the neighbors out of their houses last weekend. Jim and one of the other neighbors transported him back to the pond area across the street.

Brody's first donkey ride (and maybe only!)

Brody's first horse ride!

Brody and me with Daisy and Duke (they were more interested in him than he was in them)

Thirty Weeks

Last week was filled with more illness for Brody! The poor guy has had about every type of illness imaginable! I picked him up from daycare on Friday and his teacher said that he had thrown up on the director that day! We went to the Relay for Life in Rockford on Friday night and Brody seemed to be fine. It was a great event! Jim and I had never been to the Relay and it is definitely a popular event in Rockford - the whole track was filled with tents for different groups and so many people!

Brody continued to get worse over the weekend and was barely eating 2 ounces at a time and then by Monday he was showing signs of the stomach flu. His teacher at daycare thought that there may have been two other cases at the end of last week that they didn't know about but their illness only lasted two days. Yesterday Brody stayed home to help him recover and today he is finally eating again but is still very serious. It is not like him at all to not be smiling and laughing a lot!

We did manage to take his 7 month pictures on Sunday and he even smiled for them!

Seven Months

This week started out with my first Mother's Day and Brody turning seven months. Jim and Brody did a great job with my mother's day gifts - Brody made a card and got flowers for me and Jim bought me a digital photo album that I can carry in my purse. On Sunday we spent the day with my parents, brother, Grandma and Aunt, Uncle and two cousins. Brody was the hit of the weekend with all of his laughter and talking. At church they were giving out balloons on Sunday so Jim got one for Brody - he loved it! Below I posted a video of him playing with it at my parents.

Brody had a few illnesses this week but nothing too big. I think the two bottom teeth that are coming in have made him a lot less patient. Most nights he prefers to be sitting with one of us or being held. By the time it hits 7 o'clock it is a lost cause and he cries when things are not just the way he would like. He has been sleeping well at night - even going to bed around 7:30pm some nights - may be he is going through a growing spurt too.

This weekend we will all be participating in the Relay for Life. The office I work at is very involved with the local event and this is my first year participating. I really appreciate everyones support - Brody and I raised about $300!

Brody sleeping with his pacifier on one side and his sock on the other (his new favorite thing is to take his socks off and play with them when it is time to take a nap!)

Hope everyone is having a good week! I will be trying to take Brody's seven month pictures this weekend so I should have some to post next week.

Twenty Eight Weeks

Brody wearing his John Deere onsie and playing with his Corncob Teether (all courtesy of Uncle Neal!)

This week was a pretty calm week (unusual for us!). Brody and I both have come down with a cold but hopefully this one will be the last one of the season! Brody gave us our second night of sleeping through the night last Tuesday - but we made up for it last night by getting up every 1-2 hours just being fussy.

His tooth is still working it's way through - definitely a slow process! It has made him a little more irritable than normal and seems to get frustrated by the smallest things. On Thursday he really started to enjoy jumping. When I picked him up at daycare he was just bouncing on my hip - it was pretty funny. Last night we had some of the neighbors over and he was falling asleep in his jumparoo (picture below). He really has started to enjoy it! He continues to entertain us by rolling across the floor and has added squealing into his conversations.

In the last few days it has really started setting in how amazing it is to have a son. Driving home from work everyday with him in the back seat it really hits home how much I love this little guy. I don't think there is a much better feeling than looking in the rear view mirror and seeing him sleeping in his car seat just trusting me completely to keep him safe. It just hits you sometimes when you are watching him reach for toys and discover new things - he really is my son and he is so amazing!

I hope everyone had a great week!

Some video of Brody playing