Friday, December 11, 2009

Lost Photos: Summer 2009

 

 

 

 
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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Why My Kids Should Pay for a Really Nice Nursing Home

I very proudly went into our well-child check up, knowing that my kids have been healthy since August. Not even a minor case of the sniffles, during this flu-laden season. That was Wednesday morning.

Thursday afternoon Jonathan coughed. A deep, barky cough.

I knew Jonathan had croup, and the last time he did was in August and it landed us in the ER. That time, Jay was in the air on the way home from Seattle from a business trip. I packed the diaper bag and told Jay what to expect.

We rode out the night with two trips to the shower for a steam bath, but at 4:30 am, it got pretty bad. The problem with croup is that is constricts the upper airway causing difficulty breathing. This, of course, is terrifying to a two-and-a-half year old little boy, and the subsequent screaming made it that much harder for him to breath. We ended up on the front porch bundled in blankets, and the 30* weather was a welcomed relief and calmed his labored breathing.

We awoke Friday morning TIRED.

Friday afternoon, during nap time, Jonathan had another attack. This was very surprising, as croup flare-ups normally happen at night. I knew we were in for another bad night. As such, I planned our evening outing accordingly. We all bundled up with winter coats, mittens, hats and lap blankets and drove around with the windows down (to expose J to as much cold air as possible) while looking at Christmas lights. The kids had a fabulous time.

Bedtime was at 8:00, the first attack was at 9:00. Then 11:00, 12:00, 2:00, 3:30, and 5:00. During the 5am attack, after I got Jonathan calmed down, I decided to take him up to my room with me. On the way out of his room, I stepped in cat puke, slipped, and fell on my rear while holding a 33 pound toddler. I managed to not drop J, for which I was very glad, but had the cat been in my kicking vicinity, he would have received a boot down the stairs.

At 8am, I called the pediatricians office and got an appointment. We arrived and they gave Jonathan an adorable little mask to wear. He was so great with the physicians assistant, listening to her heart with his stethoscope, and smiling coyly at her. She could hear him coughing from the room next door and came in saying "I know what you are here for!"

She immediately recommended the steroid shot (which I was hoping to avoid) and oral steroids. She was very surprised that we managed him at home for so long, but I know the only reason we weren't at the ER was because of the cold weather. The shot was of course horrible, and he sobbed "Put my pants on me! Take me to the car! Drive me home!"

Apparently while J and I were at the doctor's, Jay got sick on his breakfast at home. So when we arrived, Jay was feeling pretty rough. Eventually we got it together enough to leave the house for a little bit to take in some more fresh, cold air. Nap time was just okay, with both kids waking up and needing to be put back to bed. I ran out to Target to pick up the oral meds, and when I got home, all hell broke lose. As soon as I came in the door, both kids were crying, clinging, distraught and miserable.

I brought home chocolate to bribe Jonathan to take his medicine, yet I still ended up wearing half of it. All he wanted was juice, so he drank 2 juice boxes rather than eating dinner. When he asked for a 3rd, I told him no, that he was going to get a sick stomach. We snuggled on the couch reading "When you give a moose a muffin," while Jay battled Faith at the dinner table. Suddenly, Jonathan launched a huge brown stream of wet vomit all over me. "Jay! Help! Now!" And then the second wave of foul smelling puke hit me right in the chest. (Side note, do not give your child chocolate milk, plus 12 oz's of juice, plus tylenol, steroids and 2 pieces of chocolate in an hour.)

Jay scooped Jonathan up and ran him to the tub while Faith stared slack jawed "Mommy, Jonathan threw up on you!" I hopped off the couch, and despite the shades being up on the front windows, stripped down to my skivies and ran up to the tub, vomit soaking through my underclothes.

Jonathan and I took a bath together while Jay tackled cleaning the couch and Faith walked around in amazement at what had just happened.

While Jay and faced a huge mess to clean up, Jonathan ran around happy as could be with a much calmer tummy. We finished the night by watching part of BABE, but bedtime couldn't have come soon enough for the adults of this household.

I don't think Jay and I have been this tired, grossed out or stressed by parenting duties since the puking sickness of 2008. However, we are looking forward to a much less difficult night. The steroid shot has already vastly improved Jonathan's breathing. I did think it was kinda funny when Jay said "I am ready to go back to work now."

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

2.5 Well Child Check-up

Today was Faith and Jonathan's well child visit to their pediatrician. Stats are as follows:

Faith
Weight: 30.6 pounds (71st percentile)
Height: 36 1/4 inches (59th percentile)
Head: 49 1/4 centimeters (80th percentile)

Jonathan
Weight: 33.6 pounds (85th percentile)
Heights: 37 1/4 inches (74th percentile)
Head: 50 1/2 centimeters (don't remember...80th or 90th?)

I find this stuff fascinating, because at birth they were 1 lbs and 1/2 inch apart (J being larger) and now they are 3 lbs and 1 1/4 inch apart. They seem to be growing at exactly the same speed and trajectory.

Thank God for a great check-up, no problems to report. Kids received their HIB booster (it had been out of stock for a long, long time here) and the H1N1 vaccine. Faith handled her shots like a real trooper, but Jonathan...oh Jonathan. He cried (sobbed, screamed, limped, clutched his leg and wailed) on and off for THREE HOURS. He was obviously in a lot of pain, and I was being as nice as I could, but man my nerves were shot and I was glad to put him down for a nap. He was so upset he wouldn't eat ice cream, use an ice pack or take his motrin, all of which he usually does with out any trouble.

Around hour 3.5 post shots, he and Faith started playing "shots" by jamming a medicine dispenser into each other's arms and hands. They enlisted me and told me to cry. While Jonathan administered the shot, Faith hugged me and kissed me. I think this was pretty good play therapy!

Monday, November 30, 2009

The Family Van

Oh how strangely sad I was to buy a minivan. It pained me to give up my much nicer sporty SUV for a plain-jane, practical mini-van. However, the decision to purchase our van has proven helpful on numerous occasions (vacation packing, anyone?) and again a few weeks ago. I erronously judged the weather based on the infrequently appearing sun, and took the kids to the park for a final romp in the leaves. I also packed and promised a picnic in the park. What I failed to take into account was the extreemly windy weather. It was so windy, that we simply could not stay outside and eat. Enter the minivan to the rescue! I started the engine, cranked up the heat and music, popped the hatch and spread out a picnic blanket. Voila! Instant indoor picnic!

What ways has your minivan served you? Are you a car/SUV family? Pro-van? Anti-van? Would love to hear your thoughts!
 

 

 

 
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

He vs. She: Watercolors

 

He started out interested....
 

Quickly decided to try lapping the water from the bowl...
 

Made a big mess...
 
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And moved on to his favorite pastime-playing with rocks.

 

Her face lit up...
 

Paintbrush in hand...
 

She painted almost a whole coloring book...
 

And cried when it was time to get down from the table (almost an hour later.)
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Thursday, November 12, 2009

George and George

My cousin Jessica was in Pittsburgh this week and I got to see her and her adorable baby, George. The first two pictures are of my 86 year old grandfather talking to his great-grandson and namesake.
 

 

 

 
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Never Too Late

 

 

 

It's never too late to post pictures of your kids halloween costumes, right?! Borrowed these from my MIL's camera, because I only took one picture of them that day! (Too busy actually being mom, rather than miss-wanna-be-photographer!)

Yep, they were both Nemo from Finding Nemo. It is one of the few movies we own/they watch, and when I saw these costumes, I decided to buck my normal trend of not dressing them alike, because I knew they would both love them. And they did. And I loved it when I would prompt them "Show so-and-so how a fish tail moves," and they would wiggle their tails off. Very fun day.
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