A Little Bit of Randomness on a Rainy Day

I just cleared the pictures off my camera. I had no idea that I would find so many treasures! I had forgotten about most of these pictures. It's just been so busy around here with one illness after the other!! So here's our life in pictures of the past few weeks...

Lots of loving on each other...

Brian got an awesome gift from Grampy Ken and Auntie Whitney! A go cart. They even painted it to make it look like a Ferrari!!

Teaching Grandpa Frank how to play the IPad...

Sharing the Ipad...

The teachers at Mommy's school got a new table and this blue foam was on it to keep the edges safe. The foam made an awesome track for cars!

Some general cuteness...

"I Sit in Time Out"

Brian is sick. Again.

Last night we got home from dinner and he was on fire. Temp of 102.6. It was still in the 102 range at 2a.m. when he and Shawn woke me up. Brian was crying because he had fallen. When I asked him what was wrong he moaned, "I hurt my nooooooooooose!" Oh my.

He went the the potty and stripped from the waist down. Shawn was struggling to get him to put on a new sleep diaper. He wanted to get dressed. He kept saying, "I wake up." Um no, little man it's 2a.m. So I finally convinced him to wear the diaper with underwear over top of it. I tried to put his pajama pants back on him and he said no, ran to the closet and grabbed a pair of pants. Fine, I don't care what you sleep in as long as you sleep!

Of course Lilah was wide away during all of this ready to party!

He still didn't want to go back to bed, so he went over to his time out bench and cleared off all the books sitting on it. Then he had a seat. When we suggested he go back to bed, he said, "No, I sit in time out." Are you kidding me? He would rather sit in time out than sleep?! Crazy kid.

Temp was still 101 when he woke up this morning. It's down now. Heading back to the doctor at 2p.m. to make sure it's just a virus. So over this!

Winter Be GONE!

Okay, we haven't really had a winter as previously noted. No real snow to speak of. What we have had are short stints of really cold weather, followed by a few days here and there of unseasonably warm weather, tossed in with some cold, but not really that cold days and some rain and some sorry excuses for snow days.

Do you know what that creates?

Germs.

Germs that will NOT go away.

My babies are sick again. Brian has croup and Lilah is a snotty, crusty mess with ANOTHER double ear infection.

Yesterday Shawn, Nana and Teri took Brian to the after hours clinic at our doctor's office while Lilah and I went to the preschool open house. The doc (not our normal doc) said he had croup (which I knew from having heard his cough and breathing the previous night) and that his left ear was red. He sent them home with a prescription for an antibiotic and a prescription for a steroid.

We got about 1/4 of the steroid dose down him yesterday afternoon and a little bit more of the antibiotic. He literally spit the steroid at me-some of it landing in my eye! (I wonder if it will improve my vision??) Anyway, last night, I knew the meds were going to be a fight. Shawn was at work, so Mom was here for bedtime. We tried the antibiotic once. He spit it out. He gagged. Major resistance.

We tried a second time. I swear to you it was like a scene from the exorcist. It always is when Brian makes up his mind that he's going to puke. He literally expels every.single.thing. from his body. It was everywhere. We called Pappy for back up.

After the very, very disgusting clean up, Mom and I made the decision that I would take him back to the doctor today and beg for a shot. No way were we going through that again. And certainly not 18 more times for the 10 day, twice a day antibiotic regime to be completed.

Mom got Brian to bed while I got laundry going and Pappy entertained Lilah. Shawn got home. I started to work on getting Lilah to sleep. She gagged while nursing. And then it was her turn to puke. Oh how I love puke!

I took my second shower of the night and changed my pjs again. Lilah finally went down about 10:15.

This morning we were lucky enough to get appointments back to back! I asked everyone there what they charge for room and board. I feel like we have been there SO MUCH this winter!

As it turns out Brian's ear was fine. Dr. Price offered him a one time oral steroid for the croup. I had my doubts, but I figured it was worth it to try to avoid the shot. Shawn offered him a new Angry Birds game on the I Pad if he took it. So he did. He cried and spit afterwards, but it was already down his throat, thank goodness, so no puke and no shot for Brian!

Poor Lilah had to get a shot though. And she has a one time antibiotic to follow that later today. We had already a cancelled her ENT appointment because her ears were clear last week. Luckily though, we got her in for a week from today. Poor baby!

The Poop Jar

Well, after three successful days, I feel it is okay to go ahead and report that the poop jar seems to be doing the trick. We spent $24 at the Dollar Store over the weekend. Brian went on a shopping spree. He filled his basket with 24 little treasures. We brought them home and filled up the poop jar. Then it was time to wait.

Monday, opportunity presented itself. We were eating lunch and Brian got that glazed over look in his eyes. I said, "come on, you need to poop." I started up the stairs leading him by the hand. He stopped short and said, "NO. Downstairs." Okay, whatever...downstairs we went. He sat on the potty and pooped just like it's something he's been doing his whole life. Brat. So he got Mickey out of the poop jar.

Five minutes later he disappeared. I heard him enter the upstairs bathroom. I heard straining. Lots and lots of straining. I joined him in the bathroom and said, "Um, Brian what are you doing?" Through the groans and moans he managed to get out, "get sleeping Minnie." Um, we have a video titled "Sleeping Minnie." He really just wanted Minnie from the poop jar. I thought, oh great, the poop jar is going to give him hemorrhoids. Just what we need!

We had a little talk about how we can't make poop if there's no poop there. I found him in the bathroom two more times within the hour trying his darnedest to "get sleeping Minnie." No luck.

Just before we left the house, he decided to try again. He said, "Mommy help. Poop." Okay, I'll be a sideline coach, no problem, kiddo! Do you know that the little turd pushed out one little turd JUST ONE and said, "get sleeping Minnie!" Very triumphantly I might add. Brat.

So Tuesday was another great day. He got Donald and Goofy. Today = Same. He got a mini basketball and a mini baseball.

Yay for the poop jar! Yay for no more diapers! Yay for no more poopy underwear!

Next, the poop jar becomes the "tell me" jar. We're going to work on telling Mom and Dad when we have to potty. I see lots of Dollar Store prizes in Brian's future!

A Sad Excuse for Winter Weather

We haven't had any snow this winter. Not really. And it stinks because Brian is dying to make a Frosty the Snowman. If he sees one flake fall, he's in the bay window yelling for me. It's so sad.

I mean I am not a huge fan of winter period. But if it's gonna be cold, it might as well be pretty. And I feel we have been jipped this winter.

On Saturday, we woke up to maybe an inch of snow. Probably less. It started on Friday and both of the kids watched it fall from the bay window. Brian was so excited!
Of course this year I actually bought Brian a snow suit. And we bought him boots. Cars boots. He outright refused to try them on in the store. Brian does not do well with things that are new. Boots have always been an issue.

But Saturday morning he was more than excited to put the boots on. And the snowsuit. The clothing was probably overkill given the amount of snow outside, but it was really cold, so we went with it. (As a side note, he actually ran upstairs and attempted to dress himself for the cold. He put on his Cars jacket, Elmo ball cap and somehow managed to put a yellow zip up hoodie on his legs in lieu of pants. I couldn't get to the camera fast enough to capture it!)

Well we finally made it outside and it was really cold as I said before. Lilah's nose turned pink after about 5 minutes, so she stayed out only long enough to capture some pictures.
Quite possibly the saddest sled ride ever...


While Lilah and I watched from the back doors, Brian continued to enjoy the snow. Can you see the look on her face. She really adores that brother of hers!

Lilah, 7 Months

Well, Miss Lilah another month has come and gone! You are over 18 pounds now. There is no "well child visit" for 7 months, but since we have been at the doctor 4 different times for your poor little ears, I know this to be true.

You are jabbering up a storm, but not really saying anything that makes sense yet. You think blowing raspberries is hilarious. You are quite mobile, although you aren't quite crawling yet. You can roll anywhere you want to go, and you can turn a full circle on your belly to change directions. You are trying so hard to pull up, and do a great job of getting to your knees! You love it when we help you stand up! We even moved the coffee table in to help you work on your skills!

Everything goes in your mouth. Everything. And you reach for everything. You can keep your hands off of anything!!

You still think your brother is the bees knees and you'll do just about anything to get his attention. In fact, you will do just about anything to get any one's attention! You have recently developed a fake cough, which is just adorable!

You are riding in the grocery cart like a big girl now and sitting in a high chair in restaurants. Speaking of restaurants, you LOVE food. You have recently decided that you can eat 2 2nd food containers in a sitting. You might even eat more if I'd allow it. Piggy, piggy! I just bought some of the 2nd foods with meat in them for you today. Sorry, they are probably gross, but we might as well give them a try since you will pretty much eat anything!

You are getting better about the car, but still scream at least once a day for the entire car trip. Speaking of screaming, you sure can throw a fit when you aren't getting what you want! Or especially if someone takes something away from you. It's sad to admit, but it's kind of hilarious how mad you get!

Sleep has been terrible this month, but your poor little ears are keeping you up. You are still a pro nurser, although it's become less frequent because of all the food you are consuming!

You are so precious baby girl. We love you so much!

Here is your chair picture for this month! (Okay, a couple of chair pictures...)

That Rash

Here are the pictures of that penicillin rash I wrote about last week.
For reference, here is what Lilah look like with a double ear infection and an allergic reaction.

As means of comparison, this was Brian with a high fever and possible strep that same weekend.
Just sayin'.

Checking In

Just checking in to see if anyone is still out there? I have posted so infrequently, perhaps you have all gotten bored and disappeared.

Does life ever slow down? I keep thinking it will and then it doesn't.

Lilah is still battling it out with the double ear infection. She got a shot Monday, followed by one dose of a really strong oral antibiotic. The doc was hoping to "nuke it," as my Mom put it. The results? TBD. She did sleep better last night and has seemed generally happier the last two days. Here's hoping! We do have an appointment with Brian's ENT for her on March 1st just in case. After dealing with tubes twice with B, I almost wish we could just go that route now with Lilah. It takes all the questions out of it, which is nice. Sedation is scary though, so I am torn! This is the third round of antibiotics though, so something's gotta give! Oh, and Miss Lilah is allergic to penicillin. Which is no big surprise considering my mom, Brian and I are also allergic. The poor baby was covered head to toe in spots when the reaction finally showed up. I have pictures on my camera which I will load someday!

Brian is really enjoying school! He comes out with the biggest smile on his face. He seems to be talking and interacting more, although it tends to come in spurts, so some days I spend all day worrying about it and then I spend the next day wondering what I was so worried about! His OT, Kacia, is changing jobs, which I think is going to be so tough on him. He adores her and I am a fan too. She's done a great job of figuring him out. The core strength exercises she has had him doing have done great things for him and she thinks she has finally figured out his eating issues. She thinks that's related to strength-or lack of strength too. It seems that his jaw and lips are weak. So now we have exercises to work on this. It really makes sense and it may help with his speech too from what my aunt says. This totally makes sense as well as the letters that he has a harder time with are made from the parts of his mouth that are weak. Slowly piecing the puzzle that is Brian together, right?! But it really stinks to loose the therapist that has made it all possible. I hope his new one will be just a great!

A few weeks ago Brian agreed to try wax ear plugs so that he could attend two different (LOUD) events. Normally we steer clear of these, but now that's he old enough to be agreeable to things like ear plugs, we decided to give it a try. We went to a dinosaur exhibit one day and he attended the Family Dance (a huge fundraiser for my preschool) another day. He had a blast at both!Potty training is still a work in progress. Number 1 is pretty much good, but Number 2 is a different story. At Melissa's recommendation, we will be stocking a "poop jar" this weekend. And no. It is not a jar to keep poop in. Thankyouverymuch Shawn and Nana! It's for treats that one receives for successfully pooping in the potty. Geez!