Hot Springs

We went to Hot Springs on Sunday (6/13). This is how Nola traveled until about 45 minutes before we got there...Mom and Mr.L. had plans that night, so they took Caleb over to Pepapa and Anna Joyce's house and we met him there. It was so good to see our little buddy after being away from him for a whole week. Anna Joyce made us an amazing dinner (of course!) and we spent a couple of hours at their house before going on to Mom's house.

The best part about our week in Hot Springs was that we had no plans. It was fabulously relaxing. What's not to love about this?Rudy still wasn't feeling very good from his surgery, so he had to be pretty careful about what he ate and did. He ended up having to leave to come home on Thursday so that he could go see his doctor. He didn't have dry sockets, but had some complications because of the difficulty of the surgery. Apparently, his wisdom teeth were waaaay impacted.

Caleb took swimming lessons while we were in town, so we had to be there from 4-5 every day. I was pleasantly surprised on the first day to find one of my best friends from junior high there with her little boy. I enjoyed catching up with Jennifer and meeting her kids. (more on swimming lessons in a separate post)

In trying to keep with my plan to be healthier, I was determined to exercise while we were there. Mom & I went to the Y one day and I worked out on the elliptical machine. I also went to Zumba with Aunt Harolyn a couple of times. I was proud of myself for sticking to my plan. I also watched what I ate and only splurged for one meal like I had planned. Yay, me!

We took a couple of boat rides and Caleb fascinated and amazed us all by being able to tell us where we were on the lake. He knew when we were getting close to Pepapa's house and pointed out Jimmy and Kim's condo. How in the world does he do that?!? Here's Nola getting ready to go for a ride. What a bathing beauty!Nola wasn't so sure about the boat at first, but once she got settled, the hum of the motor put her right to sleep. That life jacket is just so uncomfortable! (You can see a picture here of Caleb in the same one at 6 weeks!)We even boated over to Aunt Harolyn's for a swim.

One evening, Caleb set up a "construction site" in the yard with his trucks and tractors. I snapped this picture of him that just defines what it means to be a 4 year old boy in the summer.

He got so dirty that we decided the only thing to do was to "hose him off." He thought that was really funny and loved getting sprayed down with the water hose. LaLa & Pops got a pretty good kick out of it too!

On Saturday night, we had the whole family over for a fish fry. Besides eating until we were all sick, we laughed and talked and everyone enjoyed getting to be together.

Caleb with his Auntie HWith Anna Joyce & Pepapa
With Jimmy & Kim

We pretty much spent the rest of the week just relaxing. Mom and I did a little shopping, Caleb followed his Pops around like a shadow, I took Caleb to Magic Springs (another post) and Rudy and Mr.L. played golf one day. Nola was a trooper being away from home. She slept a ton! I think she was sleeping just to keep from having to be out in the heat.

Thanks, LaLa & Pops for a GREAT week on the lake! We love you!!!

Caleb's Great Adventure

Caleb spent a whole week in Hot Springs with LaLa and Pops. They left our house on Monday (6/7). Mom sent me text messages with pictures all week:

Swimming in "Lake Hantelman" with Pops

Having a little ice cream treat on the back porch

"Taking a haircut"
Watching TV in the big bed with Pops

Washing the boat

Lake cruising...

Regardless of the situation, he does whatever Pops does. This last one is just too perfect. He had to put his shoes with Pops' shoes so they'd be ready to go the next morning...

Baby Food

After much urging from a friend of mine, I decided to try making baby food for Nola. I hate to cook. I hate to clean up the kitchen. I am not one that anyone would ever think would make baby food. But, I have to admit, this was ridiculously easy.

I bought some frozen veggies (peas, carrots, squash & green beans) and a couple of sweet potatoes. I microwaved each one (individually, not mixed together), added a little water, put it in the blender and pureed it to baby food consistency. That's honestly all there is to it. I put the purees into ice trays, put some press & seal on it and stuck it in the freezer. Each cube is 1 oz (I measured out of curiosity). Here's what I made on day one:
When it's time for Nola to eat, I pop out a couple of cubes, microwave to thaw and warm and voila - dinner.

I'm amazed at how easy it was to do. I figured there would be more to it. Plus, there are a few other benefits that won me over:

1. Cost. Packaged baby food is 50 cents to a dollar per container. I bought a whole bag of peas for less than a dollar and it makes at least 10 servings.
2. Preservatives. Have you ever read the ingredients on a container of baby food? Lots of stuff I can't pronounce. The ingredients on the back of the bag of peas? "Peas" I figure she'll eat enough preservatives and chemicals in her life...why add to it if it's not necessary?
3. Waste. It just feels better not to throw those containers away after every meal. Like I'm doing a little bit for Nola and the planet at the same time.

Now...I'm not planning to put Gerber out of business with this venture. We'll still buy a few containers here and there. We'll take packaged food when we are away from home, but when we're here, she can have what I make.

We all know I'm no great chef. I'd probably get fired from McDonald's for messing up hamburgers. But, what does Nola think? So far, so good. She wasn't crazy about the carrots (6/10/10)......but she really likes peas, sweet potatoes and green beans. She did not like the squash, though. I can't say that I blame her. I don't like it either.

Taxing My Memory

I can't believe I haven't posted a "real" update since Memorial Day. Since this blog serves as my calendar when I'm scrapbooking (a rare occurrence lately), I'm going to do my best to remember what's been going on...

The week beginning with Memorial Day was the longest short week of work ever. I really think it was a mind game, because if it hadn't been for the snow days, we would've been out for summer. Alas, those snow days were glorious, so we did the time to make them up. The week itself was pretty normal around here with work and daycare. I did spend my days at work doing a ton of computer work and conferences instead of seeing kids, which made the time go by much slower than usual.

Our weekend was pretty relaxed. Rudy had a band commitment on Saturday morning, but Saturday afternoon, we had absolutely no plans! It was wonderful. We went to Sam's and WalMart and stocked the pantry and cabinets. Saturday night, Rudy and Caleb camped out in the backyard. It was so awesome to watch them get it all set up, then bid me farewell to sleep outside. They were living in luxury, despite their outdoor locale. They set up Rudy's new tent (which wouldn't fit in our living room), complete with a radio to listen the Hogs baseball game, a fan, 2 blow up mattresses, a camping lamp and a whole bunch of books for Caleb. At one point, Rudy even had his laptop out there. They were really roughing it!

On Sunday, Mom and Mr. L. came up to our house. Nola's last day of daycare was Friday, so we needed someone to watch her while Rudy and I finished up work. Monday was Rudy's last day, so they kept her at our house. Caleb went to daycare, but Mom picked him up a little early. I had an after school end-of-the-year gathering at my principal's house. By the time I got home, Mom, Mr.L. and Caleb had left for Hot Springs. He got to spend the whole week with them and he was SO happy.

My last day of school was Tuesday and I had a retirement party to attend after school. On Wednesday, I had to put in 6 hours for "work day." Rudy brought Nola to school and he loaded my personal belongings into my car to move them to my new school. At the end of the day, I walked out the door and into summer!

Actually...I walked into a gym. Yes, a gym. I decided that I need to focus more on my health this summer and I am most successful when I attend exercise classes. Therefore, I joined Fuse Family Wellness and I'm going to classes to workout. I even worked out on Wednesday afternoon. The "burn & firm" class was so hard, but I finished all 45 minutes of it, which was a giant accomplishment. I spent the next 3 days hobbling around like I'd been beaten...but I returned to the gym on Friday for a few miles on a bike and some weights. Since then, I've been to a yoga class and I'm now finding my groove in a Zumba class, which I love!

On Thursday (6/10) morning, Nola and I took Rudy to Fayetteville to have his bottom wisdom teeth cut out. On the way home from Fayetteville, he texted our parents: "Surgery is over. Drugs are gooood. I feel groovy." He also sent them a picture of himself similar to this one, but he doesn't remember doing it. He kept talking over and over about his "bonnet." He wanted to know why he had to wear a bonnet, telling me his bonnet felt funny, asking if I liked his bonnet, etc, etc. He doesn't remember that either.

Once I got him home, started him on his medication and put him to bed, I had just enough time to eat some lunch and then take Nola to the ENT. Dr. Lee took a look at her medical history (all 4 months of it) and her family history (he also did Caleb and Rudy's tubes) and decided that Nola will be getting tubes in her ears on July 6th. HALLELUJAH AND AMEN! The day was quite a start to the summer.

Besides the short time I was gone to the gym, I stayed home all day on Friday to make sure that Rudy was following the orders to "take it easy." He has a very hard time doing that. I caught him emptying the trash cans and loading the dishwasher and begged him to please just lay down, but he can't handle being still. When I finally got him to take some pain medicine and go to sleep, I decided to try another new adventure: making baby food. (more on that in another post)

On Friday night, we went over to Grandma Voise's house because people were starting to gather there for her birthday party on Saturday. We visited with the family for a little while and then came home. Rudy took a box of mac & cheese so that he'd have something soft to eat. :)

Saturday was pretty laid back. I went to the gym and Rudy insisted on mowing the yard despite my protests. Saturday night, we went back over to Grandma's house for her 80th birthday party. Several of her friends from the neighborhood came, in addition to our family.

Whew - so that gets me to Sunday, when we went to Hot Springs. I think I'll save that for another post...

Summer Happiness

Have you ever seen anything so happy in all of your life??? This was last Saturday night while the boys were setting up their tent for their 2nd backyard campout. Nola was in the exersaucer and grinning ear-to-ear. She is such a happy baby girl!

I know there haven't been a whole lot of pictures of Caleb here lately. He has decided that he doesn't like to have his picture taken. But, I managed to get him to take one because he was in such a great mood about camping out. This picture is also for all of those people who suggested that we put him on a diet when he was an infant...(picture here). Look at those ribs showing!

And, finally, here's Sister Britches "hanging out" in the Jumparoo. She loves this crazy thing! It is huge and stays folded up behind our couch most of the time, but when we get it out, she loves to sit in it and bounce.

Nola's Eating Cereal

At Nola's 4 month checkup, Dr. Schaefer gave us the green light to start feeding her solid foods. His instructions were to start with rice cereal, then do vegetables, then introduce fruits. Nola cried when he said to do the veggies before the fruits. She is SO my girl. I've laughed lately because we couldn't wait to start feeding Caleb "real" food. With Nola, we've kind of dreaded it because we realize that it's so much more trouble than just mixing up a bottle.

When we got back from Jan & Bill's on Memorial Day, I decided it was as good a time as any to start the cereal routine. I put a BIG bib on her and mixed up the cereal with formula. I put her in the bouncy seat on the kitchen table and offered her a bite. Here's her response:Caleb insisted on helping, so he put his hand on top of her head and talked her through it. He's such a good big brother!
After a couple of bites, she decided she liked it after all. By the time we were finished, she was grunting between bites to get more. She watched that spoon like a hawk to make sure I wasn't taking it too far away.

She made quite a mess. This doesn't even do justice to what she did by the end of the feeding. It was all over her face, in her hair, on her legs and even in her ears.

The next night, Nola was much less impressed with the idea of spoon-feeding. She cried and screamed and pretty much just wanted a bottle. The next night was better. We're pretty sure she has the hang of it now and plan to introduce vegetables soon.

Memorial Day Weekend in Tulsa

After Nola's checkup on Friday, we left to spend the weekend in Tulsa with Jan and Bill. We had never been to their house since they moved there. They live in a subdivision in Owasso. By the time we got there Friday night, we weren't far from falling in the bed. Chris was also in town, and because he was sick he slept in one of the guest rooms. Caleb and Rudy slept in the other one and Nola and I slept in the living room. That worked out pretty well, because she woke up during the night to eat and I was able to get her a bottle from the kitchen without waking up everyone else. We learned pretty quickly that Nola doesn't respond too favorably to being out of her routine and out of her own bed. This is the first time she's woken up during the night in a long time - and she did it each night that we were there. I hope this isn't a bad sign for all of our summer trips!

I uploaded 95 pictures to Shutterfly from this trip. I tried to post some of them here, but I couldn't make it work, so I'm giving up. It's past my bedtime. :)

Saturday morning we met Wyatt, Nealy, Gabe and Mia at the zoo. We all had a good time, but it was HOT. I've decided that the Tulsa zoo may be the hottest place on the planet. (Or maybe I just tend to go on really hot days.) Caleb and Gabe had a blast at the zoo petting goats, riding camels, riding the train, riding the carousel, running and running and running. Nola slept pretty much the whole time. Mia really would have rather been in the air conditioning...like most of us. By the time we got back to the house, I was exhausted. After a night of interrupted sleep and several hours at the zoo, I took Nola's first yawn as a cue that it was naptime for both of us. We headed back to the guest room and we were both out like lights for a couple of hours. It was blissful. By the time we woke up, Nealy and her kids were at the house and the boys had been playing in the sprinkler for a while. We spent the rest of the evening watching them play, playing with the baby girls, eating a delicious dinner and visiting.

We played musical beds on Saturday night and it was quite a night. Chris took the couch and Rudy was going to sleep by himself because he was getting up really early to play golf with Bill. Just as we were about to go to bed, Caleb woke up screaming with leg pain. Of course, we had forgotten to bring any pain reliever, so Rudy went to Walgreen's at 11:30 to get some. We finally got Caleb calmed down and medicated, but he insisted on sleeping with Rudy. Not a big deal. I climbed in bed at 12:15 and slept hard until Nola woke up at 2:00. I fed her and then sleepily made my way to the bathroom. As I was using the restroom, I heard something beside me say, "I am Iron Man." I nearly jumped out of my skin. Caleb's Iron Man toy was laying on the bathroom counter and it started talking by itself! Again, it said, "I am Iron Man." I looked at it and said (out loud), "Good for you." I made my way back to the bedroom and just as I started to doze off, I heard it again. Then I heard a door open and close and didn't hear it anymore. I figured someone got up and took out the batteries or moved it somewhere where we couldn't hear it anymore. In all actuality, Rudy had taken it outside and thrown it in the trash. I'm sure he muttered a few things that one shouldn't really say to a child's toy, but I have no proof. :) I finally got back to sleep and woke up again at 8:00 when Caleb decided that I had gotten enough rest. After I put on my glasses, I realized that Caleb's chin was yellow. I asked him why and he told me that Uncle Chris had given him a popsicle. I decided it was time for me to get out of bed.

Caleb spent the morning being whiny and grumpy due to his late night. I spent the morning trying to adjust his attitude. Rudy spent the morning playing golf. Nola spent the morning being Nola - sleep, eat, play, sleep, eat... Jan took Caleb outside to help her water the plants and I sat down to read, but never cracked my book open. I ended up going back to bed and took a good long nap while Nola slept. I woke up just as Rudy and Bill were getting back from golfing. We ended up going to the Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow for a couple of hours. We saw some "interesting" things and some "interesting" people. Rudy got a target block to practice shooting his bow. Caleb got a stuffed animal and a Roly Poly Playground. I actually tried on a couple of dresses, but didn't really like them once I got them on. I picked up a camo dress for Nola, but decided it wasn't worth $20 for a joke, so I put it back down.

After our venture to BA, we headed back to the house in Owasso and spent the evening having dinner and visiting with some of Jan and Bill's friends. Caleb ate a grand total of 4 popsicles and by the time he was finished his hands, arms and legs looked like he had been tie-dyed. (Actually, 24 hours, several hand-washings and a bath later - he still does.) Apparently at one point, he had a popsicle in one hand and a worm in the other. I'll never understand boys as long as I live.

We fell back in the bed and got up this morning to pack up. We said our goodbyes and thanks for a great weekend to Jan, Bill and Chris and piled into the car. Instead of coming straight home, we met my dear friend Cindy, her sister Kendra and Cindy's daughter, Haven for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Haven entertained us all by dancing in the restaurant while we waited for our food. After lunch, we walked around a little in a nearby mall and then picked up a few things at Babies R Us before heading home. I can't wait to try out these cool new baby-feeding spoons that I found at BRU.

Nola @ 4 Months

Nola turned FOUR months old on May 27th! Here's what she's up to these days...

• At the doctor's office on 5/28 (her regular 4 month checkup), she weighed 15 lbs, 0.5 oz. (80th percentile). She was 24.33" long (54th percentile) and her head circumference was 42 cm (78th percentile).
• She now takes a 6 oz bottle every 3-3 1/2 hours (sometimes longer). Dr. Schaefer said we can start feeding her cereal and then after a couple of weeks we can introduce vegetables.
• She still wears size 2 diapers, but now, she wears 3-6 month clothes.
• At her 4 month checkup, Dr. Schaefer said she has another ear infection. I suspected as much because she has a cold. She's been sneezing and coughing for several days and I've been getting lots of use out of the old nasal aspirator. (Yuck.) He started her on yet another antibiotic (Suprax) and put in a referral to the ENT to get tubes put in her ears. He said that there's just no reason to delay the inevitable for her. Another doctor had suggested that we wait because most babies don't have ear problems during the summer. Well, it's summer and she already has an infection. Tube time!
• Also at the checkup, she got her scheduled immunizations: DTAP HIB IPV, Pneumonia & Rotavirus. They were out of the Prevnar shots, so we have to go back for that one in a week or so.
• Nola is officially a thumbsucker. We know she's going to sleep when she puts her thumb in her mouth and the other hand over one of her eyes. Then when she falls asleep, the hand that was over her eyes goes straight to the back of her head. She sleeps like this (one thumb in the mouth and one hand on the back of her head) all the time. She's not picky about which thumb it is, though. Either one suits her just fine.

• With the recurrent ear infections that we've been fighting, Nola's cooing and "talking" have really tapered. I'm very hopeful that it won't affect her speech development since we're pushing to get tubes in quickly. It bothers me that she's not talking to us like she was, but not because I think there's anything wrong with her - just because I liked it when she did it. She does it still occasionally, but not like she used to. She still smiles from head to toe, so I know she's interacting just the same.
• Rudy swears up and down that she laughed one day when he was tickling her cheeks, but I haven't heard it yet. She did roll over at daycare on Thursday (5/27) for the first time and I happened to still be there to see it. She's only done it once since then and that was with a lot of encouragement and a little boost in the right direction.
• School is almost out for summer. Nola will be home with us for the whole summer and I can't wait for all of the adventures that we'll have. Caleb is going to school part-time for the social interaction and continuity, but Nola will be home everyday. Should be a fun summer!

One Month:

Two Months:

Three Months:

Four Months:

We Could Have our Own Medical Drama

Turns out Caleb's fever may have had nothing to do with his spider (???) bite. He woke up Thursday morning with a rash all over his arms and legs. We actually noticed a couple of spots on his face Wednesday night, but didn't think much about them. His skin is so fair that every little scratch, bump or bite looks alarming if you let it. I assumed that the spots were a reaction to the antibiotic that he was taking or maybe to the bite itself and took him on to school. Rudy picked the kids up from school and called me to say that he thought he needed to take Caleb back to the doctor. He brought Nola to me at Hobby Lobby and then took Caleb to the convenient care clinic. The doctor at convenient care said that she couldn't be sure if the rash was from the bite or from the fever - possibly roseola like Nola had. She said to continue the antibiotic and wrote him a note saying he was safe to return to school. Since then, the rash has all but disappeared and Caleb seems to be back to his old self. Here's a picture of his spotty arms and face. This was on Saturday, but you can still see the remnants of the spots:

Spiderman

Sunday: Caleb and Rudy find a black widow spider with an egg sac under one of the downspouts in our front yard. The egg sac gets bleached, the spider gets contained and trashed.

Monday: Rudy picks Caleb up from school and sees that he is limping. Caleb says his mosquito bite hurts. Upon further inspection, there is no mosquito bite - but there is a bite. It's a little bigger than a silver dollar, warm to the touch and apparently it hurts like the dickens because Caleb screams when we touch it and he won't put any pressure on his leg. He cries in the bathtub when I wash it. I give him benadryl. He goes to sleep.

Tuesday Morning: Caleb wakes up still limping and saying his bite hurts. It's less red and more bruised looking. I take him to daycare and ask the teacher to please keep an eye on it and let me know if it gets worse.

Tuesday Afternoon: My phone rings at 2:30. Daycare director says Caleb has fever and his bite has gotten darker. I pick him up and they tell me that his temperature is 101.9. We go to the doctor. On the way there, I quiz Caleb again about the bite.
Me - When did it happen?
Caleb - On Saturday a months a while. (This is a typical answer to a "when" question.)
Me - Did you see a bug or a spider?
Caleb - I saw one with Daddy. We killed it.
Me - Did you see one at school yesterday?
Caleb - No.
Me - Did you get your bite in the morning or the afternoon?
Caleb - I don't know.
Me - Did you get your bite at recess?
Caleb - What's "recess" mean?
Me - the playground
Caleb - Oh. I don't know.
I give up on that line of questioning. Doctor checks Caleb over and sees no other source of infection. He says that the bite is definitely causing the fever, but he can't tell what kind of bite it is. He says it isn't a poisonous bite or Caleb would be sicker than he is. He prescribes an oral antibiotic, a topical antibiotic and Benadryl. Caleb and I leave the office and pick up the prescriptions. We come home to chill out because he still has fever. We talk to Mom and Mr.L. Caleb thinks its funny when Mr. L. calls him "Spiderman." I turn on the TV. The kids' show on PBS and is about spiders. Rudy comes home with Nola. Rudy calls Caleb "Spiderman." He smiles. Caleb turns down pizza for supper because he "doesn't want to eat." I make him eat some yogurt so he can take his medicine. He grudgingly takes his antibiotic because I tell him that if he doesn't drink it, he'll have to get the medicine with a shot. (Don't judge me.)

Tuesday night: Caleb has a fever of 103.1 but seems to feel fine. I can hardly stand to touch him because it makes me sweat. He lays on the floor and watches TV then plays on the computer for a little while. He goes to bed without a fight at 7:30.

Things I know:
1. I hate spiders and all things spider-related.
2. I hate having sick kids because it breaks my heart to know that they don't feel okay, it's expensive and it's stressful.
3. There are 9 days of school left.

Jitterbugs

We signed Caleb up for Jitterbugs this year. I didn't want to do it because I thought it wasn't necessary and it was just extra money. Then his teacher told me that when the other kids in his class leave to go to Jitterbugs, Caleb would get so sad because he wanted to go. Well, that got my heartstrings, so I signed him up. He's been going for a few months now and he comes home from daycare every Thursday talking about how much fun he had at Jitterbugs. This Saturday was the end of quarter recital. We were pretty apprehensive, considering how the Christmas plays have gone in the past, but went in talking it up and telling Caleb how excited we were to see him dance. Well...here's a picture of him from the first song - something about spacemen. Fortunately, there was another kid (front left) who also did absolutely nothing during this song.
This is the second song - a really cute one with Donald & Daisy Duck - and Caleb spent the whole song with the bib of his costume in his mouth. The other kid danced his heart out from this point forward. Caleb was the only one who stood there like he wanted to melt into the stage.

Song number 3: Elves in Neverland. No dancing. None at all.

Song 4: Old Time Rock & Roll. This is the song he has talked about nonstop for months. This was his chance to dance to a rock & roll song while wearing sunglasses. He never moved. He watched everyone else, but never took a step and never put on the glasses.

Here are the videos. (I had to split them into 2 separate parts to make them uploadable.) I was thinking if I kept recording, he might come out of his shell and at least move a little. Didn't happen. Also - I know these are small and the quality is poor, but that's how they have to be to get them on blogger. If you're just dying to see them bigger, let me know and I'll e-mail them to you.

I wasn't sure what I was feeling as I watched this. My initial thought was that I was embarrassed, but then I realized that wasn't it at all. (Though the sympathetic looks from the other parents were a little embarrassing.) The truth is that I was sad for Caleb. I felt awful that he stood up there on that stage and couldn't bring himself to do what he had so much fun doing in the practices. I just didn't know why he couldn't do it. Was it stagefright? Everyone who knows him knows that he puts on a show for everyone in our family and everyone who comes to our house. But he's not comfortable in unfamiliar places and with unfamiliar people. I wasn't embarrassed, I wanted to rescue him. But I didn't. I knew that he needed to finish what he started and he did. He stood on the stage for the entire performance. He didn't cry and he didn't run away. That's the accomplishment I'll take from it. Even though I wish he had been the cute kid dancing his heart out like I know he can - at least he finished it. Maybe next time he'll be more comfortable and he'll do it. Maybe not.

Here's the kicker of the story. Rudy put Caleb to bed last night and asked what the best part of his day was. Caleb's answer: "dancing on stage with my friends." WHAT?!?! Rudy asked him why he didn't dance. His answer: "because you were taking my picture." Again... WHAT?!?! He swears that if we hadn't been taking his picture, he would've danced. I highly doubt that, but if that's his story, we'll let him stick to it. Next time we'll be sneakier about taking his picture.

The Other Stuff We've Been Doing

You would think that with all of Nola's sickness and junk, we wouldn't have anything else going on. Well, of course that's not the way life works, is it?

Thursday night, we celebrated Westside's 45th anniversary at school. Rudy was worn out, so he kept the kids at home, but I had to stay at school to get ready for the big event. Every grade level had a different decade to represent and I joined up with the 80's group. Here is a picture of my friend, Jamie and me:

I went with the preppy look from the 80's: plaid shorts, pearls, popped collar, white keds, 2 different colored socks, blue eyeshadow, pink lipstick and BIG HAIR. I went to the beauty supply store to buy a ponytail wrap made of hair and bobbypinned it to my head to make those bangs. Let's just say that we were so totally rad, but the amount of hair product required to make my hair even bigger than usually nearly gagged me with a spoon. :)

Friday, everyone went to school and stayed there all day long. That was a first for us in over a week! After school, I brought the kids home and Rudy brought home 9 lbs of crawfish. We had the Pratchards over for dinner and combined the crawfish with some shrimp, potatoes and corn. It was a feast and it was wonderful!

Caleb found a toad in the yard Friday afternoon and tortured the poor thing for over 2 hours before we made him let it go. He was trying to torture it, he just wanted to love it and hold it and be best friends with it. That poor toad probably needed therapy when he got back to where he belonged.

The conversation turned to my outfit from Thursday night, so I brought out my bangs and the thought struck me that I needed to try them on Nola. This was the product of that thought and I think it's FUNNY. Very, very funny. She'll hate me for it someday, but come on - this is funny. (and you can see the roseola rash on her cheeks)

The Rest of the Story

Sorry to leave y'all hanging for so long after the soul-cleansing vent of a post on the 12th, but this is the first time I've been able to really gather my thoughts long enough to catch up. Picking up where I left off...

On Thursday (5/13), I took Nola to daycare and dropped her off. Mom left Hot Springs at the ridiculous hour of 6:30 AM to come up here and save the day. She picked up Nola at daycare at about 10:15 and took her home. They enjoyed 2 great days together at our house - away from other kids' germs and surrounded by LaLa's TLC.

This obviously made "Sister Britches" feel a little better. You can just tell it by how happy she looks...

Mom and I took Nola to see Dr. Schaefer on Thursday after school for her 3rd rocephin shot. He said that her ears were looking a lot better. He started her on azithromycin (an antibiotic) and said that when we come back on 5/28 for her 4 month checkup, he'll make the referral to the ENT for tubes. I left there feeling really good about the possibility that things were about to make a turn for the better!

Saturday morning, Mom and Caleb packed up her Jeep and headed down the mountain. Caleb was so excited to get to spend a few days with LaLa and Pops. They stopped off in Hot Springs very briefly, but then went on down to Fordyce to spend the night at the deer camp with Pops. Caleb was in Heaven. He got to ride his 4wheeler, play in the dirt, play in the rain and - his favorite part - ride in the back of the truck while Pops drove (pretty slowly) down some dirt roads. Mom said she had never seen him so incredibly happy. Mom has some pictures that I'll have to get. They brought him home on Tuesday afternoon and he was overflowing with stories about fishing, boating, 4-wheeling and hanging out with Pops. He was also glad to see his Mama, Daddy and Nola!

Rudy, Nola and I had a pretty low-key weekend. We stayed around the house, went to church and basically just tried to relax. Monday was a normal day around here, with the exception of Caleb being gone. (It was really quiet.) I worked all day, had staff meeting after work, Rudy worked out after work and I picked up Nola at daycare, planning to run some errands. She was sleeping when I got there, so I gathered up her belongings and then sat down to feed her. The whole time I was feeding her, the 2 teachers were telling me about how many kids were out sick with one sort of illness or another and that there was a rash in the other baby room that had sent home 6 of the 7 kids. (Do you see where this is going?) When I tried to burp her, I felt how blazingly hot her head felt against my cheek. I took her temperature and it was 102. Not knowing what else to do at 5:00 in the afternoon with the pediatrician's office closed, I took her straight to the ER. Rudy joined us there and we listened to the doctor tell us that there was really nothing they could do for her except tylenol, so they sent us home. Before we left, her fever went up to 102.5, but they sent us home anyway. He said that because her coloring was good and she was consolable that he wasn't too concerned. When we got home from ER, I called our pediatrician's exchange, because (all due respect to the ER doc), I'd rather get some info from a pediatrician. The pediatrician called back and said that it sounded like it was a viral fever and to just give her tylenol every 4 hours. He suggested that we bring her in on Tuesday.

Rudy stayed home with Nola on Tuesday and Wednesday. He took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday morning. Dr. Youngblood looked her over and said that he thought she had a "digestive virus" and it just had to run its course. He said if she wasn't better in 5 days, she needed to come back. On Tuesday, her fever went up and down from one hour to the next and she slept a lot. By Wednesday night, she seemed to be doing great. She hadn't had fever for 24 hours and we felt pretty good about taking her back to daycare...and getting Rudy back to work. I got up Wednesday morning and packed everyone and everything in the car. When we got to the daycare, I dropped Caleb off at his classroom and then took Nola down to hers. As I started to get her out of her seat, I saw that she had a rash. I felt so deflated. I took her in the room and showed the rash to the teacher. I asked her if that's what everyone else had. She nodded and smiled and said it was. I packed Nola back up and off we went. I took her to work with me, called Rudy and he came to get her. (Again...I have NO sick leave left.) He took her back to the pediatric office and saw Dr. Scherer who said she had roseola, which is a non-contagious rash that kids get AFTER they have a virus. (Caleb had it once too.) The doctor wrote a note for Nola to return to daycare, so Rudy dropped her off and made it back to work before lunch. Here's a picture that he sent me from the doctor's office. You can't really see the rash because the picture is from his phone, but doesn't it kind of look like she's asking why in the world she has to go to the doctor so much?!?

Nola was fine on Friday, but was very fussy on Saturday. It's Sunday now and the rash is almost all gone. She's had a good day today. I'm hoping she'll keep that up for a while. (Hoping, Praying, Pleading, Whatever it Takes!)

Just Too Much (Pardon Me While I Whine A Little)

I've officially reached max capacity. I cannot possibly take one more thing. You know that old saying about how God won't give you more than you can handle? Well, apparently, he trusts me a lot more than I trust myself. I'm done. Kaput. Overloaded.

If you've been reading this blog for even a week, you know that Nola has now had an ear infection for 3 weeks. She has had 2 rounds of oral antibiotics and 2 of 3 injections of antibiotic and is about to start another round of oral antibiotic tomorrow. She's 3 months old for crying out loud.

To top that off, I woke up on Tuesday morning running a low-grade fever. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, but when you have fibromyalgia, a low-grade fever can sometimes feel worse than a high fever. It aches like nothing I've ever experienced. So, I called in sick to work on Tuesday. Keep in mind that I just returned from maternity leave and, therefore, have no more sick days left at work. No work = no pay from this point forward. (actually that has been the case since about the 2nd day of my maternity leave since I didn't have any sick days built up going into it) I slept and slept and slept, feeling awful and avoiding being awake while feeling that way until after noon. When I finally managed to put my feet on the floor, I decided I needed to go see a doctor to keep from having to miss more than one day. I went to WellQuest, my favorite walk-in clinic, because it is usually cleaner, more peaceful and a little quicker than Mercy. The kind lady at the desk told me they were running a 4 hour wait - despite the fact that there were only 3 people in the waiting room. She went so far as to call Mercy for me and told me that they were on a 1 hour wait. I got in the car, stopped for a semi-healthy lunch to go and went to Mercy's convenient care. One hour of wait-time turned into an office visit that lasted 3 hours. The nurse practitioner was kind and told me that I have an ear infection (you're kidding, right?!? nope.) and tonsillitis (did she see on my chart that I'm 33?). I was swabbed for strep (Gag.) and had blood drawn for mono (Again...I'm 33!), but THANKFULLY, both tests came back negative. Off I went to get my prescription for amoxicillin (Really...I'm 33. I have ID and laugh lines to prove it.) The nurse practitioner smiled sympathetically as she told me to try to get some rest. Yeah...right.

Fortunately for me, I have Rudy. He realized how crummy I was feeling and swooped in with his SuperDad cape on. He played with Caleb, they went to WalMart to get his car's oil changed, they had dinner at McDonald's and then he bathed him and got him ready for bed. (Side note: I overheard a conversation about 2 cute girls in the Robins class at Caleb's school named Sophia and Sidney. Apparently, Caleb is smitten with them both and they play "family" at school, where Sophia and Jayden are the parents and Caleb and Sidney are the kids. I can't tell you how glad I am that Caleb is one of the kids in that scenario!)

I did the math. 37% of the ears in our house are currently infected. 50% of the ears in our house have tubes. Of the ears in our house that don't have tubes, a whopping 75% are infected. In the past month, we have spent $175 dollars on doctor visits and $100 on an ER visit in addition to the $40 we have spent on antibiotics. Now, math is not my strength, but even I can tell you those numbers are enough to push a sane woman over the edge.

I went back to work this morning. Wednesdays are my paperwork and meeting days. I don't do any therapy at all. Thank goodness, because I didn't have the strength or energy to keep up with the kiddos today. I barely had what it took to do paperwork and have 2 meetings. I left to get some soup for lunch and I think I took a nap in the car at a redlight. Either that, or I took an extra-long blink.

Rudy called at 2:15 to tell me that the daycare had called him to come pick up Nola. Apparently, she woke up from her nap screaming, then spit up while screaming, causing her to suck some of the spit up into her airway, causing her to choke and sputter and sound like she was gasping for air. Rudy bolted out of his band rehearsal (leaving a few other directors in charge) and headed for Rogers. I offered to go get her, but he was already on the way, so he picked her up. I finished my day and came home as soon as I could. I was home by 3:30 and walked in to find Rudy holding a smiling baby girl. She was still wheezing, but not crying. She fell asleep shortly after that and has been asleep now for 2 hours. (a relief, but a concern at the same time)

This afternoon it was just too much. I reached my saturation point. I called in back-up. I wanted my Mom. She's been offering to come up and help and today, I called her to take her up on it. She's going to come up tomorrow morning and get Nola from daycare. She'll keep her at home tomorrow and Friday and go with me to her doctor appointment (3rd shot) tomorrow afternoon. Hallelujah and thank you, Mom.

Everyone told me that having 2 kids is infinitely harder than having one. Until I went back to work, I thought that either they were all crazy or I was handling it better than expected. Then I went back to work. It is hard. The daily grind is grueling and add to that the fact that Nola and I are sick - it is just too much. I'm not trying to start the stay-at-home vs working mom debate, but I will say that I was not this worn out and not this overloaded when I was on maternity leave. Most days, I was able to take care of Nola, run errands, keep the house straightened up, stay on top of the laundry and then be home and involved with Caleb and Rudy when they got home. Now, the laundry usually waits until the weekends, the errands are relegated to one a day or Saturdays, the house gets picked up at 9:00 at night and I have very little energy to be shared in the evening hours. Add to all of that a whole lot of drama at work that I'm not even going to talk about here and I am counting down the days until summer break. (20!!!) I'm hoping that the break will recharge my batteries and I'll get the benefit of being home with my kids and husband for a couple of months (June 9th - August 12th). Hopefully, when the bell rings again in August, I'll be ready for another round in the ring - but for now: It's just too much. I wonder if it's like this when Caleb and his friends are playing family. Somehow I doubt it.

Back to the Doctor

I called the pediatrician's office this morning as soon as they opened. The only appointment I could get for Nola was at 1:40, so I took it. I took the afternoon off from work, which was actually okay with me because I have some sort of nasty sinus infection or something that is making me feel like crud. Add to that the fact that I stayed up way too late last night and then had to get up in the middle of the night to relocate to Caleb's bed due to a raging thunderstorm. The poor little guy was terrified. He had his hands over his ears and his eyes closed very tight. He asked me if the storm would hurt my flowers that I planted on Saturday. Once that passed, we both went to sleep and woke up too soon at 5:30.

I worked until 11:15 and then went to get Nola. We came home and she slept while I did some laundry and ate some lunch. After I fed her, we headed out the door to the doctor's office. We were fortunate to get to see our usual pediatrician, Dr. Schaefer. I gave him the whole story about this ongoing ear infection and he looked in Nola's ears. He said there's definitely a lot of fluid in there, but the infection seems to have gotten a little better based on what he was reading in her chart. I told him Nola's family history (Caleb's recurrent ear infections resulting in the first set of tubes at 10 months and Rudy's childhood ear infections and replacement of tubes at 33!). He thought for about a split-second and then laid out our game plan:
1. stop the omnicef immediately because it's not helping
2. another shot of rocephin today
3. a 3rd shot of rocephin on Wednesday
4. starting a new round of oral antibiotics on Wednesday
5. referral to the ENT to start what he called the "short path" to tubes (the ENT will let us know how young he is willing to put them in - basically it's a "when" not an "if" situation at this point)

So, here we go again. Hopefully we'll get her tubes sooner than later so that we can get past this mess. I'll keep you updated...

Mother's Day Weekend

Last week, Rudy and I were admittedly feeling the stress of being working parents with 2 young children. I called up Aunt Kathy and asked if she might be willing to babysit on Friday night. She happily agreed. I then made reservations at one of our favorite special occasion restaurants and we were ready for date night.

I came home from work on Friday and got ready to go out. Kathy listened patiently to our litany of directions and suggestions for Caleb and Nola and then Caleb announced that it was time for us to go. I guess he had heard enough. :) Rudy and I had a fabulous dinner at Crabby's (filet Oscar...mmmm) and we actually talked without interruption from anyone other than our waiter. It was remarkable. After dinner, we considered going to hear some music at JJ's, but decided to go to the Promenade instead. I needed to get some makeup and the weather was so nice, we really wanted to be outside. We got my makeup at Sephora and then perused the perfumes, laughing and checking out the scents and just enjoying being together. We went into a couple of other stores and I enjoyed the look of shock and amazement on Rudy's face when I showed him the price tag on a Coach bag that I was trying not to drool on (a mere $298!). We grabbed a table at PF Chang's for a few bites of dessert (literally - those mini desserts are perfectly sized) before heading for home to relieve Kathy of her duties. She had just gotten Nola down to bed when we walked in the door and she told us that the evening had gone great. Caleb had even asked to go to bed when he got tired. We walked back into reality after our 3 1/2 hour vacation feeling much more relaxed and much more connected than we did when we walked out the door. I'd say that was a successful evening out.

Saturday morning, Rudy woke me up to tell me that Nola was still sleeping and he and Caleb were going out for the morning. They went to IHOP for breakfast and then went for a hike at Tanyard Creek. I love that they enjoy their time together so much! Nola woke up shortly after I did and we spent the morning snuggling and watching a little TV. When the boys got home, Nola and I went to Home Depot to get some plants for the front flower bed. We came home and spent the next few hours planting caladiums and petunias in a pot by the front door and sunpatiens, prostrate rosemary, liriope, daisies and daylilies in the flower bed. I even dug up the holly bushes and replaced them with knockout roses. I've always hated those holly bushes! I noticed this morning that everything is already starting to bloom out, so I'm hoping the rain tonight will just help that along a little.

Saturday night, we had Rudy's favorite dinner: beans, cornbread and collard greens. The boys decided they would have an adventure and camp in the backyard, despite the fact that it was the coldest night since the last frost of the year. Caleb was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. Rudy said there would be times when he would just shake with excitement and all he could say was, "woo hoo hehehehehehe!" They got out there and read some books and even though Caleb's kid-sized tent was all set up, he decided to sleep in Daddy's big tent anyway. It took them a while to get settled in and they even tried to scare me by opening the back door while making ghost sounds. Eventually, though, they settled down enough to go to sleep. Surprisingly, Caleb made it all night out there. He loved it and can't wait to do it again.

This morning, I woke up to the sound of a happy little boy saying, "Mama, I have something for you behind my back!" Normally, this would be a scary thing to wake up to, but since it was Mother's Day, I was much more comfortable opening my eyes. Caleb, Nola and Rudy greeted me with hugs and gave me a bottle of Chanel No 5 perfume and a sweet card. Rudy got the idea for the perfume after our shopping trip on Friday night. I spent the whole day being lazy after realizing that I had slept too late to make it to church. I got up and fed Nola and then fell back asleep sitting in the chair with her in my arms. I eventually went back to bed and slept for a long time. There's just nothing like sleeping next to your sleeping baby on Mother's Day. Once I finally got up, I realized that the reason I had been sleeping so much is because I'm getting sick. I think it's just sinus pressure, but I've felt awful all day. After lazing around the house the rest of the day, I got dressed and we all went to Chili's for dinner, then to Andy's for dessert. Now, I have to get back on the Weight Watchers train tomorrow with a vengeance! When we got home, I called my mom and my grandmother to wish them a happy Mother's Day, packed the kids' daycare bags and put out Caleb's clothes for the week. I tidied up like I do every Sunday night and now it's (way past) time to head for bed. A new week starts in just a few hours and I have to be ready. The bliss of Mother's Day has come and gone. Now it's time to get back to reality...but what a great weekend to give respite to the daily grind.