Ear infections and pink eye

Sorry for going MIA. My last post was about Ryan getting sick last Friday. He ran a fever late in to Friday night, but Saturday when he woke up, he was feeling a lot better. Still coughing, but not acting sick.

Sunday morning, Brooke started sneezing and running a lowgrade fever. By Sunday evening, her fever wasn't staying below 100 and that was with tylenol and ibuprofen in her system and she was downright miserable : (. Sunday night was ROUGH. She was in bed with me, but woke up every 15-30 minutes (and 30 minutes is being generous). By the wee morning hours, I could tell I was getting sick, too. I also noticed that Brooke's left eye was seeping a ton and was all red. I suspected pink eye.

The kids both already had doctor appointments scheduled for Monday afternoon. Ryan was supposed to be getting his pre-op. physical for his sedated eye exam that was supposed to be this coming Monday (but I called Tuesday and rescheduled it for the 11th) and Brooke was supposed to have her 1 year check up. Instead they both went in for sick visits. They both have ear infections and I was right about Brooke having pink eye. I also had the doctor check Ryan's hearing because it seems he is having a lot of trouble hearing lately, I'm guessing (hoping) from being sick. Ryan was able to hear all the beeps. If he hasn't improved in a week or so, I'll be making an appointment with an ENT, just to be safe.

Here is what Brooke looked like Monday.



She ran a fever all day Monday yet, but it stayed lower than it was Sunday evening. She slept pretty well Monday night (MUCH better than Sunday night). By Tuesday, she was feeling a ton better : ).





In the 2nd picture, Brooke is standing at the TV and Yo Gabba Gabba is on. Personally, I'm not a big fan of that show, but she LOVES it and it's the only show that she gets excited about. It's really cute. And I think I have to give thanks to that show for her learning how to dance ; ). They dance all the time on there and she loves it. She also waves now...started that on Monday. We've been working on that for awhile : ).

And so he's not left out, here's a pic of my little man : ).

Unheard of...

I know Ryan is really sick when he's sleeping at 6:00 in the evening. It is unheard of for him to sleep in the middle of the day, even when he IS sick, unless it's in the car. As the day went on today, he was coughing more and more. Around 4:00 I noticed he felt warm and checked his temp. Under his arm it was 100.1. He ate a little bit of soup for supper...but I had to feed it to him. He could hardly keep his eyes open. After he ate, he threw up a little bit of mucous (luckily it was on the linoleum in the kitchen, lol) when he was coughing. Yesterday, Grandma (my MIL) was over and told him that she would take him outside today. He was determined he was going outside, sick and all. It's beautiful out today, about 80 degrees. If he didn't have a fever, he might've went out. But I was not sending him out with a fever. Not to mention the fact that he could not stay awake. I'm not sure how long I should let him sleep! He was up a tad earlier than usual this morning, but nothing major. I just don't want him not being ready to go to bed his usual time (8:00) tonight. But with how miserable he is, I'm thinking he could probably sleep straight through from now until tomorrow morning : (. I hope he feels better tomorrow and is able to go out and enjoy the weather! It's supposed to be beautiful all weekend. I'm also hoping we can make it to church on Sunday. My poor baby :(.

Unbelievable

Ryan is sick. Again. Coughing, sneezing, mucous....fun stuff. Here's hoping Brooke avoids it again. Please.

Yesterday evening, in pictures

Yesterday was a beautiful day (today it is supposed to rain). Last night after supper, the kids and I went for a walk with Grandma (my mother-in-law). It was the perfect walking weather...not too hot, not too cool. I promised Ryan we would stop at the tiny playground a little ways down the street in order to entice him to come along because he did not want to go for a walk. He just wanted to play in the yard. At the playground, he gave me a heart attack by climbing up this ladder (with Grandma's help).





But he made it to the top in one piece!



He came down the big slide too fast for me to snap a picture, but I did get him on the smaller slide. Both slides are ridiculously steep and this small one is just dumb because there is NO way to smoothly slide down it because of it's shape.



Then it was time to let Brooke try the swings for the first time! I figured she would like them because she loves any kind of motion and I was right : ). Actually she loved them and was giggling at first! It was so cute : ).







Ryan has never liked the swing (except his regular baby swing inside) and still does not like them. We think a lot of it may have to do with his vision.

While I had Brooke in the swing, Ryan made his way up to the basketball court with Grandma where two guys were playing basketball. They were nice enough to let him play a little with them and one of them even held him up so he could make a few baskets. He loved it. He's so in to sports.

Then it was time to head home. I let Ryan play in the yard a little before we went in to get ready for bed. Him and Grandma were taking turns pitching to each other and batting.







While they played ball, Brooke had her first experience in the grass for this year. She didn't mind sitting in it, although I think if she'd had shorts on, it might have been a different story because she attempted to crawl a few times, but as soon as one or both of her palms would touch the grass she would pull them back up with a confused look on her face. LOL. She eventually got over it, though, and did crawl.







So there you have it...our evening, in pictures!

It came!

Brooke's carseat came yesterday morning, less than 48 hours after I ordered! Holy fast shipping! I was so excited to see the box sitting in the kitchen when I got home from grocery shopping : ). After I got all the food put away, I opened the box up and pulled it out. I had to wait for Brooke to wake up from her nap to put her in it, but I was good and patient and didn't wake her up sooner, lol. She thought she was hot stuff, as you can see from the picture : ). So I already knew I loved the seat, but I was a little apprehensive about installing it in the car. The Cosco Scenera was a total PITA to get in properly and I am anal when it comes to installing carseats correctly (I wish more people were like that). I didn't get a chance to put it in until yesterday afternoon and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it seriously took me less than 5 minutes to get that sucker in correctly and so tight that it doesn't budge at all! I love LATCH! I didn't try it with the seatbelt, but with LATCH it was SO easy. And I didn't even have to use rolled towels under the seat so it was level like I did with the Scenera. The base on the Marathon is so much nicer. Brooke got to ride in her new seat for the first time yesterday evening. It was a breeze strapping her in and adjusting the straps to fit her securely, unlike the Scenera. I just LOVE the Marathon! I think I mentioned before that Ryan is in a Britax Regent. I love that seat, too! It is just so easy to use and is also an easy install in our car. He woke up early yesterday morning, so he ended up falling asleep while we were out and about, which rarely happens anymore!

P.S. I put Brooke down awake tonight at bedtime for the first time in awhile and for the first time ever (at bedtime), she went to sleep on her own! No fussing or crying, either! She's still doing awesome for naps, too : ). She's getting so big! Not sure if I should be : ) or : ( about that!

Score!

I just ordered this Britax Marathon (isn't it pretty?) for Brooke from www.albeebaby.com. It is originally $279.99, but it is marked down to $179.99! Right now Brooke is in a Cosco Scenera that we got for $35 from Walmart that was really only meant to be a backup seat. It is a pain in the butt to adjust the straps in it. Ryan is in a Britax Regent (looking back, I wish I would've just gotten him the Marathon or Boulevard) and I really wanted to get a Britax for Brooke, as well. It just didn't feel right for Ryan to have one and not Brooke. Doug was not too keen on spending around $300 for another carseat (men @@, lol). I'd heard good things about the Evenflo Triumph Advances and I like how they go to 50lbs., so I was going to compromise and get her one of those. In fact, when I found this great deal on the Marathon, I was actually looking for a sale on the Evenflos and figured I'd just see what they had on sale in the Britax's. But then I found this and it's not much more than the regular price for the Triumph Advances, so I ordered it! The Marathon goes up to 65lbs., so it will be the only seat Brooke will need besides maybe a regular booster seat some day. Some of you probably think I'm nuts for being so excited about a carseat, but too bad : P. LOL. I love getting a great deal!

Computer Issues

About 3 weeks ago, our computer monitor stopped working. Doug couldn't figure out what the problem was, so he hooked up the monitor from our old computer and it worked fine. About a week later, *that monitor quit working, too! So then he got one from his parents that they weren't using and was sitting in their attic. Guess what. Today, *it stopped working! At least *I can't get it to work/turn on. Doug will look at it when he gets home. Right now I'm on the laptop, but it doesn't always get a good internet signal, so it will be hit and miss. If we can't get any of the desktop monitors to work, I'm not sure what we'll do. I also don't have my pictures on the laptop, so I'm unable to put up Easter pics like I'd planned on doing today. Hopefully I'll get them on here eventually!

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Ryan slept all night last night. I started giving him some Sinupret, which smells like cherry cough syrup to me :::gag, puke, gag:::, but he took it without any problems. He still sounds congested and is coughing here and there, but he's doing well. Brooke is showing no signs of sickness so far. :::knock on wood:::

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Brooke's top front left tooth broke the skin on Saturday and the right one should be popping through any day now! They don't seem to be bothering her at all. She just doesn't like anyone's fingers poking around at them, lol.

Well, it's time to go get the kidlets lunch! Just wanted to post a quick update : ).

Round 50 of the Sickies

Okay, so it's not really 50, but it sure feels like it. This year has been terrible for colds! Now it's Ryan again. He sounded stuffed up all day yesterday and last night I was awoken around 1:30 to him having a coughing fit and crying. I could tell he had some mucous that needed to come up and out and figured eventually it would and I knew he was NOT going to be happy about it. I was up for about an hour comforting him, cleaning him up after he did throw up a tiny bit, taking his temperature (99.9 under his arm), putting a Be Kool patch on his back, getting him a drink, and getting him settled back down and to sleep. After that, I didn't hear him cough too much the rest of the night and today he's been acting fine, though still stuffy and coughing a bit. Now I'm just hoping and praying Brooke somehow avoids getting it. I can't tell you the last time I was up with Ryan in the middle of the night while he was sick because now that he's older, he usually just sleeps straight through even when he's feeling crappy. As a baby, there were quite a few nights spent sitting up on the couch, holding him while he slept restlessly, attempting to catch a few winks myself. So last night brought back some memories from the baby days with him, although it went much, much smoother than it did back then!

I don't think I'll have time to post any Easter pics today, but hopefully tomorrow! Hope everyone had a great one : ).

Pretty as a Princess

Even princesses stick out their tongues ; ).

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I also have to brag. This is the 4th day that Brooke has gone down for her naps awake and gone to sleep on her own! She's done this before, sporadically, but never kept at it. She is taking her 8th nap like this as we speak (she takes 2 a day)! (I used to always bounce her to sleep in her bouncy seat and then transfer her to her crib after she fell asleep.) The trick is to put her little blanket/lovey in there (obviously) and a couple small toys. Don't lay her down, but SIT her in there, turn on her crib toy and leave the room. She thinks she's just in there to play, so she'll lay down and go to sleep, lol. If I just lay her in there with her blanket, FORGET IT. Now if only I could get her to do it at night. The last time I tried, she just cried and cried. But that was at least a month ago, so I may have to try it again. Lately as soon as she's done drinking her night time bottle, she grabs her blanket and stuffs her thumb in her mouth and I cuddle her and she's out in like 2 minutes. So maybe I should try laying her down before she goes to sleep. But then again...I don't know if I'm ready to give up those cuddles yet :*).

Night #2

I woke Ryan up last night at 11 to go pee, but again he didn't go. This morning he came in my room and I told him to go pee and he said in the saddest little voice, trying not to cry, "But my pants are all wet." : ( Poor thing. He'd peed himself and he was upset. I told him it was okay and accidents happen. Later in the morning he asked me if he could wear a diaper to bed tonight. I told him we'll see. Maybe I should try waking him later in the night (early, early morning) to try to go pee, but I don't always wake up myself. So that means setting the alarm and I'm afraid that will wake Brooke up. Hmmmm.

Anyway, here are a few pics of the kids, since I've been slacking in that department! The first ones are of Brooke this morning, eating sweet potatoes (thickened up with rice cereal). I was feeding her and she wanted the bowl. I just plopped some on her tray. She pretty much just played with them...licked her fingers a couple times, lol. Then there are a couple of Ryan eating a snack of peanut butter crackers and then he had some applesauce, too. And the last picture is of Ryan with his humongous pencil he got yesterday at school as a treat for his "Spring Party". He thinks it's THE coolest thing ; ).

Night #1

Ryan didn't have much to drink last night after we ate dinner around 4:30pm. Sometimes he drinks a good bit, other times hardly anything and last night was a "slow" night. He went to bed at 8, as usual, and I woke him up around 10:30 to have him go pee. But he didn't have to go. So I wasn't sure if he would wake up to a wet bed or not. He woke up around 7 this morning and went straight to the bathroom and his bed is dry : ). First time ever he's not wet the bed when not wearing a diaper, but like I said, he didn't have much to drink. I'm curious to see how tonight goes! He was very proud of himself this morning : ).

Wish us luck!

I didn't think Ryan would ever learn to go on the potty. He never minded being wet or even dirty. YUCK. He never showed ANY signs of readiness that the experts say to look for. By the time he was 4 1/2 (last winter), I decided enough was enough. Yes, he has some delays due to his prematurity, but he is SMART. I figured he just needed a little push. I printed a sticker chart from the internet and we told him he would get a sticker each time he went on the potty and once it was filled in (it had about 20 squares) that we would take him bowling, which he had been dying to do. It worked SO well! At first I let him go naked on the bottom half. It was just easier. I took him to the potty frequently. He didn't really have all that many accidents at all. When we finally did take him bowling, he was still doing great going on the potty, but I put a diaper on him to go to the bowling alley. After we were there a bit, he started dancing around like he had to pee, so I took him in the bathroom and sure enough, he went! And his diaper was dry! He just picked up on it so well. Pooping took a little bit longer and he would go in his underwear about half the time, so a couple weeks after he got the peeing down, we did the sticker chart again for *just poop. And it worked great again : ). We started the beginning of February and by the time Brooke was born at the end of March, he was completely DAY trained : ).

He still wears a diaper to bed, though. (Finally getting to what this post is REALLY about.) I'd say it's about 50/50 on whether he pees in it at night and I know a big factor in it is how much he's had to drink in the evening. There have been quite a few times that we've forgotten to put a diaper on him and it never fails, he's peed EVERY time. LOL. I've finally decided it was time to start trying to night train him. I got him a waterproof cover for his mattress. I just put it on his bed a little while ago. Tonight, NO DIAPER (on purpose this time!). I'll limit him a little on how much he drinks and I'm going to wake him up around 11, before I go to bed and have him go to the bathroom and see what happens. I'm not real sure how this is going to go! But I'll keep you posted : ).

Smile!

We took Brooke for her one year pictures at Sears last night. I bought Ryan a shirt a couple weeks ago to wear for Easter and it just happened to perfectly match a dress Brooke got for her birthday, so I figured it was a good opportunity to try to get their pictures done together again, as well, since the last time didn't go too well. Wow, that was a long sentence! LOL. Brooke cried at first, but luckily got used to the whole thing and then cooperated pretty well. She kept trying to crawl away and wanted all the little things the photographer was using to try to get her to smile, but I guess you'll have that with a one year old ; ). Ryan cooperated pretty well, too, but eventually got fed up and said he was done. LOL. But we got a few really good ones...which I actually think is better than them ALL being really good because then it's super hard to choose what to buy!

P.S. I can't get the text to center under the pictures without it centering EVERYTHING on my blog @@. Sorry!


She started crying right after this!



But then she was okay : ). We bought this pose.









And we bought this one



Love her tongue sticking out. LOL.



Grabbing Ryan's shirt...hehe.



We also bought this pose.



And of course we got this one! So sweet : ).



I think it's cute in black and white, too.