I'm here!

It's been a couple days, all is Ok...just one very tired mama here.

Benjamin went through a serious growth spurt. He slowly led up to it Sunday afternoon/evening. However, for about 12 hours (midnight Monday morning - lunch time Monday) he pretty much nursed non-stop. I was about to lose it. Monday afternoon, he slowed down and is back to 'normal' now. He's back to waking up once a night to eat, and that's fine and dandy, I'm just getting used to being with out that hour or so of sleep again.

We'll be starting solids in a couple weeks and in that starting, we'll be starting with oatmeal. After some research, I decided I wanted to try this oatmeal...here is the conversation that preceded the purchasing of the oatmeal...

Me to Zach: I was researching and I think I found the oatmeal I want to get for Benjamin...
Zach: OK...
Me: It's a bit more expensive, but it's way better than the Gerber or anything...It's got probiotics in it and DHA which is very important...
Zach: ...yeh...how much?
Me: ((to sum up, I broke down the math and told him why we HAD to order it off amazon IMMEDIATELY because of a sale....))
Zach: OK, sounds good...What's it called?
Me: Happy Bellies....
Zach: .....of course it is...

Love you honey :)

I'm excited to get back to making our own baby food (well, not OUR baby food, but Benjamin's...)

And pray for Keaton. We've had to start breathing treatments again. He coughed all night. I'm giving it a day and I'll take him in tomorrow (probably where we picked up the germies in the first place) I'm hoping with the 65 degree weather today and some open windows, we can air out the house and get rid of it!

I tried to get a good picture of B's teeth - but that didn't work...so here's a blurry version...


Here he is Monday night, passed out after non stop nursing....(notice the bottle...mama needed a break! I wasn't worried about keeping up my supply...I think there's enough milk for every baby in the church! haha)


Here's my sweet boys playing :)


My extremely, super talented friend Carrie (who is famous in our house for her Chicken Dish) made these super, fun blocks for the boys when Benjamin was born. Keaton has loved them from the start, but Benjamin started to play with them today...

Update on Keaton

We got him into the pedi this morning...

Time for me to vent. I'd like to make a note of how ridiculously stupid it is for there only to be 1 office open (note: our pedis office consists of 7 offices located throughout Raleigh) the day after Christmas. Could they not just be short staffed at every office? I'm thankful we got in when we did (930am) when only about 5 families were sitting in the waiting room, as opposed to 10am when there was standing room only! But still...am I the only person who sees the problem here?

ANYwho...Yesterday afternoon, Keaton was wheezing while breathing. He only had a couple episodes of this and the episodes only lasted a few minutes. He didn't seem to have trouble breathing (nor did it slow him down!) We had a long night with Keaton coughing a lot up until about 3am. He sounded great this morning, but, knowing that we were going out of town, I couldn't leave without knowing all was ok.

The pedi said that his congestion is NOT in his lungs (praise the Lord) his nose is definitely "congested" (really? the snot all over his face couldn't tell you that, you HAD to look up his nose?!)

She re-filled his Albuterol for his nebulizer and gave us a prescription for basically a "Wheezing suppressent" (Zach has the paper at work and I can't remember the name). If he starts the wheezing while breathing again, we're to start the suppressent for 5 days and see what that does.

I find it very interesting in the past couple of weeks, I've found the following things are linked to asthma in children: Tylenol, vacccinations and c-sections. (And isn't it funny...they tell you to give Tylenol before your child receives vaccinations....hmmm)

Both boys are down, time to finish cleaning and packing.

Continued prayers for Keaton would be greatly appreciated. As well - that Benjamin doesn't come down with anything, that I would get better (I'm fighting a cold, too. Can't seem to beat it since I'm not getting any rest) and safe travels for this weekend.

Our Christmas Morning

I started off the morning making a cheater's version of these. I didn't make them from scratch, I used canned bread sticks....sue me ;-) I did make the drizzle for it...fo rizzle.

Ok, so daddy got K dressed...he's in a Halloween shirt...on Christmas morning...That's what you have to do to keep up with the Jones'!

Keaton woke up very early (I'll explain in a minute) and by 7am, had played with "All" his gifts. By 8am, he had a CD punched into his face trying to grab it out of Zach's hands and by 11 had run into a wall or door...I forget how many times. Poor kid. We had to start breathing treatments last night and he was awake most of the night with a wheezy-cough. I'll be taking him in first thing tomorrow morning before we head out of town.

K digging into his stocking - Teething biscuts and lots of Mega Blocks (don't tell him it was only half the pack - he gets the rest for his birthday!) :)

Clipo, Clipo, Clipo...He got SO excited every time this commercial came on TV...

Today consists of cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning for me. I refuse to come home to a dirty house Sunday night!

I made out like a bandit this Christmas :) I got a craft mat and rotary cutter, as well as a paper cutter. I got a Sugarland CD, $20 in iTunes cards, a cookbook, some yummies from Bath & Body Works and 2 wristlet keychains from JimmyPickles. Yes, it was a fun morning... (and I'm probably forgetting something, sorry honey!)

Here's B enjoying his Christmas toy - the ONLY toy for his age left at Target by yesterday afternoon....(well, that he didn't have... there were 2 others, but no sense in having duplicates...) Look at the pudgy hands...agggh, I'll eat him :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Dueling Coughs

Such is the life with these two kids...

Yes, the Sunday school germs have invaded our home once again. Frustrated...tired...defeated - that's how this mama feels. I've decided to turn into a handwashing Nazi (I thought I was bad before) we are going to be washing hands all day long from here on out...I guess we need to find a stool for Keaton to stand on b/c my back will be killing me!

Right now, they're both asleep. One will cough and the other will mimic the others' cough...back and forth...I've been hearing that for 30 some minutes now.

Please be praying for our lil guys, that this would pass quickly, no ear infections would occur, that K would be obedient in using the neb, and for my sanity as I listen to coughing (which I HATE the sound of anyways), my patience as I listen to screaming all day, my persistence in the handwashing event of the century and my teaching skills as I try to get K to cough into his elbow (haha! my 3 year olds couldn't even do that!) and STOP touching his brother (whom he loves so so so much!)

Happy Note: a dear friend had her sweet baby yesterday! I haven't gotten all the detail yet, but his name is Josiah, he was born around 430pm and according to their doula, mama did AWESOME!!!! Way to go J.Leigh!!!!!! SO - if you go to North Wake - call me because I'm coordinating their meals ;-)

OK, I'm so excited about Keaton and his new words. He really wanted me to read a particular ABC book for him yesterday. I have the thing memorized we read it so often. Usually, I'll read it. Then we read it again and I *TRY* to have him repeat (it's usually, "no") or show him a sign for the word. Well, here's how our conversation went throughout the book. We had just finished one book (probably the X-men book, haha) and I asked, "Do you want to read another book?" (I signed book) he signed 'book' back and said, "Yeh." This was his first time signing book, so I got a little too excited about it ;-) I said, "Great!! Go grab a book (sign) and we'll read (sign) it..."

He brings back the ABC book. I open it....

Me: Apple.
Keaton: "Eh" (A sound, haha)
Me: (pointing to banana)
Keaton: Nay-nay! Nay-nay! Yummy!
Me: Cat
Keaton: Kitty, mew (first time making a cat noise!)
Me: That's right! A kitty says meow!
Keaton: (smacking the kitty) MEW MEW
Me: Duck
Keaton: Duck! (first time saying duck!)
Me: That's right! Duck! Quack quack!
(K looks at me like I'm stupid...moving along...)
Me: Elephant
K:....
Me: Fi...
K: FEEEEEESH FEEEEEEEEESH!!!
Me: That's right, Fish! Grapes...
K: mmmmm (while rubbing tummy)
Me: Hearts, Ice Cream, Jelly
K: Mmmm, telly
(insert 20 seconds of me trying to get a "J" sound out...)
Me: Key
K: Tey
(again, with the "K" sound...)
Me: Lemon
K sticks out his tongue. He knows lemons. He asks for one everytime we go out to eat...and then hates it!
Me: Milk
K: (signing milk, yay!) Mi!
(Me repeating Milk over and over...)
Me: Numbers....Orange...Pig
K tries to make a snorting pig sound, as usual, but just blows air OUT his nose ;-)
Me: Quilt
(apparently I've rubbed my arms like I'm hugging myself when I say that word, because that's what he did, haha!)
Me: Rainbow
K: TAIN!!!!!!!!!!
Me: Almost...Stars...now (pointing to train)
K: TAIN!!!!!!!!!! TAIN!!!!!!!!!! (the boy LOVES his trains!!!)
Me: That's right, choo choo
K: "too too" (hahahahahah, love it!)
Me: Umbrella...Vegetables...Whale
K: FEESH
Me:...Sure, fish!...Xylophone...Zebra
K points to his magnetic barn set on the door. I look at him and point the the zebra and repeat the word. He goes and points to the horse...Sure, a zebra can be a horse! :)

It was so much fun...we re-read the book again ;-) I won't put you through that though!!! :)

B is trying to roll over, every time he gets close, K comes running through screaming and scares B flat on his back.

For the record: I'm totally content with B not rolling! (K had been since 6weeks) because little did I know at this point with K, he was up and crawling/cruising in 2 more months...yes, my lil chunky monkey, you lay there :)

Just another manic Monday...I wish it was Sunday, cause that's my Funday!

Weekend recap:

Keaton had breathing treatments throughout the weekend, it stopped his wheezing, but he is still super congested.

Benjamin continued to become more and more congested as the weekend wore on.

Time change:

I think K fell forward and not back ;-) He slept later than he normally would!

Monday:

We started our day at our chiro's office. She adjusted both boys to get things draining (lovely thought, huh?!!) :) Poor B couldn't even nurse this morning (couldn't breathe out of his nose). They were both seeming better after the adjustments, especially B. We got home and he nursed like it had been ages since he ate (for those wondering - I did NOT leave him starving this morning when he couldn't nurse! I gave him a bottle of pumped milk - he ate JUST fine...lil piggy!)*

We had a follow-up visit at the pedi's office for K. She said his chest sounded great, but his ear infection has now traveled to the other ear. So, we're going to give the medication a week to "do its thing" - we go back next Monday to re-check the infection. If it's still there, we'll discuss "other options" :(

She (Dr. Rule) commented on B's congestion and oh-so-kindly offered to check him out too. Good news - his ears are clear! (my biggest concern...until...) She suggested they run an RSV test...(my thought jumps to all the kids I know from church who've had it/been hospitalized with it...and I'm picturing my sweet, sweet boy in the hospital...) thankfully, it came back negative. She said it was "a great thing" that we now owned the nebulizer, because we'll most likely need it for B as well. We got the go ahead to use it with him as needed (as well as the signs to look out for - for both - when to do at home treatments, when to bring them in the office ASAP and when to go to the ER...ugh)

So between dr's. appts and naps, it was a full, busy (long) day.

* I'd like to add that we call B a lil piggy in jest. Our 2.5 month old is wearing some 6month clothes...he is a chunk :) He has thigh rolls and I love it :)

"Happy" Halloween

Is that not the cutest pumpkin ever!!!! :)

Well, we had to make another trip this morning to the pedi. & long story short, K has "baby asthma" & we are 'proud owners' of a nebulizer. I know in the long run this will be a good thing (we can battle colds much quicker from home). He also has an ear infection in his right ear. So, yeh, that was our morning.