Not for the faint of heart...

You can't make this stuff up, as my friend, Angela, would say....

We were running late, of course, to get out the door to the bible study at church. K gets very still. Says, "maaaaaaamaaaa" and then throws up ....not only that, he conveniently catches it in his hands....

Then, looks at his sweet, precious brother...

yes....

he wiped it on B's head....

seriously....

See ya next week bible study...

Update on the doctor...

No ear infection...no more fever...Just congested...

We're not really sure what is going on. I'll most likely make a chiro appointment for this week (ok, for both of us!) ;-) And talk with her about it...

The cruddy, infected, croupy house

We're all still the above...

Keaton is doing MUCH better. He still has his cough, but his eyes - no more infection. He is still pulling on his ear, so I know that is still bothering him and our chiro "set" his toe yesterday - he laughed really for the first time since Sunday - guess it still bothered him!

Benjamin still has his yucky cough, though it's no longer "seal-like" ...I'm wondering if he REALLY had croup or just a bad cough?? He too, is still pulling on the ear. He got adjusted as well yesterday.

I am getting better...just a lot of drainage...I did go to the dr. yesterday and was diagnosed with "The Crud" - nice huh? Basically, a bit of flu, bit of sinus infection and a bit of your common cold...lovely. The dr. wrote me a prescription for some cough medicine because that (on top of my super, sore throat) was my 'worst' symptom...The pharmacist warned me that it may make me drowsy...

I came home and took it around 1030...I laid down around 1115 or so (apparently - because I don't really remember it) and woke up around 130. Also, apparently, Zach was asking me questions...and I was answering! Nice, huh?? Needless to say, I will only be getting that medication at bedtime! ;-)

The never ending saga

B's cough turned into that "seal" sound mother's that have experienced croup tell you about...I didn't want to be that mom, but we now own a seal - and with K's cough, it's starting to turn into a pack of seals!

B also has a horrible ear infection...

Zach stayed home today to help me out and it's been a HUGE help!

B is crying...must run

Does it ever end?

Well, you've been reading how Keaton is sick...

I woke this morning feeling awful ...and got worse as the day progressed...

Around 2pm, Keaton was standing on his toy dump truck...which we tell him over and over not to do - he was actually trying to be helpful and put the Wii controller back where it belongs, haha! Well, he slipped off and landed on his foot funny. It immediately started to swell along the top of his foot. He could move his toes, but he'd scream if we pressed on it or if he stood on it. Of course our pedi's urgent care closes at 12noon, so Zach rushed him to another urgent care center near our apartment.

While he was gone, Benjamin napped in the hotsling while I played Wii Tennis ;) When he woke up, he started in on a nasty cough...

I immediately broke down in tears.

Thankfully, K's foot is ok. It's bruised on top, and obviously sore for K to walk on it, but no broken bones - he did get his first x-rays!

So K, B and I are sick - thankfully Zach is avoiding it so far! He's talking about taking a sick day tomorrow to help me...if he stays home, one of us will take B to the dr. to check out his cough because it's really bad...

Pray for us (and my sanity...)

Freezer Meal Swap #2 & more updating

Was great!!!!

So much yummy food!!! I took a picture, but I'm too tired to upload it (yes it's that much work, haha!)

I got some recipes -

For Group1 -
Lasagna
BBQ Chicken
Beef & Bean Enchiladas
Beef Taco Skillet
3 Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake
Calzones (made-to-order)

For Group2 -
Pork Chop & Apple Casserole
Beef Noodle Casserole
Marvelous Mini Meatloaves
Enchilada Casserole
Lasagna
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We had the Beef Taco Skillet tonight - yummmy :-D
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Keaton is doing better. Fever is still hanging around but MUCH lower. He dumped all his toys today - he's doing better ;-) Still praying Benjamin doesn't get it. I'm feeling crummy, but most likely from the lack of sleep lately...
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We're 'supposed' to get 2-4inches of snow...sure ;-)
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I'm tired...this is the end of this post! ;)

Tons of pictures & update on Keaton

Well, around lunchtime, the mommy in me just wasn't comfortable with how K was acting. His fever had gone down to 101.2, but he had the goopiest eyes (and yes, it sounds as gross as I made it sound...), no energy and just down right miserable looking.

So, I called and made the dreaded appointment (and it went WAY better than Monday!)

Long story short - he has a sinus infection "gone awry" - it's spread and so on top of all the lovely side effects of a sinus infection (you know, where your head feels like it's going to explode!) he has an ear infection in his right ear and an eye infection in both eyes. (So next time I get a sinus infection, I will just scream and cry out in pain like he does every so often - just because I can!)

So we got him some medicine and will be praying that works. As long as he doesn't start wheezing and need his nebulizer, I think I might survive this sickness - *might*

I had a couple requests for more pictures. I just don't have time to upload and edit lately, but I took some time tonight...these are from the past 2 weeks...

Sweet potatoes are yummy! (we actually think they mess with his tummy, so we're holding off...too bad there's like 3 billion sweet potato muffin patties in the freezer!**)

Benjamin, Bebe & the new monkey chew toy - it's yummy

K and his big boy bed!

This is what happens when you have a big brother...

I could seriously kiss those cheeks all day!!! (...ok, I do!)

My precious...(not in a LOTR Gollum sort of way...)

The Dynamic Duo!

The only way B will sleep lately...frustrating, but oh-so-snuggly...my mom says he looks like a little shar pei puppy!

This kid has some beautiful feet....

And eyelashes....

So, K was SO tired today...in nearly 2 years, this is the first time this has happened. I asked if he wanted to go to his crib - he shook his head no. I asked if he wanted his big boy bed and he moaned, "nooooo...." 3 seconds later....

An hour later - he woke. HE looked SO pitiful, but his hair....wow....Is that some Jones' hair or WHAT?!

Our little model!

Yup - he's our son - look at the crazy eyes for McD's!!!

**Something must have happened to my ice cube trays in the move because I cannot find them anywhere. When I went to make B's baby food, I was going crazy. So I used what I could find - my mini cupcake pan...so I have all these "muffins" of food in the freezer - quite hysterical!

crummy feeling Keaton

Wednesday night, K started running a fever around 102. He woke with it still above 102 on Thursday morning. He camped out on the couch all day - he didn't touch a single toy all day (normally our apartment looks like a tornado came through...every. single. day.) Around 4pm, I took his temp because I couldn't even touch him and it was 104. I got him in a warm bath and called the nurses line at our pedi's office. Apparently, they take you seriously when you call with a fever (Their policy is they have an hour to call you back. I normally get the call at 58 minutes...they called back within 5 minutes this time!) Basically, she said they wanted to see him if the fever remained that high. We were able to keep it around 102 overnight and this morning it was down to 101.7.

He's been running around dumping out his toys all morning...

I think he's doing better ;)
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My friend, Whitney, had her baby at 8:41pm Wednesday night!!!! She was letting this pregnancy be a surprise and she had a GIRL!!! She named her Sophia Grace (Sophie) :) She was 8lbs3oz and 20in long! According to Whitney, she has dark, wavy hair - just like her mama's beautiful hair! There were a couple of complications and Sophie is in the NICU but continually doing better :) They would appreciate your prayers, greatly!
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Tomorrow, we have our 2nd freezer meal swap! I'm so excited for it!

The meals being swapped this time are:
For Group1 -
Lasagna
BBQ Chicken
Beef & Bean Enchiladas
Beef Taco Skillet
3 Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake
Calzones (made-to-order)

For Group2 -
Pork Chop & Apple Casserole
Beef Noodle Casserole
Marvelous Mini Meatloaves
Enchiladas
Lasagna

YUM YUM!!!!
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I think that's all the updates from this end!

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...

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 :)

Still sick...

Keaton is doing much better. He only needed his breathing treatment 3 times today (first thing this morning, afternoon and bedtime - It's "normally" been about 4 times a day) He absolutely HATES when I do it, but will just sit there for Zach...oh well.

Benjamin is still congested. He wakes up OK, but by the end of the day is pretty cloggy. (Yes, cloggy)

We saw our chiro again today and for the first time, Benjamin was all aligned and everything!!! His jaw, his neck, his back and hips!!! yay!!!

As today dragged on, my throat became more and more scratchy. Ugh...Hopefully it'll pass quickly!

Thankfully, Zach is managing to avoid it all! I hope that continues!

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 :)

Daddy made me do it

Ok, Keaton didn't SAY that. But this morning at breakfast, he took a bite of his waffle and then spit it out. I asked him why he did that, he responded with, "Daddy"...we enjoyed a good laugh! :)

Unfortunately, both boys are now sick :( Keaton picked up something, I'm sure, from his "older toddlers" class (or the dr's. office, or the grocery store cart, or...) Whenever he gets something, it shows up Wednesday morning. Tuesday, he was all over Benjamin (he loves him SO much!!! As I type, he's standing next to his swing, a bag over his shoulder, keys in hand, waving/saying bye bye and blowing kisses!) But, yes, Tuesday, Benjamin was showered with big brother kisses. Wednesday, Keaton woke up with a snotty nose and congestion. Benjamin woke up this morning with a cough and congestion.

We had stopped Benjamin's probiotics because it always seemed he was fussier on the the days he got it, but we started it up this morning, in hopes to shorten the duration of this cold.

We'll go see Dr. Davis today. Keaton's been falling a lot while walking/running around and Benjamin is having a hard time latching on.

Don't forget to enter the two giveaways I'm hosting. The travel wipes case giveaway ends tomorrow night at 9pm!!!!! The embellished onesie giveaway ends Sunday afternoon at 3pm! And don't forget to head over to Bloggy Giveaways for the Carnival!!!! There's nearly 1400 giveaways you can enter!!!!