Poor Baby!

I know that since my kids go to daycare, that they are exposed to more germs than if I were to be stay-at-home-mom. But I've accepted that, and love our daycare and all of the boys' teachers.  About a week ago, Chase's teacher informed me that the 'hand, foot, mouth virus' was going around.  I was kinda familiar with this; Austin had it when he was about 18 months old.  Not too terrible, but definitely not something I wanted to deal with again.  We thought we were in the clear, but boy were we wrong.  He had been kind of cranky all week, not sleeping well, and had a loss of appetite.  But he never really ran a fever, which is typically the first indication that he got it.  Friday morning, he had a few little spots around his mouth.  By that evening, there were lots more around his face.  Friday night was completely miserable, as he wouldn't sleep longer than about 15 minutes at a time.  I felt like I had a week-old baby! (Okay, my week-old babies always slept better than that anyways.) Needless to say, we were beyond exhausted Saturday morning.

When we got up Saturday morning, spots were all over this poor kid.  Unfortunately, Jordan had to head to work, so I was left alone with a rambunctious nearly-three year old and a polka-dot-kid that was a cranky-pants.  I didn't blame him for being cranky; it was breaking my heart just to look at him.  We struggled through half of the day, and poor Austin just wasn't getting any attention from me.  All Chase wanted was to be held by Mommy and would only sleep in my arms.  Then they both got cranky in the afternoon and I was completely overwhelmed and frustrated. I did the only thing I knew to do.....threw them both in the car and drove around for nearly 45 minutes to get them both asleep.  I was in tears when Jordan called, because I was just so exhausted and had reached my breaking point.  I knew I had to ask for help.  Thankfully, my sister and Logan agreed to watch Austin for the night.  After grabbing an overnight bag for him, we were on our way to drop him off in Plano.  He was such a big boy and seemed excited to stay at Meow-Meow and Uncle LoLo's apartment without Mommy. 

Once I dropped Austin off and took another look at Chase and saw that the spots were multiplying by the hour it seemed, I decided to take him up to the Urgent Care center.  I didn't want to brush this off as a simple (well, not so simple) case of hand, foot, mouth virus, when it could have been something more serious.  This kid just looked so pitiful.  Well, the doctor confirmed my mommy-diagnosis.  It was one of the worst cases he had seen. :(  He now had blisters/sore all over his face, in his mouth, arms, hands, legs, back, etc.  It literally was taking over his body.  But the bad thing is that the virus just has to run its course; antibiotics won't help.  Although, he did prescribe an antibiotic because he thought a couple of the sores on his hands and mouth were starting to look infected. 

After getting home, Jordan and I gave him an Aveeno oatmeal bath and rubbed him down with some soothing lotion.  I rocked him to sleep in the recliner and he slept 11-7:30.  Much better than Friday night.  After eating breakfast in our bed, the three of us laid back down for a nap.  He's definitely in better spirits today, but he still looks terrible.  I can say that, because I'm his mother.  Jordan's staying home with him tomorrow, and if needed, Jordan's dad is going to watch him on Tuesday.  It's kind of a busy week for me at work, so I don't really need to stay home if I can help it.

Austin had a great time at Meow-Meow and LoLo's.  They went to Chili's for dinner, a trip to Target, watched the Lion King, and a trip to the donut store for breakfast.  Big thanks to my sis and Logan for helping out and watching him; it was a great relief!

Tomorrow's Halloween, and I'm hoping Chase's face clears up a little bit for some pictures.  If not, hopefully I can Photoshop him to not look so pitiful. :(

Austin's 3 Year Pics!

Okay, remember a few months ago when Jordan got me my new fabulous Nikon camera for my birthday?  And then I bought Photoshop and swore to never pay anyone to take pictures of my kids ever again?  Well, I'm staying true to that!  With Austin's 3rd birthday less than three weeks away, I wanted to get him out to take pictures while the weather was still nice.  I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to take pictures of my first-born this past Saturday.  I decided to venture to the downtown McKinney area, that way I could parlay this photoshoot into scoping out the chapel and reception site for my sister's wedding nearby.

Let's just say, this kid was quite the ham for the camera.  But I have to admit, there were a few moments where he was a little more difficult, so I bribed him with ice cream.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think I did a pretty darn good job!  But of course, I did have a handsome subject to start off with. :)

After the photo shoot and checking out the chapel/reception site, my sister talked me into going on an impromptu shopping trip with her.  She had just booked her engagement pictures for the following day and needed new outfits, pronto!  But wait, I've got two munchkins attached to my hip.  Here comes Uncle LoLo to the rescue!  He loves his fiance' so much, he watched my two boys for three hours while Katrina and I shopped for the perfect attire.  Well, and he loves my boys!  It was naptime for both of them, so I was a little unsure how that would go at their apartment, since I hadn't packed anything in preparation for this impromptu stay.  Austin made himself comfortable on the couch watching cartoons and drifted off to sleep after a while.  Chase was a little restless and refused to sleep on a pallet on the floor. But it was sooooo sweet to walk into their apartment and find Chase napping ever-so-soundly on Uncle LoLo.  Thank you Logan for watching my boys; you're the best!

There's a Spider in My Ear

That sounds funny, right?  I just laughed it off when my funny little guy told me that last week.  He mentioned it a couple more times, and I told him how silly he was.  Then Saturday morning, he was more persistent and told me he couldn't hear out of it.  Okay, red flag; not funny anymore.  I asked him if he had put anything in his ear, but he promised me no and continued to insist there was a spider in there.  Hmmm. I had him lay down on the floor, and I shined my handy Maglite into his ear.  Yuck! All I could see was bloody/dirty stuff in there.  Well, it was Saturday and Jordan was at work.  Thankfully, my wonderful neighbor kept Chase for me while I ran Austin up to the Urgent Care center.  It was right at Chase's naptime, so I was not looking forward to toting him along with us.  Luckily, he napped peacefully the whole time we were gone.  Anyways, back to my 'spider-man'.

We checked in at the Urgent Care. The receptionist asked what we were there for.  I promptly told her my son says there's a spider in his ear.  She laughed, kinda like I did a few days before.  We waited til it was our turn and my big boy and I headed back with the nurse.  Once back in the exam room, we had to wait about 20 minutes before the doctor finally came in.  I tried everything I knew to entertain this kid, as we were clearly approaching nap time.  He wanted a snack.  Well, in my haste to leave the house, I failed to grab anything for him to munch on.  However, I did manage to find a FiberOne 90-calorie brownie in my purse.  Not exactly the ideal snack I was looking for, but he ate it.  After filling his tummy, he started getting antsy and wanting to touch everything in the room.  Perfect, Mommy wanted to too.  I grabbed the scope thing they use to look in your ears (I have no idea what the technical term is) and peeked into his ear.  It looked even worse up close!

Finally, in comes the doctor.  It was determined that he had a ruptured ear drum.  When I heard those words, I felt like Mother of the Year, after making him wait three days before taking him to the doctor.  I just thought he was being silly. :(  Although, I would have felt even worse had there actually been a spider in his ear! Anyways, we held him down while the doctor scooped some of the nasty stuff out of his ear.  Poor thing, he did so good.  When we were all done, he told me he did good job and asked if we could get an ice cream.  Of course!  After eating up the cherry first and drinking some of his milk shake, we were on our way home.

Once were home, I carried the sleepy-head in and his best buddy watched over him the whole nap time.  Those two love each other so much! 

Here we are at Wednesday already, and the antibiotics and ear drops seem to be doing their job.  I can't see anymore nasty stuff in his ear and he doesn't scream at me anytime I get close to his ear anymore.  Success!  On a side note, we have been crazy busy around here lately.  Between sewing Chase's Halloween costume, getting things ready for Austin's birthday party, work, the fair, pumpkin patches, I am exhausted! I have lots of pictures and blog posts in my head that I need to actually put in here! Soon, I promise!  And to not leave Chase out, here's a recent pic of my chunky monkey!

9-Month Check-up & Stats

This morning we took Chase to the pediatrician for his 9-month checkup.  He weighed in at 21lbs. 15oz. (75th percentile) and 28" tall short (50th percentile).  He wasn't scheduled to get any immunizations, so he only had to get a finger prick to test iron levels and didn't cry a peep.  But we decided to throw in a flu shot and get that taken care of while we there.  After squealing for a brief moment, he was back in Mommy's arms and good to go!

9 Months and Counting!

Get that thought out of your head! Nope, I'm not preggers.  My sweet Chase is 9 months old today! Another month has come and gone so quickly.  He has recovered well from his ear tube surgery on Monday and has been sleeping better already.  There's been a period of time over the past month where every night he would wake up and cry for about an hour around 10pm.  And we're not used to kids who don't sleep well! But ever since Monday, he's been sleeping like a baby.......a baby that loves his sleep. :)  Over the past two weeks, I've been letting him sample some regular table food (not purees), and he has just been double-fisting it like a mad man.  So, I officially made my last batch of baby food this past weekend and once that runs out, no more. I'm so excited!  He's also fully crawling all over the house now.  No more leaving him on the living room floor for a few minutes to play while I whip up dinner (and expecting him to stay!).  He loves to follow Austin from room to room, too.  Austin is adapting to Chase getting into all of toys now. :)

We've been taking advantage of the cooler weather lately.  Well, cooler in TX terms......87 degrees. Every night after we get home, I take the boys for a ride in the wagon around the neighborhood.  Chase just sits in his seat, props up his leg, and enjoys the ride. He is truly at a fun age right now, and I'm trying to soak it all up. I feel like before I know it, I'll be planning his 1st birthday party.  Wait, I already am planning it! (That's a whole other post though!)  We have a playset/swingset in the backyard, but we finally got a  baby swing to put on it for Chase, and he just lets out the biggest laughs when he swings.

We're just truly blessed to have such a mellow little guy! Love you Chase Chase!

Shoveling food in his mouth

Loves his new swing!

Enjoying the beautiful weather

Posing for pictures for Mommy :)

I don't know where it got them, but I LOVE those blue eyes!

Wagon ride around the neighborhood

Chillin' in his stroller

Standing up and exploring new things

Ear Tube Surgery

We had to be up super-early this morning for Chase's surgery to have tubes put in his ears.  On a usual morning, he wakes up at 7 or 7:30.  Well, he must have known something was up this morning, because he woke up at around 5am!  This is not a good thing, especially since we were under strict instructions not to give him anything to eat or drink after midnight last night.  My plan was to wait to the very last minute to get him up and put him in the car. I tried getting him back to sleep for a little bit, but soon enough it was time to head to the surgery center for our 6:30 check-in.  Our daycare doesn't open til 6:30am, so Jordan took Austin to school and I headed to the surgery center with Chase. My mom wanted to be there too, so it was nice to have an extra set of hands until Jordan arrived.

He was such a trooper, especially getting up way too early and then not being able to have his morning bottle.  Finally at 7:30, it was our turn to say good-bye.  I handed over my sweet little boy, wearing an adorable tiger hospital gown to our friendly nurse. 

Twenty five minutes later, the ENT came out to the waiting room to tell us he was done and all went well.  Dr. Antony explained that he was glad we went ahead and did the tubes now rather than waiting a few more months.  There was fluid in both his ears, and some of it was a gray, gluey substance.  Yuck! He said this could have seriously affected his hearing if not treated quickly.  He took a sample of the fluid to be tested, to make sure it wasn't a strong bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics or anything else serious.  As soon as we walked through the doors, I could hear him crying.  Poor thing was just so confused, tired, and hungry.  I quickly pulled out his bottle.  He quickly recognized his Dr. Brown bottle, grabbed it, and went to town; guzzling it in record time.  After the nurse got some more vitals signs, we were sent on our way. He was still pretty cranky on the way home and screamed most of the way.  Mommy rocked him for about 10 minutes and he drifted off to sleep. :) 

He took a good 2 1/2 hour nap and got up and ate lunch like usual.  He seems to be back to his playful self already.  Although, there is some nasty stuff draining from his ears already.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and well wishes today! They were greatly appreciated!

Coming Full Circle

There are certain parts of my life that I don't talk about very openly often, especially on my blog.  Years ago, Jordan and I decided we were ready to start trying to have a family of our own.  Of course, being a young couple, we thought it would happen right of way and be relatively easy with no stress. Boy were we wrong.  After a year of trying, we finally got pregnant that summer, the week of my birthday.  It was the best present ever.  We told everybody and anybody, almost right away.  I was too naive to know that things don't always work out how I expected them to.  In the midst of our joy, we learned that I was miscarrying, and I was absolutely devastated.  I literally just wanted to lay in bed for days and cry. But we all know, life must go on.  I was such a mess after all of that, and it was compounded by the fact that many people around me were sharing news that they were expecting.  Jordan didn't know what to do with me.  I was in a true depression.

Shortly before Christmas, I stumbled across a message board on iVillage for those TTCAM (trying to conceive after miscarriage).  There were tons of women on this board, who were going through the same pain as me. I could share my feelings, get advice on what worked for them, and also offer support to them. It was a great outlet for me to find some support.  While my friends/family in real life were there for me, it was comforting to talk about my feelings with those going through the same emotions.  Four months later, I got pregnant. It was difficult to announce my pregnancy to my friends on the board, as they were still struggling. But now I needed a different kind of support, for all the anxiety that the same thing would happen and I would be left heartbroken again. Luckily, there was a small group of us from the TTCAM board who got pregnant around the same time.  We all wanted to keep in touch and continue to be there for each other, so we started up our own private message board where only we could access it.

It's incredible the bond that women can share, especially when you haven't even met in real life.  These women are just incredible, to have to endure the things that they did.  Many had recurring miscarriages, up to five.  Some had to actually deliver their miscarried babies at nearly 5 months along. I cannot even imagine having to do that.  Some were using the help of fertility drugs, IVF, and IUI to help fulfill their dreams of becoming a mother.  Needless to say, this is a strong group. Don't get me wrong, we come from a wide range of backgrounds, have different political views, and live all around the US (and one in the UK!).  But we are drawn together by the things we have endured, and we wanted to stick together.

After a couple months on the private board, one of the other girls who lived in Fort Worth and I decided to meet up for the first time. It was the funniest day, especially because her husband came to drop her off at the restaurant to make sure I wasn't a crazy lady wanting to snatch the baby out of her belly! I laugh, because Jordan just sent me on my way, all by myself. :) It was incredible to finally meet in person.  Since meeting Kyla, she has been to my house and I have been to hers, and our boys have played together.  I have also been lucky enough to travel to Chicago for work and sneak in a visit with Stephanie and Joell while I was there and meet their kiddos.  And today, I finally got to meet Emily (from California) and part of her clan, while she is in Dallas visiting family.  It's weird, because when we meet each other in person and talk, it's like we've been friends in real life for years. And to watch our kids play together is just a blessing.

There are still other girls in the group that I need to meet with and hopefully that will one day happen.  It's been almost 4 years since we first 'met' online, and I am proud to call these girls my friends. We used to joke about going on Oprah to tell our story and all meet up.  Well, Oprah's off the air now. But two girls recently submitted our story to the Rachel Ray show for one of their topics. Who knows, maybe you'll see me on tv one day with this great group of girls, who helped me through a terrible time in my life.

*I'm not including pictures in this post, for those who wish to remain anonymous. :)