Call first!

All I have to say is my house has never been dirtier than it is at the exact moment. If you are stopping by, call me first, because trust me, you don't want to see my house in this state.

On other news, we are doing okay. Adler hasn't run any fever today and other than the crazies that come along with albuterol, he is acting normal. Poor Hazel is coughing and wheezing and snorting like you wouldn't believe, but is in good spirits. We were at the dr. for 3 hours this morning (all three of us!!) and she looked better- xray showed a little gunk, but no pneumonia for Hazel. We actually did the rsv test this time and it came back negative. So now dr says its brochiolitis. But hopefully meds and breathing treatments will clear her onup.

Lastly, I am in the market for a new carseat. Adler still uses his and my 20 pound 4 month old ( yes, she gained 2 more pounds in 3 weeks!) is too big for her infant seat. I am looking at the graco my ride 65. Seems to have great reviews, ratings and is rear facing up to 40 pounds. Anyone else have this seat? Do you love it?

Sick!

Well, we have all been battling a nasty cold the past few weeks, starting with Hazel and working its way through us all. I took Ad in Friday and his had turned into sinus and ear infections. Then Hazel started getting sick again, sounds really awful. I took her in this morning and dr. said she actually had RSV (but no swabs were done, so I am wondering about that) but her ear was infected too. THEN, I went to pick up Adler from preschool and he had just starting feeling bad minutes before. He got a sudden fever of 102 and all those aches and pains...so E's taking him BACK to the dr. this afternoon. And then Hazel goes back Friday to make sure she is not getting worse. Poor kids. (and poor pocketbooks- $100 in copays in less than a week!) I feel really terrible for them. Adler is particulary pitiful and I hope it is not the flu.

Keep the kidlets in your prayers!!

I should have known

that with the first week of school would come the first cold of many! Adler woke up sick on Saturday morning, and what is more alarming to me at this point, is that Hazel started getting a cold yesterday afternoon. We are going to the doctor's this morning for her 2 month (YES- TWO MONTHS ALREADY!) check-up though, so at least I can have the doctor look at her (only to tell me to watch it and come in if she gets a fever).

So, if all goes well this week, meaning no hurricane comes and wipes out Panama City and our kids don't get pheumonia, we are headed for the beach on Friday for a much anticipated vacation!

Bleh

stomach virus+being pregnant- not a good combo at all.

what do you think

Overboard, or not? I want this crib so bad.

Not. It actually makes me a little nauseaus to look at it too long.

back from the dead

So I have spent the last two days wishing that my life was over- a stomach virus while you are pregnant and chasing around a toddler is NO FUN, let me tell you. E had it too and I am hoping Adler doesn't get it. He had a bit of something on Sunday, so I am hoping that he already got a touch of it and won't get a full blown case now.

Okay, need to go take a lysol bath!

Ahhh, refreshed!

I am coming into this week with a whole new outlook on life. Life is good once again. E's mom and dad kept Adler Saturday night while E and I went to the movies and dinner. It was so nice to have some time away from the house, without having to chase a toddler around or gulping down dinner in 2 bites. It was also nice to sleep late Sunday morning and enjoy a few hours of peace before getting him back. I realized that the last time E and I have had the evening to ourselves was February of last year! It was overdue! Thanks, mom and dad, not just for Saturday night, but for all you do. I don't know how we would manage our sanity without your help.

We did miss Adler though and were happy to get him back. I told E Saturday night that I was missing checking on him before I went to sleep. He is always his sweetest when he is sleeping!

I am 19 weeks pregnant now. I googled the size of the baby and read that she is the size of an heirloom tomato. A what? That's a random comparison. So I searched again and came up with a six inch subway sandwich. Now that, I can relate too! (in fact, that's what I had for lunch today!) I have to confess that I have bought a few little girl outfits. Its too hard to resist. My brother and sister in law came over a few weeks ago with some sweet little outfits too. I have another ultrasound on Thursday so hopefully I will get enough assurance at this one to cut the tags! I am getting used to the idea of having a girl, and I have to admit, its sort of fun browsing the Internet for pink. I have a feeling this baby is going to be quite different from Adler, whether it be a boy or a girl. I don't know if fetal movement is any indication of their temperament outside the womb, but this little one moves around constantly all day and night. I don't remember Adler being this active at 18-19 weeks gestation. We may have a fiesty one n our hands!

Ad gets his pic line out a week from today- woohoo! It really hasn't been that difficult to deal with; I am just ready for this ordeal to be over with. I know this is sort of too much info for some of you, but for those who have gone through adenoids/tubes put in, you may could help. I was told that he would have terrible breath from the adenoid surgery and that his ears would leak fluid for a few days. Neither has happened and it has been a week and a half since his surgery. I guess it could be due to the PIC antibiotics he is on, but it concerns me that the nasty fluid is still in his ears and the incisions where his adenoids were cut out have not started healing yet. Maybe we are just lucky to avoid these side affects. Anyone else not have these things happen?

Mommy Break

Momma is in need of a break, seriously. It has been too long. Shortly after Adler's birth, I started going back to work one day a week, to the job I quit before Adler was born. They needed a bit of help and I needed a little bit of sanity check. It was a nice situation for both of us! 2 years later and I am still doing this 2 days a week. At first, it was just the break I needed away from the house, but I guess I have gotten greedy or something over the last 2 years. I am more exhausted when I come home from work than ever. I honestly don't know HOW full time working moms do it. I wouldn't be able to function by Friday! Anyway, I chose to work on Mondays and Wednesdays because Ad is in preschool those days anyway. My mom or E's mom watches him on those afternoons while I work. That means on Fridays, I get a whole 3 hours to myself while he is in school! Its wonderful! But for the past 4 Fridays, we haven't been in school, so there goes my 3 hours. On top of that, 3 hours at the house is different than an evening AWAY from the house cleaning, bill paying and general errand that are run during that time.

I need an honest to goodness evening escape. Movie and dinner (Moe's!). We are trying to work that out for this weekend. I think it would do a world of good for both me and E.

Adler got his antibiotics delivered yesterday and we started them last night. I thought it would just be a syringe of the antibiotics, but its the regular drip drip, 45 minute long kind. Good luck to me trying to get a 2 year old still for 45 minutes! Luckily, he is sort of used to it from the breathing treatments, so hopefully it won't be too bad! So we have to do it for 14 days and then that PIC line is coming out, thank goodness.

Well, that's all on this end.

Adler's surgery update

We made it back home around 3 yesterday after a long day! Adler did great in surgery and although yesterday evening was sort of rough, he woke up today as happy as can be. He asked me this morning, "Nose doctor today?" Thank goodness I could say no to that one!



They gave him sedatives before they took him yesterday morning and I wish I would have had my video camera. He was the funniest thing, quick to give out big sloppy kisses and make jokes. He looked at me one time and said, "Happy, momma." I guess he was!



I was not prepared at all to how difficult after surgery would be; I honestly thought he would come out happy and asking for food. He cried and cried and cried, but once the anesthesia and morphine wore off some, he was much better.



The home health people came last night and then again today to show me how to do the pic line iv and I feel much better about it. Now I am just anxious to find out how long we will have to do it.



Thanks for all your prayers and calls yesterday!

We're thinking.....

PINK!!!!

The doc said he was 90% sure, but I go back in two weeks for a more detailed ultrasound; so I won't start painting pink until I hear it again. But that's what we are thinking!

We go in for Ad's surgery tomorrow morning at 7:45, so say a prayer for him on your way to work!

Uncool

Do you know what I think is "uncool"? The media, for attacking Jennifer Anniston for saying it was uncool of ex-husband's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie, to make comments about falling in love on set of "Mr and Mrs. Smith" as well as some other comments because it was during that time Brad Pitt was still married to Anniston. Um, hello, that IS uncool. Not as uncool as it was for Pitt and Jolie to have a relationship while married to Anniston in the first place, but still uncool. Pitt later said that the filming of this movie was still happening after the breakup of him and Anniston, but who really believes that it didn't coincide?

I can't believe that the media is a reflection of who we are as a society, but I guess it is that. I am just sickened at how liberal we have become.

On other news, I took Ad back to the doctor today at UMC and we scheduled to have his adenoids out, tubes put in his ears and a PIC line put in for IV antibiotics next Friday. I am really hoping this improves his situation and is the answer to some prayers we have had over him. I am feeling pretty positive about it.

Update

Well, I ended up taking Adler to the doctor yesterday about his stomach issues, only to discover that was the least of his worries as he has pneumonia too. I honestly didn't think his cold was all that serious because he wasn't doing any of the wheezy, raspy breathing he did the other times he had pneumonia, and his high fever only lasted a day or two last week. But apparently, he has it. After a shot and a bundle of prescriptions, we are doing better. He woke up happy and energetic and wanting to eat. I had never heard of this, but the doctor sent me home with these little granules to mix in with his food to put the bacteria back in his stomach that he has been emptying out. And I think its working! We had a normal diaper this morning. And he slept ALL night. And the icing on the cake, I didn't stay up all night coughing either. We had a good nights sleep. God must have known we were all at breaking points.

On other news, I am about 15 weeks pregnant now, the wee one is the size of a lemon! Can't wait to start feeling those little kicks. Hopefully we will find out the sex in about 2 weeks. There is a lot of pressure for this one to be a girl, after a run of 5 boys on my side and 2 on E's side. The oldest grandchild on both sides are girls, and after that, all boys! Everyone says they don't care, but my mom has already informed me she has bought pink and E's mom says she doesn't care as long as its healthy, and a girl. In truth though, I know no-one actually cares though. A baby is a baby! I actually can't even imagine how I would mother a girl after having a boy.

We have pretty low-key New Year's plans. And by low-key, I mean no plans whatsoever. We certainly can't get Ad out, so I suppose we will just ring it in quietly with Ryan Secrest.

Can I wake up now?

Just tell me that I have been in this terrible dream the past few days and I am going to wake up to a happy healthy family.

So I may be a little dramatic. We all have been sick sick at the Mason house the past, oh, month, mostly just colds and sinus infections and ear infections, but miserable all the same. E has escaped most of it all, but then he says I coughed on him in my sleep a few days ago and now he has a cold. He's actually kind of mad at me I think. I keep catching him giving me the stink eye. So then last week, Ad had a fever for a few days and then just had the sinus stuff, but then he started getting runny diapers. Well, in the past several days, the diapers have gotten worse and now he has started throwing everything up. So, I guess he has a virus or something too.

So, family that we have seen over the holidays, I am guessing Ad was carrying around some slighly dormant virus that has now evolved into a full blown sick-fest. I pray that we didn't infect anyone, and I am going to feel terrible if we did, but you may want to be on the lookout. I am so sorry if any of you get it.

Yay, the latest

So, Adler has been doing remarkably well the past month, considering he has been sick most of the past year. About a week after we scheduled his surgery, he started to come out of the fog and hasn't had even as much as a sniffle in 4 weeks. I am still doing breathing treatments on him, but he hasn't been wheezing at all either. So I took him in to see his dr. yesterday for him to check him out because I didn't want to go through with the surgery next week if he was all clear.

AND HE WAS! His sinuses and his ears are completely clear and unblocked. So I cancelled his surgery. If it comes down to it again, I can reschedule it, but why do something when he has been consistently healthy for a month?

Anyway, I truly feel that God intervened on this one. I know his breathing problems and sinus infections are not serious health issues, but I think God pays attention to it all. And I know he took care of Adler.

So, that's the latest update- no surgery!

Adler's Update

So, we went to the ENT today to see if we could figure out why the munchkin is staying so sick. A CT Scan was done and apparently his sinuses in his cheeks are completely blocked and the ones under his eyes are almost completely blocked. The bacteria that is causing the infections is considered a super bacteria because it has been resistant to all the antibiotics we have tried with him. In addition, his adenoids (sp) are too big and may be causing the bacteria to stay put instead of drain out.

So, he is scheduled for surgery to get his adenoids taken out the first of June. During which, he will also have a culture done on the bacteria to determine just what kind of antibiotic he needs. The antibiotic will not be able to be an oral one. He will have to have a PIC line inserted in his arm and I will have to give him IV antibiotics each day for a little under a month. That's the only part I feel not okay with. The adenoids, well, lots of kids have to have those taken out, but the PIC line just gives me shivers to think about. Although, anesthesia for the procedure sort of creeps me too.

Anyway, that's the latest. I am really hoping that this works and he will start to be a well baby again soon.

I think I forgot to add that last week at the doctor's, we were given instruction to start him on an asthma med called Pulmicort- its an inhaled med through his nebulizer. The good thing about this is that it commonly prevents children from having long-term asthma the earlier it is started. I really do think that all this stems from allergies, so as soon as he gets old enough to be diagnosed and treated for that, we will start to see some of the other problems resolving. But meanwhile, I am hoping the Pulmicort and the surgery gives Ad some immediate relief!

Sick- this post title is getting OLD

I think I will just start posting when Adler is well rather than when he's sick as sick is the norm around here. Its just a cold, but a NASTY one. He looks like he has two black eyes! Anyway, he's a trooper though, and he has learned to sleep and play through colds so its not as bad as when he was a little baby.

Other than that, we had a good weekend. My cousin came over to visit Thursday night. We had to satisfy "her" chinese craving and went to eat at 8:30 at night (gasp!). I love going to eat with pregnant people because I never feel bad for eating a bunch- I have to in order not to make them feel bad for eating- its the least I can do! Anyway, we had a great time and it was so good to spend time with her.

Friday night Eric played video games all night so I watched Atonement. If you remember I did not like the book at all. I have to say though, the movie was really good. The angles the film was shot in, the colors and imagery were all so beautiful. Even the soundtrack was clever. And I am completely ashamed to admit this, but I got something in the movie that I totally missed in the book, a big important something. I guess my eyes had blurred over that part in the book.

I am typically one of those people who is a total book snob when it comes to the movie version. I can think of only one movie that was better than its book, "Mona Lisa's Smile", and truthfully, I didn't like either one. But for me, "Atonement" made a much better movie.

Saturday, Eric woke up with Adler and I got to sleep in until 9:30!!! Oh, and I got breakfast in bed. And it gets better. When I did get up, I found that my laundry room, which is eternally cluttered and messy, was clean! Fab!

Adler and I went with my mom in law to the flea market- it was a beautiful day and we had a great time. By early afternoon though, Ad was feeling pretty gross so we went home and took naps. That night, we went to eat with family and came home and watched another movie- The Dewey Cox movie- which was terrible.

We skipped church on Sunday because Ad was feeling bad and ended up watching ANOTHER movie that night- Sweeney Todd- another must miss movie. I didn't realize it was a musical and I definently need to be in the mood for musicals.

SO, that's our weekend in a nutshell. It was a good one!

quick update

Adler has pneumonia again, so keep him in your prayers! Seems like every time we turn around, the little guy is getting sick again. Anyway, we are on breathing treatments every two hours, so hopefully things will be looking up for him soon.

Superhuman

Who knew that all I needed to do to get that piano moved in my house was give Adler albuterol and he would do it for me?

Apparently, albuteral, the meds he gets for his breathing treatments makes him vibrate in place too. My kid's got energy today, and lots of it. Its so good to see him smiling. He is the funniest thing too; literally, running in place, bouncing and just acting like a little crazy man.

the sick house

Things are not good around our house these days. Eric has a stomach virus that just won't go away and Adler has pneumonia, that hit hard and fast and will hopefully leave just as fast as it came. We are doing breathing treatments with him and keeping him full of antibiotics and fever medicine, so hopefully he will start to feel better soon. I have to take him back in on Monday and if its worse, then he may be admitted, so pray that he will improve and not get worse. I am pretty confident he won't get worse though as we caught it early and started treatment early.

Anyway, that's what's going on around here.

Prayer

Please keep little Ethan and his family in your prayers today and in the coming weeks. He needs them!