Home for the holidays

Well, after all the dust settled, it looks like we're going to be home for Thanksgiving this year. Alex was just too sick to travel. top if off with the fact that Scott and Nick are sick too and this is what's best for the family. One of our friends has graciously invited us to dinner on Thursday so I think we'll be doing that. would you believe the poor kid developed an ear infection on top of everything else? I feel like I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel though. He's finally starting to get back to his old self and Scott and Nick seem to be doing better as well. Hopefully we'll all be 100% for christmas - Scott's booking the tickets today. :)

We have a diagnosis

Well, we were told at the Dr.'s office today that Alex has RSV and bronchiolitis. I feel so bad for the poor guy. I guess it's good that we know what the problem is though. The ped doesn't think that this is in any way related to what he had last week. He's guessing he caught Nicholas' cold and it progressed from there. So we're on breathing treatments now and just watching him closely. Hopefully he won't have to be hospitalized. :( He will most likely not be over it by next week so alas, the breathing treatments will probably come with us to DC. Also, on a sidenote, Scott didn't get one of the jobs in Dallas that he was excited about, so all in all not a great day so far.

Sick kiddos

So both boys are sick now. Nicholas is struggling through a typical weather changing cold. He had a hard night on Friday and I'm thinking maybe his throat was just really sore as that's what happens to me when I first come down with a cold. Now he just has a very runny nose and a cough. Alex is still struggling with fevers. he had yet another fever this morning when he woke up and he refused to nurse or eat solids the first few hours up. he finally did nurse, but I still have to say I'm a bit worried about him. I gave him motrin but his fever hasn't dropped yet and he's only nursed about 3 times today and hasn't touched any solids. :( He's also been sleeping pretty much all day. We have his 9 month well visit appt. tomorrow so hopefully we'll find out more then. I just feel so bad for him and a little anxious as well as we still don't know what's causing all this. Hopefully we'll get more answers soon. In the meantime I just hope he starts feeling better soon. Scott had his first official offer come in yesterday and we're hoping to get a few more job offers in the next couple weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to finish this process up before christmas, but if not, he will still have about 6 weeks of paid time to continue the search after the holidays. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving next week - hopefully everyone will be healthy by then! :)

Alex and the ER

Ugh. So yesterday we ended up spending 6 hours between the urgent care and the ER with Alex. He woke up from his nap with a 103.7 degree temperature. That was a little high for my comfort level so off we went to the urgent care. Well, they poked and prodded him trying to find out what was wrong with him. I felt so bad. The poor guy had nose swabs, throat swabs, and blood sticks. They analized the blood and determined that he had elevated white blood counts so they told us we needed to head to the ER. So off we went to the ER where they proceeded to all the tests over that they did at the Care Now and then some. The poor kid was swabbed, rectal temped, catherterized, xray'ed, given shots, and more. He was so tired by the end of it that he fell asleep in my arms (and of course had to be woken up to have another rectal temperature 15 minutes later *sigh*). They gave him a shot of antibiotics and then he had to see the ped today (where they gave him another shot) and again tomorrow to make sure he's ok. It was diagnosed as an "unknown viral infection" so we don't know what caused it. Hopefully all is well now though. the poor guy's had a rough 2 weeks. :(

On a side note, I can't remember if I mentioned this or not but Alex has had both his 7th and 8th tooth come through as well. Alot going on for such a small guy. He seems to be taking it better than I would though.

Dino Days

We headed down to Dino Days at the Nature and Science Museum today. I think Nick really had a fun time. He had a fish painted on his face and got to design his own brontosaurus and have dinosaur tatoos put on his hands. Even Alex got a tatoo on his leg. Nick was scared of the big dinosaurs they had there but loved all the little versions of them. He had a ball in the science area of the museum as well. His very favorite display was the marble rollercoaster. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It's about 9 feet tall and has balls running up and down and all around from high to low. We could barely drag him away from it! All the lights were being turned off in the museum and he still wouldn't step away. I'm think I have an idea of a future christmas gift when he's a few years older. ;) Just watching him I'm almost sure he's going to be some sort of engineer when he grows up. You can just see him processing how it all works.

Alex, on top of finishing up his stint of roseola has popped his 7th tooth as well. No wonder the poor kid's been having such a rough go of it. Between his cold, the roseola, and new teeth, it's amazing he manages to smile at all. I'm hoping we're starting to come out of the fog though, because I could definately use a break (and some sleep!).

We're starting to think a little bit more about schools for Nicholas. We really have no idea where we want him to go yet, we're just pretty sure public school won't be an option as of right now. We're leaning towards montessori and will be making a visit to Coppell Montessori this week (http://www.coppellmontessori.com/home/default.asp). I'm thinking he will more than likely start next fall and we will most likely just start him two days a week (not sure if it will be half day or full day yet) and then if he likes it, he can do an additional day the following semester. I don't think we'll start him full time though until he's four years old. We will also be going to an open house at a catholic school (http://www.thehighlandsschool.org/) and a UMS school (http://www.coramdeoacademy.org/) so that we can cover our bases, so to speak, and learn about a few different teaching options. Hopefully this will help us better determine what type of curriculum will work best for Nick in the future. It's absolutely amazing to me how many choices there are for school these days. I love that we have so many options, but it definately makes it challenging to figure out which one is the best for your family!

Roseola anyone?

Well, we figured out that Alex had Roseola. I had never even heard of this before, but after noticing him break out in a rash after his fever I noticed another mom had posted the exact same symptoms on my mom's group. I guess it's extremely common this time of year for children Alex's age. The good news is that once the rash comes, the hard part is pretty much past. I'm hoping that's the case because it's never fun when your kiddos are sick. :(

So today I wanted to post a few reminders for myself on some of the "isms" that my children do to help me remember as they grow up so fast! Nick is talking up a storm these days. He's very into the "skool" aka stool and takes it everywhere so that he can get a better view on the world. It's just so cute to hear him learning words and sentences. He's becoming clearer everyday, but we still have sentences that we have to listen more than once to. Nick's always been picky, but the past few days he's been surprising me with trying cajun fried catfish (aka fishsticks) and broccoli (aka trees) which he's been offered multiple times but never actually ate before. And yet, when I'm cooking he'll take his skool and grab the butt end of a raw onion off the table and take a big ol' bite. lol Go figure. Alex's personality is really starting to show lately. He does this thing with his eyebrows where he raises them and gives you a big old cheesy grin. It's so adorable and just warms my heart everytime. He's also into having his back rubbed to help him sleep. If he's cranky in the crib, all it usually takes is a couple swirl of the hands to help get him back to calm again. What else.... Alex loves to eat food. He's so different from Nick in this manner. Nick didn't have any interest really in solid food until he was closer to 9 months, but Alex has been scarfing it down since 6 months and will eat almost anything you give him. While I'm holding off on the major allergens like peanuts and seafood, for the most part, he's eating what we're eating. Oh, and how could I forget - Alex LOVES to be on his stomach. Trying to get him to lay on his back for more than about a second is next to impossible. It definately makes for interesting diaper changing. ;)

This is just a food for thought comment - today at MOPS we discussed christmas (it's only 52 days away, can you believe it?!) and there were some great ideas passed around that we may do at our house. It was suggested that instead of the kids making a list of what they want, they make a list of what they're going to give everyone instead. What a great idea to get kids focused on giving rather than receiving. Another thought presented was that each child receive three gifts because this is what the baby Jesus received. I know that as a child, christmas was definately about the gifts, so that last one may be hard for me, but on the other hand, it's important to remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place, so it maybe a good tradition to instill. Maybe in our house the parents can give 3 gifts and then Santa can give one or two more. ;)

Halloween, sick kiddos, and other adventures in motherhood

Well, halloween was last night and Nicholas had a blast trick or treating. It was actually brisk last night and I had to layer his costume, but I loved it! He really brought home a big stash of candy which he will definately be sharing with mom and dad. Today we're pretty much in recovery mode. Poor Alex isn't feeling well. He's been a bit off for the past week, but the past two days he's been really unhappy. I may seen if I can get him in to see a doctor today just to make sure it's nothing too serious. Nothing new on the job front yet. Scott's just plugging along, interviewing and searching out new opportunities. We did find out that he has one official offer which is good news. He would ideally like to be done with this whole process by the end of November, but we're prepared to go through December as well. I really really want it to be over by January though, so I guess we just need to cross our fingers and say a prayer that he gets a great job that he loves. Anyway, I thought I'd share a few pictures from trick or treating last night. :) I'll post these up on the website as well.