Dallins turn

So last night I was awakened from my benadryl induced coma by my sweet Dallin crying out in pain... "owwweeeee" he cried over and over- at first I thought he was just really uncomfortable because he had wet the bed (his first time after a week and a half in unders), but then I realized he was very fevery and had thrown up all over himself and the bed... poor kid. He's only muttered a few words since- 1.) owwweee 2.) naooooo 3.) no wan' it. Since I know just how miserable he feels, it makes it all the worse- I'm just hoping that the general feeling of crappiness is what caused him to throw up- not a stomach bug on top of everything else.

On a personal/sweet note:

Nathan took Dallin and Bryson to the store to get some milk tonight. Before leaving, he brought Eli upstairs to lay with me on the bed. We cuddled for a few minutes, and then E got quite restless, arching his back and such... I kept repositioning him to try and make him comfortable, and finally found a comfortable place... for a moment anyhow... he started to cry again and was pulling at my shirt. Now, Eli has been weaned for more than two weeks, and for the month before that was only nursing in the dead of the night so he'd go back to sleep... and he hasn't shown the least bit of missing nursing it either. But as he was pulling at my shirt, and knowing how utterly miserable I had been feeling, I was willing to let the child try to nurse if it would comfort him at all.... he latched on for a moment and then pulled off and kinda screwed his face up a little, not sure of what he was tasting (is it possible for the milk to be sour straight from the source?). A bit more fussing and pulling at my shirt, so I let him have another shot at it- but he had the same response. Again he was fussing and pulling at my shirt, but this time when I lifted my shirt, he layed his head down on my bare chest, content to be close- so I took of my shirt and we lay there skin to skin- he fell asleep almost instantly. (Nathan would add: that's my boy!!)

As a NICU nurse, I know how important skin to skin care between a mommy and a newborn is, especially if that newborn is a preemie and has unstable vital signs- I have seen numerous times when a babe is frequently dropping his sats or tachypnic or just plain restless, and when placed skin to skin with mama, his vitals stabilize. I had erroneously assumed though, that this was more for newborns and preemies. Not that I'm going to take my older boys skin to skin, but it was so sweet to have him calm so easily and find sleep and comfort laying on my chest.

B-ball

Daddy's last church basketball game was last week and since it was at 7:30pm, I decided to get the boys in their jammies and go to the game... Dad had an appointment just before the game so I took the boys alone- when we got to the game, dad wasn't there yet, but the kids were oblivious- apparently seeing dad play was not why they had come... I was there for probably ten minutes before Nathan showed up and Bryson and Dallin had no clue. After a while though, they noticed Daddy and were quite into the game...

Eli was all about the game too...

I hope I don't go to jail for this...

Surprisingly, Dallin is quite independent with the whole potty training thing. Also surprising is the fact that I'm mostly okay with it! He does pretty good at standing up on the stool on his tippy toes, putting the seats up, pulling down his pants and unders and then peeing... with no hands *cringe* He actually aims better than his big brother most of the time- for now.

Today I heard him potty upstairs and a few minutes later, he came downstairs buck naked from the waist down and carrying a different pair of unders than he had on before... I'm perfectly okay with that because at least he's recognizing that he's wet and doesn't like it! He's definitely not the best at dressing himself, I think he only 1/2 tries, hoping that I'll just do it for him... it took quite a lot of coaxing to get him to keep trying until he got them on at last... or so I thought... a few minutes later, this is what greeted me when I walked into the kitchen:

Both legs in one leg hole... at least he had the waistband right!

Thank you ibuprofen

On Friday evening, Nathan and I went out on a date with some friends- we went to the Melting Pot, which personally, I think is quite overrated, but overall, we had a fantastic time... I loved the fondue, but c'mon, when I'm paying that kind of money for food, I don't want to share tiny plates... the only reason I ended up 1/2 way full was because it took 2 hours to eat... fortunately we had a great conversation with friends we enjoy... enough about that...

Aunt Emily watched the boys for us, and when we got home, she told me that Eli was really sick... I was surprised because he hadn't acted sick (beyond a runny nose, but hey, 'tis the season) at all the whole day before we left- but Emily said after we left (around 4:45), he fell asleep on the floor, so she put him in his crib- at 7pm she finally woke him up to have him eat dinner. His nose was really runny, enough that he was kind of gagging on the mucous and thus wasn't really interested in eating, so she put him to bed a little bit later. After I got ready for bed, I went in his room and held him for a minute after starting the humidifier- he was so snuffly but was sleeping well... that night at 1am, I heard him cough and wimper so I got up to check on him- I knew something was wrong when I went in his room because he was laying on his back with his eyes wide open... if he's awake, you can bet he's standing up crying at the crib rail... I picked him up and he was so hot and lethargic... He seemed hotter than the thermometer read (at only 101.7 axillary) and since he hadn't had much dinner, I gave him tylenol and he went back to bed just fine- though he was somewhat restless the rest of the night...

Saturday he didn't eat much, and slept for most of the day- but was in pretty good spirits- Sunday however, he was so fussy all day. And today I realized why. It hit me like a ton of bricks... or rather, a mack truck. I don't know how long it's been since I've been that sick- but I know it's been longer than I've been a mom, because I've never felt that miserable with kids jumping all over me... I hurt all over- my joints, my head, horrible pressure, constant chills- and I suffered with it all day- partly not taking any advil because I hadn't eaten anything, and partly because I couldn't summon the strength to peel myself off the couch for anything non-essential.... my kids were fed, and beyond that, not much. Dallin and Eli both napped for about 2 hours at the same time this afternoon, but I couldn't sleep- I hurt too much. When Nathan was home for lunch, I had him pull a freezer dinner out to defrost- I managed to get that in the oven so we had something for dinner- I was starving and ate a fair amount of dinner chased by 800mg of ibuprofen and then went upstairs and layed down on my bed. My wonderful and sweet husband cleaned up dinner and the rest of the mess that had accumulated all day...

What a difference the advil made! I felt human- and all I would have had to do earlier in the day to put an end to the misery was take the advil sooner. Stupid me. Now, I'm not even slightly thinking I'm over this, but I'm sure to arm myself with advil and decongestants if need be.

Potty Training- Part II

I have been putting off potty training Dallin for a long time. 'Potty Training Part I' was back in December when he was showing more interest than me. I've known for at least six months that I need to get started, but the thought of being the kind of mom that I was when I potty trained Bryson has been too disturbing to me. Disturbing enough to not really mind changing his rank diapers.

Spring. I'll wait for spring when he can run around outside wearing just a shirt and unders- nothin' like learning cause and effect like, "hmmm, that's a strange feeling... well- lookie here!!" But lets get real, if I wait for it to get warm enough for him to run around 1/2 naked outside, it'll be August- and he's got to be potty trained to start preschool in the fall.

So for whatever reason, on Thursday afternoon, I pulled out some Diego underpants and stuck them on him. Cool. He actually has done pretty good... he's gone to bed in his big boy underwear every night and has woken up DRY every morning... even for naps! He woke up crying from his nap yesterday and I had a little heart attack thinking he'd just peed all over his bed... when I went into his room, he was saying, "unders wet" so of course I checked the bed and it was dry... and so were his underwear except for a dime sized amount on the front... so we hurried to the bathroom and he went...

Now, lest you think this was the easiest child to potty train ever, I'll have you know that he generally has NO problem being wet during the day... often every 15 minutes... and though he has pooped on the toilet in the past, he's pooped in his underwear every time since Thursday- but really, the thing I'm so excited about is ME! (Am I self centered or what?) Really though, I'm amazed because for whatever reason, this go-'round, I've realized, it's just pee! How else will he learn without peeing in his underwear and feeling wet? I don't have to freak out and get all grossed out because it's just pee, plus, three out of the four times he's pooped in this pants, Nathan's been the one at home to deal with it. That makes it easier too *grin*

I was very encouraged this morning during Bryson's field trip because he stayed clean and dry the entire time we were there- I had almost put a pull-up on him, but decided against it... I took him to the bathroom two times (once he didn't go at all)- and when we got home, he went potty again... and then during lunch (15 minutes later) he peed in his pants. Go figure.

First tooth!

After lots of wiggling and wiggling, the tooth is finally out...Bryson could bend the whole tooth forward and backwards and it still wasn't coming out.... today he was showing daddy just how wiggly it was, and their conversation went something like this:
Daddy: Wow, Bryson, why don't you just pull it out?
Bryson: I can't... I know!! lets go down to your office and you can pull it out there!
Daddy: Do you want me to try to pull it out now?
Bryson: I dunno... ya.... [opens his mouth]
Daddy reached in and in 1/2 a second, the tooth was out~ Bryson was jumping up and down so excited that it was out because the tooth 'thairy' was going to come! And come she did... and rather than a shiny dime, Bryson got 4 whole quarters...

He's ready to get started on his other teeth.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh MY!

Bryson's preschool class took a field trip to Cabela's today... it is one heck of a store (and HUGE) and was quite fun to get to see all the animals that they have... very cool.

I'll explain about the patch later...

Dallin loved the fish tank especially.

Dallin is little enough that he could *easily* squeeze between the bars... and he did several times- he only wanted to pet the deer...

At the end we got tokens to shoot the guns in the 'shooting range'- The boys loved it.

Aye, Aye, Cap'n!!

So yes, we are patching Bryson's eye. Again. What is it with my kids and their eye issues?? I've only been to the optometrist ONCE (never an ophthalmologist) and that was 2 years ago and only because I'd been paying for the vision insurance for a year and figured I might as well get my eyes checked before I canceled the policy- and guess what? 20/20 vision. So obviously my kids don't get their vision problems from me... I'm just sayin'....

Bryson started seeing the ophthalmologist when he was 9 months old- apparently he had a very astute pediatrician because the ophthalmologist was quite impressed that he was referred in- most pediatricians apparently don't notice an abnormal red reflex on the retina until the child is much older... so every six months we've gone back for check-ups. They haven't ever really done much for him- we did patch for a while a few years back, with good results at the time. They had very creative ways of checking his vision before he could talk, and until he could talk and recognize objects, they really didn't know much at all of what was going on for sure. We now know his eye sight isn't great, especially in his left eye, but what we've been told is that it's not so much a problem with his vision per se, but more a problem with his eye muscles... so kinda similar to Dallins issues? Not really.

A few weeks ago, Bryson woke up with a red eye and some crusties on his eye lashes. Rather than chance spreading-the-love of pink eye (or pay the dr. bill) I put some e-mycin ointment in the eye for a few days-he hated it because it made his eye blurry... one night, after putting it in the affected eye, we sat down to read some books before bed- except Bryson couldn't read- we've known for a long time that Bryson's vision isn't that good, one eye being better than the other, but with the ointment blurring his good eye, suddenly, he couldn't make out the letters and words on the page! He was just in for an eye check up in October, but when I called the ophthalmologist they said he needed to be seen....

Turns out, in a matter of 6 months, his vision in his 'bad' eye has gone from 20/30 to 20/60. And since it's not an issue with his vision, but rather his eye muscles, we have to patch his good (right) eye for FOUR hours EVERY day until the end of MAY. Poor kid. He really doesn't like it, but is so patient with it- at first I tried to pretend he was a pirate, but he wasn't amused. Taking off the patch is the worst part- I don't think the kid will have a right eyebrow in a few months.

Hopefully the patching helps, because glasses won't fix the problem, and the next step would be surgery. SURGERY!! Needless to say, I've been very diligent with patching everyday.

Sideways

I looked in my rear view mirror the other day while stopped at a stoplight and had to laugh at how Eli's hat was... He normally pulls them off as soon as I get them on, but this time he had only managed to pull it sideways- what looks like the 'bill' of the hat is actually an ear flap- it was cute. Also cute, is Dallin in the backseat wondering what was worth taking a picture...

Suckers

Apparently I raise suckers. As in paci/finger suckers. I recall quite vividly being in the hospital when Bryson was born and his voracious need to suck and suck and suck and, well, I was a first time breastfeeding mom and it was kinda was starting to hurt, so I pulled him off... and he cried so I latched him back on... OUCH! pulled him off... more crying... my nurse appeared with a paci and in his mouth it went... and then I thought (in my 1st time mommy naive-ity that I wasn't quite sure I want him to have a paci... so I yoinked it out of his mouth... more crying immediately followed by the paci going back in his mouth, this time for good...

When Bryson reached (again in my naive 1st time mom opinion) the appropriate age (14 months) I made the executive decision for the paci to go bye bye... first it was limited to when he was in his crib only, and then gone altogether. Really, he was fine with it for a month or so and then he found his finger- HELLO AGAIN PACI! He was glad to get his paci back, but made no beans what-so-ever about sucking his finger when a paci wasn't readily available. At first he was a non-discriminatory finger sucker- they ALL tasted good and when one would get sore from sucking it too much, he'd just move on to another, but now he sticks to his pointer fingers... And the finger sucking battle rages on.I snuck upstairs to take a picture after he'd fallen asleep- apparently his finger had fallen out of his mouth.

When Dallin was born, I had no problem giving him a paci, but his hyperactive gag reflex sometimes interfered... if I tried to 'impose' a paci on him when he wasn't ready, he'd gag down to his toes and occasionally puke too. He didn't 'need' his paci so much as a newborn, but rather grew into his paci-love-need. I thought I had learned my lesson with Bryson and taking his paci away too early, so I let Dallin have his paci until the ripe old age of 18 months, but I had baby #3 coming and so the paci had to be gone before the baby came so as not to confuse whose paci was whose. 

As with Bryson, everything was fine for a few months... SIX months actually, and then one day, I watched as Dallin observed his big brother watching tv- Bryson was laying on his belly on the floor propped up on his hands sucking his finger... and then, slowly and deliberately, Dallin laid down on his belly next to Bryson, mimicking his position exactly, rested his chin on one hand and stuck the pointer finger of his other hand in his mouth. Six months he'd been paci free, and in one single moment, he started a new habit. In the early weeks of his finger sucking, he often come to me complaining that his "ghingoe hotes" (finger hurts) and sure enough, he'd have big ol' open sores on either side of his finger(s) that would take forever to heal, but did it dissuade him? Oh no, not my boy. He has since developed calluses on his fingers where his teeth rub when he sucks.Nothin' like a sloppy wet finger wiped on you by your kid when he's done sucking... thanks.

Wow, this whole post thus far has been a digression! The real reason I started this post was to report Eli's attachment to his paci's. Not just one paci, but many... at once. I've finally found the magic bullet to getting him to lay down and take naps without (much) fuss. I put one paci in his mouth, and one in his hand. He'll immediately make a swap with the one in his hand for the one in his mouth, and sometimes find a rogue paci lying next to the bumper in his crib and grab that one with his free hand (sometimes swapping again)... but he lies down and (eventually) goes to sleep... except for those times he gets mad and throws all the paci's out and then stands there crying for all of them.I think he's hiding them in his crib so he can find them when needed.

Silly boy

Bryson got himself dressed for bed tonight...

He is such a silly silly boy.

And I will use this picture as blackmail someday.

Big helper

Daddy described it well tonight... Eli is in that stage where he makes messes- throws everything out of it's place over and over and over... and over. He recently discovered that there are drawers under my washer and dryer. Just great.

On the bright side, it does entertain him for quite a while, and he's not emptying out the kitchen trash can, a box of cheerios or playing in the toilet.

Eli's drawer

So I keep sippy cups in a bottom drawer. What else would I keep there that is okay for my kids to get into? Plus, it's kinda nice that before my kids can verbalize their need for a drink, they can go get a cup and bring it to me to let me know they're thirsty. Eli, in his current stage of messes and destruction, takes it upon himself to systematically empty most of the contents, and then climb on in and finish the job.

At least he's thorough.

Fortunately he's too darn cute to get too frustrated with.

Looth Tooth

Bryson was complaining after church on Sunday that he had something in between his front teeth... naturally, Nathan was the one to check things out, but his 'exam' didn't turn anything up- so Bryson came to me, and lo and behold, he has a loose tooth! He was so excited and wanted to tell everyone about it- and pretty much did for the next few days.

He is so impatient to get it out- but he really hasn't been all that good at remembering to wiggle it... He knows all about the tooth fairy too- Aunt Kristi recently was reading him a book about a moose that lost his first tooth- so when I mentioned the tooth fairy in relation to him loosing this tooth, he exclaimed with joy, "And she'll come and leave me a shiny dime!" Sounds good to me!
An apple a day... except he doesn't bite into it with his loose tooth...

So excited!

In 30 minutes, Nathan's parents flight arrives here in Spokane!! We're SO excited! Can't wait CAN'T WAIT!!

How do I love thee...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM3mlgLAlMs&NR=1

Beautiful.

HOME!!

We are SO SO happy! Nathan's mom and dad have (safely) returned from their 18 month humanitarian mission in Amman, Jordan!! Since we're not in Kentucky, we weren't able to be at the airport *sniff*sniff* but Amie (my sis-in-law) posted pictures... Thanks Aim-

BUT, we get to have mom and dad/John & Robin/Grandma and Papa out here with US for a whole week! We are SO excited... they come next Friday- can't wait, can't WAIT!!