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Sick Baby

But not that sick.

Both kids woke up kinda icky on Tuesday, Trevor a lot worse than Devyn. She just kind of sounded off, her voice was a little stuffy sounding, but it went away quickly and has never come back. Trevor on the other hand? Full blown miserable. Fever, cough, stuffed up, snot everywhere, tummy aches... the poor kid was literally whimpering.

Being flu season and with that flu going around like wildfire, I called the pediatrician to see if there was anything extra I needed to do for him. Bring him in to get checked just in case? No, wait it out and see if it gets worse. Decongestants? No, no longer approved for kids under 4. Awesome. So we sat at home and kept him doped up on Motrin and Tylenol to keep the fever away from the 102+ range that he was creeping towards.

Thursday afternoon he woke up from his nap and was breathing really fast and shallow and generally scared the living tar out of me. His temp? 103.6. Down to the Urgent care we went.

They checked him inside and out, his breathing and heart rate were faster than normal but that was just due to the jump in temperature. Lungs are clear (x-ray just to be safe proved no pneumonia), snot test for h1n1 clear. Bubby's just got a good old fashioned flu. They gave us an Rx for tamiflu but said since it had been more than 48 hours since the onset that it wouldn't do any good anyway (thank you pediatrician...)

So we have the vaporizer going, mentholatum smeared everywhere, every 4 hours an alternating dose of Tylenol and Motrin, and we wait it out.

And keep our fingers crossed no one else in the house gets it.

Halloween Pics

The queen and the fireman. One of these years I'll talk them into coordinating costumes :)

 
 

Pumpkin Patch

Just a quick post with a bunch of pictures from the pumpkin patch :)

Corn slides!

They're big on posing at the moment, no complaints!!

This one she did all by herself.
 
 

Then he wanted to copy and out came the cheeeeeesy smiles

 

He only wanted the mutated, moldy, kicked in, and diseased pumpkins. He ended up with a funky little thing that thankfully wasn't rotten but also didn't stand up. We call it his Charlie Brown pumpkin.

He was happy about it :) 

Gaston

Quick post for a crazy cat lady that I know that misses this little kitten...

Showing off his bald tummy pooch. He hasn't gotten any less weird with age.

Eyes are still the same freaky orange.

Still likes the dog more than the husband.

 
Still a sweetie.

This one still gets insanely jealous and moody if I take pictures of anyone but him. 
 
 

This girl...

...Finally decided she didn't want to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween again this year. She's been wearing her old costume (with "princess beads" and shoes) every day since she picked out a new Cinderella dress for this year.

...Is loving, loving, school. She says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up so she never has to stop going to school. Oh, and she's going to be a rock star at night and an artist on the weekend. The girl has ambition :) 

...Is starting to realize how much fun it is having a little brother. Sense the sarcasm, please.

...Loves loves loves the song "Must Be Doing Something Right" by Billy Currington and listens to it all day long (no, my Ipod no longer belongs to me apparently, my children have taken over) She says it reminds her "to do things right" (be still my heart!!)

...Is learning to read at lightning speed. The lightbulb just clicked on a couple of weeks ago and now there's no stopping her. Scott and I spelling out words in conversations no longer has the same secrecy factor as it did a month ago.

...Still insists on sleeping with "Saffie", her doggie, every night. As well as a lady bug, care bear, horse, three more dogs, two seals, a killer whale, and a kitten. Pretty soon there won't be room for Devyn in her own bed and more.

This girl is absolutely the most enchanted, vibrant, loving, and obnoxious little thing I have ever laid eyes on, and I can't get enough of her.
 
 
 

This boy...

...Is one of the sweetest, most gentle souls you will ever know. Unless it comes to his sister, then he's all slaps, shouts, and tantrums.

...Has a serious obsession with legos, monster trucks, and flip flops.

...Listens to "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean at least a dozen times a day.

...Talks non stop, whether you choose to respond or not, he just keeps going and going and going...

...Hates having his hair styled but begs to have it cut almost daily.

...Loves having pretend conversations on his many (many) play phones. His ringtone? Big Green Tractor, of course (which he sings himself)

This boy came up to me yesterday with a chocolate pudding mustache and his Mater undies turned inside out and said "Guess what mama?" and I said "What buddy" and he said "I wub you". I have since been a puddle of mush.
 

These two...

...Drive me crazy on a daily basis

...Fight non stop about the stupidest things

...Started the "Mom!! She's looking at me!!!" routine in the backseat this week

...Refuse to eat any meals without nagging and bribes

...Refuse to pick up their toys most days and tell me to just "throw them away". I do.

...Only agree to agree when it's disagreeing with me.

...Absolutely love each other to pieces

...Make each and every day of my life an absolute joy and adventure

Two Wheels!

My little school girl begun getting envious of all the bikes she saw tethered to the bike racks at school and decided she, too, wanted to ride her bike to school in the mornings. I, in turn, saw this as a great motivator for her to ditch the training wheels and pointed out how all the other bikes only had two wheels. She jumped on board right away and agreed to take hers off.

One night after daddy got home we took the extra wheels off of her hot pink princess bike. He and I tried to talk her through everything, from balance to steering to brakes. We then tried to duplicate the scenes from movies we've all seen a dozen times, where the parent holds on to the back of the seat, runs along side, and then lets go and the child miraculously doesn't topple. We failed. Miserably.

 

Devyn was so worried about us letting go that she never kept her eyes in front of her, and inevitably steered the bike into numerous bushes, curbs, and cars. After a few days of frustration from all of us because of the lack of progress, it dawned on me. As much as Devyn thrills in being the big sister, the big kid of the family, she still plays the wimpy baby card as much as she can. The entire time on the bike was was whimpering and whining at every chance when her dad and I were present. I told Scott that I would bet a large sum of money that if we left her on her own she would be riding in under an hour.

Bingo.

We have a nice little dead end street just a few hundred feet from our house, so one afternoon I stuck her on that street, drew a chalk line that she wasn't to cross, and went back and played in the front yard with Trevor. I could keep an eye on her but wasn't hovering. Within five minutes she was yelling down the road "MAMA I BALANCED!!!" Ten minutes later it was "I WENT FROM THE BUSHES TO THE BOAT!" (which was parked about halfway down the street) and within an hour she was a wobbly but confident two-wheeler.

 

The girl doesn't need long, complicated lectures to learn. She didn't need hovering, over protective parents. She needed time on her own. She needed me to trust her to follow the rules and stay safe when I wasn't right next to her reminding her all the time. She needed to build confidence on her own instead of hearing "great job Dev!" every fifteen seconds. She needed to be alone, and that breaks my heart just a little, but it's a good break in a way. 

 

She's growing up. *sigh*

Here's a quick video she actually requested (*gasp!*) I take so she could show off to everyone. It's only taken me a week to get it off the camera and onto the computer... (sorry for the weird cropping on it, it will take me another year or two to figure out the technicalities of internet video, this is why I stick with pictures)

Zoo Day

I'm being reminded that I need to update this, so here we go...

We had a nice, overcast day off a few weeks ago and decided to head over to the zoo. The crowds were few due to the colder temps but the animals were loving it. We got some great views of the new African exhibits with lions and cheetahs (I am stupid excited about those!!!) Lots of pics...

 

This big guy has been there forever but he's usually sleeping in the back, this was the first time I've seen him out front (and posing!)

 

On the other hand this (new) guy was happy to hide behind a log and avoid all the people trying to get his attention.

 

These guys were too cute. Very animated and we couldn't help but laugh at their resemblance to Tater Bugs.

 

 

*purrrr*

 

Yes mom, I ordered you a copy of this.

And this too because as absolutely imperfect as it is, I know you'll love it.

School Girl

It's official. My baby is a school girl.

 

A loaded-backpack carrying, adorable school girl.

 

Who also has two new holes in her head...

 

And would have worn head-to-toe pink today if given the opportunity.

 

She was literally buzzing and hopping the whole way to class...

 

But immediately settled down and stuck her nose in a book while the rest of the class got settled in...

 

Oh my goodness... my baby is a school girl.