105 scare

Isaiah has been the healthiest little boy. Before this winter I think I could count the number of times he has been sick (cold, flu, etc) on one hand. It seems that this winter has been hard on him! He's had a running nose/stuffy nose and a cough several times...he's thrown up several times and now he has his first ear infections ever!

This past weekend it started with diapers that were sooooo yucky...you basically had to hold your nose and hurry...it turned into taking off the diaper and put him in the bath/shower to get him clean..ew, I know...but Sunday he seemed better and those icky messes stopped coming...so he went to Laura's like normal on Monday (ALL day long because Mark left for the Special Olypmics--to help, not participate ha ha :) --THANK YOU Laura!) She had a long day with him and knew he didn't feel good. On Monday night when we got home I took his temperature to find it was 102.7 degrees! poor little boy. I gave him some medicine and we laid low for just a little while and I knew Isaiah was ready for bed. Tuesday I was home and he still didn't seem like himself, but he was playing with Jayda and it seemed like just a bad cold...and his fever was just a little over 100. Wednesday came and his eyes were droopy and he looked miserable so I decided enough was enough and we went to urgent care. The doctor said both of his ears were very infected...so he started on his amoxicillian... We continued to take it easy and let Isaiah dose in and out on the couch upstairs...after awhile, we both looked at Isaiah and saw just how RED his cheeks were...so we decided to take his temperature again... Mark took it and looks up at me and says, "it's 105 degrees!" I said, "WHAT?!" and looked at the thermomiter. We both started to panic...I said, "call the doctor!!!!" so we did. (Thankfully we have a doctor who has a pager that he allows his patients to call any time to answer any questions and he always returns the page within a few minutes...) While waiting for the doctor's call, we called my mom to see what she thought...The doctor told us to give him a dose of Ibuprofin and get him in a lukewarm bath...and if the fever wasn't down to 104 or less in 30 minutes to head to the ER....Still panicing we got Isaiah down to the bath (screaming because we woke him and he's hot and sick), he hated every second of the bath, but we got him to stay in about 7 or 8 minutes. We then took him back upstairs (because that's what he kept asking to do -- "go upstairs and watch mommy and daddy's show" is what he was saying.) and then we took his temperature again--103.8--whew! but is that down enough to stay home??? So we called the doctor back. He said to keep watching it and to continue to keep him comfortable. By the time we got off the phone with the doctor it had gone down to 103...and before long it was down in the 102s... and then we saw a comercial for pancakes...Isaiah popped his head up and says, "I want some pancakes mama." Mark and I looked at each other...and I said, "okay, I'll go make you some pancakes." Isaiah decided he wanted to come with, so Isaiah and I made pancakes at like 9:45pm... and he was happy as can be...and by the time we were done eating pancakes his fever was down to 99.3... Just to be safe, Mark decided to have a little slumberparty with Isaiah and sleep upstairs together on the pullout futon. He got up with him a couple times in the night to give him more medicine (and to watch him talk in his sleep!:)) and we survived the night...

oh my goodness, I think that was the scariest experience in my parenting life...but we made it through---and I have to say, Mark and I made a pretty good team!
Isaiah helping make the pankcakes. Look at his red little cheeks.

Pancakes are done-Mickey Mouse! Look at how sick he looks :(

Slumber party with daddy.

go white team!

The other night we were all upstairs hanging out...Mark had on a playoff (?) football game. There was a white team (New York???) and a black team (Steelers). Isaiah was off sweeping the bathroom and hallway as he likes to do for fun up there...when he came in, I asked him, "Are you rooting for the black team or the white team, Isaiah?" and he said, "The white team!" He obviously had no idea what any of that really meant, but it was pretty funny because Mark was rooting for the black team! So I said, "go team go!" which is our new family thing--whenever sports are on, one of us, including Isaiah, will start the Go Team Go chant. Isaiah's response was "go white team go!!" so Mark says, "go black team go!" Isaiah says, "go white team go!" and they went back in forth a few times until Isaiah said, "go black team go!" ha ha... a little while later, maybe 20 minutes or so, Isaiah who has been in and out of the room doing this and that comes in and says again, "go white team go!" It was so funny. I'm pretty sure he doesn't really understand the concept of teams and I KNOW he doesn't understand the concept of two football teams playing against each other on TV, but he knows enough to say, "go white team go!" It's so neat to watch him turn into a little boy and enjoy the things his daddy does.

footsteps and holding his head high!

"Following the footsteps, the footsteps, the footsteps, following the footsteps wherever they may go! Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot."

That's the song we were singing the other day when I had laid out a path of footsteps for the kids to play with. We had fun walking back and forth on the footsteps... Next time I'm going to have them laid out before the kids see them so it will be fun from the start! They were so excited as I was setting them up that they kept walking on the path before it was done... now we have them hanging on the wall so we can use them again...Isaiah keeps saying, "I want to walk on the wall." so Mark or I will hold him up so he can walk on the footsteps on the wall. fun stuff! :)

Look at how high Levi can hold up his head! He is getting so big!! We had his 4 month appointment today (really he's almost 5 months, but that's okay!) He weighed in at 18 pounds 9 ounces!! (the 75% percentile!) and 28 inches (the 95% percentile!) . He's a very healthy baby boy!

painting the snow!!!

On Tuesday when the babies were taking their morning nap, Isaiah, Jayda and I took advantage of the mild day and went out to paint the snow!! I took an empty contact solution bottle and an empty jet dry bottle and filled them with water. I dropped in several drops of food coloring and outside we went. The kids thought it was pretty cool! They emptied several bottles all over the snow, we started with red and blue. Jayda's favorite color is purple so for the second round I made purple and then she really got into it. We ended up with blue, red, green and purple snow. It sure makes our yard look pretty! Hopefully the weather will warm up and we can do it again!

goodbye to Christmas 2008

We had our last family Christmas gathering on Saturday. Unfortunately Mark was gone for a conference, so it was just me and the little boys. We had a nice time! Isaiah loves to go to these extended family things because there are always LOTS and LOTS of kids! I think I counted 23 kids (under 12 or so)! Isaiah got to eat his first ever candy cane! He loved it and wanted more...I think he did end up sneaking a second one (thanks to Uncle Colten!).

Santa even came and brought all of the kids a present!! Isaiah sat on his lap for just a second, Levi was asleep so I didn't wake him up to meet Santa...There's always next year. Isaiah was in awe of Santa pretty much the entire time he was there. He sat and stared at him and then moved his chair really close to him and just watched his every move. Later Isaiah asked, "where's Santa?" I said, "Santa went home." Isaiah looked up at me and said, "No, Santa's on the mountain." I'm not sure where that came from, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Mark's grandma makes each of her great-grandkids a quilted blanket for their first Christmas. Levi got to open his at this gathering. It is really adorable, it is a zoo animals pattern that goes along with the one she made Isaiah. She also makes a pillow with their name embroidered on it. Didn't she do a great job? (Try to ignore the bright green square...I didn't want to post our last name!)

And one last picture...Dakota holding his baby cousin...

So it's official our Christmas 2008 is over... only 11 months until the next one!

is it spring yet?

Isaiah is getting really tired of being cooped up in the house all day long every day! He is ready to go to the park and play and run!! I've tried to get him to the playland at the mall as often as I can, and get together with other little ones so he can run and play with them, and have dance parties together...but it's just not the same as the park. A few days ago, it was sort of warmer outside than it's been (our thermometer in the backyard said 25, but I'm not sure how accurate that is), so Isaiah and I took advantage of it and went out to play (little Levi missed out, he slept through all the fun!).

We had a good time, we got out some toys, we shoveled with Isaiah's new shovel he got for Christmas, we threw snowballs at each other (Isaiah's FAVORITE snow activity!--see this post for why). But after about 15 minutes, Isaiah started to fuss and said, "my hands are cold mama." So we went inside bummed that it is still winter... but before we know it, spring will be here and look out...we'll be at the park ALL of the time!! (hopefully!)

Isaiah getting ready to play, he thinks his snow pants are really cool!
Isaiah with the toys.
Happy to be outside!

fun with the kids...

When I had Isaiah we went to the breastfeeding support group at Allen Hospital almost every week for several months. Each time we went several of the same new mommies were there each time too. After many of us went back to work, we weren't able to go to the group each week anymore so we decided to stay in touch on our own time... We've gotten together several times since our little ones (who are all now 2+ years old!) were born. In fact, several of us, like me, have a second baby already! We had a play date party on Friday morning, I think we all had a blast...we all made it through without too much whining or crying, but lots of happy talking, laughing and playing!


Levi grinning through his binky



We should have taken the group pictures a little sooner...this was at the very end when all the little ones were just about ready for nap time...but oh well...it makes it that much cuter, right?