Friday, January 27, 2012

Croupity Croup Croup!!

AKA: Crappity Crap Crap!!

Last week I woke up expecting a happy almost three year old who has gone to sleep with ZERO problems AND sleeps 13+ hours a night since he was 9 months old. Seriously, in the last 2 years London has only woken up 3 times in the middle of the night. He is the worlds BEST sleeper. He asks to go to bed every night and if he doesn't have a nap he clings to he baby gate begging to go to bed at about 6:45pm. I HAVE BEEN BLESSED!

CHECK!!! (No London's sleeping habits have nothing to do with this post, I was just bragging by telling you how awesome he sleeps.)

Next I woke up to a 3 month old BARKING at me. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. He didn't really have a runny nose, but he was definitely congested.  A quick check of his temperature confirmed my fears, and after a not so brief but very entertaining stop at the circus (yes, I said circus...and yes we already had tickets for the day time show, a little fever is nothing some Pedia Care acetaminophen can't fix) we headed to the Dr's office. It was Friday so I figured we better hit up the Dr or else brave the weekend with a sick baby.

20 minutes and a negative RSV test later, his diagnosis was Croup. Dr S told me rom the moment she walked in the room and heard Holden barking, that she had no doubt it was croup, but she wanted to make sure there was no RSV involved.

We were send home on  acetaminophen and a prescription for steroids. Have any of you ever seen a 3 month old with roid rages? Well I have it and it SUCKS!!

To understand this you need a little back story. My oldest sister has some health problems. Mainly asthma mixed with a fun concoction of every other problem you can imagine. Every so often she gets sent to the hospital where they pump her FULL of steroids and send her home. She spends the rest of the night cleaning her house. I'm talking DEEP cleaning her house. I would happily eat off her floors with in the week after her release from the hospital.

Anyway, so when my mom mentioned the day after Holden's diagnosis that she couldn't get me on the phone (London had killed it playing Angry Birds) my sisters response was "Of course not! She is sleeping...Holden was up all night cleaning his crib with a toothbrush." And in many ways she was correct.

Holden never slept, and ate nonstop! My nipples were raw for the next few days. Poor kiddo, felt better on the steroids but they made him so irritable. He would be asleep in his bed and just fussing. You could tell that it wasn't his "pain" cry that was making him fuss, he was just mad...and asleep.

Anyway...this is a really long story!

Within about 2 days Holden was 50 times better. I stopped his meds and his attitude improved as well.

Holden is 3 months old.. and he has been sick every 2-3 weeks since birth. Either this kid has the worlds worst immune system OR he has a big brother who is bringing everything home from preschool with him. I'm going with the latter. Hopefully this will be our last visit to the Doctor until the end of Feb and his 4 month appointment.

I'm kinda getting used to this face, so I can't have him getting sick again!



P.S.  PEDIACARE®  is running a pretty cool sweeps...


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*** Look out for a Pedia Care review and giveaway coming up soon***

I was in no way compensated for the P.S. plug! Its a cool opportunity for my readers and if any of you win, I EXPECT you to take me on the trip with you. My kids may or may not be invited to join us based on what kind of day I have had ;)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

More Kids?

I have 2 kids now. My uterus has barely gone back to size and I am already thinking of more kids.

Fact: I am a fertile infertile. 

We can't get pregnant without some serious medical intervention but apparently IVF works for us.  We have done it twice and now have two amazing and beautiful boys to show for it.






I'm going to be honest, as usual, and when we decided to have Holden, I was petrified of how hard having two kids was going to be. Now that I have him, I know the answer. Amazingly Hard! Difficult! Some days the only thing that can solve my craziness is a big glass (okay, BOTTLE) of wine. I need to drink 20 oz of coffee every morning, wipe my butt while talking to one child and holding the other, and sleeping every night glued to TWO baby monitors. My life is a pure chaos. Yet for some reason I can not stop thinking about having baby number 3...and possibly 4. 

You know how people always say tattoos are addictive? Is it possible that kids are also? Did I just compare kids to tattoos? 

I LOVE my boys, but it is no secret that I want a girl next. I don't want a girl for the cute clothes and hair bows. I want a girl so that someone will call me when I'm old and grey(er than I currently am). Boys get married and leave their mama's. Girls get married and call for advice, well some of them do. I wouldn't trade my boys for the WORLD. Even though I got a few "I'm sorry" comments when we found out Holden was another boy, we were honestly THRILLED! London got a brother close in age, and I got to reuse all of his ADORABLE baby stuff. Just kidding that wasn't the only reason we were happy, but it definitely didn't hurt.

So here I am already contemplating having baby number 3. No time soon of course, but I'm not afraid anymore. The change from one to two kids petrified me. However thus far it hasn't been so hard. I could handle three and if the third is not a girl (which would be fine) I am more than HAPPY to adopt a little girl down the road. One of my best friends Elizabeth warned me that it will get a whole lot harder when Holden starts crawling. I believe her that, but I live in the now! Right now I want another baby...maybe even two.

After the next baby even if she is a girl, I want to keep my options open. I may want another child.

I am the 4th of five children

However I am NOT willing to do another fresh IVF cycle. We have 5 frosties and if none of them create a baby, then we will adopt number 3 and call it a day...er...life.

I am also not willing to carry a 4th child. I love being pregnant, okay I actually hate it. I give up wine, gain 30 lbs, and spend 4 months on bedrest while stressing about keeping my baby in until 37 weeks. It's a cruel joke because I have never needed a glass of wine more than when I was stressing about preterm labor. Above and beyond all that...I'm not very good at pregnancy. My body just doesn't like it. So why push it? Child number four WILL be adopted. And I am ecstatic about that idea, especially after seeing my IRL friend Lora meet her new daughter thanks to the miracle of international adoption.

You should have seen Mikes eyes the other night when I said I possibly wanted 4 children. Since day one, over 11 years ago, we both said we wanted 3 children. He listened and told me he would be very willing to discuss it again after baby number 3. He didn't say yes...but he definitely didn't say no. :)


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Holden 2 Months!

Since his Dr appointments are running a few weeks behind at this point so are my posts.

Holden had his official 2 month Dr appointment on Monday...He was 11 weeks old.

Holden is getting so stinking big. I know everyone says that and I will probably start every post off like that for the next year or so, but IT'S TRUE!

He is really starting to sleep well at night. He goes down at around 9:30pm and sleeps until about 3:30am. That is 6 hours people!!! Now if only I could teach myself to go to bed at 9:30 so I could really enjoy those 6 hours. He then eats and crawls into bed with me (bad habit I know) until around 8:30am. It is glorious and I'm hoping he follows in his brother footsteps and stays such a good sleeper.

He is really starting to coo at us these days. He LOVES it when you talk to him. He talks back and mimics my sounds. I've already got him saying "hey" well at least it's a noise that SOUNDS like "hey" but that's a step in the right direction! HAHA!

He hates being put down, but unlike his brother he is happy with ANYONE holding him. London only wanted me to hold him starting at about 6 weeks old. Holden wouldn't care if it was the bum on the street corner as long as he is being held. Over the holidays when our families were in town, I swear I went full days with out hearing him cry because people just kept passing him from one person to another. He was a happy camper.

He now weighs: 14lbs (Birth: 7lbs 2oz and 6 weeks: 11lbs 3oz)
And is 23.5 inches long (Birth: 18.5 and 6 weeks: 21in)

Here is his 2 month picture! (And London's too, just for fun!)

Holden

London

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A Man and His Smart Phone.

Because I'm sure he will eventually hate me one day anyway...
 Posting this to my blog (and facebook page) can't hurt, right?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

My Nook, My Love.

So I got a Nook...and I LURVE it! No Seriously, I LOVE IT!

Over the last 30 days since I bought it I have read, 8 books! 

Twilight 1-4: I seriously loved these. I wasn't a huge fan of the movies, but I really needed to see how things were going to end in the last movie. So I did what any good cheater would do, I read the books. :) I loved the way it ended, no spoilers from me, but I can't believe Edward dies. KIDDING! I'M TOTALLY JOKING....Edward doesn't die.....OR DOES HE? I said this loud as I was walking out after watching  Breaking Dawn part 1...on opening night...as everyone was waiting in line to see the movie after me. I'm horrible, but this guys reaction was hilarious. Yes of course I told him I was joking, but it was funny none the less. 

The Hunger Games 1-3 OMG, these book are so sooooooooooooooooo (not enough o's to really explain how I feel) good! They were recommended to me by my awesome Bloggy readers and Facebook friends. I honestly did not think they were going to be my style by reading the excerpt, but these books have seriously become my favorite series of all times. I can not WAIT for the movies. I really hope they do them justice.

The Help: Oh how I loved this book. It was so great, and the best part is I've caught myself saying "Chilun's" not once but twice since I finished. Getting back to my southern roots!

Currently I am reading Water For Elephants. I've become quite the reader over the last 30 days. My Nook as been awesome since I can read and turn the pages one handed. I spend a lot of time in the glider nursing baby Holden these days and using two hands to read is just not an option.

I'm pretty sure my Tivo is plotting the assassination of my Nook. Poor Tivo has been so neglected since I got the Nook. I haven't even finished watching the newest episode of Teen Mom 2. I'm pretty sure Tivo deleted it early for some sort of passive aggressive revenge, but that is just speculation.



Thursday, January 5, 2012

Where Do I Even Start?

OK OK....lets start here.

Merry Christmas!!

Our Christmas looked alot like this...
and yes that is an accurate depiction of what I look like these days. 
My dieting and weight loss posts will be coming soon. HAHA!

On Christmas Eve morning, I woke up feeling "off". I went upstairs to find London in his bed COVERED in throw up. Poor guy apparently puked at some point during the night but he is such a sound sleeper it didn't even wake him up. He slept right through it. 

Within about an hour, I was puking too. My ENTIRE family was here from out of town (all 15 of them). My Mom was trying to cook and I was trying not to throw up by laying in bed all morning. London laid on the floor ALL DAY watching TV. Not whining or anything just laying on the floor not moving. Poor guy, he ate absolutely nothing all day, and I had to force him to drink something late in the day. He went to bed early with a brief smile when he was reminded Santa was coming. 

Christmas morning we were MUCH better. I felt like a million bucks and was ready to chow down on some traditional Christmas monkey bread and breakfast casserole. London however, woke up with a 102 fever. I have no idea where the fever came from but with a dose of Tylenol, 30 minutes later he was screaming "NEXT PRESENT" while ripping open of his gifts. 

By Christmas night, Mike had fallen as the next victim of the Christmas Stomach Flu. And a few hours later a few of my nieces and nephews were sick as well. By December 26th  it claimed its smallest victim, Holden had  it. It was a miserable few days for us, but we managed to smile for a few pictures between the puking. 

 The Loot Christmas Morning 
(Not all of it was for my boys, my nieces and nephews were there too)

London slowly getting started as he starts to feel better. 

Fever was gone and London was back in full force now!

His new Angry birds taking a  little trip on Thomas the Train. 

Holden showing off his new Christmas shirt.

London playing with his brand new Ipod Touch that Aunt Lori got him

What Mom!! Can't you see I'm trying to play Angry Birds?

The whole tired family Christmas Morning. 
(London couldn't be bothered to stop playing Angry Birds to take a family photo)

Holden testing out the new bouncer and Sophie that Santa brought him.


Whats next? Oh yes that's right!!
Happy New Year!!!

Our New Years started out like this....

And yet another accurate depiction of how I look right now. 

On Friday the day before New Years Eve, I came down with a little case of Vertigo that kept me in bed most of the day. And with 2 kids, that is definitely no fun and virtually impossible. No clue what it was, an inner ear infection maybe? But thankfully it went away on it's own by New Years Eve. 

We spent 5 days including New Years Eve up in North Carolina with my inlaws. It was fabulous to see them again and to have a little break from the kids. Yes the kids were with us, but no one was willing to put Holden down, and London managed to forced everyone into playing numerous games of Angry Birds. 

Holden posing with his TiTi

He is not even 3 yet and already refusing to take pictures with me.
Look at that face you would think I was torturing him. 

Of course there were more presents!

 Another exhausted family photo 

 Baby Holden was being completely spoiled by everyone. 
I don't think he got put down more than twice all week.  

Ok well I think I have managed to catch back up...for now. 

I have a few posts planned for this week so hopefully I won't be such a stranger over the next few weeks.