Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Welcome Home to us

We got home tonight around 7pm, instantly hit the showers to get all the germs off and we all went to bed. I feel like we were on some marathon over the past 5 days and now it's all hit home.

The final diagnosis was c-diff so he'll be treated with an antibiotic and a probiotic. He can probably go back to school on Thursday or Friday by the way it looks right now.

More later - I need to go to sleep.

Monday, April 27, 2009

He's very brave.

We debated all afternoon Sunday about if Nathaniel should go to school or not on Monday. By Sunday night, his bowel issues seemed to have cleared up so the answer seemed easy. He had a great night sleep, no accidents, no sickly wake ups other than a few bad dreams about his teacher not giving him his plant (they're each growing a plant in the window to watch the process).

When he got up this morning, he had lots more blood so the answer was clear - we needed more answers! So we headed to the Dr's at 9:30 to see his official pediatrician. Her opinion was to admit him to the hospital for fluids to clear up the dehydration while we wait for test results to return and run a few more tests while there.

Ever since we had Audrey, Nathaniel believe's there's a baby in his belly & that baby's name is Carter. So he was certain we were heading to the hospital to get his baby out. He was so convinced, that he told everyone on the way in that that's why we were there. They'd listen to him, then size me up & down and turn their head like a confused puppy as I CLEARLY don't look 9 months pregnant. RIGHT? I don't. Looking back, I should've played it up to really confuse the heck out all of them ~ breathing heavily, let out a few moans all while holding my back.

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After getting hooked up to some yummy IV drugs, they sent us to ultrasound to rule out Intussusception - this came back negative, big relief. The highlight of that was setting off the baby low jack alarm while being trasported which causes the hospital to go into shut down mode for a possible pedi-abduction. We're always up for a good adventure around here.

He's named his IV sock puppet Zachary. Go figure.

We hung out in the room few more hours and I got a call from our Dr's office telling me that he did test positive for C-Diff. This was most likely caused from him being on so many antibiotics for his ears & sinuses over the past few months. Very simple cure and easiest diagnosis considering......

BUT it might not be just that. The dr thinks if it were just c-diff that he'd have more discomfort, fever and vomitting. So we're here overnight and will have a nuc scan in the morning to take a look at his stomach - I can't remember the name of what they're looking for. That'll be tomorrow's learning lesson.

We're in a great room with a view of the City buildings.
There's a bed and a crib in here, Just don't feed the animals:

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Yes, she is chewing a plastic bag. No, I'm not sure how she got her hands on it. Apparently, it was more important to me to take a picture than to remove the plastic bag. But if she's gonna choke, now would be the time to do it. We could just set off the pedi alarm again and have the entire Elliot staff come running to save her from choking.

He's training to be a cage fighter in the octagon
(that won't be funny to you unless you've seen Napoleon Dynamite)
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I'll leave you with this shot as I'm now gonna get in bed and snuggle with a crabby boy that just got woken up to drink a very gross medicine.

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

So Big and So Little

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How many times can you say poop in one weekend

It started Friday morning. Nathaniel had many accidents at home within the one hour he was awake and ready to leave for school. Then I got a phone call at work around 10am asking me to drop off more underwear as he was clearly having problems. I cancelled a conference call, decided to turn in payroll late, ran to Kmart & bought 12 more pair of underwear and a package of 33 pullups. I figure that would last them for the day.

By Friday night, he was wiped and begging to go to sleep by 6pm. We thought maybe the worst was behind us but Nathaniel woke up at 10pm and had a pull up full of you-know-what, topped off with a nice coating of blood - always extremely heartwarming to see. Dan got him cleaned up while I made the all familiar call to the after hours nurse. We decided to see how he was in the morning and maybe it was just irritation from all the activity during the day.

Saturday morning, the poop storm contined. More blood, more frequency, less bowel control. Despite it all, he was in a GREAT mood. Very excited to go and do this:


Gymnastics 4-24-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.


He showed improvement since last week. I'm so glad he went and was able to make it through the hour accident free. He's psyched that he can do the somersault all by himself.



Fast forward a little, things in the rear are still ominous. We take him in at 1:30 for an exam, where they confirmed, Yes, he's pooping blood. No, we don't know why. Off to the lab for a beautiful experience with a needle and we're sent home with a hat and 2 little culture containers.
So our first 80 degree day of 2009 was spent mostly inside - catching poop, talking about poop, cleaning up poop.

The good news is his blood work showed that his white cell count is just fine. As I write this, he's still dealing with bleeding. We'll drop off those two containers tomorrow and wait for our next batch of instructions.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Gymnastics & Band Practice

Nathaniel started gymnastics last weekend. He had a great time - they did an obstacle course full of rings, balance beams, push ups, somersaults, rope swing, climbing, hand stands and more. It's an hour long and he was SO worn out afterward. It's a 4-5 year old class and clearly the other kids have been going for a while but he got the gist of it. It was definitely a challenge for him to do it all.

I videoed a TON of stuff but managed to screw up the camera - so i got a lot of great shots of my sweater & jeans & the floor. I did manage to salvage .58 seconds below.

Ignore the pageant mom talking next to me.


1st Time at Gymnastics 4-20-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.




Dan & Nathaniel continue to have band practice in the basement. This weekend, Nathaniel introduced his new hit "the robot song". He cracks me up.


The Robot Song 4-19-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Name That Rash

Nathaniel's had this rash since Thursday night. It's on his arms & legs. He has a sinus infection and had a fever on Friday. The rash was there BEFORE we started antibiotics. It's not raised.

I'm clueless on this one. If he still has it Monday, I'll call the Dr. But was hoping you internets could maybe take a stab at what it might be.


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Video Spotlight

They're long, I'm warning ya.



Peek-A-Boo 2-10-09


Audrey 2-10-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.


Audrey's Talents & Hatching Eggs 4-10-09


More PeekABoo and Hatching Eggs 4-10-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

the things they say

Tonight Nathaniel was playing with Dan

"Daddy, you be the dog catcher and I'll be the dog thrower"

Boys....

"Mommy, I like to pick my nose"

Sunday, April 5, 2009

"I had a good day"

We had fun yesterday. While Dan was at work, we went to Home Depot Kid Construction thingy that they do the 1st Saturday of each month. The day's project was a birdhouse. With some slight assistance, he did a great job. You get an apron and with every project you do, you get a pin to put on it.



The finished project and it's proud craftsman
We did a little shopping afterwards and bumped into the Easter Bunny.
His expression cracks me up. SO SERIOUS.
I'll take a picture mom but let's not talk about the freaky enormous bunny sitting behind me
Can someone tell me why Walmart did not have any spring jackets for kids?!
We hooked up with Dan for lunch and then both boys got a quick cut. I normally don't like getting Nathaniel's hair cut at a quicky place, we were in a bind for time so this had to do. They always seem to cut it too short in the bangs area and then he's left with a massive forehead and a silly looking straight across cut.
We're avoiding the silly bangs look with some sweet product. Cool.


Audrey is sick...AGAIN. We're off to the Dr at 8:30 this morning for more drugs. She's such an addict.


DISCLAIMER: pictures on this post were taken with the OLD Nikon which explains their horrible blurriness and lack of spark.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fools

We're here, welcoming in Spring. It's been so nice to get outside without putting all layers on. It's been so nice to come home when it's light out. Last Saturday, we raked up 10 bags of leaves. We could easily do 10 more. They never end. But we were outside, in t-shirts, raking & grilling dinner, nuf said.

Audrey had her 9 month check up recently. She's 18 pounds, 28 inches, suffering from yet another round of double ear infections. This is probably the 6 one she's had in 10 months. She's a crazy crawler and getting the hang of surfing around on the furniture. She loves to clap, wave & smack her lips together. She'll play this game for hours with you if you let her. The countdown is on for the big 1st birthday. She switched rooms at school into the 1 yr old section. She's back down at the bottom of the herd again.

We're starting move her into whole milk. She chokes on puffs so real food is a long way off.

Nathaniel is maybe 42-ish pounds now. I have no idea how tall he is but he's up to at least my hip. Whatever that means. To say he loves school is a huge understatement. He's learning to write all his numbers & letters, he goes a great job writing his very long name, coloring, cutting. When he came home from school in September, all his papers said "keep trying" "needed help cutting", now he does all of it by himself and his papers stay "Great Job" "did by himself". Yesterday he came home with a paper that had to match up numbers to how many items (cows, dinosaurs, shapes, toys) were in each box. He did a great job cutting out the numbers and then got 100% right in matching. He's learned so much at preschool.

He's obsessed with the what, why & where right now, continuous questions about everything around him all.day.long. Not to worry, your ears don't start to bleed until the 17th hour. He has a crazy memory. It's really freaky sometimes. He remembers some random conversation Dan & I had 6 months ago where you didn't even know he was listening. He'll remember a place we brought him once a year ago and even what color shirt someone had on. I love seeing his ability to apply logic to situations grow.

He has quite a gross 3 year old side to him as well. Potty words, fresh mouth, disobedience. All great fun & games.

They're great together. She laughs at everything he does, he loves to be the big brother taking care of her. Except for when I catch him sitting on her telling her to giddy-up. Do you make him stop or do you grab the video camera? hmmm

Dan's had some breaks from his overtime. Been nice to have him around more, especially the Saturday mornings. My job has been in overdrive mode, sucking up way too much of my time. I also joined weight watchers with hopes that I'll have a little more motivation to drop the extra pounds. I blame it on the kids of course.

A few weeks ago, we went to a children's science museum here in Manchester. We were slightly disappointed with how many things were worn out or broken from so much abuse but Nathaniel didn't seem to notice.





The flying baby
The museum has a Lego exhibit.
They've rebuilt the Manchester Millyards as they were circa 1920s. It's amazing to see.
Seriously, ALL LEGOS
One last thing. There's this baby Stellan. He's not doing to well, his heart is very sick. I can't get him out of my mind. Maybe after reading a little, you won't be able to stop thinking about him either, and praying for him. He's 5 months old, so very little and so very sick.