Fockly Princess & the Little Gremlin

The other night as I was driving home from Vegas Callie says to me, "Mom, I can't see! The dark's in the way!" Where did she come up with that one?

I took the kids to Payless the other day to look for sandals for Jack, and Callie had an absolute ball! She went from one pair of shoes to the next trying them all on & saying things like, "Oooooh! So pretty mom!" and "Look mom! Princess shoes!" And my favorite of her descriptive words is "fockly." The first time she said it I thought she was swearing & honestly I don't know where she would have even heard the word I thought she'd said! Maybe some naughty uncle! JK Stu! Anyway, what she means is sparkly! Fockly shoes! Just like when she says "neck-ih." Everyone thinks she's talking about being naked or something, but no, she's talking about her music! She just kind of gets something in her head & old habits die hard I guess.



Jack was especially entertaining Sunday. First of all, he's really into making these gremlin noises. Just out of the blue he'll do the gremlin. Jeremiah said one day "What is he?!" Cause he never thought I'd give birth to a gremlin! So on Sunday we're in Sacrament Meeting and he sticks a travel pack of tissue in his mouth & shakes his head back & forth for a long time making his gremlin sounds. People are looking at him & just laughing or smiling which is totally egging him on. Thanks a lot! So to distract him I have him get a book out of the diaper bag & he chooses a scratch & sniff Halloween book. Seems innocent enough, right? Wrong! Because a little while ago I'd looked through it with him & taught him that the little witch goes "he, he, he" in a high pitched voice & that dracula says "ah, ah, ah." Well he especially enjoyed the dracula laugh so as soon as he sees the book he starts going "ah, ah, ah" and he didn't quit for the next several minutes! If people weren't laughing before they certainly were then. That's okay, we had a dry counsel speaker. Hey, if the shoe fits, wear it!



Jack's started a very boyish hobby! Jeremiah's had concerns before - especially with such a girlie example in his face all the time. But Jack is LOVING rocks! He is constantly collecting rocks & playing in the dirt. Woohoo! Sure girls can do that too, but it's traditionally a boy thing & that's good enough for us! :)

Callie, on the other hand, has been displaying a little bit of a boyish side. She keeps standing with her legs shoulder-width apart, leaning over & spitting! She'll save up a little wad of saliva & "tuh"! It's driving me nuts because she's doing it all over the house! I keep telling her to knock it off but she's already not listening to her mother! And sometimes she tells me to knock it off now when I'm doing something! She also will question me about things & say "Is that right mom?" or "Is it true?" I love my fockly princess & my little gremlin!

RSV

After our night in the ER we took Jack to a follow-up visit with his pediatrician, Dr. Khan. Dr. Khan looked him over for a few minutes & decided Jack needed to be admitted to the hospital because he was dehydrated and his breathing was still not great. I was SO surprised! Poor Jack! Jeremiah was in Bullhead for the morning (35 mins away) but when I called to tell him the news he was just about ready to head back. Jack was admitted just before noon on Tuesday and we spent the next hour or so doing the fun part - the iv! And lucky Jeremiah got to miss it all! Because Jack was dehydrated his first 2 veins blew, so on the 3rd attempt they got the iv in his arm near his wrist. I almost started crying as they put it in the 3rd time - it was getting so hard for me to have him go through this, just screaming his lungs out. It made me have a lot more understanding for what Justin & Jamie go through emotionally with Katelyn! Jack hated the iv the first day! He was very very tired (something that happens with RSV) so most of the day he slept, but the times he was awake he was mostly angry about the iv in his arm! The only times he seemed like he wasn't sad were when he had a bunch of mini m&m's & when he had a little serving of chocolate ice cream! Other than that he didn't eat anything, and he didn't really talk at all that day either. My poor little guy! I stayed the night with him in the hospital so that wasn't a great night sleep! They had a little heart rate monitor hooked to his big toe & every time the top number dropped below a certain # an alarm would beep. It didn't ever drop much lower than the safe zone so he wasn't in danger or anything, making the alarm super annoying! He was also getting breathing treatments every 4 hours and even though the respiratory therapist was quiet, when she came in at 4am I'd just been up with Jack for 20 or 30 minutes so I stayed awake for that too. The next day Jack was feeling much better and Dr. Khan said he was looking improved but that he'd come back in the evening to re-evaluate. Jack didn't sleep at all on Wednesday like he'd done on Tuesday, and instead of being angry about the iv he was angry about the heart rate monitor on his toe! I tried to keep his sock on or his blanket over his foot so that once he was distracted he wouldn't notice it so easily, but every time he saw it he got upset & tugged on it & cried a little. We tried to keep him entertained with a more than healthy dose of Dora, Blue's Clues, Baby Einstein, and Curious George cartoons.









When Dr. Khan came back in the evening he thought Jack needed to stay on the iv a little longer. At least Jack & I got a better night's sleep! On Thursday morning Jack seemed to be doing even better. When he saw the banana on his breakfast tray I peeled it for him but thought it seemed a little big to eat with just one hand (since he couldn't use the one w/the iv) so I broke it in half. That was a mistake! He was SO upset about it! He threw a fit for about 5 minutes before he finally would eat the thing, and even after he started eating it he'd whine & whimper and occasionally toss it on the bed. He really is getting to be quite the little fit thrower! Fortunately Dr. Khan thought Jack was doing well enough to go home so we were discharged after breakfast and he was SO happy to be home. Callie is sick too, I'm sure with the same thing, but RSV usually is just a really bad cold from her age on up. So when Jack & I got home she'd been sleeping on the couch and woke up in a coughing fit. Jack had missed her though & gave her some very good sweet hugs after we sat down next to her on the couch. Yesterday was a tough day because even though Jack was doing so much better, Jeremiah returned to work & Callie was extremely grumpy & ornery! My sister Tara was there with me most of the day (she & my mom took care of Callie & fed us while Jack was in the hospital), but with my lack of sleep (from the last 7 days!) I was physically & mentally exhausted & was having a hard time dealing with her constant cries because she couldn't have purple grape juice in her sippy cup on the couch. I was so thankful when Jeremiah got home & my mom & Tara came back with a good meal! Jack & Callie are both doing great today (and so am I) & definitely on the mend! Thank goodness!

Vacation?

Jeremiah's dad recently was transferred to Forest Grove, OR (about 40 mi from Portland) and his mom especially was bummed since the 8 hour drive to their home in WA makes this the farthest she's ever lived from her family. So I thought it would be fun to cheer her up with a visit from Callie & Jack & me! While it was really great to see them, it was a crazy trip! For starters, even though my sister dropped me off on the curb at the airport & helped me get all my stuff out, I looked like a complete idiot pushing/pulling 2 large suitcases, 2 car seats, a backpack & a double stroller through the sky-cap line! I took the dvd player for the flight, but since the headphones didn't get put in the backpack, the kids couldn't hear their beloved Blue's Clues or Winnie the Pooh. They were VERY anxious to get off the plane. Me too! We flew in Thursday afternoon so there was nothing eventful to report that day other than the flight and the highly anticipated reunion of grandparents/grandchildren! On Friday I drove us to an amazing outlet mall that I'd looked up before leaving home. It was definitely the best outlet mall I've been too - it had everything! Everything I love anyway - Gap, Osh Kosh, Carter's, & Gymboree! And my first time in a Banana Republic outlet proved to be an expensive one (Jeremiah doesn't read "our" blog!)! We didn't make it into many stores at all because we wanted to get back when Jeremiah's dad was done with work. As it turned out, we should have just shopped longer instead of taking twice the time to get home due to rush hour traffic! Saturday was an exciting day! It started off with a trip to urgent care! Jack hadn't slept well Thursday night & woke up with a croupy cough & not feeling good Friday morning but seemed mostly better during the day. But Friday night he didn't sleep well again & about 6 am he woke up with labored breathing & more of the croupy cough. Since I'd called our pediatrician's office the day before when he had the croupy cough, I knew that since it was combined with the labored breathing he needed to be checked out. Well the only thing open at 6am is the emergency room and since it wasn't really an emergency, I figured we could wait till urgent care opened at 8. We didn't get to urgent care till about 9 and by then Jack was mostly breathing fine & he wasn't coughing much. I questioned whether I should still be taking him but Jeremiah (who wasn't in OR w/us) said we'd rather be safe than sorry so they checked him out anyway & of course said he was fine - just a cold.



I'd sent Jeremiah's dad to go get Jer's mom & Callie since I thought Jack & I would be a while, but we were quick & Jer's dad got lost (they'd only been there about 2 weeks), so Jack & I had to wait to be picked up for over an HOUR! From there we headed to the zoo. Callie was SO excited about it - we'd talked about it for several days. It was drizzling when we got there & my umbrella broke as I was opening it so the first thing I did was head to the gift shop for a new one. I got the less expensive umbrella which was a whopping $16.99 and when I got back outside the drizzle stopped & it never rained again! Callie had a really great time at the zoo & loved seeing the animals & hanging out with Papa & Grandma. Jack on the other hand was miserable almost all day! He just didn't feel good! He perked up a couple times, but mostly it was not enjoyable for him.









On Saturday night he woke up again in the middle of the night with labored breathing & was very unhappy. Jack & I stayed in all day Sunday and after Callie & Jeremiah's parents got back from church, Callie & Jack & I all took a good long nap. On Monday Jack woke up and started throwing up - mostly water & phlegm. He had 3 bites of oatmeal for breakfast & threw them up on our way to the airport. Both kids (Callie was getting a cold by now too) got Benadryl at the airport & slept the first half of the flight home. The second half Jack was very grumpy and threw up some water & Robitussin on the 2 of us. I was SO happy to be off the plane & going home! Jack rounded off the trip with some diarrhea & a little more throw-up.

When we got home my mom brought us dinner because Jeremiah was at class & Jack threw up some more. Since he hadn't eaten anything all day & couldn't hold down water or Pedialyte I called our pediatrician again who said Jack needed to be checked out! Of course this stuff always happens at the wrong time! So Jeremiah came home from class & we headed to the ER. By the time we got home from the ER, just before 1am, Jack had had a breathing treatment, chest X-rays to check for pneumonia, a suppository to combat the puking, and then had been swabbed (pretty much having his brain poked) for RSV, which came back positive. Since he's 16 months & RSV is the very most dangerous for like 12-15 mos & younger, they sent us home with a follow-up visit to our pediatrician the next morning. What an exciting vacation we had! :) No, we really did have a fun time visiting Jeremiah's parents, but it not getting any sleep & having a sick little guy put a small damper on things!

Stoked

That would be Jeremiah. He went hunting for javelina (pronounced havelina for all you out-of-towners) a couple weekends ago & met success! Woohoo! Best of all I didn't have to eat it! Now don't get me wrong - if we were in less fortunate circumstances I'd make all kind of javelina dishes, but the fact that I can buy meat I enjoy makes me glad that some of his employees really wanted the pig. I haven't actually tried javelina & I wanted to, but I was out of town when his guys cooked it. But I ate some of the russian boar he shot last year & I didn't care much for it. It wasn't gross, but it wasn't good. And there's still a whole leg of it in the freezer outside! (And I wouldn't be surprised if the taste of javelina isn't far off from russian boar.) Anyway, back to his javelina - he'd gone out hunting with my dad (who doesn't hunt) Friday morning and they hadn't seen a thing. He went back out again by himself early Saturday morning & hiked miles & watched for hours and finally decided to call it a day & headed back to his truck. As he was headed back for the highway he spotted one from the road & was lucky enough to get out quickly enough & blast it. He was stoked!