Updates

Sorry there was no post yesterday! Actually a lot of weekends I take Saturdays off from blogging to relax and have family time but my excuse this weekend was exhaustion-from-caring-for-a-sick-child! Good excuse?

I think so.

Thankfully, I can report FINALLY that I think Zakkai has turned the corner. Friday and Saturday he woke up feeling a little better, giving me hope that he was leaving this nasty illness in the dust, only to completely backslide after naptime and go back into fevers, feeling cruddy, and being generally pathetic.

Today is the first day in 6 days that he has been entirely fever-free! Hooray! His poor nose/lip area is so sore that he has been crying if we dare to touch it (to put vaseline on it) and he really started fighting getting his meds (didn’t want the mask to touch his lip or nose:( ) until I came up with good bribes like: “Hey, you can help me puff the inhalers!” or “You can have a sticker for each medicine you get tonight” or “there is a special prize for you if you take your medicine well!!!”

I am very tricky like that. (insert patting on the back.)

It has worked so far and hopefully, when he goes in for his follow-up Tuesday morning, the dr will say he can be done with his steriod and inhaler. I am, understandably, a little nervous about sending him back to school as he is just barely recovering and the dr warned me that him getting sick again in the next 6-8 weeks could send him back to the dr’s pretty quickly since his lungs haven’t had a chance to heal.

Sigh. I can only hope that he will continue to get stronger and be able to fight off nasty preschooler germs!

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And my little cutie pie is now quite happily residing in her crib, as of this morning!

She has been pushing off of her cradle sides with her feet and waking up crying in the night because her head is so tightly up against the bars and she can’t move! Stinker.

So we decided it was time to give her a little more space and freedom and haul out (and dust off) our trusty crib. And she loves it!! We put her in it for a few minutes to get a feel for it and she was talking and laughing. Very cute.

And then she took a 2 1/2 hour nap in it! I’d say that’s a pretty good stamp of approval:) Sorry for the bad pics, sometimes it’s just so much faster to upload cell phone pics rather than camera pics. With my crappy photo software, it takes me 45 min-1 hour to upload and edit my pics from our camera and get them onto the blog.

So you can possibly see why I avoid it sometimes! Anyways, we’ve spent a quiet weekend here at home allowing Z the chance to recover.

And maybe to recover ourselves:)

Spring?

According to Samuel spring is coming next week! Wouldn’t that be great?

I, for one, would love to feel the fresh spring air flowing through our open windows, to take the boys (and E!) to the park, would love to leave coats, hats and mittens at home….ah, spring.

I know it will come, it does every year. It probably just sounds wonderful right now because we are spending much time in our “sick home!”

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Z woke up much improved this morning~fever-free and happier! He did well all morning but went downhill again after naptime:( He isn’t eating, claiming “his tummy doesn’t feel like food”, and lays around a lot. Poor kiddo! The fever returned this afternoon making him feel pretty crummy but I was able to tempt him with a “special drink” (our word for fruit smoothie) to get a few nutrients in him. Hopefully he can knock this thing out with some rest this weekend.

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In other news:

*Today at the laundromat (we were desperate for some clean clothes!), some random lady dug through the trash after I threw some things away. And then continued to speak to me in Spanish after I made it very clear that I didn’t speak Spanish. She also stood so close to me when I was unloading clothes from the driers that I could feel her breath on my neck.

It was a lovely morning at the laundromat.

*I finally washed 3-6 month clothes for Little Miss, who is finally beginning to fit into some (although she is still quite happy in a lot of her 0-3 month clothes). This little girl has so many clothes for the next few months, I’ll just have to change her clothes twice a day!

*I also am hopefully selling my first item(s) on Craiglist! I’ve never had much luck posting things on there with either no response or people who act like they are going to buy your item and then you never hear from them again. But I have a soon-to-be mama that possibly wants to buy ALL my baby boy clothes!! (NB-18mos) I am excited to be clearing out a ton of space on my storage porch, if a little sad to be letting go of my little boy things. I had 4-5 people vying for my double stroller and then strangely things fell through with all of them. (mostly they couldn’t drive here or something). I’ll try again!

*My thumb is still swollen inside and painful after my exciting bus adventures last weekend. Hmm..wonder if I should get it checked out? ha.

*Samuel’s class celebrated 100 days of school today (the actual 100th day was yesterday but celebration today) by doing 100 piece puzzles, getting a special lunch, making a trail mix and each brought in a 100 piece collection project. Kids brought in things like 100 sticker, legos, crayons (that was ours), silly bandz, fruity cheerios, etc. They had a lot of fun!

*And lastly, we are still trying to figure out where to put Eliana, as we are still (1 1/2 weeks later) sleeping on the couch! We have such limited options: the pantry? closet? (kidding!!) either she gets our room and we indefinitely sleep out in the living room or she shares Ben’s office which opens up a new realm of problems. sigh. If anyone has any magic solutions, let me know!!

I’m off to catch some beauty rest before duty calls….

What a Week!

Man, oh, man! Is it only Thursday?? Z has had such a rough week:( He coughed and cried for me alll night and woke up with a 102 temp this morning so I called the drs office 2.4 seconds after they opened and got him in a.s.a.p.

The dr did a breathing treatment right away because his oxygen level was a little low and he was wheezing and had a “squeak” in his lung. Poor baby:( You could see his belly sucking in so far to get air in. The dr was very relieved to hear, after the breathing treatment, that his airways were much more open and sent us home with a prescription for steroids and an inhaler.

Meet Zakkai’s medicine shelf:

And that’s not including the mask that he has to wear for the inhalers and the vaporizer that is running most of the day and the vaseline that I am now having to reapply to his poor upper lip/nose because it is getting raw again.

Man, oh man! Someone give this poor kid a break! It’s been a month now. He made it to 1 whole hour of school this week and never got to bring his birthday treat for his school friends. Hopefully that will change on Monday!

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Samuel came with me after school to pick up our 5 prescriptions and had to use the bathroom while we were there. The door was locked with a keypad so the pharmacist let him in, and Samuel turned around and asked me for some “privacy.” I stepped out and a minute later heard, “Mommy!! mommy!” His voice sounded a little panicked and I wondered what in the world could’ve happened.

I told him he had to let me in because the door was locked. I heard the door click open and stepped in and listened to him sheepishly tell me…”Mommy, my hat fell in the toilet!”

What??!! I looked over, horrified to see his red knitted hat half submerged in public bathroom toilet water. Yuck.And then I laughed incredulously as he told me the toilet tried to swallow it.

The hat came home in a plastic CVS bag and had to get a “bath.” Life with children is never dull!!!

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I have felt so overwhelmed and unorganized lately, despite my attempts to weed through things at our house and simplify. Just feeling like I have no time to accomplish things that are important to me like quiet times, exercise, crafting, etc. (not to constantly trying to remember to pay bills, fill out paperwork for school, making phone calls, and trying desperately to get caught up on bdays!)because I am so busy taking care of this household and this family.

I tend to beat myself up over things not being able to accomplish it all, wondering how it is that “other people” (whoever these phantom people are!” can do it and I can’t.

I set the bar too high for myself with this ideal “perfect mom/wife/friend/sister/daughter/woman.” And I fail over and over and over again. And really, is it any wonder?

And then today I gave myself a little grace for the first time. Grace? What’s that? Grace for myself? You mean I don’t have to be…perfect?

I was taking a shower tonight and unwinding before getting ready for bed and thought, “Wait. I know that I really want and need to fit more things into my schedule like exercising and crafting (I finally figured out a way to get in a quiet time) but…BUT maybe there is a good reason why I can’t right now… like I don’t know, I’ve not had a good night’s sleep since October (or really before that if you think about end-stage pregnancy) with Sweet Miss’s arrival, I’ve had a seriously sick child for a whole month now and I’ve been doing time and a half since Ben has been extra busy.”

Oh-hhh. Maybe that’s why I am too tired at night to do anything other than check the computer and fall asleep reading a book. Maybe, just maybe that’s a pretty good reason to just slow down and be in the evenings until I build myself back up enough so I can take care of myself.

Wow, so that’s grace? Freedom. Freedom from guilt.

I should try this again sometime.

Catch A Break?

Spending the day at home with a very sick little boy:( Poor Zakkai cannot catch a break!! He just started to get better last week from a nasty 2 week battle with a cold/virus and ironically, worsened yesterday within an hour or two of returning from his 4 yr check-up!

Poor little guy was up ALL night coughing so badly and having breathing issues (possibly croup or something similar) and woke up with a doozy of a fever and threw up everywhere (prob from coughing):(

And so, today I am thankful for: tylenol, Rays (his blankets), PBS and 2 strong arms to cuddle my miserable little boy. Get better soon, my buddy!

(taken during sickness #1)

4 Months of Adorableness!

Can’t believe 4 months of Eliana-love has flown by! It seems like it was only last month that I was very pregnant, anxiously awaiting the seemingly far-off arrival of our princess. I wanted to know what she would look like, her personality, her smell, feel her soft skin…

I am crazy in love with this little round, butterball of sweetness!! In the past month she has:

*learned to turn around sideways and upside down in her cradle, hence our need to set up her crib now! That and…it would be nice to sleep in our bed again:)

*really developed a personality! She has come alive in the past couple of weeks, cooing, saying very loud, “Ah, ahh, ahhhhh’s” and shrieking sometimes:)

*started laughing more and more, loving to be kissed on her belly and softly tickled, or gently blown on her forehead with a little puff of air.

*kicks her legs like she’s practicing for a soccer championship! She gets more exercise than I do! haha

*has broken (with help) her paci addiction (1 whole week now!!) and goes to sleep “Ah, ahhhhing” loudly til she fades away. She also loves to cuddle with a little soft, pink elephant that I bought her before she was born. Thinking of getting another one just in case it becomes “the One.” 🙂

*moved to size 2 diapers and weighs 12 lbs 10 oz (the size of the boys at 2 months!) and is 23 3/4 inches long. She’s a dainty little thing~about 10-20% for height and weight but I am not worried!

*developed a newfound love for toys! Within days of starting to reach for them, she was mouthing them…leading to much drool and the beginning of bib-usage;) It is really fun to hand her toys and see her so happily entertained for awhile! The boys love it, too, and I have to stop them from trying shove toys in her mouth.


Ah….brotherly love:)

*changed so much in this past month so it’s no wonder that she doesn’t want to sleep at night anymore! She is too excited about life and all the interesting things around her….why sleep??!! Really, it’s not that bad, just 1-2 times a night and I’m sure she’ll grow out of it.

Happy 4 months, Sweet Girl! Slow down, will ya?

Birthday Celebrations!

Ready for picture overload? Got lots of pics from our weekend, trying to make our Z-man feel special:)

I feel like I really dropped the ball with him yesterday with no party or anything (but it has been a little crazy with lots of sickness and not lots of sleep) and we started out with a rough-ish morning which escaladed to chaotic meltdown around 3pm, only 1 hour before we were going to have a couple friends over for cupcakes:( Unfortunately, I had to cancel because it was a little too much so we ended up having a sort of quiet family celebration.

At least we sang, “Happy Birthday” to Zakkai 4 times, which is all he really cared about:)

Saturday at the Children’s Museum. We got such a late start, that by the time we got there it was lunch time! We ate our packed lunch in the botanical garden area, which is so peaceful and fun!

Zakkai kept saying, “Is this for my birthday? Are we celebrating my birthday?” Remember what it was like to have a whole day that was ALL yours when you were little? Nothing matters but your birthday:)
Samuel loved the little ponds and fountains that kept squirting out funny shoots of water. He had a great time!

And this pretty girl really wanted to come out of the stroller and see what was so cool! She loved sitting with daddy:)

Zakkai’s very favorite part was the fire truck! You can “drive” it, turn on lights, play with fire hoses and even put out a fire on a screen. He did NOT want to see anything else!!

The boys trying to sell Daddy some $8 oranges. They’ve been living in the city too long! ha.

And it’s birthday day! Opening a few presents that came in the mail while waiting for breakfast to be done. He got some new musical instruments..

And a dragon egg-hatching toy! It was a BIG hit to watch the dragon hatch! Breakfast, what breakfast? We’re busy!

Zakkai’s blueberry muffins with a candle:) The first “Happy Birthday” song of the day…

Probably the biggest gift hit (a gift from Samuel with a little hint from mommy:) was a disposable camera! He loves cameras and had a blast blinding everyone by taking pictures..

After hours of begging, pleading, whining and snitching candy, it was time for cupcakes! I admit, I didn’t spend as much time on them as I had planned since I was frazzled by that point and had a baby demanding to go to bed however, they turned out pretty cute! This was Zakkai’s masterpiece, crooked eyes and all:)
The rest of ours. Samuel and Daddy chose to have green cyclops monster cupcakes. Boys! The icing was just a little too soft but I would love to try these again and see if I could do them better. Oh, is that the perfectionist in me talking?

Ben was proud of his cupcake and wanting me to take a close-up. Too bad I made it! haha. The boys added a green mouth at the bottom since they know daddy loves green..

And I felt exactly like my cupcake! Frazzled, messy, tired and full of sweet-love for my birthday boy!

We all had a sugar crash by bedtime:)

Tomorrow…4 month post for Eliana!

4 Years

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy! For so long you have been my baby and now you are such a (self-proclaimed) big boy! I hope you know how very much your mommy adores you and your sweet, spunky, full-of-life spirit!

Hoping this year is filled with new curiosities, less tantrums, lots of hugs and kisses, learning and fun for you.

I love you, Zakkai!

(more pics and details to come later:)

Birthday Weekend!

These Three:

Are very excited about birthday weekend! Especially that cute kid on the left:) He’s been counting down every day and can hardly believe that tomorrow he will officially be 4 years old and, in his words, “a big boy now.” (he is also willing to share his birthday with his little sis so that she can turn 4 months;) What a guy!

He may pretend to be shy sometimes but he wasn’t today at the Children’s Museum at Navy Pier when he informed a few people that it was his birthday tomorrow! We needed a little family time after the busyness of the past few weeks and what better excuse than to make one cute little…I mean, Big boy feel special?

So we journeyed down to Navy Pier by bus, with only minor mishaps on the way, including the boys and I falling as the bus driver jerked the bus into motion only a minute after we got on board, not giving us enough time to get seated properly. The boys are fine and I’m sure my thumb that I landed on backwards will heal in a few days;)

Zakkai had an absolute blast and said he wanted to stay all day! It was fun, except that E and I aren’t feeling the greatest (the colds have finally caught up with us) and she was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and noise and completely melted down towards the end. It’s a really neat museum and on our reciprocation list from a pass that we have so we get in free! Zakkai wants to go back every day, he says:)

All was well on the bus ride home~the baby fell sound asleep, Zakkai almost fell asleep, we had good seats.

And then just after Ben got off the bus with E at our stop, and just as I reached the bottom step with the boys to get off…the bus driver slammed the doors shut and took off, ignoring me yelling at him to stop! Thankfully, no one was hurt and I was able to burn off a little steam as we navigated the extra block and a half back to where Ben (who was totally bewildered) was waiting for me.

I may never ride the bus again!

Alls well that ends well though and we have a sweet almost 4 year old that is ecstatic over the 2 packages that came in the mail for him today and cannot wait to open them in the morning after some requested homemade blueberry muffins.

Ah, to be a kid again…

Pacis, Pink-Eye and other stuff

We continue to plod along in paci-free land over here and it’s still going great! I am thrilled at how much easier it has been than I expected and so happy with her improvements in sleeping!

Last night she only woke up once in 11 hours and I went ahead and fed her since she hadn’t eaten since the late afternoon. There has been no hard crying or screaming at all from her in the past 2 days, which I was afraid of. Only minor fussing here and there and on the fun side, much more babbling and laughing, smiling and general cuteness! Tonight she fell asleep without a peep!

She does, of course, have pink-eye, thanks to Zakkai (!!) so we now have 2 kiddos on eye drops. Zakkai has been battling it for a week and a half now but hopefully it will clear up soon (before it spreads to the rest of us!). Poor E woke up with a very red, crusty eye so I knew it was the right choice to take her in.

(pic~pre-pink eye;)

My loving, wonderful husband did ALL the school drop-offs/pick-ups today to give me a break (which I spent going to the drs, filling Little Girl’s prescription and a couple other errands, instead of laying on the couch eating bon-bons and reading romance novels like I’d planned..:P ) and it was so nice! It really takes a lot to drive back and forth so many times a day. What a keeper, he is!

And most randomly (because what would a post be like without random information about my life??!!), I am on a cleaning/purging/organizing kick (post-baby nesting? ha!) these days. We have the bad habit of collecting things on top of the tv entertainment center or stacking mail on my piano that needs to be filed, or the boys rooms filled with toys they don’t want/need or the embarassingly full storage porch filled with…stuff I need to get rid of.

So I am on a quest to sell things on Craigslist (since I can’t have a garage sale) so if you know of anyone who needs some baby items (baby boy clothes, double stroller, carseat, baby bedding, etc) please let me know! Not only would it help us de-clutter, which would be very helpful in any future moves, it will help us have a little money to replace our broken appliances…

so we can have more stuff…

to get rid of eventually….

so I can get organized….

Hmmm. Change of plans. We’re selling off everything and living in our van!

My 3 Peas in a Pod

Woohoo for warmer weather today!! Isn’t it amazing how a few (or 15) degrees can make such a difference in your spirit and attitude?

I even opened the windows for a bit today to let fresh air in (and let the germs out!!!) and it was so nice.

Samuel begged to play outside after school today with his best friend, Peter. Well, he didn’t have to beg too hard, really….:) They (plus Z) had a blast running around with 2 other school friends. In fact, they all were so excited to be outside that at different times all 5 of them bumped heads with one another. But the tears were quickly dried in favor of running.

We are trying to get Samuel signed up for a class for the spring (soccer, tennis or golf) with his best buddy but he is absolutely refusing and says he’ll never go. Sigh. His stubborn streak is most definitely coming out!

I have no idea where he gets it….

Sweet Cheeks is doing great!! 1 1/2 whole days without the pacifier. She only woke up twice last night (a big improvement over 7+ times!) and today was able to nap without it. I was really nervous over putting her in the carseat without it, as I usually give it to her so she can sleep while we are out. I started to panic, only then realizing that I, too, would be going through paci withdrawal!

But after a few minutes of fussing and crying (but not really hard), she was able to put herself to sleep (1 time for a 3 hour nap!). Yea, Little Girl!! We’ll see about tonight…


Also, she really has started laughing!!! She let out one or two laughs in the last couple of weeks but it was a quick “I’m not quite sure what to do here” burst. But I swore Monday that she looked at me and laughed and then she did it to Ben when he knelt down to talk to her yesterday.

And today for the first time, I actually got her to laugh a lot by making a silly noise:) It was incredibly charming and I fell in love with her again. (for the millionth time!)

The sad news is that I’m almost certain she is getting pink-eye and have to take her in to the drs tomorrow:( Always something with these kiddos!!

In other news, in the past few days, our printer, vacuum and microwave have all bit the dust but this means great fun for our handy “fix-it” boy! We let him play with the printer for a bit yesterday and he worked very hard testing it out, tightening things with his tools and trying to fix it. He’s really cute when he does this and it keeps him entertained for hours!!

He is very ready to turn 4 years old on Sunday and tells me over and over “I am a big boy now, Mommy. I’m not a baby anymore.” (sniff) But I comfort myself that there is still a little baby in there when I look into his emotional (irrational) baby blue’s and see his soft baby chubby upper arms and the Buddha belly that is still slightly there and when I feel that sweet little hand tuck in mine everyday as we walk into school.

He may not want to admit it…but he’s still my baby:)