Valentine's Day and A Boys Update

Valentine's Day
For Valentine's Day, we mostly celebrated it on the 13th since it was a Friday and we don't like going out on the actual day when we have to fight insane crowds. Plus, the boys' Valentine's parties at school were on Friday as well.

Thursday evening, Cruise realized that he hadn't helped me put his Valentines together when I asked him to, so he was in a panic to make some of his own for his favorite people. I put paper, stickers and crayons together that night so he could make Valentines before he left for school. I woke up that morning with he and Jett displaying their beautiful hand-made Valentines.

Earlier in the week, Dave took all the boys to Target to get their "girlfriends" special Valentines gifts. Jett had to get two because he has a school girlfriend (Emery), and a neighborhood girlfriend (Camry). He got them each a small heart box of chocolates with a tiny teddy bear attached. Cruise got a regular sized teddybear holding a heart of chocolate for his girlfriend Claire. (I didn't get a picture of Jett with his gifts and cards unfortunately. I was going to get them before he left for school but we ended up in a hurry.)

I packed Cruise's lunch with a heart shaped sandwich, apples slices with hearts cut out of the middles, and a great big Valentine chocolate bar (looking back now, I should've given it to him AFTER school). Apparently he ate mostly chocolate for lunch that day. Jett got the same chocolate bar after his lunch of heart everything before leaving for school. He had a little more self-control and decided to just take a couple bites and save the rest for later.

I did Cruise's class party and had a couple other moms help, which is always nice because then my hardest job is just delegating. We first did the passing out of Valentine's since last year was crazy and took longer than we thought. After that was finished, the kids made a heart chomper, which looks like this:

Then I did a game where the kids were blindfolded and they had to draw a heart. It actually turned out more fun than I had thought it would be, so that's always good. After that, we had heart-shaped rice krispy treats and called it a day! 

After school, Dave & I exchanged Valentine's gifts. I got Dave some cologne that he's been wanting for a while, and of course, a completely inappropriate card. Dave got me a dozen beautiful red roses and some new candles with a very beautiful card.  

I ordered a couple heart shaped pizzas from Tenney's for the boys and for Dave's brother Joey and his wife Linsey. They were coming to babysit so Dave and I could go out. They showed up at 5:30 and then we left for Rodigio Grill in American Fork. I always have to physically and mentally prepare myself for Rodigio. As I've gotten older, feats such as this are extremely difficult. I mean, I barely made it out of the restaurant. I had to heal-toe it all the way to the door all while leaning on Dave. But the meal was, as usual, delicious. They had a Valentines Special, which means it costs more and you get either a specialty drink or dessert with your meal. So one of us chose the drink and the other the dessert so we could could share them both. Unfortunately, the dessert was eaten because it was delicious and paid for, not because there was any room left in my stomach. 

The next morning I woke up and made everyone heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon, and orange juice. And that was my contribution to Valentine's Day. 

A Boys Update

Let's start with Cruise. Cruise has been doing awesome in school. I attended his PTC (Parent Teacher Conference) earlier this month and his teacher was really happy with how well he was doing in reading. His math is coming a long as well, but still behind. He is participating in quite a few activities and classes with the mainstreamed 2nd graders. He has done computers, P.E., and now is is art. He also attends one of the 2nd grade classes during their science time twice a week so he can participate in that. He really loves it and is always so excited to tell me about what he learned that day. He is behaving relatively well in class and is getting along with all his peers.

On February 3rd, Cruise was asked if he was interested in participating in the Storytelling Festival at the school. I almost cried when I got the e-mail. Just 3- 4 years ago I couldn't get this kid to talk, let alone tell a story! And now he's being invited to participate in the Storytelling Festival with his peers! 

We got started right away since we didn't have a lot of time to prepare. I asked him what story he wanted to do and he kept telling me he wanted a science story. Since we didn't really have one of those, we decided to make one up! I tried to get his input, but he kept getting confused by the process, so Dave and I wrote it and then I sat down and read it to him. At first he was really overwhelmed and resisted because he thought he had to get it word for word, but I told him to just tell the story how he wanted to tell it. 

So every day we practiced. I would just sit on the couch and tell him to go! And he would do it differently every day. Which actually made it so much more fun and exciting because I had no idea how things were going to go. One day, just a few days before he had to tell it to his class, he introduced the character Labro the lab rat. So that evening, I put together a sock puppet lab rat and had it waiting for him the next morning. 

On the 19th, Cruise told his story to his class with his lab coat on and Labro interacting with him, and it went awesome! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Then on the 20th, he performed for all the 2nd grade and did AWESOME! We found out last night that he was chosen to perform in front of the whole school next week! I almost peed my pants. I couldn't believe it! Here I was thinking, 'Oh, he probably won't make it past the first round, but he will have fun and it will be a good experience.' I had no idea he would move on to compete with the rest of the school. It just shows that this kid will never cease to amaze me. 

Lately Cruise has been really into learning about DNA, growing Venus Fly Traps, and creating electricity.

Jett has been doing awesome! I went to his PTC as well and his teacher only had good things to say about him. He has made HUGE improvements in all subjects since the beginning of the school year. She was so excited to show me how much he has learned. He is very well behaved in school, gets along with everyone, and always does his best work. She said that at the beginning of the year he was embarrassed to sing along or dance and now he is up dancing and singing with the rest of the group. I was absolutely beaming when I left PTC that night. 

Jett loves to play with his friends and since it's been so nice outside recently, he spends most of his afternoons playing outside with his friends and brothers, usually playing Ghostbusters. Since the new family moved in across the street, Jett has another friend to play with named Colin. 

A couple weeks ago I registered Jett for Kindergarten at Eaglecrest so he could attend the same school as Cruise. I can't believe he's going to be in Kindergarten! I'm so excited to have them in the same school even though it was a ridiculous amount of work just to make that happen. The hoops they make you jump through! Eek!

Lately Jett has been into building things with his toolset, playing computer games, and baking (below are pictures of Jett making banana bread with me). He has gotten so good at cracking eggs; he keeps all the shells out and even does it without getting egg on his hands!

Miles has had a rough couple of months. This month he has been okay, but the rash has still not gone away, which makes us think it's an allergy of some sort. We've tried taking him off of milk, then soy, then wheat, but it just seems like nothing is really helping. In some cases, the rash got worse. So he has an appointment with an allergist next week. The poor kid is itchy and uncomfortable, so we sometime rub a bunch of hydrocortisone cream on him and even give him an oatmeal bath which seems to help with the itch and redness.

Since Miles will be 17 months tomorrow, I figured I'd do his 17 month blog post right now.

Miles has gotten pretty fussy, but I'm not sure if it's the rash, teeth, or just starting the terrible 2s (which we all know starts around 18 months and lasts until they're 4). He will throw an absolute fit if Mom or Dad don't acknowledge him when we enter a room. He will stand and cry while I try to make dinner, so usually I have to pacify him with an episode of Sesame Street. He is always happy if someone is paying attention to him, if he is playing outside, or if he is in a bath. He could spend all day outside and never get tired of it. Just like his brothers. I spend a couple hours a day outside walking around with him. He likes to pick up small rocks and usually fills his tiny fists with them as he goes. He also likes kicking and throwing balls around, playing with the neighbor's dog Taz, "helping" Daddy outside while he's working on his projects, and getting absolutely filthy.

Miles is still a very picky eater. This month I was able to get him to eat a peanut butter sandwich, a carrot, and apple fries. He is still a big fan of rice, noodles, chips, broccoli, and hot dogs/sausage. He also is learning how to use utensils and is actually getting pretty good at it! He still refuses to use a sippy cup, which can be frustrating, and he still hates juice. But he will drink out of a cup as long as it's water.

Miles loves to rearrange everything, like mom's expensive food coloring, hair products, make up, and everything in the kitchen. He loves putting on his shoes and socks (because it means he's going outside). He will bring us his shoes when he wants to go outside and gets downright mad if we tell him not now. He has started trying to say 'ball', 'shoes',  and 'Sesame Street' but is still figuring out the different sounds he can make. He will still sign 'more' and sometimes 'all done'. He waves bye-bye regularly now and is really good at communicating things to us, whether it be through pointing or flailing his body while screaming.

So that's the update!

Here are some pictures of the boys from the past couple weeks:

Not How I Wanted to Start the New Year

The 1st was spent going sledding at Jett's school. But I was dumb and wore boots with no tread and Miles was too tired to stay long, so he and I ended up going home just after a couple times down the hill. Dave and the boys stayed for a couple more hours and even practiced some snowboarding.

2015 didn't start out how we'd hoped. About a week into the new year we all got a horrible case of the flu. Miles started getting sick on the 8th and was up with a fever that evening. So I took him to the doctor on the 9th and tested positive for flu. While I was at the doctor's office, I got a call from Cruise's school saying that he was complaining of stomach pain and said he felt like throwing up. So I had Dave run over and check him out. As soon as they walked out of the school, Cruise threw up all over the sidewalk. We kept Jett home that day because it was inevitable that he would be sick in the near future as well. That evening I started getting dizzy and not feeling too well, and by Saturday, both Dave & I were sick with the flu.

Luckily Miles had gotten Tamiflu and started improving almost immediately. Cruise spent Saturday vomiting but was all better by Sunday. Sunday evening Jett woke up sick and vomited the entire next day as well. Dave and I were completely bed-ridden for that entire week. We took turns feeding and bathing the kids, which was dependent on who felt the least crappy. At one point we ran out of milk for Miles, Gatorade, Sprite, and crackers. Dave's brother, John, was kind enough to run to the store for us and pick up the items, as well as grab us some lunch. One sure way of feeling like horrible, neglectful parents to is to be sick in bed for a whole week. It was absolutely miserable and I don't remember the last time I was that sick.

By the 18th, we were out of the woods. Dave and I still had some congestion and a runny nose, which led to me getting an ear infection on the 21st but luckily I was able to catch it before it got so bad, and got on some antibiotics to treat it.

On the 22nd, we celebrated Miles turning 16 months by giving him his very first haircut! I was sad to cut his lovely wavy curls, but I made sure to cut it long enough that he could keep the wave but not have a mullet anymore. He did so well! He would put his face in Dave's hands so I could get to the back; he was very patient and didn't make a fuss.

Before:

After:

At 16 months, Miles can now blow kisses, give high-fives, and will sometimes wave bye-bye. He is still an incredibly picky eater and prefers things like noodles and rice. I still can't get him to drink juice and he doesn't want anything to do with a sippy cup. 

He loves to be outside! Luckily it was nice that week we were all feeling better, so I would put his jacket on and take him outside to walk around and explore. Some days, Jett would push him around the cul-de-sac in his little blue car. 

He is now at that age where he will take stuff from one place and stick it in another, like plastic teaspoons in the Easy Bake Oven, toys in the VCR, and mommy's make up in the dresser drawers. And every now and then we'll find an old nasty bottle in the most random place. Ew!

That was a nice week. And then...

Sunday we got home from church to find Miles had a weird rash in the creases of his elbows and on his tummy. We thought maybe he just got hot, but he woke up from his nap still with the rash. He seemed to be acting fine, so we just ignored it. Then on Tuesday he woke up with a fever and feeling pretty terrible, so Dave took him to the doctor where they found he had an ear infection. The doctor looked at the rash and said it was eczema; when Dave told me that I looked at him and said, "Did this doctor actually go to med school?! This is not eczema!" By then the rash had gotten worse and was now on his legs.

The doctor prescribed him an antibiotic called augmentum which tasted absolutely horrible! He would just throw it up every time we attempted to give it to him. So I took it back to the pharmacy to get it flavored, which didn't help because he still couldn't keep it down. So Thursday we called in and asked if they could prescribe something in a capsule so we could put it in his milk. That worked a little bit, but he still would vomit from us trying to give him Tylenol or ibuprofen, so who knows how much of the antibiotic actually stayed in him.

Thursday night he was up all night. Crying, coughing, and overall miserable. He was retracting and was working too hard to breathe. His heart was beating incredibly rapid, and his rash had spread to his hands and one of his ear lobes. Finally, we were able to go to sleep at 5am. Friday morning, I called the doctor and made an appointment for 4pm (that was the earliest time available). I made an appointment for Jett as well, as he was coughing terribly and had had a fever the previous day as well.

Dave and I spent the day taking turns sleeping. Finally, we all got into the car and headed to the doctor's office. You know there is something not right when the doctor comes in immediately after the nurse. Usually we sit waiting for at least 15 minutes before he shows up. The nurses all looked worried, and Dr. McCune seemed very concerned, but you could tell he was afraid to tell us his assumptions. They gave Miles a breathing treatment and listened to his chest. He looked at his rash and didn't know what to make of it. After quickly looking at Jett, he told us that we needed to take Miles to the ER as fast as possible.

We got to the ER in American Fork at about 5pm and Dave went back with Miles where they took his vitals and asked some questions. I sat in the waiting area with Cruise and Jett since they won't let any children under 14 in the back area unless they are being treated. I called my sister Abby to come pick them up and take them back to our house, which was so nice of her because she was already tired and had things of her own to do. While we waited, I called Texas Roadhouse and put in an order for dinner since we all hadn't eaten yet. Once Abby got there, I had Dave go with them to pick up the food and go home to get his car.

While I stayed with Miles, the doctor informed me that they were previously worried he had meningitis, but from what they could tell, he didn't have that at all. But because he was in desperate need of some antibiotics and fluids, they decided to start an IV. I hate watching my babies get IVs. It takes them at least 3 tries to finally get a good line. Once they got the IV in, they took some blood to run some tests on. Then they got his fluids and antibiotics going, and they managed to get some Motrin in him as well. The poor kid was tired and in pain and just wanted to sleep, but people kept coming in to poke and prod. Finally, the x-ray technician came in and took an x-ray of his chest right there in the room.

After that, Dave came back with dinner and the laptop so Miles could watch Sesame Street and get his mind off his hand being all taped up with the IV.

Eventually, the doctor came back in and said he needed to talk to our pediatrician, but that he thought Miles could go home. He did say that the x-ray showed a little viral pneumonia, but that it wasn't something we needed to be too concerned about. We were instructed to keep an eye on his breathing and to continue to give him breathing treatments, antibiotics, and Tylenol or ibuprofen. He told us that if our pediatrician even mentioned the word meningitis, that he would have to do a spinal tap on Miles to rule it out. I prayed and prayed that he wouldn't have to do that. So he left to call our doctor and I had to leave to relieve Abby of watching the other two monkeys.

Dave called me on my way home and told me that the doctor didn't need to do a spinal tap and that they could go home! Miles came home so happy! He was happy to have that IV out of his hand, happy to not be bothered by strangers, and happy to be able to snuggle with us in our bed.

That night, he still didn't sleep too well, but with some ibuprofen, he seemed to feel a little better. He woke up happy and wanted to play. He was walking around and being his silly self again. He did continue to have a fever, so the worst part was getting him to take his medicine, but once that was in, he felt a lot better.

We were instructed to follow up with either our doctor or one in the practice to be sure he is doing well and won't need to go back to the hospital. Everything looked like it was improving and the fluids and antibiotic helped a lot. The doctor told us to keep doing what we're doing and that he didn't need to return to the hospital. The rash is still rampant, but they attributed it to the respiratory virus that he is currently fighting.

Hopefully this will blow over quickly and that Miles will get feeling better fast. We are so sick of being sick!

And that was January. I hope the rest of the year goes significantly better.