Valentine's Day

We had a good Valentine's Day here at our house.  Troy and I usually don't make a big deal out of it and even more so now with the kids.  It's more fun to watch them with fun little gifts.  Hannah and I did go out to lunch with Troy though which was nice.  For dinner Troy grilled a salmon and we also had green beans, stuffed mushrooms, salad and rolls.  Mighty tasty!  I also made some yummy desserts for us all to enjoy--mini cherry pies and rice krispy treats.  After dinner we let the kids open their gifts and cards and then we all had dessert.  

Luke took this pic for us--he did a great job!

Snow Day!

On the 12th we had enough snow to be able to go out and play and build a snow man.  Luke was super excited after school when I told him I had everything ready to go at home so we could go out.  We even talked about the hot chocolate and marshmallows that would follow.  I should also say that Hannah really enjoyed watching the snow fall throughout the day.

After getting ourselves all bundled up, Luke, Hannah and I headed outside.  This was Hannah's first experience in the snow.  She wasn't able to walk too well and wasn't too sure she liked it.  She and I stayed outside long enough for me to help LJ get a snowman going and that was about it.  Because she kept falling over, her hands got wet pretty fast even with mittens.  Once that happened she was way done.  Luke stayed outside for over an hour.  Watching him through the window was fun--I was reminded of myself sitting/playing outside in the snow by myself when I was about 8.  (A quick side note: Luke has reminded me a lot of myself lately in his actions and what he says.  He is without question his mother's son.)

As promised, once inside and changed, Luke enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and even some Valentine sprinkles.

 Going down the slide when it's snowing makes it super fast!

Pics

 2-2: Hugs for Dad

 2-3: My get well picture from Luke.  Notice that he wrote my name (all by himself without asking how to spell it or anything). :)

 2-7: "Bye, Bye!"  Hannah loves to grab her purse and pretend like she leaving.

 2-10: Family park time

 2-15: First time drawing/coloring; look closely at her mouth and you'll see where most of the color went.

 2-16: Hannah loves to comb her hair (at least what she has of it).

 2-17: Up in a tree

 2-20: Hannah was SO proud of herself for figuring out how to unzip her pj's and take off her diaper.  The next day when she did it her diaper was more than just wet.  She now has masking tape around her diaper every night to prevent that event from happening again.

 2-23: Hugs for Grandma

 2-25: Scratches for Maggers

2-27: Cheese

February

Here's February in a list:

*Luke was really sick.

*Mom was really sick.

*Hannah turned 14 months and has 14 teeth.

*We enjoyed Valentine's day with a family dinner, yummy dessert and a few gifts.

*Troy took a weekend photography class.

*Luke had one day off of school because of snow.

*Hannah played in the snow for the first time.

*Troy moved to a new office building.

*Luke continues to make at least one new train track a day.

*Grandma and Grandpa Johnson come for a less than 24 hour visit (the weather forecast changed drastically).

*We all were hoping for another snow day which didn't happen.

*The upstairs furnace was out for 2 days.  Thankfully is wasn't too cold outside.

Some recent quotes of Luke:

*Walking into the library, Luke was holding onto the stroller and he just randomly says, "Mom, Hannah is my best friend." 

*Talking with Grandma J. in the car about what he could be when he grows up; we drove by a person waving a street sign and she says you could do that and Luke replies, "I want to be a Chick-Fil-A food maker!"  

New words for Hannah:

*Daisy (the cat)

*brother

*Moo (as in cow)

*She is still jabbering constantly and knows exactly what she's saying.  I know I'm really going to miss it when she stops.

Hi

Hello, I'm still here.  It's been a long time since I've gone over 3 weeks without writing a post.  I have a monthly goal for myself to write at least as many posts in a month as I did the previous year.  I don't always get there but I try.  I didn't even try this month.  I wrote 9 posts last February and as of today, the 24th, I've written only one.  Why you ask; that's a good question and one I don't really have an answer to.  

My guesses (in no particular order):

*I got the flu two days after LJ was diagnosed with his double ear infection and pneumonia.  Troy had to stay home from work for two days to take care of all of us.  That was a very long week for all of us.

*I'm really addicted to my Kindle.  I haven't had the time to read much over the past year and I feel like I'm trying to make up for it.  Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and I'm happy to report that I've been able to enjoy it again.

*I'm trying to make a point of spending more quality time with the kids.  It's much easier with Hannah as we're together for 3 days while Luke is at school.  Quality time with just Luke is harder to come by and when the opportunity arises it revolves around train tracks and building Legos.

*I have to be in the mood to write and that mood hasn't hit me much lately.  In fact the mood is leaving me.

I would like to get at least two more posts on here this month.  I have 4 days and a major winter storm bearing down on us to help me.  We will see.  Until next time....

Long Day

Today has been a very long day.  

12 am: LJ scares me to death when he wakes me up by whispering mom at my side of the bed.  He said his ear was hurting and he wanted a drink.  So he got a drink and got back in bed.

12:15 am: I hear a thud and was ready for Luke this time when he made it to my side of the bed.  He climbed in bed to lay with Troy while I got the thermometer and tylenol.  He was really upset and not feeling good at all.  I laid with him in his bed for about 10 minutes and then we moved to the recliner in his room and I rocked him for probably another 20 before he was almost asleep again.  

6:15 am: I wake up to Luke crying and gagging through the monitor.  I flew upstairs and managed to get a bucket for him for the second round of gagging and throwing up.  I had to strip off the top covers of his bed and change his pj's but he was able to stay in bed for the most part with a new sheet and blanket.  He was back asleep almost immediately.  I started a load of wash and debated going back to bed.  I decided another 30+ minutes of sleep would probably be beneficial for a day that wasn't looking to be too good.  (At this point I was just thinking LJ had a bad ear infection and figured the vomitting was from all the junk in his throat from his cold.)

7:30 am: I get up after not ever really going back to sleep.  I took a shower and got ready.

8:02 am: I called the dr's office.  They open at 8 and I wanted to get as early an appointment as possible.  Our dr isn't in the office on Friday so I set up appointments for Luke and Hannah with the PA.  The irritating part is that they didn't have an appointment until 2:50.  I set up an appointment for Hannah too because of all of her coughing and congestion over the last 10+ days.  I figured it wouldn't hurt since we were already going to be there although I was pretty sure it's all due to teething.

8:20 am: Hannah is awake and I head upstairs.  I peek in at Luke who is also awake.  I asked him if he wanted to come downstairs or stay in bed; he opted to come downstairs.  I set him up on the couch with a sheet and blanket as protection and gave him a "bucket" in case he felt like he was going to get sick again.  I then got Hannah up and we ate breakfast while Luke watched PBS.

9:05 am: I talked to my mom; today is her birthday so we talked about her plans for the day and about how LJ was.  At this point, Luke had kept down a cup full of ginger ale so I offered him a piece of toast which he ate slowly and didn't have too much trouble with.  

9:30 am: We're all hanging out in the family room.  I messed around on the computer, Hannah was playing and Luke was watching TV.  I don't exactly remember what time it happened but Luke had another round of gagging and almost throwing up.  This is only the second time that Luke has ever experienced throwing up so you can imagine how scared and upset he was.  I should also say that I'm a sympathetic puker but I held it together; it definitely wasn't easy but I did it without gagging.  I was proud of myself for that.

10-11 am: Hannah took her morning nap.

11:45 am: I asked Luke if he wanted anything for lunch and he asked for plain noodles.  So I fixed him some plain noodles but when I put the tray in front of him, he turned green again.  He told me that he didn't want to eat and I suggested he go lay in his bed and take a nap.  He agreed.  We figured out that LJ moving really made his stomach upset.  We set up a plan to get him upstairs hopefully without getting sick again.  Well, we made it to his room and then he really got sick--poor guy!  I felt so awful for him.  He got cleaned up and I think he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.  Thankfully during all of this Hannah was in her highchair as she had finished her lunch and was just eating some puffs.  I opted not to eat lunch after seeing LJ get sick.

12:30 pm: LJ is sound asleep.  Hannah is back playing in the family room.  I was pretty worried at this point that LJ had the flu.  I also knew it was going to be a difficult car ride to get to the dr's office.  I debated going or not and talked with several people about whether or not we should go.  I even called the dr's office to see if they would be able to do anything if it was in fact the flu.  They said if it was the flu then they would give Luke Tamiflu and it would greatly improve the nausea and shorten the length of illness.  Enough said. 

1:10 pm: Frankie/Grandma agreed to come with us to the dr's office.  I was so grateful she was able to come.  Troy had a meeting right at the same time as the appointment and I also wanted him to work so that if I get sick he can be home then. 

1:50 pm: LJ was still sound asleep when I woke him up to go to the appointment.  He REALLY didn't want to get out of bed or move or get in the car.  I have never seen him so drained and lethargic.  We picked Grandma up about 2:15 and headed to the dr.  There were several times during the drive that Luke thought he was going to be sick again.  Thankfully that didn't happen.  

2:40 pm: Check-in at the dr's office.  Luke lays in a chair with his head on the arm and looks completely out of it.  Let me just say how awesome it was to have Grandma with us.  Luke refused to walk anywhere and so I was carrying him while Frankie pushed Hannah in the stroller.  I would have had a very difficult time getting both of them into the dr's office by myself.

3:10 pm: We get called back.  Luke lays on the exam table with his coat over him and almost falls asleep again.  Hannah has lots of fun playing with Grandma and I.  

3:30 pm: The PA finally makes it to our room.  We were all ready to be headed back home at this point.  After examining Luke, she says that he has a double ear infection and clinical pneumonia.  What!?!?!  I wasn't surprised by the ear infections but the pneumonia definitely.  She said that vomitting can sometimes be a symptom of pneumonia (never heard that before).  She had the nurse monitor Luke's pulse oxygen level to see if he needed a breathing treatment; he didn't.  I was right concerning Hannah--just teething.  But not just one tooth or even two, but four teeth are coming in.  Her top molars and the bottom canines.  I was so glad she didn't have an ear infection or something else going on.

4:00 pm: Finally headed back home.  Frankie agrees to stay with the kids so I can run to Target to get all the medicine, etc that Luke needs.  Luke had a really hard time on the drive back home too.  He kept whimpering and moaning--I truly have never seen him so sick.

4:25 pm: We get home.  I get Luke situated in his bed and again he's asleep almost immediately.  Frankie takes care of Hannah for a bit and then Troy gets home.  I had no idea he was coming home early but was very glad to see him.  

4:45 pm:  I head to Target.  I picked up Luke's antibiotics along with Mucinex, tylenol, saltines, jell-o, popsicles, bananas and 7-up.  It was pretty obvious I was going to be taking care of a sick person.  (On top of the prescription and Mucinex, Luke has to do his inhaler 4 times a day.)

5:05 pm: Head back home and get Luke's medicines in him.  He decided to come back downstairs at this point.  

5:45 pm: I head back out to pick up Chipotle for Troy and I for dinner.  Troy, Luke and Hannah hang out in the family room.

6:10 pm: Get back home and have dinner.  Luke wanted to try some saltine crackers because he was hungry.  We started out slow--eat 3 crackers, wait 10 minutes, eat 3 crackers, wait 10 minutes, etc.  I think he ended up eating about 15 crackers and drinking almost 2 full cups of water.  The PA was concerned that he was starting to get dehydrated so I was glad he was so willing to drink.

7:00 pm: Luke is still laying rather lifeless on the couch watching TV.  Hannah was playing and Troy and I were watching it all.  Hannah's fussiest time of day has been from 4 until bedtime so she wasn't overly happy.  Luke did perk up for a bit and played with Hannah for about 10 minutes; it was good to see him acting like his normal self for a little while.

7:35 pm: Troy gives Hannah a bath and I start getting Luke ready for bed.  It took us a good 5 minutes to get through the medicines again.  I hadn't been able to remake his bed from this morning yet so I did that while he watched from the recliner.  After getting that all taken care of and getting ready for bed, we read one quick story and then it was light's out.

8:15 pm: I came downstairs and just sat in a chair in the quiet for a few minutes.  I realized how tired I was and decided I would go to bed early.  

10:10 pm: Just now finishing this blog post.  So much for an early bed time.  I just hope that Luke is able to sleep through the night and feel a bit better tomorrow.

Good night!