our sick christmas

christmas of 2012 will forever be remembered by me as the christmas that daddy was sick.  

hendrix had an ear infection that was discovered on christmas eve (thank goodness the clinic was open and we were able to squeeze him in to get antibiotics before the holiday) but he bounced back pretty quickly after his first dose of meds.

daddy, on the other hand had a cold, then the flu, (he was up most of the night with a fever and chills on christmas eve), then a sinus infection, with a double ear infection grand finale.  he was out of commission for an entire week, during which mommy had this very important role of santa to play on her own.  it really was a super bummer to see your hubby laying on the couch in misery, while trying to excitedly open presents with your two kiddos on christmas morning.

enough complaining though.

our. holidays. were. awesome.

we got to celebrate multiple times with many family members, spread out evenly enough to let us savor each event.

our kids were showered with awesome presents and amazing memories.

i love christmas!

we started out at grandma's house.  after yummy breakfast treats, hendrix got the first taste of christmas presents, and he was so distracted with them that he wouldn't even hold his sister for a photo......

blaire was a doll just watching the lights, and ribbons with fascination.

hendrix, was of course, most excited about his new markers.....

coloring. is. his. thing. 

our second christmas celebration was when grandpa came to visit us for christmas eve.  hendrix enjoyed playing with some of his new toys with him, and grandpa just ate up the time to hold his baby granddaughter!

hendrix helped to open daddy's presents since he wasn't up to it.

watching hendrix have a little "jam session" with grandpa on the guitar was probably a highlight of my holiday season.  he was so delighted to be a part of the music, and grandpa was so patient with his energetic strumming.  so sweet!

hendrix came downstairs on christmas morning to find a new play kitchen from santa with all the fixin's......he was thrilled!  he probably played, making us a pretend breakfast, for a good 45 minutes before we even got to opening any of the wrapped presents!  

santa was very happy with her choice on gifts this year, and is looking forward to many years of play cooking from both hendrix and then eventually blaire ;)

after a few hours of lounging around home, we packed up and headed to nana and papa's house for the day.  

my kids get more attention than many dream of at nana and papa's house and it is always so fun to see my siblings, my sisters-in-law, and now my new baby niece!

hendrix was a hoot with all the presents, and he has taken over a few toys that were meant to be for blaire.  oh well, she doesn't mind too much yet!

he was especially thrilled with his new reindeer ornament, and has been really sad about putting away the ornaments and taking down the tree for the year.  he pitifully begged to leave it up saying, "mommy, i like ornaments, and my tree, cuz, mommy, i love christmas!".  i know kiddo, but it will roll around again, and quite frankly, much sooner than one would think!  lol

my grandparents came for part of the afternoon, and it was really fun to watch my brothers give my grandpa a homemade knife gift that was so personal and special it invoked tears.  precious moments like that are not soon forgotten.  i love gifts from the heart!

it was so fun to snuggle my niece, annalise; and her mommy and i got to spend a significant part of the day hanging out in the rockers nursing our wee little babes ;)

our holidays were full of yummy treats, family memories and more gifts than we even knew what to do with!  

happy 2012 to all, and here's to a fresh whole new year!

what happened to thanksgiving?

i am so thankful for this smiling, happy, toothy grin ;)  

almost a full week later, i think hendrix is finally better and feeling back to his normal self.  

he battled another bout of ear infection and that icky croupy cough stuff right through our weekend halloween festivities.  

he did get to go trick-or-treating, but he missed plenty of other fun events (including a costume birthday party for one of his favorite gal pals).

I can't help but notice that his eighth tooth is finally starting to poke up, and wonder if there is a correlation to sickness and teething?!?  the doc says no, but i have heard many other mothers make this correlation.......

hmmmmm

anyways, this pictures makes me happy.

it makes me thankful.

it reminds me that my life is full of blessings.

and it challenges me to take a few minutes to stop and consider them.

this evening after work i stopped at wal-mart really quick to pick up a can of pumpkin puree that got forgotten on my grocery list last night.  i thought it would be pretty easy, being early november, to find said pumpkin on an aisle end cap or in the seasonal section.

i got all the way to the seasonal section to find that the pumpkin has already been replaced with cranberries and christmas ornaments.  

what?

now, don't get me wrong here, i love christmas. 

i really do.  

i probably love christmas more than the average person, and i can't wait to go chop down our very first real christmas tree this year.....

but

i really would like to take it one holiday at a time, and right now i want to focus on thanksgiving.

apple cider.

pumpkins.

turkey with stuffing.

family time.

red and orange leaves.

pilgrims.

counting our blessings.

so, in honor of my revolt against skipping this important holiday, i thought i would compile a little list of the things i am thankful for today.

1. my hubs.  he is my rock. my constant.  i love him so much.

2. my sweet boy.  he makes me laugh, he makes me tear my hair out.  he keeps me young and he makes me feel old.  he is a doll.  he is at an age where the whole world is opening up to him and he is starting to make connections about the way things work - it is so fun to watch!

3. crisp autumn mornings.  the kind that make me want to wear turtlenecks and boots.  (by the way, hendrix tried out his snow boots for the first time this evening, while he was brushing his teeth.....he is a fabulous multitasker, just like his mama!)

4. a quaint, though a bit rough around the edges, house that we have made a home. 

5. pecan tassies and gingersnap cookies (both of which i made this morning) that make an entire house smell delicious for days!

6. big piles of raked leaves that make loud crunching sounds.

7. pumpkin spice lattes.

8. friends.  the kind that stop by when i am still unshowered in my jammies and don't even make me feel bad about it ;)

9. family gatherings. the kind that fill a whole house up with noise and laughter.  

10. my camera.  i love the way i am able to see the world differently when i look through my lens.

but i am most thankful for the life-changing role of mom that was given to me 14 months ago when this little boy was born into our family.  i wouldn't change a thing.

linking up with:

I'm feeling better, mom!

Finally, this kiddo seems to be doing better!  ;)

  We are on day five of antibiotics, and I think the earaches have really subsided as Hendrix is eating again.  In fact, he has been waking up 2-3 times in the middle of the night to eat, and I imagine that is his body trying to catch back up.  Hope that is over soon. :)

Hard to tell he was so sick by looking at him now!

We are celebrating his 6-month birthday today with family pictures. :)  I need to get going so I can find some magical way to cover up these terrible bags under my eyes.  

happy weekend!

....and the sickness continues

We spent all weekend snuggling.  All weekend.  Didn't leave the house, didn't accomplish anything on my to do list, didn't get much sleep, and didn't even make it to church.  I wish I could tell you that it helped.  :(

In truth, he was starting to seem better on Saturday, but then yesterday he refused to breastfeed.  I tried and tried to get him to nurse, and he would sometimes latch and sometimes not, but never would he stay on longer than a minute before he would pull his head back and either wimper pitifully or just outright scream.  

I tried pumping and giving him a bottle.  I tried giving him breastmilk in his sippy cup.  I tried juice, I even tried water.  I began to get really concerned about him getting dehydrated, and after a conversation with "first nurse" (our clinic's medical advice hotline) I was preparing hubby for an ER visit if he didn't have a wet diaper in the next half hour.  

And then he did.  It was really more damp than wet, but right after that I was able to get him to nurse for about five minutes.  It was just enough to give me peace of mind to let the little  guy go to sleep and wait it out until I could make an appointment at the clinic in the morning.

So we had our third doctor's office visit in a week and a half and found out the Hendrix now has a double ear infection.  Poor, poor guy.  The doc said that his right ear was particularly swollen and pussy (yes, he used the word pussy.....yuck!), and that it was probably causing him alot of pain to suck and swallow.  No wonder the little fella didn't want to eat. 

He was down 10 oz in weight from his appointment on Thursday, but I had been getting enough fluids down him to keep him plenty hydrated.  The good news is that the nebulizer really helped because his lungs were completely clear!

The bad news is that the amoxocillin hasn't really seemed to have done him much good yet.  He still hasn't nursed well today, and now he has diarrhea on top of everything else.  

I am hoping tomorrow brings a new day with much brighter prospects!

I'm so glad that kids are resilient

What a couple of weeks for my little man.  He has had a cold for going on three weeks now, and wiping his runny nose has become second nature for this momma.  

Hendrix received a steroid shot to treat his croupy cough last week and then I took him back in to the doctor this week because it seemed like he was getting worse instead of better.  

I was right.  He had developed a much deeper, raspier cough, and was also wheezing when breathing.  The doc took some chest x-rays (which he HATED), and after finding that he didn't have bronchiolitis or pneumonia, she diagnosed him with RSV and sent us home with a nebulizer to help him breathe better.   

Now on day three of the treatments, he remains calm enough to actually fall asleep during it which is a huge change from screaming throughout the first couple.  


I can notice a huge difference immediately after the treatment in his breathing, and that has helped him to be able to sleep significantly better.  He still has a rough cough, but at least the wheezing is over. 


While he is still very fussy and short-tempered, he has bouts where he seems almost back to "normal".  Yesterday afternoon, he was all smiles, and daddy captured this movie of him playing. ;)

I'm thankful that it is the weekend, and we still have another day to sit at home and focus on nothing but getting this little guy better.  

Stay healthy!

His Smile is Back!

Well we did it.  We survived Hendrix's first encounter with the flu.  Yick. Yick. and Yick.  I am so glad he is better!  I got it first last week and was home from work on Wednesday and Thursday, and then it took him down just as I was feeling better.  I was amazed at how hard he tried to be a happy boy for little spurts in between long phases of grumpiness.  Poor little guy.  Needless to say, I spent most of the weekend just holding him.  It was so hard to tell if he was better, because he would start acting "normal" again and wake up from a nap in a great mood.......then I'd hand him off to Daddy and he'd soon be inconsolable again.  I can't wait until he can tell me what's wrong and how to make it better.  In the meantime, we have discovered that only Mommy can make it better when he is sick.


During one of those spurts in which we thought he was better, we went to this big Christmas event that took place at our church.

There was a petting zoo and Hendrix got to see some sheep up close and personal.

I am not sure what a llama has to do with Christmas, but Hendrix got to see his first one of those too. ;)

Then the kiddos put on a Christmas pageant, and I didn't get any photos of that as I was busy trying to keep Hendrix quiet and entertained, which is more work these days.  He is getting big enough to be vocal during these kinds of events; even when he is happy, he is making noises.  

He is so patient to let me play dress-up with him, and I have enjoyed digging out his size 6-9 month clothing that he received as gifts and have just been waiting for him to grow into.  Check out this little outfit he got from my grandparents:

Doesn't he just look like he could play a role in the movie "Grease" with that little sweater on??!!  I think it is SO CUTE!

And, of course, he has no shortage of Santa and holiday gear!

I am loving the soft and warm fleece outfits as we got our first 'real' snow over the weekend and temps dipped down into the single digits.  I had every intention of taking a picture of Hendrix playing in the first snow, BUT it was just too cold!

I finished our homemade Christmas ornament project over the weekend, so stay tuned for the official unveiling of those....they turned out great!  

Also got our Christmas letter typed up and labels ready to slap on our Christmas cards when they get here.....which should be around Thursday.  Am I the only person that uses the UPS website to track her order every morning to see if it is still scheduled to deliver on time?!?!  LOL  I get really excited about anything either photo related, or holiday related; so that makes Christmas cards a double whammy!  It's a weakness, I know.  

Hope everyone is filled with the joy of the season, and having a great week!

Tiger's Homecoming

Hendrix went to his first high school football game last night.

He loved the game (which means that he slept through the whole thing), and Mommy really loved the temperature (which stayed in the 60's the entire evening).  I wasn't sure that we would be taking him to any games this year, because I didn't want to drag my little preemie to the stadium in freezing weather.  This was a pleasant surprise!

Uncle Joel fed him his bottle, uncle Jake taught him the basics of the game, and Grandpa Karl just loved on him. :)

Hendrix was pooped from his big day of being photogenic.  He did a GREAT job at his photoshoot! 

After snoring the whole way to Grinnell, I wasn't sure what to expect from him for his photos.  I had been hoping, of course, that we would get at least a few shots of him with his eyes open; but I had realized that expecting cooperation of a new baby was probably a little unrealistic.  I had brought some cute hats and cloth diapers that I thought would make naked sleeping baby shots really cute.....

But then he surprised us and was wide awake the entire photo session! 

After we took most of the shots, we actually had to try really hard to get him to fall asleep so we could get a few of those precious "sleeping angel" pictures.  I couldn't believe how cooperative he was.   Our photographer says that we better be careful not to get unrealistic expectations for next time just because he did so great for us!  :)  Can't wait to show you what she captured.....oh, and don't worry he did pee all over one of his blankets in the middle of the shoot.  That made him kind of grumpy.......

Those are all pics that i took of him before we left home, just to help him get the hang of hamming it up for the camera!  I just can't get over how cute I think he is ;)

Then after all that fun, we actually had our first rough night last night.  Hendrix seems to have picked up some sort of head cold that left his nose running and his sinuses all congested.  He had a hard time breathing while he was laying on his back; so mommy and daddy had to take turns holding him all night long.  That makes for some pretty rough sleep for everyone.  I'm thankful that we were staying over at my folks' house, and my mom took over in the early morning hours, letting both Bud and I sleep in!  That felt amazing!

Guess we might be rescheduling our trip to the Pumpkin Farm yet again.      :(  Our little pumpkin is all dressed for the occasion and everything!

Speaking of dressing him, apparently that was a group effort this morning!

I can't believe my peanut is 4 weeks old today! 

You are getting so big, my little munchkin!