Hot Cross Buns

So Paul has become increasingly untrustworthy in the bathroom. He has been flooding the toilet with too much toilet paper lately. After the above picture happened yesterday I was livid. I closed the door to deal with it later, and I went to the computer to try to ignore Paul for a bit (it was for his physical well being).

As I was blogging I came across this picture on a friend's blog. She took a vacation to Hawaii and she had more than just beautiful beaches and Polynesian dancers to look at... This picture totally made my day. I was instantly over the bathroom incident as I was trying to contain my outright laughter. I hope this brightens your day as much as it did mine.

I'm Finished!!!!

I am so excited to be finished with my most recent project! It took me all year. I started last year right after Christmas, and my goal was to have it done by Thanksgiving. It feels so good to be done. I made Christmas stockings for my family. A couple years ago I made an advent calendar, and next year I will make a tree skirt. I just love Christmas decorations. The stockings started out as kits you can buy from Bucilla (I did not design them; I am not that creative). I can't wait to hang them up on Friday.

What Is It With Public Bathrooms?

What is it with 3 year olds and their fascination with public bathrooms? I have a new found disgust with them since Paul whenever we're out 'needs' to go (I guess it could be worse; he doesn't go in his pants while we're out). But trying to keep your 1 year old from picking up crumbs off the floor and touching the sanitation trash can and trying to help your 3 year old from falling into the toilet and aiming simultaneously can be exasperating. The other day we were at McDonald's letting the kids get their wiggles out on the playground and Paul needed to go to the bathroom - goody. The aiming part didn't go so well. As I'm yelling at Paul to stop peeing he's trying to aim it back into the toilet. Before he could figure it out he had soaked himself (underwear, pants, socks, shoes) not to mention me, the wall and the floor. It was such a mess. Being the responsible adult that I am we walked out and went home. :) I know what you're thinking, why didn't you at least tell one of the workers? My response is I don't know. All I wanted to do was get out of there. If it had been my own house I would have cleaned the entire bathroom. I know I am not the first to have an experience like this, and it is disgusting to think about.

Halloween

We had a good Halloween. What constitutes a good Halloween? The kids got enough candy for Pat and I to be able to pick out the good stuff and the kids won't notice. My mouth is watering just thinking about the Rolos and Baby Ruth's.

We went to our church Trunk-or-Treat/Halloween party. It was a fun time. I had a lot more fun than I thought I would, but I think that's because I had low expectations due to previous experiences. However, I probably shouldn't think like that because Halloween is really for the kids right? And everyone isn't here on this earth to make me happy. Why should it matter if I had a good time anyway as long as the kids were happy.

We took the kids trick-or-treating afterwards in a nearby neighborhood. Caleb kept trying to walk into people's houses, but overall it was successful and profitable.




Caleb was a monkey and Paul was a dragon.

Swine What?

Swine Flu, H1N1, coughing virus, whatever you wanna call it we've had it. I didn't know much about it until it swept through Denver and we got it. There are a myriad of symptoms that you can get, but it affects everyone a little differently. To one person it can be just a bad cold, and to the next person it can be fatal. It is so contagious, and I was told you're contagious before you even show symptoms which is why it is difficult to contain.

I got it first with a cough, headaches, and body aches while Pat had a marathon of night meetings. Just bad timing. By the time Pat and Caleb were showing symptoms I was recovering. From the very beginning of Pat's symptoms he was complaining of chest pain. After eight days with a fever Pat went back to the doctor with pneumonia. I was a wreck inside. My prayers all of sudden had purpose and my scripture study became very regular. The H1N1 fatalities are caused by the virus entering the lungs. It was a faith promoting time for me as I watched my sweet husband just get sicker and sicker. However, Pat's pneumonia ended up being bacterial. What a sigh of relief. A few days after he started antibiotics he was almost back to normal. Paul ended up getting it last, but Paul, Caleb, and I didn't have as rough as a time as Pat did. Paul has a lingering cough and Caleb now has chicken pox on his leg from a vaccination and 4 incoming teeth. I love fussy children. :) Seriously though, I am so grateful that we are all back to good health. Thank you to those who included us in your thoughts and prayers.



We also had a snow storm come through Denver. This isn't the first snow, but it is the biggest we've had so far. We got between 12 and 18 inches. Winter seems to be coming early this year. Maybe it will leave early too (I can always hope).

Happy Birthday Caleb

Here's a shout out to my little Calebub. I love this stealth sweetheart. He's such a good and fun little kid. He is constantly on Paul's heels, and is growing up so fast.



We went to the zoo and a corn maze over the weekend for Caleb's birthday, but the highlight for 1st birthdays is the cake. He most definitely had a good time with the cake. Caleb also got a bike, a slide, and some building blocks for his birthday. When Caleb was born we put the slide away to make room for the changing table, so we brought it back out for his birthday. Both Paul and Caleb have been on it nonstop, but the bike that my mom sent was a hit. He doesn't let that bike out of his sight. They just don't make them like they used to. I mean, who wouldn't love a bike with streamers?

So I don't post that often. But, I felt we needed to give an update. Everything has been going well. We have been keeping our selves busy. Last weekend we went down to the local Scout Camp for 2 nights. Caleb is not quite sure about sleeping in some other bed. He likes his crib and since he is starting to sleep through the night finally - I say he can have the crib. The boys absolutely loved the camp and every ounce of mud all over the camp. They had received more than a foot of snow there last week and we got there the day it melted. What a mess. Winter is definitely flirting with us. The night before we went down to camp we went to our first NHL game. The boys were not too interested. Honestly they lost interest after the first 10 minutes. We got tickets for the game from work for free. They were great tickets. Just 20 rows off the ice. Paul loved it when I took him down to the glass to watch the players up close. He was really loving it until the puck would hit the glass right in front of us. We left the game early before the 3rd period. It was probably good because we took the train downtown and the NHL game and the Rockies game both let out at the same time and the train would have been crowded.

Caleb is walking pretty good now. He still stumbles over things if he is not watching what is on the ground. He is really getting to the fun stage and you can tell he understands some of the things you say. Especially when he stands in his high chair and we tell him firmly to sit down - he will look at you and then slowly slide down. The boys have also started to play better together. Susan absolutely loves it.

I have added a link below for all of the moms. I saw it on the Glenn Beck show. Anyone should check it out. www.asamom.org

Family Pictures

My friend Tracy took our family pictures. Didn't they turn out great? She's aspiring to be a professional. I think she's on her way.

The Good Ol' Days

No these aren't the good ol' days - yet, but looking at these pictures I can see myself saying it ten years down the road when I go back and look at these. I love moments like this when things are serene and peaceful.

Happy 3rd Paul!

Paul's birthday was a couple months ago, but I've since fallen off the face of the earth. I'm back hopefully to stay. Paul wanted a dinosaur party, but I didn't take him seriously because he's never liked dinosaurs until we were at a party store and he saw a dinosaur lunch box that he just had to have. Anyway, I decided no theme with a snake cake was less work. Theme or no theme, the kids still ate candy and cake and had a good time. As a family, we went to a Rockies baseball game to celebrate his day. Paul still asks to have a birthday party. He doesn't quite get the once-a-year concept.

Estes Park Retreat

A friend of mine had a timeshare cabin in Estes Park that wasn't being used for a few days so we packed up and hit the trail. It was a lot of fun to be with so many of my friends, but I would have enjoyed it a little more had I gotten a babysitter. Not that I would have because everyone else brought their kids, but it's nice to dream about. All the kids had a blast with the gigantic sleep over. We went hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I love to hike and luckily their were some hikes that were easy enough for the kids to do. Paul jumped into a huge puddle at the beginning of the hike which made me furious because I knew that he would complain the entire time about being cold and wet. However, to my surprise he didn't even mention it. At the end of the hike he wanted to go home, but I think it was because he was cold and wet. So we went back to the cabins while the majority of everyone else continued to hike. We played in the game room and got a ping pong ball caught in the pool table which gave us a never-ending pool game. Hehehehe The best part of the trip was the girl talk after all the kiddos were asleep. Ahhhhh

BolderBoulder 10K

I ran a 10K (6.2 miles) on Memorial Day with some friends. It was a lot of fun. My main motivation for running it was to lose the last of the baby weight while training, and I am happy to announce the baby weight is off! However, my shirts will have to sit in the closet for a few more months. I am still a little top heavy. The last couple pounds don't count when you're still nursing though right? :)

I took the race at a pretty leisurely jog averaging a 10 minute mile. My overall time was 63 minutes putting me in 19,782th place! Wow, that sounds pretty pathetic doesn't it? But out of over 50,000 people... I am just glad I did it, and that my end goal was met.

I thought these stats about the BolderBoulder were kind of fun:

-It's the 2nd biggest race in the US
-5th biggest in the world
-Over 50,000 runners and 150,000 spectators
-It's at 5,300 feet making it an altitude challenge
-It's 31 years running

Crawling Caleb

This video is a couple weeks old, and Caleb seems to make daily progress, but here is a video of Caleb's crawling abilities at 6 1/2 months. Caleb seems to be ahead of the game a little bit. He has been doing milestone activities earlier than most babies his age. I don't think it has anything to do with what I am doing; I think it's just his personality. He watches Paul alot. I was actually hoping he'd take his time and I could just enjoy him being a baby because I remember being so anxious for Paul to hit his next milestone. This time around I wanted to let Caleb do it when he was ready. Part of me wishes he wasn't quite ready yet. This morning I was watching Caleb pucker his lips and make kissy noises. So I kissed him and then he did it again. I then started to say, "kisses" and then he'd pucker up and I'd kiss him. He did it several times in a row. It surprises me how much Caleb understands, and how fast babies pick up on things. It's going by too fast this time around.

Green Thumb

Denver has a program called Denver Urban Gardens, and there are little community gardens around Denver where people can rent out some land for the year and plant a garden. There is a little garden just down the street from our apartment so we decided to exercise our green thumb and do a veggie garden this year. We spent most of last Saturday pulling weeds, turning in fertilizer, and preparing our seeds. It was fun to spend time as a family. Someday we'll have one in our backyard, but I am so excited to be able to do this while we're still in an apartment. Can you tell what Caleb was enjoying? He really wasn't on the ground too long though because there were so many goatheads. Anyone have suggestions on how to get rid of them?

Just Kidding, Not Salmonella

I just got off the phone with our Pediatrician. They received the further results from the cultures done on Paul while at the hospital. After a more extensive study the lab determined that it was E Coli and not Salmonella. However, after doing a little online reading they have very similar symptoms. There are a couple differences like the incubation period for E Coli has a much broader time frame. So most people show signs 3-4 days after they're infected, but can show signs anywhere between 1-10 days. The long term possible side effects also differ(very scary so I don't want to dwell), but the general run of the course illness is the same. They are both passed from feces contaminated food and they both are no fun to have.

What a Week!

This week has been one of the hardest I've ever had, if not THE hardest. Having sick kids while I'm not feeling well is very difficult, but what's worse is when I start to feel better and your child continues to worsen. This story does have a more positive ending, but here's our week's saga:

Last Friday and Saturday Caleb was running a fever with no other symptoms other than fussiness. The good news was I could keep his fever down by alternating Tylenol and Motrin. I figured he was getting teeth or something, and then on Sunday I started getting stomach cramps. This isn't too uncommon for me; I have had stomach aches for years. Paul woke up on Monday puking and continued to puke all day. I took the kids into the doctor worried that Caleb might be suffering from an ear infection or something. Tuesday morning Caleb broke out in spots all over his abdomen, back, neck, and scalp. I thought it might be an allergic reaction to watermelon I had given him the day before. After talking to my mom she suggested Chicken Pox or Measles because he had a fever a couple days prior. At this point my stomach ache had eased and Caleb was acting normal, he just had spots. However, Paul continued to puke and not be able to keep anything down. His diarrhea had become pretty bad. All I did the entire day was laundry, carpet cleaning, diaper changes, and lots of hugs.


I was extremely worried for Paul whose little body was going through such a struggle. He just laid and cried all day. He cried that his stomach hurt. What worried me was the way he was crying. It wasn't a normal sad cry it was a heavy breathing cry and then he'd hold his breath and hold his stomach. He was so weak. It got to the point that he was having a hard time holding his head up. His little body was limp when I'd pick him up. He wasn't eating. A lot more liquid was coming out than was going in. He had lost control over his bowels. He'd lay on the couch and his eyes would roll back and he'd fall asleep for ten minutes and wake up crying, and a few minutes later he'd fall back asleep again. This fifteen minute cycle lasted a day and a half. On Wednesday morning I tried to get Paul to eat since he hadn't eaten anything since Sunday. Paul was continuing to downward spiral though. I called the doctor, who said to bring him in. One of the things I really hate is going to the doctor and paying them to tell me what I already know (It's a virus. Go home and sip liquids.) like they did when I took the kids in on Monday, but I didn't know what else to do. I was so helpless to the situation. I was scared and I just needed someone to tell me he was going to be okay.

After assessing Paul, and discovering that he had lost 2 pounds in 2 days (water loss) they sent us to the ER. The IV insertion was a joy with a hungry and tired Caleb, and a very scared, sick Paul. They had to do the IV three times because he was so dehydrated. It was frustrating to be so helpless. I broke down holding my two crying babies, who both needed me. At that point I didn't feel like I was strong enough for them. My saving grace, Pat, was finally able to join me just as I got both of them to sleep in our little ER room.

The hospital moved Paul into a room for the night, which turned into two nights. His O2 and potassium levels were really low. So they did blood tests every four hours and stool samples trying to get his levels higher and figure out what was causing his sickness. Thursday morning in the hospital Paul had gotten his color back, his fingers had puffed up, his eyes weren't sunken, and he started to eat. However, his potassium continued to drop. I guess low potassium can cause heart trouble and seizures. Friday morning Paul was so irritated by the IV that he started to throw tantrums. It was good that he had some energy back, but he was getting hard to reason with. On Friday test results came back positive for Salmonella.

What is Salmonella?
Salmonellosis is an infection with bacteria called Salmonella. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some persons, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

How do people catch Salmonella?
Salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals, including birds. Salmonella are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces. Contaminated foods usually look and smell normal. Contaminated foods are often of animal origin, such as beef, poultry, milk, or eggs, but any food, including vegetables, may become contaminated. Thorough cooking kills Salmonella. Food may also become contaminated by the hands of an infected food handler who did not wash hands with soap after using the bathroom.
cdc.gov

The good things is that the bacteria can be killed easily. So after the test came back positive I racked my brain on what we had been doing 12 to 72 hours before Monday morning. We went to a party and ate Wendy's on Friday, went to Scout Show on Saturday (at a livestock pavilion with thousands of people), and went to church on Sunday. So there are several possibilities on where he picked it up. The bad thing about Salmonella is that it can live on objects like toys for months. We have been sanitizing our house like crazy. You'll be able to eat off my floor when I'm done. I do not want a relapse.

So we are home now where Paul can be a normal kid and play. He had just about enough of that hospital room. Paul is doing great. We are trying to get him to drink and eat, which with Paul as most people know, is a struggle even when he's feeling fine. He should no longer be contagious, but we're going to stay away for a few more days just to be safe. I am so glad Paul is okay and returning to his spunky self. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Caleb's spots cleared up, and we still don't know what caused it. Caleb is starting to crawl! He's only 6 1/2 months! Ahh the baby proofing is already starting. I was hoping Caleb would take his time, but it's fun to see him explore too.