boys' dr appt. - 05/24

The boys both had appts with the family doctor yesterday - Isaac for his 12 month check and needle, and Zech for a quick check and his 18 month needle.

Isaac is 21lbs (25th %) and 30 inches (50th %) - he's doing well, growing good, but has definitely dropped a bit from starting at well over the 95th %! He got his 12 month needle (MMR), cried only a little bit, and that was that. Such a good boy!

Zech is 30.5lbs (50th %) and 38 inches (75th%) - I have no idea where he gets his height from! Must be Grampa Sam.

Zech got his 18 month needle (dptp + hib). He's all caught up now, until time for school booster. He cried... a LOT... when they did it. A sucker helped, but only a little bit. He complained about his arm hurting a lot the whole rest of the day. We gave him ibuprofen at bedtime and he slept fine all night.

This morning, though, his arm was very swollen, red, and hardened. I didn't think much of it, as he said it didn't hurt. By lunchtime the redness and swelling had spread some. I took a few pictures of his arm and uploaded them to the pics site to link to some friends, to ask what they thought. Everyone agreed that I should at least call and ask the office about it, so I did. (really I was going to, but wanted to make sure I wasn't overreacting about this) The nurse said to come in right away, so in we trucked.

By the time Zech was seen (not really very long, only a few hours after lunchtime) the redness had spread to the top of his arm and down past his elbow. The swelling was all down his arm, into his hand.

The Dr. checked his arm, and listened to his chest. Chest is clear (good!), and Zech is acting normal for himself, so it's a localized allergic reaction to the vax (or at least something in it). We're to give Zech benadryl and put on a steroid cream 3 times a day. The Dr is supposed to call me tomorrow morning - if I don't hear anything by late morning, I will call and leave a message for him, though if it looks worse tomorrow morning, I'll definitely be having him seen again.

As of bedtime, his arm is still very red and swollen and hard, but his hand is looking and feeling normal. I'm hoping to somehow get him awake enough to take another dose of Benadryl before Josh and I go to bed, and hopefully we'll see great improvement in the morning.

Scary stuff, this parenting thing.Here are the pictures of his arm. Amazing enough (to me anyways) he says it doesn't hurt at all when I touch it or put pressure on it!

Sir Isaac Benjamin is 1 year old! - 05/19

Happy Birthday, my Baby Boy.

We celebrated Isaac's first birthday with Josh's aunt and uncle, and his grandparents. They came for a BBQ supper and cake. It was nice, but made me sad to think of everyone I want to be near who isn't.

I have been thinking a lot this week about what was happening one year ago - seems forever ago, and yet seems like just yesterday all at the same time. I do still wish things had been able to go differently with Isaac's birth, but in the end all was well - both of us healthy and here.

Pics will be posted soon, I promise. I'm tired right now and worn out from today. These first birthdays are brutal for mommies to have to go through!

1 year ago today... - 05/18

Mom was in Brandon with us as we prepared for Isaac's arrival. Ruth and Zech were SO happy to have Nana with them!
And Grace Marie was born!

Eek! A mouse! - 05/16

I just took some garbage stuff out to the bags in the garage. When I moved the one, a mouse ran out and under the stairs!
EEK!!!!
Guess Jack needs to step it up. And I guess Josh needs to set some traps out there.
As I sit here thinking about that, I wonder should I move the strollers I have under the breezeway. I'm not sure mice would bother them, but would they try to nest in them? YUCK!
Other than that, we're all fine and well. Busy, but good. Ruthie's dance class is winding up for the summer, which means extra trips in for rehersals and the end of the year concert. I'm a bit ticked off that, even though we're parents of a dancer, we have to pay $20 to watch her dance in the recital. I think that's a bit odd. I'm not sure what's going to happen next fall with dance. I think Ruthie would like to continue, and I know Zech would love to start. But I'd like to be able to find a time slot that works a bit better for us, especially for Josh being able to come and watch sometimes. But we'll have to see what their schedule looks like when it gets made up. I definitely think we'll continue the swim lessons in the fall. I'm not worrying about anything this summer - with the trip to NS and camping with Jen and Paul we'll be busy enough, I think.

some pictures to share - 05/07

I can't believe how big he's getting! :*)

hair just like daddy's!

you can see his 2 new almost teeth in this one - poor kid! though he's not sad here, just making his new funny face for the camera!!

Zech saying "cheese"... I think.
Ruthie

Zech at swim class! It's amazing to see the difference in him - just amazing!
Okay, and that's all I'm posting here! To see the rest, and a few videos, too (the one of Zech going on the slide really is awesome to see!), just check out the "pictures and videos" link over there ---->

Other than that, things are going well for us. Either the burning of the grass or the tick stuff we put on Myles is working (or maybe (HOPEFULLY!!) the tick "season" is over for the year), but we haven't seen any new ticks for a few days now. Course, it also rained all weekend long, so we weren't outside to get any, but Josh mowed the back lawn this afternoon and Myles was out there in the grass with him, and neither have any ticks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we're done now - those things are just a bit too much for me to handle.

We're going in to town tomorrow, of course, for Ruthie's dance class, but afterwards we're going to be going to the church for a pizza "party" of sorts. Friends of ours from the church moved (last year) to BC and they're back in MB for a family wedding. We're going to have dinner with them and just visit a while. It'll be neat to see how much their girls have grown and changed, and for them to see Isaac and Gracie. Most of all, though, I can't wait to see Ruthie and Alliyah - they were the best of friends when the Kowalson's were here, and they still talk about each other quite often. Ali has even become Ruthie's "imaginary" friend. I can't wait to see them together again.

when will it end! - 04/30

While we were in town on Saturday (swimming lessons and groceries) some guys from the town were burning on the north side of our road. Our neighbour noticed and, nice guy that he is, went out and got them to burn all the long grass around the back yard and in our ditches.
Unfortunately, we've seen way more ticks since the burning than there was before. Ruthie's had 2 in her hair and 1 on her neck, Myles had one in each ear, one was on Ruthie's sweater, one on the living room floor, 1 trying to come through the door, and then one appeared on Zech's diaper as I was changing him.
I'm really hating these things. I'm not sure how I'll handle the summer if they continue for the whole time - I guess just a lot of time inside.
Swimming lessons went very well. Zech is doing so well in the water now, I can hardly believe that just a few weeks ago he was terrified just getting in with someone, and now he's jumping off the side and sliding in to Josh. It's awesome to see! Ruthie did a lot more fooling around this week than she's done before. I'm hoping to see different behaviour next week.
We've gotten a few spring things done - tires bought and on the van, tires ordered for the car (hope they'll stagger a bit from now on so we don't get stuck buying both sets at the same time!), and I've ordered my new glasses. This is all because of some awesome surprise help from my Mom and Dad!! :o)
We took Isaac in to the clinic on Saturday, too. He had a really bad cold about a month ago that lasted (and lasted) for 3 or 4 weeks. Then, a few days after that went away, he started with a runny nose all day and then coughing and gagging during the night. Finally we realized it might be a sinus thing, so we took him in to check. He's got an ear infection in his left ear and a sinus infection, so he's on antibiotics yet again for that. They seem to be helping, though - he seems happier today so far. Yesterday he was in pain, he needed Tempra every 4 hours all day. :o( Poor lil guy.

Zech funny - 04/27

Josh: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for..."
Zech: "APPLES!"
Josh: "Ice cream.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for..."
Zech: "ICE CREAM!!
We can have apples tomorrow!"
:o)
That kid is TOO funny sometimes!!!! Makes it so darn hard to get mad at him for anything!

We're still having some tick troubles around here. I think I posted (??) that I found one on Myles and then found one IN MY BRA when I was getting ready to have a shower. That ended in a panic attack on my part, lasted a few hours. Luckily the boys were napping and Ruthie understood that I didn't feel good and she couldn't touch me for a while. We're going to look in town tomorrow for something to spray for them, and we're going to ask our friends about getting the guinea hens.
Dad did tell us that there's a season for ticks back home, so we're hoping it's the same here. Apparently they don't like the heat, and it does get warm here in the summer. I'm hoping that chases them off after a bit. Would sure make things a lot easier and less worrisome for me!

more ticks! - 04/23

While we were outside this evening, Ruthie came running up to the deck with a "spider" on her leg. ICK! Josh got rid of it and killed it.
Worst part is that she wasn't even in the long grass, just playing on the swing set. Though, the set was near to the grass, so Josh moved it into the middle of the yard. Hopefully that will do for a while, until we get things figured out.
Then when I brought Zech in for a bath he was whining about his back hurting and there was a darn tick crawling around on him, too. YUCK!
I REALLY HATE THOSE THINGS. HATE them.
Josh and Rick (our neighbour) are looking in to burning off the long grass there, and we're going to talk to my friend's father about getting a few guinea hens to help with the ticks. By the sounds of things, to actually keep the hens, not just buy them to fly away, we'll need to get young ones and raise and feed them a bit.
Definitely worth it, though, to get rid of the ticks!

darn bugs! - 04/18

While we were outside this afternoon, the kids were having a blast, Zech was throwing a ball for Myles into the longer grass beside the yard. When he came out, I noticed something strange on the back of his head, low down. I yelled for Josh and he came to look.
It was a TICK.
YUCK!
I hate bugs anyways, but especially when they're on MY babies!
Josh came back in the house and looked over Myles and Jack, too, and found nothing at all on them. That makes us think that one was a fluke, maybe from the many many geese that have been flying over the yard recently? But if the cat and dog have nothing on them, and they're in the long grass ALL the time, it doesn't make sense to think there're tons of ticks in there.
All the same, we'll be watching the kids more closely while outside and during baths.
All part of the country life, I suppose.

darn eye infection - 04/17

Well, this eye infection sure is going through the family here. Isaac still has it in both eyes, Zech started yesterday morning with it in both eyes, I started yesterday afternoon with it in my left eye, and Ruthie woke up this morning with the beginnings of it in her right eye. :o(
I'm hoping that her eye will clear up on its' own, since it's not nearly as bad as any of ours yet, and she'll still be able to make it to dance class tonight. As it is, she won't be going, which is too bad seeing as how she missed last week's class, too (because she was being a TERROR all day!).
Not too big a deal, in the grand scheme of things, but I know she's getting kinda bored at home and she really loves dance class.
Oh, to top things all off, I'm supposed to have my MOTS group this Thursday morning and then we're supposed to be going away for Friday night (the MOTS group). If Isaac and I don't clear up by then, I'll have to miss out on that, too. Boo.
And, of course, the kids have swim class on Saturday morning, which we'll also have to miss if they're still looking like this.
Eye infections suck.