A new addition to the family

I have a new sister!  Her name is Sadie.  She came into our family on Thursday of last week.  She is 7 weeks old with curly black hair! She only weighs about 7 pounds.  Most importantly, Bailey LOVES her!  She lives with my mom and dad... 

A friend of mine had this on her blog.  It's a list of "have you ever" items.  It really brought back some fond memories, like staring out at the Grand Canyon and being amazed at its grandeur and sleeping under the stars on the top of a mountain.  Take a look (the ones I've done are made bold and italicized) and see what you remember from your past.  If you'd like share with your readers what you've done and how it's made you remember and invite them to do the same. :)

Started your own blog
Slept under the stars
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity
Been to Disneyland/world
Climbed a mountain
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on an overnight train
Had a pillow fight
Hitchhiked
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping
Been to a Broadway show in NY
Ran a Marathon
Been in three states at once
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse
Watched a sunrise or sunset
Hit a home run
Been on a Cruise
Seen Niagra Falls in Person
Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors
Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language
Had enough money to be truly satisfied
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung karaoke
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted
Gone deep sea fishing
Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco
Gone to a drive-in theater
Been in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Taken a martial arts class
Swam in the Mediterranean Sea
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout cookies
Gone whale watching
Gotten flowers for no reason 
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
Bounced a check 
Saved a favorite childhood toy
Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten Caviar
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book
Visited the Vatican
Bought a brand new car
Walked in Jerusalem
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared my own meat
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Owned a cell phone
Been stung by a bee

Update and some video

Praise God Nathan's RSV is doing better and Chad is on his way home from FL!!!!!  I've not shared that he's been out of town since Saturday because I didn't want anyone coming to get me, but he'll be here around the time this posts!  Nathan and I have had some rough days and nights though and have REALLLLLLLY missed Chad.  Our little man is no where near 100% better, but he's working on it!  Along with RSV, Nathan also developed bronchiolitis, which is common alongside RSV.  He's breathing a bit easier during the day thanks to some steriods by mouth and through the nebulizer.  However, at night and when the inhalers have worn off, he begins to wheeze again.  His fever has lowered from the 104 range down to 102-103.  Thank goodness!  The breathing treatments are going really well, and he's learned the drill and even gets excited about it.  We watch baby einstein or praise baby while the nebulizer does it's thing.  He'll crawl up into my lap, put the mask on his face and sign movie.  He doesn't move through the whole treatment, but he talks through the mask about what he sees in the movie.  When it's finished, he takes off the masks, signs "all done, down, please" and off he goes.  Precious.

Through all of this, he's been his usual spirited little self and despite needing much more sleep, he's active as ever.  Here's a clip from our day yesterday.  It's a bit long, about 9 minutes, and the quality is awful because i had to compress it to make it fit, but it's hysterical.  Turn up your volume and listen to all of his chatter.  He goes from activity to activity to activity one after the next.  Too funny.  This is what I mean by active...

He also learned a new skill yesterday... not one I'm proud of, and one we'll certainly have to 'Nathan proof', but nonetheless, here is his new skill...

In the last few days, Nathan has learned to sign flower, hot, movie, play, and bath. He's also learned to say "grape" which sounds much more like "guh puh" but he knows what he's talking about.  He's learned to put on his breathing treatment mask, take off his pants during each nap, open doors, almost opened the gate in front of the stairs, and has learned the letter "s".  I'd say it's been a productive week on the learning front but we realllllly do miss our friends!  Hope to see you guys very soon!  The doc says he can come out and play when he's been fever free for 24 hours.  We're praying for that!

Wordless Wednesday

Thankfully I didn't eat the whole thing!

Bath Tub Fun

Nathan loves the bath tub and would stay in it for hours if we let him.  He's particularly interested in bubbles (both made by baby wash and those made by air coming out of toys), letters, bath crayons, the water coming out of the spout, and cups that hold water!  Here's some pics from a recent bath time.

Nathan has had this satering can for ever and he loves it!!!  Here are some bath pics from 7 months.  Wow has he changed!

Even then, he loved to feel water flowing over his hands... still does.

I'm a big kid now!

What a mohawk!!!!

RSV sucks!

While this weekend was fun with my folks, Nathan began to cough more and more as the weekend went on.  By Sunday afternoon, he was wheezing with every exhale.  My mom, ShaSha the RN, listened to his lungs using her (now mine) stethoscope and encouraged me to take him to the doc today.   He coughed every 3-4 minutes on the way home, and every 10-20 through the night.  He woke up at least once an hour crying out.  Thankfully, he was able to put himself back to sleep in a matter of seconds.  

When he woke up at 8am, he was wheezing heavily and was a bit grey in color.  That's not typical of my olive complected youngin.  So, I fed him some breakfast and put him in the car and we headed to the doctor and were at the doors when they opened.  They took one look at him and knew something wasn't right.  They checked his O2 stats and they were between 91 and 95, which is a bit low.  The doc also heard fluid in his chest.  So they gave him a breathing treatment, and his O2 level came back up to 100.  She did a few other things and said it was RSV and that hopefully we'd caught it before it got any worse.  RSV can require hospitalization and we're hoping it doesn't come to that!!

Within a few hours, his temp rose to 104.7 and I called the doc again.  They did a chest X-ray just to rule out pneumonia and for now he's in the clear for that and we are praying he doesn't develop it.  His fever has remained high throughout the evening and at bedtime it was still 102. The second albuterol treatment wasn't as effective as the first and he was wheezing within 2.5-3 hours.  

Bless his heart, he's still in good spirits and has a tremendous appetite (unlike this morning when he would barely eat breakfast).  For dinner, he had rotisserie chicken, a pancake, a clementine, yogurt, peas, peaches, and water.  Crazy hungry, but I'm thankful he's eating so well!

Please pray for our little guy as every breath is labored for him.  He's still coughing a LOT and it makes it hard for him to rest.  Please pray that air would enter and exit his body fluidly and that it would not take effort on his part.  Thank you so much!

Fun with Papa and ShaSha (aka YaYa)

We spent Saturday and Sunday with my parents and had a terrific time.  Nathan hasn't been there in so long he wasn't even able to pull up last time we visited.  I was a bit worried since the house isn't baby proof, but our little man put on his listening ears and listened sooooo well!  He was curious and toddled around CONSTANTLY checking out all the doors, door stops

hallways, every nook and cranny, all the hardware on the cabinets and furniture, and of course mom's fake flowers.  He loved the fake rose bush and I wish I'd gotten pictures of it, but for the first time, he showed us the sign for flower!  He puts his finger to his nose.  It was absolutely adorable.  Smart boy, that's not a sign we've worked on, just one he's seen me do a time or two.  

At any rate, the time with mom and dad was great.  We went for two LONG walks which Bailey absolutely loved.  She's able to walk off leash and sniff to her hearts content.  She never gets too far ahead of the family though (maybe 20 feet) and constantly stops to wait for us to catch up.  So sweet.

We ate wonderful food (more on that to come), played some great games, played with the little man, Bailey went for a swim in the 38 degree weather, Nathan had a fabulous time, and I was able to relax a bit while mom and dad played with both their grandkids (Nathan and Bailey, the grandpup).  

One of the highlights of the weekend was opening a box of my old toys.  Some were from my childhood, and some from my toddlerhood.  It was fun to hear mom tell the stories of them, and to look at others and remember playing with them, or pictures of me playing with them.  Some I got on my first birthday.  Mom cleaned them up and Nathan had a ball with them!

Playing with Papa 

Papa says, "my grandpup needs a little lovin' too!"

We learned another fun game as well.  I was in the bathroom trying to get enjoy a peaceful moment of solitude when Nathan starts beating at the door. So, I decided to stick my fingers under the door.  Nathan found this incredibly amusing and kept grabbing my fingers.  Then he'd look under the door and stick his hand under it.  We played this game on multiple occasions over the weekend.  The funny thing was he would walk over the the bathroom door and look for fingers coming out from under it.  HAHAHA!  Here are some pics of him playing with ShaSha's fingers.

Of course, Bailey had to get in on the game as well.

Mom bought Nathan a night light that has a snowman roasting marshmallow over a camp fire.  The bulb heats up the water and makes something bubble and Nathan was enamored by this!!!  He loved it and looked at it for quite some time with mom.

I also learned, that my dad wants a picture of Nathan for the desktop of his computer... his criteria... walking (because he's a boy and doesn't crawl any more), looking at the camera, and smiling.  Well, I realized how incredibly difficult this is because either he grabs the camera or...

he's not looking and I don't get his feet... or...

he's holding a door stop not smiling...

or he's holding a shoe, making an awful face, and happens to have his fly down...

or Bailey gets in a shot that would have otherwise been perfect. 

 Oh well, sorry dad, I'll try again next time

Is this normal?

I wanted to share with you guys something that I find a bit abnormal... it's the amount of food our little guy eats.  Now before I do, he's not a fat kid by any means.  He's very muscular and has definition in his abs, shoulders, arms and legs.  He barely has any fat on him... he's just all muscle.  Still, do all 14 month old boys eat this much?

Saturday morning 730am - 10 ounces of milk

8am- 1.5 eggo waffles, 3/4 clementine, 1 whole banana, a handful of blueberries - still asking for crackers after all of this and ate a handful of goldfish.

10:15- eats some of daddy's yogurt and granola and wants his own yogurt.

1:00- 6 ounces of ShaSha's beef stew, 2 biscuits, 1/4 of an avocado, 1/2 a banana, 4 dried cherries

4:00- 6 ounces of milk

6:30- a 2x3x2 piece of lasagna, rotisserie chicken (3 ounces), 1.5 yeast rolls, a tangerine, a handful of blueberries, and two large crackers, still asks for banana after all of that and eats 1/2 of it.

Sunday morning 730am- 10 ounces of milk

8am -20 frozen blueberries, 2 blueberry pancakes, a whole banana, and a clementine

11am - yogurt

130pm - 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich, 1/4 string cheese, 1/4 avocado, handful of blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1/2 clementine.

2:45pm - asking for food... again... rest of grilled cheese sandwich, rest of banana, and clementine

4pm - 6 ounces of milk

6:15pm another 2x3x2 piece of lasagna (same size as my piece), 2.5 yeast rolls, 1/2 a clementine, and a handful of blueberries

7:45pm - 4 ounces of milk - for the ride home.

Does it seem a little strange that my child can out eat me?  Where does he put it all?  I have no clue!  He's able to tell us when he's all done and to ask for more, but come on folks, this amount of food is crazy!  What will he eat like when he's a teenager?  We're going to have to take out a 2nd mortgage just to feed him!

What are your thoughts on this?  Do you have any funny stories of you or your kids eating strange amounts of food?

14 month photos with Leo

I can't believe she's 18!

There will always be people who come into our lives and leave a lasting footprint in our minds and on our hearts... for me, 5 of those people belong to one family.  I've known them since the spring of 1991, when they trusted me to care for their most precious gift, their first born daughter, Chelsea.  Over the years, they have been SOOOOO much more than "a family I babysat for", rather they've been a second family to me, and their 3 girls, like my little sisters. This is especially true for Chelsea and Craven, the oldest two, because Caroline, the youngest, was born my freshman year of college, and I was already out of town.  I spent more time with these girls than any other kids on earth and LOVE them dearly.  Not only do the girls mean the world to me, but their parents were instrumental in my life in ways even they don't realize.  Ven and Lisa, you guys are amazing and I love you both like parents!

On to the birthday girl... Chelsea!  She turns 18 today, and will graduate high school in a few months and then be off to college.  I can't tell you how old that makes me feel!  She is an amazing gal and has huge impacts on the people who know her.  She is incredibly loveable and full of life. I’d love to spend a weekend with her nowadays as “adults” and maybe one day that will happen!  She and her parents have known me longer than any of my friends, almost 2 decades.  It's hard to believe, but it's true.  Chelsea will always hold a huge place in my heart and even though I’m 110 miles away and a decade older, I’d do ANYTHING for this kiddo! Chels, I love you!  Happy 18th birthday!

I started babysitting for Chelsea when I was 10 and she was a few months old.  I have pictures of that cute baby girl somewhere, but right now I can’t find them, so I stole this one off her facebook page!

 

Here are some more of my favorites...
1996 - I went to Colorado on a trip with this amazing family and here's Chelsea at 5.

1999 - Keeping all three for a weekend was so much fun!  Man they have all grown up so much!

2002 - Chelsea was my "maiden of honor" in our wedding and Craven a beautiful flower girl!  Isn't their mom beautiful too!  She sang in our wedding and it was fabulous.  Lovely Lady!

  
2008 - Their Christmas picture from this year - STUNNING!!!


HAPPY 18^th BIRTHDAY CHELSEA!!!