Birthday Dinner

Last evening, we took the boys and went to CiCi's Pizza for dinner. Whenever we drive past CiCi's, Ian always says, "Look Mommy! a PARTY!" so we thought, "hmm...Pizza Buffet, Ian think's it is a party, it's $4.99 for adults and kids eat free... It's perfect."

Even at the tender age of one, pizza is one of Aaron's favorite foods.

Here's the gang, being goofy!











We came home and had a (rather lackluster after the rainbow specimen) birthday cake, sang happy birthday a couple times, let Ian "help Aaron" blow out the candles. It was a nice birthday.

And then... Aaron puked on me. He's still sick. He started a new round of antibiotics yesterday, added in another set of nebulizer treatments, and *hopefully* will get and stay well during our trip to Florida. Please pray for us. We really need a break here. Well, Aaron needs a break, the poor kid has been sick for a month. Sheesh.

Dear Aaron, Happy Birthday!

Dear Aaron,

Your life has been full of surprises! You surprised us with your conception. No, it is no secret that we were not planning you, but the Lord knows what he is doing. After our initial surprise, we were excited to be expecting you!


You surprised us again on July 9, 2008. Not only did we learn that you were actually due a month sooner than we thought, but that you are a very special BOY! We were surprised to learn you have only one kidney and your kidney was swollen & a little sick. Even though mommy was hoping for a girl, when she found out you were, in fact, a little boy we immediately were excited to have two brothers to love!



You surprised us again when we saw you on 3D!



And when we went back to see you on October 22nd, just to check "one more time" that your kidney was doing ok before your due date, a month later... You surprised us by showing signs of kidney failure. Our perinatologists thought it was best if you came sooner, rather than later. In fact, they didn't even want mommy to leave the hospital. After a few hours and a couple pushes, you came into the world, beautiful as ever, perfect in your own way, and healthy. 6lbs, 14oz, 19 inches (give or take), dark brown curly hair, blue eyes, & screaming!



You had your first holidays...



You were diagnosed with and cured of tortocollis. You helped Grandma recover from heart surgery.



And ended up spending 8 days at Children's hospital with RSV & bronchiolitis.



You've learned to sit, crawl, and walk. Spent the summer doing fun things with your big brother Ian.


You had surgery for a minor urological issue.


You've touched our hearts in a way we never imagined possible. To us, you are a miracle. We are so glad to have you, to be celebrating your first birthday, to be able to love you.

...Even if I AM on hold with the doctor's office, because you are still sick... Here's to a hundred more years! We love you!

A Whole Year!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Aaron.


We love you!


I'm working on a "real" birthday post, but it won't be done for a little while longer.

Aftermath

Aaron (and Ian) had cake for dessert last night too. I think cake pictures might be funnier than spaghetti pictures!

Teaser

UPDATED:

• directions for rainbow cake: Rainbow Cake @ Mycharmingkids.net
  
• I used my own buttercream frosting recipe, let me know if you would like that, too.
• It was a (little) time consuming, not too bad, but it really wasn't hard at all. Just LOOKS like it was hard!
  
• Also, make SURE you level off the layers with a serrated knife like the directions say, that is an absolutely necessary step. It will NOT stay together if you don't.
  
• I baked the cakes 2 days in advance, leveled them off after they cooled, put them on a plate separated by wax paper and covered in saran wrap, froze them. On the day of the party I made the frosting and assembled the cake while the layers were still frozen. It worked out GREAT.

Here's the cake! More tomorrow... if we make it to tomorrow. Ian is having a battle with bedtime tonight. He's just SO exhausted & overstimulated... poor guy!

A post about Ian

I've been sortof heavy on the Aaron posts lately, so I just wanted to add a little "update" post about big brother!

Ian is learning new words by leaps and bounds. He uses correctly probably 5 or 6 words every day that I've never heard him say before. We've been reading the "Richard Scarry big word book" (Or whatever it is called) and he is proving to know FAR more words that Roger and I thought he knew. It is SO fun (and really awesome) to sit back and watch Ian's language explode before our very eyes.

Ian loves to dance. He's starting to pick up on dances his friends on the television do. For instance, the part at the end of Shrek where they are dancing to "I believe." Ian will do all the dances he sees on there, including the Macarena. It is so funny. He also has the opening musical number to Madagascar 2 under his belt. And of course, there are the many dances Ian does on his own, especially while he's singing his own songs. He also loves to sing.

He has finally *almost* mastered the Alphabet. It has taken a LOOONG time, but he's almost there. He can count to 20 now, even though he almost always skips seven, eleven, twelve, and seventeen. He gets to 20.

He loves his brother. Every morning he wakes up and asks where Aaron is. They also play together, make each other laugh, and give unprompted hugs and kisses. Ian shares his snacks, his milk (ew! I wish he wouldn't...) and his toys. They are becoming best friends and it is SO neat to watch it happen.

Ian loves school. He doesn't cry at dropoff anymore. In fact, this week, he cried at pick-up. he didn't want to go home!

Ian can dress himself almost fully, including socks & shoes. I often don't let him, because it takes 14 years for him to get it all done, but he can do it, given the chance.

He sleeps incredibly now. Given his past, this is HUGE for him. If you had told me a year ago that Ian was going to sleep so well now (for naps and nighttime) I would've called you a liar! Even just one short year ago Ian was waking 3-5 times per night, taking 2 hours to fall asleep for bedtime, and needing to be driven around in the car in order to fall asleep for nap... and then only napping in pure silence with even the distant bark of the neighbor's dog waking him and starting the whole process over. Those days are gone. Those days are GONE!

He loves to draw, paint, color, and otherwise be artistic. In fact, I'm willing to go ahead and say it is favorite thing to do. Sure, he loves to make believe with his wooden castle, play cars & trains, and go to playgrounds, but given the choice: playground or painting, he'll almost always choose painting.

Ian is going to LOVE Disney World. I think it is partially why Roger & I are getting so excited about going...Ian is just going to LOVE it.

Ok, everyone is tugging at my pant legs, asking for some attention, I'm going to oblige them! Tomorrow, we will celebrate Aaron's first birthday with a small gathering of friends and family. (Even though he's not officially one until the 22nd.) There will be many, MANY pictures to come!

Physical Therapy for his Torticollis

Aaron has been receiving Physical Therapy services for his torticollis since January. His neck was really tight on the right side. (It is very obvious in the photos now, isn't it?)





Today, since he has been getting pretty good at walking, his physical therapist decided November 6th would be his last session. He's being released from Physical Therapy! Cured, healed, rehabilitated... he's done!

Medication Shortages?

Does anyone know anything about this? Yesterday the pharmacy told me that Pulmicort respules are on backorder... everywhere. He had one box, which lasts a month, and then told me I'd need to check with them before refilling just to make sure they had another box. They were OUT (entirely) of Azithromycin (aka zithromax). He told me they'd have it for me this morning.


So I went to pick it up, and wouldntchaknow, they didn't have it. It wasn't coming until 5:30pm on their tuesday delivery truck. I asked the pharmacist if he could find out if any other pharmacies have it so I can pick it up this morning, since we'd already waited a day.

They called around, nobody has it. Not just none of the Rite Aids, but ALL of the pharmacies in our area are "out" of it.

So I had to call back the doctor's office and see about getting a different prescription for little Aaron. The poor thing. He just wants to be better and there are all these road blocks.

Why are there so many medication shortages right now? (Recalling the flu shot is in short supply around here too...why?)

Diapers to Diplomas Giveaway!

A friend of a wife of a friend (catch that?) blogged about this cute and interesting blog today. It's for mommies everywhere with ideas for how to make our time with our kids fun, educational, etc.

Diapers to Diplomas

They're doing a giveaway over there today for a custom made hat and mittens! All you have to do to enter is head over that way, check it out, and leave a comment! (Official rules on her site.)

Sweet Boy, Sick Boy

Aaron's cold/sinus infection turned to wheezing over the weekend. Not all the time, but enough to notice and especially when we would go outdoors into the cool air and then come back inside. He's been coughing pretty regularly and his breathing was rattly & wheezy. Since we'll be traveling soon, I didn't want to wait too long to have his situation re-evaluated. I called this morning and our regular pediatrician happened to be the "on call" today, so I took Aaron.

When we got to there, Dr. P. took one listen to his chest and said, "oh wow. Ok. did you do a nebulizer treatment before you came?"

I told her we didn't because we didn't have time and so they did one in the office. She came back in and listened again and said, "oh.... let's do one more..."

So they did a double albuterol treatment in the office this morning. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes. In a little room. With a 2.5 year old and a 1 year old.

Ian got a Happy Meal on the way home because he was good as gold. He played with his toys and we did stickers, and he ate snacks, and he didn't get into any trouble at all! (I really love how he seems to just *know* when he really needs to be good. He's such a delightful 2.5 year old. I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom, either. Ian is so good when he needs to be, I'm totally blessed by his behavior when it really matters.)

Aaron left the doctor's office as a diagnosed Asthmatic.

He will be doing pulmicort and albuterol nebulizer treatments through the winter at least. He's on prednisone for the next 4 days to steroid up his lungs and kick this bug to the curb, finally. He will also have a "ready" prednisone prescription in case we get another bug. (In case, ha ha ha, more like WHEN. Let's be real, people.)

He was "starting" with pneumonia, so he is now on a 2nd antibiotic since the one for his ears from last week isn't a good one for pneumonia.

Poor guy!

I'm so glad I "chanced" getting sent home as a hypochondriac mother this morning and took him in.... the more we can do before we leave for Florida the better!


We're also the proud new owners of a "travel" nebulizer. How delightful.

*sigh*

Please pray for Aaron.

I Wanna Rock-n-Roll all night!

Some Fall Pictures

While at Ohiopyle last time, we decided we wanted to go and take some fall pictures. So today, we tried to make that happen. Despite the chilly low temperatures the last few weeks, the leaves weren't turned as much as we were hoping, but, we got some great shots!











click below view the whole album:

Big Mac Museum

So, We are blessed. I know you already know that, but here's just one more reason. We live a mere 15 minutes from the WORLD'S Big Mac Museum.

Who wouldn't feel blessed to be so close to a gigantic plastic Big Mac?

Obviously, I'm joking. ;-) Ian and Aaron really did enjoy the "treehouse" indoor playground, and the "restaurant" (I use that term very loosely to describe McDonalds) was very clean, had TVs, memorabilia, and a lot of employees. It really isn't too bad, especially when you look at the weather forecast for today and it says, 100% chance of rain. (I'm not joking, it really does say that.)

Here's what the museum looks like. And Aaron, looking adorable as always.