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.

Ian's Old McDonald Medley

Really just Ian being the goof that he is! (...wonder where he gets it?)

A word about staying positive

Today, I could be in a REALLY bad mood.

I was up all night coughing. Well, not all night, but the rest of the time I was up with the 1 year old who still wakes 2-3 times every night. I got about 4 hours of interrupted sleep. I called Roger and begged him, holding back tears, to come home and give me a break. He's busy today and going to be home tomorrow so he can't come home. I knew that before I called, but I tried anyway.

Ian went to bed later last night (for many reasons) than he has been going for a week or two. This morning he woke up SO grumpy. He's been trying to cause mayhem all morning. When he's tired, he picks on Aaron. So Aaron has been getting picked on and he doesn't like it. Playing referee is not a fun part of the "mommy" job.

We had a house showing at 10am this morning, so in addition to the 2 already described issues, I had to get me, Ian, and Aaron washed, dressed, and out of the (CLEAN) house by 9:45. It was hard to do.

I had to go pay our rent-a-space bill because it was due October 4th and we forgot to pay it. (Yes, I'm sure Roger dislikes that I include him in this, WE as a team forgot to pay it. It wasn't anyone's fault, just we didn't put it on the calendar and so we forgot. The minds of overtired parents of 2 toddlers are fried. If it isn't on the calendar, we forget.

When I turned on the the cut-off road to the rent-a-space, I noticed a new sign that said "no outlet." ("Weird?!" I thought...) and then, half way down the road, I saw the other end blocked by a newly placed guard rail. "UHH, yeah, NO OUTLET!" so I had to turn around, go back, and wait for a really long light.

When we drove back past our house on the way to the mall, it was 10:05, and there wasn't anyone looking at the house. "They better not blow us off or I'm going to be REALLY ticked," I told Roger over the phone.

When we got to the mall, the "family practice" clinic giving out flu shots said, "I'd love to give the boys shots, but we don't have kids' needles." TWARTED AGAIN on the flu shot drama! I just want to get my kids' arms stuck with needles and nobody will do it! GRR! I placed a call to the Health Department again... they will give the boys' their shots, for free, but not until the 19th.

A "cart girl" selling facial products was very short and rude to me when I told her I couldn't buy any products because our budget is in the negative right now. (It isn't a lie, AND Aaron was really upset by the stopped stroller, I'd have expected at least a bit of compassion instead of the rudeness she gave me. I was being very polite in saying no.)

Since arriving home, Ian and Aaron have proceeded to completely trash the living room. In less than 10 minutes there is popcorn spilled on the floor, 2 bins of toys are dumped out, snot on the couch, and 2 dirty diapers.

I could be in a really bad mood. I'm so tired, I'm coughing, and I've wiped so much snot in the last 3 weeks that I am beginning to think we should buy stock in Huggies Wipes and Kleenex. I choose to find the humor in my situation. I choose to let these things which could've really ruined my day (week, month, etc.) not get to me.

There's no point in living life unhappy. We are provided for. Our bellies are never hungry. We are never cold. (Or hot.) We have a vehicle, a pretty nice one, with gas in the tank. We have a LOT of luxuries. Despite of having sinus infections right now, we have healthy kids. Sure, Aaron has some problems, but they are not insurmountable.

My kids are hilarious. They love to laugh. They love to make each other laugh. They love to make me laugh. They love when I make them laugh. In fact, right now Ian is having a dance party and doing the dance to the "I like to move-it, move-it" song in Madagascar 2. So what if he just spilled Aaron's applesauce on the floor in the middle of it!

Who cares about the little annoyances when the big picture is a happy, healthy family?

And guess what?

-The people DID come and look at the house this morning.
-The Rent-A-Space guy decided to wave our late fee.
-The play place at the mall only had 3 other kids in it, who had a ton of fun playing with my kids. (and vice-versa)
-Ian didn't throw a tantrum when it was time to go, he happily crawled up into his stroller seat and buckled his own buckle.
-The clerk at Gloria Jeans gave me a free piece of biscotti to go with my pumpkin spice latte. <--don't be mad Roger, I think I earned it today...
-And at least the boys waited until they were home to poop! I didn't have to find a changing station in the mall!

There are many blessings in each day that even out the annoyances. It makes life a whole lot easier when you choose to stay positive! Find the blessings and focus on them!


So... that was more than just "a word." It was a lot of words. Thanks for indulging me.

Not feeling well

We've been fighting some kind of awful germ for a couple of weeks now. It all started with a clear runny nose and has really done a number on us!

After yesterday's pediatrician visit, the boys are both on antibiotics. Aaron was on amoxicillin for 10 days last week(ish) and STILL has that darn ear infection, so he was given omnicef. He also has a sinus infection.

Ian has a sinus infection and, strangely enough, an infected hangnail on his thumb. So he's on antibiotics too!

What fun!

I probably need them too, for a sinus infection of my own, but I'm trying to stick it out a few days and see if it clears up on its own.

Also, Allegheny county is out of flu shots. What is up with that?!

Not Me Monday- Our first Try!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This week has been rough, as we've not been feeling super, plus meeting milestones and not getting a lot of sleep.

I most definitely did NOT let Ian have those handi snack stix dipper things for breakfast on saturday because we were trying to clean the house and get ready to go and I didn't want to deal with him at the moment.

And I did not let him have a 2nd package just to get 3 more minutes of quiet out of him!

Roger and I also did not let Ian drink milk from a non-sippy, IN THE CAR, and then scold him when he spilled it all over his pants. We did not then change his pants in the back of the van, then when he got THOSE wet, change back to the original pants that had "dried a little."

We did not go to a pizza place for lunch yesterday after looking at houses, even though we swore the last 2 times we were there, we were "never eating there again." Who would do such a thing? That's ridiculous.

We also did not pull off into a parking lot at a park yesterday while the boys were sleeping in their car seats and take naps ourselves. Roger and I didn't discuss afterward how we were both plotting in our minds how we could get more comfortable by removing all the contents of the back of the van onto the ground beside us and then folding down the seats. We would never be so desperate for a nap! We always go to bed early and get plenty of rest.

We would never do those things. Never! Not us!

At the Urging of Friend & Fellow Blogger...

I am in the process of importing the Boys' blogs to this one. Ian's was easy... and is already done. All of the old posts from his blog are Labeled: IAN. (Duh?)

After I figure out how to Archive/export a blog from wordpress, I will take care of Aaron's too.

I'm still going to leave them up, but you won't need to click over there unless you want to.

Change is hard!

Change

We're making a change today! We're rolling out our new blog, a combined family blog where you can find all the new updates about the House of Vandervort.

Why?

Honestly? I'm tired of keeping up with so many blogs & I feel like if I am tired of keeping up with it all, anyone who reads our blogs probably is too. So... You're welcome. Here is the new, streamlined blog! Update your RSS Feeds, or if you're old school like me, your bookmarks & links.

All the old stuff will remain on the kiddos' separate pages, links to those on the right, but nothing new will be added there. (Ok, maybe SOMETIMES, or major milestones or something, but I'll always tell you when it happens.)

Welcome. We're glad you're here. Now leave a comment & let us know you found our new home... well, web-home. We're still looking & waiting for our real-life home situation to be squared away.

By the way... did you know our house is for sale?