Over The River and Through The Woods

So John talked me off the ledge and convinced me to just take things as they came and we slowly started packing and getting ready for our trip to Michigan.  John was planning on driving through the night (even though he said he would never do it again) so our goal was to leave around 11pm on Saturday, Dec. 20.

 

We got everything packed and John even got a little sleep before we got everyone in the car Saturday night.  As we pulled out of the neighborhood everyone was awake!?  What...the kids were supposed to be sleeping, that's why were driving at night?!  Asher quickly fell back to sleep and after one show on the iPad so did Addison.  We made our first stop on the south side of St Louis at about 4am.  We got gas, I fed Asher and changed his poopy diaper.  As we got on the road again, everyone was wake!  What...luckily again Asher quickly feel back to sleep and Addison did too after another show on the iPad. 

 

 

 

 

Both kids slept until about 8am on Sunday morning, when we stopped for breakfast and gas just south of Chicago. Addison was up for the rest of the trip at this point and was super excited to watch a movie and play with all her toys. Asher was a trooper and did great being stuck in his car seat for that long...I suppose it helped that the doctor gave us the go-ahead to give him Benadryl to dry him up, so he was a sleepy boy.

 

 

 

Sick Babies

The week of Dec. 15th (the week I was supposed to be preparing for a long road trip with my little ones, yeah that week) I visited the pediatrician's office THREE times...THREE times!

 

Addison had been running a fever for most of the weekend with really no other symptoms until Sunday evening when she started to get congested.  So first thing Monday morning (while she was still sleeping) I made a doctor's appointment for her. Sure enough when she woke up she was clearly feeling better but with the big trip to Michigan planned for the end of the week, I wanted to make sure we didn't have any lingering sickies...so off we went.  The doctor said she seemed to have "flu-like" symptoms or maybe even a mild case of the flu but since she didn't have a fever anymore and her symptoms had started several days prior, she couldn't do anything.  By Monday evening, Addison was her old self again!  I planned on her going to MMO on Tuesday but I think she tricked me into letting her stay home.  She just wanted to watch TV I think and told me she still didn't feel good.

 

 

Thursday, December 18th we were at the pediatrician's office again but this time it was for a well-child appointment.  Asher seemed to have a slight cough but the doctor said his lungs sounded good so she went ahead and gave him all his vaccines.  As the day progressed Thursday, Asher seemed to be feeling the effects of the shots.  I didn't remember until John reminded me but his 2 month vaccines hit him hard too.  So we gave him Tylenol and hoped for the best.  But then the cough started getting worse and his nose started running...and now we had a sick baby, who was also feeling the side effects of vaccines.  Nothing is worse then a sick little baby. 

 

Runny nose...poor baby!

Friday morning, after several bad feedings and poor sleeping I almost lost it...or maybe I did.  I text John and said I thought we should pull the plug on our trip to Michigan.  Mind you, I had NOT.ONE.THING. packed for our family of four to travel for a week, Asher didn't want to put him down and Addison was running around the house in PJs and "packing" all her toys to take to Mimi's.  Oh and we still had to celebrate Arkansas Christmas with John's Dad and Brother and the Remars Friday night and Saturday morning. 

 

So back to the pediatrician's office we went Friday afternoon.  The verdict and I'm quoting the doctor "the bark is worse than the bite" -- not what I was expecting to hear!  Asher's lungs were fine, his oxygen was 100% but his cough was croup-ish.  Since he had just gotten vaccines the doctor didn't want to give him steroids for the cough.  His one ear was 'pink' so we did get an RX for that and were sent home to use the humidifier and suction bulb. 

 

Lots of cuddles with my sick boy! Not the worst thing...I'm just saying!?

 

 

Asher: 4 Months

Asher's 4 month "birthday" was December 18th.  We celebrated by taking him to his 4 month check-up first thing Thursday morning and getting him his vaccines.  His weighed in at 14lb 5oz (25%) and is 2ft tall (21%) and drum roll please...his head circumference is 17.44" (99%).

 

Asher is a fantastic little brother!  He is a pretty easy going kid and despite some challenges in the feeding and sleeping departments this month, he is doing fantastic.  His daytime schedule for the most part has remained the same -- gets up around 7 and eats every 2 to 3 hours and is ready for bed around 8.  Last month I was happy to report he had slept through the night several times, well we had a little regression and I no longer need to wake him up to squeeze in extra feedings...he is waking up sometimes 3 and 4 times a night now...joy!? Hopefully this phase is very short lived, but seeing he is almost 5 months when I writing this post I can already tell you that it has lasted more than a month! He has started really grabbing for toys, loves to play on his activity mat and grab for his toes.  He is wearing a size 2 diaper and 3-6 month clothing.

 

We love our little Brother Bear!

 

 

 

We Are Santa's Elves

Addison had a little Christmas party at school on Thursday, Dec 18.  They made gingerbread houses, had cupcakes, performed 3 songs for the parents and did a book exchange amongst each other.  Girlfriend was VERY excited for the party and VERY excited that both Mom and Dad came to celebrate.

 

 

 

She was determined to use EVER piece of candy she was given to decorate that mini gingerbread house.

 

Thanks Ms Sabrina for picking cupcakes with bright green frosting?! :)

 

Our Christmas Elf!
They sang: We Are Santa's Elves, Away In A Manger, and I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas
I use the word "sang" loosely...ha! 

 

After getting her costume on she went and stood on her piece of tape for the performance...

 

And waited....

 

And waited...
Girlfriend was given instructions and she wasn't going to move from that piece of tape.
Even though it took close to 10 minutes for the teacher to wrangle the rest of the kids...ha!

 

The party was too much for this little man!

 

Book exchange...the first of many Christmas presents for Miss Addison to open!