Update on Cooper

So, a week ago Monday I was given the all clear by the Doctor. Cooper's lung were clear! We still had to give him Singulair and pulmicort 2x a day but he was much better. As of today, we are almost back to square 1. He was only well for about 4 or 5 days before he got sick and started wheezing again. So, we went back to the doc and we are back on the oral steroid and using a different nebulizer treatment for a few days along with the xopenex in between when needed. So, because this seems to be a reoccurring thing it is now time to run a gamut of tests (blood, swabs, cultures, etc)to rule out certain illnesses. Anyway, my poor baby I hate that he is sick all the time and having to give him so much medicine. No fun! So frustrating! Hopefully we get some answers soon but, maybe it is just allergies and asthma. I don't know when I will be able to catch up on all the things I am behind on. Well, we are looking forward to spending the holidays relaxing with our family. Hopefully Cooper won't be too sick.

The reason for no recent posts...

So, this has been the story of my life lately. If you can't tell, that is my sweet little baby, in the Dr's office, with a nebulizer mask on, inhaling xopenex. We have been doing breathing treatments a few times a day and night for at least the last 3 weeks. We have been to the ER once and he was almost admitted on Tuesday but, thank goodness, his pulse/ox finally recovered. He has had 2 chest x-rays and we have been to the Dr everyday this week and just about everyday last week. He has been on an array of medicine including xopenex, prednisone, singulair, pulmicort & a shot of rocephen. Anyway, my house is a disaster and his sleeping schedule is all messed up and I have hardly had time to do anything but feed him, give him his constant breathing treatments and maintain my other 2 children. Thus, I have had no time to blog. This is life when your baby has viral pneumonia, they think. If it persists more testing will be done to rule out other possibilities. How did this happen??? My poor baby. He has been such a trooper and relatively happy considering how sick he has been. Anyway, the last 2 days have been somewhat better so hopefully we are finally on the upswing.

On to happier topics, Thanksgiving was great. My whole side of the family came here and I made my first turkey. I don't have time to blog about all of the little details but we had a great time enjoying all of the things to do in the bay area and each others company. Now it is time to get ready for Christmas. My tree is up but I have not done ANY shopping!! My sick baby has not helped that any. Oh well. I need to just shop online but I have been too tired to even do that. Guess I better start soon, like today! Happy Holidays!

Sunday glorious sunday.

Sometimes it seems as though Sunday can be quite rowdy around our house. Maybe it is because they know they are going to have to be quiet at church and they need to get the sillies out. Anyway, my wonderful husband let me sleep in this morning and this is what I came downstairs to...

Ahh, the good 'ol days of fort building. I love to see my kids and husband playing together. Then of course, the fort led to a pillow fight. I tried to upload the video of it but it is not working.

I love to hear the sound of my kids laughing. We all did settle down soon after and watched The Other Side of Heaven. Sundays are wonderful (except for the disaster my house is from us all being home most of the day).

Bring a friend day

Isabelle loves gymnastics. Yesterday was bring a friend day and she opted to bring her friend Garrett. Paul was like WHAT, she wants to bring a boy? That is not allowed. He was kidding of course. Isn't Garrett adorable?! They had a great time.

The Big Reward

I noticed about a month ago Isabelle was biting her fingernails. So, I told her I would take her to get her nails done if she stopped. Well, the bribe worked and she stopped. So, on Friday I finally paid up and we went to get her nails done. She had a great time chatting up the manicurist and of course picked pink polish. So fun to be girls!

Yeah Uncle Tripp!

Tripp had to work at the office up here last Monday so he came in a little early to spend some time with us Sunday evening and spend the night. We had a wonderful dinner and the kids had a great time showing off for Uncle Tripp. When it came time for the kids to go to bed Seth wanted Uncle Tripp's "spot" to be on the floor in his room. Seth was caling the air mattress his "spot". After the kids went to bed it was great to sit and visit for a while before we all went to bed. In the morning Seth couldn't resist jumping on him when he found him downstairs. So fun! Thanks for the visit!

The First Meal

I was going to wait another month to start him on food but, I was told that Acidophilus can help a gassy tummy. So, since he doesn't have a bottle, the only way to give it to him was to mix the powder in some rice cereal. I put him in the high chair and put on his new bib, then mixed 2 tablespoons of the rice cereal with some water. I wanted to mix it with water because he can get a little stopped up and I thought the water might help prevent that from happening. He seemed to like it and he did a pretty good job. He really did not get very messy. And, for the very exciting payoff, he slept an additional 2 hours last night before waking to eat. Sleep, precious sleep! We will have to see if it was just a fluke or if the cereal actually helped. Anyway, I can't believe our baby is growing up so fast. He is so precious. It goes by so fast. Before I know it he will be a year old.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I have decided to write down a few of the funny things my kids tell me every week. So, here are some of the winners this week.

I was doing Isabelle's hair this morning before school and she says to me (as she is looking in the mirror), "Mom I already wore this outfit to school". I then say to her, "it's ok to wear an outfit more then once". Then she says,"But I like new clothes".
Am I in for it or what? Don't we all like new clothes. It is my own fault. We like to shop.

So this next conversation was last night between Seth & I. He got out of bed and snuck down to the toy room where I was picking up and says very urgently and demanding
Seth: Mom why aren't you in bed?
Me: Because it's not my bedtime.
Seth: Mom you don't even have your pajamas on!
Me: I know, it's not my bedtime it's yours.
Seth: But it's the middle of the night!! (Actually it's 8:30 pm)
Me: I know get back to bed.

Ok, so the last 2 were more of the kind where you just had to be there but this last one I couldn't contain myself from laughing. A few nights ago, Paul & I were sitting at the kitchen table talking and Seth came downstairs (out of bed again) with his power rangers mask on. I took him back to bed and asked him if he needed to go potty and he tells me, " No, I don't need to go poopoo, the poopoos are going to go to sleep in my bum!".

Never heard that one before!

Ships Ahoy!!

While I took Isabelle to dance and gymnastics on Saturday, Paul took Seth to the kids workshop at Home Depot. Seth likes pirates so, it was perfect that they happened to be building a pirate ship. Paul said Seth only hit daddy's hand with the hammer a few times. It was really cute, they give them a home depot apron and every time they come to a workshop they get a pin to put on it. Then they gave them the kit and they have to make it from the ground up. It was a fun experience for a dad and his boy. By the way, it is the first Saturday of the month at all home depots if you are interested. We met for lunch afterwards and he had to bring the ship into the restaurant. He was very proud of his accomplishment.

Happy Halloween

So, here are a few pictures from Halloween. Seth had a party at preschool and he wore his Woody costume. Since we had 2 costumes (The Incredibles costumes came late so we had to get a different costume for the trunk or treat) he wore this one to school so I could be sure the other one would be clean for Halloween. We know how messy boys can be especially at preschool when they are making crafts and having treats. They made witch and spider cupcakes, had a little parade in their costumes, had snacks and played games. He had a great time.



At Isabelle's school, they had a variety of activities in all of the classrooms that the kids could go around to. Parents and siblings were invited too so we all went. They also have a fun parade that the whole school participates in. The high school marching band comes and plays while the kids march and wave in their costumes. It was a really chilly morning but really fun with all of the fog. It gave it a real spooky Halloween feel.

This is Isabelle before school and in the classroom with her brother.



Check out the fog behind Seth. We couldn't see the end of our street that morning. The other picture is of Seth & I waiting for the parade to start.



Here is Isabelle waving during their little parade.


This was Cooper's contribution for the morning.


Dununuhnuhhhh! Here is Mr. Incredible!


We did a little bit of trick or treating that night. We went with our friends Matt & Alicia. Their daughters name is Grace, she was Rapunzel. This was the first year Seth really understood what was going on. He loves candy so the fact that he could just go up to someones door and get candy was awesome. I think it is his favorite holiday. He keeps asking us if he can go trick or treating again.


Hanging with Mr. Cooper, our spider.

One Crazy Saturday

I swear, this last Saturday felt like it was the day that never ended. There hasn't been any time to recover from it because every day since then has been go, go, go. I knew it was going to be crazy so we made a little photo journal of our day. It started bright and early that morning. The kids had breakfast, we got ready really quick and we were off to dance. We were in such a rush I had to finish my makeup in the car.


Here is a picture of the boys loaded up in the car ready to start our day.



Here we are 45 minutes later coming out of dance and we are headed to gymnastics (after a quick outfit change), which is just down the road and starts in 15 minutes.



Here are some pictures of Seth playing at her gym, Cooper & mommy watching Isabelle at her class & her participating. She really enjoys gymnastics.





Next, we stopped at one of our favorite burger spots. Only at In-n out can Isabelle down a whole burger by herself.



Enough pictures!!


Yes, that is Paul's 3x3 burger.


On to the next place. We are off to get a birthday present.


Now we are at home and it is time to get Isabelle ready for the birthday party while Seth crashes for a few minutes.




Now that Isabelle is ready, it is time to make some rice krispies for the trunk or treat. Cooper is just hanging out.



Now that the treats are done it is time to wake Seth up and take Isabelle to the birthday party. They went to Maggie Moos and build a bear. After we dropped Isabelle off, we had to run to the mall because the costumes I ordered did not make it early enough for the trunk or treat. So, we went looking for new costumes at the Disney Store. Seth is no longer Dash he is Woody.


Now, we go back and pick up Isabelle. She made a cheerleader bear at the party. She had a great time.


On the way home, Isabelle decided she wanted to be a cheerleader to match her bear. So, on the way home we made another stop at Target to pick up her costume. After that we headed home, got the kids in their costumes and we were off to the trunk or treat. We finally made it!




Here are a few more pics of the kids at the trunk or treat. By the time I got home there was nothing I wanted more than to get in bed. Especially since I had not gotten enough sleep the night before for this kind of day. It was one crazy Saturday!

It's about time

Well, I am finally getting around to starting a blog. It will be a fun way to keep all of our family and friends informed on the latest and greatest. Life up here in the East bay is a fun adventure but, we do miss our family and friends terribly. Isabelle is loving kindergarten, Seth thoroughly enjoys preschool and Mommy loves having 2 hours twice a week with just Cooper. Most afternoons we are busy going to extracurricular activities. Isabelle loves dance, gymnastics and her musical theater class, while Seth is enjoying playing soccer and swimming. Cooper is a great addition to our family and he pretty much just goes with the flow.

Today was the primary program and Isabelle did a great job singing all of the songs and saying her little part in the "big microphone". Seth liked watching his big sis and giving the occasional wave. The picture of her in the green dress is from today after the program. Thanks for the beautiful dress grandma! Seth is our little jokster and while we were trying to get out the door to church this morning he pulled one of his shenanigans and under my breath I told him he was driving me crazy. He turned to me and shouted with a big smile on his face, YOU'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY! He also managed to give Cooper his first raisin today, which was followed by a conversation of why we don't give Cooper food and that he is not allowed to give him any. I don't know how he sneaked it in considering that we were right there with them. Paul and I frequently find ourselves trying not to laugh at Seth when it is not appropriate.