Kaitlyn and I celebrated our birthdays while we were in Oregon with my family. Yes, I have finally turned the big 3-0. (I'm a little sad that I can no longer tease Anthony about still being in my 20's, while he's an old man in his 30's!)
My mom made Kaitlyn a really cute 'hat box' cake (she did quite a number on it), and she actually participated in ripping some of the paper off of her gifts. She got really restless and kept trying to crawl off the table, so I had to put her in her high chair seat to keep her in one place. Talon was pretty excited with Sissy's new toys, too! He was being so sweet to help her figure out how they work! ;0)
Talon was so proud of himself... he put Mr Potato Head together all by himself. (He got a little carried away with the eyes!) Picasso would be so proud! I laughed so hard when I saw it. I had to take a picture!
Showing off his masterpiece... so happy with himself!
The kids have both been sick off and on over the past couple of weeks with a respiratory bug. Talon had a low grade fever for a couple of days, but otherwise seemed to be doing well. It definitely didn't slow him down. Wednesday night, when I was trying to get ready for our trip to Oregon, I got the kids in bed between 8:30 and 9, and started cleaning up the house a bit. Around 10:00, Anthony said I might want to check on Kaitlyn- she was crying. I went upstairs and she was asleep, but Talon was crying. I turned on the light to find him sitting up in bed, he had a horrible croupy cough, and was having a hard time breathing (grunting, retracting, ...the whole nine yards). Not to mention, he was running a fever. Hoping desperately not to have to sit in the ER all night, I called the PICU and asked the intensivist if he would see him and treat him. He said to bring him in. Off to Boise we go. Thank Heavens for Dr McConnell! Talon got a neb treatment, a prescription for steroids and Tamiflu, we hung out for about an hour to make sure he wasn't going to rebound, and we were on our way. Talon sounded much better. Motrin brought his fever down, and he was a pretty happy boy as we trotted out to the car around 1am. Home from Boise we go!
I drove to the Walgreens in Eagle to fill his prescriptions, and found a sign that said "Your closest 24hr Walgreens is in Boise". Fabulous! Back to Boise we go. When I was almost there, I decided to call and find out if they even carried the med that was prescribed. "I'm sorry, we don't carry Orapred". But of course! Home from Boise we go.
Coming to the conclusion I wasn't going to be able to fill his prescription until morning, I decided to go to Walmart and get a humidifier. As I walked through the store, my son barking like a seal every time he coughed, people just stared. You could see it all over their faces..."What a horrible mother- keeping that poor baby out at this hour when he's obviously sick". I finally found the humidifiers. Decisions. Decisions. After 'shopping' for one that seemed like it would do the job (without spending my kids' college fund), we headed to the check stand. Every time we passed an item that even resembled food, Talon would say "Eat? Snack?". I tried to find something remotely healthy without a lot of sugar (since it was almost 3am). Ah, ha! Ritz crackers with cheese. I paid and we left the store. It was FREEZING outside! Just as we were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, Talon reminded me... "Crackers?". As I opened the lid, I realized they had already been opened and half of them already eaten. PERFECT! I again had to get him out of his car seat and go into the store. Wouldn't you know it, we had grabbed the last container of crackers. With the help of the clerk, we searched every check stand. Not a single container of the cheese crackers left. I gave up and we left with cookies. ~sigh!! We finally got home around 3:30am. I think I finally got to bed around 5am. Of course, Kaitlyn was up bright and early the next morning. This is my little trooper (holding tight to his monkey and getting ready to go to sleep after a very long night!).
He got better with the steroids, and has only had one short episode since. Dr McConnell strongly suggested we have a consult with Dr Beck- who may recommend we have his tonsils taken out. I guess we'll see!
Yes, our little girl is "1" today. It's hard to believe that a whole year ago, we brought this little bundle home. Time has flown by so fast! She has brought such joy to our lives. She has so much spunk and personality- we enjoy her so much!
We had a party with my family while we were in Oregon over the weekend. The place was decked out in pink and brown!
Tonight we celebrated with just the four of us. I made cupcakes, and Kaitlyn made a huge mess of herself with the frosting. (I had to take it away when she decided it was more fun to eat the paper than the cake.)
I'll be posting more pictures, but here are a couple for now.
Happy Birthday, Sissy... We love you!!! -Daddy, Mommy, and Bubby
We love music around our house and we play it a lot, the kids are crazy about it. Talon can find a way to turn just about anything into a drum, piano, or guitar. The other night, Anthony was online and found some of the Gaither's music. After it had been going for a few minutes, I had to grab the camera and get some pictures. Kaitlyn was just singin' along and doing her best to keep up with the beat! Notice how, in the second one, Kaitlyn can pretty much hold her own against her brother when she really wants something. What an entertaining duo we have. They crack me up!
It probably helps that I put about 1/2 a pump of raspberry flavoring in her milk to entice her to drink it. She LOVED it! She guzzled 8oz in a matter of a couple of minutes. (I thought I may have to surgically remove it from her hands!) Hopefully the transition from bottle to sippy cup wont be that difficult. (Especially when she doesn't get her milk flavored every time!)
Getting rid of the paci... that may be a bit more of a challenge. I only let her have it when she goes to sleep, but she's pretty attached to it. My goal is to have the bottle and pacifier gone when she turns a year old, but when she can't find her paci, she tends to suck her thumb. We may just get rid of the bottle right now, and work on the pacifier slowly!!
We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in May. We live in Minot, North Dakota. Anthony is on the ministerial staff at our church, Apostolic Faith Church, and enjoys playing the guitar. Candice is an RN, and the Unit Manager of Pediatrics and the NICU at the hospital. We have 5 kids- Talon Shade, Kaitlyn Michelle, Nolan James, Natalie Danielle, and Olivia Ruth. We have 2 miniature Schnauzers- Kiki and Kallie. We love spending time together as a family!
