Picture Post

Here are the pictures from Aidan's Valentine's Day party. He had such a good time.

The Return of Feeling Normal-ish.

I am finally starting to get some energy back and starting to feel useful again. My house is in the process of getting clean. The downstairs is done and I'm tackling the upstairs a little each day. I've even been burning some candles to make everything smell nice. Hopefully soon the entire house will be clean again. It's been a LONG time and it was driving me nuts! Although sometimes I have to employ the help of a caffeinated soda to get everything done but, not more than recommended by the doctor. :) Chocolate helps too, of course. Whatever I need to do to feel like a normal person with a clean house like normal people. It's nice to easily have people over without shame or a furious round of quick cleaning. Like last night, our neighbors, the Walters, were able to come over with baby for a piece of chocolate cake without sending me into a sense of panic. I should enjoy it while it lasts as soon, I will not have ANY time for cleaning AT ALL. (Somehow I think a new baby and almost 3 year old have something to do with that. : ) )

Speaking of chocolate cake, Valentine's Day was really nice. I told Julien to go simple this year. No big, expensive presents. I was shocked that he actually listened. He and Aidan picked out flowers (a bouquet from Julien and a single rose from Aidan. Very cute!) and chocolates. We had lunch at Panchero's, which was fabulous. (The carnitas are excellent, I highly recommend them. I'm hungry for Panchero's just talking about it.) We came home and I made Julien a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting, his favorite. This was my first time making cake from scratch. It was harder than I thought it would be but, the cake turned out great. I did a terrible job frosting and decorating it so it was ugly but tasty. :) Either way, Julien was impressed. Then, we had a crab leg dinner at home followed by the cake. After dessert we all fell into a sugar coma and hung out. All in all, a low key kind of day. You know what, it was better than the years we have spent a lot on presents and a big fancy dinner out. I guess I feel like when things are simple, they're more meaningful.

This week I go for my next OB appointment. Aidan is going with so this should be interesting. I hope he's patient with me. I know I have more bloodwork coming up soon. And we're less than a month away from my next ultrasound and knowing if this baby is a boy or a girl. I can't wait! I don't have a definite feeling either way yet. I didn't with Aidan until about 2 weeks before. We'll see if the same happens here. But, I'm excited to register for the few things we need and to order furniture, as we have started looking. Now comes the fun part!!

Hive Update #2

Today is the last day of Aidan's antibiotic. He seems completely recovered from the strep. I called the doc on Monday and she said to use benadryl every 6 hours for the hives. And guess what, it really helped! They were improving on Monday but, by Tuesday they were on his legs only. And they were faint and fading at that. I think we are finally well. He's playing and eating (a ton!) as usual. We even went to Monkey Joe's to play with Gabi and Joey and their friends on Tuesday. Monkey Joe's is an indoor gym full of inflatables, like bounce houses and stuff. They have one that is a huge slide that the older kids loved. Too big for Aidan though. So he tried a littler one. He tried and tried to climb up steps of the slide and after much effort made it to the top. Then, he came whizzing down the slide and promptly told me he wanted to go home. Ha! Too much excitement I guess. We played for an hour and then had lunch at the only Panchero's in Missouri. (Mommy wasn't going to take no for an answer from Aidan. Luckily he thought the place looked cool and had a quesadilla.) Aidan fell asleep on the way home, too much excitement. Looks like we will make our Valentine's Day party on Friday after all! Yay! Maybe we can do something fun if the weather holds out this weekend. I'm just so glad that he's healthy again. It was a really rough week.

Hive Update

We started the new antibiotic but the hives are still here. I guess it wasn't the medicine but the strep after all. On one hand, that's nice to know he's not allergic to it. On the other, who knows when the hives will go away. After reading online about them, we've done everything we can to make him comfortable. Baking soda baths, loose clothes, gentle soap, calamine lotion when he let's us. I guess we will have to wait it out. At least the fever is gone. I'm really looking forward to Aidan to be healthy again.

A Long Week for my Sickly Buddy

What a long week. Ugh. Poor Aidan has been so sick. First, the fever that yo-yoed all week. Then 3am Friday morning, he woke up with a temp of 104. Luckily, some Motrin and cold compresses helped and in 30 minutes his temp went down a whole degree. But, I also noticed he had hives on his face and neck. As his fever went down, the hives got lighter though. So, ER trip averted. Off to the pediatrician's in the morning. In the morning, Aidan was bushed and not happy about being looked over. He was especially unhappy about the swab for the strep test, which came back positive. The doctor warned that strep can cause hives in children, hence the hives the night before, and especially if they are sensitive like Aidan seems to be. Which , I did not know and found was good information to have. We went home with a prescription for amoxicillin, a sticker and a bag of goldfish (from the doctor's office.) Aidan was so wore out, he feel asleep in the car. After the first dose of medicine, Aidan looked better, had more energy, and the fever was gone. I thought we were in the clear. We went to bed and that was that for Friday.

Then, Saturday morning happened. Julien got up with Aidan and immediately brought him to me. (Saturday is my morning to sleep in.) He was covered with big, red hives. He had never had anything close to these. The back of his neck looked like a big sunburn and it was swollen. His right eye looked like it may swell shut as it had a big hive above and below it. Soon they spread and he had them all down his back, on his arms, and even on his bootie. His ankle got swollen and red from a big hive on it. We gave him benadryl right away. Nothing happened. I thought, it could be the strep, he needs his antibiotic. Halfway through giving him his dose, I happened to be reading the info card that came with the medicine to see that hives are a sign of allergic reaction. Next to that it said in big letters- CALL YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY. Great. So, a call to the office's exchange to page the doctor. Since both things could be the cause of the hives, it's almost impossible to say which it was. Out of caution, the doctor called in a different antibiotic to use to be sure. Other than that, the hives will go away when they go away. So, all day Aidan looked like he lost a fight. He played and whined like normal. But, I felt so bad knowing there was little I could do and I couldn't make the hives go away. Tonight he started his new antibiotic. And the hives on his face started to lighten and a couple went away too. Hopefully tomorrow he can actually leave the house. Today was a beautiful day and he had to spend it cooped up with us. Keep your fingers crossed that he continues to improve tomorrow. He has to be tired of being sick. Lord knows I'm exhausted from it.

My Sick Little Buddy

Last night while cuddling, I noticed that Aidan seemed a little hot. Lately, he's been the healthiest of us all. He's had a nice long stretch of good health. I guess our luck has run out. We sent him to bed with some motrin and he took his temp when he was asleep. His temp was fine. Then this morning, he was hot again. This time his temp was 101.6. I hate when he gets sick! So, more motrin. For awhile he was fine. No fever, eating and drinking, and playing. Then after nap, he was hot again! Sigh! His temp by this point 102.2. So, more motrin. He ate dinner and played all right. Then he wanted to cuddle and we put on a movie. (We watched Igor, which was good.) The motrin didn't seem to help this time. He still had the fever and seemed to get the chills, complaining he was cold. So, I gave him so Tylenol staggered in the middle of his motrin dose and put him to bed. I'll have to check on him later and see if the fever is getting better or not. I was hoping to put a doctor's trip off until Friday but, if things don't improve tomorrow morning, we may just go then. I hate when he gets sick. I feel so bad for him. And I feel a little useless too. Let's hope tonight goes well and his fever breaks on its own. Oh- and that I don't catch what he has. :)