Relaxin' and dancin'!

Just a lazy day at home.. doing a little housecleaning and playing with the chillins'.. It's freezing cold outside.. weather.com says it's 22 degrees but feels like 11. I'd say that's pretty accurate. So we have no place that we have to be... what a better way to spend the day than having a picnic inside, (which Evie set up), having a banana snack.. (which Evan LOVED), and dancing to a little Disco music!
Evie took her first shot at filming today and did a lovely job!



Stay Warm!!

Test video

Okay.. so I just got this cute little video recorder called a "Flip Video" from Pure Digital... pretty cheap.. but I just wanted something small that I could take short videos on the fly when I'm out with the kids and share them on my blogs or Myspace.
It takes up to 30 minutes of video at a time.. saves it to a memory card or internal hard drive and plugs in via USB to the computer and saves and publishes to Youtube immediatly. It's so easy to use.. I love it so far! Like I said.. it was cheap.. just $69.00 but it will do the trick for what I wanna use it for. a quick "point and shoot" video cam.
You can see the cam on http://www.theflip.com/

anyway.. I had a couple of minutes today before work and took the smallest clip of the kids on the floor.. so here's my test video:



I'm looking forward to taking many more videos and sharing with you all!

7 months.. side by side

Well, there's no doubt that they are brother and sister.. but for me, it's too easy to tell.. Evan has that dimple and the BIG eyes!

It's hard to believe that Evie was that small! She seems all grown up now!

Ouch! Is that a tooth?

Yep!
It is! It's all the way through the skin now.. noticed it yesterday coming through and today it is completly through.. it's like a sharp line on his gums.. here's a diagram of the tooth that's in..


It doesn't seem to bother him.. he's not cranky in the least or drooling or chewing any more than usual.


And while we are on the subject of teeth, Evelyn has her 6 year molars on the bottom coming in.. they have both broken through the skin as well.. and are BIG teeth! WOW! I had no idea that we were expecting those! She doesn't notice them as well.. and I'm suprised by the size of them!

So far teething is a breeze for both of my kids... I hope we continue on that path!! Too early to tell with Evan except for this instance!

I'll post more later if I can get pics of him with his mouth open.
Bye for now!
So it's official.. 1st tooth at 7 months! If I look back at Evie's pics, I think that's when hers came through..

Let's see if I can find a 7 month pic of her to post along side his...

The Seaweed is Always Greener.....

... in somebody else's lake...


So I re-designed Evie's room this week. She chose the theme... it's an "Under The Sea" bedroom.
First, you walk, (or swim), through the coral reef... (pink and purple beads in the doorway)


Then you see the seaweed and bubbles on the wall next to her mermaid vanity, with sparkly blue curtains that shimmer like bubbles when the light is on.


Above her bookshelf/dresser there's a fish poster and on the dresser, (with all of her junk) are two perfectly themed lights... one is a strobe dolphin light and the other is a saltwater fish aquarium light that spins around to make it look like the fish are swimming.


You swim over to the lagoon, (her bed), that's covered with a beautiful canopy that's lined with jewels. The bedding is Ariel, The Little Mermaid.. and there's Ariel's fishie friend, Flounder on the bed.


There's a pretty blue carpet that matches the curtains as well.. (it's the little pool in front of the lagoon). And the back wall is a view of undersea life including dolphins, exotic fish and coral reefs. What a difference the mural on that wall makes!




She still has one of her Disney Princess posters up over her bed.. it's kinda hard to part with that one.. and a " Barbie Mermaidia" poster of Nori and Elina on the other wall.. and that one kinda goes with the theme anyway.. I'm going to finish it all with some sponge painting of seashells and stuff on her dresser.. but that I'll do later.

Evie loves sleeping "Under The Sea" in her lagoon, and stays in there all night, even most of the morning playing before even coming out after waking.

"We got no troubles
Life is the bubbles
Under the sea"

More Snow

We got a couple of inches of snow yesterday and it was pretty packable today. Evie and I snuck outside today for about an hour while Evan was sleeping and made a snow-lady. We used celery for the nose and grapes for the eyes, mouth and polka dots on her skirt. Then we used a red ribbon tie and have her holding a rose. An Illini bucket hat tops her head and branches that Evie found in the yard for the arms.





Fun fun fun! We played on her swings for a little bit as well and then inside for a warm bath while Momma fed Evan.

I'm in the process of remodeling Evie's bedroom.. I have one BIG thing to do with it and it will be done.. then I'll get pictures and get it up here.. so that's what the rest of my afternoon looks like, I think! Evie is tired.. whiny... I think a nap is in order for her!

Stay warm all!

Got puffs?

So You all know that my Evan can drink his milk all by himself now... but did you know that he can eat by himself as well? Just tonight after his dinner of blueberry, pear and oats (as you can see all over his bib), I put some sweet potato puffs on his tray table to see what he would do.. first he just picked them up and they stuck to the palm of his hands...
look at them chubby little fingers :o)


so then I would put one into his mouth and he would smile and say "mmmm"...

the next thing I knew, he was carefully picking them up one at a time and putting them into his mouth!



"mmmmm" he says.... He's pretty proud as you can see!



He LOVES his puffs!

Fun and Games

Evie and Daddy have been playing video games alot lately. Her favorite game is on the XBOX and is "Star Wars BattleFront II", the controller is confusing for me to use, but Evie has it down pat. She loves being the "green girl" (Rayla Secura).



But just for fun we got out the super old Super Nintendo.. and they played "Top Gear". Do you remember that arcade game from the 80s?! Anyway.. Evie figured out how to drive pretty quickly! It's cute to see her move her hands to the side with the controller the way that we ALL used to do.
Here are some pics of Evie and Daddy playing games.

Evie is the car on the bottom:

Got Milk?

I think I may have found the best possible training sippy cup out there!
It's a Nuk Orthodonic with Air Flow sippy... got it at Wal*Mart.. it's got a soft silicone (maybe it's latex), spout that works similar to a nipple but is angled like a sippy and baby can hold it by himself.
Evan tried this cup soon after we got home from the hospital last week and loved it immediatly! He is feeding himself now, between nursings.. I can't begin to tell you how much time this seems to free up for me already.

This was taken at the beginning of a diaper change.. notice there's about 5 ounces of milk in the cup.




This is at the end of the diaper change.. I did have to use cream and walk away to wash my hands, zip him up, play with his hair....so let's say it was a 5 minute change...
Notice the milk is almost gone.



The flow of milk is probably similar to a stage 2 nipple and since it has the air flow system you don't have to worry about having to take it out of the mouth to release trapped air. The handles are soft and are easy to hold as well.

I LOVE this cup!!!

My Personality Painting

I keep seeing this one on all of my friends pages.. kinda neat how it displays your mood at the time.. I think this displays me pretty well at the moment....


Click here to create your own painting.

Pedialyte... GOOD!

YAY! Evan has FINALLY taking a liking to Bubble Gum Pedialyte!
He drank 4 ounces just now by himself! I just handed him the bottle while he was laying down and he finished it in record time! *big sigh of relief*

Home from the hospital, Updates.. and Happy Valentine's Day

Many of my friends and family already know that this past Sunday we took Evan to the Emergency room because he was having trouble breathing... he has been sick for almost 2 months now and we were tired of getting no answers or help from the doctors visits.. (4 of those visits to be exact). We finally decided that enough was enough.
After checking his oxygen levels, (87% saturation on room air), he was admitted. It's been a rough 4 days there! We just got home a few hours ago..
First, they tried to start an I.V. and couldn't get it to thread.. so he has bruises on both hands and feet.. 7 people tried that night.. poor thing was tortured basically.. and he came into the room.. with no I.V. Uggh! So all of his antibiotics were given by shots daily. then today I was concerned that he wasn't drinking enough.. and sure enough, a blood test confirmed that he was slightly dehydrated. We still opted to come home today since his O2 levels were better (93% saturation) and he was off of the oxygen and on room air for a full day and could do well at home provided that we give his breathing treatments to him every TWO hours the way they did at the hospital. (in fact, he's due for another one in a few minutes.. feels like I just gave him one!) I'm gonna miss the nurses doing everything.. now it's my turn.

Anyway... more later if I think of anything.. I'm just glad to be home.. Evan seems to be glad too.. he rolled around on my bed and snuggled the blankets and smiled and hugged my face.. you could just tell he was happy to be home... and then he wouldn't eat.. uuuggh again! Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.. I don;t wanna have to go back there! His lungs are sounding better.. but still crappy.. doctor is referring us to a pulminary specialist in a different hospital.. hopefully my insurance will cover it! Keep our little man in your thoughts! He's not out of the water yet!

UPDATE: Thursday morning.. 10:45 am

Evan is still not eating.. doctor wants him to have NO BREASTMILK for 24 hours.. only clear fluids preferably flavored pedialite.. (he wouldn't drink the unflavored at the hospital).. Well.. if the kid acts like he wants to nurse, I'm not denying him.. it's just that he won't nurse for more than a few minutes until he starts crying. Last night I suctioned him before feeding and I'll bet he got about an ounce of milk. Joe managed to get an ounce of pedialyte in him. This morning I got almost 2 ounces of pedialyte (bubblegum flavor) in him.. he didn't care for it at first but I gave him some chilled from the fridge and he seemed to be interested in how it was different tasting and temperature. still, after not quite 2 ounces, he leaned over to me and started sucking on my shirt to let me know he wanted mama's comfort feeding.. I figure.. it's hydration.. and comfort.. I can't deny him.. I just can't, no matter what the doctor says. so he took in about 2 ounces (that's a guess) of breastmilk.. (I'm gonna pump in a few minutes to be more accurate), so that's 4 ounces of fluids total this morning.. I'm gonna work hard to keep him from going back but he is discouraged.. you can tell.. he has moments where he is my baby boy.. but mostly today he seems void of much personality. I miss him. :o(

Evie went to school despite not wanting to.. but I dressed her cute in pink for Valentnies day.. fixed her hair pretty with some glitter hair spray and let her wear a tiara and dangly earrings to school.. I didn't want her to miss giving and getting Valentine's Day cards today. She accepted that and seemed more excited to go. I couldn't possibly get my house straightened up and take care of Evan's new routine on our first day home if she was here.

SPeaking of routine.. he had his treatment an hour ago just before he fell asleep for a nap.. I need to pump and fold some laundry and then give him another treatment! I am missing the nurses right now! I need a maid, too!

More later! Happy Valentine's Day!

"People Like Things"

"Yep.. they really do!"
That's my daughter's words of wisdom for the day. And it's so true.. People really DO like things! She is referring to how easy it is to just go get what you want when you want it.. and I agree! If you want something.. make it happen! Well.. we were at the Arby's drive thru because she had decided that we needed to go get a milkshake and I didn't want to go all the way to Steak n Shake (which is what she origionally wanted). I remembered that Arby's had Black Cow Milkshakes.. (Root beer flavor) She took one big sip and was hooked.. she had the whole thing gone before we got home.. but in the drive thru she says, "We can come here anytime and get one of these! People like things.. yep they really do!"
Ahh.. the mind of my 4 year old isn't far off from the mind of this 34 year old Mom. LOL (I wanted things, too.. cheese sticks and chicken tenders!)

Anyway.. it was a boring day at home. Evie seems to be feeling somewhat better.. still coughing a bit and had another slight fever this morning. She's not complaining about her ears hurting so that's good considering the doctor said they looked pretty bad.
I was changing Evan's diaper in the other room and came out to find Evie on a kitchen chair in the freezer trying to get a "fish stick" meal. She ate the whole thing.


Evan played on the floor alot today.. Although he was pretty high maintenence. Really happy at times and then instantly crying. I think he's getting that cold as well and he doesn't feel that great.
He's sitting up almost perfectly now.. I snapped a couple of pics today.. one without the boppy pillow behind him.. (because he doesn't need it if I am nearby and he gets tired and decides to topple over).. and one with the pillow because I was in and out of the room and wanted him to be cushioned if he fell.





So glad the weekend is almost here! We have an office party for my work this Sunday.. I hope my kids are well enough to go.. I would hate to miss it!
Happy Weekend all!

Another one sick

Update: Evie now has a fever of 102.5 .. The highest fever that she has ever had;These pictures are of Evelyn relaxing at home today.




My girl slept very little last night and woke up with big dark circles under her eyes, and an earache. A trip to the dr.'s office today confirmed that she has a double ear infection. Antibiotics should clear her up.. it's that nagging cough that she gets everytime she gets a cold that drives us insane.


Will we ever catch a break? Evan seems happy today but I had his chest x-rayed just to be safe.. Dr. says he looks fine, we are starting a new seriod today that goes into his nebulizer treatments to help with the inflammation in his lungs. Hopefully it helps! (Thanks, Kylla for that suggestion!)

Get well soon kids!!!

Evan and friends

Hi Ya!
Just some cute pictures of Evan with friends at Monday Mania the other day!
Kylla with Rhylan and Me with Evan.. they were cute grabbing each other's faces.







Then Evan with friend, Olivia, playing on the floor together..





And last of all, Evan being entertained by Brayden!

Straight out of the movies.. "THE FOG"

OMG! In my 35 years of existence, I have never witnessed anything like todays weather conditions. I'm not exaggerating, folks, it's downright scary. Zero visibility.. Evie kept asking me on our drive home if we were lost.. "Are we going the right way?" This from the girl who knows her streets, the way to every local city, all of the back roads.. she was honestly confused about where we were.

So the 4 way stops were okay.. you could at least tell is someone was stopped at the intersection with you.. but two way stops.. Wow... we had to stop and roll down the windows to see if we could hear cars in the distance. Some people were crazy enough to not have their lights on. Then we would bolt out to be sure that we weren't gonna be hit by a car that we may not have seen or heard coming. I finally saw some smart guy driving with his hazards on and did the same. What a great idea! I wanted people to see me!

Here's my view from my steering wheel!

True Love... you think?

Oh my! My daughter thinks that she is "in love". She has used this term to describe Alex, her "boyfriend" and he, in turn talks of them "getting married".. (of course Brayden thinks he is marrying her, too) These two, however can't seem to get enough of each other. They see each other at school for playtime.. maybe for 20 minutes.. the teacher says that these two are inseperable.. that they don't play together, they just stand there and hug and talk while holding hands throughout the entire playtime.
Meet Alex.. what a cutie!

Reading is Fun!

Reading is very fun when sister reads to you! We got a book for Evan today that he really loves! It's called "Can You Smile?" by Simms Taback. It has a finger puppet of a baby bear attached to the top and the story is interactive, "Can you smile, laugh, sing, etc" He likes to hear Eve read it in her silly voice and he pets the bear. He's very interested in the pictures as well!