The big box, part 2, and Daddy Day

Last Saturday was "Daddy Day" and that was extra special because Ryan was gone Wed night, Thurs night and Fri night - so by Saturday, the boys were elated to have a whole day to be "just the boys" while I was in Eureka Springs. Ryan took full advantage of having some time with his little guys... and being the big kid that he is anyway, he decided to tweak the box.  He cut out windows, made hidden doors and a back exit.... The boys have been in heaven ever since!  So funny - this is exactly what John Rosemond (Author of "Making the Terrible Twos Terrific" - a GREAT book, by the way!) was talking about with kids... They don't need special toys.. they need an imagination and some TLC.  My boys are so so blessed to have Ryan as their daddy... He's such an involved, loving and STRONG father for them to admire.... I'm so glad they have him as a role model and I pray they always do look to him as who they want to be "just like" .... What a better world this would be with more little "Ryan Stearle" clones.... I know this is why God insisted I have all boys.... Ok - enough of my sap.  

Here's a few more pics from "Daddy Day."

Ryan informed me that their day included baking banana bread and taking it to Aunt Janet's house, going to Petsmart to look at the animals, and WMT to pick up a few things... I think they had a blast. On Sunday, he managed to get the boys up and around to church at 800am before heading to my mom's for lunch.  I'm impressed, but not surprised... Ryan is a pro.

At night, Ryan and I have a little routine (which will be altered when baby arrives, I'm sure)... While I'm cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, Ryan takes the boys upstairs for baths - one at a time - on his back.  Ryan pretends to be "The Lizard" and usually Ethan goes up first... while Ryan is making all kinds of Lizard phrasing...(It's a Spiderman thing).  Upon dropping off Ethan at the top of the stairs, Ethan becomes "Baby Jaguar" (It's a Diego thing).  So he growls and howls waiting for the Lizard and Jackson's arrival..... Upon Jackson's arrival on Ryan's back, Baby Jaguar chases them into the bedrooms growling and showing claws... It's quite humorous.  Ryan sent me this pic Saturday night of "The Lizard," "Cheetah" and "Baby Jaguar."  I LOVE these boys!!!

The big box, part 1

I ordered the last bit of our new baby's "needs" - such as a car seat, extra base, Jackson's new car seat, stroller, etc.... So - some of this came in a one big box.... What fun for two little goofy boys!  I left it out for them to play in and they make up all kinds of games to play in it... I just love watching these boys... and what I'd give for 1 ounce of their energy!!  Stay tuned for part 2 - when daddy got ahold of the box.

34 Weeks!

• 34 Weeks!
  
• Baby's Sex: BOY!! (Name to be announced at birth!)
• Baby is as big as: Large Cantaloupe (19 - 22 in, 5.5 lbs)
  
• Cravings this week: Coffee - Iced, Hot - all kinds... Just as long as it's decaf and sweet!
• What's different this week than last week: Pain, pain, pain!  I have been having these pains that I've never had before... I'll spare the details of them on my blog, but they are... odd.  And they only happen when I go from sitting to standing/walking.... yuk.
• Weeks to go:  6 weeks
• Next Appt: Feb 21 (35 weeks (-1day) )
• Big Brothers: I think I've decided to not ask my mom to bring the boys to the hospital when I deliver...I'm hoping to not be there longer than a day anyway, but I don't think Ethan will take too well to leaving me there with the new baby.... He is a funny dude that way and the more I've thought about it, the more I think I may just wait and let them meet the baby on their terms instead of mine...
• Notes:  I know it's SO terrible (to many others), but I'm really hoping this sweet little guy decides to come out early.  He's been kicking me in this one little spot lately, and I can feel his little foot - the whole shape of it - perfectly.  It just makes me so anxious to meet him and kiss those toes.  I would love to deliver over Spring Break, or even St Patty's Day (17th) - the Sunday before Spring Break... That would definitely help my mom out by not having to take the boys to school, etc... Plus, it's a week early!  Anytime after March 8th is full term! 

HAPPY LOVE DAY....

Two of a Kind....

Spa Trip, 2013!

On Saturday, Lisa, Emily, Jenny, Connie and I left for Eureka Springs for a 36 hour retreat!  We stayed at the Crescent hotel - in a 2 bedroom cottage. It was absolute bliss!  We all spent several hours at the spa at the hotel - and after, we went to dinner and then crashed at the cottage, just having some priceless girl talk! I am so so fortunate to have these  girls in my life... I'm excited about spa trip 2014!  :)

33 Weeks!

• 33 Weeks!
  
• Baby's Sex: BOY!! (Name to be announced at birth!)
• Baby is as big as: Pineapple (19 - 22 in, 4.9 lbs)
  
• Cravings this week: Coffee, Sweet Tea, Oranges
• What's different this week than last week: I can't get my shoes on! What the heck!?
• Weeks to go:  7 weeks
• Next Appt: Feb 21 (35 weeks (-1day) )
• Big Brothers: At Jackson's appointment with the ped this week, he proudly told the nurse that "my mommy has a baby in her belly... see?  <pointing>.  I'm going to be a big brother, 2 times!"  I was very excited of hear this random bit of info coming out of his mouth since he hasn't shown much interest... he seemed so proud... which makes me even prouder of my big boy.  :)
• Notes:  I had my 32 wk appointment on Monday.  I gained enough weight that the not-so-nice nurse asked me to weigh again because "that can't be right."  UGH!  Yes, it can!  It's called sitting on your booty and not doing a darn thing for weeks, eating anything you want and feeling like a slob.  That's the definition of pregnant Keisha.  It's so different being pregnant in the winter too because it's dark at 530p - and it's cold and my kids are sick the whole months of Jan/Feb.... So we are indoors and bored.... With Ethan, we were outside playing and walking around every single day - up until hours before I went into labor.  Doc didn't say a word about my weight - probably because he knows it's a lost cause by this point.  He did say AGAIN about how worried he is about my fast deliveries.... He mentioned AGAIN inducing me the week before to which I said AGAIN that I don't want to do that!  So I think that Ryan has heard his express his concern enough now that he will work from home the week I'm due... That should shave off some time and allow us to get to the hospital on time.   Also this week - baby's car seat arrived!! 

Just Breathe... slowly.

Well, Jackson decided to make this week extra interesting for us!  On Tuesday morning, he woke up at his normal time, came downstairs and climbed into bed with us begging to play Angry Birds (his normal routine).  We usually let him play until Ethan wakes up just to give us some time to climb out of bed and get ourselves awake... Well, Tuesday was different.  I noticed that Jackson was breathing rapidly... He had had a cough for a month, lots and lots of sniffles, but nothing scary.  Rapid breathing - like you just ran a marathon and cannot catch your breath - that's scary.  So I asked him to stop - just breathe normal, but he couldn't do it.  When he tried, he'd choke up and gasp for air - then cry because it hurt.  He was breathing like this - picture deep belly breaths - for 45 minutes without easing up when I texted Jenny - who asked Rhonald - who asked me to check his number of breaths.  Apparently, normal breathing for his age group should be 20ish to 35ish breaths in a minute... Jackson was breathing at 48.  (Seriously, try to take 48 breaths in a minute and you'll be exhausted in a few minutes).  Rhonald said waiting on the doc office to open is a bad idea - head to the ER.  I knew he was right.  He said the biggest concern is that a kid breathes like that and gets wiped out and then can't breathe anymore.... So Ryan had him at the ER by 730am.  They immediately gave him a breathing treatment and that helped tremendously.  He started breathing more normal after that - so they did a chest x-ray and the ER doc said everything came back normal.  He told us Jackson has "Reactive Airway Disease" which is basically a precursor for asthma. The thing is - he's too young to be diagnosed with asthma so that's what they call it when the other tests show normal.... The doc said he may have a virus which triggered this... gave J an oral steroid and an inhaler and sent them home.  By the time J was back home, he was back to breathing very very rapidly again.  I can't explain how frustrating this is... not really having any kind of real answer and seeing your kid breathe like this... Around 1p, I called the pediatrician office.... couldn't reach anyone til 2p.  Finally I talked to the nurse.  I got a follow up appointment for Wednesday morning.  By this point, Jackson, extremely lethargic, fell asleep on the couch (which he NEVER does) and started breathing normal.  The nurse told me that if he was breathing super fast like that again Tues night and the inhaler wasn't working, I'd probably have to take him back to the ER to get it to stop.  Ugh.   Tuesday night, at bedtime, he was back to breathing fast... but not as fast as before and he just wanted to go to sleep. After he fell asleep, Ryan ran up to check on him and he was back to breathing normal.  Such a mess.  He woke up Wed morning wound up and happy... but still breathing a LITTLE fast - certainly nothing like before... and he was being his normal playful self... So by the time his appt came, he was breathing well, but I took him anyway.  He was grumpy, but breathing ok.  The doc checked him out and said he "definitely" has allergies.  He said that this can all be caused by not getting a handle on his allergy symptoms.  He said that he "possibly" has asthma but there's no way of knowing that for sure at this age.  He said it's crucial that we get a handle on his allergy symptoms - Allegra twice a day - blowing his nose properly, indoors when the allergy counts are high, etc.  He also said it's a "must" that we keep the inhaler with us at all times and then he wants J to take a 2nd steroid every day for a month to try to get this crap out of his lungs.  He said if he doesn't need his rescue inhaler much for the next month, we can stop the steroid.  In the meantime, I still don't really feel like I have many answers.... I still feel confused as to what happened.... nothing really has changed in his life and he's not ever had problems like this before... But I'm thankful that he doesn't have pneumonia or anything....I hope we don't have any more rapid breathing like this... It's SO strange!  Hopefully, my boy will be ok now.  Dear Lord, PLEASE no more ER's unless it's me having a baby! 

Pic of a Pic

In a rare moment, Jackson ASKED me to take this picture of him.  He wanted me to have a pic of his drawing before he erased it.  It's a picture of his family (a little too many people if you ask me...). 

It's A Paint Party!

Ryan was in Memphis overnight on Friday night, so we asked our friends Jenny, Cole and Lily Kate to come over for a little painting, super hero mask making, and pizza... AND they brought super hero cupcakes!  Score!  We had so much fun!  Even LK and Ethan got to participate in everything, and they had their own little kitchen party.  Fun times... really made Ryan being gone that night MUCH easier for me!  We're hoping for a repeat party!  :)

 

 

This is what our lazy day looks like...

January Phone Dump

Here are some pics from my phone from January...

 Ethan and Lily Kate have become some sweet (and sassy) buds!  It's fun to watch them together...

My big coloring boy... It's kind of our "thing" these days... We color together, a lot.  I never realized how therapeutic coloring actually is!

 Jackson's obsession:  Star Wars Angry Birds.

 Cute boys!

 Ethan is staring at the CD player - which at the time, was playing a Thomas music CD.  He was fascinated.

I believe my caption on Instagram on this pic was right:  "I wish I could bottle up this cuteness."  And I really really do... This boy makes me laugh every single day... I absolutely adore him.

 Oh nothing - just laying in our Spiderman/Thomas couches and watching a movie.... Don't bother us.

 Ethan and Hobbes, sitting in a tree....

 Ethan and Lily - sharing Daddy's lap.  Ryan loves that LK will sit with him... He gets his "daughter" fix.

Very blessed mommy/daddy!!

 Pregnancy STUFF.

 

Cravings.

One of the fun parts of having hypothyroidism is that when I'm pregnant, it's crucial to keep my TSH levels on point...So I "get" to go get jabbed in the arm every 4 weeks... sometimes, I get awesome phlebotomists who are so right-on that I don't feel a thing, and sometimes I get this kind... who butcher my arm. 

(This pic was 1 week after he took my blood!)