BIG BOY SLEEP

If you follow this often you know that we put a toddler bed in Grayson's room about a month ago. He would play on it, but never wanted to sleep in it. He preferred his crib. Well, last night I sat him on the bed to put his socks on at bedtime and he asked for his bears. I asked, "Do you want to sleep in your big boy bed?" He responded with a nod. We got the bears, said his prayers, and he went to bed.

Grayson cried for a brief minute and then he went off to sleep. Around 11:30 he woke up crying. I went in to comfort him and he went back to sleep. Around 12:00 he starting crying again and Justin went in. On the third round he pointed to his crib and determined to get sleep, I gave in. He fussed off and on all night and we didn't get a whole lot of sleep. This is unusual in our house because Grayson rarely wakes up in the middle of the night and hasn't since he was seven weeks old. I don't function well without sleep.

After some discussion Justin and I decided that it may be better for Grayson if the crib was not an option. We are not trying to push Grayson into something he is not ready for. I think he is ready. He is asking to sleep in the "big boy" bed. Additionally, we have to get those two cribs into the nursery for our home inspection and for our new baby. It is important to me that the crib not go straight from Grayson's room to a new nursery for the new baby. I want at least several weeks in between. I don't want Grayson to feel like the new baby took his bed.

Tonight before bath we asked Grayson if he wanted to sleep in his crib or in the big boy bed. He said he wanted the big boy bed and I explained that if he wanted the big boy bed he had to say bye-bye to his crib bed and that he wouldn't be able to get in it anymore. He said "all done" and pointed to the crib.

While Grayson took his bath I took all of the bedding and mattress out of the crib leaving just the crib there. Grayson got ready for bed and went to his big boy bed. We showed him that his crib no longer had a bed in it and that his bed was the big boy bed. He said his prayers, passed out his goodnight kisses, and we left the room. He cried for about 10 minutes and he has been asleep ever since. It is now almost midnight and I am hoping we all get a good night of rest without interruptions. We will need the energy to enjoy the snow tomorrow.

HAPPY TO BE BORING & HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I have never been more happy in my life to have nothing much to blog about. We all seem to be staying well. Grayson attended every day of school last week and we are believing he will do the same this week. That hasn't happened since the middle of October!!!

Justin and I are well and back to a somewhat regular routine. I actually feel like it is New Year's all over again. I didn't get to start my new year with all my resolutions and what not. Yes, I am a resolution person. I don't share my resolutions with anyone. I just think of things that I would like to see changed in my life and work towards that change. With everyone being sick we weren't existing normally, much less new and improved. So, I am getting to ease into my resolutions as things get back to normal which seems to be working well for me.

The only other happening of note is the fact that today is my daddy's birthday. I just love that man to pieces. He is a good Christian man, an amazing father and grandfather, honest, hard working, dependable, fun, loving, humble, and strong. I could really go on and on, but those are some of the characteristics I admire most about him. It isn't my place to share his age, but I do hope God blesses our family with him for as many or more years than he has already been here. I love you Daddy. Happy Birthday!

IT'S A. . .

Boy! Grayson is going to have a little brother. Well, hopefully for not another 20 weeks or so. We are super excited. We did hope for a girl. Justin and I had both gotten used to the idea of a little girl when we were pregnant with Faith and Avery. Then today when the doctor told me that he was 100% sure we were having a boy, I couldn't have been more thrilled. I can just picture Grayson with a little playmate and that is an adorable image. It doesn't hurt that I will not have to buy anything because we have tons of boy stuff. Little boys sure do love their mommas and I can't wait for another little fella that thinks my hugs are the most valuable thing in the world. I am not looking forward to chasing all the girls away when Grayson and his new brother (yes, we are keeping the name a secret) are 18 and 16. I don't even want to think about that.

This pregnancy had been so similar to my pregnancy with the twins so far that I sort of thought it would be a girl. I was almost convinced I was having a girl. Then on Sunday night, while I was sick, I had a dream that we went to the hospital for dehydration and they decided to do an ultrasound. While the tech was looking at the baby she said, "By the way, you are having a boy". Now, I am not claiming premonition here. I just thought it was funny. God totally prepared me for the doctors words today which were, "By the way, you are having a boy and I am 100% sure."

NIGHT-NIGHT ELMO

We all finally seem to be well on our way to being completely well. YAY!

For the first time tonight Grayson took great interest in a toy just before bedtime. Jason and Luci will be happy to know that it was his Sesame Street walkie-talkies. He was determined he was taking them to bed with him. What could it hurt? He might play for a bit, but he will go to sleep.

Justin and I decided not to choose this as one of our battles and let him take them to bed. We may regret this is a couple of weeks when he is trying to haul his toy box to bed with him. I will let you know! Anyway, we turned them off and gave them to him to take to bed. Grayson doesn't really know how to use them. He just likes to use the button that beeps loud and presses it over and over. Upon inspection he realized they were not on and handed them back to us. Not to be put away, oh no! He wanted them turned on. Okay, whatever. We turned them on. Grayson checks each one to ensure they are indeed on and the beeper button is working properly. He then places them very carefully at the top of his crib with his bears and right by his head. He was very serious about it, like he had some very important messages to receive late night via his Elmo and Cookie Monster walkie-talkies (btw, I think walkie-talkie is a hilarious word).

As I type this he is up in his bed. No, he isn't asleep yet. Every now and then we hear him over the monitor moving around and mumbling. Initially, he only pushed his beeper button a few times. Now he is mumbling and pushing the buttons more often. Maybe it is a secret code. Maybe he really is running some toddler covert operation from his crib or maybe he just isn't tired yet.

UGH

Yep, I have it. I did get that stomach virus. I woke up about 2 am on Monday. I will spare you all the details. I do feel positive about the fact that I have been able to keep fluids down since around noon on Monday which means I have not dehydrated. The dehydration is a major problem for us pregnant people.

It is now Tuesday and Justin and I are both still home sick. Fortunately Grayson seems to be doing well so he was able to go to daycare yesterday and preschool today. We are also fortunate that Justin is well enough to drive him to those places although I am sure it isn't a pleasant experience for Justin. It can't be. I mean when I get up off the couch to walk to the bathroom I feel like I am going to faint. I can't imagine driving anywhere.

So here we are for now. Trying to get well. I pray this is the end of our sicknesses for a VERY long time. We have had it all in these last three weeks. What a great start to 2010.

WHY NOT KEEP THINGS INTERESTING?

Things around here just keep getting more and more interesting. Not in a good way. On Wednesday Grayson continued to do well. He didn't get sick again and continued to snack on bland foods and Gatorade or Pedialyte. Finally on Thursday we decided to get back to a bit of a normal routine. He went to preschool (9-12:30) and I went to my office for a bit. After preschool and work we came home to rest for a bit before going to pick up some groceries. After all of that we were exhausted. I had zero stamina.

We made sure to get rest Thursday afternoon and night so we could tackle a full day on Friday. Thursday night Grayson refused to eat dinner and had a bit of an rough diaper, if you know what I mean. Friday morning he seemed okay, but refused breakfast again (including anything to drink). He got down from his highchair and started playing so I figured he just wasn't hungry.

I dropped him off at daycare only to get a call around 2 saying I needed to come get him. Apparently Grayson had screamed all day, refused any sort of food or liquids, and had not had a wet diaper. No wet diapers and no drinking often equals dehydration. So, I go to get him calling the doctor on the way. When I got there he looked TERRIBLE. He had cracked and dry lips, a completely dry mouth, and he wouldn't even sit up on his own. The pediatrician gave me the opportunity to go home and do a fluid trial. She said if he refused or threw up I would have to take him to the hospital for IV fluids. She said to continue the fluid trial throughout the afternoon and if he had not had a wet diaper by 6:00 to go to the hospital for IV fluids.

Home we go! Grayson refused to drink so I had to strongly encourage him to let me put a syringe of pedialyte in his mouth. We did that 1 teaspoon at a time, every 10 minutes, for an hour. His color started coming back, he perked up a little, and then he had a wet diaper. YAY! After the diaper change he asked for a banana and just continued to improve throughout the evening.

He has had bad diapers, you know what I mean, since that day. Some of them making a real mess of things. He also still seems to not feel quite right. He occasionally refuses meals, but I make sure to have him drink so we don't get back to such a rough state.

I addition Justin woke up this morning with the same stomach junk. He is REALLY sick. Just when I thought it was time to sanitize and move on, we are right back at nursing and spraying some Lysol when I have the chance. When will this be over??? We are going on week 3!!!

Please pray that all of the sickness leaves our house. Also pray that I don't get this stomach junk. I am 16 weeks pregnant. At 16 weeks with the twins I got the first round of two in two weeks of a very bad stomach virus and still wonder if those two rounds of violent illness and dehydration didn't contribute to my pregnancy issues. I am terrified of getting a stomach bug at this point in my pregnancy, REALLY terrified!

We Are Back

So for the past year I have been blogging at aboutmybaby.com. I attempted to create a pretty blog here and it just blew my mind trying to make it look pretty. Well, aboutmybaby is going out of business in June so I have from now until then to get this blogger thing figured out. So, here we go. For the next little while I will be posting at both sites until I can get everyone and myself completely transferred. Be patient with me as I try to figure this out and make it all look nice.

YUCKY UPDATE

Notice: If you have not read the January 12 post, read it first.

So the yuckiness (yes I am making up all these yucky words) continued through the night and no one slept in our house.

This morning Grayson was still acting like he felt queasy and refused to eat or drink. I can't say I blame him after the night he had. My biggest concern was getting his antibiotics in him that were prescribed yesterday for his pneumonia. I don't want that to get any worse. Oh and yes, he still had a fever this morning.

The pediatrician recommended a fluid trial. 1 tsp. of Pedialyte every 15 mins for one hour. If that stays down increase to 1 tblsp of Pedialyte every 15 mins for 1 hour. If that stays down then begin the BRAT foods with Pedialyte as much as he will tolerate. If that stays down then he can have meds.

It wouldn't be this week in our lives if I hadn't used the last of the Pedialyte a couple of weeks ago when he had fever and the poops. So, we have to venture out to Target to get some and I am thinking the whole time, please don't puke in the store.

He didn't and we made it home fine with our Pedialyte, Gatorade, and Ginger Ale (just in case I pick this sickness up too) in tow. We made it through 30 minutes of the fluid trial and Grayson started SCREAMING for something to "eat". So we skipped the middle steps and he is currently eating plain cherrios and drinking a cup of pedialyte. I hope I don't regret this in another half hour or so.

STILL YUCKY AND EVEN YUCKIER

So yeah we are still here and still locked up in the house for the most part. I am sick, Grayson is still sick, and although his is going to work every day, Justin isn't feeling well either. We are a mess!

Grayson seemed to be doing better on Monday and then Monday night his fever jumped back up to 102-103. He woke up this morning (Tuesday) with no fever and acting like he felt well. I figured I would try taking him to preschool. I was too sick to go into work but figured having him at preschool for half the day would at least allow me to get some work done from home.

On the way to preschool I decided I better check with the doctor to let her know his fever was still going up at night. She called me back as we were pulling into the preschool parking lot saying she needed to see him. No preschool today. Off to the doctor we go. She recommends a chest x-ray. Off to Wake Radiology we go. The Radiologist finds something. Back to the pediatrician we go. End result, Grayson has pneumonia. Not a severe case, just a little infection in the left side of his lungs.

The doctor also determined he had a little bit of an ear infection and sent us home with a prescription for an antibiotic. Home we go after a stop off at the drug store.

My dad and Sue decided to come up today (thank the LORD!) so I could go out if I needed to and so they could spend some time at the house with Grayson. By the time we got home from all of the running around I felt like I had been hit by a train. I used the time they were here entertaining Grayson to get some much needed rest.

Once I got up I was craving steak. Interesting because I only eat red meat when I am pregnant. That is a whole other story. Anyway, Grayson seemed to be feeling well, wasn't running a fever, and we didn't have anything for dinner in the house. Since we had only left the house 3 times in seven days (all to go to the doctor) I was feeling a little cabin fever coming on. I talked my dad and Sue into going to Outback on their way out of town with us.

We get to Outback. Dad and Sue were in a bit of a rush because they wanted to make it back in time for to stop by the funeral home to pay their respects to a very nice man that passed away in their community. My order came out wrong. That always happens when you are in a hurry. Anyway, Grayson pretty much refused to eat. He started to get fussy and since Sue was finished eating he was allowed to get out of his highchair to go sit with her while I finished my delayed food and my dad paid the bill (Thanks again for dinner :-) ).

TMI ALERT--This next section is not for those with weak stomachs. . .

I finished my food and we are all putting on our coats. We were just on time for dad and Sue to get to the funeral home. Then Grayson starts to fuss and point at his mouth. A long string of drool comes out of his mouth. I am thinking, what is he doing he doesn't drool??? Out of nowhere he pukes. Not a little bit, a ton and it goes EVERYWHERE! We are all shuffling around trying to figure out what to do next and as he is trying to get out of the booth to me, he pukes again all over. I get him out of the booth he is still crying and as I am wiping his mouth he projectile vomits all over the floor and walkway. THAT REALLY GOES EVERYWHERE! It is all over the floor, all in the walkway, all around the tables near us, and I am even sure it probably splattered up on the legs of some of the people around us. You know how Outback has those hardwood floors that provide for the most splatter possible. Everyone around us is looking disgusted. I am just waiting for someone around us to start vomiting. All I could think about was in the movie Four Christmases when the baby pukes and Vince Vaughn says, "Oh I am going to do it too" as he is gagging. I am obviously worried about poor Grayson who is looking around like, "what the heck is this about", then poor Sue has puke all over her pants (remember they were on their way to the funeral home), then there is all the people around us, and to top it all off there is not a server in sight so I have to walk to the hostess stand and say in front of huge group of people that have just come in, "My son just puked all over that entire section of the restaurant and it is all in the walkway where people can't get by". I was awful!

I mean seriously?!?!?!? The poor kid has been sick for over a week. He has had a fever for 7 straight days. He was diagnosed with pneumonia today and NOW he is throwing up all over. Is this really happening?!?!?!? To top it all of both Justin and I are sick!!!

Someone tell me that we will all be well soon and that in a few months the memory of this dreadful, sickness filled, cabin fever inducing week will be but a distant memory. Not only that but that all of my work at the office, laundry, and house work will somehow get done so that we can get rid of all of these germs and I won't lose my mind. Yes, I am accepting volunteers.

TIME TO UPDATE

It has been too long but we have been kept busy with a very sick little fella. So here are the updates. . .WARNING: This will be long since it has been a while.

Grayson: Came down with another fever on Monday the 4th. He has been sick ever since and currently has a fever of 100.7 with Motrin. We went to the doctor on Wednesday not really for this specific illness but because Grayson has only been fever free for two 1/2 weeks (around Christmas) since October. I took my calendar in and all the fever days had a big red X on them. I think she was kind of surprised by all the X marks. She decided right away to draw blood and check out his immune system. The results came in on Thursday. Grayson's immune system is fine (PRAISE GOD!). I guess his little body just picks up every yucky bug it comes in contact with. GREAAAT. We did not talk very specifically that day about his current sickness as it was overshadowed by all the previous fevers. By Thursday afternoon when the doctor called with the test results he seemed to be getting worse. The nurse said he probably had the flu as his blood work indicated some sort of virus. They checked in again on Friday and seemed concerned that he was maintaining a fever of around 103 without medication for a 4th day straight. The biggest concern is that all the congestion (has has been insanely snotty with watery eyes and a cough) will move into his chest resulting in pneumonia. After some chatting she felt confident he didn't have pneumonia "yet", but if he still had a fever on Monday they want to see him first thing. So now on Saturday with Motrin his fever is 100.7 (not so good) and at 5 am it was almost 103 (last meds had been given at 8:30 pm when the 5 am temp was taken). Basically, he is still really sick. He does seem less snotty today, but that has come with a worse cough. We have basically been on the couch since Tuesday only getting out to go to his doctor and mine. Until today he wouldn't even get down to play with his toys. He would occasionally color on the couch, but nothing else. That is very out of character for our 20-month old bundle of "all boy" energy. He isn't sleeping well at all, which means Justin and I don't get much sleep either. Yes that is 4 days of missed work for me. I AM SOOO BEHIND, but wouldn't want to be anywhere else than taking care of my little fella. We are praying he gets healthy by tomorrow (NO PNEUMONIA PLEASE) and that I can go back to work Monday as well (NO SICKNESS FOR ME PLEASE).

Baby Firecracker: Everything is going well with the pregnancy. The doctor is sticking with the July 3rd due date so far, thus I have been using the name Baby Firecracker (Justin, not so much). I went for my 15 week check-up on Thursday. From this point on I will be going every 2 weeks. You typically don't go every two weeks until MUCH later in the pregnancy, but since they never determined why my water broke early with the twins they will be checking the length of my cervix every two weeks. This week it measured at a 5. I don't know the unit of measurement they are using so we will just go with "5". Anything over 3 is considered "low risk". The doctor said something about how we were feeling about things and my response was "nervous". He said, "Me too". WAIT A MINUTE! I need him to be the confident one. Well, at least he is honest. I honestly feel like I will not be able to get excited about this pregnancy until I am like 34 weeks. That seems to be an eternity away. I shared that with the doctor and he seemed to share my feeling and understood why I felt that way. At this point with Grayson we already had a crib and were starting to pick out the items we wanted to add to our registry. Same with the twins. Well, we hadn't bought anything yet because the idea of figuring out what we needed for two babies was overwhelming, but we were looking at twin items on craigslist and what not. I must confess that we do have a crib already (more on that in a bit), but every time I try to look at nursery decor and other things we will need for our next baby I get really nervous. I am terrified to buy anything because if we don't bring this baby home I don't want to have things here to remind me of that loss. UGH. I hate that feeling.

Fostering: Although we haven't done much during the holidays we do need to get back on track with the rest of this process. The next steps will take 6-7 months, if we stay on track and get things done in a timely manner. About the crib thing. . .my wonderful friend Cindy gave us a crib and toddler bed. That means we have two cribs and a toddler bed. We will need to set the nursery up with two cribs in preparation of our home inspection for fostering. You must have beds for all of your children and an appropriate bed for whatever age child you desire to foster. We plan to foster babies and since we have a baby on the way we will need two cribs. Yes, it will be odd to set up a nursery with two cribs. It will be a bit of a painful reminder of the nursery we didn't get to have for Faith and Avery. However, we are fully committed to this calling and have to have faith that God will give us all the strength we need to set up a nursery for two babies. That doesn't mean that my stomach will not sink a bit the first few times I walk in that room once it is all set up as a nursery for two. Maybe that is another reason I have not really been putting a lot of thought into getting that process started. Then again it could be that it is just exhausting at this point in my pregnancy to think about reorganizing and rearranging our entire upstairs. Maybe once my second trimester energy burst comes I will get a move on and get really excited thinking about what this next year could bring for our family.

This Blog: I received an e-mail notification last week that babycenter.com is going out of business. I am so sad. I chose to use babycenter instead of just doing a regular blog for many reasons. 1. I started a regular blog and could never make it pretty. Technology is not my friend. 2. Unlike on a regular blog made by someone who is not gifted in the tech department, babycenter organizes everything for you and easily allows you to posts pictures and video. 3. Babycenter will give you a printed book of all of your posts. Yes, you have to pay for this but they do give you one. So your online journal can become a printed one. I like that idea. 4. Babycenter notifies your family and friends when you add something new. A regular blog at blogspot does not do that.
So, what will we do. Well, what can we do? We will be moving back to blogspot. I will work on our blog for a while before I give everyone the address. I am hoping to make it pretty and figure everything out before this site shuts down in JUNE. For a while I will maintain both while everyone transitions with us.

Here comes my plea. . .I have all of you friends out there that have your own blogs. I NEED HELP. When I said I was not technology gifted that may have been putting it lightly. Even hearing the words code or html boggle my mind. I would be willing to come to your house or do whatever it takes to get some help getting our blog all set up and user friendly. Any volunteers??? Again, this is a desperate plea.

Okay so that is pretty much it for the updates. Justin and I are happy to begin the new year. 2009 was a rough one for us that included job loss, the loss of many loved ones, the loss of our beautiful daughters, some financial stress, and lots of medical bills. Looking back God used every bit of what, at the time, seemed like total devastation and turned them all into blessings. Justin has been blessed with two new jobs (first at O'Brien Atkins and now at Clark Nexsen) following the job loss, both better for his career development. We can celebrate that all of those loved ones are together in Heaven. The loss of Faith and Avery brought Justin and I closer, changed our lives forever, taught us how to rely completely on the strength of God when our own strength wasn't even close to enough, and led to the revealing of God's plan for us to foster. And well, the financial stress and medical bills forced us to reevaluate our priorities and really take a close look as what God desires for his followers and how they manage His gifts to them. We are still working on it but we are really trying to get to a place where that area looks the way God desires it to.

Happy 2010 to you all!!!