Crazy Christmas

We thought we would tell yall Merry Christmas and let everybody know what has been happening with us.

So…

Merry Christmas!

And

We have been in the hospital and doctor’s offices a bit over the holiday. Cole has a history of intussusception ( www.kidshealth.org/parent/system/surgical/intussusception.html ) which basically causes a blockage in his intestines. He has had this fixed twice with enema and once with surgery—(surgery was about a year ago). On the night of December 23, Cole started grabbing his abdomen and screaming in pain about every 15 minutes. After watching him at home for a while and talking to the nurse on call, we took him into the hospital. We were there from about 9:15 pm to about 3:30 am (Christmas Eve) while they did a series of tests on him and gave him an IV. They didn’t find an intussusception with a barium enema so they told us to take him home and watch him and come back if he got a fever or started vomiting or the pain persisted. They also said that sometimes the intussusception can telescope in and out so he may have had it, but it corrected itself.

So we went home and he was pain free for almost 12 hours. The pain came back that night and he had a rough night, but didn’t want to go to the hospital if we didn’t need to and definitely didn’t want to spend Christmas in the hospital. However, Cole started vomiting and the pain seemed to because more intense. So, after talking to the after hours nurse once again we went back to the hospital at around 8:15 on Christmas morning. Again, we did the tests and they were negative so we don’t have a specific answer other than it could be intussusception or it may not be.

We were able to leave around 2:30. He has not had any pain since the second enema, so that has been a blessing. We are going to visit and upper GI doctor soon to get Cole further tested to see if we can find out why this keeps happening.

So we had a good December 27th free of hospitals and doctors. We got to have family time and played whirlyball.

On December 28th Cole woke up with a fever of 102 (which was of concern because of his recent past history). We didn’t want to sit in an emergency room when the doctor’s office was open, so we made an appointment and went to our family doctor. We went in at 10. We took a flu test, a blood test, a strep throat test and went to get a chest x-ray. By 1:30 we had found that the flu and throat test were negative, but the blood test showed a bacteria infection and the x-ray showed pneumonia.

Cole got a big time shot in each leg and was sent home with another antibiotic. He is doing better right now. Especially when he is on Motrin. His fever was 103.6 this morning, but the Motrin brought it down to 101.1 and Cole is running around like he feels much better. He also went to the bathroom this morning, which means, for now, he does not have any blockage.

It has been a crazy Christmas and a challenge to be calm and remember what Christmas is about! For now, we are home and getting better. The scary part is not knowing if it will stay that way for long, but we are thankful for this. We will keep you updated!

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Logan!

December 12th was Logan's 1/2 birthday. Way to turn 6 months, Baby Logan!

He is soooo close to crawling. He even picks up the opposite leg and arm and then...SPLAT! He always lands on his stomach. In true Logan form, he continues to be happy and just keeps trying. (Until he has had quite enough and demands to be put down for a nap.)

Yesterday I put a toy in front of him to encourage him to crawl. He tried several times, then got wise and scooted along using just his arms and scooped it up and put it into his mouth.

So far, he does not seem to put as much in his mouth as Cole did, but I almost bet you can attribute that to us keeping a cleaner house and not having random plants and things on the floor like we did pre-moble-children.

Today I told the doctor that I have never met anybody as happy as Logan. He said, "just wait until your third one. Or eighth one; they just keep getting happier." Then he paused and said, "But if you have eight of them, you won't be that happy." I think I will take his advice on that one.

Here is Cole anxiously awaiting the cake. I got kick out of Zach as we were celebrating Logan's half birthday. When Cole was turning 6 months (and 1 and 1/2 years) he thought I was silly for making a half birthday cake and celebrating the half birthdays. This time, however, he enjoyed the party, went to get the camera for me out of the freezing car, happily gave Cole some cake--although he knew it was going to be messy, and sang "a very merry unbirthday to me." He is finally coming along according to my plan (insert evil laugh here).

Here is Cole enjoying the cake. From the time I took it out of the oven and began to ice it, his mantra was "doc-ate dake! doc-ate dake!"

And because I didn't do this fancy-schmancy blogging when Cole was an ity bity thing, I thought I would include pictures from his first 1/2 birthday as well.

And a very merry unbirthday to you as well!

Our Baby Nephew

Here is a picture of the wonderful Brady. Can you believe that hair?!

Bring on the Caprons, Bring on the Babies

About 9 months ago, our friends, the Caprons, came to visit us one weekend in Dallas. That Sunday their baby (suprising because they were only in their 34th week!) was born.

Well, this weekend they were back and we now have a sweet little nephew!

Bri and Nick went into labor on Sunday. Braden Ray was born at 12:07am on December 10, 2007. He weighed 7lbs. 8oz and was 20.5 in. He is a healthy baby boy and very pink (without the usual jaundice of most newborns). He is so beautiful!

A Strong Woman Versus A Woman of Strength

Today was a particularly trying day with my 2 and 1/2 year old (not to mention my 6 month old was sick). Now that he has been put to bed I can laugh about our day, but in the moment it was quite frustrating. I, thankfully, found something one of the Titus women in my MOPS group gave to me recently and thought it was fitting. I don't know who the author is, but I thought I would post it. May we all become strengthened!

A STRONG WOMAN VERSUS A WOMAN OF STRENGTH

A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape...
but a woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape...
A strong woman isn't afraid of anything...
but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear...
A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her...
but a woman of strength gives the best of her to everyone...

A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face...
but a woman of strength wears grace...
A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey...
but a woman of strenth has faith that it is in the journery that she will become strong...

Culinary Creativity

Traditionally the dog is supposed to take care of any bits of food that little boys may not want to eat. This is not the case in our home. Our 80lb. dog cannot slink by undetected and is therefore not allowed in the kitchen to satisfy his overzealous appetite. This is why our little boy has to become creative with the food he doesn't want to eat.