10.14.2013

Strep and Mono?!

Stratton missed a whole week of school last week!! He ran fever off and on all week and then about Wednesday got a bad cough that seemed to be getting worse. He stayed at Gigi and Pop’s house Wednesday and Thursday and he was coughing so bad he threw up a couple of times. So, I called and talked to a nurse on Thursday and they said to give the antibiotics another day and called us in some cough medicine to give him at night to help him sleep. Friday morning he was still running fever and still coughing, so I made an appointment and him back to the Dr. on Friday afternoon. We saw Dr. Bailey and she said his throat still looked bad. They retested him for strep and did some blood work (that was a nightmare) we even had him tested for mono. He tested negative for both strep and mono on the quick test they do in the clinic, but they wanted to send it off for another mono test. They put him on steroids for his cough, told us to keep on the antibiotics and check back on Monday.

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Sshhh!! He’s concentrating!

Over the weekend Stratton has gradually gotten better. He’s been crazy from the steroids, but no fever and the cough is getting better. Saturday we went to the ASU game, it was homecoming and other than being restless he did great. Sunday we opted out of class since Stratton was still hacking- and I didn’t want him coughing all over the other kids. Plus, even though he isn’t supposed to be contagious with mono, I’d hate to tell that to another mom in the class. Believe it or not, most parents aren’t as knowledgeable as me when it comes to sickness and illness : )

Sunday night after church we had some families over to eat and he played like he wasn’t sick at all. I felt like the mono test would come back negative. . .

. . .and it did, well sort of.

Turns out they can tell from his blood that he has had mono BEFORE! It’s not active in his system right now, but he tested positive for it in his blood! Apparently, he has had mono before and we didn’t know about it. They told me it could have been anytime when he ran a fever for a few days and we probably just thought it was a virus (So, yeah that narrows it down to about 100 times he’s been sick!). I feel like a bad mom for not knowing, but we know now! She said that him having had mono before doesn’t make him more prone to getting it again- but I have done some research, and it looks like there is conflicting information and studies on that, so I guess we will just have to watch him closer now when he gets run down and has a fever.

Never a dull moment, I tell ya!

He went back to school today, and I hope he’s had a good day! They had PE today, so I was nervous about another collision- or him getting too worked up and having a coughing spell, but I didn’t get a call so I assume he’s fine! I hope we can kick this sickness thing for a while! We have a lot coming up in the next few weeks!

Arden’s first pumpkin

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10.13.2013

1 Year and 1 month.

Arden is now 13 months old, but there isn’t a lot that has changed in the last month. We are happy that she is staying healthy, though the sickness Stratton has had in the last week! I think her teeth are bothering her some, but it hasn’t been too bad.

As you will note in the pictures- Sister has an attitude!! I am at a loss as to what to do with her!! She is something else!! I am scared to think of what it will be like in another year if we don’t get her dramatic temper-tantrums under control! Whew! Poor Stratton just wants to love on her and she is constantly scratching or biting him! She has her sweet moments, too- they are just far less these days! Stratton told me the other day that he “Loves Arden when she’s sweet but not when she’s mean”. . . well, try explaining to a 4 year old that we love her all the time, even when she isn’t very nice. . .not a concept easily grasped!

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She loves to play outside!

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“The Look”

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I am happy to report that Arden seems to really like to draw and color! She holds a writing utensil really well, too I think. I think part of this is watching Stratton, but so far I am impressed with her skills!

She is still crawling for the most part. Well, unless she has someone around to help her walk- she much prefers that! She has taken several steps at time, but doesn’t do it consistently. Last night was the first time we got her to walk back and forth from me to Jarrod multiple times. She would take about 5 steps at a time. She’s learning how to crouch down and stand up and I know it must be hard to balance with all that junk in the truck she’s got! It won’t be long before she’s walking everywhere.

We have moved completely into the 12-18 month sizes. And are fixing to move up to size 4 diapers. She is eating table food all the time now, and is doing great on the soymilk! She has stopped taking bottles (break my heart) and she doesn’t necessarily like it all the time. Especially first thing in the mornings. She whines and pouts the whole time- just ask Jarrod. Pitiful.

She is getting a little more vocal. She isn’t saying many new recognizable words. She has started “singing” in church recently and will try to make animal noises. She’s said “Gigi” a few times and “Ta-Da!” when she does something.

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Since her diaper rash was so bad, we’ve been letting her “air out” after her bath! She loves it, and it’s a fight all-out battle most nights to get her diaper and pj’s on!

10.07.2013

Things never seem to go as planned!

We had a decent rest of the week last week. It was really rainy and humid, but Stratton’s nose started to look completely normal and Arden’s diaper rash starting getting better. The soy milk must be agreeing with her! Thank goodness! I guess we will try milk again in a couple of months.

Jarrod’s parents came and got the kids Friday night. We had dinner with them at Cracker Barrel before they went back to Searcy.

The progression of the hair bow:

On:

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Off:

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Trying to give it away:

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Saturday I slept late (ahhhhh. . .it felt so good!) while Jarrod ran some errands. Then he worked on trimming the shrubs and bushes and I cleaned up the garage. We also defrosted the deep freezer. Whew! It was still too warm for me to be working outside! I hate sweating! Our garage is still full of clutter, but at least it’s organized clutter and a little cleaner now!

Saturday evening we went to Searcy to pick up the kids. We had homemade pizza and then made our way to Hickory Ridge to spend the night (Gigi got home from her trip Saturday night) and then we were going to get up and go to church with them- it was Homecoming Sunday- But typical for us lately, that didn’t happen.

Saturday night around 3am Stratton woke up with a tummy ache. He threw up once. I gave him zofran, I figured he had a bug. He laid on the couch and watched TV and moaned and groaned till about 6am, when I convinced him to go back to his bed and I laid down with him. Then about 7ish Arden woke up and we got up again. He acted a little better, but was running fever and still just wanted to lay around. We decided that Jarrod would take Arden to church and potluck and I would stay at my mom and dad’s with Stratton. We were eating breakfast when Jarrod’s phone rang. He had to go to work! Since I didn’t know if I could handle a sick kid (especially one that is throwing up) and a baby alone, we opted to stay in HR while Jarrod went back to go to work. My dad said he’d take us home later. Stratton felt awful. He just laid on the couch all day. I couldn’t get him to eat anything. But he never threw up again. He said something about his ear hurting, but other than that he couldn’t pinpoint where he hurt. We just laid on the couch and watched tv all day, he’d cat nap but never really took a good nap.

Eating a popsicle with Gigi’s new hat on. Real men wear Pink!

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Stratton learned how to take pictures on my phone. . .

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I bet he took 20 of himself!

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Arden went to church and potluck with Gigi and Pops and must have had a big time, because when they got home she was asleep and my dad laid her down in her pack and play and she slept for 3 hours!!

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After she woke up dad took us home. Stratton ran a fever all night, so Jarrod decided since he was off he would take him to the doctor first thing Monday.

I went ahead and went to work, and Jarrod took Stratton to sick call. Turns out he has strep! I know it’s going around! It’s weird though because Stratton never once complained about his throat! Even when the doctor asked him about it he said it didn’t hurt. Who knows! He’s still running a fever, so Gigi will probably come stay with him tomorrow (thank goodness she is back!). I did hear from Stratton’s teacher after I emailed her about him having strep and she said her daughter has it and they have 5 kids out today and she had just sent one home with fever and a sore throat! Yikes!

I am doing my best to stay away from everyone today- that stuff is so contagious! I just hope Arden doesn’t get it, but I am a little worried. She has been SO cranky the last few days (maybe a week?) I chalked it up to teeth and the new soy milk and taking her off the bottle and the diaper rash. . . I mean she’s got A LOT going on. So hopefully she won’t get strep on top of it all!

10.02.2013

Stratton’s broken nose.

Monday morning I was busy, to say the least. Big meeting coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday. Still working on my presentation for Tuesday, along with my normal workload and a new project that could have me on a plane to Delaware . . .but Arden had been having diarrhea really bad over the weekend and her diaper rash was horrendous and we were out of prescription cream I called the doctor’s office to see if they might could squeeze her in for an appointment. They said they had an opening at 11am! I was convinced that her tummy troubles was the result of switching formulas from soy to one with milk proteins, so Sunday night Jarrod ran to the store and bought Soy milk for us to try that. The doctor agreed. So we are now on regular soy milk (Silk) and she also told us to cut out any fruits and juices (not that she gets much juice- it’s more like flavored water) but that actually makes diarrhea worse! We will see what happens on the soy milk and everything gets better we will try some milk again in 3 months. If it continues, after being on the soy milk for a couple of weeks, then we will be looking at doing an allergy panel to see if we can pinpoint what she is allergic to. Ok, that’s figured out, so we decided to go ahead and get her first dose of the flu vaccine over with since we were already there.

Then suddenly my phone starts to ring, and it’s not a number I recognize, but’s it’s a local number so I answer. It’s one of Stratton’s teachers. The first words are: “Has the nurse called you yet?”, I said no, and the rest is kinda a blur. . . ."Stratton, was in an accident. . . .ran into another kid. . . threw up blood. . . .pale. . .not acting like himself. . .I’m worried”. I try repeating all this to Jarrod, who then jumps up and says he’s going to get him, NOW. I tell the teacher that Jarrod is on his way.

The nurse comes in to give Arden her shot as Jarrod is leaving. We really like this nurse and have developed a relationship with her, so I tell her what’s going on and ask her if we can make another appointment for Stratton. It’s 11am, she says can you come back at 1:30- we will work you in! {Whew! Man, I REALLY love this clinic!!} She quickly gives Arden her shot, I grab her up and we are gone! I did talk to the nurse (she finally called) And she told me that Stratton and another boy had run into each other out in the gym. Stratton threw up, but she thought it was from the blood from his nose draining back to his stomach which made him sick. She said she thought he was fine now. I told her that my husband was on his way to come get Stratton as we speak, and again she said she thought he would be fine if we didn’t want to come get him. . .So far I am not impressed with this school “nurse. . . I explain to her that he has had a bad concussion before and we’d just feel better getting him looked at and we’d already set up and appointment. IMy first stop was the pharmacy and of course there were some issues there- some miscommunication between the clinic and the pharmacy. Luckily we have a fantastic pharmacist (we go to church with) and he fixed it! I decided to take Arden back to daycare, since I didn’t know what the afternoon appointment would hold and besides she was sound asleep before I could even get her medicine picked up at the pharmacy.

After I drop her off I call Jarrod (about 100x before he finally picked up!) and found out he was headed home and Stratton is now acting pretty normal. He’d perked back up and just had a red spot on his head and nose. Jarrod didn’t sound worried. So, I ran to the nearest Walgreens to pick up some cream the doctor recommended using on Arden’s diaper rash in between the prescription cream. By the time I got home Stratton was on the couch munching on crackers and acting fine. We actually debating on whether or not we should take him in or not! We decided to go ahead, it couldn’t hurt and I would feel better getting him checked out.

So, back to the doctor we go! They checked him over really good, and other than a little fever- which apparently is normal after an injury-he looks ok. No signs of a lingering concussion! Then the doctor said she wanted to get some x-rays of his nose to make sure it isn’t broken. . . . Wait. Do what?? I mean it’s a little swollen and there is a red spot, but, broken?? I thought to myself “Really? It seems a little overkill, but I guess it won’t hurt”. She explained that a kid’s nose is almost all cartilage, except for one small part. . .and guess which part Stratton got hit? Yep.  So they gave us an ice pack to help keep the swelling down and we head all the way to the other side of town to the hospital to get x-rays done!

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Waiting to get a picture of his nose!

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FYI- it’s like 2:30 by now and Stratton hasn’t had a nap and has had very little to eat (Luckily we had his church backpack in the car and it had snacks and toys in it!) but surprisingly he is being very well behaved. Even though he doesn’t like the idea of having a broken nose, he’s ok with getting the x-rays done. He did so good! He did just as the radiologist said and it was over in no time! They told us that the doctor’s office would be the one to call us. And with that we headed to Andy’s for ice cream!!

While we were enjoying our ice cream Jarrod’s phone rang. This is what I heard: “Ok. Ok. We’re on our way.”. . . .I couldn’t believe the news! He HAD broken his nose! They wanted us to go see the ENT right away! {Seriously?!!} We just happened to be close to Arden’s daycare and it was already 4pm, so we ran by there and picked her up while Jarrod tried to arrange for someone to come get her since we had no idea how long we’d be or what they would want to do! My friend Lori met us at the ENT office and got Arden, and it’s a good thing because we had a pretty good wait. After the annoying old lady got taken back it was much better- but we still had to wait almost an hour. When we finally got in a room it didn’t take too long, and it didn’t take long for the ENT to decide that there was just too much swelling for him to see anything and he’d need to see him back on Wednesday.

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This was Stratton telling Jarrod that he had an idea. . . .when the doctor opened the door we needed to run out! Haha. He did so good at all the appointments. He even let the Doctor look in his nose with plier-looking things!

We left the ENT’s office about 5:30, ran to get Arden and then went home! It’s funny how tired you can be after sitting in doctor’s office’s all day!! I decided to stay home with him on Tuesday. Jarrod needed to work and my mom was in Canada (oh, yeah She and a friend had left on a bus tour trip on Sunday!) And I had already gotten a text message that I didn’t need to worry about my presentation on Tuesday, there would always be another time. Everyone would understand. I do work with some great people! I got several texts and emails checking in on Stratton on Tuesday.  He acted pretty normal, other than running a low grade fever. He took about a 3 hour nap and after he woke up from it he acted like he felt much better!

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We played with the Lincoln logs and other stuff that “Arden messes up”

Wednesday he wanted to go to school, and he was acting normal and surprisingly his nose wasn’t that swollen and he didn’t get a black eye! Which is what we were told would likely happen! His appointment was at 4:30pm so I got to work most of the day- well, I say work- the conclusion of the meeting was on Wednesday, then we went to lunch, then we had another marketing meeting. . . Then it was time to go pick the kids up. I went and picked up the kids-I decided that we might as well get Arden since it was such a late appointment and it was church night. I let Stratton get a happy meal to eat before his appointment (big deal, since Mommy hates Old MacDonald’s- he will tell you!) and even though they warned me that they had overbooked Wednesday’s appointments and we’d probably have to wait awhile, we didn’t wait very long at all! The appointment went well, the ENT thought that it looked good and it would probably heal back together just fine on it’s own! What a relief!!

It could have been much worse (I was terrified of them having to “set it” or surgery to correct it) so I am counting my blessings!

9.19.2013

One year differences

 

 

Stratton

Weight: 23lbs- 60th percentile

Height: 31.5 inches - 90th percentile

Head measurement: 18.5 inches- 50th percentile

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See how much taller he sits up in the same highchair??  And his legs are SO long!

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Arden

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz- 50th percentile

Height: 29”- 40th percentile

Head circumference: 17.5” - 25th percentile

Arden’s 1 Year Checkup

Arden’s one year appointment was on Monday. We didn’t get to see our normal doctor (she was out sick!) but we saw the nurse practitioner that see quite a bit and we like just as much. Her appointment was at 10:30, so I had to pick her up from daycare and she looked so sleepy, and of course she fell asleep on the way to the dr. office. Jarrod met us there and he got her out of the car and she was OUT. She stayed asleep while we waited and didn’t wake up till we were in a room and we had to undress her to get her weight. I was really afraid she would wake up cranky, but she was fine- actually she was in a really good mood!

She had to get her finger pricked for a blood test. She didn’t even flinch when she got pricked! And didn’t cry the whole time the nurse was getting the blood sample! I was shocked! Then the doctor came in and looked her over, she said she looked perfect! Her tubes are perfectly in place so hopefully they will hold through the winter.

She had to get a couple of shots and she didn’t like those at all! I really thought they might give her a flu shot, but they want us to wait another month to start that. Babies get 2 doses, so we will do the first in about a month and then the second one at her 15 month appointment.

One Year Stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz- 50th percentile

Height: 29”- 40th percentile

Head circumference: 17.5” - 25th percentile

She met all the developmental marks (the Dr even said she was doing some things that she wouldn’t expect a 12 month old to be doing yet). And we discussed sleep, eating and most importantly.. . .weaning off the bottle. {sigh} I am not ready!! She said it was fine to continue to give her one at night but we needed to start giving her a sippy cup during the day. (I’ve actually thought for about a month that she would be fine without a bottle, but I’m just not prepared for her to lose the one “baby” thing that’s left!) She suggested that since she’s had a sensitivity to milk based formula in the past to not going straight to milk like most babies do at one year. We are starting her on a toddler (Next Step) formula and upping her consumption of dairy products- like cheese and yogurts. We will probably stay on this formula for a couple of months before gradually starting on whole milk. As far as food goes, she told that she’s fine with us quitting the baby food. We’ve been giving her some table food (if appropriate) for months now, but she has really given us a fit about anything that has to be spoon fed lately. She will not eat it. She wants to feed herself! The doc said that is completely normal and to just give her what we are eating, but if it’s something new just give her a little to make sure she isn’t allergic.

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After her appointment we grabbed some lunch at Lazzari’s. Arden was in a mood!! She was hilarious. I think one of those shots revved her up!! She was laughing at everything and shrieking at the littlest things! Everyone around us were laughing at her. This is how our “little lady” preferred to sit in her highchair. Yes, her feet are on the table. We’d put them down and she’d have them back up before we could blink!

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I stayed home with her the rest of the afternoon and she took a pretty good nap but after that she was pretty cranky. We picked Stratton up from Excel (afterschool program) a little early and then we ran to Target to get some of the Next Step formula and a few other things. Stratton MADE me buy Pumpkin Spice Eggo waffles. (Okay, so it was my idea, but he was completely on board). And when we got home he wanted them for dinner with eggs. Sounds good to me! And Arden liked it too. . .

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