Improving

We saw some improvement with Tiana today!  Her appetite has started to come back so we don't have to worry about that anymore!  She is still coughing but it seems to have loosened up a bit which is good news.  I was just realizing tonight that she has been on Prednisone for a few days now and it hasn't made her really hyper and kept her awake.... this just means that we had one really sick girl on our hands!  The next few days we just expect to keep getting better.  She finally slept through the night last night (still coughed but it didn't wake her up), so now we just need to get her brothers to do the same.  Camden is having a rough time with this cold, I think he is getting his 2 year molars in at the same time!

I have felt like a pharmacy lately with Tiana's 2 antibiotics, plus Prednisone and her 3 nebulizer meds... on top of that we have cold medicine and Motrin that are being used for the boys!  That is a lot to keep track of!

On a little side note:

Tiana has started asking for a "careful cup" for dinner... aka not a sippy cup.  We always ask her if she is going to be careful and remind her constantly through out dinner to be careful.  Therefore, a big girl cup is a careful cup.  Also, since she is very much a girl she has to choose her color, which has made Keaton realize that this is a wonderful idea!  She does a good job with a big girl cup when she pays attention, but you see, the problem is we have a little girl who dances through life.... even at the dinner table!

As for Camden, we should start just calling him Me Too!  He says that phrase more times than I can count every day.  You can be telling him that he can do something and he will chime in "me too, me too".  This phrase really just describes him to a T right now.  He never wants to miss out on ANYTHING and wants to do EVERYTHING that his brother and sister get to do.  He doesn't see himself as the youngest child, he wants to be just the same as Tiana.  Really in a lot of ways him and Tiana are just like twins.  They have to play together all the time, they have to go potty at the same time, they have to eat the same thing, and the list goes one.  This usually means that Camden will do whatever Tiana tells him to do... not to worry though... when Camden wants to play cars, Tiana is right there playing with him.  The other morning Tiana accidental hurt Camden.  I was comforting him and Tiana was trying to give him kisses and hugs.  I thought for sure that he was going to get mad at her so I told her that she needed to leave him alone right now.  Well I thought wrong, Camden got mad at ME for getting after Tiana!  How dare I!!  Keaton and Tiana both can't stand to have Camden get in trouble, they will even change the story of what happened to make it so Camden doesn't get in trouble (or so they think, I do see right through it!).  They forget that Moms have eyes in the back of their heads!  They all have their fair share of fights but Camden has Keaton and Tiana wrapped around his little fingers!  The last few weeks it has warmed my heart to see the soft spot that they both have for Camden.  I often hear them both say "he is so cute" or "Camden is so funny Mom".  He goes around saying "hug, hug" chasing you with wide open arms and we all oblige!  He asks for a "hand" and Keaton and Tiana stop what they are doing and hold his hand with a sweet little grin on their faces!  Lately with Camden being sick he has been asking me "baby, rock a baby, teetop" when he wants me to rock him like a baby.  Tonight he woke up wanting a "hug" and then a "cuddle".  He is talking up a storm and the last week he has been consistently putting 2 and 3 words together.  He has almost lost his voice with this cold and it has been nice to have him not be able to scream!  Don't get me wrong, he is a cute cuddly sweet little guy but sometimes we see a little monster come out... at least lately he has been a silent monster... that scream gets on all of our nerves!  It is so loud that it usually prompts the other kids to simply give him what he wants to make it stop... therefore making it quite effective and also a problem!

We look forward to getting back to the normal everyday chaos we call life, with a little more sleep, a lot more smiles and laughter, a little more sewing and a lot less medicine!!

Then and Now

We had a nice day last week before the kids got sick!  We got a new "to us" trampoline for the kids!  They love it!  We got a good laugh out of Tiana's hair, and of course our girl makes goofy faces to go along with it!

Hopefully this will help get some energy out!

 A couple weeks ago we went to her Pulmonologist and found out that she isn't allergic to anything.  We didn't figure that she was but it was nice to confirm.  Of course we don't know why she has asthma we will just have to wait it out and see if she grows out of it.  If it ends up being hereditary the chances are greater that she won't grow out of it.  We asked about sending her to preschool next year and he said that we should.  He said that he has found that the more they are exposed to can help build their immune system and strengthen her lungs therefore help them to grow out of asthma faster.  He also did say that we would probably have a miserable year but that is what they were there for... he said that we can't let her asthma change what we would normally do.  If we put her in a bubble then she probably won't be able to outgrow this.  So here goes! At least we have some experts working with us to deal with it! 

Soon after these photos Tiana started running a 103-103.5 fever!  She ran it all weekend and by Monday she wouldn't even stand up to get dressed.  Monday we were in the doctor, she has pneumonia (AGAIN, second time in a month) and a double ear infection.  She is on Augmentin as well as Prednisone again.  Of course we are on her 3 normal asthma meds every 4 hours in her nebulizer (which takes about 25 minutes, in the middle of the night this is quite a pain)!  I talked to her Pulminologist on the phone and he was very worried that she had pneumonia again a short two weeks after the last time.  He wanted her on a second antibiotic if she wasn't a lot better by today.  He has been seeing some pneumonia that has been resistant to antibiotics.  Today her fever has been better but her cough is still really bad so we headed back into the doctor and she is on Zithromax as well.  Hopefully with all of this she will pull through faster.  Our doctor is concerned that she hasn't been eating much at all for the past 4 or 5 days.  She has lost almost 3 pounds in the last week.  We aren't that worried because she has been so sick and she will gain it right back.  The Prednisone should increase her appetite and if it doesn't we will get back into the doctor again!  All her meds just seem to change the way things taste.  Today though she has eaten a piece of toast and one chicken nugget so this is progress!

 This what we have seen a lot of this week from her!

 The boys have the bug now but seem to be doing fine so far.  Our doctor checked out their ears and they looked fine so they should be getting better soon.  I hope so... this Mommy needs to get some sleep!!

Playing with "bbbbrm brms" aka cars!

All in a Days work

Three batches of strawberry jam, 5 loaves of bread and banana cookies!  Not that bad considering I had the other daily cooking, cleaning, and caring for going on too!

Spring Snow

The snow may have been my fault, a couple of nights ago Tiana asked where the snow went and I told here that it was gone until next year!  So imagine our surprise when we wake up to snow again!  The kids got to play one more time in the snow and they loved it!  They came in soaking wet but with big smiles!

Memories and Funny Sayings

Davina just posted some things that she didn't want to forget about the trip and I am so glad she did because it made me smile!  Just a few things to add:

*I love how we don't get to see each other much (although we talk on the phone all the time) but we still complete each others thoughts and finish each others sentences. There is no time getting back to the comfortable part of the friendship, we are just always there. We can make fun of each other and no one gets offended.  The kind of friendship that you never run out of things to talk about but yet are comfortable in silence also.  Friendships like this are priceless and I never want to forget how special it is to have a friend that is also a mom and that knows you as well as you know yourself.

*Talking to Keaton on the phone he would always end the conversation abruptly, come to find out later as soon as his little chin would quiver he would hang up.  He didn't want me to know how bad he was missing me.  However..... on Sunday night I talked to him and he said, "So Mommy, can you find your own way home tomorrow from the airport, me and my Daddy are going to be busy playing!"  So I know he didn't miss me too much to interupt him having fun!

*I have heard constantly from Tiana since I got back, "Mommy, I missed you so bad!"

*Camden did NOT want me to tuck him into bed and leave the room the day I got back.  He was afraid I was going to leave again.  The next morning I heard "Daddy, Daddy".  When I walked into his room he squeals, "MOOOOMMMMY, Hiiiii".

A couple things I have been meaning to write down for a while now:

On the way to Wed. night meeting this is a conversation I had with Keaton.

K: Mommy, someday I want to go in the dark.

Me: You mean in the sky? In outer space?

K: YES, just me and my Daddy, we are going to go into outer space!

Me:  Well honey, you have to have a rocket to go into outer space.

K: (thinking for a few minutes) Ok, that's no problem, my Daddy has lots of tools so me and my Daddy, we will make one.  Then we will go into outer space together.

Me:  It isn't quite that easy.  There is a place called NASA and they build rockets.  If you want, when you get older, you can be an astronaut, that is what people are called when they go into space.

K: (thinks again)  OK, I have a GREAT idea.

Me: Let's hear it.

K: Well, I will go get a astronaut person costume and dress up and go to that one place that makes rockets and they will think I am an astronaut and give me a rocket.  THEN me and my Daddy are going to go up into outer space!

I just love his thinking process... really his solution is pretty brilliant... not that NASA hands out rockets!!

At gospel meeting they started having the person leading the singing have a microphone.... on the way home Keaton says.  "So, I have just one question....something was very weird..... why was that speaker thing singing?  It was really quite obnoxious!"

I can just see him now sitting in meeting looking at the microphone.... with no one standing behind it.... and it was singing!!!  I don't think he heard anything because he was SO confused!  We of course explained that there was a second microphone that someone was singing in... and then it all made sense and it was all good!

His new expression is "Oh brother". Also, we are borrowing my brothers Wii for awhile and Keaton calls it the "kiwi".

Camden loves climbing onto beds, but he can't get down without getting scared.  The other evening I had Keaton go help him down because we were both busy making dinner.  Camden comes out grinning and laughing.... Keaton followed him and was telling us how that he helped him but Camden hit is leg on the way down.  As soon as Camden hurt this is little ears perked up and he gasped then started whining and crying saying "Owie leg, hug."  And comes over to collect his hug from me (he likes hugs rather than kisses to make it better).  Then is fine again!  He learns his drama from his big sister!  He also knows the colors pink and purple perfectly.... Tiana always points out anything and everything pink and purple so Camden knows them too.  They are SO SO SO very close!

Girls Weekend

This last weekend I left my little family behind and flew to Austin to meet my best friend for some much needed girl time!  The weather was AMAZING and so was our hotel!  We were staying on Lake Travis at Lakeway Inn.  Friday we went to the Outlet Mall and Ikea, Saturday was raining so we relaxed, got a massage and went out to a nice dinner.  Sunday was meeting and then the sun came out and so we got to read and relax in the sunshine!!!  It was perfect in every way.  The kids did great at home with Daddy and Nana and Papa!

Outside our hotel.

Lobby

Our room!

One of the pools!

Davina!

Overlooking the pools and lake.

The hotel was just awesome overlooking the lake.

Our nice dinner!  And the drink is cherry lemonade! :)

The Mansion was so beautiful.  The architecture and details were amazing.

YUM!  Pecan crusted trout, it was just as good as it looked!

Taking these fun photos brought back so many memories of our many vacations together!

We spent Sunday Afternoon right here listening to the water and the birds while reading!

At the bottom of the steps is where we read for a couple hours!

We then went up and enjoyed the sunshine and took naps by the pool and got some sun!

We had a wonderful time together not having to worry about kids nap time and bedtime... to be on our own schedules and enjoying the quiet!  Now though, it is nice to be home cuddling my little ones. 

Tiana

Well this little girl despite looking alright is one sick cookie.  I just knew yesterday that something was wrong, call it mothers intuition... she has never been this cranky.  She was just beside herself crying and saying that her head hurt and her tummy hurt and it hurt when she coughed.  She just would curl up in my lap and cry.  I have never seen her like this... she is tough and never complains... she has had a double ear infection and never complained at all... so when she complains I KNOW something is up.  I got her into her doctor today and found out that she has pneumonia!!!!!!  Never thought I would be relieved to have her have pneumonia. However, this is better than having her asthma be so bad that all her meds don't keep it under control even when she doesn't have a cold!  That to me is WAY scarier!  So now she going to be starting on an antibiotic as well as another round of Prednisone.  She had to have an x-ray done and she was amazing!  She stood still and didn't even cry!  So we will get her better and get her into the specialist on the 2nd.  Of course the pneumonia developed because of her asthma so it will be wonderful to get her some help so that we can prevent this in the future.  In the meantime, we will keep her away from any more germs.  Looks like fun places like Monkey Bizness and Jabbers is out for a while for Tiana, we can't chance that she get sick again until we can get her asthma under control.  I am so glad that we decided to take her in because since this morning she has started running a fever and has been freezing cold (those of you who know her know that she is our little hot bug and is NEVER cold).  Can't wait for the meds to kick in!

Tiana and Daddy stayed home from mtg last night and they had fun, just Daddy daughter time.  They made a fun new recipe (more about this later).

She was being a GOON!

Her crown!

Pretending to listen to her brain!

Today Grandma came over to help with the boys while we spend 2 1/2 hours in the doctor's office.  She borrowed her reading glasses and loved them.  They looked so cute on her.

I am so so ready for her to be our normal goofball all the time like usual.  I can't stand to only see this little girl for a few minutes a day!  It has been three weeks since she first got a cold and so it is about time she gets back to normal!