Sunny Days

Here I am, going another two weeks without posting. Baby steps to more frequent posting, I guess ;) I'm going to try to make up for it later this week by doing a posting about cloth diapering. We didn't do it with Brendan but we are with Griffin, so I'd like to write a little about it.

Not a whole lot going on around here. Just getting older and bigger by the day! Tim went out of town on Wednesday until late Thursday, so I had one of my first times with both the kids by myself (may have been the first time, actually!). It all went smoothly. We didn't have a very good night on Wednesday night, but all-in-all it wasn't bad.

Griffin is finally back to normal after getting off the steroids. We feed him now if he wakes up from 4:00 AM on. If he wakes up before that (some nights he does, some nights he doesn't), we just let him put himself back to sleep. We were totally off the pacifier and then, after the steroids, I tried giving it to him again to help him not need to eat so often. Well, we went right back to waking up EVERY hour for the pacifier. So, that was a no-go. We are back to no paci at all. Sometimes, it is hard to not have it at all, but I am actually really happy we have gotten rid of it this early with both Brendan and Griffin because they forget about it quickly so there is no period of adjustment like there would be if we waited later. I won't say I'll never let a kid keep it longer than this because I'm not opposed to kids having them. However, I am opposed to waking up every hour just for a paci replacement! And, I'm not willing to keep doing it until the kid figures out how to get it in his mouth on his own. But, if I have a kid that doesn't wake up constantly for it, then I will let them keep it longer.

Griffin finally ate some bananas the other day - his first solid that he seemed "ready" for but I haven't given him anything since. Zulily (a kid's discount website), had Beaba Babycooks on there the other day and I have always wanted one SO bad but they are pretty expensive. It steams and purees in one contraption, so you don't have to do multiple steps - which, I am finding, is a must when I have two kids! Anyway, I got one when they were on Zulily and it is on it's way to me now, so I am planning on starting as soon as I get it.

Brendan is still enjoying school and talks nonstop these days. He can say everything we say and is starting to say things very clearly. He told Tim "I love you" on the phone for the first time the other day :) I'm still waiting to hear it myself! He is definitely a Daddy's boy.

Get ready for a picture overload!

Valentine's Day. My favorite holiday of the year. I was so excited because I ordered the cutest shirts from Bugaboo Bliss (she can custom make anything) for them and I couldn't wait to get a cute picture of the two of them. Brendan, however, was not interested in obliging me and was in the WORST mood that morning. This is the result of my photo session:

Brendan's shirt says "Love Machine."

Here's a picture of Griffin in his shirt. Not a great picture, but the only one where he had his hands down so you could see the whole shirt. His name is on the bandaid :)

After trying my photo session, Griffin had a poop explosion and I had to wash his onesie. I had the shirt Brendan wore for his first Valentine's Day, so I put Griffin in that and attempted a photo session again (after Brendan had been banned to his room for 15 minutes because I told him to stay in there until he could act nice!). Not a great picture, but better than the others. 

He turned 5 months old on February 16! I can't believe he is five months, but it does seem like he has always been a part of our lives.

Obviously, Brendan doesn't ever want to take pictures with Griffin. I was making him laugh and then aske him to get down next to Griffin so I could get a picture of both of them smiling. This is how he reacted. I love how Griffin is looking over at him. Haha

Griffin sits up! He started yesterday (I was gone. Tim didn't tell me because he thought he was already doing it.) and sat up for about 20 seconds. This is from today. He still tips over after less than a minute, but it's progress!

Here are some cute pictures of Brendan. He was acting mean, again, which is kind of a trend these days! But, it always makes him laugh whenever I tell him he's being "ornery." So, I was telling him he was being sooo ornery today and then I would "moo" after telling him that and he thought it was hilarious. Some great pictures resulted :)

Griffin can sit in the shopping cart like a big boy now!

And, he got his very own swing and can swing outside with Brendan now! He loves it and usually falls asleep, like Brendan used to do. This day, I put this hat on him because it was bright outside and I didn't want the sun to be in his eyes. Brendan kept telling me that Griffin looked "funny" with his hat on. He also told me that Griffin was having fun swinging. I'm glad he can already tell me what Griffin thinks since Griffin can't talk yet!

Here's one of Brendan swinging, too. Can you believe how old he looks?! When I looked at him swinging, I thought, he doesn't even look like a toddler anymore. He looks like a little boy. Sad for me that he is growing up :( But he is tons of fun these days!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful two weeks! I'm not sure when I'll do the cloth diaper post this week, but stay tuned!

Sickies

We've had two sick boys around here the past two weeks! Brendan all the sudden came down with a "wet" cough two Mondays ago and, by Wednesday, he was miserable. He never had a fever, just this bad cough and a runny nose. It made it very hard for him to sleep, which, I'm sure, made him feel worse. He really wanted to go to school on Wednesday and I knew he wasn't contagious by that point and he just had the cough, so I went ahead and brought him after giving him some Delsym (recommended by the doctor). The Delsym didn't work AT ALL and by lunchtime they called and asked me to come get him because they didn't think he would be able to nap at school with all his coughing. We came home and he still wasn't able to nap hardly at all. We ended up giving him some Benadryl that night and it helped him sleep.

He was all better by Saturday which, of course, is when Griffin woke up with the same cough. I was worried it might be RSV because that is so rampant right now. I made him a doctor's appointment for Monday. We went to the doctor on Monday and he didn't think it was RSV and said it was very early if it was. He gave me a prescription for a steroid to get filled if Griffin started coughing so much that he couldn't catch his breath. Wednesday morning, I noticed he was wheezing when he would breathe so I called the doctor and they said to get the prescription filled and let them know if he wasn't showing improvement in 24 hours from the first dose. He wasn't, so we went back to the doctor on Thursday afternoon. His oxygen level was "a solid B" according to the pediatrician but he said he did think it could be RSV so he sent us to Cook Children's to get the RSV test. Sure enough, it came back positive. By Friday, he was already seeming better, though, and he has continued to improve. He still coughs a little bit at bedtime and naptime but not much and he seems like he feels fine. The steroid, though, made him very hungry and he was up every 2 hours to eat at night Friday and Saturday :( That made for one tired Mama, but my wonderful husband let me sleep in on Sunday and I slept until 8:30! I never would have guess a few years ago that I would consider that "sleeping in." :)

Other than that, we went to Houston weekend before last for Tim's mom's birthday. We were so happy to be able to celebrate with Nana and for Brendan to get to play with his cousins, Carolyn and Kate. We stopped in Waco on the way there to drop the dogs off and on the way back to pick them up and visited with my dad (Pops), stepmom (Lolli) and brother and sisters.

Here's some pictures:

Playing with his train/construction set after his nap (that's why he looks like of out of it and red-cheeked :))

Isn't he beautiful?!

Happy Boy! After a nap again, so excuse the silly outfit.

Tim and his boys. I was so excited they were all smiling that I moved the camera and cut part of Brendan and Tim off! Oh well, still cute.

Blurry, but too cute to pass up.

Rolling around on a blanket playing.

Hangin' out in his easy chair...

On Wednesday, I'm interviewing to be a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. It's an hour and a half interview and I've also had to do an hour training video online (as well as fill out an application and give 5 references). Please keep me in your thoughts that I do well in the interview AND that, if matched, I am able to be a positive influence on a little girl's life.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Dixie Lullaby

When Brendan was a baby, I played music on the iPod for him before bed and would sometimes sing along to the music but never really sang to him on my own. Sometimes, Tim would sing him "Dixie Lullaby" by Pat Green whenever he was trying to put him to sleep. My favorite song with him was "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks and I played it a lot on the iPod for him. 

When Griffin was born and we started a bedtime routine, I didn't have an iPod in the room with him so I was "forced" to sing. I can never remember all the words to the Dixie Chicks' song, but for some reason I am easily able to remember all of the lyrics to Dixie Lullaby that Tim used to sing. So, it is now part of our routine every night that I read Griffin "Goodnight Moon" and then I turn the light out and rock him and sing Dixie Lullaby while he finishes eating. 

Do you have a special song you sing your kids? Or, if you don't have kids, is there a song you think you will want to sing to them when you have kids?

Two Years and Four Months!

Annnnd, we're back :)

Since we've been gone, Brendan has turned TWO years old and Griffin has turned FOUR months old! We had Brendan's party on January 7th. It was construction themed because he loves construction equipment. He had such a great time. I think he sort of "got" it this year. Here are a few pictures:

On the day of his birthday (the 6th), we put these up while he was napping so when he came out of his room after his nap he had to come through these. He thought that was fun.

Birthday Cake

One of the decorations

Blowing out his candle :) He's a pro at this!

We had his two year appointment on his birthday. We had gotten his shots a couple months before so he didn't have to get any shots on his birthday. He is 36 inches tall and 31.4 pounds. I can't remember head size. He is taller than 9 out of 10 boys his age, heavier than 8.8 out of 10 and I think head size was bigger than 9.5 out of 10. Still has a big head ;) He is happy and healthy and full of mischief! He wants to run everywhere, prefers being outside at all times, loves candy, cheese, juice (watered down), MILK, and Chick-Fil-A. He is sleeping pretty well but has started waking up at 5:45 AM, which is not very fun. Luckily, we are able to turn on Mickey Mouse Club for him and he watches it quietly and plays on his own so we are able to catch a little more sleep when we want to. Our bedroom is right next to the living room so we just leave our door open and can hear any moves he makes. Speaking of, he also loves Mickey Mouse Club, Blues Clues and Dinosaur Train. He's only allowed to watch TV in the morning and right before bed (except sometimes on the weekends we let him watch a little more) but that doesn't stop him from asking for a "show" multiple times throughout the day. He is still really loving school and gets SO excited whenever he gets to go to school. He is such a sweetheart and really just becomes more awesome every day!

Griffin is now four months old and has been developing his own little personality. He seems like he will be our tenderhearted little one and possibly shyer than Brendan is. He is VERY attached to Mama, which can be sweet but also can prove to be difficult when I need to do other things! He is ticklish already and I can just barely touch his rib area and he cracks up. He is the same height as Brendan so far (age-wise) but is a lot thinner than Brendan!

He was sleeping through the night (10-12 hours) starting right after he turned two months old until a little after three months old. Then, he started waking up more again. We realized that he had a dependency on the pacifier already for sleeping - not unlike his brother at the same age - and started waking up sometimes eight times a night for pacifier replacement. He would get the paci and go right back to sleep. Everyone needs better sleep than that, so we made the decision this past week to attempt to take away the pacifier and the swaddle (the doctor said we need to get him off the swaddle) and let him cry-it-out some if necessary. I started with naps on Friday. He is going to sleep at night without any fuss. For some of his naps he will fuss for a few minutes before falling asleep but it is no longer actual crying. Last night, he woke up for 40 minutes fussing (never actually crying) but then went back to sleep on his own and never woke up again before 4:30, which is when he has normally been eating. The first day and a half was rough without the paci because he would get very upset and I could tell that was all he wanted but now he seems to have already forgotten about it. Hopefully soon he won't wake up fussing at all.

He also has torticollis, which basically means his neck muscle is tight on one side so he holds his head to that side. For him, it is the left side. We have been going to physical therapy for the past two months and are now going every other week. The physical therapist said she can already tell a big improvement and so can we. She really wants him to start rolling over because apparently that will help a lot with getting him leveled out. Today he rolled from stomach to back for the first time! We were only able to get him to do it once but both Tim and I were watching and got to see it happen. We cheered and it scared him because loud noises scare him right now and he started crying. Poor Griffin!

At his four month appointment he was 26 inches long (about 88th-90th percentile), 14 pounds (25th percentile) and 16 inch head (65th percentile). His weight dropped from 50th to 25th but the doctor was not concerned because his height percentage also dropped from 97th to 88th-90th. He said when both percentages drop like that it usually signals they are about to have a growth spurt. Hopefully at the next appointment he will be back up. He told us to go ahead and give him some solids but I've determined he's not ready, yet. He acts like he needs to sneeze whenever we try to feed him something and Brendan did the same thing when we first tried to feed him and he wasn't ready. Brendan ended up being ready at about 4.5 months so we will try again at that point with Griffin. I hope to make all of Griffin's food like I did with Brendan.

Here are some new pictures of Griffin:

Four months old!

Griffin was baptized on January 8th at White's Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake (where Brendan also goes to school). I don't like this picture of me, but he deserves to have some evidence of his baptism :)

Happy boy!

Very excited about all the festivities at Christmas ;) Needless to say, I think next year will be more fun for him.

So that's a LONG general update of what is going on with us. I have a New Year's resolution to start posting once a week at least, so I will hopefully keep that up even though I am starting a little late. As you have probably already noticed, the blog is now public again so I can make sure all family can see it that wants to.

Have a great week!

Excuses, Excuses

I have tons of excuses for not posting but none of them are good enough for it to have gone on this long! Over the next week, I'm going to re-vamp the blog (background, header, etc.) and make the blog public again so I can ensure all my family/friends who were having trouble are able to read it again and then I will make sure to have SEVERAL new posts to make up for this long time away.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Things have been busy, busy, busy over at the Thorne House!

Side by Side

I'm SO sorry I didn't post right after and give y'all an update. Everything is good with Griffin now! When we went for his two month appointment last Tuesday, they retook his blood and his counts were all back up to normal. Whew!

My friend, Lindsey, asked me to post pictures of Brendan and Griffin side by side so y'all could see if they look alike. Everyone tells me they think they look just alike and Griffin looks just like Tim. Now, Brendan is more of a mix of us, but he definitely looked like Tim when he was little. Brendan was already chunkier than Griffin at this point, though (Brendan was 12 pounds 15 ounces at his two month, Griffin was 11 pounds 9 ounces).

 

I can't get the above ones to go side by side. You probably already know but Brendan is on the top and Griffin is on the bottom with the hat.

At Griffin's two month, he was 24 1/4 inches long (97th percentile), 11 pounds 9 ounces (50th percentile) and 15 1/2 inch head circumference (50th percentile). Long baby, just like Brendan! It will be interesting to see if he chunks up or if he stays lean.

He finally started smiling right before we left the hospital! We had been waiting and waiting. He still doesn't smile as easily as Brendan does so I'm not able to get a lot of pictures with him smiling like I was with Brendan. Hopefully that will change. Here's one really cute one I got on my phone:

Hope y'all have a good weekend! I'll try to post next week since this wasn't much of a post. I'm also considering making the blog public again because a lot of people are having trouble logging on to read it....I'll talk more about that later, too. 

Hospital Stay

I intended on posting last week but Griffin was in the hospital Monday-Friday :( It was actually a similar situation to what happened to Brendan when he was around Griffin's age. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can read the post here

Anyway, on Sunday we went to Waco to see family for the day. Griffin seemed kind of fussy the whole day but I didn't think much of it. On our way home, I was sitting in the back seat with the kids and Griffin would be asleep and he would scream out in his sleep like he was in pain. I thought maybe he had gas. When we got home and tried to put him down for the night, he kept screaming out and wouldn't settle down. At about 1:00 AM, I thought he felt warm so I decided to take his temperature. It was 101.8. About 30 minutes later, I took it again and it was 101.4. We decided to give him a little bit of Tylenol. I slept with him on my chest and woke up about 3:00 AM and thought he felt really warm. I thought maybe he was just hot from sleeping on me and didn't take his temperature. At 5:00 AM, I thought he definitely felt much too warm for it just to have been from me, so I took his temperature again. It was 103.1 :( I decided I needed to call the pediatrician's nurse line because I didn't know what to do. She told me I needed to take him to Cook Children's Hospital ER to get checked out.

We got to the ER and, of course, they said they needed to do a spinal tap because he was so young and didn't have any other symptoms besides a fever and a rash they discovered once I got there. He had to have blood and urine drawn and the spinal tap. His white count was low so they decided to admit us to the hospital and to watch the blood, spinal and urine cultures to see if anything grew in them. Something did grow in the urine and blood cultures so we had to stay and wait to see what it was to see if he possibly had a bacterial infection. In the meantime, they did a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia and an ultrasound of his kidneys to check for a urinary tract infection. Both of those came back fine. He continued to run a 103 fever, even after getting medicine and anytime I would touch him he would scream and cry like it hurt :(

The cultures were supposed to be identified on Wednesday, but of course they didn't grow out like they expected and we had to wait until Thursday. The pediatrician on staff told us he thought it was probably a viral infection, not bacterial, and that there was a 5% chance the bacteria that was growing could be a contaminant (which is what happened to Brendan). We found out on Wednesday that it was NOT the common skin contaminant of Staph something or other (whatever to common staph is that we all have on our skin, which is what Brendan's was, so we thought it was less likely that it was going to be a contaminant and we would have to stay in the hospital at least a week.

Well, we found out Thursday morning that it WAS a contaminant, but not something that they could identify where it came from. What was in his urine was also a contaminant. So, there is a FIVE percent chance of it being a contaminant and I've had TWO kids get cultures with contaminants!!! Pretty ridiculous odds, huh?

But, they wanted to keep us another day in the hospital because Griffin had still been running a fever and still had a bad rash on his body. The pediatrician had an infectious diseases doctor come look at Griffin as well. If he didn't get a fever all day Thursday, we would likely get to go home Friday. The ID doctor agreed she thought it was a viral infection of some sort. He didn't get a fever all day Thursday and his white count had gone up in the blood they took Friday morning. We were able to go home on Friday but one of Griffin's levels was still very low (I can't remember the name of the level but it is something in your bone marrow that indicates infection). They like it to be 1500 at least and his was only 270. We are going to our pediatrician tomorrow and he has to have blood drawn again to make sure the number went up. I'm not sure if we will have to be re-admitted or what if it doesn't.

So, it was NOT a fun week. I spent the week at the hospital with Griffin. Tim was with Brendan and we also had my mom and stepdad and my dad and stepmom helping with keeping Brendan throughout the week. It was a crazy, exhausting time. Hopefully his counts will have gone up tomorrow and we won't have anything else to worry about. We also were unable to go to his two month appointment Friday because we didn't get out of the hospital in time.

We have his two month appointment tomorrow now, so I will update tomorrow with his two month pictures, some other pictures, and his stats. Say a little prayer for us that everything is back to normal with him!