I Wish I Had 4 Arms...

Because you see, for the last two weeks, I have battled all three kids being sick, with a husband out of town and I have been in the middle of a huge project. I need more arms. Well, and more hours in the day would be nice too. You see when you are dealing with a toddler getting over the flu and currently cutting molars, it is pretty hard to get anything else done. It's been one of those weeks where I literally use the bathroom with him on my lap. Yep, it's been a fun one.

Add in two older brothers who stayed home from school quite a bit this last two weeks, and well, with fun things like this going on, you can see why I haven't had time to blog...

(the toy box is he funnest place to play, but only if you empty everything out first.)

(yeah, not exactly how I had that photo arrangement set up...)

So, when he goes to sleep I have been working on shirts for this year's Ethan's Run. We have about 15 people running with us this year. Should be fun. Please register, it is such a good cause. The more active I get in the Heart Community, the more I realize just how lucky we are to have Braden. It is also fun for these parents to see what a healthy, thriving CHD kid looks like. Most of the kids I follow are under 3. SO Braden is an old survivor.  I got it in my head to make them myself, so with a lot of time, a Cricut machine, freezer paper and paint, they are nearly done.  I jut have to finish up the backs on a few of em, my own included.

 Braden's shirt took 10 times longer than any others, his dang CHD is so long to spell out!

The backs of some of the shirts, I customized them to each person wearing  them. I need to take ones of our family ones all together, cause Brenner's little one is so dang cute.

I am really excited about this year's CHD Awareness week, so I will be posting more about it once that kicks off on the 7th. And we are also in the middle of Rusty's little brother Ryan's Eagle Scout project -making the cutest hats for newborns to give out at the hospital.  His goal is to have 100 by the end of the month. And not that I am an overachiever or anything, but I have done 32 myself in the last two weeks...

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus...

Ha-llelujah, ha-llelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hal-le-lu-jah!

Wanna know what I've been waking up to the last few days?

One super happy, smiley, cooing, rested (albeit HUNGRY!) baby boy! So we finally did it. We let Brenner cry it out. He's been fighting a runny nose, but I knew if I waited till every ideal situation was in place, I'd never let him cry it out. Turns out that Berkley got pneumonia (he's doing much better) and on the beginning night of it, I was so busy helping Rusty clean throw-up up/ bedding/carpet/trying not to gag from the spew hitting me and in the midst of it, Brenner woke up, and I had to just let him cry because I couldn't be in two places at once. I felt horrible, but by the time I was finished settling Berk back down, the crying had stopped.
I know. I KNOW! He woke up a number of times the first few nights. By the third night I was feeling guilty and got him out of his bed-- and honestly, I endured one of the single worst nights of sleep in my life. So, determined not to falter again, I stuck to the plan Rusty and I made and now almost two weeks later, he is staying in his own bed all night long! Now notice, I didn't say the magic "sleeping through the night" phrase- because he's not. He still wakes up once or twice and cries but settles right back down.

In the end, Rusty and I had to come up with a game plan we could live with. So, we started his night routine earlier- dinner (rice cereal & veggie) by 5:30 then a bath and massage, then a bottle by 6:30 and he was lights out. If he wakes up before 8 I'll give him more bottle, but after the magic 8 hits, I don't go in to get him till morning. His mood is 180* difference. He takes better & longer naps in the day too. And with him sleeping better guess who else is getting some shut eye??? (If you could see me through me screen you'd see my hand raised, and one tiny happy dance)

It's hilarious. We go in and generally, he is still waking up by 7am when the rest of the house is stumbling out of bed, but he is such a different baby! As long as he has a bottle in his mouth within a minute of waking up he is your best friend. Failure to give said bottle may result in slapping and pinching. Love it.

So, my baby boy just hit 6 months and it's like someone hit a fast forward button on him. He's almost 20 pounds already! He is already scrunchy toed in 6-12 month footed sleepers. And, he went from not sitting at all to sitting in a day. He loves to sit and pick toy after toy up and examine it. He is also quite the little tongue sticker outter. Which pleases his big brothers immensely. He also is quite a gymnast.

He loves his jumperoo- And I do too, I am actually able to put him down and get things done. Now, I know someone you may find that hard to believe (Janae & Jess) because you've never seen him anywhere but my hip- but I swear it is true!

And as this picture below is eluding too- he is trying to crawl. He does this weird plank-push up walk on his toes thing. I think he is trying to crawl without bending his knees because he knows how much holes in knees bugs me.

I just can't tell you how much we love this guy. Not that we didn't love the up all night, screamer- but it's easier to enjoy him this way let's be honest.

And wow, there are more and more days where he reminds me of a baby Braden. My kids have all had totally different hair- Braden's is still a bajillion times thicker and just has more than poor thin and sparse Berk. And Brenner's just has miracle grow in it. Can you see how long his 'bangs' are?! I JUST cut his hair short last month after that hair raising post. If you don't believe me- ask their stylist. Braden called her tonight cause his hair "needed cutting like soo bad cause up front is like so like long" (his words not mine). I think Brenner is gonna be built like Berk and look like Braden. And as long as he keeps letting me feel like a person again, he could look like a giraffe and I'd be content.

Getting my Craft On for a Good Cause...

So we have Ethan's Run coming up this weekend, and I know we'll get a super cute T-shirt that day, I wanted one to wear for the walk/run. So here's what I came up with. (image credits to Summertime/shabby princess) I am so excited to finally meet so many of the other Heart Mom's that I feel like I know through blogs & phone calls & facebook. It will be nice to meet in 'real life'!

{Front of Braden's (above) & the Back (below) }

(Rusty's back)

(My shirt- I haven't decided front or back yet but probably back)

I'm sooo sad that Berk and Brenner are sick and I won't be able to take them to the event. I even had cute 'CHD Bro' shirts. But, alas, Berkley has a nice case of pneumonia, yep pneumonia... and Brenner has a little cold, just upper respiratory, but with a big brother wandering around with pneumonia- we're being awfully careful. Berk is on a super duper antibiotic and round the clock breathing treatments (which he tolerates well, until they make him cough so much he pukes for an hour). And Brenner, despite us finally starting to let him cry it out, is doing great on just a few breathing treatments a day. Our whole house smells like Vicks between the chest rub and the three humidifiers running- or so Rusty says, I have such bad allergies and I'm so run down that I can't smell a thing! I can't wait for my Singulair to kick in and give me some relief. Dang AZ 'winter.'

Now let's just hope I actually manage the whole print-cut out-iron on aspect of this project without totally botching up the shirts...

And don't forget you can still register the day of the Run-- this SATURDAY in Mesa! Please come and support a great cause! And even if you can't make it you can donate online at the website above.

No Fun, No Fun at All !!!

Well, the sleep things will have to wait. The haircut happened- kinda. It's hard to trim a busy baby's head! It looks a little better, and maybe when we buzz the boys in the spring we will do his too. The sleep thing is having to wait because this little guy thought it would be oodles of fun to go and get himself a nice case of Bronchiolitis. So we started breathing treatments every six hours and then over the weekend he started running a fever. At his follow up today -he is worse. And he has an ear infection now too. So now we have bumped up the treatments to every four hours and added an antibiotic. If he doesn't sound any better by Wednesday then we will have to add an oral steroid in to the mix. All this is in hopes of keeping it from becoming RSV and trying to keep us OUT of the hospital.

Poor guy, he sounds like a barking seal when he coughs and his breathing sounds just groadie. My babies are always young their first winter but this is the first one I have had get anywhere near RSV. Braden lucked into qualifying for the Synagis vaccine- so we never had to worry about it for the first 2 winters. And in case you didn't catch that, YES there is a vaccine for RSV, only problem is that unless you have certain medical aliments you don't qualify. And even then it is a series of shots Oct- Apr at $1,100 bucks a pop. So, I guess poor Brenner will have to fight it out on his own. Poor guy. So odds are, if you call I either can't hear ya over the respirator, or the crying that accompanies the treatment. Or, my hands are just full with a super squishy cranky baby who needs all his Momma's love for a bit.

Decontamination in Progress...

I popped my last day of a 'Z pack' this morning, then turned to give Berk his day 3 dose. Then I went over and wiped Braden's nose, before answering the phone to hear Rusty sounding all raspy.  Enough already!  I have not been this sick in a very long time. What is this super bug that hit Gilbert this month?

I was fine Wednesday, and bam Thursday hit me like a ton of bricks. I think being pregnant only compounded it because my gag reflex is so sensitive. Coughing too hard, sneezing too hard or crying too hard are all bad ideas since they result in me puking...So by mid morning that day I was in tears, pawning my kids off on a neighbor (I Love you M!) and praying for some magical cupboard to open and have the medicine I needed...I ate solid food again for the first time 4 days later. We had Pops do a quick ultrasound to see baby and make sure he was doing good. Baby Beck looks great-although I think he is mad his diet has been so bland lately (or because we still haven't thought of a name)...But, me on the other hand, I lost all the weight I had gained so far this pregnancy-plus some. Not so good. But Poweraide,Popsicles and water only have so many calories!

Honestly, Braden had a pretty bad cough last week, but nothing major. So when I got it I was floored. I went through 4 boxes of kleenex in 2 days and didn't leave my house until Sunday evening. And by no means am I anywhere near 100%, I would say I am working at about 30% still, but at least I was not in jammies today! Progress! 

So I am eradicating this plague from my house. I have cleaners coming tomorrow, I have new linens ready to be put on all the beds, I have Lysol for the door handles, and trash cans. I have Clorox wipes for the toys that have kept my poor kids entertained and I have new DVD's for Braden to watch- because he has been pretty patient with me this last week.  I have a HUGE bottle of Vit. C out for Rusty and I and I have kudos for Netflix for keeping me entertained over the weekend. Oh, and nothing but the highest of praises for my Mom and my Hubby who did all the laundry for me- even put it away! I am thinking I may have to bust out my Spring Cleaning post from last year and scrub this place from top to bottom, but I will have to get some energy in me for that first.

Sleep Update and other things...

So since I asked for the blogging worlds help a few months ago with Berk's sleeping problem, I thought I owed it a follow up. So, in the last month I have read a ton of sleep books, and sought advice from my pediatrician, and still, we are not sleepin' round here! I probably average about 3 hours a night, and I am lucky if that is consecutive... He has had his fourth ear infection, and a perforated ear drum, in addition to cutting at least 2 new teeth. The teeth thing I am handling with the Hylands Teething tablets. The ear thing, well, I took a bit of a stronger approach to that. After seeing the pediatrician at his 1 yr well baby, she recommended that we see an ENT. The ENT thought that based on the number of infections Berk has had, especially in the summer months, that we should consider getting tubes put it. So, after hearing the risks, we decided it made sense to try and prevent as many of them in the future as we could (especially with cold season starting). So, next week he will have that surgery. I am excited, I really hope it is gonna help with his overall health and mood and I am praying it helps his sleep. If not, after he has a little healing time I have finally decided that I will have to try to let him just cry it out and hope that it won't take long for him to put himself to sleep. That being said, I am not holding my breath that he will actually fall asleep with less than a few hours of good cry time and a little vomit (and I hope it doesn't wake up Braden). I am sure it will be one of those things that is harder on me that it is on him.

One of the books I found was called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I really liked the way this book reviewed all the methods and theories around infants and sleep. But for me, I loved that it was very statistical. It broke things into categories that I could follow and I often thought in my head, "Yep, that's Berkers"- he is basically classified in this book as one of the small percentage of poor sleepers, but I guess I didn't need a book to tell me that! I wish I had read it before I had either of my kids, but it does have good advice for correcting problems even into adolescence. So if you too are having sleep issues, give this one a try.

Well, I hope to have brighter news to report soon, fingers crossed... Oh, and if you do see me at preschool drop-off/ pickup or at Target or something and I look a mess, please don't judge, 'cause that means I actually made an effort, no matter how small or sloppy, to get dressed and make it out of the house, which is a huge accomplishment for me these days!!!

In other news, my class at Super Saturday went really good. We had such fun things, I should not have tried to make so many things AND teach a class, but I learned my lesson for next year. The class I taught was on altered clipboards, a few I made a long time ago are here. They are fun and easy. I will try to take photos of the other things we did soon. Friday is Braden's annual check up at his cardiologist, and we always get a little anxious for that to be over, so I am sure I will make a post about it. I also have a boutique this Saturday with a friend, at a school here in Gilbert, that I am trying to get ready for. And I think I have finally convinced my sister to start a blog, so once it is up and cute I will add her link. Oh, and only 3 glorious days until Bunco, I am SOOO ready for a G.N.O. even if it is at my house!

There should be a rule...

So sick kids on vacation is crappy. There should be some universal law that says kids can only get sick within 30 miles of their own pediatrician. Berkley and Braden have both been such troopers despite both of them being ill. Braden has been running a fever of upwards of 104 for three days, it goes down with motrin but come back at night. He says nothing is hurting him, not ears, tummy ect. But he is being such a booger cause he doesn't feel well all over. berk on the other hand, is teething like crazy. I wish those dang teeth would come through all ready! Rusty and I have gotten NO sleep. Considering when one boy actually sleeps the other cries and wakes the other up. And so on and so forth. Braden finally got a good nights rest last night, and Berk is finally finished with his antibiotic for the ear infection he had when we left. So lets just say I am gonna need a vacation to recover from this vacation. Despite the kids feeling like crap, and our lack of sleep we are managing to have a good time! Snowbird is pretty much all about going to the park, swimming, relaxing and playing with family and friends. So when I post the pictures they will be all grouped together since we do the same few things over and over again each day! It has finally gotten cooler up here too. Last night the low was in the 60's. Finally!