The "Blah" Dragon from Baby Mozart:
And the singing Chinese Dragon from Baby Bach:
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Party Tricks, Part II
You may have to know Baby Einstein to get these, but here are Talia's new tricks.
The "Blah" Dragon from Baby Mozart:
The "Blah" Dragon from Baby Mozart:
Party Tricks, Part I
Benj sings his ABC's, although he gets a bit shy at the end :)
Benj says his ABC's. (He lined the letters up this way on the fridge, by the way.)
Benj says his ABC's. (He lined the letters up this way on the fridge, by the way.)
Sweet Brother
Benjamin is such a sweet brother to Talia. Surprisingly (for his age), he shares well with her, even giving up a toy he has "rightful possession" over if she says please. :) He also looks after her, picking up her cup when she drops it or telling me what he thinks she needs ("Ya Ya say 'cup,' Mama.") We have our share of sibling rivalry too. Benjamin definitely has territory over which he is very posessive, but overall I'm proud of the way he treats his sister with kindness.
Today I asked Benjamin if Talia could share the blocks he was playing with. He willingly scooted over to allow her a space near the pile. A minute later I looked back in the living room and he had seated himself behind her (legs open with her between them) in the typical picture pose. It was so sweet, as if he was protecting her or showing her how to do it. They even let me get a picture!
Today I asked Benjamin if Talia could share the blocks he was playing with. He willingly scooted over to allow her a space near the pile. A minute later I looked back in the living room and he had seated himself behind her (legs open with her between them) in the typical picture pose. It was so sweet, as if he was protecting her or showing her how to do it. They even let me get a picture!
Earaches and coughing and crying, oh my!
We made our tri-weekly trip to the pediatrician's office today. (That would be once every three weeks, right?)
And Talia has an ear infection. And Benjamin's lungs are inflamed.
I think I just need to cut this post and save it to the clipboard so I can just paste and post it once every three weeks.
We are looking at getting tubes put in Talia's ears. This is her 7th or 8th ear infection since October. Poor sweet baby. We should have known two nights ago when she was up from 11pm to 2am that she was getting an infection, but it took until last night when her fever reached 103.2 for me to realize what was going on. While looking in her left ear, after examining her right ear, the doctor told me, "The right ear is very infected and the left ear will be infected by this afternoon."
Meanwhile, Benjamin, who has been on an extremely regimented treatment schedule for asthma control, has spent the last 4 or 5 days with a barky, croupy-sounding cough. (This is what nebulizer treatments 2x's a day and his bedtime dose of Singulair are supposed to be preventing.) After several days of albuterol treatments with no change in his cough I decided something else was going on. Sure enough, some kind of virus has caused his lungs to become inflamed and so he is on our favorite Prednisone once again.
On the up-side: I am SO thankful for our wonderful insurance that covers all these repeated trips to the doctor and all the resulting medications. This is one of the many ways God has helped us financially in this economically thin season of life. And I am thankful that there are good treatments available for the multiplicity of ailments the kids deal with on a regular basis. I hate to see my kids suffer.
Now that the kids are medicated, we hope that translates to uninterrupted sleep. (We can always hope, can't we?)
And Talia has an ear infection. And Benjamin's lungs are inflamed.
I think I just need to cut this post and save it to the clipboard so I can just paste and post it once every three weeks.
We are looking at getting tubes put in Talia's ears. This is her 7th or 8th ear infection since October. Poor sweet baby. We should have known two nights ago when she was up from 11pm to 2am that she was getting an infection, but it took until last night when her fever reached 103.2 for me to realize what was going on. While looking in her left ear, after examining her right ear, the doctor told me, "The right ear is very infected and the left ear will be infected by this afternoon."
Meanwhile, Benjamin, who has been on an extremely regimented treatment schedule for asthma control, has spent the last 4 or 5 days with a barky, croupy-sounding cough. (This is what nebulizer treatments 2x's a day and his bedtime dose of Singulair are supposed to be preventing.) After several days of albuterol treatments with no change in his cough I decided something else was going on. Sure enough, some kind of virus has caused his lungs to become inflamed and so he is on our favorite Prednisone once again.
On the up-side: I am SO thankful for our wonderful insurance that covers all these repeated trips to the doctor and all the resulting medications. This is one of the many ways God has helped us financially in this economically thin season of life. And I am thankful that there are good treatments available for the multiplicity of ailments the kids deal with on a regular basis. I hate to see my kids suffer.
Now that the kids are medicated, we hope that translates to uninterrupted sleep. (We can always hope, can't we?)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sunday lunch
I'm really into posting videos lately, I guess :)
I just had to capture Talia's new "nodding" trick. It's so funny! She does it all the time. And then I turned it over to Benjamin, who (surprise!) decided to sing for us. What a treat! Here goes....
I just had to capture Talia's new "nodding" trick. It's so funny! She does it all the time. And then I turned it over to Benjamin, who (surprise!) decided to sing for us. What a treat! Here goes....
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Waxing Eloquent on Art and Film
Just in case you don't speak "Benjamin," here is a rough transcript of our exchange:
Me: What color are you going to do next?
Benjamin: Color. Color RED.
Me: Red. That looks nice.
Benjamin: Nice colorING.
Me: Nice coloring, that’s right.
Benjamin:
Me: Who are you coloring? Who is that?
Benjamin: Benj is coloring Zoe.
Me: Zoe, yeah!
Benjamin: And coloring horse.
Me: It’s a horse!
Benjamin: Horse, horse, horse. Horse one, Baby Einstein, horse one, DVD.
Me: The Baby Einstein “Horse One” DVD?
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Why I drove 80 MPH on I-265 last Friday
Last Friday morning as I was changing Talia's diaper, first thing in the morning, I noticed a few red rashy-looking bumps on her legs. Wondering if some kind of biting bug had somehow crawled inside her jammies, I applied some hydrocortisone cream and went about my morning. Later, as I put her in the car to head to the gym I noticed her hands were red. But she had been sucking on them so I wasn't worried. I made a mental note to check them again later.
We came home from the gym and without further ado I put Tali down for her morning nap. She slept well, so well, in fact, I had to wake her up at the end of naptime. I found her in her crib with her face snuggled against her blankie. I gently rubbed her belly to wake her. She yawned, stretched, peeped out with one sleepy eye, and reached up for me to pick her up. Once in my arms she promptly buried her face in my shoulder. Enjoying this unusual snuggle with my usually wiggly girl, I held her for several minutes then put her down on the floor so I could get lunch together.
It was as I handed her a sippy cup of milk that I first noticed: her hands were swollen...badly. The skin was so tight across parts of her small fist it was shiny. Then I noticed her face. On the apples of her cheeks were two swollen bumps. They looked like huge blisters. Seeking confirmation of my first theory, I called my nurse-mom. She confirmed the validity of my mounting fear: Talia was having some kind of an allergic reaction.
My first thought was to get her milk cup away from her--milk is one of Benjamin's more severe allergies. My brain then kicked into high gear. I called the pediatrician, told them my daughter was swelling and I would be there in half an hour. Next I peeked out the kitchen window--my neighbor's car was gone. I called my friend Christy. "Can Benjamin eat lunch and nap at your house? Talia is swelling. I have to take her to the doctor." I quickly ran through my mental diaper bag checklist, throwing in a dish of leftovers in each bag for lunch. Soon we were on our way.
My brain was struggling against the fog. I wanted to panic, but was praying and willing myself to hold it together. I prayed Benjamin would not feel my fear and would transition easily with this abrupt interruption to his all-important schedule. Those who know Benjamin will know it was divine intervention that Benjamin happily allowed me to dump him off at Christy's door 5 minutes later with hardly a transitional moment.
Talia and I raced down the freeway. She, amazingly, was in a great mood! She laughed and babbled to me as I talked to her, trying to keep tabs to make sure she was breathing okay. I kept telling her to "hang in there" and "stay with me." In my head I knew the danger of breathing trouble was most likely past (in past situations with Benjamin we have been told that breathing problems will occur within an hour of exposure), but my heart was racing and my hands were shaking anyway.
As I exited the freeway on the notoriously busy, Hurstborne Pkwy I prayed that God would clear the traffic ahead of me. At the first intersection a fire truck with its lights on turned right onto Hurstborne, only 3 cars in front of me. Following a fire truck definitely makes for smooth passage! God also answered my prayer for green lights--every single one of 6 or 7. As I pulled into the cramped parking lot, praying for an easy space, the van in front of me by-passed the open space directly in front of the office for a wider space in the back lot!
Once in the office we were quickly ushered into an exam room where the nurse, bending over her chart, asked why we were there. I told her "she's swelling." She looked quickly at her face and hands and asked me to undress her to her diaper for the doctor.
"Is she on any medications?"
"Yes," I told her, "Omnicef." (This was the antibiotic we received for her latest ear infection. She had been on it for 7 days.)
"She's allergic to the antibiotic," the nurse told me with certainty.
"But she's been on it for a week!"
"It doesn't matter. They can have an allergic reaction at any time. You could take penicillin 20 times and the 21st time have a reaction."
The doctor was soon in and after taking one look at the hives now covering her thighs, under-arms, torso, and neck confirmed, "It's the antibiotic." Fortunately her ears were clear so we were able to stop the treatment completely. Meanwhile he prescribed prednisone (a steroid) to clear up her hives. Much to my relief, the swelling and hives were noticibly minimized after the first dose.
Today her hives are completely gone and Tali seems to be back to normal in every way. I am so thankful, as I write this, that we experienced nothing worse than a couple of scary hours Friday. Looking for an allergic reaction to a medication she had been on for a week wasn't even on my mommy "radar screen." I can't even consider all the things that could have happened....
Ultimately, I am thankful that God has all things under His control. He knows every hair on those little precious heads and nothing can ever happen to them apart from His will for their lives. He knew that medication was in my baby girl's body and I am so grateful He protected her to a great extent from its ill effects. Even if He hadn't preserved Talia, God would still be good, but I am so thankful he did.
We came home from the gym and without further ado I put Tali down for her morning nap. She slept well, so well, in fact, I had to wake her up at the end of naptime. I found her in her crib with her face snuggled against her blankie. I gently rubbed her belly to wake her. She yawned, stretched, peeped out with one sleepy eye, and reached up for me to pick her up. Once in my arms she promptly buried her face in my shoulder. Enjoying this unusual snuggle with my usually wiggly girl, I held her for several minutes then put her down on the floor so I could get lunch together.
It was as I handed her a sippy cup of milk that I first noticed: her hands were swollen...badly. The skin was so tight across parts of her small fist it was shiny. Then I noticed her face. On the apples of her cheeks were two swollen bumps. They looked like huge blisters. Seeking confirmation of my first theory, I called my nurse-mom. She confirmed the validity of my mounting fear: Talia was having some kind of an allergic reaction.
My first thought was to get her milk cup away from her--milk is one of Benjamin's more severe allergies. My brain then kicked into high gear. I called the pediatrician, told them my daughter was swelling and I would be there in half an hour. Next I peeked out the kitchen window--my neighbor's car was gone. I called my friend Christy. "Can Benjamin eat lunch and nap at your house? Talia is swelling. I have to take her to the doctor." I quickly ran through my mental diaper bag checklist, throwing in a dish of leftovers in each bag for lunch. Soon we were on our way.
My brain was struggling against the fog. I wanted to panic, but was praying and willing myself to hold it together. I prayed Benjamin would not feel my fear and would transition easily with this abrupt interruption to his all-important schedule. Those who know Benjamin will know it was divine intervention that Benjamin happily allowed me to dump him off at Christy's door 5 minutes later with hardly a transitional moment.
Talia and I raced down the freeway. She, amazingly, was in a great mood! She laughed and babbled to me as I talked to her, trying to keep tabs to make sure she was breathing okay. I kept telling her to "hang in there" and "stay with me." In my head I knew the danger of breathing trouble was most likely past (in past situations with Benjamin we have been told that breathing problems will occur within an hour of exposure), but my heart was racing and my hands were shaking anyway.
As I exited the freeway on the notoriously busy, Hurstborne Pkwy I prayed that God would clear the traffic ahead of me. At the first intersection a fire truck with its lights on turned right onto Hurstborne, only 3 cars in front of me. Following a fire truck definitely makes for smooth passage! God also answered my prayer for green lights--every single one of 6 or 7. As I pulled into the cramped parking lot, praying for an easy space, the van in front of me by-passed the open space directly in front of the office for a wider space in the back lot!
Once in the office we were quickly ushered into an exam room where the nurse, bending over her chart, asked why we were there. I told her "she's swelling." She looked quickly at her face and hands and asked me to undress her to her diaper for the doctor.
"Is she on any medications?"
"Yes," I told her, "Omnicef." (This was the antibiotic we received for her latest ear infection. She had been on it for 7 days.)
"She's allergic to the antibiotic," the nurse told me with certainty.
"But she's been on it for a week!"
"It doesn't matter. They can have an allergic reaction at any time. You could take penicillin 20 times and the 21st time have a reaction."
The doctor was soon in and after taking one look at the hives now covering her thighs, under-arms, torso, and neck confirmed, "It's the antibiotic." Fortunately her ears were clear so we were able to stop the treatment completely. Meanwhile he prescribed prednisone (a steroid) to clear up her hives. Much to my relief, the swelling and hives were noticibly minimized after the first dose.
Today her hives are completely gone and Tali seems to be back to normal in every way. I am so thankful, as I write this, that we experienced nothing worse than a couple of scary hours Friday. Looking for an allergic reaction to a medication she had been on for a week wasn't even on my mommy "radar screen." I can't even consider all the things that could have happened....
Ultimately, I am thankful that God has all things under His control. He knows every hair on those little precious heads and nothing can ever happen to them apart from His will for their lives. He knew that medication was in my baby girl's body and I am so grateful He protected her to a great extent from its ill effects. Even if He hadn't preserved Talia, God would still be good, but I am so thankful he did.
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