Too many doctor visits!

It seems like we've been to the doctor more in the last two weeks than we have in the last 2 years - this is not good! First up was Lauren with her ear infection, then Ellie got sick. We were in St. Peter when this happened so I called the clinic back home, spoke to a nurse, and she advised us to come in that afternoon. So off to Shakopee we went and when we got there, it wasn't good. Poor Ellie was tested for everything - first up, a catheter to check for a urinary tract infection - negative. Then she was taken to x-ray to make sure her chest and lungs were good - negative again. Finally she was poked in the arm to draw blood to make sure everything was good there as well. This was the only test that came back as questionable. Her white blood cell count was low and her lymphocyte count was high - in simple terms, she probably had a viral infection. They wanted to retest her again though the following week just to make sure that was all it was - oh good, one more trip to the doctor. On top of the girls' unexpected visits to the doctor, I also had my 6 week post delivery check-up. As luck would have it though, my doctor was called to a delivery right when I arrived so I had to reschedule. With all that excitement behind us, I figured we would be good for a while - turns out I was wrong. Two days after finishing up her medication for her ear infection, Lauren broke out with a terrible rash all over her body (and I do mean all over - ears, face, every bend on her body - it was everywhere). And just to make things interesting, we were in St. Peter again and it was the weekend! That meant I had to find the nearest ER that was "in network." As luck would have it, that happened to be right in St. Peter (that was our one good fortune for the weekend). During our visit to the ER we learned that Lauren was allergic to Amoxicillian. She was prescribed steroids and some cream to help clear things up and off we went. Unfortunately that was just the first of two trips to the ER. The next day she woke up covered with more rashes and red spots and said her ears itched. So we headed back to the ER and had her checked out again. Her ears looked fine but unfortunately for Lauren, the steroids could take up to 36 hours before they really started to kick in so that meant more rashes and more itching could occur for the next day or so - poor thing. With Lauren's situation under control, I finally got into my appointment this Monday, and Ryan and Ellie both had check-ups scheduled for today (Wednesday). Turns out our "little" Ellie is no longer little. She weighs 12 lbs 12 oz (97%)and is 24 and 1/4 inches long(90%)! How is that possible? That means she gained over 5 pounds and grew over 3 inches in just two months - guess that means Momma is giving her some good milk! It also means she is bigger than Lauren was at 2 months and just a half inch shorter than Ryan was - CRAZY! In addition to getting weighed and measured, Ellie also received three shots and had her blood drawn again (a follow-up to last week's blood draw - this one came back good. Her white blood cell count was right where it needed to be so we shouldn't have anything to worry about). With Ellie's appointment done, I geared myself up for Ryan's that afternoon. He had his 5 year check-up which meant 3 shots - never a good thing with him. Luckily we had been talking about it for the past couple of days and when it came time for the big event, he did really good. There was no kicking and screaming, just some tears and a loud cry of "STOP" as the nurse stuck him with the final needle. When he finally recovered (which only took about a minute), he said, "that wasn't so bad. Does this mean I can go to Kindergarten now?" I smiled, said "yes", and off we went - one mom happy to be done with doctors visits for a while, and one happy kid who doesn't have to get shots again until he is 12! That means 7 more years until we have the "shot" talk again - what a relief!

Keeping our fingers crossed that we won't have anymore doctor's visits until Ellie's 4 month check-up in August.

2 months already!

Ellie is 2 months old today - man how time flies! We have her check-up on Wednesday. I'm curious to see how much weight she has gained and to compare her stats to the other kids (always a fun activity). Here is the little lady in action showing off her smiling skills (and her less lady like skill of tooting - she mastered that one a long time ago)!

Soccer Stud

Ryan started soccer last week and seems to be enjoying it. Although, I'm not sure if it is the game he enjoys or the social aspect of playing soccer - let's just say he spends a lot of time talking! Here are a couple of pictures from last Thursday.And here he is doing what he does best . . . talking to his teammates. I'm pretty sure they were discussing game strategy here.It was super hot and humid last Thursday so just Lauren and I ventured out to watch the action (Ashley took Ellie shopping indoors so she didn't have to suffer in the heat - not sure what I'm going to do when Ash leaves and we have another day like that). It was so hot and sticky that I was sweating just sitting in my lawn chair - gross! The heat even got to Lauren. She kept saying, "too hot Mommy, too hot." She eventually just laid out on the ground and gave in to the heat and humidity. Check it out . . .

Thankfully we packed lots of water so the kids were well hydrated, but everyone was very happy when Ash pulled up in the well air conditioned van - nothing has ever felt so good as that cold air did!

Barbie band-aid

Lately Lauren has been obsessed with "Barbie Band-Aids" - she literally can't be without them. Whenever she falls, trips, or gets just the tiniest of scratches, she immediately breaks down and starts sobbing until she gets a Barbie band-aid. When this happens, I can't help but laugh. I really wanted to tape one of her episodes, but thought that might be kind of cruel. So instead, I taped her talking about her beloved band-aids.

Lots of swimming

After our busy week, we spent the majority of the weekend relaxing by the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's house - the perfect way to unwind. Ryan enjoyed every minute of it - he jumped off the board, swam all around, and pretty much became a fish over the weekend! Lauren unfortunately couldn't enjoy the water as much as she would have liked. We had to limit what she could do because she couldn't get water in her ears. Luckily there is a lot of summer left for her to enjoy the pool. Ellie spent her time snoozing in the arms of whoever was lucky enough to hold her - real tough life she has! Here are some pool pictures.And here is a quick video of Ryan in action - keep in mind he had never even swam by himself before this weekend and all of a sudden he is jumping in, going under, and swimming everywhere! What a difference a weekend makes!

Busiest week ever!

This past week has been a busy one to say the least. It all started last Tuesday morning when Ryan started soccer and Lauren went to the doctor and had her double ear infection. That was just the beginning of what would probably be our busiest week ever. After the exciting morning, we went home, had lunch, took naps, and got ready for the evening. Ryan had his first experience with tee-ball that night and by all accounts, he enjoyed it. He only had one minor crying session which happened after a girl supposedly punched him while they were standing in line (the boy is in for a very long life if he can't even deal with an angry woman at the age of 5). With Tuesday finally behind us, we were gearing up for a very exciting Wednesday - Ryan's first "friend" birthday party! Ash and I stayed up late that night making the cake and getting the house cleaned up (which was really a waste considering Ryan and his friends tore it apart within the first 5 minutes of the party - oh well, at least the parents saw a clean house when they dropped their kids off). This being my first time having a kid party at my house, I wasn't sure what to expect. So naturally I planned every minute of the party out - 15 minutes for this, a half hour for that - too bad the kids had plans of their own and my schedule was out the door before our first game started (I'll keep this in mind for future parties). Even without the schedule, we managed to get in all the activities we planned and had plenty of time to just run and play - a success in my book. The only other thing I would do different in the future is limit the party to 2 hours. We had 2 and 1/2 hours this time and that last half hour was brutal with kids starting to get crabby and little tiffs breaking out here and there - another lesson learned.

Immediately (and I'm being serious here - I do mean immediately) after the last kid got picked up, we packed the kids in the van and headed south to Mom and Dad's house for a long weekend. We arrived at roughly 4:55pm - exactly 55 minutes after the party ended - now that is some efficient use of time! That night we went out to eat and then headed to bed to get ready for our next adventure - a Twins game on Thursday! By 10:00am Thursday morning, we (Grandpa Jim, Grandma Donna, Auntie, Ryan, Lauren, Ellie and myself) were boarded on a bus headed to the Twins game against the Colorado Rockies. I was a little worried about how the kids would do with the whole day, but when it was all said and done, they did great! There were no major meltdowns, Ellie slept the entire time (other than the two times I woke her to nurse her on the bus ride up and back), and Lauren (our problem child) even managed to sit through the whole game without hitting anyone and even got a cat nap in on the bus ride home - a total and complete success! I had terrible visions of how the day would go, and thankfully none of them happened. Now, I'm not saying I would do it again (let's face it, I didn't really get to enjoy watching the game), but it was a great experience and I'm glad we did it at least once. When we finally got back late Thursday afternoon, everyone was very tired so we planned an early night filled with a quick dinner and some baths. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. There were thunderstorms and tornado warnings for the majority of the night which meant we had to stay up a little later than planned hunkered down in the basement - so fun! When the skies finally cleared, we got the kids to bed and everyone had a good night of sleep (including me because Ellie slept from 9:30pm to 5:30am)! Now normally I would be excited about this, but the first full night of sleep coupled with some other things going on with her - she was overly sleepy to the point where I had to wake her to feed her (and once awake, she didn't eat very good), and she also had a cough and was very congested - led me to be concerned that something else might be going on with her. So after our morning at the park, I decided to call the nurse's line and get some advice. After speaking with the nurse, she suggested that I bring Ellie in. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a big issue, but because we were still in St. Peter, that meant packing her up and driving 45 minutes back home to get in at the clinic - anything for my sick little girl. So off we went (the two older kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa) to get Ellie checked out. When we got to the clinic, I was expecting a relatively quick appointment where the doctor would tell me that Ellie just had the common cold - unfortunately that didn't happen. We were there for 2 hours having every test possible run on poor little Ellie. The doctor couldn't pinpoint why she was so tired and eating poorly so she decided it was best to run several tests to rule out anything too serious. First up was a catheter to see if Ellie had a urinary tract infection - she didn't. After that we went to get some chest x-rays done (which came back good), and we finished up with a blood draw (which she hated because they had to stick a needle into her arm and basically squeeze the arm to get her tiny little vessels filled with enough blood to do the test - not fun to watch). When all the tests were done, Ellie and I went back to the room and waited. It was about 20 minutes before the doctor came back and said all the tests came back fine - I've never been so happy in my life! By that point I had already prepared myself for terrible news so I was overjoyed when the doctor said she did in fact have a virus of some sort and that it should pass - yay for a simple little virus! We do have to go back in a couple of days to have her blood drawn again just to make sure her white blood cell count is back up where it needs to be, but other than that, nothing too serious. It was about 5:30pm when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and when we got there, we were in for another surprise . . . Ryan was jumping off the board by himself and swimming to the edge of the pool - apparently he grew up and got brave in the three hours I was gone! With that, our busy week finally came to an end. It was Friday and the weekend was about to start - let's hope for an uneventful one filled with lots of swimming and relaxing!

Double Ear Infection

So Lauren hasn't been feeling great over the past week or so. She has had a cold, a fever, some vomiting, and lots and lots of crabbiness! I've been giving her Tylenol to help with the fever (which has brought it down), but the minute that stuff wears off, her temp goes back up and she is crabby again. So today when she woke up with a fever again, I finally called the nurses line and they suggested that I bring her in. When we got there, the doctor took one look at her ear and said, "that looks terrible." Then she looked at her other eye and said, "that looks terrible too, but not as bad." Super, turns out she had a great reason for her crabbiness - a double ear infection that is apparently so bad she needs to be on something stronger than the normal amoxicillian they normally prescribe. We went straight from the doctor over to the pharmacy and one dose later, Lauren is like a different kid. No more constant crying, no yelling (well, some yelling but that is normal for her), and overall a much happier child - thank god. I'm pretty sure I couldn't take another day. Here she is on Sunday smelling the flowers at Grandma and Grandpa's house and still smiling even though she was probably in pain - what a little trooper.
While all of this was happening, Ryan also started his first day of soccer. Lucky for all of us, Auntie is staying with us so she took Ryan and Ellie to soccer while Lauren and I were at the doctor. I'm seriously considering asking Mike if we can keep her for at least the rest of summer - wonder if he would be okay with that? It sounds like Ryan enjoyed soccer. He has to work on some basic skills (which is to be expected considering Trav and I know nothing about soccer so we are no help to him), but other that that, he's good to go. I'm excited to watch him next time - hopefully our illnesses will be behind us and everyone will be healthy enough to attend.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today our little man turns 5 (I started writing this on Sunday)!! How did that happen so soon? All week we've been counting down towards the big day, and now that it is finally here, I really can't believe it. Like most parents say, it seems like just yesterday he was a baby and now he is a boy. Ryan is very excited to be 5 - he is finally the same age as all of his friends (which is a big deal when you're 5 I guess) and is inching ever closer to being a teenager (this is all he talks about). I've told him numerous times that I don't want him to be a teenager yet, but he is determined. Lucky for me, it will be another 8 years before he reaches that milestone. To celebrate Ryan's big day, Trav and I got him his first "big boy" bike which he seems to love - yay! Now that he has it, we just have to practice with him and work towards getting those training wheels off (maybe that is a little ambitious, but with all of his friends riding training wheel free already, he has some motivation). In addition to the bike, he also got some really cool soccer gear (at least he'll look the part even if he isn't the greatest player), some cold hard cash, a ticket to a Twins game later this week, and even a fish (he named him Steve and loves taking care of him) - talk about a lucky kid! Thanks to everyone for the gifts. To continue the celebration, we are having his first "friend birthday party" later this week. Five 5 year olds - should be interesting. As long as nobody cries, I'll consider it a success (keep your fingers crossed).HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Everett's Baptism

This past weekend we headed up to the lake to have a "backyard baptism" for cousin Everett. Trav and the two older kids went up on Saturday, the babe and I opted to stay home and enjoy lots of sleep time (much needed rest considering she has all of a sudden become wide awake at 3:30am for the past couple of days - not my idea of fun). All the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and even some great grandparents made the trip so it was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone. The baptism was a very cool event. Instead of the traditional church baptism, Troy and Nicole opted for a more casual event in the backyard of Grandpa Doug and Grandma Connie's cabin - a very cool idea if you ask me. It is at times like this that having a pastor in the family really pays off! After the baptism, Ryan had to go check out Everett's "invisible cross tattoo" on his forehead. He told me Everett's tattoo was pretty cool and, "just a little smaller than mine" - amazing the thing that kid remembers. Here are some pictures from the day. Cousins watching the baptism - Lauren not excited to be sitting.
And I had to put this picture in. Typical Lauren . . . got the shades on upside down (and while inside), shoveling cake into her mouth as fast as she can, and just being happy - gotta love it!I'm pretty sure she didn't talk or put that fork down until the entire plate was empty, at which time she picked up the plate and began licking the frosting off of it - that's our girl!

Memorial Day weekend

Trav and I decided to "divide and conquer" for the weekend. I took the girls and headed to my parents place while Trav and Ryan headed off to the lake for the weekend. Ellie was not ready to share a house with lots of other people (she isn't the best sleeper yet and having her wake everyone up a couple of times a night didn't sound fun), and Lauren and I needed a little one-on-one time to hopefully help curb some of her "naughty" tendencies. It also provided Trav and Ryan some "man/boy time" to do whatever it is boys and men do. Overall, we had a rather relaxing weekend. Ellie was held and pampered (just what she loves) and Lauren got lots of attention from Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Aaron and Auntie Ann - talk about a lucky little girl. We spent a majority of our time in the pool. Little did I know that I would come home with a a new little swimmer. The first day in the pool, Lauren was off and floating around by herself. She also jumped off the board, went under, and did just about everything - she is a fearless little girl to say the least. Here are some pictures of the little lady in action.
By all accounts the boys had a fun weekend as well. There was fishing, golfing, treasure hunting, and movies - what more could a little boy ask for. The weekend sort of ended on a sour note though. As I was driving home along 169, the van started to shake and then slowly lost power - super. So there I sat, stranded with both girls in the back knowing that Ellie would probably wake up at any minute and want to eat. After many failed attempts to reach Travis by telephone, I finally got a hold of my neighbor and asked him to go over to our house and see if he could find him. Turns out Trav was in the shower and when my neighbor went there, he saw Ryan watching tv through the window. Ryan eventually let him in and Trav got the message that I needed help. So the boys packed up and headed south to "rescue" me. Turns out the van was running on empty - no gas even though my fuel gage said I held about a 1/4 tank and the "miles to empty" thing on the car said 46. Oh well, I've learned my lesson - no driving unless I have a half tank or more!

Graduation

Ryan had his preschool graduation last Wednesday night (yeah, I'm a little behind again). Anyway, this being our first child to go to preschool, we weren't really sure what to expect. I was thinking something petty basic, a small gathering, some time to talk with everyone, and we're done. Turns out that wasn't the case. The teachers go all out and have a "real" graduation for the kids. For starters, all the kids get their graduation hats - Ryan loved his! The ceremony was held in a gym and the stage was decorated with balloons, banners, you name it, it was there. The big event started with the teachers and kids walking in to the graduation song (not sure what it is called) and taking their places below the stage in their specific seat.With everyone seated, the handing out of the diplomas began. Each child was called to come up and walk across stage to receive their diploma - the teachers even did he traditional hand shake and posed with each kid for a picture - here is Ryan receiving his. After the diplomas were all handed out, the kids performed some songs, then they finished up by walking out to a song about how the children were our future - it was very fitting. After the ceremony they had ice cream, cake (it said "Congrats Graduates on it and punch. Both Ryan and Lauren enjoyed this part of the event! They was ice cream, sprinkles, and red punch everywhere! When it was finally getting to be time to leave I told Ryan we had to go. He said, "No Mom, I don't want to leave. I never want to forget this night." Awe . . . so cute. Here are some pictures of Ryan with some of his classmates, teachers, and one with Trav (they had matching outfits on that night).

Ryan and his girls, Fiona and Lindsay

Braden and Ryan

Teachers Jody, Mary, and Ashley with the happy graduate