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Saturday, January 31, 2009

We have spent the most part of this week recovering from the previous weeks health disaster. Isabella and I were still pretty leary of eating real food until Wednesday but everyone else seemed to be recovered. We had a doctor's appointment Monday to check Will's ears and he has finally recovered from the double ear infection. He has been on antibiotics on and off since December 3rd. I was very excited.

The rest of the week was pretty lazy between classes and school. I had a great day Friday with Macaroni Grill take out and a Cheesequake cake from the DQ..delicious. I must say I felt super old to be celebrating with takeout at home rather than the late night celebrations of years past.

Today we had clear skies and 55 degree weather. Not bad for the end of January. Especially when some of you reading this are still shoveling your way out of a winter wonderland. This summer when it is over 100 degrees and I'm about to pop, I'll be wishing I was in an igloo myself. Maybe I'll end up being a "snowbird" after all.



Thursday, January 22, 2009

not for weak stomachs

Last week we heard about a a dreaded stomach virus on our local news station. Vomiting, diarrhea, severe dehydration, etc. This virus sounded like the king of viruses. Definitely not a virus I wanted to welcome in my home and share with six people. We washed our hands, took our vitamin C and I prayed.

On Friday afternoon Amelia started in with the vomiting. She covered the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in 5 minutes. This might be repeat information for some of you but I despise vomit. The mere smell or sound of someone vomiting usually has me right there with them. Even when this someone is my child. Add on the fact that I am still dry heaving on a good day and vomiting on a bad from this pregnancy and I was in pure misery. We went through two days of Amelia being sick and no one else so much as developing a symptom before taking Amelia to the ER on Sunday. The pediatrician there said that she was having a reaction to the Augmentin she was on for a respiratory infection, take her off the medicine and gave us a prescription for Zofran to control the nausea and vomiting.. Augmentin gone, Zofran in and bye bye vomit. Or so I thought.

Monday, I had lunch with a great friend and returned home to find Will had started in vomiting. Sweet. This three day weekend was getting even better. The diarreah aspect, absent with Amelia, was full throttle with Will. We changed 11 diapers in 8 hours Monday afternoon and 10 on Tuesday morning. Tuesday around 2 PM, I started having horrible stomach pains and of course ended up vomiting the rest of the day and into the middle of the night. I can honestly say this is the worst I have ever felt. After not being able to keep anything down for 24 hours and being pregnant, I called my OB. I was told to go to the Maternity Floor of the hospital for observation and fluids. Fluids of course meaning an IV, my second least favorite thing next to vomiting. I suffered and "truck drivered" my way through 3 attempts at starting an IV and two blown veins. Could this get any better? I spent all day in the hospital with dehydration and came home last night around 9. Jason called our pediatrician and asked for a refill of Zofran I am pretty weak but feeling much better. I have never been so happy to eat Toast and Jello.

Isabella has also now caught the virus, Will is still going through at least one diaper every hour and Jason came home from work tonight with the dreaded virus. With a family of five, it's a given that we "share" all of our germs and illnesses. This, however, has become a nightmare that I never want to repeat.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

monkeying around


This morning I shut myself in the laundry room to take come clothes out of the dryer and transfer clothing from the washer to the dryer. Will loves the laundry room and tries to climb in the washer and dryer any time I'm doing laundry. To avoid a battle of wills (no pun intended) I decided to just close the door behind me this morning. All three children were happily entertaining themselves in the toy room and the task probably took less than 5 minutes start to finish. I was in the middle of hanging some stuff up when I heard Will screaming uncontrollably. I ran out and saw him wedged behind the half wall ledge and the back of the couch. His head and arms were the only thing sticking out and he was screaming bloody murder. It had to have just happened or the "little mothers" always watchful of their brother would have immediately come to get me. I tried to pull him up and over the couch with no luck. Pushing him down so he could crawl out wasn't an option either, his head was to big. Our couch has a recliner in each end and is so heavy and awkward to move. Holding Will up and pushing the couch out from the side was nearly impossible.
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The little monkey came away with a black eye (I'm sure the first of many) and several bruises. He looks pretty awful. I'm not quite sure how he managed to scale the wall and fall between in and the couch. There was nothing nearby for him to stand on. As soon as he calmed down he was back in the toy room trying to climb on top the girls kitchen

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

stealth mode

Will loves to eat. He will eat anything, anywhere, anytime. Literally. I have never seen a one year old devour two waffles for breakfast every morning and come looking for a snack around 10AM. By 11:30 that boy is ready for lunch. If there's not food in front of him by noon he is wailing and trying to climb up my legs to get to his chow. You don't mess with that boy and his food.

Tonight we had Subway for dinner. I placed the girls sandwiches on their plates and Bella tried to tear up Will's sandwich for him while I was locating the pizza cutter. (it's much faster) I was gone for less than a minute and come back to the table to a missing Will and a missing sandwich off of Bella's plate. Will had somehow reached up, grabbed the sandwich and ran off eating it. He was completely silent and went unnoticed during the sandwich grab by all of us standing nearby.

Friday, January 9, 2009

another trip to the doctor

We had another trip to see the pediatrician this morning for Amelia's two year well-visit. We see Dr. J all the time with three kids and I can't tell you how happy I am that I actually like him. The children love him and Jason and I love him too. Being a military family we always prepare ourselves for worst-case scenario when it comes to health care providers. We went round and round with the pediatricians on base last year and after months of requests were finally approved to see an off-post civilian practitioner.

This morning's visit was supposed to be a pretty routine check-up. I totally didn't expect Amelia to projectile vomit while I'm driving down the highway. Thankfully I was going to the mall to return a shirt of Bella's after our appointment and had that to put on Amelia. Just a day in the life.

Amelia is growing and is in the 25 percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height. I'm a little skeptical on the height because she seems so little compared to other 2 year olds. The doctor was impressed with how much and how clearly she speaks.

The doctor also checked Will's ears while we were there. He has been displaying classic ear infection symptoms. Again. He has another double ear infection. It is his third since the beginning of December. Today Will received a shot along with the mega antibiotic. We have a follow-up visit in two weeks to see if it is completely gone. I am hoping this is our last ear infection this year. The doctor already told me if he has 4-5 in one year or has a persistent ear infection that doesn't respond to antibiotics we need to start looking at having tubes put in. I know it is a simple, common procedure but I would like to avoid any surgeries if at all possible.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

a happy surprise to a crappy week

It is a well known fact that I have a serious love for Nordstrom's. It began many years ago at Easton and continued in San Diego and Dallas. You would have thought I won the lottery when a Nordie's opened at the Galleria. It is hands down my all time favorite store. I worked in retail myself for years and value truly good customer service. Nordstrom is top notch. We don't have a Nordstrom's anywhere around here and have to make do with two other big name department stores. Both of which have strict return policies even if merchandise is defective. That being said 9 times out of 10, I will order something on-line from Nordies and willingly pay the shipping before purchasing the same item in-store here. I know it may seem silly but it's important to me to be loyal to stores that really value their customers.

We have had a really crappy week in the Ross house. It's always rough when we come back from vacation but this week has been especially difficult. The kids are still amped up from Christmas and re-adjusting to their rules and schedules and it has been pouring down rain all week. The girls especially have been fighting me tooth and nail on absolutely everything. Will has been screaming all week. I think he has another ear infection and will find out for sure tomorrow. My ears are actually ringing from all the screaming and commotion. To make a bad week worse, my faithful pair of Uggs ripped. I was so mad. Now Uggs aren't for everyone (Jason and my brother despise them) but I love them and wear them every single day. I know they should last for years and not tear. When I was placing my order for a new pair on-line I decided to call the customer service department at Nordies and see if this is a common problem other customers experience. After explaining the situation the very nice man offered to exchange the shoes, without me even asking, for a brand new pair. I was actually in shock.

My love affair with Nordies continues.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

always the ornery one

I take great care in naming our children. As most of you know, I am pretty particular about all of their names and it is usually a decision Jason and I agonize over pretty much from the end of the first-trimester on. I know that it will take us the entire six months to actually agree on a name so I start early.

Amelia's name was especially difficult for us to come up with. There were several lists of contenders that were rejected by Jason for some bizarre reason or another before we finally agreed on Amelia..he finally got over the Earhart and Bedelia hangups.

When Amelia was born, Bella was just over two couldn't say her name and called her "Sissy". Unfortunately Sissy stuck with Amelia. Whenever anyone asked Amelia her name, she smiled and replied "Thissy". Keep in mind she can clearly say Isabella Victoria and William Wallace but she was "Thissy Ross".

Recently however, Amelia has changed her name again. Whenever asked her name now, she smiles and without missing a beat says "Pudintane. Ask me again and I'll tell you the same." Over and over.

Gray hair from this one, I'm telling ya.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

our trip to Ohio


We arrived home today from 10 days in Ohio. We had a fun trip and packed a lot in 10days. We had a birthday party for Amelia, spent some time with our good friends and their brand new baby, went out for an early birthday dinner, celebrated New Years for the first time since we've been married and enjoyed spending time with our Ohio friends and family.
Now we're home and getting resettled in our routine. We have been out of all activities for three weeks. Bella is especially ready to get back to school and her classes. I still have to take down all of our Christmas decorations something that I am absolutely dreading.






Friday, January 2, 2009

Amelia's Birthday party

Amelia was pretty excited she had a birthday party with her very own Tinkerbelle cake. She has patiently waited her turn during both Bella and Will's birthday. All day Amelia kept saying "My birthday" and singing Happy Birthday to me.


Christmas

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! Here are a few pictures of the little ones on Christmas morning.

making gingerbread cookies for Santa