Recovering

 The above picture describes our weekend.  It all started a week ago when Nate didn't feel well and had been coughing.  I actually encouraged Nate to call in sick last Wednesday and go to the clinic (this never happens because I pretty much have to be dead to go to the clinic).  I told him that I thought he had pneumonia.  Well he went, they didn't do a chest x-ray, but instead told him they thought he had a virus.  They gave him a script for a Zpack but told him to wait until Saturday to fill it, as she felt he would feel better by then.  Well by Friday he was worse and I just went and filled the script.  Today he is finally starting to sound/feel better. 

Friday morning at 2 am Ava woke up crying.  I went into her room and picked her up and she was on fire.  She had a fever of 104.4.  I changed her into cooler pjs and put her back to bed.  She was soon up again and asking to sleep on our floor (she has never slept on our floor).  So in she came with her sleeping bag.  I mainly let her sleep there because I was fearful that she would have a febrile seizure and I wanted to be able to hear her and see her throughout the night.  On Friday her fever was gone with no intervention and she was fine.  I called our pediatrician to see if I should bring her in.  She said that they usually wait 3 days for a fever before being seen, but since three days would be Sunday and the clinic would be closed, that I should make an appointment for Saturday and I could always cancel if she didn't have a fever again.  Well Saturday morning around 12:30 she awoke with a fever of 102.9 and had a constant cough.  She got probably 4 hours of broken sleep that night.  So we headed off to the pediatrician's office that morning.  Grant was up at 4:30 that morning crying and had a little cough too so I made an appointment for him too just to make sure he wasn't getting an ear infection or anything.  Grant checked out fine.  Ava actually checked out ok on her physical exam.  Her lungs were clear, but the Dr. was a little worried about the high fevers.  He did an x-ray and it showed that she has right sided pneumonia.  We watched a lot of TV on Saturday, and by Sunday the fevers were gone and she was back to normal. 

So, I'm thinking that everybody is on the mend (except for maybe Grant who still has a nasty cough but no fevers).  Hopefully everybody will stay healthy while I'm working this weekend, and will remain healthy for Easter weekend.  It sure would be nice if it would stop snowing and we could spend some time outside and open up the house to get some fresh air.  I'm so ready for trips to the park and the zoo!

 Making us some tea and snacks this afternoon.

Our little man!

Big Accomplishments

I don't know how I forgot to mention this in my last post, but every since Ava's birthday the potty training has become much less frustrating.  I told her on her birthday that 3 yr olds don't wear diapers (except at bedtime) and started to put her in big girl underwear all the time.  We've had a few accidents, but that's to be expected.  But over the past week those have been very few.  This morning she came into our bedroom at 2 am and said, "mommy, I need to go pee pee".  Granted, I was not overly excited to get out of bed at 2 am, but was very impressed that she didn't just go in her diaper.  I think that we may have this potty thing in the bag, and I couldn't be more excited about it!!!  Now, we just need to teach her how to get her pants up and down by herself.  :)

On to Grant's news...he's rolling over, or so I've been told.  I got a text from our sitter on Monday after I dropped him off saying, "wow, he's rolling a ton today".  I replied with, "WHAT, are you kidding me?".  Evidently Grant rolled over while he was at Cyndi's once last week, and was rolling constantly on Monday.  She was nice enough to send me a video on my phone since I can't get the little turkey to do it for me.  I've been working all week to get him to roll over and he just lays there and smiles at me. 

Just thought I'd share our big accomplishments.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The past two weeks

 You would think that our life is super exciting and that we're never home since I have a hard time finding time to update the blog regularly.  In all honesty, our life isn't that exciting but it can be exhausting which leads to me falling asleep on the couch before my Grandma's bedtime.

So, a little recap of the past two weeks...

On Thursday the 28th Nate and I met Mema, Boppa, Uncle Wes, and Aunt Janna for dinner during restaurant week and left the kids with a sitter.  We have never left both of the kids with somebody who wasn't family (or just like family which is Lauryn) so I was a little nervous.  I work with a lady who lives very close to us who told me before we even moved that her daughter babysits if we were ever interested.  It's nice because she's a senior in high school so she has a lot of experience babysitting, and she drives so we don't have to worry about going to get her or dropping her off at the end of the night.  She seems extremely sweet and she said that the kids were great (although Grant cried during dinner, and Ava cried for us before bed which she has never done...the little turkey).  She said she would love to come back, so I'm glad that we have found somebody to watch them when we go out.  Ava told me the next morning that she liked Leah so it must have gone well. 

Last weekend I had to work my dreaded 12 hr night shifts.  It's amazing how well your body can function on no sleep.  Saturday morning Ava went to Mema & Boppa's for a sleep over.  This allows me to have more quiet in the house so that I can try to sleep (although Grant spent a good amount of time crying Saturday), and leaves Nate with only one child while he's by himself.  Grant and Daddy met up with Ava at church on Sunday and then spent the day at Mema & Boppa's so that I could sleep.  I got to see them for about 20 minutes before I headed back to work Sunday night. 

Grant had his physical therapy appointment last Tuesday.  The therapist said that he looks great and she doesn't really see a head tilt at all and he has great range of motion on both sides of his neck.  So, she said that we don't have to go back for a month.  They usually like to follow the kids until they are sitting independently.  So, we'll see her again in April and also follow up with the cranio/facial doctor that day as well. 

Friday morning Mema rang the door bell and surprised Ava, telling her we were going on an adventure but wouldn't tell her where.  Ava was so excited.  We went to the Children's Museum, where they currently have a special Dora and Diego exhibit.  Ava had so much fun at the museum.  We could have spent all day there.  We were going to take Grant to Cyndi's that day so that Ava could have a day to herself, but Cyndi wasn't feel well so Grant tagged along.  It worked out just fine, he was so good!  We finished the adventure with lunch from McDonald's before some stories and nap time.  It was a great day!

Yesterday we had nothing on the calendar and I couldn't have been more excited.  It was actually a productive day.  An oil change, laundry, cleaned the house, made some homemade granola (which I'm currently addicted to), went to the library, Target, bath night for Ava, and a nice pre-bedtime nap on the couch (which is becoming a regular occurrence for me).  We went to the library so that Ava could get her own library card.  It's primarily so that she can take it to Cyndi's with her and check out her own books when they go to the library.  She was so excited to get her own card.

This afternoon we got to spend some time with a bunch of Nate's high school friends, their spouses, and kids.  It was a lot of fun to see everybody and catch up a little bit.  It's always fun to see them, and of course the kids that seem to grow so quickly.  Nate had basketball tonight so it was me and the kids for dinner and bedtime.  I think that they were both exhausted.  As for me, the couch is calling my name again so I'll sign off.  Thanks for checking in on us! 

 Grant trying on his Easter outfit.  We were going to go with a sweater vest, but with his lack of neck it's not a very flattering look.

 Ava scanning her very own library card for the first time while checking out her books

 Hands up while the book scans.  :)

One smiley and drooly little boy :)

 Looking at x-rays at the museum

 Rocking out at the museum

On Piggy's pirate ship in the Dora and Diego exhibit. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!!!

Tomorrow our baby girl will be turning 3 yrs old. I can not believe how fast that time has gone and how I remember the day that she was born like yesterday. What a fond memory that day is for us. We were so in love with her that day, and somehow our hearts continue to grow as we love her more and more every day. She brings so much joy and laughter (and sometimes frustration) into our lives. She is a sweet and intelligent little girl who reminds us daily of the important things in life. This weekend we got to celebrate her birthday with family and friends. Ava wanted to have a "Minnie" Mouse party. We went to the party store last week and picked out all the party favors, napkins, etc. Unfortunately I could not find a Minnie cake. We ordered a Mickey and friends cake, and then Aunt Lisa brought up her Mickey Mouse cake pan and we added a bow to make Minnie. I must say that it turned out pretty good, and it must have tasted ok since it was gone by the end of the party.

Friday Aunt Lisa, Grandma Great, Grandma & Grandpa Becker, and cousins Reece and Zacky came.  Grandma Great stayed at a hotel, but Ava got to have a slumber party on her bedroom floor with her cousins.  Aunt Lisa slept in Ava's bed and got to hear the little ones up at 6 am on Saturday chatting.  :)  Saturday was the big party.  We had twenty some friends and family join us.  Ava had a great time tearing her presents open very quickly.  She also enjoyed her cake and ice cream.  She finally went down for a nap with Grandma around 2:00.  She was exhausted.  That evening all of us and Aunt Lori who came up Saturday morning from Des Moines went out for pizza.  It was a low key evening.

Everybody left by 11:00 this morning.  Ava took a nice long nap this afternoon.  After she woke up we went for a walk to the park in our neighborhood.  We put Grant in his carseat and loaded up the double stroller.  He has not been napping very well and has been a bit crankier than normal.  We have a Dr's appointment for Ava's 3 yr well child check, and Grant's 4 month well child check tomorrow.  I'm anxious to see how his ears look.  I'm hoping he doesn't have another ear infection, but my gut tells me that he does or at least has fluid in his ears.  I'm also anxious to find out if Ava still has her tubes in or if they fell out.  I'm hoping that they fell out so that we won't have to have surgery to get them out.  This April it will have been two years ago that they were place.  Let me say, two glorious years of no ear infections!!!

We hope that you all had a wonderful weekend.  Thanks to all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to help us celebrate Ava's birthday!  

The birthday girl

Grandma Great and Grant having a nice conversation

Playing pin the ring on Minnie's finger.

Ava with her Minnie cake.  Yes, Minnie went a little heavy on the spray tan and looks a bit orange

Feeding her newest baby...Ella Riley

A couple of pictures before bedtime

Grant just happened to turn 4 months on Saturday

The boys reading on the couch

Zack, Ava, Grandma, Reece, Grandpa, & Grant

I think that the piggy back ride was a bit easier on the body than the bull rides that Grandma & Grandpa gave the kids Saturday morning. 

3 month & 3 yr old pictures

We've had a busy week with ECFE, preschool, doctor appointments, and getting pictures taken.  I had last Tuesday off so I was able to attend ECFE (early childhood and family education) with Ava.  She always had a great time there, especially since she gets to do all sorts of crafts that we don't usually do at home because they are so messy.  :)  When we get there the teachers usually take Grant so that I can spend some one on one time with Ava.  I really enjoy this time and think that it's so important since she's had to share so much of her time since Grant came along.  This is 30 minutes where it's just me and her doing whatever activity she wants to do. 

Thursday was Valentine's Day.  No, Nate and I didn't have a romantic dinner out.  I went to work an evening shift and he was home alone with the kids.  Ava had a great time at preschool that day, as they had their Valentines Day party.  She was very excited about her Minnie Mouse valentine's that came with Minnie pencils.  She showed me all of her valentines that she had received the next morning, as well as a picture of her class from pajama day.  She pointed out her boyfriend Alex who is this cute little boy who wears glasses.  :)  After I dropped Ava off at preschool Grant and I went to his doctor's appointment at the cranio facial clinic.  We went to be evaluated for his slightly deformed head.  They think he has a bit of torticollis (shortening of one the neck muscles on one side, Ava had this).  So we are now doing daily stretches with him, lengthening his tummy time, and going to PT once weekly for the next month and then biweekly for 2 months.  While we were there the Dr. was concerned that Grant's skull has fused to quickly.  He named some condition and recommended that we get a CT scan so that he could better evaluate it.  The only way to correct this is to have surgery to take the plates in his skull apart and rearrange them.  He had a head CT at 7 wks old after a little accident at a birthday party so the Dr. looked at that one.  I spoke with his nurse on Monday and thankfully the Dr. said that the CT looked good.  We follow-up with him in two months so I will speak with him more about any concerns that he may have or anything that we should be looking for.  We are so grateful that his CT looked ok.  I can't imagine sending my baby into neuro surgery!

Saturday we went to the mall to run some errands and get Grant's 3 month pictures taken.  We went to Penny's, which was a nightmare.  We will never be going back there again.  We ordered some pictures, but none that I love.  That afternoon Mema & Boppa came over to play and brought us dinner.  It was great to see them and have the kids play with them.  Sunday morning we headed to Woodbury to get Ava's 3 yr old pictures taken.  This was a much better experience than from the day before.  We even got some of Grant and the both of them.  I posted some below. 

Monday the kids got to stay home with Daddy since he had the day off and I worked.  Today I had to call in since our sitter's son had a fever of 102.  The Dr. said that Brady was fine to be around other kids but I just didn't feel comfortable sending my babies over there.  So, I spent the day with the kids and I get to be home with them again tomorrow.  They'll head back to Cyndi's on Thursday. 

We're anxious for Ava's birthday party on Saturday.  We're really hoping that the weather holds out so that everybody from IA can make it up here to help us celebrate.  I can't believe that my baby girl will be 3 yrs old on Monday.  I love her beyond words and can't imagine my life without her in it.  Don't get me wrong, we have our moments of frustration, but she brings so much joy into my (and Nate's) life. 

Hoping that you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a fabulous weekend!

Grant doesn't seem overly excited about his Valentine's Day picture

Ava-bug and G-man

Love her shoes and his!

The weekend

We survived the weekend and what was supposed to be a big snowstorm. Luckily the forecast sounded much worse than what actually happened. The roads were slick, but if you took your time they were fine.  I worked my 12 hr day shifts, which left Nate to man the house with the two kids.  It was a trying weekend for him, as Grant spent a lot of those days crying.  I'm not sure if it was his ears or what.  He finished up his antibiotic this morning.  So far he has been good, but we'll see what the afternoon is like.  Hopefully he has turned the corner and is on the mend.  It was awful listening to him cry (scream) on the other end of the phone and there was nothing I could do.  Poor little guy! 

Saturday morning Aunt Sandy and cousin Olivia came to visit.  Ava said that she had a lot of fun playing with Olivia.  It was so nice of them to come and visit, and I'm sure that Nate appreciated the extra set of hands since Grant was cranky.  That evening Lauryn and Dave came to watch Ava and Grant while Nate went to Uncle Wes and Aunt Janna's engagement party.  I was bummed that I had to miss it!  I got home a little after 8:00 and Grant was in bed but Ava wasn't home.  She and Dave went out to get dinner for Lauryn and Dave and they got lost.  Ava comes strolling in the house at 8:30 with an Icy.  Yeah, one of those sugar filled drinks with ice.  Bright blue it was, and she was so proud and happy about it.  I chuckled, thinking that I would never give that to her during the day, let alone when it's past her bed time.  She had a great time with them though, and that's the important thing.

Hope that you all had a good weekend!

Grant watching the Super Bowl in his sleep sack last weekend

A half smile with some drool during tummy time.  He did actually roll over on to his back this day.  Fairly certain it was an accident and he would have no clue how to do it again. 

Olivia and Ava doing some coloring. 

Here we go again...

First of all, I apologize...I don't know where the past two weeks have gone!  Sadly enough, I don't have a lot of pictures to share as I haven't had the camera out much.  I do have a few on the camera, but the ones below came from my phone.  I'll try to download the others maybe tomorrow evening. 

Now for the title of this post: Grant was supposed to go and have his three month old pictures taken yesterday.  Instead, Grant and I headed to the clinic so that he could be diagnosed with his second ear infection in a month.  So, we are now trying a Z-pack and hoping that clears up the infection.  Thankfully this kid eats whatever we put in his mouth so we don't have to fight him to take his medication.  For the past week or so he wasn't napping very well and just didn't seem quite as happy as normal.  Yesterday he started just screaming and he wouldn't stop.  That's when I decided we needed to cancel pictures and head to the clinic instead.  He was up at 2:00 this morning crying, but I got him down after about 45 minutes and he slept until 6:45.  Poor little guy.  He's now had two doses of his meds so I'm hoping that tonight is a quiet night, especially since I work tomorrow (and all weekend).  While we were at the clinic the pediatrician pointed out that his head is a bit flat on the right.  I noticed this about 2 days ago when looking at his head from behind.  I didn't think it was that bad, but obviously it is noticeable as the Dr. referred us to the cranio/facial clinic at Gillette's Children's Hospital.  So, Grant will have his eval and possible PT next Thursday.  I'm hoping that he'll just have to do a few sessions of PT and we can avoid a crani cap.  Ava had to go to PT for the same thing and responded well.   

Yesterday was a busy day.  Besides going to the clinic in the afternoon, I went to what will be Ava's preschool next year.  Mema came down to spend the day with the kids so that I could meet with the teachers at the preschool, as well as meet with a woman who is willing to do back-up childcare for us in case our provider, Cyndi, is ill or for some reason unable to watch the kids when we need her to.  I think that we will be very happy with the preschool that we got Ava into for next year.  I got a little emotional walking down the hallway seeing all the book bags and coats hanging.  I can't believe that my baby is old enough to go to "school".  I always wondered why mothers cried when their kids went off to their first day of kindergarten...now I get it.  I felt that way and it's only preschool! 

Speaking of Ava getting older, she will be 3 yrs old in just over 2 weeks.  I remember the day that she was born like yesterday.  It's amazing how quickly this time has gone.  She is no longer my baby, but rather a very opinionated, bright, loving, and strong willed little girl.  Although there are times that the whining wears on my nerves, I can't imagine my life without her.  She brings us so much joy and makes us laugh every day.  She talks everyday about the things that she's going to do when she "grows bigger" and we remind her every day not to grow to quickly. 

We are pleased to announce that after two months, our furniture has finally arrived.  Our living room is now almost complete (we decided to order another piece to our sectional to make it just a little bit bigger).  Nate went and picked out a media stand which he did a great job picking out.  And we now finally have a TV that you don't have to squint at to see when you're sitting on the couch.  Nate got his 60 inch TV, which is definitely a step up from our 37 inch TV that was filling (or rather Not filling) the space.  I'm starting to find some frames in boxes and hopefully this place will look like a home sometime soon. 

Other than that, nothing too exciting to report.  I'm off to work again this weekend.  Nate will be heading out Saturday evening for Uncle Wes and (Aunt) Janna's engagement party.  Auntie Lauryn gets to hang with the kids until I get home from work.  Ava is very excited!  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

This is from two weekends ago when we went to TCF stadium for a family fun day.  I think that the highlight for Nate was the tour of the stadium which included the locker room.  I have to admit, it's quite impressive.  We had a great time spending the afternoon with Mema, Boppa, and Uncle Wes at the stadium.

Love this guy and those big cheeks!  A little side note, he weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz yesterday, and was 27 inches long.  The Dr. projects he will be 6'4.  That should be tall enough to play basketball.  :)

Ava asked if she could hold Grant.  I said yes and she said, "now please take my picture".  Grant looks a bit apprehensive about the whole situation, but Ava loved it.  And yes, she's in her PJ's.  It was pajama day at "preschool" that day.

My happy little man!