Monday, October 22, 2012

Christmas?!

Part of me is really irritated that stores are already getting ready.  Have you noticed the Halloween trees that look suspiciously like Christmas trees but with bats and pumpkins and red/orange/yellow leaves instead of garland?  While the other part is already working on homemade presents and decorations.  The next big dilemma in my mind though is Christmas cards.  I have a horrible time trying to figure out what to do; I have the stuff to make my own, but that takes time and effort, which normally I don't have either!  Well I like something special for Christmas and obiviously I don't like to spend too much time working on it so photo cards are a crazy good idea.  I just used them for the first time for Pete's birthday party invite.  They turned out great and I didn't have to spend the whole time making something cute.  This time I'm using Shutterfly for Christmas photo cards.I mean do you see how many cute ones there are? Normally I try to narrow down some pictures for Christmas while I take them during the year and have a running list so I'm not sitting there the day after Thanksgiving in a turkey daze trying to remember which of my two-thousand Pete pictures look the best for slot four.  Instead I've narrowed it down to 35 and can go from there.  I really like the ones that I can show pictures from the whole year to fill in the gaps that I've missed in blogging and general family/friend visiting and letters.  Isn't that super cute?  Granted it would be cuter if Pete was the model, but alas no one asks for my opinion there.  They just want to know about my thoughts on their Christmas cards and if I'll promote them on my blog.  Well you can see my answer, so yes this is a sponsored post that I am earning something for.  But really you can get something cool out of the deal too, if you check out the special offers page. 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Adventures in the Medical Field


Pete and Phil snoozing in the ER

Playroom at Lutheran with Pete and Phil
Monday started us out on a crazy adventure this week.  Pete hasn't been sick or had any problems other than his normal allergies just like Phil's.  I was home with him Mom stopped by to see the basement and then headed out to spend the day with Aunt Kate.  I was paying off some medical bills and trying to schedule things for the house.  I was upstairs when I heard him do a non-normal scream and ran downstairs to check on him.  I couldn't hear or see him immediately because he was laying on the floor in front of his toys.  I thought he was choking on something because he was having problems breathing and he's two if something were wrong that would make the most sense.  I checked his mouth and did the back slaps from my first aid class but nothing so I assumed it was something worse and called 911.  He was going limp in my arms and trying to go to sleep.  The dispatcher was incredibly kind as I was completely freaking out.  After a few minutes (which felt like hours) the EMS arrived and took him for me.  I more than willingly handed him over because I knew they could and would help him more than I could at the moment.  I called and terrified the poor secretaries at the high school to let Phil know.  Amazingly she could understand me through the sobs and really short choppy sentences but they did and Phil came to meet us. Our neighbor saw the ambulance and came and joined me while we waited to leave. After calling everyone and getting voicemail on Mom's I called Dad who met us when we arrived at the hospital doors. They got him in a room and started tests and all the fun stuff.  Pete was pretty out of it because of the anti-seizure meds that were given in the ambulance because he had one for them before we left our driveway.  Phil and then mom got there and we went on with tests.  The ct scan didn't show anything and neither did the chest x-ray, or blood work.  They wanted him to stay overnight for observation and some more tests but didn't have a pediatric unit so off to the nearest children's hospital we went. We had to ride in the ambulance again because of the need to watch for another seizure so the transport was called and we ended up with the same crew again!  What nice people they were great with an incredibly grumpy Pete and letting me know what was going on.  Phil drove himself over since there was only room for one of us.  I wasn't going to complain about not driving and riding in a freaking awesome ambulance with someone to talk to!  We arrived at Lutheran Children's Hospital and Pete was admitted quickly. Phil arrived a bit after us and joined us after the interrogation session about Pete's history and information.  We met with the doctor after a bit who finally cleared the poor boy to eat because he was having problems with his blood sugar staying up due the the seizure and lack of food since breakfast ended up all over me!  They had been literally "pumping him full of sugar" with glucose in his IV, so the combination of a toddler finally getting to eat and drink was a crazy busy playful kid.  The hospital had a playroom that we could go to and that is where we spent most of the afternoon and next day because Pete was so bored. Do you know how hard it is to chase a toddler with an IV pole?  Not an easy task!  He had the run of the place and did not want to share when the other kids came to use it.  We met with a neurologist that was a total jerk, but was on call.  He questioned everything I've ever done for Pete and even questioned if he had a seizure in the ambulance.  I didn't see it, but I bet the EMTs know what one looks like.  Luckily we ended up with a different neurologist the next day who was great and very understanding.  Early on Tuesday morning we had the EEG and had to get Pete hooked up.  Poor boy looked like a mummy by the time we were done.  He fell asleep during the test and then we had to wake him up for the last part, the whole thing only lasted about an hour and the test was only 30 minutes. It took a couple of hours to get the results read and have the doctor come back and let us know what was going on in his little noggin.  There was one part that was troublesome and the doctor was concerned about.  He could be a normal brainwave because it looked like one but in the wrong spot and there wasn't anything else to compare it to on his test. We went ahead and put him on a medicine to make sure he wouldn't have another seizure and scheduled an MRI. Eventually we are going to get a 23 hour EEG done to see if the pattern was normal or was something to be concerned about. 



Our daredevil first time down the slide on his bottom!
All in all he is doing great and really you can't tell anything was ever wrong with him.  He is super happy and playful.  We played outside on the playset yesterday and everything.  But I still can't let him sleep on his own (just for my own sake, not on doctors orders or anything) and I brought him to bed with us last night.  We don't have the greatest monitor so I didn't trust it.  I thought about getting a nicer one but decided he would be fine once the medicine are in his system fully and then he can sleep on his own.


Mommy and Pete on the playset




Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Outdoor Fall Fun

Pete and the trike
The weather has been so nice lately!  I love the bit of a nip that means we need a sweatshirt or long sleeves.  Perfect!  We have been getting our fill of the great outdoors lately with our backyard.  It is so nice to have our own yard to play in, instead of sharing or going to the park all the time.  We also have lots of fun toys that I have collected over time anticipating having a house.  Of course we have the cozy coupe, but we also have a tricycle and a turtle sandbox, all of which were free from the garbage finds!  It is even better when they are free!  We also have a new addition to our various outdoor toys and this one is the best facebook freebie find of all time-a playset!  Stinking awesome!  A good friend from church decided her now teenagers didn't need the playset and wanted it gone so she put it up for grabs to whoever could pick it up first.  We found a truck and picked it up that Saturday!  Pete loves it especially the double steering wheels so he can run back and forth.  He can do the stairs on his own without any problems since they are flat and not the round ladder rungs.  So far though he will not go down the slide on his butt only his tummy with feet first!  I keep thinking he will have a slide burn but so far he hasn't.  We absolutely love our house and so glad that we held out and got this one, even though it was a pain to loose the others that we liked, but this one is so much better and a perfect fit for us. 

Awesome playset



Pete excited to play outside

Just being Pete

Pete showing off the bottom of the playset to Daddy


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

How to Lick a Beater According to Pete

Step 1. Be clean, and have a fully loaded cookie dough beater

Step 2. Start with the most difficult part, the cross in the center.

Step 3.  Lick some off the outside edges and return to center to get more off.

Step 4.  Remove the dough from the center stem of beater.

Step 5.  Commence sucking phase of batter removal.

Step 6.  Use fingers to remove the final specks of dough.