Oh what a day!

And it wasn't good. Mr. Luke has had a cough for a few weeks. I didn't think there was much to be done for it, so I did nothing. But then this past weekend it got worse - really phlegmy and sad. So I called the doctor and couldn't get in until today, Wednesday morning. I LOVE my pediatrician here. I spent the last two years in College Station cursing my old one and I am thrilled with the one we've got. Unfortunately one of the things I love about her (she actually talks to you) is also what causes our trips to the doctor to be about a two hour ordeal. If I didn't like her so much we would have definitely switched.

So I geared us all up for our big trip. And went expecting to hear that I was overreacting and there was nothing to be done but wait it out (what I heard practically every time I took Ava in, in College Station, with similar symptoms). What I heard was quite different.

As she listened to his lungs, I told her there were really no symptoms besides this lung-rattling cough and he was having more trouble than usual falling asleep. And he's had no fever and has been his happy, smiley, talkative self. Well, she was concerned by the wheezing she heard. They checked his oxygen levels and they were at 90%. A- right?, I thought remembering the grading scale from school. Wrong. They said that was not good. So they did a breathing treatment with a nebulizer there in the office. Loud and scary to Ava and Luke! After the treatment he was better at 95% but still not great. She ordered a chest x-ray and oh yeah, he has an ear infection too. I was feeling worse as a mother with each passing second. My poor little guy had not given me any clues as to what was going on inside him. When Ava is sick, you know it!! But here was my tender baby, just being so happy and sweet. It made me feel awful. The doctor did agree with me and said she probably would have done the same as I did and that usually someone with that kind of respiratory distress shows more signs.
Today also taught me that I would never make it as a single parent. Dan, I love you! Between carrying the carseat with a heavy baby in it, my bag, my umbrella, my stack of papers and perscriptions, a bag with the nebulizer I get to take home for more breathing treatments, and holding on to Ava's finger and picking up her stuffed puppy dog and puppy house she brought, I really thought I might lose my marbles. "Down this hall, Ms. Colton...Register with radiology right here...then wait over there... come in this office...I have to go potty... go wait back out there, Ms. Colton" And then the kicker, "We can't do the x-ray with her (Ava) here. You'll have to get someone to come and get her." Luckily it was near lunch time so Dan ran over from work and took Ava to Wendy's where I met them a short time later. But that was only after his x-ray, which may have been the most heart-breaking part of this whole day.

There is a table with leg holes cut out and a baby size bicycle seat. The technician has me hold his arms straight over his head while she clamps a clear plastic tube so tightly around his whole body. Only his tiny fingers poke out over the top and his tiny face peeks out of a circle cut-out. As you can imagine he does not think this is very cool. He's crying and I feel like such a meany as I keep holding his little fingers. I'm talking to him telling him everything is okay, and he looks up at me with his cheeks smashed up against the plastic tube and he smiles. That's my Luke. Here he was in this heinous contraption having been tortured plenty for one day and he still finds the gumption to smile at his mama. I just love this guy!

So to make a long story just a little longer, the x-rays were clear-no pneumonia. We have to give him the treatments with the nebulizer every four hours (and through the night) for the next 2 days and then every 6 hours for the next 2 days after that, and so on. ( He hates this by the way) And of course his antibiotics. We'll go back in 10 days and hopefully he'll be as good as new. Phew, what a day!

Baby torture

And oh yeah, the cherry on top, Ava, who hasn't had an accident in over a week, pees on our bed tonight! Oh man, I'm glad it's bedtime!

Lullabye

Little babies like to sleep and Luke is certainly no exception. But while Ava was a "You Are My Sunshine" kind of girl, Luke prefers this one. My babies like to be sung to but it's interesting that even at such a young age, they have a preference as to which one.

Hush my Dear One,
sleep serenely,

Close your eyes now,
go to sleep.

Mother rocks you,
humming lowly.

Close your eyes now,
Go to sleep.

Angels hover,
ever nearer,

looking on your smiling face.
I will hold you,

close enfold you.
Close your eyes now,

Go to sleep.

Empire of the Sun, welsh lullabye: Suo Gan



P.S. If you want to see why Ava's boyfriend, Corbin, is a child prodigy click here.

Pumpkin-Pickin'

Yesterday we went on a little adventure! My friend Val and I took our kids and met Tiffany with her kids at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, TX to get us some pumpkins! And I think that the actual pumpkin-picking became almost secondary to all the fun stuff that was there.

So Val and I arrived first and let me just preface this recap with the idea that Ava has been doing awesome with her potty training but like any kid, she still has the occasional accident. They usually happen when a) she's tired or b) she's doing something really fun and she doesn't want to miss anything for a potty break. And I knew this trip might possibly include both. Also let me say I have a little case of what I like to call Potty Paranoia. After our first and only (so far) public accident I have become very vigilant when we're out and about and I keep my diaper bag stocked with what I hope won't be needed!

Before we left I told Ava we were going to a farm and she could use the potty there. She thought she'd get to "poop in a barn" (her words, not mine!) and I didn't disagree so lucky for us, that's exactly where the restrooms were located. We arrive and after a quick restroom break,

we walk around a bit and take this picture:


and then this one:


and we gotta get Quentin in there:


And this is the scene of the crime. Ava stands up and her little blue dress and Dora panties are wet and sticky. "Ah!" I say. She JUST went potty 3 minutes ago. But upon further inspection we realize it's not you-know-what, she actually sat on a rotten pumpkin! Not much better. I didn't want to use the pull-up in my bag because we still had the whole day ahead of us. So this is what resulted:



I took Val's suggestion to be a little "white-trashy" and let Ava's undies air dry before putting her shorts on. Really this experience was a fairly minor part of the day and we went on to have lots of fun!

My camera's battery died on the hayride so here's some more pictures of our adventures from Tiffany's camera.
Here's Ava and Corbin on the hayride to the "pumpkin patch". The farmer informed us that due to the heavy rainfall this year, all they could plant where Jack-be-Little Pumpkins. Each child got to pick one to take home. Ava is in love with hers and won't hardly leave a room without it.



Here they are with their picks:


After the hayride we ate a picnic lunch, rode this corn train,



jumped on this big pillow,


rode these cool four wheeled bikes that I don't have pictures of, petted goats and a miniature donkey, chased the chickens, cockadoodled with the rooster, and picked out a big pumpkin ("a daddy" for Ava's little one) to take home. I don't think I have ever had such a sweaty, water guzzling, pumpkin picking trip before, but it was fun! Ava was ready to drop by the time we left! Thanks for the fun day, Tiffany and Val!

Random Sampler

1. Luke slept in his room for the first time last night. He did great and I guess I did okay too. I just don't like it very much. As I laid him down, looked at his sweet little self, and walked out I couldn't help but thinking this was just one of the many "firsts" that mean he is growing up. I know it's not like he's going to college or anything but that's the sad thing about babies-they have to grow up!

2. I thought there was a monkey in Ava's bed this morning. We bought this ridiculously expensive baby monitor that will let us listen to both kids rooms. It's not like Ava really needs it but she occasionally does wake in the night and our room is too far to hear her without one. So anyway, this monitor scans the rooms and stops at each one for about 5 seconds before moving on. So this morning, I heard a strange noise from Ava's room on the monitor, but just as I was figuring out what it was, the monitor moved on to the next room. So I quickly switch back to hers and I hear "OOH OOH- AAH AAH" (that's how a monkey sounds, don't ya know?) It was her best "Boots" (from Dora) impression ever.



She just kept doing it over and over. So I opened her door and asked her, "Hey, is there a monkey in here?" She just kept doing it, so I walked over to her bed and asked her again, "Is there a monkey in your bed. I thought I heard a monkey!" Her reply made me laugh out loud- "No, mommy it's just me, Aya" (She calls herself Aya).

3. I felt really happy to hear Elder Eyring refer to a journal he kept for his children in his talk during conference. It made me remember how important it is to record your experiences not only for you but for your posterity. It also inspired me as I write here and in my personal journal to look for the ways Heavenly Father is working in our family's life each day. And on another note I was really happy to find a place that will turn your blog into a book, so that you can keep it in a hard copy (www.blurb.com). I plan to do this once or twice a year so that even my little kids can have it to look through and see their pictures and read the stories about themselves.

4. Ava has abandoned the hat and mittens, hallelujah! Dan says he didn't hide them but they are no where to be found!

Strawberry Shortcake rears her sweaty head!

Alright, here is Ava last Christmas (2006) at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Utah. It was cold and snowy and these Strawberry Shortcake hat and mittens were purchased on our trip because obviously coming from Houston, we didn't have any.


The stores had pretty slim picking by that time so we settled for Strawberry Shortcake and figured we'd use them and probably wouldn't see them again, right?

Wrong!



Fast forward 10 months, where Ava has dug them out of the closet and refuses to take them off.
Here she is drinking her root beer in her snow hat. Notice the mittens laid carefully on the table next to her. Also keep in mind that while yes, it is October, it's still about 95 degrees at our house. When we take off her hat for say, bedtime, her hair is plastered to her head with sweat.


And here she is later holding her "Baby Guke"


She has always had an interesting sense of fashion, and my motto is "if it's not hurting you or anyone else, go for it!" And my other motto is "don't embarrass me!" so she is required to take them off when we go in public.

Hopefully, this phase will pass quickly, as it is kind of a pain to take those silly mittens on and off. Dan said last night as we were going to bed, "Let's hide that pink hat and mittens!"

Dinner Delicious!

Last night I planned to make Shrimp Scampi. I hadn't had it in a long time and I love it! Many nights I get to make dinner with my lovely assistant, Ava. Sometimes its hard to find her a good job to do, but last night worked out great for her to stand on her chair and tear parsley into little bitty pieces.

It's getting kind of fun to have this little person around! When she was a baby, I remember thinking so often, "I wonder what she's thinking!". Now I can finally find out. She's started to tell me how she feels, and it's pretty interesting (this morning she said, "I'm still tired"). Also, she is the BIGGEST daddy's girl of all time (who wouldn't be, with a dad like Dan?) so she usually saves all of her sweetest sentiments for him. I was admittedly disappointed when I saw these Daddy-preferring tendencies at about 15 months, but I have made peace with them and really, there's not much I can do.

Anyways, back to the shrimp. As we stood there next to each other, making our dinner, she looked over at me and said, "I'm so happy, Mommy." I know it doesn't sound like much, but right then I felt my heart swell and all I could think was, "So am I."
Needless to say my shrimp scampi was extra delicious last night.

P.S. I substitute one cup of chicken stock for the white wine and it works BEAUTIFULLY!

Hair today...

Luke was born with lots of silky, shiny, dark brown baby hair,


and by just shy of three months old, there wasn't much left!




But never fear, it's growing again! Three days ago he woke up with eyebrows, Hello Eyebrows!



Let's hope those hairs on his head aren't too far behind!