Visitors!! An Aunt and a Disease. What?!

We were so excited to have Peter's sister, Aja, come back to visit us.  She had just been in here in March but she really wanted to meet Emmalyn and so she came back!  We feel very lucky to have her come to Texas twice in a few months! (...Especially since she had just had a medical procedure done the day before and was still recovering!)

She arrived at the airport during Max's nap time so in the car I told him that he needed to fall asleep and take a nap.  I didn't know if it would work but I was worried about how he'd behave without a nap.  Whew - he listened!  (Emmalyn slept like a champ too!)

She brought us a lot of presents!  Each of her 4 kids had picked out something for Emmalyn plus she brought a present for Max AND Landen and Hayden.  Thanks for all the great stuff, Aunt Aja!  You were so generous and thoughtful.

Max is really good and knowing our rules (except "don't jump on the couch"...that rule might as well have never been spoken).  One of the gifts from Aja was some bubbles and she opened it up and blew some in the house and he stopped her said that we blow bubbles outside.  :)

Artwork by Maxwell.  I liked this one.

Three days ago, Landen wasn't feeling well and got this rash on his body.  Brittany took him to the doctor to get checked out because it looked like a few things that were pretty scary (not to mention how scary they could be if Emmalyn caught it).  Turns out that he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.  Sounds pretty bad but learned that it isn't that bad.  He puts his hands in his mouth a ton and probably picked it up when they visited Hayden's school the previous week.  Anyway, the doctor just said to keep him away from the baby to try and prevent her from getting it but if she didn't it would be critical, wash your hands really well, and it would just pass on its own with no medicine.  The bummer part of this was that Landen really really really loves Emmalyn and it was torture to be around her without touching her so Brittany kept him upstairs all the time to try and prevent the disease from spreading to Maxwell or Emmalyn.  That also meant that I lost my helper because she was staying away from the baby as well.  So, all that great help that I had been getting (holding the baby while I showered or getting Max breakfast while I was nursing, etc.) went away.  Now I REALLY had to do it all on my own during the day.

So a few days pass and the first night Aja is here, Peter was putting pajamas on Maxwell and came out and showed me these pics on his phone that he had just taken...  CRAP!  My kid has caught the disease.

His hip

His shoulder

He had a fever the previous night and acted sick but I thought it might have been a fluke.  Well, apparently the fever shows up first with HFMD (Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease) and the sores show up after that.  The sores shouldn't itch but if they get them in their mouth it can be really painful for them.

This was not good because Max now was really liking to kiss Emmalyn a lot, mainly on the head, and saliva is how the disease gets spread.  Just today he was talking about how he wants to make her happy.  He will talk to her and then tell me what she says.  For example "She says she wants a crunchy" (Cap'n Crunch Berries).  And he tell her that he loves her.  It's really sweet and I so want him to love his sister.  And now I have to curb that and keep him away from her as much as possible and certainly stop all the kissing.  Grrrrrr

Video - Emmalyn still has a little bit of the sweet newborn cry.  But she also has a piercing cry that seems to grace us more frequently in the middle of the night.

Emmalyn and the gorgeous blanket Aunt Aja made for her.  

She made one for Max when he was born that he still sleeps with. 

Video - Max showed off his "sight words" skill for his Aunt

I think Maxwell's language skills, especially his large vocabulary and complex (for a 2 year old) sentences are really good.  Aja asked Max if he had cereal for breakfast and he automatically said yes without thinking about it.  He then stops, thinks, and says, "No, actually, no.  I had oatmeal for breakfast."

Give a toddler a spray bottle and they are entertained forever!

More sores were showing up

Emmalyn is awesome at holding up her head.  Notice how bad her baby acne is getting - it's awful!  Her pediatrician said I could use Cetaphil wash on her face to help with it but I haven't because #1 - it's not made for babies and #2 - I feel like baby acne is normal and I should just let it run its course

Video - She's not even 1 month old yet and she's so strong!  Look at how long she holds her head up during tummy time.

Poor Max was not feeling well and wanted to cuddle.  

The sores didn't seem to bother him.  He called them his "dots" and would count them.  He didn't get many on his hands and feet but he did get some in his mouth.  Luckily they didn't bother him so much that he wouldn't eat or drink.  He mainly got the sores on his shoulders, upper arms, back, and upper legs.  They certainly looked awful and can last 10 days!  We all did lots of frequent hand washing to try and protect Emmalyn.  I was grateful that Max isn't a kid that puts things or his hands in his mouth.

Since Brittany took Landen to the pediatrician, I didn't feel like there was any need to take Max especially since there was no medicine to help with the disease.  Brittany also talked with the doc about Emmalyn, since he is also Emmalyn's pediatrician, about Emmalyn and her living in the same house as Landen.  And while he wanted to avoid her getting it if possible, didn't feel it would be serious if she happened to get it.  (In my extensive online research once Max got it, I learned that it isn't common for infants to catch the disease.  Also I figured she'd get some protection through my breast milk.)

Emmalyn holding onto Aja as if she were a steering wheel.

We let him play the iPad since he wasn't feeling well.  The iPad is quickly a group activity.

Max playing with the tool set Aunt Aja got him - he LOVES it.  She always picks out great presents for Max that are spot on.

Emmalyn and her Aunt

Max loved having Aja around!

Ahhhhh tickle monster!

Peter and his sister

We didn't "DO" much of anything during Aja's visit.  Her priority was spending time with Emmalyn, not sight seeing.  Plus, she was recovering and I wanted her to have the benefit of getting some rest while she was here since once she went home she'd have 4 kids to take care of.  It was a short visit and she was gone less than 48 hours after she got here but we enjoyed lots of talking and catching up.  Thank you so much for coming, Aja!!!