Third week of February 2017

Maxwell posing before school.  It was school class picture day so he dressed up a little bit.  It was a Wednesday

The night before he seemed sweaty at night and was complaining about headaches but in the morning he seemed to have energy so I sent him to school.

A couple hours later, I get a call from the school nurse saying that he has a fever of 101.  So I went to pick him up and take him to see his doctor.   (Luckily pictures had already happened so he didn't miss them.)

He weighed 42.4 lbs

I let him eat his snack because he was hungry (they have lunch at school at 10:30 am).  His snack was apple slices and seaweed (He loves it!).

At the doctor's, he had a fever of 101.6 and was diagnosed with an ear infection. 

He quickly went downhill.   On way home said he wanted to lay down, and then by the time we got home, he couldn't even change his clothes into something more comfortable.  So I helped him then brought his medicine.   

Sad sick face

He quickly fell asleep and took a 3 1/2 hour nap!!!

Not feeling good at all

That tooth was soooooo ready to come out.  We finally had enough of the drama around getting the tooth out and Peter pinned him down and just pulled it out.  

He survived! (And the next morning got $1 for his tooth.)  Two bottom teeth - gone!

Brushing her teeth while wearing my shoes

Look at that rash!

Poor max was just not having a good go of it.  I keep him home from school the next day since the rule states that they have to be fever free for 24 hours without medicine before they can go back.

At work, the Network of Women put on a bunco night with our Executive Leadership Team.  It was a huge success!

On Friday, I wasn't sure whether to keep him home or send him.  I decided to keep him home which was a good thing because he said he was tired and he proceeded to lay down all day except for lunch and dinner. 

I prepped all my stuff to drop off at the consignment sale that I like to sell/shop at.

I did the smaller site this time and it was still totally packed with items.

On Saturday, we had our friend Andrea's son Carter's third birthday party.  Maxwell seemed up to going.  He didn't jump long in the bouncy house which was a sign that he wasn't yet 100%.

Enjoying cake

Emmalyn was my grocery shopping helper.  She pushed the little cart, loaded things on the belt, and helped me pay.

Enjoying a snack outside while Maxwell was in Kindermusik.

Knocked out after a birthday party plus playing in the sun.  I gave her a wipe to clean her face but she was clearly too tired to get that done.

Sunday was the 5th day of Maxwell being sick and he still was acting tired!  Luckily there was no school on Monday so he had one more day to get better.

Maxwell wrote a story/drew pictures about making Smores next door.  He drew the process and included Mr. Chris too.  (I'll correct the spelling--) "A couple days ago, I asked to go toast marshmallows with Ms. Mary Ann.  With my cousins..."

Fun Sunday breakfast - thanks Dad!

I love this note Maxwell wrote to me and Peter

Emmalyn going potty on the big potty!

Trying to teach her how much toilet paper to use

Every time she goes potty in the potty, she gets a sticker.  (Trying to staying away from candy as the reward.)  Yay for potty training!

Emmalyn has been in panties on Saturday and Sunday at home. No accidents other than one early on Saturday when she was trying to get there and didn't go fast enough. Then Monday did great with Britt. No accidents at home - even pooping. I put pull-up on her outside the house though because I don't want to deal with extra changes of clothes and accidents outside the house and she poops in it of course.  She is not yet staying dry during nap. 

When tucking Max in he this week, he was talking about being awesome so I asked him what he was awesome at and he said "addition". Then he asked a question about negative numbers so I tried to explain them a little to him and he goes "you are really good at teaching me. You should be a teacher" Then later when cuddling, he said "you are good at being a mom". Melted my heart. 

Signed Emmalyn up to start at Castle Montessori in the fall today. Excited for her to go - she's ready for it! Her new thing at bedtime is once you lay her down, she gets one blanket, puppy, and turtle and bunches them together and lays on top of them. Then you put her peppa pig blanket on her and go to leave and she goes," mom. I have just one thing to tell you." Every time. Sometimes she tries to sneak more things in but always has something else to say. Often she will tell me how excited she is that in the morning she will get to have cereal and milk and play on her iPad.

Max gets glasses!

At preschool, Maxwell had his vision and hearing tested.  It's state law in Texas that 4 year olds need to be tested before they go to kindergarten. When we got the results back, it said that he passed the hearing test but that the vision test just recommended that we follow up with a ophthalmologist.  It said that they did two screenings and he was unable to pass.  His Right Eye was 20/50 and his Left Eye was 20/30.

Well, that didn't say he FAILED it so I figured maybe he was just goofing off and they weren't able to get solid results?  I mean, he's 4, right?   Maybe they couldn't solidly say he passed and so he had to go be screened again.  I thought, for sure, that when I took him in that he would behave because I would be there with him and that he would pass the test.

I took both kids.  Fingers crossed this wasn't a mistake.  :)

Maxwell was so awesome - well behaved, cute, personable.  The Doctor we went to was just a pediatric doctor so he was great with Maxwell and the exam went well.

When the doctor held up the patch over Max's left eye, Maxwell leaned further to the right to peer around the patch with his left eye.  

Up to that point I was still sure Max's vision was just fine.  He can read...  surely if he had issues with his vision he would have struggled learning how to read or we would have seen other symptoms but we hadn't.

After I saw how Maxwell instinctively moved his head to be able to see when the doctor covered his left eye, it was very obvious that he DID have issues with his vision and was trying to compensate for that.

Max got his eyes dilated so we had to wait awhile for the drops to work.  He got pretty quiet after that, I think that the effect of the drops on his eyesight made him a little sick and he just wanted to sit there. (He has a bandaid on his ear because he was complaining of an ear ache so I had some melaleuca oil on a cotton ball in his ear to help heal the ear ache.)

This time in the waiting room was good for me.  I was freaking out a little inside because as a parent, I was not prepared for something to be wrong with my child.  I certainly didn't think he'd need glasses at 4 years old but now it seemed like that would certainly be happening!  I immediately was worrying about how he'd feel about having glasses...would he get teased...would it be a fight to get him to wear the glasses... how could I have missed his vision issues?...etc.  It was good for me to have some time to work through those emotions while we were still at the doctors and before I had to get out in the world and start dealing with it.

I just kept thinking back to when I saw him lean to the side in order to see around that little patch.  Clearly there was an issue.  And if there's an issue, let's fix it!

While we were waiting, Maxwell looked at me and excitedly asked if he could get glasses.  I told him we'd wait and see what the doctor said.  Inside, my heart calmed down just a little bit.  My sweet son was excited and wanted to get glasses!  I started to feel like it was going to be okay.

We went in for the rest of the examination and Max did great.  The doctor told me that he had a lazy eye (his right eye).  He said Max needed glasses now but that he may not need to have them forever if we could help strengthen that lazy eye now.  He said the more Maxwell wore them, the more it would help his vision and most likely by the time he's 7-8 he wouldn't need glasses anymore.  I didn't realize that getting glasses didn't mean a life sentence of wearing glasses.  Max is going to wear those all the time so that we do everything we can to strengthen that eye!

After the doctor, we stopped at the cafe in the hospital for a yogurt snack.

Max got some snazzy sunglasses to wear until his eyes returned to normal from the dilation.

After the eye doctor, we went to Max's pediatrician to get his ear checked out.  

Big kid weighs 38.8 lbs

We were in the race car room

Max did great with this doctor's visit too.  He DID have an ear infection.  (The doctor let me look in the little tool to see his ear.  It was pretty interesting.)  So, antibiotics on the way!

I took the kids to lunch before dropping Maxwell off at school and Emmalyn off at Britttany's.  Emmalyn was enjoying her blue sucker from the doctors.

She had a VERY blue mouth

When I took Maxwell back to school, he had a hard time seeing the screen when we were signing in.  He always likes to hit the buttons and was struggling.  It took me a couple seconds to remember that his eyes were dilated.  whoops - sorry Max.

When I told Peter about Maxwell's doctor's visit he was pretty upset about it (just like I was when I first heard).  I tried to pass the comfort I got from SEEING how his vision was impacted but it was still hard for Peter.

While I was out, I was trying to think of anyone I knew who had a young child who had to get glasses.  I wanted to talk to someone who had been through it.  It was no coincidence that when I was coming home, one of my friends in the neighborhood was outside gardening and as I drove past it hit me that SHE had a young daughter who had glasses.  So, I backed up and spent awhile talking to her about her experience.  Her daughter got glasses about the same time Maxwell did and had a very similar vision problem.  She shared that having glasses had been no big deal for her daughter.  She got compliments all the time on her glasses.  She wasn't scarred by having them.  Her perspective helped calm my heart even more.  I will be forever grateful she just happened to be outside when I drove by.

By that evening, I was over my worries and confident that everything was going to be okay!

After Peter got home from work we headed to the eye glass store and picked out some new glasses for Maxwell.

His first pair that we picked - Power Rangers branded with yellow on the sides

His second pair - with a more dark red/brown metallic frame where the ear pieces can bend all the way out horizontally with the eye pieces so they are much less likely to be broken.

He was incredibly excited!  It's going to be tough to wait the few days until they come in.

That night - my sweetly sleeping boy

He's been using the green "blanket" (it's really a soft hooded towel) lately

Emmalyn sleeping...

...with one foot sticking out of the crib.

End of April 2015

Here's how we ended April...

I took Emmalyn to park for some Mommy and Me time before her 1 year check up at the Pediatrician

She loves the swings.  We didn't to much else because it had rained so everything was wet.

She knew something was up and was not happy about it.  I was glad she got sick around her dr visit time so I didn't have to make a separate visit

Her questionaire...

Trying to keep her happy and warm while we waited

She was wiped out and done.  The doctor diagnosed her with her first ear infection.  Because she wasn't healthy we will have to come back in a week for her 1 year shots.

Here's Emmalyn's Stats:

Weight: 16 lbs 8 oz (7th percentile)

Height: 26.8 inches (<1st -="" even="" first="" nbsp="" not="" percentile="" right="" s="" st--="" that="" the="">

Head: 17.5 in (36th percentile)

It's amazing to me how similar Maxwell and Emmalyn are in their percentiles at 1 year.  Max was 4th percentile on weight, less than the 1st percentile on height (oh my poor kids!!!!!! such shorties), and 37th percentile on his head.

Sweet, sick, sleepy girl.

Uh oh.  Maxwell wasn't feeling good either and fell asleep in the car at an odd time, which is always a warning sign.

It's so hard because I never feel completely confident that my kid is doctor-visit-worthy sick.  Is it something the doctor can't help with or is it something serious?  Anyway, Maxwell wasn't doing well so I decided to take him into the doctor as well.

Max weighed 36 lbs - that means he's gained 3.4 lbs since his 3 yr old check up 8 months ago.  Not sure if that's good or bad but he seems to be proportionate.

Turns out Maxwell had an ear infection as well and it was both of their left ears!  (They aren't contagious, right?!) So both kids are now on antibiotics.

A funny/sad moment happened when Maxwell wasn't feeling well.  We were in the shower and he tooted.  Well, because he wasn't feeling well he had diarrhea which meant that when he tooted, a little poop came out.  He was HORRIFIED.  He couldn't believe he had pooped in the shower.  I felt so bad for the kid.  (It scarred him for awhile and he would check every time he tooted in the shower to make sure he hadn't pooped.)

Video - Emmalyn and her big brother interacting with each other.  She starts out adorable and then for no reason shifts into mean mode.  Is this a girl thing?!

Watching the video we just took with daddy

One of the perks of working on General Mills' business - you can hang with the dough boy!

Talking to her reflection

Video - Maxwell is doing great at swimming and it seems to be clicking to where you can say he's starting to really swim.  Here he is practicing his backstroke.

Medicine time

We finally got to have soccer practice.  It's been so rainy that having it outdoors has been impossible so we (the team) rented a space indoors.  It was good for the kids to be able to do some drills and work on skills.  Clearly Maxwell worked hard - he was all sweaty.

The little stinker climbs into the beyblade stadium whenever the boys are playing with it.  Apparently she thinks it's just for her.  :)

Maxwell's soccer team getting their pictures done

Another soccer game

We had a nice day so I let the kids play in the splash table.  This was Emmalyn's first time.

I had the lighting guy come back and move one light so that it better lit up the entry way.  (you can check out the before here.  I'm super dooper happy now.

I've been really walking focused on walking more lately and thanks to my fitbit have been able to track my steps and have little competitions with friends.  It's been good.

Playing with little dolls (I love when he plays pretend)

Playing with his sister - yes!

Emmalyn adores her Uncle Joe

It was almost a week past her doctor's appointment and it seemed her ear was still bothering her so I used some essential oils to try and help (I didn't want to be turned away from getting shots again!)

Two kids, happily playing.

We finally got around to opening up the presents from her birthday party.  Maxwell was a great helper and Emmalyn got into it a little bit.

The cards were a hit

Too busy with her cards to keep unwrapping so Max helped out

Maxwell is making more notes - here's one he made for me

He also wrote (and then folded) a birthday card for Emmalyn.  We helped him spell the words but he wrote it all himself.  Proud of my 3 1/2 year old!

He folded it into an "envelope"

Back to the doctor for her shots.  Again, she wasn't very happy when I put her on the table.

Pick her up though, and she's all smiles

Helping Aunt Brittany do the dishes

She loves the babydoll she got for her birthday

She's a much messier eater than Maxwell was

Super happy to be outside and going on a walk!

2 shots

Daddy let her try her first sucker after Maxwell's swimming lesson.  Naturally, she loved it.

Update on the kids...

Maxwell says a couple words incorrectly and it's just so cute that I don't ever correct him and hope he keeps saying them this way for awhile...

Deemember = Remember

Cucancumber = Cucumber

Nuffing = Nothing

I went to get Maxwell up one morning and he smelled my morning breath and goes, "ewwww poopy"! (nice, son)

Despite the moments of harsh honesty, he's so sweet and great at giving compliments.  Here's a few I've heard lately, "I love your soft skin mom", "I love your knuckles", "I love your hair". 

Rather than directly asking for it, he said to me "You can touch my hair mom, my hair is right here" when he wanted me to play with his hair.

We aren't giving him prizes for staying dry through the night anymore because he's doing such a great job at it.  We still have him in pull-ups though - just in case.

Emmalyn will say "bye" now and will try to say other words if you ask her to.  

She is feisty!  An example is won't just spit her binky out, but instead takes it out and throws it.  She will grab meanly at your face (see video above) or pull hair.  I hope this is just a phase.

She has been super cuddly since she has been sick though so I've been eating up every moment of that.