Kevin's Laughing!

Didn't I say yesterday that he was so close to his first real laugh? Well, it happened this afternoon! :))

He was stretched out on his change table, wearing nothing but a diaper. He had drooled all over his outfit, so I had to get a new one out of the closet. As soon as he was undressed, he tilted his head back, looked up and over his shoulder, and started to giggle. Then, he laughed! It only lasted about 5 seconds, but talk about CUTE.

Daddy and I had both noticed that he frequently does that on the change table--looks back up over his shoulder, kind of towards the closet, and grins and giggles at . . . apparently nothing! We're not over there; there's no wall decorations in that area; and I have no idea what's in the closet that could be so amusing. (?)

So, now that I knew this situation to be a laugh-trigger, I tried it again tonight when I was getting him ready for bed. Sure enough, as soon as he was on the change table, undressed, he started the grinning and giggling. So, I grabbed the camera, hoping to get his first day of laughing on video. But it didn't quite happen. Again, he was so close to laughing! Still, even his almost-laughs make for some adorable video. So, here they are!

We've Been Busy!

We've been busy this week, and mostly in good ways.

The only tough thing was getting through the final days of Andrea's cold, which thankfully, is over. She has a rough cough now and then, but it doesn't seem to bother her. Daddy has the cold now, which is hard on him, but he's a tough guy when it comes to illness ("I am NOT sick!").

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Let's see . . . what's been going on? Well, Brigitte spent two nights with us this week (Thursday and Friday). It was the first time Andrea's had someone sleep over in her room! There's a trundle bed in a drawer under Andrea's, and it worked out perfectly. Andrea was so excited to have Brigitte over for two nights in a row! They played together the whole time, and Brigitte was a great help to me with both Andrea and Kevin. She's so good with her little cousins. :))

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Yesterday, we had some friends over for a play date. It was kind of special, because Aunt Stephanie brought along a friend of Mommy's, who she'd hardly seen since high school, who has a little girl about Andrea's age. Aunt Stephanie and Angela had attended the same Early Years program, and when Angela heard from Aunt Stephanie that I have two little ones now, we decided to get together for a visit at our house. So, Aunt Stephanie and Izzy came over with Angela and her little girl, Elizabeth, who is just a few months older than Andrea. Angela is also expecting a baby boy in early January--so we will have both a girl and a boy close in age.

Unfortunately, Andrea wasn't in her best mood, as she refused to nap yesterday. I also think she was a bit out of her comfort zone, with two other toddlers helping themselves to her toys. But I thought it was a great learning experience for her. Overall, the visit went smoothly; there were certainly enough toys for everyone--it looked like a toy bomb had landed on my house! :))

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What else? Well, I haven't felt like doing much blogging this week because all I've been doing is working on blogs! What do I mean? Well, I've been feeling this urge to get all my blogs on paper. I'm not sure why; and it turned out to be a major project! I have been working every day, all week long: organizing, reformatting, shrinking the photos, and printing. But the finished product is quite impressive. Think about it: I had Andrea's blog, which spanned 17 months of her life; then Kevin's blog, my nine-month pregnancy for him; and then about 3 months of this new blog. It's over 500 pages long (I know, because I went through at least one 500-sheet package of paper)! Looking at it, I am awed. And as I type this . . . it continues to grow! :))

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Here's some cute Kevin stuff from the past week, which I am finally getting around to putting in the blog. One thing I am very excited about: he is so close to laughing! He's almost doing it. He grins and gurgles and makes these little "he, he" noises. It's too funny. I can't wait to post his first laugh. In the meantime, here's some things he does that make me laugh:

I'm gonna eat you, caterpillar!

Mmmmmmmm . . . yum, yum, yum . . .

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He's also become very interested in the fish on his swing--both on the mobile, and on the fabric. He talks to them! If he's in the swing facing outward and he starts to get fussy, I just switch his swing to face the other way, and he gets all excited! Today, he even did his almost-laugh at them! Unfortunately, Mommy couldn't get the camera fast enough to get his almost-laughs on video. However, I did get some great footage of them talking to the fishies. :))

Very Quick Andrea Update

The Pedia-Pred seems to be helping. Last night was rough until about midnight--lots of coughing and crying. Then she slept okay. Today she is coughing less, and seems more chipper, but still has some bad bouts. And she hates the Pedia-Pred (it tastes yucky). This morning her OJ with the meds in it ended up all over her, me, Dora, and her comfy. Blah.

Quick Update

Took Andrea to the clinic this morning. It's not an infection, but a very nasty cold. Doctor said today has been "HELL for asthmatics," and gave us a prescription for Pedia-Pred (more steroids!). She had this when she was in the hospital before. It works, but makes her super hyper.

She is still coughing like crazy. Slept okay last night, but her cough is still terrible, and she's still gagging. Fever still going up and down, just have to keep on top of the meds.

So far, we're holding steady. Definitely better than getting worse. Hopefully, the Pedia-Pred will do the trick.

She's coughing and crying in her sleep again, poor baby. Off I go to cuddle and comfort!

And so it begins AGAIN . . . :((

I am so stressed out right now, that I am sitting here shaking and feeling nauseated and I have a cold, wet washcloth on the back of my neck. Seriously.



The past 24 hours have been HELL.



Andrea is sick--very sick. I had mentioned on Facebook that Kevin and I had been hit with the first major infection of cold and flu season. Up until yesterday, I had hopes that it might actually bypass Andrea. Ha--wishful thinking. Kevin and I are feeling about 70% better. We felt miserable for a few days, but it was nothing very serious.



Of course, this being Andrea, every little virus and infection turns into a major health crisis.



So, at around 1 a.m. this morning, I was calling 9-1-1 because Andrea had a fever of over 101F, she was vomiting non-stop for about 20 minutes straight, and she wasn't able to breathe properly. We had given her Advil and her Ventolin puffer a few minutes before, but it didn't seem to be working. She was so violently ill--all over herself, her bedroom floor, Daddy, the bathroom counter and floor--and every time she tried to breathe, a horrible raspy, gasping noise came out. I can't tell you how terrifying it was.



But as quickly as kids can turn for the worse, they bounce back, too. By the time the ambulance arrived, she had calmed down a bit. This helped her to breathe better. And her meds had started to kick in. The EMTs were great, though; they checked her all out. Her temperature had come down, her oxygen level was good, and her lungs sounded okay. We discussed options about going to the hospital, staying home, etc. We decided it would be less stressful (!) for everyone if we stayed here, since she was doing better. The EMTs assured us we could call again if she got worse. Luckily, although the night was rough, and we didn't get her back to sleep until about 3:00 a.m., Andrea did okay.



Kevin--bless his little heart--slept through the whole thing. In fact, he had a record sleep of 10 hours (7 p.m. to 5 a.m.).



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Today has been pretty wretched. Andrea has been coughing non-stop, which hurts, so she is crying a lot. Sometimes she sounds like she is drowning, because there is so much mucous in her throat and lungs. It is awful. She won't eat anything, but I've been coaxing her with a variety of drinks--ice water, milk, orange juice, Crystal Light. At least she is sucking down those liquids! And of course, there is a constant round of meds; I have started a list on our whiteboard so I can keep track of everything!



Daddy is exhausted. His work schedule has been nuts. He's had all these last-minute emergencies (in accounting? who'd have thought?) and business meetings, which means long days and late nights. Today was no exception. After a sleepless night with Andrea, he worked until about 7 p.m. tonight.



And Mommy? Well, you heard at the start of the post. I am a wreck. It doesn't help that Daddy's so busy, but I can hardly blame him, because I know he'd rather be here, too.



I just feel so helpless when Andrea is this sick. I want to make it all better for her, and I can't. There is nothing worse than seeing your baby so sick, and she's crying, and she doesn't understand what's happening to her, and you try to comfort her, but it's just not enough. :(( I am praying so hard for her to get well fast--or if anything, just not to get worse. I don't want any trips to the hospital this year. But it's not looking good--cold and flu season just started, and I've already had to call 9-1-1. (Sob.)



Okay, I've had my rant. I am still an exhausted, nervous mess. And I can hear Andrea coughing and whining in her sleep (so heart wrenching). But it's time to pull myself back together, take a few deep breaths, and get back into Mommy mode again (calm, caring, and competent!).

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She's a typical 2-year-old: doesn't understand that she needs to rest. But she did pile all her favourite toys on and around her comfy (couch) as close at hand as possible. Poor baby!

Trip to Colasanti's / Weekend Silliness

Colasanti's

Colasanti's has changed a lot from when I was a child. I remember it was fun to go out there because there were lots of pretty plants to look at, and they had some goats and rabbits that you could pet and feed, and a few tropical birds to check out.

Over the years, they've added a lot of attractions. They still have all the amazing plants, but there's so much more there for families to do now. It's worth a trip out there, even if you've got a brown thumb, like me!

We had Brigitte at our house on Saturday, so Rod suggested we go out there, for something fun. Andrea and Brigitte loved it, and Kevin enjoyed all the new sights and sounds. I thought Andrea would be scared of the animals. No way! I also thought we'd need a wagon for Andrea when we got there. Ya, right! I swear she was on the run the whole time we were there! (Including when she was supposed to be eating lunch!)

Kids on the Run (get it?)

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Andrea liked the deer eating out of her hand--they were very gentle.

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Daddy fed the rooster, because he pecked too much.

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Andrea had a staring contest with the llama. She won, even if it did stick out its teeth at her!

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I don't think Andrea liked the goats as much as the deer, because they can get demanding sometimes. But these ones didn't bother her, because Daddy had all the goat food.

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I had to get a picture of the baby kids together.

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One animal Colasanti's has a lot of right now is lemurs! They're pretty cool. Daddy held Andrea up so she could see them eating their lunch.

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What kind of animals are THESE?

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Hello!

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The only thing Andrea noticed in the reptile area was the bridges! They were just Andrea-sized, and she loved running and playing on them.

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After lunch, Brigitte showed us where there was a play area. She knew Andrea would like it, because it had climbing structures and slides.

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To finish off our visit, the girls went on a little ride that was like flying bees. Andrea went on it a bunch of times, because she is fearless!

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Weekend Silliness

Andrea and I had some bedtime capers this weekend, since Daddy wasn't here for Friday and Sunday's bedtime. She loves to play on our bed, and she also loves to see herself being silly on camera (but try to take a nice picture of her? forget it).

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Andrea got some coloured bath foam from Aunt Donna for her birthday. For some reason, she was scared of it, until I tried it again about 3 nights ago. Now, she HAS to have it, every night. I put some on her head tonight, and I thought it looked like a crooked halo, so I took a picture. When Daddy saw the picture, he thought it looked like a turd on her head! You be the judge. :))

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I also have two bedtime videos of Andrea. The first is her playing her favourite game on the bed; she's a fan of physical comedy. She says, "Ready, set, go!" and then falls flat on her face in the bedding. She will do this 20 times in a row. It's great, because it helps her burn off excess energy before bedtime!

The next video is Andrea telling me a knock knock joke. I've mentioned this particular joke in a previous post, but it suddenly resurfaced on Friday night. And, once again, I swear we did NOT teach her this!

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And finally, Kevin. You can't help but love this little man!


The hair, the expression, the shirt . . . what can I say? :))

Playing Together!

Today the kids were--dare I say it?--playing nicely . . . together.

I put out Kevin's playmat for him, and Andrea started whining because she wanted to play on it. "Andrea's turn?" she kept asking, and then, "Andrea's turn, please?" How could I refuse when she asked so nicely? So, I told her, "Okay, you can share with Kevin. You can both play with the toys. Just be careful that you don't step on him!"

It actually turned out really well. Kevin was content to watch what Andrea was doing, and listen to her, and swat at her and the toys when he got a chance. Andrea really was careful for once, and gently leaned in and played with some of the hanging toys. She then got each of her dolls and gave them a "ride" on the playmat arches. I could tell Kevin was enjoying watching Andrea bouncing her dollies around up above him. He couldn't take his eyes off her!

Kevin's 2-Month Appointment

Kevin and I went to see our family doctor for his 2-month check-up and immunizations this afternoon. The doctor said Kevin is doing very well!


Our 10-week-old boy weighs 13.8 pounds, and is 26 and 3/4 inches long!
(Note: our infant car seat says it's good up to 20 pounds or 26 inches. Umm...?)

He also had a little "surprise" for the doctor when she opened his diaper: a stinky mess! I checked him just before she came in, and he was clean. I think he did it just to get back at her for giving him the shots!

He had to get two injections, so she put one in each thigh. The first one wasn't too bad; he just flinched a bit. But she warned me that the second one would be more painful for him, and he definitely howled for a minute, the poor little guy. But I was surprised how quickly he bounced back. And so far, it hasn't seemed to bother him too much (knock wood) besides his thighs being a little tender.

Since we were two weeks behind on getting his immunizations, she said we should come back for the next set two months from today, which is what I figured would happen. I'm sure Kevin doesn't mind pushing things back a bit. :))

Kevin's Playtime

I've noticed lately that when Kevin seems restless, sometimes it's because he's bored, and he wants to play! He really gets excited when I put him on his playmat. I just have to make sure that Andrea doesn't step on him!

Today I set up the playmat in his room, and let him do his own thing while I was in and out of the room, doing some housework. (Andrea is at daycare today.) I could hear him talking to the toys, and swatting at them. He also likes looking at the colours and patterns on the playmat (it's one of those ones that is specifically designed for infant brain development, blah blah blah).

He was definitely having fun!

Thanksgiving 2007

Life is GOOD!

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We had a busy, and extremely HOT and HUMID Thanksgiving weekend. But is was also a very happy weekend, because we have so much to be thankful for, with our two beautiful babies and our wonderful family and friends. Daddy's birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day, too--and we are VERY thankful for Daddy! He's fantastic. :))

I took many pictures over the past few days, so I'll use them to tell our Thanksgiving story, with a little extra narration where needed.

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Happy Thanksgiving! This is my first Thanksgiving.

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On Sunday, we went out to Great-Grandma Market's house for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I tried to get a nice picture of Kevin with his Great-Grandma. That silly boy--we didn't notice until afterward that he stuck out his tongue!

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We tried to get Andrea to pose for us in the pretty dress Grama Marty sent her; but she wanted to play on the stairs!
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Aunt Stephanie was singing songs with Andrea. Here they are doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

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Someone brought a little putting green. Andrea was having so much fun retrieving the balls at the end of the green, and she was cheering each person on as they took their turn. I think she was more excited than anyone else!

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Uncle Pook was impressed by her enthusiasm, so he bought her into the game and helped her putt.

Her hat kept falling into her eyes, and she would laugh hysterically after each shot. But, somehow, she managed to win one of the money pots!So, here she is, counting her winnings (Hmm--about $3.00--good for a few bags of M&Ms).

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She runs all the time, everywhere, now!

***One of the boys brought a horn from a Spitfires' game. She thought it was great fun--except she didn't exactly know how to make it work. She just held it to her lips and yelled a deep "Whoo!" Someone mentioned that she reminded them of those "RICOLA!" commercials, and now that's all I can think of when I see this picture!

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Uncle Jerry brought over a bunch of pumpkins from his farm, so each of the kids got to pick one.

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Today, we went to Grandma and Grandpa G.'s for lunch, for Daddy's birthday. We had our traditional Thanksgiving lasagna, because we had our traditional Thanksgiving turkey the day before at Great-Gram's.

It's a lot of work being so adorable . . .

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Daddy got money for Red Wings tickets, and a promise of babysitting! SWEET DEAL

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Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Andrea: Can I eat some YET?

Kevin: ???

(This is also Attempt #1 at a family photo!)

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Family Photo Attempt#2: Mommy's eyes are closed, as usual; Andrea looks anxious; Kevin is stiff; and Daddy is relaxed and having fun, as usual!

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Family Photo Attempt#3: Kevin is yelling; Andrea is dazed, Mommy's eyes are closed again, and Daddy looks great, as usual. Sigh. :))

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Later on, I took some photos of the kids because, well, they're just so darn cute! And they grow and change way too fast.

GOT YOUR NOSE!

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I'm so hungry I could eat a Tigger!
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Mmm . . . licorice Nibs . . . (Daddy is letting Kevin have a taste!)

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Camera Shy

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I'm hiding!

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Finally, miracle of all miracles, Andrea agreed to sit and have her picture taken with Kevin. But she didn't exactly hide her feelings about the situation.

I'm just kidding! She was upset because she wanted to sing "Wheels on the Bus," and I wanted to take the picture first. :))

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For these blessings we are truly grateful. :))

The Sounds of Kevin :))

I had mentioned in a previous post that Kevin was starting to coo a bit. Well, now, when he's in the mood, he has quite a lot to say! It's so adorable, because his eyes light up, and he smiles, and he gurgles and grunts and coos and sighs. Sometimes it even sounds like he's saying hi! I love it when he talks to me like this. :))

Of course, like a typical child, when I turn on the camera he doesn't say quite so much, or smile as often, but I got enough to give you all a taste of it. I tried to edit the video a bit so you'd just get the best parts of him talking, but the last part wouldn't let me edit the middle of the clip (grr--technology: a love-hate relationship). So, the video's a bit long at 3 minutes; but it's worth it to catch all the little baby sounds and smiles!

Kiddie Concerns

Briefly, here's two things that are on my mind:

1. Potty Training: I am ready to start. Andrea is not. She is two years and two months old. I have had the training potty out since she was 18 months old. She will gladly sit on it, with her clothes on. She is interested in what Mommy and Daddy do in the bathroom. She sometimes even tells you if she is in the process of peeing or pooping. But ask if she wants to use the potty, the answer is, "No." And what worries me, is that's it's an anxious-sounding "no"--like she's upset or scared. Any suggestions as to what I can do to help her out, and get things on a roll?

2. "What's Yours is Mine, and What's Mine is Mine": This would best describe the situation in regards to the toys in our household. Poor Kevin doesn't stand a chance. Andrea wants whatever he has. It doesn't matter that she's got a room and a half full of toys, and he's got maybe 5 things to his name. The instant I get out something for Kevin to play with, Andrea wants it. She will literally drop whatever she's doing, come over, and whine until I let her play with his toy. It drives me NUTS! I know part of it is her age, but still, I don't want her to think this behaviour is okay. I am also concerned about the upcoming Christmas season. Is she going to take all Kevin's gifts away from him? I wouldn't mind so much if it was a case of she took one of his toys, but let him play with one of hers in return. I've tried that, too, but I think it's too complicated for a toddler to grasp. So, what do I do? Wait until Kevin is big enough stand up for himself?

Every Picture Has a Story

Here's Andrea with her beloved Dora, as always. I tried to get a nice picture of her with Kevin, but she wouldn't sit beside him. She would only sit in front of him! Then, I tried to get a nice picture of her alone. She threw a tantrum! So, I gave her a break for a bit. Then I asked her if I could take a picture of Andrea and Dora. She said, "Yes!" and you see the pleasant result, above. Just add Dora, and it's all good.

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This is Andrea's talking pony that she got for Christmas when she was 5 months old. For almost two years, she was terrified of it! Suddenly, a few weeks ago, she pulled it out of the corner of her room and decided she loves it. She rides on it, and always asks me to squeeze its ear for her, because that's what makes the music and sounds work. It also has a moving mouth, and she thinks it's fun to make it "eat" her fingers, her face, and other people!

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Remember this picture? It was on my pregnancy blog, for Kevin. We had gone to a Tigers' game on June 9th, and I picked up this whole little kit of Tigers' gear for our baby boy to wear. . .

Here's Kevin, on September 28th, decked out in his Tigers' gear! It's too bad the Tigers didn't make it to the post-season, so he'd have more opportunities to wear this before he grows out of it. Oh, well. It's an adorable picture, and he looks like he's having fun, so that's all that matters!