Week 81

Sept 22-28

Daddy went out of town so Jack and Mommy had a fun weekend together! :) We rode bikes, played toys, read books, and went to parks!

Here are some great pictures I got of him at the beach yesterday!

Week 80

Sept 15-21

I have recently realized that I owe the world some humble pie. I remember before I had kids I used to despise those mothers whose children always seemed to have a runny, snotty nose. I would think to myself, "poor kid, why doesn't that mother do something about that nose? How much time does it take to wipe it up?" Well...for about a week and a half I had one of those kids. Seriously, how much SNOT can come out of one little kids nose????? It wasn't even strange colors, it was clear for the most part.

It just kept coming.

And coming.

And dripping.

GROSS!!!!!

The kid went through a whole box of Kleenex in one day! Even I've never done that. Ick! I guess I got what was coming for me. I know I'm a nurse and all, but snot is so GROSS! Bleck!

Jack was sick to the point that he had to go to the doctors office. Not bad for the first "real" sickness in 18 months. He's been sick a couple of times but we knew that there was really something wrong with him. It takes a lot for a Pediatric nurse to take her kid to the doctor, but after fevers of 102-103 for 3 days we knew this was much more than teething. When we got to the doctor she confirmed it...strep throat!

I myself was a little surprised. I have never heard of a kid his age getting strep throat. AND, up until that third day he was eating just fine. The pediatrician said it's very rare, especially since he doesn't go to daycare and doesn't even hang out with kids who go to daycare. The only thing we can think of is Kidzone (see previous post). Ed calls it "Strep-zone" now. Haha!

To make a long story short Jack earned himself 10 days worth of antibiotics, but he was definitely feeling better within about 24-36 hours of starting the medicine. Once the fever was under control he was his usual self. After about 2 days he really started eating again and acting like his normal self. I made sure he ate yogurt at least once a day to avoid getting the diarrhea that generally comes as a side effect when taking antibiotics. It seemed to work because he didn't suffer from diarrhea (thank goodness!).

In pediatrics I don't know how many times I've seen a kid with a horrible diaper rash and I ask the parents what happened. They always say, "he/she just has had horrible diarrhea." My next question is always, "well have they recently been sick? Are they on antibiotics?" and usually the answer is, "YES!" Poor little baby butts! If only parents knew about YOGURT! The probiotics help the gut obtain more of the "good" bacteria that the antibiotics essentially wipe out. Attention all moms reading this...antibiotics+yogurt=happy baby butt!

In other news, besides Jacks big illness he was in dire need of a hair cut! So far his hair has been cut twice. The first time I'm sure you all saw on the blog. We took him to Snip-Its and it was awesome/amazing/entertaining but also EXPENSIVE! So for the second haircut we went to good old "Cost Cutters" down the street. Well it was still pretty expensive, after tip it ended up costing $15 and Jacks hair grows FAST! Also, the lady did a horrible job and his hair was all jagged looking. I decided to teach myself how to cut his hair to save money.

We invested in a quality pair of scissors, a comb, and a squirt bottle. Ed and I pretty much just took turns entertaining Jack while the other would go at his head with scissors. It was kind of a trial-and-error way of learning. He ended up looking pretty decent. I'm sure we will learn techniques to improve in the future, but for now it looks better than the cost-cutter lady did. :)

Last, but not least. We celebrated Ed's birthday a week late since I had to work on his birthday last weekend. We had a family day and also gave Daddy the day off from chores and watching Jack. We got Daddy lots of Steelers stuff in preparation for the game he was going to in Tampa the next weekend. I made a homemade cake that Ed requested. It was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. The frosting had chocolate chips and fudge. Yum! :) I think it was my best cake yet!

Next post will be very picture heavy!! :)

Week 79

Sept 8-14

So far September has been a busy, yet fun month for us! We are starting to really get into my new ER schedule (11a-11p shift) and also get used to me working every other weekend instead of every weekend. It is so nice to get the occasional day off TOGETHER. :) Don't get me wrong, I love the days that I have Jack all to myself, but they are even more fun when they are rare. I would much rather have family time with Daddy included!

We have been doing some fun things lately. Jack has friends two houses down from us and their names are Vincent and Charlotte (I think they have been on my blog but I'm not sure). They are 2 year old twins and he LOVE, LOVE, LOVES playing with them! He is also lucky enough to have "Baby Kay-Kay" next door in between our house and the twins house. Three houses in a row with babies!!! :) The three moms love hanging out too so everything is a win-win situation!

We have been spending lots of time with all of our neighbors and it has been nice. A couple of weekends ago all the dads went out for a "guys night" and had a good time down in Melbourne. Last week us girls had an impromptu "wine drinking" out in the driveway. It ended up being 6 of us and we stayed out pretty late. :)

I forgot how fun it is to really have people to hang out with. I think it is necessary to have a nice group of supportive moms to talk to. We all told funny stories. You feel good when you realize you're not the only one with stretch marks or a not-so-fun pregnancy/labor. We all relate to one another and I think it's important to feel like you have a little bit of a support system. I think we might have to make this a Thursday night tradition!

One morning we decided to hit up one of the local parks. One thing I can say about this area of Florida is that there are a million and a half local parks. This particular one is on the river and has gorgeous views. It was a little old for Jack and his friends, but we managed pretty well and by the end of the morning all three of the kids had mastered going down the slides by themselves.

Tara and Baby Kay Kay joined us after awhile. They all had a great time sitting in the grass and enjoying their juice and goldfish crackers! So cute!!!!

Another morning Amy and I took Jack and the twins to this place called "Kidzone" in the area. It's basically a building that contains every toy and play equipment imaginable. There are bounce houses and climbing structures, toy cars, train sets, dress up, books, EVERYTHING a kid could want!! They all had a blast of course.

Jack (on his own) somehow found a bunch of fire trucks and played with them for quite a long time. He also liked the bounce house. The last time he saw a bounce house was 4th of July and he was a little scared of it. This time he was bouncing and playing along with Miss Charlotte. He sure wore himself out!!!

Here are more pictures from our fun day!

Week 78

Sept 1-7

I took Jack to the beach and then to one of the local parks by the river. Here are some great shots I got of him! It is so hard to believe that in just a few days he will be 18 months old! A YEAR AND A HALF! Wow!

Enjoy!