Crazy, Sick Kids

It has been a crazy month for our family health-wise. Mitchell had to take Joseph to the ER at the beginning of the month while I was out of town, and Joseph had some pretty bad bronchitis. He had to take antibiotics, use an inhaler and a nebulizer, and it was all pretty crazy. He is still coughing regularly, so we have to use the inhaler sometimes before school.

Annabelle and Mitchell had the same respiratory infection that started Joseph's bronchitis. And Charlie and I caught it once we were back in town. There was lots of coughing and a bit of misery for the first part of the month. Charlie is still coughing pretty badly and I'm still coughing a bit.

On Thursday, I noticed Charlie's eye looked pink and there was a lot of goop in the corners. Annabelle's 4 year well-check was the next morning, so I just had him seen at the same time. The doctor checked his lungs and his eye, but he seemed to be just fine.

Friday evening, while I was making dinner, Charlie threw up all over the little, neighbor girl, Janina, while she was playing at our house. I stripped him down and took his temperature, but he was asleep before I even finished. His temp was just around 100 degrees, so I didn't think it was a big deal. He slept on my bed for about an hour and a half. When he woke up, he was burning up, so I took his temp again and it had risen to 102.5 degrees. He seemed pretty lethargic and delirious, so I was initially very worried. I was about to take him to the ER, but I felt like I should clean him up first and try to cool him down a bit. We spent about 40 minutes in the shower, just sitting in the water, until we ran out of hot water. I kept asking him if he wanted to get out and lay in the bed, but he would just say, "uh-uh." He just laid in my lap with his eyes closed and swished his hand in the water. When we were finally out of hot water, I got him out, dried him off, and dressed him. And his fever was WAY down. He was also talking to me normally, telling me he was hungry and asking for drinks. He had apple juice and watched PBS with the kids until really late. Annabelle came into the room crying shortly after the shower because her ear was hurting. I gave her ibuprofen and a heating pad to rest on. Sometime while watching PBS, and I was washing the dishes from dinner, Charlie threw up just a little bit on the floor next to my bed. But by the time Mitchell got home from work, around 10:30, Charlie was jumping on the bed and playing as if nothing had happened. He slept on the floor next to me that night, and kept me up with his coughing. I kept thinking he was going to throw up again, but he just had so much drainage running down his throat that he was trying to cough up. He didn't even wake up for any of his coughing fits!

I had planned on taking the kids to Boo at the Zoo Saturday morning, but after the evening's ordeal, I figured that wasn't a good idea. But then all the kids seemed just fine! They played and did all their normal stuff. I figured they were all feeling better, so I started trying to get everything ready for church the next day. I let Charlie sleep next to me again, and he was coughing most of the night again. Joseph was also coughing a lot during the night, and Annabelle needed more ibuprofen for her ear.

By morning, I just felt like I should give them a little longer to get better, so Mitchell went to church without us. When Charlie got up, I noticed a patch of red bug bites on his ankle. I figured he'd rolled on a spider or something on my floor because our house is full of bugs. When Annabelle woke up, we noticed one of her eyes was pink looking. And she had a runny nose and cough. When I went to change Charlie's diaper, I found patches of the "bug bites" all over his body, and that's when I realized they were hives. He had them all over and was scratching a lot, so I gave him some Benadryl. He was also getting warm again, so Mitchell had me give him some Tylenol. About 2 hours after the Tylenol, his temp was around 100.2 degrees, so I wonder what it would have been if we hadn't given him the Tylenol. The rest of the day went fine, but at bedtime, Joseph kept saying he was itchy. I checked and he was covered with patches of hives, too! I gave him Benadryl before bed, and Annabelle needed ibuprofen again.

This morning, Joseph's hives were gone, but Charlie still had his and Annabelle had some. At 9 am, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for all three of them. I was worried about Joseph being contagious because of the hives/rash being on all three kids, so I had him pulled out of class to wait in the nurse's office until I could get there.

They were extremely ill-behaved at the doctor's office. I couldn't believe how rowdy, loud, and disrespectful they were being! I spent the whole appointment trying to keep them under control (and failing) while trying to answer all the doctor's and nurse's questions. After looking at them, the doctor told me they all had ear infections, and Joseph had fluid in BOTH of his ears. That would also explain a lot of the other stuff going on. It's possible to get hives from viruses, so we are thinking that is what is causing their hives. They are going to all be on antibiotics, plus we are getting eye drops for the pink eye. I was instructed to continue with the inhaler for Joseph as needed, and to use Benadryl for the hives, as needed.

Right now, Joseph and Charlie are playing out on the front porch --it's 85 degrees today!-- and Annabelle is sleeping after a dose of Benadryl. I just wish all three of them were sleeping so that I could, too! The past few days have been exhausting!

Scary Charlie

It's just me and Charlie awake now that Joseph is at school. After Joseph got on the bus, we came inside. I walked down the hallway to tell Mitchell something, even though he was mostly asleep. It's pretty dark, quiet, and cozy in the house right now. As I walked back down the hallway to find Charlie, he jumped out behind me from the hallway bathroom and yelled. I screamed and laughed at the same time. How is this little guy old enough to know how to scare people?

Sunday Dinner

We had the missionaries over for dinner today. We've been having them over a lot lately. We are one of the families in the ward closer to their area, and we like their company. Their names are Elder Harding and Elder Luckhoo, and they are both fun guys to talk with. We had a fun conversation about Harry Potter, movies, and all that stuff. We used to always have people over for dinner in Utah, so it's been lonely here because we weren't able to do that for a while. I'm glad we have food stamps, and generous ward members, so that we can share our time and dinner with the elders.

Charlie's Words

Today, I'm going to try to keep a running list of all the words that I hear Charlie say, and what they mean.
The ones with the star are words he learned today; he's at the point now where he will repeat a lot of what we say, so his vocabulary is growing really quickly.

"ah bee-bee" = one of the things he calls himself
apple = used to refer to all round-ish fruits
"back-back" = backpack
"bah guy" = anyone who looks "bad" to him or who fights good guys, usually said kind of growl-y
"bah-bah" or "bah-boo" or just "bah" = bottle
*"bayn-bow" = rainbow
ball
"bay-nkie" = blanket
"bay-ps" = grapes
"beh-gs" = eggs
"bi-pahd" = iPad
"bi-per" = diaper
"bi-psh" = wipes
bite
"boe-ch" or "woe-ch" = roach, 'cause we have had a lot of them here...
"Boh" = Annabelle
"boke" = broken
book
"boop" = poop
"doe-sh" = toes
bug
*"bum" = plum
*"bunchies" = Honey Bunches of Oats, he learned this from Annabelle
"Dah" or Daddy = Mitchell
"daht dog" = hot dog
"day doo" = thank you
*"dee-yahs" = tortillas
"dhoys" = toys
"dosh" = trash
hey
Mama or Mommy
"Maht-mahn" = Joseph, Batman, himself, or all other "good guys"/superheroes, depending on context
money
"nah" = banana, which is his favorite food
"nigh-night"
oh
on
ugh = usually growled in frustration
"unh-unh" = usually the only way he says "no", although he will say it occasionally
uh-oh
"yite" or "wite" = light


In addition to his words, he growls and grunts a lot, but it's all on purpose because he's being a monster or a bad guy or something like that. He can make several different animal sounds. He also has a few different "stage" laughs, depending on how silly he wants to be or what's going on. And he has a full range of sound effects, from guns to lightsabers. He can also sing "Twinkle, Twinkle," the "Imperial March," and the Tim Burton "Batman Theme" well enough that they are recognizable.

As I've been compiling this list all day, I'm kind of amazed by the number of words he knows; this is a list of mostly what he said today, so there are many more words that he has in his vocabulary. I'm just so amazed by how intelligent and "mature" this little guy can be!

Vacation

Yesterday, we got home from a week-and-a-half in Virginia visiting Mitchell's family. The main reason we went up was so Mitchell could attend his grandfather's funeral with his mom. We ended up staying longer than we originally planned and enjoyed some nice time relaxing and hanging out with family. The kids and I stayed with Mitchell's brother, Sam, and his family, while Mitchell, his mom, and his brother, Grant, were in Indiana for the funeral. Joseph and Annabelle got to meet and spend time with all of their Ellis cousins for the first time ever. And they loved it! Joseph loved playing with Sam's two boys, who are both older than him. And Annabelle enjoyed playing girly things with her only girl Ellis cousin, Celina, who is only 2 months younger than her. Mitchell and I took advantage of the time to relax, enjoy ourselves, and not worry about the future too much. We were able to go to Busch Gardens and watch the show London Rocks, which Mitchell's brother, Ross, is the lead guitarist in. I also rode a roller coaster for the first time in about 7 years. I was so anxious right before getting on, but I loved it just as much as I used to. I'm really grateful that we had that time to rejuvenate before getting into the stress of trying to figure out what's going to happen next. 

         From left to right: Back Row - Mitchell, Ross, Grant, Eden, Joseph. 

Front Row - Zeke, Annabelle, Charlie, Julian, Celena, Ben.

Annabelle, Celina, and Charlie playing with Disney Princess Little People!

Charlie playing in the hose with Grammy.

The Square

So we live about half a mile from downtown Marietta, which is called The Square. There's a big park in the middle and it's surrounded by little shops and restaurants. It's such an awesome place! 

The kids and I walked there yesterday afternoon to play and look around. There is a little playground with a train and little ticket house. The kids love playing there. 

I love Joseph in this one; he looks like Superman about to take off in flight

(which is what he was pretending).

I love her smile in this one!

This one just cracks me up.

Isn't he beautiful?! He learned how to climb up and go down the slide all by himself. He would turn around at the top so he could slide feet-first on his belly. Because it's a metal slide, it's pretty fast; so he'd always get a little shock at the bottom, but he'd just stand up with a huge smile and clap his hands.

We had so much fun playing at the Train Park, and I'm excited that we live so close to it.

Making Friends

Joseph and Annabelle have finally made friends in the neighborhood. It took longer here than at Wymount; probably because we never went outside when we first moved here because I was uncomfortably pregnant,and then it was winter. Now, the kids beg to go outside as soon as they wake up. I think it's because they think their friends will be out there all the time, or something like that. So we go outside a lot, and, when their friends actually are out there, they get so excited. Today, when Joseph saw his friend, Daniel, he ran up to him saying, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" 

Last week, Joseph And Annabelle had a play date with their friends at the new splash pad. They had so much fun playing, and it was great for me to get a chance to hang out with other moms.

From left to right: Annabelle, Oliver, Joseph, Leah, Daniel, and Aislin. 

We were really trying to get some cute photos, but my camera is just too slow at taking pictures and the kids were too restless. It's hilarious that Joseph looks so bored, too. They are such a fun bunch of kids, and I'm excited for the fun they will have together this summer.

6 Month Chuck

Charlie turned 6 months old yesterday! He's just the sweetest, most awesome baby in the whole world. He's basically always happy, unless he's hungry or tired. He's hungry a lot, but he's so patient and usually let's us know he's hungry with a little "stage cough" before he gets angry or upset. He's so social and just loves everyone. We are frequently told that he's the "smiley-est baby" people have seen. He absolutely adores Joseph, who can almost always make him laugh. I love having him as a part of our family, and he's a great reminder to me of why I like being a mom.

I wanted to take pictures yesterday, but we had too much going on already. So today I took pictures. I wanted to do a fancy little shoot of him at one of our favorite parks, but we just didn't have time. I'm trying to remember not to over-schedule our days or put too many expectations on myself. Instead, I just took some pictures of him at home laying on the beautiful blanket that his grandma made for him. These are the ones that I think turned out alright. What do you think?

Having Fun

Today we got our tax return. It was kind of exciting to check our balance in the bank and find an extra thousand dollars that I wasn't expecting. We set about making sure that our various bills were payed and talking about what this money needed to be used for. But the best part of the day was when we went on a bit of a treasure hunt to pick out the perfect toys for the kids. Joseph has been asking, "Do we have money yet?" nearly every day for a week or two because he's had his mind on some toys he wants, so it was exciting to tell him that we do have money.

We were gone a long time today and did a lot of driving to find him something he really loved. We went to Toys R Us and searched the whole store. Then we drove to Walmart and searched that whole store. And we finally found the right thing. He got his very first LEGO set and it has "Luke with the green lightsaber" as well as Boba Fett and the Sarlac. Annabelle picked out a My Little Pony set. And we bought Charlie a Bouncy play center thing.

It's been awesome watching Joseph so fascinated with something that isn't a video game. He's been playing with the legos almost none stop since we brought them home. He even took Luke and Boba Fett to bed with him. And it's been fun to watch Mitchell and Joseph playing together. I never knew that legos were such a great father-son bonding activity. Annabelle and I were able to play ponies together, too.

I think that something I learned from today is how important it is to play with your kids, but to also try to find the things that they have a passion for. It's important to find those passions and nourish them now, so that they can grow and learn from those passions throughout their lives.

Frustrations

Today was a pretty hard day, well, at least the first half was. I didn't really feel like myself until after I had a nap in the afternoon. I was feeling extremely irritable and angry this morning, which led me to having a small breakdown. I spent a lot of time crying. It was pretty cute later when Joseph came and asked, "Are you done crying now?"

The weight of caring for three children has been feeling heavy on my shoulders this week. I've been making great strides in overcoming many of the causes for my anxiety as well as making changes to many of the patterns and things associated with OCD (I have a mild case of it). I think that I've been changing too fast, though, so that I lost a lot of the patterns, routines, and schedules that I use to anchor myself in times of stress. There has also been added stress because we don't have any way to support ourselves through the summer. Mitchell has been working really hard on his portfolio and applying to internships, while I have been filling out job applications for him. The added stress and worry over finances and the near future were just more than I could bear, so I just broke under the pressure this morning.

Charlie has also been making things more difficult. Charlie is normally a sweetheart and it makes caring for him a sweetheart. The past 2 weeks, however, Charlie has changed. He screams a lot and hardly ever sleeps. I am finally figuring out that he's been starving. He must be going through a growth spurt or something because all he wants to do is eat. My milk supply wasn't enough for him, so he was just always feeling so hungry. I started supplementing with formula, and, yesterday, I officially started him on solid food. He's already eating rice cereal and sweet potatoes. And he eats a lot, too.

The second half of today went well, and we had a good evening together. I'm hoping that this next week will go better than the past week has. I just need to be more patient with myself and allow myself to take baby steps. I can't become perfect through just a few days' hard work. As long as I remember that and I keep doing my best, I think things will continue to get better.

Blessing Charlie

Hey! We'll be blessing Charlie on March 3rd in our ward. We want to invite our family and friends to join us. Our Sacrament Meeting starts at 1:00 and is in the building on the corner of 600 W and 300 S. We will most likely be having some kind of gathering in the gym after Sacrament Meeting. I will have more details for you if you are able to come. We love you all!

Charles Dixon Ellis

I had the baby finally! Charles Dixon Ellis was born at 1:31 am on November 23, 2012. He was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 19 inches long. It has taken me the past week to start feeling mostly normal; postpartum stuff is pretty hard for me. It's been good having my mom here to take care of Joseph and Annabelle and they have loved spending so much time with her. She'll be heading home tomorrow to take care of the many things she has neglected while being with us. Charlie is a really good baby, mostly sleeping and eating all the time. He doesn't cry or really make a fuss about anything. Joseph and Annabelle enjoy having a baby brother a lot, especially Joseph. I don't have any pictures to post because Mitchell has done the photo taking with his iphone. Let us know if you want to come for a visit!