9 mo appointment

Today I took Cal to the doctor for a wellness visit. His doctor was so happy to see him healthy and said he looked so happy and cheerful...yep that's the Cal I know. He lost a little weight during the past month in a half or so but not enough to be of any concern (she said at this age anyway they tend not to gain because they are so much more active). He is 28" tall and has a head circumference of 46.5 inches. She was excited to see him standing and babbling. She also said that we can start some of the high allergy foods (eggs, peanut butter, etc) to start exposing his gut to small amounts. It's amazing how different the rules are from when E was a baby. Maybe Cal will actually like peanut butter unlike his sister.

I didn't take any pictures in the doctors office because I'm over pictures in the doctors office. We have more than enough of Cal.

Today was cold. There is a storm moving through. Ellie said, it's almost as cold as Chicago. And she was right. It was 52 degrees this morning.



But would she put on pants? Nope...



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9 months and a false alarm

Preview of the 9 mo photo shoot with the tiger for Cal...



And a bloody nose story, or a false alarm bloody nose...unclear.

We got Ellie a bouquet of flowers and presented it to her after her dance recital. The flowers are now in a vase in her room. This morning as I was cleaning Cal up from breakfast she came running into the kitchen freaking out because she had a bloody nose. It really looked like she had a bloody nose and had smeared the blood around. I asked her what happened and she said she didn't know. She was FREAKING out. She had seen her nose in a mirror. Now seeing herself is what made her believe she had a bloody nose, not the fact that she felt anything. There was no blood on her hands which would have been required to smear it all over her nose and upper lip. When I started wiping it off with a wet cloth her face turned orange! I know she has pale skin but really? I am convinced that she did not have a bloody nose but that she was smelling her flowers and got a burnt sienna colored pollen (confirmed to exist at one of her flowers) all over her nose and lip. She is convinced she had a bloody nose. False alarm? You be the judge.


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Candy apples

Ellies school had a fundraiser where the kids made candy apples. I have no idea how successful it could be for $3 for a kid to make a candy apple, but apparently they had over 200 sign ups as of last Friday. Today was the day for the kinder and first grade. Ellie LOVED it!



And Cal was pretty happy to be back at school.



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Knock on wood

Well we are beyond just surviving each day with the chaos of everything. And everyone appears healthy (knock on wood).

Cal again was happy at daycare. His teacher told me that in Friday he was hilarious because he would follow her anywhere she went. Yep, that's Cal. I also got his Thanksgiving craft projects which are really cute.













Yesterday was Ellies ballet recital. It was a very long yet very fun day. And she made a new friend who apparently, along with her older sister, goes to Webster and does Learns after school. She is in first grade, but they recognized each other and spent the afternoon hanging out. Ellie was VERY excited to get to see her at school today. We took many many photos of the recital and videotaped all three performances. Here is just a teaser selection.









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Normal

Today was the first normal day in weeks. Weeks. Plural.

I dropped Ellie of at school and then took Cal to daycare. Where everyone was so excited to see him. Really, they were. His teachers couldn't wait for cuddles from him. Of course I didn't mention that he has figured out how to pull up on things since the last time he was there...

And he was happy too.






Of course it actually wasn't normal. Nope.

Tonight was my office holiday party (Spoiler alert: Nick didn't win at trivia). So Cal stayed at daycare today for evening care and we dropped Ellie off as well.

At least Nick and I had a few hours with adults only. I even had a fancy cocktail with sparkling wine!

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Overslept

So usually Cal goes to bed easily and will sleep, in his own,for 1.5-2 hours or until about 9:30pm. Which is just enough time for us to do what has to be done in the evenings. Last night he didn't last 20 minutes on his own. Nick and I both tried rocking him but he wouldn't sleep on his own. Knowing he had Tylenol in him for pain, he didn't have a runny nose, and he is as close to perfectly healthy as he's going to get, and he had a clean diaper, we decided to let him cry because there was too much for us (Nick and I) to deal with. And so he cried for 25 minutes and fell asleep.

At 10:30 before I went to take a shower and get ready for bed I peeked in on him. Mistake. He looked up at me, started to whimper and put his arms up. My heart broke for him and so I picked him up and cuddled with him until he was in a deep sleep. Then I didn't hear a peep from him until 5:30am. And of course at 5:30 I ran to him picked him up and fed him.

And we both fell asleep.

We both wake up to Ellie wandering the house calling, "mommy?" I ask her what time it is...which of course takes about 3 minutes to get an answer to, and it's 7:08. Oops.

So we all rush around and I'm freaking out but we leave the house at our normal time (which we really didn't have to since I wasn't taking Cal to school or going to work, but I didn't realize that till later). And since I was so flustered after dropping E off I start heading to daycare for Cal but realize it just in time to turn into Starbucks...much needed.

Oh! And E does have an ear infection and she has antibiotics. I forgot to give her the morning dose so I will be heading to school shortly to give that to her.

E has a final ballet rehearsal for the recital this afternoon.

Oy.

And now I lost Cal. That kid is fast. He was in the living room...oh, he made it to the master bathroom, awesome.





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Rain and pain

It's raining! And it's cold! So guess who wore her size 2T winter coat to school. Barely fit but that's enough. Maybe she will get a new rain jacket (like size 7 so it'll last till she's 12) for Christmas. When we arrived they had a teacher telling the kids not to go to the playground but to stay inside. E was very excited about indoor free time during recess when she will get to draw.






She doesn't look it in these photos but her ear hurts. She was complaining when we got her from school yesterday but with some food and Tylenol she was back to normal, until she woke up over night to complain about the pain and that her "ear was bleeding". No blood but some liquidy ear wax. This morning there was some pain and more yellow liquidy goo so I sent her to school and called the doctor. She has an appt at 2:15. All our Christmas funds and dinner out budget is being spent on copays...

And in other news, cal is taking his quarantine in stride. He's been happily playing on the floor next to me while I work to draft a major report that is due Friday.






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December?

Im pretty sure Halloween was last week so I'm very confused as to how it is December. Was November like 3 days only? I'm so confused.

So Ellio has come back to visit us for month. Ellie was very excited.



There was also a little Christmas decoration this weekend. Lights were hung and Ellie picked a few decorations for her room. Ellie also helped out neighbor put up her lawn decorations including an inflatable Olaf. The tree will not be going up anytime soon given the whole cat and Calvin quotient.










It rained last night. And it's cold today. I was successful in convincing Ellie to wear leggings under her dress to school.




And Cal is quarantined. He has ear tube surgery scheduled for Thursday. To keep him as healthy as possible we are keeping him from from daycare until the surgery. Of course this makes Nicks and my life very hectic, stressful, and sleep deprived. But Cal seemed to enjoy a little morning reading.



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Sad eyes

Poor Cal is sick. Head cold, bad chest congestion, coughing, ear infections, fever...he's down for the count. We had to pick him up early from daycare yesterday due to the fever. And then I took him to the doctor. The good news...because we had lots of oral antibiotics left over from last week we didn't have to go to the pharmacy and get a new prescription (it's the little things that are keeping me sane).

Today we went to the cardiologist. The great news is that the holes in his heart have healed and he now has normal cardiac anatomy and there is no reason for us to visit the cardiologist for this issue ever again. So from the cardiologist to the ENT we go...

In our travels to doctors over the past few days many people have commented on Cals sad eyes. This of course makes me sad because I know the poor baby is suffering.



In Ellie news she has her second spelling test today. We studied a little last night which mainly consisted me asking her how to spell the words and her rolling her eyes at me. She got 100% on the last spelling test so I expect nothing less this week.

They also are delivering gobble grams (candy with little messages that people bought to be sent to friends). Ellie purchased two for friends. We shall see if she gets any and how that goes. Could be interesting. It is also free dress day, and she looked ADORABLE, but I didn't get any photos because we had a 8am cardiologist appointment and were in a hurry.

E has NO school next week! Lucky duck...


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School photos

I picked up Cal's school photos today when I dropped him off. And they are amazing. Not an amazing photo like that is the best photo of my son ever! But amazing in that 1) he is wearing a onesie with a fake tie, 2) he is chunkalicious with like a triple chin and 3) he isn't smiling but wondering what is happening with this look in his eyes. Oh! And he isn't sick! Which seems to be par for the course lately.



I got a sneak peek of Ellies photo via an email to try and get you to order more prints. Hers is also great, but. A great that she will be happy to show off her kindergarten photo when she's 16. Her LONG hair looks good, she's smiling, her eyes pop with her light blue dress. It's a great school photo.

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All I wanted

All I wanted was a picture of Cal in little boys clothes. A tshirt, jeans, and socks that look like shoes. To capture a snapshot of what he may look like when he is 4.

No dice. At least not a good one...









But you can enjoy E reading to C.






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Containment

Cal is mobile. And he moves fast. So it was decided we needed some sort of containment so that we could get stuff done in the mornings.

So this happened:



We got it used so I don't feel too bad about having paid an absurd amount of money for some plastic junk. But for 10 minutes each morning he is contained but still in the center of the action.

This weekend Ellie also helped feed Cal. She was eating her sack of applesauce and he was a little fussy and obviously wanting food. So Ellie shared her snack with him. It was cute.









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Snot cool

Everyone is sick. Except Ellie. It's very tough having two sick parents, a sick baby, and a high energy 5 year old. It's been a rough week. I have so much going on at work that in a normal week where nobody was sick I would still be maximizing my mental capacity.

And poor Cal...he has had ear infections since last Monday. We got a new antibiotic this Monday but his ears were still hurting so yesterday we went to the doctor again and got shots of antibiotic. I didn't even know that existed.

Today Nick took him to the ENT (the head of Children's Hospital ENT department by the way) and the decision was made for tubes. We will schedule the surgery next week sometime with it likely being the first week in December.

We just have to get through these head colds and hope that the shots of antibiotic will help Cal's ears...












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Stronger antibiotics

So with him not sleeping and tugging on his ears I took him back to the pediatrician. Yep, still has ear infections. So we got a stronger antibiotic. Hopefully this knocks them out.

At least he was happy at the office giving the other baby kisses.






Today, Veterans Day, Ellie didn't have school. So we signed her up at Kids Klub for the day. She was a little hesitant, but came home full of stories and arts and crafts projects.

Drop off was a breeze. Two kids, one place. Then it dawned on me that this will only happen for at most two years when they overlap at elementary school and if they both go to the same 6-12 school. It's still better than dealing with a double stroller.



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Little dude is 8 months old

I bet you are expecting a picture of Cal with big Hobbes huh? Yeah didn't happen this morning. We didn't have an overly crazy morning but I just forgot it was the 10th and he was 8 mo old until I was talking to a nurse at his pedetrician a office to schedule an appointment for him today.

So he hasn't slept for the past two nights and has been waking up crying and grabbing his ears. I think the ear infections are back, even though he is still taking the antibiotic. So back to the doc we go.

We did play a fun game this morning, Cal was trying with all his energy and might to catch up with me while I tried to be as quickly as possible with what I was doing before Cal "crawled" to the other side of he house or somewhere he shouldn't be. Ellie was very helpful in a defensive role.






Ellie and I went to the Museum of Natural History on Saturday. Despite being freaked out by the large mammal halls and not really caring about the dinosaurs it was a blast. She especially enjoyed the gem and mineral hall.









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Mean mommy part 2

So last night Nick to E to a play date for a very short time and left in time to get Cal. Then E stayed up late to finish all her homework. Nick dealt with that drama.

This morning I dealt with the drama that is Ellie in the morning when she oversleeps. It took me, no exaggeration, 10 minutes to get her up this morning which of course put us 10 minutes behind schedule. She was a mess. Tears, screaming, throwing, disaster.

So I explained to her that this is what happens when she has play dates and then has to stay up late. I said I didn't think she should have any more playdates during the week if this was how things were going to go the next day. She said, straight face to me, "well you said no playdate yesterday and Daddy took me. Daddy will let me go on play dates. You are mean!".

So Nick and I will be having a conversation tonight and figuring out how to deal with this issue.

Cal was happy as a clam. For the first time in what seems like months he slept for extended period of time. He went to sleep easily, slept until 2:30 when I fed him and then he slept until about 5. He started making noises which were like sonar...is anyone there, I'd like some company...every few minutes, but he wasn't crying. About 5:45 he started crying like he was ready to get up. So we did.

Then he got stuck in a corner.






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