Longest nap ever

Wearing a headband she made yesterday with a kit Grandma gave her

Oliver's nap today was definitely his longest nap, and if my memory is correct, it's the longest nap that any of my children have ever taken. He fell asleep sitting on the couch at 12:30 so I took him upstairs, switched him from underwear to a diaper, and tucked him in bed. Nap time is usually 1pm, and I was going to give him a nebulizer treatment at 12:30, but he fell asleep before I started it. I actually took a nap during part of his nap. We were up with Oliver and Ian at 2:30am, and then Oliver got up again at 5:20. When Ian woke up for a drink at 2:30, Paul looked on the video monitor to check on Oliver, and we discovered he was lying on his bed on buck naked. I went into his room and discovered he had put his sleeper pjs and his diaper (he had pulled it down like underwear - the tape was still fastened on both sides) and put them on top of his dresser. He did all this in the dark! He was burning up so we gave him some Tylenol and put his diaper back on with a pair of 2 piece pjs (no more footed sleepers for him for awhile as he's more prone to taking those off). He went back to sleep.

Wendy did Rachel and Nadia's hair in matching braids in Maryland.

If I could go back in time, I would have given him a nebulizer treatment at 2:30 because when he started knocking on his door at 5:20, his breathing was horrible. He had a VERY loud wheeze (the loudest I've ever heard any of our kids have) and was breathing VERY, VERY fast. We figured he needed to go to the ER, but I thought we should give him a nebulizer treatment before we left. Then he fell asleep during the treatment so we didn't want to disturb him, and when he woke up in our bed, his wheeze and respiration rate were much better. Paul went to CVS and paid $2 to have them add grape flavoring to the medication, and he also bought grape juice and chocolate pudding to try to mask the bitter taste of the medication. The chocolate pudding alone wasn't enough, but by letting him play on the iPad while sitting on my lap, Paul was able to get the medication down him with chocolate pudding. YAY! The steroids definitely give him more energy. As for his appetite though, that little bit of chocolate pudding was about all I was able to get down him for breakfast, and the only thing I got him to eat at lunch was a couple of marshmallows, and I offered him just about every food we had in the house (including chips, candy, etc.) to no avail. This child has hardly eaten anything the past two days, but at least he's drinking again today.

I can't remember the last time I had a nice nap. It's been months, but I went down shortly after Oliver's. Had I known he was going to take such a LONG nap, I would have stayed in bed a bit longer myself, but I got up at 2:30 assuming that Oliver was already up. I slept for 1hr and 45 minutes, which was greatly appreciated given how much sleep I lost the previous 6 nights. Last night I went to bed at 8:30, but tonight I'm probably going to stay up until 11:30 due to the last regular season Steelers game. Oliver slept for almost 4.5 hours!!! Ian napped a little in Paul's arms while Paul watched his 1pm game. Ian's stomach bug is gone, but his cough is worse. Nadia, Paul, and I are still healthy.

Although we would rather have been in Maryland yesterday and this morning and at Aunt Debbie's party this afternoon, one perk of the extra time at home is that the kids have been able to enjoy their Christmas presents. Nadia has been listening to some Adventure in Odyssey cd's, they've been assembling new Lego sets, and Ian has been working on a new 150 piece puzzle.

Nadia and Paul have been doing different projects with the Snap Circuits, Jr. kit. I highly recommend it! It's a great introduction to how electricity works. Nadia made one headband so far, and she also did some Star Wars drawings with the book Ian received (her R2D2 was particularly good). I've read the kids some of their new books as well as some library books. During dinner we listened to a new John Williams' cd that I gave Ian. I took the first picture in the post with my new lens.

Since I have some group shots below let me share the current ages of my parents' grandchildren: 3 months old (Micah), 21/22 months old (Julianna and Grace), 2 years old (Oliver), 3 years old (Joel), 5 years old (Rachel and Ian), 6 years old (Nathan and Nadia), 7 years old (Joshua and Adam), 9 years old (Andrew), 10 years old (Susie), and 12 years old (Jenna).

19 of us were at these tables at each meal

These four girls had their own table for each meal

Paul was impressed with Jenna's chess skills. She just turned 12 years old, and Paul doesn't think he was as good as she is now when he was 12 years old. Maybe some day she will beat Paul in a game? It was a lot of fun to see the cousins playing each other in chess. Hopefully Nadia will do better next December when she plays her cousins!