Road Trip

I have been in the car with the kids for more than six hours in a day before, but prior to today it was only because of a round trip drive to Philadelphia, usually for a medical appointment. Today will be the longest road trip (one way) that I've taken with the three kids. Ian and Nadia certainly went a lot farther with Paul's parents, although they broke the trip to Florida up over multiple days. After Ian and Nadia's soccer games this morning, I am planning on driving the kids to Williamsburg. My parents should arrive there before us since they have a shorter drive and don't have soccer games on their agenda. I'm hoping we'll arrive around 6:00 so that we can have a little bit of time to enjoy something at the resort before bed time (maybe the playground or the swimming pool). It felt very strange to start packing suitcases again on Thursday night. Paul is staying home to work on his research project for Bucknell. Although I am wishing we had a little bit more time in between these vacations, the kids are super excited. I have very fond memories of my first visit to Williamsburg when I was in fourth grade (spring of 1982). Hopefully Nadia and Ian will love it just as much as I did! We are going to save Jamestown for when they're a little older, but we are planning to visit a Children's Museum, the Virginia Zoo, etc.

Newest Driver

Last year Oliver was only a passenger in Nadia and Ian's vehicles, but this year he is learning to drive them! As you can see, he loves it.

Yesterday was a laid back day. For several weeks the plan had been to go to Steamtown National Historic Site on the 28th, but we didn't have enough families sign up to join us, and the ranger wouldn't do an educational program with a small group. I called one of the other moms who had planned to go, and we decided to reschedule the trip in a few months in the hopes more families would join us. We went to the playground in the morning for the first time this year. In the summer we prefer to go before the slides and such get really hot, and also the walk is more comfortable earlier in the day. We had attempted to go on Wednesday, but we had to turn around and come back when it started raining. I was very proud of Ian yesterday because he was able to keep himself going on the swing after I gave him a push to get started. Yahoo! Ian also worked on his stroller pushing skills. Ian and Oliver laughed SO much when Ian was pushing the stroller. Priceless.

Ian had a soccer practice last night after missing the last three weeks of practice. Nadia's team didn't practice this week. They both have home games tomorrow morning. I am hoping against hope that Ian might score another goal since I didn't see his first one four weeks ago. Next week is the last week of the season, and their games next week are in different locations at similar times so I won't see Ian's game next week as I'll be driving Nadia and Oliver to Nadia's game. Registration (on-line) for the fall season took place while we were in Florida. Surprisingly, Ian said he did want to play again (I think a big factor was the euphoria from scoring his first goal), and Nadia said she didn't want to play any more. She said it is too much running. The U8 field is a lot larger than the U6 field, and she usually plays three out of four quarters of each game. I was fine with her deciding not to do soccer any more because she said she did want to do ice skating, gymnastics, basketball, swimming lessons, and homechool gym class, but Paul wanted her to  keep playing it for one more year. Next spring it will truly be her decision whether or not she joins a U10 team.

She'll be trying a new sport once we return from Virginia. I signed her up for a week of tennis lessons. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable learning experience for her. My goal is to have our kids try many different sports to find out which they enjoy the most.  We haven't done little league or flag football yet. Ian and Nadia are signed up for swimming lessons this summer. Oliver isn't signed up for anything yet. Not having soccer games for three months means the kids can do workshops at Lowe's and Home Depot with Daddy!

Thankful Thursday

1. I am very grateful that Paul, Oliver, and I had a safe flight from FL to DC on Friday, and it was greatly appreciated that we only spent 2 hours on the plane this time. Paul and I also enjoyed the VERY comfortable seats we were given. I greatly appreciate that my parents took us to and from the airport so we didn't have to pay for two weeks of airport parking.

2. I am also thankful we had a safe drive home on Saturday and that aside from very tall grass and a bird building a nest in the wreath on our front door (which caused the wreath to fall down and resulted in a lot of bird poop on our front porch), our house fared just fine during our absence.

3. Oliver's pneumonia didn't result in a hospitalization this time, and I'm thankful we could use the urgent care clinic instead of the ER (saved us $50). Our co-pays are much higher this year than we've ever had before. From Sunday- Wednesday we spent $90 on medical bills for Oliver ($10 for antibiotics and $80 in co-pays for two appointments).

4. I'm grateful Paul was able to push back the time of a meeting yesterday at work due to Oliver's doctor appointment so I could just take Oliver to the appointment and leave the other two kids at home. I thought we would be in and out of there pretty quickly since we had an appointment at 8:40, but we waited in the exam room for more than an hour before the doctor showed up. We were at the hospital for 90 minutes and spent about 3 of those minutes with the doctor. I would rather have waited in the waiting room where there is a tv and toys to entertain Oliver. It was hard keeping him out of trouble in the exam room for that length of time, but it would have been much worse with three kids in there.

5. Paul's parents, Nadia, and Ian made it back safely home on Tuesday! It was wonderful they could have so much time with their grandparents the last three weeks, but I was also glad to have all of my three little "chicks" at home.

6. On Sunday afternoon I used a couple of coupons at JCP to get some good bargains including a top for myself  for $2.99 to match a new skirt I got using a gift card I got at Christmas. I also used some coupons to get some bargains at CVS on Saturday night, and this week I did a survey online and CVS gave me a $10 coupon (off anything) for doing that survey. Gotta love coupons!

7. Although Oliver did have a few incidents over the past three weeks (by incident I mean him hitting or throwing something at someone), in general he did MUCH better than usual. The worst incident was the morning we were heading out the door to Hollywood Studios when Oliver (for whatever reason) picked up Grandma's glass jar of chicken bullion and hurled it at Ian's forehead. Ian immediately had a black and blue lump on his forehead. We applied ice right away, and it looked much better by the time we arrived at the park.

8. I loved the salad at Panera Bread last Friday night. YUM!

9. One perk of being back at home means we can get books and dvds from the library again. Two that the kids are really enjoying this week are Interrupting Chicken by David Stein and Parts by Tedd Arnold. The dvd Nadia is really enjoying this week is seeing "Anne of Green Gables" for the first time. I am only letting her watch the first one right now as we've only read the first book. We also have been able to get back into reading Railway Children again. I had brought it to Florida (on the Kindle), but we read very little of it while we were on vacation. I missed that!

10. I am very thankful to all the men and women who have given their lives serving in the military. I don't want to take our freedoms for granted!

11. Nadia and Ian missed the first summer musical rehearsal last week, but they attended the second one last night, and Nadia was very excited because she was assigned one of the speaking parts. We are planning on sending the kids to AWANA at this church again next year (not at our current church but where they went to AWANA from 2011-2014). Next summer Oliver will be old enough to be in the summer musical also!

12. Paul was planning to devote at least three days a week to working on a research project for Bucknell this summer, and yesterday another professor said Paul will be paid a stipend through a grant for his work on the research. We are very grateful for this! It will give us a little wiggle room in our budget for things like buying pizza. We had decided not to go to Sesame Place or Hershey Park this summer or join the swimming pool. In light of this extra money I want to plan a trip to Idlewild instead. We've never been there before. Hopefully Paul's research will be helpful for the other profs at Bucknell, and it would be really wonderful if his new research could result in a publication in the coming months.

Pneumonia

Oliver has been doing so much better today. What a relief! Sometimes his saturation levels have been where they are supposed to be (95 or higher), and other times they have been back around 91-92, but he didn't have a fever at all today. Aside from a cough, runny nose, and very little appetite, he seemed to be back to normal today. If it weren't for the goldfish crackers my mom gave us on Friday, I don't think he would have consumed any solid food aside from raisins the past four days. The doctor who saw him on Sunday called me today to check on him. She had submitted his x-rays to the radiology department at 5:25pm, and they called her with the results at 6:05, but the urgent care clinic closed at 6:00 and didn't reopen until today because of the holiday yesterday. She didn't read their report until this afternoon. The radiologist on Sunday said the x-ray showed he had viral pneumonia, which confirmed in my mind that the antibiotics are unnecessary. I'm very thankful that this illness didn't result in a hospitalization. He has an appointment with the pulmonologist tomorrow morning.

June 1, 2014

Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night Oliver was up several times in the night each night and two of those mornings he also got up earlier than usual in the morning. Paul and I greatly appreciated that he slept through the night last night, and I actually had to wake him up around 7:10 this morning (for fear he would wet the bed). I had much more energy today than I did yesterday.

When we came home on Saturday, I saw my rhododendron was in bloom. I was hoping that we wouldn't have a thunderstorm before Nadia came home because I've had a tradition of taking her picture each May in front of it. My two big kids came home this afternoon, and I was able to get some pictures of Nadia in front of it. Yay! This picture at right is from 2014, and the next picture below is from 2013. The first and last pictures in this post are from today.

May 2013

One hot boy

Oliver was up several times during the night last night, and he was up for good at 5:30. Every time he woke up, he asked for a drink of water; we also had him go to the bathroom every time as well. He wanted to sleep with us, and we did try that once in the middle of the night, but none of us were sleeping with that arrangement so I managed to get him back in his own bed without any tears. At 6:00 we gave him his next dose of steroids. This time we just squirted it into his mouth (instead of mixing it with chocolate pudding) and gave him other things right away to try to remove the awful taste in his mouth (a tootsie roll, juice, etc.). He consumed far more of the steroids this morning than he did last night, and this was evident a little while later when he was practically bouncing off the walls. The pulmonologist called me this morning and said he had reviewed Oliver's x-rays and such from our appointment at the urgent care clinic. I was very impressed that the doctor took the initiative to call me on a holiday no less. I gave him an update on Oliver's O2 levels (88-89 when sleeping and 90-93 when awake) and temperature (102 without medication and 100 with it), and he said if it dropped ANY farther when awake or asleep he needed to come in for some oxygen. Thankfully his numbers improved a little from that point onward. He took a nap this morning in my arms on the couch, and he took his afternoon nap in his bed. Aside from some goldfish crackers he didn't really eat anything today albeit I offered him cookies, spaghetti, pudding, pizza, toast, cereal, etc. He has been drinking a lot of water. He perked up enough around noon that he wanted to go outside so I walked him to the playground. He played for awhile and then asked to go home for the very first time. Usually he's upset when I say it's time to go.

Although I think he has a virus, the doctor decided to call in a prescription for an antibiotic just in case it's bacterial. I am not a big fan of "just in case" prescriptions. The child is already on four other medications right now, but since his three month follow-up appointment happens to be scheduled for Wednesday with this doctor, I decided to go ahead and add another medication to the mix. Hopefully I can get him to eat some yogurt to counteract some of the negative effects of the antibiotic. He doesn't mind the taste of the antibiotic. We had a lot harder time getting the steroid down him this evening than we did this morning. I am very grateful we're still at home. Last time it was on day three of his illness that we discovered his lung had collapsed. I am feeling a lot more hopeful at the moment that we can stay out of the hospital this time around. I had planned to go to ladies Bible study tomorrow morning (last one before the fall), but I'll be staying home as I can't take a boy with a 102 degree fever out in public. We don't want to share his germs! Nadia and Ian are supposed to be home tomorrow. I can't wait to see them! They are spending the night in Virginia tonight.

Urgent Care

When Oliver woke up on Saturday morning at my parents' house, I noticed that he had developed a cough. I started giving him a nebulizer treatment every twelve hours. He didn't eat lunch or dinner yesterday, but when he woke up this morning (an hour earlier than usual), the first words out of his mouth were "I hungry," and he ate a large breakfast. I took him to church thinking he just had his frequent cough. After church he didn't want lunch and just said he was tired and wanted to go to bed. I was doing a little shopping during his nap, and Paul called me when Oliver woke up to tell me Oliver was definitely sick. I was already on my way home. He had a 102 degree fever and was having more trouble breathing. Paul had given him Tylenol, and I gave him an Albuterol breathing treatment. It didn't seem to help much so I called his pediatric pulmonologist. I asked if we should start the oral steroids, but he said in light of the fever we shouldn't start those until he had been seen by a doctor to rule out an infection or pneumonia.

Thankfully I found an urgent care clinic that was open. I say thankfully because the co-pay for that is $50 compared to $100 at the ER. I had checked his saturation level at home, and it was reading between 91-93, and we learned the device is accurate because the nurse got readings of 92-93. The doctor said she was considering admitting him in light of what happened in late December/ early January, but in the end she made the same decision the pediatrician made in December to send us home with oral steroids. Hopefully this won't lead to his lung collapsing again. The x-ray looked good today, and the nose swab was negative for RSV. He did keep some of the steroid down, but he threw some of it up even though we had it mixed in chocolate pudding. It smells and tastes horrid. I made spaghetti for dinner as I know that's one of his favorites, and he did eat a little bit of it. The doctor said to check his O2 level often and bring him in ASAP if it drops below 90 because that will likely mean his lung collapsed. I didn't want to go to the hospital today, but I'd rather be spending the night in the hospital if it meant his lung didn't collapse. Chest tubes aren't fun! Hopefully it will turn out better than it did five months ago, and we can avoid another hospitalization. Right now he's on three medications plus Tylenol for the fever, and he's definitely working hard to breathe.

Home Sweet Home

Yesterday's flight went much more smoothly for us than our one to Florida on May 8. First of all, the flight was not delayed. Last year we cut it too close for comfort at both airports in terms of not getting there are early as we should have. This year we allowed more time than needed, in part because we were selected for the PSA pre-check (express line) both times. It only took us thirty minutes to get to our gate from the time Paul's dad dropped us off at the curb. This meant we were at the gate for more than an hour before they started boarding the plane, but it's MUCH better to pass time in the airport than it is to do so sitting on the plane on the runway for an hour like we did the previous time. Both airports had free WiFi, which was nice. We purposefully had a bigger lunch than usual because we knew dinner would be very late as our flight wasn't supposed to land until almost 6pm. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Nadia and Ian had eaten there in August 2011, but was Oliver's first experience. He thoroughly enjoyed the talking and moving animals. The "thunderstorm" was a bit unnerving to him at first, but once he realized we weren't going to get wet (he asked me for an umbrella), he enjoyed those as well. Since the meals were more expensive that we are usually willing to pay, I didn't order him a kid's meal, but I did buy him a strawberry milk at the airport while we were waiting to board our flight.

We were flying on Jet Blue, and on the trip back we did take advantage of the fact you can check one suitcase for free. The snacks on Jet Blue are nicer than the ones we've had on other airlines lately. The nicest surprise was that we were assigned "Even more room" seats, which usually involve an extra fee (basically their version of "first" or "business" class seats). I have NEVER had so much leg room on an airplane in my life. Wow. It was definitely the most comfortable seat I've ever had on an airplane. Oliver was much better behaved on this flight than the last one. I think that was because we were on the plane for an hour less since we didn't sit on the runway so long this time around. On our way back to my parents' house, we stopped for dinner at Panera. I got to have the salad that is my MOST favorite salad since it's the time of year for strawberries. Yum!

We spent a few hours with my parents this morning and then drove back home. We stopped at an Aldi's on the way home to get some much needed groceries. Paul put Oliver down for a late nap, and I mowed the lawn while Oliver slept. The lawn REALLY needed mowing. I don't think the grass (or weeds I should say) have ever been so tall on our property before. It had been 16 days since I had mowed. We had a great vacation, but it also feels wonderful to be back at home again. I can't wait until Tuesday when we'll be reunited with Nadia and Ian. I miss them already! They are in Atlanta right now as they are planning on attending North Point Community Church (where Andy Stanley is the Pastor) tomorrow morning.

I was reflecting this week on a few firsts and lasts that this trip represented such as the first trip in six years that didn't involve diapers or a pack 'n play. Our first vacation with a child was in May 2009 to Antigua with Paul's parents. I have to say I greatly prefer Caribbean beaches to beaches in the US, but the airfare to the Caribbean is more expensive so I am not sure when we will be going back there again. The kids don't care what color the water is. :) This was also the first trip that involved buying an airline ticket for Oliver, and it was the last time he will be able to get into SeaWorld and Disney for free. My kids are growing up. No more diapers, cribs, or highchairs. We still need one booster seat though when we go out to eat. I am very thankful we can make these special memories on vacation with our children. I asked Nadia what her favorite part of the vacation was yesterday, and she said the best part was being together as a family. What a great answer! 

We didn't go to Downtown Disney last year; so the last time we were in the Lego store there was May 2013. I had to include a picture of Ian with Hulk from that trip to show how much he's grown. Actually Oliver was wearing that Elmo outfit on this trip that Ian wore there two years ago. I transferred three of the videos from Grandma's iPhone to my iPad and uploaded them to youtube today. I thought I had transferred ALL the videos, but that wasn't the case. I'll have to transfer the others later (such as the one which shows Ian fighting Darth Vader), but here are three videos for now.

So long, Florida!

This morning we are leaving our resort around 8:40 and plan to spend about three hours at Downtown Disney before Paul's dad drops Paul, Oliver, and I off at the airport in Orlando. They will start their drive back home. They are taking a very leisurely pace which includes going to church in Atlanta on Sunday morning. My parents plan to pick us up at the airport in DC, and we are going to spend one night at their house and drive back home tomorrow. We've had a fabulous two weeks here in Florida. We had a great time at the beach and swimming pool yesterday. We spotted five dolphins in the ocean! Every day a group of five young men (looked like they were college aged) built an amazing sand castle on the beach, usually right next to us. It didn't take them long at all to create a masterpiece. The tallest part of yesterday's castle was 5 feet 10 inches tall! Ours looked very puny in comparison to theirs, but we also had fun playing in the sand. Last night after dinner we went back to the beach to fly Nadia's kite. Fun times!

Thankful Thursday

1. We had a fabulous time at Magic Kingdom on Friday!

2. We had a safe trip to New Smyrna Beach on Friday night, and we have been enjoying playing in the ocean and sand the past several days. The sand is very smooth. You don't need to wear water shoes, but you can find some shells, if you like to collect them. We also threw a starfish back out to the ocean on Tuesday in the hopes of saving his life. Ian loves riding the waves. Some people are surfing them. I also spent two hours with Nadia and Ian in the swimming pool on Tuesday afternoon during Oliver's nap. When you're really hot, the water doesn't seem as cold. We enjoyed playing sand hole (a game we checked out from the activities room at the resort) on Tuesday morning.

3. We had a wonderful time at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday. I hope we can take the kids back when they're older! Yesterday from our beach we watched an Air Force rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center at 11:05 am!

4. Last Thursday night Paul and I had a 45 minute date. Pop Pop read in our unit after we put them to bed, and we played a round of miniature golf. It was the first time I had really done the course because that's not really possible when playing with three kids ages 2-6. I beat Paul by one stroke. We each had one hole in one (not on the same hole). It was fun! We need to get out more often (just the two of us).

5. The kids enjoyed flying kites for the very first time on Sunday night!

6. We are all healthy. PTL!

7. We have only had two thunderstorms over the past two weeks in Florida, and both times it wasn't at a time that interrupted any plans. The first time it was at 8pm, and last night it was while we were eating dinner at Applebee's. We had enough gift cards to cover seven meals. It only cost us a $10 tip for the seven of us.

8. Oliver has been taking a nap almost every day. I had hoped this vacation wouldn't mess him up in that regard. Hopefully that will prove to be the case!