8/8 - Getting adjusted

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This first picture is a couple weeks old. The last week we were in Alabama a little girl in Eli's class at daycare got Fifths Disease. I had never even heard of it but did some research and kept my eye open to see if he would get it. We made it past a week or two and figured we were safe. Haha. Not so fast. As a nice kick in the seat pants from the boys' daycare, Eli got it about 3-3.5 weeks after we left AL. He got these little red bumps all over his arms and some on his legs. His cheeks also got crazy pink. In fact, the disease also has a nickname of slap-on-face or something like it because one of the key characteristics is that it looks like somebody slapped him on the cheeks. By the time someone with the disease shows symptoms (especially the rash), it is no longer contagious. He had a very mild fever for 2-3 days before the rash came and I thought perhaps it was an ear infection because his one ear has been bothering him alot. I took him to his primary care to get a physical so he could attend daycare and the dr confirmed the Fifths disease and no ear infection. The last picture in the bottom right cracks me up. I went to go check on Eli before I went to bed and he fell asleep holding his toy water gun. 

We got back from our family vacation on a Saturday late afternoon and then Brad took off 1.5 days later on Monday morning. Here is a picture of Aiden helping Brad tie his motorcycle down in the back of the truck. Aiden was so scared Brad was going to leave without saying good-bye. Once Brad got his bike in the back of his truck (he put his back wheels in the gutter in front of our driveway), he got in it to move it back into the driveway and Aiden flipped out and almost started to cry because daddy was leaving. I had to quickly let him know that daddy was just moving the truck. It's safe to say Aiden is finally at the stage where he really does understand what happens when daddy leaves. Eli clearly does not yet. He didn't even really say bye to Brad because he was getting distracted with a toy. Eli tells me everyday how much he misses daddy and he also asks everyday if daddy is coming tomorrow or soon. Eli has a horrible understanding of time so that doesn't make things any easier. 

The day after daddy left, the boys had a dentist appt. It's been a little too long since they have visited the dentist. The pediatric dentist the boys go to is awesome. Eli went first and he did NOT do such a great job. He started crying a few times but eventually got control of himself. He was super glad when he was done and I never got to take a picture because I was too busy trying to calm him. As for Aiden, they did x-rays and he needed some extra assistance so the assistant helped him while I pushed the x-ray button. Fun! I was shocked she was able to get Aiden to take x-rays. He thought it was way too bright in the chair and they didn't even have the light turned on. He put his sunglasses on and was good to go. He was uncomfortable during the cleaning but totally rocked the cleaning in my book. I thought for sure he was going to gag and almost throw up and be crying and none of that happened. The picture below of Eli cracks me up because you can see a little tear in his eye still from crying. He was smiling in the picture because he was opening his goodie bag and was super excited about his new Diego toothbrush. He thought the dental floss was really fun to pull but has no desire to put it in his mouth at all.

This picture of Aiden cracks me up because he was so excited to make this dinosaur and cut it out and yet his facial expression does not portray that. 

The other day we had fruit kabobs (thanks to mrs. Rusty introducing us to them) at breakfast. I'm getting them used to these so I can rock their world soon and add different kinds of meat!! mwah hahah

I just love that Aiden could sit and listen to someone read his Bible to him all day long. He loves it.

Little Eli ... man does he give me a run for my money. Good thing he is so cute. I don't remember what we were doing put I can only assume that the only reason he has a shirt in his hand is because it's a requirement in our house in order to get food (and Eli loves himself some food). I must say though. For someone who loves food as much as he does, he does not like flavored drinks. It baffles me but I'm okay with it since most drinks that kids (and adults) have are full of sugar anyway. He likes almond milk and water. And special water (water with a little Mio flavoring). He also cannot stand smoothies of any kind. We make green smoothies on a daily or at least every other day basis and he is required to have a sip at least twice a week but he doesn't like them. Even non-green smoothies which have fruit only. He doesn't like those either. Unfortunately, getting him to take any kind of liquid medicine is a nightmare because he doesn't like the taste of anything.

Last week Aiden and I had a knock down drag out fight in the shower. He cried and screamed the ENTIRE TIME. I tried calming him down, giving him options, etc and nothing was going to work. He just (as he put it) "didn't want to get wet." I was going to have them shower together in our massive shower in the master bedroom but made Aiden eventually go to his bedroom because he was crying so much even though he hadn't even gotten in the shower yet. Eli had a blast in his shower and does such a great job. I guess God gave me one child who loves to bath and clean himself with soap because I have another who despises it so much.

In case you were not sure who this is, it's super hero Eli. I can't imagine those jammies actually stayed on during the night but I officially have proof that he does have jammies that fit him; he just usually chooses to not where them. 

On Saturday I took both boys to the pool in the morning. It was fun. Aiden tried to make it miserable by saying he "changed his mind" and wanted to eat his snack at the pool rather than in the van on the way to the pool. He was so upset when I said there was nothing I could do about it this time. He was crying and said he wanted to go back home. I inappropriately asked him if he wanted me to make him throw his bagel back up so he could then re-eat it at the pool. I told him we were not leaving and he could sit and cry in the chair  if he didn't want to come and have fun with Eli and I (see picture of him in chair). I called Eli over to take a picture before I put my phone away and I saw Aiden look at us. I asked if he wanted to be in the picture and he jumped up and came over and put his arms around us. He had a smile on his face for the rest of the pool time.

Eli loves animals. It's unfortunate he thinks they want to play with him and they are perhaps toy to be played with. Here he is with Pouncer after he put his blanket on him and was petting Pouncy on the head.

On Saturday afternoon, Aiden started to get the sniffles a little. I put him to bed at his normal time and then he was up 2 times a coughed a few times and then went back to sleep. About 45 min after he originally went to bed, he was suddenly up and somewhat barking like a seal. He couldn't catch his breathe. It was freaking me out because it wasn't the same thing as when he had croup when he was younger but you could tell he was not able to breathe very well. I ran and got the nebulizer and started to give him a breathing treatment but he hasn't needed one in so long that he freaked out with the noise of the machine and the "smell and taste" of the medicine (according to Aiden). I stopped it and just have him his inhaler. I searched frantically for my stethoscope which hadn't been unpacked yet. I have no idea how parents who don't have a stethoscope and know how to use it survive. Yes I realize that is the majority of the population but I felt like I was flying blind. By the grace of God, I found mine and was able to listen to him. His lungs didn't sound as bad as his cough did so I tried to calm him down (thank you DVR and Handy Manny). I got his breathing under control but it was still labored and I was still feeling borderline about taking him to the ER. I propped him up on the couch and slept near him all night. I had to readjust him a few times because his breathing would get all crazy but we made it through the night. I was so glad my mom was here because it brought peace of mind knowing that I could take him to the ER if needed and Eli would still be okay. We stayed home all day sunday with Aiden. He was breathing better but had a yucky cough. 

Of course the law of life when your hubby is away dictates that both kids will get urgently sick within the first week of being gone so Eli followed suite the next night with the same thing. He was fine and then BOOM, severe coughing bouts. Eli is a little more dramatic but he also has reactive airway disease so I guess he thinks he has the right to be more dramatic. Haha. In order to allow everyone the ability to sleep on Sunday, I eventually brought Eli in to my room and propped him up and he was able to sleep for a little bit (as was I). He felt pretty yucky on Monday but thankfully Aiden was getting better. Eli's sleep has been off for the past few weeks and I'm not sure what is going on. He didn't fall asleep until 1 hr and 50 min into his nap time and I didn't let him very long because I'm trying to get him back on a schedule. That said, the child was complete mush in my arms and didn't want to wake up on Monday. Monday and Tuesday night I (and Eli) didn't get much sleep but hopefully we have his cough under control now and things will start to improve.

We stayed home for a few days so that we wouldn't get anyone sick and we were starting go a little crazy. We got out the store bought play-doh one day and realized it was too hard so we decided to make some new stuff. I love making our own play-doh. It's so easy and pretty quick. It would be such a great sensory experience for the boys to play with it while it's still warm and cooling put .... I don't think that will ever happen. We played with play-doh and put toothpicks in them. Here is the lego man lifting his barbell of play-doh.

This picture to the right makes me smile. Eli is trying to put sunglasses on Pouncer and he's got this devilish smile on his face. I'm starting to see more and more of that crazy devilish smile but he's just too cute.