stop in the name of love

   When Isaac came home from the hospital I was pleasantly surprised at how unconditionally loving the kids were towards him.   I have to admit I was a little nervous about what effect adding another child to our family would have.  I was concerned that Cassidy would be terribly jealous since she was the baby for the past 3 years, and worried that the other two would be unhappy because my time and attention had to be shared with another individual.  Not so.  They were constantly giving him little love pats on his bum, kissing his head, yelling hello from across the room, coloring him pictures and writing him little love notes: constantly loving on him, touching him, up in his face.  Enter sickness. This is where I went from worried to oober worried.  Seeing Cassidy struggle to breathe is scary enough... when I consider what it would do to a 3 week old baby it has literally made me paranoid about Isaac getting sick.  Cass struggled...but I can only imagine what this virus would do to a baby who cries to communicate and is an obligatory nose breather.  Enter: baby rules.  If you love your brother: STOP! No children are allowed to touch Isaac for a few days- germs are everywhere especially grungy little fingers.  Cassidy's rules are unfortunately a little harsher. She went from being used to giving Isaac about 100 kisses on his face per day to not being allowed  in the same room as Isaac, to not being able to see him under the blanket covering him today (since she is getting better).  It has been hard but they are trying their best to follow my constant reminders and give their brother some space.  It has been the hardest for Cassidy who is Isaac's constant companion while the kids are at school.  At least it is a good incentive for her to complete her nebulizer treatments.  She doesn't want to do them.  But she does want to get healthy so she can play with her brother again. 



this was taken 2 weeks ago... obviously she can't be this close yet :)



wheezing and the ER and steroids, oh my!

Cassidy ended up in the ER Sunday evening. She had been doing well through the day, and was even eating and drinking a little, but when she woke from her nap about 4:30 she was wheezing terribly.  And whenever she couldn't clear her throat, she got scared, started crying which brought the severity of the wheezing up a notch.  After a call to the local nurse line, it was recommended I take her to the ER. She was given a one time oral steroid, a nebulizing treatment and we were on our way home a little over an hour later with our own nebulizer and a few prescriptions.  That night she slept like a dream, only coughing a few times.  Her wheezing was barely noticeable.  The next day she had the cutest little raspy chipmunk voice (as cute as it can get when it is caused by sickness) and a cough-- and it really amazes me how well she covers her mouth.  As night came again the wheezing and coughing were more noticeable - as I guess is expected in the evening.  Today her cough is more like a typical cough- not barky like it was, and her wheeziness is about gone. Her spunk is back (as she stands here smirking at me with her hand on her hip). I am hoping we are nearing the end.

As for Isaac, he remains healthy. (knock on wood and cross your fingers).  He has been pretty much quarantined in my bedroom or under a blanket if I am holding him.  Good thing he is so young- otherwise he may start to get a complex.  It is getting harder to keep him away- Cass keeps asking for 'just a little peek,' as she is missing her little brother.

**When Andy got home from work this evening and asked Cassidy how she felt, she replied "Good! I am getting my sound back!"

croup

I awoke last night to a terrible noise.  Like a bark.  At first I didn't know what it was... then I heard it again and sprang out of bed and into the girls room.  There I found a scared, shaking, wheezing little girl.  I have to admit I kinda freaked out.  The cough had croup written all over it, but it wasn't the cough so much as the terrible wheezing that scared me. As I ran in to get Andy my first inclination was to get Cass to the ER- Andy's was to calm her and give her a blessing of comfort and health.  (I feel like I failed in being able to comfort and calm her because I was so caught up in getting her to the doctor. ) Andy is my rock in situations like this.  I tend to freak while he is so level headed.  Well, he got her calmed down and her breathing got much better.  We looked up croup to be sure at the NIH website, and it confirmed that was what she had.  We decided to keep her calm and keep her in with us for the remainder of the night, holding off on taking her to the ER.  For the next 6 hours I laid next to her half conscious, making sure her breathing stayed regular and the wheezing didn't get worse.  A few times I whisked her outside in to the cold night air which worked like a charm to calm her stridor.  About 6am she asked to go back to her bed, and since her breathing had been good, I took her back to her room and got an hour of sleep myself.  She has had a pretty good day so far today, so I am hoping her little body is fighting hard.  She is really doing a great job of keeping her mouth covered when she coughs also- especially for a 3 year old.

Isaac was really good last night- thank goodness. I put him next door in Jack's room and he woke only once to eat.  I am doing my best to keep him covered and in another room away from Cassidy.  She is having a hard enough time fighting this virus... I can only imagine (to my horror) what it would do to him. I have really made a concerted effort to stay at home these past few weeks to avoid germs and viruses like this.  Goes to show just who is in charge. But I have faith, and know we won't be given more that we can handle.  That being said, I don't usually solicit prayers but if you are the praying type- we could use a few.  Now this worry wart of a mom is going to wash her hands, and go care for her babies.

volume

So you wanna know the secret to my voluminous hair? 

Johnson and Johnson. oh, and a strict diet of breast milk.

the first bath

 Isaac recently had his first bath.  He enjoyed the majority of it.  I forgot what a circus a simple bath can be with a newborn.  Trying to juggle keeping his head up out of the water, pouring soap, washing, rinsing and dodging water that overflows is quite the task.  Luckily my friend Danielle was there to help ease me back into it.  What I realized during the bath is that my skinny boy is starting to fill out some of those skin flaps.  He is starting to get some rolls!   When he came home from the hospital he weighed 6# 4.8 oz.  Only 2 weeks later he weighed in at 7# 10 oz., which I thought sounded large.  The doctor informed me however that was the 10th percentile.

chubs. proof.

 

zumba to the rescue

Isaac found his voice the past week.  Since he has become more alert, he has decided that he is going to keep up with his siblings when they are being rambunctious... and even when they aren't.  Not that he never cried before... he has just created more of a pattern to his crying and has started doing it more.  The kids are actually very good about it.  The usually rush over to pat or hush or love on him.  Another thing they discovered that helps quiet him is music.  He seems to soothe nicely to music.  A few days ago we were all heading out on an errand.  Isaac was not happy at that time and was really giving her.  I got the kids settled into their seats and remembered something I forgot, so I told them I'd be right back.  As I left, Isaac was going at full tilt.  When I returned about 30 seconds later, I saw the three oldest kids all waving their hands over their heads, and heard them belting out in acapella fashion, "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, singing waaaaaaaaaaaaayo, gotta leeeeeeeeeeeeeet go! I wanna celebrate and live my life....."  And there sat Isaac, content in his seat. It was zumba I am telling you.  I probably zumba-ed to that song 100 times when I was pregnant with him.  Guess I am going to have to ask Jen for a CD of our zumba songs for those late nights when he just won't stop crying.

awe