THAT's BETTER

Well, the boys are back to talking non-stop, picking on each other, fighting, and general other boy-ish type things (like marveling over bugs, picking their butts, and throwing things). So I guess I'd have to say..."theeeeey're baaaaack!"
I did take Arlan to the dr on Wed, as he was still having trouble keeping stuff down. The doc was good - let us know that Arlan was very well hydrated (we'd done a good job there), and telling us to keep it up, plus give him a Gravol suppository. I think Arlan was at the turn-around point already, or perhaps Gravol really is that incredible, but he only needed one. Since yesterday afternoon he's been on a big improvement. Today we spent most of the day at the beach, and Arlan had a blast. Mostly he enjoyed digging holes and dumping water into them. But he also "swam" and jumped, and played on the dock with mom - looking at ducks and fish (and lots of teen-agers!). So we are VERY happy to have him back!

Landon has been 'recovered' for a couple of days, and is LOVING the beach! He puts his water wings on and has a BLAST! The water is great because he can go for quite a ways and still touch. Plus with his water wings he does very well. He splashes, and pushes John around in the "boat" (one of those floatie thingies, whatever they're called). He even helps Arlan dump water in holes (otherwise known as castles). His favourite thing today was being tossed into the air (I remember Uncle Murray tossing me in the air as a kid - that WAS FUN!).

So we're so thrilled to have the kids back - amazing how little time it takes to start rolling your eyes at the incesant questions in the car, and scolding when they fight. Ahhhh ... normalcy! lol

Until next time...

Vacation?

I've never before done as much laundry while on vacation.

We left Friday afternoon for Invermere, as John's band played there. I was hoping to be able to go out and watch. We arrived in Fairmont (we stayed at the lead singers friends house there on the golf course - GORGOUS!! SO lucky to have spent the night there instead of a hotel) at 8 pm. Approximately 9:15 Arlan puked. yay Now don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for the little dude, but that was Friday and it's now Monday!
So I spent a good part of Friday night catching puke. Oh yeah, and Landon still has remnants of his flu (which started Wed afternoon when he puked on the daycamp girl!), so he was crying every time he was in the bathroom. Finally John got home, so he slept with Arlan (catching puke every hour or so) and I slept with Landon (making multiple crying trips to the bathroom).

Saturday - do we hang out in Fairmont in this beautiful house overlooking the golf course with our pooping/puking children, or hit the road for 5 hours to get to Vernon (and our vacation for this week)? We opt for the road - not wanting to spread the joy any more than necessary to our gracious hosts. That was surprisingly a good decision. Arlan only hurled once, and we stopped for Landon to poop (did you know the weigh scale stations for semi's have public washrooms! Phew!) once and we were good to go. A bit of whining from the back seat, but mostly sleeping so our drive was surprisingly pleasant. The scenery was absolutely INCREDIBLE too! John caught up on some sleep so I enjoyed the amazing views (while keeping the car between the lines) in peace and quiet.

We made it to Vernon shortly after 4 pm (local time), and are so glad we came when we did. Our landlords left Sunday morning, if we hadn't made it Saturday we would've inconvenienced them as well. Plus I doubt our Sunday drive would've been as uneventful as Arlan has moved into the diarrhea stage of this flu bug. Between puking (mostly from over-drinking, poor kid is so thirsty!), and diarrhea-contaminated items, I have washed more clothing and blankets and sheets than ever before in a one day period!

We did manage to get Landon to the beach a couple of times - which he loves! Although he's still pretty worn out from this flu so he slept for 4 hours yesterday afternoon!

So it's Monday; Arlan can mostly keep liquids down now - he'll upchuck if he drinks too much at once. But no solids since Sat night (when he ate a handful of baked macaroni). Yesterday afternoon he looked so rough I was thinking of taking him to the doctor. But he did an over-drinking puke and that seems to have been the turning point. He's napping again right now - most of his time is spent sleeping; his awake time consists of pooping and whining, with some drinking and puking thrown in for good measure.

But I am hopeful we are on the tail-end of this one, and that we'll get to enjoy our vacation more in the days to come. One nice thing: the landlords have offered us the place for additional nights - so we are staying until Monday instead of Saturday! Nice - we can hopefully make up for our 2 days spent indoors on the weekend. Our drive back to Calgary will be considerably more congested, but I think we'll manage -- assuming the pooping and puking has abated by then!

until next time...from beautiful, hot and sunny VERNON....

Time goes by...

Not much happening here. We had a nice relaxing weekend. The Easter bunny brought chocolate for the boys, which they devoured. It was pretty cute to see Arlan running for the cupboard, arms stretched out, "choholah!!"
Landon's still riding his bike - has worn the rubber off the training wheels!! lol It's been really windy though, too windy for anyone to want to be outside. But the boys do spend some time in the backyard most days ... swinging and throwing sand around. I don't know if we'll have grass back there this year, or a beach.

Arlan had a fever tonight, pretty miserable. Sure hope he's not getting sick :-( We gave him some Motrin and put him to bed ... will have to see what the morning brings. I am worried that it's maybe his ears as we went swimming today and he seemed fine, then he slept for 3 hours when we came home, and woke up slightly fevered and VERY grumpy. He got worse as the evening progressed, refused to eat or have his bottle. So I think it's either his 2-year molars, or his ears. And if it's his ears, then to the doc we'll go tomorrow :-( Poor little stinker-pants.

Anyway, that's the news ... until next time. ...

Aaaallllmost!

We took Arlan to the doc again yesterday - he wanted to see him after 10 days of antibiotics. One ear is all cleared up, but the other is still a bit red :-( Poor guy - it's taking him a really long time! But the doctor said he can go swimming now, so we'll be able to make the last 2 weeks of swim lessons YAY

Last night Landon's laying in bed, not sleeping (well, technically he was building train tracks very quietly in his room, but we aren't supposed to know that). He calls out "Mom! I can't sleep!" I reply, "Landon just lay quiet and close your eyes, you'll fall asleep." A few minutes later I hear, "Mom, it's not working! My HANDS are still AWAKE!" Really - how do you answer that one!! John and I just giggled and told him to keep trying.

Arlan and Landon are mischief makers these days. Landon convinces Arlan to "come upstairs and play!" (it doesn't take much convincing ... Arlan bobs his head and toddles for the stairs immediately). They are giggling and laughing, there's much banging and bonking, I decide I have to go and see what they're doing (even though I hate to). If you can believe, they've stripped Landon's bed, and pulled the mattress off!! They have the mattress propped up against the boxspring, so that they can stand on the boxspring and jump on the mattress and sort of slide / fall down. Then they smack the closet doors and turn around to do it again. *sigh* Do you even bother trying to curb this fun??
No need, they eventually smash their heads together, or Arlan smacks his head on one of the many objects in the room. Invariably, Arlan cries for approximately 30 seconds, while Landon howls for 5 minutes or more because Arlan hurt himself! Landon maybe wasn't even involved in the injury, but he's the one crying the hardest :-/ Poor kid ... rough life he leads!!

So that's the news from here for today -- until next time...

He's doing better

Well Arlan is definitely better today. Now I don't know if he's feeling punky or just 20 months old. This kid sure knows exactly what he wants!! No, not this, not that. He wants what he's not supposed to have, of course! He likes to stand in his chair at the table, and then look all sly at us when we tell him to sit down. In fact, anytime we tell him "no" he gives us that doe-eyed look .... *sigh*! Stinker. He still coughs a lot if he starts running around or walking too much - we had a couple of sessions today when I was out running errands. But no actual upchucking which was nice for a change.

Landon's a stinker - he doesn't want to go outside because it's still snowy and such, so it's not much fun; but he NEEDS to get outside and burn off some energy! He just wants to play in his sand box...that's all he asks for :-/ When oh when will spring get here......

Tomorrow we are going out - can't wait! A group of friends going out to celebrate our February birthdays - YAY! I'm really looking forward to it.


And now, a moment of silence for the Georgian luger. I know it may be a crazy sport, but still....

A wee bit of the happy Arlan we saw tonight...

Yup, Arlan actually played a bit tonight! So I do believe he's on the mend, finally. This afternoon he wanted to walk at the mall (vs ride in the cart), so he did. [GORE ALERT -- You should be a mom before you keep reading, unless you like stories about snot!] But whenever he 'plays' or runs or jumps these days, he ends up in a coughing fit that causes him to puke. Yup - coughing his poor lungs out in the mall ... I felt so bad for him. He doesn't like, vomit ... just has to cough up the gobs of mucous sliding down his throat. When he can get it out, then he goes back to good.
But tonight he played for a bit after supper and didn't have such a bad coughing fit. I think it helped that I was able to suction his nose right away. You know it's bad when he actually wants his nose suctioned (we never did get to that point with Landon!) ... he just lays there quietly for me. Which is good, because it's effective.
Anyway, so Arlan actually played. He even ate a bit, but not much. Just no appetite with your stomach full of snot I guess. But it was nice to get out for a bit, if even to the mall. There's a play area there which Landon loves of course. It's the first time I had Arlan there - all he wanted to do was slide, but he's too small yet to climb to the top of it. So he was frustrated with that, poor kid. Life sucks for him these days. I was so proud of Landon though - when I said it was time to go, he came out, found his shoes, and away we went. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't thrilled and likely would've stayed there until he was 14, but there was not a melt-down, and for that I am happy!

I'm off to bed - hoping to sleep all night long. If it's not Arlan being sick, it's Landon needing us to take the monsters out from under his bed (that's easy enough to do, just put your hand out and they crawl into your lap; then you put them in the bathroom) or just wanting snuggles (which I don't mind usually, but I am tired these days! But I still do take the opportunity to snuggle!).
Until next time...

Not out of the woods yet, but I think I can see daylight...

Arlan isn't back to his old self quite yet, but he's on the mend by all appearances. His naps are still disrupted by coughing fits, but at night he's able to sleep through. And he's not quite as miserable as he has been - but there's still lots of cuddling required. The amount of snot coming out of his nose would choke an elephant - I can't blame him for being pissy!!

Landon's playing with him a bit nicer today too. Likely because I did the "toy swap". Brought the tote in from the garage and swapped toys out. So Landon feels like he's got all new toys today. I still hear wailing from Arlan every 5 minutes or so, but it's usually curtailed as Landon has finally learned that he doesn't get what he wants if Arlan's crying, so he's usually trying to give Arlan something to placate him. But not always, I just heard "You can cry ALL YOU WANT!" from Landon. Yes, the boys are in the basement playing -- it's nicer that way.

But I do think it's time to see what's what. Trying to get out to the mall for a quick shopping excursion this afternoon, and if we don't get going right smartly, we won't be going at all. Until next time...

Ear Infection!

Poor Arlan ... he has infection in BOTH ears :-( No wonder he's so pissy!!

He wasn't better this morning, so it was time to take him to the dr. We got an appt today, and what a gongshow it was. Doc appt was 20 mins late (which is very unusual in that office), then prescription took over 45 mins to fill (we'd been told it would be 20 mins). So our 'little outing' was almost 2 hours long ... at the end of the day ... with a screaming/fussy Arlan....and a cabin-fevered Landon. It was not fun. For any of us.

But we're home - Arlan has had 2 doses of antibiotics, plus some homeopathic earache meds to help combat the pain. He seems to be sleeping better so far (knock on wood). Let's hope that the meds will kick in and our happy baby can return tomorrow! Mommy needs that in order to maintain her sanity.

Landon had a Valentine's party at preschool today. He really enjoyed it, despite not wanting to go to preschool this morning. What amazes me is the amount of candy given away for Valentine's Day -- it's not Hallowe'en! He came home with a loot bag, which I get to fight with him over for the next few days ... thanks alot! We didn't even send V'day cards, I'm thinking we'll get that pleasure often enough in upcoming years, I don't need to jump into it quite yet...

Other than that - life is ticking along. I guess no swimming for Arlan this week, give his ears a chance to heal up. Maybe we'll do the play time at the gym on Thursday, both boys can have fun there since Landon doesn't have preschool. Spread our illnesses around a bit ...

until next time...

Still sick :-(

Arlan's still sick -- coughing and snotty. Poor kid - he woke up with a bloody nose this morning. Not enough to be all over him and the bed, just his nose, but still. Still a bit of a fever, although we didn't have to treat it until later in the day. He napped for about 4 hours (up every hour for a soother plug, then back to sleep). Tonight he's struggling again - I sure hope he can get some sleep tonight. He did not too badly last night - up only once between 1 and 8 (although he was up frequently before that).

Landon still has the cough, but no fever and is pretty much his old self - a bit less energy (which is nice, to be honest). Tomorrow Landon and I are making cookies for his Valentine's party at preschool - heart-shaped cookies! He can cut them out and we'll decorate a few as well. Should be f-u-n...

Poor sick little Arlan

Well, Arlan now has whatever it was that Landon had last week. Poor little stinker. Last night he was up more than he was asleep. John and I took shifts - I had him until 5 am, then it was John's turn. We were up until 3 with Arlan staring at Treehouse. When he decided he wanted to get up and play with his school bus (busses are one of his absolute favourite things), I put him to bed. But he never slept for more than an hour at a time, so I was up at 4 with him, then John at shortly after 5, and 6, and 7.... Poor kid. The worst was this afternoon - so fevered, he just sat on me while we rocked in the chair. Thankfully Landon entertained himself for the most part - which he had to do as Arlan would cry so hard if I put him down and John was out. sometimes Landon comes through and is such a good kid it warms my heart.

So Arlan wakes every hour or so now, usually from coughing so hard he's gagging. But at least he's going back to sleep a bit better. He has been wanting his door open too. This started while we were in Swift. He has always slept in pitch black with his door closed. Now he'll fall asleep like that, but wake after a couple of hours and want the door open, preferably with a bit of light coming in. Something that is easily accommodated of course ... thankfully.

And Landon - such a good kid all day. I asked him to go upstairs to get Arlan a soother. As usual, I had to ask Landon about 6 times, and then finally tell him to go and get it, NOW. But he went, and came down with a soother a few minutes later. About an hour later I went upstairs, and I see that Landon had to MOVE the crib out away from the wall to get the soother that had fallen in behind it! Wow ... So I definitely made an even bigger deal of him being not only a good big brother helping mommy, but so determined.

But I had better get to bed to see if I can get some sleep tonight. I hear Arlan coughing again - hopefully he'll be able to get more sleep tonight too - he had such tired red eyes today :-( And I hope he recovers as quickly as Landon did.

until next time...

Hi again

Well, it hasn't been a month ... yet (Yvonne!), but it sure has been a long time. I want to get to bed, but I'll post a brief update.

Arlan is such a funny duck I can't get over it. He's learning how to jump now, and gets so excited he ends up spinning in circles and falling down more than he ever actually lands a jump. Come to think of it, I really should try to video tape that move - it's SO funny. He also imitates pretty much everything we say ... or at least the intonation. He continues with "noooooo" as an answer to every question, but now his favourite thing is to say "NOOOOW!" to Landon, particularly when I've just said something to Landon in a certain tone of voice meaning that I want him to actually do something. So Arlan walks around saying "NOOOW!" most of the day...

Landon is a stinker - I can't believe how big he's getting. He can officially get his own cereal in the mornings ... cheerios and milk :-) Which is nice, if a tad messy at times. He wants to do everything himself (I thought kids went through this at age 2, not almost 4!), including pouring milk from a full 4L container, stirring macaroni that's boiling, you know -- the fun stuff :-/ But he's still alive and not horribly scarred, so I consider it good thus far!

Landon's still enjoying preschool, and we signed him up for 3 days a week this fall. I like the "break", although I usually have something planned for those days. Right now Arlan is taking swim lessons Thursday mornings when Landon's at preschool. Arlan loves the water MORE than Landon, if that is humanly possible! He jumps jumps jumps. In his class, he's supposed to sit on the edge of the pool and it's a big advancement if he lets himself fall into the water without me holding his hands. Well, today Arlan was standing on the edge of the pool, half jumping (see earlier in this post), half falling into the pool - whether I was ready for it or not. He just loves it! So much so that when it was time for playing other games in the water he cried for the next 20 minutes! Wanting to jump in, then slide (which he actually yelled out "SLIIIII!!!"), and finally to go in the hot tub (which I complied with ... we skipped out a bit early).

Other than that - well, the kids are just busy. Landon's getting over a cold or flu; he had a fever for the 2 days we were in Swift Current, broke it last night when we got home (of course). Still has a cough, poor little bugger.
I am really noticing that the boys play together a lot more now. When Arlan is napping, Landon can just about drive me batty, but as soon as Arlan wakes up they are running around, destroying the house, and playing (of a sort). Arlan certainly holds his own now, and has learned to walk up and smack Landon as hard as Landon used to smack him. Now to teach Arlan that that isn't acceptable .... Landon is such a good big brother (at times), and is certainly enjoying having a little brother that can play (as opposed to just eat and sleep like baby brothers do).

So I'm off to bed. I'll try to post more frequently, and to get more photos up :-/ Just haven't been taking pictures. Although Landon has taken about 14, 167 with his camera cousin Kyle got the kids for Christmas. I won't bother posting them ... trust me on this one. G'nite! Until next time...

it WAS a nice weekend

We had such nice weather the past two days - the boys and I spent tons of time outside. But today - snowy ground again!! Hopefully it won't last long ...

Arlan still has his cold a bit - quite a cough that poor little bugger. We can hear him coughing all night long. But he manages to sleep through it. And he's in better spirits these past two days, so hopefully he's feeling better. He slept so much all week - some days only being up for 1.5 or 2 hours at a time. But yesterday and today he's managed to get back to his usual routine. Of course, we'll throw that right out the window next weekend when we travel to Toronto :-/

We think Landon had a night terror last night. Looking back (and having read a bit about them last night), I'm thinking he may have had a couple others over the past weeks. But last night he woke up crying, and was sweating and shaking. I was able to hold him, but that didn't seem to register with him at all. He wouldn't respond to me or anything. Then all of a sudden it stopped (the shaking, the crying) and he just lay his head on my chest and was sound asleep again. He peed his diaper right full, so I changed him and he woke slightly at that, grumped at me, but went right back to sleep. The whole episode (crying, shaking) lasted maybe 2 minutes (thankfully - I read that some last as long as 30 minutes!).
I think he may have had at least one more recently too. At Aunty Yvonne's, he spent about 15 - 20 minutes in bed kicking me and pushing his head against the wall at the top of the bed. He wouldn't stop moving around. I thought he was just trying to get comfortable, and since he was kicking ME I was trying to rouse him to calm him down. It didn't work, he wouldn't respond to me, but just kept on rustling around. Then it stopped and he was back to sleep. I read last night that a night terror doesn't always involve screaming or crying, but can just be restlessness (like that) with the inability to be aroused.
Night terrors are typically caused by kids being overtired, especially if they have an abnormal sleep schedule. Well, Landon's been dropping his nap sporadically over the previous weeks, so his schedule is sporadic -- some days in bed sleeping at 8:30, others not asleep until 11 (when he's napped). Plus yesterday he was outside most of the day, didn't nap, so was likely very tired (or even overtired) when he went to bed. So we'll be watching him, and I sure hope this doesn't continue long. Of course, he has no recollection, and they say night terrors are not harmful to kids. But it's hard on a mom to have her 'baby' crying so hard and be inconsolable!!!

Other than that ... I'm off to buy curtains for the boys' rooms today (hopefully). We got new blinds for Arlan, but they don't block enough light so of course he's wide awake in the morning (at say, 6!). Maybe some curtains will help him sleep a bit longer? Maybe. He was pretty cute this morning, even if it was so early. He just played in his crib, babbling away "da-da! da-da!" Definitely says "da-da", but mama isn't quite so clear yet :-/ That's ok, Landon's got it down pat! urgh...

That's that. I will be negotiating snowy streets (crazy hey!), but I'm sure it'll be fine. Until next time...

A new Tooth!

Arlan got another new tooth today - on the bottom, to the left of his front teeth. I was starting to wonder when he'd get another one, it's been about 6 weeks.
And just like last time he got teeth, he's sick again :-( Poor kid. Runny nose, and today he has a bit of a cough too :-( He's back down for a nap already, after being up only 1.5 hours!! So hopefully he'll do a third nap today, or we'll be in for it. I feel so bad for him though, he's so miserable. And he has big black circles under his eyes - poor kid! So we'll let him sleep lots and hope that helps.

It's a nice(r) day out today, we're actually able to be in the yard. A rainshower just moved through, so everything's nice and clean and smells wonderful. The weekend's supposed to be great, so I'm looking forward to some yardwork -- and to having Landon play outside ALL day long!

I've found that Landon's naps are becoming the exception rather than the rule. He napped Monday on the way home, and yesterday, but not Tues or Wed. Likely won't today either. It's tough, because he really can't last until bedtime without that nap - so the end of our days are pretty grumpy on non-nap days (especially the second non-nap day in a row!). And he usually doesn't sleep as well on those nights either, as he's overtired. But when he naps, especially several days in a row, then he's up so bloody late! It's a catch-22. But I guess it won't last forever, and then I'll REALLY be missing the naps!

We went to Landon's first swimming lesson in over a year last night. He loved it!! It's a transitional lesson - meaning I'm in the water with him, but he does things with the teacher instead of me, and by the end of the classes, I shouldn't have to be in the water with him at all. He was very hesitant to go to the instructor, but we always made him, and he enjoyed everything she did with him. For an example, she'd just swish him back and forth in the water a couple of times, and spin around, then give him back. So it wasn't like he was with her for long. But he always enjoyed what she did, so hopefully he'll learn to trust her. He had such a blast though, especially jumping into the water! I'm hoping to take both boys next week (maybe Tues) and then Landon has Thursday lesson. I'll have to figure something out for the week that John's gone ... might have to have a sitter for an hour :-/ I hate for Landon to miss any more lessons, we already missed last week, and he loved it so much last night.

Anyways, that's the news from here for now ... hoping Arlan doesn't get any sicker (I hate coughs, they always worry me so much!), and I sure hope he can sleep at night! It'll be a gorgeous weekend, so we'll be sure to take him outside lots, that should help. Until next time...

Finally - nice weather!

We finally have some nice weather, where we can go outside and hang out and not worry about cold winds in our ears & things like that. Arlan was loving sitting with dad on the deck watching Landon play. And Landon is LOVING being about to play outside. Our biggest challenge is getting him to put pants on to go outside!! LOL

Arlan has been loving his mobility, crawling all over and exploring the house. One 'toy' he enjoys is the mirror. I caught him having fun with the baby in the mirror the other day ... too sweet!

We are recovering from colds in our house :-/ Last weekend was VERY rough. Arlan had his first really bad cold, with a completely stuffed nose :-( He woke up Fri and Sat nights every 1.5 to 2 hours ... it was like having a newborn again. Fri night was the worst, as he would wake up and it would take an hour or two to get him back to sleep again. He was so tired, but he'd want to suck the soother and then couldn't breath through his nose, so he'd cry again which made his nose worse ... what a long night. Sat was better only in that he could get back to sleep quicker, he was still up lots!!
Then Landon got the cold too this past week, but he's weathered it like the pro he is. He's still got the runny nose and a slight cough, oh yeah -- he had the fever the first day too, fever child! -- but it hasn't disrupted his sleep too badly.

I've the cold too, I think I brought it home in the first place. It's still lingering, but not nearly as bad. Thankfully - it's been over a week and a half with this one already. But from what I hear, it may hand on another couple of weeks yet.

Carla, Dave & the boys were here last night for a visit. Did we ever have a great time. Landon & Ryder stayed up until 1:30 am!!! I thought they'd give in and fall asleep, but no way! Finally we had to put them to bed, I think they'd have been up until 4 otherwise :-/ Today was a long one though - our 'alarm clock' (Arlan) had me up at 7:30, as usual, so we were sleepy! I'm looking forward to going to bed right away here.

And that's about it. Landon's first dental appt was supposed to be on Wed, but since he woke up with the cold (and fever) on Tues I changed it to later in the month. We've been talking about going for a few weeks, but he must've forgotten about it b/c he hasn't asked. We'll have to get him pumped up for it now again, but c'est la vie.

Oh yeah - Arlan got his top 2 front teeth as well!! Both came in the same day (last Fri)...the day he got his cold. Now when he bites mommy, it REALLY hurts!! Hopefully that won't last....

So that's the news from here. I really should get on here more frequently, and will try harder :-P Promise...

We're on the mend...

Landon is pretty much fully recovered from his cold, and Arlan is getting there slowly but surely. He's still plenty stuffy, but is able to sleep which is a blessing to the entire household!! LOL He hasn't been nursing well the past few days, I'm thinking because it's hard for him to breathe when nursing - esp late in the day. Couple that with all the excitement Landon creates just by being Landon (and distracting Arlan), and well, not so much nursing. But I keep trying - hopefully he'll get back some interest soon :-/

Marc was here last night for a nice visit - it's always nice to see him. That and he brought us yummy Montreal bagels ... can never go wrong with that!! LOL

And that's really about it. Sherry will be here tomorrow for a couple of days ... I'm hoping this cold that's trying to catch me doesn't take hold so that I can fully enjoy visiting with Sherry and then have fun at Kristi's wedding in Lethbridge on the weekend.

It's funny - we've had such a slow January, but now things are most definitely picking up!! Next weekend (20-22) I'm hosting 2 Nutrimetics workshops here, plus Carla, Dave and the boys might come up, plus Juli, Bernie and Lilja will be in town. The following weekend I have 2 workshops again ... then it's Landon's b'day, then off to Minot! Wow - we're busy for the next month!! I love it :-D

Until next time...

Last night was better...

Poor Arlan sure didn't want to go to sleep last night. I think it took him almost 2 hours to finally get to sleep. He would cry so hard, but when I would pick him up he'd be fine :-/ So I ended up having to let him cry himself to sleep. That is SO hard to do, especially when he's not feeling well to begin with. But I'm afraid he'd never have gone to sleep if I hadn't left him alone!
And then once he got to sleep (~8:45 or so), he slept until 6 am. So he definitely needed that sleep!!

This morning he's better - still a bit stuffy, but not as bad as yesterday I don't think. The new cool mist humidifier was going in his room all night, and again now for his nap, so hopefully that's helping (might also have been why he had such trouble going to sleep?). He did just wake up and squawked for a few minutes, but when I went in to get him he was sound asleep again. So he's definitely catching up on sleep today - poor kid.

Landon's still Landon ... his nose is running even less, and he's full of energy, so he's definitely on the outward swing of this bug.

Hopefully John & I can avoid it - we both feel the beginnings of a cold, but we've been sauna-ing in hopes of killing it before it gets ahold of us :-/

Busy week coming up - Marc will be here for a night from Montreal, then Sherry's here for a few days, and then we're off to Lethbridge for a wedding! So hopefully whatever bugs we have will be completely gone for all the fun!!

Safe travel wishes to Grandma and Grandpa who are off to Vegas this week!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY :-)

My poor boys :-(

Landon's had a bit of a runny nose all week ... he had a rough night a few back, waking several times. But he seems to be taking it in stride these days - still runny, but sleeping better and full of piss & vinegar again!
But poor Arlan. His first really runny/stuffy nose. He gets SO mad when he's trying to sleep and his nose is stuffed. He is hard to console because he just bellers, and of course he can't nurse for comfort because he can't breathe through his nose, and his nose is even more snotty because he's crying so hard. Poor little stinker! We had a rough night last night, a couple of hour-long stints in the middle of the night until he cleared out enough to fall asleep. I hope that was the worst night! I bought a second cool mist humidifier today (Landon has one is his room too) so hopefully that helps. I used the warm mist humidifier last night in Arlan's room, but his room was a bit too ... um ... tropical! heh So we'll see if that helps.

I spent the day running around doing all the errands I avoid doing when I've got the boys. I did take Landon with me shopping for a friends wedding gift -- remind me never to take a 2 / 3 year old shopping in the fine dinnerware section of any store!! aiaiai I thought we'd be buying a lot of Denby 'pieces', literally! But we escaped unscathed, thankfully.

Other than that - just trying to take it as easy as possible this weekend. We have company for a good part of next week and then off to Kristi's wedding in Lethbridge. So tomorrow I don't think I'll leave the house beyond a walk with Landon.

until next time...

All better :-)

We had dr appt this morning for Arlan - his spot on his bum is all gone and he's cute as a button (the doc keeps threatening to keep him!! LOL).
And I had the doc check Landon's throat ... the tonsils are still a bit swollen but no sign of infection in his tonsils or ears. So he got over it all all by himself. When I praised him for fighting the bugs off by himself, he was very proud :-) And he was very good for the doctor, let him check his ears, and opened his mouth up wide. Made me happy - I really didn't want to have to fight with him.

So we're off to bake some cookies ... got a heart-shaped cookie cutter as a prize at Kristi's bridal shower, so Landon and I will try it out.

Until next time...

Tonsils!

Poor Landon - his tonsils are all swollen. Not that you can really tell by how he's acting. Yesterday he woke with a fever. We gave him Motrin & Tylenol during the day, but he still played like normal and whatever. Then last night his fever spiked up and I was getting worried. He had trouble going to sleep (which was likely as much due to the b'day party in the afternoon and the lack of nap), and woke once at ~12:30 crying with a sore throat. But I gave him more Motrin, and he slept the rest of the night and hasn't had a fever today.
But his poor tonsils are inflamed, which makes me feel for him because I know how bloody much mine hurt 'til I got them out (at 22!). They don't seem to be bugging him too much - he's still eating and drinking and playing. We went to the neighbours to watch Superbowl (although I was upstairs with the women and didn't watch any of the game! LOL), and he played with the kids all day / evening (he and John are still there in fact, I came home at 7 to put Arlan to bed).
So he's not too bothered. Healthlink said it's just a viral thing likely, not to worry unless he still has a fever in several days. *Shrug* I hope he sleeps well tonight. No nap again today as we went to the neighbours, so I hope John brings him home soon to go to bed!! LOL But it sure has been peaceful over here with Arlan in bed and just me in the house ... I kind of like it :-D

Other than that ... Arlan's been good. He went to bed late tonight (7:30), we'll see how that impacts him tomorrow morning. He was pretty happy over at Candace's, thankfully ... even when it did get late. All smiley and cute :-) I love that kid!! LOL

Well, will post again to update Landon's poor throat condition. Oh yeah, Arlan's bum is cleared up. Oh yeah - and I have mastitis again, but went to the doc right away Friday when I realized what it was, so I've been on antibiotics since Friday afternoon and feel pretty good. Thankfully. Hopefully it's my last bout with mastitis ... ugh.

Until next time...

4 month shots coming up today...

We made it through another day with Landon not being sick. His appetite is slowly coming back, but not nearly as ravenous as usual. And while he does have periods of active play throughout the day, it's not nearly as active as before, and he then needs to spend some time on the couch recovering. But all in all he's on the mend ... it's just taking him a bit longer I guess. I will be glad when the poops firm up though .....


We get Arlan's 4 month shots today. At 5:40 pm. When I made the appt he went to bed between 7:30 & 8. Now I've usually got him in jammies and am settling him down for the night at that time :-/ We'll see how it goes -- he'll be plenty tired I'm sure, poor thing. But we'll just get him home and get him to bed and see what happens. I will likely have to do the Tylenol every 4 hours thing again (to protect against fever since Landon has a history of febrile seizures), but he's been waking frequently enough to feed that that shouldn't be an issue. He did let mommy get some sleep last night, although he was awake for about 45 minutes at 5 am!! He just gooed and giggled in his crib for about 30 minutes, then he started fussing so I went in and fed him and he went right back to sleep - thankfully until 8 am, so I got to 'sleep in' this morning (never thought I'd see the day when I said sleeping until 8 am was sleeping in!! LOL).

Anyways, we'll post some stats when we get 'em today. I'm going to phone to see if they'll even give Landon a flu shot, since he's just recovering from a flu. Likely not, so he and dad can stay home and chill out. I think I will get a flu shot if I can though ... if I can avoid another flu this winter I'll be pleased. But I need to check if they'll even give me one, since I was just sick as well :-/

Until next time....