Ethan mopping

So Ethan has become fascinated with the mop. I actually have to hide it, but I do let him play with it occasionally. I've posted a cute video of him with the mop. Hope you enjoy!

Sleeping

So several people have asked me if Ethan's sleeping has improved and I am happy to post that it is so much better. The main reason he wasn't sleeping is because he was teething and the second was because he was attached to me. He had 2 teeth come through and he started sleeping better after that waking just once a night. So we knew we still had to break him from being so attached to me so my wonderful husband had a great idea (still not sure how he knows my child better than i do, but hey I'm so thankful for his suggestion).  After bathing him, we give him milk and read him a book while rocking him a little and then I lay him down awake in his crib and turn on a veggie tales DVD and mute it and he goes right to sleep on his own. Its amazing! We also incorporated a sound machine which I think has really helped as well.

He is now teething on his back molars, but they aren't starting to cut yet so he is sleeping right now. I will say there is one thing that has really helped when he is cutting teeth and that is Teething Tablets. Thanks to Britney Laird for passing this suggestion on to me. It has worked so well and I will definitely continue to use it.  If you have children that are teething and fussy and you've tried everything, I would definitely recommend trying this product.

Ethan's Lack of Sleeping

So lately Ethan has not been sleeping very well, which means we are not sleeping very well. We are still trying to determine the cause (if there is one). We are thinking he is just spoiled, which means we have to break him of this very soon if that is the case. He has been fighting to go to sleep when I try to rock him, he wiggles around like he can't get comfortable, so I'm thinking okay he is past the point of wanting to be rocked. I tried just laying him in bed after giving him milk and reading a book, but that doesn't work. I also tried rocking him until he is asleep, but the minute I go to lay him down in his crib he starts crying. He is also waking up in the middle of the night and staying up for 2 to 3 hours at a time. We've tried everything to get him back to sleep, but he just won't go back to sleep until he is ready; however he does go back to sleep if I rock him for a while, but again he cries when I go to lay him down. So, as you can imagine we are extremely frustrated with the situation at this point. I have let him cry it out the past 2 nights, but he is still just not getting it. We do know he is teething, so we prepared for that (gave tylenol, orajel, etc) in case that is way he is waking up, but still nothing is working.

He never got attached to a security object (except for me), but I sure wish he had because some of my friends children have a blanky or a bear that they sleep with and it helps them sleep. I've tried introducing those things, but he just doesn't take to them. So, here we are with a 15 month old that still is not sleeping through the night. I sure do love my baby boy, but Momma needs some sleep. 15 months off interrupted sleep is really starting to have a ware me out. I broke down today and cried because it makes me feel like a horrible mother when I've tried everything (even tough love) and still can't manage to get him to go to sleep and sleep peacefully. I know I shouldn't feel like that, but I just do. So if there are any moms out there that have any suggestions, please please pass them along. I am desperate for help!

Pumpkin Patch

We recently took Ethan to the Pumpkin Patch here in Orange County. Although this is not his first fall or halloween, it was his first pumpkin patch adventure. In fact, it was a first for all of us which made it even more special. We are really enjoying doing things as a family. Ethan really enjoyed walking around and touching all of the pumpkins. He also enjoyed trying to get in the blow up bouncers, but he was too young.  He is really into pushing things right now, so he really enjoyed trying to push the wheelbarrow. I've added a slideshow of our trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Hope you enjoy!

Daycare

Okay, so recently I've realized I need a break so I'm considering going back to work. I know I can't believe I'm saying it either. I have really loved being at home with Ethan, but I really miss the socialization of adults and seeing as how I have no friends here in CA, I figured I might as well go back to work, not to mention they pay really well here (almost double what I would make in Bham).

So, Ethan and I have visited a few daycares and he seems to really like it. He gets down immediately and walks around and plays with all the toys and looks at the other kids. Although he didn't play with any of the kids, I'm sure he would learn to.

Ethan is behind on his speech development but advanced in everything else, so we along with his doctor feel like this would really help with getting him to say more words.

Oh and California is ridiculous on daycare expenses. I'm talking a whooping $1400 for 5 days a week. I mean you have to work to afford that!

I've been on 1 interview and didn't really like it, although I've been told they will probably offer me the job I don't think I'm going to accept it. Just wasn't interesting to me. I've applied for several other jobs, so I will keep you posted on how those go. Still can't believe I'm actually gonna go back to work.

Ethan's 15 month appt.

Well Ethan is 15 months. It was a very dramatic appointment. He absolutely hates for them to touch him since his hospital visit. The doctor said that is very normal and it will eventually get better. It was very bad. He cried about every little thing they did. I'm talking they measuring his head, length, checking his ears and mouth, he just did not like it.

He weighed 23.4 lbs and was 31 1/2 inches long. His head circumference was 47 1/2. His head was 18 at 9 months, so it has grown a good bit. Yes my son has a large head. LOL! He had 4 shots, including the flu shot. We were a little hesitant about the flu shot because it is combined with the H1N1 shot this year and we just feel there hasn't been enough research since it's a new vaccine; however our pediatrician talked us into it, especially since we are considering putting him in daycare. He is also a little behind on his speech, but more advanced in other areas so the pediatrician is not too worried. He has said several words such as: Dada, Mama, Nonna, Bye, Hey and Dog, but she doesn't count them because he doesn't say them on a regular basis. We are going to work more with him on his words, but she did say she feels daycare would really help his speech skiils.

Well, that's basically it. He is a healthy, happy and growing boy.

Ethan's 1st Hospital Visit

We had just came home from Alabama and 2 days after being home Ethan started getting sick. So I loaded him up and we went to Target to get some vapor rub, etc and before we could even make it down the aisle he started vomiting everywhere, so I took him out of the buggy and he stood there in the aisle and threw up all over the floor and was crying because he didn't understand. It broke my heart seeing him like this. All I could think is I wish it were me instead of him. I stripped him down of all his clothes and we came back home and I took him to the doctor. They said they thought it just may be the stomach bug, so we came home and he continued to throw up all day. He threw up approximately 20 times. He was so weak and we couldn't get him to drink anything. Well later that night he seemed to be feeling better, he played a little and then we all went to bed. Next morning came and I woke up and he still seemed fine, so we loaded up and took Chad to the airport for a business trip. On the way home I started feeling bad. I got back home and could barely make it in the door and I was got sick as well. I was thinking oh no how am i going to take care of a sick baby and be sick too. It was tough but we managed. I held him as I threw up and he would just cry because he didn't understand. In the meantime Ethan's vomiting had stopped, but he continued to have diarrhea and was just not acting right, so I decided that maybe we needed to try and sleep it off. Well that just what we did. After sleeping off and on all day, come 7 pm I could not really get him aroused. He had become very lethargic and I could barely walk because I was so weak from all the vomiting. I called his doctor's office and they had me check him for dehydration and sure enough he was, so we called a taxi and went to the ER. The whole time I was thinking okay I don't want my little one to be stuck, but I know an IV will make us better and tomorrow we will be good as knew. Well after attempting to stick him twice they decided to give him a break and started my IV. They resumed trying to give him his IV, yet only to stick him two more times. At this point I was getting very frustrated. He was so extremely sick that he just laid there the first two times. No crying, no fighting, nothing, but the next two times he was starting to realize what they were doing to him and it was becoming much more difficult. Finally a fifth person came in to try his IV and he finally got it. I was so thankful and was thinking okay now we can start feeling better and go home. Little did I know that about 30 minutes later they came to me and told me that his blood work came back and it was very abnormal and he was extremely sick and and IV was not gonna cure it and he would need to be transferred and admitted to Children's Hospital. So now I'm freaking out. His blood sugar was 41 (which is extremely low) and they would not allow him to transfer until it came up. So after 4 cups of apple juice and a little sugar water they rechecked his blood sugar and it was only 52 so it still was not high enough to let us transfer, so they started him on sugar water in his IV. In the meantime I called Chad and told him he needed to come home, so he booked his flight for the next day. Well about 45 minutes after the apple juice Ethan started screaming to the top of his lungs and was crying uncontrollably and I'm freaking out b/c I don't know whats wrong with him. While trying to calm him down I felt his stomach and it was hard as a rock, so I called the nurse and she said I'm not sure. Well I said I think the apple juice may be hurting his stomach, sure enough I was right, he started having diarrhea again. Well about 1:30 they finally let us transfer so the ambulance got there and loaded Ethan up and made sure he was stable enough to transfer. His blood sugar was now at 71 so they said that was good enough to let him transfer. So we all loaded up in the ambulance; however they would not let me ride in the back with him, I had to sit up front with the driver, but at least I could see him.

On the way to the Children's Hospital Ethan started vomiting again. I was so concerned because he hadn't threw up in 2 days, so I'm really beginning to worry about him. We got to the hospital and got him checked into a room. Everyone was so nice and they knew that I was sick as well so they kept bringing me crackers and Gatorade. They were some really great nurses. Ethan was in isolation, so neither of us could leave the room. The next day they rechecked his blood work and it was still low so they decided to keep him another day. The first day we were there he still was a little lethargic and slept a good bit, which was good since the IV was in his foot, I didn't want him standing on it or trying to take it out. Later that afternoon he started playing and drinking very good, so they decided to let him try some crackers and he loved that, so the next morning he got cheerios and a banana and love that. So he seemed to be doing better so the nurse had some toys brought in and he played in his crib for a little while with those. So the nurse came in for the night shift and I called her in because Ethan' IV pump had been beeping off an on for a few hours. I told her he had been messing with his IV that day so she checked it and sure enough he had pulled it loose, so she said they would have to take it out completely so we begged for it to not be put back in and she and the charge nurse agreed as long as we made sure he drank plenty of fluids or otherwise they would put it back in the next day. So we were determined to make him drink, only he would no longer drink the electrolyte drinks they had given him, so I called the nurse and asked could he please have some diluted apple juice or even water and she agreed, Yea! He drink 2 bottles. He was really thirsty. So after drinking that we laid him back down to bed and he slept for a while and the nurse came in for the middle of the night vitals. She said I would need to change his diaper so they could weigh it. I said okay, no problem. I went to change his diaper and there was no pee in it, now I'm freaking out because no pee meant IV had to go back in. So we forced him to drink some more juice and about 20 minutes later we had pee. Never been so excited about pee before!

The doctors came around for their morning report and said so I hear he pulled his IV out and we said yes, meanwhile he is standing in his crib playing with toys. They were suprised at how much he had improved and said his recent blood work was right where it needed to be, so they agreed to let us go home.

Ethan playing on the day he got to go home!

We were so excited, so we loaded up and went home. Ethan played and everything seemed normal until we put him to sleep that night. He started throwing up again. So know we are really starting to worry because we are thinking it something in our apartment or his milk because I had given him 1/2 cup of milk earlier. So we let him sleep with us and Chad stayed up all not giving him Gatorade through a dropper while he was sleeping. (Such a good husband) The next day we went to his doctor for a follow up. She put him on some antibiotics because he was still sick with a runny nose and congestion, (for about 3 weeks) so she felt it had developed into a sinus infection. We got his antibiotics and started giving them right away and kept him off of milk and gave only Pedialyte for 2 days and everything was good. Our little one was finally back to being a healthy boy. He had lost about 2 lbs while in the hospital so we were eager to get him back to eating and drinking normally and it didn't take much. Happy to report he is still doing well and back to his usual happy spoiled self! Thank you LORD!