Merry Christmas!

Sick Update

Yesterday Blake had some bloodwork done (Epstein Barr panel) per the pedi's request. I was expecting the results Friday or even Monday, so I was caught off guard when Dr. B called to say Blake was positive for infectious mononucleosis. Whoa... Shocked, disappointed, confused... Anyway, at least it's an answer and something I can latch onto and hopefully she's on the way to well and isn't just getting it. Next checkup is Friday morning. More to come.
And yay that Easton hasn't gotten sick through this!

Toddler Engineering

And he did it all by himself! I thought it was pretty impressive!

Rest & Relax

Well in the ongoing saga of illnesses, Blake's was diagnosed with strep throat on Friday. After an injection of antibiotics, we were prescribed to rest and drink lots of fluids... I'm so ready for my girl to get better and stay well! Since she's sick, Miss Lady (the ladybug) and Sophia (the doll) are sick, resting, and getting lots of cuddles, too.

Easton, meanwhile, hasn't gotten sick and is being a good sport on being easy around Blake. Here he is relaxing, watching Tangled for the umpteenth time, with a cookie and milk.

Things that make me smile

Here are some pictures from my phone that make me happy...

My dad (Poppa) is super silly with my kids and they always love it! He was flying the kids around airplane-style, giving them rides and bucking them off on the couch and rolling around the floor... On his 59th bday, still young!!

The other pictures are from an after school cherry coke stop at Rexall (which is Graham Pharmacy, but I still call it the old name). My mom used to take me and now I take my kiddos! They love the good crushed ice just as much as me.

Thanksgiving in Frisco

These are some of the pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Frisco. We enjoyed a great meal with Tim's parents, and his mom's family. I think both kids favorite thing was the stairs at their house. I can't even say how many times they went up and down, laid on the first landing, and scooted on their bottoms down. On Friday, we went to the Dallas Zoo then out for a yummy lunch! (I have more animal/zoo pictures I need to upload) Blake still talks about the gorilla who came up and banged on the glass right in front of us!
On Saturday morning, the guys went golfing while Grammy, the kids and I went to the neighborhood park. All in all, a fun trip!

ENT report

Dr. C says her tonsils are not big enough, no sleep apnea, and we haven't had 5 cases of tonsillitis this year. So tough it out we must! (Not the news I wanted!!) I want this household healthy!

Blake Sickness Update

Blake started feeling bad on Nov. 9 when she spent the night with my mom after Cathy's rehearsal dinner. Cut to today, where we spent our morning at the pedi, then LabCorp, then the hospital lab. It started as 2 ear infections, tonsillitis, and an eye infection, and her throat and ears have bothered her off and on since then. (she had a similarly long lasting tonsillitis over the summer) fever off and on too. This past weekend she spent most of it around 101, down to 100 a lot and up to 102 and shivering. According to Dr. B, her tonsils are full of puss and her left ear too. (currently running tests for strep, even though the pedi strep test came back neg, mono, and adenovirus) We talked about all her symptoms like difficulty eating due to throat pain, but when I mentioned her snoring (which is as loud as a grown man's) he said that is more dangerous than tonsillitis. He recommends removing her tonsils and adenoids. We go to see Dr. C, the E.N.T. tomorrow, so hopefully we can get Blake's huge tonsils out ASAP!

Things to remember

Time is flying by faster by the day... I'm not sure if any of these are repeats, but I just wanted to remember a few things.

Easton is talking more all the time. He calls Blake "bay" and it is too cute to hear him call her to come play with him or help him. He also says Rummy=Grammy, rumpa=grandpa, rumma=grandma, and says Papa. "tant-too"=thank you, when he says his own name it sounds like "eee-in"
Easton sings the E-I-E-I-O part of Old McDonald has a farm, "E-I-E-I-oooooooooo" and tips his head low and sings the ooooo with a deep voice.
Blake weighs 33 pounds and Easton weighs 27 ( I know this from recent doctor visits!)
Blake asks me to sing "Say Goodnight" every night (which is really "Captain Curly Head" that my momma sang to me)
Blake calls Ring Around the Rosie - Ring Around the Rosary!
Both love to dance! And will sway, raise and swing arms, shake hips to music they like.

Will add as I remember more....

Flower girl

On Saturday, Blake was the flower girl in my good friend (since childhood!) Cathy's wedding. She was ecstatic to get to wear her favorite color purple and I truly think she thinks Cathy chose purple for her. Ha! She walked down the aisle with Cathy's now nephew named Andre who was 5, I think. Despite starting to get sick (she has 2 ear infections today plus eye and throat infections) she did great, and couldn't wait to dance at the reception. The only pictures I have of the kids are dancing. Blake danced alone while guests were still eating, then danced with Andre too. It warmed my heart, but scared me for the future too to hear Andre say "do you want to dance Blake?" And hold out his hand. She would say yes, take his hand and walk to the dance floor with him. Easton didn't want to be left out, so he would go too (I like to think to watch out for her!) so so sweet to see these kids start the dance party. Andre even twirled her!

Lately

Easton is so neat to watch play. Often if he gets really quiet while playing, I'll peek to see what's going on and instead of a mess, a lot of the time he is sitting reading books. It's so sweet to hear him read them to himself, run and put it up, grab another book, plop down and read some more! He also has become quite an iPad expert. He loves playing Tozzle (puzzles) and SoundTouch (animal and object sound game). Often I'll go to use my iPhone or the iPad and lots of the icons are in different places... Silly boy!

Both kids love when we go to Albertson's because they have the best kid-friendly carts. I try to go every once in awhile just so they can take a ride while I buy a few things!

Fiddlesticks Farm

The kids went to a friend's birthday party at Fiddlesticks Farm on Saturday. It was so much fun! There was so much to do, and so much more than when I went a few years ago for school! We bounced on a ginormous blob, rode the cow train (cow decorated cars pulled by a tractor), looked at all different baby animals including chicks as they hatched!, went on a hayride, ate pizza and of course cake! There were slides, pumpkin shooting, and other things that maybe we'll do when the kids get older. Kylie and her parents had an awesome party!!

West Texas Zoo

Today we visited a vet clinic outside of town that is a wildlife sanctuary for wild animals that somehow make their way here. Today we saw two camels, one of whom was very friendly!, a beautiful zebra, some turkeys, and of course Paco the monkey is still there. The tortoise exhibit was closed, and we also saw the ducks, horses, mini horses and donkeys that are usually there! Easton mostly wanted to be held around the zebra and camel, esp. when the camel stuck his head right in our faces! Blake thought she wanted to touch the hairy camel, but didn't! Look how close they are!

Happy Halloween!

This year the kids were going to be a cowboy and cowgirl... Last minute change of plans, and Easton became a vampire or Count Dracula, maybe. Grandma and Papa joined us to trick or treat at a neighborhood close by and it was fun! Blake said "trick or treat" loud and proud like Papa coached her at every house and Easton reached his hand out and wanted all the candy put in his hand, not his bucket. We'll have to work on candy picking because if he had a choice, he went for the suckers every time! Blake was sweet and helped hold her brother's hand, when she wasn't running ahead to be the leader. She also would tell you to "be safe and walk on the sidewalk" if we weren't! Easton walked the whole way and was just kind of taking it all in! They both did great but were tired after a few blocks, so we called it a night. It was a happy Halloween! Blake says she wants to be a princess next year...