5 Things

Erica tagged me to complete the following.....

The "5 THINGS GAME" The rules are to write 5 things under each of the 5 headings, and then tag 5 other people.

10 years ago...
1. I was a freshman at Simpson College
2. I was dating Mitch who is now by husband
3. I was adjusting to living with two roommates in a tiny dorm room
4. I was studying to be an accountant
5. I was getting over pneumonia

5 Things on Today's "To-Do" List
1. Clean the house
2. Laundry
3. Paint some Christmas decorations
4. Find a stocking for Drew
5. Figure out what we still need to buy for Christmas presents

5 Snacks I Enjoy...
1. Popcorn and a soda
2. Cheese and crackers
3. Brownies
4. Orange Julius
5. Ice cream

5 Things I Would Do if I were a Millionaire!
1. Quit my job!!!!
2. Build our dream house
3. Do something nice for our families
4. Put money away for college for our children
5. Buy a new car with more room for Drew's stuff

5 Places I Have Lived...
1. Central City
2. Indianola
3. Cedar Falls
4. Troy Mills
5. Urbana

5 Jobs I've had/Still have...
1. Lots of babysitting
2. Ridictas Construction
3. City State Bank - teller, loan admin, bookkeeping
4. Hellman Accounting - accountant
5. Rockwell Collins - accountant

5 People I'm tagging...
I don't know five people that are blogging so we'll have to go with three
Kristen
Shantel
Gail

How old are you?

We had Drew's 9 month appointment today (yes, he's 10 months on Friday). We are constantly getting asked by people we see if Drew is 1.5 or 2 and we sadly have to say that he's only 9 months old. Today the doctor confirmed that he is the size of a 15 month old. He remains very tall for his age which causes him to weigh a lot even though he's a fairly skinny little guy. He was 31 inches and about 24 pounds.

He is still very healthy and developmentally on track although slightly advanced physically. The problem remains with his tear duct still being blocked. We now have the name of a specialist that I'll be calling later this afternoon. When he turns one we can go in and have the duct probed to hopefully keep it open. Our doctor said that 90% of kids born with this problem outgrow it by one but she thinks Drew is going to be in the minority 10% that has to have it surgically fixed or he'll just have to live with a gross eye the rest of his life. She said it's a simple procedure and virtually pain free. They put him out though which is the scary part for me. The doctor also informed us that Drew should be able to understand us enough that we need to start having consistent discipline with him. She said if we don't start now we're asking for trouble later...especially since he's so mobile and active.

The bad news from today is that the poor kid has another ear infection. We feel so bad for him because he's been sick since October 20. We've been to that doctor's office so many times and tried so many different things to help get him better and it's just one thing after another. She's hoping that this new strong medicine will lick the problems. We'll see!!!!

Lately Drew has learned to wave and say bye-bye, blow kisses, and mimic lots of sounds and actions we do. He also gives me things he has if I ask for them which is nice. Now I no longer have to fight with him to get things away from him. He really is freakishly strong for a baby. He has learned a couple other things that are making my life easier. When I tell him it's time to eat and to go to his chair he'll walk over to his highchair and wait to get put in. Also, if I get out his changing pad in the living room and a diaper he'll come over so he can have his pants changed. It's nice to not have to chase him around the downstairs.

Drew also likes to be helpful and help himself to his bottles. One night last week I made Drew his bedtime bottle while Mitch got him into his pjs. I came into the dining room and sat the bottle on the table so Drew wouldn't see it. When this kid sees food he WANTS food. Mitch got him dressed and let him up to walk around for a minute. Five seconds later he was sitting on the floor by the table drinking his bottle. He apparently saw it and went and grabbed it off the table deciding there was no reason he should have to wait for anyone to give it to him when he could just help himself. Then a couple days later it was getting time for his afternoon snack bottle. I sat an empty bottle on the stove ready for Mitch to make when he finished up what he was doing. I was working on doing dishes and Drew was coming and going in the kitchen but was getting fussy because he must have been hungry. All of a sudden he was standing at the stove trying to reach up and get the bottle. He couldn't reach it but he could reach the handle on the oven so he was hanging off the handle trying to use his feet to climb up the stove. It was a crazy sight to watch and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. He's such a funny little guy.

Our sick little guy

Poor Drew has been sick since Oct 21. We have now been to see his doctor four times in three weeks. At first they told me that he had pink eye, an ear infection, and a really bad cold and gave us some eye drops and antibiotics. That was a Wednesday. After we got home from that appointment he started having a high fever. It stayed 103-104 for about five days which was terrible. The worst was 104.8 and which caused him to wake up crying. He was drenched in sweat and just miserable. Mitch took him downstairs and sat him on his lap and got some of his clothes off. We put a wet cloth on his head to try and cool him down and he just sat on Mitch's lap with his eyes closed moaning. It was the saddest thing I'd seen and it made me cry. It was so hard to watch him suffer knowing there was nothing I could really do to make him better. During the week you knew he was never feeling good because instead of playing with toys he would just lay down on the floor or come over and put his head down on my lap. And that is not normal for our crazy man. On that Saturday we had to take him back to the doctor because they were concerned that he wasn't any better. He was still having high fevers, stopped eating, and was feeling worse than when we started the medicine. And oh my goodness...giving him that medicine was awful. He would fight us so hard and then would spit most of out. I'm not talking opening his mouth so it all just runs out...it was more like launching it back all over us to show his disapproval of what we were doing to him. They ran a bunch of tests at the doctor and determined he had a virus causing all of his problems. That meant that thankfully we could stop the medicine but had to just wait it out. She told us to make sure that we watched him to be sure it didn't move into his lungs because that would be bad. After a few days his fevers went away and he started eating again. It took quite awhile for him to get energy back and be able to walk around very far again. After a few days of working on feeling better he got a terrible cough that would wake him up from naps and at night. Every time he started coughing the episode would last about 45 minutes. It was awful to hold him while he would start gasping for air because he was coughing so bad. So back to the doctor we went Monday. The doctor said that his ears looked fine but there's a flood of fluid going down his throat so when he lays down it's like he's drowning in all of it. She said to start him on Benadryl which he loves and cries because he wants more after he finishes his dose. So we thought we just had to wait for his sinuses to dry up and then everything would be back to normal. The next day held another outcome. We noticed a couple weird bumps on his legs. A couple days later he was covered in a nasty rash so back to the doctor we went yesterday. The rash doesn't seem to be bothering him so that's good but it looks really bad. It's all over his legs, arms, back, face, and ears. Strangely it isn't on his stomach. The doctor said that it's viral and took a swab on the gunk pouring out of eye and is sending it in for testing. We find out Monday what's wrong with him. I'm hoping all of this is done soon and that it's his only sickness for the winter. Otherwise it's going to be a very long winter. Hope everyone else has a healthy winter.

Family Update

Mitch got our computer fixed so now we can get to our pictures again. I've saved some pictures from the last month which include a trip to the lake, going to the pumpkin patch, and trying on Drew's Halloween costume. He's going to be a cowboy sheriff. He is so stinking cute in it!!!!!

Last week I had to work 12 hour days all week which was a real shock to my system after only working 16 hours a week in the office for the last six months. I missed my baby so much being at work all the time but at least he got to spend some quality time with Daddy. I couldn't believe how much he changed while I was gone. Just in a couple days of not seeing him he started standing up in the middle of the room and walking wherever he wanted to go. It's so crazy what he's capable of now.

What a Shock

Everyone who has seen Drew in the last month has told us that he would be walking soon. We ourselves also expected him to start walking by Thanksgiving. Every few days we'll spend some time with Drew trying to get him to take a step to get from me to Mitch and then back again. On a few occasions lately we've gotten him to take that one step. Last night we sat down to try again hoping that we'd get a step out of him. Mitch started holding him and once he got him standing up we were absolutely shocked when Drew took off not towards me but to the ottoman three feet away...and made it there. Mitch and I immediately looked at one another in disbelief for what had just happened. For the next thirty minutes we watched as our eight month old took off and kept trying his hand at walking taking three to four steps every time. He would start at the ottoman walking along it and then kept going. This happened over and over on every surface he could get to. It was so fun to watch him turn into such a big boy.

Sickness

Sickness will not leave this house. Drew has his second cold and a stomach bug. It has turned our happy little boy who hates to cuddle and wants to go, go, go into a crying unhappy baby who wants to be held constantly. I feel so bad for him. Then this weekend I got another ear infection. I have had two in less than two months which is ridiculous since I think my only other one was when I was four. I'm really starting to get annoyed by all of this. Mitch is also suffering from a cold. So needless to say, it's all fun at our house right now.

Vacation Pictures

Pictures of our vacation have been posted. We had such a fun time and both Mitch and I were sad to have to come home so soon. We're planning an awesome beach vacation next summer with my mom's whole family so we have that to look forward to. I'm hoping the thought of that will get us through the winter.

Update

Thanks for your prayers. My cousin suffered a broken neck, severely sprained ankle, and many other bumps and bruises. He is still in the hospital but is doing pretty well considering. The boys were released on Monday night. Taylor has to wear a neck brace for a week and they both just need to take it easy. They are all very, very lucky to be doing so well.

Please Pray

My cousin Nick and his two boys were in a head on collision this morning. Nick and the youngest, Taylor, have been transferred to Iowa City. I think that Logan is being released and is OK. Nick is not in good shape and needs prayers. Thanks!!!!

Burr

I can't believe how cold it is out. When we got up this morning our house was 65. This place does not hold its temperature well at all. It takes on the outside temp immediately so we have to go straight from air conditioning to heat and then right back to air. Hmmm...why are we moving?!? Poor Drew is in sweatpants that are too long and rolled up and a sweatshirt that's too small. I didn't think I'd have to dress him in winter clothes yet so I don't have anything that fits him quite right.