Derek took all three big kids to the big game Wednesday night while Janie and I stayed home and convalesced.
Dodgers-Tigers Game with Daddy
Apr 11th, 2014 by ECM
I have a nasty cold, and Janie is feverish, so we’re staying in today. The girls have set up a store and a bedroom in the living room and are serving up bowls of duplo soup. And Susanna has made herself a wand so that she can play Anna and Elsa.
Yes, that dress is on backwards.
We spent the weekend in San Diego. Without Derek.
Apr 7th, 2014 by ECM
Derek had a conference this weekend on campus, and Hannah was flying into San Diego for a concert, with Eleanor driving down to meet up with her, so the kids and I decided to drive down to San Diego, too, and spend a couple nights in a hotel to hang out with our friends. While I had a lovely time hanging out with Hannah and Eleanor on Saturday and visiting the McBride’s church on Sunday (and visiting Helen and Anna in Del Mar and Natalie in Irvine on the way home!), I’m still not sure it was the wisest move on my part.
Friday, we left later than we should have and hit LA at the beginning of rush hour. It ended up taking us 6 hours to get to down there, which was all kinds of horrible. Then Janie was up ’til midnight, and Susie was up at 5:30. I’d anticipated that people without children who are on vacation sleep in much later than parents and are usually ready to start the day when my kids are ready for lunch, so I thought I had planned enough to keep us busy that morning, but I had not really thought through how difficult it is to keep four children quiet in one room for six hours, even with a brand new movie to watch. Maybe it’s possible when everyone is fully rested, but Tommy was the only person who hadn’t screamed or threatened violence by the time the girls met up with us. And I won’t even go into how Susie got out of the hotel room without anyone noticing and was wandering around by herself or how one of the kids wet the bed that three of us were sleeping in. Or how it took us even longer to get home. I’m not sure that it’s wise to put myself into situations like that…I won’t be staying alone in a hotel with all the kids again any time soon. Just trying to remember the good talks with my friends and that we all are still alive!
The kids did like getting to watch Frozen in the hotel room both mornings.
Del Mar is beautiful.
Janie’s Health Update
Apr 4th, 2014 by ECM
I’ve been too busy to get this up until now, but we took Janie back in for a chest check on Wednesday. The hardcore antibiotics had cleared up the bronchitis and ear infections, so her breathing was clean. She had even gained a whole pound in the past week–when she started feeling better, she started eating again! This seems to indicate that it was just an infection, not asthma-related, so we did not do a chest x-ray or talk about breathing treatments. However, Dr. Vallance said that it seems her tendency is to not fight off colds well (true), and it seems her lungs have a tendency to get infected. So she asked me to keep a closer eye on Janie’s colds. If she hasn’t kicked them in 5-7 days or just seems to be wheezing and lingering on longer than the other kids (which she always does), I need to bring her in so that we can be more proactive with secondary infections and get her medicated if necessary. Since my tendency is to wait out colds and not give antibiotics for ear infections, this will be a mental shift for me. Looking back, Jane-bug was sick many more times (and for much longer) than Dr Vallance even realized, because I didn’t bother bringing her in. My new plan: pay more attention to Janie! Better safe than sorry.
The good news was that she was well enough to get her MMR and chicken pox vaccines this week! With the measles outbreak just down the road and the vast majority of our friends and acquaintance out here being anti-vax, I’m relieved to have all four of my kiddos caught up on their shots.
Janie got her first set of duplos for her birthday from Uncle Matthew, and the big kids are happily showing her how to play with them!
I got tired of being a blonde…
Apr 1st, 2014 by ECM
Tommy is becoming quite the little photographer…though the lighting downplays the red…
The Lunch Crew Grows to Four
Mar 31st, 2014 by ECM
Janie’s One Year Stats and Tommy’s Seven Year Stats, or Lots of Trips to the Pediatrician
Mar 28th, 2014 by ECM
Well, we were at the doctor’s office three times this week. On Monday, Janie’s crabbiness and lethargy of the past three and a half weeks was explained–she had a double ear infection, quite bad, and yucky sounding breathing. We got her on antibiotics which turned her into a new baby within two days, but we need to go in next week and review her charts and consider breathing treatments with a nebulizer. She has dropped quite a bit on the growth charts, probably due to so much sickness in the past few months, and Dr. Vallance thinks maybe she has some asthma or something else that we need to check out. Please pray for wisdom for Dr Vallance (who I completely trust to be vigilant but not alarmist) and me as we figure out what is best for Janie!
Janie’s 12 Month Stats:
Height: 29 inches (40%) (Susanna was 29 1/2 inches, Tommy was 29 1/4 in, Elizabeth was 28 1/4)
Weight: 17 lbs, 15 oz (5%) (Susanna was 18 lbs 5.5 ounces, Tommy was 23 lbs 9 oz, Elizabeth was 20 lbs 7 oz)
Head: 18 inches (65%) (Susanna was 18 in, too)
Note that Janie has dropped from 28th percentile in the weight department and is quite a bit lighter than Susie at the same age! I really don’t think of Janie as being tiny, but the numbers say otherwise!
And Tommy had a perfect check-up on Wednesday. His 7 year stats:
Height: 49 1/8″ (65%)
Weight: 57 lbs (74%)
And to top it all off, Elizabeth started crying on the way home from dropping my parents off at the airport on Thursday. We went BACK to the pediatrician when we got home, and poor Lizzie has a double ear infection, too! I had Dr Vallance check Susie’s ears since she’d looked at everyone else’s this week, and fortunately Q is all healthy…
Our last picture before taking Grandma and Grandpa to the airport. Silly me, I still hadn’t figured out that Elizabeth had an ear infection… I feel horrible!
Fashion Forward
Mar 26th, 2014 by ECM
What, you don’t wear silvery tulle flower girl dresses covered by striped sweaters with matching bike helmet and crocks? Silly you. Elizabeth does consulting work for a small fee (candy). I’m her agent, so contact me if you’d like to hire her to help you become more fashion forward.
Petting Sharks in Santa Barbara
Mar 26th, 2014 by ECM
We’ve been having lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa! On Monday, the kids asked to take them up to Santa Barbara to show them the Sea Center.
petting sharks
Susie pets the shark
Janie watches
examining the contents of the ocean floor
swing
box cave