Down for the count

When you have kids in daycare, illness is an endless circle.

On March 12, Madison and I each came down with a cold. On March 14, Madison was diagnosed with a bladder infection. The cold lasted for about four days - the bladder infection cleared up quickly with meds. We all felt well for about 3 days and then on March 20, we started with the colds again. Madison and I both had it - it included a terrible cough that keeps you up at night and lots of congestion. Add to that lots of aches and pains!

I visited the doctor for the cold because my cough was so bad - but my lungs were clear. Before I was even feeling better - Cameron came down with it over the weekend. He started with this adorable little cough that on three occasions caused him to have trouble breathing. SCARY. It only lasted a day and then seemed to clear up for him.

Meanwhile - I'm still feeling crummy, in fact, I'm feeling worse.

Then at 4am this morning I could hear Madison coughing. Then she was screaming for me. She had thrown up on the carpet. It wasn't much and I thought she had just coughed so hard that she made herself throw up. I cleaned the carpet and went back to bed still planning to send her to daycare. While I was getting ready for work a few hours later, she threw up again.

So, Mike stayed home with her today.

By 9:30 am, Mike was throwing up too.

By noon I was headed back to Express Care because I was certain my cold was now a sinus infection. It was and I finally have drugs to hopefully clear it up.

I got home from work at 5pm. Cameron was fussy and had a low grade fever. Hmmm...I was concerned enough to keep the thermometer handy.

While I was changing clothes Madison showed me a little red bump on her tummy. It looked like a bug bite. I was slightly concerned and said we would watch it, meaning to check it out again in 10-15 minutes. Five minutes later Mike asks me to look at Madison's hands. They were covered in HIVES! I took off her clothes and we watched the hives spread up her arms, across her trunk and down her legs in a matter of minutes.

I called the nurse line and they recommended an oatmeal bath and benadryl. They said no need to come in unless she had trouble breathing - and they said if that happened to just call an ambulance. THANKFULLY, that didn't happen! After a dose of benadryl and an oatmeal bath, the hives were looking better.

This Thursday will mark three full weeks that we have been battling illnesses. I hope this is the end. I really really want to get off this ride!

Also - if you're wondering about the "praying for Stellan" button on the sidebar, I'll give you a brief background. Stellan is the 5 month old son of a woman from Minneapolis. She is a blogger and an amazing photographer. While Stellan was in the womb, his heart went into SVT, its a rapid heartbeat originating from the wrong part of the heart. The University Dr's told her that her son would not be carried to term and would die. She and her husband decided to accept whatever was God's will and prayed for the best. Stellan was miraculously carried to term and born healthy. However, last Sunday his heart went into SVT again - and has been in SVT almost continuously ever since. He is in Children's Hospital and the Dr's are frantically trying to find the right combination of Meds to get his heart back to a normal sinus rhythm before it is too damaged. They are running out of time and having little success. So - please pray for little Stellan. After reading this - I realize our little cycle of late winter illness is nothing compared to this. Give me a few colds and vomit any day!

My Little Treasure Troll

About a week ago I asked a friend how to control Cam’s hair and make it lie flat. She laughed and said troll babies are cute and to just leave the hair alone. She’s right. The more I look at him, the more I think he looks like a little Treasure Troll. So that’s what I call him.

Cameron was three months old two Sunday's ago. It’s hard to believe it has been three months already, at the same time, I can’t remember life without him!

Weight: 12 pounds and some odd-ounces.

Length: 22 inches
Size: 3-6 months. We’ve been transitioning out of 0-3 month clothes into the 3-6 month stuff for a few weeks now.

Diapers: Size 2. We’re still using up some old size 1 – but it really is time for the larger ones!

Cameron is a very mellow baby. If he is awake, he is happy just sitting in a bouncer, listening to music, and playing with toys that are attached. He manipulates his Nuk a lot, but hasn’t figured out how to put it in his mouth just yet.

He coos like crazy and often talks to his friends that hang over the changing table. He has also developed this high pitched scream that he does when he is happy. Its the cutest thing! He likes to sleep – A LOT. He is usually only awake for short bursts of time in the morning and the early evening. Otherwise he sleeps, waking only to eat.

He is no longer eating at night; we stopped feeding him after his two month well baby appointment. He does wake once or twice a night for his Nuk. Until recently, he would wake up for the Nuk and not go back to sleep until I moved him from his cradle to his bouncer. He has, however, spent the whole night in his cradle for the past two weeks or so.

Hmmm....should have rotated that before uploading. oh well.

Cameron is a little snuggler. He often cuddles right into my neck after being fed or when we’re just hanging out. I love it and could sit like that all night!

He is getting those adorable little chunkers on his thighs – you know the ones that you can only see when you take off his diaper? So cute.

His hair is getting much lighter as I suspected it would. The roots are turning very blonde.

Cameron adores his big sister. Whenever she talks to him or kisses him, he gets a big smile on his face and shakes his arms and legs. He also seems to really like his Grandpa Lee, as he babbled like crazy for Grandpa over the weekend.

Cam is starting to enjoy baths more. He doesn’t get all excited and splash like Madison did, but he no longer cries when we give him a bath. He just lies in the water and relaxes like he is on a sandy beach.

Cameron HATES his tummy time. I thought he would never learn to roll over because he can’t get through two minutes of tummy time without screaming. However, last Wednesday he successfully rolled from his tummy to his back. We are still trying to get it on video!

We just had his three month pictures taken and they are so cute! I can’t wait for the order to come in so I can get them up on my wall.

This picture is for Uncle Tyler. Are REAL hunters supposed to scream and cry when they put on their hunting gear?

Bush Cup Champions and WCHA Champions

Wow - what a great weekend for hockey! The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs won the WCHA championship last night! What a game - they really took it to Denver. The goalie for our beloved alma mater is AMAZING. He only allowed 1 goal for the entire tournament. Last night's game was a shutout! We look forward to a good showing at the NCAA tournament.

The unbelievable Ice Hawks came back in the 3rd period from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 in sudden death OT. The team made the three hour drive back that night for a 2:30am fan rally at the Rec Center. Unfortunately, with little ones, we did not make it to the fan rally, but our 'Hawks were in our dreams, for sure!

The 'Hawks are off to Nationals in Boston for the 6th consecutive year. We will certainly be following the Post Bulletin's Live Blog throughout the tournament!

GO HAWKS!

Shhh...don't let Old Man Winter hear me....

I saw a robin last night. That is usually the sure sign - I think spring might be here! I also saw lots of shorts and pasty white legs yesterday. In Minnesota, that only means that the temperature is above freezing.

It’s really funny how fast Minnesotans break out the shorts and pasty white legs. I’m not sure if it’s to start tanning those legs or to laugh in the face of Old Man Winter. I’m thinking that it is to dare Old Man Winter to bring on more snow and cold.

C’mon, Old Man Winter – is that all you’ve got? Bring it on!

It was 65 and sunny on Monday, 59 and sunny on Tuesday. Friday is the first day of spring. I think the old man is running out of gas.

Bush Cup FInals - Game One

**********UPDATE**********
We had a hard time getting scoring updates because our internet has been down. Thank God for Mike's Blackberry - we were able to occasionaly get some updates.

The 'Hawks came back from a 3-0 deficit to a 5-5 tie. Unfortunately, they lost 6-5 in sudden death overtime.

Next game - Friday 8:30 PM at the Rec Center. GO HAWKS!




Tonight is the first game in the MN Junior Hockey League Bush Cup finals. This is the first season in the four years that we have been following the Ice Hawks that we’ve actually had some competition. We finished the season in 2nd place behind the Granite City Lumberjacks.

The Bush Cup playoffs haven’t been a walk in the park either! The semi-final round started off looking like it would be easy with a 12-2 at –home win over the MN Owls. The next game was played in Isanti, so we watched the game over the internet. The Owls gave us a run for our money and beat us 3-2. We thought it would be an easy win for us but the loss brought the deciding game to the Rec Center on Sunday night. The game was close, with the Owls quickly answering each of the Ice Hawks goals. The game went into over time and resulted in the Ice Hawks winning 4-3. Talk about an exciting nail-biter! The win also secured a spot for the ‘Hawks at the national junior hockey tournament in Boston. Wish we could go to watch!

Since the Lumberjacks have home ice advantage, the series starts tonight on the Lumberjacks ice. We are hoping the game will be broadcast online but if not, we will be following the Ice Hawks’ website and the newspaper blog for scoring updates.

Game 2 is Friday at the Rec Center. It’s being held later than usual because another team has the ice – so I’m not sure if I’ll get to go. It might get too late for the kiddos, but we may go if Madison takes a good nap at daycare on Friday.

One cool thing that we heard at Friday’s game – an opposing player got a penalty and said to one of the off-ice officials in the box “You guys have a wonderful organization and fans; this is a really fun place to play.” It’s true – the Ice Hawks have a huge and consistent fan base. They cheer like crazy and most of the time it is clean and respectful. At away games, ‘Hawks fans usually outnumber the home team fans. The owners of the team are such nice people – they make us proud to be associated with the team.

For the first time ever, the Bush Cup will be displayed in the Excel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, with the team picture and roster. Even more reason for the ‘Hawks to bring their A-game and take it to the Lumberjacks!

GO HAWKS!!!

Because my Mom says.....

Since Cameron was born, Madison has been having a little trouble with hitting at daycare. We didn't learn about it until I went back to work and Madison had a few really bad days. Dawn finally told us after another parent complained that her precious peanut was getting smacked around. I can't imagine why she would have an issue with it. ;)

When we learned of the problem, we immediately cracked down on Madison. In typical Dad style Mike said "Madison, if you hit at daycare I'm going to spank you."

I almost choked on my dinner when he said that. Then explained to him why that probably won't be a very good solution.

We finally agreed on a discipline plan for the hitting. For every day that she got in trouble for hitting at daycare, we took away a favorite toy. It required two days of no hitting to earn the toy back. On the way to daycare every day, we had a lecture about how we don't hit. I explained to her that if she felt she needed to hit, she should just walk away.

I made her recite back to me over and over and over again what she should do.

If she did get into trouble for hitting, I also would make her apologize and hug the person that she hit when we got to daycare in the morning.

It only took a few days of this and the problem pretty much went away. In fact, we only had to take away one toy.

After four weeks, she now only has the occasional bad day.

Yesterday, while playing outside for the first time in months, Madison smacked little Tyler in the head with a toy truck and got sent inside.

So, we had the discussion in the car again this morning and I told her that she had to apologize to Tyler when we got there and give him a hug.

The first thing she did when she walked in the house was seek out Tyler. I overhead her say:

"Tyler, I'm sorry for hitting you with the truck. My mom says I have to give you a hug."

Then she gives a very stunned looking Tyler a big bear hug.

The truth is, Tyler probably doesn't even remember getting smacked in the head with the truck - because getting smacked in the head with a truck will do that to ya. It's just the principle - teaching her to own up to her mistakes and to apologize when she has done wrong - even if the only part she truly gets is "because my Mom says...."

More fun posts from the weekend to come - and an update on adorable little Cameron.

Learning Letters

Madison's daycare has started an informal preschool curriculum. Our provider is doing such a nice job with it, we may not even put Madison in pre-school. She told me that they were working on writing their names. Madison is one of the younger preschool aged kids in the daycare and Dawn said that although she does not write her name yet, she scribbles and says she is writing her name. Dawn says that means that Madison "gets it."

Cool.

She suggested we keep working on writing the name at home.

So on Thursday night, we sat down with some paper and pencils. I wrote out M A D I S O N across the top of the page and tried to get Madison to copy it.

She seemed really overwhelmed.

So I broke down each letter. We started with M. I showed her, line by line, how to make an M. Pretty soon her paper was covered in M's. So then I showed her to make a circle with a tail for the A. Pretty soon, the paper was filled with MA's. We started on the D - but we had been working for about a half hour by this point and she was starting to get distracted. So, we called it a night, knowing that we would keep working on it.

At daycare today, Madison surprised Dawn by writing Ma all over her paper.

Silly girl

Grandma and Grandpa Lee brought Madison a new Ice Hawks shirt for Valentine's Day. They took these cute pictures of her modelling the new shirt and I just had to get them for myself to share them on the blog. I really should get this kid into acting or something - she is such a little ham!

Firefighters to the Rescue!

Mike's mom emailed me a few days ago and said the brother of one of her co-workers happens to drive new firetrucks to the departments that are purchasing them. He was delivering a new truck to Canada this week and was stopping for the night to stay with his sister in Rochester. The co-worker invited Madison and her grandparents to come over and see the truck.

Madison was so excited! When I surprised her with the news that she was going to see the firetruck, I told her that the firefighters wanted her to check it out - to make sure it was good enough to fight fires in their town in Canada.

She got to climb up inside the cab of the big truck.

They even got to honk the horn!! Sorry - no sirens in residential neighborhoods tho....

I guess Madison was a little scared because the truck was so big - but she kept saying how much she fun she had seeing the big firetruck.

The not-so-subtle art of hint dropping

Yesterday Madison and I were acting silly while trying to make Cameron smile and giggle. So I said to Madison "Do you love your baby brother?"

Madison: Yes, I really love Cameron. When he gets bigger, we have to get another baby.
Mommy: Really, another baby?
Madison: Yes. How about a baby girl?