Under the Weather

Everyone talks about these ‘back to school’ bugs, but no one said they packed such a doozy for moms. Right about the beginning of September the kids started back at preschool/kindergarten, Kevin left for north-central Washington on a BAER assignment, and everybody had the sniffles.

About a week in and both kids were drying up, Kevin never caught anything since he fled germ central, and I was still hacking. I bought some stronger cold medicine and kept on plugging. Midway through week two I just started running out of energy. The kids were fed and shuttled to school but that was about all I could manage.

Fortunately Kevin returned from his stint on Monday and I’d scheduled a physical for Tuesday. I had reinforcements and access to a Dr. who I was hoping I could convince to write me a prescription for the ‘good’ cough syrup so I could stop hacking long enough to get some rest.

Well, I went in for that appointment and it turns out I was running a bit of a fever. He listened to my lungs and immediately announced that he wanted me to go for an X-ray. “I’m pretty sure you have pneumonia” he said. Right he was. It was caught early and is only in the smallest lobe of the left lung, but still….Other than that little hiccup I’m perfectly healthy (though I have to wait until I’m off antibiotics to do my blood work) if you were wondering.

So here I sit armed with whole pharmacy of meds (4 altogether – I also had a sinus infection ) and finally feeling better that I have in two weeks. I still wear out fast though. Hopefully a few more days of rest and I can get back into my normal routine. Doc even said I could try jogging/walking again on Monday as long as I picked a short (1mile-ish) loop, didn’t push to hard, and carried the inhaler he prescribed.

Here’s to feeling better soon!

Party Time–Recap

We’ve survived our first child party here in the Duchow house. Whew! What fun it was, but I’m glad we’re through. Think I’ll be ready to host another one in 6 to 8 years…. maybe .

In all honesty we had a blast. Jack had a great time playing with his friends and doing birthday related activities. If you can’t tell it was a ‘tractor’ party. John Deere mostly, as that is about the only company that has expanded it’s branding into party décor. However, we brought out all the tractor toys so Ford, Case, Massey-Ferguson, International Harvester, and Claas were all represented.

By far the Piñata was the biggest hit (pun intended). Nothing like raw destruction to excite any preschool/kindergarten aged child and strike fear into their parents (5 year olds with bats and wild swings can make anyone jittery). Yes, it was a motorcycle Piñata. The store just didn’t carry tractor shaped ones and I wasn’t going to drop $30 to buy one online just so we could whack it into a thousand pieces. Some of these kiddos can swing a bat too! Good whacks made a clanging sound and I was starting the think the Piñata itself had metal in it. But no, just some future MLB stars in attendance. 

  As with any good child party cake and present opening was another must. A tip for all you parents: The most popular part of the cake was the chocolate rocks. So much so, that I had to get the bag of leftover rocks out so the kids could all have some to eat. Needless to say, considering using them next time you frost a child’s cake.

Once again Jack was completely spoiled by his friends and family in the gift department. Not to mention the phone calls and well-wishes from Facebook. He is so blessed to have so many that strive to make his birthdays special. That said, we’ve been building a lot of Legos, smashing Play-doh and doing a lot of ‘farming’ the last few days thanks to your generosity.

In all Jack had a really fabulous day. He’s still telling anyone who’ll listen about it. That includes his physician, Dr. Trotter (whose first name is also Jack). After Jack recapped his special day, as well as Halloween, Dr. Trotter noted that Jack definitely has no problems with his verbal and language skills. Ha! He also appears on track in all other developmental areas. I even asked about the letter writing that Jack struggles with. I’m not really worried about it, but his teacher always notes that is his biggest struggle, so I figured I’d ask.  To which Dr. Trotter replied, “He’s only just 5. I know the school system pushes that  early these days but most kids aren’t quite ready developmentally at 5 to write easily yet.”  Good to know!

In the height and weight department Jack continues to plod along a ‘by-the-book’ perfect curve in both categories. He’s 41.5” tall (Just about 25th percentile) and 41 lbs. 10 ounces (just under 50%). That gives him a BMI of 17.06 (that’s considered healthy) and if he continues on his current trajectory he’ll top out somewhere around 5’9” (somehow my gut says he’ll be closer to 6’) and have a ‘strong–solid’ build according to Dr. Trotter. I think that means he won’t be a string-bean. I imagine he’ll have a build somewhat akin to my Dad and Uncles.

Guess that means we’re fortunate to have a happy healthy intelligent kid. For that I am truly thankful.

To the Dentist!

Friday the kids had their semi-annual dental checkups. Yes, you read that right, BOTH kids go to the dentist. When Jack was born everything I researched and heard said three years of age for that first dental checkup. By the time Emilie arrived that tune had changed and my pediatrician recommended getting her in roughly six months after her first tooth erupted….for most kids this is around age 1. So when Jack went in for his second dental exam at 3.5, Emilie went for her first…she was 15 months old.

For me regular dental checkups are a must. Maybe it’s because my parents always got us in regularly as kids. Maybe it was all the orthodontia I went through as a child. Maybe it’s knowing that so many other health conditions can be reflected in the condition of your teeth. Whatever it is I want my kids to have good oral hygiene and not be intimidated by going to the dentist. (My other ‘must’ for the kids is knowing how to swim. Yea, swimming and healthy teeth…call me quirky)

Often, when talking to other moms, the purpose for starting your child at the dentist so young is questioned. Usually there are accusations of the dentist’s just wanting to make money off of you. It’s not like they are going to clean your 1 year olds teeth you know? The truth is no, they are not going to clean your kids teeth at that age (unless your kid is super cool about that stuff). However, they are going to cover a lot of things with you. They are also going to inspect your kid’s mouth for physical issues and check for cavities. Plus, they will probably apply a fluoride treatment to help prevent cavities and weakened enamel.

At this visit Jack was a superstar! On our trip last July he pretty much cried through the whole thing and all the dentist got was a quick look and enough time to put fluoride on. This time Jack sat through two sets of x-rays, a cleaning, an exam, AND the fluoride application! He also discovered a new machine to love….the dental chair. He was so excited that it rose up and down. It only took him one ‘ride’ to observe the hygienist and figure out how she was operating this most marvelous of chairs and after that he just wanted to use that foot pedal and drive the chair himself.

As for his mouth, he still has the two spots of weakened enamel on his upper molars, but they are just that and haven’t become cavities. The only issue with him is that the Dr. is now pretty sure one of his second molars is ankylosed. For now it’s just “wait and watch.” Most likely it will cause problems when it’s time for the permanent molar to come it and may have to be pulled.

As for Emilie, she has great teeth. The Dr. said her spacing is about as close to perfect as it can get right now. The attachment between her upper gum and top lip is thinning as she grows and definitely isn’t causing problems with speech (this was something from her first visit that the dentist wanted to keep an eye on). They tried to see if she’d do x-rays, but while she would bite the film like they hygienist wanted, she didn’t quite grasp needing to hold it between her teeth. At least, not long enough to snap the picture anyway. Next time I suppose.

Both kids were thrilled to pieces over their new toothbrushes. They wanted them opened and out of the box as soon as we got back in the car. The stickers  and tokens for the prize machine were exciting as well! Kevin wins an award for taking off work early to help me wrangle kids. As a reward for everyone being so good we took the kids to Kiwi Loco (frozen yogurt) on the way home.

Yes, I see the irony in taking the kids to get what is essentially ice cream after you go to the dentist. Kevin did too. He even said to me, “I was going to say something about taking the kids here (Kiwi Loco) after going to the dentist…but then I thought about how Mom always used to stop and get us (Kevin, his brother, & sister) Slurpees at the 7-Eleven after our trips to the dentist, and we turned out okay.”

So frozen yogurt post-dentist it is……

Motivation

As many of you know I’ve been working hard to drop the extra weight I’m carrying and get into better shape. Running has really been helpful, but I’ve also been doing some strength programs to help tone my muscles. This in turn helps improve the running so I win in more than one way by doing it. I’ll be honest though, it’s not always fun. I don’t wake up every morning going, “Yeah, another day to exercise until sweat is dripping down my face!!!!” Don’t get me wrong the results make it worth it, and I do take a day off once or twice a week. Still there are days I need to remember why I’m working so hard.

My main motivation is the kids. My OB made an off-handed comment once to the tune of: “We, as parents, are the best example for our kids. If you want them to lead a healthy lifestyle then you need to show them what that is. You can talk to them about being healthy all you want, but if you eat junk food and live a sedentary lifestyle what is that really saying to them?”

His comment really stuck with me and I am determined to get back down to a healthy weight so I can set a good example and, not to mention, keep up with them. I’m proud to say it’s working. When I turn on my exercise DVD Jack will get out my mat and weights. The whole time I’m sweating along, mentally cursing Jillian Michaels, I can hear Jack saying, “Good job mama!”, “We’re doing our exercises!”, “Beautiful work!” (he picked up that last one from Jillian Michaels herself) Trust me there is no way to talk yourself out of getting your exercise in for the day when that little voice is rooting you on. Besides its rather funny to see him hopping along with me and ‘exercising’ himself. I look forward to the day both kids can go running with me!

In the meantime, I caught Jack in the act the other day with the camera. I was in the closet sorting laundry and he did this all by himself. He’s not supposed to be on the elliptical but I had to take a picture first. He even has my iPod hanging around his neck. Guess the example, is rubbing off! It it impossible to tell that little face ‘no’ when he says, “Are we gonna do our exercises mamma?”

Oh, and once I got my picture I told him to hop off and “Hit the showers, get a drink of water.” Thought I was being funny and forgot he’d take it literally. He ran into the bathroom, got a cup from the tub that had bathwater from the night before in it,…and drank it.

Name That Malady

This is what Emilie looked like Saturday morning. I was scratching my head over this one. She had no fever and was acting like her normal usual self. She just looked like she’d been punched in the face. So Saturday started with an unplanned trip to the pediatrician. Turns out this in an eye infection most likely caused by Emilie rubbing her runny nose then rubbing her eyes. In doing so she transferred the germs to her eye and Viola! 10 Month old who looks like a pro fighter post-match.

Fortunately, with some good, but expensive (Seriously like, $114 –full price- for this teeny little bottle), Emilie looked like this Sunday morning.

She is on the mend for sure.

I will say I got a good laugh at the expense of the nurse who took us back to our room at the pediatrician's. She called Em’s name and was looking at her clip board. As she glanced up she said, “What seems to be the prob….Oh!….Nevermind.” Yeah, this time it was pretty obvious.