Our first visit to the Peds ER

We have had a pretty eventful weekend. We spent Friday night in the Pediatric ER. It was pretty scary! Ethan began wheezing Thursday night. When I took him to daycare on Friday, I told not only his teacher, but the director too, to watch him closely and to let me know if it gets bad. Nick went to go pick him up at the end of the day and immediately noticed his breathing. He asked the teacher if Ethan had been breathing like that all day and she said "Yea, what's wrong with him?" Well, Nick brought him home, fed him and was getting him ready for bed and called me a few times in between worried about his breathing. When I got home it was plain to see why Nick was so worried! Ethan sounded like a rattle/baby seal. He couldn't get a good breath and was breathing really fast b/c of it. We immediately loaded him up and took him in.

We had a pretty good experience for the Peds ER. From all the bad stuff I hear, it wasn't too shabby. They got us in and back there within about 10 minutes, saw the MD within 30 minutes and then the respiratory therapist within the next 30 minutes. From then on we were getting treatment. After his first breathing treatment, he went to sleep. Nick and I were just staring at him making sure he was breathing! It was so hard for him to breath. His couldn't get any air and his saturation's went down into the 70s/80s. When he started to retract, Nick immediately called the RN back in there, then the MD came back. That was very scary! He was breathing so hard his chest was forming an indention; a cup shape. He was struggling so hard! Then came the continuous breathing treatment, which really helped! His saturation's went back up to the upper 90s/100. A feeling of relief!!!

Final diagnosis: Influenza A (Swine Flu) and the Croup

10 hours, 4 breathing treatments, 2 medications, 1 IV, and kicking and screaming later; they admitted us for observation. Ethan did pretty good. We finally got some rest...and food. About lunch time on Saturday Ethan began moving around. Jumping all over the 19 chairs they had in that tiny room, talking laughing. My mom was able to come up from AU and relieve us for some time. We all took another nap and waited for AL vs. AK game to be over. Once it was, we were just pacing waiting on the MD to come back through. The covering MD is an AK fan so we knew what he was doing while we were pacing! Finally, the MD came back and discharged us home about 8 Saturday night.

Ethan is doing good today (Sunday). Breathing pretty good, excellent compared to Friday! Playing a bit more, even went outside to play for a short time. Fought a low grade fever. Now he's in bed. Hopefully he will continue to get better day by day!

A big thanks to the Man upstairs for watching out for our little man!!!

Well Baby Check-up

We had our latest well baby check-up on Monday. E-man weighs in at 32.5 lbs and is 34.7 inches tall! He come in at 99% in height, weight, and head circumference. What a big boy! Our doctor said he is looking great! Its a darn good thing that Ethan can walk and run with excellence or else y'all would need to come visit me in the hospital after back surgery. ;) We didn't really have any areas of concern to discuss. She started in on 'time-out' tips. She witnessed Ethan pitch a fit and that is what initiated it. I think our terrible twos have just begun! Don't worry, I'm sure you will be able to witness a fit or two at some point in the near future! :D

Holy Cow...it's been two months since I have posted. Sorry for the lack of posting.

Ethan is now 14 months old. He is walking with complete balance (and has been doing that since he was about 12 months old). We have three molars that have totally entered into his mouth. He has definitely had a growth spurt. I would say about 32 lbs. He is basically eating whatever me and Nick eat, and he loves to eat. Go figure, our big boy Ethan loves to eat. Beware all of you visitors...if you are snacking around E-man you better have enough for him!

We're really working on vocabulary right now. Ethan is pointing at everything, but not so many words. We have the normal mama, dada, uh-oh, and there has been the occasional dog, woof, shoe, hi, hello, but nothing steady. Ethan does know where his nose is. He points right to it and laughs. Its the cutest thing in the world! Although he doesn't say many words, he "talks" up a storm; in the store, car, in the front yard! He just jabbers away!

Funny stories:
Ethan and I were walking to school one morning. We were walking down the hall and he stopped and looked at me. I turned around and he pointed at his foot. He said "shoe". I looked down and Nick had put his sandal on too tight and his poor little fat foot was sticking out the holes. When we got into his classroom, we took his shoes off and he got to spend the rest of the day barefoot. Poor little man. To say the least we went and bought him new shoes the next weekend (and yes, he is in a size 6 shoe).

Family trip to Wal-mart this past weekend. Walking up and down the aisles and Ethan was pointing and talking to everyone and everything he saw. We finally made it to the checkout line and Ethan was sitting in the buggy. The cashier was trying to get him to say hi to her and wave! After much encouragement, he did it! We were so excited that he did it over and over again. When we went to unload the groceries into the trunk there was this little college girl a couple cars down unloading her groceries too. All of the sudden we hear Ethan yell "HI" and wave frantically. We look up and he is screaming at this little girl. Of course she starts talking back to him and playing with him and he just talks and talks to her. It was so funny! I can just imagine him when he gets older... Ladies, look out! ;)

We love this little man so much! Every day is a new story for us and we can't wait to see what the next day brings! He's so much fun!!! I'll try to do better about posting, once again...I promise!

A fungus among us...

So, I'm at work on Tuesday and I get a phone call from the daycare..."uh, Caroline, during the summer we have this fungus that grows through the bark on the floor of the playground. We've had it tested and it isn't poisonous. Ethan was running around the playground and when we turned around he had a wad of it in his mouth and in his hand. I don't know how much he ate, but it was in his mouth." So, immediately, I called the md office and, surprise, surprise, the office staff that answered the phone was rude. Then I had my first run-in with poison control. They run a pretty good program. Ethan is fine. I doubt he even swallowed but a bit of it. His poos are weird colored, but no other symptoms or anything. Also, we had a well-baby check up that day too, so it kinda worked out well. His check up went well too! He is weighing in at 29 lbs and 33.3 inches tall. He falls into the 99% in height, 98% in weight, and 97% in head circumference. His body has finally caught up with his head...bless him! He screamed with his shots, but he did really good other than that.

OH, and on top of that, he came home with a bruised eye today. Some kid and him were fighting over a toy and apparently the other kid hit him in the eye with the toy. He has a scratch on it.

And he isn't even two yet....we have our work cut out for us!!!

Just some updates on him:

• Walking all by himself, has been doing so for weeks now!
• Running around the house
• Talking up a storm! Nothing that makes sense, but just a jabbering!!!
• Laughing a ton! Nothing beats that either!
• No new teeth, but is teething with his molars
• All table foods
• When he wakes up in the morning, he pushes his new Glow Worm and sings along with it. That is what we wake up to through the intercom. :)

Birthday Weekend

Holy Cow! Ethan's one year old! Here are some pics from the wonderful weekend!

These, of course, are Ethan digging into his cupcake. It took him a minute, but then he dove right in!

Now, we open one present, get up and play with it and then let mommy open the rest. ;) Heck, I enjoyed it and he did too! Whenever he turned back around there was something new to play with.

He also received a little water mat. We got into it on Sunday afternoon. It was nice! He had fun trying to figure out what exactly what it was and trying to catch the water. What a chunky little man!

Ethan trying to escape. Little stinker....

This was dinner time on Sunday. He fell asleep in the high chair before he finished dinner. Bless him....

This one is just too cute not to include. We have had issues with our air conditioning unit. Nick was looking into it and Ethan wanted to help. How cute!

I came to the realization that my last post was way back in April...its time to post again!

I'll hit the high points, then post some pics. That's the most fun anyway!!

• We are now walking! Not like "I'll hold your hands and walk as long as you are next to me" kinda walking, like "put me down so I can follow dada to the bedroom" kinda walking. Ethan's really good at it too! He falls not as often as he used to, and all he does is pout for a minutes and gets right back up! He sure is head strong!


• We are teething again. We have the 8 front teeth so I am wondering if this isn't his vampire teeth or maybe even a molar. Holy Cow!!!
  
• We are basically on all table food.
  
• One morning we were having company come over for lunch and Ethan got food in his hair during breakfast. So, I decided to give him a bath to clean him up. I got him naked in his room and went to the bathroom to start the bath water. When I came back into his room his little naked self was playing with one of his "stand and go no where" toys. He had pulled himself up and was straddling one of the legs. He looked right at me smiling. After I thought "aww, my baby is so sweet" I looked down and he was going potty on the floor. As soon as he was finished, he danced a jig and laughed at me. What a stinker!!!!


• We had a family trip to the beach. Some friends of ours got married. Ethan had a ton of fun! He did good on the beach...until he got hungry. He didn't mind the sand on his feet, but couldn't figure out the sand on his hands. He danced the night away at the wedding. We all had a great time!

The first picture is from the wedding. The second one is my friend, Anna Catherine, teaching Ethan to say 'CHEESE'. This last picture is about 7 minutes into the ride home from the beach. Ethan was chewing on one of his toys and passed out! I had to take a picture of it!

Well, this time last year we were all starting to make plans for Ethan's arrival. I am getting emotional about the first year birthday and remembering where we were last year. It's hard to believe that Ethan was as big as he was! I know we were expecting a big boy, but a 10lbr. Here are a few pics from last year

Who needs to crawl???

Check out what we stumbled across tonight! We are so excited! (as you will be able to tell by my squeal) I don't know what happened, but we were just playing on the floor and Ethan wanted to go over to his dada who was eating dinner. I guess I just stood him up and let go. When I did, he just took off! The video is of the last time we tried. The best video is on our other camera. But here is a sneak peak!!! Oh, please excuse the mess in the background....