Such a Big Boy Now

We've been brushing teeth twice a day (most days) now since they had their 1 year appointment. Much to my surprise (with his intense gag reflex), Wil LOVES to have his teeth brushed. He lets me do a very thorough job and then he likes to take over for a bit.

All these toys....

And what would they rather play with....DOG TOYS!!! Seriously, I think I'll take a break from buying toddler toys for a while, and just let them play in Guinness' toy box. We are still working very hard to get them to understand that the bones are hers, and that it's not wise to try to take them when she's chewing them (although, I don't think she'd do anything, she's very mild mannered).

Wilson and his dog bone

Drew and his dog bone and stuffed dog toy.

Tulips are Blooming in Holland Michigan

Tonight, I took the boys downtown to watch our neighbor and favorite babysitter "Dutch Dance". For those of you who aren't from the area, Holland Michigan is the Tulip Capitol. The first week of May its a huge production here, the tulips are absolutely stunning and this town is flooded with elderly folks...seriously! There are few times a year that I can honestly say I LOVE living here, but this truly is a great time to live here.

Anyway, tonight was a little preview of what's to come next week, with a quarter of the crowds, so the boys and I took advantage and headed downtown. I was taking a little bit of a risk knowing that it was going to be right on the heals of bedtime, but it was worth it. Wil and Drew were totally captivated by the first 1/2 hour of dancing and then the second segment, they were ready to get down and play in the dirt.

The Boys With Lindsay

There She is!

And so it begins, the older one is beating up on the younger and then looks at me like..."What"?

Tantrums are in full swing at the Blakeslee House (praying for lots and lots of patience)!

I've also struggled to get pictures of Drew walking, but he's definitely on the move. He's now taking about 20 steps, but I can say he's not really any busier than he was crawling...the boy was into everything!!!!

We've Been Hit AGAIN!!!!

Honest to goodness, I've had the best of intentions for this blog. I was hoping to update a couple times a week, and then BAM we get hit with the flu now. Saturday, Dan and I had planned a date night, and headed to Kalamazoo for me to go to a wedding shower and then Dan's parents were going to watch the boys while we went out to eat. Well...while I was at the shower, I received multiple texts from Dan. Basically a play by play of the MANY massive explosive diapers from both boys. So I'm thinking, what on earth did they eat that didn't agree?!?!?! We decided to go out to eat anyway since they didn't seem to feel bad, just had a lot of messy diapers. Sunday morning when they woke up, Wil had vomited in his bed (Drew did the same the previous morning, but I didn't think much of it), so we were certain it was a bug. I left them with Daddy and headed off to the gym and a meeting I go to on Sundays. When I got home Dan said he felt crummy (and I truthfully thought he was milking it, and just wanted some down time from daddy duties). We put the boys down for a nap, so I decided to take one myself. When I woke 2.5 hours later, I started to feel crappy too. Needless to say, it was a swift downward spiral from there...we had the FULL FLU here! It was almost impossible to care for the boys feeling like I did, so at 7:30 we put them to bed and went to bed too. I slept for 20 minute increments for a total of about 2 hours of sleep, but amazingly felt MUCH better Monday morning. So long story short...I'm back to the blogging world!

More to come either today or tomorrow on our date night and a new little someone who's now walking :)

Fun Week

With the beautiful weather, we've kept ourselves busy and had a wonderful week. The early part of the week was a little chillier, but we did manage to get out and walk a few times. Then Wednesday we had a warm up again, and it was amazing to be outside for the better part of the day. To start the day off, I took Drew to the doctor for his "final" check up for all the crud he's been dealing with. He checked out well, and we are clear to not go back until our 15 month check up in June!!!

The boys also got spoiled Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday having Daddy home in the morning to get them up. Dan had his final exams Wednesday and Thursday, and of course we are certain he did GREAT. He's a brainiac!!! He has one more "trimester" to go, and will be all done with law school in August. I'm so proud of him, he's got a lot to be proud of!

Thursday, my mom and I took the boys out for an eventful day. We started with an early lunch at BD's Mongolian (just typing the name makes me salivate) and then to The Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. It was so much fun, and it was 80 degrees to make it even better. Right now they have a butterfly exhibit, and even the boys loved being surrounded by gorgeous butterflies. We stayed at the Gardens for a couple of hours, and the boys never said a peep, they were very stimulated to say the least. Then we HAD to get some TCBY yogurt while we were over there (as you can see, when my mom and I get together, our day is typically planned around food :)). We ended our very busy day with swim lessons for the boys. They are really making good progress, and were both "dunked" this week, and did great with it. It was 8:30 by the time we finally got home and we all slept like rocks!

Two Dogs and 2 boys begging for peanuts from Papaw

The Butterfly Exhibit

Grammie and Drew

They made us twirl around and make sure we didn't have any butterflies attached to us

Drew

More Fun at the Park

Wilson

Today, is going to be a very low key day. We need to get caught up on housework and laundry piling up on us. We are in for a big cool down in Michigan for the weekend, it's supposed to only be 45 tomorrow. Dan and I are looking forward to a dinner date alone to the restaurant we had our first date. In many ways I feel like I don't know him much better lately than I did on our first date, the poor guy has been way too busy!

Finally on the mend

We have had a case of the "yucks" in this house, and it all began with Drew's Measles. Finally after about a week we manage to get rid of the measles, but have this lingering respiratory crud. After about 5 more days that appears to be getting better. Then last Tuesday, Drew woke up just plain crabby. So, I took his temperature about 45 minutes AFTER giving him Motrin and it was 102.5, so who knows what it started at. By this time, he was so tired, he was just flopping on the floor and crying constantly, so I put both of them down for a nap and they slept for 2.5 hours. When he woke up he was REALLY warm, so I took his temp and sure enough it was up to 103.9!!! Immediately, I'm convinced something is seriously wrong, so I called the Dr.'s office and the lousy nurse tells me they are down to 1 Dr. because of Spring Break, and said "could you just take him to prompt care", needless to say, I wanted to bite her head off. I said absolutely not, because we have an HSA for our insurance I have to pay the entire amount of the visit and that's why I called while they were open. Anyway, they got us in that afternoon and basically said he had a "viral syndrome" of some sort and they just couldn't put their finger on what it was, and sent us home with a list of things to look for. Wednesday morning he woke up and his left eye was practically swollen shut, so of course I call the Dr.'s office as soon as they open and tell the nurse I'm almost certain it's a sinus infection but think he ought to be checked out, so she says she will check with the Dr. and get right back with me. By 2:40 I still hadn't heard back and he was getting really agitated and pretty much inconsolable, so I called back. They said he wanted to see him right away and got us in at 3.

About 2 hours after the antibiotic shots

It's horrible to see your child like this~

Immediately, the Dr. takes one look and says "this is VERY serious, and we need to treat it very aggressively", so they did. It's cellulitis and being that it was in his eye, it could enter the blood stream and the brain very easily and cause many very serious complications. So, he got an antibiotic shot in each leg, which they forewarned me that it was a very painful shot, and we would need to hang out for 20 minutes to make sure he didn't have any adverse reactions. No reactions, so we were headed home and had a follow up appointment on Thursday where they put him on oral antibiotics and we headed off to swim lessons. I was so relieved he responded as well as he did to the shot, otherwise we would have been admitted to the hospital for the weekend, I was a wreck.

Friday, during the day he was like a new kid and was so spunky again. Then Friday night he started coughing a lot and it seemed to keep him up all night. Saturday morning, he woke up and his breathing was very shallow. So, I called the Dr. on call and sure enough they wanted us to head to urgent care to have his lungs checked out. So my mom was coming up for the day to go to lunch and do a little shopping downtown, and I was glad she was already on her way. When she got here we loaded up the van and headed to the hospital instead of shopping :( She and Wil hung out in the waiting area for 3 hours, while Drew and I were getting taken care of. They hooked Drew up to check his oxygen levels and they were dangerously low, so they started breathing treatments and did a RSV/Influenza test (which both came back negative). The breathing treatments actually opened his lungs up and made him worse, so they started to panic and had started processing everything to admit him. Then the other Dr. in the ER came and checked him out, and suggested they move the "probe/sensor" for the oxygen level from his foot to his finger and sure enough his levels increased, so they did another breathing treatment. This time it seemed to really slow his respirations down, so we were all relieved and sent home with breathing treatments and nebulizers. Needless to say we go back tomorrow for a recheck, and I think we are finally on the mend. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! We've had a scary few weeks in the Blakeslee House!

Drew's First Haircut

So this post is only a couple weeks late, but better late than never. My dad is a barber, and graciously volunteered to Drew's first haircut. Needless to say, I had it in my head that it was just going to be a huge fiasco, and it was quite the opposite. Drew sat right up on the stool all by himself, and never said a peep, and hardly wiggled at all. Wilson, sat in the stroller and watched and screamed the majority of the time. Apparently he was concerned for Drew's safety while Grandpa was "warming" up the clippers. Wil isn't quite ready for a haircut, it appears his helmet really stunted his hair growth, which is fine with mommy, I'm not sure I'm ready to have 2 big boys yet.

Sitting so still for Grandpa

Wondering what he's saving all that hair for

Such a Big Boy!!!!

He doesn't even need his mommy :(

85 Degrees in Michigan...in April?!?!?

This entire week was absolutely gorgeous!!!! We had so much fun, and probably walked 35 miles this week. While on our walk the other day, I discovered a nice little park that I've only walked by 100 times and missed it until now. Dan and I decided we would take the boys out for dinner and then walk up to check out the park last night. As it turns out they had 2 little baby swings too, and the boys were in their glory. I decided I better post a couple pictures of our boys with their daddy, just to make sure you know they still have a daddy :) He's been so busy with school and work, but we are so thrilled he's coming down the home stretch, and we will be a family of 4 again in August.

Swim Lessons

This past Thursday, the boys and I started swim lessons with the help of my mom. I really had no idea what to expect from them, considering they still aren't huge fans of the bathtub. As it turns out Drew, who had a death grip on my shoulder for the first 10 minutes, loved every minute of it after getting used to it. Wilson, the little guy who loves to sit and watch the bathtub fill up with water, was terrified. He cried for the last 15 minutes of the 1/2 hour class. We had a lot of fun, blowing bubbles, playing "pop goes the weasel", using kick boards and noodles, and jumping off the edge (or in my boys case, being pulled in off the edge). We are so excited to watch them "blossom" over the next 5 weeks, and then will do the next session right away. Dan and I have decided these swim lessons are a must do, considering my parents have a in ground pool right out their back door. I'm doing my best not to be a "nervous Nellie", but I know the curiosity of toddlers, and it scares me to pieces.

The Measles

At the boys' 1 year appointment they had 4 shots, one being the chicken pox shot and another the Measles, Mumps and Rubella shot. About 9 days later Drew starting having a little reaction around his injection site. I had my sister in law, who is a nurse, take a peak at it and she said if it got any larger to call the Dr. Well, the next morning he broke out in a little bit of a rash on his neck, back and tummy (I was pretty sure it was the chicken pox), so I called the Dr.'s office that morning and they said it sounded like the rash that is fairly common with the MMR immunization, and not to be concerned. Well, the next morning it was REALLY bad and it was every where!!! So, I called again and they told me the same thing (this was Tuesday), and to call them if it hadn't begun to improve by Friday. Needless to say, it was not better by Friday, but we already had an appointment the following Tuesday so I decided to wait it out. I was beginning to question whether or not it was a food allergy. The "rash" would come and go and look like it was clearing up, and then out of no where he would look awful again. Tuesday morning we went to the Dr. and there was plenty of the "rash" remaining and I took these pictures to show him too.



The Dr. said this was by far the worst "reaction" to the immunization he's ever seen...FANTASTIC!!!! He also said it's not really a rash, it was a mild case of the measles. MILD?!?!?! REALLY?!?! I can't even imagine if this is mild, what a bad case would look like. My poor baby was miserable. He pretty much lived on Benedryl and snuggling mommy for 4 days straight. While I hated seeing him so miserable, I sure did love all the snuggles. He's turned into quite the momma's boy in the last couple of months. I L-O-V-E that he loves his momma, but it makes it hard to even run downstairs to start a load of laundry because he wants me in his sight at all times.