Friday, February 27, 2009

Bubbles

I just had to post these pictures! One of the kids favorite things to do these days is to take a bubble bath in the big tub. Obviously, they love it. The volume of bubbles they get when the jets are turned on just cracks me up! Many of them had actually popped by the time I got the camera ready, but you get the idea.
Thanks for all the prayers on behalf of our kids over these past few weeks. I am thankful for their health, and issues like they had just serve to remind me of that...

Friday, February 20, 2009

RSV, Pneumonia, Sinusitis

What a week we've had...these pics tell you quite a lot. After my previous post about Mackenzie's pneumonia, Josiah spiked a 103 temp during the night last weekend. We started him on Cefprozil on Sunday night. By Wednesday morning he was still running high temps (102-103's), his cough had worsened, his nose was running clear but large amounts, and he was lethargic. Nice. I went on to work (I'm working one day a week right now) in PULMONOLOGY, none-the-less. I placed a call to our pediatrician that had already been following our saga on Wednesday morning. Of course, they wanted us to bring Josiah in to be seen. David took him to his 10am appt and called me around 11:30 to say they were heading my way. :) (Not to our office, but to ETCH.) Needless to say, I clocked out and walked across the street to meet them. Mackenzie was with Susan Smith all day which was such a blessing. (Susan comes to our house to keep both kids when I'm at work.) Anyway. Josiah was admitted to room 310 by Noon on Wednesday. After labs, chest x-ray, waters view of the sinuses, nasal wash for VRP/RSV, blood cultures, flu testing, and lots of IV fluids and IV Rocephin...he's a new kid! His chest x-ray showed pneumonia. The waters view of the sinuses showed sinusitis. The VRP came back positive for RSV. His labs confirmed dehydration. His pulse oximeter showed his sats to be in the low 90's (91 to 94). So there you have it. One sick 2 1/2 year old boy! I am very thankful for health care. I'm thankful to know what was causing the issues, and I'm thankful he's so much better after getting fluids on board. I'm prayerful that both kids continue to improve. We are home now. Came home last night around 8:30pm or so. We're still doing Xopenex treatments for Josiah, but his temps are normal and he's hydrated! His coughing continues...and to the point that he ends up vomiting about twice per day...but with more time, he'll cough the gunk up out of his lungs and he'll be just fine.


My sick boy with his IV in his right hand with his sister nearby!


Thursday, February 12, 2009

Dx: LLL Pneumonia-Update

Update: While Mackenzie is now afebrile, she continues to cough. Dr. Greg assures us that she is no longer contagious as she has been on antibiotics for over four days, so I intend for her to go to school tomorrow. She seems to feel fine, other than the occasional cough which sounds very wet. We have a follow up appointment for her on Thursday.

Josiah, on the other hand, began coughing last Thursday night. His cough has worsened significantly. He began running 103 temps around 3am Friday night/Saturday morning. I took him in to see Dr. Greg on Saturday morning. While his lungs were clear on Saturday, they were not so clear on Sunday evening. I went ahead and filled his prescription for Cefzil, too, and started his 10 days on Sunday night. He has continued to be feverish(102's and 103's) today (Monday) and has coughed until he vomited at least three different times within the past 24 hrs.

Thanks for all the prayers. Please continue to pray that the kids continue to improve...and that David and I will stay well, too! Hope you all are well. :)

Sigh. My poor sick baby girl (yeah, she's almost four and a half and she's still my baby girl!) is in bed asleep already. She actually ASKED to be tucked in at 6pm tonight! She's running 103.8 temp. That's the highest hers has ever been in her life. She feels lousy. This afternoon we found out why!

After her being sick for 9 days (started mild and worsened yesterday), I decided whatever she had was not clearing up on its own and it was time to dig a little deeper. We spent the afternoon going from the pediatrician's office to ETCH radiology department and back to the pediatrician's office. The x-ray showed Left Lower Lobe Infiltrates (Pneumonia). Sigh. One Rocephin shot and a 10 day script for Cefprozil later...she'll be on the road to recovery in no time! Poor kid. What started as a mild cough with sinus congestion worsened quickly for her. She has always struggled with respiratory issues since she had RSV as a 2 1/2 month old infant. I'm incredibly thankful that the x-rays were done and a diagnosis found. Please pray for a fast and complete recovery for my Mackenzie! Thanks.

And that's more than you really wanted to know about her health history. ;) But I do feel better just sharing with you...whoever you are that's reading this post. Ha.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Kids Comments

Where do I begin? Seems that over the past month or so the kids have had lots to say. Some of their comments have been cute, some serious, and others embarrassing! I'm recording them here on the blog as I don't want to forget these crazy comments.

Josiah has stopped saying "banana" and now says, "babana."

Mackenzie continues to say "edults" instead of "adults." She also says "esuppose to" instead of "suppose to." She has mispronounced these two words for years now and I love it!

As we were visiting relatives in Arkansas after Grandpa's funeral, the kids would explain to everyone...Mackenzie would say, "Grandpa Watson died," and Josiah would immediately pick right up where she left off with, "Umm hmm. And we buried him." Together they summarized a major event as they processed the whole trip and passing of Grandpa.

Last night on our way home we passed a dead skunk on the road. It stank. It was nasty. Mackenzie wanted to know what it looked like. I told her it was black, white, and red with blood. She was quiet. Several seconds passed before she piped up from the backseat, "Will the other skunks put it in a casket and have a funeral for it?" Then she went into a big spill out how the other skunks could have a funeral for the dead one!

Today while Mackenzie was in school I took Josiah to the mall. We were reading Hallmark cards looking for the perfect Valentine when he announced, (rather loudly, I might add) "Mom, that man has hair on his nose!" Oh, boy. That man was standing only a few feet from us reading cards. I wanted to crawl in a hole. It was an elderly man with a cane and, yes, lots of gray hair! I honestly don't know if he understood every word my all-to-clear two year old said or not. He did turn and walk away as if he did not hear, whether or not he did! Sigh. I spent some time explaining to Josiah in a whisper that while the man did have lots of hair, we don't want to announce that...etiquite...oh, well.

Then, while in another store, Josiah made another announcement. This time it was in reference to "the man" immediately in front of us in line. The problem with the comment was that "the man" was actually a woman. Sigh. I am positive that "she" heard him, but, thankfully, she continued her check-out process as though she did not hear. I guess I'll think twice before taking Josiah on an outing for fear of what he might say about those around us!!

Oh, and last night after I had exercised and not yet showered, Josiah was sitting in my lap and looked up at me and said, "You don't look great." He was serious. I have to say, kids are honest! I truly did not look very good. Ha. His phraseology made me laugh! I took the hint and showered and brushed my hair. That seemed to help. :)

I'm using this last paragraph to say...Go buy the March 2009 issue of Family Fun magazine!!! Check out page #13. Yep, that's my girl and those are our turkey's! Here's the link if you want to click and see the blog post I did about making the turkeys. Who knew we'd actually end up in the mailbox section of the magazine after all! Obviously, I'm excited!!!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

David's Grandpa Watson

Farland Zearl Watson
November 19, 1916 to January 21, 2009
92 years

I have taken longer than I expected to complete this post. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to think of just the perfect thing to type. My conclusion is this: These pictures tell quite a story in and of themselves. I decided to upload these 15 pictures in place of whatever words I could of typing. I think you'll see from these pictures that David's grandpa was a man who smiled all the time! He always seemed content and happy, no matter what the circumstances. I am proud to say that I knew him and that I got to be a part of his family. I am proud that my children are his great grandchildren. I am thankful that my children were able to know him, and I pray that he will always live on in our hearts and memories. I know that he lives on in Heaven in a new and wonderful way that I can only imagine.

Grandma and Grandpa on December 29, 2008 during a visit to the nursing home. Thankfully, he only had to be at the nursing home for about 2 1/2 months. He spent the majority of his 92 years at home...in the same home he lived in for about 67 years! He and Grandma were married for 74 years. The thing that makes me the saddest about his passing on is that Grandma is alone now.

Mackenzie and Josiah helping Grandpa open his Christmas presents.

December 22, 2007
Mackenzie 3 years old; Josiah almost 19 months old.

December 26, 2006

The entire Watson Family on December 26, 2006 in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Mackenzie 2 years old; Josiah 7 months old.

Four Generations! December 26, 2006. Josiah 7 months old.

Too cute! December 26, 2006. Josiah 7 months old.

October 9, 2006 Mackenzie 2 years old; Josiah 4 1/2 months old.

October 9, 2006. Great Grandma and Grandpa Watson with Mackenzie & Josiah.

Mackenzie with Great Grandpa Watson. October 9, 2006

Four Generations! October 9, 2006. Josiah 4 1/2 months old.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Watson with Mackenzie and David. June 27, 2005. Mackenzie 10 months old.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Watson meeting Mackenzie, their first Great Grandchild, for the first time. October 9, 2004. Mackenzie 1 1/2 months old.

Grandpa, we love you and we will miss you, but we know you are with the Lord. Thank you for a life well lived.



Monday, February 2, 2009

Winter Wonderland Prayer

As we sat watching The Lady and the Tramp (rented DVD) this morning, Mackenzie announced that she was praying for a winter wonderland. I inwardly found that amusing since I had not seen the forecast and it was rainy. Well. Within ONE hour, it began pouring buckets of snow! How's that for a fast answer to prayer?! :) It continued to snow for the majority of the day. We ended up with several inches of snow. It completely covered the ground, driveway, and neighborhood streets. For a while it was snowing so hard and thick that visibility was drastically reduced! I just love watching snow fall. It truly is beautiful. After I got over being stunned that it was really, really snowing, we jumped into snow suits and went out to enjoy it.
Mackenzie enjoying the snow.

Josiah enjoying the snow.

Mackenzie preparing to launch a snow ball at Josiah. :) (Notice how deep her boots are buried in the snow! Lots to play in and enjoy this time!)

Mackenzie and Josiah holding hands for a picture.

Josiah attempting to make the carrots stay on our poor attempt at a snow man! Seems I missed the class on how to build a snowman. ;) We had fun trying, and Josiah enjoyed decorating our snowman with carrots....you know, eyes, nose, mouth...growing right out of his face and head, too! Go ahead. Scroll back up to admire our snowman and enjoy a good laugh.

Josiah shows off a large snowball!
I enjoyed the day with my kids in a new kinda way today. Lately I feel that I have been rushing my time with them rather than just enjoying the moment and truly being in the moment with them. My awareness of how quickly the time does go brought with it a new resolution to live in the moment and be in the moment. (By nature I am a planner, organizer, and a very time-oriented get-it-done, stay on task and stay on schedule type of person, so this is challenging for me!) I am pleased to announce that it was a great day! Pray that I will not let one of my strengths become one of my weaknesses in parenting. Funny how our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weakness.
We found that all 3 of us fit on the sled. We could practically fly down the slope of our front yard, over the curb, and into the street! Only problem with that...my bottom is sore. Oh, yes, very sore, from repeated flights on the sled with the kids in my lap. I can say this, though. It was worth every minute of it!


Sunday, February 1, 2009

Cute Comments

As we were riding along in the van on our way to church this morning, Josiah spoke up from his car seat, "Houses that look like rocket ships are funny." Then he giggled. I replied, completely puzzled, "Oh. I guess they are." He did not miss a beat in repeating the comment and giggling some more. I was still completely clueless as to what he was talking about. David got it, though, and interpreted for me...churches with steeples look like rocket ship houses. Of course. Why didn't I think of that?! Ha. I do love his creative little mind!