Laundry

Future Picasso?

I took Graesen to a studio to paint some pottery today.  We are working on a Father's Day gift for Evan.  So, Evan if you are reading this, stop right now!
Evan already knows we were going there to make something for him, but he does not know details. 

Painting with Graesen was fun, but I think next time I will bring somebody with me to be an extra pair of hands.  Here is the best I could do for pictures with such a squirmy kid.  I am going back tonight with a bunch of women from our mom/baby group to paint and have pizza.  Graesen will not be with me then, so I will take the time to make the rest of the bowl pretty. 

I made a print of Graesen's feet on the bowl, but it is hard to see in the pictures.  I will paint around the feet with a darker color and then the feet will show up just fine. 

Graesen used paint brushes and fingers to help me with the inside of the bowl.

Yes, that is paint around his mouth :)

Splash

Somebody loves to splash!

*Graesen is still not all the way better.  Sunday night he threw up all over our bed, and the next morning he started to get sick out the other end.  I took him into the doctor and the doctor said his ears were much better, his hives were due to a reaction to the meds, and he thinks the stomach thing is a separate virus.  He told me to watch for signs of dehydration.  Graesen will hardly eat and spits out almost all foods and liquids.  He will nurse, but my supply is very low right now.  Since he had not gotten sick in over a day, but was still not eating or drinking, I took Graesen to mom/baby group today to weigh him.  He is down to 22 lbs 0.8 oz.  He has lost about 9 oz since Thursday and was 5 oz lighter than when we went to the group 2 weeks ago.   Somehow, even without eating much, Graesen managed to have 3 huge dirty diapers today!  2 were after I weighed him in, so who knows what he weighs now.  Hopefully he will be back to his usual self soon.

Days Like This

Days like today make me forget about days like yesterday.  
Yesterday was not a very fun day.  Graesen was taking a bath in the morning when I saw a rash developing on his back.  My mom came over to look at it and agreed with me that it looked like hives. 

This picture does not do it justice.

I called the on-call nurses, because I was pretty certain he was having an allergic reaction to his antibiotics.  They agreed and said that due to Graesen's age, he needed to be seen.  We took him into the urgent care doctor who was absolutely no help at all.  By the time we got in there the rash had spread all over Graesen's back, stomach, and head.  The doctor said it may or may not be due to an allergic reaction and we should just try the antibiotic again later to find out (no thanks!).  He then said that maybe we should give him a new antibiotic for his ears, or maybe we should do nothing-it was up to me.  And I thought he was the doctor!  Plus, to make things worse he prescribed a drug I am extremely allergic to and said he refused to believe that allergies can run in families (even though I am allergic to the drug Graesen was having a reaction to, and almost everyone in my family is allergic to the same drugs-plus the pharmacist told me two days before that there can be a link).  So right now I am doing nothing until Graesen's pediatrician responds to my email and gives me a suggestion.  The rash is gone, but Graesen's skin is looking blotchy.  He is also fussier than usual and will hardly eat a thing.  Poor thing! 
Today I decided that we had been cooped up in the house enough with Graesen being sick.  He seemed better this morning, so I told Evan we need to get up and enjoy the day.  We drove to Couer d' Alene.  We ate lunch and introduced Graesen to fries with ketchup (which he did not like!  Who is this kid?).  He would hardly eat a bite other than the maybe two french fries he ate.  If you know Graesen, this is totally not normal.  The kid usually eats like a horse!  Luckily, even though he would not eat, Graesen was in a good mood and we enjoyed our time.

After lunch we went to a park to play.  Graesen had the most fun.  He is so brave!  He can go down slides on his own now... that is with either Evan or I at the bottom to catch him.  I just loved this time with him.  It is so much fun to see his face light up with excitement.

We also spent some time on the beach letting Graesen play in the sand.  It was perfect!

After that we put Graesen in his new backpack for the first time (thanks Jan and Dave- we love it!).  He thought he was so cool up there. :)

We walked over to shops.  We got Graesen this piggy bank for his birthday.  It's a good thing he is young enough that we can buy presents right in front of him!

We also splurged a little and bought this chair for our living room.  We both love it and it looks so much better than what we had in its place.

To end the day we brought dinner over to my parents house to share.  They bought Graesen a new lawn chair of his own.  He looks so grown up!

Days like today are wonderful.

Code Brown

We had an extreme code brown situation this morning.  Graesen was playing in the living room.  Suddenly I noticed that he was playing with something brown on the carpet.  At about the same time I realized there was a smell coming from that direction.  As Graesen proceeded  to lift his hand to his mouth I flew across the living room shouting "No, don't eat the poop!"  I made it just in time.  Thank goodness.  Then I yelled at Evan to get wipes while I held Graesen's hands away from his mouth and tried to figure out how the poop made it out of the diaper and onto the carpet.  How can something so cute be so incredibly gross?

The poor boy is just miserable today.

Poor naughty sick boy

Graesen has had a fever since Tuesday that I could not get to break until today.  He was so sad.  He is normally a terror when I change his diaper-seriously, it's like taming a wild beast-but yesterday he would just lay there and not move.  Even after I was done he would just lay there.  Today he seemed much better.  I thought we were in the clear, but the fever came back.  I decided to call the doctor and they said they wanted me to take him into urgent care.  The poor little guy has infections in both ears!  We got some antibiotics and are hopefully on the mend.
The last few days, Graesen was low on energy and a bit fussy.  The one thing that would cheer him up was his Praise Baby dvd.  In order to get dressed or make a meal I would have to put him in his bouncy seat (which I know he is way too big for) and turn on his show.  He was so sad :(

Graesen has also shown that he is not too interested in eating these past couple of days.  Tonight, instead of eating he got plain naughty!  He threw his food on the floor, and when I told him "no" he laughed.  And, if you look closely at the last picture you can see some white goo on his chin.  That would be his antibiotics.  He thought it was way more fun to spit the medicine out than swallow.  Such a little stinker! :)

First birthday presents

Graesen's first birthday is less than 2 months away.  I really want to get him one present that is super fun and exciting.  Most things I get him tend to be practical (clothes, books, educational toys, etc), so I want to get him one thing that is just for fun.  Turning one is a big deal afterall :)  What do you think I should get for him?