Kidney Boy has asthma...

Kidney Boy has been diagnosed with asthma =(

He got sick a ton last winter and his doctor said he might have it but then he got better and we didn't talk about it again. Now, he has been sick for about 7 weeks straight. He keeps getting better and then sick again. He has had ear infections 3 times, sometimes in one ear, sometimes in both. He has had 3 different rounds of antibiotics. Tuesday night, we brought him back to urgent care because while on antibiotics, he got a new fever and his breathing seemed kind of weird. He got a 3-day steroid and an inhaler to use every 4 hours. Friday morning, we went to his regular doctor for his 2-week follow-up from the most recent ear infections and his doctor said that even after 3 days of steroids, he still had the wheezing/rattling. He said it is definitely asthma.

I am so bummed. I am trying to look at it in a positive way. I asked him if he thought he'd outgrow it and he said he thinks so. I asked him if it is "bad asthma" and he said no. And at least now we know why he gets so sick whenever it is cold and we have a course of action to try to keep him from getting sick all winter.

But to hear the doctor say things like "we can't cure it so we will try to prevent the symptoms" and to have him on so much medicine right now -- he is so sick right now. My poor little Kidney Boy. I know rationally that he will be OK and that he will get better and better as he gets older. But it is just hard to get used to the idea that he has this chronic thing that makes it hard for him to breathe. He HATES the inhaler and the taste of the steroid. He screams and we have to pin him down to give it to him. He started singulair tonight -- a daily medication for asthma. It is a chewable tablet and thank God he thought it tasted good and begged for more even. Hopefully he won't always need to be on a daily medication but he has to take this for 3 weeks to get him past this crap he has now. He only needs the steroid for a couple more days and the inhaler only until the wheezing stops. He sounds like he has a whistle stuck in his lungs.

Sorry to write a book. I am in the process of researching it. I am learning a lot. I am glad we didn't stay living in NY as it seems his trigger for his asthma is the cold weather. Here in Southern CA, it doesn't get that bad. And thank God we moved the cats outside when he was born and also took the carpet out downstairs. We are going to to remove the upstairs carpet as soon as we can afford to put pergo upstairs too. Dust and dust mites are another big trigger. And nobody in our house or our families' houses smokes. Smoking is a big one too. My mom is convinced she has asthma because my grandmother smoked through her pregnancies. But the fact that Kidney Boy seems to have inherited her asthma makes me wonder if she would have had it anyway. I don't know.

Actually, I have to go help Gama pin him down for his last inhaler treatment of the night... ugghhh I hate doing this to him. If only he could understand that we have to do this to help him. It must just seem like we are being mean to him =(

My doctor said 70/30

...

that this baby

...

is

...

a

...

-nother BOY!!!

hehehe... Looks like I really am a vending machine stocked with boys!

I wasn't supposed to get an u/s or anything today but she couldn't find his heartbeat with the doppler so I asked her if while she was looking on the u/s, if she could just take a peek. I said I knew it was super early but just a peek just in case we actually could get a clear view. She said it could be a lump of cord so she wouldn't say for sure that it is a boy but that it really does look like a pee-pee there. And it really does! Baby looks good and healthy. Heart rate 158. I go back on Jan. 8 for my big u/s! =)

Now for the picture...

Junior's soccer injury

Junior sprained his ankle on Saturday. He was playing in his last soccer game of the season and stepped funny or something as he was running after the ball. He kept playing, saying he was OK. At the end of the half, Gama (he is his asst. coach) took him out for the 3rd quarter to make sure he was fine. He said he was and went back in for the 4th quarter and then ran around for 2 hours at the pizza party they had afterwards.

Saturday night, it swelled up a little and Sunday morning it was really swollen, so we took him to the doctor. They x-rayed it and said it is just a bad sprain and he needed crutches. He is in heaven LOL He is milking it for all it's worth. Sunday afternoon, we went to a charity soccer game being played between Chivas USA and a team of Mexican soccer legends. The goalie from the legends team, who happens to have been a champion with Chivas (THE team in our family), signed one of Junior's crutches. He asked him all about the injury. Junior was just on cloud 9 LOL Then, on the way back to the car, we had to go up a flight of stairs. Gama had helped him down them but going back, Gama was carrying Chicken-hair who had fallen asleep at the game and was still groggy. He took Junior's crutches. I had Kidney Boy. And Junior made his way up the first few steps. A fellow fan coming up behind us asked if he could carry him up. Gama said, "Well, actually if you could give him a hand?" The guy scooped him up and carried him all the way up, asking him if he hurt it playing soccer and everything. It was so sweet.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

A few weeks ago, we were watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving video and Chicken-hair asked if we could bring some toast, popcorn, jelly beans, and pretzel sticks to Thanksgiving dinner this year because that is what Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock prepared and served to their friends. I thought it was cute so we did it. I knew the kids would put some of those items on their plates and I planned to do the same. I toasted and buttered a big stack of toast, just like Snoopy does. Chicken-hair was thrilled. Everyone took a little of something at least, but Chicken-hair made his plate to look exactly like the plates in the cartoon. This is what he had for Thanksgiving dinner... Gregory took a picture of it...

Doctor visit today

I met my new OB today and I LOVE HER! I am so relieved. Everyone in the office is great. The doctor seems so cool and down to earth. She even gave me a quick peek with the u/s. She is completely OK with a VBAC which is my main concern, of course. I have had a c-section and 2 VBACs and I never want another c-section if I can help it.

I got to hear the heartbeat which was 171. She changed my due date by 2 days, based on my period and my last u/s. So I am at June 11 now which is fine with me. I couldn't see his legs in the u/s and when I told Gama that, he said, "But you don't got no legs, Lt. Dan" LOL We are big Forrest Gump fans. Anyway, here is my latest picture of Mater aka Lt. Dan:

Chicken-hair funnies

Just now:

(calling to me, from the bathroom)
Wow! Do you see all that water that came out of my weenie?? Come over here!


A few months ago:

(talking to Gama, from the tub)
Wow, Daddy! My weenie got so big! Look! You should take a picture of it!


Yesterday:

(to me, while we were getting ready to go to a birthday party)
Chicken-hair: I really love you.

me: I love you too, Sweetie!

Chicken-hair: And I really love Junior, and Daddy, and Kidney Boy.

me: and we all love you!

Chicken-hair: (folds hands in prayer) -- Dear God, thank you for my family -- (and then to me) but we don't have to go to Church today, right?

me: Yes, it is Sunday. Of course we are going to Church. We'll go later after the party.

Chicken-hair: (hands unfolded, arms starting to flail, feet stomping) BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH! I HATE GOING TO CHURCH!

u/s pics

First pic is from the u/s on Nov. 1 and the second one is from Nov. 9:

RE: Ultrasound on Nov. 9

I had my other u/s this morning. My dates all match up now and everything looks good. The u/s tech said I am 9 weeks today which is what I was figuring, based on my ovulation date and the due date I got of June 13. The u/s machine was saying June 12 and my doctor is still saying June 15 is fine but that would make me not even 9 weeks yet so I am just considering my due date as June 13 since every online predictor has given me that back based on when I ovulated.

I am so relieved now that I saw how much he has grown in a week. I got to see his little heartbeat and his arms, legs, and head wiggling around. The u/s tech's notes even said, "very active fetus." LOL =)

RE: ultrasound on Nov. 1

This is copied from the email I sent out about my ultrasound on Nov. 1.

Things are OK =) She is having me come back in a week for a better one, with the u/s tech. My dates look off by a few days but that makes sense because she is going by my LMP and I ovulate late. Also, she likes one good scan somewhere between 8-10 weeks and I am not even 8 yet. I should be 7 weeks 6 days today and the machine put me at 7 weeks 4 days. That isn't really much of a difference. She said the baby looks like the right size for when I ovulated and the heartbeat is there. I was so nervous because she wants me to come back in a week but she kept assuring me that nothing is wrong and I can go ahead and tell the kids and everything.

We told them when we picked them up from school. They are so excited and both wanting a girl LOL I showed Junior the u/s pic and he said, "You're pregnant? Really? I hope it is a girl because I would like to have a baby sister." I asked Chicken-hair if he understood what we were saying and what the picture was. He said it was a baby. I asked him where it is and he said, "Is it in your tummy?" and when I said yes, he said "And it is a girl! Let's name her Sarah!" He has an imaginary sister Sarah.

So I said, "But if it is a boy, that is good too, right?" Junior just answered "Yes" but Aidan said, "A boy AND a girl?" and I said, "No... if it is not a girl and it is a boy, that is good too, right?" and he just stared at me for a few seconds and said, "A boy AND a girl?" LOL Oh, and then when we got to lunch, he told my mom, "Mommy is PREG-A-NANT!" and she said, "Wow! What does that mean?" and he said, "It means she is having a baby girl!" hehehe... not that I feel any pressure or anything hahaha...

Doctor visit

I went to see the doctor today for my annual well-woman visit and first prenatal visit. I told her my last period was 5 days later than it actually was because she always moves my due date up so much. I ovulate late but she always counts it by my LMP. So I had this great plan to just give her a later date for my LMP. And so she ended up giving me a later due date by 2 days LOL I had June 13, based on when I ovulated. But she gave me June 15. I am not going to worry about it too much though because I know she will move that up once I have an u/s. She always moves it up at the u/s.

I will get that u/s on November 1, which is 2 weeks from tomorrow. I am so excited and impatient, I can't stand it. It is always such a great relief to see the baby and his heartbeat and know that something is really growing in there! After the way our first pregnancy turned out, with us going around for a whole month thinking everything was fine when the baby had in fact passed away right around the time we found out we were pregnant, I am always nervous that maybe everything just seems fine but it is not.

I do feel though that things are going well. I remember that during that first pregnancy, I didn't really have symptoms for very long. Right around the time I found out I was pregnant, I was very run-down, tired, not feeling so good. But that was right around the time the baby stopped living. After that, I felt great for a month and then had the miscarriage. Since then, I have had 4 more pregnancies before this one. Junior, Chicken-hair, my 2nd m/c, and Kidney Boy. With this one, I feel pretty much like I did with the boys. With the other m/c, I had such a horrible backache for a few days and then it was over. But with this one, although I had a backache when I found out I was pregnant and that scared me to death, that went away after a few days and since then, I have just had my normal pregnancy symptoms. Nausea that comes and goes, sleepy all the time, moody.

Speaking of nausea, it is just like it was with the boys but much earlier. I am supposedly 5 weeks 5 days and I have had it for a whole week already. I usually don't get anything until 6 weeks. So that is odd. But nausea is a good sign so we'll see. Everyone keeps telling me that means it is a girl since I got sicker sooner... I don't know how much I believe all of that stuff... we'll see LOL

Chicken-hair, a couple of days ago

Chicken-hair: When I be a grown-up, I am going to buy some of my kids toys... I am going to be better than Daddy!

me: That is not going to be easy... Daddy is the best Daddy ever!

Chicken-hair: Yeah, but I am going to buy toys for my kids. I am going to be better than Daddy!

He said something specific instead of "toys" the second time and I can't remember what it was LOL

I'm pregnant!

I found out last Monday... almost two weeks ago. I just haven't gotten around to posting it here.

We are so excited. For the first time ever, we got pregnant without trying. It has always taken months and months and even years but this time it happened a few months before we were going to start trying!

This baby will be due in June 2008, just two years after Kidney Boy was born! I am a little nervous about a two year age gap but I know we'll be fine. Things will be a little hairy for the first few months but we always manage =)

Our boys look like...

We always thought that our kids looked so much like both of us. We also thought that Junior looks more like Gama and Chicken-hair looks more like me. Apparently we were right. But Kidney Boy -- I was surprised by his results. I thought he'd come up the closest to Gama. What is most surprising, though, is how in the middle all 3 of them are! I mean, I think they look so much like both of us but assumed the thing would put them further to one side or the other... anyway:

Random funny talk

I posted this on Aug. 5 but it is about stuff that has happened over the last year...

Junior is always using big words. Chicken-hair is not much of a talker. He doesn't talk unless he has to. But he has a funny habit of mixing up why and because. I think it is because in spanish, they are the same word and he is the one of the three that got the most spanish as a baby since our friend Angelica watched him.

~Chicken-hair! Did you just throw your ice cream away?
~Yeah... that's why I was finished.

~Chicken-hair! Did you take your shirt off?
~Yes -- that's why I spilled water on it!

He turns things around like this in other situations too sometimes. One morning, I was dropping him off at my mom's house and he had a bunch of stuff and he said, "Meemaw, will you hold my transformer?" and she said yes and took it and then he added "...and so is my cup" as he held it out to her LOL

From July 23

Responding to a friend's questions about how I feel about Kidney Boy growing up, etc...


I do get sad that he is starting to nurse less. Chicken-hair quit on me, cold turkey, at 18 months. I was thrilled that I made it as long as he wanted and that it was his choice and he didn't miss it or cry for it. But it is so hard to stop! I cried everyday for at least a week.

Last summer, I had a very hard time and decided that Kidney Boy would be our last. School was out. Junior and Chicken-hair were 7 and 3 and fighting and wreaking havoc everyday. I was a mess. We had a horrid heat wave that started a couple of weeks before Kidney Boy was born and lasted throughout the whole summer and our AC kept crapping out on us. I just thought I couldn't wait to be past the baby stage and to be able to function again.

Even once school started and I went back to working mornings, I felt like life got a little more manageable but was still sure I was set with my little trio. I felt like life was not so hard anymore but that I was really looking forward to moving out of the baby stage and into the big kid stage where we could plan trips without worrying about carseats, diaper bags, strollers, where the baby will sleep, etc. Gama felt the same way.

And then the magic time started LOL Right around 6-8 months. Kidney Boy started eating baby food. He hated it at first but eventually, he learned to like things like crackers and breadsticks. We were able to go to restaurants without taking turns eating. He let us put him in the stroller to walk through the mall instead of screaming to be carried the whole time. He started napping on a schedule every afternoon so that I could help Junior with his homework and make sure Chicken-hair didn't pee in his pants. (Junior almost never had accidents so I was in for a big surprise with Chicken-hair who still has accidents if we don't remind him to go potty every hour or two).

With each month that passes, I have felt more and more like I want another baby someday. We always said we would have 4. I know that we are perfect just like we are and that life will continue to be wonderful with our three boys. But I also know that once you get through that newborn stage, you are set. You have another best friend for everyone. You get to watch all the adorable things again like learning to walk, learning what lemons taste like, learning to yell at the big kids... those things are just so precious.

And anyway, as hard as the newborn stage is, I can't help but miss it sometimes. That floppy head. That little stretch they do when you lift them up in front of you and they push their head and butt back really hard LOL

I know what is going to happen already. I have given up saying we will never try again. I am not sure we'll succeed again because it has always been such a fight for us to get pregnant. But I am sure we'll try again. In fact, just the other day, Gama said we should start trying in January LOL That one threw me! Back in May, he was still saying he was excited to get out of the baby stage and still not thinking we should try again. So I can tell that neither one of us is ready to throw in the towel. And if we do succeed again, I will just hope desperately that I don't have a summer baby so that at least the older two are in school. And I am sure that at least once everyday I will say, "How on earth did I think I could handle this again?" But I know it will be great anyway.

Last night, I dreamt I had a baby boy, at home in our bed. It was actually part of a big disturbing dream. But that slippery little body... I liked that part of the dream LOL

About the OC Fair and Gregory and Kelly moving

We are taking the kids to the fair today. It is kids' day so Junior gets in free. Chicken-hair would be free anyway because 5 and under is free. I am excited. We skipped the fair last year because we had that horrible heat wave and Kidney Boy was a newborn.

Tonight, we have to go say goodbye to my brother Gregory and SIL Kelly. I have been dreading this! I know everything will be fine and there will be a lot of good parts about this move. It will be exciting to go visit them in Oregon. They won't be THAT far away and we will have plenty of communication between the phone and email. But tonight will be hard. We are such a tight group. Sunday we went to "Ourbucks" (the Starbucks we always go to) and hung out on the couches for our last time as a big group. It will be weird to go there without them all the time now. Lots of things will be really weird. And I had been thinking it would be 5 years but it turns out it will most likely be 7. WOW. Last weekend in church, Junior asked me how long they'd be gone and I told him 5 years and that he'd be 13, a teenager, when they come back. A few months ago, we told him that and he thought it was really cool that he'd be a teenager. But I guess it is becoming more real to him too because he didn't say anything for a minute and then he started blinking a lot and said, "But I don't want them to come back when I'm 13." I told him "I know" and he just lost it. I haven't told him that he'll actually be 15 before they come back. He doesn't need to know that now. As time passes, he'll get so used to them not living here. But Gregory has always been like a big brother to him. This is going to take a lot of getting used to, for Junior especially.

Anyway... enough whining. I'll be glad when the goodbyes are over and we can start planning our first trip to go see them!

About Kidney Boy taking his first steps

Back from June 8...

Kidney Boy has a new nickname... Mr. Two-steps!

He did it!!! Last night, he finally took two steps on his own. He did it several times but won't take more than two. It is so funny. He stands there wobbling and then takes two very rigid steps and says "oooohhhhh" and carefully sits down LOL

I am sure he is far from walking around. Both Junior and Chicken-hair took more than 2 steps on their first day and they still took a couple of weeks to really walk. But it was just so exciting that he finally took his first steps. I was so afraid he'd do it at daycare and I'd miss it LOL I kept telling them not to let him walk. I would say, "If he looks like he is getting close, just go knock him over." hehehe...

Happy Birthday, Kidney Boy!
My baby is turning ONE 5/26!
Christine,
Mommy to 3 beautiful boys

About Kidney Boy 8-16

I posted this about Kidney Boy...


Mostly, I have been reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? because that is Leo's favorite thing in the entire house. He especially loves the page with the big yellow duck and also the page with the purple cat. He quacks too. It is the cutest thing. I love how he sounds and looks when he quacks. He tries to imitate the way I do it, really nasally and kind of in my throat "wack-wack" but when he does it, he looks like he is having trouble swallowing something or coughing something up LOL If I ask him where the duck is, he goes right for the bookshelf to look for that book.

A post about Chicken-hair

I posted this on Aug. 6 but this is about stuff Chicken-hair has said cute for the last several months:


Chicken-hair calls yogurt "the yogurt" and it comes out sounding like "de-yogurt" so he will say, "Mommy! Please can we buy the de-yogurt that I can drink?" or "Mommy, I didn't eat my de-yogurt yet!"He also says extra "its" sometimes, as in "I drank it all of it!" instead of "I drank all of it" He used to pronounce "all of it" as "ovalit" LOL "Mommy! Don't drink it ovalit! I want some too!"

From July 3

I posted this on July 3, after we took Junior and Chicken-hair to see Transformers:

We saw Transformers today. It is the best movie I have seen in a long time! I loved it! Of course, the boys loved it too. They got so excited every time they realized one of the vehicles was a Transformer and would whisper to each other who it was.There were some bad words. I reminded them before that I better not hear them say any of them later. Normally, I wouldn't take them to a PG-13 movie but this was a special circumstance. And there was a scene with a couple of lines that I wish they hadn't heard but I think it went over their heads and I was distracting them anyway. Awesome, awesome movie!

A post from July 10

An easy way to add stuff to this blog will be to copy and paste emails and posts I have made about the kids. Here is one about Kidney Boy walking. I wrote this post on July 10. Kidney Boy took his first steps on June 7 and started walking on his own on July 8...


July 10: Sunday night, as we were getting ready for church, he walked 14 steps across their room! And ever since then, he has been getting up and taking 6-10 steps at a time. He is so pleased with himself. He claps wildly and has this ENORMOUS smile on his face. It is so cute to see.

Of course, at the same time, I am a little sad about it... he is turning into a full-fledged toddler. He nurses for about 2-3 minutes now. He is still interested in latching on but he doesn't have much patience for it anymore. He is becoming more and more like a little boy! It's great but a little hard at the same time LOL

Always happens!

Every time I decide to start a blog, to keep track of things I want to remember, I don't know where to start so I just leave it there... uggghhh...

OK so now I am really going to make an honest effort to get things going here.

My first post

I thought it would be fun to have a blog. I mostly want to use it to save funny stories about the boys and other things I want to remember.