St. Patrick's Day

I know, you think we aren't cool anymore... but Todd and I went out for about an hour and a half on St. Patrick's Day for a few Guinness at J.J. McKay's in Wayland.

Todd enjoying a Guinness. 

I love me some Guinness, but I also had to have a shot of Bailey's.  I mean, after all, it IS my last name.

Here's the scene at J.J. McKay's at around 4 pm.  It was actually pretty packed.  Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Bailey's!

Gaby's 4th birthday party

Natalie's BFF, Gaby, just celebrated her 4th birthday.  Unfortunately, I couldn't attend because I had to WORK on a Sunday.  It was actually to make up for days that I missed while we were all out sick with the stomach bug.  Thankfully my work is flexible, but sadly, I missed the party.

First, the kids got to paint.  Most of them chose wooden star boxes to paint.  Natalie painted hers so pretty and we are using it to store her hair pretties.

Not surprising, it has a green top.

Then she got a sparkly dolphin tattoo.  I actually thought it was really pretty, but later in the week, she asked me to wash it off, ha ha.  That is probably a good thing. 

Even Grant had a good time at the party.  Todd got some great video of him walking around with all of the big kids.  He seemed so proud of himself.  Someone even mentioned to Todd that they were impressed that Natalie was so good with her little brother.  She was very affectionate when they were there, apparently.

All of the kids got together for a picture.  Most of the kids don't look pleased in this picture, although Gaby is super cute, and at least they are all facing forward, which really, is far better than the rest of the pictures.  The little girl to Natalie's right is Addison.  She is in Gaby's class at FACE, but is also in Natalie's gymnastics class at Planet Gymnastics. 

Happy birthday Gaby!

Nice weekend at the Wayside Inn

Todd got a good deal on Buy With Me for a 1 night stay at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA that we had to use by the end of March, so we left the kids with Todd's sister and niece and enjoyed a night away.  It came with a $25 voucher toward the spa next door (which was only good for facials or massages, of which they were totally booked up) but I got a nice manicure anyway.

Todd said it looked like I had gorilla hands here. 

The Buy With Me deal also came with $25 toward dinner at the Wayside Inn.  Yum-O.  Oddly enough, I didn't take any picutres of dinner, but I think that's because we had been drinking quite a bit since mid afternoon.  The Wayside Inn is the oldest operating inn in America, although we actually stayed at the Wayside Carriage House Inn (there are only a few rooms at the regular Inn and it books up well in advance). 

For dinner, we took the "shuttle" over to the actual Wayside Inn.  Here I am in front of the place.  The bar is on the lower right, and it even has a room that is a historic rendition of what the house might have looked like on the inside back in the 1700s.  That is on the lower level to the left of me.

This is the bar.  Todd barely fit in here.  But the guy made awesome drinks before dinner.

We enjoyed our evening, and on Sunday morning we slept in!  Yeah, until 9.  Then we went to Mel's Diner in Wayland for Philly Cheesesteak omelets that were out of this world.  I should have taken a picture of those.  Then we went to pick up the kids at their Aunt Helen's house.  After they ate lunch, Uncle Gordie took them outside because they both had been interested in checking out his new backhoe. 

Natalie got in first, and was getting the biggest kick out of it. She thought it was SO COOL.

Look at little Grant.  He loves anything with wheels, so this was right up his alley!  Thanks for letting us play in your backhoe Uncle Gordie!

We have a walker!

Boy am I good.  Grant took 2 steps toward me on 2/25, just a few days shy of his 16 month birthday. He took them in the kitchen, between his Exersaucer and the garbage can (I only wrote that so years from now I would remember exactly where it happened!). 

Over the course of that weekend (but before our big sickness outbreak), he progressively took a few more steps here and there.  Then this past weekend, he just took off in the kitchen, walking from the oven over around the island (on the refrigerator side) and then over to the sliding glass door.  And I got it ALL on video! Sweet!

Now even since then, he has just taken off.  He's probably doing about 60/40 walking to crawling ratio.  I would say we definitely have a toddler!  Sniff sniff... not a baby any longer!

NO MORE SICKNESS!!!

Be very thankful I do not have any pictures to post. 

The worst night of our lives as a family occured on Monday night.  I know, I know, you're thinking that I'm being dramatic here, but really, I honestly thought about calling 9-1-1 so someone would be able to take care of my sick children for me.

Yes, we got sick... AGAIN.  This time was the worst.  So I told you all about how Grant got a stomach bug on Sunday morning.  Todd and I thought we did a pretty good job about keeping the kids apart, but of course, both of US were hanging with Grant on Sunday (and then later, Natalie...).  So he was actually great for the rest of Sunday, and all of Monday.  No problems.  Then Monday evening, Todd went to CrossFit and Natalie started complaining that her stomach hurt during dinner and then during her bath.  She didn't even want me to read her any books or sing any songs, so I knew she didn't feel well.  Then as I was saying good night, she thought she was going to be sick.  Thankfully, she made it to the bathroom!  Excellent!  (If you are a parent, you have to understand how thrilled I was about this). 

So then she falls asleep.  Todd gets home and announces that he has been sick at CrossFit.  Uh oh.  Come to think of it, I'm not feeling so great either.  By 10 pm, it wasn't pretty.  The only one who wasn't being sick was Grant.  Oh but that didn't last long!  Somewhere around midnight, Grant got sick too.  Just once for the entire night.  It was bad though, and required a sheet change and a bath.

Meanwhile, Todd and I were also sick all night!  It's very hard to take care of your sick children if you are too busy being sick yourself.  When Grant got sick, after Todd gave him a bath, Todd had to leave to be sick.  I was laying on the floor trying not to be sick myself, and Grant opened up one of his drawers and then put all of his weight on it, smashing his chubby little fingers in the drawer.  I was too sick to even keep a close eye on him to make sure he didn't hurt himself. I couldn't even do my job as a parent.  So I did what any sick person does... called my mom!  She said no, it is not appropriate to call 9-1-1.  Was this not an emergency??  I guess not.  Finally by about 3 am, everyone was done being sick.  It was really the longest 8 hours of my life.  And I'm pretty sure Todd would agree.  My very Paleo husband ate Rice Krispies and coffee ice cream for dinner later that night.  Yikes!

Day two... everyone is feeling much better, and we've done a lot of cleaning today.  Clorox wipes and Lysol are my favorites!

Carole's birthday weekend

Thankfully, we were all healthy to enjoy a fun weekend at Todd's parents house for Carole's birthday!

A delicious meal was served to all members of the Bailey clan except for the Maryland Bailey's.  Also, Aunt Betty wasn't present because she was busy stuck in the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake!  She made it out alive and we are all very grateful.  Many others didn't.

KK also made a delicious angel food cake (I had 2 pieces, yes I did!). Three of her four babies helped her blow out the candles.

This is the face Natalie was making when we weren't getting her ice cream fast enough.  Sassy girl.

After dinner, my babies wanted to tickle the ivories with Grammi.  Grant decided he didn't like that song anymore so he wanted to turn the page.  Together, they all actually sounded pretty good. 

Bean shared some of his ice cream with the other big guy.  Such a nice Grampi!  We had a great time at Grammi's birthday party and we were happy to celebrate it with her for once.  Usually they go to Florida in the beginning of February and we miss it!  But not this year!  Happy Birthday Grammi!

Grant's 15 month statistics (at 16 months)

We were a little slack in getting an appointment for Grant at 15 months.  So it happened at 16 months.  And here are the statistics:  Height: 32 and 3/4" (85th percentile).  He grew 2" in four months.  Weight: 25 pounds (50th percentile).  He put on 2.5 pounds in four months.  Head circumference:  49 cm (90th percentile).  His head grew 1.5 cm in four months. 

He's also no longer going to be taking "infants" Tylenol and Motrin.  He's moving up to the big boy stuff!

Additionally, he got two shots this morning.  His MMR (gulp!) and his second pneumococcal vaccine.  

I was concerned that he wasn't talking as much as Natalie... of course, even before he was born, I KNEW I was going to be worried about this!   At 16 months, he still only says "Da Da", "Wassat?" (What's that?), "Shit" (no, seriously, he says this.  If you try to ask him to say "shoe," he actually says "shit!"), and a couple of other random words that he's said in the past.  I've heard him say "Pop Pop" once or twice, which is about the same number of times he's said "Ma ma."  My dad would be so excited if he heard this!  Once Grant said the word, "Purple."  Very strange.  If you ask him what the cow says, he says, "Booooo!"  He just can't seem to get that M sound yet!  He understands a lot of what we say, for the most part.  If we say, "Where's Grant?" He will cover his eyes and laugh as he peeks out from behind them.  We are trying to work on some sign language with him, and he can do "more" and "all done" but doesn't really use them unless we do it first.  So we think- is he really all done?  Or is he just mimicking what I'm doing???  Also, admittedly, the poor guy is totally second born.  We don't do near the amount of work with him that we should do.  Life gets in the way. (More to the point... a feisty 3 year old gets in the way!)

Dr. Meisheid thinks Grant is developing just fine.  Since he's working on his walking, she said he probably wouldn't be progressing as much verbally.  Once he starts walking, we might notice him picking up some more words. 

Speaking of walking, this past Friday (2/25/11), Grant took his first real steps!  He took 2 big steps toward me before falling on his bum.  Since then, he's taken 2 or 3 here and there.  He understands when I say, "Walk Grant, use your feet!"  He also understands "no hands!" because this is something we've been working on lately.  He's a great cruiser along the furniture, and lately we say, "No hands!" and he lets go and can stand by himself for 10 seconds or so.  (A good long time in a baby's world!) 

You might remember, I did say that he would start walking at 16 months... and as I recall during Natalie's physical therapy days, they consider it "first steps" if they take 3 steps in a row! 

I may have mentioned that Grant also has eczema.  Poor little guy.  There's not much you can do about it, other than give him hydrocortizone.  She said it should get better in the summer, and I recall it was significantly less last summer. 

Also of note... his ears and tubes look great!

Where is spring???

Please for the love of everything that is holy... BRING ON SPRING!  We are tired of being sick.  Grant had a stomach bug this past weekend - of which poor Todd caught the brunt of on Sunday morning, if you know what I mean!  Poor honey... he's such a good Daddy.  Although he did tell me he let out some choice words around Grant after he threw up all over him.  Good thing G is too young to repeat such things! 

Grant was very grumpy Sunday morning, even after his morning nap (which has been hit or miss lately, but he was out cold within minutes).  When he woke up from his morning nap, he only wanted his cup of milk.  I didn't want a repeat of what had happened earlier in the morning, so I gave him about 2-3 ounces of water.  After it was gone, he cried and cried.  I felt so bad for the little guy, but I wanted to wait and make sure it STAYED DOWN.  Then Todd took Natalie on a walk just to get her out of the house.  Poor G whined and cried the whole time they were gone.  Finally when they got back, it had been an hour and he had kept the water down, so I decided to try some banana.  He scarfed down almost a whole banana (and only didn't finish it because I was afraid it would come back up!), and then I gave him a little more water, which he also promptly finished.  He was MUCH happier after all of that.  He went back down for his afternoon nap without any problems.

After nap, he woke up hungry again.  We gave him some Pedialyte and he was very happy with that and was just content to chew on the top to his cup for about an hour before dinner.  For dinner, he ate a half a banana, a few bites of "Cream of Rice" which he didn't really like, two big bowls of applesauce, and a few bites of a piece of bread.  Plus we gave him a "half and half" on the doctor's advice - half a sippy cup of Pedialyte and half milk.  He was back to his old chipper self after dinner!

So far today (Monday), he's been great!

Natalie's surgery

Natalie had surgery yesterday at Newton Wellesley Hospital to have tubes put in her ears again and to have her adenoids removed.  Everyone declared her their favorite patient because she was so cute and funny with the doctors and nurses.  And so agreeable!  (Wait, really???)  They gave her some Tylenol and she took it without complaining and even with a smile on her face.  She played quietly and said funny things before the surgery.  And Todd said she went under very easily.  Then, after surgery...  she woke up.  And she was not happy.  She screamed and cried, and woke up even worse than she had the last time she had tubes put in.  Because she had the adenoids removed, they put an IV in her (after she went under with the anesthesia) and so when she woke up, she did not care for that.  She kept saying, "I don't want this bandaid anymore!"  They had to wait for the IV bag to empty before they could take it out.  They called it the hospitals version of Gatorade.  In the meantime, she got some apple juice and got to eat two red popsicles.  Todd said afterwards that she looked like The Joker, ha ha.  When Todd went to get the car, she started complaining that her tummy hurt.  She let out THE biggest burp ever in the hospital.  I mean, so loud and long that it brought other doctors and nurses over to see what had just happened.  I was holding her and I was sure she was going to throw up.  But did that make her belly feel better? Not really. 

Finally we got to go home.  She was just worn out.  She laid on the couch for a bit.  Todd made her some lunch- some Elmo noodles, but she didn't even want any of that.  She just asked to go to bed.  So Todd took her upstairs and she crashed for about 2 and a half hours.  When she woke up, she ate the rest of her Elmo noodles, a popsicle and some ice cream!  Plus the rest of her apple juice and milk. 

This morning she was her usual self, but really hates having the drops put in her ears that prevent infection.  She thinks they feel weird and funny, so she doesn't care for that at all.  Hopefully this is the LAST surgery we have this year.  So far we've had THREE, and it's not even March yet!!!! 

Sickness be gone!

I am so tired of being sick, or having someone in my house who is sick.  Seriously.  Winter, GO AWAY!  I need to open the windows and let all of the sickness out.

Grant had his tubes put in on January 5th. I went to Arizona the following weekend and came back with a cold.  The kids came down with it too, and Natalie got an ear infection from it.  From that, we were told, "Natalie is getting tubes AGAIN, and having her adenoids removed on February 16."  OK, great.  She did antibiotics for 10 days.  She completed it on February 1, and by February 5th, had another cold which she promptly gave to her brother.  Grant has been a SNOT MACHINE.  I really can't believe such a little thing can produce so much snot.  And of course, other than a little Motrin or Tylenol, you can't give kids anything for their symptoms.  So they suffer.  On February 11, Natalie comes down with another ear infection.  Which is perfect timing (!!!) since Todd had a little surgical procedure himself on the 11th, and was unable to do anything with the kids (ie, picking them up, cooking dinner, giving baths, etc.).  On about the same day, I start feeling crummy... so make that 4 people in the house who are not well.  But someone has to feed the kids, and Todd can't do it, so in my misery, I have to play single mom all weekend.  (Shout out to my single mom friends, you guys are the best!!!)  Grant is grumpy and snotting all over the place, neither kid is napping very well, and Natalie has an ear infection and can't take Motrin because she is having surgery on the 16th and Motrin thins the blood.  We have really found Motrin to be the most effective with both kids, but had to resort to Tylenol with Natalie, which doesn't last as long (4 hour cycles as opposed to 6 hours with Motrin).  So she's back on antibiotics, and seems to be doing much better with her cold.  In fact, she's hardly coughing or producing snot at all.  Grant might be turning the corner too... he seemed MUCH better this morning after having a fever last night. 

Hopefully Natalie's surgery on Wednesday will go off without a hitch.  Within 6 weeks, 3 out of the 4 members of our family will have had surgery.  I'm praying I stay healthy!