summer is coming….

Sports mish-mash….

As I have mentioned before we LOVE to be outside.  However, with the type of Spring we are having (and the wind we have been having) we haven’t been able to spend a whole lot of times outdoors. I can’t believe I am about to say this – but I am ready for summer.  We need the heat to kill off all of the allergens (but I promise I will still be complaining about our 100+ heat here in about a month).

Anyway, a few Fridays ago – it was absolutely beautiful. So, we skipped our normal Friday night routine and stayed home to play (and eat) outside:

 

Harper slept most of the time:

Then she woke up:

And was a little sad she couldn’t play too:

These two make me smile…

Through the ringer…

pretty much sums up our past month. Starting with the flu, then poor Hudson’s allergies causing his eczema to flare up and his nose to constantly run, which then caused his eardrum to rupture, which caused him to go on amoxicillin, which then caused him to have an allergic reaction today.  Yes, we have been through the ringer. Especially poor Hudson.  He has been on amoxicillin on the past for ear infections, but apparently a reaction can show up at anytime.  This time he has been on the anti-biotic for ten days, but because I have been giving him Benadryl every night for his allergies, the reaction was masked until today.  The reason it showed up today is because I stopped giving him Benadryl last night for a few reasons.  Thank goodness (really thank the Lord) that I did because today was his last dose of amoxicillin and we would not have realized he was allergic if he had Benadryl in his system.  When I went to change him he had broken out in hives everywhere.  I am not familiar at all with hives and instantly feared it could be chicken pox (I mean seriously with the way our month is going –I would not have been shocked. And yes, he has had the vaccine, but he also had the flu shot – so again it would have fit the month). We went to the doctor and they quarantined him immediately in case it was the dreaded pox.  Instead we discover it is an allergic reaction. And apparently, this particular allergy can cause you to have pain in your joints (like arthritic pain).  Well, that is the truth because by the time we got home his little ankles had become very swollen and I had to carry him everywhere.  Oh, how my heart hurts for him.

The good to come out of this is we have a plan in place for his eczema and allergies and today they drew blood to run a panel to figure out exactly what he is allergic to and we will go from there.  In the grand scheme – this is a rough month.  There are so many people out there who have it so much rougher in ways I can’t imagine.  I am trying to hold on to the perspective of how very blessed we are and that 5 or 6 weeks of illness is not that big of a deal in the whole scheme of things.  But, mercy it is hard to see my sweet boy suffer.

So, we will push on. But, first backing up – a couple of weeks ago (post-ear drum rupture, pre-allergic reaction) Trent had a fantasy baseball draft and took up residence at the kitchen table.  His little sidekick joined him, naturally:

Five Months!!!

Dear Sweet Harper,

You are five months today!!!  We are having so much fun with you.  You have become quite the belly laugher this month.  You giggle when we get in your face and say things to you in a goofy voice.  You giggle when we blow bubbles on your tummy. And you REALLY giggle when we tickle you or even pretend to tickle you.  What a sweet, funny personality you have.  You are pretty free with the smiles – you give them out constantly.

I am a little scared to write this (as I am every month) but you are still our rockstar sleeper.  You put yourself to sleep at night in your crib. Sleep around 10 hours, wake up and eat and then you are back down for another 3 or 4 hours.  Your morning nap is on-the-go – wherever we are you catch a nap for an hour or so.  Then in the afternoon, you will take a long nap at the same time as big brother. And most days you sleep way longer than he does.  We tried to break you of swaddling last week when we realized the Miracle Blanket’s time was over in our house.  However, you love yourself a swaddle. And thankfully, there is a large size swaddle out there so all is right in the world again. We can tackle going swaddle free another time.  Secretly, I like how you look like my little newborn again when you are swaddled. :)

You had a bit of a growth spurt and started eating WAY more than is typical for you.  It must be over now because you are back to around 28 to 30 oz a day.

We hit a rough patch this month.  When Hudson came down with the flu, you spent a week over at Camp Nana and Pop’s where you were spoiled rotten.  Well, perhaps your spoiling was just continued there. :)  When you came back home – you stopped.eating.completely.  Frankly, I was a little freaked out.  I knew you had not caught the flu, we successfully dodged that bullet, but I was immediately terrified it was your ears. Those checked out fine as well.  You, my sweet girl, have reflux and it had reared its ugly head.  We started you on meds right away and thankfully you are back to your old eating self.  You seem to prefer to only eat for me these days which has been challenging at times. But, I am just so happy you are eating and not in pain!

This month you rolled from your tummy to your back a few times.  To be honest, you were quite freaked out by it.  Hudson “helped” you roll the second time which freaked you out even more.  You are super close to rolling back to tummy, but not quite there yet.  I think you know you will end up on your tummy which you are not a huge fan of and so you avoid it!

You love the bouncer and you like the swing.  You have started playing in the jumperoo and it appears to be a hit. You aren’t falling asleep on the playmat nearly as often, so I think you are starting to like it a bit more!

Hudson adores you more than words can say.  He runs into your room as soon as you wake every morning to tell you good morning and ask you how you slept.  He especially loves to sing “Hey Soul Sister” to you.  He refers to you as “my baby” or “Harps”.  He is back to wanting to hold you all the time and today wanted to feed you as well.  He pats your head and when he is playing, he will bring you your toys (Sophie the Giraffe is a fave).

We love you so much my sweet baby girl!! You bring so much joy to all of us. We can’t wait to see you grow this next month!

Love,

Mommy

Soul Sister…

 

I love that song by Train “Hey Soul Sister…” When Harper was born, I would randomly sing it to her and Hudson picked up on it.  So, now we sing it to her together a lot.  And Hudson has started doing it on his own spontaneously a lot.  It is pretty stinking cute…

Handy Hudson!

For Hudson’s birthday we got him a playset for the backyard. Putting it together is going to be  pretty big undertaking. Luckily, Trent has a fantastic little helper!