Parental Follow-thru and on-going sickness

I think we should have a punch card for ER visits to Athens Regional Medical Center. How about 4 visits and your 5th one is free. Sounds good to me since I have been there 3 times in the last 3 months. No joke! I was there with Lorenzo on Aug. 19 and then again on Sept. 19 and then last night with Rayna. The kids were sick for like the whole month of September. They had everything but the Swine Flu. It all started with Lorenzo and his croup. Then about 10 days after that he got Rotovirus. He was well for I think a week when he got Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, which of course he in turn gave to Rayna. We've been in the clear for a couple of weeks now except for the fact that they both have colds and snotty noses.

Well last night's adventure to the ER involved Rayna and a splinter in her hand. She received the splinter on a log at school on the way to the car when I picked her up at lunch. She screamed bloody murder about it. We get home and I tried to attempt to get it out to no avail. I put her in the bath hoping that with the warm water it would be easier to remove. But of course she wouldn't even let me look at it. I was tired of hearing her cry about it hurting her hand so I gave her a choice: you can let mommy get it out or we can get in the car and go to the hospital and have a nurse take it out. By this time it is after 9 p.m. This is probably the craziest thing I've ever done as a mom but I'm sure it won't be the only thing! She still wouldn't let me do it so I told her to get in the car, we're going to the ER. It took 3 nurses and me to hold her down and get it out. Once it is out she turns to me and goes, "Mommy, I'm so glad we got it out. My hand feels so much better now." She liked the fact that the nurse's name was Poppy. They gave her a grape popsicle, a star sticker and a Dora sticker and she was as good as new. Another lady was walking by and ended up giving Rayna a teddy bear and Lorenzo got a little rubber ducky. She named the teddy bear "Take Care Little Child".

I'm chalking this one up to never underestimate the stubbornness of a four year old and never underestimate Mommy! I always say what I mean!

Challenging Week

It has been quite the challenging week to say the least. Yesterday I spent all day in the hospital with my little man. He came down with croup the night before and his breathing sounded really bad so I took him to the doctor first thing in the morning. He had what they call Strider Arrest, is where the airway is swollen. The doctor sent me straight to the hospital for some breathing treatments and a steroid medicine. Apparently this type of breathing treatment is one that can only be given in the hospital. And of course, Randy is out of town! So now I am trying not to freak out about Lorenzo not being able to breathe and figuring out what I am going to do with Rayna as she was at school. The doctor had told me that there was also the possibility that Lorenzo would have to stay overnight in the hospital for observation depending on how he responded to the medicine.

So I started making phone calls. I called my neighbor Jenny who said she could pick up Rayna from school and feed her lunch and bring her up to the hospital later. Sabrina said she could come get Rayna and she could spend the night there with them. So now I had Rayna taken care of so I could focus on Lorenzo. He did not like those breathing treatments or getting x-rays. Poor little guy, but he was a trooper. Everybody at Athens Regional Medical Center was just awesome. I couldn't have asked for better care. And my doctor is awesome too!

Well we ended up finally leaving the hospital around 7 p.m. with high hopes of not having to go back in the middle of the night. And thank the Lord, Lorenzo slept from 9 p.m.-8 a.m. with out any problems!!! He is doing much better today and really doesn't even have the barky cough that comes with croup.

I'm just so glad I listened to my mommy instincts. I'm just so thankful for all the good friends that I have here in Athens that will help me out when I need it. Thanks Sabrina and Jenny! I could not have gotten through yesterday without you guys! :)
Now I just can't wait for Randy to get home and this week to be over!

Rayna's 4th birthday and odds & ends

Wow! Can't believe tomorrow is the first day of school for Rayna! Where did the summer go? It's been quite the busy summer between gymnastics camp, summer school camp, going to the beach and having friends and family visit. I know I need to keep up on my blog a little better but then I get tired and always think I will do it tomorrow. Well you know how that goes, there's always something better to do tomorrow!
Here's some pictures from Rayna's Princess Pirate Party. She had a blast! It really was a lot of fun. My friend Sorina made her awesome cake. It not only looked fabulous but tasted good too! The party was a lot of fun even if it was like 100 degrees out that day. Grandpa G and Nanny and Poppy all came down for the occasion. I can't believe my baby girl is 4 years old already! Where does the time go? She is starting her second year at Montessori. She told me tonight that she is going to learn how to read this year. She is really starting to sound out words and spell them out. I'm sure she will be reading in no time. She will also be in gymnastics again and starting ballet class. She is a very busy girl.

Lorenzo is starting to talk. He can say ball, Rayna, Bauer, car, water and just about all the animal sounds. It is so cute to hear him do the animal sounds. My favorite one is the pig sound he does. He even knows some of his body parts like hair, eye, nose and ear. I'd almost forgotten how quickly they pick things up at this age. It is so fun and amazing to watch him. I love this age!

Lorenzo's 1st birthday!

I can't believe Lorenzo is a year old already! He is growing way too fast! He loves walking around and being outside. Of course he is into everything. We had quite the birthday party with Grandpa G and Grandpa and Grandma Wrate here from MI. And of course Nana and Poppy were here too. It was a big weekend as we also had Lorenzo dedicated at church. I even sang as part of the dedication. I sang "Find Your Wings" by Mark Harris. I'll try and post the link to his video. It was a great weekend visiting with everybody. I have never seen a one-year-old smash a cake so fast! I don't know who was having more fun, Lorenzo smashing it and eating it or Bauer eating what fell on the floor. He definitely knew it was his birthday! I am so glad that grandma and grandpa were able to be here. The kids really had a good time with them. I just wish they could've have stayed longer.

Rayna's last day of school is tomorrow. I am a little sad to think that her first year of school is already over. It seems like yesterday she was my little baby girl. She has grown so much over the last year. It is so exciting to see her enthusiasm for learning. She is just like a little sponge and just soaks it all up. She will be busy this summer. She has two weeks of gymnastics camp, swim lessons and two weeks of summer school. Plus there will be lots of play dates I am sure with all of her friends from school. She is doing really great at swimming, a real natural of course! :)

Snow Day

Who needs to go to MI when it snows 6 inches in Georgia? Yes, that's right folks, on Sunday, March 1, 2009 we received more than 6 inches of snow. It was the big, fat wet kind that sticks to everything making it really pretty. Rayna was beside herself. She thought it was crazy that it was snowing in GA. She told me, "Mommy, this is crazy! It doesn't snow in Georgia. It only snows in Michigan." At least I got to use my 4wd on the truck. I think I might have been a lit(A21AS2Zqz1qwqaa3w21esw1sqqqqqwq1q1)that was Lorenzo trying to Blog. Anyways, I think I was crazy for going driving in a snow storm with a bunch of rednecks.
So of course on Monday everything was shut down. Randy's plant was even closed. I'm just glad I kept the snow pants I borrowed from Angie when we were in MI so she had something to wear. Of course we were the only ones in the neighborhood with a snow shovel. It was very amusing to watch people shovel with a garden shovel. She played all day in the snow, making snow angels, rolling in it and her favorite part, eating it.

It was the best snow for making snowman and snowballs. I actually got the dog to chase and retrieve a snowball! Poor dog didn't know what to make of the white stuff. Well it was fun while it lasted but I am glad to see it gone. And to think that it is supposed to be 80 degrees this weekend!! I am glad that Rayna got to experience snow. It truly was a once in a lifetime experience to see that much snow here. I think Randy even enjoyed shoveling!

I can't believe it's already Feb. I really need to do a better job posting to my blog. Ok, I'll admit it, my obsession is Facebook. It's been fun finding old friends on there and getting back in touch with people.
Well at 8 1/2 months Lorenzo is crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything. He is into everything as well. oh, no, he just tried to crawl over Rayna's Dora Doll house!!! He still has no teeth though. I'm not sure what is up with that. You would think by now that he would have some teeth. We did take the kids to their first UGA basketball game a few weekends ago. That was a lot of fun. We had really great seats, 4th row on the floor. Rayna really enjoyed herself. She especially like the Dancedawgs and cheerleaders. She was in the aisle trying to do the dances and cheers. She made mama proud. She's actually pretty good. Then we came home and watched the Miss America pagant. She liked seeing all the pretty girls. This weeks we are going to see the Gymdogs, UGA gymnastics. She is pretty excited about it. We've been taking her to see the Gymdogs since she was only like a year and half years old. She is still doing really well at her gymnastics classes. I had signed Lorenzo up for a class but they had to cancel it due to not enough people. :(
I've been meaning to put up pictures of Rayna playing in the snow in MI but I haven't downloaded them yet. So some old pics that I found will have to do. Enjoy!