Sunday, February 28, 2010

I'm back to using my old camera for a while; I had to send my camera back to Canon to get fixed. If you look at the pictures from last weekend you'll see a dark dot in the pictures, it appears to be on the inside of the camera so I couldn't clean it out. Thankfully it is still under warranty so it shouldn't cost me anything, I just hate not knowing when I'll get my camera back. I love my camera!

We had a fun weekend with the kids. Saturday was the Bass Lake Fishing contest. I took the kids there for the first half of the tournament and then we went home for naps. Here I am walking around with Rory under a blanket as it was windy.

Tara came out and met us. She didn't have boots or snow pants so it is a good thing she came shortly before we decided to leave. Here she is playing in the snow with Max and getting all wet.

In order to get the kids there and back I used my awesome stroller. Yes, my stroller is so cool you can even take it out on the ice! Look how cute the kids looked being pushed around. I did get a lot of looks pushing a stroller on the ice, but Rory can't sit up yet so a sled was out and the stroller worked great.

The kids did amazing. We were there for an hour and a half during nap time so you'd expect it would have went terrible but really they were great. Rory just got upset with the wind which was easily remedied as seen above. And Max got really upset when he realized we were leaving, but also passed out before we even got off the lake. So it was a very successful adventure!

We also decided to feed Rory solids. I had planned to wait until 6 months but Rory has been reaching for our food and watching us so intently that I couldn't ignore the signs anymore! She seemed to enjoy it and ate pretty much the whole tablespoon we gave her of rice cereal.

She made some pretty funny faces as she swallowed but she kept chomping on more so I think it was a success.

It was a fun weekend at home with the kids! Now lets just hope my camera shows up this week.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me being that I was recognized as Parent of the Month and all. Naturally I thought I was pretty cool; that is until I met up with Dusty and the kids that evening.

Usually when I pick up Max from daycare we get a half sheet of paper telling us what he did for the day. Yesterday, when Dusty picked up Max there were THREE incident reports stapled to his half sheet of paper. So in the morning he ended up somehow cutting his finger while playing with the kitchen set, then later that morning was playing with one of his friends and decided to bite his wrist, and then that afternoon while fighting over a toy with a friend he received a bite mark on his wrist.

They can't tell you who the other child was when there is an incident, but I have a funny feeling Max and the same kid both went home with similiar incident reports. I mean, what are the odds that a different kid would step in and decide to bite Max on his wrist after he bit another kid's wrist?

So this is a new struggle for us with a toddler, Max learning ways to express his anger without biting or hitting. (He's been hitting too lately but no incident reports for that yet.) Thankfully daycare is great and they work with him on helping him understand good ways to express anger. I've taught him how to say "I'm mad!" but I have yet to see him actually say it when he's mad instead of resorting to violence. Such goes the life and times of this Parent of the Month!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Monday, February 22, 2010

We headed up to my parent's lake house again for a fun weekend away. Sunday was beautiful and we all headed out to the lake to try our hand at fishing. Well, the fish weren't biting. Dusty caught the only fish. No, that isn't his bait, that is the actual fish he caught.

We decided to have a little fun and started pulling each other on the sled around the lake. Max woke up from his nap and was whisked away to the great outdoors for a sled ride. He had a really great time and was all about going for ride after ride. He went with me, Auntie and Grandma. Here are Grandma and him getting ready to go!
Auntie took Max for a four wheeler ride and decided to have a photo op with Max. I think he was a little sick of everyone taking his picture; while Andrea's face says "this is great", Max's says "get that thing out of my face".

Of course the boys had to do boy things and Chris and Dusty decided that Chris needed to be pulled down the hill at my parent's house. Needless to say Chris had to bail before hitting a tree and I caught his face right at the moment he realized he was aiming for it!

Rory was not invited outside that day. It was a nice day but she was in desperate need of a nap. Here she is chilling on her Boppy enjoying some chew time with her rattle that Bopa is helping her get.

It was so nice to spend some time outside. I can't wait for it to get a little warmer so I can start taking the kids on walks. I have this really awesome double stroller - if you haven't already heard about it...

Sunday, February 21, 2010

My baby girl is 5 months old. We spent the weekend up at the lake so I took her picture on the floor there.

She is getting so big, and naturally is uber adorable! I'll post pictures from the weekend later this week, stay tuned to see pictures of Max sledding behind the four wheeler and everyone out attempting to catch fish. (Never happened.)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Another beautiful afternoon spent outside. This time Uncle Randy was still over and decided to play his favorite game, "Throw Max in the Air". I was fortunate enough to get pictures of the whole thing.

Preparing for takeoff: He's launched:
He's reached the top of the atmosphere:
Another safe landing:
I wasn't exactly thrilled with how high up Randy was throwing Max but Max had fun and no one got hurt. Besides, I lost my chance at Mother of the Year for 2010 way back in January.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Uncle Randy has been Rory's nanny for the past week and a half. This week he's been watching Uncle Ed's dog, Remington, and he's been bringing her over. Max absolutely loves Remy and chases him all around the house. Daddy and Max started wresting on the floor and of course Remy had to get into it too. Max is laughing in the picture below, I realize it could also be interpreted as crying but trust me, the boy was all giggles!

Randy agreed to let us keep Remy over night tonight and Max, Remy, Rory and I all headed outside this afternoon to throw the ball for Remy. Max had a great time walking around in the wet snow.

Rory just enjoyed being outside I think. She was talking and squealing the whole time. I don't even think she minded wearing her brother's old snow suit!

Of course a nice evening can't be complete without us having to take one of the kids to Urgent Care. Rory has been coughing for a week now and it has gotten worse. Because of her respiratory history, they wanted us to bring her in to get checked out and be safe. She hasn't had a fever so that was in our favor.

The good news is that she doesn't have to go to the hospital. We do have to monitor her a bit closer since her oxygen levels were only at 94% when they should be 99-100%. Hopefully it won't be as bad tonight and then I won't have to worry about taking her in again tomorrow.

I also found out that she takes after her mom. She has had a bump on the back portion of her neck that I thought was the Torticollis "bump" some babies can develop, but the pediatrician informed me that it was a swollen lymph node. My neck lymph nodes also swell up when I'm sick so I guess she has me to thank for that!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Valentine's Day is a special day for me. I was born on it! So our weekend was especially eventful for me. I had already mentioned that Friday night we went to the Minnesota Wild game with my parents. Saturday we spent the day with friends from high school, Brandon and Laura, and their 3 girls. Laura's birthday is on the 15th so it was fun to spend time together right before our birthdays.

Max had a great time with Mady, Kayly was a big help with Rory, and Jacky entertained us all with her army crawling. It was a great start to the weekend! Unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the clock and we ended up leaving in a rush as Max had quite the meltdown. He has just started this little "phase" over the week and while it is funny, it can also make things a bit uncomfortable. Luckily our first public meltdown was with friends that have small children and could totally sympathize.

Sunday Dusty got up with the kids and let me sleep in until 9:30! I woke up to have delicious pancakes, bacon, and sausage for breakfast. Randy and Ashley stopped over for breakfast also. My friend Erica came over later in the afternoon and then Andrew, Katie and Lyla came for dinner. So we had a full house and lots of entertainment for the day. Erica even stayed the night and is watching Rory for us today - I have such great friends!

It was a nice birthday weekend. And no, I don't believe in dedicating weekends to your birthday, but that is just how it panned out this time. Of course, I'm still not done celebrating as I am planning my birthday dinner out with my parent's and sisters too. Here's to my birthday being a month long!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

There were some positives to last week, it wasn't completely consumed with illness. Monday I got away for an hour to go to my Zumba class that I have really been enjoying, Wednesday my mom treated Andrea, Tara and myself to Fame the Musical at Mystic Lake and Friday my parents treated Dusty and I to the Minnesota Wild game.

Of course, it was a lot, and had not all of these events been arranged weeks if not months in advance I can't say I would have went with the current events of the week. But I did really enjoy my breaks away from the house. The play was especially fun with my mom and sisters as we had a great time and the last play we had gone to was Wicked in Chicago. Needless to say, we were a lot closer to the stage here but the actors weren't nearly as great as there. It was fun discussing it all with them on the way home. I wish I could say we are very mature and had an intellectual conversation but if you know us, you know we were giggling and making fun of them the whole way home. I love my family!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

After two days of phone calls to the doctor's office, two days of Max peaking out with a fever over 103 degrees; I took him in to Urgent Care and find out he has Walking Pneumonia!

So, on top of his toddler poops, we also have a sick, coughing little boy. Even more exciting is that the antibiotics that we need to treat the Pneumonia will probably worsen the toddler poops. I wish I could think more positively, like we have medicine and something to treat, but that isn't going to happen bright and early this morning. I was already up with Max at 3am and helping him calm down after taking his temperature to find he had an all time high of 103.5. Thankfully not hospital visit worthy, but still very worrying.

Just for fun, here's my conversation with Dusty at 3:30 this morning when I finally went back to bed.
Me: Max has a three hundred and five temp.
Dusty: (sarcasm) That's hot!
Me: I'm sorry, three hundred point five.
Dusty: Ashley....
Me: Oh, I'm really sorry, he um...
Dusty; ONE hundred and three point five?
Me: Yeah, I'm tired, you got it.

So hopefully the medicine will start to work its magic and Max will be back to normal. He really is doing well in spite of everything. When he doesn't have a high fever he acts pretty normal. At the doctor's office I was getting the evil eye because Max insisted on running up and down the waiting room and he was coughing. I tried to keep him close to me but he wanted nothing to do with sitting down and would pitch a fit if I tried. I'd much rather get the evil eye from other parents then hold my wailing, sick child down for over an hour.

Maybe we'll get some sleep this weekend. Maybe.

Monday, February 8, 2010

I hung out in Mankato with my college girlfriends Friday night and Saturday. I was very excited to have a night away and to get a chance to just relax, have a couple drinks, and gossip with my girlfriends. (It's been a long couple of weeks if you haven't been keeping up with my blog.) Naturally I brought my camera, licorice, and Doritos to make for the ultimate night! Erica started putting the licorice to good use and I decided to join her!

Lisa was being silly too! She and I are on the same tolerance level with alcohol (not very high at all) so drinking together is nice since we never pressure each other into having more than we can handle. Hangovers are usually not worth it.

It was Becca's turn to be the sober one, as you can tell she is pregnant and just happy watching us all get goofy. Stay tuned for early spring when their baby boy/girl arrives; you know I'll be shouting the news here. She is carrying very, very low, so I'm predicting it's a boy as is most anyone that sees her!

I had a great time with the girls. They are always fun, and great at helping me through all sorts of problems. That weekend's goal was to take me shopping and help me find clothes. After having 2 babies in less than 2 years, I hadn't shopped for non-maternity clothes and I was getting pretty desperate. They were great and helped me continue to trudge along even after finding things that looked horrible! I wouldn't have made it through the day without them. Thank you ladies!

While I was gone on Saturday, Dusty and the kids were at Ukrainian Christmas with Dusty's stepfather's family so they were having plenty of fun without me. We were all a big happy family again on Sunday and I even got this gem of a picture as Max will occasionally get down on the ground to show Rory her toys.

It was a great weekend for all. Now I just need a weekend of strait sleeping and I may actually feel closer to my "old self". You know, the one that didn't have babies constantly under tow, would get 8 consecutive hours of sleep, and had Dusty all to her self? Yeah, I'll never be that self again, but a girl can dream of sleep can't she?

Thursday, February 4, 2010

It has been quite the week. I have to warn you again, this may be TMI and will probably embarrass Max when he is older, but we've had some updates since my last TMI post on Max.

I took Max in to see the pediatrician on Wednesday morning because his "poo poos" had not stopped and had been going on for over a week and a half. The pediatrician informed me that he appears to have a case of the Toddler Poops. Basically, some toddlers tend to develop a digestive issue that lasts for about a month and then goes away on its own. Max seemed to fit this description since he has not shown any signs that he was feeling ill, he just can't seem to stop pooping. Thankfully, he is eating and drinking well, so he isn't getting dehydrated.

Every morning from Monday through today Max has woken up around 5:30am in the morning, crying, because he has leaked through his diaper. So every morning this week I have been in his room cleaning up both him and his crib. Both Monday night and tonight he has accidentally pooped while taking his bath; today Rory was still in the tub with him! So there have been multiple baths in this house this week.

We have been sanitizing our bathtub and toys almost every evening since we're constantly putting his poo covered body in the tub to wash him up. My poor bath rug has got white dots all over it now from the bleach splashing over the tub and on to it.

We were able to get the prescription Butt Paste for his derier and that has done wonders. With all the pooping, his rear end was getting burned and he was in a lot of pain. Diaper changes were horrible! The last couple times no tears were shed, which was quite the relief because I must admit, I did some crying with him on those.

Of course, Rory had to get some attention too. She started getting a red, goopy eye and both Dusty and Uncle Randy were convinced it was pink eye. This of course had to be on Wednesday, I mean, one visit to the doctor's office couldn't be enough. Thankfully the pediatrician agreed with me and said it looked like her eye was reacting to her cold and it appeared that she was draining out her eye instead of the dreaded pink eye. I love when I'm right! She's already showing a lot of improvements as she hasn't had nearly as much goop.

So it was once again a sick week in the Cochran household, with Max having pooped for 2 weeks now and possibly having 2 more weeks to look forward to, myself coming down with a bug, and Rory making sure to get herself some attention with a non-pinkeye, pink eye. I wish I could say Dusty has remained illness free, but he has started to feel a bit ill, so we'll see what tomorrow and the weekend brings.

Monday, February 1, 2010

We spent the last weekend up at my parent's lake house. The trip started out horribly, as the trailer we had blew a tire and we ended up sitting in a driveway waiting for Katie and Andrew to catch up to us with a new replacement tire. Luckily, the kids were amazing while we sat in the car and we eventually made it up to the lake.

My dad was busy getting shelves up in the closets and Max really enjoyed being his right hand man, as he would run back and forth between the closet and the garage as soon as he saw Bopa heading that way. It was pretty dang cute.

Grandma got to get lots of cuddle time in with her grandbabies. Here she is being goofy with Rory, who of course loved it!

Of course the cousins were adorable as always. Here they are playing with Lyla's dolly, with a little help from Auntie Katie. Rory is getting so big and just loved watching the two older kids play, and they were great at getting right up in her face and making her smile!

I wasn't able to get every scrapbook page done that I had hoped, but it wasn't because I didn't have the time, I was just ill prepared. Last week was really busy for me and I never really sat down to make sure I had everything I needed. It's OK though, I got a few pages at least mostly done and it isn't like we won't be getting together again. It was a nice weekend away.

Too bad Lyla, myself, and both my parents ended up sick on Monday. It appears we all shared some bug this weekend. It seems to be a minor bug as I am planning to return to work tomorrow since I'm feeling better and I'm really hoping it doesn't go any further than me in my family. We've had enough illnesses to go around for a while. Poor Max isn't even over his stomach bug yet!