Monthly Archives: January 2012
Just breathe
This weekend was not what anyone would call a fun-filled weekend. James was admitted to Texas Children’s Hospital with low oxygen levels due to his brochiolitis. We got there around 11:30 on Saturday and left about 2 on Sunday. I will spare you the details (that my poor co-workers got) but the basics are this: He has bronchiolitis (brochitis for babies) and was breathing very rapidly. When the doc checked his oxygen level it was 90. It should be between 98-100. In the ER when he took a nap it dropped to 88 which is what got us admitted. They basically just watched him during the night and on Sunday morning they did a saline nebulizer treatment and suctioned him out. That seemed to make a huge difference as he was taken off the oxygen and took a long nap. We both did. He is doing about the same today, but there is nothing to be done for him, unfortunately but to watch him, suction his nose and try to get him to rest.
The Walls swooped right in and got Zachary. Dave and Tami came over and took him to the birthday party he was excited about. I have not gotten the recap on that, but I can only imagine Dave and Tami were mildly terrorized as it was at a music place so their involvement was required. I don’t particularly like it myself. Liv and Vince kept Zach over night and into Sunday which he loved. When he got home all he wanted was to see his brother. Seriously, he kept saying that. “I want to see my brother”. Of course he thought he was still wearing the mask from the hospital which was obliviously part of the draw.
Here was the interesting part for me. I did not want to leave the hospital. Alex was all about getting discharged, he was asking the nurses and pestering the doctors. Me? I was very content. It took me a while to realize why. Then it came to me, all that was waiting for me at home was laundry, a dishwasher that needed unloading and a 3 year old who would for sure be acting up for attention. Plus they were sending me home with a sick baby and nothing that could be done but wait and see. No thank you. I would have stayed for days. I might go back tonight and see if Denise can come make my baby smile and Mary can bring me the dinner I ordered.
3rd Birthday Party – extreme details

The Chillens Museum
Zach had his third birthday party at the Children’s Museum (or Chillens museum as he says it) on his actual birthday. It was really nice to do it that day so we did not have to celebrate twice and get him all confused. He already believes that he gets presents for about a week during Christmas time.
The museum did an awesome job of setting up the room in my requested colors of blue and yellow (what? they said I got 20 balloons and table covers, of course I was going to ask to just have blue and yellow) and best of all, my house stayed clean. But truly the best thing (in my opinion) about the museum is that the kids get to play for about 45 min to an hour before eating/cake. So they are worn out that night.
We had better attendance than I thought given it was the Friday before Christmas and though we were missing some crucial friends (Big Ben for one), Zach had a awesome time with the fun friends that were able to come. If you recall the theme was Little Man, and James is dressed accordingly.
Halfway to a Year
As Zach was turning 3 (blog post to come on that sneaky weepy day) Alex and I commented to each other that it was not as hard to believe that Zach was three, as it was to believe that James was about to be 6 months old. Where has the time gone? How is my roly poly baby halfway to a year old? This cannot possibly be correct, I must have done the math wrong.
But I digress. As usual. This month, James started to sit up, a very wobbly stay-very-close-and-pretend-to-be-an-attentive-mother sitting position, but he is SUPER excited to be doing it. He also rolls front to back and vice versa and does that all over the carpet. Though he still forgets that he can roll off his tummy and routinely bangs his face into the carpet and starts to cry.
He is still just a delight to everyone that comes in contact with him. Even, surprisingly enough, his brother. James has realized that Zach is there and fairly entertaining so he now beams at him when he catches sight of him. Granted, that smile usually turns to slight tension as he is being hugged and gripped by an enthusiastic 3 year old.
James started school officially this month and his teacher said he was already a favorite (I promise this was volunteered to me). She said that everyone who comes in comments on how cute and sweet he is. He is just so happy to have someone talking to him, his face lights up and you are rewarded with the biggest, wettest smile. As Zach says “Mommy, I got a smile from James!”
My baby is huge and I want to cry.
James at 5 months
Christmas Evenings
Our nighttime routine with Zachary is dinner, bath, short video/movie, brush teeth, then reading books in his room and off to bed. Then he adds about 10 minutes of stalling which includes saying his prayers (“I am thankful for Jesus and Mary and Joseph and Norman.”), telling me what he is thinking about (to ward off bad dreams), what he is having for breakfast and then usually he needs another drink of water or to go to the bathroom. Again. Anyway, once we got the tree up in the living room and the stockings up on the fireplace I suggested we read books by the fire.
It. Was. Awesome. Alex told me I needed to tamper down my giddiness. Neither Zach nor I cared it was usually 65 degrees outside, we fired up the gas fireplace, turned off all the lights and lit the candles on the mantle.
Sometimes James was up and sometimes not. This was one night where they were in matching Christmas pajamas both laying on the floor listening to me read. It was so sweet and lovely.
But of course when I tried to take their pictures without a flash (the tree looked better that way, obviously) they both decided to roll and move all around. Oh well, this is usually my life anyway. Me trying to stand still while two little boys are blurs around me.
Elf on the Couch
I wanna hold your hand
In my car Zach and James are right next to each other so someone could still sit in the backseat if they are forced so want. When we were in St. Louis and rented a car we separated the boys. This lead to a huge meltdown on the part of Zachary. He loves to hold James’ hand in the car – no matter if James likes it or not. I do often hear, “Mommy his hand is wet!” to which I reply, then don’t hold his hand. That is not an option.