Update...

Grandpa got discharged from the hospital today. His fever either broke last night or this morning, so they sent him home on antibiotics. I'm a little uneasy with that..considering he's 87 and went in for sepsis. They really should have kept him at least one more day. He got sent home with a walker for a while. He's going to need some time to recover. My aunts and mom are going to be helping take care of him while he's at home.

Rough day...

So yesterday was a bit of a rough day at work. We started the shift by almost coding two patients....twenty minutes apart. Not the way I want to start! They ended up fine, thank goodness. We ended the day by transferring a patient to the ICU....the same patient that came to us FROM them a couple of hours earlier. Not so nice.

Then...I get home at about 830pm. The phone rings at about 845pm. You know...sometimes you get that "feeling" like there isn't going to be the best news? I had that feeling, and I was right. It was my mom. My grandpa is in the hospital. My grandma called my mom Sunday night, saying that she thought Grandpa had a small stroke. My mom took off for their house, and my dad stayed and called the ambulance. Mom got to the house about the same time as the ambulance. Well, Grandpa didn't have a stroke, thank goodness, but he was lethargic and out of it. To the hospital they went. They admitted him. He has sepsis. They got the blood cultures back supposedly (I'm a little skeptical...we never get them back that fast). They don't know where the infection started. They started him on Vancomycin iv. Mom says he looks better now that he's had a few doses of antibiotic, and she says she doesn't think I need to come down. Sometimes she just tries to not worry me...we'll see.

Grandpa being in the hospital poses another problem. My grandma has dementia...Grandpa has been running the house, etc. Grandma has to be reminded to eat, get dressed, take medications, etc. I'm not sure how long Grandpa has to be in the hospital...Vancomycin is usually a 7-10 day course, if I remember correctly. Mom and my aunts are going to have to try and take care of Grandma while also taking care of Grandpa.

And then...yes there's more. Dad's had this dry cough for a while. At Christmas time, I pushed them to get it checked out. They eventually went to his primary care doctor (in Rockford) who took a chest xray that showed nothing and put him on antibiotics. The cough didnt' go away. Mom and Dad didnt' tell the doctor that it didnt' go away, and the doctor did no follow-up. Dad is going to start seeing a speech therapist because of his Parkinsons. His first appointment was last week...I think on Thursday. The therapist (in Madison) was concerned by Dad's cough (yes...still has it!) So they scoped his nose and throat. They found a spot (lesion) on one of his vocal cords. The doctor was concerned...he said he was fairly sure it wasn't cancer, but they're going to biopsy it anyway. The appointment for the biopsy is Feb. 10.

I'll try to keep things posted as I find out more details!

The Helper...

Okay, so yesterday, Caleb randomly calls out, "Clean up time!" And then proceeded to clean up all the toys upstairs. He did that again today. Then....and yes I grabbed the camera...decides that Abby needs her diaper changed. He also insisted that HE was going to change it! Here's the clip:

Snow Fun!

Since I just blogged a couple days ago, there isn't much news, but I thought I'd post some pics. I FINALLY got Caleb to go out in the snow. He is a stubborn one, that's for sure!




Hey...if I let them play long enough, do you think they'll finish shovelling the drive?

Odds N Ends...

Well, it's been a week since I last posted, so I thought I'd better have some updates. Yeah...not a lot going on. The extreme cold has kept us inside for most of the week. I finally went out and got a bunch of craft stuff to make a "to do" box for Caleb. He hadn't been showing much interest in coloring, etc. until recently so I didn't push the issue. He's finally asking for stuff, so I went out and got paint, finger paints, those Popsicle stick things, googly eyes, fuzzy ball things, glitter glue (actually...more we had some), new papers, and those foamy sheets and stickers. We've worked on stuff almost every day since I got the supplies.

Abby's still into EVERYTHING. She now can climb up onto the couch. Nothing is safe! I was reading to them before nap time and Abby took Caleb's step, put it in the center of the room, stood up on it and goes "Ta Da!" while throwing her arms into the air. She then proceeded to babble like she was giving a speech. I almost had to stop reading since I was laughing so hard!

Caleb is doing very well with his potty training. He still has accidents...but it's only been a week. The last couple of days, he's, for the most part, been telling me when he has to go, but it's been every half hour or so. Last week, he was making it an hour and a half between times. Odd...but he his asking, so I'm still thankful. We went out to the store today since he filled up his sticker chart. Then we went to the mall to kill some time before lunch. He asked twice to go, and even went on the "big potty" as he calls it. The automatic flusher was a little traumatic, but he handled it pretty well. He said it was scary, but he also said he'd do it again. It happened to flush while he was still sitting on it. I hate those things!

Brent's work should settle down in a few weeks when the new hires start. Right now, he's actually doing the equivalent of three positions until they get new people on board. He goes in early, brings work home, and stays up late. We'll both be glad when it settles down!

That's about this week in a nutshell.

Doin' a little happy dance...

Okay...so we had a REALLY good day today!! Low-key of course, since we're well into potty training. Caleb all of a sudden today could tell me that he had to go BEFORE he went. We'd go running...and he stayed dry (minus the nap) until almost 5pm tonight. We had a little more trouble with the other...but we made it once! Caleb was so excited, we had to call the grandmas...his idea!

Oh...and you have to see the video of Abby....about fifteen minutes after I took it...she was standing, trying to do the same thing!

Exhausting!!

So we're making a go at potty training again. This time, no matter what...I'm going to keep pushing. Last time, Caleb would kick/hit/scream every time I made him try to sit and go. He hasn't actually made it to the potty yet, but he at least recognizes the fact that he needs to sit when he pees. He'll now tell me he's wet and go sit. We're also using a kitchen timer. I set it for 30 minutes, and when it goes off...he goes and sits. It's almost like the timer telling him is better than me telling him. He really doesn't want diapers. I ask him in the mornings which he wants to wear, and he's picking the "big boy underwear." Of course, I'm doing laundry every day now, but he's at least making the attempt. We also set the time for when he sits so he doesn't just get on and get off. It's exhausting though! I didn't realize how draining it would be. I hope he picks up on the timing soon. We'll see.

Oh...and my accident-prone child still amazes me! Abby will climb, jump, etc from ANYTHING. Here's her newest battle scar....and this one is just from the toy box.

No more earplugs!!

Caleb finally had his ENT appointment today. He was supposed to have it last month, but got sick on the way and we had to reschedule. I really dislike going to these appointments. It takes about half an hour to get to the hospital, wait FOREVER to get in, and then it takes five minutes for the doctor to say, everything is fine, the tubes look great, see you in six months. Well, the last appointment we went to told us that he only had the right tube in. They fall out on their own as the kiddos get older. Today we found out that the right tube came out too! No more annoying ear plugs for swimming or baths! :)

I should probably recap why Caleb had tubes in the first place. It all started when he was nine months old. He had a really annoying cough, and at his well child check-up, he had fluid on one ear. Since he had a cold at that time, we didn't push the issue about the fluid. I pushed the issue about the cough because it was waking him up in the middle of the night...long story short, we went to the ENT doctor to see about the cough. The fluid changed ears. They did a hearing test. Caleb scored below normal on the hearing test. They suggested tubes. I resisted. Caleb's never had an ear infection....I always thought tubes were for chronic ear infections. They rechecked his hearing a few months later. Still scored way low. Got the tubes when he was fifteen months old. He started repeating EVERYTHING we said the day after the surgery, and hasn't stopped talking since. Oh...and after seeing a pulmonologist, the cough was from an "over-reactive airway"...'round about way of saying asthma in kids. They don't label asthma under the age of three because a lot of kids out grow it, and they don't want it to be a pre-existing condition for insurance companies. Caleb's outgrown his. We still keep albuterol inhalers around for colds (he gets croup a lot). And that's that!

She'll hate me when she's older...

This could maybe be one of those embarrassing pictures you pull out on your daughter's first date...




And here are some video clips to catch up on...

The first one is a tradition in Brent's family...we save all the paper and dive into it after the gifts are open.



We got the kids the cd "Party Like a Preschooler" by GoFish. I highly recommend it. The kids LOVE it and I can even get Caleb dancing to it!





And...Abby the goof...