5 months.

If we're reading it right, my husbands severance package will include 5 months of pay. Plus benefits. Thank god. We found out today that he will likely be losing his job soon, but we don't know when or how it will happen. They sent out the packages just a little while ago, and we read through it. It looks like things will be ok, just stressful.

The hardest thing is knowing that he has been dragging his feet on getting prepared for this. He still hasn't touched his resume. And he still hasn't started looking for another position. It's going to be a stressful few weeks/months. I just hope he doesn't have a hard time finding a job.

===============
On the plus side, Seth got his first tooth! I noticed it today when I was changing him before bed. It's definitely there, and little, and sharp. And he is still all smiles! My baby is getting SO big!


I took this pic this morning. Just precious! Notice that Celia got her hair cut. Short, like Tinkerbel. She wants to be a fairy for Halloween and wanted her hair SHORT. Such a sweetie.

Light the Night

Once again, I'm going to be walking in the Light the Night walk to benefit
the Leukemia and Lymphoma society on October 4th in Fredericksburg, VA.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) funds lifesaving cancer research that
has contributed to major advances in the treatment of blood cancers and many
other types of cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and stem cell
transplants, that have helped patients live better, longer lives. New
targeted therapies that kill cancer cells without harming normal tissue are
providing drugs and procedures that are improving the quality of life.

But more research is critically needed:

Every five minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes,
someone dies.
Leukemia causes more deaths among children than any other cancer.
Nearly 20,000 Americans died from lymphoma in 2007.
The survival rate for myeloma is just 34 percent.

Please make a donation to support my participation in the Light The Night
Walk and help save lives. Be sure to check my Web site frequently to see my
progress, and thanks for your support! Here is the link for my donation
page: http://www.active.com/donate/ltnRichmo/2335_sbidwell

better!

What a week! Thankfully Seth is finally better, and back at day care as of yesterday. After 2 full weeks of being out. Ouch!

Where were we when I last posted? I took Seth to the ped on Wed, and we had blood drawn. So, thursday, Dr D called me and we talked about the blood results. Looked like it was probably another virus, which is good news. Either the aug.mentin worked fast, or he didn't need it, but he wanted to keep him on it just to be safe. He also asked how his breathing was doing (not better at that point), and said that if he hadn't improved quite a bit by the next morning (Friday), that he wanted to see him again. So friday morning, we went back to see Dr. D. He walked in and listened, and he was doing a little better (which was really good, considering I hadn't gotten to his nebs before leaving the house), which was really good news. Because if he hadn't gotten any better at all, he would have hospitalized Seth. Not happy news. Definitely not happy news. So, we chatted, and he said that he had hoped to be able to make the decision of whether or not to hospitalize him that morning based on what he saw, and that he wasn't quite sick enough to be hospitalized. But he wasn't happy with how he was doing, either. So he suggested keeping him home and continue doing what we were doing for a few more days, and see where we were on Monday. I also mentioned that I'd call Dr. R (the pediatric pulmonologist) and let him know what was up (since he wanted to be kept in the loop), and he liked that idea. He said that Dr R may even want to see us that day, and not to be surprised if that was the case. So I called Dr R when we got home at 9:15, and we had a spot at 10:15. So off we were again. Dr. R was somewhat happy with how Seth was responding to the meds, and fully agreed with everything that Dr D had us doing. He said that he could have gone up a little on the pred.nisone, but that hopefully it wouldn't be necessary. His breathing sounded pretty good (duh- had givein him nebs just before we left for that appt), but he definitely agreed that he was laboring more than he should. He said to keep Seth on the 2 doses of pul.micort a day instead of just one throughout the winter, as Dr. D had suggested. And we'll go back at our next scheduled appt in October. He did say that he was hoping after our last appt that we'd be through this wheezing patch soon, and that Seth would just grow out of it fast. But after this last bout, that we'll likely be frequent flyers with him. Lucky us. At least he's fantastic, and one of the best ped. pulmonologists in the area. That does make me feel a bit better. And with him being in agreement with our pediatrician, that makes me feel even better.

That's the update on Seth. Later I'll update on the progress with our floor.

another virus?!

Well, we have two options here. First is that the secondary bacterial infection (which the Dr still thinks he has because his lungs are pretty crappy), is a bacterial infection that aug.mentin will not work on. Either being resistant or another type of bacteria. The other option, is that on top of the original virus and bacterial infection, he's now got another viral infection. The Dr is leaning towards that, but we won't know until the blood count comes back tomorrow.

On another note, I purposely did NOT give Seth his nebs this morning because I wanted Dr D to hear him breathing, and get some verification that what I was hearing was, in fact, wheezing. Let's just say that I'm not crazy!! He didn't like it one bit, and we did a neb treatment right in the office so he could listen to his lungs after and see how well it helped. They were better, but he was still wheezing after the al.buterol. So, now we're back to every 4 hours on the albut.erol, twice a day on the pul.micort, AND 2mL twice a day of pred.nisolone. Plus the 2mL of Zan.tac and the au.gmentin. Poor kiddo is getting tons of meds right now. I'm just hoping they help. His temp is a little better, but still not perfect. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

still here.

Seth still has a fever, down to 100.1, but is still there. We get to see Dr. D again today (man is he going to be sick of me!) at 9:15. This time I'm not giving Seth motrin or his nebs before I take him. He's definitely been using his albu.terol several times a day lately. Not liking how this is going. We're now on day 10 with a fever over 100.

update

Celia: Better!! Went to Dr D yesterday, who said she does NOT have a UTI (her urine results were iffy at best, and the culture showed NO growth!!). Yeah!! She's finally back at preK today.

Nathan: Doing a little better. Not horizontal all the time, but still not back to normal. Will likely be home again tomorrow since he's still not feeling great. Poor guy.

Seth: Still sick. Has a fever still of 100.8 this morning. Dr. D said that he wasn't comfortable with the fact that Seth has had a fever for 8 days (as of yesterday), and that it's likely that he developed a secondary infection. Especially considering there was mucus in his lungs, and bacteria love mucus. SO, we'll see what the antibiotic does. And if he's not better by tomorrow with no fever, Dr D told me to call him.

Me: I'm still fine!! I can't believe I've managed to avoid it. I'm sure sleeping in the baby's room instead of my bed has helped. I even managed to run to the mall on Sunday and do some shopping. Treated myself to a shirt, lunch, and more bath bombs.

That is all!

What is this thing?!

Seriously, what the hell is this thing? Celia still has a fever (after it being gone this morning), and is up to 102.1 again. Nathan has been pretty solid around 103. I'm still OK, but the baby was also up a little around 100.0 again this morning. What is going on here?? Why won't everyone just get better already?

Celia just scared the crap out of me too. She was watching TV downstairs, and started crying and saying that she couldn't breathe. She was wheezing like crazy, and was able to make it upstairs to let me give her the albute.rol in the neb, which thankfully stopped it. She was hysterical, and had no idea how to stop it. She didn't like the neb, but I did bribe her quite nicely with a Dum Dum lollypop. Needless to say, she's going to the doctor on Monday. I also managed to look down her throat, and it's red. Please, oh please don't let it be strep. That is the one thing that I can never avoid.

oy.

Nathan just called. He's coming home because he doesn't feel well. What the hell is this virus?!! I better not get it. I can't afford to miss any more work! Crapper.

And his meeting was OK, but not great. Some positives, some negatives. We'll basically have to wait and see what the next 2 weeks bring. I hate waiting.

wtf

Seth was doing better. His temp was closer to 100 most of yesterday. And then last night, at 3 when he woke up, it was up to 102.2. And it was still going up, but he decided to poop while I had the thermometer in (three times...No, I didn't learn my lesson the first attempt). So I'm not sure how high it would have gotten. And Celia is now up to 103.8. What the heck is this virus?? It just keeps going and going. Nasty, pesky thing. I hate viruses.

At least it is Friday, so they have 2 more days to get better before heading back to day care/preK on monday (I'm being optimistic in hoping that they'll both be well enough to go).

And in 15 minutes, Nathan goes to a meeting where they'll give an update on the status of their jobs. It's either going to be a good friday, or a bad friday. Hoping for a good friday.

phew

Well, we avoided that one! Thankfully Seth does not have pneumonia. I was really getting worried for a minute there, but when 2 hit and they hadn't called yet, I was pretty sure we were in the clear. You would think that if it was bad, they would have called as soon as the fax came in with the results. Thank goodness. Poor kid does still have a fever though, only it's lower (more like 100.5 instead of 102/103). And to top it all off, this morning Celia woke up sick. So I had both kids home today, and I am now exhausted!! Celia's been sleepy, but not sleeping. She slept terribly last night, apparently woke up a few times (but I slept through the whole thing). At one point, I guess Nathan woke up to find her asleep next to him, out cold, so he left her there. When she got up, I felt her forehead when she said her stomach hurt, and knew immediately that she was staying home too. When Nathan took her temp, he yells to me from the bathroom "I have a 4 letter word for you", and I yelled the same thing back, because Seth had a temp again, after gong 12 hours yesterday without one. Can this please be over soon?? It would be nice to actually GO to work. I love being with them, but feel awful missing work for a whole week like this.

still sick

There is never a dull moment around here! This morning, I took Seth to see our favorite Dr D. After a quick exam, he said that there is good news and bad news- he didn't find much. But what he did find, was that his lungs are all mucous-y. Yuck! So, since he is so young, the course of action is... another chest Xray! Oh joy of joys. So I headed over to SGR, and got the chest Xray done. You can tell he doesn't feel well when he didn't cry until a few minutes after being put in the "seat" for his Xray. Poor kiddo suddenly started a high pitched squeak and started balling hard. And raspy. It broke my heart. So now we're home, he's resting, and I'm trying to get some work done. And waiting for the phone to ring to find out if there was anything on the Xray. I hate when they won't tell you anything at the radiology offices!

300??

Wow. My 300th post was on Sunday- holy crap!!

I have a few things to talk about today. First, let's start with Seth. He had his 6 month appointment on Friday, which was great. We saw my favorite Dr, Dr D. He was fabulous as always, and decided that while the Dr R (the Pulmonologist) thinks that Seth's reflux is not an issue nor is it causing issues with his breathing, Dr D feels like it is worth it to treat it with Zan.tac. That since he's still spitting up, and wheezing daily, that we should be trying everything. Even though it isn't really upsetting Seth, that he still shouldn't be wheezing as frequently as he is. And of course, every time we're with Dr. R, he is breathing fine. Typical. At any rate, he's now 18 pounds, 11 ounces, and getting bigger every day! He did hear the wheezing I'm talking about hearing, which was good. He thinks it's mostly nasal at this point, but then when Seth coughed, he heard another wheez that was definitely in his chest. He's tempted to increase his dose of pulmi.cort to twice a day. But we'll see how things go for now. After the vaccines (4 shots and 1 oral), he was doing pretty well. A bit cranky, a little temp, but nothing more than that. Then Saturday he was fine.

Sunday evening, he started with a fever of around 101.2. By the morning it was down to 99.9, so I stayed home with him. He was doing great! Until after dinner, when he was warm again (now at 101.2 again). He didn't sleep well last night, and ended up in our bed because he was cranky and kept waking up, but soothed down right away with snuggling. So we snuggled all night, and it was great. I did wake up in the middle of the night and touched his head and he was HOT. But by the time we got up, it was down to 99.7 again. So I kept him home again, and called the pediatricians office. After speaking with a nurse, we decided to treat it with tylenol for now, and keep an eye on him. That if he hit 101, that we should have him seen. So we chilled out, I gave him some more tylenol, and snuggled in at one point for a short nap. He woke up a bit later, hot again. This time it was up to 102.5. So I called the ped's office again, and now there are no more slots available for the rest of the day. All the docs are in meetings for the rest of the day. So, we have an appointment for 8:30 tomorrow morning to see what's going on. I'm a little worried, but don't think it's enough to take him to the emergency room (as they suggested if I was really concerned). So we'll see what happens over night and tomorrow. I hate it when he's sick. ;(

The other thing that I'm worried about is with Celia. She came into our room the other day, and said to me that she had something to tell me. I asked her what was going on, and she told me that she was upset. She and her friend were talking about her coming over to their house or her friend coming over to our house to play some day. And then her friend said that she wasn't allowed to come over and that Celia couldn't come over to her house either. Because her daddy doesn't like white people. My blood ran cold instantly. I had no idea what to say to her. I thought I had years before dealing with this sort of thing, and here is a 4 year old telling my daughter that she can't be friends with her because she's white. I am floored. And I have no idea what to say to my kid, who is heartbroken because she loves this girl. Any advice here?

Show and Tell

Since my daughter just started PreK, and now has Show N Tell every Friday, I decided to finally jump in on the fun!

I grew up in Buffalo, NY. And having grown up there, made it so I was very close to one of my favorite spots- Niagara Falls.

I went up there as a child, whenever we had visitors come in to town, and never appreciated it. Then when I was about 17, and in love for the first time, my boyfriend and I went up there and I was just amazed at their beauty. After he and I split in my sophmore year of college, I moved back home to go to UB. This was when I really visited the falls. Weekend after weekend, being that it was just 25 minutes from campus. We'd go up there to go clubbing, at Rumors Night Club, right up on Clifton Hill. We'd park on the American side, walk over the bridge, drink til we couldn't drink any more (for $20 american, we'd get nearly $30 canadian, and drink a LOT), and then stumble back over the bridge so we could clear Cus.toms without any problems (since we were only 19, which is legal in Canada but not in the US).

In April, I took Celia there for the first time. She absolutely LOVED it! She loved watching the water, and waves, and mist. It was such a great moment, I had to share it.

At some point, I also visited my other favorite spot, Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is a little town about 10 minutes from the Falls. It's picturesque, has great shops, restaurants, AND my favorite part, wineries. In grad school, a friend of mine (K- the one who just moved here), and I, along with a few other labmates would go up there for "tea" at the Prince of Whales hotel. They have a fabulous afternoon Tea.

I loved it so much, that my husband and I decided to take our Honeymoon in NOTL. We had a small hotel all to ourselves, went to all of the wineries we could find, tasted hundreds of wines, and bought about 50 bottles (no joke). It is a lovely town, and I go back every chance I get (including in April when I was in Buffalo for a bit). Here is Celia, in NOTL, stopping to smell the tulips (my all time favorite flower). In April, they are in bloom on every street corner, and lining the streets. Just amazing.

And here are a few pictures from a trip Nathan and I took up there with 2 friends a few years back over Thanksgiving. I love how it looks in the snow. Reminds me of one night on our honeymoon. We were there at the end of March, and we had just had a nice dinner and went for a walk. As we were walking, it started to snow (not at all uncommon for March). The big, fat, beautiful snow flakes just blanketed the town, and we practically had it all to ourselves. One thing I'll never forget.

wild weekend

Wow. Labor day weekend was such a whirlwind!! We spent tons of time with friends, more friends, and some other friends. It was fantastic. Sometimes, I forget how much friends can be like family, and for that I am so grateful! My friend K, who is now a patent attorney in DC, is now in her apartment in Arlington. Saturday night, we went over there to christen her kitchen with dinner. It was fantastic, and so much fun to see her!! She was one of my best friends in grad school, and I'm SO excited to have her here now. We're already talking about checking out some restaurants, shopping, and just chilling. Not that she'll have much spare time in the beginning, being a lawyer, but everyone needs a break sometimes! And her place is exactly 38 minutes from mine, which is just awesome.

Then Sunday, I spent some one-on-one time with Celia. I took her to lunch, and then to Whole Foods for some groceries. We had so much fun being silly together. Then some friends came down from Philly, and a few others came up from Fredericksburg, and we just chilled in the back yard. Ordered some pizza, and drank some wine and mojitos. Talk about the perfect evening. Labor day itself was spent with the friends from Philly (who spent the night), having breakfast, making lunch, and then heading to a party at our neighbors house after our friends left. Lots of fun was had, some good drinking was done (though not by me for once), and we all just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

I also spent a bunch of time getting ready for a craft show I"m doing this weekend. Lots of yarn has been dyed, reskeined, and some has been labeled. I still have more labels to print, but for the most part I'm ready. For those of you in the area, the show is at the Artway in Damascus. Check out the flier I made up! We have goodie bags for the first 50 buyers, and a huge gift basket with items from all of the tables up for raffle. It's going to be fantastic!