Friesencold

TJ took Bauer trick-or-treating in downtown Naperville on Sunday afternoon and here’s the snap we got. Too bad it’s a little out of focus, but it’s clear that Bauer is happy. And cute. A lot of the businesses were giving candy to kids in costume, and according to TJ, Bauer’s “Kenny Chesney” get-up was a hit! Hopefully it will be a bit warmer on Halloween so Bauer won’t have to wear a coat over his cool new button-up plaid shirt. Either way, the guitar stays!

And here’s Cash wearing the cute little onesie I bought him at Baby Gap with the Baby Gap giftcard someone gave us upon his arrival. He’s wearing this outfit again today, which is probably about the 4th time in the last week. I am trying to get as much wear out of it as I can before Halloween. I hope to get a good (clear) picture of him in it later today for his 2 month picture.

This past weekend we had some fun plans, except we didn’t get to do a one of them. On Saturday morning, we were supposed to go over to my friend Meghan’s house to have a family get-together with our small group. All the guys were going mountain biking in the morning at some park and the ladies (the moms) were going to all meet over at Meghan’s and bring all the kids for a playdate while we waited for the dads to get back from their outing. Then we’d all have brunch together. That sounded like a lot of fun. After that, I was going to take Bauer (and Cash) to a birthday party for a friend of Bauer’s which was being held at Airtastic, one of those inflatable bounce places.

But we had to opt out of both because I realized Saturday morning that Bauer had hand-foot-mouth disease. I hate to call it disease because it sounds so bad, but that is the name of it. TJ had noticed a couple little red spots on Bauer’s hand and one on his foot on Friday night and we had no idea what they were or how they got there. I thought maybe they were bug bites and TJ thought maybe an allergic reaction to something. This spurred us to thinking perhaps we should get rid of some of Bauer’s stuffed animals that he keeps on his bed (more on that later). Well, we prayed about the red spots before we went to bed, just prayed for help with that because it seems like it was now going to be another thing for us to deal with on Bauer’s behalf, the current other things being twofold:

1) His ongoing coughing and sneezing. We know Bauer doesn’t have a cold or other sickness that would generate these symptoms, but we haven’t yet figured out what it is. The latest on this front is that a couple nights ago TJ took Bauer’s bed, which is made out of pine, out of his room and Bauer is now sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. Yes, that’s right. TJ also took Bauer’s expensive, high-quality, impenetrable twin size mattress we bought him from some place online out too. Even though that special mattress is supposed to keep everything out, like dust mites and whatever other nasties would normally get in, we started to wonder where all that stuff being kept out was actually ending up. Not more stuff collecting on top of Bauer’s bed and in his sheets and causing him the problems, we hope. But we figured we might as well try to remove the mattress too and see if it helps. It’s been two nights so far and we haven’t noticed any real improvement yet. I also made an appointment yesterday with the pediatric allergy doctor we previously took Bauer to, to have him tested for some additional possible allergens, pine being one of them. We want to make sure he doesn’t have a pine allergy before we get our Christmas tree this year.

2) Bauer’s glasses and patching, which actually seems to be going really well. Since we got him a few new KUMON workbooks recently, he has been more excited to “do his glasses” each morning. This morning we even went so far as to go to the library in downtown Naperville and sit at a table in the kids area and let him work in his workbooks there. He enjoyed that and I enjoyed the change of scenery.

So back to the red spots….well, on Saturday morning, not only were the spots not gone, but there were more of them. More on his hands, and more on his feet. TJ had already left for his biking when the idea came to me as Bauer and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast. Somehow (which I think I know was the answer to our prayer from the night before) it came into my mind that what we were witnessing was the hand-foot-mouth disease. I really knew nothing about it except that I had heard of it before and that a friend of Bauer’s had it last fall. But I looked online, including Google images, and was able to quickly confirm this is what Bauer had.

Thankfully he did not have some of the other symptoms (fever, sore throat, decreased appetite) that usually precede the red blisters. I called my friend Jaime, who is a pediatric nurse, and went over everything with her, and she said the sickness is going around right now and it’s lucky for Bauer that he didn’t have the other symptoms. He probably has a strong enough immune system, she said, that he just ended up with the blisters. Come to find out, he did have a few in his mouth once I checked. But all his blisters are gradually going away and we are in the clear now I believe. Needless to say, we couldn’t go to the small group brunch or the birthday party on Saturday because I didn’t want to take a chance of Bauer spreading the sickness, which is known to be quite contagious, to other children.

Before we even realized what Bauer had on Saturday morning, TJ and I got up out of bed with a purpose. #1 Convince Bauer to get rid of some (a lot) of his stuffed animals which were crowding his bed. See below.

#2 Move Bauer’s books to a more prominent place in our house. I’ll have to save this for another post but it’s all the result of me reading The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I am ready to let our house be filled to overflowing with books. That is one kind of clutter I’ve decided I’m going to tolerate. I love books and I have now learned that every time I read aloud to Bauer, it’s as if I’m giving an advertisement to Bauer on the pleasures of reading. We already have been reading aloud to him for many many months, but I know our consistency with it was starting to wane a bit as he has gotten more independent and seems just as happy to play on his own as to have us read books. That was my error in thinking though. I have noticed, as we’ve picked back up on the reading together, that he LOVES the closeness, the attention, the engagement between us. So maybe I won’t have to save it for another post after all since I just couldn’t stop my train of thought just now.

Back to the stuffed animals – Bauer wasn’t really too keen on the idea to say goodbye to some of his beloved friends, but we really thought it was getting a little out of control. We thought to tell him we are going to give the animals to some kids who don’t have as many toys as him (via the Goodwill) but we had to take it a bit further and suggest that we would buy him a new toy, specifically the Hot Wheels race track that he recently played with at his friend Jake’s house. I am not crazy on the idea of bribes, but I also know I shouldn’t let my own personal desire for simplicity rule Bauer so I thought it wouldn’t be fair to just force him to get rid of so many of his friends without giving him some incentive. And then I just knew we had to go out and let him get a new toy after telling him we couldn’t go to Nico’s house for playing Saturday morning, nor to Jake’s birthday party. Poor guy.

But here’s what he got out of the whole deal, and let me say, it has provided hours of fun so far. And it’s not even a noisy toy! I know the picture makes it hard to see the ramp itself, but this is one of the ways Bauer has enjoyed playing with it, by putting all his cars and trains on the ramp and letting them all crash down together.

I’m tired of writing this post, and so here are a couple tired pictures.

TJ may look tired, but he’s happy.

And me, I’m just tired but I love my little Cash anyway.

I just got done reading Elizabeth Berg’s The Year of Pleasures, and here’s my favorite line from the book:

“But it seemed to me that this was the way we all lived: full to the brim with gratitude and joy one day, wrecked on the rocks the next. Finding the balance between the two was the art and the salvation.”

I also just got done making our “Year 2 in Naperville” photo book. I used MyPublisher.com to create it and then placed my order online and within a few days, I had the book in hand. I love it! And I loved making it. And right now, until Nov 5, they are running a special where you get 50% off orders over $100. So I saved over $50 on my order. Without that special, I could not have afforded to make such a long book, but it’s great having pictures of almost all our memories from this past year. As of Oct 12, we have officially been in Illinois for 2 whole years.

Click here to view the photo book I made.

Goodness, where to start?

How about with some words and then some pictures?

First word is a quote my sister emailed me that is hanging on the wall somewhere at the place where she works. It goes like this:

“One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the perfect patterns at the right moment.” (Hart Crane, American Poet)

The second word is the quote at the top of my blog, below the header. It’s been there for a few weeks now, but I wasn’t sure you would have noticed that I changed it, and I wanted you to notice. I love Elizabeth Berg and am currently trying to read all of her books. I am on the 13th of her books and know of at least 4 more I want to read. Our library has a great E. Berg selection so I keep trading out for different ones.

Third word is something I am learning from the women’s group I am attending at church on Thursday mornings this fall. We are reading the book The 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry, which is about thinking and speaking positively in order to bring about more positives in your life and to reach your God-given potential. This next quote isn’t one from the book, but it goes right along with the things I am learning about how I view myself. It is by a Brother Francis Delvaux, who says:

“The image I am learning to have of myself is the image that God has of me. When I ask God, What are you thinking about me as a person?” God answers, “I think you are a beautiful, loving person.” And I answer, “Yes, I am, because you made me that way!”"

Now for twelve pictures. First will be Bauer in his new glasses.

Second is a cute brothers picture.

Third is Bauer on the couch with all his friends.

Fourth is us eating our favorite pizza from Lou Malnati’s that some of our favorite people (Winn and Miska) ordered for us and had delivered to our house the other night.

Fifth is Cash sleeping and wearing the outfit of his that I love best.

Sixth and seventh are Bauer dancing in his room. This is one of his favorite things to do right now. He totes around my old CD player, gets it all set up in his room, and picks out a CD from his big black CD case. He loves doing the hokey-pokey, which Nana taught him when she visited a few weeks ago.

Eighth is Cash on his change table by the window, wearing the outfit my friend Gretchen gave him and which makes him look like a little boy already.

And 9, 10, 11, and 12 are from our time spent at the apple orchard/pumpkin patch this past Saturday with our friends Lisa, Billy, and Brooke. Aren’t Bauer and Brooke so cute together?

If you haven’t gotten something in your mail from us, and if you like to be surprised, then maybe you should stop reading this post right now and wait a day or two and then check back. I just don’t want to spoil your fun of getting good mail.

And no, we are not pregnant again, if that thought somehow crazily popped into your mind when I said the word surprise. Are you kidding? Who would do that when Cash is not even sleeping through the night yet? He is a cutie, though, and I could see having one more. Just not yet.

But if you just can’t wait, then go ahead and scroll down and you will see what you’re getting (assuming you made it on our address list, and if not, please don’t take it personally; just let us know and we will happily add you and send you some fun mail too).

It’s a birth announcement for our 2 babies:

And some extra info on our 2 babies:

And if you came to the blog to find Cash’s birth story, then click here to be connected to the previous post where I wrote all about it.

And if this is your first time visiting my blog, I and the birds thank you.

Please come back soon.

Cash is 5 weeks old today, which means there are only 47 more weeks till he is a year old! You know I had to make a deal out of anything with 47.

Cash had his 1 month check up last Friday and he has gained almost 2 whole pounds since he was born. At birth he was 7 lbs 15 oz, and last Friday he weighed 9 lbs 12 oz. That’s quite amazing how much they gain so quickly. He was in 53rd percentiles for both weight and height, and 51st percentile for head circumference. Cash also had his first little cold, which I think he caught from Bauer, which I think he caught from a kid at a birthday party. We’ve been having to use the nose suction thing on Cash all week, but it seems each day is getting better and he is less and less stuffy during the night. It hasn’t really affected his eating or sleeping much on the whole, though. Bauer is all better now, too. Actually Bauer’s cold was very short-lived, so short in fact that TJ wasn’t even convinced it was a cold (maybe seasonal allergies?). Me, on the other hand, have been fighting a sore throat and hoarseness for the past week. It seems it’s taking my body extra long to recover from whatever it is I had and maybe that is because my body is giving its antibodies to Cash through the breastmilk to help him build immunity to things. I have no basis for thinking this…just a theory that makes me feel better about not feeling better.

Really, though, I haven’t felt that bad. I’m still getting decent sleep at night, although naps have eluded me most days this past week. Cash has gotten on a pretty good schedule with his eating over the past few days. He usually eats around 6:30 or 7am, again between 9:30 and 10, then around 12:45, 3:45, 6:45 or 7, and 9pm. After that he goes to bed, and I’m up in the night around 12:30am and again at 3:30. It is working well with the other things I need to get done most days. I’m able to get lunch and dinner prepared around Cash’s feeding times, and it usually works out that Bauer and Cash are asleep at the same time around 2pm for a while. Today I got to talk on the phone with my friend Gretchen for an hour while they were both asleep! What a treat! Better than a nap.

We got Bauer’s glasses earlier this week, along with the patch that he will have to wear for 20 minutes a day. The story of the glasses is that a couple people had noticed Bauer’s “white pupil” in his right eye in the picture of our family that I posted on my blog just after Cash was born. Both people who emailed us about the picture suggested we have Bauer’s eye looked at, as there was recently something in the news about the “white pupil” condition turning out to be cancer in a young child’s eye. We weren’t really concerned it was cancer or anything that serious, but after showing a few pictures of Bauer’s eye where the whiteness appeared (spanning a range of ages) to our family doctor, he suggested we take Bauer to an opthamologist just to have him checked out and be on the safe side. Turns out Bauer needs glasses. Has very poor vision (far-sightedness) in his right eye, so something about the structure of the eye itself was causing the flash to bounce off his eye weird and cause the bright whiteness. We took Bauer for a second opinion to a different eye doctor the following week and they told us the same thing, although their plan for treatment was a little different.

We are going with the second opinion, that of the optometrist. Bauer will have to wear a patch over his good eye along with his new glasses for 20 minutes a day to begin with. We also have to make sure he does something that requires hand/eye coordination, such as an activity book with mazes, matching, hidden objects, etc. The doctor suggested coloring, but I know Bauer’s attention span for coloring is pretty short. I think the activity book will work well. I just need to go look for one. I want our whole family to go and kind of make a big deal out of it so Bauer will be excited. I will probably want to get some kind of rewards too, to give him for completing the 20 minutes each day to begin with. The eye doctor wants to see him back in a month and he also wants to see the activity book to see the progress.

The reason for the patching with the glasses is to “wake up” his right eye. Evidently, Bauer’s brain has only been using his left eye since birth since that is the good eye. If we were to just put glasses on him now, the brain would still keep favoring the left eye since vision out of the right eye is so poor. But if we patch the good eye, it will force his brain to use the right eye and will wake it up to what it needs to be doing. The best part in all of this (besides him not having cancer, of course) is that until age 6, the brain is still wiring the eyes, so we have plenty of time to get the right eye working and learning to see well with the glasses. I am so glad we were able to catch this early. I am so glad those 2 people emailed us about what they noticed in the picture. We look at pictures of Bauer all the time, and I guess we never really paid much attention to the whiteness since it was only in a minority of his pictures. The majority of his pictures show no whiteness at all, but I guess it has to do with the angle of the camera and the angle of his eye at the time. Also, Bauer has never given us any indication whatsoever that he could not see well. We’ve always been amazed at how well he can see things that are at a far away distance. But I guess that might be because his left eye has just been compensating for the weaker right eye.

I don’t know how long the doctor will want us to do the patching, but at some point, once we’ve gotten Bauer’s right eye woken up, then he will just start wearing the glasses all the time. But I’m glad we get to start slowly with just the 20 minutes a day.

I have to go feed Cash now. And I don’t have a picture of Bauer yet with his glasses. And I also don’t have time to spell check this post. So please overlook any errors and just remember, I’m running on about 5 hours sleep most nights for the past 5 weeks. But that is not a complaint.