Author: eaumaison (Page 85 of 207)

Amanda’s school was cancelled again today.  That means no auditions yet.   Instead I get to spend a homey day trying to stay warm in the below 0 weather.

Pictures from dance class yesterday:

Jack has been helping me in the kitchen, mostly by snacking and snitching.  Here we are making marshmallows.

 

Here we are today making Peanut Butter Reindeer cookies

Jack also plays with his dino-robots, watches Despicable Me (“Speekbell Men”) on a continuous loop, and talks about how excited he is for Christmas.

Miranda asked for more information about my new book, so here it is, Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever.  She has a baking blog too.  The book is adorable, with a puffy cover to match the candy.  What I love is how exact her recipes are: she uses common ingredients (Knox powdered gelatin instead of sheets) and tells you exactly how long to whip at what speed for each recipe.  She also tells you how to calibrate your thermometer for different altitudes.  My previous recipes all required a lot of guesswork on my part, but these are practically scientific.  The recipe itself gave me denser yet bouncy smooth marshmallows.  She has me prep the gelatin a different way (melting it smooth before adding) and splitting the corn syrup . . . I forget why, but it works.

I definitely recommend it!  I would feel bad about sharing her recipe secrets with the public, but she posted her classic vanilla recipe on her blog, so have at it! 

Jack must have a mixed up understanding of holidays.  On top of Thanksgiving, we started our Hanukkah sock opening per Mason family tradition (Thank you Betty and Rick, we love them!).

Then the Hanukkah socks have overlapped with Christmas decorating.  Every day Jack asks me if it’s Christmas yet.  I forgot to get a chocolate advent calendar, and my embroidered one is not ready for use yet.  Poor kid.  Time is abstract for a three year old who can’t tell when a new day starts or ends, give or take a nap, and changing daylight hours.  But it doesn’t bother him too much.  All he cares about is that Santa brings him Skylanders Swapforce.  He tells everyone we meet who mentions Christmas to him.

Oh, and check out this glorious marshmallow I made.  My folks gave me a recipe book as an early Christmas present.  I took the hint.  These are marvelous, and I have plans for two more radical ones.  This one is just a plain vanilla bean, to be sure I understood the basic recipe – it’s quite different from my usual one, and much better too.

Bonus picture of Sam’s first rollover, as previous mentioned.

Wow, a lot of pictures of Sam being held.  I guess it was so remarkable to me that he was out of my arms and happy at the same time.

Play dough for Jack

A new rattle for Sam (loves it)

Cooking the feast

Assisting Andy via phone with the family recipe known simply as “rolls.”

Admiring our rolls

We had an amazing feast, and Jack ate leftover pizza for Thanksgiving.  >:-P

It wouldn’t be a grandparent visit without a bath.

Amanda, Ben, and I went to see Frozen with Jack.  He LOVED it.  Seeing a movie with him is an experience all on its own.  He’s crazy about Olaf and got super excited to see Carmike theater’s amateur artwork.

Bedtime prep

Sam is crazy for these “infant stim” pictures that go on a mobile.  I brought some for his entertainment while away from home.

Thank you for hosting, Mom and Dad!

What better way to start December than with a screaming baby in the grocery store with a declined credit card, which apparently was stolen?  Let’s add a snowstorm to thwart your mother’s attempts to visit, so you have no babysitter during auditions week.  Fingers crossed the snow is underwhelming, and no further colds plague our house. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Grand Junction, despite half the family being sick.  I haven’t uploaded photos yet.  Instead I got out our Christmas decorations and made marshmallows and attended to a cranky baby.  This is just a quick note to say hi and to report that Sam rolled over twice today!  At 2 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days he accomplished this, and fits best in size 9 month clothing.  He continues to impress. 

This week is auditions for the musical, so the busy-ness continues!

Through hand washing and prayer I made it to Saturday without getting myself or Sam sick. Why does this thrill me? Because I'm currently sitting in a salon, giving my hair some much needed attention. Ben gave me a break from the boys to go take care of myself for a change.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Tonight he's letting me go to the Alamo with Amanda and her friends to see the new Hunger Games movie. Can you believe it? A long, uninterrupted break from the poop and the boogers and the whines and the cries. Now, I love my boys, but you've been reading what a week it's been in our house.

Yesterday Jack seemed worse rather than better. He woke with his eyes crusted shut. After cleaning them we could see that they were red and swollen, with purple rings under his eyes. I'll spare you the picture I took of green pus oozing out. Later that morning he complained that his ear hurt. He also continues to vomit every day. I took him to see the doctor in the afternoon. (This was the first time I had to take him in for being sick). The rapid strep was negative (yay!) but he was diagnosed with secondary eye and ear infections, as I suspected. We started him on oral antibiotics last night.

I'm sorry Ben has to handle a sick boy, but so so grateful for this break. Ben, you rock and I love you.

Jack is still sick.  Sam and I are not.  For now.  I’m handwashing like an ID nurse.  I have separate hoodies to wear while caring for each boy.  I have a mysterious dry cough and slight stuffiness, but otherwise feel fine.  I’m choosing to blame the weather on my innocuous symptoms.  We had a cold snap today with a couple inches of snow.  Ben said we can light a fire tonight and I can’t wait.  Even with the thermostat in normal range, I’m freezing!

Last night I was up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours with the boys:
I went to bed at 9 (early, but not sleepy), asleep at 10
Sam at 12, eat and change
Jack at 2, vomiting
Sam at 3:30, eat and change
Sam at 5:00, eat and change
Sam at 6:30, pacifier given
Sam at 7:15, poop and peed through diaper, eat, change
Jack at 7:15 crying and retching 

And keep in mind that at each waking I’m up for about 20 minutes, and then it takes me another 15-30 minutes to fall back asleep.  Also, I could hear Jack’s hacking cough whenever I was awake, making me tense and gauge if he needs me.

Luckily Ben stayed home to work rather than face the blowing snow across I-25.  He came up to soothe Jack while I cleaned and fed Sam.  Of course, he peed the outfit again after his 9 am nap.

Some outfits are cursed.  I’ve been trying to get him to wear this four times, and it never makes it past his morning nap.

This is our agenda today:

Also, trying to get him to drink and eat a little something.  This is day three of his hunger strike and his bones are poking out with alarming detail.  I offer him everything he loves, from french fries to Halloween candy.  He nibbles and occasionally eats a saltine cracker.  He does ok with juice too.  We’ve watched about half that pile of movies and I put him down for an early nap.  With any luck he will stay down for a few hours more.  Anything I can do to kick this cold in the butt I’m willing to try.  Get it out of my house!

Sam woke from his afternoon nap and we had a little chat.

I love baby coos. 

Wish me some sleep tonight.

What a week it has been.  Last Wednesday Ben woke up quite sick.  Sore throat, sudden vomiting, general yucks.  I banished him to the basement and after a couple days he started to feel better.  That same week Jack had disgusting diarrhea, but no other symptoms.  Add in a couple wet beds, daily blow-outs from Sam, and I felt like I was living in a cesspool.

(Going for a walk, waiting for Dad to come home from work Tuesday)

Thursday Sam got shots and did not recover as well as Jack used to.  For the rest of the day he was shrieking whenever awake, refusing to eat too.  Ugh.  He was sleepy immediately after the appointment, allowing me to take the boys to a play group organized by a girl at church.  It was so fun to be around others with young kids.

 
These three were all born within a couple weeks.

By the way, Sam was 14 pounds 12 ounces, which is 91st percentile.  He was 25 inches long, which was literally off the chart, beyond 100%.  The girl on the right was born the day after Sam and had her appointment that morning too.  She was 8 pounds 6 ounces, and weighing less than 30th percentile.  Funny to have them next to each other. 

By Friday things were looking up. We gladly accepted our friends’ offer to babysit – Sam’s first time being left with non-family members.  Ben and I had a thoroughly enjoyable couple hours watching the new Thor movie.  Saturday night we had the Arcands over for dinner.  Thai take-out for grown-ups, mac and cheese for the kids.  As I think I mentioned, Nora and Jack are just a month apart in age, and Henry and Sam were born the same weekend.  So fun!  Nora and Jack are fantastic playmates.

Sunday felt kind of normal.  Ben was mostly healthy.  We went to church.  I made cookies.  It looked like we managed to quarantine the illness.

(I like Miranda’s term for photos taken during church: Irreverantgrams)

But overnight I heard Jack coughing while I was nursing Sam next door at 3 AM.  Monday morning Jack said he felt fine, even though he overslept by an hour (and thoroughly wet the bed again).  He was rubbing his eyes during story time, but still played.  He was stoked about the excavator that the guest reader, the county commissioner, brought for the kids to explore.  He coughed once more on the drive home, but said he was fine.

After story time we high tailed it to the pediatric dentist, where Sam had an appointment for a frenectomy.  He did great.  The dentists agreed he was mildly tongue tied (same as his pediatrician, who referred us) and poo poohed the risks raised by my mom.  She and my dad had teamed up to dissuade me from “mutilating our grandson.”  Sorry folks, but I went through with it.  Sam got righteously angry after the clipping, as expected.  He hardly bled, “tis but a flesh wound” said the dentist.  I nursed him right away and by the time we left the office he was smiling.  Feedings since then have gotten easier and easier, as he lets go of those bad habits.  The pain I had is gone, and he’s less gassy.  This morning he was downright jolly.

Back to Jack.  I had plans to bring the family to dinner with Amanda.  Ben got home exhausted, and offered to stay home with Jack so I could have an easier meal out with Amanda.  Sam came, and I enjoyed a delicious, healthy sandwich and soup at ModMarket, followed by a holiday milkshake from Chick-fil-A.  During our meal, I received a series of text from Ben:
“Something ain’t right with Jack”
“He seems sick”
“Just so tired”
And he’s suddenly gotten very quiet and whispery”
“Full on barfing”

Splendid.

I was so glad Ben kept him home instead of having that scene in a restaurant.  Poor guy was shivering with a fever when I got home.  I just wanted to cuddle him, but I desperately want to keep Sam and me healthy so I kept my distance.  Jack went to bed early last night and slept well.  Today he is super emotional – cried three times before 9 AM.  But the toast and juice were happily eaten and his fever is gone.  We have plans to watch Despicable Me and Cinderella, a long nap, and if all goes well, a trip to the grocery store.

Knowing my luck I’ll get this cold/flu/whatever right in time for Thanksgiving.  I’m washing my hands obsessively to try to keep that from happening. 

QI, pumpkin cookies, and crafting.