Respiratory Season

So, at the rate I'm going, maybe I should just shoot for a quarterly blog post and slide show :) It's not quite time for the Spring post according to that schedule, but we're pretty excited about spring around here. Playing outside again, going for walks when you don't have to bundle up - we're welcoming spring with open arms.

Unfortunately for us we're not far enough into Spring to be out of what we recently found out is "respiratory season". Two weeks ago, Elias came down with a pretty bad cough. We took him into the doctor's with a diagnosis of RSV and a nebulizer and went to work giving him breathing treatments and trying to make him as comfortable as possible. The week went on and he didn't seem to get much better. He had moments where he'd perk up, but for the most part he just wanted to snuggle and had no appetite. On Thursday night last week, Elias was up a lot of the night coughing and Friday we had a check up with the doctor. When we went in, the doctor tested Elias' oxygen saturation levels and found out they were 82-85. Normal for Colorado is in the mid-90s.

We went home and headed over to Children's Hospital's Urgent Care center and ended up with a room right away. After being put on oxygen, blood taken, IV's started and x-rays taken, we were admitted to their inpatient section for the night. Elias had RSV/bronchiolitis induced pneumonia. Thankfully, he improved a lot over night and they decided to send us home with oxygen the next day.

After being home for a day, we got a call from Children's saying that they needed to do another blood test and that they wanted us to come back in. Heading back, we found ourselves readmitted and staying overnight again. They had found the H. Flu bacteria in one of Elias' blood cultures, which had the potential to be pretty serious. They wanted to watch him and give him a few doses of strong antibiotics via IV to make sure everything was killed.

The next day, they decided to let us go home again. Elias was improving so much and we had the option to get the antibiotics in a shot form, so we headed home. For the next three days we headed to the doctor's office for a shot. Today was our last day and it's a good thing. Elias started to associate the place and the different things we did right before the shot and was fussing way before the needle went in. Also, today was our last day of being on oxygen. After being off his oxygen for almost an hour, Elias' saturation levels were at 97 - hooray! We'll go in for one more check tomorrow, but we should be done with that for now.

Elias has been such a trooper through all of this. Once the trauma of getting blood drawn and IVs in, he made do with his arm in a little splint. As he got stronger he just continued doing what he wanted regardless of the IV/splint or the oxygen tubing. I don't think he noticed it too much, at least until he ran out of tubing and it yanked him backwards. But he's on the mend and we're all glad to have our happy, curious, mischievous little boy back.

Here are few pictures from the past week or so:

Winter 2010

We've had a lot of fun this winter. We celebrated Christmas with family here in Colorado, my dad visited in January before Elias' first birthday, Tom's parents came to visit and celebrate Elias' birthday, we had a fun party for Elias and my sister Laura visited over Presidents Day weekend.

We've loved all the visitors but have also been bundling up for winter walks, started play classes at Gymboree with our friends Erin & Kelby and just before his first birthday Elias started walking! Elias is growing and changing so much. Besides walking, he's getting better at feeding himself, although doesn't seem to like whole food too much, so we're still pureeing things for him. He's picked up a few signs. He regularly uses "all done", but on occasion has signed, "thank you", "hungry", "monkey", "banana" and "more". Elias has gotten really chatty since his first birthday and even said "cat" last week. He loves this toy cat that was mine when I was a kid and one day pointed at it and said "cat". He's repeated it a few times on different occasions, so I think we can officially say that "cat" was his first word. Elias loves trying to figure out how things work and one of his favorite things lately is unscrewing caps from bottles.

As fun as this winter has been, we are all looking forward to spring and warmer weather. We've had a week or so of 50-60 weather that has been wonderful. Not having to bundle up, getting to play outside without getting too cold - I'm relishing this bit of warmth. Also with spring comes the opportunity to train for the bike rides I signed up for this year. In May I will be doing the Road to Victory bike ride in honor of my Papa Snook who lived with Parkinson's before he died last year. In August I'm riding the Venus de Miles, an all women's bike ride. I'm really looking forward to riding the new bike I got last fall.

Well, I think that's most of what's going on with us - I think you're up to speed now! Here is a slide show from the Winter months:

Thanksgiving 2010

We're catching up a bit over here.

We went to California for Thanksgiving and had a great time visiting with friends and family. While we were there we celebrated Tom's Nana's 90th birthday - Happy 90th Nana! Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Welcome Fall, Happy Halloween

It's been a beautiful fall so far. We're still having days that reach temperatures in the 70s, but the nights and mornings are definitely chilly. Elias is moving and growing as quickly as the seasons are changing it seems, but here are a few pics we were able to catch of him being still. Enjoy!

cash back shopping

So I was talking to a friend the other day and I mentioned a few of the ways that I save money by shopping online. My friend had never heard of these ways to get cash back and so I thought I'd let you all (all 6 of you!) know in case you haven't heard of them.

Whenever I am ready to make a purchase online, I always check two places to see if cash back is available: FatWallet and Ebates. The way it works is that you go to one of these websites (I always check both, since sometimes one website has a better cash back %) and find your store. You then click through to your store and make your purchase. When you click through these websites, a tracking ticket is created linking your click to that purchase. The store then reports back that you made a purchase and a percentage of your purchase is put in your account. Once you reach $10 or so dollars (depending on the store), you can opt for a check to be cut and mailed to you. It's usually about 3-6% cash back, but sometimes there are specials and whatnot to get you more. Both sites also try to list current coupons available.

If you're interested in Ebates, please sign up using this link: Ebates (I get $5 for every referral!)

One more place to check before you place your order is www.retailmenot.com. This website lets people post coupon codes that have worked to get them a discount on their order, free shipping, etc.

Happy Shopping!

Aspen Anniversary Trip

A few weekends ago we decided to take a long weekend trip up to Aspen and enjoy the fall colors. We had never been to Aspen before and wanted to check it out. We were a little late getting started on the drive, but once on the road did pretty well. Elias wasn't quite as good of a road-tripper as when he was 5 months old, but he still did really good. He just got bored and understandably so! We made a few stops a long the way: we stopped at the scenic area near Copper where ET loved watching the creek run; we made a pit stop in Leadville and enjoy some local cookies; stopped at the top of Independence pass to look out over the Continental Divide and then finally arrived in Aspen. The drive in was beautiful, although Independence Pass made me a little nervous. With drop offs like that, no wonder the pass is closed in winter.

Friday night we walked around town trying to find a place for dinner. The place we decided on ended up being closed and Elias was fading quickly so we opted for some tavern or something. The food wasn't that great. I ordered fish and chips and it looked like they had come out of a box - a perfect little rectangle. We finished up and headed back to the hotel and tried to put Elias down. He was not having it. He cried and cried and cried some more. He finally fell asleep only to wake up a few hours later. We fed him and put him back to bed as usual, but he again was not having it. Eventually we brought him into bed with us where he proceeded to crawl around for the next hour or so. Thank goodness we got a King!

The next morning we started off with coffee at a local shop and the most amazing ginger peach muffins- yum! We made it back for Elias' morning nap and when he woke up headed out for walk around town. We went through some neighborhoods with beautiful homes. Oh, the lives of the rich. We made it back to the hotel and tried to put Elias down. Another struggle which we decided to avoid and thought we would skip and then put him down early. An hour or so later, we were still having no luck. Gone were our plans for a nice dinner out - it took a couple hours to get Elias to go to sleep. Once we got him to bed, Tom went out to our planned restaurant, ordered to go and brought it back to the hotel. We dined in the dark on the edge of our jacuzzi tub. Everything was delicious, but I'm hoping that next time I'll be able to enjoy it at the restaurant.

Our last morning in Aspen we enjoyed a lovely breakfast and then tried to get sandwiches at the yummy sandwich shop we had tried the day before. Unfortunately they were closed, so we ended up at the only deli we could find that was open. We picked up lunch and some snacks and headed out of town. A friend had recommended the Grotto Day use area for a picnic, so we stopped there to enjoy our lunch. Soon, it was time to get on the road again, so off we went. The drive back was just as beautiful and Elias still didn't sleep like he should have. We really enjoyed getting away, the drive and Aspen, but we'll definitely think twice before we do that with an infant again.

Aspen

Pumping like crazy

I have a love/hate relationship with pumping. In the beginning, it's what established my milk supply when Elias wasn't able to bring in my milk on his own. It's helped to supplement what he takes in, since that isn't usually enough. But until recently I've only had to pump when I went to work and then an extra time after he went to bed to get that surplus for him.

But last week, Elias would only nurse for a few minutes on one side (not enough to keep up my supply). We think he had a sore throat since we both have one this week. Because of that, I've watched my pumping numbers get ridiculously low this week and seen him get frustrated wanting more. I met with a lactation consultant who said to pump and nurse as often as possible. I'm doing that, but man it's hard. I feed him, then get the pumping stuff washed and ready and then pump. When you take that into account, the whole feeding process takes a really long time.

Thankfully I have seen pumping numbers come up, but they still aren't what they should be. It was suggested that I consider taking domperidone to help boost my milk supply. Before the dr. would write a prescription, I did a blood test to measure what my prolactin (milk producing hormone) levels were. Turns out they were half what they needed to be. No wonder we've had the problems we've had! I get the prescription tomorrow and am hoping that it does the job to boost my milk supply so that Elias can get what he needs without supplementing and we can make it for a couple more months!