I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that my baby is getting older. He's already 8 months!! It baffles me how I've lost track of the time.
When we went to the doctor's last week, Ian weighed 23 lbs. He wears 12-18 month clothes and is the happiest baby I've ever had!
I got his pictures taken today~ here's the link:
https://www.searsphotos.com/?shareid=S207005057lP668MZCU53
I know he's my baby, but isn't he the cutest chunk you've ever seen?!?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Curtains, Bedding, and Furniture~ Oh My!
*This post is mostly for Tammy & Steph~ but everyone is welcome to look!*
Before my week of sickness, I've been working very hard at getting all of my *spring* projects done. Yes, I did say spring, and yes, I realize that it is now fall. I'm sorry~ That's why I've been trying to get them done!
One of the first things that I wanted to get done were my curtains. All of them. I'm tired of having the light come in through the unlined curtains at 6 am. I like my sleep! That being said, I didn't do much to these curtains other than line them, but it has made a world of difference! No more sunlight in my face~ Wa-hoo!!
The curtains in my bathroom were a little more complicated. I used linen, which looks fabulous, but is a pain to work with. It won't stay square! So, even though you can't see it, these are not quite perfect, but I think they still look great. And yes, my bathroom now matches my bedroom.
This is the room that Don teases me most about. "Why do we need a curtain in the laundry room? Who is the sun going to wake up? Who's going to see into it?" I don't care that I'm the only one who even goes in this room. I have to see it, so it's going to be pretty! I found this material on clearance, so not only is it super cute and matches perfectly, it was also super, super cheap!
Last year, I recovered my kitchen chairs with red twill, which looked great. Sadly, it did not hold up to the constant spills of my active boys. I've been waiting for fall to find the same twill to be able to recover them again. The chair on the left is what it looked like when it was purchased. The chair on the right is covered with the red twill and thick plastic so I can wipe away all of the messes.
This brings us to Brennan's new bedroom set. Don and I have been debating on getting Brennan and Dylan a new set for a while now, but we haven't been able to decide on what it should look like, so we never got it. Well, after realizing that Nolan now wants to sleep with Brennan on his top bunk, we decided that for safety-sake we would get a new set. We ended up getting him a full bed with a trundle for Dylan when he's here. I'm thrilled with the way the furniture looks~ masculine and modern, yet still very juvenile.
The only issue that I had with the entire situation was the fact that I didn't get a matching bedroom set or super comfy mattress until about 4 years ago, so what is a 2nd grader doing with such nice stuff?!!?
The Football Star
*I'm sorry for the picture of a picture quality*
Brennan is so proud of his accomplishments during their last game on Saturday.
His Stats:
5 Tackles
1 Touchdown (1st one of the season!)
1 Two-point conversion
3 Carries
Leave it to my child to put off figuring out the rules of football until the last game!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Doctors, Doctors, and More Doctors
It has been a really rough week at the Borchert House:
Friday: Brennan at the doctor for severe allergies
Tuesday: Ian at the doctor for a stomach bug and double ear infection; Mom having Root Canal
Wednesday: Dylan in ER for swallowing a magnetic marble
Then the world goes crazy:
Wednesday night, Nolan got some sort of insect bite. I guess that he scratched it because it got very infected by the next morning. When he woke up and I saw his face, I immediately called his pediatrician, Dr. Holzen. We saw her within 45 minutes and she diagnosed him with an infected bug bite. She told us to keep an eye on him and if it got worse, call her or take him to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. So I kept an eye on him all day. This is what he looked like around 11am on Thursday:
We started him on Cleosin, a strong antibiotic used to kill off staph infections, though they didn't know what he had. As the day continued, the swelling and redness got worse. By 4, I was afraid that the medicine wasn't going to catch it in time, so I called the doctor. She'd already left for the day, so I took him down to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where they examined him. After the exam and observation, they told me that Nolan had Cellulitis. The only saving grace was that there wasn't any fluid pockets to have to drain, so they sent us home with directions to increase the antibiotic and keep an eye on his temperature.
Thursday night was a long, long night. I was scared that something would happen to him while we were asleep, so Nolan slept with me. He never developed a fever or had any vomiting or diarrhea. When we awoke in the morning, the swelling had gone down slightly and the regular color was starting to come back to some of the check, but the redness had started spreading down the back of his neck, so we were off to the doctor again!
The doctor looked at it, and while it looked worse than the morning before, it actually looked better than the night before, so we decided to play it hour by hour. Throughout the day, the swelling slowing started going down and the redness didn't travel any farther. The doctor even called Friday night to check on him. Since he responded well, we continued the antibiotic treatment with Benadryl for the bite itself.
Nolan is acting totally normal and is back to being as crazy as ever~ you'd never even know he was sick! So thank you for the prayers and well-wishes. I know they truly made a difference!
*UPDATE* I took all three boys to the doctor this morning (9/21/09). Nolan is looking fabulous. He'll continue his medication for the next week but he doesn't need to go to the doctor again! Brennan, along with his severe allergies, has a sinus infection. Poor baby! Those are the worst! And Ian's ear infections are not getting much better, so he got an antibiotic shot today to replace the remainder of the oral antibiotic (since he REFUSES to take it~ it takes both Don and I to get even a portion of it down).
Hopefully, as much as I love Dr. Holzen and her staff, we don't have to see them again for a long while!
Friday: Brennan at the doctor for severe allergies
Tuesday: Ian at the doctor for a stomach bug and double ear infection; Mom having Root Canal
Wednesday: Dylan in ER for swallowing a magnetic marble
Then the world goes crazy:
Wednesday night, Nolan got some sort of insect bite. I guess that he scratched it because it got very infected by the next morning. When he woke up and I saw his face, I immediately called his pediatrician, Dr. Holzen. We saw her within 45 minutes and she diagnosed him with an infected bug bite. She told us to keep an eye on him and if it got worse, call her or take him to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. So I kept an eye on him all day. This is what he looked like around 11am on Thursday:
We started him on Cleosin, a strong antibiotic used to kill off staph infections, though they didn't know what he had. As the day continued, the swelling and redness got worse. By 4, I was afraid that the medicine wasn't going to catch it in time, so I called the doctor. She'd already left for the day, so I took him down to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where they examined him. After the exam and observation, they told me that Nolan had Cellulitis. The only saving grace was that there wasn't any fluid pockets to have to drain, so they sent us home with directions to increase the antibiotic and keep an eye on his temperature.
Thursday night was a long, long night. I was scared that something would happen to him while we were asleep, so Nolan slept with me. He never developed a fever or had any vomiting or diarrhea. When we awoke in the morning, the swelling had gone down slightly and the regular color was starting to come back to some of the check, but the redness had started spreading down the back of his neck, so we were off to the doctor again!
The doctor looked at it, and while it looked worse than the morning before, it actually looked better than the night before, so we decided to play it hour by hour. Throughout the day, the swelling slowing started going down and the redness didn't travel any farther. The doctor even called Friday night to check on him. Since he responded well, we continued the antibiotic treatment with Benadryl for the bite itself.
Nolan is acting totally normal and is back to being as crazy as ever~ you'd never even know he was sick! So thank you for the prayers and well-wishes. I know they truly made a difference!
*UPDATE* I took all three boys to the doctor this morning (9/21/09). Nolan is looking fabulous. He'll continue his medication for the next week but he doesn't need to go to the doctor again! Brennan, along with his severe allergies, has a sinus infection. Poor baby! Those are the worst! And Ian's ear infections are not getting much better, so he got an antibiotic shot today to replace the remainder of the oral antibiotic (since he REFUSES to take it~ it takes both Don and I to get even a portion of it down).
Hopefully, as much as I love Dr. Holzen and her staff, we don't have to see them again for a long while!
A Week of Firsts for Ian
Monday 9/14/09: Ian cuts his first two teeth (front bottom)
Tuesday 9/15/09: Ian gets his first double ear infection (and HATES taking the antibiotics)
Thursday 9/16/09: Ian starts really crawling, not just "army crawling"
Saturday 9/18/09: Ian puts himself into a sitting position from being on his belly.
To sum it up: This week has been such a fast paced week for Ian. He's gone from rolling around, to really army-crawling around, to crawling and now sitting himself up. He loves to crawl around after Nolan (which Nolan hates) and to be wherever Mommy is. I'm having such a hard time knowing that he's my last baby and these are the last "firsts" that I get to see.
Backyard Boys
Back in the day a long, long time ago, in a time when I was going through my very, very rebellious stage, my sweet mother in total frustration wished upon me a child like myself. At the time, I didn't think that having such a child would be such a hassle. Funny and smart and super cute~ that's me, right?
I think back on that time when I had no idea what I was doing and realize that I was a horror of a child. And my mother's wish came true~ more so than I ever imagined.
While there is a lot I'd love to cover about that one, this post is about one part of me that my mother always let me get away with, mostly because I think she needed her sanity. To say that I loved being outside is an understatement. I wanted to ALWAYS be outside. I would let myself out and go exploring our backyard, neighbors backyards, and all the parks around town. This is the part of my that all of my children have inherited. It is also the part that scares the living daylights out of me.
Not that I think that going outside is a bad thing~ it's wonderful (when you have a fence)! Which is something that we don't have.
This leads us to our issues: Brennan and Nolan love being outside.
Brennan is old enough to understand the dangers of cars and knows to ask before going anywhere, so the issue is not with B. It's with Nolan. Nolan can open the doors (so we had chimes put~ the alarm beeps quite loudly when any door leading outside opens). I can't count the number of times that he has let himself into the garage to play with his outside toys! And when I take them outside, Nolan wants to explore EVERYTHING! I can barely keep my eyes on him! So, it's gotten to the point that we don't go outside unless Dad is there to help watch the boys while I take care of Ian.
Last week, I took the boys outside to play with our friends the Hande's. Nolan had a ball with Colin and Brennan loved running around with Olivia. Ian just watched and laughed at everyone around him, but I could tell that he wanted to be a part of it, so when our friends went home, I stayed out with the boys and put Ian in the swing.
He absolutely LOVED it~ he's another one like me!
Holding on for dear life~ but still thinks is funny
Nolan climbing up to Daddy~ his leg has healed very well
It was such a beautiful night that we decided to stay out playing until dark. Ah, the days of childhood. Notice that Nolan is NOT on with the big boys
Ian looking at everyone jumping without him. Oh, how he wants to be big!
Ian's first time in the swing was a success as was keeping Nolan corralled in the backyard. Stay tuned for more "Just like Mom Moments!"
*so yes, I realize that I told a long story to get to some pictures. the story was mostly for me and my kids, but thank you for reading it all*
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
One for the Message Board
Sometimes it's very frustrating for me (Janice) to be so interested in science. I look at every question from Brennan as a teaching/learning experience, which sometimes leads to some interesting conversations. I just have to keep reminding myself that Brennan is 7. Not in college. Not in high/middle school. He is in second grade. 7.
Here's the back story:
I'm Brennan's Room Mom, so I'm trying to get to know the other students and their parents. One little girl in Brennan's class has Down Syndrome. We'd had a play-date last week and I was trying to talk to Don about the mom. Of course, Brennan HAS to be a part of the conversation.
Brennan: Who's mom?
Me: K's mom~ Nolan and G played really well together while Nancy and I talked about everything under the sun.
B: K's kind of weird mom.
Me: Why? What does she do?
B: She likes to give people lots of hugs. Isn't that kind of weird?
Me: No, it's part of who she is.
B: Huh?
Me: K has Down Syndrome.
B: What does that mean?
Me: Do you remember when we talked about cells and genetics? (Brennan and I talked about it when Nathan was born)
B: Sure
Me: It means that she has an extra chromosome.
B: You mean she doesn't eat meat?!
So I've decided that instead of being frustrated, I'm just going to keep teaching him. Maybe, just maybe, one day it will stick!
Here's the back story:
I'm Brennan's Room Mom, so I'm trying to get to know the other students and their parents. One little girl in Brennan's class has Down Syndrome. We'd had a play-date last week and I was trying to talk to Don about the mom. Of course, Brennan HAS to be a part of the conversation.
Brennan: Who's mom?
Me: K's mom~ Nolan and G played really well together while Nancy and I talked about everything under the sun.
B: K's kind of weird mom.
Me: Why? What does she do?
B: She likes to give people lots of hugs. Isn't that kind of weird?
Me: No, it's part of who she is.
B: Huh?
Me: K has Down Syndrome.
B: What does that mean?
Me: Do you remember when we talked about cells and genetics? (Brennan and I talked about it when Nathan was born)
B: Sure
Me: It means that she has an extra chromosome.
B: You mean she doesn't eat meat?!
So I've decided that instead of being frustrated, I'm just going to keep teaching him. Maybe, just maybe, one day it will stick!
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