Holiday Sale...

On Saturday I will be selling my wares all day at the UMC in Webster from 9-3pm. Stop by to see me and pick up some handmade Holiday gifts. Ashley seems to be on the mend. Today I spoke to my neighbor friend Amanda (who just so happens to be - you guessed it a Pediatrician!!!!!) We are sooooo lucky to know Amanda!!!! She made me feel better about what is going on with Ashley, basically she is going to be coughing for a good long while and that is OK. As long as no fever comes back. I love Drs. they quote research, very cool! :-)

By the way if you saw my post on the identity theft, I did get one more CD in the mail, but this time I didn't open it, put it right back in the mail box with the note "Refused, Return to Sender." on it. I did get another Entertainment Weekly magazine, I'd like to pretend that someone just LOVES me enough to go out and buy me a gift right, well that would be in my ideal world, plus if they really knew me then they would of gotten me the "Taste of Home" magazine instead, or "Art Jewelry". Also the Enfamil has already been spoken for! Barb - more coupons came in the mail again today, I will save them for you. I'm still thinking about that Alisson Krauss CD - I'll have to put that on my Christmas wish list - hint, hint.

Peace...

Creative Note: I made the fleece ABC blanket in this photo. It is a no sew project. So easy, and fun to do. Would make a great Christmas gift for an adult or a kid.
This is the definition of peace at our house. I took this the other morning and she has finally been able to sleep through the night with the controlled substance cough syrup. She has a bit of color back in her cheeks too which is nice to see after many weeks! Plus, how adorable if I do say so myself - he he :-).

Put a Man on the Job....

John: I called John as he was heading home from work to ask him to pick up some frozen juice concentrate because we usually don't have that in our freezer. The nurse at Ashley's office suggested we get this to help the medicine go down, since the syrup is sweet and cold. If it had been me I probably would have picked up one or two cans. This picture doesn't include the one that is on our fridge. :-)

Ashley: Has already gone through the whole bottle of Zithromax in two days. This is NOT GOOD for a few reasons:

• one - we weren't able to get her to swallow it down on two occasions and we wasted some in a cup of juice (it tastes nasty and leaves a nasty aftertaste in your mouth, I tried some) we tried everything, force feeding which we were unsuccessful both times she spit it out, thus wasting it.



• two - there was an issue at the Pharmacy last night, they had to call her office to confirm her dosing because the dr. put her on the dosing for a 40lb child and she is only 30lbs. Well the dr. meant to do that because of all of her issues lately. So now we call for more the Pharmacy will think we are crazy, plus insurance won't cover the next batch



• How did we end up getting it down her you ask? Well the first dose yesterday about half went in her, however if you have ever been on the Z-pack the adult form of this med. you know that you take two pills at first, then one a day following until you finish the pack. This is the same with A's, only hers is in liquid form. So what did we do you ask? We called the dr. and spoke to the nurse and she had us give her a somewhat elevated dose today and tomorrow we will continue on the same dosing schedule. The nurse suggested a few things to mix the med with the frozen concentrate. This kinda sorta worked, she drank about half. Then the nurse said for me to wrap some presents and put them in a basket and reward her if she drinks it. Well before I even got back upstairs with the wrapped presents John had her finish it because he told her the presents were coming. This also worked for the cough syrup later in the night too.

Laura: I worked today. Part of me felt good to get back out into that adult world again today. Plus I knew that Ashley was in good hands with my mother (she didn't go to daycare today). I did three student teacher observations today, one in Greece and the other two in the city. Here is what is on my mind today: If you make a school look like a cage, then do the students in it get treated like they are in a cage? Food for thought, but this one particular school I go to has caged lights and iron that you walk under that looks like a guillotine, the front of the school isn't all that attractive either as one classroom has crooked posters hanging on the windows from the outside and crooked blinds. I just can't imagine being a student and going there everyday. It is just sad. I understand why lights need to be caged in a city, in case of vandals. I get that. I just can't help but wonder what could be done to make an elementary school more inviting for young children ages K-5. I go from a suburban school that actually houses many needy/underprivileged children, and then see the city school. The difference is the suburban school has a neat, clean atmosphere and the city school has more of a dinghy atmosphere, however they both serve the same population of children, underprivileged. Don't get me wrong the inside of this school gets better, the teachers have inviting rooms and colorful artwork is posted on the walls and there is even a greenhouse type idea under a stairwell to make it look much nicer. It just seems that things that wouldn't be put up with in a suburban school are accepted in a city school and I don't think that should be the case.

Is the title of my blog confusing? This has been mostly about sick A. but I do have good intentions of when we get through this to show you all the great, creative stuff John and I work on making.

Remember I mentioned my partial identity theft, well, here is a partial list of what I have been receiving in the mail lately...

• Ebony magazine subscription



• Entertainment Magazine



• Video Professor - Excel



• 7 CDs from youmusic.com (I sent them back, but I really wanted to keep the Allison Krauss one)



• John got Enfamil, with coupons, so if any of my pregnant/new baby friends would like the coupons and formula let us know and we will give it to you.

Two mysterious things...

Two mysterious things showed up on my doorstep today. One was a half dozen chocolate chip cookies and the other was a DVD (Dora) for DD (dear daughter) since she has been sick. She is currently watching it right now.

Today: Another day another trip to the Drs. office at 5:50pm to be exact. Well have you ever heard the words "Primary and Secondary?" I have in relation to education and I am well versed in those terms in the educational field. Not so much in the medical field. I get that a person can get pneumonia after they have been sick for a while, that is called a secondary infection. However A. had Primary Pneumonia and then we think she had Viral Croup and then, as of today, we think that she now has a secondary infection to the croup, which could be one of many. She is now going to start on Zithromax, which will cover many of the possible secondary infections. (However Z. does not cover the viral croup, because as we all know antibiotics won't cover viral illnesses). She has already been on Omnicef for the pneumonia but the two antibiotics cover different types of infections (as per how the Dr. explained it to us). BTW (by the way) I love her office, I love all the docs there, we saw a great doc. tonight his name is Dr. Tuite. This office has been great for us and all of our many needs, I have called them many times over the past week. Last night I was up with her from 3am-5:30am at which time we moved to the recliner and she fell asleep on me until 11:20am. She sleeps much better sitting up. Her lungs have not cleared up and if they don't clear up within the next two days and being on the Zithromax then it is going to be more tests and drs. visits. But I am optimistic and hoping the the Z. will do the trick.

ME: I am fried right now, but I am doing OK, I feel good about the visit and that we have two medicines they gave us to give to her tonight, one of which is a cough medicine prescription with some heavy duty stuff which will help her sleep-Thank God! We all need more sleep. She is waking up scared and then playing and afraid to go back to sleep because of the cough and quite frankly I don't blame her. BTW my heart goes out to people who take care of their sick loved ones day in and day out, it is so draining. I had that one peaceful moment yesterday where I was able to work on the polymer clay barette - boy did I need that little bit of time to myself, what a difference it made for me. Even though I was still tired I was refreshed in another sense.

John: First day back to work after his glorious vacation and he met us at the drs. office at 5:50 and then went to Wegman's to fill the prescriptions it is now 7:34pm and he is not home yet.

Ashley is watching her new Dora CD - what a great gift Thanks Paula and Thanks Dena for the Chocolate Chippers! :-)

Laura Finished...

The custom order that she took at a craft sale three weeks ago! (It was the same day that Ashley went to the ER.) The customer wanted a barette in a style I already had only in earthy tones. I love how it came out. I made another one as well that is not in the photo. I made three mini barettes to take to this week's craft sale and I really appreciated the simplicity of them.

John Finished....

The guitar he was building....

Ashley update

Ashley: She still has a temperature today, however the cough is breaking up better. However the temp is still high and she has been running a temp since Wednesday, so this is the fifth day. I called the Drs. again today and she may need to be seen again tomorrow, because this long of a temp could indicate a secondary infection such as guess what? pneumonia/or an ear infection. She is no longer on antibiotics because we were done with those on Thursday night. Ashley has mentioned once or twice that her ear hurts but when I ask her about it then she says it doesn't hurt anymore. Her cough wasn't as bad last night, she seems to be turning the corner with the cough but not the fever. The fever was 101.5 earlier today. The nurse I spoke with today said that it may lead to a secondary infection such as an ear infection

Me: I was up last night from 2-4am. I told John that she is turning us into nocturnal animals. We were up from 2-4 because she was WIDE awake, remember that glorious nap I told you she took yesterday, well we are wondering if it affected her night too. I tried to lay down with her and she was touching my eyeballs, face etc. This also cracks me up, she was playing with the Croup Phamplet that the dr. gave us - how ironic :-). Oh and lets not forget the fact that she decided to poop in there too.

John: Today is the last day of his vacation. :-(

Menu Plan Monday

So we aren't eating Little Ceasar's all week:

I have joined an online menu plan club where I will post my dinners for the week. If you'd like to check it out it is the orgjunkie link. You can get lots of great ideas for your meals from about 200 other people.

Monday- Taco Night - beans and meat for John

Tuesday - I have seminar at Applebees (Bologna and Ham and Cheese for J. & A.)

Wednesday-Breakfast for dinner (belgian waffles with fruit) Eat light there will be goodies at MOPS

Thursday- Frozen Food Night ( I teach at JoAnn's so I need something quick)

Friday-Veggie Soup with rice noodles and vegetables, with Frozen Naan

Saturday-Mashed Potatoes, Chicken and Green Beans with Corn Muffins

Sunday-Spaghetti, Sauce, Corn, Garlic Bread

Little Ceasars...

I lied my child finally crashed hard while sitting up in her rocker, it was quite the feat. We are going to see if we can get her to bed this way tonight, because she was finally able to sleep. We had Little Ceasars that my Mom and Dad brought over to us - it is so nice to have dinner brought to you. The great thing about family is they aren't afraid to get near you when you are sick!!!!!! :-) Soon to come on my blog I will be posting pictures of my latest polymer clay creations - I am working on my display for my next craft sale which is next Saturday. I have a tree with cute little ornaments (if I do say so myself :-) I will take photos so you can see it. Also if you have any suggestions for me on my display I will gladly take your input into consideration. Also to come on my blog I will be posting about what I have received in the mail lately (I may have some identity theft going on.) However I am getting a kick out of what I am recieving in the mail! Don't worry John and I know what to do if it is identity theft. He has been through it before.

Rough Night

Well, last night was our roughest night yet. You would have never guessed that Ashley had a steroid drink and the Robitussin that the Dr. recommended. Nothing gave relief last night, not the steam in the bathroom, not the outside air AND to make matters worse her cough sounded worse and she has a wheezing sound when she breathes in (sounds like gasping for air type sound). John and I took turns sitting up with her because everytime we tried to lay her down it got worse, John did more than half the night and I did the 4am-8:30am shift. Now she is playing and she won't take a nap because this kid doesn't nap anymore, it is a bit crazy, you would think she would crash from lack of sleep. I have been in touch with her Drs. again today and they said if we have the same night tonight that she needs to be seen again tomorrow. It is nice that they have weekend hours. My wonderful mother is coming over later to relieve us. I am so tired.

Official Diagnosis

Hello everyone, We had our Dr's. appointment for Ashley at 1:10pm today. She has (drum roll please) croup - aren't you surprised? Anyway it is viral croup and therefore the antibiotics do not take care of it, however they did give her a nice little steroid drink to help her insides, the pipes swelling to go down. She had this the first time she had croup about six months ago or so. I had a call from an old friend of mine tonight and it was so nice to chat, plus I got to live vicariously through her and find out about all of the good deals she got today. This picture is of my two friends from college one of whom called me today to see how Ashley is doing and the other emailed me. I am in the middle. Don't we all look good? :-)

Black Friday

Well here we are Friday am and I have had some frustration this morning, and no it wasn't because I couldn't go shopping on Black Friday. I am frustrated because my daughter is still very sick. She has a temp of 102.7 this morning. UGH!!! Let's recap, she is on a broad coverage antibiotic, mommy thinks she has croup based on the past two nights (we had another episode last night), she is on the heels of pneumonia and her WBC was high. So what do we do, well we call doc and get her another appointment to be seen today. She will see her doc. again today. If this is viral that's fine, I just need to know that I can move on but with all of the other stuff she has had going on it is hard to say. Ashley informed me that she needed cough medicine this morning, however she really needed motrin to get the fever down. She is in the tub now with John, luke warm water is good to help get the fever down. She also declared that she wanted to go play in the snow and put her snow pants on, hmmmm.... not to sure about this, this goes along with what I said in the other post about having a sick toddler, they are still a toddler. I have to take the time to pat myself on the back, her croup espisodes - I know everything to do

• first take child to bathroom, close door, turn on hot shower and steam up room, sit with child in lap for 1/2 hour (this worked ok but not great last night)
• Next take child to room, put in bed and open window (outside air is great for croup, this worked even better and she was able to get some sleep)
• Lastly crank up the cool mist humidifier and put as close to her bed as possible (this coupled with the outside air seemed to work really well for us last night)
• Go to room next door and sleep on guest matress so you can hear child over the loud humidifier, try to get some sleep

I am getting good at this if I do say so myself. This blog is keeping me sane and hopefully keeping you informed of what is going on with Miss Little Ashley. Did I mention again how off her color is, she is so pale, it is rather bothersome. Did I also mention that my wonderful husband is on vacation, poor thing, this is his vacation and it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing. Well I'll try to post later after the dr. appointment.

Ladies and Gentleman....

I believe my daughter has croup. From the pictures she doesn't really look sick, now does she? She made it through the day fine and it is now 12:47 am and we have been up twice and in the hot steamy bathroom. She is still coughing. It is such a horrible sounding cough, my heart goes out to her. It is looking like another call to the drs. in the am and we will see if her dr. wants to see her again, which I am guessing most likely since that is what she mentioned two days ago, and on the heels of pnemonia and an abnormal WBC (white blood count) it seams the smartest thing to do is get this kid seen again. She does good during the day, we made it to my Mom's house for Turkey day and so did the rest of the family which was also questionable. Luckily we all made it and it was a nice time. Thanks MOM! Ashley's color is still off, that bothers me, I look at her and I just know that that is not my kid (normal and healthy). She is very pale. Oh and it also doesn't help that she now has a big huge bruise on her cheek from falling and hitting the edge of the bathtub the other day. She looks like a big bruiser :-). Here is a picture of John's meal,
I know that was random, but I am thankful for the nice meal, and there is something to be said for tradition and routine, I am glad we didn't miss Thanksgiving with the whole famn damily as John and I like to joke.

Oh and also people wonder where I get it from, meaning my crafty/decorative side, ya know I just thought that was normal and everyone did this until I got a bit older and realized that some are craftier than others. Anyway these are in my mothers house and two out of the three arrangements she made! Go Garden Club. Plus the one with the pilgrims cracked me up because when we sat down to eat dinner I noticed that the Pilgrims were facing a different way, watching us all eat. I started laughing and asked my Mom who did that and she said she did it with Ashley, how cute and adorable and what a great Grandma :-).

Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving....

I am GRATEFUL for:
sleep, good health, modern medicine, good Drs. for my daughter, her pediatric practice that I take her to, my husband who "gets it", my husband whom is a team player, knowing I can get my daughter help at 2am if needed, Ashley's playfulness even when she is sick, it is true there is no stopping a toddler, even the dr. commented "Boy she is sure acting like a toddler." Children's Motrin :-) That I wasn't hosting Thanksgiving today - funny how that worked out. God's grace. And of course my family and friends.

I am NOT GRATEFUL for (yes I am going to go there):
pneumonia in a two year old, croup, rough nights, having to cancel plans

Dr. Ashley

Well, I worked all day today and John is on vacation so he took care of Ashley all day today, however she wasn't feeling well, which is interesting since she is on day 10 of her antibiotics, right, well, we took her to a very late appointment at her docs office tonight and well, lets just say for now that she was still running a temp and they took a WBC count and it was on the high end of normal, kinda baffling the doctor, since she has been on a very good antibiotic. Anyway I guess she has some sort of bacterial infection. Our doc. is even having another doc. call us tomorow on Thanksgiving Day to check in with us on how Ashley is doing. She may see her on Friday depending on how she is doing, we are to stretch out her antibiotics three more days. This is besides the point but I organzed with my book club to go shopping on black friday, I organized this whole thing, with lunch at my house afterwards and it isn't looking good at this point. Well I am now sitting here and listening to her coughing in bed constantly at 10:12pm - the poor kid! It sounds like whooping cough, croup to me. And I am just waiting for her to throw up, this is kinda like dejavu from two weeks ago - with the exception that now I know what to look for and hope not to see the high fever again and have to call 911 and go in an ambulance to Strong, however the rate we are going it wouldn't surprised me if we ended up back at Strong. I did inform the doc. that we need to get her better by Christmas since we are flying to Nanas!!!! We are all looking forward to getting out of dodge so to speak. I can't believe there is a winter storm warning tomorrow all day - Turkey Day, gobble, gobble, Happy Thanksgiving, we are hoping to still go to my Mom's house but we will see, my mom is so sweet to offer to bring it to us. I was really looking forward to seeing my nieces and nephew, however I don't want Ashley to get them sick either. We'll see how she is tomorrow, we'll keep pumping her full of motrin and mucinex as doc. suggested.