Day 3 and 4

Well, things have gotten better in the fever department. Trevor didn't have a fever all day yesterday. However, he developed a bad cough in the middle of Wednesday night, and kept him up most of the night on Thursday night. He does a good job of coughing into his elbow, however, it hasn't allowed him to get enough rest. So we are staying home today from school.

Hopefully he'll be able to start kicking the cough soon because without doing that, he can't get enough rest. I'll be getting some things from school today to work on this weekend, and with Halloween we should have enough to keep us busy. So it looks like the bug is on its way out.

Hope it stays away from everyone!

Day 2

Well, it has past the 48 hour mark of Trevor's first fever. Trevor had a rough night of sleeping last night, as he always does when he gets sick. I remember sleeping in the same bed as him when we were in Disney and how fitful his sleep was. I am a light sleeper, so it is only on trips that I sleep with him. I still have a monitor in his room, but he still needs to make a lot of noise for me to be woken up. Or to simply open his door, I'm usually awake.

The first night, he didn't get any additional tylenol/motrin, but did when he was up for the morning. Last night, he got more tylenol around 5am. Tonight, we are hoping for an improvement. He is also not able to go to school tomorrow, because he still had a temperature when he got his medicine before going to bed tonight. I think it would be better for everyone if he didn't go to school on Friday either. Regardless of if his temperature is gone or not. He is coughing a lot, which is a sign of H1N1, so I'm sure he'd be able to infect other kids nearby if I did send him.

His appetite has drastically been reduced, but at least he's still eating. He's not drinking as much water as I'd want him to, but he's also not dehydrated. And that's as best as I can do. He has a lot less energy than he did yesterday, but I think we've hit the worst of it. I'm guessing he'll be fine for Halloween. Not back to normal, but well enough to go to some houses.

Russ has almost completely recovered. Hopefully he can get a good night's sleep tonight and be good to go for the rest of his week.

Gwen and I are still symptom-free. I'm guessing the reason she didn't get it is because she doesn't really touch a lot of the same things as he does. I've been good about watching the things she grabs, and she doesn't play with most of the things Trevor does. And we've been pretty good about sanitizing everything that Trevor has been playing with.

So we'll see where tomorrow takes us. We aren't really doing much of anything, so when we finally are able to get out of the house, I'm sure it will be a welcome relief. Until then.....

Day one of influenza-like sickness

While the day is not over, enough has happened so as to report what has been going on.

I got to bed at a decent hour, however, Gwen had a bout of insomnia from 3:30-4:30 where she read her musical books to herself. I'm just glad she wasn't upset. Then a little before 5, Russ was up needing more tylenol before going back to bed.

Trevor woke up with a fever this morning, around 8am. I gave him some tylenol. He was hungry enough to have breakfast, so that was a good thing. Gwen slept until almost 9am, but I think that was due to her lack of continuous sleep last night.

Trevor started to perk up about an hour or so after he was medicated. I've noticed this for all the other times he has needed fever reducing medication.

Russ has been up one time, again for more Tylenol, but not to eat much. He slept 16 hours or so last night.

Gwen and I seem to feel fine. She has a cold but no fever, and no energy issues. It was a gorgeously sunny day today, so while I thought I could take her outside while Trevor and Russ were inside resting, as soon as Trevor heard we were going outside, he had to come too. And he even went on a walk around the blocks with us. He was a little slower than normal, but that just made less of a gap between him and Gwen and I.

Both kids are sleeping now.

I did get a message back from the doctor. They are not testing for h1n1, however they still recommend getting a vaccine for it due to a lot of flu-like sicknesses being very hard to differentiate.

If I had to guess, I would bet that Trevor will still be able to go trick-or-treating on Saturday night, but he won't be in school the rest of this week. Hopefully Gwen will avoid the illness, so that this won't drag out longer than it has to. If the weather stays sunny and warmer, it will make the days slightly more tolerable.

Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes. We are all doing as well as can be expected. Hopefully I don't go stir crazy by the end of the week.

The story of H1N1, Johnson style

I figure I'd update specifically about how some type of flu bug has invaded our house. I have no confirmation of what type of flu it is. Especially since in the last few hours was the first time Trevor came down with any sort of fever.

A week ago today (Monday), Gwen had her 2 year well-check. She had two vaccinations due to a shortage they had at her last appointment. She also got the seasonal flu mist, and the doctor warned me that she could not have the H1N1 mist due to it being an active virus, and they cannot get more than one every 28 days. I was never told when their system was going to have the H1N1 vaccine in, but I had heard it was going to be in the next few weeks.

On Thursday after Kindergarten, Trevor got a note saying that his class has been exposed by someone that had H1N1. They don't specify anything else in the note. It could have even been someone in the PM class, since he is in the AM group.

On Friday, Gwen started acting sick, and had a slight fever. Her mood wasn't anything different than usual, except for some slight irritability. I figured it might have to do with her seasonal flu shot.

On Saturday, we all went out to the Gopher Hockey game. Gwen didn't last very long, and again I attributed it to her cold/flu shot. She didn't have a fever any longer.

On Sunday we kept her home from the church nursery. Trevor went to his Sunday school, and in the afternoon he started acting lethargic. Gwen didn't nap all day, but still didn't have any fever. Trevor took a short nap and seemed to feel better.

Today, Trevor woke up with no problems. Didn't seem sick at all. But when I picked him up from school, he seemed run down. Still never had a fever, and I was always was checking. He occasionally would cough, but nothing that was too worry-some.

Oh, on Saturday night, I heard that our health care provider had H1N1 vaccines in stock, and that the kids fell into the group qualifying to get their vaccine. So I knew I would be calling on Monday to get their schedule. I found out that you call, and confirm that you need to schedule someone for the vaccine that is within the group, and they assign you a time. You do not get a choice.

So the kids have both of their vaccines scheduled. The first one on Nov 10th, the second on Dec 8th.

And then, after Trevor came down from his nap, he had a fever over 100 degrees. Which means he can't go to school tomorrow, and is probably H1N1. As I'm giving Trevor his tylenol to break his fever, Russ comes home and has the same symptoms as Trevor.

I'm now in conversations with Trevor's doctor about if we need to test for H1N1, or continue with the vaccine or what. I guess we'll see what happens. The school is saying the common amount of time to be out with H1N1 is 5-7 days, but he cannot come back to school until 24 hours of non-medicated lack of fever.

So that's the story as of now. I'll update more when I know more

A little behind

I'm a little late in blogging lately. I'm happy to say that we made it through the first extended school break of the year. As I've posted, the wonderful playdate made me really look forward to future breaks! Then, on Friday evening, Trevor lost his first tooth. He was afraid at first, but every day, he seems to have gotten more and more brave because of it. Or at least that is what he claims his bravery comes from. The questions about what his tooth is "saying" haven't stopped, but I'll take the questions over the fear feelings any day.

Gwen had her two year well-check at the doctor on Monday. We had a nurse that we haven't had before. I don't know if she was a substitute one or not, but she really did not seem to have a way with kids. She basically had me try to do everything that I could to help her with Gwen. Gwen has already stepped on a scale at urgent care, no problem. But when the nurse asked her to use this scale, she didn't want to. One of the other pediatricians told the nurse to try another scale. She also had me try to convince her to measure her head.

The conversations with her doctor and his check of her went fine. She is about the 75% for height and weight, but again, not something I would depend on based on how we got her measurements. According to them, she is less than an inch shorter than Trevor was at 2 years. The doctor asked me about Trevor losing his tooth, and if he was not scared about it. It was like he either knew exactly how he was going to feel, or his kids do the same thing.

Trevor and I played battleship yesterday. He has no problems with that game. I looked on the box, we have a few games including that one that are for ages 7 and up. I had to sit and think that he really isn't that much younger than 7. He's going to be turning 6 in a few weeks. For some reason, I'm stuck into thinking that he's still around 4 or something. I am excited that he's really getting how to play these games. Now we can really start playing games. And in a few more years Gwen can join us! How fun!

Finally getting into the groove

And then winter shows up. Summer? Never happened. Fall? Oh didn't you see it? Or did you blink? This weather is absolutely horrible for my spirit. I HATE winter. I HATE being cold. A few days in the past week, I have just laid down in the sunlight that came in through the windows. Trying to feel warm and get my additional Vitamin D. Didn't work.

Ok...vent over. Gwen caught the cold I had last week that really drained me. I thought I caught a cold from one of the kids, but neither of them had it as bad as I did. And now Gwen has it. Just in time for her well-visit. Hopefully, she'll be on the up slope from it though. Two things I have been meaning to write down about her.... 1) She is very confident in her thoughts, and if you try to tell her otherwise, she will stand up and say, NO...that's an elephant mama! (When I try to say, "That's Dumbo sweetie...") She says it with such seriousness and force it is hilarious. Hopefully, someday she will learn how to learn from other people. 2) This is the second week in a row at "school" where the teacher has said that if one of the kids is crying after she has settled down, she goes over to the kid and says, "It's ok Dylan. Mom will be right back." And tries to give him a hug, or share a toy, or something similar. I have found that leaving her is much easier if I hand her off to a female adult, or at least older teenager. She has no problem going to a stranger, but me putting her down....she hates it.

School is going well for me....hopefully it will continue to take less and less time to read, study, and write papers. It has taken me a little while to remember how to do everything.

I have noticed a huge improvement in Trevor and his anxiousness. I won't know for sure until teacher conferences in a few weeks, but from what I pick up from Trevor, he seems to be still testing his teacher's limits, but is very aware of what he can expect if he doesn't do what is required. The one thing that is going on right now is his tooth. He had a very fun and exciting day today, and asked to go up for a nap early. But came downstairs when he almost lost his tooth. I saw that it was bleeding (no way did I tell him this) but that it was still holding on by a little bit. So after I reassured him 20 times or so that he will not actually LOSE it, either by swallowing, or in the carpet, or even in the toilet (don't ask me where that came from) I think he's calmed down enough to take his nap.

I cannot believe it is only the middle of October. With this weather and how long it seems since he started school, it feels like we should be in December. Just fast forward to March please! I am already sick of looking at snow falling outside.

Almost a week later

Since the birthday party. Gwen will rotate everything she got as gifts through her cycle of toys she plays with on a daily basis. However, I still haven't gotten the purple tu-tu or Cinderella Dress on her yet. She loves the shoes, and wears those throughout the day. Thank goodness she is still ok with her pink sparkly "real" shoes to go out in. Now that the temperature has dropped, it has made taking the play shoes outside very difficult. The card also gets opened at least 4-5 times a day as well.

Trevor and I went to see the Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D last Sunday. It was cool to see a preview of the Toy Story 3 movie, but it wasn't as 3D as I thought it would be. Most of the movie wasn't even that "blurry" if you took off the glasses. I think the best part in all of them was the snowing scene at the end of the first movie, as you heard a lot of kids, including Trevor, remark or try to grab the snowflakes. I didn't see it as Trevor had lost his glasses through his chair and was using mine. Then, at the end of the 2nd movie, they had the "bloopers" reel, and Trevor enjoyed that as well. He hasn't seen the 2nd movie for a good while, so his sense of humor has grown so much that he thinks the physical humor is pretty funny.

We all (with the exception of Russ) have caught a little cold. It's amazing how horrible you can feel not just because of a cold but a cold with the fact that it is near the freezing mark. I REALLY don't want to have to start wearing my sweatshirts because I know it's going to be a LONG 6 months of wearing them.

Gwen has been talking up a storm to whomever will listen to her. I had her answer the phone when Russ called one night, and even he was surprised at how much she really had a conversation with him. I'm guessing that she doesn't quite understand what she is talking about, but she sure makes it sound like she does. "Hi Dadda. How are you doing today? I'm fine. I'm watching Sid the Science Kid. He's talking about sneezing. I went to go play today. I got stamps....see???" Unfortunately, she doesn't let me near her when she has the phone because she thinks I'm going to take it away from her so I often can't hear what she is saying. Mostly though, if the person on the other end says good-bye, or can I talk to mom, she will politely give me the phone....and then expect to talk to them again in 2 minutes or sooner.

I got Gwen's 2 year pictures done. Trevor's Kindergarten pictures came home from school this week. Holy cow do I have old kids. They both look so OLD. Trevor like he's at least 10, and Gwen looks like she is the Kindergartner. I have to scan in Trevor's picture, but Gwen's are up on facebook. She did really well. I highly recommend that if you go to JCP, to go before they open. Now they have a way to book your own appt online. I also picked a time where no one was before me or after me. It was so much less stressful. We were in and out in under 30 minutes. And I love the picture I got.

Next week Trevor only has school for two days. We are hoping to fill the week with a pumpkin patch, and a playdate. We'll see what next week brings!

My Baby girl is 2

Another year has passed. We've come a long way since being a family of just 3, 2 years ago. I have learned a lot from my little girl in these two years. How different a boy and girl can be....of course second child syndrome kicks in pretty bad, although I have tried to be as equal as I can. But when you have an older brother to keep up with, there is bound to be a lot more toys to play with than when Trevor was around at her age now.

She loves playing with her dolls in the dollhouses, and for a while I thought she was going to be a car person, just like Trevor since that is what she always saw him playing with, the way that she plays with cars, is to treat them like they are dolls. She puts the cars in the dollhouses, makes them ring the doorbell, and talk to each other as if they are people.

She loves playing in the kitchen, to make coffee for anyone, and to put things in the microwave. She loves to look at photos in the photo album. She loves to read books. She has taken to figuring out the leapster that Trevor has owned for the past almost 3 years...I think. Or maybe we got it for him when he was 2. But after watching Trevor play it, she has figured out where she wants to go on each of the games. And Trevor has moved on to playing our old Game Boy system (or purple leapster as he calls it).

Yes, it has been my influence, but she also loves princess things. Dolls included. She doesn't sit through any movies, but likes to watch the first few minutes of most of them. I did venture out and get her the first Tinkerbell movie, which is like an hour and 15 minutes, so if she can hold her attention, maybe she'll enjoy that one.

I remember Trevor's stage of loving shoes, however I wasn't able to nurture that love as I have with Gwen. Finally she has some play shoes of her own.

She can clearly communicate her wants, which is very helpful to me, however frustrating for her if she can't have her way.

Thanks to our wonderful families, we had a wonderful birthday celebration for her today. We had been talking to her about it, and due to our other family's birthdays, she knew somewhat what was going to happen. And I remembered from when Trevor was her age that I needed to speed through the gift opening so that she could get on to the playing of the toys. We have such kind and caring family that it is impossible to think of anything that she is going to ask Santa for come another 12 weeks! Even the things we got her, I was unsure if she'd like them, but she dove right in. I have seen little girls running around with tu-tus on, and I figured Gwen would enjoy it too. As soon as she figured out how easy they were to put on, she was showing everyone her cute dress. However, posing for pictures was not something she did willingly.

By far, the biggest hit of the night was a birthday card. It wasn't even close. She opened and listened to the recorded message from Bubba and Papa followed by the princess song again and again and again and again. Thankfully we captured it on video. I will post it soon. It is the cutest darn thing. And I know Trevor would enjoy one too, even now, but for some reason....she just loved it. We pretty much had to trick her into giving it up.

It was a wonderful birthday. Both our kids are so lucky to be so close to all our extended family. Spoiled too, a little, but so very very lucky. Thank you to my mom and dad (aka Bubba and Papa), my brother (aka uncle 'Bacca), my other brother and sister-in-law (aka Uncle Tinkerbell and Kelsey), Vicky (Grandma), Jerry (Grandpa), Derek, Kyrsten, (uncle) Jason, Teresa, Tracy, and Amy. Our family loves you guys and I can't say Thank you enough. THANK YOU! Let's do it again in 8 weeks! ;-)

A mom volunteer

So this was the first week of Kindergarten where they asked for parent volunteers. It is a weekly thing called Friday Stations. I'm not sure if it is always the same thing, but I'm guessing a lot of it revolves around arts and crafts. So I took part, and their weekly topic this week was "apples". I helped out on two tables. Mostly I was in charge of the table that got to make 4 step pictures of how a seed turns into an apple. Then at another station, I helped the kids put cutouts of apples on a picture of themselves as if they were balancing them. Then they had to "count" the apples by drawing numbers from 1 to 10.

Another thing Trevor and I did outside of school is their weekly homework. Russ did his weekly homework with Trevor last week, but I knew this weekend was going to be crazy full of stuff which wouldn't leave a lot of time to do his homework.

So both at school and at home, I noticed something that I don't think I have before. Trevor is VERY careful when it comes to drawing things with a crayon, specifically working on drawing people. When I came into class this morning, he was finishing up the last page in one of his books that he brings home and puts into his book box. He was drawing himself with crayons. Most of the rest of the class had finished, but he was still working on his. Then when I was finished up with the stations, he was still working on his last station, which involved coloring a picture of himself at school. Then at home, for his homework, he had to draw a picture of things that started with the letter M. He choose a mummy and Mario. Both of which resemble humans. So it took him a while. But I didn't pressure him, and neither did the teacher at school. I think it's a good trait he picked up from Russ's side. I am always quick to finish my work. I hate dwelling on things because then I start to second guess myself, and will always talk myself out of the right way of doing things for me.

Anyway, just something interesting I have now learned. Not sure if it will stay with him or not. He does have a tendency to race and want to be the first done, so if there is something that sends him in that direction, hopefully it won't distract him from simply doing his best and continuing to do well.