Home sick again

So it seems Kennon's bronchiolitis does not want to give up. He is still coughing a fair amount and we learned that several of the other kids in his room are sick with bronchitis/bronchiolitis caused by RSV, which is a nasty contagious respiratory virus/infection. It is PROBABLE Kennon's is caused by this RSVirus as well but our physician did not do any formalized testing. One of his classmates is actually in the hospital on oxygen his infection is so bad!! We don't seem to be heading down that road as of yet but we decided to keep him out of the germ mayhem at school so Eric and I are once again juggling our schedules to keep him home. Kennon is in pretty good humor as I sit and write this and he has been sleeping pretty well despite the coughing. We are still using the inhaler for his cough although I am not certain we are seeing much difference as of yet. So we'll keep an eye on him. I am always comforted by the fact that our physician has weekend hours so we could take him in on Sat or Sun if needed. I am once again trying to upload the videos that are so cute. We'll see if they take. Maddox seems to be warding off the RSV bug thus far despite its extreme contagiousness. Although I'm pretty certain she has had it in the past. Apparently you don't build immunity to this little virus so it can hang around a long time!! Actually wondering if Maddox has had it multiple times given her history of frequent fevers, colds etc over the last multiple months. Eric and I AGAIN had the discussion last night about Kindercare verses home daycare. I certainly don't think Maddox was as sick as Kennon has been having spent the first 2 years of her life at Kim's but then again the exposure to so much learning, socialization, and that Kindercare offers is not even comparable to a home setting. So we'll keep them where they are at for now.

Busy Busy.....

So since I last updated I had 72 pictures that I just downloaded from the computer ( don't worry I won't put them all on the blog) but that just tells you how busy we've been since my last post in early January. We have been battling health stuff but have managed to get some good family visits in, as you can see from the pictures. We are finally done celebrating Christmas! Another big thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts. We are really using everything. Best of all though, in between illnesses, we got to spend lots of time with family celebrating. Let's see where are we at now. You can see from several of the pictures Kennon's cheeks are pretty red, which is generally an indication that he is sick and since I last posted he has been sick a fair amount. Despite the tubes he ended up with another ear infection a couple of weeks ago. Grrrrr....! We are hoping this will be his last one for awhile. Right now he is battling bronchiolitis, which is a big name for inflamed bronchioles in his lungs and we just started on an inhaler on Monday. Maddox has had her turn as well catching a high fever/cold/cough last week causing Eric to have to miss a day of work. Both the kids have been coughing so hard that they've 'painted' the carpet causing the need for a visit from Stanley Steemer today. Maddox seems to be doing better and is coughing less and no longer has a fever. We are hoping with the inhaler we started Monday that Kennon will start to show some improvement. We HAVE been getting better sleep out of both of them. There for awhile they were both getting up several times a night!! But, since Maddox is doing better and Kennon is somewhat finding a sleep pattern we have gotten a couple of FULL NIGHT sleeps. We are definintely hoping for more in the future though. Kennon is growing. He was up to 17 pounds 6 ounces when I had him at the office on Monday for the Dr. to listen to his lungs. He is sooooo busy busy busy!! He is such a BOY! I think when he starts moving we are going to really be in for it. He reaches out/lunges for anything he thinks he can get his little paws on and it goes straight to the mouth. I can't believe he doesn't have tooth yet, he has been drooling like a fiend ( something Maddox didn't really do). We started giving him puffs this week which he doesn't have too much trouble with so I don't think it will be long before we move him to table food, especially when he gets a tooth. He is sitting up really well now and looks like he is ready to get into the crawl position soon. He LOVES Maddox and just lights up when she comes into the room to play with him. He reaches out/lunges for her to give her hugs all the time and just watches her like a hawk, learning learning learning. I'm sure it won't be long before he starts 'stealing' her toys and then she probably won't be quite so happy to rush over and get a hug. Maddox is doing well. She loves to sing nursery rhymes, go grocery shopping with her new grocery cart in the Kies Grocery Store, and go to school. We have to pry her out of Kindercare most afternoons. She is learning so much there and is really doing well talking in sentences and comes home saying stuff that we KNOW she didn't learn here at home. In the fall she will go to a local church pre-school on Mondays and Wednesdays in addition to her normal days at Kindercare. She seems to get bored here on my days off so we thought we'd go ahead and get her into one of the church pre-schools. It is only a half day program but that will give Kennon and I some alone time! Well I need to get the videos uploaded. The are too cute.... I am using my new iphone that Eric got me for Christmas to take pics/video so hopefully that will make the 'blog process' smoother and more frequent. Ok....well it is like 2 hours later and the video just won't upload. I have 2 cute ones. One of Kennon and the other of Maddox shopping in the Kies Grocery Store. I'll try to upload them this weekend. Take care.

Happy Holidays

So I'm finally getting around to uploading all the great Christmas photos! We had a very nice quiet Christmas here on Judge Road. Maddox absolutely LOVED the wagon from Santa. I am quite certain it is going to be very well used come Spring time. She took many rides around the living room on Christmas morning. Kennon really liked it too. His trunk stability is such that he does quite well sitting up in the seat with the safety strap on. Since Christmas day was pretty warm Eric even took Maddox for an outdoor ride. We got TONS of great presents. Our kids have to be the most spoiled kids on Judge!! We are very grateful we have such loving thoughtful family. Maddox especially loved the Saucony shoes (she had to put them on immediately and make sure she could JUMP ) from the Brooke and Tyler, the puzzle from the St. Paul Kies family and Kennon's musical drum. YES, that's right it was TO Kennon from the Denver Knowles' but Maddox was quick to 'show' Kennon how to work it. Thanks to everyone for such thoughtful usable gifts!! We actually still have 2 Christmas' to go. We broke our record for the last several years of being in Keokuk over the New Year's weekend. I came down with a terrible cold after Christmas and Kennon went on a 'no sleep' streak after he got his tubes on the 27th. So we decided to hang here, get healthy, and get KTK back on a good sleeping schedule, which we are still working on, although gaining ground. Kennon did well getting the tubes. Dr. Tyner said the procedure went well. Unfortunately after the surgery he literally would NOT sleep through the night. Add to that Maddox and I both having colds and it got pretty rough around the Kies household. Luckily, Eric was able to pull us through, by NOT getting sick and taking almost all of the night shifts with Kennon. The kid would not sleep lying down, it was awful. He had to sleep upright in a chair or in your arms, if AT ALL. We are rallying hard here in the last 48 hours though and are making a come back to sleepy/healthy land. Thanks to the Keokuk Kies for waiting to celebrate Christmas with us till the end of January! We appreciate it and are looking forward to seeing everyone. We did get Maddox's hair cut, in case you were wondering if it looked a little shorter in one of the above pictures. And I"m sure you are thinking what is up with the ice cream cone pictures, but I can honestly say this is the first real ice cream cone that Maddox has had so we thought we better capture it on photo. She loved it and ate every last bit!! She has had plenty of ice cream but never actually on the cone. I certainly haven't done this on purpose it just sort of happened this way. It also happened that HyVee was having a MAJOR sale on these ice cream cones. 10cents per box with each box having 4 cones inside!! What a deal! I couldn't pass up. Maddox is happy I didn't pass it up either :) Let's see what else. Maddox is still LOVING Kcare. She runs right in and we have to basically pry her out the door in the afternoon. In fact she is loving it so much we are planning on her going there 5 days per week next year. That will give KTK and I some alone time. He seems to always get the shaft on solo time. I haven't been able to create too many memories with him solo so Eric and I thought it would be worth the extra cost. Plus, I'm pretty sure Maddox won't mind. She comes home singing a new song everyday and her sentence structure is so good. She speaks in full sentences quite often. I've been keeping track of some cute things she has said lately. One of these days I'll post them. Her brain is so raw, she says just what she thinks. Lately she has been on a food drive!!! She is eating anything and everything we put in front of her but most specifically fruits and veggies. She is loving blueberries right now. Eric and I are hoping Kennon's tubes are going to keep him healthier because he is SO FUN when he is healthy. So smiley. He is really inquisitive lately and reaches out for anything that happens to be in his path whether it belongs to him or not ( remotes, phones etc ). I keep thinking a tooth is going to pop through soon but so far nothing. When he was at his 6 month check a few weeks ago he was up to 16 pounds 12 ounces. He loves to sit up and really gets rather frustrated if we put him on his back. So therefore he hasn't really figured out how to roll over which developmentally he should have by now. But, the physical therapist in me isn't really worried. I am quite certain this kid is not going to be slowed down by taking time to learn how to roll. He is already much happier even standing on his feet than sitting. He has been battling odd rashes and excema outbursts. He seems to be very sensitive to any changes in clothes, lotions etc. I think we've got it back under control though in the last day or so. He likes his friends at Kcare and most of the days we get a 'he was very happy today' report from the teachers. Ok. This is getting long. Thanks again to everyone for all the great Christmas toys and clothes. Oh, I almost forgot for you Hawkeye fans! The video of Maddox at the end is one of the songs that they play at the Hawkeye games in between quarters. Everyone stands up and 'du dutes' along, moving their arms like that. She also knows the Pancheros Pump it Up song too and can pump her arms up like the entire stadium does. It is super cute!! It is official she is a HAWKEYE and will fit right in when we take her to her first game. We can't wait to share that with her. What a cool tradition to have with our kids. GO HAWKS. We are already looking forward to the 2012 season.