I'm no celebrity... but am I being punk'd

I feel like I entered the twilight zone last weekend. Remember my post about hoping Sterling's ear infections made up the extent of our doctor visits this "sick" season. Well... it did not work out - not at all actually. Sterling then got himself a nice little case of hand foot mouth - complete with, as the doctor put it, very large ulcers in the back of his throat. Great. Along with this came a fever of 103.8. Nice. Then Stella spiked a fever - seemed to be the same thing maybe? Well, we assumed it was, until she started complaining her neck hurt. Knowing that could actually mean throat - which would make sense, I wasn't to concerned, until she pointed to it and it was on the backside behind her ear. Along with this, her eyes hurt, stomach hurt, etc. We decided to call her Dr. to try to make a weekend appointment, just to make sure it was the same thing Sterling had, and there wasn't something else going around our little house. When the nurse called back to schedule the appointment, she told us we needed to take her the the pediatric E.R. because her symptoms matched those of meningitis, and this marks the beginning of the end. Not realizing what a bad idea it would be to go to the pediatric E.R., we made our way downtown, a little concerned, but pretty sure she didn't have meningitis. We waited for two hours in the waiting room, while my poor mom who was in town held Sterling outside so that he didn't have to be in the room with all of the coughing, barfing, crazy other sick kiddos.

Finally, we were called back, and my mom and Sterling headed to the car to wait. The Resident checked Stella out, and said something about possibly getting her fluids because she looked "puny" and possibly testing for strep and H1N1. Next thing we knew, the nurses were in the room, prepping Stella for her IV. So, we knew the fluids weren't really a bad thing, Stella was pretty much refusing to drink... but it was torturous for her - and us.She was so good when they stuck her, didn't pull her arm or flinch at all, but her jaw dropped to the ground and the tears started flowing. She was totally caught off guard. Luckily, the nurses let Andy hold her the whole time, and she and he eventually fell asleep next to each other on the little bed. When the doctor started talking about her possibly having the flu - I asked what it would mean for my 8 month old son if she tested positive.

He said, oh, he probably needs to be tested as well. I mentioned he was outside and he said to go check him in, bring him back, and they could test him too while we were already there. Sounded terrific to me. Perfect to get it all done in one nice little trip - rather then having to wait in some waiting room for another two hours. I went and got Sterling, brought him back, and they tested him for the flu. Never tested Stella. Hmm... we asked about that, and the nurses just said that the Dr. hadn't ordered her test yet... So then we hear that both Stella's strep test, and Sterlings flu test are negative. This is where it really gets crazy. So they say they want to Get some blood from Sterling to test. (They had already taken a sample from Stella's when they were putting in her IV. I was a little unsure why they wanted to test Sterlings blood. If he didn't have the flu then we weren't worried. It was just his hand foot mouth. No tests required for that - allready diagnosed.) When the nurse came in to get some blood, she said that they were going to put an IV in so that in case his blood work came back high, they wouldn't have to poke him again. (Are you kidding me... instead of doing a simple foot prick you are going to put an IV in his hand!!! They could tell we were a little hesitant on the situation and tried to insure us that it was the easiest way to go about it all.) So, they attempted to get an IV in... unsuccsessfully. Poor Sterling was not to fond of the whole experience at all!! Apparently he has veins like me... very very hard to get needles into. Finally they settled for a foot prick, but had to squeeze forever because Sterling is "not a good bleeder". They also ordered a chest x-ray. I could have told them he didn't have pneumonia, but they needed to see for themselves. At least Sterling enjoyed this part. They strapped him into a chair, and he smiled and smiled at me through the window. So cute. Obviously, those came back normal. When the blood work finally came back - his counts were elevated. (well duh - he had hand foot mouth!!) so they needed to grow out the culture to make sure it wasn't bacteria in his blood. Until it was grown out - they needed to treat Sterling as if there was bacteria - just in case. This meant and IV of big dog antibiotics. Great. Much screaming, one almost passed out mom, and angry grandma, and a ticked off dad, and two poked up kids later, we were able to leave the hospital, a whopping 9 hours later. Not fun. But thats not the end of the story. We had to bring Sterling back the next night for his second dose of the antibiotics. This time - no IV, just a shot in each leg. He still screamed his head off though, and it still took 3 hours. For a measly little dose of antibiotics. All to make his follow up appointment with his pediatrician to find out he is fine. It was just the hand foot mouth virus all along. Like we thought. We just wanted to make sure he didn't have the flu - if Stella did. She never even ended up being tested for it. Crazy... but both kids are now happy and healthy... so lets hope now that this is the last of it for us this season. Seriously!

This little dude no longer has a toothless grin, well... not technically at least.

Bling bling...

I was just contemplating getting another charm for my "initials" necklace. I have a charm for Andy and Stella. Only problem is, If I get a charm for Sterling, I would be wearing a necklace that said, well, -a dirty word- around my neck. Bummer...

Apples + Bees = BFF

We went to a pick your own apple orchard on Saturday. We did it when Stella was a little baby two years ago, and there was a freeze that year so there weren't many apples, and mainly we just walked around their pumpkin patch and bought apple cider from their store. This time we decided to go to a different farm, and had a similar experience. They told us that the apples were sparce, and if we couldn't fill our (pre-paid) bags, that there were bins of apples they had picked, washed and had ready to go in bins spread out across the orchard. We bought three bags. We couldn't even fill one with apples we picked ourselves. But besides the lack of apples, we had a great time hanging out together as a family. Andy and I would love to have a pick your own orchard one day. We think it is a great little family business, and it would be great for our children and grand children. Andy loves to be in touch with nature - especially helping others to get in touch with their food supply, so every time we go to one of these "pick your own" farms, we get re-inspired. One thing about pick your own farms I don't like... Bees!!! This orchard had plenty. I would like to pat myself on the back though- I did not scream, squeal, jump, or run around in circles once. I stayed very calm the entire time, and just steered clear of any apples in an attempt to also steer clear of any bees. Stella on the other hand, had plenty of contact with bees, and plenty of tears to shed as a result. Every time a bee would fly up to her, she would tense up and run stiffly to try to get away. We told her the bees just wanted her apples because they were sweet, so she began to throw her apples onto the ground whenever a bee came after her. Then she would point at the apple on the ground and burst into tears because she really wanted the apple. It was a never ending sad cycle that repeated itself numerous times during our stay in the orchard.

If you enlarge this next image, you can see a bee flying at Stella's apple. It is right where she is looking, in front of her sleeve.

And then here again, the bee, a little closer to its target, and really starting to freak Stella out. She will throw the apple down in 5, 4, 3...

Stella enjoyed watching her dad pick apples, and climb trees almost as much as she enjoyed eating them. She really wanted dad to put her up in a tree, but the bee cycle would often interrupt the moment, and we would move on without Stella ever leaving the ground. Maybe next time.

This clever little one was trying real hard to give us a hint... Stella wanted nothing to do with feeding any of the animals.

Right down the street from the farm, there was a hayride, pumpkin patch, pony ride place. It also had ice cream...and so did we. ;) Stella was so excited to ride the horse. She was screaming and kicking in the car, shaking with excitement. I was excited too... after all, what a perfect picture opportunity. I was going to get my good pictures as Stella rounded the corner to make her way back, that way she would be facing me. She never made it that far. She only made it ten feet in fact.

She hopped on the pony...

Called out for Dad, and started her dismount...

And that was that.

So Sterling got a chance.

He rode much longer than Stella did...

But eventually bailed too. Then my camera died. There's always next year for some cute horse pics I guess.

We may not have come away with bags and bags full of apples like we had hoped, but we did come away with some fun little memories... and (some) pictures to prove it.

Catch up... more pictures than you can handle

I have so many recent pictures, I figured I could just make a massive post of nothing specific... just a whole bunch of things that we have been up to, or pictures of the kiddos doing what they do most the time. Stella and Sterling have been getting along fantastic for the most part. Every once in a while Stella will have a day where she wants everything Sterling has. If he has a toy - she will grab it from him, if he's in the bumbo seat... she wants to sit in the bumbo seat, etc. But usually, she is so loving and caring towards him. Often times, if he cries in the car, she says things like, "look Sterling, look at all the cars!" Or she sings to him to try to make him stop. So sweet.

Sterling cried this morning as his dad left for school... My kiddos both love their dad sooo much!

Karen Rozmus came over the other day for a young womens meeting, and Stella went crazy when she saw her at the front door. At one point during the meeting Karen walked towards the door to get something from her purse, and Stella said, "Karen don't go!" Then Karen did her hair in these pig tails, and when Karen did end up leaving, Stella told her, "Give me my kiss." before she let her walk out the door. So funny.

Stella always piles toys in front of/on top of Sterling to help keep him busy. (or to distract him so she can take the one away from him that she wants)

Stella has been doing great on the potty training front. She does just fine, as long as she has her little "potty" around. Don't know how we will get her to realize that the big toilet isn't actually scary, but until then I guess it will mean diapers when we aren't home. Hopefully soon she will be adventerous and try out the "big potty".

Look at Sterlings legs in this next picture. This pretty much sums him up. Total chiller and relaxer, and loves his dads phone, or anything with a screen.

Sterling can konk out basically anywhere.

Stella's new favorite place to hang out is on top of the fridge. I guess thats what happens when your Dad is so tall.

Stella loves to imitate us. She gets all ready to go, and stands by the door telling me she is going to school or to work like her dad. Once or twice she has told me she is going to the gym. She also calls me and Andy "babe" on occasion because thats what we so often call each other.

Stella asks to hold Sterling quite a bit, and then she will always tell me to take a picture. So I have plenty of pictures like this laying around.

After bath time one night, we played around with the kids hair. I did Sterlings hair how my mom always used to do my hair when I was a baby. We also brushed Stella's hair out straight and left it... it ended up curling just like normal.

It would appear that Stella loves her ice cream. She asks for it multiple times a day. I have to remind her a couple of times a day that ice cream is only what we eat for dessert - not for every thing else. Funny thing is, Stella doesn't like cold things. She never finishes her ice cream, because she doesn't like the cold, and we only give her mini cones as it is. But she still asks for it all the time.