Saturday Morning Alone at Home

Brad and Matthew went out this morning...do you know what this means???  I am home alone!  I can't even remember the last time I was home alone.  It's a little bit....glorious! :)  Don't get me wrong, I love having my boys around, but a break sure is nice once in a while.

The week in review...

 - Days got progressively better as the medication started kicking in.  We had one night where Matthew slept through, and several where I slept beside him on a bed we moved in beside his crib.  This allowed us to comfort him through the bars of the crib so that he wouldn't scream, and I got to lay down instead of walk him for hours on end in the night.  So thankful this worked!

 - I finished "Gone With the Wind" last night and was so ticked off at the end...Brad just laughed when I told him how mad I was about the ending and said, "Yeah, I knew you were going to be.  I was just waiting for you to finish!"  It was a good book, and it definitely surprised me (which I did like - most books are so predictable).  

 - Tonight I'm going to see the movie "Gone With the Wind" with some girlfriends...did you know it is almost 4 hours long?!?!  It is playing for free tonight at a local theater.  I'm excited to see it!

 - Last night Brad and I had a great "at home" date night.  After Matthew finally went to bed we watched an old Clark Gable movie, "It Happened One Night".  Good movie, and great time laughing about nothing at all with my hubby.  Just what I needed :)

 - One of the only bright sides of Matthew being sick...he gets super snuggly!

 - I have the rest of the morning to myself!  I can't decide what to do with all my free time.  What a great problem to have!!!!

Feeling Hopeful

Thank you so much for all the helpful comments and messages you all sent. We will be trying your suggestions as soon as we can!

After a very long night in which Matthew and I were up from midnight until 4:30am, I got up this morning and thought to myself, "I can't do this anymore." I called a friend who has 4 kids and has been super helpful in giving me advice along the way, cried to her a bit, and felt a little more hopeful that maybe, just maybe, this will not last forever.

Our doctor's appointment yesterday went well, but it was a very long afternoon. I found out that Matthew most likely had an allergic reaction to something on the weekend as he was covered in hives Sunday night and most of yesterday. He's on an oral steroid which is already helping with the itching.

This morning I called our pediatrician. I am so thankful to have a good doctor to turn to who listens and cares. She asked lots of questions, I cried some more, and when she checked Matthew over she found...EAR INFECTION. Again. Our poor little guy was screaming last night every time I put him down, and now I know why.

I must admit, I felt kind of relieved that she found something we could fix! Matthew is obviously feeling pretty crummy today, and for nap time I had to put him in the baby carrier (best investment ever) and walk with him for about half an hour. Then I managed to slowly lower us both onto the couch where we both slept for about 20 minutes. I am thinking that tonight may be rough still but hopefully tomorrow night will start to get better.

It's so good to have hope that this will end!

And in other great news...our social worker called and cancelled our meeting for tonight! Any other time I probably would have been disappointed, but today I was elated! I didn't want to cancel since we've been waiting a long time to start, but once she cancelled I realized how relieved I was!

I'll leave you today with some silliness, because I find a little silliness always helps the day be better :)

(Matthew's new slide...the living room is NOT it's permanent home!)

(Stinky wanted to try out the slide, too...)

(This is one of my favorites...silly boy!)

This parenting thing is hard sometimes, but when I see that little face, and when he reaches out his hands and puts them on my face and looks at me and says, "Mama", I know it's all worth it.

We've Had It!

We've had it up to here...

...with eczema!

Honestly, just had it.  Poor Brad spent several hours in the night with a screaming and itchy baby and a crying and overwhelmed momma.  I am frustrated and sad and we just don't know what to do.  We are going back to the dermatologist this afternoon and praying that somehow we can get him some relief.  We are also going to a pediactric allergist on Sept. 20th to find out if this is allergy related.  This is just crazy and I now dread the night because it is just so hard.  I'm so sorry to whine, I am just so frustrated and beyond tired after the last few nights.

Oh, and our home study is scheduled for tomorrow night, which is great timing when I'm feeling like having another child might be the worst idea ever. :)

If you have any suggestions or advice to help with eczema or allergies...please help!

Oh Canada, How I Have Missed You!

At long last...we left the country!  This weekend we headed to my parent's house for the very first time since Matthew came home.  It was a wonderful weekend but unfortunately I am too tired to upload photos tonight so you will have to settle for a "weekend in review" blog post tonight :)

I was so worried about crossing the border with Matthew and making sure we had what we needed to get into Canada that OOPS I forgot something kind of important...the document issued to me by the US to let me back into the States.  You know, kind of important if I wanted to come home ever.  Of course I realized this after we passed the sign saying something we could not turn back now and had to proceed to Canada.  Major oops.  

Brad, being the seriously wonderful man that he is, did not freak out or get mad, but simply said that he would drive back and get it, and then come back to Canada again.  It's a 2 1/2 hour drive each way.  So he drove us there Friday night, and Saturday morning he got up and drove back across the border, where thankfully his mom and brother were so kind as to meet him with my card.  Crisis averted.

Most of the weekend was spent just hanging out in the living room together.  I must admit it was fabulous to get a bit of a break since everyone was so excited to have Matthew there!  They all entertained him from the moment he woke up until he went to sleep...

Except last night he wouldn't go to sleep.  Well, that's not entirely true.  He went to bed around 7:30pm, but woke up at 1am itching and miserable.  On went the wet pajamas, but nothing seemed to soothe the itching around his neck, head and hands.  Last night was a very long night in which Brad and I both only got about 4 hours of sleep, and not at the same time.  I am more grateful than ever to have a husband who is so kind and helps so much with Matthew.  

The pajama thing had been helping quite a lot, but he is still having a rough time.  It's so annoying that we can't figure it out!  It seems to be so much worse at night.  We're going to a new allergist soon and probably back to the dermatologist this week...we NEED to be able to sleep again!

Even with the rough night, we had a marvelous time with my family and I am so thankful we were able to go!  Matthew was totally at ease there (probably since he already knows my family pretty well) and it was so nice and relaxing to be "home".

Sometimes Wet Pajamas Are a Good Thing

Unfortunately, our poor little boy is having a mighty itchy time again lately. We have seen the dermatologist several times, and the treatments seem to work for a couple of weeks, and then as soon as we stop his eczema flares up again. We have been using a fabulous steroid cream that works wonders, but apparently you can only use it for short periods of time because it can be bad if you use it continuously. He's on an antihistamine as well and the dose just keeps going up because the itchiness continues. It makes it very hard for him to get to sleep, and stay asleep, which is a bummer for everyone! We feel so bad seeing him uncomfortable.

Yesterday I spoke with our dermatologist again and he recommended something that sounded kind of strange. Last night we tried something called a "wet wrap" - basically, after putting his lotion on, we soaked a pair of cotton pajamas in warm water, wrung them out, and put them on him! Then we put a dry warm pair over top. And we left him like that all night long!

(Here he is in the wet pair...probably thinking, "Um, this is a bit crazy!")

(And here he is with a dry pair over top...possibly wondering if his parents were seriously losing it!)

I mean, really, can you imagine going to bed in soaking wet pajamas? I can't! But the amazing thing - it seemed to work! He laid in his crib and was asleep within 5 minutes! He did wake up once at 11pm, and we put a new pair of wet pjs on him with warmer outer pjs, and he went right back to sleep until 9:15am this morning. When I took his pajamas off, his skin had almost completely cleared up!!!! He was much less itchy today and I am so so thankful. We are going to try this for a few days to see if it will make a difference for him. If not, we may be on to some new meds. For his sake, I hope this works!

Fun at the Lake

We had a great weekend around here! My dear friend Sue who I have now known for 17 years came with her husband Stan. Yes, it was Nascar weekend again! The boys went to the race on Sunday and had a blast, while Sue and I hung out and did what we do best - shopping, talking, eating cookies, and watching movies :) Sue and Stan are having their first child soon and it was so much fun to talk babies with one of my dearest friends.

Yesterday Brad had the day off work so we decided to head to the beach. This was the first time we've taken Matthew (where has the summer gone?!?!) and it was a total hit! He loved playing in the sand and swimming in the lake. It was perfect weather and was so nice and relaxing. A few of my favorite pictures from the day:

(Digging in one spot kept him busy for ages!)

(He was a little unsure at first but soon we couldn't keep him out of the water)

(Trying out his new floaty toy...I love that I could float along with him!)

(This has to be my favorite picture of the day.

Doesn't he look like he is totally posing?

The belly is my favorite part!)

(Rocks and sand...sand and rocks. They entertain for a long time!)

(Don't worry, he is squealing with joy!)

(Brad covered up his legs with sand and he just kept saying "More!" and signing "Please")

I'm so thankful for the fun weekend we had.

Except for the sunburn that Brad got, it was perfect!

I hope we can go to the beach again soon.