POTD

The doctor confirmed it this morning – Ryan has been hit with RSV. 

His poor little face is a total mess.  His eyes look like he’s dying from an allergy attack – he can barely open them at times.  His nose is gushing boogers.  And his mouth stays wide open all day so he can breath which means he drools all day.  His shirts are soaked.

But he did great with his first breathing treatment.  The nebulizer sound is second nature in our house so the machine didn’t freak him out at all.  He watched Baby Einstein and sat on his dad’s lap like a champ.

I feel so bad for this kid.  He looks absolutely miserable.

oh, what a week it has been.

[I am trying to be optimistic, but I think we’re in for another stellar week].

. Nate was diagnosed with RSV.  While it was a rough week – he wasn’t hit with a terrible fever so he was acting like he felt alright [not normal, but not a kid with RSV] so he still just wanted to play and play and play.  But his body desperately needed rest.  Especially those lungs of his.  Trying to get Nate to sit still is one heck of a challenge but we got creative with art projects, play-doh and rides in the stroller.  Oh, and of course our fair share of movies and TV shows.

. It was a boring week with just the three of us.  I quickly learned that we are not week-long home-bodies.  We like school, play dates, friends/family!  Luckily, we had fabulous weather all week so we did get outside a little bit to play in the dirt.  It was nice to get some fresh air and some sun!

. Nate’s breathing treatment medicine takes 25 minutes and he’s supposed to do it twice a day.  That’s a long time and it makes Nate WILD and CRAZY.  Wes and I are about to pull our hair out with how bonkers he gets but we quickly remind ourselves [and each other] that it’s not his fault.

. RYAN did great all week avoiding the “plague”. . . but then on Saturday we knew the RSV had made it’s way to our little man and now he is sick as a dog.  Yet another trip to the doctor tomorrow.  I feel so bad for babies when they are sick – he is absolutely miserable.  Don’t his poor little eyes just break your heart?

. Prior to Ryan getting sick, we started giving him a little whole milk in a sippy cup.  The dude is in love with milk in a sippy cup.  The transition out of a bottle may be easier than I thought.   

. Ryan had a blast the other night eating with the bowl and the spoon.  He wasn’t feeling well so we let him go at it and he loved it.  He was absolutely disgusting when he was all-done and went straight to the tub.

. Wes and I forgot how much easier it is to have a sick toddler vs. a sick baby.  If Ryan could just blow his nose that would make such a big difference!  The nose sucker is a necessary but mean device.  It’s nice that we’re at a point with Nate that he can tell us what hurts & happily blows his nose and takes medicine. 

. Speaking of Nate telling us what hurts – we’re pretty sure he now has an ear infection.

. The boys bathroom has been our steam room.  We get it SUPER steamy in there and then Wes takes both boys in the shower.  It’s amazing what comes flowing out of their noses after that!

. Other than Nate’s chest and his ears, he seems to be doing better.  His nose isn’t running [there’s still plenty of snot but it’s not coming out unless he blows his nose] and he’s not coughing.  He’s still got some serious congestion in his chest but he only coughs a few times a day.  So we’re making improvements.  I’m curious to see what doc says tomorrow.  At what point is he considered “not contagious” anymore?

. We’re very grateful to a fabulous brother-in-law that lives around the corner that dropped everything mid-house project to come help Wes give our boys a blessing.

. I have a confession: Nate wasn’t coughing at all with zero runny nose so we went on a little date on Saturday afternoon.  I figured a trip to an empty movie theatre to see Tangled wouldn’t infect anyone.  We had such a great afternoon!  It was my first time taking Nate to a movie and he loved the movie and a date with mom.  He sat on my lap and barely moved while eating his popcorn, skittles & apple juice.  It was just what we needed.

. I’m pretty sure we single-handedly kept the childrens medicine / Vicks aisle & Target Pharmacy in business this week.

. I’ve got a pretty great husband.  He was supposed to be out of town pretty much this entire next week but luckily it was one of those trips where he set everything up to meet with people and it all could be rescheduled in a week or two.  So without saying anything to me, he rescheduled all of the meetings.  I never would have expected or asked him to do that but it will sure make things easier this week.  Nights with these two are interesting – it definitely involves a two man parental team since they both seem to have “issues” at the same time!

Our fingers are crossed that Ryan’s body can fight off this sickness rather quickly.  It’s always a little scarier in babies – we hope he recovers soon!

the magic machine

I am in love with this vaporizer/humidifier. My friend Alex told me it made all the difference in the world when Harrison was sick a few weeks ago. Harrison was up for almost 5 hours one night coughing and crying and so she decided to try this thing and it totally worked for them.

And it's working for the Naters, too. It's like it lets off magic steam that instantly stops the coughing. He's sleeping much better at night instead of coughing for hours and hours.

Just thought I'd share our new favorite item from Target.

“We’ve been attacked by the SICK monster.” – Nate Griffeth

Mr. Cold and Flu has ATTACKED the Griffeth house this week.  It started with me with a massive sore throat but with alot of vitamin C, Zicam, vitamins, Halls Defense Drops & a few extra hours in bed [thanks Wes] I’m feeling okay.  Not great, but nothing to complain about.

It started hitting Wes yesterday.  We’ll see if he’s as lucky with the Airborne & vitamins.

My cute little boys, however are not so lucky.

Nate?  FULL.BLOWN.RSV.  [A first for our house, by the way.  Ever.]  He’s not doing so well.  He’s got a raspy cough that immediately turns to what we think is probably asthma but the wheezing is horrific.  His nose is gushing.  He’s got a low-grade fever.  The poor guy coughs and coughs all-night-long.  But none of this phases him – he still just wants to PLAY and PLAY.  Trying to get a 3 year old boy to hold still and rest a little more when he doesn’t want to has proven to be a challenge.

 

Ryan?  Well, he started the low-grade fever today and has been whining for 24+ hours so I’m pretty sure he is the next victim.

I STRUGGLE with day after day stuck inside the house.  We do get out a little bit – but the weather is FABULOUS and we just want to run and play outside.  But I’m pretty sure that will just about shut down Nate’s lungs so we’re staying low-key.  But day after day of feeling crappy without friends, cousins & school is a little rough on us! 

We’ll survive, I guess.

Nate’s first college basketball game

On Saturday, Nate went his dad to his first college basketball game – UNLV vs. New Mexico.

Nate was pretty excited to go and had a great time.  He loves “special” outings and an afternoon with his dad is always a hit.  And you know Wes loved it because it involved college sports and his little dude.

[when a 3 year old is done watching basketball, they make funny faces].

There will be many more sporting events in our future, for sure! 

Ryan is 11 months old

We’ve got one month left until he turns ONE.  That’s just craziness.

Our little [or not so little] boy has quite the personality these days.  He is a joy to have in our family and either makes me crazy or makes me smile all day long.  He’s a destructive little boy – the bigger the mess the better.  He pulls just about anything over and climbs anything he thinks he can climb.  Today he pulled our big garbage can over and it landed right on him.  I got about 15 minutes of cuddle time after that one.

Speaking of cuddling, Ryan can be quite the cuddler.  He loves to snuggle in and give loves.  I absolutely love this about him.

 

Ryan at 11 months:

. He still will eat anything & he never stops eating.  You just have to cut him off.  He gets really mad if he’s sitting in his highchair and there’s even 30 seconds without food being offered.

. He loves his mama [and his dad].  When I walk in to a room he stops what he’s doing and with a big smile crawls right over to me.  He will do the same to Wes when he’s been gone for a while.

. He’s got 7 teeth.

. He still has not mastered the sleeping thing.  He sometimes just cries and cries for no apparent reason.

. Speaking of sleeping, most of the time he lays ON his lion and holds a binky while he sleeps.  Lately when he’s mad in there he throws everything out of his crib and then cries even louder.

. He weighs 23 pounds.

. Loves being outside.  He loves going on walks, playing in dirt, crawling around in the grass, climbing on playgrounds, etc.  If he’s outside, he’s happy.  I think this summer will be fun when I can get out some water toys!

. He HITS!  Seriously!  He will whack you and pull hair on purpose.

. He loves to play but also still loves to be held.

. He’s been crawling for 5 months and walking around things for almost 4.  But no sign of walking yet.

. He had his first haircut today.  He was starting to grow a mullet so before anyone could say “look at that baby’s mullet”, we cut it off. 

. He loves music.

. He’s slightly better in the car.

. He will lay right on Nate and just roll over him and give him big hugs and kisses.

. He’s got a great smile.

. He can throw quite a tantrum.

. He HATES getting dressed and un-dressed.  The only time this isn’t a problem is when he’s standing next to the bathtub as it’s filling up with water for his nightly bath.  He LOVES getting in the tub so he will cooperate with getting his clothes off.

. He still takes two naps.  They usually aren’t great naps but he’s getting a little better.

   

We love this little boy of ours!

grandma & grandpa G come to visit

We were spoiled last weekend with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa G – all the way from Georgia!

This was the first visit of theirs where Nate was old enough to know exactly who was coming and was beyond excited for their arrival [and was beyond sad when they left.]

We lucked out with PERFECT weather while they were here.  We had a little winter heat wave come our way – putting us around 73 degrees during the day.  Like I said, perfect.  And it was even better for Grandma and Grandpa G because they came from a city covered in sheets of ice so this was a nice treat!

During the days, we played outside alot.  We went on walks & played at the park.  Wes got to spend a little quality time with just his dad [which i know he always loves].  Robert helped Wes with a few things around our house and I put Doreen to work helping me with a big client work dinner stuffing gift bags for all of their employees!  Nate showed Grandma all of his toys and loved having endless attention.  So did Ryan.  Like I said, we’re a little spoiled when they come.

 

On Saturday night, we got a babysitter and went to a Mexican Restaurant – Lindo Michoacán – for dinner and then took Robert & Doreen to see the Lion King at Mandalay Bay.  Wes and I have seen it before and loved it so we thought we’d take Robert & Doreen!

   

On the other nights, Robert & Doreen brought a new game called Qwirkle.  Lets just say I’m addicted to that game!  As much as I loved playing with Doreen, I’m excited to try a round without her so I even have a chance of winning.  She won EVERY game [and we played a lot of them].  Thanks for introducing it to us!

We wish we saw Grandma & Grandpa G more often.  They are always so fun to have come visit and they are so helpful while they are here.  We try to give them a little break but they insist on helping us!  We’ll see you in June at the lake!

a fabulous book.

I just finished this almost-900-page book and I absolutely loved it. It's in my top three favorite books, for sure. Thanks to Ali for not only the recommendation but for letting me borrow your book for a really long time!

I can't wait to read another one of his - London.

It's basically a history of New York from the beginning up until September 11. It's a historical fiction novel but Rutherford really gets his facts accurate after alot of research. I learned a lot and enjoyed the fictional part of it, too.

I highly recommend it.

an update on my sunbeam.

Yesterday we had our “Meet your Teacher Breakfast” with our primary kiddos.  For a Presidency who had yet to do a big Primary party – I think it went pretty well.  I’m VERY glad that we asked one parent of each 2011 sunbeam to join us because my sunbeam looked like this 90% of the party.

I have no clue why he just melts down when it comes to primary.  The only thing I can think of is that he’s intimidated by that many kids and that he doesn’t do well when things aren’t what he expects.  Oh, and that mom isn’t available because I’m doing my calling during primary.  But whatever the reason – Wes & I are hoping he gets over it soon!  This isn’t like him to be this emotional all of the time. [Well, and he got about 3 hours less sleep the night before the party which is never good for anyone in our house!]

Here are a few of the 10% of where Nate was happy!

[nate and his fellow sunbeam and friend, Carter]

[we took pictures of each kid dressed as someone from the scriptures.  Here’s Nate as a stripling warrior!]

 

How did today go at church?  Well, he still had quite the meltdown but actually sat with his class for half of sharing time and all of class time which is a SIGNIFICANT improvement from last week.  But we’re hoping for no tears one of these Sundays.  Sheesh Naters.  You’re killing me.

Ryan and I went in to nursery for a brief moment to help out a little today and Ryan LOVED being with the kids and playing with the toys!  He was already a bully – pushing little Madeline [who is a year older but weighs the same as Ryan] away from the slide.  And then it was downhill from there for poor little Ryan.

I’m really grateful that I’m LOVING our Sunday mornings at home because the actual hours from 1pm-4pm at church are rough . . . but at least the mornings are nice!

life this week with [two little] griffeth boys

Nate & Ryan have been pretty fun this week.  Crazy [life with BOYS is always crazy], but good.

 

. We went to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay with Grandma, Abbie & Daisy.  All of the kids enjoyed it but Nate and Abbie really liked it.

 

. Nate has been a superhero or a pirate since Christmas.  Luckily his friends think it’s pretty fun, too.

 

. A day with Hadley at our house.

This little girl is going to have a baby brother any day now that I can’t wait to hold and cuddle!  We got to have her with us for almost a whole day when they sent Kiley to the hospital for monitoring and it was such a treat.  After the first hour was over, they played PERFECTLY . . . without a fight or tear!  It was fabulous!

 

. One day Nate really wanted to wear his fishing boots all morning [with jeans tucked in like my jeans are tucked in to my Uggs] and then he switched to cowboy boots and his hat.  I wasn’t going to fight that battle on that particular day. 

Are you noticing a trend with his new camera face?

 

. Ryan is a total animal.  The staircase isn’t as exciting anymore [although he still thinks its a fun game to climb them] so he decided to climb the ladder to the slide and go down head first . . . as well as stand on Strawberry Shortcake’s house.  Why do I have a Strawberry Shortcake house?  Because it was my favorite toy growing up so I dug it out of my parent’s garage & cleaned it for the girls who come to play.  My boys like it as Buzz/Woody’s house . . . or Batman’s house.

 

. Ryan is loving all of his new musical toys he got for Christmas.  The boy LOVES music and loves to dance.  And he loves the tool on the tool bench that makes lots of noise.  He’s at such a fun age.  I love sitting on the floor with him and just playing.  He loves it, too.

       

 

. Today we went with our playgroup from our old ward to Anderson Dairy for a tour!  It was so cute.  Our tour guide was fabulous and the Dairy has done such a good job coming up with fun ideas for kids.  And the Griffeth clan will never complain about icecream at the end of an activity.  Somehow, after growing up here, I had never been to the dairy so it was pretty cool!

My PROJECT LIFE – Picture of the Day is going well so far!