Scooby Dooby Doo

Sophia's good friend, William, turned four and to celebrate, he had a Scooby Doo themed party. Everyone came dressed up as a character. Originally, Sophia really wanted to be Daphne, of course. But once she found out that Velma got to wear glasses and was really smart she changed her mind.








The kids at the party helped to solve a mystery. A ghost showed up and swiped the birthday gifts. The kids got clues which they followed to each new activity and eventually they found the ghost and discovered his true identity. They had a ball. Sophia was totally engaged in the mystery and in being Velma. At one point she turned to the adults and said: "I'm the smart one!", all the while tapping her temple. Little goof. She had a blast and still talks of being smart Velma.




Reading a clue




The birthday boy as Fred




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Random Jacob pictures

He just keeps growing... He keeps getting attitude... And he is gosh darn cute. Jacob may be little, very little for his age, but sure as heck he ca get into things. He doesn't walk, he runs everywhere. Every day is an adventure with this little guy, he has a great sense of humor and is a real goof. We think we might just have our hands full with him. Add Sophia to the mix and we are in trouble. Big trouble.

Can ya tell....

Sophia got a new hair cut and a new dress. Nothing like shiny new things to bring out the inner diva in our little four year old. My girl doesn't have a flair for the dramatic. Nope, not this girl.









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Asthma update

Jacob and I ended up staying two nights in the hospital. Yahoo for us. The nurses were great and took good care of J. The only challenge was trying to convince a very active two year old that really he had to stay in the little tiny room while his sister was free to leave when she wanted. Sigh. Thankfully the ward has a child life worker who checks in with the families offering breaks to weary parents and bringing toys and books to kids in isolation. That made a difference, once Jacob had something to do. But he still figured out how to open the door and try to sneak down the hall. Of course, he had to give me a sly smile while doing it. Little stinker.

Anyway, the outcome of the stay was that we are now the proud owners of an aerochamber and a brand spanking new prescription for a maintenance inhaler and a rescue inhaler. Jake has to take two puffs twice a day to maintain a healthy airway. Thankfully he takes the puffs with the chamber quite well, way better than having a nebulizer. He hated that thing. During the time in the hospital, Jacob's oxygen levels never dropped down below 95% but he did get additional nebulizer time to help even out the rattles in his chest. The doctor (who was fabulous) also got us to give him three more days of baby prednisone once we got home.

Although the hospital stay wasn't a particular highlight of our month, I am very glad that we went. Who knows how bad the asthma would have gotten. Now he is happy, snot free and breathing easy. One other bonus was that I found out that he indeed could sleep through the night (including the requisite middle of the night vital checks). Now if he could only do that at home...



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Asthma

I suppose it was inevitable. Jacob has asthma. As I write this, we are sitting in the hospital room, having a nice family day out. All is well and Jacob is fine, but before we leave the hospital tomorrow, we will have a set of puffers, and Jacob will probably take these puffers every day for the rest of his life. But given my asthma and our family history, were not that surprised.

It started a couple days ago, when Jacob started to show signs of a cold. Runny nose and not sleeping very well, but we wasn't that bad so we thought for a little while that it could have been a tooth working it's way out. But later his runny nose mucus started to show green, and he was looking like it was a real cold. Last nit, he started breathing heavy and coughing and wheezing, and so we decided to take him in.

This had happened before - a couple weeks ago, the same symptoms, runny nose then shortness of breath - and we took him to the clinic. The doctor there gave him antibiotics and sent him home. They seemed to do the trick, but we kind of thought that there was more to it than that.

This time, it was late and so the clinics were closed. Tricia took Jacob to emergency, and the doctor listened to his chest and gave him a chest xray. He was on a nebulizer with epinephrine and and they gave him liquid oral prednisone. This was all in the ER. He was then admitted and put into isolation on the pediatric unit (isolation because he has a cough and there are lots of little little babies here). He had a nebulizer with epinephrine again and had a reasonable night, given a three hour late bedtime.

All through this time he has been a happy active kid. Although his breathing was very labored and he had very rough breath sounds, his pulse-ox has never been below 97 and he hasn't shown signs of not getting enough oxygen - no blue lips or anything.

This morning, the doctor came in and listened to jacob's chest again and told us that with this kind of symptom at this time of year, its most likely asthma. Having a cold can exacerbate the symptoms too, which is probably what happened to trigger the attack. This afternoon, a nurse and doctor came in and gave us the spiel about asthma, how to use puffers with aerochambers, the difference between treatment and rescue inhalers, the usual. We are in isolation because of Jacob's cough, so he's pretty stir crazy, but overall things are ok. Doctor will be in to check later tonight, and he'll probably get another dose of drugs to keep him going.

We are looking forward to going home tomorrow.