snOMG!

I wish I could take credit for that title, but I can't... I got it from an autocross friend.

Anyway, on Wednesday night, we finally got The Big One.  We got about 5" over the course of Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  Then on Wednesday evening, we got a thundersnow (a thunderstorm that's too cold to rain so it snows instead) that dumped at least another foot on top of that in a matter of 6 hours or less.  At one point, it was white out conditions.  If this has been a summer storm, we'd have gotten hammered with sideways rain and flash flooding.

Steve and the trusty snowblower got us unburied in about an hour and a half on Thursday morning.  I drove the kids to daycare and on my way, I realized just how heavy the snow was.  None of it had fallen from any of the trees overnight.  And what's more, a lot of it hasn't even fallen today!!  That also means it's perfect snowball snow.

When Steve brought the kids home from daycare, we partially cleared the deck to get to the grill.  A dedicated grill master has no fear of grilling in... weather.

A foot and a half of snow is not a deterrent to a master griller!

While the grill was heating, I spotted a stinkbug (cannot confirm if it was actually alive) attached to the top of the garage wall.  As I mentioned earlier, this snow was excellent snowball weather.  So Steve and I started to throw snowballs at the stinkbug to see if we could hit it.  Curt Schilling we are not, but eventually, Steve hit the stinkbug square.

Making and throwing snowballs gave the kids the idea to throw them at us, and so the "fight" began!  DJ had the BEST time trying to make a snowball and throwing it at Steve and me!  He also enjoyed just picking up piles of snow and throwing them up into the air as far as he could, and watch the flakes come down again.

DJ's glasses are wet from throwing snow up into the air.

 Meanwhile, I got the idea to knock down a big icicle for each kid.  DJ threw it to see what would happen when it landed.  Elektra, on the other hand, put it right in her mouth.  Once she got ahold of that icicle, she was absolutely content.  She didn't want to let go of it, and she didn't want to stop sucking on it.

Elektra sucking on her icicle.  Someone's going to love popsicles this summer!

I tried to get a picture of the two of them sitting on a mountain of snow, but that didn't work out so well.

DJ and Elektra happy in the snow!

 Then Steve got a wild hair and decided to go DIVING into the snow in the yard.

Not a great picture, but you get the point!

Once you're *in* the snow, you may as well embrace it!  The kids LOVED it when Daddy did this!  we heard lots of laughs and giggles, and DJ wanted to join him with a snow angel of his own.

Steve making a snow angel.

Steve's snow angel

Boy that white stuff is COLD!!

DJ made a snow angel of his own as well!  Unfortunately, those pictures didn't turn out.

In addition to all of this, DJ also couldn't wait to help shovel.  He loves the shovel that we have that is just his size, and helped us shovel at the house.  He also was a HUGE helper at daycare by helping Sonny clean the walk and the driveway!  Sonny was so proud of how hard DJ worked that he gave DJ his first earned $1.  I'll pull down his piggy bank and we'll put it in there for him.  We are very proud of him!

Sonny's BIG helper!  Thanks for the picture, Eleanor!

And there you have it... Snowpocalypse 2011.

Elektra's new glasses

At the end of DJ's appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. Collins suggested I bring in Elektra for a baseline evaluation.  I made the appointment that week, and couldn't get a new patient appointment for 2 months!  But Dr. Collins is worth it, and I was perfectly happy to wait. 

They first checked Elektra for depth perception and red/green tests, and she was very accepting of wearing the glasses designed for each test.  Then it was time to dilate her eyes and completely unlike DJ who screamed bloody murder, Elektra giggled and laughed and thought it was a grand old time. 

After her eyes were dilated, Dr. Collins did Elektra's refraction (which, again, completely unlike DJ, Elektra was a dream child), turned to me, and showed me the refraction results.  YEARS of McDonogh training have taught me that 6 > 4 and since that's almost exactly the same refraction DJ has, I knew this meant that Elektra would need glasses, too.

So I turned to Elektra, "Elektra, do you want to wear glasses like DJ?"  "Yes!!" she replied with a huge grin.  Well, that was easy.

On Thursday, we picked up her glasses.  When she put them on, she looked in the mirror and got this HUGE grin on her face.  It was hilarious!  She's only asked to take them off the day after she got them, and hasn't asked since then.  Here are some pictures! 

Christmas 2010

Here is another catch-up blog post.  Better late than never.  

This year, we were so luck to have Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy, and Cousin Axel come to Baltimore from California for Christmas!  I hadn't met Axel yet, and he is the cutest boy!!  I thought he might be a little scared of me, but he was very tolerant of my giving him attention.  :)  And for a little boy completely out of wack schedule-wise (it's hard to adjust to a 3 hour difference!), he was sooo good.  We got to see them a number of the days that they were in town, and share a few very nice meals with them, too.

So Steve and I both had off Christmas Eve as our company holidays.  When we woke up in the morning (and found a little boy in our bed between us), DJ asked if it was time to open presents.  We told him "not today, but tomorrow", and then promptly asked for our iPads to play with while we snoozed a little longer.  Christmas morning, DJ didn't even ask about presents when he woke up; he just asked for our iPads.  I have no doubts that next year, that question won't be asked!!

Christmas Eve - the presents are ready

We had the kids dressed in matching reindeer blanket sleepers for Christmas that Grandmom had given them. But as part of DJ's morning routine, he goes potty and then gets dressed, and he was VERY upset when I told him to go potty but he wouldn't be getting dressed just yet.  That level of upset immediately disapated up seeing PRESENTS!!! 

We waited until Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy, Cousin Axel, and Grandmom came over to open gifts, so that the kids could open them together.  The speed at which paper was ripped probably caused a rip in the space-time continuum.

Elektra and Axel checking out the loot

The kids on Christmas Morning and Grandmom, Uncle Dave, and Steve with their cameras in the background

DJ checking out his new cement truck while Axel opens the Toobeez box

DJ playing with his new dump truck

Elektra with her new baby carriage

A note about the baby carriage and the dump trucks - both kids put their most "prized possessions" (see the next picture) in their respective vehicle of choice and run laps around the house with them.  The rebel yell is heard if DJ takes the baby carriage or if Elektra takes a dump truck. 

Contents: 2 miniature field hockey sicks and soft balls and Bunny.

And here's an incredibly cute pic of Elektra and Daddy wearing the construction helmet that came with DJ's cement and dump trucks.

Cute!

Elektra also received some really unique shoes from Holland!  She couldn't wait to put on her "new shoes"! 

Dutch Daisy shoes!

We had a ball building with the Toobeez.  Check out this house that Aunt Nancy built!

Nancy building the Toobeez house with 2 little helpers.

Like last Christmas, DJ received a new bike, but last year, it was a pedaless (running) bike.  This year, DJ received a Lightening McQueen bike for Christmas, but he's still learning how to use the pedals despite the fact that he can balance on the running bike, thus the training wheels.  Once he figures out how to deal with the pedals, we'll take the training wheels off.

DJ on his new bike.

By the end of the week that Dave, Nancy, and Axel were here, the kids had figured how much fun they were having with their cousin and their aunt and uncle, and have continuously asked for them since they left.  But before they did leave, we tried to take a picture of the three of them together....

Cousins Elektra, a tired Axel, and DJ

We miss you, Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy, and Cousin Axel!  We hope to see you again soon!!

Halloween 2010 and other miscellaneous pictures

So I took a break from blogging to focus on my insane work load at my paid job, transitioning my unpaid job to the next person, and the holidays.  So now it's time to catch up.

The kids are growing like weeds, especially Elektra.  Elektra has been eating like a horse the last month or so, and it shows in her clothes.  I put a 24 month set of overalls on her yesterday, and they were short by over an inch.  They looked like overall capris.  This morning, she at 4 eggs for breakfast.  Four.  And then she asked for more off of my plate.  DJ hasn't been eating as much, but you can tell he's getting taller as the 4T pants I put on him at the beginning of the cooler weather no longer need to be rolled for him at the bottom. 

Meanwhile, we celebrated Halloween at my sister's house!  The neighborhood picked a 2 hour window the Friday before Halloween to have Trick-or-Treating, and we thought it would be fun to let the cousins Trick-or-Treat together as DJ and Elektra have never been.  They had a good time watching the other children come to the door and yell "Trick or Treat!" at my sister.  Then, when the doorbell would ring, they'd RUN to the door with her to watch the kids.  Finally, it was their turn to go out, and they went with Spiro, Sophia, and me.  When they got to the first door, they needed to be coached to say "Trick or Treat" and hold out their bag.  By the second house, DJ had figured it out, and was all but running to get to the next door.  We only went to about 6 houses because it was bitterly cold outside, and the kids had frozen hands.  But you could tell they had a good time!

DJ the Cowboy

Elektra as Alice in Wonderland

DJ the Cowboy playing with a flashlight

Elektra counting her loot

This was really the first time either child had been exposed to "chocolate", and we haven't heard the end of it since.  :-)  We spent the night, and the older cousins read books to the younger cousins when it was bedtime.  My kids couldn't have had bigger smiles on their faces.  DJ was very upset when we had to leave to go home.  We had a great time with the Schramms, and we look forward to having another overnight with them soon! 

Miscellaneous picture time!  I thought this picture was hilarious... it doesn't even need a caption!

Elektra pictures

Here are a couple pictures of Elektra with a really cute outfit and hairdo she had.  She's such a HAM!!!

DJ and his new glasses



Our little Harry Potter


Last night, we took DJ to pick up his new glasses.  I picked up the kids from daycare, and Steve and my dad met us at "the glasses store" (as I named it that way to make it easy for DJ to understand what we were doing - you buy glasses from the glasses store).  On the way to "the glasses store", DJ was a fullblown chatterbox.

"Are we going to pick up Daddy?" (no, Daddy is meeting us there)
"We're going to see Yiayia and Papou?" (yes)
"Look, Mommy!  That car looks like your car!" (it was a similar blue but otherwise nothing like my car)
"Look, Mommy!  That car has a wing like Daddy's blue car!" (Civic with massive wing)
"Daddy's right behind us?" (yes, Daddy happened to pull up right behind us on the way there - great timing!)
"It's quiet in the car now." (stopped at a traffic light)
"It's loud in the car now because your car turned on, and Daddy's car turned on!" (the light turned green)
"Mommy!  She looks like you!" (a random caucasian girl with dark hair walking down the sidewalk)
"I see Papou's car!" (pulling into the Optician's parking lot)

The drive wasn't more than 10 minutes long, and that's only a snippet of what I can even remember!

Mr. Alfonso was waiting for DJ to fit his new glasses when we walked in.  He measured how they were fitting on his face and ears, and took them back for adjustment 3 times.  Each time Mr. Alfonso put the glasses on DJ, DJ would look in the mirror and make a face...fingers pulling his cheeks out, mouth wide open, etc., ... hilarious!  But he also didn't try to take them off immediately after putting them on.  I was starting to get my hopes up that he might actually leave them on!  Papou asked DJ if he could see better with his glasses on, and he did say yes!

Meanwhile, between each adjustment, DJ and Elektra were full blown running up and down the aisle with all the exuberance of toddlers, amusing all adults in the room at the same time. 

Once his glasses were adjusted, he put them on, and left them on! In fact, he didn't take them off until it was time for bed. Way to go, DJ! He's even learned how to shove them up the bridge of his nose then they start to slip while he's playing.

Steve and I each took a picture with our iPhones, and I sent my copy to Eleanor, hoping she would open it before Grace left for the day (so that Grace could see it, too).  Although Grace was getting in the car when my picture arrived, Eleanor did manage to catch Grace before she left.  In fact, Grace was so excited to see DJ in his new glasses, that she ran from the car to go see the picture.  Eleanor printed the picture I had sent, and Grace asked to take it home with her.  How sweet!

Also, as we were leaving "the glasses store", DJ asked where Papou was going.  I told him that Papou was going to a meeting and he said, "I want to go to the meeting with Papou!"  I'm sure Papou would have loved to have taken him, but he would have had his hands full because DJ was full of very excited energy!

This morning, he put on his glasses like a trooper, and still says he sees better with them on. YAY!





DJ's New Big Boy Bed

Almost one year ago, we transitioned DJ out of his crib into what we called a Big Boy Bed but was really only a toddler bed.  On Saturday, Daddy built DJ his new big boy bed, a twin platform bed with a headboard.

DJ was VERY excited about this.  In fact, he was so excited that he was willing to follow our one rule: DJ had to sit in his car bed if he wanted to watch Daddy build his bed.  He was perfect; he didn't move a muscle out of the car bed.  He even tickled and played with Elektra when she got in the car bed with him to watch the festivities.

DJ in his car bed.

The bed frame didn't take all that long to build.  In fact, it took less time than building the drawers.

The bed frame.

The bed itself was completed on Saturday night.  The head board was done tonight.  And of course, we got Cars sheets for him (along with the requisite waterproof mattress and normal mattress covers).  I can't find my Army blanket, so I may have to pick him up a new blanket.  Disappointing!  Anyway, the bed itself is short enough such that both kids can climb in and out of it with ease.  And I'm thrilled that the wood color is a pretty good match with what's already in the room!  The final touch was adding the rail, a donation thanks to my sister who had the foresight to keep them until we needed the set!

Pre-head board but you can see the drawers underneath.

Post-head board

DJ was so excited Saturday night that he just couldn't get to sleep easily.  I think we were in there nearly 1.5 hours.  He even wanted to wear underwear to bed, like a big boy.  Steve indulged him, and we have had (knock on wood) 2 dry nights so far!  

The next night (Sunday night), DJ asked for his car bed which definitely surprised both of us.  We declined his request because we no longer had a crib mattress!  Just before Elektra was born, we borrowed a crib from Damian since DJ wasn't in the car bed yet.  Damian was still using the mattress, so we bought a new crib mattress at the time as well.  On Sunday morning, we took the crib back to Damian and gave him the mattress because the whole set is going to someone who is having twins.  Therefore, even if we were to put the car bed back together, we no longer have a mattress for it!

I think DJ is still pretty jazzed about his new bed.  Add to that standard toddler stall tactics, and he's not getting to sleep very quickly.  Hopefully he'll settle down soon!

DJ's Ophthalmology visit - part 2

One thing I failed to mention is that during DJ's initial evaluation of his left eye, he would tell us that he couldn't see, or we thought he was just mentally worn out from the ordeal. At the time, I didn't think anything of his comment about his not being able to see, attributing it to the fact that I was covering his right eye with my hand since he wouldn't leave the glasses or the patch on. And with one eye covered, "I can't see" isn't that far fetched a comment.

About 40 minutes after he started dilating (and about 400 "I want to go bye-byes"... he was being very insistent and I think it's because he didn't want to go through again what he'd already gone through), Dr. Collins took him back in "to play peekaboo" with him (i.e. officially refract him). This was a far less painful process than when we were covering his eyes. In fact, DJ was an angel.

Finally, she tells me that DJ has a very wide margin of refraction between his two eyes, with his right eye being normal (i.e. a little far sighted) for his age, and his left being very far sighted. Because of this, DJ is over-compensating with his right eye rendering his left eye weaker...and therefore, lazy.

This diagnosis explains a ton of things.
1. It explains his violent reaction when we were trying to make him read with his left eye only today. It effectively hurts him to do it for all intents and purposes.
2. It explains why he seems to be just a touch more clumsy when it comes to avoiding things on his left side. This is an observation we have realized in retrospect.

Lazy eye, when caught this early, is very treatable. We'll start with glasses and see how it goes from there. The prescription is actually weaker than his actual refraction, but Dr. Collins wants to reduce the chance of his wholly rejecting the glasses by hammering him with the full refraction at first. Then Dr. Collins wants to see him again in 2 months to see if he's made any progress.

Honestly, the reason we found this is because DJ had a clogged tear duct as a baby, and saw Dr. Collins to treat it. She noticed, at the time, that he was very far sighted as compared to the average child his age. She suggested seeing her again 6 months after the tear duct surgery, as both a post-op and to check his refraction. At that appointment, everything eas normal, and said to come back in 2 years. Here we are 2 years later. Thank you, Dr. Collins because honestly, he wasn't showing any obvious signs due to his ability to over-compensate with his right eye.

I am really surprised that DJ is still dilated after 8 hours, but now he's going to sleep for the night and dilated pupils should be no issue. Hopefully they will be normal when he wakes up tomorrow!

If I said that this doesn't bother me, I'd be lying. I'm concerned he won't keep the glasses on, slowing down the treatment or forcing us to change treatment methods (e.g. eye patch, chemically, etc.). We are already struggling with potty training, and I have no illusions that this will trigger him to regress. Plus, we don't want to hold off on giving him his NEW big boy bed because it'll be too many changes in his world at once.

So that ends my update, I guess. I suspect I'll be wearing my glasses around him faaaaaar more often to help be a good example.

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DJ's visit to the ophthalmologist

Currently, DJ and I are in the waiting room of the ophthalmology clinic, waiting for DJ's eyes to dilate. Frankly, this half hour is a welcome break from what we just went through, at no fault of the doctor's!!!

Dr. Collins did the red/green test, depth perception, and a crossing test. She also had DJ match letters on a page. Then she covered his left eye, and started showing him letters on an LCD screen at different sizes to try and figure out if he is near or far sighted.

He was perfect with his right eye, but struggled with his left, resulting in an initial read of 20/40. But he fought us REALLY hard throughout this process. He was screaming NO and and squirming out of my arms... Took way longer than it should have.

And if he was fighting that, imagine how much he fought us when we put he dilation drops in.... Oy.

And now we wait to see what will happen next.


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Elektra's 2nd Birthday Party

Today, we celebrated Elektra's 2nd Birthday at the house with lots of food and great company.

But to have such a party, there are preparations that must be done!  Yesterday, Carole and her puppy, Coco, came over to help me with a few things (thank you very much!), but primarily helped watch the kids while I was in the kitchen.  During one of those moments, Elektra needed to have her diaper changed, so Carole took her to her room to change her.  She locked Coco behind the gate from which one can see the vacuum cleaner, else Coco would follow her into Elektra's room.  Coco started to cry.  Meanwhile, DJ, who was in the living room with Coco, walked over to Coco and said, "Coco, are you scared of the vacuum, too?"  Smart boy to put that together (even if it's not accurate!).

Today was just as busy of a day, but not nearly as stressful as previous parties.  I'm not sure why; maybe it was because 90% of the food was prepared yesterday instead of today...? 

Anyway, I'd told DJ as he was going to sleep last night about the party and who to expect to see.  By the time breakfast was over, he was a live wire... running circles around the house with Elektra following him because he was sooooooo excited.  When my parents and Don arrived, both kids squeeeeealed with delight, and started running even MORE.  When Grace, Evan and their caregivers (Jeff and Nadia) arrived, oh my goodness did the happiness quadruple.  All 4 kids were running circles around the house! 

I'm going to digress a moment and take a quick stroll down Memory Lane.  The first time Jeff and Nadia came to the house with Grace for DJ's first birthday party, Grace and DJ just... looked at each other.  No greeting... totally confused because they were seeing each other out of context (i.e. at Eleanor and Sonny's house) for the first time.  This time, though, immediately upon seeing each other, it was instant recognition, Grace kicked off her shoes, and off they went running together.  It's the cutest thing ever!

Meanwhile, we had food and oreo-cookie stuffed cupcakes for dessert (thanks to my sister!).  Some had pink cream cheese icing in honor of our little sweetheart.  :-)  As we started to sing happy birthday, at first she joined in, then she realized it was for her, so she stopped singing and when we finished, she clapped for us!  Cutest thing ever!

Elektra clapping because we finished singing happy birthday.

Elektra trying to blow out the candles.

Attempt #2 to blow out the candles.

Posing with her birthday cupcake.

Happy girl with her cupcake.

Enjoying a chocolate chip cookie while DJ eats his cupcake.

Mmmmm  icing.

Afterwards, we opened gifts.  Yiayia and Papou gave her some clothes, and she immediately hung on to a pair of floral tights.  When she went to get her diaper changed, she came back with a pants change... even if it didn't exactly match the hearts....

One view of "the tights" and her pony tail (pony tail holders were a present from Jill!).

Another view of "the tights", sitting next to Evan

 Grandmom Carole gave her a bracelet which she showed to EVERYONE in the room once I put it on her. 

Showing her bracelet to Sophia (who is showing Elektra her bracelet in return).

Showing Yiayia her bracelet.

Showing Sonny her bracelet.

She'd been showing high sign for awhile, so shortly after that, she went to take a nap.  DJ wasn't too far behind her after Sonny, Eleanor, and the Cheevers left. 

And some parting pictures:

Elektra and her grandparents from both sides: Yiayia, Papou, Carole and Don.

DJ,  Steve, Evanthe, and Elektra

Elektra received some really nice gifts, and she really did have a great day!  Thanks to everyone who could come!

Pictures of the birthday girl (and her brother)

On Thursday, our little girl celebrated her 2nd birthday.  This post is purely to post some pictures of her and DJ.

Saturday Morning Antics

This morning, the kids played on our bed.  Some amusing moments were captured on video, including DJ singing his version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....

As always, to view the video, click here: http://faststeak.blogspot.com/2010/09/Saturday-Morning-Antics.html, and then click on the video to watch it.  Alternatively, you can go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRVVPG5K_XM






For those of you who want to know the text of DJ's lyrics:

Twinkle twinkle little star
How wonder what you are
Up a little star so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
How wonder what you are.

DJ update

DJ, like Elektra, has his own potty chart, and he's starting to fill it nicely with star stickers.  After 7 or 8 (usually gray - "I love gray!") star stickers, DJ gets a sparkly flower sticker.  He likes being able to put the star on the chart by himself, too!

He's been going pee nicely at home, though usually I have to give him the 5 minute warning (I get "No!" for an answer), and then also tell him that he'll be able to come back and do whatever it was I'm interrupting. 

I've also noticed that he's not fully emptying his bladder at one time, except maybe in the mornings after he wakes up (if I catch him before he goes in his diaper).  Last night, for example, he peed 4 times in 2 hours.  I think he likes the idea of getting more star stickers faster!  I'm not really complaining if it's teaching and motivating him!  Though I do feel like I'm spending half of my evening in the bathroom with him!

Unfortunately, he's not at the point where he will tell you reliably before he needs to go.  Yesterday, he didn't have one potty success at Eleanor's.  So I've decided that we really do have to just keep putting him on the potty whether he thinks he needs to or not.

In other news, we've been finding DJ sleeping in the hallway in the mornings.  When I ask him why, he says it's because his bed is too small.  Eleanor asked him what we should do with the car bed, and he said to give it to Elektra.  Well no kidding!  I guess he is ready to give up his car bed for a true big boy bed!  Now the question is, do we just get a bed and frame or do we buy a whole set since we already have a dresser?  Decisions!!

Elektra's 1st potty!!!!

So Elektra just came into the kitchen where Steve and I were talking and said, "Potty?"

"You want to go potty?" Steve asks.

"Yes!" Elektra replied emphatically.

As Steve starts to take her to the bathroom, she tosses Bunny to the side rather unceremoniously and says, "Munny, wait there!"

I hear Steve take her into the bathroom and as he's stripping off her diaper says, "One of these days, you're going to surprise yourself and actually do something while sitting on the potty."

I hear Steve talking to her while she's sitting on the potty, and then I hear Steve say to her that the water comes out from right.....there. He said that he gently touched her.

Three seconds later, I hear water coming out... And I paused and thought, that doesn't sound like the sink...

"She's doing it!!" Steve yells. I go running in to see a little girl going pee pee on the potty!!! I jumped up and down, clapped excitedly, said "YAY!!" very loudly, and she got so excited that she clapped and squealed in delight.

Steve wiped her, and then picked her up and held her high in the air (sqeeeeee! of delight).

I asked her what color star sticker she wanted, and to my surprise she didn't say red (because every time I ask her what color something is, it's red!), but yellow!

Elektra got to put her first yellow star sticker on her potty chart!

Steve and I are so surprised!! Way to go Elektra!!!

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Kids update

Yesterday, after asking for an early nap, DJ slept for 2.5 hours. He still skipped lunch but had a half decent dinner of some roasted chicken breast and half a banana (part of the Hiney Binder Special diet).

Not to be outdone by how much this bug is affecting her, Elektra had 3 explosive bowel movements in 3 minutes - I'd change her, she take off to the living room, immediately turn around and run back to me, and we'd go to change her again. This must have worn her out because she fell asleep in a chair watching tv at 12:30, and didn't even fuss to get out of bed at 5, though she was wide awake and feeling a little better when I went in to check on her. She also had a half decent dinner.

Both kids went to bed relatively early, as did Steve, who slept from about 4pm until 3:30 AM (with one wake up between 6-7PM) because he felt rotten. He at least is functional today.

Meanwhile, DJ seems to be feeling better today, having eaten eggs with cheese for breakfast and some pancakes for lunch. He actually said he was hungry while we were at the playground with Leo and his caregivers (Damian and Jenn). DJ climbed all sorts of playground equipment today, trying things he'd never tried before! DJ also said on the way home that his tummy feels good. Let's hope that's really the case!

Elektra is still a mess. She is in a good mood, though, and despite the fact that she explicitly asked for pancakes this morning when she woke up, she didn't eat more than half of one and a bit of a peach. She basically had no lunch...she refused everything! She's had 3 massive diapers already, too...poor girl. But she had a good time at the playground going down slides (with Daddy - tandem slide and all by herself)!

Both kids are napping now, and hopefully they'll take good naps!!!


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School has started...

...and my kids are sick. Coincidence? I think not!! Both kids have some kind of intestinal bug. Elektra has had it since Tuesday and DJ started showing signs of it yesterday.

Today, we were supposed to drive to Lancaster to see the Schramms and celebrate Papou's birthday. Those plans fell through when:
1. DJ refused breakfast (very unusual).
2. Elektra refused breakfast (also unusual).
3. DJ had diarrhea and after I changed his diaper, he vomited all over the rug in the hall. Outfit change #1.
4. Elektra has her own less severe case of diarrhea.
5. DJ blew out his diaper to the point where Steve had to drop him in the tub. Outfit change #2.

DJ has consistently said all morning (whenever we asked) that his tummy hurts. Poor guy. And we don't think he's just saying that. But neither he nor Elektra are running fevers. There is a positive! Oh and another positive, the weather is so awesome that we have all the windows and doors open such that we can air out the house from the vomit/diarrhea smell we have infesting the house!!

Elektra had 2 blowouts yesterday (and 1 on Thursday) like the one DJ had today, but I managed to escape with no tub time for those. She hasn't had a diaper like that today, yet. Update: see the end of this post... I'm hoping that means she's on the tail end of this thing now, and that it might be indicative of what's in store for DJ.

The kids ate goldfish crackers for sustenance this morning and have been drinking water/milk.

Then, a few minutes ago (11:00 AM), DJ came to me and said he wanted to go to bed. I said ok, followed him to his room, he laid down with Tiger and I covered him with his blanket. I asked him if he wanted me to lie down in his car bed with him. He said no, to sit in the chair (in his room). Within 10 minutes, he was asleep. So he's skipping lunch today for an early nap!

While I was writing this, Elektra punished a diaper. I changed her and although it's still diarrhea, it wasn't just straight water. That's a good sign... I'll just keep telling myself that, anyway!!

Steve and I are, so far, unaffected, but we'll see if that lasts!


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