Little Gamer

Daphne playing video games
with Daddy and Tyler

Perry the Parasite

We found out from Tyler's pediatrician yesterday afternoon that Tyler is infected with a parasite called Dientamoeba Fragilis. Michael has named the parasite Perry. His pediatrician suspects that Tyler may have had a stomach virus in conjunction with the parasite infection. The good news is that Perry is treatable with medication, which Tyler started last night. It's already made a difference because he didn't get sick last night or this morning and Tyler said his tummy hasn't hurt all day. Unfortunately the medicine to kill off Perry doesn't taste that great and Tyler has to take it 3 times a day for 10 days. Tyler literally took about 15 minutes to down his 6 mL does last night. He came to his senses today and drank it quickly to get it over with. I think there is finally light at the end of the sickness tunnel! Woo hoo!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler turned 6 on Tuesday in the midst of his stomach virus. Since he usually feels good in the evenings we still did cupcakes, sang happy birthday, and opened presents. Tyler's birthday party was originally planned for this weekend but we went ahead and re-scheduled it since we don't know if he will be well. Even if he is symptom free he could still be contagious.

It's still hard to believe that our tiny 4-pound preemie is a big 6-year old now who loves sports, riding his scooter, kindergarten, learning to read, puzzles, animals, matchbox cars, transformers, ninja turtles, superheroes, Legos, corny jokes, and being silly. We love you little buddy!

NEVER-ending Stomach Virus

Poor Tyler is on Day 10 of a never-ending stomach virus. It all started last Tuesday (Feb. 17!) when he vomited in the back seat of our SUV as Michael was pulling into the driveway. Tyler stayed home from school that Wednesday but other than loss of appetite didn't have any other symptoms so we assumed it was a 24-hour thing. He went to school Thursday and Friday and then the worst of this virus started up late Friday night and lasted through Monday.

The scariest part was around midnight on Saturday when Tyler woke up to vomit and Michael spotted blood in the vomit. We called the ER and they said to bring him in to get checked out. We were at the ER from about 1 am - 6:30 am on Sunday morning. Thankfully the ER doctor doesn't think anything is seriously wrong with Tyler. Apparently if you vomit hard enough you can cause small tears in the lining of your esophagus, which result in blood in your vomit. It is not serious and heals on its own. They prescribed Tyler some anti-nausea medication to prevent him from exacerbating his esophagus.

We followed up with a visit to our pediatrician on Monday and she said the virus could last for up to 2 weeks! Tyler can go back to school once he goes 24 hours without vomiting or diarrhea. He hasn't been vomiting but he has made plenty of trips to the potty, mostly in the morning. Tyler is in good spirits. He is pretty perky most of the day, just not first thing in the morning. He has yet to make it to school this week and will be out tomorrow too. We are hoping he will be well by the end of the weekend but you never know.

Michael and I have had a much milder form of this same virus without the vomiting and definitely not to the extent that Tyler has it. By some miracle Daphne has not gotten this virus (knock on wood) and we are hoping it stays that way.

At the ER during the wee hours of Sunday morning

Couch quarantine- Tyler has not complained about
all the video games and cartoon watching

Just Tell Your Boss

Tyler has a field trip coming up and he just brought home the permission slip. He told me that he would like me to be one of the chaperones:
Me: It's a day I normally work so I will have to see if I can re-arrange my schedule.
Tyler (very matter-of-fact): Just tell your boss you can't make it that day.

Just a Punch

Me: Daphne! Don't hit your brother!
Daphne: I didn't hit him.
Me: I just saw you hit him.
Daphne: I was just punching him.

Movie Night

Birdman

Dance Party

Cousins Weekend

Our three nephews stayed with us Friday through Sunday while Bryce and Sonia got away for some quality time. Tyler and Daphne really enjoyed having their cousins stay with us and camp out with sleeping bags in their rooms. The kids all did really well, but Michael and I were wiped out by the time the boys headed home.

Playing in the backyard

I believe the croquet mallets were supposed to be some
kind of pirate weapon. Tyler and Noah deemed little
defenseless Micah as Captain Hook, but thankfully never attacked.

Damon steers the "pirate ship".

Noah started an arts movement. That kid loves to draw! There
were more pieces of art created in our house this past weekend
than in the past year. Tyler is so competitive that he kept
drawing pictures to try to keep up with Noah.

Micah loved the heart-shaped
Valentine's Day cupcakes.

Damon, Noah, Tyler, and Micah on the playground Jeep

Swinging

Daphne was excited to find a tree to "climb".

Tyler and Noah

Happy Valentine's Day!

Playground


The kids always love going to the big county park near PawPaw's house because there are 7 different play structures to choose from. They spend most of their time darting from one structure to the next.

My miniature knight in shining armor

Daphne in action

Click on video below to see Tyler in action

Dog

My dad keeps egging on the kids that they need a dog. The kids would love a dog but Michael and I don't feel the need for any additional responsibility at the moment!

Jamie and Tyler

PawPaw's Birthday

We spent last weekend in Houston to help PawPaw celebrate his birthday.

Sitting on the grandkid bench that PawPaw made for his patio

Only my dad would eat a piece of his own birthday cake in
advance of the family celebration and leave a note to boot!

Happy Birthday PawPaw!

The grandkids are always game for cake and ice cream.

So Peaceful

Both kids fell asleep in the living room midday on Saturday. It was an unexpected peaceful miracle, especially since Tyler rarely naps anymore!

Baby Tooth #3

Tyler lost his third baby tooth on Friday night. After he lost his bottom two teeth, I got the kids cute tooth fairy pillows from Etsy. They totally remind me of the little tooth fairy pillow with a pocket that my mom made for me when I was a little girl.

The missing tooth left quite a gap!

The tooth fairy pillow has a pocket on one side for tucking
teeth into and basketball stitching on the other side.

Big Girl Underwear

During the hard core potty training Daphne wore training underwear that is similar to regular underwear, but is really thick in the middle to handle accidents better. After Daphne really started getting used to going to the potty regularly, we told her she needed to be accident free for a full week to graduate to big girl underwear that we let her pick out. Twice she had a good streak of 5 days with no accidents and then she would have an accident. Finally at the beginning of last week she had gone a full week with no accidents and got to start wearing her big girl underwear, which includes an assortment of superheroes and Mickey Mouse characters.

Quicken tells me we spent just over $2200 on diapers for Daphne over the past 3 years. I definitely won't miss spending that money on diapers!

Our Supergirl

Now we have to work on potty etiquette!

 

Michael's Birthday

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Since steak is not practical to wrap, Tyler gave Michael a
steak voucher with a little help from Abuelito & Abuelita.

About a week after Michael's birthday Tyler climbed into bed with us in the middle of the night. After not being able to fall back asleep very easily Tyler said, "Mommy, actually I have changed my mind. I don't want to get Daddy a steak for his birthday. I want to get him a snore guard!"

Park Time

It's been cold this week but before that we were taking every opportunity to get to the park while the weather was warm.

Our little daredevil climbs everything!

Race you to the bottom!

This is easy Mommy.

Tyler and Daphne have been playing together really well lately.

Climbing where he is not supposed to...

New Blog Posts Coming Soon...

Work (and life for that matter) have been crazy but I hope to have time to add some new posts later this week. This past week Daphne graduated to big girl underwear (then proceeded to poop her pants not once but 3 times today!) and Tyler lost one of his top front teeth (and I've been calling him Snaggletooth).