Hayride and more…

Posted on October 31, 2009

While trying to kill some time, before the trick or treating extravaganza, we decided to go to a local market for a hayride.  Not only was there a hayride, there were also bunny rabbits…

Pony rides…

a hay tunnel…

a hay pyramid…with some loose hay at the bottom to jump into…

and last, but certainly not least, a hay maze…

complete with a hay covered lollipop…

life in the Garden State is good…

School Halloween Party

Posted on October 29, 2009

Chloe’s First School Halloween Party:

Parade!

Posted on October 25, 2009

Pumpkins!

Posted on October 23, 2009

On Thursday, we went to our local orchard with Ellen’s and Tracey’s kiddos.

The pumpkin she finally chose.  She named it “Sally” and kept telling it, “This isn’t gonna hurt!”

“Yuck”

This is posed, she wouldn’t actually extract the pumpkin innards, they were too sticky.

I showed her the inside of my big pumpkin, she was aghast.

This is her “ergh” face.

Here the pumpkins where talking to each other.  It was very cute.

helping

Posted on October 19, 2009

We replaced our shower door yesterday, and Chloe insisted on helping.  She ran into the play room and grabbed her hard hat and tools…then she waited patiently for Daddy to take his turn, than she took her turn drilling holes.  It was especially cute because she was still in her footy pajamas.

Here’s what it looks like now…fabulous!

Recovering, ever so slowly.

Posted on October 5, 2009

Okay, so the picture from the last post was taken literally a week ago, and I thought I posted it.  Instead, it has been sitting in my draft folder.  This is an example of how my life has started to go a little sideways as of late.  Life has taken over, and it is getting harder and harder to take time out to update the blog, or add pictures. or whatever.  But I am going to try…to…get…back…ugh.

Anyway, so this past week:

I went in for my third (and hopefully last) injection.  I am more sore this time than the last, but I think that is because of the location of this shot.  It also took me longer to recover from the anesthesia.  One of the nurses told me that they all have their own special “cocktails” and because of that you have a different reaction every time.  I guess I had heard that before, but it still was a little surprising to me.  I liked the one I had for my second  shot better.  I slept through it, and when it was done, I was up and moving around.  This time I was like, “Whoooaaa!”  And I felt groggy for two hours.

I do think its working, but it hasn’t been a whole lot of fun.  The next step is to see my Pain Management doc in two weeks, and then he’ll most likely prescribe physical therapy.  At least, that’s what he told me at the hospital.  So, yay.

We took Wednesday off, just for me to relax and recuperate.  And then in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday morning, Chloe started coughing.  It was loud enough that it woke me up, and my first thought was, “That does not sound right.”

On Thursday morning it got worse, and worse, and worse.  And, she sounded like a barking seal.  I was like, “Shit,” because I had been warned about that cough, and I knew exactly what it was.  I took her to the doctor and it turns out I was right.  Chloe had developed Croup.  Yup, you betcha, Croup.  I was just thanking my lucky stars that Ellen and warned me about this cough and I had kept Chloe home from school on Thursday.  (Croup is contagious during the early stages.)

So, back on the nebulizer she went, we hooked up the humidifier in her room, and she took numerous steam showers.  Even with all of that, she actually sounded worse on Friday, and on Friday night/Saturday morning Chloe was up half the night coughing and crying.  I ended up rocking her for about 45 minutes, hoping that a change of position would help, and then I tried to sleep with her, but I was keeping her awake, so I had to go back to my own room.  And, Saturday morning we went back to the doctor.

Turns out that nebulizer wasn’t enough, we had to up our dose (putting her on every four hours) and then we had to add an oral steroid.  I think that even though we don’t actually have her diagnosed with asthma, she is showing all the signs and symptoms.  I still hope she will outgrow it, but we will just have to see.

On top of all that, Saturday night I started to feel hot, then cold, I had a cough I couldn’t shake and a horrible sore throat.  I was like, “Well, crap.”  I spent most of Sunday in bed, and today we took it nice and easy.  Although, I guess I should say we “tried” to take it nice and easy.  The best way to describe Chloe on steriods is to imagine a three year old on speed.  She doesn’t stop talking.  When she runs out of words, she uses just random sounds to make up words.  She is constantly on top of me, and has all of this weird nervous energy.  I just feel like telling her “Shut up and sit still!”  I know she can’t, but its EXHAUSTING to be around.  She still has a cough, but her breathing is so much better, so I have to admit its working.   But MAN!  This morning, I had this thought of locking her in her room just so I could have a couple minutes to think.  On top of all that, she’s cranky.  The littlest things will send her crying.  She has thrown more fits in the last 8 hours than she has in the past two months.   But her breathing is better, she can breathe, that’s the important thing…right?  (sob)

So anyway, tomorrow, I will post “J” (which we actually did two weeks ago, but I am Sooooo behind) and we’ll start on “K.”  Chloe will go back to preschool with a big warning for her teachers that she’s not supposed to run around to much (yeah right, she’s 3!!!) and hopefully life will start up again.

For preventative measures, we are going to try and enforce the multivitamin in the morning.  (She decided they were “yucky”) and she is now on a daily dose of singulair.  Here’s hoping the next cold doesn’t send us straight for the nebulizer.  And just to ensure that…we just restocked on xopenex on pulmicort.  (That shit ain’t cheap.)  I really hope we wasted our money.