Monday, December 31

Brayden Ended The New Year in the Hospital

On Thursday Dec 27th, I brought Brayden into the doctor due to his horrible cough and trouble breathing. He went onto a Nebulizer and I had to give him breathing treatments at home every 4 hours. They diagnosed him with broncialitis and a possibility of RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus). The next day I took him in again because he didn't look too good and was having more trouble breathing. The doctor saw him in her office and gave him a treatment. She was on the cusp of hospitalizing him due to his strained breathing but let me test out the waters at home knowing I would bring him in if he got worse. An hour after I left the doctor, he was worse.

I took him into San Ramon Regional Medical Center. After waiting for 4 hours, being tested and having xrays in the ER, they diagnosed him with RSV. Good news is that my sister-in-law, Michelle, works in the ER and helped rush us through. It was very comforting to have her there the entire time.

Around 1am they transferred us to ICU. I won't go into the details of the crappy nurse I had when we first arrived but having only a few hours of sleep the night before didn't make my crabby butt nice to a nurse who wanted to keep me awake all night long. We did get a private room and this is because RSV is airborne and very contagious. I'll give the description in a different color below if you want to read about it:

“Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under 1 year of age. Illness begins most frequently with fever, runny nose, cough, and sometimes wheezing. During their first RSV infection, between 25% and 40% of infants and young children have signs or symptoms of bronchiolitis or pneumonia, and 0.5% to 2% require hospitalization. Most children recover from illness in 8 to 15 days. The majority of children hospitalized for RSV infection are under 6 months of age. RSV also causes repeated infections throughout life, usually associated with moderate-to-severe cold-like symptoms; however, severe lower respiratory tract disease may occur at any age, especially among the elderly or among those with compromised cardiac, pulmonary, or immune systems.”


(Click on this picture and take a look at his right eye.
You will see that he has a blue eye with a pie shape of brown splashed in the color.)


Day one was pretty touch and go. Brayden went onto oxygen and was watched like a hawk. His breathing was bad but the doctors predicted it would only get worse. They were right on the money. By Saturday evening, he had a temperature of 103. This was a little scary because they though he had caught pneumonia and this was the reason for the spike in temperature.

Sunday morning he was still at 103 and wasn't going down unless he had Tylenol and Motrin in his system. They decided to do a CBC (Complete Blood Count) to see if he had infection and put an IV in the top of his head to hydrate him due to all the throwing up he was doing. The CBC came back negative for pneumonia. (Phew!) The fever was just another part of the RSV and so it needed to be controlled with Tylenol.
Monday morning was a brand new morning and although his wheezing had stopped, he was having a light temperature and now throwing up. They ordered an xray to see if he had contracted pneumonia overnight and that came back negative.

Although Brayden has the flu (compliments of me) and RSV, they saw how on top of things I was with Brayden and how closely I monitored him and felt pretty safe in releasing us for New Years' Eve. We came home at 4pm this afternoon and Brayden's spent most of the time sleeping. He's been on the albuteral treatment every 4 horus and seems to be doing well now that he's home.


I'll update the blog in the next few days on his progress.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wednesday, December 26

Happy Holiday - The Day After Christmas

Well it's the day after and we're still alive! I'm so glad it's all over. Now I'm interested in cleaning up the messes and looking at my clean house. You'd never know that the housekeepers were here on Christmas Eve Day.

Christmas Eve Day was rushing around to get the house clean for the housekeepers and then out to get the holiday dinner that we ordered since we wouldn't have enough time to make everything with the housekeepers here. This is when the fun began. We got to the Honey Baked Ham store only to find that the side dishes we reserved weren't reserved at all. :( Milenko rushed to the grocery store to get the fixin's for the new stuff we had to make while I went home to feed Brayden & put Lauren to bed. Lauren had been sick all night long and running a fever.

Fortunately, it was gone by the afternoon and didn't last into the night at all.

Grammy got here around 4:30 with Dan arriving shortly after. Dave, Michelle & the boys arrived around 5pm and we all had a great time. We had 1/4 ham, 1/2 turkey, mashed potatoes, garlic sauteed green beans, salad, lightly grilled pugliese bread with drizzled olive oil and a splash of garlish & candied yams. Even the kids ate a decent amount. We had the kids sit in the kitchen at the smaller table while all the adults sat at the formal dining room table. It was such a nice change to NOT have to get up and deal with rioting kids.
The tree was completely filled with presents. It looked like we had a few dozen people getting gifts.
After Dave's family went home, it was time to write letters to Santa. Daddy helped Bella write her letter all by herself while Lexie dictated to me. We took the letters and put them next to the cookies (made with Teta Sherry) and hot cocoa (because it's warm & yummy and Santa likes it better). Oh yeah, we had to ad a napkin in case Santa got his beard dirty.

Uncle Momo (my brother Dan) & Grammy spent the night. While Milenko passed out, Elf Dan put together the Barbie Escalade from Santa. By 1am, we were exhausted and put the wagon (still inside its box) on a footstool with a name tag.

I was so tired come 7:30 that I didn't get to capture their look on camera when they saw what Santa brought. However, I think the excitement lasted all day. The Escalade has a real working radio & cup holders. We haven't put the battery in yet since it has to charge for 18 hours. I'm wondering if the battery is even needed as they find that thing so much fun without it.
At 10am, our neighbor Meena joined us for homemade waffles and mimosas, courtesy Chef Milenko.

At 2pm we headed to Kum & Kuma's (Milenko's godparents) house for dinner. We had the best homemade soup ever. I can't remember the Croatian name for it (let alone spell it), but it was so good! Follow that up with bread, green beans, potatoes, roasted pig, sauerkraut, salad, cauliflower, stuffing and turkey with gravy. That was dinner. Dessert was even more food than dinner. We brought an apple pie to add to the strudel, 3 plates of Croatian cookies, chocolate/raspberry cake, fresh strawberries with cream and a Croatian dessert break that Kum always makes. WOW! There was so much food that I think I've personally eaten for the week. (That's not including the appetizers before dinner of shrimp, proscuitto, crackers, cheese, olives, dips and some spicy sausage that I'm clueless about.) If ever you want a good meal, Kuma will certainly do you justice is preparing a wonderful spread!

The best part was when Kum pulled out the guitar and accordion. Lexie loves music and after she finished her dessert, she delighted us by singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas, You Are My Sunshine and her ABC's. She became disinterested when Kum couldn't play any of the "Anna Montanana" (Hannah Montana) songs.

Had to throw in a quick picture of Brayden as he dressed up for Christmas dinner!

We all went to bed around 8pm. Lauren was still a little under the weather, Brayden has developed a very bad cough and I can't swallow anything. (Wouldn't that have come in handy while the desserts were flowing this season?!) :-)

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Friday, December 21

Wednesday, December 19

A Mother's Story - The Real Truth....Warning: Not for the Faint


I'll even put in some cute pictures of the kids to make it look like we're all doing WONDERFUL!

Okay, this blog is for all the mom's to read as they know the truth about parenting and just let everyone else believe they're perfect. You know how you want to tell everyone to take a flying leap when they tell you how "great" of a super mom you are? Well this would be that day!


I'm sitting her at 5:04 in the afternoon writing this blog. No, dinner isn't ready. Do I have it even planned? Sorta. I'm hoping to call Milenko after I type this and tell him to pick something up from a fast food place or I'll order pizza. I tend to do this often since I'm just to tired, frustrated, busy and lazy to make a real dinner. Oh yeah, that would explain the size of my hips and my hubby's belly.

I've sent Bella to her room for a time-out until Daddy comes home. She was using the DVD's as ice skates on the hardwood floors. That's always a fun one. She's been there since around 4:15 and I don't expect her to come out for another 1/2 hour or so. When Milenko comes in the door she'll run downstairs to tell him that she was bad and wait for him to say "tisk tisk" and then cuddle up to her and act as if nothing happened. I'm the bad guy and Daddy's the knight in shining armor.

My voice is currently raw from yelling at Lauren for ripping Bella's homework in 1/2 and then ripping all the Christmas cards off the closet door. On top of that she thinks it's Christmas morning and it already opening presents. No, I'm not ignoring my kids. I was upstairs changing Brayden. Why would it take me that long upstairs for her to do all this much damage? Well let me tell you! Brayden took a shit on my lap and the poop went out the back of his diaper, all over his clothes, all over my white new shirt and all over the couch. The good news is the couch is leather and can easily be cleaned. The bad news is that he gets to take another bath to clean the crap off of him. 3 changes of clothes already and the day isn't through....

Lexie has decided to take the Donkey Kong Bongo game that we have and tie the cords to the bongos in knots around their computer table. When I came downstairs and tried to gently move the bongos to the side so I didn't fall on my face, the bongos were stuck and so I tripped anyways. Of course I'm in a perfect mood so I don't yell or anything. NOT! I screamed at the top of my lungs at her to pick up all of the blocks that are in 100 pieces all over the floor, the ripped up homework courtesy of Lauren and the stupid Happy Meal toy that I'm sure will be broken by the end of the night

Not to mention the cell phone incident. We've been having a glitch with our phones and while on the phone with Milenko, the phone hangs up. While I try to dial him back, the phone locks up on me. After another 20 seconds of nothing and then the phone reboots, I get so frustrated that I take the damn phone and slam it into the dashboard of the car. The car is fine. I didn't use all my anger to pound the thing into the dash. I went to call Milenko about 2 minutes and 4 deep breaths later and the screen in broken. The crack in the digital screen means that I can't use the phone now. What do I tell hubby? "it was working one minute and then the screen died and did this..." Yes, I lied to Milenko. However, I did tell him the truth after he went to the phone store and got it replaced for free. He understands since it makes it more believable and he isn't lying to the guy at the store - I'm just not giving him all the information he needs.
Why doesn't a mom tell someone they're on Zoloft? Because when they forget to take it for a week, everyone KNOWS!!! Besides, trying to present yourself as the pretty, nicely dress, clean smelling, happy mom is much nicer than the one in sweats with their hair in a clip with no make-up, zits, un-brushed teeth and baby shit on their pants.

Well I better run now. Milenko will be home any minute and will be completely pissed off because I didn't make anything for dinner. Brayden should wake up and want to either be changed again or want me to hold him for another 2 hours straight. Lauren's sitting on the stairs saying "Nah, ca-ca, pooh-pooh" which means I'll be in shit up to my elbows in a few minutes. Oh yeah, I have to help Bella do her homework that's due tomorrow and go to the store to get healthy snacks and fruit for her class party tomorrow.

Here are some pictures I uploaded a while ago - just to show you that in my insanity, I do have some cute kids. :)

SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren has a new place to watch her show - Teletubbies. Every single morning she comes into my room with the channel changer and says "Dubby Dubby Mommy." Translation: "Get your butt downstairs and put Teletubbies on."


Bella has now surpassed the oldest gamers in the house (Milenko & I). She is now almost to the PRO level in Wii Boxing. Who ever thought that during the cold, rainy months that video games were a way to get exercise. I kid you not, Donna & I tried the Wii Boxing and our arms were so sore the next day. Talk about a great workout. Just wait until Dance, Dance Revolution comes out - we might have a decent looking body after all. (okay, maybe not - wishful thinking though!)

We may subject ourselves to this crap everyday but at the end of the day and first thing in the morning, our children are the greatest things in our lives - we just aren't thinking that way right now!

Wednesday, December 5

Ho Ho Ho! (Hack Hack)

Happy Holidays - if you're not under the weather like a few of us in our household. :) This time of year is always fun. We decorate the house inside and out, get to shop a lot and get to pull out the winter clothes. This year we had the tree up 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. (Hey, it was never put away from the last time we took it out so there was a purpose to finally get it out of the garage!)

We did our family Christmas pictures just before Thanksgiving and even had Brayden's birth announcements done. Although everything was ready to go, we didn't get out cards until the 5th of December. Boy, it sure does take a lot of time to do these things when you have a large family. In case I forgot to send you a card, please don't take it personal. I can't remember if I kissed my husband good-bye this morning for work, I don't remember if I even used the bathroom today. I think I may have remembered breakfast this morning and I'm sure that I called Lauren by Lexie's name, Bella by Lauren's name and possibly Lexie by Brayden's name. My brain is fried and I haven't ever touched a drug before! How do the people with 10 kids do it??


We chose this picture above because all eyes were open and Lauren looked so cute. Lexie could have used a bigger smile but she makes up for it in the picture below.

Now you tell me.... How often can you get 4 kids to look at the camera? Well, at least 3 of them anyways. We were just so excited that they all smiled. We'll give Brayden another year before he's required to show us any teeth. He's getting away with it this year since he doesn't have any teeth yet. ;-)

For Bella's birthday, Donna & Alyssa got her a scooter. She has been practicing outside on the semi-warm days. She loves the thing so much. She'll be ready for a real one by the time the weather gets warmer again. The one she has right now is just a training scooter.

Lexie is also enjoying her outdoor play. She's such a ham. When I tell her to smile for the camera she cocks her head to the side and puts her hand on her face. What a total shmoozer!

Lauren is the biggest outdoor kid of all our children. It doesn't matter if she has shoes & socks on, if she's in pj's or if she's in a diaper. She'll go outside as much as possible if the door is open.


When I get a free chance, I'll scan in Bella & Lexie's school photos and post those. They both turned out so good. I'm hoping to do that before the school year end at the rate I'm accomplishing things. hahahaha

What's going on with us in December? Well, Milenko is healing from his vasectomy. It's taking a little longer than normal since diabetics have a longer recovery time. He's "hanging" in there though. (pun intended) Good news - no more ooops! for us. hee hee

We have a few get-togethers with friends for the holidays but mostly staying at home. As always, we'll have Christmas Eve with the Gardner side of the family and all the cousins, etc. here at our place. We've been doing that for 8 years now. It's always so much fun. For Christmas, we're headed to Dan & Anita's (Kum & Kuma), Milenko's godparents, for dinner. We'll stop by his parents (who live 3 doors down) for a little while before heading over there and will hopefully be home early and off the roads before the Holiday drivers come out.

We had to throw in the photo of Biscuit with Brayden. I had just come home from the store and was unloading all the groceries in the house. I left Brayden outside since he was asleep and it was nice and warm in the sun. While I was busy putting things away, Biscuit went up to Brayden's car seat and started "making biscuits" on the end of the fleece blanket on his feet. She grabs the corner of the blanket and sucks on it and kneeds the blanket like