Update to Previous Entry

Kayson was sent home from daycare again today --- now sores on his bottom and underams and a small rash on his feet = Hand, Foot & Mouth disease. There are three other confirmed cases of this in his room at daycare, so I guess it's very, very likely for him to get this as well...

As in my previous entry - I feel like a horrible Mom... I feel like I'm no help (in making him healthy)... I just want Kayson to be happy and feel better. It honestly breaks my heart.

Fortunately, we believe we are over the contagious stage of the disease...

Sleepless Nights & Forgetful

We've had some sleepless nights around here... Kayson just is not happy... Monday he had a low grade fever, so he was sent home from daycare. Tuesday the fever was gone, but now we think it's moved to teeth - Ryan seems to think it's his back teeth or just one tooth... how do you know!? It's so hard! We were up pretty much all night last night... about every 2 hours, I would rub some Orajel on his gums... that would seem to ease the screaming and tears for about an hour or so... He's just so restless and he's tired... and I feel horrible for him. I sometimes feel like a bad Mom when there isn't much we can do when he's so unhappy.

When we have days/weeks like this... I'm becoming more and more forgetful. Lack of sleep and worrying about your child obviously will do that to a person. I forget what I did last night... I forget what I did an hour ago... I forget to call someone back to cancel plans or make plans... I forget to watch a show that I normally do... I forget a lot. That's not like me at all - I have most everything written down on a calendar at home and my calendar on my phone... but that doesn't seem to cut it lately! Somehow I'll get back to being better with remembering things. I wonder how much I'll forget this weekend when we head to Creston for Easter!!! I better start my list now!

Fire Engine Red

We started off with a great weekend... nice, relaxing Friday... stayed home and did nothing. Saturday morning we woke up to Kayson having some loose stools (I know, icky), but the medication he's on for his ear infection gives him some loose stools... We all were going to go up to Ankeny to watch my niece, Hope, play in the State AAU Volleyball tourney... but after lots and LOTS of tears and screams after several bad diapers, Ryan stayed home with Kayson and I went up to Ankeny. Ryan said Kayson had several more bad diapers and was pretty fussy and just had a super sore bottom. That's really the first time we've had to deal with something like that... oh his bottom was fire engine red. I spent several hours in Ankeny with my family and watching Hope play SO well - she's a great little player, for a 7th grader... she can hit like a 10th grader. She's going to be GOOD. The rest of the afternoon was pretty good... Kayson was still very irritable and 'sore', so we just layed low and relaxed...

Today had been a good day as well... Kayson still is having some loose stools, but they are better... and his bottom is just now pink with some red (not completely red). Poor thing. He took some good naps and while Kayson napped, Ryan and I did a ton of stuff outside - cleaned out both cars, raked the dead stuff off the grass (hoping that will help it grow and be a beautiful yard!)... and did our normal stuff inside. Good productive day. Kayson was a little irritable tonight, but not near as bad as I thought he would be... he got a nice bath and is in bed now.

Hoping tomorrow his little bum is barely pink...

15 Months

Kayson is 15 months old today... what a big boy!

• Weighs about 26 lbs 6 oz.
• Wears size 5 shoes
• Wears mostly 18 month clothes, some 24 month tops
• Likes to eat popcorn... sometimes we have that as an afternoon snack on the weekends if we are home.
• Starting to take more and more steps (even from just the beginning of the week!) Soon it'll be 'running'!
• Does so well at going 'night-night'... read 2 or 3 books and lay him down with his softies and Winnie.
• Loves to be tickled
• Can open doors
• Loves to dance in the car - thinks it's pretty funny with Momma sings & dances... (it's a sight I'm sure!)
• Has a perfect smile (we think!)
• Has a girlfriend - well, maybe a couple: Cali, Riley & Peyton (in no particular order!)
• Loves to be outside with the dogs or "Bubbas" (that means puppies)

Our sweetie pie.

Conversation

Doctor: "Long time... " (he was being sarcastic)
Me: "We are back... I think it's another ear infection..."
Doctor: "Fever, fussy?"
Me: "No fever, just really fussy... not sleeping, not eating"
Doctor: "Let's take a look." (Looks in Kayson's ears, digs out some built up wax) "Left ear looks good... right ear - infected."
Note - last time it was the left ear.
Me: "Ok... give me meds!"
Doctor: "Do you want tubes?"
Me: "Can we have tubes?"

We aren't doing tubes right now... Doctor recommends about 5 or 6 infections in a year, we are at 3 right now. Three brutal ones! Ryan and I briefly discussed - if Kayson gets another one soon, we will definitely talk to the ENT the Doctor recommended and we'll see what happens...

Praying for a 'sleep through the night' night and a happier baby in the morning. I'm going to bed!

Steps

I believe about a week ago I said that we were working on Kayson walking... of course, that makes me sad to think my baby will be walking soon... but lordy, lordy - when you carry around a 27 pound "baby", it's time to walk! ha.

This weekend we were home a lot, so Ryan and I really worked with Kayson on taking some steps. Him and I would sit about 5 feet from each other and we'd get Kayson ready to take off (we realized it's much easier when he's wearing shoes!), so we went back and forth, and back and forth. Sometimes barely a step would be made and boom, on his knees or face! The next time, we'd get two really good stable steps in, and boy, that was exciting for us! Then there was this one time that Kayson took about 6 steps, even stopping and keeping his balance and continued with one more step -- we hooted and hollared and kissed him like crazy! Can you imagine us!? :)

Grandma JeanAnn purchased an adorable pair of Nike shoes for Buster... it's crazy to see him in actual Nikes, when he's just got little feet, but they are cute and stylin. So we hope that Kayson will soon be taking lots of steps in his new shoes!

Video

Here is a fun video of Buster... Him & Dadda giggling and being silly... Man this should bring a smile to anyone's face!

KU vs UNI

As I've said in previous blogs, basketball is on at our house all the time (or as much as it can be!) Ryan (and his family) are huge KU fans... and I've become one simply because of him... it's fun to have a team to root for... KU basketball and Iowa football... that's our teams! Anyway, UNI went on to play KU tonight... good for them! I'm all about the 'underdogs' winning and simply because they are an Iowa team. Like I said good for them... but when they beat KU - DAMN!!! Ryan was pretty bummed... me too... sad to see them lose, but great for UNI. They have some kick ass 3-point shooters! And now Ryan and I (and probably 90% of the other basketball fans) had KU as the NCAA Champions on their brackets... not anymore!

Eating!!!

For the past two days Kayson has ate like a CHAMP, like a piggy, like a superstar! We are so thrilled! Today he ate chicken nuggets at daycare... and peas and pears. WHAT?!?! Is that our child!?! Daycare has been excited too - they really want the best for him and they really, really try to do anything to get him to eat... so I know they are pleased too. And then he's done really well for dinner too... last night he ate an entire Gerber dinner - meat, potatoes & some carrots. Holy Crap! He hasn't done that in months!! And tonight an entire Easy Mac & Cheese, with a banana and some teddy grahams. What a wonderful feeling. Even if it only lasts a couple days - we are so excited. Oh the little things! Gotta love our little boy!

St. Patty's Day & Hats

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone! Just another day in the Taylor household... but of course Kayson sported a cute shirt... "Kiss me for Good Luck" - well of course I'm gonna do that!!



Here are a few other pictures from this past weekend... We are attempting to get Kayson more used to his Iowa cap. He thought it was pretty cool when Dadda wore his!

Home

Welcome home Dadda!!!!
Friday night Ryan got home from Kansas... he's been there for two work weeks, and man did Momma & Kayson miss him!! It's so nice to have him home... Kayson was so happy (me too!)! We've had a great weekend thus far. Today we did a lot of nothin, which was exactly what we wanted. I slept in a little (thanks to Dadda), then Ryan needed to go to work for a little bit, so Kayson napped and I did some things around the house - including that darn thing called laundry, that's never ending! ;) This afternoon we ALL took naps - even me! I struggle with naps, can't fall asleep fast enough or get interrupted. Kayson took an hour and 45 minute nap, Ryan took about the same, and I took about an hour... it was WONDERFUL! Tonight we have just played and played... working on Kayson walking. He'll take a step here and there, but it's so wobbly and 'top heavy', he just goes face first! We've got at least another month or so to go... I think!?!? As you saw in my previous blog, we played "ball" a lot today... Kayson just loves to play and watch basketball on TV. Is that a bad thing that he likes the TV so much!?!? Nah... We still read and do lots of other things! We are looking forward to another day for the weekend... nothing is planned for Sunday either. Love that! and love being home!

Basketball

Basketball has been on our TV since Friday night... Big 10 and Big 12 games... and HS Boys State Basketball... and Kayson LOVES it! "Ball...Ball...Ball..." Here are a few pictures of him playing basketball!

Watching intently!... and learning we hope! ;)

No Sun

The weather was warm this weekend - or at least warmer than the 20s... but there wasn't any sun. I was bummed. I was hoping to get outside and go for a walk, but it was still just a tad chilly for Kayson (and me of course!). We had a nice weekend despite the droopy weather. It was wonderful having Ryan home... man, I can miss that guy! We did plenty of things around the house including just being together and laughing at Kayson. Wow, he's definitely going to be a class clown.


Ryan is gone again this week... but am hoping Kayson & I have a much better week (when it comes to sleep!) He was like a new baby by Saturday afternoon after getting 2 does of meds in him... so I think we are good to go! Now, if we could just have some sun with this 40+ degree weather. BUT 40 degrees with rain is much better than 0 with snow! ;)

Parts & Other Tricks

Kayson is really starting to know his body parts... nose, mouth, hair, button (belly button), feet, ears... Speaking of ears - he's got another ear infection. We've had another rough week of sleeping, so now we have the answer... and teething. Wow - I've never seen so much drool! ;) Poor little guy. I'm so glad we have a weekend planned to be at home and just relax... we all need it. Ryan said he's kind of got a head cold going on... I'm exhausted from little sleep... and Kayson is tired too. Medicine should kick in and we should start to see a difference by Saturday night.

Along with Kayson knowing his body parts, he's also doing more and more sounds of animals and imitating a monkey. Oh it's hilarious... He makes the cow sound, the puppy sound, he laughs when we make the duck sound (he won't do it tho!), I'm working on him to do the bunny sign, and he imitates a monkey by putting his one hand under his armpit and giggles... priceless. When we were at the doctors office today, I tried to get him to do that for the doctor and he wouldn't... but the SECOND he walked out the door, Kayson looked at me and did the monkey imitation. Stinker! ;)

Enjoy the warm weather Iowans! I'm hoping to take Kayson and the dogs for a long walk... soak up the sun!

Jokes

A friend of mine sent some one-liner jokes the other day and some of them are just plain hilarious. I thought I would share.

How do you get Holy Water?
You boil the hell out of it...

What do fish say when they hit a concrete wall?
Dam!

What do eskimos get from sitting on the ice too long?
Polaroids

What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work?
A stick

What do you get form a pampered cow?
Spoiled milk

What's the difference between roast beef and pea soup?
Anyone can roast beef

Missin'

I'm missing my husband... It's only Monday evening... wow, it's going to be a LONG week! Ryan is in Kansas this week.
I thought I would look back at some pictures of Ryan and I. Love ya babe!

Our honeymoon - best time of our 'non-parent' lives!


Couple pregnancy pictures... WOW - I was large!!



And an evening out after Kayson arrived...