Thank you, Thank you very much

Wes loved Halloween this year. 

Drew, is that you?

 Trick-or-Treat!

  He did such a good job walking door to door with his cousins, carrying his bucket.

I'm a hunk a hunk a burning love..

He also was very polite saying "thank you" after every house and even told a skeleton "hello"!

attack of the croup

2 weeks ago Wes had his first visit to the ER and his first "serious" illness.  It all started on October 15th.  I picked Wes up from daycare and thought he was being kind of whiny.  Which either means he didn't nap well or he wasn't feeling well.  I took his temperature and he had a low 99 degree temp.  I thought, "oh great, not before our family pictures that I'm already stressing out about".  Please God can we get one good picture of us?  I was wanting some family pictures of us before we grow to a family of 4 and combining those with Wes's 2 year pics and maybe a maternity pic or two.  So, we gave him some tylenol to help us get through the evening and he did awesome!!!  Put him to bed, put myself to bed and didn't think much more about his low fever.

Woke up the next day and got ready for work.  Jonny and I decided we would split the day off with Wes if he woke up with a fever.  Sure enough he had about a 100 degree fever and had an interesting cough to go with it.  So, Jonny stayed home in the morning with him and I took the afternoon shift.  On my way to work, I called my mom, who was on her way with my dad to Virginia.  He was going to hike part of the Appalachian Trail for 5 days.  I told her about Wes and his cough and gave her hard time for being gone when Wes got sick.   My mom just kind of nonchalantly mentioned, "maybe he has croup".  I, of course, had no idea what that was, so like any other mom, I googled it.  Sure seemed like croup, but I would see how the afternoon went with him...It went terrible.  He could hardly nap without waking up coughing.  So I called the doctor, who isn't open Wednesday afternoons and had a nurse call me back.  As I'm walking around holding Wes, trying to keep him from crying/coughing, I'm talking to a nurse about his symptoms, when he coughs into the phone.  "oh yeah, that sounds like croup" says the nurse.  So, she tells me to steam up the bathroom and let him sit in there for 10 minutes and then head to the ER. Say what?!  I panicked a little, but was also scared listening to my little boy struggle to breath and cough so hard.  So we we loaded up, picked up Jonny and headed to the ER.

I think we broke the record for the fastest ER trip.  I had just finished filling out the paperwork and we were called back.  Wes freaked out when they tried to touch him, but somehow they got his temp and other stuff that nurses do. :)  The doctor came in, checked him over, heard him cough/breath, and said "yep, he has croup".  He did a fantastic job of describing it and telling us the treatment for it...steroids to help lessen the inflamation of his airway to improve the "stridor".  What he forgot to mention was that my son would soon become possessed and enter into a "roid rage".  We tried to put him to bed at normal time.  That didn't work.  Crying/coughing proceeded to take place until he finally crashed at 11:00 pm.  In the mean time, Jonny was dealing with stomach issues. 

So, Wes "slept" in our bed, while jonny spent the night vomiting.  Good times were had by all.  We are pretty certain we didn't have nights that terrible even when Wes was a newborn.  Wes woke up every hour coughing, scared, crying and it just broke my heart.  I spent the night praying for my boys.  It was a long night.

Wes continued to have the barking cough and stridor all day thursday.  I called the doctor and we agreed that we would monitor him through the night, if no improvement we should bring him in on Friday.  Jonny was on duty Thursday night.  He spent the night in Wes's room.  It was a little better, but wes slept on Jonny for half the night.  At 5:30 am he wouldn't stop crying for mommy, so I took over and let Jonny sleep until I had to go to work.  Let's just say, we needed the grandparents, who were unable to help!  Jonny took him to the doctor on Friday, got another steroid and we got ready for "roid rage" round 2. 

Wes had a fever until Sunday evening, so I took Monday off.  Then we found out Wes had passed this lovely illness to his daycare.  So now that Wes was better he couldn't go to daycare since his buddy was sick.  Luckily we have awesome friends and family who took Wes for a few days so Jonny and I could work.

playing with iPad

watching daddy play a racing game

dinner of apples and popcorn

enjoyed extra snuggles

I pray we never have to go through that again.  But, I'm also so thankful for a healthy boy and think about those families who live in hospitals and see their children suffer.  And realize, if croup is the worst thing Wes has, we are very fortunate.

And the moral of the story is..."roid rage" in a 2 year old is SCARY!

4 months later...

Ok, we are just going to ignore the fact that it's been nearly 4 months since I last updated the blog. Yikes!  I do feel like I have a good excuse though.  So let me catch everyone up on the Foerschler family.  Here is the short version:

• I finished my first year in the Wichita school district back in May and could hardly wait to enjoy my 2 months of summer break!
• Whoa, being home all day with a 20 month old boy is waaaaayyy harder than being an SLP!  After the first week of summer vacation, I was scared I wasn't going to make it.  It's kind of embarrassing to admit that as a mom.  Basically, I have a whole new level of respect for stay at home moms/dads!

  

  don't let the adorable grin fool ya! This kid is ornery. :)

• 3 weeks of summer vacation and Wes and I were doing much better.  We enjoyed morning snuggles and breakfast in our jammies everyday.  Trips to the zoo, over to Jami's to play with Jackson, Botanica with grandpa, and playing in the hose.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Pedalfest at Heartspring

  
  

  

  We love Botanica!

  
  

  

  my little lion cub

  
  

  

  watering the trees

  
  
  
• Monday, June 10th I woke up feeling pretty yuck.  I was extremely tired even after sleeping 9 hours.  I only wanted mac n cheese for lunch.  Uh oh, could I be pregnant?????
• June 11th, positive pregnancy test.  And I mean bold, bright lines appeared.  We were pregnant!  After a few minutes of panic, and getting Wes out of bed, I called Jonny and tearfully said "babe, I'm pregnant!"  As the good husband he is, he responded with "well, I'm happy babe!"  I honestly wasn't terrified and cried for a good 5 minutes.  Wes just looked at me and smiled.  I will always remember that moment. So that's my excuse for not getting to the blogposts!
  
  
  

  

  Amazingly beautiful even at 10 weeks

  
  

  

  He will be so great as a big bro...eventually

  
  
  
• Enjoyed a wonderful trip to Colorado!

  

  our little hiker

• Successfully ditched the pacifier. :)
• Had a new niece join our family!

  

  Hannah Elise Brown

  
  
  
  
• And just like that I was back to work at the beginning of August and summer vacation was over. :(

And that brings us up to date right? Tomorrow we get to find out whether baby 4schler number 2 is a boy or girl.  Will Wes have a little brother or sister to love on?  It's all happening a little too fast, but that just seems to be life right now.  Wes will be 2 years old in a couple months and I will be 30 (wow, it seems even older when I write it).

My babies

I'd like to say I will be posting a little more often, but I'm not making any promises!

NOT a fan of fireworks

Bike ride with his cousins

And the moral of the story is...In February 2014 we will become the FOURschlers!

Mr. Big Stuff (18 month update)

If it wasn't official at 15 months, it's official at 18 months, my baby is NOT a baby anymore.  Wes is a full blown little boy!  Thank goodness he still adores his mommy and loves to snuggle, even if it is for 2 seconds at a time. :)  Wes is growing and changing so quickly.  He is learning constantly.  I can almost see the wheels turning in his brain.  And wow, we are learning a lot along with him.  Like how to discipline an 18 month old rather than giggle at how cute he is.  Anyway back to the point of this post.

At 18 months old, Wes loves:

• being outside-that child would be outside all day and everyday if he could.  He is currently learning how to walk on the stone paths at Grandma and Grandpa's rather than on Grandpa's flowers.
• Elmo-Anytime he sees my phone he asks for Elmo in his adorable way of saying Elmo
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse-he can hear Mickey's voice in the other room, get very excited and run in to see.  He waves at Mickey and loves to dance to the Hot Dog song.
• Dancing-he knows how to move to a good beat!
• throwing-balls, toys, food.  You name it, Wes will throw it.  This is where the learning how to discipline comes in. 
• his bed-he continues to sleep at least 12 hours at night and more if we let him.  Yay!!!
• bath time/water: he loves splashing, pouring, and yes, drinking the water.  Check out my little fish...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• yogurt-he eats yogurt almost every morning for breakfast and is getting pretty good at feeding himself
• dogs-if he hears or sees a dog he says "wuh wuh" and gets so excited.  We often go see our lovely neighbor who so kindly lets Wes see her dog.  He is still a little nervous around the dog and isn't a big fan of the dog licking him.
• M&Ms-like his mommy!

At 18 months old, Wes doesn't care for:

• vegetables-I blame his daddy!
• sitting in a high chair longer than 20 minutes
• getting his fingernails and toenails clipped-it seriously feels like I'm wrestling a bear when I cut his nails
• coming inside-like I said before he loves being outside
• getting his diaper changed-although apparently its just this way for mommy and daddy.  He's a perfect angel for Jami. :)
• holding hands in the parking lot-Mr. Independent doesn't want his mommy holding him back

At 18 months, I don't want to forget that Wes:

• says "daddy" and "mommy" so clearly and with a big smile on his face
• blows kisses and pats our backs when he goes to bed
• is stinkin' ornery!
• tries to sing (in an oh so sweet little voice)
• lets out a belly laugh when his daddy gets his tickle spots

At 18 months, Wes is right on track with major developmental milestones.  He's starting to talk more, but communicates very well.  Runs, crawls, climbs, and falls a lot like little boys do.  Has tasted dirt and sand.  Has continuously scraped knees. And understands so much!

learned how to dip in ketchup

showing grandpa how cool Elmo is

happy to have his paci to go to bed

the signs of a little boy

forget my spoon, this is way easier

handsome

enjoying being outside

No, I don't wanna get up!

momma and her 18 month old

enthralled with Mickey

Mr. Big Stuff

Wes, you continue to make your mommy and daddy smile and bring such joy into our lives!

And the moral of the story is...a little dirt never hurt anyone!

Days Like This

"Momma said there'll be days like this, there'll be days like this my momma said".  I'm pretty sure this song was referring to rough days.  Well, today was NOT one of those days.  Today was wonderful.  So, I'm taking some time to write about it so I can look back on it during one of those rough days. :)

The only thing I would change about today, would be to have Jonny here.  Unfortunately, he has been gone a few days at a conference in Chicago.  So, Wes and I got to enjoy some quality time together.

I put Wes to bed around 8:00 or 8:15 last night and preceded to lounge around, doing absolutely nothing except look, at Facebook and blogs, while watching 'Say YES to the dress'.  It was nice.  I don't get to watch that when Jonny's home.  I went to bed around 11:00 and didn't set my alarm for the morning. 

sent this pic to daddy

I wasn't getting up until Wes got up.  8:00 am came and went and not a peep from Wes.  I finally got up around 8:45 and put some cinnamon rolls in the oven and made a cup of coffee.  Wes finally woke up around 9:00!  So my awesome day started with a great night of sleep for me and Wes.  We enjoyed cinnamon rolls together.  He had yogurt and I had coffee.

 

We spent the rest of the morning doing a couple loads of laundry, playing together, watching Elmo on you tube and just being silly together.  He enjoyed a snack (craisins), while we read multiple books.  Currently he loves Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, Jingle Babies, and Moo Baa Lalala.

This boy LOVES Elmo

you think he's close enough?!

He started to get a little cranky sleepy, so I decided to get lunch going.  We enjoyed one of our favs: Aldi's frozen pizza (like Totino's, but cheaper).  He loves pizza like his mommy! After lunch was cleaned up, we listened to some tunes on Pandora.  Little man was sleepy and just wanted to be held.  So he and I danced around the kitchen to some Mark Shultz 'Remember Me'.  He snuggled right in to me, I closed my eyes, and sang softly in his ear.  For a split second all I could see was he and I dancing together 20 some years in the future at his wedding.  It was a beautiful picture, exactly what I hope for him, but man did it bring the tears!  I will never forget that moment; dancing with my sweet boy in the kitchen.  And I know on his wedding day, when Wes is dancing with me, I will close my eyes and see me holding my 17 month old boy, dancing in the kitchen. 

Once I dried my tears, I put Wes down for his nap.  I then got to enjoy a nice hot shower and some time pick up the house a little.  3 and a half hours later, I had to go in and wake Wes up!  We snuggled on the couch for a while (another rarity) until he woke up a little more.

We enjoyed dinner with some co-workers before we headed to the Wichita Wild football game.  The Wild has partnered with Levy Special Education Center (where I work) and tonight was deemed "Levy Night" at the game.  Our principal's husband is a coach for the Wild and we have several paras that are players for the Wild.  Our students and families, as well as staff and families got to go to the game.  Some of our students got to go down on the field when the players were introduced.  It was great to see students getting out in the community with their families.  Wes of course loved it.  He was dancing and clapping the whole night.  He really loved the mascot, but was a little scared when he got to see him up close.

chocolate chip cookie smile

not so sure about the tiger now...

hmmm, not sure what to think.

We left after the halftime show and Wes crashed in the car since it was at least 30 minutes past his bedtime.  Put his pajamas on when we got home, sang a couple songs, prayed together and laid him in bed.  What a day!

And the moral of the story is...children spell love, T-I-M-E.