Sick kids, foiled plans

Last weekend started out so great! We had some laid out plans, Thomas and I both took Thursday and Friday off work, so we had a 4 day weekend ahead of us! We were pumped! And it started off great! Well, there was one minor bump to start off the trip.

Ok, here was our plan:
The ultimate goal was to go down to Jacksonville to visit my dad (side note: my dad moved to Jacksonville probably about 2 years ago and we STILL hadn't been to visit yet - traveling with the boys used to be way too hard, but it's much more manageable now!). We thought we might split up the trip by going to Charleston first. This was a great idea for a few reasons - less time in the car for one day and Wednesday was Fifi's birthday so we could come celebrate with her for a few days.

The planned agenda was going to go something like this:
I was going to give the boys a late snack around 5:30 pm on Wednesday night. We were planning to get on the road en route to Charleston around 6 pm. We were going to eat dinner somewhere around Columbia and arrive to Charleston by around 9:30 pm. Then we had fun lunch and dinner plans on Thursday and we were going to spend the night again in Charleston Thursday night. On Friday morning, we were going to leave shortly after breakfast to head down to Jacksonville to visit my dad. My dad had an oyster roast and low country boil planned for Saturday night and we were all excited. We had plans to maybe go out to the beach (if the weather cooperated), and just have a good time being away from home and visiting with family. I was a little unsure about how the ride home would be on Sunday, since that would have been the longest road trip to date.

But anyways, things don't always go as planned. Wednesday brought terrible wind and there were storm warning and probably some tornado warnings as well. Thomas said his car was shaking due to the wind on his way to and from work. There were several trees that came down in our neighborhood. We decided to hunker down for the night and not leave for Charleston in the crazy winds! Plus, truth be told, I had the boys all packed and ready, but I had not packed for myself yet, so this gave me a little extra time! So our delayed departure was first little bump in our "fun road trippin' weekend" road.

So instead, we got up Thursday morning and left around 9 am. The boys were wonderful little car riders and had fun watching Finding Nemo and Robin Hood. We got down to Folly Beach just in time for lunch! We met Fifi, Jerry and Mag at Taco Boy, which is one of my favorite places to eat at Folly. Let's be honest about this lunch, the boys had just gotten out of the car and were not really in to sitting still at a restaurant to eat. They wanted to be up and running around...and I couldn't really blame them...so they were up and down at the booth, climbing over laps, switching places, and maybe ate a couple of bites. Luckily, since it was a Thursday afternoon, there weren't too many people in the restaurant to be bothered by such shenanigans. Thomas took William and Stokes around the block at one point and then I took Stokes out to the patio area to run around for a minute, just to try to expel a little of that pent up energy. The food and margaritas were delish, but I was ready to get out of there with our rowdy little fellas.

Taco Boy!

Our table at the restaurant - lots of room in the
booth to create mayhem and bounce around from
person to person.

Standing in the booth and being maniacs

Jerry and William

Stokes saying "cheese"!

We went back to Fifi's condo and let the boys play for just a little while before we put them down for their nap. They were all upset about napping and it took them a few minutes to calm down and go to sleep. Thomas and I took this time to get out on the deck and watch the water and relax. It was really windy and pretty cold, but the sun was out and the condo building blocked some of the wind and it felt great when the wind would die down a little. So peaceful and nice and relaxing.

Ahhhhh......

After naps, the boys took some time to play with some of their faves. After a while, we got the boys ready and went out once again to meet up with Tara, Matt, Leece and Madison at Bowen's Island, which is a great low-key seafood restaurant. We got there early to make sure we could get a table and lucked out here. It was fairly empty when we got there, which was a good thing due to having all the crazy toddlers with us!

Still sleepy after nap - William
snuggling with Mag

Fifi and Ryan

Dada with 2 wild little guys

Dinner...

Bowen's Island

Beautiful setting on the marsh

William wanted to go outside and see the view of the marsh 

William and Leece - they were hugging

Ryan sitting with Jerry

Jerry and Ryan

Dada and William

William leaning in to give his Mama a kiss

A boy in each arm!

One of my fave family pictures!

After dinner we got home and sang "Happy Birthday" belatedly to Fifi and then got the boys down for bed.

Happy birthday to Fifi!

We didn't stay up too late - I think we were all exhausted from a busy day. Thursday night was a little rough. Ryan woke up coughing quite a few times and I felt like he may have had a fever (of course, I didn't pack my thermometer), then Stokes woke up coughing. Both of them ended up in the bed with us and let's just say that we didn't get much sleep from around 4 am on.

I was concerned about how everyone, especially Ryan, was feeling when we woke up on Friday morning. I had a call in to our pediatrician to see if we should just treat the fever, or whether we needed to visit an urgent care facility, or just next steps in general. Our pediatrician called and recommended that we go to a medical office, so we quickly checked in at a local Doctors Care for Ryan. While we waited for our appointment, we just hung out, listened to music, watched tv...just chilled at Fifi's condo.

Too cute! Stokes was bundled up in
Fifi's sweatshirt while they went
on a quick walk when Thomas and I
were at breakfast.

Mag and Ryan listening to some tunes

Bonding time: Mag, Ryan and Jerry

Handsome William, captivated by the TV

When we got the notification that it was time to go to Doctors Care, we went ahead and loaded up the whole car and the boys. Although we were already checked in, we still had to wait a while to be seen. Thomas, Stokes and William all waited in the car watching DVDs to avoid any chaos. We knew as soon as we let them out of their car seats, it would not be pretty to get them back in.

While at Doctors Care, we discovered that Ryan tested negative for the flu (thank goodness), had a 101 temp, got Motrin, did a breathing treatment, had his lungs listened to by the doctor and talked about our potential trip down to Jacksonville. The doctor mentioned that he thought it was a virus, he didn't detect any pneumonia (which was something our neuro told us to be cautious of) and I explained that the last time Ryan had a fever and a virus, he ended up having a seizure, going to the ER, getting intubated and staying in the PICU and hospital for 4 days. My concern level was pretty high at this point. The doctor and I were weighing our options to stay or to go (or really to go home or to Jacksonville) and it didn't take much discussion to realize that we needed to go home. In case he were to have a seizure, I would feel much better being at home, near medical facilities with which we're familiar, around doctors that we know and just in the comfort of our own home. 

Ryan at Doctors Care

Still smiling, even though he
didn't feel well

Nebulizer breathing treatment

When we finally got out of there, we just turned that van right around towards Greenville and got home Friday afternoon.

I was super disappointed that we didn't end up going to Jacksonville, but the health of my kids is my top priority, so although I was sad about it, I knew we were doing the right thing.

Sleeping fellas on the drive home.

Ryan

William...without much light :(

Stokes...with a lot of light

It was a good thing that we chose this route, because Stokes started getting worse as well and between giving cough medicine, alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin to Ryan, giving Stokes Motrin as needed for fever and just trying to keep everyone happy, it was a long weekend. We had several bouts with vomit from Stokes and one from Ryan, which made us go on the BRAT (bananas, rice, apples, toast) diet - YUM - and three pitiful little guys. They just did not feel well. For Thomas and me, the weekend consisted of a lot of laundry, holding babies, drying tears, wiping noses, administering meds and worrying.

Poor little guy wanted to rock and be
held by his Mama

Breaks my heart that they don't feel well

Stokes and William rocking with Mama

We had a bit of a scare on Saturday night. I was getting up every 3 hours throughout the nighttime to make sure Ryan got all his doses of fever meds so that it wouldn't spike too much, but after the 4 am dose, he was coughing and fitful. I put him in the bed with us and noticed that his forehead and cheeks didn't feel abnormally hot, but the back of his head was really warm. I unzipped his pjs and his chest was burning hot. We took his pjs off and put a cool washcloth on his head. I was trying to think of what the nurses in the PICU did when he had his fever and remembered that they didn't want any covers on him. I was so worried because we had not skipped a dose of the fever reducer and he was still hot, and I was freaking out that he was going to have a seizure at any moment. Thankfully, after a while without pjs and the new dose of meds, his body temp seemed to be coming back down. I don't know what his temp was because the thermometer was in the other room with Stokes and William and I didn't want to wake them up (and to be honest, I'm not totally sure how much I trust our new thermometer), but it was definitely worrisome. A mother just knows when her child feels too hot!

We luckily made it through the weekend without too much drama, but Monday morning, Stokes had "gunk" in his eye and everyone was still coughing so I did not delay in making an appointment with our pediatrician. 

Gunk in eye and not feeling good

So, we have an ear infection and a mild case of pneumonia (Stokes), a viral pneumonia (Ryan) and just a cough for William. I made notes to talk to our ped about, so I hope I didn't forget any important details or symptoms that we witnessed over the last 4 days. It all starts running together between what happens to who and what time everything starts and all that stuff!

Stokes and Ryan at ped office

William with Lala at ped office

Stokes and Ryan both got antibiotics. The medicine will clear out Stokes's ear infection, which also caused the gunk in his eye, and should help clear up his respiratory issues. The doctor wasn't convinced that Ryan's pneumonia wasn't a virus, which antibiotics won't help, and wanted to go ahead and get him a prescription as well, just in case. We just need to give William cough and fever medicine if needed or as needed and wait it out for him.

So....our awesome 4 day weekend did not quite turn out how we had expected. I was seriously thisclose to writing a post about how we'd pretty much made it through the winter without much sickness (apart from Ryan's horrible hospital episode), but I thought, "nah, I better not write that because I'll end up jinxing myself". Well, self, it looks like you jinxed it just by thinking it! Arrrgggghhh.

Anyway, we've seen the pediatrician, we have meds in hand, we're (hopefully) on the way to wellness and will just hold tight. We will try to plan another trip to Jacksonville ASAP!

And now we're ready to LEAP into spring and into good health! Get it? Leap? It's a leap day today. :)
And BTW, one of my besties, Jacqui, had her baby today. How exciting that he was born on Leap Day? I will post a picture as soon as I meet him in person. YAY!

Two and a half

I can't believe that I am actually writing this, but my boys are TWO AND A HALF. What?!?! When did that happen? I still find myself calling them my "babies". The last two and a half years seemed to have flown by. They are all growing so much and looking like such big kids now. It doesn't help that most of the clothes they're wearing are big kid styles.

Birth order - Stokes, Ryan and William

My triplets - 3 Peerys in a pod

Can you believe that those two pictures are the best I could get? Pitiful. These little guys cannot sit still for more than a second and I can't get them to all look and smile at the same time - sounds like a broken record, doesn't it?!?!

Here's a breakdown of what everyone is doing these days.

Stokes
He's still a wild thing! He keeps us on our toes and he keeps us laughing. He is so darn funny! He does and says the craziest and most hilarious things. His sense of humor is awesome. He is the most ticklish little guy and just loves to laugh out loud. He's very athletic and agile and strong! He is already working on pull ups - he pulls up on the counter, the wash cloth bar in the bathtub, and basically anything else that he can use to develop his athletic dominance. We're still seeing a lot of improvement in his speech and he will just talk and talk away. I don't know half of what he's saying, but I guess that's par for the course. His voice is a little raspy and very, very cute. He talks A LOT about cars and possession of cars. He's constantly saying, "Mama's car", "Dada's car", "MaSha's car", etc - you get the picture. He's so obsessed with cars that he's starting to recognize the makes and models. Seriously! He will see another lovely Honda Odyssey minivan (like mine) and he will immediately point and call it "Mama's car". Another example is one day not too long ago, we were walking around the neighborhood and he saw a Honda CRV in someone's driveway. He pointed and said, "Ashley's car", and he was correct! Ryan's PT, Ashley, drives a CRV. I was blown away that he pays that much attention and the extent to which he will notice details....about cars. Along the same lines, he has a little truck in which he will ride around the house. As a matter of fact, it is his favorite mode of transportation. He seriously picks up speed in that thing and will zoom around corners and basically burn rubber (plastic) all through the downstairs. It's really comical! Stokes's favorite song is Tiger Song (aka Tiger Rag, the Clemson fight song). I started a tradition during football season to play it on my phone first thing in the morning on gamedays. Well, it became an instant favorite around here and Stokes will ask for me to play "tiger song" anytime he sees my phone. As my firstborn, I still think he's taking up the role of the alpha male and will occasionally hit or push his brothers, or just take a toy right out of their hands. He does get in trouble for this, and I know it's typical brother and toddler behavior, but he's still a bit of a bully. He doesn't seem to mind timeout and will march himself right up to the "timeout corner" and put his forehead against the wall until we tell him he can come back - sometimes with tears, sometimes without. Stokes is our pickiest eater and it's totally up in the air which meals he will eat a lot and those that he might just want a bite or two before he refuses any more. He gets rather vocal at meals when he's "all done!!!!" and will hand over his plate, fork and milk and ask demand that we take off his tray so he can get out of his high chair as soon as he's done eating. He prefers to come sit on my lap as I'm feeding Ryan. And if I keep his plate on the table in front of him, he'll usually end up finishing his meal while he's sitting on my lap (spoiled little thing!). His favorite food is any type of snack - goldfish, crackers, chips, etc. He will sneak into the pantry and stuff handfuls of goldfish into his mouth while I'm cooking dinner. He loves giving hugs and kisses, and he's a pretty good little kisser, too! He will pucker right up and is not shy about blowing kisses either. There's so much more that I can say about Stokes.  He just brings me so much joy and cracks me up. He's truly an entertaining and one-of-a-kind kid.

Getting measured (while "cheesing" for
my camera)

A cute recent picture (and yes, don't judge but we still bust
out our Christmas apparel on occasion)

Ryan
Want to talk about a sweet baby? Well that would be my Ryan. Anyone that meets him instantly falls in love with him. He has a pure heart of happiness and it radiates through him. Seeing Ryan smile or especially hearing him laugh is one of the best things ever. There are so many random things that will make him laugh and it varies day to day. Something that cracks him up one day will only elicit a smile the next. I wish I knew the secret code to what would make him laugh because I would keep it on repeat all day, every day. His laugh is just full of joy. He will hand out smiles flippantly but getting a real belly laugh can sometimes take some work, but if you get it, it's totally worth it...and then some! Ryan continues to amaze us with his positive attitude, work ethic and sweet nature. He has therapy appointments every day of the week except for Wednesday and is ready and willing to work at each and every one of them, with very few exceptions. His therapists all just love him and continue to be encouraged by the progress he's made and is making and I feel like they all go the extra mile for him. I have developed really great relationships with all of them, with the exception of Barbara and only because she's so new so I've really only been around her 3 times or so, but have no doubt we will get closer and closer at each appointment. I feel very comfortable in talking to each of them about any struggles we're facing or concerns that I have - about him or his brothers. They've all been so very supportive and have gone above and beyond for us on many occasions. Ryan's still in the process of mastering his crawl, and he still prefers to "army crawl" to get somewhere faster, and is also working on balance for standing as well as walking. He's graduated from a bottle to a NUK sippy cup (which was a good transitional cup for him) and now is pretty much full-time on a honey bear sippy cup, which is a straw cup and an upgrade in terms of development. Ryan has so much love and affection towards his Dad and me and also his brothers. He loves getting attention from us or them and he will beam when his brothers hug or kiss him or even if they just try to play with him a little. We're always encouraging that and I know that his brothers will eventually become very protective of Ryan and will always be looking out for him. He makes me proud each and every single day and is such a gift and a blessing. You know, sometimes, I will get a little down about his diagnosis and some of the daily struggles he faces, but it's important to keep everything in perspective. He's a healthy little boy, without a feeding tube or breathing tube, he's mobile, he has a fantastic attitude and we aren't having to deal with aggressive behavior like some other kids with similar issues have, he sleeps well and shows very little (if any) side effects from his medicine and overall is doing really well. We have so much to be thankful for and grateful for when it comes to Ryan, and really all of our kids, but we're most keenly aware of it with Ryan...if that makes sense. Ryan lights up my world.

Getting measured

Such a sweetie!

William
When I ask him who is my "babiest baby", he will pipe right up with "William!", which sounds more like Will-wum. I know that babiest baby isn't a real phrase, but that's how I describe my last born little guy. William is incredibly affectionate and loves to be snuggled/squeezed, kissed, held, and I could go on. One of his favorite things to do is to watch TV (pronounced tee-bee), and although I don't let him watch it much, he could probably sit there for 5 hours straight watching TV without a complaint. William is such a great sleeper. Sometimes, actually fairly often, we have to wake him up after his afternoon nap because he will just keep on sleeping! His brother will be up and playing with toys and he just keeps on snoozing. I break down and wake him up when it's approaching a four hour nap! When he wakes up in the morning, he's very content to just hang out in his crib with the blanket and his stuffed animals until I come in to get him. He must have a strong sense of comfort attached to his bed, and I like that! He's a pretty good eater, especially at breakfast and is definitely the carb fan. He loves bread and will whine for it if there is any in his sight. Speaking of whining, he's approaching the closest thing to the "terrible twos" in terms of emotional outbursts and tantrums and such between the three of them. He will get very upset when he doesn't get his way and tears follow, along with sometimes falling to the floor, whining and even screaming. It's all very dramatic, I tell you. William love, love, loves the Clemson Tigers and will talk about them a lot. He makes tiger growling noises and anytime sports is on TV, he will point and say "tigers!" We have the 2015 football schedule hanging on our fridge and it has a picture of the quarterback, Deshaun Watson, on it. William knows Deshaun's name and can tell you that he plays for the Tigers and that he's the "best"! William loves to spend time with his brothers and definitely pays Ryan the most attention and will "join" Stokes in timeout on occasion. He's a true extrovert and is the greeting committee at our front door whenever anyone comes over. The other day we were at brunch and he reached right up to a waitress to get her to hold him! He never meets a stranger (we will work on stranger danger in the near future). William loves books and is happy as a clam to just sit down with a book and look through and turn the pages. I love that. Not only that, but he really loves to read about Jesus. We have several versions of children's Bible storybooks and he will pick one out, bring it over to me and ask me to read about Jesus. Do you hear that? That's the sound of my heart melting. Along those same lines, he loves to say the blessing before meals (God is great) and at bedtime (Now I lay me). We get a loud "AMEN" from him after each prayer or blessing. He has a good memory and not only can he say most of the words to God is great, he can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the Wheels on the Bus, and several other little songs and rhymes. He's just now gotten to the point where he's recognizing colors - they all used to be yellow (or "lellow") if you were to ask him - but he's getting them mostly all right now. William is a joy to be around and is very charismatic. People are just drawn to him and his sweet personality. He will forever be my "babiest baby" and I love him dearly.

Getting measured

At the park last weekend - just look at that smile!

Outtakes:

Lights on, lights off

Stokes and William both have discovered the power of...(cue the scary music) da da da....the light switch! They think it's awesome to turn lights on and off. They're not quite tall enough to reach, of course, but will use their noggins to pull up some sort of object to stand on so that they can reach the light switch. They will say, "light off!" and look so proud of themselves! It ends up looking like a disco in the bathroom while I'm trying to brush teeth: lights off, then lights on, then off again, etc etc.

Here Stokes pulled up his truck to stand on (this has actually basically become a step stool for him and he uses it to reach on the counters as well - this is trouble).

I missed the picture of the exact right moment, but William was balancing on the seat of this car so that he could reach the light switch, too!

Then just the other day, Stokes pulled this step stool from the bathroom, carried it all the way down the hall and plopped it down in his room right under the light switch. Then the fun started!

he's so proud!

These guys are certainly keeping me on my toes, that's for sure!