The momma called the doctor.....

and the doctor said....
take your thermometer and put it under the bed!


yep, I convinced myself and everyone else around me that the lil guy was sick...very, very sick. My medical education has provided me with just enough knowledge to throw all common sense out the door and think the worst.
I diagnosed the lil guy with one of two problems. He either had a virus from a skanky shopping cart or from a very dear relative from Christmas OR he had aspiration pneumonia.
Here's how the visit went:
Infant presents to clinic with concerned mother re: a recent on again/off again fever. Mom says baby has been having 99 degree fever here and there x 7 days. It elevated to 100 (axillary..(under arm) last night which prompted a near emergency room visit.
She calls the pediatrician who recommends not bringing baby in unless it reaches 100.5 rectally. Mom was still concerned the next morning so she brings baby to clinic.
2nd pediatrician: Is baby acting normal?
Overly concerned mom: yes...eats, pees, poops, and sleeps
2nd pediatrician: why are you taking the temperature?
overly concerned mom: he looked pink and felt warm. it was 99 under the arm so i added a degree like i've been taught to do which made it 100. i administered 0.3ml tylenol susp, waited 30min and took the temp rectally which was normal.
2nd pediatrician: looks over the baby and says your baby is fine. You might not want to swaddle him with all the blankets and layers of clothes. taking a temperature under the arm is NOT accurate. It provides only an estimate and should not be used to diagnose a temperature. It's not a good idea to give infants tylenol because you can actually mask the fever. If the baby is experiencing fever then you want to know what it is.
overly concerned mom: well, he was given a bottle with a fast nipple and choked a little. i was concerned that he could have aspirated it because he's been taking short, shallow breaths and with his fever and all.....
2nd pediatrician: laughing a little at this point...babies tend to take short breaths, then stop, then take a long, deep breath\
overly concerned mom: OHHHH. well, what what about his thrush. can you check his thrush please.
2nd pediatrician: smiling, i don't see any signs of thrush
those white marks on his gums are normal and the spot on his roof is normal and present in most babies.
overly concerned mom: OHHHHH.
2nd pediatrician: it's really good to see you, but please put your thermometer up unless baby ACTS SICK! AGAIN, he's perfectly fine.
overly concerned mom goes shopping at sams and wonders why she spent her evening killing every possible germ in our house.

I did learn that Caden's a member of the 8LB club now and growing quite nicely.

We'll just call that a "well child check up"

cooking, cleaning, diapers, and blogging

I had intentions of posting a really great baby blog complete with fun pictures for you to oooo and ahhhhh over all day. My intentions were there, but diapers, fussiness, feedings, cooking, cleaning, and the ever needy toddler kept me away from that great post today.
The toddler and I started our rainy Saturday by fixing holiday shaped, apple caramel pancakes.
By the way, I did not notice him smuggling a pancake under his shirt until I downloaded this picture. I should go check his bed for any hidden pancakes, but I'll finish this post first.


After I cleaned this mess up and finished my watered down drink, I decided that the blueberry loaf in my new recipe book sounded really GOOD. I convinced myself to try it...hence another mess!
Here's the recipe:
Blueberry Bread with vanilla sauce
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1 egg
1 c milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups blueberries

vanilla sauce (i did not fix this)
1 c sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup butter, cut in cubes

mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat the egg, milk, and oil in mixing bowl then add the dry ingredients. Beat until combined.
Fold in the blueberries and pour into a greased 5x9 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50-55 min or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean. Cool for 10 min in pan.
Sauce:
Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add the cream and stir until smooth. Add the butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.
Cook for 2 min or until thickened, stirring constantly. Serve with the bread.

Instead of the sauce, I fixed an icing and made mini muffins. Then I ate 5 of them over the course of a day and took a nap!

Merry Christmas!

From all of us~

car seat covers

Look at these adoradorable car seat covers from cutieandpatootie.
I've been eyeing these for awhile now. THe minky looks very comfy for mr caden.

DEAR SANTA,

I will leave you extra cookies if you will not bring the toddler a turtle per his latest request.
Much Love,
Tool Woman (toddler's mom)

The Lil Guy

Riley refers to him as baby brodder or lil guy. He has blamed him for a mess already.
"the lil guy wanted to see these toys"
We had our weight/color check appointment. He weighed 7'2 (25th percentile), he's still 20 in long (50th percentile) and his head circum. 14 in (50th percentile).

He slept all night last night! I had to wake him up to eat...YAY for the lil guy!!!

Hospital funnies...

Riley Adrian and Caden Reece




1. My friend Sarah brought her 9-day old baby to visit us. Riley told her "I'm petting my baby." Then he told her to "pet yours".
2. Nikki's daughter Macy saw the card with the foot print attached to the crib and immediately got concerned because "he only has four toes!" We immediately had to discredit that concern by showing her.
3. One of the nurses asked the baby's name and Riley informed her that "he doesn't have a name" (he did) Then he told other nurses that the baby's name was Grayson (clearly it's not), but that is what he will still tell you it is. Maybe he's just protesting the name Caden.
4. He asked my mom when it was time for baby brodder to go back in momma's tummy.
Then he asked when we were going to take him back to the hospital (ALREADY ready for him to go???)
5. R: "He's really cute. He has a little nose".
6. Nurse Amber to Riley: Is the baby's room all ready?
Riley: NO, he only has a pallet! (OH, so now he wants to be honest...way to back me up little man :) In my defense, it's not a pallet. It's a pack-n-play.
7. My little brodder is my friend.
8. Me: Big brothers say cheese for the camera
R: CHHHHHEEEESSEE! but, mom little brodders don't say cheese.
9. He got in the bed, pushed all the buttons, and then said "this is a really fun ride"


10. "I think he loves me"

My Baby Brodder....

Big Brother Riley would like to announce the birth of his little brother Caden.
Caden doesn't have a confirmed middle name yet, but when he does we will officially announce it as well.

baby day

We got here bright and early this morning (5am) to find that the full moon brought out all the patients in labor. It was a fairly empty hospital when I left work yesterday and today it's quite full. There was almost no room available!
Baby Mama is already tired from only 4 hours of sleep last night.

i'm happy to report that the IV placement was not traumatic this time around (thanks to maria!!)

yep, I'm looking for names in that book! We have it narrowed down to about 3 so I think we are going to let the big brother pick from those.
my epidural is working perfectly! Dr. Seale has to go to another hospital for a surgery and will be back around 3:30. She told me to be cooperate and not do anything until she gets back. I told her not to make any stops and hurry back. :)

dear blogger friends,

some of you have become....well, slackers. i won't name blog names as you know who you are.
please update your fans with the happenings in your world. i know you are all very busy, but i need some good reading material for my upcoming hospital stay so please oblige my selfish request.
please and thank you,
tool woman
xoxo

boy meets man in red

I did not have my camera when Riley saw Santa this weekend...AAAAHHH!
He made a b'line up to him with a serious expression on his face, looked Santa in the eye as if they had important business to discuss, and bluntly told him "I want a trash truck". He waited for Santa's response for a few seconds, maintained his seriousness, and added "and a backhoe".
I cracked up because he was all business and professional the whole time, but when we walked away he informed me that "Santa had on weg-u-ler shoes. "
I told him that we would see him again so I could take their picture together.
I hope Santa wears boots next time so the toddler will approve of their next business meeting together.

Teeter Totter, Bread and Water

1. Riley has worn three different coats this week all of which he insists are zipped to the very top! I just don't see how that could be comfortable ALL DAY LONG!
2. Tonight, he wanted "bread with no cheese" for supper. He eats the crust and all.
I guess I should go try to add some fruit and meat to his bread supper.
3. He put on a show by singing/dancing at Thanksgiving part II, but the pictures don't do it justice. The poor kid has 2 left feet, but he can't help it. He came by it honestly from me.
4. He wants a "back hoe" from Santa. i thought we were doing good to find the trash truck. What the heck is a back hoe and where does one find it?

december 11

The official induction date is Dec 11 if new baby doesn't come earlier...which he CAN'T because we still don't have a crib or pack-n-play put together. I've been focused on Christmas and not so much baby stuff! UH OH! We better get with it!
I promise to keep you posted while in the hospital so stay tuned!

Thanksgiving PART I..long post

It has been a busy three days so far. We started off at Ross's parents for Thanksgiving. Riley ate celery and pimento cheese which I would NEVER have imagined him to enjoy. I'm sure ants on a log would be a big hit too...(gross). I ate so much that I was still uncomfortable the next day, but it was GOOD!

Then he made ornaments for our tree.

Nana Karen mentioned going shopping the day after Thanksgiving and I thought we should pray for her safety. I've never been shopping on black Friday because I heard it's just plain dangerous and that doesn't sound very fun.
Well, guess who's eyes popped open at 3am! MINE DID so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I began to question my decision as I was turning left at the stop light around 4:50am! I couldn't turn back at this point. I had to face my fears so I pulled into the less popular Walmart of our town thinking it would be less crowded. The parking lot wasn't all that bad which confused me a little. As I entered the store, the people greeter handed me a map of the store. Still being naive to the black friday shopping, I questioned why she would hand out a map of the store. Are there people that only come to Walmart on black Friday so they need to know where to locate the lawn and garden center of our local Walmart?

THEN I FOUND THE PEOPLE and the reason for the map! The associates lined the aisles of "action alley" to stand guard over the pallets covered in black tarps. The maps gave the vincinity of where to find all the sale items. You can forget trying to shop with a cart! People had walkie talkies, buddy systems, and strategic shopping plans. I grabbed my two or three Christmas items, face powder, and a few other things just to justify my trip and was outta there in 30 min. It was intimidating!
I brought my stuff home and then I was feeling brave so decided to see what Lowe's had to offer. I had to stand in a short line before they opened at 6am, but it wasn't near as bad as the Walmart crowd. Later that morning, I headed to Target where it was really crowded, but I managed to get in and out of there in a reasonable amount of time. The parking was scary though! Finally, I headed to Sams where NO ONE was shopping. I've waited in line longer on a random Tuesday so I got my baby wipes and called it a day.

ARTS and CRAFTS: I got this really cute canvas idea from www.bibsandcribs.blogspot.com so I had to attempt it last night. I think they turned out really good for my first canvas project.


And finally, we put up the tree and wrapped some presents.
Here's Riley putting up the first ornament and the star. He LOVED decorating the tree.
I told him about the ornaments as we put them up. Here's how one of the conversations went:
A: This ornament was from my grandmother
R: (grabbing another ornament) yeah, and this one is from my grandmother
A: No, I'm pretty sure that one just came from Hobby Lobby.
He was more about putting them on the tree then hearing the history of them.

The Condition my condition is in.....

(Apparently, I didn't get the memo regarding horizontal stripes not being flattering), but not too many pictures this far along are flattering.
Instead of my "condition flaring", I've been saying "my labor is flaring". The only problem with this is my doctor or other objective measures are not in support of this.
OH, the back aches and pains! I thought for sure this must be it...my labor is truly flaring so I switched my doctor's appointment from tomorrow to today and yet, again for the 2nd week in a row the objective measures are not indicating that my labor is flaring.
There are only two possibilities for this.
A) My doctor (who sees many, many patients every day) is WRONG OR
B) MAYBE, QUITE POSSIBLY...I'm a bit of a hypochondriac

At least she agreed to put me on the induction schedule for the 11th (if he doesn't come earlier which is quite possible if my labor keeps flaring :) )

Christmas Parade

Sam's mom has been sick and the commander was knee deep in a dryer dilemma so I took Sam and Riley to the Christmas parade on Sat...alone! They did fine, but I did get hit in the head with a flying t'shirt from one of the floats. That was fun!
Look at them conspiring...
I think I heard Riley say: WHAT EVER YOU DO, DON'T LOOK AT THE CAMERA! Let's see how long how she will make herself look foolish trying to get a good picture.
Then I'm almost positive that I heard Sam agree!


Now look left..


I'll make fun of her counting to 3. You just keep looking the other way.

They win! I give up. Maybe next year our Christmas parade will actually be in Dec. and I'll get a good picture.

lip smacker

I only turned my back for a second to put clothes in the dryer. I found this lipstick wearing boy when I turned back around.
I really wish I had the video of him doing the chicken dance. FUNNY!

Greetings from Vegas

Would you believe me when I say that my condition has resulted in decreased blood flow to the brain? I convinced the commander that we needed a last minute get away to Vegas of all places. I have my labs in case new baby decided to act up, but things are going fine.
Look here...baby mama just won herself $1.50...big spender.

Here's the commander watching the water show at the Bellagio

We started our hours of shopping today at the M&M store. My feet are still throbbing and ears still ringing!!

The commander made the statement that we could get this same experience locally without having to travel by going to the Cherokee Casinos, shopping at the promenade, and eating at Ruth's Chris. I'm sure he would even throw in a bag of M&M's from Walmart too. He's silly!
Tomorrow, we keep our seats in the uncomfortable, upright and locked position for the long trek home!

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!
Molly's mom posted about these and they are just adorable! I've been looking into oil paintings, but these would look really cute in a frame.

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

I am behind with online shopping and blogging because I've been busy with Christmas. I should be ashamed for neglecting my favorite holiday by jumping right to Christmas, but I got a jump start on Christmas painting, shopping, and decorating. At least we are waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up the tree, but everything else is almost done. The commander and I shopped all day on Tuesday!!

This frame makes me smile.

random updates

*The tentative induction date for new baby is DEC 11! The OB and anesth. DR's that were involved with Riley's delivery are available again so that's good. New baby needs to cooperate so everything can be planned and coordinated. :)
By the way, that baby ticker at the top of the page makes me a little nervous every time I see it, but I suffer from pregnancy brain and really need it to keep up with my progress.

*Riley had a revelation this week.
He wants to be a trash truck driver when he grows up. The commander and Riley watched the recycle truck pick up our trash this week so he's been obsessed with trash pick up ever since.
He will tell you that a trash truck driver gets to wear a hat and puts the trash in the back of the truck with an arm. Lucky for us, Tonka makes a trash truck for such little boys.
*We pulled out the play doh this week so that's been his favorite past time.
He calls it "kee doh". We have corrected him, but he just can't remember and calls it kee doh. Tonight he is making supper (chicken pot pies) with it and HUMMING loudly.
*I'm off to watch the CMA's and put up Christmas decorations. Yep, already.

The Leaves are Falling..

Which only means one thing...



Hey GRANDADDY...



ON YOUR MARK..


GET SET...



GO!!



And the winner is...