Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!!

ALL three of us are sick! :( Tonight we are going to a candlelight service with Adam's family then doing presents tonight and Santa tomorrow morning.  Last minute decision is to spend the night with Adam's family since tomorrow is supposed to rain cats and dogs! I do not want to get baby boy out in that weather. After the rain stops, we will head to my parents and then back to Adam's moms for dinner. Friady we leave to Corpus for my brother's wedding.. whew.. i'm tired already! Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Tis' the season...

So life has been crazy like usual and I am slacking on my blog.. like usual :)

We are officially in the Christmas spirit in the Painter house hold! Almost all presents are wrapped and under the tree! We had Adam's family white elephant party at Aunt Ellen's 2 weeks ago - it was a blast! It had been almost a year since we had seen his whole family. Last week Bennett had a cough Tuesday and Wednesday, by Thursday he sounded just awful. He kept waking up in the middle of the night choking on the crud in his throat. I got him into the doctor Thursday and found out it a respriatory infection. He is too young for cough syrup so we elevated the bed, have the humidifier on blast and vicks on his feet. We ended up going to the hospital.. more to come below.

 

Saturday night we had Adam's company Christmas party at my favorite - Maggiano's Little Italy. It was fun and delicious! :) Sunday we just took it easy and watched football - what we all needed!

I found a "Santa" hot line, here is Benentt listening to Santa before bed

Being his normal happy self

Our first "family" gingerbread house!

Someone is a ROLLING MACHINE now!

Bennett's hot cocoa he made for his sweet teachers

Got caught throwing his toys out of the basket

Merry Christmas!

Getting ready for his Christmas party!

Here are the photos from our white elephant Christmas party Dec 8th

On the 9th we got some family photos done!

Bennett's class party - it was chaos with all the parents and babies and this little guy did not have a clue

Finally had to wake him up so he didn't miss his whole party, and Nana was there!

I love kisses from mama

Poor Emily was terrified of Santa, as well as every other baby except Bennett

Who are you?

Oh, you bring me presents huh? I like you.

Eating his yummy bananas and apricots

Bennett's ornament he made us. Okay, he just painted the stick :)

Now onto the not so fun news. My dad has his follow up appointment and they could not determine if it is cancer or not. They cannot do a biopsy because the doctor is fearful his lung will just collapse. Jan 4th they will do a broncoscopy (sp?). I have not done research into yet, I just know they will actually go in and see the mass. Keep your prayers going :(

Yesterday - Little Bennett had his first hospital experience.

He has had a cough for over a week now. We went to the doctor last week and was told there was nothing they can do - it is just an upper respriatory infection/virus. He seemed to be doing a little better this weekend and yesterday morning I noticed his cough was a little worse, but no fever so off to daycare he went. On the daycare cam yesterday at work I noticed they put him down for a nap around 8:20am, I thought hm.. that's kind of early for him. I checked back at 10:30 and he was still passed out - which is odd because he slept through the whole night. Around 12:30 daycare called and said I needed to come get him immediately and that he had 103 fever. I was terrified! I have never driven that fast before. I got to daycare in less than 5 minutes. When I got there the teachers had him stripped down to his diaper, he was covered in cold wash clothes and they were fanning him. Bennett looked just awful!! He was moaning, burning up and even sweating. I scooped him up and we ran home and got tylenol in him. By 2:00pm his doctor finally opened back up from lunch, but all 5 doctors were booked for the day. After giving his tyenol 1 hour to kick in he still had 102.8 fever so off to the hospital we went.

The nurse immediately heard him cough and said uh oh he is croopy. Ugh :( They checked his temperature, of course he still had a high fever so immediately gave him motrin. He was diagnosed with mild croop and a nasty virus. Which there is nothing we can do about it. :( By the time we left, baby was in a much better mood (motrin was kicking in) and he was fever free. By the  time we got out of the parking lot he was passed out. We let him sleep when we got home. I went through the pantry and searched his baby food for the highest amount of vitamin c so he got that last night and this morning. We still have the humidifer going 24-7, vicks on his feet and chest, bed elevated and have been giving him warm apple juice to break up the junk in his chest. If he is not better by tomorrow he will go back and be put on steroids to help the inflamation in his throat and possibly breathing treatments. He is at home with my sister in law today and so far, she said he seems to be feeling much better!

Gosh. I feel like I have been trying to write this blog all day.. I promise i will try to keep up with this thing!

Sandy Hook

I was at a loss of words when I heard "shooting at Conneticut elementary school." My stomach just sank down. I heard the shooter killed himself and prayed and prayed no children were hurt. I went by my dad's to grab something for lunch on Friday before going to Bennett's class party. He had it on the news and all the images started coming in of all parents crying, wondering if their child was alive. I lost it. I told my dad I could not watch anymore and rushed over to Bennett's school. All I wanted to do was hold my sweet baby boy.

I could never imagine what these families are going through, what the children who survived are going through, what the teachers are going through. No one should EVER have to witness such horror in their life. The only thing I can do is pray, pray and pray for the angels who are no longer with us, and for the families that are left without their child. I am wearing my green and white in honor of Sandy Hook today. I will continue to pray for each and every one of you.

More prayers..

An old friend of mine from highschool found out this week her two year old son has leukemia.... :( My heart breaks for her and her family! I could never imagine the pain they are all going through. I want to send my prayers to rid this child of this disease! No baby should ever have to go through something like this! I told her God will not give them anything they cannot handle. With the power of prayer, anything is possible.

Prayers

My family and I need some prayers for good news. A few weeks ago (I just found out last night) my dad had a cat scan done of his chest. He typically has one every year or so due to his condition so I didn't think anything of it. Well this year the cat scan showed a mass in his lung. It is a small mass, but still..a mass.

He was supposed to go last week right away for a pet scan, but had to reschedule due my mother battling the insurance company to get the test covered. He got his 2 and a half hour pet scan today and is doing good. He was given medicine to reduce brain activity before since he is extremely claustrophobic. My mom said he wanted shipleys donuts and coffee after - go figure. He has a follow up with Doctor Salazar next Tuesday to get the results. We are all trying to keep our spirits up and praying it is just some new scar tissue. The doctor says if it is infact lung cancer, we did catch it early. So please send your prayers for "Papa Terry" and my family :(

Daycare

Bennett and I finally have a morning routine! Bennett goes to bed between 8-8:30pm. (Since his 2 bottom teeth have been coming in, he has been waking up EVERY night, hopefully this ends soon!) Mommy gets up at 6, gets ready and wakes Bennett up at 7. He gets dressed, eats and we are out the door by 7:45! He gets so excited when we walk into daycare! He LOVES one of his teachers Ms. Terry and she loves him just as much. Anytime I log onto the daycare webcam, she is always holding him, sitting in her lap, or playing with her on the mat. The best part of my day is getting off work and going to pick him up! Every day he gets the biggest smile on his face when he sees mama walk through the door!

We get home, he takes a nap until 6:30, eats his "real" dinner, we play, bath time and bed time! I so look forward to the weekends so we can spend all day together! I am happy he is having fun at daycare. He really loves watching all the older children crawl and run around. Don't worry big boy, you will be doing that soon too!

His new morning routine is also pooping on the way to daycare! EVERY DAY as soon as I turn onto Katy Ft. Bend from I-10 he starts. LOL I feel so bad for his teachers, but I just say he wants to bring them a present every morning :)

His hair is changing colors! It is turning more red/blonde! We will see!

and it is getting a little curl to it. Here is his first mohawk after his bath

Bennett thinks he can feed himself already. Every time I turn around he has his spoon or his hands in his bowl of food! He is a handfull but so much fun!

Last week while being a chatty kathy, bennett said "dada" clear as day! He has not said it since. Well last night, while talking to mommy and getting a diaper change he said "MA"! This is the first time he had made the mmmmm sound!

Merry Christmas!

A little boy I know was just too excited to meet Santa for his first time this weekend!

We are framing this one and will pull it out every Christmas!

We also started feeling better - FINALLY! Friday, my sister in law (Aunt Nanny/Natalie) stayed with Bennett while I was at work. It was my first week and I already missed two days so I needed to go in! By Friday night, he was all smiles and had a clear nose! Woohoo!

Friday night Santa came around with the Katy Vol Firedepartment. I have lived in Katy my whole life and they have done this since I was Bennett's age! I was so excited for Bennett to have his first Santa on a firetruck experience! He LOVED the lights!

Are you sure Santa is coming?

Wait, I think I see him!

There he is!!

And they were sweet enough to stop and take a picture!

We turned 6 months old on Saturday and had our 6 month check up this morning! This is before his 4 shots of course!

Height - 28" long! 92.14 percentile for height!

Weight 17lbs 15 oz! 58.28 percentile for weight!

He is a big LONG boy that is for sure! Bennett is so smart. He knows how turn pages in his books, reach and gran anything and everything in his reach. He is starting to mimick mommy pretty well too! He said "dada" clear as day for the first time last week, and has sadly not said it again since! This time mommy and daddy were both there when he said it! He loves to stand up and hold onto you, and still despises tummy time. He squeals the second you put him on his tummy and rolls over to his back. The doctor said we need to keep on his tummy, and just to keep flipping him back over :( He can sit up with your help, and hopefully will be sitting on his own within the next few weeks! He loves when you smile, and his new favorite thing to laugh at is when mommy says "nononono"! He now gets breakfast and dinner. We eat our fruit in the morning (usually at daycare) and dinner at home with mama. You're favorite foods right now are -

Plum Organics - Sweet potato, corn and apples combined

Plum Organics - Spinach, peas and pears

and banana, sweet potatoes and carrots!

You hate squash, green beans, prunes, and some baby food brand peas you hate.

You are growing up right before our eyes little boy. Where did the time go?

Recap!

A virus has come and blown through the Painter household and has been going strong for over a week now! It started last week before Thanksgiving, I had a just a little cough, then the hubby, then a fever started, then I started feeling better, then the hubby had a fever of 103 for days, then my sister in law, niece, brother in law and his girl friend got it and now, me and the baby have it.

Bennett got into the doctor yesterday and low and behold it is a virus. He got put on amoxicillin and have the humidifier going in his room and have been keeping vicks on his feet with socks. He still has a fever this morning :( Hoping by this weekend his meds start working and we will have a happy baby again! I have been taking day quil and nyquil like it is going out of style with little to no prevail. Ugh!

We had a great Thanksgiving none the less! We hosted it at our house to give my mother in law a break from all the cooking! It was stressful trying to make sure the house was clean, we had enough seating, and everything was ready on time! I told my mother in law next year the torch is back on her. My sister in law Natalie did most of the cooking with me being sick. Everything turned out fantastic! We all enjoyed each other's company and watched the Texans, Cowboys (yuck) and Texas play! We had so much to be thankful for this year! A loving family, a precious baby boy and a new house over our heads! I still remember last Thanksgiving like it was yesterday - I didn't touch my food in fear that morning sickness would strike at any moment!


Now - our week recap in photos..

My sick baby :(

Yummy spinach with peas and pears!

Mommy picking me up on my first day of daycare! Boy was I happy to see her!

My little pony

Christmas lights - check!

Some of the family on Thanksgiving!

So long SAHM

Today, I said goodbye to being a stay at home mama and hello to the work force again.

Long story short, I am back at Lupe Tortilla's corporate office and Bennett started his first day of daycare today.. It was just as hard as I thought it would be saying goodbye to him this morning :( Maybe now I will find time to actually start blogging again on my lunch breaks?!

Not enough time

I am finding out that the older Bennett grows, the less time I have to keep up with my blog!! His hour nap gives me enough time to pick up, start laundry (never finish it of course) and grab a bite to eat! Life has just been flying by! He holds him self up in the standing position now, has mastered rolling over from tummy to back - which makes tummy time impossible and now has his first tooth cutting his gums! Where did my little baby go?! He loves loves loves playing with mama and daddy. He loves swinging in his little tikes swing we hung on the patio, and he is slowly learning how to walk in his walker!

His eyes seem to change color every day! Sometimes blue, sometimes hazel. He hates squash and still loves his bananas along with carrots, peas, apples and sweet potatoes. He is such a mamas boy. He spots me from across the room and just gets the biggest grin.We seem to FINALLY be making progress with acid reflux! With going back to the doctor, upping his zantac, and now switching to to soy formula - he finally seems to be doing a wee bit better!

Now... here is our life lately in photos!