Advil? Really?

This week has been full of illness in our house, so it has taken me almost a week to finally post this. It all started Sunday. We had only been at church for about 45 minutes when I realized that Celo was being unusually cuddly with me because he was running a fever. Luckily we had come in two cars, so Marcelo took him and Eliana home, where Celo laid around feeling miserable. My dear, sweet husband let me take a nap after church, and when I woke up at 5:30, he had just put Celo to bed. He said, “He still had a fever, so I gave him some children’s Advil at 5, and by 5:30, he was so tired, he couldn’t keep his eyes open.” I thought Celo going to bed at 5:30 was a really bad idea, because it meant that he’d probably be wide awake at 5am and I was really not looking forward to that. So around 6, Marcelo woke him up and and gave him a drink. Celo’s eyes were a little puffy at this point, but we thought he had just been rubbing them too much because he always does that when he’s sick. He told us he was very sleepy, so we let him go back to bed. Thirty minutes later, I got a feeling I should check on him again. I walked in and he sat up half crying, saying, “I feel like I can’t breathe.” That’s when I noticed his eyelids were very, very swollen. I scooped him up and took him to Marcelo and said, “Something is very wrong.” Celo told us both again that he felt like he couldn’t breathe. His face looked puffy and his eyelids were really pink and swollen. Marcelo quickly got his shoes on and told me to call the hospital and tell them he was on his way. He grabbed Diego’s Epipen just in case and the two Marcelos rushed out the door to the ER.

I put Eliana to bed right away and brought Diego to my room to read some books before putting him to bed. But he couldn’t focus on the books because he was traumatized by what had just happened. He started crying while I was reading and said, “Mommy, I’m scared that Celo’s eyes are so puffy. I can’t stop thinking about Celo. I want him to be okay.” It took everything for me not to just start bawling. He was so so worried about his brother and was just sobbing. I told him we could say a prayer so that Celo would be okay and that made him feel a little better. He said, “Can we call Tata and Tato and ask them to say a prayer, too? So we did. Then he said, “I want to see a picture of Celo when he was happy.” We then spent about an hour looking through pictures and videos on the computer. He would laugh at an old picture of Celo and then he’d stop suddenly and look at me with teary eyes and say, “Even though I’m laughing right now I still really miss Celo.” For the 3 hours that Marcelo and Celo were gone, Diego said things like “I miss Celo. I know he misses me, too, because we’re always together at nighttime and right now we’re not.” or “I’m so sad my brother is not here.” or “I don’t want Celo to have puffy eyes, I want him to look happy.” Marcelo kept updating me with texts and Diego wanted to know right away, “Is that a message from Daddy? What did he say? Are they coming home yet?” Twice, he called me and we let the boys talk to each other on the phone. Diego said, “Celo are you sad? Because I’m sad.” He also said, “I miss you.” To which Celo responded, “I love you, too.” It was all very sweet and made me teary. By 9pm I was desperate to get Diego to sleep because he normally goes to bed by 7:30pm and I knew waking up the next morning was going to be rough for him if he didn’t go to sleep soon. But even with me next to him, he just couldn’t shut his worried little brain off. Finally at about 10pm, he fell asleep. (The next morning he said, “You were right. I should have gone to bed early. I’m so tired. You should have made me go to sleep early.” Yeah. My fault.)

The Marcelos came home at about 10:30 and filled me in on everything that had happened. Marcelo said that by the time they got to the hospital, Celo’s eyes were completely swollen shut. They determined that he had had an allergic reaction to Advil (that was his first time taking it). Because Celo was complaining about his breathing, and because of the swelling in his eyes and a little in his face, they gave him a shot of epinephrine, (lower dose than in Diego’s EpiPen), and a ton of benadryl. For the next few hours they just watched him to make sure the swelling was going down and to make sure the worst of the reaction was over. This is what Celo looked like when they got home:

The swelling was way down, but didn’t go away completely for about 24 hours. He was SO hyper when he got home. He was talking really fast and telling me all about his hospital visit. “And there was a bed and it had buttons and I could press them and there was a thing that looked like a robot and it was funny and there were boy doctors and girl doctors and the floor was white and there was a trash can that had needles in it and they gave me a shot but it didn’t bleed so I didn’t need a band-aid and I cried because it hurt a little bit and I played with Daddy and and and…” Marcelo later told me that after they gave Celo the meds, he got really loopy and then really talkative and just “talked my ear off for the whole time”. He said it was pretty hilarious to listen to all the random things Celo wanted to talk about during their long wait. I wish he had had a video camera with him.

It was definitely a scary experience, but he’s okay now. I had no idea anyone could be allergic to Advil. What the heck is the deal with my kids being allergic to random stuff?? Now we’re afraid to give him Motrin because both Motrin and Advil have ibuprofen. Celo has had Motrin before, but it’s been a really long time since we gave him any, so it’s possible that he’d be allergic to that one, too. It’s also possible that he’s not allergic to the ibuprofen in Advil but the NSAID or the flavoring or dye that was in it. Wish I knew for sure.

Celo stayed home for the next two days with a fever and slight cold. Wednesday was illness free. Then Thursday evening, Diego and Eliana both got fevers. Friday morning, they both had a fever of 102 and we ended up at the doctor’s office. Eliana was wheezing pretty bad and lost her voice. We’ve been nebulizing her and trying to get her to eat, but all she has had is milk, a couple of crackers, and a popsicle. She has no appetite and just wants to be held. Last night, Marcelo and I felt like we had a newborn again because we were up with her for most of the night. Her fever just wouldn’t go down. We gave her 5 baths, medicine, put a wet rag on her head, and tried to get her drink something, but when she wouldn’t, we gave her a popsicle. Good thing that girl likes sweets. It was a very long night with our miserable baby girl. It was so so sad. She’s usually soooo tough. She recently slipped and scratched and bruised her face on some rocks and she literally cried for 20 seconds and was over it. But last night, it was clear that she was in pain and felt awful. This morning she woke up in much better spirits and with less of a fever, so hopefully last night was the worst of it.

Oh, Health, how I take thee for granted sometimes.

Catching Up and Backyard Fun

Life is absolutely crazy right now. But who’s isn’t, really? Between school drop offs and pickups, keeping my 15 month old entertained, laundry, church responsibilities, feeding my family, photo shoots, photo editing, soccer practice, and more laundry, I end the night pretty tired. So I thought, hey, why not pick up another side gig? And have begun selling digital scrapbooking kits again. At least I only have to turn one in every month or two, so it’s not like I added a ton more to my plate. It was a huge blessing for us last week when I sold two kits. It really could not have come at a better time and I’m so grateful that for our entire marriage, God has opened little doors for me to be able to help out when it’s needed.

With all the photo shoots I’ve been doing for others, I haven’t taken the time to take pics of my own kids for quite awhile. So the other day, I asked the kids if they wanted to play in the backyard and strapped on my camera. Luckily they didn’t even mind that I had a hidden agenda! Diego loves getting his picture taken and poses like a pro, Celo has gotten a lot more used to it and obliges, but Eliana….oh Eliana. She’s pretty stubborn about looking at the camera. I have to be quick like a cat. Ready for the overload? Some have my watermark on them because I posted them on facebook.

Diego recently cut his own hair again with a razor. A razor! When we asked him about it, he completely lied to our faces. We said, “Diego, we can see that there is a spot of hair missing, so you need to tell us the truth.” He said, “The shower did that.” It took 2 hours for him to finally fess up.

Celo and his beloved puppy. Wonder how old he’ll be when he tires of this little guy. I’ve sewn him back up many many times.

Then there’s the Princess of Spunk. Such a character, this one. I really need to cut her bangs but I keep putting it off because I’m afraid that one of these times I’m going to mess it up.

Eliana climbed into the truck and tried to drive it from the passenger’s side. I love putting her in pigtails.

But sometimes she doesn’t want pigtails. And then we get this.

 

I know this picture is blurry, but it cracks me up. She loved it when Diego pulled her in the wagon as fast as his little legs could go.

She loves trying to buckle things. I asked the boys to climb into the wagon with her so I could take a picture of the 3 of them.

It took so many tries to get a decent shot!! I made the boys say “CHEEEEESE” really loud, knowing that Eliana wants to do everything her brothers do. But then she just wanted to look at them while she said “EEEEEEE”.

FINALLY! Best I could do.

I love this one. Her hand on Diego’s arm is so sweet.

There it is again resting on his leg. She always wants to be involved in whatever her brothers are doing.

So much love.

But these last two are my favorites of all. I was calling Eliana in hopes that she would turn over her shoulder to look at me, but instead she stopped in her tracks and looked at me upside down.

How many more years do I have of taking their picture before they exclaim, “MOM! Cut it out!!!”?

Prayers, Drama, Cheese, and Nie

Tomorrow, Celo has to go to the doctor and get shots. When we were going to bed, he insisted on saying the prayer. In his prayer he said, “And please bless than we don’t have to go to the doctor tomorrow, and please bless that I don’t have to get shots. And please bless that I can just have a lot of fun tomorrow with no shots.” It was a really fantastic try, but he’s still getting shots.

***

Diego got in trouble for slamming Celo’s arm into the door today. (Celo is fine.) I had told him to stop opening and closing his bedroom door, but he ignored me and continued to torture Celo by telling him he was not allowed to go into the room and closing the door in his face. I saw what was coming, and indeed it came. So Diego got sent to time out while I iced Celo’s wrist. From the bedroom, I could hear, “YOU’RE MAKING ME HAVE THE BADDEST DAY I’VE EVER HAD!!!!” So. much. drama.

***

Lastly, this is the face Eliana now makes when I point the camera at her. I don’t even have to say anything. I point the camera at her and this is what she does:

Just take a look at that double chin. Where does she get it? I have no idea since she basically drinks milk and eats a small cup of yogurt for breakfast, a handful of grapes for lunch, and a handful of peas for dinner. Homegirl is picky. But she just keeps gaining weight! I did allow 2 big chocolate chip cookies today, which was quite possibly the biggest mistake I’ve made in a long time since she didn’t stop screaming for 2 hours while she begged for another and I refused to give her more. I tried crackers, bread, fruit, juice, milk, and she just threw everything I handed her and then pointed towards the cookies and said, “Eeees?” (Please.) I’m pretty sure all that screaming also had a lot to do with the fact that her daily 3 hour nap has been cut down to 1 and a half because of our school schedules. She has been so cranky this week! I even tried to go for a second nap today, but she wasn’t having it. She went to bed promptly at 7pm. Hopefully she gets used to the schedule soon.

Is her hair not the funniest thing ever? It’s just so funny to me.

Lastly, I have been following Stephanie Nielson’s blog since her accident 3 years ago, and when I read today that she’s pregnant I just sat at my computer and cried. Sometimes I am just so struck and amazed by my loving Heavenly Father. Reading Stephanie’s news just gave me this flood of grateful feelings and an overwhelming sense of hope. Not hope for anything in particular, just more like a grateful feeling that even though God puts trials in our lives, He always gives us hope. Does that make sense? It’s hard to write out exactly what I felt today.

Anyway, those are my random thoughts for the day!

First Day of School 2011

Last Thursday Celo had his first day of 4 yr old Preschool. He’s in the VPK program this year and goes everyday from 9am to 12pm. (Last year he went MWF from 9:15 to 12:15.) His teacher is Ms. Tracey and the teacher’s assistant is Ms. Dee and there are 15 kids in his class. Celo missed the first day of school because he was getting over a bug, so I was worried that Thursday was going to be hard. But he woke up soooo excited and I didn’t even have to fight him to brush his teeth, get dressed, or any of the usual morning battles. He couldn’t wait to go to school.

He picked out this backpack, even though he has never seen anything Spiderman related. He also picked out this outfit for the first day of school. An old, hand me down faded t-shirt.

While he was at school, Diego (who wasn’t starting school for another couple of days) and I made him a brownie with a one on to to make that first day extra special. Diego got to eat it too because I made it with egg whites. (I wrote a post a couple months ago all about the fact that Diego is no longer allergic to egg whites but blogger ate it and I haven’t re-written in yet. Gotta do that soon.) Celo loved the surprise and had a great first day!

Diego had his first day of Kindergarten today. He had been nervous about it for a couple of weeks, which was making it extra hard for me. When we went to the teacher meet and greet last Friday, he clung to me the whole time and refused to try to talk to his classmates. I could tell by how hard he was squeezing my hand that he was very scared and nervous about the whole thing. I kept talking it up and saying what a big kid he is, but he’d just look at himself and say, “No I’m not! Look at my size. I’m not big yet.” Last night, as I packed his lunch and got ready for today, I kept tearing up thinking, “How is he already a Kindergartener? He’s my little baby! How is he going to handle being at ‘big school’ all day? What if someone is mean to him? What if he accidentally eats something he can’t eat?” I was a mess.

When I was packing Celo’s snack and Diego’s lunch, Marcelo was like, “Let me do the napkins!” He wanted to do it just like his mom used to do. When the boys came home I asked them what they thought about their napkins. Celo thought it was funny that he had a heart with a face on it. Diego said, “I could only see part of it because my ice pack got it all wet and made a hole in it.” Whoops.

This was me right before bed, dreading the following morning. Yes, I am aware of how tired I look. That’s kind of a permanent thing.

Diego came into my room at 6:15 this morning and whispered, “Is it time to get up?” I told him no and assured him that I would get him in a little while. By 6:30, he was sitting in front of the tv, tired of waiting for me. It really wasn’t hard to wake up because I had first day jitters just as much as he did. He loves getting his picture taken, so once he was all ready, he asked me “When are you taking my picture” for like 15 minutes. Even though we got an early start, the morning was still quite the scramble. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it soon, but I see a lot of frazzled mornings in our future.

Here is my big kindergartener! Tears. (Mine, not his.) Instead of doing a shirt this year, I wanted something more subtle, so I got him a button. He loved it because of the stop sign. When I met his teacher, I felt confident that she’s going to be on top of his allergies, so I doubt that I’ll have him wear the pin tomorrow. I’ll leave it up to him.

Diego picked out a plain backpack. At first he wanted puppies. I said no. Puppies on a lavender background. Nope. I’m sure he’ll thank me one day.

Celo and I made him this big giant chocolate chip cookie using this recipe (modified for his alleriges….only smart balance instead of butter, egg whites instead of whole eggs, and ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips).  Yum. I’ve already eaten way too much of it.

Cracks me up the way he poses for pictures.

Even though today wasn’t Celo’s first day of school, I made the boys take a pic with signs. I’d like to make it a tradition for as long as they let me.

(We really need to start working on the outside of the house. Paint, landscaping, etc.)

See Celo wearing a striped shirt again. The kid only wants to wear stripes to school. I even had to separate his striped shirts in his drawer so he can find them easily. It cracks me up because Diego kind of hates striped shirts.

(* Third day of school for Celo.)

It took 30 minutes of sitting in the car loop to finally pick Diego up today. I’m tempted to just get to the school later so I don’t have to wait as long, but then poor Diego would have to sit out in the heat for longer. And if I get their really early so I can be one of the first to pick him up or to have a shorter waiting time, that would mean I’d have to wake Eliana up even earlier from her nap. I had to wake her up after just an hour and a half today, and it is now 5:40pm and she’s a major crankerina. She usually takes 3 hour naps, so the poor girl is exhausted. Slowly we’ll figure out this schedule.

When Diego got in the car he told me he loved it and that he had a lot of fun and a great day. His one disappointment was that they didn’t get to play on the playground during their outside time today. I’m thinking that was because there was about to be a torrential downpour.

It’s hard not to see this as the beginning of them growing up.   I still get Celo for most of the day this year, but it’s sooooo sad for Diego’s time at home with me to be over. Diego’s teacher tortured us with a letter she handed out as we were leaving the classroom. This is what it said:

The First Day

I gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You’ve been with them for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
To leave them at my side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I’ll love them as I would my own
And help them learn and grow.
For as a parent, I too know
How quickly the years do pass
So please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love them and take them in
When you leave them at my door.
Love,
Ms. Wilkinson

What the heck?? If I wasn’t already going to cry, this definitely pushed me over the edge. Thanks, lady! I read the first 3 lines and teared up and decided it wasn’t a good idea to read it just yet. I went to the Boo Hoo breakfast and pulled it together because Celo was with me and I didn’t want to cry in front of him. After I dropped him off at school, I read the whole thing and cried in my car. My own sad-mommy-fighting-change feelings aside, I am so so proud of my boys for how great they did! I’m excited for the new adventures they’ll have and hope that our time apart will make our moments together that much more special! I love these boys oh so very much.

Girliness

Sometimes I make Eliana match my outfit on Sunday.

What can I say, I’m having fun having a girl. Sue me. (And yes, that’s a paper Christmas tree in the background. Just part of Holiday Week at our house.)

Sometimes Diego makes Eliana wear a pair of my old flip flops. He then exclaims, “Mommy, she looks SO CUTE with your shoes on.”

He’s right. She does. And my, is she tan.

All About My 4 Year old–Celo

I’ve been avoiding opening this blog, since the last post was about my grandpa. But, as I’ve learned in the last few weeks, being a mom to young kids means that many times you have to put your feelings aside and compartmentalize things because…well because they don’t care when you’re sad. The boys have said to me several times, “When are you going to stop being sad? Are you going to be sad forever??” So they’re super empathetic, obviously.

So unlike my Grandma who is stuck in a nightmare (my heart breaks every time I talk to her), at our house life has to gone on. We’ve had a really busy, but fun summer, and just celebrated Celo’s 4th birthday yesterday. It was the first time my grandma called without my grandpa to say happy birthday to one of my kids. That was really sad and made me break down again, but as Marcelo says, now my grandpa has a front row seat to Celo’s birthday. I like to see it like that.

I interviewed Celo so I can remember some things about him as my rascally 4 year old. The part in parenthesis are my own thoughts.

Favorite Color: Green (Could have sworn it was yellow.)

Favorite Food: Peanut butter and bananas and honey (Would have guessed hot dogs.)

Favorite Dessert: Lollipops (I knew it would be some sort of candy.)

Favorite Thing to Do: Play with Blocks and Tractors and Cars (No brainer.)

Favorite Place to Go: Chuck E Cheeses (That’s because we just went there last night. I thought he’d say the sand park.)

Favorite Movie: Mighty Machines (Ohhh, how I know this. He watches it daily.)

Favorite Book: My book of tractors (pretty much the only book he has any interest in)

Favorite Thing to Do with Mommy: Play with Cars and blocks and tractors (shocker)

Favorite Thing to Do with Daddy: Play with cars and tractors and blocks.

Favorite Scripture Story: “About the little doggy that got lost” (Uhhh, maybe I need to do a better job of teaching scripture stories. I asked again.) “Lehi and his family”

Favorite Drink: Apple Juice (Really? Not Gatorade? He said, “No, Diego likes gatorade.” Oh. Good to know.)

What color are your eyes: White. And Black. And a little bit of green. (They’re gray-ish blue-ish green.)

What size clothes do you wear: 4 (4T)

Shoe size: 4 (Nope. 9)

How tall are you? 4 tall. (hahahaha. I don’t know what the real answer is.)

Tell me a story: One time a doggy, somebody was walking the doggy and the doggy went under the collar and the doggy hit the person that was walking him. And the doggy was hanging on the ceiling. And then he was crawling, and then she ran and bumped into the table. That’s all.

At 4, Celo loves tractors more than anything in life. He has no interest in learning Spanish, but finds it hilarious to throw out Spanish words every once in a while. If I’m changing Eliana’s diaper, he’ll ask, “Mommy, does she have popó?” Or he’ll see something yucky and say, “ That’s wácala!” He loves puppies/dogs/animals but has no idea how to act around them. It’s quite stressful. He and Diego are best friends sometimes, and at each other’s throats others. He gets easily annoyed with Eliana (“She’s ruining my track! She’s messing up it!”), but has really sweet moments with her, too. He’s really outgoing when he wants to be and will talk to random strangers everywhere we go. When he doesn’t want to be, he does his shy face, which is him sticking his tongue out and raising his eyebrows. He’s full of funny stories and I love seeing how his little mind works. It makes me proud to see what a leader he is and how independent he is. He’s definitely a defiant, mischievous boy, but our life wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without him! We love our little man!

Te Quiero Mucho, Abuelito

Today has been one of the saddest days of my life. I woke up to my cell phone ringing at 7:42am. My mom was calling me with the news that my grandpa had passed away a couple hours before. My Abuelito Humberto. I was always very close to him from the moment I met him as an 8 month old baby. I’m told that he was the only one who could calm me down and the one who’s arms I wanted to be in. I would sit in his lap as a 2 year old during his business meetings and cover his mouth while he tried to talk to his clients. I’d say, “No bales bilito.” (Don’t talk, Grandpa.) He would make us the most delicious popsicles. He would sing “A curu cunda cunda cunda”. He’d try to speak English and say, “How arrre Joo, my Frren?" and “Wassa matta joo?” He looooved nature, animals, and being out among the flowers, trees, and his beloved cows. He was soooo full of life, even at 84 years old. He had had heart problems for over 25 years and had had several surgeries. Tomorrow he was going to have another surgery that they thought would greatly improve his quality of life. But this morning, he had a heart attack and left this world quietly, without really knowing it was happening. My uncle and grandma were with him.

I have been a mess all day, so telling the boys was unavoidable. When I told them that Tato Beto went to heaven and that I was going to miss him, Diego said, “Me too.” Celo said, “Me three.” Celo didn’t understand what was going on, though, and just saw me crying and crying, so he thought something had been done to me. He said, “Tato Beto needs to tell you sorry.” I explained to him that Tato Beto didn’t have anything to be sorry about. Later, he said a prayer and asked that Tata Ceci could go to heaven to bring back Tato Beto and he said, “Pwease bwess everyone who misses Tato Beto.” At one point this morning, I was talking to Diego and the tears started flowing. He asked me what was wrong and I said, “I’m just sad that Tato Beto had to go to heaven.” Diego said, “Heavenly Father is going to be so happy to have him back.” Which made me bawl.

Even though my grandpa had a long, full life, and even though we’ve always known that his heart would eventually give out and that this day would come, you can never be prepared to lose someone you love so much. He’s going to leave a big hole in all of our hearts. I can’t help but have regrets. Last night, I wanted to try to skype with him, but didn’t. I really wish I had. The last time I talked to him was exactly one week ago, when he wished me a happy anniversary. I wish I would have called more. I hope he heard me on Monday on the phone when I told him I loved him. I know he knew how much he meant to me, but still. I wish I could have said it one more time. I’m so glad I got to take my kids to the farm two years ago. I’m so glad he came last year and met Eliana. I’m so glad we took lots of pictures. It’s so hard to accept the fact that he’s gone. But I’m so glad he didn’t suffer. And I KNOW I will see him again. I’m so grateful for that knowledge right now.

I can’t even see the keyboard right now, but I needed to write this all out while it is fresh. Here are some pictures of my abuelito. I loved him so so very much.