Sympathy Smoking, aka Fun with a Nebulizer

Aidan's had a wet cough this week so we've been giving him breathing treatments to help his lungs. He isn't really sick enough to miss school (eats fine, no fever, no achy feelings, no congestion) but since he has Reactive Airway Disease we keep an eye on his breathing should it turn to something worse. He is such a trooper about getting his breathing treatments because he knows how much better he feels after wards.

When Aidan was 2, he was sick with what I thought was just a chest cold. I noticed he was wheezing so I decided I'd better take him to the doctor. Our regular doctor was out of town, so he saw one I'd never met. He didn't even need to listen with a stethoscope, he saw Aidan's chest retracting and clearly heard the wheezing. Our doctor's clinic was connected to the hospital, so I again had the experience of a doctor scooping up my sick child and carrying him to the emergency room to be admitted. He was hospitalized for several days with severe bronchitis and on breathing treatments every 2 hrs around the clock, plus steroids and antibiotics. Sean was just a few months old at the time, and our heads were pretty foggy still, so it was a shock to be in the hospital with our "healthy" child.

I stayed with Aidan, pumping milk to send home with Doug for Sean, and fought tears while I tried to get Aidan to do the breathing treatments. He was terrified of the noise the machine made, and the mask, and of being restrained for 30 mins each time while taking the medication. I had respiratory therapist try to show me ways to tightly pin him in my arms so he wouldn't pull the mask off. It was so exhausting and painful. When he was well enough to go home, we had to continue breathing treatments with a portable nebulizer 4x a day. Luckily, it wasn't as loud as the hospital one. We managed to slowly get Aidan more comfortable with the treatments by using those times as our TV times. One Bob the Builder episode was long enough for one treatment. When we had to do them at night, I'd hold him and tell him a story to pass the time. He loved for us to tell him stories, real and make-believe, and it would distract him from the treatment because he couldn't hear my story if he was crying and fighting me. He decided to call it "getting special smoke" when he was a toddler and we still call it that.

So here we are, five years later, and he does them without a problem. He even asks for them when he is feeling bad. Our biggest struggle now is keeping his siblings from unhooking the tubing! As you can see, they decided this morning to play with the spare equipment and keep Aidan company during his treatment.

Wordless Wednesday: Big Brothers, Little Sister

Unearthed!

Boy Howdy! What a surprise! Today the kids were out enjoying the gorgeous weather and playing in the backyard. Our next door neighbors were picking up branches in their yard and unearthed Woody No Boots! Sean was a bit stunned to see his old friend, but happy to have him back. I bet if they dig around a little more they might find New Woody that went AOL last summer.

Wordless Wednesday: Falling for Leaves

A Halloween KISS

We started our celebration with pumpkin carving. Usually, this means mommy does the cutting and tries to get the boys to help scoop out pumpkin seeds. This year, Doug did one and I did one. The boys messed around with the pumpkin seeds a bit, but then decided it was entirely too gross. :P





Finally, it was time to get everyone dressed to trick-or-treat. The costumes I spent the week making turned out great, I think. :) I had guidance from my KISS fan husband and the KISS costume fan site. Aidan's Gene Simmons'costume is circa 1974 and Sean's Ace Frehley costume is circa 1975. The important part was that the boys LOVED them and had so much fun wearing them. Doug did the make up, while I dressed them and did the wig hairstyles.






When I took Aidan with me to buy his boots (which I found in the girls' clothing department) he had a moment of doubt. He loved the rock boots, but asked me why they were in a box with a girl on it and why they had hearts on the soles. My answer, "Because these boots mean you love to ROCK!" When we went through the check out, the mother-teen daughter behind us said, "those are cool boots!" I replied, "thanks, they're his" pointing to Aidan. They said, "Really?" He proudly told them, "Yep, I'm going to be Gene Simmons for Halloween!" LOL

Ella dressed as a little Pumpkin' Rocker and looked cute as can be. Unfortunately, she decided to take a dive off the front steps seconds after I took her photo and ended up with a big scrape on her face. I told Doug she got rough in the mosh pit. Poor sweetie!



Our first stop trick-or-treating was a church Trunk-or-Treat, where people had no idea what the costumes were. We got several, "You are scary little girls!" Oh boy!

I threw together a Groupie costume to wear with them and Doug carried the camera around as our paparazzi. Ella and I went along for a few stops, then stayed home to hand out candy. Sean lasted till about 7:15, Aidan and Doug finally came home at 9.

Read. Speak. Rock. Winner!

Thanks to everyone for leaving comments during my Get it Down: 31 for 21 Challenge!

I had a total of 159 comments for the month to enter into my Read. Speak. Rock. giveaway. I used random.org to pick the winning comment and it chose #84: Kim from Charlie & Calvin's Up To. Congrats, Kim! I will set things up with Karen and you can go shopping for a custom shirt.

The Annual 21 Facts about Sean List

Today is the last day of the Get it Down: 31 for 21 Challenge. I'm happy to say that this year I actually managed to post once a day! Participating in the challenge was a great way for me to revive my blogging spirit. Thanks for encouraging me to write and thanks for giving me all the great new blogs to read! I added several new bloggers to my roll call this month and have enjoyed meeting them.

Each year, I have also made a list of facts about Sean. I love looking back on these to see what is new and what is the same. Here is the one from 2008 and here is 2007.

1. This year, Sean has started to transition from "baby movies" to "kid movies." As silly as it sounds, it was an embarrassing concern of ours that he'd be an eight year watching Barney one day. He's moved away from his love of Wiggles and Baby Einstein and towards movies like Monster House and Ice Age (all 3!) Aidan is relieved to be able to watch shows he likes with his brother. They love to watch Teen Titans and Dexter's Lab before bed together.

2. Sean has gained a great deal of independence in the self-help area. He can completely undress and dress himself. He puts his Crocs on correctly about 50% of the time, but has trouble getting his sneakers with inserts on by himself. He can also get his own milk cup out of the fridge and his food out of the top cupboard.

3. He loves to ride his Big Wheels bike and is starting to pedal some. He gets a few rotations then slips his feet off the pedals.

4. His favorite thing to do at the playground is slides. He climbs up by himself but only slides down when he wants to, so this tends to hold up the line. :)

5. He really loves playing with his baby sister. After lunch, he says, "Come on, Ella! Up!" and leads her up to the playroom for some destruction play time.

6. He has pretty good aim when throwing balls, considering he almost always closes his eyes when he pitches! LOL

7. He likes to play with Aidan's Playstation games, though he doesn't play the game as intended. He has his own agenda for each game and plays it his way.

8. He polishes off a whole banana, self-fed, now.

9. He has been trying a few tiny bites of new things at home, but still eats baby food as his main food source.

10. He loves to hold his breath under water while swimming or playing in the tub, but hates it when you dump water on him to wash his hair.

11. He doesn't mind haircuts, but hates getting his hair combed. Thus he tends to go to school with goofy bed head.

12. It's been almost a month since he last wore a pull up. We took some on our trip because we were worried about him having an accident on the plane, but he didn't want to use them. He told me on the plane when he had to go potty and used the tiny airplane potty.

13. He really dislikes loud noises. That includes his sister's crying. He folds his ears shut and covers them with his hands when something is too loud.

14. Doug and Aidan now imitate #13 when someone is being too loud at home.

15. His handwriting is pretty delayed. He can usually make a circle if asked and sometimes an X. He can't write his name, but does make individual marks on paper and spells it along with you when you try to get him to write his name. He really loves drawing/coloring/writing. We do a lot of writing on his Doodlepad.

16. He likes to help me around the house. He likes to unload the dishwasher, put clothes in the dryer and take out the trash. If we work together (or his brother helps) he will pick up toys. He's not so much willing to do it alone.

17. He loves anything to do with water: swimming in a pool, taking a shower or bath, playing with water in the sink, getting in grandpa's hot tub, turning on the water hose.

18. He loves to jump, either in place or off of a short step. He like trampolines as long as no one else jumps on them with him.

19. He is very timid with stairs. He prefers to hold a rail while going down them, but doesn't need it going up. He doesn't alternate feet yet, so he takes one step at a time. We have lots of stairs in our house, so it isn't like he doesn't get enough practice. He just is very careful.

20. He likes to be read to and can sit through longer children's books now. Before, he would rush us through by turning the pages too fast or he'd wander off.

21. Sean is VERY excited about trick-or-treating tonight! He can't wait to get his costume on and has been practicing with his treat bucket all day. :)

Happy Halloween everyone! I will post our Halloween photos in the morning and also announce the winner of my giveaway!