Baby food

Do you ever read the ingredients label on foods you eat? How about foods you give your kids? How about your baby's food? Or formula? I have to be honest, the first time around(when I had Grant) I didnt pay much attention. Let's just say I was young and uneducated. Nice excuse right? I dont think so. Anyway I thought it was interesting the other day when I was comparing formulas at the store and one of them listed it's very first ingredient as high fructose corn syrup. When Grant was a baby we always fed him the gerber baby foods, which are fine. But this time I decided I wanted to make all of Grayson's food and I am really loving doing it. It is really satisfying in a way. First off I know everything that is going in to my little guy is fresh and healthy. And I am doing everything in my power to keep him as healthy as possible! When I first started making my own baby food I was really surprised at how potent the flavors are. I dont know why that surprised me, but it did. I guess I just expected it to turn out bland like the gerber stuff, but it is anything but bland. Have you ever noticed that the gerber foods are all very similar in color and texture? Like this---

Not the stuff I make from fresh fruits and veggies! It is so diversified and vibrant. More like this---

Because that is exactly what I am using. Manufacturers put a lot of water in their foods to get them to be that color and texture. I am feeding Grayson things that they dont sell in those little jars. Sure he loves carrotts and peas, bananas and applesauce, but I am feeding him avacado, blueberries, corn, broccoli and cauliflower and he is loving them too! I cant wait til he is a little older and I can introduce him to so many more things, like strawberries and raspberries, tomatoes and fish! Yep fish next month! My hope is the more he is introduced to, the more he will love as he grows up! Who doesnt want a kid who loves all fruits and veggies?

Flat Stanley

Grant got to do a flat Stanley for his class and he wanted to send it to Maama and Papa, which honestly didnt surprise me one bit. But I told him we should probably try to send it to someone who lived a little bit further away. He said absolutely not, we HAD to send it to Maama and Papa! So we did! I think Grant knew exactly what he was doing and sent it to them because he knew that he would get to do fun things with Stanley at M&Ps. Today I took the kids up to M&Ps because Jared is still not doing well and I really needed a little break. Grant and Stanley got to help Papa make homemade cookies. They made all kinds, some with chocolate chips and white chocolate chips for Grant and some with other things(like raisins and nuts) for Papa! Grant had tons of fun with M&P, as usual and I am sure Stanley did too!

Thank you so much for the break and delicious lunch mom & dad! You guys are the very best!!

 Can you see Stanley holding the bowl up? LOL

There he is!

Grayson update

I took Grayson to the doctor yesterday and they cleared him to quit using the oxygen!! I was so happy to hear that. He still has a horrible cough and is still pretty congested, but he did sleep through the night last night in his own bed. I still feel like crap, sore throat, constant headache, horrible cough, congested, tired, tired, tired. Jared is still having bad chest pain and it seems to get worse by the day. Tonight he came home from work and went straight to bed. He got up a couple times to puke because the pain is so intense it is literally making him sick. He called several doctors today to get an appointment to see a cardiologist and the soonest he can get in is next Friday. I dont know how much more he can take. He may have to go back to the ER or something. I dont know what other choice we have. When it rains it pours. UGH

A ray of sunshine

Although we are still only at about 50%, the sunshine is slowly returning to our house. I am feeling a tiny bit better but still in a lot of pain and my tank is only about half full. Jared has been having some really bad chest pains and ended up in the ER last night. They didnt find anything significantly wrong, but they do want him to go see a cardiologist as soon as possible. Grayson still has a really horrible cough, congesstion, and pain. But he is VERY slowly starting to feel better. And his smile has returned!!!Grayson has the sweetest and brightest smile and I am so so happy that it is back. Not all the time and definitely not as much as normal, but it is coming out more and more! YAY!!

 Grant can always make Gray smile!

 Arent they so cute!

 Grant trying to act tough! He is so funny! And he desperately needs a haircut...

 Grant is actually a decent photographer!

 I love this picture he took!

 Grayson is no longer sleeping ALL day, just ALMOST all day. When he is awake he is showing interest in actually playing a little bit, instead of just laying there lifeless. His favorite toy?? His piggies! I LOVE this picture! He is just precious!

GRRR... Get those toes baby!

A night in Hell...

READ POST BELOW FIRST.

When we got to instacare and checked in the nurse imediately came out and tested his oxygen saturation. He tested at 87% which I had no idea what that meant. When they took us back they put the O2 sat. monitor back on him and gave him some oxygen. At this point I was getting worried because I knew they were concerned. The doctor came in and told us he had RSV and he needed to go up to Primary Children's right away and they suggested that he go in an ambulance. I imediately broke down. That is scary stuff. We decided to just take him on our own. We went and dropped Grant off at my mom's and headed up to the hospital.

When we got there we were taken to an exam room. They came in and suctioned out his lungs. It was horrible because, of course, they had to restrain him and he cried so hard and struggled and fought. It was hard to watch. They got a lot of gunk out of his lungs and then they had to send it to the lab to get it tested. Then they came and put the oxygen on him. He was not happy about it and it really bugged him. He kept pulling them out. Then they wanted me to try to feed him because they were worried about dehydration. He ate a little but not much. After they got the results babk from the test they came in and told us that he for sure had RSV and he had to stay the night. I was really upset by that. 

 Then they took us to our overnight room. It was a shared room, which really sucked. It was very small and only had one (very uncomfortable) chair that turned into a bed. So Jared and I decided that one of us should go home and get some sleep. I wanted so bad to just take my baby and go home, but there was no way I was leaving that hospital without Grayson, so Jared went home. Garyson was so miserable and exhausted, but the family and the little girl in the same room with us was so loud he couldnt get to sleep. He cried and coughed and cried and cough and cried some more. Finally at about midnight the little girl fell asleep, but Grayson didnt. Maybe it wasnt her that was keeping him awake. He cried and coughed ALL NIGHT LONG. It was pure hell!!!

Grayson was miserable, in pain, coughing, stuffed up, and in a strange place. He didnt really even want to be touched at that point, yet they were coming in every hour poking and prodding him. He kept pulling his tubes out, so I had to swaddle him so that he couldnt get to them. I stood over his hospital crib most of the night, rubbing his belly, carressing his face, playing with his hair, and crying. Again I wanted to scoop him up and take him home. I wanted to make him feel good and take all his pain away, but there was really nothing that I could do.

At one point Grayson was crying so hard he was having a hard time breathing. I was rocking him and talking to him, trying to calm him down. He just cried harder. I honestly thought I was going to break. I couldnt handle this on my own, so I asked for help. I started pleading with Cory and Grandma to comfort Grayson, to help him to sleep so that he could get the rest he needed to get well. It was straange because he instantly stopped crying, he looked up at me with red  tear stained eyes and he slowly fell asleep. It was amazing. I rocked him for a few more minutes to make sure he was asleep and then I put him in the crib. He slept for about an hour, while I lay next to him listening to him breathe.

I decided I would wait until 7:00 to call Jared and I counted the minutes until then. He was up to the hospital by eight and by that time I really needed him. One thing they were watching Grayson for all night was urine output. He was eating a little but he was not peeing. They were worried about dehydration. The nurse told me at about 4:00 am that if he didnt have a certain amout of output by 8:00 am they would need to do an IV, so that they could give him fluids. He didnt have any output so at about 8:30 they came in and put his IV in. That was horrible as well. The nurse came in to start the fluids and she told us that they would leave him on the fluids for 6 hours and then he would have to be stable for 8 hours before he could go home, so we needed to plan on spending the night again. I was devastated and needed badly to get some sleep and a shower.

 Once again Jared and I decided that one of us should go home and get some rest. I knew that I wanted to be the one that stayed the night with him again so I went home to get a shoer, some rest, and some clean clothes. I hated leaving but I knew that if I was going to do another night on my own I needed to take care of myself. I was still feeling really crappy. I took the car and headed home. When I got home I decided to TRY to take a nap first and then I would shower. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold. About ten minutes later my phone rang and it was Jared. He says "I know you are trying to sleep, but the doctor wants to discharge Grayson" I was confused but thrilled. While I was gone he had a pretty wet diaper and they decided that he could go home, but he had to go home on oxygen. So I raced back up to the hospital to get my boys!!  I was so elated that we didnt have to spend another night at the hospital. Even if we had a hard night, at least we would be home.

Hopefully we will never have to spend time in the hospital again!!

How it all started...

Wednesday as the day went on Grayson started coughing. As the evening went on I noticed he was a bit congested. I told Jared "I really hope he isnt getting sick"

When we woke up on Thursday morning it was obvious that my baby boy didnt feel well. We stayed home and took it easy. As Thursday went on I could see him getting sicker. Grayson is usually so bright and cheery, but as you can tell in these pictures, he gets progressively worse. His cough got worse, his congestion got worse, he had a fever I couldnt get to come down.

 Friday Grayson was absolutely miserable. Lethargic, crying and whining a lot, his cough was horrible, the congestion was pretty bad. Everytime he coughed he would wince or cry, you could tell it just really hurt. But most of all you could just tell he didnt feel good, you could see it in his eyes.

Thursday and Friday night were really rough. His fever was up to 102.5 and was not coming down. Jared slept in Grant's room and Grayson slept with me. He tossed and turned all night, coughing and crying. I dont think he ever did get into a deep sleep because he was coughing so much.

When I talked to my mom we discussed the possibility of pneumonia, bronchitis, RSV, and anything else we could think of. My mom had talked to my aunt and she said to watch him carefully because RSV was going around. He wasnt weezing at all and he wasnt struggling to breathe so I didnt think it was RSV, but I was concerned.

When we woke up Saturday morning he still had all his previous symptoms, but I was really concerned because he was so lethargic, even when he was awake he wouldnt open his eyes. It was scary. He was limp and when I would pick him up he would just hang there. I told Jared I was really concerned and I thought we needed to take him to Insta care. Jared wasnt feeling very well and I had started not feeling well either, so we both just threw some "comfy" clothes on and headed out the door. I didnt even grab the diaper bag because I had just changed him and fed him and I honestly thought they would give us a prescription and we would be right back home. Well that wasnt the case...

Grayson update

Grayson slept pretty well from about midnight until 3:00 am. When he woke up at 3 he was not a happy camper. He cried and cough and cried and coughed and cried some more. It was really rough. I hate this. I hate knowing that he is so miserable and there is nothing I can do about it. He finally settled down and fell asleep again at about 6:00 am. Needless to say we are both pretty tired again today. I am sure we will get a nap in at some point.
I still feel horrible. My throat hurts so bad I am having a hard time swallowing. Medicine only gives me a tiny bit of releif for about an hour or so. My house is disgusting and my cupboards are bare. I did manage to get homework done with Grat yesterday and Jared read with him last night. So we have managed to keep him on his schedule. Jared hasnt been feeling well either, so Grant is the only healthy one in the house. Hopefully he stays healthy. He is such a little trooper. He has been a huge help to me and he is so so good with his baby brother!!
We are in survival mode over here!