Everyday life with the Bell family: September 2008

Sunday, September 28, 2008

CRAZY Saturday

When Chandler came home from school on Friday he had a fever of 102. I looked at his throat and knew he had strep throat. So, off the the doctor we went on Saturday morning. Sure enough, the pediatrician could tell he had strep without even doing the test but did it anyway. It came back VERY positive he said. So, he laid around all day feeling pretty bad.

When I got home from taking Chan to the doctor, Matt said, "Look at Heath's chin... he says he hit it on the door." So I looked at it and asked him what happened and he said that he hit it on the window. I knew he really didn't know! We continued to watch it grow bigger and bigger, get more red and get hotter and hotter with fever. So, off to Care Now we went at 7:00 last night. The doctor said that it was Cellulitis which is a bacterial skin tissue infection. She said it could or could not be related to Chandler's strep but it was serious. It is a form of strep that possibly started from his unhealed eszema for the past 2 months! Heath had to get 2 antibiotic shots and oral antibiotics. We had to mark it and check him all night long. She was concerned that it would continue to swell and cause difficulty breathing!! So, he slept on a pallet in the floor on my side of the bed. I woke up about every 30-45 minutes all night long because every time he made a peep or turned over, I was paranoid! It is some better today but still swollen, red and has fever in it. Here are some pictures I took...

These three pictures were taken before we went to Care Now - about 5pm

The following four pictures were taken after we got home from Care Now - about 8pm. Matt and Heath took a hot bath to soak his chin. Matt got the water really high and showed him how to relate back and let the hot water cover his chin.

The next three pictures are from Sunday afternoon. Matt made a joke about him looking like Jay Leno!! :)

Our favorite after dinner time

Since it's cooled down some (and not 100 degrees at 6pm), we love to go outside and play after dinner. This was Thursday night...

Hanna looking through the telescope on the fort

Dylan and Hanna playing in the fort

Daddy, Hanna and Dylan

Hanna going down the slide

Dylan playing golf - YES, another golfer!! :)

Hanna

Heath

Chandler in mid kick

Dylan

Chandler

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Painted Pottery

In July, our neighbor, Juhree, had a painted pottery party. I've done this before at a store but this was awesome! Since she lives next door, I walked the kids over and they did the rest. I picked out/designed what I wanted and they painted the kids feet and put them on the plates. She did the other painting later, had it fired and sealed, etc. So, I got mine delivered today!!!

I absolutely adore everything I got!!!!!

Here is the older boys' platter - Heath's footprint on top inside flag says 3 yrs (like 3rd hole). Chandler's foot is on the bottom inside flag says 5 years. One the top it says "Golfing Buddies"

The twins' platter - Dylan's foot is the frog and Hanna's foot is the princess. It says their names in their footprints and 19 months by the frog.

Just for coming to the party, we got a free ornament. This ornament has each child's fingerprints on the points of the antlers. One side is Dylan's and Hanna's, then the other side is Heath and Chandler's with 2008 at the bottom.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Weekend

The older boys spent the weekend with Geego and Nanny. Nanny came to get them on Friday evening and they kept them until Sunday afternoon. It was SO nice! Having only 2 kids is a cinch!! :) The boys had a BLAST!! They went to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday since Ike kept them from going to the park. Geego taught Chandler how to play pool and Heath learned how to roll Nanny's hair. Well, not really but he helped her by color coordinating her rollers and pins.

The twins enjoyed the one on one time with Mommy and Daddy. They are learning new words everyday! Hanna can say: Mama, Dada, Bubba, DeeDee, NayNay (Hanna's nickname), Pawpaw, bye bye, hi, I do, play, swing, love you, bunny, paci, night night, hot, mine, no no, ball, read, diaper, poopoo, teetee, shoes, bow, outside and baby. Dylan can say: Mama, Dada, Mawmaw, Bubba, DeeDee, NayNay, bye bye, hi, I do, hot, cookie, night night, ball, teetee and yummm... Dylan had a better weekend and better day at school today. His therapist visited him at school today to give some insight and advice about helping him through the day. Of course, he did very well while she was there! If she'd only been there last week!!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Our first fish tank!!!!!

I am so excited! I've always wanted a fish tank and a BIG one was my dream. Well, last Sunday some friends of ours from church were talking about getting rid of a fish tank they had in their garage. I said I would love to have it. So, after Life Team, Jake approached me and said, "I hear you are interested in the fish tank. Are you really serious about it?" I said, "YES!!!" So, they brought it over on Thursday evening. I went out today, Friday and got gravel, plants and a rock decoration. I came home and cleaned the tank and Matt helped me fill it with water. The kids were SO excited about it, even with just a little water in it! They were glued to it for the 2 hours we worked on getting everything just right. Here are some pictures of our FIRST fish tank! No fish yet, waiting to get the water balanced out. I'll get the water tested this next week then take the family to each pick out our own fish!

Our beautiful 55 gallon fish tank

All the kids - it's a little blurry but it's the only one where they are all looking...

Ok, Hanna is going to HATE this picture when she gets older! :) You cannot see anything but...

Trying to get all of them to look and be still is SUCH a task!

Can you see the excitement in their faces?!?

Dylan went up to the fish tank and stood there and said, "Chheeeee" so I snapped it real quick!

Messy!! Messy!!!

EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE I'll make spaghetti or lasagna because it's such a mess!! Here are some pictures of a VERY messy Hanna and Dylan.

Dylan and Hanna in the bathroom about to get in the tub

Dylan

Hanna showing her mess!

Little Witness and Updates

Our friend, Amy Lozano, (Amy ON-oh as Heath says) made Dylan a weighted blanket that hopefully will help him. It is a blanket that has weighted pellets inside that makes the blanket weigh 7-9 pounds. As with his pressure vest, it is supposed to help with making him feel secure and grounded. Anyway, he doesn't really like it so we are trying to get him used to it. Every time it touches him, he pushes it away. So, today during his therapy appointment his therapist tried laying it down and having a "picnic" on it. Heath had brought down some play food from the play kitchen. Heath, Hanna and Dylan's therapist, Amy, sat right down and Heath started serving everyone. Dylan sat and Amy tried to put the edge of the blanket on his foot and he kicked it off.

So, the kids were having a picnic when Heath said, "Wait! Don't eat! We have to pray!" I was unsure of Amy's religious affiliation but she wasn't getting out of Heath's demand! I said, "Oh... ok, we forgot to pray. Heath, go ahead." And then he said, "No, I want Dylan's doctor to pray!" (FYI - We call the Occupational Therapist Amy - "Dylan's doctor" because we have 2 Aunt Amy's and 2 friend Amy's PLUS Dylan's therapist so it's easier for the kids to just say "Dylan's Doctor Amy") Anyway, she said a little prayer and Heath was satisfied to let everyone eat their plastic food!

I wanted to also update you on Dylan. I feel like he has regressed a little the past week or two. He was doing SO great but has starting to slip a little more back into the whining, crying, wanting to be held all the time, not wanting me out of his sight, etc. So, after talking with Amy today, she is going to do his next visit at our preschool to see if she can offer helpful hints to his teacher. Then the next week she is going to bring a Behavior Specialist with her to give feedback in that area. And she is also going to have the Speech Therapist come back and do another assessment on Dylan. Alot has happened in our family lately that I know has gotten him shaken up a little. Our routines are different now that Matt is home to stay, Chandler is in school everyday and we are going to preschool twice a week! That's alot of change in one month!

So, if you want to pray for us, please pray for Dylan to get back on the track of improvement and Chandler as he is very homesick for me (separation anxiety) since he only sees me for a few hours each night. He tells me every night, "I want to spend alone time with you." "I wish I could hold you all night." He is not used to not having me around 100% of the time. I've always worked where he's gone to preschool and he's always been with me. He does fine at school (not crying at drop off or during the day) but when he gets tired after dinner, he just gets clingy and says these things that break my heart!