Phoenix

Blog bloggity blog blog blog. I have one. But I no blog. Ok I blog now.

Yes, we went to Phoenix! Trip #2 for my little E. He did good.. yet again! Better on the trip there than back. He got a little fussy fighting sleep on the way home,  but even so everyone seated around us told us how good he was after we had landed. So I'll take it!   Probably the last free lap child free flight. After 2 years old we have to start buying him a seat.

We got to see lots of our friends and family again, which of course was the reason for the trip. We snuck in a trip to the Phoenix zoo and the Children's Museum. Eliseo got to play pretty hard.

Let's talk about some of the fun stuff my little man is doing these days. #1 Reading books. My favorite thing at bedtime is finishing up reading a story and then telling him to read it to Mommy. We have a doggy book and its hilarious to hear him attempt all of the different barks. I think the funniest is seeing him copy the things I do when I read to him. Melts my heart. #2 the SINGING. Oh its so cute. It started off with Christmas music and evolved into the alphabet, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Hapoy and you know it (the Scout Bark With Me version, woof woof), and the Bubble Guppies and Sponge Bob.  A few words are emerging but mostly its just carrying the tune. #3 the KISSING.  Mwah mwah mwah to every stuffed animal. Too cute. And he is very generous with kisses for people too. Ask and you shall receive.

We are back into reality...and avoided the latest Polar Vortex so back to work for me and daycare for the little guy tomorrow. Thankfully he took to his crib again after sleeping in bed with us for a week. He is even adjusted back to his normal sleep schedule. Such a good boy.

Christmas and the New Year

So it's been a little while again, huh?  Sorry bout that.  And so much for stress-free Christmas, but at least I'd say it was an improvement over years past.  And when it all came down to it, I had what I needed to have done when I needed to have it.  So why all the fuss?   Well, that's just me.  Maybe one day I'll chill out.  Man, I hope so.

OK so enough about me.  I know you really want to know about Eliseo.  I think he was just a little spoiled this year...and seeing as how this is only his second Christmas, we are in for some really great times down this road.  Glenn had to work on Christmas Eve, so he got home nice and early Christmas morning.  After I had my coffee (a must!) we went up to our big Christmas tree in the loft and got to opening.  E had a lot of fun with all of the commotion, but he didn't really get the unwrapping part.  He liked what he found inside all the paper, but the element of surprise doesn't intrigue him quite yet.  So what did he get?  Well, the big things:  a wagon, a Little Tikes grill and picnic set, a big stuffed dragon that he fell in love with at the store, a V-Tech tablet and a Monsters Inc 4-Wheeler.  He also had a pretty kick-ass stocking if I do say so, with little things like books and movies, coloring books, snacks and a few doo-dads.  After all the presents were opened, Glenn went to bed and E and I played with all his new stuff and watched movies...a very relaxed day after all of the chaos that had led up to it in the prior weeks.  We just spent the day together as a family and it was just about perfect. 

A couple days after Christmas, my sis, kids and mom came to visit (and are still here), visiting with them is always the best part of the holidays for me.  Eliseo has been having a blast again with all his cousins, his aunt and Grammy.  We brought in the new year at my brother's house...he almost made it to midnight this year but not quite.  His mommy and daddy got away for a little bit to a wine bar, so his aunt Dawny had the pleasure of rocking him to sleep.  Although, he woke up after a while when we started packing up to head home.  He stayed up the entire ride home but passed out in his crib as soon as his head hit the mattress. 

And that's about it, it's been a great week, relaxed hanging out with the fam.  It all goes too fast, and I can't believe we are already saying goodbye to 2013.  Here's hoping for a great year for everyone, including great things for the Lyons family!

My stress-free Christmas

Yes, yes, I'm here! I know I'm the worst blogger ever.  I've been trying really hard  to stay ahead of things this year for Christmas.  Every year, I get all caught up with buying the perfect gifts, and going into stores, looking around and feeling completely overwhelmed until finally one day, the stars will align and I get everything done.  I kinda do the same thing with decorations...wait too long to put them up and then I panic and stay up all night putting everything up.  So, this year I said NO MORE!!  This is going to be my first stress-free Christmas!  I did most of my shopping on line, which is wonderful for someone who hates to shop (yes, I hate to shop).  I managed to pick some things up at Target or Marshall's, Sam's, etc when I was there shopping for other things, and I've attended (and hosted) some fun parties at which I bought some gifts.  So, I'm in pretty good shape now, although I still need to make that final big trip to Target to do stockings, bows, and put the final touches on everything.  Oh and gift cards...which are NO fun to buy but take up a large portion of my budget.  I also have my decorations up around the house, which I did in 2 phases.  First, I worked on the first floor.  The living room gets crowded really quick, last year I bought a 4 foot tree that I put on top of a table in the corner which is awesome.  It fits there perfectly, E doesn't try to take off the ornaments but yet I still have a tree to admire in the living room.  Eliseo especially loves those decorations that you push the buttons and music plays, lights flash and things move around.  He has learned how to squeeze the hand and he sits in wonder while the lights flash and music plays.  But, it wouldn't be the same without our big tree, so on another night when Glenn was home, we put that up and again decorated it as a family.  OK, so I put up the tree while he was working on the lights outside.  The tree was stored in the basement and it goes in the 2nd story loft, and I was on E duty....and he would cry anytime I went in the basement or upstairs... so I carried the tree up 2 flights of stairs piece by piece with Eliseo on my hip.  What can I say...it was good exercise.  After I had it up, G came inside and we hung all the special ornaments.  I would tell E the story of each ornament and put them on the tree.  Then he would point to them and "tell the story" in the same intonation I told it in his cute toddler babble.  Oh yes, he was taking some off too, until I finally just let him carry one around that had glitter all over it...and hence glitter all over him.  We also went to see Santa this year.  Eliseo did pretty well, Santa played with him for a minute before taking him from me, he had a candy cane that he handed to E, then E would hand it back to him and Santa would laugh....HO HO HO.  Then E would laugh too.  So he didn't really want to hang out on Santa's lap for too long, but long enough to get a decent picture.

OK, so despite all this, my season hasn't been totally stress-free but it's been better.  Its not only Christmas I stress out on, but the combo of work stuff and trying to get everything done each day (been working on weekends a lot too).  I find myself exhausted and after I put E to bed, sometimes I just crash.  So, sorry readers, but the blog post is the first thing crossed off the list for now.  But, for those of you who don't follow me on FB, here is your picture fix!

Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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The Trifecta

Last week....not a good week for my little guy. 

Monday...vaccines.
Tuesday...Food allergy.
Saturday...2nd ER trip.

Yep, 2 trips to the ER in one week.  This time was a big bonk on the head.  As any mother would suspect, this happened just before bed time.  He was having so much fun, which makes it even more heartbreaking.  But, his new thing is walking around in circles, and circles, and circles, and watching his shadow on the walls.  So, he was circling, circling, circling, tripping, falling, connecting with the wall/molding...it happened so fast I'm not sure which part hit what.  But then, 5 seconds later came the wails.  I picked him up and he was sporting an instant goose eggs.  Actually, it was kind of like watching a cartoon, Wile E. Coyote after the Road Runner hits him over the head with a mallet.  I just watched this thing grow!  He didn't really break the skin, but I think that made it worse because it was bleeding under the skin and getting very purple.  My biggest concern was if he hit hard enough to get a concussion.  So, off to the ER (again) we went.  And I learned about myself, that I am not calm in medical emergencies.  I was trying to call Glenn, who was at work but I couldn't get my phone to make a call.  I finally got it figured out, and he met us at the hospital which was very comforting.  It wound up just being a superficial wound, no concussion, no stitches, just sent home with a bandaid and a new $200 bill from the hospital. 

So, I think I'm going to make Eliseo a bubble wrap suit. Right?

It Was the Peanut Butter.

The allergy tests came back negative for peanuts,  but I had a suspicion that they were wrong.  I thought that because he had Nutella and veggie sticks when he had his last reaction.  My babysitter thought it was the veggie sticks because when she looked at the bag it said that they were made in the same factory as eggs.  But I looked back at her logs and he had eaten those before with no problem.  I discussed it with my pediatrician and she advised just to avoid nuts until he went back for his yearly allergy tests. 

Well,  he inadvertently ate some peanut butter this week,  and confirmed my suspicions.  He had the worst reaction I've seen yet.  I wasnt at home when this happened,  my mom was babysitting and I got the dreaded call that he was having a reaction.  So I told her to give him the Epi (which she did) and then I called 911. When I got home the paramedics were there ... it felt so scary walking into the house thinking of them working on my son,  but when I got there,  they were just asking my mom questions about the timing of it all. .. they said since he got the Epi that there wasn't much else they could do.  They offered to take him to the ER in the ambulance,  but I decided to just take him myself.   They were gracious enough to follow us to the hospital but it was only 2 miles away.  When we got there,  they did the usual; checked his oxygen and gave him steroids and Benadryl and just a bunch of observation.  We watched Finding Nemo and he played with a Potato Head puzzle on the wall.  The swelling and hives went down a lot faster because of the Epi,  so after 2 hours they released him.  He was so wiped out,  he passed out on the 2 mile ride home.

I hope and pray that we will never need to go through this again,  but I know it is bound to happen.  It's a scary thing,  but sticking to our allergy plan this time made decision making very easy.  We will be removing all nut products from the house :(. He is all better now,  thank God.  Tshe pictures were from the end of the night when he was looking much better.  I didn't even think of pictures when he was in trouble. He was having fun taking pictures of himself in the hospital bed :).