Lung steroids

Well, the title of this blog says it all...Lung Steroids. Yes, it's a unique type of steroid and Jack has taken them. I've been on eye steroids after my cataract surgery, but poor little Jack was prescribed lung steroids after a severe bout of breathing difficulties two weeks ago. He woke up breathing very hard and we took him to see his doctor by 7:30am. He was breathing roughly 50-55 breaths per minute and average is 40. So they used the nebulizer on him and it worked miracles to see him breathe normally again.
The doctor said he has a sever upper respiratory infection (again) and that he can't classify it as baby asthma, but he needed a little more help this time and therefore prescribed lung steroids to use as needed. He only had to take them a couple of times the following days but he's now only nebulizing approximately once a day. Basically, it's the same medicine that's in an inhaler...but in the format of a mask for a baby/infant. Jack has taken to it quite well.

I guess that's the exciting news on this end.

The boys have taken to daddy's guitar playing. They really warm up to it and we sing all sorts of kiddie songs. Eban's favorite is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He also likes the Barney song from the tv show. Eban also likes taking stickers and stickering Jack...that's awfully thoughtful of him!

Jack still only has one tooth. He's still not crawling. And he's getting heavier by the second. I swear that I have man arms because I pick up two 30-40 pound weights in each arm every day several times a day. What's frightening is that my arms are chiseled...it's somewhat gross, but I guess it helps my golf game. That's one good way to look at it??

Eban's imagination grows daily. He loves to be a lion and growl and crawl around to the various humans in the house. He growls and makes scary faces and once he gets to you, he crawls by. I guess it's a good thing that he doesn't take a chomp out of our legs or what have you!

This weekend has been chock full of events. Ryan and I saw the Dark Knight last night. We also went to a coffee house and played Scrabble over a cup of java. It's neat because in each Scrabble board I have whether it's travel Scrabble, the fancy lazy Susan Scrabble or the normal board game, I have kept all the scores in the boxes. It's fun to review the old games and see the dates...I'm sure some of you are silently calling me a geek in your heads, but that's okay!

This morning, we headed down to the zoo, where we fed the birds, rode the train, rode the carosel, and went to the petting zoo section. Immediately following our jaunt to the zoo, we went to Heather's boyfriend's surprise 40th birthday party which was at our old condo's pool. As were we swimming, everyone was running out to get into the event room, but Ryan, me, and the boys. As Clyde walked by, he looked in the pool and nonchalantly said, "Hey Ryan...what are you doing here?" Ryan looked at him and with a straight face said, "We're just swimming." So he shook his head and walked in the event room and everyone yelled surprise. We both thought it would look more suspicious if we ran (with two kids in tow) out of the pool and into the event area so we just continued to swim around. He told us he had no clue, but who knows.

After the party where Eban gobbled down lots of hummus, we went back home for brief showers before going to our dear friends' house for dinner. Jodi and Vince hosted the crazy Tracy clan for some of Vince's killer chicken and lots of food. Eban loved their koi pond and feeding those monster fish! Check out the video below...he also loved taking leaves from their garden and smelling the fresh cilantro, basil or other herbs. He also loved their horses, chickens, and big tractor they have on their property. Jodi commended me for my multi-tasking ability...hold a 30+ pound baby, a beer, and take photos that turn out in a halfway decent manner! Heck, I think I was even chasing Eban around some lovely bushes at this time she was telling me this.

We had a great time laughing and reminiscing about the many years and the many crazy stories we've shared! What's fabulous about Jodi and Vince is that they live about a mile away from us...and the middle school is a stone's throw from their house, so when the boys are older, they'll head over to their house out hang out or help with horse clean up!!!
That's all I can remember for now...my brain is fried from a lack of sleep and a long day...but it's great when those days include your entire family.

EBAN AND HIS PUPPY VIDEO

JACK WAVING BYE BYE...with a burp or two

SCARY LION (it's really Eban)

FEEDING THE BIRDS AT THE ZOO

SCARY BIRD

JACK GETS LEFT BEHIND

EBAN FEEDS HIS FINGERS TO THE FISH

Eban's Coffee

As always, Eban's vocabulary grows by each passing second. It's amazing to hear what words or sentences come out of his mouth and it's more fun to watch his sense of humor develop. It's simply amazing.

Jack has been fighting a temperature since Thursday night so I'm attributing it to teething although he still only has one bottom tooth and hardly any hair...he's taking after his Uncle Steve on the hair part!

Right now, Papa and Eban are off at our friend's pool and Jack is napping so I'll briefly share some pictures and videos with you. The only little story I can think of sharing is the fact that I received a $5 gift card for Starbucks last week, so Saturday morning Eban and I walked up to our local Starbucks so I could get a white mocha. As I finished ordering Eban started throwing a little fit saying MY COFFEE. So the kind people at Starbucks said "We'll get you a coffee" and they made him a small chocolate milk. I'll tell you what...that little kid was so proud he was having "coffee" he could barely sit straight. He held onto his Starbuck's cup the entire trip home and proudly sat with it at the table this morning as I had my coffee. So we even had a coffee date this morning (he didn't finish his coffee yesterday) at his table and drank our coffee together. It was really cute - he's getting so old!!

Eban's imagination is also growing wildly which I love. He turned his table over and created a car...he even wanted Jack to sit in the "seat" next to him so the following pictures showcase this fun-filled imaginary world of his!

The following pictures are ones that Eban took when he stole my camera and he loves the camera now...Enjoy!

DRIVING IN THE CAR

SAYING GOODBYE AS EBAN NEEDS TO DRIVE HIS CAR

Starbucks Coffee (I shouldn't put this up here...you can figure out why)

Fireworks and Moto

Uncle Steve left too quickly and now every motorcycle is "Uncle Steve's Moto!" He even called his little three-wheeled bike that the Rainen's gave him "Eban's Moto!"

On the 3rd of July, I had a half day of work so I hit the links at the closest public golf course called Riverdale in Henderson, Colorado. I joined two women and one of their husbands. I guess I played decently and they asked if I'd serve as a substitute on the golf course's golf league. I said sure so now I need one more round of golf so I can acquire a handicap. I'm pretty excited about this as I love the game. We then went up to Erie, Colorado, where we participated in the Erie fireworks and festival. We spread out some blankets and our lawn chairs on the Vista Ridge Golf Course driving range and after what seemed like hours of waiting the fireworks finally started around 9:30pm. I was worried that Jack would be terrified but he was calm and easy going throughout the entire 25 minute display. Eban sat on my lap and would say "boom" here and there but mostly he sat in awe looking at the colorful sky.

The next day was somewhat of a nightmare as the kids were off their schedule. We went to a community pool in Broomfield that had waterslides and a kiddie pool area and Eban loved it. He wanted "more slide" all the time. I would hold him in front of me as we would tear around the corners of these slides and then lift him up as we landed in the pool area. Jackson hated the pool so this is a new development as he LOVES the bath.

On the afternoon of the 4th, we headed down to Denver to Chris and Jen's house for more food and boat activities. I didn't bring my suit, but the next time I will as they were knee boarding and wake boarding all afternoon (I think that's what you call it??)

Eban loved riding in the boat. He really loved honking the horn. What we loved the most was the fact that Avery was very mindful of Eban and they sat together the entire time. Each time she asked for a kiss, he would oblige. Smart boy!!

Sunday, daddy left for Houston for some new certification class for a week so we'll see if the house goes up in flames since he's not here. HA...just kidding. Tonight, Henrik (my friend Liz and Dan's son) came over and he's only 11 weeks old. He's such a cutie and was a good boy all night while Eban proceeded to be naked baby and run around and say POPO and who knows what else! Jack is...well...always hungry. He's only happy with food...or Nani. He absolutely adores Nani. He giggles the loudest when he's with her and he is just delighted to be in her company every day.
That's it for now...we're still waiting for Jack to crawl!

CHRIS WAKE BOARDING ON THE LAKE BEHIND HIS HOUSE (Eban is in the boat loving every minute of it!)

THE BARNEY SONG (I can't believe I know the words)