pneumonia, ear infections, adenoids and tubes, adenoids and tubes...

The title of this post can be sung to the tune of "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes". (Just got a little song in your head, didn't I?) Well....I haven't written much about Nash this winter...mostly because he just hasn't been himself! Don't get me wrong, there is nothing seriously wrong with him. It just seems like he gets hit with one thing after another! Please know, that I am not writing this for sympathy...or because I think my kid is so 'sick' because he really isn't and hasn't been. I just want to write this to keep family updated, and to help me remember because as time goes on, things just blur together! So... I thought that I should just give you a short synopsis of what his winter has been like.

The week of Thanksgiving *this is when it all started* Nash began to have trouble with his ears. We wouldn't really know that they were infected, he would just be a little "off". Then, his eardrums would rupture and they would start draining. (poor guy). We tried a 10 day course of Augmentin, and then as soon as he was done, his eardrums ruptured again. So, back to the doctor to try a different antibiotic, Omnicef. On the 2nd day of this antibiotic, Nash became feverish, stopped drinking, extremely fussy, and almost lethargic. (He was already not eating because of his ears.) I called the doctor on that Tuesday, and they said that these could all be symptoms of his ear infection. He continued to get worse, and I continued to call the doctor hearing the same thing. He was having no other symptoms of anything else! By Friday, he was sleepy sleepy sleepy and when I decided to let the Tylenol and Motrin wear off, his temp quickly shot up to 104+. So, of course we took him to see the doctor. I was thinking that there must be some other infection going on? The picture above was taken shortly before I put him in the car to drive to Dubuque. Long story short (or short story long) we took him and they figured out he had pneumonia. We were shocked because he wasn't coughing or anything...and we figured that his breathing was weird because of his fever....and whatever was in his mouth (did I mention that he had a bunch of white sores in his mouth too). They decided to keep him in the hospital overnight. So, mom and Nash stayed in the hospital..and they gave him lots of fluids, breathing treatments, and more antibiotics. By the next morning he was a totally different kid! He seemed to be well on the way to healthy! When we got home from the hospital, one of his eardrums ruptured AGAIN (even after all of that antibiotic) so it was time to make an appt with the ENT (ear nose throat doctor). He was fairly healthy for about a week...right up until Christmas. He started acting up again Christmas day and Christmas Eve...so we started breathing treatments again and that helped a lot! We saw the ENT shortly before Christmas and he said Nash needs tubes in his ears and should have adenoids out. We were leery about putting our 'baby' under general anesthesia...and taking something out of his body that the Lord put there (his adenoids)! Dr. King did say that no anesthesiologist will put him under within one month of having pneumonia so we would have to wait for a month to even set up the surgery.... which gave us time to think, and gave Nash time to have another ear infection!

This round of ear infections helped us to make the decision to put the tubes in his ears, and we decided to do the adenoids too...only because we didn't want to put him under general anesthesia any more than we had to. SO, fast forward to Wed. Feb 9th. Nash had his surgery and it went very well. We got there at 8:15 AM and left at 10:45 AM. :) In the recovery room he was more fussy than most kids when he came out of his anesthesia so the nurses gave him some Demerol through his IV. Once he had a little nap with the Demerol, he was drinking his milk and ready to go home. We were extremely impressed with his so called recovery. He was pretty happy for just having surgery and actually ate a good lunch and supper that day, and slept decent that night! THEN... :) Thursday afternoon and evening he began to get fussy. Now, keep in mind that the doctor, and all of our friends who have had this surgery done on their kids, said that the only fussy day was the first day. After that, the kids were pretty much back to normal. NOT OUR KID!!! :) Nash became even more fussy, stopped eating, and was up almost every hour at night for 3 nights... (of course this was over the weekend, so no ENT available). On Monday we took Nash back to Dubuque to see Dr. King. Turns out that Nash is in that 5% of kids who don't handle the surgery well. His adenoid bed was inflamed and sore and it was making his ears, throat, nose and head hurt. They gave him a shot of a steroid (yes, our son is on steroids) and a prescription for another antibiotic and sent us on our way. The next day when I came into the kitchen and found this:

I knew that he must be feeling better! So, since Monday he has been improving more and more every day. We are thankful that he is feeling better...although the better he feels, the naughtier he becomes. We are glad to have the little boy back who climbs onto the table, dumps buckets of water out of the bath, and picks up anything he can carry and brings it out to the living room. He is even beginning to eat again. Nothing like he normally eats, but that will take time! (don't worry, 'the moose' still weighs 30 lbs.)

Now...I understand that, in general, Nash is a very healthy kid. We are very lucky that all we have to deal with are things like this! Going back and forth to the doctor (with something so minor) I think of the parents who are actually dealing with kids who are really ill. I can't imagine having to deal with trusting the doctors and nurses with life/death illnesses. So, I have had lots of extra prayers going out for the kids and parents who are dealing with SO MUCH more than we have even had to think about! I am also more and more grateful every day that we have been so blessed with our kids being healthy and happy! Hopefully soon, Nash can start taking part in some more fun things to blog about!

the newest Panther fans...

A few weeks ago we took Keaton & Lola to their first UNI game. Jason and I are fans of the Panthers (UNI is where Jason went to college)...and we were lucky enough to go and see them play in the Sweet Sixteen in St. Louis last Spring. We decided that it would be fun to try to get the kids to a game. So, on a Wednesday after a huge snowstorm we took the kids to Cedar Falls to introduce them to the Panthers. Lucky for us, they did not have school that day so we were able to leave a little early and make a night out of it. As you can see in the pictures below, the kids really enjoyed the game!

Lola was very busy watching the dancers, cheerleaders, mascot, and the college students dressed as aliens in the student section. During the TV timeouts they would play music and then show people dancing on the big screen, therefore it became Lola's ambition to get up on that screen. Every time music played she would stand up and dance and turn around and yell at me "mom, tell me if I am on the screen". She took this very seriously. Sadly, she did not get her time in the spotlight...we told her maybe next time! She wasn't too disappointed. At the end of the game, the Panthers won (it was a very exciting finish)...while everyone was cheering Lola looks at me and yells "MOM, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME OUR TEAM HAS EVER WON A GAME!!!" Let me explain, normally we go to the Clayton Ridge Eagles games...and they haven't been very successful in the games that we have attended. I thought that was pretty cute.

Keaton (our little mathematician) was obsessed with the scoreboard and what all of the numbers meant and how far apart the two teams' scores were. It was a very close game, and therefore very exciting! He was very into the game and loved to cheer for the Panthers.

After the game, there were lots of kids who went down and played on the floor....so we took the kids down too. They didn't go out and play, but were very excited to be down where the players were. I think that they felt very important. Before they fell asleep on the way home, there was a discussion about going to college. Both kids are convinced that they never want to go to college or live away from mom and dad. So...I guess they will be living with us forever!

Disney World (part 5)

So...we woke up on Friday (our last full day) to rain, rain, and rain. Bummer. We were thinking about going back to Animal Kingdom, but decided to go to Epcot because there some inside things to do there. Once again, my mom was sick, so it was just Grandpa, the kids and me! We bought some ponchos and headed to Epcot! LUCKILYwe only needed them walking from the motel to the bus (it was p.o.u.r.i.n.g!) By the time we got to Epcot, it was only misting, and by the time we came out of the first ride it was done! The follwing picture is of Keaton, Grandpa, and Lola in front of the big silver "golf ball" at Epcot. This was one of Keaton's favorite rides (I'm not quite sure why).

silly faces...

After we hit all we wanted to at Epcot we decided to go to Downtown Disney for lunch and a little shopping. The kids were able to bring their allowance/chore money with us to buy something at Disney World. We took a monorail to a hotel, and then from the hotel got on a bus to Downtown Disney. This is Lola and Keaton in front of the monorail! This was their favorite form of transportation.


Then on the busride things got a little silly! First they were fighting over this chair and it turned into Keaton offering for Lola to sit on his lap so they could both sit there. I choose my battles. :)

They both wanted me to take a picture of Lola pretending she was sleeping... hilarious.

Once at Downtown Disney, the kids "tricked" Grandpa and tried to walk him into a pole! (They only did this about 10 times a day...they really thought they were funny.)

We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I know that they are everywhere, but I had never been to one and I wanted a meal where we could sit down and have a waitress and order (as opposed to buffet or counter service meal). The kids loved the fish tanks and jungle theme and our food was excellent. The only problem was....

Lola is scared of thunder & lightning (big surprise) and they would flicker the lights and have thunder sounds about every 10-15 minutes. This was the only meal she actually ate with her earmuffs on. :) She didn't mind though!

After lunch we visited the Disney toy store. The kids were both estatic with what they found. Keaton bought Disney buses and and airplane and Lola found minature plastic Disney characters that resembled Littlest Pet Shops. After the store we visited the Lego store....just to play a little before we headed back to the hotel. (Below they are both acting like dinosaurs in front of the Lego dinosaur.)

...working hard on a lego creation.

...and a picture for Grandma Reimer in front of huge tinker toys!

We headed back to the motel for the afternoon. We changed into our swimsuits and opened the door to go to the pool and it was POURING again, and I mean POURING! So....being the 'fun' mom that I am ;) I went and checked to make sure the lifeguards were still at the pool...I hated to not swim on our last day! The lifeguards were still there and there were 2 kids swimming in the rain. We decided to brave the weather and swim. I think the kids enjoyed it more than swimming in the sun. It was CRAZY. The pool was nice and warm but the rain was cold...and there were times that it was raining so hard I almost lost my contacts...but the kids loved every minute of it.

That night we ate at the cafeteria in our hotel...and since Grandma was beginning to feel better she decided to join us for our last evening! We headed back into Magic Kingdom and were able to do all of our favoite rides and attractions one last time! We really had an awesome trip and I can't wait to take Nash and Jason there sometime. I have been to Disney World many times growing up, but this was, by far, the best trip ever! (My memory isn't very good, so I don't remember when it was actually magical for me.) Taking the kids to Disney World was so much fun....they were just amazed with the littlest things and thought it was so cool to see the characters. I am glad that Keaton and Lola were able to experience it at this age, but it will be fun to take them when they are a little older too...so much more to see and do! I realize that most of these postings have been pretty chaotic. This is my 'scrapbook' for the trip....and I really just typed without thinking (or editing).

This last picture is on the plane ride home! We flew out early Saturday morning...and had to get up at 3 A.M. Eastern. YIKES> the kids stayed up from then until 7 when our plane left! Luckily they both slept pretty much the whole flight....unfortunately, Lola thought that she deserved to use all 3 of our seats (in the picture below her legs were completely draped over my lap). It was such a good decision to have them bring their pillow pets as their carry on! It was a great week, but I think we were all ready to get home and see Daddy and Nash! I hope you have enjoyed hearing about our trip! What a wonderful way to keep memories.

Disney World (part 4)

Day 4 began with Grandma Piano being sick. :( She woke with the stomach flu so it was just Grandpa, Keaton, Lola and me to enjoy the day. That made things a little bit of a challenge because she was the official tour guide for the vacation. I did absolutely no research or planning because I was leaving it up to the "expert"! My dad was still great help and we still had a good time...we were just missing a piece! We headed back to Magic Kingdom (we had lunch reservations there with Winnie the Pooh) and we put Keaton in charge of navigation.... (not really, but he thought he was...he LOVES maps). YES...another silly face in front of the castle~

Keaton and Lola thought that this duck was SO COOL....they had to have a picture by it.

Once again, Lola was scared to go into things (this got kind of old). She would fight going into most attractions and shows and would come out loving it! The next two pictures are titled "scared" and "whining". We have to remember everything, right?

While waiting for our lunch reservation, Lola entertained us with a beautiful dance! She pretty much thinks she dances exactly the same as all of the princesses in the parades and shows!

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends. This time Lola decided that she could be brave enough to do it without Mom. Thank goodness!

I began not feeling well...so we headed back to the motel for the afternoon. Naturally, we went back to the pool! We couldn't resist...the weather was awesome!

Lola's main source of entertainment while swimming was doing belly flops off of the steps!

and SPLASH!!!!!

We went back into the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We figured that this was the kids' favorite anyway...and we didn't really want to explore a new park without our fearless leader! This is us waiting for the Winnie the Pooh ride!

and in the ride~

We had a great time, but wished that Grandma could have joined us! (We were also missing daddy and Nash very much by this time!)

Disney World (part 3)

On day 3 we ventured out to Animal Kingdom! The first thing we did was the Safari, which was pretty cool. Lola (*in her earmuffs) enjoyed seeing the animals, and Keaton took at least 50 pictures. Mom and dad said that we barely saw any animlas compared to what they normally see on that attraction, but either way, the Reimer family was impressed! The following pictures are of us on the safari... Keaton the photographer...

such a cutie....sweet and innocent.... :)
the giraffes... Keaton in front of the giraffes...

After the safari ride we walked through some different animal exhibits. The kdis really love to look at animals and had a really good time! We also saw the scary scary Lion King show> (it is really not scary at all....Lola just talked about it before and during the trip and was completely dead set against going?) She did end up loving the show. The kids' favorite thing that day was the Dinosaur playground. It was an excellent play area that had stairs, ramps, tunnels, bridges...and best of all LOTS of slides. The kids had a blast and really enjoyed having some free time!
Keaton & Lola pretending to be dinosaurs...

After the dinosaur playground we headed back to the motel for the afternoon...more swim and downtime was needed! By the way, the kids had swimming lessons twice this last summer, but at the end, Keaton still hung by the edge and Lola would try to swim, but sank. NOW after this trip they can both swim on their own and just love the pool! The first picture is of Lola and grandma swimming... (love the goggles). Lola jumping in (no fear)

Keaton jumping in (lots of fear...it is more of a sit into the pool than a jump)

the swimming crew: Lola, Grandma Piano, Great Grandpa Werges, Keaton and Me!

After swimming we headed to the Contemporary Resort near the Magic Kingdom to eat at a Character Buffet with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald! (If you haven't noticed, Lola wore this polka dot shirt a lot...she got so many compliments on her shirt and the flower in her hair, so she kept wanting to wear them!)

Grandma Piano, Grandpa Sheryl, Lola & Keaton all ready to go out!

Lola, Mommy, and Keaton riding the monorail! (they loved it)

Before we got to the restaurant, Lola informed me that she was too scared to take pictures with the characters. She decided that I would have to stand between her and the character...so I did! I told her that she had to pick one character that she would take a picture alone with (she picked Pluto). The meal was very fun. The characters took turns at each table taking pictures and signing autographs. The kids really enjoyed it! Notice Lola's face in this first picture :) too funny.

Minnie...

and the picture alone with Pluto (his darn ears)...

and Goofy!

THIS is a classic Disney World picture...just makes me smile!

After supper we went to the Magic Kingdom and visited a few things, then the fireworks started and Lola began freaking out! So, Grandma, Grandpa and Lola headed back to the motel and Keaton and I stayed for the fireworks. They were awesome!