The post without a title

This past weekend like all the others just felt too short. We had big plans and big fun!

On Friday my mom came up to watch the kids and Clay and I went out with our friends Nathan and Alissa. It was a blast! We went out to eat at a new place called Reality Bites and the food (and drinks) were wonderful.  It's a tapas bar but we did more of the get your own meal thing. Nathan and I got the pork tacos. Lissa got the fish tacos and Clay got something with scallops. Everyone enjoyed their meals. We also had some bacon wrapped dates as an appetizer and they were delic. They tasted a lot like a McGriddle from McDonalds but we like those too. I even splurged on desseret and got the Bavarian Apple Cheesecake...yum!!! After dinner we decided to hit up an old watering hole and catch a few more drinks so we headed down the street to Elroy's.  The place was empty as it was still early but around 10pm DJ Tugs started jamming (with music I'm too old to know) and then around 1015 the first wave of college kids came. It was nuts! I can't believe what the girls wear these days. SHORT SHORT dresses and skirts and it's FEB. Back in the day we just pulled off the dark jeans and on a big night we busted out the black pants. Boy things change.

Backing the train up a bit we did also see Kenny Rogers at the bar. I tried to get a picture by "pretending" to be taking a picture of Nathan but I think the lady with Kenny was on to me so I had to stop. Of course I'm sure it didn't help that Nathan kept yelling out Kenny. HA! Here's the best I could get and I'm not even sure you can tell how much he looked like Kenny.

Here are a few other pictures of our night out. It was so much fun we will definitely have to make it a habit now that the Hunters are locals :)

I believe in this first picture, Nathan and Clay are pondering how the beer is so inexpensive at the classy establishment.

 Here are the lovely ladies of the night that apparently didn't get the memo about the short skirts and dresses.

 And here we are getting the "Bird's Eye View."  We don't remember the ceiling being this scarey (or low) in the past. It looks a little gross up close.

Saturday, Clay needed a little bit of recovery time so my mom and I took the kids to the library to play. Kenley loves it there and so do I.  We played in the toy area and then explored. We made a little friend too. However I was a little sad for the little girl. She was so so cute and kept running over to us. I read to them and we played with the "Go Fish" cards. We colored and explored. Every once in awhile the little girl would run back over to her mom (so I knew the mom was there) but the mom rarely looked up from the computer.  Then when we were exploring the DVDs the mom kept telling the little girl to leave us alone. I can properly pinpoint my emotion. I was more annoyed by the mom than the little girl. The little girl wasn't bothering me. We were having fun. I know she was having fun too as I got her to giggle several times with my impersonations of a puffer fish and an octopus. She mimiced me and giggled. I guess I was annoyed that the mom hadn't bothered for the last 30-45 minutes to interject and tell her little girl not to "bother" us but now that we were close to the computer area she couldn't stop.  I tried to tell myself maybe there are circumstances I don't know. Maybe she was a single mom and needed to get something done on the computer and didn't have anyone to watch the kid. Maybe  she doesn't have a computer at home. I just don't know but I somehow felt bad for the little girl. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I'm too hands on and I should let Kenley explore more but I try to soak up every minute I can with her on the weekend.

Sunday, we had some fun party dances. (It's what Kenley calls the dance parties we have in her room with all of her stuffed animals and pillows.) Chase even joined in on the fun and I caught some good pictures of them "resting" after a few songs. They were pretending to nap.

All in all a fun weekend and I can't wait to do it all again!

"Lego" lessons

I have a few blog posts swimming in my head so I thought I'd share this one. It involves our MegaBlocks and a lesson or two that I learned.

First: If you take the time to build the 2.5ft giraffe out of megablocks, do not be so excited with your creation that you think you need to take a picture and do not leave the room to go get the camera. Why? Because when you get back, this is what your creation will look like.

However I also learned you can easily make an airplane :)

and the airplane can easily be "transformed" into a dinosaur with Kenley's creative eye...

We had a lot of fun with our blocks this weekend :) What did you do?

An update from the trenches

The Brockman house is still under germ warfare, but we are on the mend. I realized yesterday that I haven't even worked a "normal" full week since returning from leave. I've been to the doctor 3 or 4 times.

However, we are happy to report the following, "WE HAVE OUR GIRL BACK!!" Kenley has finally returned to normal. There is still a faint trace of a cough occasionally but it is not disrupting her sleep or play and she has all the energy of a 2year old again (and trust me that's A LOT!!) She has returned to her chipper and playful self enjoying making us laugh and not fussing with every word.

On the other hand though, Mr. Chase (aka Bub)  is still fighting the war. We ended up back at the doctor again yesterday. He developed a "bad" cough this weekend and it had us worried. In addition, he was definitely breaking out into some sort of rash. It didn't look bad at home but under the lights of the doctor's office it actually looked a bit horrid.  We believed the rash to be an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin as we had expected it given the rest of the Brockman fam is allergic to the wonder drug and breaks out.

The doctor visit was one of the longest yet with him. The doctor was running a little behind so Bub enjoyed a few ounces from a bottle while we waited. This is when I really got to examine the "rash." He weighed in at 16lbs and 3.5 oz and a total of 26 inches long. BIG BOY! Dr. Kane examined him and determined the rash was a strong case of eczema and could be treated with vasoline if we could deal with the grease or Eucerin lotion. His ear infection from last week was cleared and his ears checked out perfect, but she did say she could hear the wheezing and cough. She also said he was "retracting" when he breathed so you could tell this nasty bug had made it's next strike and traveled south to his lungs and chest. This is when I start to get concerned. I don't mind colds but when they hit the lungs and chest it's time for some major action.

She ordered a pulse-ox test and a test for RSV. She also wanted us to do an in the office breathing treatment. He passed both pulse-ox tests with 100 and 99 which is as high as you can get, so at least he was still getting good oxygen levels with the cold. His test for RSV came back negative which was a blessing and he was a champ for the breathing treatment.  The only thing we could call it still was a severe cold with wheezing, so she sent us home with an order for breathing treatments every 4 hours or as needed.  You better believe he is getting them every 4 hours today. He got one before bed last night and it helped as he was actually able to sleep from 730ish until after 4am! I gave him one at 4am so he's due again here soon. I'm glad we didn't need chest x-rays or that it wasn't RSV but I know we aren't out of the woods yet. We really need to kick this over the next few days. If he isn't better by Friday, we head back in to see the doc. I'll keep ya posted!

Sick and Tired

I'm getting sick and tired of being sick and tired. Okay, I'm not really the one sick but it seems everyone else in this house is. Now the tired part, I can relate to. 

Poor Chase started getting sick about the time I went back to work. He seemed to be getting better but was still "snotty" so we went to the doctor on Jan 31st. Kenley had been starting to cough so we took her too. Both kids were diagnosed with colds. It seemed over the remainder of the week and the weekend they fluctuated. Chase got better and Kenley worse and then vice versa.  Everyone at the sitter's was sick too and the list of ailments kept growing.  After a long weekend home Kenley was better but then Chase took another turn. 

So back to the doctor we went this past Tuesday. Still a cold but now also developing an ear infection. He's been given a round of amoxicillin (which is a drug that Clay, Kenley and I are all allergic to.) Now it's a waiting game to see if he is allergic too (which we assume he will be.) 

Kenley too has taken a turn fo the worse and developed a hacking cough that seems to either keep her from going to sleep or wake her up in the middle of the night and prevent her from going back to sleep. I've been up in the middle of the night not only to nurse Chase but also console a coughing 2 year old and try to get her back to sleep. I'm glad I got her a full size bed since I can lay in there. 

So now, I'm hoping that after 3 days home this week and a nice weekend ahead that we can all be recovered and germ free by Monday, but as I sit here and type I have surround sound coughing on the monitors. I feel so bad when they are sick and there is nothing I can really do. I also worry about Chase the most as he is so little. The stuffy/snotty nose affects him nursing and sleeping. He's eating a lot less this week but I think he is still gaining weight as he is a chunk. I'm hoping that after 2 weeks he can finally get better. 

I know sick and tired won't last forever so I'll keep taking it one day at a time. 

I am thankful however that my mom could come and watch the kids this week. We are blessed to have retired parents (mine and Clay's) that can watch the kids at certain times.  Thanks mom! (ALthough it sounds like she is getting sick too. I'm hoping that we didn't give her all of our germs.)

10 minutes

This post has been sitting in my drafts with only the title of "How I spent my summer maternity vacation" for a week now and obviously I haven't gotten around to writing it so this morning I decided I'm going to do 10 minutes. I'll cram as much as I can but I'm gonna timebox to 10 minutes (sans pictures since I don't have the camera with me) So buckle up and get ready....

Okay, really! How did the 12 weeks for my maternity leave go so fast. I guess I justify that Nov went in a flash with a new baby at home and getting into a nursing routine, Dec was a blur with visitors, holidays, and a birthday and then by the time I realized we had passed into the new year I had less than 3 weeks left at home :( However, I do feel like I had some great quality time with my little bub and thosse will be moments and memories I will always cherish. I forgot how fast they grow and change and it seems he is growing and changing at warp speed.

Other than time with Chaser, I did a few things on my list. By NO MEANS did I even really make a big enough dent for me to consider it done but I'm learning that my "to do" list of random things around the house can always wait as there are more important things people to spend time with right now. However, I did get Chase's name painted and hung on his wall. I feel like I did more but can't remember now so that obviously tells you how important my list is. HA!!! I did enjoy so me time too and managed to read 5 books. Yep, you read that right...5 books. I read the Hunger Games trilogy (which I recommend), a short suspence thriller called The List and then just a girly book of sorts called Chasing Rainbows which is about a woman's midlife breakdown after being dealth a pretty rough hand of blows and how she comes back to find happiness.  I also started watching the series GREEK on Netflix and got HOOKED. I flew through almost 5 of the 6 seasons in no time. Clay also thought they looked good when I had them on so now he is watching them from the beginning and when he catches up we will watch the rest of season 5 and 6 together. I'm anxiously awaiting him to catch up. It's good I went back to work or I wouldn't be able to wait.

Speaking of work, I'm back! I've been back a week today and things are going well. I feel refreshed and more productive than when I left. I'm being put on some bigger projects that are very new to me but I'm excited (and nervous) about the work. I hope I can keep the "productive" feelings up long term.

On the kid front there is always a lot happening. Obviously with me going back to work, Chase goes to the sitter now. Kenley was excited to take him and from what Christine (our sitter) says she is a very protective big sister and knows when people shouldn't be all up in his face. He has done very well there and is eating like a champ and chunking up. In fact after a recent impromptu doctor's visit, he is actually 15lbs and 11ounces. He has gained approximately 7lbs in less than 3 months if that tells you anything :) Wish it were as cute for me to gain 7lbs :) The impromptu doctor visit was actually for both kids and I tackled it myself. It was an experience but mostly because Kenley didn't feel good and everything was the end of the world.  But it was good in that both kids were diagnosed with common colds and nothing more. We worried about Kenley as several others had gone home from the sitter with Strep and other ailments. The joys of germ sharing!

Kenley still amazes us almost daily and makes us smile. One night at dinner we were playing with her cups and she said to me, "I had it first. You have to wait your turn." I nearly busted out laughing. I just love the stuff she says! She also took her first shower last weekend. She had a blast. I let her play in the water while I showered and then she tried to take her turn washing her armpits and then her backside.

Life at the Brockman house is a bit chaotic but it's our new normal. We are working on finding our groove in the morning routine to make it to work on time and then adjusting to the rush of the after work activities, baths, and bedtime routines. But no complaints here! Life is good and I know I wouldn't change a thing.

Once things settle, I will try to post more but in all honesty I'm up very early and by the time I get to sit it's almost 9pm and I'm one tired momma from the day. Until then, please stay tuned :) (okay it was more than 10 minutes to type this but I was on a roll... peace out!)