Good news/bad news???

I guess that is the best way to title this post. We got some good news and some bad news today. So what do you want first? The good or the bad? Good you say...OK! We went to the ENT today and they can fix Alan's ear infection problem! Also I was able to get Matt's new suit fixed and the new shirt I got, that super shrank, I was able to return for 2 new shirts! How great is that! We had a wonderfully productive day!! Oh what is that you say....what is the bad news??? Oh yes I forgot about that. :) Bad news is Alan's eardrums are so full of fluid that they are non responsive to air pressure. His hearing is within the "normal" range but at the very bottom of that range. I was talking to a friend of mine that is a Speech Pathologist and she said that at 25 decibels, which is where Alan is at, you can't hear much. But our ENT recommended getting tubes put in Alan's ears and we were able to schedule surgery for Wednesday April 1st. I am so thankful that we were able to get in so quickly. They wanted him to get in fast because the ENT said that Alan will probably have another ear infection in about 2 weeks if we can't get the fluid out of his ears. So that is the good news/bad news for the day. I haven't decided if surgery is good or bad yet. I think it might fall under both categories. Just pray for our little man that everything goes well! They did say that we should see a significant improvement as soon as the fluid starts to drain!! :) Well have a great night! We are off to bed and going to spend tomorrow resting before the craziness of the rest of the week starts. Surgery on Wednesday and my pre-op eye appointment is on Thursday. Fun fun!

What a blessing.

After what had to be the craziest morning of my life, we got news of a wonderful blessing. Our pediatrician gave us a referral for Alan to see an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor)! She also put in the recommendation for tubes to be highly considered. I get to make the appointment with the ENT next Wednesday. I feel so bad for Alan because I know he does not feel well and he keeps getting ear infections over and over again. Alan also let Mommy sleep for a LONG time last night! The past few days I have been running on minimal amounts of sleep...like 2 hours or so. But last night I got to sleep for ALMOST 11 hours. Wow was that necessary and it felt great! Alan even sat quitely in his crib for about 30 minutes just playing with his "uh oh", his little ducky/blanket/toy thing.

If you could just keep Alan in your prayers that the doctors will make the right decision about his little ears and that he would FINALLY get healthy! Pray for me too that I can keep up with him! :) Little man is starting to walk and is VERY independent. He doesn't like me helping him out with his toys or anything. One day at a time right?

I spoke too soon.

Alan started running a fever on Saturday and had a bad cough, congestion and runny nose so we took him to urgent care on Sunday because the fever would not break. Come to find out he has another ear infection. I was so hoping that we would be done with those. But we go to see the doctor on Wednesday and I am hoping to get some answers. This much antibiotics can't be good for him.

I know I know.

I promise I am trying to keep up with my blog. I know that I haven't updated it in over a month now but I do have a good reason. PROMISE! So Alan finally got over his, what seemed like, never ending ear infections! Praise the Lord for that one! We were not too far away from the "tubes" discussion because he had already had 2 ear infections in 2 months. That being said, 2 days before his check up to see if the last infection cleared up, I got the flu. We caught it within the 48 hour time frame that I could get the anti-viral vaccine but it is not ok for breastfeeding mothers to take. :( So for the next 3 days I fought a retched fever, chills and cough/congestion and could only take Tylenol, cough medicine and Mucinex. Needless to say I was off in left field until the fever broke. Poor little Alan was so crabby because I would not play with him but I didn't have the strenght to do anything but lay on the couch. I started getting a little better by about Thursday that week but come Friday, Alan was burning up. He even got his flu shot this year! Poor little baby was full of medicine to help break his fever but he was still on fire! For the past 2 weeks we have been dealing with the leftovers from the flu. We both have good days and bad days. Good days you couldn't tell that we have been sick nonstop all winter. Bad days you would think we still had the flu. But with all the craziness and sickness, our little boy has grown soooo much!
Alan has started crawling! YIKES! He is so mobile right now and never ceases to amaze me where he can end up. He also has learned to stand up on his own and does get from one toy to another doing a little side stepping. I am sooo proud of him but worried about his head!! He has already had his first couple of "good" spills. He has a small patch of skin missing from his forhead from the crib and a couple of other bumps from the toys, couch, and coffee table. I guess that is to be expected with him learning to walk. No matter how hard I try, I can't be there every second and even if I am, I'm not always fast enough to catch him.
Now about my other little boy. :) Matt is doing very well in school right now. We just found out that we will be staying in Charleston, SC for his next school. I am VERY excited about that. Matt is also sitting about 22nd in his class of 92. We have 3 weeks left of school and we are so ready for him to be done. I know that I would love to have my husband home and Alan would love to see his Daddy. Not going to sugar coat it but it is a drag with Matt leaving for work before anyone wakes up and getting home well after Alan has gone to bed. Some days he does get to see Alan for a few minutes before bedtime but most days that isn't the case. We know that this is one of those "necessary evils" that we have to deal with and it is apart of his job, so I don't complain too much. ;) Matt graduates from Power School on April 10th and has off until the 26th of April. That will be really nice! Our little vacation that includes me having surgery on April 13th. Yep that is right. My eye surgery has finally been scheduled for April 13th. I am excited and scared all at the same time.

I am trying to get Matt prepared to take care of his little boy by himself and he is doing really well! Matt has learned how to make Alan's breakfast and dinner, like how much food he gets and what kinds and what medicines he gets at what meals. Matt is also getting much better at bath time too. Since Alan is such a mover and shaker now, bath time has been VERY interesting. We can't seem to keep him in one spot for longer than 10 seconds!!! Alan likes to roll around in the bathtub which is very scary. He also likes to drink the water but doesn't quite understand that you can't drink it without getting your nose in the water. We will work on that one at a later date.
So a quick explanation of the pictures. The first one is little Alan standing up in bed. That was one of the first times that he stood up and let go with one hand. He is a little daredevil! The next one is him helping me do laundry. I wrapped him up in our mattress pad and carried him into the laundry room. Oh and the hair, yes it is crazy but that is what happens when you let Mommy blow dry your hair! :) The next one is Alan doing his "I can walk from one toy to the other". The following one is Alan holding his "uh oh" from Mrs. Holly and her family. I can't get that thing away from him now! He takes it everywhere and sleeps with it. Oh and it is constantly wet because he is always chewing on it. The last one is Alan wearing Daddy's mickey mouse ears for work. We finally went out at got Matt's ear protection for prototype and Alan's eyes got HUGE when he saw Matt wearing them. So we tested them out on Alan and he is SUCH A CUTIE! I just love this little man sooo much! God really has blessed us with a wonderful child and a wonderful family. So that is my update for now. Hopefully with spring right around the corner I can update more, pending I don't come down with some other crazy illness. UGH! I hope that all is well with everyone else and hopefully next time I will post some videos of Alan!

Finally!

Finally I have time and motivation to update you guys! Alan is napping right now so I figured this is the best time anyway. Life has continued to be crazy and my boys never cease to amaze me. Yes Matt is one of my boys now after this last string of colds. Matt is doing great in school. He just past the halfway mark for Power School and is still keeping in the top 25% of the class. He has been spending a lot more time at school studying now so I am trying REALLY hard to hold down the home front. But because my darling husband is spending so much time at work, he is also catching every unknown cold/flu/virus out there and he promptly brings it home and shares the wealth. Don't I sound so excited about that? It seems like the three of us just can't seem to get healthy. I have to admit, it is much harder to deal with a sickness when you have a little baby that is fighting the same thing as you. I can only imagine how Alan is feeling half the time.
Speaking of our little boy, we found out that Alan doesn't do well with foods that have a high pectin content. It makes his little face break out in a red rash with little bumps. He also has very sensitive skin and we have to stop using Johnson&Johnson baby wash and switch to Aveeno. So far the Aveeno has worked wonders on his skin. The breakouts have almost gone away and his little dry patches are gone too. Alan is also dealing with hand, foot and mouth right now. At least the blisters have stayed just on his toes and the top of his feet but none the less it is a pain. We just have to wait for the virus to run its course and until then we are keeping him away from other kids just to be on the safe side. But we do have exciting news too! Alan is sitting up really well now and he is starting to drink from a sippy cup! We have a larger arsenal of foods that he eats too. Now he can only eat just a few things anyway but it is nice to have more than sweet potatoes for him to eat. We started bananas this week. I don't think he really cares for bananas but he may also just not care much for fruit since he has only done veggies so far. Pears are next on the list. We have already done sweet potatoes, butternut squash and bananas. We can still try pears, applesauce, broccoli, carrots and green beans until he gets to be around 1 year. Then we can re-try peas to see if the pectin reaction occurs again. If it does then we stick with the "hypoallergenic" foods. Here is a video of Alan sitting and tumbling but he is doing MUCH better at sitting up!

What else is going on in our world. My sister Tracy came out to visit in early January. Alan loved being able to spend time with his aunt! We went to the beach and went exploring, a standard for any Andersen girl. We are hoping that Tracy and Patricia will be able to come out to visit this summer. I feel like nothing is going on with me. I'm just doing the "mom" thing and taking care of home/baby/daddy/doggy stuff. I know that sounds pretty lame but that is what I do. I honestly can't believe that February is almost here. Matt's birthday is in a few weeks, then Matt's Comp test/graduation is right around the corner. This year is already flying by and in no time we will be moving again. Such is military life right? But I have to say it has been WONDERFUL being back on the east coast! At least it is much easier to see family now. Here is Tater and Alan. We are trying to get Tater used to Alan playing with him now. Slowly but surely he is warming up to the idea!

Speaking of Alan, he is awake from his nap now so I need to go take care of him. I hope everyone has a great day and God bless!

Wow has it been crazy lately

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am working towards updating our blog. Thanks to sickness and the holidays I really haven't had a chance to do it. But we are alive and getting better. Alan is still sick and I am on the tail end of my cold. Matt is all better and working hard in school. Here is a pic of our little boy in his attempt to start the crawling process. I hope this will hold you over until I can get more up!

We have a sitter!

Yes we do! Alan is finally sitting on his own! Now he is not sitting for long periods of time on his own but he is able to do it. Here are some pictures of him sitting and the subsequent falling. :) He is up and happy right now...
Teetering over a little bit now....

And he is on his way down now! Alan actually had not hit the ground yet in this picture but he was almost there!

I am sooo proud of him right now! We also have done 4 days of eating cereal. Day 1 and 3 were GREAT and he ate all the cereal without any problems. Day 2 was a mess and that was the only day we tried cereal twice in one day. He didn't have any problems with the rice cereal yet so today we decided to add in our first vegetable, carrots. Boy did he LOVE carrots! I wish Matt had been home to get a picture of Alan with his mouth WIDE open wanting carrots. So he is going to have carrots for a few more days with the cereal, then we will try either sweet potatoes or peas. I haven't decided which one to try first.

This will probably be my last post until after Christmas. We will be heading up to Raleigh, NC to see Matt's parents on either Tuesday or Wednesday. We haven't decided on a departure date yet. :) We will be up there until Saturday but once we get back and get settled I will post pictures and updates from Christmas! I hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas!