Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011


Halloween has been checked off the list for 2011!


The boys had more stamina this year than last therefore their bags were twice as full. Lucky for David and I, the boys don't like peanut butter so all Reese's cups must come to us!

My Boys
Power Ranger, Giraffe, and Phantom

Some of the boys and Minnie of the 'hood.

Sweetest Giraffe Ever!

Group Shot of the Barberry Woods kids. The group gets bigger and bigger every holiday.

Side shot of the group.


Dad cutting class to pull trick-or-treat duty.

Picking up some loot!


Checking out the loot!


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Update on Collins


We went to our pediatrician today for a check-in considering he just got discharged yesterday. The hospital sent us home with one dose of steroids to be taken this morning and then a 14 days of antibiotics to treat the pneumonia. When Collins woke up this morning he was pretty wimpy. He basically just laid around, ate half of a waffle, drank some milk and then vegged on BecBec's lap. I put him down for his morning nap at 9am and had to wake him at 11:15 to get ready to go see the doctor. He was perkier than he was in the morning which is typical when the steroids kick in. Dr. Geils checked him over and decided to keep him on steroids for another two days. So, now we sit and wait and hopefully the drugs will kick this croup and pneumonia out of his little body.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sweet Collins

In the past 10 days, Collins has been diagnosed with croup, hand, foot, mouth, and pneumonia all accompanied with fever. We went to MUSC Children's ER last Sunday because he was having trouble getting a deep breath. He got a dose of oral steroids that was suppose to last 3 days. On Monday, he felt great and we thought he was getting better but on Tuesday morning when he woke up he sounded just as awful as he did on Sunday. So, I took him to our pediatrician. That's when he got diagnosed with hand, foot, mouth and was given a steroid injection in each thigh. On Wednesday, we thought again that we were getting better but the same thing happened that on Thursday he sounded awful again. Friday was a little better (we thought) and so we let the weekend go by with no real change in Collins' behavior. Think lethargic, wimpy, not eating food in over a week, barely drinking - all in all, just pathetic. On Monday when he wasn't showing in progress of getting better I took him back to the pediatrician to get checked out again. Collins got a dose of oral steroids there and did a breathing treatment. She sent us on to MUSC Children's ER to get x-rays and completely checked over. The xrays either show a small patch of pneumonia on his upper right side or they show a spot where the lung has collapsed. They also gave him two breathing treatments, tylenol for the fever, started him on antibiotics, and admitted us to the hospital.

They took some blood once we were upstairs to check to see if the infection has moved into his bloodstream. While the phlembotanist (sp?) was doing this she commented how awesome he was doing. I had to break it to her that he has no voice to cry and his body has no energy to fight her. We have to wait 48 hours to get those results.

This morning he has more energy than he has in a week. He actually ate some breakfast and has been drinking pretty well. But, we've been down this path before where the day after steroids has him feeling great and then the following day we're back to our pitiful selves so I'm not quite as optimistic at this point as I probably should be. He slept great last night even with the vitals being taken every four hours. The couch wasn't too terrible to sleep on but the baby next door screamed all night so that kept me up. We're waiting on Dr. Summers to make her rounds this morning to see if we're going home or staying another night.

Get better, Sweet Collins!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Mickey & Pumpkins


Last Thurday, we took Hughes and Banks to see Disney on Ice 100 Years of Magic. Hughes didn't want to go at first and said he wasn't riding any roller coasters. I guess I scarred him when I made him ride Goofy's Barnstormer two years ago.

When we got there, of course, they were inundated with light-up swirly toys, swords, hats, shirts, more toys, etc. We let the boys pick out one souvenier and let them get one snack. $60 later we came away with two Buzz Lightyear swords that light up, one shark cup with snowcone inside of it and one bag of cotton candy that came with a Mickey crown. CHA-CHING!

But, I wouldn't trade that night. The boys' eyes lit up when the show started and we had great seats. At one point, the princesses and princes came out to do a dance number and Hughes looked at me and stuck his finger down his throat like to gag himself. I don't know where he learned this but it made me laugh out loud. Obviously, he doesn't like princesses. It was a 2 hour show and towards the end we were all tired but it was still fantastic.

Thanks Mickey for a special night!



On Friday, Hughes did not have school so I declared Banks not to have school, too. We went and had mexican for lunch which Hughes requested and then we went to Wally World to get our Halloween costumes. I have totally let go my need to make my boys' costumes and they are thrilled. So, without further adieu, here are our 2011 mass produced, cheaply made but lovingly adored costumes.

Hughes the Phantom, Banks the Power Ranger and that ghost is Sally the Lion from Hughes' class. Sally visited with us this weekend so we made her a costume, too.

**Side Story - that furry green thing in the background is a witch that hangs on the outside of the downstairs bathroom door. One morning Banks was jumping around grabbing himself and I told him to go to the bathroom to which he replied he couldn't. I asked him why and he said he was afraid of the witch. I had to show him that it was pretend and just for fun but he didn't believed me. This resulted in a little boy losing control of his bladder because he couldn't muster the courage to face the witch.

Now, on to decorating pumpkins. David has been busy studying so we decided this year to take the easy way out of decorating pumpkins. We used the push-in face parts (think Mr. Potato Head). It was awesome, no mess and very little clean-up.




The Boys
Hughes (6), Collins (1), and Banks (4)
Sally the Lion made the family picture, too.


Update on Collins: Collins is back to running a fever. He has never left the crummy feeling stage so we'll go back to the doctor tomorrow. He's barely drinking and not eating at all. You can't tell from the above picture but he was just whimpering.


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Croupy Croup


The croup has invaded.

Croup - 3 Holman Boys - 0

Clearly, the croup is winning. It has now taken down all three boys each individually. Banks had it first but seemed to only have a touch of it. He was only down for maybe 2 days. Then, Hughes had a full-blown case and was out of school for four days last week and ended up on steroids to treat the swelling in his throat. And, now Collins.

I actually took him to the Children's ER at MUSC on Sunday afternoon because he was having trouble getting a good breath when I got him up from his nap. So, I called David at the law library, told him what I was doing and he met us over there. They gave him an oral steroid to help with the throat swelling that lasted 36 hours. Today, he is feeling worst than he did yesterday so I took him to the pediatrician to get checked out again. Still swelling in his throat so they gave him a shot of steroids. You know your baby feels terrible when they can't even muster a cry when getting two shots in their thighs. I'm fully expecting him to have roid rage at some point.

But, on the positive side . . .

Wait. There is no positive side.
(of course, I know there is a positive. this will pass. it's not terminal. i'm just being dramatic)

He also has hand, foot, mouth disease. Not to be outdone by his big brothers, Collins had to one-up them.

So, I shall sit in the house and be quarantined for another week. You would think with all this time at home my house would be spotless but it's not. Collins likes to be held and he likes to nap on me. What can I say? I'm a sucker for some baby snuggling time. I'm no fool. I'll take what I can get.


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Arggh! Happy 6th Birthday, Hughes!


Hughes' 6th Birthday was celebrated this past weekend with a spend-the-night party at the creek house. We had five 5-6 year olds and two 4 year olds and the party went beautifully. No one got home sick, no one got in a fight, every one just had a great time.



We started the festivities with a little running around the property which quickly turned in to a fort building mission and started the tie dye process on our pirate shirts.

Banks thinks he's 6 and I treat him like he's 6 all the time! I have to remind myself that he's only 4.
Check out Banks' hair! I can't bring myself to give him a "big boy" haircut.

Pirate birthday cake courtesy of BecBec

Charlie was there, too!

The gang before we started the treasure hunt.
Hughes, William, Conley, Banks, Hudson, Thomas & Lucius.

Checking out the crab trap for the first prize.

Conley spots it!

Eyepatches for our burly pirates!

2nd prize - pirate booty!
(which quickly got eaten later in the day)

Thomas

So far, they've gotten their eye patches, booty, & hats!

They just found their pirate teeth and earring.

Conley

Hudson

Thomas

Bryce was there to be my assistant. She worked hard.

William

The swords have been found!

Arrgh! David telling them to look on their maps for the "x".

In search of treasure.

Lucius practicing some sword moves.

Conley actually found the treasure box first. This treasure box was only covered by leaves.

Hughes getting to it quickly and opening it up.


Full of rings (pops), gold coins, glow-in-the-dark bracelets, etc.

Collins and PopPop taking a snooze on the porch during the hunt.

We finished off the night with hot dogs, running around outside, making a giant treasure map using sidewalk chalk, more running around, hide-and-go-seek, etc. The boys all laid down around 9 and at 10 I turned off Looney Tunes.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early at 7am. The boys were back outside running around in their pajamas. We checked on the tie dye shirts and then we were hungry.

BecBec let everyone make their own waffle. It was a thrill for the boys to make it themselves.


Group Shot with our new pirate tie dye shirts. I'm pretty impressed with how they came out.

More playing in the woods before we left to come back to Johns Island.

Sweet Lucius

Hughes hanging out in a tree.

The treasure map that David worked diligently on. Apparently mine was not good enough so David had to redo them. For the record, his are better than mine.

And, we had a lunch of pizza and yogurt with birthday cake for dessert.

Hughes wished for a puppy! WHAT!

Hudson & Conley

Hughes & William

The party was a roaring success but I'm glad I don't have to do another birthday party for about a year! This is one party-pooped mama!



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