Favorite things at four months

The last three weeks have been REALLY rough! We CAN'T wait for the boys to be healthy again. We have been lucky to have my mom and Keith's mom up to help out. And even with the help, we can't seem to catch up on things around here. Despite the irritability, the boys have had a few happy moments. I rarely seem to capture it on camera, but the boys have some really great smiles and are giggling and talking a lot now, which is SO much fun.

Carter absolutely loves the exersaucer and just jumps around, laughs and dances in it. He also learned how to scream from his cousin, Cade, and has been doing that quite a bit. Baths are starting to get a little more fun too. Oh, and most of all, he spends the majority of his day trying to get both fists into his mouth at once.

Dylan thinks the exersaucer is OK, but loves to lay under the baby einstein Caterpillar and grab for the toys that dangle. His new favorite thing is to kick back and relax and tuck his hands behind his head, it is the funniest thing - we can't stop laughing when he does it! He too enjoys putting his hands in his mouth and playing with his fingers.

Dylan at bath time

Grandma Bucklin bought some new PJs, but this hat is a little small for Carter's big head:))

Favorite things at four months

The last three weeks have been REALLY rough! We CAN'T wait for the boys to be healthy again. We have been lucky to have my mom and Keith's mom up to help out. And even with the help, we can't seem to catch up on things around here. Despite the irritability, the boys have had a few happy moments. I rarely seem to capture it on camera, but the boys have some really great smiles and are giggling and talking a lot now, which is SO much fun.

Carter absolutely loves the exersaucer and just jumps around, laughs and dances in it. He also learned how to scream from his cousin, Cade, and has been doing that quite a bit. Baths are starting to get a little more fun too. Oh, and most of all, he spends the majority of his day trying to get both fists into his mouth at once.

Dylan thinks the exersaucer is OK, but loves to lay under the baby einstein Caterpillar and grab for the toys that dangle. His new favorite thing is to kick back and relax and tuck his hands behind his head, it is the funniest thing - we can't stop laughing when he does it! He too enjoys putting his hands in his mouth and playing with his fingers.

Dylan at bath time

Grandma Bucklin bought some new PJs, but this hat is a little small for Carter's big head:))

Surviving Saturday

On the weekends, Keith sleeps in one day and I sleep in one day. Today was my day to get up. It started off well when the boys let me sleep in until 7:00 am and my mom was still here so she got up and helped out with the feeding. (Before going into the story of our day, I should mention, since Dylan has been sick, he has been throwing up, probably at least once a day.)

Both boys are on antibiotics and they don't really like taking their medicine, so I mix it with an ounce of formula. Well, I was feeding Dylan and had the medicine and about two ounces down and the next thing I knew, I was covered in vomit. No big deal, right? So we changed both the boys and went back to feeding. Then, we heard an extra loud noise come from Carter's bottom. Sure enough, it was a BLOW OUT!!! The boy got poo on his onesie, pants, socks and somehow managed to get some on my mom's robe. So we changed him and back to feeding. Then we were done eating and I was playing with both of them while mom was working on the new load of laundry. Next thing I know, as I am holding Carter and he is projectile vomiting on me and the blanket - missing Dylan by an inch. So, we had to change him again. My goodness, Keith was lucky to sleep through two outfit changes for me, two for Carter and one for Dylan. The lesson learned today is to not feed a baby medicine on an empty stomach!

Carter was extremely mad today, so mom and I took Dylan shopping and Keith stayed home with Carter. Dylan was great all day and slept most of the time. Then we got home and both of the boys pretty much screamed and cried until they went to bed at 9:30. I hope tomorrow is BETTER!!!

OH... Also, after countless drips of formula on the couch and a few experiences with projectile vomiting, we decided it was time to purchase a Bissel carpet/furniture cleaner today.

Dylan

You can see on the blanket where Carter puked and just missed Dylan

We love our hands (Dylan left, Carter right)

When the boys get really upset and won't stop crying I put them in front of the mirror. It usually does the trick for a while. Lets just say we spent A LOT of time in front of the mirror today:))

Two new additions to the kitchen.

So far we are 0 for 2 on rice cereal. I'm hoping they are hating it b/c they have been extra irritable during our attempts. We will try again tomorrow!

This picture pretty much sums up the first two feedings.

We'll have to get used to these two new chairs in the kitchen. Good thing we never eat at our table. (Hmmmm... when was the last time we sat down to eat) FUTURE MOMS....we just got the high chairs out of their boxes, but so far we really like them! So if you are in the market for a high chair I would recommend these.

4 Month Appt.

On Friday we took my mom and I took the boys to their four month appointment. I was really glad to have my mom there, because it is certainly a two person job! They had to have two shots and one vaccine was taken orally. Here are the stats:

CARTER

• 15 lbs, 69 percentile
• 25.8" , 90 percentile
• Ear infection, teething, congested nose, cough, goopy eye and I am predicting thrush in about two days (FYI- for those without kids, this = a SUPER CRABBY BABY)

DYLAN

• 13 lbs 10 oz 38 percentile (Dylan lost about a pound from being sick)
• 25.3", 79 percentile
• Ear infection, teething, thrush, recovering from bronchiolitis and pneumonia

Dear Iowa Friends

I am glad to say we have finally returned from Iowa after one of our worst visits EVER!!! The trip started out bad on Friday night when we had to drive 40 mph starting around Lakeville, MN to about 20 miles North of Ames because of a snow storm (spring, please come soon). This turned our 3 1/2 hour drive into a five hour drive. Dylan was admitted to the hospital on Saturday for his pneumonia and we were finally released on Tuesday.

We gathered everything up and finally headed back to MN, quickly realizing this would be a completely miserable, 4 1/2 hour drive. Things went well until about Clear Lake, so we thought we would stop quick and feed the boys. We got back in the car and the crying began! It was Carter first, so we made a quick stop at Diamond Joe's Casino where Keith took him out of the car and swung him around in his car seat (should have just left me at the roulette table). Then right as he was falling asleep, it was Dylan's turn. We thought we could do the same trick as we stopped at the next rest stop past the MN border. No such luck. Another 45 minutes of on again off again crying passes, so we stopped at a Wendy's and I went in and held Dylan while Keith circled the restaurant. No luck, but we had to keep going. So he pretty much continued to cry until Lakeville, where I decided to hop in the back seat and at one last hope of sanity I decided to play South Park on Keith's ipod touch and it worked!! So, we had about 30 minutes of peace until we walked into the door around 9:30. We wouldn't have been quite so concerned and stressed during the crying, but we didn't want Dylan to have any set backs from his pneumonia recovery.

Anyhow, what I am getting at is, we are not driving back to Iowa or anywhere we are in the car for more than 30 minutes anytime soon. So if you want to see us, please come to Minnesota. We have a guestroom ready to go for visitors.

While we were in the hospital with Dylan, Carter stayed with my sister and my parents. One afternoon I met them at the mall to hang out in the kids area. Dylan totally missed out!

We thought the elephant might cheer up Dylan.

After seeing what the hospital used to suck out Dylan's nose, Keith bought an electric snot sucker from Babies R Us. It doesn't work quite as good as the hospitals.

Another night at the hospital

We were excited to see Nicole today.

Uncle Jeff and Dylan

Dylan has an IV in his hand, so he has to have this splint around it so he doesn't pull it out. He usually manages to still find his thumb.

Lola has been Dylan's #1 visitor, she has come to see him every day.

Keith and I have been sleeping on this little bench / bed every night.

Dylan is doing much better today. He had oxygen for a few hours last night, but has been off since 4 this morning. They also removed his IV today. He has been in much better spirits today and is even smiling, laughing and playing. We are optimistic that he will be released tomorrow!!!!

Dylan Update

This morning they decided to give Dylan an IV since he wasn't eating. The IV really pepped him up and he was doing pretty well throughout the day. Since getting the IV he has had a few bottles and is off the oxygen for right now. They think they will probably have to put it back on him tonight. We weren't excited to hear this since it means it will be another 24 hours in the hospital.

They haven't been doing too many nebulizer treatments today, but have been doing compressions on his chest to break up all the buildup in his lungs. I'm also noticing a little thrush starting in his mouth too, probably from the antibiotics.

And what has Carter been doing without his brother????
Carter spent the day at my sister's house and had a fun day playing with his cousin Cade. Tonight he is staying at my mom and dad's house, so hopefully he will sleep good for them. He still has a cough and is a little wheezie, but it hasn't gotten any worse.

We'll update the blog tomorrow with Dylan's progress!

Did she just say the word "admit"

On Friday night Jess, the boys and I made the trip down to Iowa to spend a long weekend in Baxter. We left Minneapolis around 5:00 pm and due to snowy roads and bad weather for part of the drive a three and half hour trip quickly turned into five hours. When we arrived in Baxter it was time to feed the boys which seemed to be going fairly well until Dylan started coughing and threw up the whole thing down Mariea's back. The rest of the night went ok with both boys sleeping through the night. On Saturday morning however Dylan wasn't interested in eating and threw up a little more so it was off to the clinic in Newton for Dylan and me. We got there at 9:00, saw the doctor around 9:30, had a chest X-ray around 10:00 and was sent to the ER about 30 minutes later with discussions about admitting Dylan going on. Dylan's O2 level was low, his white cell count was high, and chest X-ray showed signs of pneumonia. Before I knew it I was told the ambulance from Blank Children's hospital was on the way to take us to Des Moines. When the ambulance crew showed up they strapped Dylan in and we hit the road. A quick 25 minutes later we arrived at Blank to meet up with Jessica, Carter, Mariea, Jennifer, Adam and Sarah.



We got into our room and the staff started working on Dylan right away. He looked pretty tough with his oxygen tubes, O2 sensor, and night gown that was way to big. He made it through the night pretty well, sleeping most of the night. This morning has been a little rough since Dylan isn't very interested in eating and they have to give him another IV to make sure he gets some fluids. Overall he seems to be getting a little better, he really doesn't like having his nose sucked out but otherwise he seems to be handling it pretty well.



More to come.

3 month pictures...

And this is how our three month pictures went, I think we can all agree that a picture is worth a thousand words. Enjoy:)

Exersaucer Time

Uncle Jeff gave the boys an Exersaucer for Christmas and until recently it has simply taken up space on the floor. Below is a video of Carter having fun with Jessica while playing in his new toy. I'm sure Dylan was a little jealous however since Jess was holding him while she was taking the video. Sorry Dylan your turn will be next.

A new style for the Bormann Boys

That sure looks like a lot of candles! My 27th birthday wasn't too eventful this year. The day started off bad when I arrived at the daycare with the boys, only to find out that they were closed for President's Day! So that was a fun panic! Fortunately, Keith was able to come home from work. However, his day didn't go well since they both cried about all day because they have been so sick.

Last Friday we took the boys to the cranial specialist and they will both be getting helmets in a couple of weeks:(( They will have to wear them 23 hours a day for 2-3 months. They also have tortacallus, which basically means there neck muscles are really stiff and neither can turn their heads all the ways left. So they have all kinds of physical therapy exercises. So we will have lots of goofy pictures for the next few months.

Boys

Busted!

We have had a very busy couple of weeks at the Bormann household with....................SICK BOYS!!! It started with Carter last week and has continued with Dylan this week. The boys were both so irritable this weekend, Keith and I both about lost it! Carter went to the doctor's office twice last week and we finally decided to take Dylan to urgent care on Sunday. Of course they said it was a respiratory infection and we could use the nebulizer on him too. Well, he continued to have a fever and we sent him to daycare on Tuesday and he made all day and they took his temp around 4:00 and discovered he had a fever. BUSTED! He got a purple slip, which means he can't come back to daycare for 24hrs. Fortunately for us, grandma Susie came to visit and has been a HUGE help by helping out around the house, cooking for me and Keith and staying home with Dylan today.

Since Dylan has had a fever for about five days now we took him back to the doctor again tonight. You know how it always seems like when you go to the doctor all symptoms seem to disappear???? Well, tonight I had Dylan with the doctor and he pulled the complete opposite. He started coughing really hard and then puked right into my lap, right in front of the doctor. I was a little embarrassed. Well, the doctor was just certain he had RSV and I said Carter was tested and didn't have it. So we did the test and the doctor was floored when the test results were negative. So he thinks it is a similar infection and the only thing we can do is the nebulizer.