Antibiotics

I have mastitis. Ouch. I'm now on antibiotics.

Vincent has strep throat. Bleh. He's now on antibiotics.

Tyler's culture came out clean, but it's only 85% accurate, so it's getting sent out to Children's for extra testing. Fingers crossed.

My antibiotics are supposed to help protect me from the strep, and it is very rare for babies under age 2, especially newborns, to get strep. Just extra hand washing for Ty and David. And, my mastitis is not contagious, so we're okay there. 

Vincent will stay home from school tomorrow, and after 24 hours of being on antibiotics, he can go back to school.

The Stats Are In...

At age 2 weeks old, Crosby weighs in at 9lbs, 7oz, putting him in the 69% for babies his age. Oddly, although I think this happened with one of his older brothers, too, his height is less than at birth. He measured 20.5 inches (37%) today. Head circumference is 36.5cm (35%). I don't know his measurement at birth, although I vaguely remember hearing them say it in the delivery room. I can't believe I missed that one.

Two Weeks

Crosby is 2 weeks old today! He's growing super fast. A little too fast for his mommy, but it's good he's so healthy.

I remember when Vincent was born, those first 2 weeks felt like an eternity. It didn't feel like that when Tyler was born. Now, with Crosby, these last two weeks also feel like a long time. I wonder why that is.

It's hard to believe he's only been with us such a short time. It's almost hard to imagine what it was like without him. In a way, he's been with us the last 9 months.

So, how is life with 3 kids? The older boys continue to be as high energy as ever. The two of them are totally brothers. They love and hate each other. They both also seem to love Crosby, but we don't let them get near him very much. There's been a cold passed between V and T, and several cases of strep throat in Vincent's class. So, for now, we limit contact with Crosby. They did both get to hold him one night.

Honestly, 3 kids feels good so far. Of course, I say this while I have an army of help right now. Ma's been here since last Monday, and Ba arrived Tuesday night. David's also been home the last two weeks. So, I don't know how to juggle three, yet. One night, Crosby and I put the big boys to bed together. That went alright. We'll have a few days in between sets of grandparents on our own, so that'll give us a chance to juggle a little, but the real challenge comes May 20th, when they're all gone and David goes back to work.

Emotional

I tear up whenever I think of yesterday's tragedy in Boston. Part of my emotions are from feeling thankful that those I love who are there are all okay. But, my heart breaks for those hurt, and simply that this happened.

Children's ER

ugh, Crosby's eyes are yellow from jaundice. Even though his billirubin levels were ok for us to come home yesterday, he was still borderline. We have a check up tomorrow, but called the nurse line to ask for advice, & she suggested we takehim in to get tested. Unfortunately, on a Sunday night, our option is the ER. 

 He was fine. But it was not a pleasant trip.

Day 3, Going Home

Day 2

Penguin Is Here!

Introducing, Crosby Walter Hunt. Born April 11, 2013, at 3:14am.  

7 pounds, 9 ounces

21 inches

Marine Mammal Mania

Vincent and Tyler,

Daddy and I took you boys to the Seattle Aquarium this morning. It's one of the rare Saturdays where we had no plans whatsoever. Nice. 

First, we had breakfast at Top Pot Doughnuts downtown. You've both been asking for it for a couple of weeks now, and truthfully, Mommy has been craving it. Boy, were you excited to find out that's where we were going.

Vincent, you woke up with some sort of pain in your foot. You have been limping a bit all morning. After the donuts, you mentioned the pain, again. That's when we told you guys our plan for the aquarium, but gave Vincent the choice to not go. Especially since he's going next week with his kindergarten class. Vincent wanted to go, and said he'd troop it out.

We found a great spot across the street from the aquarium. Parking is $4/hour now. Sheesh! Okay, it's been that way for a while now, but what a huge jump from about $2.50 not that long ago. Oh well.

And, since it costs so much to get into the aquarium now (gotta pay for that expensive remodel), it made sense for us to buy a family membership, which will pay for itself after one more visit there.

This week is Marine Mammal Mania! Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how that's much different from any other day at the aquarium, aside from a few extra activities, etc. But, it got us in there, among many others on this dreary, rainy Seattle day. Audrey found us, and gave us a special viewing of the northern fur seal getting a snack. Unfortunately, the female seal didn't want to perform.  Oh, and there was an expert from NOAA during the sea otter feeding/talk to give extra info especially for this week's event. If it hadn't started to rain, it would have been a very interesting, not to mention cute, talk. Love those sea otters!

While in the underwater dome, Tyler, you were very excited. I showed you the sturgeon, which you were super excited to show off to Vincent later. Vincent, you were quite interested in the sea horses.

We ate light lunch that I packed for us, went to look at the salmon life cycle exhibit, went under the dome, again, then headed home.

During the drive, Vincent said, "This was a great day, even though it was rainy." You then went on to talk about how it could be the best day ever if we did all these other things, too: go to McDonald's, eat a really yummy dinner, do some iPad-ing, have a movie night...Wow, that's a tall order, Dude. We may be able to make some of that work for you, but probably not all. In fact, we had movie night last night. The Karate Kid.

Love, 

Mama

Friday at Pike Place Market

Over the past year, I think, Tyler and I have been doing quick Pike Place Market outings on Fridays. Maybe it's just been the past few months, I can't remember. I would say we go about once every couple of months or so, maybe more. He did spend 2 mornings down there with me some time last year, when I covered a couple of shifts at Mt. Townsend Creamery. Since then, he's got the market down.

 

I figured, with Penguin arriving any day now, I'd better take this opportunity to take Tylie down there, again. We found Rock Star Parking right next to that Rocky Mountain chocolate place. 

 

Our first stop was to see Julia at Mt. Townsend. Ty ran right up to the case as she was stocking it with cheese and met her face behind the glass, yelling, "Juuuu-lee-ah!!!" She was surprised and thrilled to see him. Of course, we stocked up on our cheeses. We picked up a couple of bags of apple chips, and some beef sticks from Don and Joe's. Then, we had lunch at Pike Place Bar and Grill. It only has 2.5 stars on Yelp, but our meal wasn't too bad. (NOTE: Thomas Kemper root beer, not good.) I had a B.L.A.T. with fries, and I quite liked it. Tyler had white pasta, which he didn't care for, but I thought was good. Lots of Parmesan cheese, which he wasn't into. Weirdo. Who doesn't like Parm?

 

Who knows. Maybe we'll get one more PPM outing in before Penguin arrives. I know I wouldn't mind. I do love my Monday and Friday mornings with my TyTy.

This Morning...And, This Afternoon

Tyler, this morning, I was driving you to preschool, you looked over to the other side of the freeway and said to Mama, "Oh, I'm sorry. Look at all those cars over there. You will have a hard time getting home."

 

Vincent, this morning, you cried when Daddy took you to school because we didn't let you bring your new book from last night's Scholastics book fair to school with you. Many of your friends were allowed to bring theirs, so you were sad to have to leave yours at home. Daddy felt bad and said you can bring it tomorrow.

 

Both boys, this afternoon, after Vincent got out from school, we came home and the two of you sat down for a snack together. Tyler, you helped yourself to a small box of raisins, and Vincent, you helped get Tyler a bag of chips. You both ate some trail mix from Trader Joe's, and chatted about what parts of the trail mix you like and don't like. When you were both done snacking, the three of us sat down at the dining table and did homework. Well, Tyler worked on activities. 

 

Vincent, your math is coming along nicely. It seems to be your strength at this time, but, the homework is pretty simple. You are also improving so much with your sentence writing and spelling.

 

Tyler, you worked on some letters, tracing lines and curves, and patterns.

 

It was such a delight to sit and work with the two of you without the pressure of getting dinner done. We will have dinner at home tonight, but it's an easy one, so I had the extra time to spend with you both. I'm sorry we don't get to do it this way more often.

 

Right now, you are both watching "Ernest Goes to Camp," a favorite movie of mine growing up. It's so silly.

 

Love, 

Mama