I WON! I WON!

I never win, so I'm super excited to report that I won a drawing today! Our friends over at BOUNCE PRO RENTALS held a drawing today for 4 tickets to the Tulsa Zoo and I won them. Yay! We haven't taken the kids yet and with their first birthday just a week away it looks like we will make it to the zoo after all. Check out BOUNCE PRO RENTALS facebook page. They do drawings all the time and if you add them as your friend you will be able to participate in the drawings too!

Sick little babies and Products I Like

The week started out with Delaney getting a drippy nose on Monday evening, followed by a cough. She didn't feel well and that was clear. She continued pulling at her ears although last Sat. was the last day of a 10 day round of antibiotics from an ear infection. David Paul had also finished his antibiotics on Saturday. By Tuesday evening David Paul was starting to feel crummy and got the runny nose syndrome. Neither baby slept well that night. Wednesday was followed by increasing coughing from Delaney and David Paul pulling at his ears. I KNEW he still had an ear infection. No one slept great Wednesday night. By this morning DP was looking quite ill. He had those "sick eyes" and was very unhappy in general. He did not want me to hold him or set him down! We went to the Dr. at 1145 for a follow up. Fortunately Delaney only has allergies and fluid in both ears. The Dr. started Claritin because she has previously taken Zyrtec without relief. This should help relieve the fluid but we will recheck at the 12 month appt on June 2nd. David Paul however, has massive ear infections in both ears! This has been the SAME chronic ear infection he has had since the first week in April. He started the 4th round of antibiotics and has been ordered for a consult with Dr. Guy, an ENT, for tube placement. I will be glad to get that done and over with. As we were leaving the office I checked his temp because he was burning up...99.6. Sure enough! We got home and he ate some fruit then crashed after taking the meds. When he finally woke up around 4pm he was on fire! I had left him in a diaper only since he went to sleep with a fever so you can imagine my shock to find him so hot in only a diaper. He was 101.3 AHHH! I gave him more Tylenol, some Pedialyte, and put a cool wet cloth on him to help bring the fever down. Then he fell asleep again until 7pm. This time he awoke fever-free. I still gave him Ibuprofen though because he acted in pain. He went back to sleep at 8:45p and it is 11:45p and he has since been up 2 other times. Lets all hope for a restful night for ALL 4 of us! Sadly, we will have to miss our playdate tomorrow due to this illness but we have to get these babies well before their birthday next week!
In other news, Stonyfield Organic makes THE BEST Cream On Top yogurt I have ever tasted. Right now Reasor's has the individual yogurts on sale for only $0.89 each. There is a very delicious one called Chocolate Underground that you must try!!! Yes, they are the same ones that make Yo Baby which my kids LOVE the banana one and I like to eat the cream off the top of it too :-)
Other cool products I discovered tonight are the MIO Paper Towels (Made in Oklahoma) and a % of the sales goes to feed hungry children in Oklahoma. When comparing these paper towels to our usual Bounty Basics I noticed a HUGE difference: MIO is 100 sheets of 2-ply per roll and BB is 48 sheets of 1-ply. Seems the MIO paper towels would last longer. Sparkle comes in at 54 sheets of 2 ply per roll. Check out these cool paper towels and help support Oklahoma while also helping our children!
( I will be doing a "Products I Like" each week as I try out new things that are either good for me, good for the environment, or both so check back often to see my new product picks!)

Almost 1

It is a little over a week away from David Paul and Delaney's first birthday and I am starting to have quite a bit of anxiety. I have been analyzing my emotions regarding their birthday and I haven't quite solved it yet. I think that the reality that this year, which has undoubtedly been the hardest year of my life, it almost over. Sure, this can be seen as a good and positive thing. But for some reason I am still unaccepting of this. It was so tough. The pregnancy. Cardiac issues and Pubis Symphisis Dysfunction. PROM at 28 weeks. 2 weeks on hospital bedrest. The emergency delivery at 29 weeks 6 days. The 54 days in the NICU. Two heart surgerys, one for each child which came with 2 and 3 days on the ventilators each. Bringing home preemies and having no experience and very little help. Dealing with Torticollis and Plagiocephaly with Delaney. Synagis vaccines every month for 5 months. The first helmet. A call to 911 and an ambulance ride for David Paul. ECHO's for David Paul. David Paul's ongoing and quite difficult battle with Acid Reflux- it sounds "simple" but has been quite a problem for that poor boy and has resulted in countless trips to the Pediatrician and multiple different reflux meds. Physical Therapy weekly. Quitting my job at SFH - bittersweet and another blog!. Multiple recurring ear infections and colds. All the developmental issues and scares. More than our fair share of breathing treatments. The second helmet. And all the milestones in between. Am I ready for all THAT to end? Sure, but. I just listed quite the brocade of "things" that have occurred this past year that no reasonable person would want to repeat. I don't want to repeat it all, but I'm not "over" it either. Life is moving at a pace faster than I can keep up with and frankly, I'm not too crazy about that! Somewhere in the last 30 years I slowed down and am NOT a fan of change. I like structure. I plan. Then I implement those plans. I like to follow routines and get used to what I am doing. I like to be good at what I am doing. It is hard to stay on top of things, and plan and get used to my routines when they are constantly changing! Yes, it is good. For them. No, it is great for them. I am SOOOO proud of my little babies who at just one year of life have already faced so many challenges and have continued to battle in the fight for their lives. They amaze me and are clearly, stronger than I! Fortunately I have my husband David to help me stay strong and to step in when I am not being very strong and help me through it. He puts up with so much from me and I am thankful that I have him in my life. And then I tell myself, there you have it. I must face this milestone in their lives, in my life, and embrace it, for I cannot go back. The hardest part I think is accepting that they are growing up. Gone are the days of holding my tiny little ones against my chest. They are growing up and I guess, so am I. For now I can smile at the future and hope to keep my head up and a smile on my face because I cannot and should not dwell on the past. It exists to bring me to today. I am sad and happy at the same time and I am excited to see what life has in store for my little family. It is a happy time but it is still hard to let go. ~The End.