On the mend

It seems as though we are starting to see some improvement in the boys.  I ended up taking Noah to the pediatrician on Monday after seeing the Dr. at immediate care on Sunday.  She asked what was going on and I filled her in.  She's not crazy about immediate care and didn't really like what they did.  She didn't like that they gave him Tamiflu after seeing him so briefly and she was not happy that they didn't give him a breathing treatment.  She walked up to him and could immediately hear him wheezing.  She asked me about anyone in our families having asthma.  I told her that yes, it does run in my family and our nephew on Nate's side had it.  She said that he probably has it too.  She said at this age their really isn't a good test to say for sure that he has it, but listening to him she could tell.  So, I held him down while he kicked and screamed during a breathing treatment.  He sounded immediately better after the treatment.  So, we came home with a nebulizer.  I was dreading giving him his next treatment, but after the first time he was fine with it.  Now he sits for pretty much the whole thing.  Go figure!  Either way, it really helps him a lot.  He coughs so hard when he plays to hard or lays in bed.  Poor guy.  :(  She is hoping that since he has it this young he'll grow out of it by preschool or so.  We hope so too!  The other 2 have been coughing and had the runny nose too, but it seems to be going away now.

On top of that I thought Aiden might have pink eye.  The Dr. said it was a good possibility and that pink eye can refer to so many eye infections.  She said most of them will go away on their own with time.  I just happened to have the medicine at home from when Reese had a clogged tear duct.  When they all started passing it around I started putting the medicine in all of their eyes.  Shhh.  Don't tell.  I know you aren't supposed to do that, but you try taking care of 3 boys with pink eye and some other respiratory virus.  Sometimes you do what you have to in order to maintain sanity! 

Other than that we had a great Thanksgiving.  No surprise Aiden didn't even make it through dinner.  It was nap time and that is one boy that does not appreciate missing his nap.  He loves his bed more than any child I have ever seen.  We had a great time spending the day with Nate's family.  The boys loved climbing up and down (and sometimes falling down) their stairs.  Now on we go to Christmas...the Brouwer house will be "treeless" this year.  Can you imagine a tree with these 3 around?? :)

Poor boys

The boys have yet again come down with something.  I almost can't believe it.  Noah woke up with what seemed like a cold on Saturday.  He cried during the night and was up early crying yesterday.  At about 6:30 I put him in our bed.  As soon as I put him in bed with us I realized he was having a hard time breathing and was wheezing.  He was pulling in really hard to breathe and was breathing fast.  Our Dr. has said before that faster and more shallow breathing is normal to a point when they have a cold.  The wheezing was what really bothered me.  So, my mom came over and off we went to immediate care.  They diagnosed him with viral bronchiolitis.  They gave him Tamiflu and a steroid to help with the wheezing.  I asked the Dr. if he thought Noah could have asthma.  He said because it's the first time bringing him in for it he wouldn't say so yet, but it could be.  It does run in my family, so I wouldn't be surprised.  So off we went to buy some more crazy expensive medicine (thankfully we get reimbursed for most of it by Nate's union).  The pharmacist knows us as soon as she sees us now.  We went from the boys being so healthy to getting so many things.  The other 2 have some sort of cold or something too.  Aiden's eyes are also quite red and puffy and gross so I'm bringing him in to make sure he doesn't have pink eye.  I'm hoping the Dr. can get us in right away.  The last thing we need is to spread pink eye around the house!

Despite another round of illness I am determined to stay thankful.  These are all minor things that will pass.  We still have an incredible amount to be thankful for and I will acknowledge those things instead of dwelling on the frustration of another illness.  If I don't get a chance to blog again I want to wish everyone a "Happy Thanksgiving!".   Count your blessings and be thankful for all you have!

It's been too long...

I know.  It's been too long since I last updated this.  We've had a lot of little things keeping us busy lately.  Dr. appointments, phone calls with insurance and Dr. offices (this is constant!), etc.  So, here's a little bit of what has been going on.

The boys had their 15 month check-up about a week and a half ago.  I still can't believe they are that old already.  Anyways, they are continuing to grow like weeds.  Reese is still the peanut.  He's 1 1/2 inches shorter than Noah.  :)  The Dr. was impressed with how much they are talking and their development in general.  Her comment was, "Wow.  They are really busy."  If only she know what it's like at home.  All in all they had a great visit.

Aiden had a check-up with the GI Dr. about his reflux.  He has been doing so well that she said we can take him off of his medicine and we don't need to return unless there is a problem.  Such great news!  She was the second to last Dr. we see at the University of Chicago.  Reese has a check-up with a surgeon in the spring and that's the last one.  It is sort of sad though.  We have such a strong connection to that hospital.  It's a weird feeling to be so attached to a hospital, but they've done so much for us. 

We also had the boys on an antibiotic for 3 days.  The parasite that they had just wasn't going away, so the Dr. put them on an antibiotic.  Thankfully things have been great since then.  I even had to do a phone interview with the county health department about what they were exposed to right before they got sick. 

The boys have been quite busy doing things to make my life even busier.  I will include a couple of pictures of those activities at the end.  If you wonder what I do all day just imagine the things a little boy can come up with and then multiply it by 3. 

Finally, Aiden started walking!  I was really starting to worry.  One day he just let go of the couch and walked.  He's still crawling  more than walking, but he's well on his way. 

Now the pictures....

They took every single kleenex out of the box and shredded them.  I found bits of kleenex for many days all over the house.

 Noah is tall enough to reach things on the table, even when we push them far in.  He took down the bag of newspaper and they worked together to shred that as well.

 They like to push each other on ride-on toys.  Sometimes it gets too wild and the guy riding gets tipped off the toy.  :)

 Reese LOVES to build.  He spends a lot of time building with these blocks and with big legos.

 Of course the laundry basket is always a fun place to play.  It's especially fun when there is laundry in it that can be spread all around the house.