Texas and tubes

Last Tuesday Shem was sent down to Texas for work. He needed to show some guys how to do processes the right way. It's the same thing he did when he went down there in January but this time was more effective and also a lot better and calmer. If you remember, in January everything seem to go wrong from the moment he stepped off the plane and went down hill very quickly from there. This last week everything went fairly smoothly. The overtime pay will be very nice from this trip as well. :)

William also got tubes in his ears today as well. Since the end of last year William has had fluid behind his ears that just wont go away and the past 3 months he gets maybe 15 days between each infection. The past few days he has been extra fussy and not sleeping well at all and then last night while getting him ready for bed I noticed infection smell on him. I knew it was back again and was so glad that he was getting tubes today. So this morning we got up bright and early, at 5, we had to be at the hospital by 6:15, and went to same day surgery. We got settled in and him in his little hospital gown and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally at around 8 am he finally went back into surgery. It only took about 15 minutes to do, when the doctor came out to tell me everything went well he said it was a good thing that we had it done because his ears were full of infection. Not even 5 minutes later they came out and got me to go back with my poor screaming and confused baby. Within 5 minutes of being back with him his ears started draining infection and some blood and it's been doing it off and on all day long. After a nice long nap when we got home, he has been acting 100 times better and it's so nice having a happier boy back. I'm so glad I listened to my mommy instincts and went ahead and got the tubes rather than listen to the doctor and wait 3 more weeks and see what happens, which we would have just been doing another appointment this week rather than the actually surgery.

So for you new moms or future moms out there, Momma instincts know best so LISTEN to them, even if you have a "medical professional" trying to tell you other wise. If my mom hadn't listened to hers one of my sisters would not be alive right now.

The past couple months

Well, it's been a crazy past couple months. The end of January William got an ear infection that just wouldn't go away. After a month and a half of treating it 4 times with antibiotics and having an allergic reaction to one of them we finally went to an ENT (ear, nose, throat specialist), and while waiting to be soon by him started a 5th round of antibiotic. Finally on April 5th we saw the ENT and the infection was gone but he still had fluids behind his ear drums. So he suggested to wait another 3 weeks to see if things would finish clearing up on their own and then we would talk about getting tubes, but that just didn't feel right. After sitting there for at least a half hour talking the doctor into just doing the tubes, yes I had to talk the doctor into doing them, I finally got the papers to set up the appointment. So I go set up the appointment, well, the only day they had open in the Payson hospital was 3 weeks out! So if I had waited another 3 weeks and then check his ears again before talking about tubes it could have been another 6 weeks before he actually got them. William is getting tubes in his ears on the 25th of this month. I'm so happy to hopefully be done with the ear infections. Oh and it turns out the doctor was wrong about him, most likely not getting an ear infection again, because this weekend he came down with a fever that wouldn't go away, so I got the refill on his antibiotic filled and started it on Sunday, wonder of wonders he is doing tons better today! He was playing with his ears and screaming when I tried laying him flat on his back, all the typical signs of ear infection. After just 2 doses of antibiotic he is doing so much better and is so much happier.

Of course it hasn't all been bad. William is now numbered among the walkers. He is officially a toddler! He walks every where, except the grass which is too hard to walk in though he tries, and thinks himself the most clever little boy alive. He is also getting quite the language skills, he says "thank you", "welcome", "hi dad/mom", "bro-er(brother)", "hello", "goodbye", "kitty", "cat", and many other things. He is such a sweet boy and loves to give hugs, and occasionally "aww" kisses (as he is kissing your check he says "awww" while his mouth is on your check all wide open). He is such a character.

Shawn is the lead character of the family with some much energy that he wears you out just watching him. He also is quite talkative and is very smart. He has an amazing imagination and loves to drive his "motorcycle" around. He is getting so big, he could start preschool this fall if we wanted but we will probably wait till next fall to enroll him. He is still very much a daddy's boy but has decided that mom really isn't that bad and I just love it when he runs up to me wraps his little arms around my legs and says, "love you." and then takes off playing again. He is day potty trained, aside from the occasional accidents during the day, and is showing signs of being ready to potty train at night, so we might start that in the very near future.

Shem is doing well at his work and is working long hard hours. He will most likely be going on some out of town work trips this year possibly even to Trinidad.

Life is going well for us.

William walking

Yes I'm bribing him with a cookie and that is chocolate on  his face from earlier. My little boy is growing up.

1 year older...

William had his first birthday on the 23rd. I can't believe that a year has gone by already. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I had a new born in my arms and he is now nearly walking, which i'm sure he would be if it weren't for this blasted ear infection he has had for over a month now. He has grown so much and is learning so quickly. He has such a cute character that you just have to laugh at and the biggest smile that you can't help but smile at. On Friday he had his one year check up and he is 1st percentile in weight 5th in height and 14th in head circumference. On Saturday we had his party and it was a blast! Thank you for all that was able to come. We had a great turn out and had fun. Though the food was not traditional at all I think it was a hit, at least with the adults, kids don't think too highly of a good healthy salad. ;) William loved his cake. I think he ate about half of it and had a sugar high to prove it. It was great having family here to celebrate William's birth. Though I'm thinking we may have to start doing separate party's for the family's. Having both the Whitehead's and Johnson's together feels slightly awkward. As I'm sure most already know family's seem to just talk amongst their own family so it's hard not to favor one more than the other. Live and learn right? Ha I think I should have learned by now sense I've done 3 party's. I guess I just want to have 1 party and I'm always hoping that they will just intermingle with each other.

On to other things. Shawn is doing great! He is doing well with potty training, though I haven't been brave enough to start with night training yet. He has really made good progress with communication as well. He is learning words like crazy and is starting to just chatter to you. He says sorry to everything if he feels he has done something wrong. He blesses everyone when they sneeze, including himself, and he will give anyone that asks for a hug, a hug, and while giving them a hug, says, "aww, loves." He is the sweets little boy. He is also a 2 1/2 year old so he is still a bit of a monster at times and can be mean but he almost always makes up for it by the end of the day with his sweetness.

Shem is doing well with work and is now trying to get over a nasty cold, sinus infection, and ear inflammation. I'm glad he seems to be getting better. Every time he misses work he finds out just how important and needed he is there though so that makes him feel good.

When it rains...

Been an interesting, stressful, tearful week. On the tenth I had my 23rd birthday. Shem's grandma was also pulled off of life support that day. On the 11th at 2:11 pm she passed away. We have her funeral on Saturday. Today I found out that my grandma Donna is also going to be taken off life support in 2 days. She is giving family 2 days to see her and then she will be taken off of it. I never really got the chance to get to know her. In fact I probably knew Shem's grandma a lot better than I knew my own grandma. She never really took the chance to get to know us. She expected my parents to go out of their way to make sure we knew her even though she came to the state at least once a month but she couldn't take the time to see us but she could to see other family members. I wish I knew her. I wish she had taken the time to get to know me and watch me grow up. I wish she would have remembered my birthday, even remembered my name. She didn't, in my eyes she never really cared. Even though I never knew her it still hurts to see her pass away. Especially with the knowledge that I now I will never get the chance to know her or she to know me and my family. Hardest part for me is seeing my dad loose his mom.

I hope in the next life that I will have the opportunity to get to know her. After fighting cancer for nearly 4 years i'm sure she will be much happier and finally free of her pain.

What a way to start February

With William getting an ear infection and then having a bad reaction to the antibiotic that was given to him. On Wednesday after 2 nights of hardly any sleep and a day and night of fever that wouldn't go below 100 even with Tylenol, we took William in to the doctors to find out he had a double ear infection. Well, Friday I noticed a rash pop up and that didn't seem right so I once again called the doctor up and got yet another appointment for William to have the rash looked at. The PAC we saw, I LOVE, she is awesome, very personal and she worked in a pediatrics office before going to the woman's children's clinic and she is wonderful with kids. She confirmed my suspicion that it was a reaction to the antibiotic. She also said that his right ear is still pretty infected and has fluid behind the ear drum. :( Worst part is is we can't put him on another antibiotic until the darned rash clears up because it would most likely just make the rash worse. She did give us some ear drops to put in but we still have to wait AT LEAST 24 hours before putting them in his ear, and because it was caused from a virus the ear drops wont clear it up they will just help it feel better and stop it from getting worse. So for now all I can do is give him Motrin and Tylenol, and put drops of garlic/tea tree oil I made in his ears. He's not the happiest camper and I really don't blame him. I just really hope the rash clears up quickly so we can get him started on another antibiotic.

Some more exciting news for this month is it's my 23rd birthday in 5 days and William will be turning 1 on the 23rd. :) I'm also planning a Valentine's Day surprise for Shem. He has kind of ruined my last surprises I had for him the past couple years so I warned him not to do anything this year so I can do a surprise for him. :) So he knows there's a surprise but that's it. I'm excited to be doing something for him because he is really stubborn and usually wont let me do anything for him. It's a fight just to get him pants or shirts when he needs them.

2011

It's a new year and there are many wonderful adventures to be had this year. William's 1st birthday is in less than 2 months, Shawn's 3rd birthday is in July, and there will be a big change with Shem and his job. Hopefully the job change will be good. Shem will most likely be going back to school part time and there are several fun things to look forward to this year, though I personally am not looking forward to basically being a single mom, but I know it will be for the better. Looking forward to the new year and memories that will be made.