6 days of throw up and a hospital visit

Coen has been really sick for 6 days now. Last Tuesday we went to the ped. for an ear check up. His ears were not infected, but had fluid behind them, which was not a good sign that things were clearing up. So, we got a referal to an ENT for today. Wednesday we got up like normal and went to work/babysitter. Around 9 my sitter called and said that Coen had thrown up 3 times. I figured that his ears had gotten worse, called the dr. and got an antibiotic to start on for the ears. Greg went and got him. He proceeded to throw up all day. Thursday, my sister came down to keep him so we could work-well that didn't go over to well. She picked me up for lunch and when I went to get him from his seat he threw up all over me, the carseat and the car. She said that was throw up number 3 for the morning. We called the dr. and he saw Coen. Ears were good, stomach bug. Friday and Saturday were about the same, lots of throw up and no sleep. Saturday we had 103 fever all day. Then came Sunday. Coen was at the point that his eyes were sunken in and he was starting to not drool-so off to the ER we went around 8 PM.
We get to Covenant Children's ER, where we have brought our kids many times before for fever, wheezing, bumps on the head etc. First they weight the little guy and he has lost almost 2lbs since the Tuesday before. So, we get in a room. The ER dr(who is a ped. in town and I will give the name if you need to know) walkes into our room giggling-not joking. First thing he said was-your child is not dehydrated, you have been into contact with your Dr. in the past few days. All I will do is give him 1 ounce of pedialyte and send him home. Mind you he is laughing at us (I am not exagerating). So, I get upset b/c my child obviously has a problem. Greg told him we were just going to leave, we didn't need his ounce of pedialyte. So, he walkes out and comes back a few minutes later. By this time Greg had taken Avry out b/c mommy was a little bit mad. The Dr. walkes in and was like well I called the Dr. on call for Dr. Brodbeck and she wants to just admit him and Dr. Brodbeck can deal with you in the morning. We again tried to leave but he pulled the whole leaving against medical advice thing-and insurance won't cover if you leave against medical advice. So he sucked us in-bud God was working. So, they admitted us, started an IV (pure torture for a baby), and did an u/s of his belly. Sent us to a room and then we found out the orders were no food at all! Seriously? no food? nothing? Last night was awfull! So, Dr. B came in this morning and said he had already heard about our experience. I have been told my a couple of people that the ER dr. has no bedside manner. I would not take my dog to this man! Dr. B did an Upper GI and some blood work. We found out that Coen does have a couple of problems. 1. he has reflux, which is a preemie thing. 2. his stomach isn't digesting as quickly as it should. So, they put us on Reglan and Zantac which he will take aggresively 2x a day until we pull out of this stuff. It is more an issue of his stomach developing all the way. I have learned with my preemies that you never know what might creep up on you-
Satan was working in me last night with my attitude, but God was working harder! I am so thankfull that we got admitted. We would have just kept dealing with this problem for a long time. Coen is sleeping peacefully in his jail bed next to me and I know that the nights to come will be much more peacefull. We should go home tomorrow if he continues to hold fluids down well.
Thank you for all your prayers and keep on praying that we get completly well. I will post pics of Coen when I get home!

Busy McClellands

Check out Avry's expression
Playing Grocery Store

Playing restaurant

feeding the elephant

Oh no! The shark ate Avry!

What have the McClelland's been up too? You guessed it, lots and lot's of fun. When I started thinking about going back to work, one of the things that we put in our list of pro's and con's was quality time with the kids vs quantity of time with the kids. We decided that even though I wouldn't have as much time with the kids, the time I would have with them would be time very well spent because we would have a little more financial freedom to do more fun things-and travel!

Last weekend we took Avry to the Science Spectrum for its 20th birthday party. They had a "Monster's of the Deep" exhibit (the shark pic), a petting zoo (the elephant pic) and we went to so an OmniMax movie called "Animalopolis." Avry loved all of it. The most amazing thing to me was the elephant, this huge creation could get down on it's knee's and stand right back up-I won't ever complain again!

This weekend we went to Granna's and visited the Children's Museum of Midland. They had a pretend town type set up. There was a grocery store, playhouse, restaurant, vet, bank, construction zone and a few other toys. Avry loved it!

We have been a busy family and are looking forward to some rest this week and then heading off again next weekend to visit Mimi!!

March findings

I guess I could blog every now and then. I have actually been waiting to post pics in my blog, but since I can't seem to get a spare minute to do that, I will just blog (sorry).
First-updates. Coen is sitting on his own now and rolling everywhere, he can scoot on his belly and get to where ever he needs to go. Which really terrify's me, he is going to crawl soon, EEEKKK!!! He had another ear infection that I don't think has cleared up yet. We go back to check them again on the 24th to see if we can finally get tubes. I am going to be praising God when that happens. Avry is well, she broke out in hives over the weekend which required and ER trip b/c they were so severe. They said it might be something viral-guess what? It was, she woke up yesterday with 102* fever! Yay for sick kids. Avry's newest thing is mimicing every thing that mommy does. Mom has a baby in a carrier-so does Avry. Mom has her pump bag, Coen, Purse, Drink, Phone-so does Avry. I love that little girl!
Today is Coen's 7 month old birthday. I never dreamed that I would be still nursing that sweet boy at 7 months. I am quite proud of myself for making it this long. My plan is to go a full year, but if I can make it to June I will be happy. I can not believe he is a whole 7 months old!
We (the family) will be traveling the next 3 weekends (maybe 4). We go to Odessa to see Granna this weekend for a long weekend, next weekend to Dumas to help move furniture so my parents can finally get carpet and finish their house!! Then, our big trip will be on the first weekend in April. Greg and I are going away all by ourselves to Dallas to see the NASCAR races. We haven't been away by ourselves since before Avry was born (3 yrs). Our marriage definitly needs some time away :)
It is spring break, I am stuck at work and there is not a sole here-so I guess I better get self motivated and go back to work now!

February!

Zoe and her birthday present, a Kong!

Avry, Greg and Jadan-notice Greg's hair-do!

Avry painting with real paint-not color wonder!

Coen and Greg's mom!

We have been busy busy busy! In February we started the month of by celebrating Zoe's 2nd birthday. We had a party with Rosie (Jadan's dog) and Zoe and the family. Zoe got a Kong-we put peanut butter and a treat in it-it is entertainment for hours.

We also went to Dumas one weekend in February, for Haley's baby shower. Greg got a new hair-do courtesy of Avry and Jadan.

Avry has become quite the little artist lately. She loves to paint, color, draw etc. She is left handed, which I think only makes her more special. What a little girl she is growing up to be. Coen is sitting up all by himself now. He has been quite a sick baby this month. We are praying we get tubes in his ears soon. He has had 3 sets of ear infections since Dec. 14th!

We traveled to San Angelo one last time to finish cleaning out Greg's grandmother's house. That is where the last picture was taken. Greg's mom is so adorable! We got word this morning that his grandmother's house had caught on fire. Long story-thankfully no one was injured and everything that was valuable had been cleaned out previously. I am sure that even though the valuable things had already been removed from the hosue, that it is still very hard on Greg's mom and her siblings. I can't even imagine!

God is answering prayers in our life. We went to church this morning and actually very much enjoyed it. Greg and I have been dedicating alot of time praying to find a church. I am always amazed at how God works. From a very early age, I was taught that God answer's prayers in his own time and that everything happens for a reason. Our God is amazing! Who knows what March will bring!

we're still here!!

We are still alive! We have had a busy busy couple of weeks. Our kids have both been so sick, ears, throat, bronchitis, sinus-all of it. I think we are on the mend. Coen is sitting up mostly on his own now. He is doing so well considering his preemie-ness (was that a word?). Avry has found a new love for Kindermusic. We are taking her every week to a mommy and me class. Music class is a great chance for her to have some social interaction not at the sitter's house. She loves the class-she has been singing songs from class, one is called Roll Over Rover. She sings it almost perfect minus that she can't quite get out the Roll Over Rover part in one try. Greg and I are just trucking along working, chasing kids, chasing our families. We keep really busy. We still haven't found a church, we tried Sunset last week and it just seemed so huge! We know that God will see us through and eventually we will find one! Patience is the key there.
Yesterday I was thinking that this time last year, I was having my first u/s to check on Coen. It is amazing how fast this year has gone. He is a whole 6 months old already and is sitting, eating baby food, talking all the time! I am so crazy about that little guy! (and his sister too). Avry joined me at the grocery store last night where I let her push a kid sized basket around. She was hilarious-we might have raced our baskets down a couple of isles and when I got home last night, I found a few items that I didn't know she had thrown in-the best was a big bag of chocolate donuts! Sneaky little girl!
We are starting to look at houses a little bit. We still don't want to move for another year or so, but we are getting an idea of what we can afford, and exactly what we want. Hopefully we will get to build a house-unless the right one comes along. Lord knows we are running out of space-we need more space!!
I guess that is all the McClellands have for now!

Things I love

The things I love about my babies!
Let's start with Avry:
I love that she is an extra sensitive, yet very strong willed little girl-she can stand on her own
I love her beautiful curls
I love that she loves to kiss her daddy and make me jealous!
I love how much she loves to immitate me-whether it is nursing or cooking or washing my face
I love her sweet sweet voice
I love that she knows who Jesus is
I love her birthmark hiny :)
I love the way she puts her hands on her hips and tilts her head to talk to Coen-like "are you listening to me"
I love that she loves her baby brother and wants him to be happy ALL the time
Coen:
I love his big blue eyes and gorgeous grin
I love that he is a mamma's boy
I love that he has found his feet and is so intrigued by him
I love that he only wants me to put him to sleep
I love that look he gives me when I get him from his crib-it is like nothing else in the world matters because mommy is there
I love that he is layed back and a very easy baby
I love his red hair and his goofy little toe
I love that he is my baby, my sweet baby boy!
Other things I love:
Greg and his way with me-he knows me-he knows my heart-
My parents, my sister, my niece
Weekend drives in the country
My in-laws
The smell of lumber
SNOW!!! I LOVE SNOW!!
I love my girls-all 3 of them!
I love that a day hasn't gone by in my life that I didn't know that Jesus loves me.
I love who I am, the life I am living and the gifts I have been given.
I love that I am fortunate enough to have a good job.
I love that Greg and I are starting to plan for the future (and our big move and big new house)
I love that someday I will retire with the love of my life.
Zoe-my faithful dog
I love that my kids have 2 great grandparents left
I love that I can drop my kids off at the sitters and know that they are well taken care of.

Sometimes, we don't stop and think about the things we love, the things that just make us giddy inside, the things that we look forward to, the things and people that are the most important to us. My friend Michelle and her 3 beatiful girls and husband had family pictures done recently,m as I was looking at them, I was thinking about how much fun and how much love they had for each other and how much love you could see in their pictures. It made me think about the things I love!
You know, I am so very blessed.....so so blessed! 2 beautiful children and a loving husband and a faithful dog(who won't leave my side b/c Greg isn't home). What more could a girl ask for?

just a blog

So, what is going on with the McClellands, I know you are all dying to know! We have traveled the last 3 weekends, so we are all exhausted. Avry has been at my parents house since last Wednesday and is finally coming home today. I have missed the little stinker! Absence sure does make the heart grow fonder. This last weekend, we went to San Angelo to help clean out the rest of Greg's grandmother's house. We found some amazing treasures. Greg's mom is full blood German. Which is amazing to me. It takes alot to be full blood anything these days. Me for example is like a hodge podge of 2 kinds of indian, some irish or something and who know's what else. Anyway, Greg's great great granparents came from Germany, and his great grandmother (Gros mama) and grandmother all spoke some german. We found a bible, song book, and a children's school reader in German. Plus, boxes and boxes of letters in German. I was amazed. Greg's grandmother was an amazing woman and had a very hard childhood. She was one of 12 siblings, and grew up working in the cotton fields. She wrote letters about almost having to sell her and some of her siblings because they could not feed them. We think times are hard now, can you imagine times then? We should be greatfull! Greg's granddad was a mechanic, Greg loves all of the mechanic stuff that he has inherited. For me, I will be treasuring an antique sewing machine and a few dishes. Right now, we are treasuring a cedar hope chest that is just beautiful. It will eventually go to Greg's parents house, but for now it is at home in ours. Furniture like this chest is not made the same today.
Coen has RSV, we had been doing a shot every month to prevent this from happening. (RSV is extra scary in preemies). Evidently it didn't work because he got it. He is so sick and there is nothing we can do for him. He just sleeps and coughs! I am home with him today and tomorrow and then Greg will take a day and we haven't figured out the rest of the week yet. I am sure my mom or Katie will be able to help out. I better go do something productive. I really wonder what I did all day before I went back to work, but I sure do love being home with my babies!