Positive Report

I finally have good news to report. I went upstairs this morning to get Ace out of his crib and I saw healthy, peach skin! His belly is almost completely cleared up and all of the spots on his legs, hands and face have spread out with big peach-colored centers. The bruise-looking centers are gone from all but his feet. He is in a fabulous mood and laughed all through breakfast and lunch. Thank the Lord for healing.

I really lost it this morning because Hula came in the office to say good morning and proceeded to puike all over the carpet. As I pushed her towards the back door, she threw up again all over the kitchen rug! I mean, can our whole family not just get healthy?!

After thinking that my most precious baby was going to be scarred and disfigured for life, I'm taking a deep breath and sending up praise that he is happy and whole.

Official Diagnosis

Our official diagnosis is: erythema multiforme. That's a big word to say that he has had a bad reaction to the omoxycillin he was prescribed for his strep throat. "Bad" is putting it mildly. Here are the photos from the doctor's office today.

She confirmed that it will take up to 3 weeks to go away! He isn't in any pain or itching (Thank you Lord). They drew blood but we don't have the results yet. All of the nurses' jaws dropped when they passed him and when I had to take his clothes off for them to get his weight, everyone was commenting. It was awful. As you can see from the photos, he is just his jolly, normal self. She said that if he started getting spots in his mouth or they started to turn into sores that we would need to bring him back, Heaven forfend. He isn't even running a fever at the moment. It is just painful to see him this way and any prayers you could say would ease this mommy's heart. Now it's the waiting game. It started looking a little better tonight on his face but his thighs and hands were looking really bruised. Here's hoping that it will disappear tonight.

-One tired mama

Not FIRST - WORST Birthday Ever

(This entry is out of time order. It messed up so I had to take it down and re-post.)

Everything conspired to make Ace's first birthday the WORST on record. First, he got strep throat THEN I caught it. It was so bad that we had to cancel his birthday party yesterday. Hilary and Leah were forbidden to come because they are very pregnant and the risk of a fever could cause pre-term labor, Pops couldn't come because he's already had throat problems this year, Uncle Patrick and Leann couldn't come because they don't have any sick time at work...the ONLY one who was ready and willing to come sick or not was MEME! We love our Meme.

But it get's worse. Much, much worse.

Ace woke up on his birthday with HIVES.

Look at his poor legs.

Those bumps started as little tiny red marks that I thought were mosquito bites. They spread throughout the entire day onto his back, hiny, face and thighs. By the end of they day, the only part not covered were the "family jewels."

It obviously doesn't itch because he is acting like an angel. He has his same, normal, smiley disposition and isn't lethargic or fussy. In the picture above he looks like he feels sick but really he's just watching Dora and is engrossed in the tv.

We had planned to go to Memorial City Mall and let him play on its play castle and eat his birthday cake. After discovering his hives, we stayed at home on the phone with the nurses and pediatrician to make sure we didn't have to hit the emergency room.

His bumps continued to grow and spread but we gave him some Benadryl according to the nurses' instructions. What didn't calm down was the excitement...

We sat down for dinner and Honey remarked that it looked like Ace was taking a poop. All you moms know what the "poop face" looks like. We had no idea how right she was.

DISCLAIMER

Before I became a mom, these photos would have been gag-worthy, now they just elicit a big laugh. All of you with weak stomachs may not want to view.

We love our Aunt B sooo much. Ace pooped all over her and she just shrugged it off and got down to washing him off. Who knew such a little baby could deliver a poop of such gigantic proportions?

EMERGENCY ROOM

Ace woke up this morning and his hives had spread uncontrollably. We (Honey and I) went into his room to get him out of bed and this face greeted us!Honey changed his diaper and I collected all of his must-haves and we were out the door in record time leaving Jonathan to wipe the sleep from his eyes and follow us in his own car. When we got to the emergency room, it was empty and they saw us immediately (thank you, Lord).
He was grinning and flirting with the nurses. He didn't show that the rash was bothering him at all. The doctor said it is a reaction to the medicine he's been taking for his strep throat and that it just goes away on its own anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks!!!

It looks even worse in person. I don't know if Flo is going to take him at daycare until he's better! Please pray that our little man recovers quickly!

Cake

The cake was the only good part of Ace's birthday. He LOVED it. After we cleaned up all of the poop, we decided he needed a little something in his belly.

Easter Egg Hunt

Jonathan was the photographer for Ace's first Easter egg hunt. Aunt Hilary and Aubrey joined us and the rest of the neighborhood. We had a blast.

The Mommy's club of our neighborhood found a teenager to dress up like the Easter bunny.

They even had a train ride!

Ace didn't come home with many eggs but Aubrey made up for that with a whole basket full. I made rice krispie treats that were gobbled up in the 30 minutes it took the kids to gather up all of the eggs. Ace and Aubrey liked them too.

All in all - it was a huge success and the day was beautiful.

He got this egg stuck in his hat all by himself! It was hilarious. It stayed a good while until he crawled away and shook it loose.

There is another hunt tomorrow at church. Hopefully today's practice equipped us to bring home more eggs tomorrow.

New Fascination

This is Ace's new fascination. He loves to turn the faucet on and off and on again. The trouble is, he can only reach the hot water faucet which means we've got to catch him before he touches the water faucet which heats up with the water! He's quite the water-waster. We have to teach him to turn it off once he's finished playing with it.

Strep Recovery

We had a royally rotten St. Patty's Day.

Sunday night, Ace and I came home from Aubrey's and he had a temperature of 104 degrees! He was very lethargic, laying all over me and being really clingy. I called the after-hours line for his pediatrician who said to give him Tylenol and follow up in the morning. Monday afternoon, we went to the doctor's office who confirmed that he was not only sick...he had strep throat. SO he didn't get to go to Flo's (daycare Tuesday and Thursday, now starting in April) this week. Thankfully, he is on the mend. We are stuffing him with his prescribed antibiotics and he is sleeping a lot. For his first sickness, he has acted like a champ. He hasn't been overly fussy but is so pitiful, only wanting to be held. Jonathan and I are really thankful that he's been so healthy up to now and I am renewed in my committment to sterilizing EVERYTHING.

Thanks Honey

Honey found Ace the PERFECT shirt. He wore it on Tuesday to tour a possible school - I wasn't crazy about the school though so we decided to go with a lady in our subdivision...details and photos to follow. His first day will be this Tuesday.

Rodeo

2008 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo


Ace went to his first rodeo today. Aunt Barby and Uncle James made sure that he was outfitted properly. I went to the resale store last night and found the John Deere onesie but Aunt B shopped all around Houston to find Ace a black felt hat with a feather stuck on the side! She aslo bought him a pair of black, ostrich cowboy boots but they were a little too big for today.


We didn't actually go to the Rodeo. Brad Paisley was totally sold out - standing room only. We had the option to buy tickets that were $175 each...we passed. We still managed to spend 5 hours at the livestock show and fair!






After a warm-up period he decided he loved his Uncle James. Check out the bull in the background! The petting zoo was one of the highlights.

My favorite is ALWAYS muttin bustin'. Ace is SOOOO doing this in a few years.

Amazingly, Ace took only two cat naps and then had energy to meet Aubrey, Aunt Hilary, Nathan and baby Brinley (still in Hilary's tummy) for dinner. Now, he's fast asleep and mommy is soon to follow.

Beautiful Baby

Here's a glimpse of the Easter photo session. The final picture we selected for the Easter card is outrageously adorable and I'll post it once I know that the family has their cards! In the meantime...isn't he gorgeous?!

First Birthday Invites

Here's Ace's First Birthday Invitation. The party's just a small, family affair and I think Jonathan and I are more excited than anyone else!

Dominican Republic

Sorry, I didn't clarify earlier WHY we are going to the Dominican Republic. Jonathan found a guy on the side of the road and brought him home to give him some clothes and a meal. When he saw Ace he got all emotional that he left his family in the Dominican Republic and hadn't seen them in years and one is terminally ill. So we've decided to reunite them...just kidding. But it would be really nice of us if that were true. Is that even funny? Is my sense of humor so twisted?
Anyways, I need a vacation after all of the stress of this past year. Here is a link to our hotel:
http://www.paradisuspalmareal.travel/

Play Area

The Woodlands Mall has the best play area and Ace exhausted himself running around on it. Aunt B took him all over but was nervous about the running, screaming kids around him so we didn't stay for long. Just long enough to snap some pictures.

I love these because he looks so innocent.

Childrens Museum

From the look of these photos, you would never know that the Children's Museum at the mall was as old as it is. Ace had a blast. It was his mom and Aunt B that had the issue. Everything was kind of old and dingy. All of the toys were donated by local businesses but it must have been 20 years ago. They seriously need some new donations.

Merry Go Round

Ace went on his first Merry-Go-Round ride yesterday. We put him on the animals that didn't move but I really think he would rather have ridden one that did! I felt a little ill after getting off but it didn't seem to phase Ace at all. Warning: This video may make you dizzy. The Merry-Go-Round was going pretty fast.

First Haircut

Our little man was looking a bit scraggly so we went for our first haircut. It was sooo much fun and he looked super-suave afterwards.

Ace was a little scared at first so he clung to Aunt B. She coaxed him with some puffs and the hairdresser played a video so he came around.

They even gave him a certificate of "courage and bravery" for his first haircut! Afterwards we went and had his picture made for Easter and his first birthday. Those shots to come later but I will say that they are some of the cutest snapshots we've ever gotten of him.

WooHoo for Weaning!

Yippee! Yahoo! Hooray! With a trip to the Dominican Republic in June to motivate me, Ace went ALL day today without nursing! He had a bottle around lunchtime to help with his afternoon nap and as I type, Jonathan is putting him to bed with another bottle. As sad as I am that it means my precious, little, baby boy is growing up I am SOOOO excited that my body is my OWN again. Sorry grandparents, this does not mean that it is time for the next one. I have a bathing suit to prepare for.

The Zoo

Ace made his first trip to the zoo today. It was a BE-YOU-tiful day and despite trying to find a parking spot for almost an hour, we had a great time. We walked up to the elephants and giraffes and thought "Wow, nothing stinks worse than these"...except for Ace who had exploded his diaper! Oh well. He enjoyed the lions and warthogs but especially liked the pelicans and fish.