Dream?

No, this isn't a Dream! Doug and I are setting sail August 6th!

What? Doug and I? What about Harrison?

Harrison turns 18 months on Saturday and in those 18 months Doug and I have been on date handful of times. Booking this cruise was hard for us. It wasn't  the decision to go, but the decision whether or not to take Harrison with us. After a lot of debating Doug and I looked at each other and we knew the best decision for all of us was not taking him with us.

 For the first time since Harrison has been born we are doing something for Doug and Amanda and we have nothing to feel guilty about. The last year and half we have devoted ourselves to parenthood, gave Harrison anything and everything (how can you not?) and kind of neglected ourselves. Mommy and daddy are taking 9 days of vacation to put ourselves back together! I am sure Harrison will have a blast with Grandma while we are soaking up the sun.

I know it's going to be hard leaving Harrison for NINE days, but we still have 85 days (we leave August 5th) to prepare for it...Though I am pretty sure it wont make difference and I will still lose it as we say our goodbyes. Heck, I am about to lose it just thinking about it... I better think happy thoughts...

HMMMM...Cozumel Mexico, Belize, Roatan, Coasta Maya Mexico. Those are the 4 ports we will be visiting during the cruise. In actuality I will be happy just sitting on beach drinking strawberry daiquiris all day.

I can bet in these two next months you will hear much more about our Dream We are very excited!

Not sure what to think...

It's been five LONG nights since Harrison has slept through the night. We aren't really sure what is going on. He doesn't just wake up once, but often 3-4 times. Doug and I have resorted to taking shifts and for a few hour stretches Harrison sleeps in bed with us...it's the only way any of us can get some sleep and some how function at work the next day.

We chalked up Friday, Saturday and Sunday to his double ear infection but Monday and Tuesday night have no explanation; the antibiotic should be doing it's job by now. However last night he ran a low grade fever of 99.5 which makes me think perhaps we aren't out of the woods yet.

Putting him to bed tonight is worst. He immediately starts to jump up and down in crib and then starts to scream. Maybe he is challenging our parenting skills? Testing us? Not sure. I hate to blame it on toddler hood when he still presents signs of sickness. His eating continues to be rocky (as it always is when he is sick, which is pretty much all the time now). He eats snacks good, but until he woofed down an entire Mac and Cheese Easy Mac tonight, he hadn't ate a full meal in several days.

Our plans for Memorial weekend maybe put on hold for now if things don't turn around in the next 24 hours. We had planned on Harrison making his first 4 + car ride to visit his Grandma and Grandpa McKee house near Duluth. Doug and I planned to leave at Harrison's bed time on Friday so that he would sleep the trip up there, but being that he isn't sleeping at night taht would probably be hectic (memorable) car ride there. We did place a call to his primary physician today to see if he would advise Harrison to be seen again. Harrison's ENT appt is scheduled for the morning of June 3rd and that date couldn't come soon enough.

I am hopeful that there are sunnier days a head.

I am pretty sure that children should be equipped with some type of manual. Really.... I don't think we have any idea what we are doing, but then again neither did our parents and Doug and I turned out okay...well for the most part anyways.

Foam Soap is a pretty cool invention...

Harrison is becoming more independent everyday. He has taken to washing himself during bath time.

Foam soap makes bath time just a little more fun!

I think we used an entire can! Harrison was in heaven!

 Scrubbing up! What a grown up boy!

"Look Momma, I see the can of soap!"

 "Why won't you give it to me?"

 "Look at my sad face!"

 Guess that pout didn't last for long!

 Simply an adorable expression.

And yes, I can't forget to include he drinks his bath water like a dog.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring

So, did we let the rain get us down this weekend?

 An action shot...sticks are pretty cool these days.

 I love this next one...complete with a messy mud puddle face.

Despite not feeling up to par Harrison still enjoyed some much needed play time (puddle jumping). I had a blast too, you could hear my giggles for at least a block from our house. Having children sure brings out the child in you.

Being Sick Stinks!

Well...I had optimism, but I lost it now.


Harrison spent Thursday night crying...like the crying you can't ignore and just hope he goes back to sleep kind of crying, but know the loud stretching cry that says, "Mom and Dad, someone better come check on me."

Once the crying started Thursday night, it didn't stop but for brief minutes until 5:30 that morning in which we decided to just get up. Harrison ended up sleeping with me in bed until then, daddy ended up on the couch because Harrison squirms like a octopus in bed ensuring that no one will get any sleep.

Friday I had a dentist appt. so I dropped him off at daycare for a few hours and he did well there. In fact he napped just over two hours (since he didn't sleep the whole night before). However the crying returned with a vengeance at just after 12 am this morning, just like the night before. This time Harrison demanded to be held so we made our way down stairs to the couch where both of us slept very little until about 6:30 this morning.

The rest of this morning was followed by crabbiness which I put to not sleeping well for the past two days.

This afternoon Harrison went to grandma's so I could do some shopping (daddy was at the movies), but just as I went to drop him off at grandma's I noticed drainage from his left ear. This drainage is after a week of already been on the drops. This is the same ear he had an ear infection in for an entire month. So basically he was infection free for a period of 3-4 days until he got this upper respiratory infection which resulted in ear infection number 12.

I called daddy to let him know and he soon picked Harrison up to take him to urgent care where they confirm our suspicion. He is now on an antibiotic called Cefdinir (something he has never been on before) for the next 10 days.
We also placed a called to his ENT.

12 ear infections are too many especially in one year's time. Harrison is either going to become antibiotic resistant (which he is already to Amoxicillin) or going to suffer permanent hearing loss.

The doctor at urgent care suggested that Harrison's ear infections could be too bad to be just treated with tubes.

So the next step? We don't know.

So I will end this entry as

To be continued... 

Sand Box

For almost a month we have tried endlessly to get Harrison to sit in his sand box.

It took me building castle in the middle (just where he couldn't reach) and soon he was eagerly playing in the box. I think the our White Water beach trip over the weekend helped him overcome whatever fear he had.

But if you notice he is still wearing shoes... Turns out that many toddlers at Harrison's age don't like certain feelings. Harrison loves to run sand (and pea gravel) through his hands but can't stand the feeling on his feet. When I took him to the park last week and took off his shoes and he refused to walk the whole time we were there.

Look! Auntie Potter stopped by! Looks like she is having just as much fun as Harrison. There can never be enough giggles!

 We built castles...

 just for Harrison to knock them down!

 HELLO!

 Anybody in there?

We take every opportunity to soak up what fresh air and sun we can. This morning Harrison and I let daddy sleep in and we headed outside. Harrison rode his new motorcycle (which reminds me that I have yet to have got a picture of him on it), then we played ball and mowed and raked the lawn (all before 7:30 am). Just when we were picking up toys Harrison stopped dead in his tracks to watch a squirrel. Next thing I knew there was Whitney Dog side by side with Harrison, her too after the same squirrel. It's a wonder how much our children are a like....and pretty darn cute too I have to admit!

It was a fun night...I could get used to having a healthy child if this next stretch last. This time Harrison shared germs with me, so I am off to tuck myself in early tonight hoping that I have a voice to teach orientation in the morning.

Oh before I forget to mention...hopefully the blog will get a make over in the very near future because it's well overdue. The problem with the transition is hoping that I don't lose the blog entirely---scary thought! Maybe I will get around to it over the weekend!

White Water State Park

Doug and I did a lot of hiking before we had Harrison, in fact just couple weeks before Harrison was born we hiked one of our favorite trails... So there is no doubt that he is going to do a lot of hiking.

Harrison loves to be outside. A majority of the time he throws a temper tantrum when he has to come in the house or I won't let him go out at the exact moment he wants to outside. I would much rather have a child who throws a tantrum when can't go outside as opposed to a child who content watching TV. There is so much more to explore in life and everything doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

On our hiking expedition today we purchased a $25 pass to White Water State Park in St.Charles/Altura. This pass is not only just good for White Water State Park, but every state park in the state of Minnesota for an entire year.

There was so much to explore. Harrison loved to stand on the bridge and watch the water cascade over the rocks.

We loaded Harrison up and headed to the trails.

Look closely...

Here is a close-up...can't resist the cuteness of Harrison pointing with Daddy.

The view from the cliff was beautiful, I can only imagine how beautiful must be in autumn.

Take a look at this rock we stumbled upon on one of the trails today...

Stopping to pick some "flowers"

 Dandelions...you don't stand a chance!

It was a perfect day to play at the beach.

Watching Whitney on her first swim of the year. So much for the bath I gave her this morning!

I am in love with these next photos...especially his hair blowing in the wind.

 And...I saved the best for last!

It was fun and exhausting day. Doug and I found out just how much we are out of shape. I think I told Doug a half a dozen times that "I wish I was in better shape." Harrison did well riding in the harness for the most part, but was reluctant to walk when we took him out. He warmed up a bit when he started to picking flowers and playing in the sand. Probably a large part of his irritability today is caused from being sick. I questioned Doug in saying, "You know what? Shouldn't he just be used to being sick? On top of probably the runniest nose ever (and croupy cough), we started ear drops last night. We haven't seen any drainage yet, form his ears, but he woke up both last night and the night before---which is usually the warning of a looming infection.

On the bright side, hopefully he will avoid another nearly 105 temp. and the 12th ear infection.

On another happier note Harrison is picking up on some new signs and is using them regularly which is positive step forward for communication. His favorite sign is "more." It's irresistibly cute when he brings you and empty container or wrapper and signs "more." I better brush up on a few new signs we can introduce.

Something else I forgot to share in the last post is that our family was asked to be the ambassador family for the March of Dimes Jail and Bails event in Winona early this fall. We will share our story and be the face behind the event as it premieres in Winona for the first time. We are excited!

Hope you had a great weekend, we certainly did.