Sunday, October 25, 2009
Riley's Cousin Jayden has arrived!
He actually arrived on Thursday, October 22nd around 1:15pm. He weighed 6lbs & 6oz and was 18 inches long! I wanted to share the news before I have a chance to upload pics...coming soon! Aunt Amy & he are doing well and already home as of yesterday!
Dancing Dancing!
OMG! I don't know what's funnier in this video - Riley's Dancing or Kelly's beat boxing/singing! You have to watch this one when you can turn the volume up! It is HILARIOUS! The Unc Unc Unc is from a Justin Timberlake song that escapes me right now! But it has a history of Kelly and our friend Phil singing it ALL the time one summer a few years ago much to the delight of Phil's wife Leslie and I! And now it rears its ugly head again!! The more things change...the more they stay the same!!
I say these videos capture what my "boys" do while Mom's away! I could watch these all day long and laugh and laugh and laugh! They are just TOO funny!!!
I say these videos capture what my "boys" do while Mom's away! I could watch these all day long and laugh and laugh and laugh! They are just TOO funny!!!
Rumbling Stumbling!!!
So as of Wed, Oct 21st Riley is officially walking! Well...he's still rumbling stumbling but close enough!!
Kelly got this video of his 1st pass almost all the way from the living room to kitchen! He....could....go....all...the....way....as Chris Berman on ESPN would say!
Notice the 2 drawers pulled open, those are Riley's favorite toys right now! He pulls things out of them and puts things in them ALL DAY LONG! If you can't find something, that's the 1st place you look!
Kelly got this video of his 1st pass almost all the way from the living room to kitchen! He....could....go....all...the....way....as Chris Berman on ESPN would say!
Notice the 2 drawers pulled open, those are Riley's favorite toys right now! He pulls things out of them and puts things in them ALL DAY LONG! If you can't find something, that's the 1st place you look!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
H1N1!! Oh No!!
Speaking of the dr from the last post! I figured this warranted it's very own post. Unfortunately, Riley caught H1N1 this week! OMG! I don't wish that on ANYONE! So much for having a Nanny to keep him away from all the germs at daycare! We think he caught it from her son that stayed home sick from school on Monday, but really we'll never know. Doesn't really matter at the end of the day. He still got it!
It all started Tuesday night, I had a change request for work that ended at 1:28am, so just as I put my head on the pillow - Riley starts literally screaming BLOODY MURDER at 1:33am. Seriously, it was the WORST cry/scream I have EVER heard from him! He pretty much kept us BOTH up until 6am that night. He was congested, but didn't have fever or anything so I thought it was more back molars breaking through. When we woke up the next morning (Wednesday), he was still congested, but didn't have fever and ate all his breakfast so he wasn't really "acting sick" either. I told Emily to watch him and let me know if anything changed, and I'd come home. She text'd me that he seemed better at lunch and no fever so he went down for his nap.
When he woke up from his nap, she noticed he was hot so she took his temp and it was 101.5. She called me, and I immediately called the dr. They said to bring him in so we were literally at the dr within an hour of him starting to run a fever. Everything looked fine - his throat and ears were clear. But his nose was running constantly, and the dr said his eyes just didn't look right. I agreed - Emily met me at the dr and when her car door opened I was like - OMG! He's a sick little baby! So the dr says, we can administer a flu test, but since he just started to run a fever there's a chance it won't show in the test yet. At this point, I'm thinking she means the "regular" flu test. I said, let's go ahead and take it since we're here. Worst case, we have to come back tomorrow if he's worse.
She comes back in the room 15 minutes later with a MASK ON! She was like I guess you know the results of the test. At this point, I'm still thinking regular flu. She went on to say don't be alarmed - she wears the mask because she's exposed to it SO much. Then she went on to say don't believe the media hype. She's treated over 450 cases on H1N1, and none of them have gone to the hospital. I was like, HUH? He has H1N1?! She said yes, that's what we tested him for. I have to admit a little fear did wash over me at this point. Skipping from thinking he's having teething congestion to H1N1 was a little bit of a leap for me!! She prescribed Tamiflu and said to give him Tylenol to treat his fever and symptoms. She also said to prepare myself because the worst was yet to come, and just to try to keep him comfortable. She said his fever could get as high as 104, and he would "pant" when his fever got that high, but to only call them back if he "panted" for more than an hour or so.
I told her my sister's baby shower was this weekend, and she's going to have a scheduled c-section next week...and she just shook her head no. She said - you can't go around your sister for at least 7 days until you see if you're going to get it or not. And the best thing you can do, is wash your hands frequently but if you're going to get it - you're going to get it. Same thing for Kelly.
I called Kelly and said - what would be the worst case scenario be right now- even he couldn't guess it was H1N1! We totally didn't see this one coming!! By the time we got home from picking up his prescription, he was full fledge SICK! He wouldn't even crawl around. He just wanted to be held, and he would even make these groaning noises like he was in pain. It is SOOOOOOOOOO hard to see your baby that sick! Needless to say, it was another all nighter for the Sterne household. And even though Riley is a Daddy's boy a lot of the time, he's a Mamma's boy when he's sick. He would go ballistic if I handed him to Kelly to hold long enough so I could wash my hands or go to the restroom. And we figured out he has a weird reaction to Tylenol - it's like baby red bull! OMG! It was making him so hyper, but you could tell he was also exhausted! I finally staggered Motrin with the Tylenol - and that made a HUGE difference! He broke out in a full body sweat after the Motrin - his fever broke and he passed out in my arms.
But before that, you'd be holding him. And he would cringe when you touched him, like it hurt but then all he wanted to do was be held, so it was the constant state of back and forth where he was in pain, but just wanted you to hold him. He'd sit up in my lap facing me and look at me, then let a cry out and just drop his head into my chest. OMG! It was one of the hardest nights EVER! I finally got him into his bed - we had elevated one end of it to help with his congestion and I think he slept for 2 hours so Kelly and I slept for like an hour. Then we were up for round 2. Kelly held him until he was able to fall asleep this time, and he was like you were right! That was the hardest thing EVER! You're trying to hold him, he's hurting and tired and... It's just AWFUL!
I think he slept for maybe 2.5 hours this time, then we were up for the day. He was a little better Thursday, but his nose was running NONSTOP! And I was wiping it NONSTOP! But he actually crawled around a little and played some. You could tell he wasn't himself though.
The next night was some of the same, but he slept in longer spurts. When he woke up Friday, I felt SOOOO bad! His poor little nose had scabs on it where I had wiped it so much the day before!! :( And I was using Kleenex with Lotion!! Thank goodness! We took him back to the dr Friday morning. You could tell he was almost back to his normal self when he woke up that morning though. He was crawling around and jabbering non-stop.
When we got to the dr, he had no fever and his oxygen level was 97%. The dr couldn't believe how good he was doing! She said - he's been on my worry list since I saw him Wednesday, but he's officially off of it now! That REALLY scared me b/c I can't imagine how we would have survived if he'd stayed that sick for much longer! Oh yeah - that's the other thing that sucked! We couldn't have Gigi come help us b/c she couldn't be exposed to him then risk taking it back to my sister, etc.
Friday afternoon, he was pretty much back to normal outside of the still continuous running nose! And he's back to sleeping through the night as of Friday too! Which was just in time for me to have to stay up until 1am for another change request for work! So I still didn't get to sleep early that night either! He's gotten better with each passing day...it's Sunday now and he still has a runny nose, but for the most part he's back to his normal self! Thank Goodness!! Like I said in the beginning, I don't wish this on anyone!!
I have to admit that before I had a kid, I'd see kids with runny noses and think "Ew gross!". But when it's your own kid - you don't care! I did wash my hands so much, they were red and chapped and cracked and bleeding like I had OCD. But that was mainly b/c I didn't want to catch it and not be able to take care of Riley! And you don't care if there's a chance of catching H1N1, not even that risk can keep you from kissing your own child!!! Especially when all he wants is kisses because he doesn't feel good! So far so good on Kelly and I not catching it! Keeping our fingers crossed! Because Amy is having her baby on Thursday, and that will be day 8! So as long as I don't get sick between now and then, I'll be able to go! I still can't believe I had to miss my own sister's shower though! That was REALLY hard!!
And I do believe Riley was able to bounce back so quickly b/c he was so healthy to begin with, and we feed him mostly organic foods and not a lot of processed junk. Since Kelly and I started eating like that - we hardly ever get sick too. And when we do, we bounce back pretty quickly too. In fact, we all had fresh orange juice from the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer last Sunday because I had one of my 40 hour work days last Friday thru Saturday, and we were trying to avoid getting ill b/c my immune system was worn down from being up for 2 days. So I shouldn't claim victory until we make it through the 7 day incubation period, but none of this HURT our chances for sure!!! And I firmly believe it helped Riley not be as ill as some kids his age from this nasty H1N1. I refuse to call it Swine Flu b/c that just sounds GROSS! Yuck!
It all started Tuesday night, I had a change request for work that ended at 1:28am, so just as I put my head on the pillow - Riley starts literally screaming BLOODY MURDER at 1:33am. Seriously, it was the WORST cry/scream I have EVER heard from him! He pretty much kept us BOTH up until 6am that night. He was congested, but didn't have fever or anything so I thought it was more back molars breaking through. When we woke up the next morning (Wednesday), he was still congested, but didn't have fever and ate all his breakfast so he wasn't really "acting sick" either. I told Emily to watch him and let me know if anything changed, and I'd come home. She text'd me that he seemed better at lunch and no fever so he went down for his nap.
When he woke up from his nap, she noticed he was hot so she took his temp and it was 101.5. She called me, and I immediately called the dr. They said to bring him in so we were literally at the dr within an hour of him starting to run a fever. Everything looked fine - his throat and ears were clear. But his nose was running constantly, and the dr said his eyes just didn't look right. I agreed - Emily met me at the dr and when her car door opened I was like - OMG! He's a sick little baby! So the dr says, we can administer a flu test, but since he just started to run a fever there's a chance it won't show in the test yet. At this point, I'm thinking she means the "regular" flu test. I said, let's go ahead and take it since we're here. Worst case, we have to come back tomorrow if he's worse.
She comes back in the room 15 minutes later with a MASK ON! She was like I guess you know the results of the test. At this point, I'm still thinking regular flu. She went on to say don't be alarmed - she wears the mask because she's exposed to it SO much. Then she went on to say don't believe the media hype. She's treated over 450 cases on H1N1, and none of them have gone to the hospital. I was like, HUH? He has H1N1?! She said yes, that's what we tested him for. I have to admit a little fear did wash over me at this point. Skipping from thinking he's having teething congestion to H1N1 was a little bit of a leap for me!! She prescribed Tamiflu and said to give him Tylenol to treat his fever and symptoms. She also said to prepare myself because the worst was yet to come, and just to try to keep him comfortable. She said his fever could get as high as 104, and he would "pant" when his fever got that high, but to only call them back if he "panted" for more than an hour or so.
I told her my sister's baby shower was this weekend, and she's going to have a scheduled c-section next week...and she just shook her head no. She said - you can't go around your sister for at least 7 days until you see if you're going to get it or not. And the best thing you can do, is wash your hands frequently but if you're going to get it - you're going to get it. Same thing for Kelly.
I called Kelly and said - what would be the worst case scenario be right now- even he couldn't guess it was H1N1! We totally didn't see this one coming!! By the time we got home from picking up his prescription, he was full fledge SICK! He wouldn't even crawl around. He just wanted to be held, and he would even make these groaning noises like he was in pain. It is SOOOOOOOOOO hard to see your baby that sick! Needless to say, it was another all nighter for the Sterne household. And even though Riley is a Daddy's boy a lot of the time, he's a Mamma's boy when he's sick. He would go ballistic if I handed him to Kelly to hold long enough so I could wash my hands or go to the restroom. And we figured out he has a weird reaction to Tylenol - it's like baby red bull! OMG! It was making him so hyper, but you could tell he was also exhausted! I finally staggered Motrin with the Tylenol - and that made a HUGE difference! He broke out in a full body sweat after the Motrin - his fever broke and he passed out in my arms.
But before that, you'd be holding him. And he would cringe when you touched him, like it hurt but then all he wanted to do was be held, so it was the constant state of back and forth where he was in pain, but just wanted you to hold him. He'd sit up in my lap facing me and look at me, then let a cry out and just drop his head into my chest. OMG! It was one of the hardest nights EVER! I finally got him into his bed - we had elevated one end of it to help with his congestion and I think he slept for 2 hours so Kelly and I slept for like an hour. Then we were up for round 2. Kelly held him until he was able to fall asleep this time, and he was like you were right! That was the hardest thing EVER! You're trying to hold him, he's hurting and tired and... It's just AWFUL!
I think he slept for maybe 2.5 hours this time, then we were up for the day. He was a little better Thursday, but his nose was running NONSTOP! And I was wiping it NONSTOP! But he actually crawled around a little and played some. You could tell he wasn't himself though.
The next night was some of the same, but he slept in longer spurts. When he woke up Friday, I felt SOOOO bad! His poor little nose had scabs on it where I had wiped it so much the day before!! :( And I was using Kleenex with Lotion!! Thank goodness! We took him back to the dr Friday morning. You could tell he was almost back to his normal self when he woke up that morning though. He was crawling around and jabbering non-stop.
When we got to the dr, he had no fever and his oxygen level was 97%. The dr couldn't believe how good he was doing! She said - he's been on my worry list since I saw him Wednesday, but he's officially off of it now! That REALLY scared me b/c I can't imagine how we would have survived if he'd stayed that sick for much longer! Oh yeah - that's the other thing that sucked! We couldn't have Gigi come help us b/c she couldn't be exposed to him then risk taking it back to my sister, etc.
Friday afternoon, he was pretty much back to normal outside of the still continuous running nose! And he's back to sleeping through the night as of Friday too! Which was just in time for me to have to stay up until 1am for another change request for work! So I still didn't get to sleep early that night either! He's gotten better with each passing day...it's Sunday now and he still has a runny nose, but for the most part he's back to his normal self! Thank Goodness!! Like I said in the beginning, I don't wish this on anyone!!
I have to admit that before I had a kid, I'd see kids with runny noses and think "Ew gross!". But when it's your own kid - you don't care! I did wash my hands so much, they were red and chapped and cracked and bleeding like I had OCD. But that was mainly b/c I didn't want to catch it and not be able to take care of Riley! And you don't care if there's a chance of catching H1N1, not even that risk can keep you from kissing your own child!!! Especially when all he wants is kisses because he doesn't feel good! So far so good on Kelly and I not catching it! Keeping our fingers crossed! Because Amy is having her baby on Thursday, and that will be day 8! So as long as I don't get sick between now and then, I'll be able to go! I still can't believe I had to miss my own sister's shower though! That was REALLY hard!!
And I do believe Riley was able to bounce back so quickly b/c he was so healthy to begin with, and we feed him mostly organic foods and not a lot of processed junk. Since Kelly and I started eating like that - we hardly ever get sick too. And when we do, we bounce back pretty quickly too. In fact, we all had fresh orange juice from the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer last Sunday because I had one of my 40 hour work days last Friday thru Saturday, and we were trying to avoid getting ill b/c my immune system was worn down from being up for 2 days. So I shouldn't claim victory until we make it through the 7 day incubation period, but none of this HURT our chances for sure!!! And I firmly believe it helped Riley not be as ill as some kids his age from this nasty H1N1. I refuse to call it Swine Flu b/c that just sounds GROSS! Yuck!
Playing catch up once again!
Wow! It's been soooooo long I'm not even sure where to begin to try to catch up with this post! My work life has been sooooo crazy that only people in the tech field can begin to understand the crazy stress and hours I've been having to put in lately! We're talking 20ish hour days - literally I was working with a team from Brazil until 6am almost every day for a couple of weeks straight, a couple of 40 - yes - you read that correctly 40 straight hour days! I wan't working all 40 hours, but I was awake all of them! The good news in all of this is that we only do a project this complex once a decade! And we pulled it off! We delivered the project without having to rollback to the old system! And to be honest, with minimal issues. We had some craziness last weekend, but hopefully that won't happen again! And my life will probably be a little unpredictible for the next couple of months until everyone gets accustomed to the new system and it stabilizes. Needless to say, that's why I haven't even had a chance to blog in my head lately...much less actually blog!
I'll just do a brain dump of all the things I can recall from the last month or so:
I'll just do a brain dump of all the things I can recall from the last month or so:
- Riley's still only taking a few steps at a time, and sometimes a few days apart. The funny thing is that he does it the hardest way possible. He'll be walking on his knees, then stand up in the middle of the floor (which is HARD) without the assistance of any furniture or anything. Take a few steps. Then we get excited and he realizes what he's doing and plops down! I keep thinking any day now, but I've been thinking that for a while! It's all good though! Kelly and I literally have to RUN after him because he crawls so fast - I can't imagine what it'll be like once he gets walking/running down!
- He can also do full squats! Seriously...like REAL squats without assistance! And sometimes like 3-5 in a row before he loses his balance.
- He STILL dances! OMG! It's so funny! And he'll dance to me snapping my fingers and Kelly beat boxing! It doesn't even have to be "real" music!
- He still has these favorite songs on his Kindermusik cd's, and when they come on in the car - he gets the BIGGEST smile on his face as if he's saying OMG! It's my favorite song! And I mean EVERY time! Like even if I just replay the song immediately again - still the same smile as if it's the 1st time he's heard it in a long time.
- He FINALLY mastered putting a ball in the "rain spout" on his play house, and he turns to us claps and dances every time he does it! This one took a while! He'd try to put the ball in every slot exept the one that was big enough. But once he finally figured it out, GAME ON!
- His FAVORITE pasttime currently is emptying out the cabinets, drawers and pantry door shelves in the kitchen. There will be plastic bowls, his own sippy cups and our protein bars lying all over our floor at any given moment! Kelly joked the other day - like who runs this place?! Obviously not us anymore!
- He LOVES books! It started out with me reading his nighttime books mainly, and we progessed to him "closing the book" at the end, then him turning each page as we read it. And now he has a book in his crib he "reads" on his own when he wakes up in the am, and he has books out on the coffee table that he "reads" often throughout the day. I brought a new Halloween book home last Monday - Five Little Pumpkins - and it's already WORN out! He LOVES that book! It was ALL he played with for 2 days! And if you say "Five Little Pumpkins", he'll run to it and start turning the pages. I know it by heart now after reading it so many times, so if I say what's on one of the pages - he'll open it to that page.
- He's still a little HOSS! He pushes all sorts of things all over our house! Around and around and around the kitchen island. His push car, boxes, a dump truck he has, a music table, plastic bowls and lids around and around, a Little People airplane - whatever he can find.
- He's the opposite of me. He has a puzzle Josh, Nancy & Ethan got him for his birthday. I'll put the pieces in the puzzle...and it will bother him until he gets them all out! He HATES for them to be in the puzzle! Same thing with these wooden blocks Gigi got him. I'll put them all in their little holder, and he will grab it and dump them out! Cracks me up!
- Riley's 1st weekend trip to Gigi's went well. She kept him while Kelly and I went to Pittsburgh for the Steelers game. He didn't even miss us until the last night when my Mom brought him back to our house. It was so cute one night when Kelly and I called. I could hear my Mom, sister and Grandmother laughing so hard at him their stomachs were hurting. My thought as I heard that was - that's how it's supposed to be! Children are supposed to bring joy into everyone's life that they touch! It was so sweet! He got to see my Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles that weekend as well as his Grandpa. Actually..I'm not sure I know what my Dad wants to be called. I guess I need to ask him that! Some of them hadn't seen him since his birthday....I can't imagine how different he seems when you go that long! Kelly and I could tell he had changed and grown just over the 3 days we were gone!
- He's definitely got the baby sign for "milk" down, and he lets you know when he wants some while you're feeding him or at bed time. Emily and I KNOW the other signs are in there...just don't know when he'll break them out and start using them! I guess when he needs them.
- Emily said as of last week when she takes a toy away from him because it's lunch or nap time, he starts screaming! I believe it! That boy has some LUNGS! OMG! Sometimes I know dogs walking outside are just dropping left and right when he gets going exercising those lungs! It's PAINFUL!
- He can climb on the sofa in 2 steps. Hasn't quite mastered getting off the sofa though!
- He started this thing where he chews his food up then spits it out...YUCK! But I think that was like a week long phase that appears to be over now. The only time he does it now is when he's "all done" and he usually waves his arms back and forth at the same time to indicate he's all done.
- He's been cutting his back molars the last month, so that's no fun! At least he can strategically place his own fingers in there as teethers now, so that helps a little.
- One of his FAVORITE games is "I'm gonna get you". He loves for you to say you're gonna get him (tickle him), and he'll scream and move like he's trying to get away even though he's not going anywhere. Or he'll crawl away from you as fast as he can! He plays it even when you don't mean to play it!! If Kelly or I are walking up/down the stairs with him, and the other one of us is behind - Riley will almost "run" out of your arms thinking the other person is going to "get him". The other day the dr was trying to put her stethoscope to his back and he was trying to get away from her and screaming like we were playing that game. I don't think she She didn't know what to think about that.
- Speaking of Dr....that one deserves it's own post, so I'll do that next!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Jerry's House & Big Screen!
I was fortunate enough to get invited to the Cowboy's game on Monday night, so I got to see the new Texas Stadium and the now infamous "big screen". Here are a couple of pics! I'll have pics of Heinz Field Sunday too, so stay tuned!
This will be our 1st trip away from Riley for more than 1 night! He's going to Gigi's house for the weekend, so he'll be having so much fun he probably won't even miss me! While I'm sure I'll be stressing about it at least a little bit at first!
Yes! It goes from the 20 yard line to the 20 yard line! And it's more crystal clear than my hd tv at home!!
The problem is - you watch the ENTIRE game on the screen!! I tried to force myself to watch a play on the field...and the only ones I was able to were the punts b/c I wanted to see how close they came to hitting the screen. None of them were close except one from the Cowboy's own 40 yard line.
This will be our 1st trip away from Riley for more than 1 night! He's going to Gigi's house for the weekend, so he'll be having so much fun he probably won't even miss me! While I'm sure I'll be stressing about it at least a little bit at first!
Yes! It goes from the 20 yard line to the 20 yard line! And it's more crystal clear than my hd tv at home!!
The problem is - you watch the ENTIRE game on the screen!! I tried to force myself to watch a play on the field...and the only ones I was able to were the punts b/c I wanted to see how close they came to hitting the screen. None of them were close except one from the Cowboy's own 40 yard line.
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