Sniffles, Sneezes, and Co-pays, Oh My!

There are some crazy, stubborn germs floating around the Wilkerson household! It all started at the first of November when Aidan and Conner both had colds. Just when they were getting over their colds, I got sick. I'm one who hates to go to the doctor...hate it with a passion. I had been sick for a few days and Ed bugged me to go to the doctor. He said, "You always let these things go..you'll wind up with pneumonia!" I told him I was ok, and I had never had pneumonia, thank you very much! For some odd reason one day, I felt so bad that I actually went to the doctor. He checked me out, stood back and assumed the doctor position (thumbs in pocket on white coat...you know the position!) and boldly declared that I had pneumonia! I don't know what was worse: actually being that sick or having to tell Ed he was right! Anyhoo, just about the time I started feeling better, Aidan got a nasty ear infection. A few days after that, we had to take Conner to the emergency room at Children's Hospital because he was breathing very quickly and his chest was raspy...not to mention he had a high fever. After x-rays and all that fun stuff, the doctor thought he had an RSV-type virus but he didn't think it was RSV. At least for all our troubles we came home with a nice new breathing machine. Merry Christmas, Conner! It wouldn't be so bad to give Conner breathing treatments but that's when Aidan decides he needs some attention: he runs in circles around Conner's room like a dog chasing its tail. Conner squirms every which way to try to get a good look at him. Or Aidan decides that it's his chance to get into my makeup or markers and draw all over himself. Or he gets into the toothpaste and I find toothpaste all over the bathroom (what was he doing behind the toilet with the toothpaste?). The funny part about it is when he looks at a mess like that he says "Oh Aidan!" in the same tone I would use! All joking aside, one morning when I was giving Conner his breathing treatments, I realized how blessed I am that I only have to give Conner these treatments during an illness and not for the rest of his life. Aidan and Conner came into this world big, fat and healthy, and I thank God everyday for their health.

Over the weekend, Ed and I painted our living room. When we took the painter's tape off the wall, Aidan and Conner decided to get in on the action....

The Butt Jelly Strikes Again

Conner is constipated. This is a whole new territory for me because Aidan never had that problem. He's loose as a goose! For that reason, we go through butt jelly by the pounds all in the name of protecting delicate areas. Perhaps that explains why he's so infatuated with butt jelly. Perhaps. So....you know that whole things about "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?" (is that how it goes?). Yeah, well, if you've read my previous blog you probably know where this story is heading. Picture it: one beautiful, sunny fall day. Aidan, Conner, and I had been outside playing, had our lunch and now the blissful part of the day known as nap time was fast approaching. Conner is easy to put down for a nap. He's so worn out from putting up with Aidan's antics that he happily retreats to his lair of solitude and peace. Once I put him down, he plays with a teething ring, scratches the cars that are on his sheets, and falls fast asleep. One down...one to go. Now on to Aidan. He's more difficult than Conner now that he's in a big boy bed. He doesn't want to go to sleep. He says, "I'm not asleep, I'm awake." I think to myself: OK, great observation, Aristotle, but you need to lie down in your bed and rest (in mom-speak, that means that I really need to rest or at least use the bathroom in peace). So I do the whole routine with him, half mindful of what I'm doing, half repeating the prayer: Lord, please let my child take a nap....Lord, please let my child take a nap. I put Aidan in bed, kiss him, and say nite-nite. I walk out and close the door to mild protest. He cries for a few minutes and then he's quite. I hear him talking. That's a good sign. He' starting to quieten down. I hear him talking to his stuffed horse named Horsey (yeah, we're pretty basic with the names around here). I decide to change over some laundry and then check on him again. When I come back, all is quite. I think, Whew! Today was much easier than the past few days. I breathe a sigh of relief and decide I need to get some school work done. About an hour later, I take a break from school work and walk past Aidan's room. I hear him talking. Oh great, does that mean he hasn't fallen asleep yet!? I walk in and what do I see: Aidan sitting criss-cross, applesauce smack dab in the middle of his room holding a jar of butt jelly. He looks up at me and as he takes a big gob of butt jelly and smears it on his face, says "Gotta put butt jelly on my lips, Momma, need it on my lips." I hold my breath and I decide if I should look around the room. Dare I? I do...and I see nothing but pure shine! There was a shine in his room that would put Solid Gold dancers to shame. Butt jelly was everywhere!!! Gobs all over his bed, all over the floor, all over his rocking chair, all on the walls, all over his toys (apparently Bert and Ernie needed some on their lips, too)....it was everywhere! It looked like a bomb went off in his room: a butt jelly bomb. Who knew a simple jar of Vaseline jelly could be so destructive!? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think I did both. I'm still finding gobs of jelly in his room. I picked up a clock today to change the time and noticed there was a big blob of it on the back on the clock. I really thought I put the jar of Vaseline away where Aidan couldn't get it. Either I didn't or there's a little mischievous elf living in our house. I would have taken a picture but I couldn't- my camera is no longer with us. It up and died. I gotta give some props to Ed right now. He has a huge jug of change he collects. The last time he filled it, he bought new tires for his truck with the change. It's full again now, and Ed said I could count the change and buy a new camera with it. What a man! Anyhoo, so I don't have any recent pictures to post. I do have some pics I took with a disposable camera although it's just not the same. I must say I am a digital camera snob. Aidan and I bought some pumpkins at Walmart on this day and he had so much fun playing with them. Who needs Leap Frog toys when $3 pumpkins provide hours of entertainment!!? When we carved the pumpkins, Aidan stuck his hand in the pumpkin and said, "Shoo, dat nasty!" I wanted to ask him, so how come the pumpkin is nasty but the jar of butt jelly is just fine?!

Brotherly Love

Aidan has been in the habit of coming to our bed whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night (one of the joys of a toddler bed!). There is no set pattern...sometimes it's around midnight when he shuffles in and other times it's four in the morning when I feel 32 lbs of toddler boy flop over my head. We've had a few night of reprieve, though. Aidan's been waking up about the time Ed is getting ready for work...much to my joy! It means a few more minutes of uninterrupted sleep and one less bruise on the head. Unfortunatly, these past few days, Conner has been taking over where Aidan's left off. He's the one waking up at 5 in the AM!!! I hear him loud and clear on the baby monitor. In fact, I think the folks at Walmart can hear him.
Anyhoo, I woke up at 5 one morning to the sound of Conner babbling and cooing away. He has a little lamb in his bed that plays "twinkle, twinkle, little star" when you pull its tail. In my sleep haze, I heard the lamb playing music. I thought, OK he's not crying. He's playing, that's a good sign- maybe he'll go back to sleep". So I laid there and tried to doze back to sleep. I thought how sweet it was to hear the sounds of his baby talk. I heard the lamb stop playing music and thought, OK, maybe now he'll go back to sleep. A moment passed and I didn't hear anything. OK, wonderful! I can go back to sleep! Then, I heard the lamb start playing music again. In my sleep deprived, cloudy and hazed mind, I had a logical thought: Conner can't pull the tail on the lamb. Something's not right. I immediately bolted out of bed and headed to Conner's room. I really couldn't believe what I saw: Conner at one end of the bed, smiling away and laughing and AIDAN at the other end of the bed, holding the lamb. I asked Aidan what he was doing in Conner's bed. He replied: Sleeping, Momma, sleeping" in a manner that suggested how could he be doing anything else and how ridiculous it was to ask the obvious. I put Aidan back to bed in his room (which he didn't like, by the way) and tried to go back to sleep myself. As I laid in bed replaying the episode, I thought about how much Aidan loves Conner. He adores him and knows that he has a special relationship with Conner. In a way, I'm a little jealous. There is such a big age gap between my siblings and me. I basically grew up an only child. I look at Aidan and Conner and think they are starting out in this world together with a best friend by their side. Is that awesome or what!? Now, if I can only get Aidan to stop biting Conner's ear!

The Vaseline Jelly Incident

First of all, I need to let you know that I use vaseline as a diaper ointment and I use lots of it! I call it butt-jelly and Aidan has taken on calling it butt jelly too...except is sounds like 'but-yelly' when he says it. Since I use so much of it, I buy the super large, popcorn tub size jars of vaseline. One night we decided to let Aidan sleep with us. We had been over at granny and papaw's and didn't come home til late that night. Aidan ran all over the farm and was pooped! After bubble-tubby time, I got him ready for bed, which means slathering his bottom with butt jelly before putting a diaper on. He always wants to stick his fingers in the jelly and this night was no different. I grabbed the jar away from him and set it on the rail of his crib. I finished getting him ready for bed and whisked him away to our room. As soon as he hit the pillow, he was out...until 4 the next morning when I awoke to him reciting his numbers and saying we have to go find deer. Here's how I remember the conversation:

Aidan: 1....5..6..7...8..gotta clap, Momma! Gotta clap!
Mom: Great Aidan. It's 4 am. Go back to sleep.
Aidan: No, Momma. Have to go find deer...buck..doe.
Mom: Maybe later, baby. Finish nite-nite.
Aidan: Bulldozers...backhoes...backhoes move dirt.
Mom: Ok. nite-nite now.
Aidan (now getting up and starting to jump on the bed): Aidan want juice...no, want milk...chocolate milk! Aidan wants chocolate milk!
Mom: ARRGHH!

I get up and decide to put Aidan in his crib (this story happened pre-toddler bed days). I thought he would play with his cars and go back to sleep. After I put him in his crib, he protested for a while. I headed off to bed, hoping for a few more hours of sleep before Conner woke. I heard him quiet down so I relaxed and dozed back off to sleep. Ed woke up at his usual time of 6 am, and started his day. He says he heard Aidan start yelling "Momma, come here! Momma! MOMMMA!" Ed thought he would let me sleep and tend to Aidan himself. When he walked into the room, he noticed a strong scent of baby powder. Then he looked at Aidan and noticed he was extremely shiny. His bed was really shiny for that matter. He walked over to the bed and saw an empty tub of vaseline jelly and more jelly smeared all over his pillow and quilt. Covered in a thick layer of jelly, Aidan says, "Butt jelly...spilled eberwhere!" (MInd you, I had just bought that tub of vaseline!) Ed says he got Aidan out of bed and took him to the bathroom to give him a bath. As soon as Aidan got in the tub, the water started beading just like a car after a good coating of Turtle Wax. At least for the rest of the day, Aidan's skin was very soft and he smelled great! I still can't the vaseline out of the pillow case.

Toddler Bed Woes

Aidan will sleep anywhere but his toddler bed! A couple of weeks ago Ed and I decided to convert Aidan's crib to a toddler bed. We have one of those grow-with-me cribs that converts to a toddler bed then to a double bed. We thought no big deal; we'll just change out his crib and he will love his new big boy bed. I had read some articles about slowly introducing a toddler to a new bed. I thought Oh what do these people know- that sounds like too much trouble. Aidan will love his new bed and will continue to take naps and go nite-nite just as he always had. Who are these experts anyway? Well, apparently they are people who know what they are talking about! For about the past 2 weeks I thought I was going to loose my mind from lack of sleep and frustration with Aidan not wanting to sleep in his big boy bed. I really should have followed my friend Nicole's example. Her son Miles is Aidan's age. She had a big boy bed in his room while he still slept in his crib. She would gradually get him used to the idea of laying in the bed and staying in the bed. From what I read in her blog, her method is working. Alas, it took two weeks of sleepless nights (and days!) before the Wilkerson method started to work. The first night he saw his bed, he giggled and acted like he would hop right in and sleep in it. Then he got out and hopped in our bed. (I could hear that kid from the Simpsons in the background saying "Ha Ha.") As for taking a daytime nap in it, that was another struggle in and of itself. I felt like I was in the Ultimate Fighting ring. It was a test of strength, stamina and sheer will, and I had met my match. Who knew a 3 foot, 31 lb, curly headed boy in diapers would be such a worthy opponent!? As time went on, he slowly started to accept his bed. At night, it takes him about an hour to go to sleep, which is great because that's down from 2 to 2 1/2 hours. He gets up at 5:00 am and crawls in our bed..on my side of course. I'm the one he wakes up when his legs smack my face, and I can't go back to sleep. At least afternoon nap time is getting better. I bought some door covers and put them on the door knobs in his room so he can't escape. I covered his window with some quilts to make it nice and dark. I go through the whole nite-nite routine with him, put him in bed, and leave the room. For the past few days he has been playing with his toys and then falling asleep in his bed. Today I did the whole nite nite routine and left him alone. I heard him playing with his bulldozer and then after a few minutes it was quiet. Ah, quiet...sweet, sweet quiet! I checked on him and found him sound asleep in the floor right next to his bulldozer with his pillow and quilt keeping him warm and snug. You may ask, Did you move him to his bed? Heck no!!! I left him right where he was! I wasn't about to risk waking him up! Update on Conner: I bought some new cereal for him, and he loves it! And the spit up has ceased.

Ode to Conner

Good grief! It has been so long since I last blogged, and soooo much has happened. Aidan turned 2 for one thing, and I started school...again! But I think the focus of this blog will be about Conner. I get so wrapped up in the antics and utter chaos that is Aidan that I sometimes forget to write about Conner. Poor guy gets the shaft so many times and takes backseat to Aidan. Maybe it's the age that Aidan is or maybe that Conner is the second child and we've "been there, done that." For example, I gave Conner his first bite of cereal the other morning. I thought about when I gave Aidan his first cereal. Ed and I had the "stage" prepped: we had our videocamera and digital camera out ready to capture the first bite. Poor Conner...it was just Aidan and me there to cheer him on. I even forgot to get my camera out. By the way, I had some leftover cereal in my cabinet that I grabbed to mix the baby goo. Conner actually seemed to like it (Aidan hated that stuff- I think if Gerber made a macaroni and cheese flavored rice cereal he would be all about it). But Conner kept spitting up more than usual the rest of the day so I just figured he wasn't really ready to eat solids. The next morning I glanced at the top of the cereal box. It said "Better if used by Aug 6, 2006." Oops. See what I mean? Poor Conner. So with that in mind, I will let everyone in on the many wonderful things about Conner.


Ed took this picture on the left soon after Conner was born (March 27). It was crazy walking into the hospital at 10:00 am knowing I would have a baby in about 2 1/2 hours. (I had a scheduled C-section). He weighed 8 lbs and 6 oz and measure 22 inches long. We expected him to be a bigger baby than most. Aidan was 9 lbs and 6 oz when he was born. Ladies- I can hear you now...don't worry, he was a C-section too! But anyhoo, I'm rambling. Conner was a hairy baby....and I mean H-A-I-R-Y! He looked like Curious George wrapped in a receiving blanket. I half expected the Man with the Yellow Hat to come in my room, say there had been a mix up, and hand me another baby. He has since lost all that hair by the way.
Conner is a great baby. He is healthy and thriving in spite of being the recipent of Aidan's roughhousing and attempts to show "love." At his last check up, he weighed 16 lbs and was 25 inches long. He loves to laugh, smile, and talk. I love it when he laughs; his whole body shakes. He even has this face he does when he's not quite sure what's going on (as in "is Aidan going to throw that car at me?)- he frowns and raises one of his eyebrows. Yes, it's so cool that a 5 month old can do that eyebrow thing. Even so, I can tell that he loves his big brother. . He gets the biggest smile on his face when Aidan comes around. I can already see the brother-dynamic at work. One day Aidan threw a temper-tantrum and started crying because he didn't get his way over something. Conner looked at him and started laughing. I have a feeling they are going to be the best of friends and the worst of enemies. Yes, it's hectic and hairy having two close together. But when Aidan kisses Conner on the head and says that loves him, that melts my heart and makes everything perfect. I love having these two boys. God knew what he was doing when he planned our family. I can't imagine my life right now without the both of them, and I thank God for them every day.

Birthdays

Aidan went to a friend's...well two friends...birthday party on Monday. Carson and Micah were born on the same day as Aidan. Their mom planned a pool party to celebrate turning two but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. It was rained out, and the party moved to the middle school gym. The party was still a blast in my book because Aidan ran around everywhere!! He's not one to stay near my leg. Picture this scenario when we first arrive at the pool. We waited under a shed to see if the rain would let up and the kids could swim. Most kids were content to stay perched on their mother's hip or wander near the table with the goldfish crackers on it. Aidan: yeah, he's out near the pool wandering around in the rain not caring one bit that it's thundering and lightening all around. Only one thing could bring him back under the shed: Birthday Cake!!


Here's a pic of Conner...can't have pics of Aidan without any of Conner.