Two Posts in One Day....Wha??

You all know I absolutely love Zulily.

Well TODAY there is a flash sale for Puma Kids and Women as well as some great accessories. Check it out here! I found a ton for me and little man. Can't beat a good deal! And even better...it's odd these days when my cart has more items for me than Cruz and today my stuff definitely won out! Wah hoo. You can tell I'm in a mood to be comfy by my selections - sweatpants, sweatshirts. It's that time of year. And that bag is for Cruz. They are so handy when you're husband is taking the kiddo somewhere and doesn't want to drag along a girlie diaper bag.

Hi. My name is Katie...and I am a Zulily addict. Admitting it is the first step to recovery from what I've been told.

Have a great Thursday!

Birthday Wish List

It is that time of the year....Cruz will be TWO in less than a month and I can hardly believe it. I don't know who is more excited, him or me? I love love love birthday parties and I'm having the best time planning his. Hopefully he appreciates it. =)

I've had tons of people asking what to get Cruz and since his birthday is so close to Christmas, I wanted to put together his "wish list" of things he wants or better yet that we feel he would love. With no further adieu.

Cruz's Wish List:

1. Teepee from Land of Nod & Etsy
2. Toy Organizer 
3. Toy Organizer Cubes 
4. Columbia Snowsuit 
5. Puma Tracksuits - Cruz lives in these come fall/winter, they are perfect for comfort at daycare and lounging around the house. However, we never spend more than $20 on them at Marshall's, TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory
6. Mad Pax Backpack - Later Gator Half Pack
7. Trendy Kids Percy Suitcase 
8. Boon Bath Toys - Creatures & Water Bugs & Bubbles 
9. Fishing Rod - Abu Garcia Ike Dude. I have no idea if this is a good one, I just liked the way it looked. =)
10. Tackle Box - Wormgear. Same with this, no idea. (Maybe Nanu will have to pick this gift up since he's the fishing pro.)
11. Boon Groovy Plate / Catch Bowl 
12. Disney Movies - at this point we have none and I think it would be fun to start his collection of fun, boy Disney movies. There are so many great ones out there!
13. John Deere Motorized Tractor 
14. Little People Flip Books - currently he has a Mickey Mouse & Noah's Ark flip book and loves them! There are a bunch to choose from and I know this mama would like to change it up a bit. It gets a little old reading the same books every night.
15. Brain Quest - he loves the set of flash cards we have right now that work on colors, shapes and animals, so let's tackle his vocab!
16. Step Stool for the bathroom sink

Back to the party - do you think I can get away with doing another cake smash? I just don't think he got after his 1st birthday smash cake as much as he should have.... I was expecting a little man covered in cake and I think this year he would absolutely destroy one. =)

Sicky Little Guy

Well, welcome to what seems to be the longest post ever. I hate being back here talking about a sick little guy, but so seems to be our life. It was all good for what felt like so long.

If you remember (you will if you've been reading along for a while), our little guy went through loads of sickness from about five months old (March 2012) until we pulled him from our first daycare almost  9 months later (December 2012).

First time really sick - RSV in March 2012

From RSV six times, seven ear infections (resulting in tubes), sinus infection twice,  hand foot & mouth and croup. We went to specialists to try and figure out why he was getting so sick and none of them had a clue. He was put on many different preventative meds but none of them seemed to prevent the inevitable future of him getting sick once again. We ultimately purchased a nebulizer since he was constantly needing to use it for breathing treatments. He wasn't sleeping, we weren't sleeping, we were stressed and missing work all the time because he couldn't be at daycare while sick or if he had even a slight fever.

If you spot this junk running out of your kiddo's ear, it isn't good.

It was the beginning of December 2012 on the tail-end of a bad bout of RSV (like I'm talking three week-long bout) that we decided we were just going to pull him from daycare. It seemed every time we would get him better and back to healthy, he would spend a day or so back in daycare and was immediately sick again. 

We didn't have a plan, but fortunately had amazing family and friends to help us figure out care for our guy until we did. I started interviewing nannies and we found an amazing one who started with us in January 2013. From the time we pulled him from daycare until the day our nanny left us (more about that here), little man was not sick once. Not one time, I tell you. And it was amazing. I never knew how life could be with a healthy baby and it was everything I imagined it would be.

Flash forward to now and our little dude is back at a different daycare. Lo and behold, what happens? Not less than three weeks after being back in daycare (middle of September 2013) and our boy was sick once again. This time with Croup and a pretty bad case of it.  Mind you, with neither daycare have we "skimped" and opted for a cheap solution - we have really tried to only leave our boy in some of the best daycare centers in Omaha. Obviously nothing helps the fact that some kids are just more susceptible to getting sick than others. But nothing changes the fact that ALL kids are going to get sick - the different levels of how sick they get is the variable.

This sickness started with him getting a slight fever and having runny nose and watery eyes for a couple days. We chalked it up to sinus/allergies since our pedi thinks our guy may have allergies like his daddy and at this same time the hubs was sneezing pretty bad as well. Then his fever got worse and he was coughing that barking/seal-like cough (a dead giveaway since we had heard this exact painful cough before) - this was Thursday night, so Nick brought him into the clinic on Friday. Diagnosis: Croup.

He was given a steroid and we were told to continue giving him breathing treatments to try and clear him up. He was pretty bad Friday and Saturday but seemed to be getting better Saturday night (slept through the night!) and seemed completely normal on Sunday morning. Then Sunday he took a turn for the worse. Woke up from his nap shaking and had broke another fever - like 103 degree fever.  He was whiny and crying and if we know anything about our guy it's that even when he is sick he's in a pretty good mood and still so sweet, so this was off for him. He continued to get worse and I was on the phone with the after hours nurse trying to determine what we needed to do. She gave us the option of going to the Children's ER or waiting it out. We decided to wait it out but that only lasted an hour when we determined he wasn't going to be able to sleep, was very uncomfortable and the fever wasn't going down despite our different attempts. With all that you hear about not ignoring high fevers and the fact that he had a fever over four days into the sickness (which generally isn't good), we knew we needed to head in.

No one wants to be at an ER with their child at 10pm, but I can tell you I found comfort in it once again, because at least you get answers, and generally help (in the form of stronger meds) to help your baby. They gave us a stronger breathing treatment and treated his fever and we were off to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, little man fell asleep on the way home and I opted to sleep on his floor that night just to be sure his fever didn't get worse.

Two days later, he was back to himself. Thankfully.

Until this past weekend, when he got Croup yet again. Even more fortunately, it was such a light bout and we seemed to catch it early, so he did have to miss daycare on Friday and Monday, but it wasn't near the capacity that it was last time.

From the moment we heard that first barking, seal-like cough early Friday morning and through the weekend, we have been talking about what we are going to do. Do we go back to the search for a nanny? With Nick starting a new job here at the end of the month, neither of us can continue to miss more work. When will his immune system start building up, so he can fight off illness better? There are just so many questions.

Some of my tips when dealing with a sick baby:

• Trust your instincts. There are times you will feel like a fool because it may feel like you are calling for what the nurse makes out to be the smallest thing, but remember that is their job and they hear these different diagnoses every day. As a first-time mom, you need that reassurance. 
• Keep up with the doc's instructions, even if it feels like they are better. There were times that C would seem to be getting better, so we wouldn't continue his breathing treatments or other instructions as long as the doctor had told us to thinking he was better. Then he would take a turn for the worse. SO, just listen to what they say and continue doing what they recommend to make sure your baby is fully recovered.
• Get a second opinion. After going through so many doctor's visits and seeing little man sick all of the time, we sought help from someone else. Not that we didn't believe in our doc, but you never know. And we wanted to make sure we were fully in the know on what was going on or better yet to see if they had any other ideas as to why our little guy was always getting so sick.
• Overdoing the cuddles during this time are ok.  When your baby is sick, all you want to do is snuggle and chill with them until they feel better. My opinion...do it!  You really should put the baby down and go do the laundry, wash the dishes or clean the house, you say? Screw it, enjoy the time with your baby. Sometimes all they need is a warm snuggle from their mama.
• You will feel guilty for working outside the home and having to send your child to daycare. Like all the time. I hate that I have to send my son to a daycare center and that it has resulted in him being so sick, but I also can't change our situation and the fact that I have to work. Do I wish I could be there to cuddle him when he's sick instead of sitting in my office worrying about him. Absolutely. It's just not realistic. And I can't beat myself up for it.

Well, we are going to be over here, just preventing future sickness. If you have any ideas for us, we will take them! Have any of you experienced this kind of craziness?

The preventative Flo-ven inhaler C takes every morning
He also gets Singulaire mixed in with yogurt or his milk at least once a day

You can read more about our experience with baby illness here, here, here, here and here.   

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Our Weekend

Ha. I saw this on facebook and thought it was the best thing ever. Not that it's true, I mean I can't be going to the bar every day, but sometimes I wish I could.

Let's get onto the weekend deets, shall we?

{friday}
Little man woke up sick Friday morning....definitely the barky, Croup cough. I hate that from just hearing it we can diagnose him ourselves, but I suppose that's what you get when you have a little guy who has been sick a lot in his short life. Thus, he stayed home from daycare yet again and that made for a very relaxing night once I got home from work. We may have went to my bed to snuggle and do breathing treatments around 8pm and both of us were sound asleep by 9pm.

{saturday}
Since we were supposed to have family pics, but had to cancel because C man was sick, it meant that most of the ladies in the Manganaro-Gardner clan were going to be in town so we felt a ladies night was in order and invited a couple other gals to join us.

We planned dinner at Salt 88 - can you say delicious goat cheese rangoons and Joe Geez flatbread with vino and great girl talk? I'm down for that every day. Afterwards, we headed to Red Lounge for more cocktails. However, this old lady started to get tired and when I realized I should call it a night because any more drinks and I wouldn't be good to drive, Kristen and I headed home.

Blurry photo but look at those beauties I got to hang out with!

Cotton candy for dessert - um, yes!

{sunday}
C man decided he was going to wake up early, so that meant my headache joined us. Fortunately for me it didn't last much after a cup of coffee and it was play time. During his nap, I snuck away with Britt for a last minute trip to hit up Junkstock. We had never been but I've heard it's awesome and I'm always down to check out new things in our city. So glad we did and more to come on that later.

Of course, the first thing I bought at Junkstock was food,
but this was the best corndog ever.

Earlier in the day, I told Nick to get some guys together to watch some football somewhere. The poor guy was stuck in the house all day Friday and Saturday with our sick boy...and I was so thankful he did it without whining. Lord knows that's never fun.

So last night Cruz and I planned a BIG playdate that included running upstairs and downstairs no fewer than seventy-two times, coloring, playing tractors and trains, writing letters, racing cars on the kitchen floor and cooking dinner in his manly kitchen. After his bath we ended the night with a Peter Pan's Lost Boys-style fake smorgasbord feast. He started with pretending we were eating treats by scooping these different things off the floor into his "bowl" and sampling each others made-up goodies - dipping our fingers into whipped cream, spooning up cold ice cream, sampling each others cookies and then we ended with a hot cup of coffee. He knows to stay away from our coffee because it's "really hot" and decided he was drinking "really hot" fake coffee. Then I started pretending I was too and I can't tell you why, but we ended up laughing and giggling and having the best time. I know this entire paragraph sounds just plain cuckoo, but I think it's times like this that you make the best memories with your babies.

Loving his new Elmo bath towel

As I finished typing this, Cruz woke up. He walked over to me and said, "mama, I want to watch Spun-Bob." It was like the heavens opened up and angels sang...I never thought I would hear anything else out of his mouth, but "let's watch Mickey Mouse" for as long as we all were living.

Happy Monday y'all.

23 Months!

What's New with Cruz:

{Sleeping} 

Still sleeping like a rock star - goes to bed by 8:30pm and sleeps until anywhere from 7am-8am. Naps once a day usually going down at noon and sleeping for 1-2 hours. This past month I have noticed that he isn't as into rocking before bedtime, instead we read a book and after we're done he will often tell me "mama, I go bed" - I love that he is becoming more independent, but part of me misses our conversations and time while rocking him to sleep.

{Eating}

This kiddo has definitely developed an attitude about eating these days. He used to be such a great eater and would essentially eat whatever we gave him. Now at dinner, he will push his food around hit plate, onto the floor and just flat out refuse to eat what we prepare. He is definitely more interested in what is going on around him and you can tell he just doesn't want to miss a thing. Maybe it's time I start feeding him in a dark, boring room. =) I mean with my fantastic cooking ability he should be gobbling up everything I'm putting in front of him, right??  He has been loving fruit as usual, not loving veggies and eating steak, hamburger and chicken like a boss. Oh, and he loves his mama's egg salad and eggs in general.

Eating the gouda Mac & Cheese with papa
(I still crave this stuff)

{Little Helper}

While he has become independent in some ways, I also love how willing he is to help. Little man wants to be involved in everything we are doing - whether it be making dinner, folding clothes, cleaning the house, making the bed - he loves to help. And I love getting him involved in these kinds of things. I mean who doesn't love a little help when you are folding your third load of laundry of the day?? In regards to the egg salad that he just loves eating, he is the best at that. He will crack the eggs, squeeze in the mustard and help me stir it up.

Helping us pick out pumpkins

{Talking}

My absolute favorite of the month has been his new-found use for "who-ray!" (hooray). For example, after squeezing his nose for boogs the other night (which he hates), he shouted, "mama, we did it! who-ray!" It's about the cutest thing I've ever heard.

He is talking like crazy. Like I cannot even recall all of the words and phrases this kiddo knows. And I don't know where he learns them all! More on this topic to come.

After this he said, "mama, I dump it all out."

{Playtime}

He loves - playing in the sand, running around the house, coloring, watching Mickey Mouse, playing trains or tractors, putting together blocks, going for walks/runs (of course he does, he gets to sit in the stroller while mama does all the work), sidewalk chalk, reading books and pretending to cook with bowls and utensils on the kitchen floor. 

His 2nd fun run! Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo

We have been working on getting him to play the game Memory. This was/is my absolute favorite game and I cannot wait to beat him play with him soon. Right now he just wants to turn over all the cards and it frustrates the heck outta me since I like them just so. =) We are also working on his flash cards, days of the week, counting to 20, spelling/writing his name and recognizing numbers. Right now he recognizes the number 1, 3 and 8. For some reason this kid is infatuated with the number 8.

{Tantrums}

Now these...these can go. Mama doesn't appreciate the tantrums. Case in point below. This is my sweet little boy throwing a tantrum in Marshall's the other day when I was trying to get him to pose for a quick pic so I could show his daddy a jacket I wanted an opinion on. He wanted none.of.it. And speaking of shopping, my favorite shopping buddy has started becoming a toddler tornado when we are out and about...unless I bribe him with something to eat, my iPhone (which he happened to throw onto the concrete floor during a fit at Hy-Vee the other day - fortunately it didn't break) or something else to keep him busy. Yes, I do bribe my child, however, I don't really care as long as it means I can get the grocery shopping done. 

Such a drama king

{Development}

Little man is weighing in at 28.8lbs these days. He is wearing mainly 18-24 month or 2T clothing and size 6/7 shoes. He writes mainly with his right hand, but has been known to randomly color or draw with his left. He has started trying to undress himself and likes to pull his socks off and put them back on, along with his shoes. He runs more than ever and loves to dance. Unfortunately, both of these come with lots of meetings with his head to the floor. Let's just say he has his mama's grace.

                           

I cannot believe that this time next month, our little will be TWO! How in the heck did the time fly by so quickly? I'm pretty sad that I no longer have my baby, but now a toddler! I'm looking forward to this next stage in his life, but will miss my little baby boy.

Love Lately {October 11, 2013}

It's that time again...Friday! No, I'm not off this Friday like I was last week, but it's been a pretty great week so far, so I'm in a good mood anyway. And a little fun fact, on this day 13 years ago I started dating my husband in college (definitely just aged myself here). Yes, we may have had a break up in there somewhere, but damn, I cannot believe we've been together this long. How have I has he put up with him me???

Anywho...let's just jump into the things I'm loving this week.

{one}
Birthday festivities. I love the event planning portion of my job and that carries over to my personal life as well. I have loved birthday planning for our little man (see last year's party here) and this year is no exception. After searching the city high and low, we finally settled on having his party at our house. Boring. Maybe. Except you don't understand all the hoopla and surprises I have in store. I would share the theme, but too many people in my life read this little blog and I want it to be a surprise, so for now all you get is his invite. I love how these turned out and best of all? I made them myself! So all I had to do was hit up a printer and get them mailed out.

{two}
Miley Cyrus' Bangerz album. No, I do not love Miley's recent performance on the VMAs or anywhere else for that matter (I think she looks just plain ridiculous), but I am LOVING her new album. Like every single song. I may just take up twerking because I love it so much. Ok, kidding. No one wants to see that, like ever. This white girl can't dance. And to be honest I don't even know what that is.

I also don't know what is up with her tongue being out all the time either. Is this supposed to be hot?

{three}
Cozi calendar. My sister just introduced me to this great app - am I the last to know it existed? Basically it stores our family calendar, shopping lists, important dates, etc, all in one easy to access location. It beats having to email Nick a list of my work schedule and other happenings or worse, take the time to write them all out on a family calendar at home. Instead I add them to our shared calendar and any of us can access it no matter where we are! Plus, no more making a last minute trip to the grocery store and realizing I forgot the list at home, because it's all stored in the app. That way both of us can add items we need and whoever makes the run doesn't forget a thing. Now that is awesome. What are you waiting for - sign up now! You can thank me later. =)

cozi.com

{four}
This guy. I seriously can't get over how much I enjoy every little thing about this nugget. He has quite the personality - case in point, all week he has been telling me, "mama, me and Mook are gonna pick up babes" because that's what his uncle told him at the wedding this past weekend. How seriously cute is that? =)

tee found here

{five}
Family photos. I am a photography nut and love capturing moments in our life, so it should be no surprise that I'm excited for our family pics tomorrow with the extended Manganaro-Gardner clan. However, as is the norm, I haven't finalized what I'm wearing yet...it will obviously be a game-time decision tomorrow morning. Nothing annoys Nick more than waiting around for me while I try on multiple outfits, simultaneously yelling how I have nothing to wear.


And there you have it.  I hope everyone has the most amazing weekend!

The Rule of Three

Some people out there believe this exists. That things - good or bad - come in threes. Deaths, births, you name it. I'm not sure I necessarily buy it, especially based on this bout of BAD luck we've had with our vehicles this past week. Because this shit storm came in fours.

Let me just fill you in.

It all started with Nick's truck. He had a small crack in his bumper (is the front thing even called a bumper? I don't know but you get the picture, right?) for quite some time. Last week when he was pulling into the garage, he ran into the side of the garage with the cracked part of his bumper. Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened next, but if not I will tell ya. He backed up but didn't realize the cracked area was stuck and all but pulled his entire bumper off his truck.  Well, $1,000 (yes that is a one with three zeros) later and his truck is good as new.

Ok, that in itself would've been plenty, I mean $1,000 can buy a lot of shoes, so you can imagine I wasn't too pleased. When we were away this past weekend and our to dinner, we came out to a truck that wouldn't start. Nothing big just seemed like the battery, so my dad jumped it and all was well. However, we mentioned we needed to get a new battery asap or have it checked soon so it wouldn't happen again.

Flash forward to Sunday and we were picking up our puggle from West Point, when Nick mentioned to Duane that his door handle was a bit loose. Between the two of them, they decided Super Glue was the obvious fix, however, when applying the glue, it of course dripped (as it always does) and is now all over the outside of his door. Like on the actual truck. Not sure how you get Super Glue off a truck, but I'm sure we will figure that out soon enough.

The piece de resistance of this whole situation....

On Monday, Cruz and I were getting ready to run errands just as Nick was heading to meet someone and wouldn't you guess it - his truck wouldn't start. Easy fix since my car was next to his in the garage and we had jumper cables handy.

You would think so.

However, jumping a car isn't exactly easy when someone (I won't name names here, but let's just say it wasn't Cruz or myself...) attaches the jumper cables to MY car's fuse box. Yes, not to my battery, but my fuse box. All of the sudden my car shuts off and black smoke is billowing from the front. And it won't start. It didn't even turn over.

This is what happens next....

You are paying for a tow to the dealership and a new fuse box. Lord knows this won't be cheap.

And that, my friends, is how our bad luck came in fours.  Has this happened to anyone else? No? You don't say....

Linking up!