finally some answers

we finally found out today, after lots of calls, waiting and internet research, that miles and i have a case of thrush. my symptoms started pretty soon after our colorado trip at the beginning of january...which also coincided with miles taking steroids for the case of croup he caught from ethan. he didn't show any of the tell tale signs though, so it took a while to diagnose it. i went up to the hospital ob floor to get some help on friday after waiting almost a whole week for the lactation consultant at the hospital to get back to me. turns out she was out sick. but there was another nurse who diagnosed me and was able to call miles' pediatrician and get a prescription called in. we are using gentian violet, which isn't too much fun because it is purple and stains like crazy, as part of our treatment. i am supposed to follow up on monday and if i don't have improvement she may prescribe me something different. so far i haven't noticed a huge change, but i didn't actually start the gentian violet until saturday, so we'll see how i am on monday afternoon. apparently thrush is really hard to get rid of (so easy for the mom and baby to keep passing it back and forth) and it has been a busy weekend of sterilizing bottles, pacifiers and just about anything that miles has touched with his mouth. hopefully we'll be cleared up soon and we can go on our merry way! the picture above is my cute little guy with his purple mouth! luckily the purple wears off after about 1 hour so he doesn't look like this all day.

oklahoma snow day

we had some wintry weather this week. while i loved how pretty the ice looked on the trees, i did not enjoy having to drive in it! i had my architecture exam on thursday morning and had planned to drive up on wednesday night and stay in a hotel near the testing center, unfortunately the weather had other plans for us. lynn and donna ended up watching the boys and lance drove me up. i thought it was overkill, but after we got out on the roads, i was so glad lance was there! the interstate was really icy and there turned out to be an accident that caused a huge traffic jam. luckily lance found a back road that was actually clearer than 35 and we ended up passing all of the traffic. oklahoma city was much better to drive in since it was mostly snow and not all of the ice. so, once again, lance was able to take me to my test. he's only missed driving me to one out of all of the times i have gone. it always helped me relax on the 1.5 hour drive up and we usually get to have a yummy dinner on the way back down.

the dallas children's museum

miles, ethan and i spent a couple hours at the dallas children's museum with some friends from my mom board. we had a great time! we were a little late (go figure!) but we made it. it is about a 2 hour drive, but it was worth it. the children's museum is inside the museum of nature and science at fair park. there were so many fun exhibits and ethan was on the move the entire time we were there. there was a fire truck, complete with dress-up gear, a room full of legos, puzzles, mirrors and other sorts of gadgets, the water room (this was the hit of the museum for sure!), a farm set-up, a sand table, a bug and fish room, a hot air balloon, a play house with a kitchen and some kid size computers and a gymboree-type area with mats to tumble on. so much fun! i've already told lance we'll be going back soon. i want him to see ethan in action. i am also looking forward to when we can take miles and he can participate more. trying to wheel the monster double stroller around (bad idea - i'll have to bring a carrier for miles next time) and keep track of ethan was more than enough for me, so unfortunately i didn't get too many photos, but there are a few good ones.

miles enjoying the museum (he isn't holding his bottle yet, he just likes to grab it)

little scientist at the microscope

he LOVED the water table! he even tried to drink the water straight from the table...i wish i had gotten a picture of him doing that!

favorite things

one of my favorite parts of the day is when miles wakes up from his mid-morning nap. as long as he has slept the right amount of time, which for him is somewhere between 2-3 hours, he wakes up in a happy mood. he takes naps in our bed, so after he wakes up, i climb in there and nurse him. it is so relaxing! when he is done eating we just snuggle and talk. he usually wakes before ethan, so i love having that alone time with him. lance took some pictures of us today after his nap - so sweet!

las vegas!

lance and i spent the better part of last week in las vegas for the international builders show. we went to it last year in orlando and it was a great experience so we decided to go again this year. there are so many new products out there to learn about and we each took several classes that i think are going to help us out a lot on some of our new developments. of course, just like last year, my favorite part of the show are the appliance exhibits...also a favorite is the kohler exhibit. they have the most amazing and innovative bathtubs and bathroom fixtures! i can only dream that i will one day have some stuff as nice as that. i love appliances in general, but they are also the place for all the free food! and good stuff too - they invite all these guest chefs in to demostrate the stoves and ovens. delicious! and i learned this year (while standing in the longest starbucks line EVER!) that the sears exhibit bakes fresh chocolate chip cookies everyday. how did i not know that?!? anyway, we had a great time and came back to oklahoma loaded down with lots of fun ideas to try out.

we didn't take ethan and miles, it would have just been too hard with the long days, though i did see several people with strollers and bjorns walking around. i can't even imagine! i did miss the boys so much and missed miles even more since i had to constantly pump on the trip. grrrr...it is a lot of work and i don't know how exclusively pumping moms do it! the las vegas convention center obviously isn't meant for a pumping mom. we had brought the car adapter so i could just pump there, but our little rental wasn't up to carrying the load of it and we somehow flipped a breaker the first day. i searched for good bathrooms to pump in and found only one with a plug close enough to a stall that i could pump in private...but unfortunately it was about a 20 minute walk from there to the car and i didn't want to keep the pump with me all day so i ended up pumping in the bathroom near the parking lot. fun times since the only outlet was by the sink. i am sure most of the women knew what was going on, but there were definitely some surprised faces. at first i was really self conscious, but as the trip wore on i just decided i didn't really care. i was glad to get home and take a break from the pump. lynn and donna watched the boys for us and loved doing it - we are so lucky to have family nearby to help out - but they were definitely ready to give them back to us on friday night!

most of our days were taken up with the convention, but we did get to go out to dinner two of the nights we were out there so that was a lot of fun. we tried out the italian restaurant at the bellagio - good, but maybe too fancy for us, though the desserts were amazing! we also got invited to a vendor party at a mexican place in the pallazo. lance was so excited since it meant a free meal (and open bar!) he's already thinking of who he can ask for free meals next year. i wished we had had more of a chance to walk around vegas. it is just such an amazing city. there is constant construction going on and so much had changed since we had been there last. crazy stuff. we didn't really take too many pictures, but i thought this was a fitting one to end my post with. me and my constant companion (in case you can't tell...this is my medela pump - i think i spent more time with it than i did with lance!)

too much cuteness!!

it was a really cold (for southern oklahoma, at least!) last week, so i finally got to bundle miles up in this absolutely adorable little hanna anderson outfit i had bought for him. i actually got it for our ski trip, but i never put him in it. i was glad to get some use out of it before he grew out of it! i wish i had a full body picture because he really looked like a puffy starfish with his arms and legs sticking out...i might have to just dress him up in it again for photos, even if it doesn't get cold enough to wear it.

first tooth, i think!

i've never been the best at figuring out when teeth are coming through. it seems like i chalk everything up to teething - its the easiest thing to do and it makes whatever you are going through feel temporary. usually i knew ethan had a tooth coming in the obvious way, you saw the white popping through. miles has been more crabby, drooly and a worse-sleeping baby than usual so i have been running my fingers in his mouth to check pretty often. sure enough, it *looks* like there is a hint of white popping through on the bottom. i am crossing my fingers that once this tooth makes its way in we'll have a sleeping baby, at least until the next tooth arrives. i am off to take my last gummy smiles pics of the little guy. as cute as the teeth are, you just can't replace those toothless grins.