Wednesday, March 28, 2012

I'm Excited!

ok readers or possible non-existent readers! I've got some exciting news for you and myself! In the next week or two I'm going to be starting my first reviews and possible giveaways which is great for you and me! I will keep you posted when i find out for sure and Just keep a look out for up coming reviews and (hopeful) giveaways!!

-Sarah

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A long 2 weeks

     Oh it's been a long week or two (they've sort of just ran together). My youngest started getting sick on saturday the 18th and by Sunday we were in the ER and she was being admitted with RSV, no fun! She ended up staying for a week , scared me to death, and my other two children were just confused. We luckily had great nurses and hospital staff which was wonderful and made a horrible experince alittle better we've had nurses and staff before that have treated us like we are a horrid problem for them ( I've been in the hospital several times with my oldest he was a preemie and we were in the hospital several several times for extended stays through out his first couple of years of life). We finally got home but the fun wasnt over yet my poor baby (17months) had to stay on oxygen everytime she slept and she just wasnt her normal playful self. And on top of all of that we had to go to the Dr office every day for oxygen checks and chest xrays (oh and she developed and ear infection the last day in the hospital). So we finally got her off the oxygen and she is slowly turning back into her normal self!

     RSV is a very scary thing we were lucky that it wasn't worse for her, my 5year old was a preemie and stopped breathing in the middle of the night i rushed him to the ER doing all i could to keep him breathing he ended up life flighted and in an induced coma at a children's hospital for 3 months with RSV when he was 4 months old. His was awful he had chest tubes and all kinds of things i care not to ever think of again. So I've decided to post so RSV warning signs and general information for readers(if there are any lol) just so you can catch RSV before it gets serious and watch for signs to tell your DR ( and if you have any doubt has your DR give an RSV test its simple swap or suction of nose gunk they test, i had my preemie at the DRs office the morning of the night that he stopped breathing and i was just told by the DR that i was young and worried which i knew there was something wrong and just scheduled an appointment with another dr but we never made it to the appointment because he ended up terrifying me that night so demand the test if necessary you know your child better than a DR and you are your doctor's employer they arent in charge it took me a while to learn that but finally did)


so here are some warning signs/symptoms of RSV:

Symptoms vary and differ with age. They usually appear 4 - 6 days after coming in contact with the virus.
Older children usually have only mild, cold-like symptoms, such as cough, stuffy nose, or low-grade fever.
Infants under age 1 may have more severe symptoms and often have the most trouble breathing.

  • Bluish skin color due to a lack of oxygen

  • Breathing difficulty or labored breathing

  • cough

  • Croupy cough (often described as a "seal bark" cough)

  • Fever

  • Nasal flaring

  • Rapid breathing (tachypnea)

  • Shortness of breath

  • Stuffy nose

  • Wheezing


  • And here is a basic run down of what RSV is:

    Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a very common virus that leads to mild, cold-like symptoms in adults and older healthy children. It can be more serious in young babies, especially to those in certain high-risk groups

    Causes:

    RSV is the most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. Most infants have had this infection by age 2. Outbreaks of RSV infections most often begin in the fall and run into the spring.
    The infection can occur in people of all ages. The virus spreads through tiny droplets that go into the air when a sick person blows their nose, coughs, or sneezes.
    You can catch RSV if:
    • A person with RSV sneezes, coughs, or blows their nose near you
    • You touch, kiss, or shake hands with someone who is infected by the virus
    • You touch your nose, eyes, or mouth after you have touched something contamined by the virus, such as a toy or doorknob.
    RSV often spreads very rapidly in crowded households and day care centers. The virus can live for a half an hour or more on hands. The virus can also live for up to 5 hours on countertops and for several hours on used tissues.
    The following increase the risk for RSV:
    • Attending day care
    • Being near tobacco smoke
    • Having school-aged brothers or sisters
    • Living in crowded conditions


    RSV is the most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. Most infants have had this infection by age 2. Outbreaks of RSV infections most often begin in the fall and run into the spring.
    The infection can occur in people of all ages. The virus spreads through tiny droplets that go into the air when a sick person blows their nose, coughs, or sneezes.
    You can catch RSV if:
    • A person with RSV sneezes, coughs, or blows their nose near you
    • You touch, kiss, or shake hands with someone who is infected by the virus
    • You touch your nose, eyes, or mouth after you have touched something contamined by the virus, such as a toy or doorknob.
    RSV often spreads very rapidly in crowded households and day care centers. The virus can live for a half an hour or more on hands. The virus can also live for up to 5 hours on countertops and for several hours on used tissues.
    The following increase the risk for RSV:
    • Attending day care
    • Being near tobacco smoke
    • Having school-aged brothers or sisters
    • Living in crowded conditions


    So I hope that some of this information helps you watch or recoginze the signs of RSV so that you can catch it early so it wont be so serious! And I am so glad that we are finally out of th hospital and home!

    So do any of you guys have any tips for baby sickness in general or RSV feel free to leave your tips in the comments!!

    -sarah

    Saturday, March 17, 2012

    St. Patties Day part 2!

    I stayed up until 1 or so making the leprechaun visit look as real as possible! It was about 7:00 am and I was woken up by a little boy telling me we have to go check the trap and that the leprechaun had trapped him in his room! Once I was up they ran all over the house discovering what that pesky little leprechaun had done

    this is how they were "trapped" in their rooms (ignore the laundry)
    and over the stairs
    and that pesky leprechaun made a huge mess of our living room
    he left a trail of gold dust to their little treats (green cups filled with green socks skittles a gold coin a gold glowstick and green gum and green Scooby Doo bubble bath)
    and our milk was green and the leprechaun made green koolaid

    the leprechaun forgot his coat (felt cut and sewn)
    he turnned our water green(that's just food coloring on bottom all i had was the gel kind but by morning it was all dissovled)

     




    enjoying their Lucky Charms and green milk! planning a green lunch and possible dinner too!
    (i dont know what's up with some of these pictures just lean sideways lol)

    How do you and your family celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

    -Sarah

    Friday, March 16, 2012

    First Post! Getting Ready for St. Patties Day!

    So this is my first post and I'm just going to jump into it lol. I have 3 kiddos 1 boy (age 5) and 2 girls (ages 4 and 17months) so of course I love to run with their imaginations especially around holidays, and when my 4 yr old told me she wanted to trap a Leprechaun I just knew i had to make it real for them! We have never celebrated St. patrick's day before other than the typical wear green but this year we are! So far we built a Leprechaun trap

    Here is our finished product wish i would have taken step by step pics but it was simple old box covered in tissue paper and the rest is construction paper

    and here is my 4 yr old plotting with her trap!(she also plans to catch bigfoot too)

    we had to put a trap door and they plan on putting "gold coins" to make him go on the trap! We also made green cupcakes with festive topping of course and i just used white boxed cake mix (I'm not going all martha stewart on you in this post my local store had it on sale for .58 cents so couldnt pass it up i just added green food coloring to the batter and then to the frosting ..

    they dont look green (maybe the flash) but they are green

    and the frosting

    my kitchen taste tester/helper

     and the finished product we topped them with green sugar sprinkles and a few with Lucky Charms!

    I have several more tricks up my sleeve to make it look like we had a little Leprechaun visitor while they were sleeping so stay tuned for the next post!

    -Sarah