Zachary is sick AGAIN

Zachary is sick again. Yesterday when he came home I noticed he had very dark circles under his eyes. Then when he and Caleb were running around and when came over to give me a hug I could hear he was wheezing. I had him sit with me for awhile to do his homework, and even after sitting for 20 minutes he was still wheezing. I called the Dr and got him in at 6. I was so happy they have after hours, and we were new patients too. I thought for sure I'd have to take him to the Urgent Care. The Dr is only a 8 min drive away! Zachary didn't understand why he was going to the Dr because he said he felt fine.

She took one look at him and could tell he was a sick little boy. He was only getting 94% oxygen. That was why he had 'black' eyes.She diagnosed him with asthma. My younger brother has it too. She gave us prescriptions. 5 of them I had to have filled. It cost $108 instead of $447. Thank God for insurance. We happened to have a breathing machine because when Zachary was 1 the Dr said he had asthma, but since it immediately turned into pneumonia, we didn't think it was asthma. So at 9:00 last night I pulled it out of the box, and sterilized it. Poor kid was practically asleep. But after one treatment, he stopped wheezing. He went right to sleep, and I checked on him quite a few times during the night, he never started wheezing again! Yeah! I gave him a treatment this morning and his color in his eyes looks almost normal. A tad bit dark but nothing like yesterday. He also has a swollen septum on his right nostril. So we have nose spray for him. He rubs his nose so much that he has a little crease right in the middle. It doesn't drip, so we never really thought much about it. But the Dr thinks he has had that for quite awhile since he had the crease. When I asked Zachary about his nose, he said he just thought he had more boogers on that side.

Poor kid! She gave us a new prescription for eczema. It is a topical oil. You wet the skin then put a drop on your fingers and rub it into the bad areas. It does not have steroids. Its called Derma-Smooth. She also gave us Hydroxyzine for his itchiness at night. It is a prescription strength version of Benadryl. Now as you know, I rarely have ever given my kids meds. (children's med recall anyone?) I don't give them antibiotics unless they absolutely need it. (ear infections clear up on their own, they just need Motrin for the pain) Zachary took antibotics once and developed a rash all over his body. That was the last time. I went ahead and filled that prescription, tho since we are going to AZ and I am afraid he will flair up again. I don't want him to be miserable at night. In AZ he used to scratch all night long in his sleep, and rarely got a true good nights sleep. At least his eczema is better here. He is still dry and itchy, but he doesn't have the red inflammed burning areas. Or the cracked skin. I'm looking at changing his diet to see if it is actually a food allergy that may be causing the asthma and eczema.

My poor little guy! :(

Tree Decorating

We had a great turkey dinner and TONS of leftovers. But they are all gone now. Well, unless you count the casseroles I made up and stuck in the freezer. I will give it a week or two, since I think we've had enough of Turkey! The stuffing turned out great! Even I liked it! So I think that is my from now on recipe! Yummy! Here are some pics of the boys decorating the tree. This is the first year that Christina didn't help. She went to friends instead. :( I'm sure I was that way at her age too. The boys had fun decorating.

Here are some other decorations throughout our house. No Chimney, so stockings get hung in the foyer.

I think Caleb is going to be a chef. lol Here he is how he is 'cooking' his soup. I'm glad the knobs to turn the stove on are up high. Zachary and Caleb love to have me blow bubbles for them. Gymboree bubbles are the best there is! Here Caleb is catching them on his fingers, and Zachary is popping them. Mike is working in Miami again today. To bad there is school, or we'd be there with him. Zachary got his report card. He is having a hard time for some reason in school this year. He doesnt like to go, and is struggling with reading. Math comes pretty easy for him. So he is OK there. But he really has trouble with alot of words, even the easy ones. Its kind of funny to me, because Christina didnt learn to read at his level until she was in 2nd or 3rd grade. (she struggled too) but here they say he is behind in his reading. He has only been in 1st grade for 3 months! I thought he was doing OK. But according to his teacher he is behind where they expect Florida students to be at this time. Makes me wonder exactly how BAD is Arizona schools? I know the Dysart district wasnt the best, but he did so well last year, right where he was supposed to be. What other 5 year old can say the ABC's backwards, and fast too? The reason we chose to live in this area was because all of the schools in the Seminole County District are A+ schools. They must have much higher standards than Az. That will be good in the long run. But is a pain right now.

No Turkeys

I hope everyone had a great Turkey day and dinner! Today we went grocery shopping, and there were NO turkeys. Yep. None. All they had was frozen turkey breast. Not exactly the meal I was planning on. Soooo... Sent Mikey and the boys to a different grocery across the street to see if they had fresh turkeys. Or frozen. But at least a whole turkey. They had 2. 2 at 20 pounds. We have 4. 4 people to eat a 20 pound turkey. HMMmmmm. Ok, so "how much" I asked. $15. for 20 pounds. The store I was at was $15 for one turkey BREAST. Might as well get the big one. So now I am in the process of getting a 20 pound turkey ready instead of an 8 pound one, for tomorrow. I guess the biggest difference is in the cooking time. Instead of 3 hours now its closer to 5. I do not stuff. In fact, I wasn't going to do stuffing at all, but Mikey said he LOVES stuffing. Sooo, homemade stuffing it is. I cant stand box stuffing, so I got several whole wheat french bread loafs (bread maker anyone?), chicken apple sausage, sage, apples and parsnips, and I will make my own. Especially since I will have a ton of turkey stock thanks to that 20 pounder. I should like my own stuffing. hmm. we'll see. Christina comes home tonight! Yeah! I know she loves being home (*Phx that is) but we really miss her not being around here. Caleb keeps asking "when is Nene going to be home?" Sorry Christina, I know you want to stay in Phx, but we NEED you here. Its just not the same without you. Sorry there are no pics today. Tomorrow while we hang Christmas decos and cook, I will take some pics. I even bought stuff to make cookies tomorrow. I miss being at Grammas today. It just isn't the same...... Only 3 1/2 weeks till we get to go home and see everyone. We can not wait!