A Bit Under the Weather

This past week Andrew has had some health challenges. He had a bit of a cough and a runny nose so we got him checked at the pediatrician and discovered he had a touch of bronchitis. The doctor perscribed an antibiotic and we've been doctoring this past week. It's been a rough week for both Andrew and I since he has been waking up 3-4 times in the middle of the night coughing or with gas pains. Either of us has not had much sleep because of it. Last Tuesday when we got home from the doctors office, I was feeling nausious for about a day and a half and ended up vomiting up my lunch and dinner. Those 2 days were even rougher taking care of Andrew in the middle of the night. I'm not sure as to whether I had a stomach virus or something else.



The evening that I was feeling nausious, Robert and Andrew were in the office while I was cleaning up from dinner. When I finished in the kitchen I went into the office to see what was going on and discovered Andrew in a pile of old mail that covered the office floor. Robert let him practically turn the trash can upside down and play in the paper mess, while Robert was doing the bills. I took one look and said, "Oh Andrew". Mama feeling the way I did barely had the energy to deal with the mess so I sat on the floor with Andrew and taught him how to clean up his mess. Each time Andrew placed a piece of paper in the trashcan Robert and I cheered. Andrew thought it was the funniest thing and started cheering along with us, except his cheers were the loudest and longest of all. He would let out this squeal of a cheer and clench his fists together and grit his teeth as he was squealing or cheering after each time he threw away a piece of trash. It was the funniest thing.



This Tuesday, we had a follow up visit to the pediatrician, which said that he is doing better and his bronchitis has just about cleared up. The pediatrician went over the report and lab work that was sent to him from Children's Hospital and said that his titers from his vaccinations look good so we don't have to redo them and all of the bloodwork came out as a healthy as could be. The only issue he discovered were the positive reading from his stool samples for giardia, which are parasites in his stool/intestines due to drinking the water in Ukraine. He asked me if Andrew has had any vomiting, diahrea or stomach pains or nausia. I told him that he has had diahrea over the last day and has had some stomach pains (which I thought was gas pains). He then gave me a perscription for flagyl for Andrew to kill the parasites and said for both Robert and I to get checked from our family doctor for giardia. Even though we didn't drink the water while we were in Ukraine we could have gotten it from Andrew by sharing food and the same drinking glasses etc. Just when I thought the stool samples were over. Now that I think of it, maybe that is why I was vomiting and felt nausious last week.



Here Daddy, give Sasha a kiss. 




Last Saturday, Andrew was invited to his first birthday party for his cousin, Maria Clare at the Build-a-Bear store in the mall. He made his first teddy bear and Daddy named it Sasha (a common Ukrainian name). When we got home that day Andrew played with the bear for a while but played with the box the bear came in for the rest of the evening. He was dragging the box around the house with him the whole night. I was about to put the box on the back porch for trash and when I went out on the porch later with Andrew to chat with my mom on the porch Andrew took the build-a-bear box and played with it all night.



This past week, when I put Andrew in his crib for the evening I usually lightly rub his chest to relax him before he falls asleep, however, this week he has been taking my hand off of his chest and holding my hand until he falls asleep. So precious. Another precious thing he will do, when I have him in the shopping cart the past couple of days getting groceries and his medication, Andrew will take my hand and place it against the side of his face and then lay his head on my hand for me to hold his head and then he will smile at me when he is doing it. He the same thing when I was cooking dinner one night, he would whine to get my attention and I would bend down to see what was up with him and he would take my hand and place it against the side of his face and lay his head on it and smile at me. Such a cutie. Be still my heart. Such a precious little boy God has blessed us with.



This past Thursday was my birthday and I was so excited when Andrew gave me my first Mom present a necklace with a little boy charm on it with Andrew's birth stone in it. My eyes filled with tears of joy to receive my first "Mommy" kind of present from Andrew. Last Saturday, my mom, brother and sister came over to celebrate my birthday. The funniest part of the evening was when Andrew was sitting on my mom's lap while she was sitting on the floor and I was sitting about 5 feet away from them on the floor facing them. Andrew would point to me and I would slowly point to him back and make a noise as I pointed to him. He started giggling when he saw me react to him. So he would point to me again and then I would quickly point to him and make a louder sound and he was belly laughing like you wouldn't believe. He had the everyone laughing at him. Of course we played that game for about 15-20 minutes and I was able to get some of it on video. Andrew is quite the entertainer.