New Allergy Doctor

About a year ago, we took Karsten to the asthma and allergy practice that I've been going to since I was in elementary school.  I was disappointed that my longtime doctor was retiring and Karsten would not be able to see him. After trying two doctors and not being 100% satisfied in how Karsten was responding to their treatments, I decided to take the recommendation of my coworkers and try a different allergy and asthma doctor.

After listening to all of our concerns and descriptions, the doctor said that he thought the cough that Karsten couldn't shake was caused by reflux.  He wanted to try him on a reflux med for a few weeks and see how he did.  He also switched his inhaler to one that he feels is more effective.

The doctor did a skin prick test on his back and determined that we could stop the OTC allergy med we had been giving him because he wasn't extremely allergic to any items.  He showed a moderate allergy to mold.  Karsten HATED the skin prick test - I don't blame him, I remember being miserable when I had it done long long ago.

I appreciated that he listened so carefully to our descriptions and hopefully help Karsten be much more healthy!  We come back in two weeks to check in on the progress!


Karsten was happy that he got to choose a toy from the treasure chest on his way out.  He found this plastic snake and had a great time playing with it on the way home.  He put it on his nose and I had a flashback to a similar pic I had taken many years ago of a friend with a plastic snake on his nose.  So, I handed Karsten my phone and taught him how to take a selfie so I could send a pic to Travis.  Karsten took around 30 pictures; however, there were some good ones!

Hibernation is over!

We're officially done with winter - not so sure if the weather is going to cooperate with that, but our family is done.  Done, done, done.  My only request would be if we could have spring weather without any of the bugs.

Busy Saturday

Since Spring is around the corner, we've started to think about what we're going to plant in our garden this year.  When Jenn told me about a local growers market where they would have starter plants, we decided to check it out.  We ended up getting kale and a tomato plant - they should be hearty enough to make it to the warmer weather.

We ran into Jenn and her kids as we were headed into the market - as soon as Eden saw Karsten, she excitedly told him that they had yummy cookies inside.  Luckily, the cookies were at the end so we were able to get some on the way out. Eden was right, the cookies were quite tasty.


 

After the market, we went to look at cars.  Scott's car has been finicky lately and was starting to get unreliable.  We have little patience for car issues, so we decided to sell it while it still had a good trade value (and wasn't having issues). My parents were going to watch the boys, but my mom wasn't feeling well, so we took them along with us.


I went to the car dealership during lunch the day before to drive one of the cars we were interested in, so when we came back on Saturday, Scott went to drive the car while the boys and I waited in the waiting room.


They did awesome - buying a car is not a quick process and they were very patient.  Just around the time I was losing patience with the car salesman, Liam had a dirty diaper and Karsten was whining a lot about waiting more candy from the dish on the salesman's desk.  Since the salesman's price on the car was going UP rather than down (he said the sales manager made a mistake), I told him we were leaving.


After some lunch for everyone and margaritas for Scott and I, we were all in a much better mood.  We had planned to head home and give up on the car search for the day when I got an email from another dealership telling me he thought they could get to the price I wanted and if he didn't he would give us a tank of gas for the drive up there.  So, we loaded up and off we went.


Another car dealership, another game on the iPad.  Thank goodness for technology!


Good news - this dealer was able to get to the price and trade in values I wanted, so we had a deal.  While we were waiting on a few details, one of the other salemen gave us a basketball for the boys.  Apparently they had a bunch left over from a recent promotion - lucky us!  He handed it to Karsten and Karsten says 'what does that one (pointing to Liam) get?'  Scott and I quickly said 'no silly, that's for all of us to share, tell him thank you!'

The basketball was great - we had made it through all of the games, coloring, cars and trains that I had brought. We played inside for a bit, then headed out into an empty area to play.


We lucked out and it was a beautiful day outside, perfect for bouncing the basketball in an open area.  It helped pass the time and burn off some of their pent up energy!  The paperwork for car buying just takes so darn long!


Finally, we were done and ready to head home.  Karsten was still enjoying his basketball while Liam was worn out and immediately fell asleep.


Car buying is hard work!

Imagination

It's entertaining to see the games that the boys come up with together.  Lately, the pillows on the sofa have been part of their playing - they'll pile on top of them, use them to make a fort, 'sleep' on them and occasionally they will hit each other with them.

Karsten built this 'bridge' and told Liam he was going to sleep.  Liam said 'o tay' and went over to get his blanket to cover Karsten up.  What else would you do when someone goes to sleep?


Shortly after this, I walked away for a few minutes then heard crying. I came back over and asked what had happened.
Karsten says (through tears): Liam sat on my face! 
Lisa: Liam, that's not nice, what should you say to Karsten? 
Liam: I no no??? (holding up his hands)
Lisa (stifling laugh): Liam, tell Karsten you're sorry and give him a hug.
Liam (in pseudo-sad voice): sorry (said like charwey) yaya.

Whew, all is right with the world again...for a few minutes at least.

Shark Hair

Scott was at a meeting tonight, so I was doing bathtime with the boys.  Usually bathime is Scott's job, and Karsten always reminds me that I don't do it right. I finally figured out how to make him temporarily forget about how Daddy does it.

Shark hair.

At first he didn't know what I was talking about, then I spiked their hair and we pretended they were sharks.  Then, it was fun to watch them pretend that they were sharks.  Pretty adorable!

Wordless Wednesday - Sock Gloves

Ms Pa

Ms Paula has been Liam's speech therapist for almost a year now.  She comes to visit us every other week and the boys look forward to seeing her!  Liam's speech has grown so much since she started to work with him - it's exciting to hear the progress.

He's combining words and sounds (that appoximate words) each week.  He's had phrases like 'night night daddy/mommy' for a while, but now he'll say things like 'Bye Bye Home. Back".   He says this every morning.  He also uses sounds to approximate words that he doesn't yet know.  For example, yesterday he said 'Mommy vroom vroom kayy kayyy'.  Using my Liam decoding skills, I know that he said Mommy's car is dirty.  Our goal for the next few months is to get words attached to many of these sounds so the rest of you can understand him.

Watching for 'Pa' (aka Ms. Paula) to come for a visit.


Ms. Paula is so nice and spends time talking to Karsten each time she visits.  He always has something to tell her about or show her - she's always interested and patient, even when she's in the middle of talking to Liam.  After her first visit, Karsten asked when Ms Paula was going to teach Liam to talk - we're getting there!   We're lucky to have her helping Liam!

The Chicken Dance

My mom got the boys this musical chicken last year, and as soon as I unpacked the Easter decorations, Karsten had grabbed it and turned it on.
 
Let the dance party begin!


How long is it until Easter?  I think we may get tired of the chicken dance, but when it comes with these giggles, how can complain?


I'm not sure what made Liam laugh harder, the chicken or Karsten's dancing.




We'll have the chicken dance mastered by....Friday.  :)

Brotherly Love

We were wrapping up lunch and both Scott and I had gotten up from the table to clear some dishes and get the fruit. As soon as Scott got up, Karsten hopped into his chair, pulled it over next to Liam so he could 'keep him company' while he finished eating.  I snuck over and grabbed my camera so I could capture them chatting before they noticed me.



Then they saw me!  Look, both of them are smiling in the same picture!


Aww, they're so sweet to each other.

Walks

Turns out the spring weather was only here for a visit and cooler temps have returned.  It's still warm ennough for us to get a quick walk in after dinner.  The boys love going for walks and we love having them run off some of this extra energy!  It's good for all of us, win -win!

Rocks

It was a beautiful afternoon and the boys wanted to play outside, so I followed along with my camera, hoping to get a few good pictures of them.

I am super bummed that this picture of Liam is blurry - someday I'll get all of the settings right on my camera when it's in manual mode.  GRRR!


Liam doesn't have as much of concern with getting dirty as Karsten did as his age.  Some things will bother him - paint, sticky things; however, he doesn't mind playing in dirt!  He was having fun picking it up and letting it run through his hands.  


Showing Karsten where he wanted him to play.


Spiderman in the making.  These rocks are so much fun for the boys but so scary for me.


Try as I may, Karsten would not look at the camera.


He would look everywhere except the camera.


He would talk to me, but just not look at me.


Then he was off and running again!


The small rocks in our landscaping are also equally entertaining!


Liam found a daddy rock and a baby rock - here the baby rock was talking to the daddy.


I love these eyelashes.


Then he decided to put all of the rocks IN his shirt.


Yep, there's a rock or two in there.




We think he tried to do this because Karsten would use his shirt like a basket and carry rocks that way.  This may have been Liam's interpretation of how that worked.


Searching for the perfect little rock to add to their collections.


All the rocks were carefully counted and placed in the appropriate spot.


Playing with their rocks.