Wisconsin Dells

We had a blast at the water capital of the world, Wisconsin Dells.  We left Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. and returned home Wednesday around 2:30.  It was just the right amount of time too.  Boys slept most of the way to the Dells, which was wonderful! 

We got there and were able to check in right away.  Room was awesome!  A nice sized living room with a couch and queen bed and then a private bedroom with a king bed.  We quickly got the boys dressed in bathing suits, as Austin was talking non stop about the water slides!  Ah, my little fish.  The indoor water park was awesome!  They had a kiddie play area with tons of little water slides and water ranging from 6 inches to 1 1/2 ft, a pool, lazy river, 2 hot tubs and 4 big slides. 

Austin loved the water, loved splashing, kicking his feet and going down the water slides.  John David liked sitting on the edge or in the 6 inch water and splashing his feet.
He didn't want anything to do with the water slides.  I took him down 2 times (the little ones) when we reached the bottom I lifted him up so he wouldn't get splashed too much with water, but he still hated it!  Kevin took Austin up on the big water slide with the tubes.  Austin wanted to go, but was he really going to go down it? 

He sure was, he loved it, and quickly asked to go again!  So this time, I took him!  As we were going down the slide, he was so excited and he would give me the biggest smile that I have ever seen from him!  So stinkin cute!  I can't believe that he went down the big one.  It's like he has no fear!

The indoor theme center they had wasn't really geared for my little guys!  They had a roller coaster, which Austin desperately wanted to go on, but he was too small.  He made sure to show and tell us his disappointment with a good ole tantrum!  We did go on a train ride, I hated it, but he liked it!  John David also went on it and wasn't a big fan but didn't seem to hate it either, Kevin was indifferent as well.

So since that closed at 4, we needed to figure out something to do before dinner, so we took the boys bowling for the first time.  We thought, why not?  It's vacation after all and if it's a complete bust, it's just one game.  So we got all of the shoes and Kevin took Austin to get a bowling ball, Austin came back carrying it!  He's so strong!  They did great, they didn't understand that you don't run into other peoples lanes, and I apologize to the guy that my kids interrupted multiple times.   (I did apologize when we left and he said it wasn't a problem, so that's good, I bet he was glad we were there for just 1 game).  The boys shared the game, Austin would go first and John David second, and they both enjoyed it.  I don't think we'll be going bowling anytime soon, but it's nice to know that if we are looking for something to do, we can take them bowling.

After bowling we went to Buffalo Phil's.  This is the restaurant where they have the choo choo trains come around and bring you your food!  Austin loves choo choo trains so I'm glad we had a chance to go there.  Austin freaked each time the train came by!  He loved it!  He was so excited and we were excited for him!

So all in all great trip!  Our only dislikes were that the pool didn't open up until 10:30.  What are parents with small kids suppose to do from 6:30-10:30 to try to prevent the noise?  Also, a lot of places were closed, like one of the big restaurants we wanted to take the boys for breakfast. I get it, it's a ghost down during the off season, but still would have liked more options.

Boys were exhausted after our fun little vacation! 











They were passed out within 15 minutes of driving home!

Frustrated

Well I thought we dodged the sickies.  John David has been wavering back and forth, but it really just seemed like a bad cold.  With our upcoming trip to the Dells and the fact that he was super cranky and running mild fever at daycare I thought, I had better take him.

We get in there, temp 98.1 but they like to add a degree since it's under the arm, lungs are clear (woot woot), she looks in his right ear and barely looked and said, "ooh, it's infected", left ear, it's infected too!  Boo! 

So we are at 5 or 6 ear infections in the past year.  1 in January, 1 in September, 1 in October, 1 in November which lasted throughout December so that could be number 4 or could be another 1 which would be 5.  I took him 3 times in Nov/Dec and each time he had the infection, so they don't know if it was a new one or if it's the same.  That's why it's important to go a couple weeks after the infection to make sure it's gone.  And then number 5 right now.  He is teetering on being a candidate for tubes.  I had tubes multiple times.  And it's not until now, that I truly know how my parents felt about me having tubes and undergoing surgery.  It's scary!  Yes, I know it's a 15 minute procedure and that it's a common procedure, but nontheless, he would be under.  We are on yet another antibiotic, this is number 4 since November so I have the concern of giving him too many antibiotics and I wonder if he will be come immune to them!  We will be going back in a month, (as long as he makes it a month) to check the ears again and talk further about tubes.  I might make an appointment, in the meatime, with an ENT to have a consult. 

The good news is that we still can hit up the Dells on Monday.  As long as his ear doesn't rupture we are good to go. 

Dodging

So I think we have managed to dodge Croup and Strep.  John David is still super congested and has a cough.  There was some wheezing and a border line temperature over the weekend.  I played nurse all weekend and I'm glad to be at work having a break. (It's weird calling work a break) It's nice not having to suction the nose and do his chest pounds (to break up his congestion) and I'm sure John David appreciates the thermometer being put away (he hates that thing)!  What can I say, maybe I'm too cautious, but it is what it is! 

Austin was up on an off Friday night coughing!  But when he woke up on Saturday he was his usual wild man self.  You wouldn't have even known that he was up til 12:00 a.m.  I was actually pretty rested too, odd, I know.

We didn't do much over the weekend.  I had to cancel a play date on Friday since John David wasn't feeling well, but was able to go to a birthday party on Saturday with Mr. A-Man.  I'm so thankful for my Mother-in-Law as she was able and willing to stay home with J-Man!  It was really good for Austin to get out of the house!  Sunday, I was needing to get out!  When Kevin got home for work, we all went to Target to grocery shop!  I think we all needed to get out, I know I did.  Ha, never thought I would be excited about a trip to Target to grocery shop.

We did plan a 2 night stay next Monday and Tuesday at Mount Olympus in Wisconsin Dells.  The water capital of the world better watch out, because The Artinghelli Clan is coming!  I'm excited about our room, we got a suite like room, so there is a living room with a couch and a bed and then a room so when the boys go to sleep they can be in bedroom!  Which means, Kevin and I don't have to go to bed at 7:00!  Woot woot! 

So the sickies better stay away so we can have fun next week.  I'm anxious to go get my little men and see how they are feeling!

Anxious

I just want to get past the next few days.  For some reason, I'm very anxious!  This time last year, my little little man John David was in the hospital for pneumonia!  He was almost 7 1/2 months at the time.  It was a very hard time, seeing your baby poked and prodded, having x-rays, and numerous breathing treatments all while crying uncontrollably.   Not to mention having to wake up every 2 hours at night so the hospital staff could take vitals.  They are right, you don't go to the hospital to get rest.  So this time last year, we brought John David in since he had cold like symptoms and a fever.  I remember hearing the wheezing when we were waiting for the doctor to come in the room.  She heard it too and that's when he had his first breathing treatment.  We went home with an antibiotic for his first ear infection and much needed rest.  Unfortunately, laying down wasn't easy for him, as he couldn't breathe as well.  Kevin stayed home with him the next day and he was miserable (both Kevin and John David ;-)  I took him back to the doctor, his oxygen level was in the 90's and he had 2 breathing treatments, his breathing was rapid (you could see it in his chest), hospitalization was talked about, they thought he had RSV.  Woke up Saturday morning took one look at him and just new he was going to be hospitalized.  My poor baby!  I have tears just thinking about it a year later.  We took him in, waited in the waiting room as usual, when we went into the room, the nurse told us if he ever looks like that to ask to be seen right away.  :-(  Oxygen level was at 89, 2 breathing treatments later, the doctor sent us over to the hospital.  We left 2 days later, with John David feeling much better!

Fast forward a year later, John David is coughing, has wicked congestion and croup and strep lingering at daycare.  So this is why I'm even more anxious!  Back off Croup and Strep, Stay away from my John David and Austin!

January 14, 2012

I have been slacking!  I can't believe it's been more than 2 weeks since my last post!  I guess, we've just been busy.

Happy New Year!  Kevin and I had a great time ringing in the new year.  We went out with Kathy and Sean and went to a comedy club and ate dinner and saw a comedian.  Afterwards, we went back to their house and played games until the New Year.   Boys were up early, as usual, but we all got naps in!  It was so nice to be able to go out on New Years.  The last few years we stayed in, and while that was nice too, it was equally as nice to get dressed up and go out!

Last weekend was my work holiday party.  We went to the Herrington Inn in Geneva.  What a great night it was.  The theme of the party was casino night.  Work gave us $1000 in play money per employee, and we got to play, black jack, poker, craps or roulette.  We played Craps the whole time, it was my first time playing, and I must say I really enjoyed myself!  It was nice to be able to play, without spending your money.  We had prizes that we could win in an auction, but unfortunately, we didn't win at the auction.  We did win a total of $1800 in play money, so $2800 total with the original $1000, but that wasn't enough!  Oh well, we had a great time.  We even stayed the night, and let me tell you, that the room was beautiful.  The Herrington upgraded me to a river room, I guess one of the perks of being "the host" and the view was amazing.   The room had a fire place, a huge bath tub and heated bathroom floors!  Incredible!  I wish I could have slept in, but I was up at 730!  Just couldn't do it!  I think the boys have ruined my ability to sleep in! 





View from our room in the morning.

 Boys are doing fantastic!  We just had their 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year appointments and they got clean bills of health.  The are big healthy boys!  Austin is 37 pounds and 37 inches and John David is 29 pounds and 33 1/4 inches.  I was so nervous about that appointment because John David hasn't been able to get rid of his ear infections.  He's been on 3 antibiotics in 6 weeks.  He was pulling at this ears up until the appointment, so I was sure the infection was going to still be there, but it wasn't!  I was so nervous, JD was going to need tubes.  I know we aren't in the clear of having tubes, but at least its not the topic of concern at the moment.

I'm so amazed at both Austin and John David.  We were in the car last night and Kevin would say 1, and John David would say 2, then Kevin would say 3 and the John David would say 4!  I expected that to come from Austin!  And Austin is a puzzle wizard!  He can put the alphabet puzzle together no problem and he corresponds the letters with the object that goes with it, A- Apple, M- Map, P Pretzel, X- xylophone, and we gave him a Mickey Mouse puzzle and he was able to do that one too, so impressed with my little A-Man and J-Man!

Kevin made dinner on Wednesday!  Woot woot!  Kevin's mom has a temp job (hoping for it to go permanent) and she started this week, so we are trying to work together to get dinner and Kevin was up for making tacos.  Boy were they delicious!  He's excited about trying more things in the upcoming weeks! 

I'm so close to being done with my weekly allergy shots.  Unfortunately, I had 2 reactions on my left arm, Mold, Dust and Dogs, so we are trying to have 2 allergy meds on days that I have shots.  It worked last time, but I think it threw my back a week!  And I've been having arm pain, numbness and tingly in my left arm for over a week now.  It's not fun!  I think I have 2 shots left so hopefully, the numbness goes away.  Work has been super busy.  We just integrated a new performance management system and I have been training every employee on the new process.  I have given 1 1/2 hour demonstrations every day last week!  I have 1 this week and probably 1-2 next week!  Any public speaking nerves have gone out the window! :-)

I will do my best to update more regularly, after all, I know you all want to know what's up in the Artinghelli household!  It's never a dull moment here, the boys make sure of that!

Christmas Artinghelli Style

Merry Christmas from the Artinghelli's!

All I have to say is the boys are spoiled!  Spoiled with love, clothes and toys! It's crazy, I don't know what I'm going to do with everything.  I feel as if the walls are closing in on us.  Good thing I have the next 4 days off and I can try to get somewhat organized.  Good thing, I removed some of the "old" toys prior to Christmas and good thing I can take the tree and Christmas decorations down this weekend.  That should make more room. Ha, ya, make more room for our "double dare competitions"  This is what I see in the near future.  Up the slide, down the slide, through the tunnels and shoot the basketball in the hoop, who can do it the fastest wins!  Yes, we have all of those toys!  We even have tons of balls to throw and them during the competition.  

We truly have been blessed.  Christmas Eve we spent at home.  We pretended Christmas Eve morning was Mom Artinghelli's traditional Christmas morning. John and Morgan came over in pj's, the boys, Kevin and I came upstairs in our pj's and we opened presents and had Mom's famous pancakes and sausage, yum! Toys were played with, boys napped and then we had a great Lemon Chicken Dinner. After dinner, we went to Kevin's aunts house and had dessert!  Fun times.  

Boys looking out the window for Santa!

We put the boys to bed and finally got the play Santa!  How fun is that!  I feel like I'm part of a new club!  The Santa club.  I don't think it's "real" (being in the club) until the kids somewhat understand Santa or can at least recognize Santa!  We  had the boys sprinkle the reindeer dust so the reindeers knew where to bring Santa and we set up the boys obstacle course, tunnels outside their doors and laid the presents out.  No cookies and milk this year, but definitely next year!  Kevin has already volunteered me to be the milk drinker, too bad I don't like milk.  We'll see what happens next year.

Boys slept til 7!  WOOT WOOT!  I got them all ready to come out of their room.  We had the video recorder all ready to tape the excitement!  I'll have to come back and post that!

Santa set it up so they'd have to go through the tunnel first.

They were very excited!  Didn't want to open all of the presents because they wanted to open and play with the actual toy they unwrapped.  We had to keep telling them, you still have a couple more presents.  So cute!  They were very excited!  And I was equally as excited for them. Nothing like having kids to bring out the excitement in you!  We had breakfast, played with the toys, all had naps and then went to Aunt Karen's house for more fun and excitement. 

Just a little messy!

And then on Tuesday, we went over to my dad's (grandpa's) house to celebrate one last time!  Santa came there too!  All I can say is it as been a hectic and wonderful Christmas!  We are truly lucky to have so much love in our lives.

So I am looking forward to the next 4 days, 4 days off, 4 days to organize and relax (well relax as much as you can with 2 toddlers, wait, 2 boy toddlers ;-))

Thanks everyone for making our 2011 Christmas wonderful!

Christmas Fun

We are in the Christmas spirit at the Artinghelli household. The tree is up, decorations are out and the boys saw Santa.  We had our annual Christmas party at Brookfield Zoo this year for their Breakfast with Santa event.  Breakfast was good and seeing Santa was a blast.  I predicted that John David was going to freak, as he is having a lot of stranger anxiety.  I thought Austin was going to love seeing Santa!    Kevin was in agreement with my prediction.

Here is a picture of us waiting in line for Santa. As you can see John David was holding the stick that light up.  He was having a blast.

All is good at this point.  They did pretty well in line, only getting out a couple of times but staying within 5 feet of us.  We go into to see Santa.  As predicted, Austin was super excited and very curious.  He went on Santas lap and was happy as a clam.  John David was unsure, but did not freak.  We sat him on Mrs. Claus lap and he was still unsure, but no tears.  We quickly snapped as many pictures as we could and I tried to get them to smile or laugh.  This is what I came up with.

As you can see, John David isn't happy but he's not crying, so that's a win.  Austin is in the middle of talking.  So, I didn't get my cute smiling picture with Santa, but at least I did get a picture.  The one the zoo took, turned out to be the best and we have that one framed at the house.

We did Christmas Crafts over the weekend with Morgan.  We took foot prints and created a tree and we took hand prints and created a reindeer.  Boys loved doing the crafts, we had lots of smiles and giggles.  And I loved it because I have momento's of the boys hand and foot prints.





Austin's feet



John David's feet

Austin's hand

John David's hand

We also took Austin to see his first movie over the weekend, we saw Arthur Christmas.  Austin did great!  He sat in his chair, stood and even sat on my lap.  He enjoyed the popcorn!  I don't think he understood the movie, but that's okay.  I'm sure there will be more movies in our future.

We are just over a week to Christmas!  We are definitely looking forward to seeing the boys open their presents from Santa, afterall for the most part they have been very well behaved and on Santa's nice list!