Phipp's Conservatory

The following pictures courtesy of Jason's Mom and Sister

They had an exhibit where visitors control the fountain sprays and lights. Oh man, we three had a blast making the fountain work.

Grandma amazed by one of the Chihuly Glass sculpture exhibits

Last week we went to Phipp's Conservatory with Grandma Kelly and Aunt Panda. Of course, us adults loved it and Vinnie really dug it too. Luca, well he was just along for the ride.

Update

MIGRAINES
It's 2:25 a.m. and I'm up with yet another migraine. They are back and they are back with a vengeance. In fact, last week I had a terrible migraine that lasted for several days. It was so bad I initially thought I had the stomach flu because I was getting physically "ill" all day. Thank goodness, Jason's Mom and Sister came down to help out with the kiddos.

These headaches are far more sinister than any I've had before. When they get really bad I have to give in and take a Vicodin which used to work superbly and now is just barely dulling the pain.

On Friday I went to see a neurologist who put me back on my old migraine med that I had to go off of during pregnancy. Though they say it's safe to take while breastfeeding, I'm not thrilled with the idea. But at this point I have little choice. I can't function as a Mom (or as a human being) with these headaches coming as frequently and intensely as they are. The neurologist, a old school cranky old man, asserted that I should stop nursing since that could be agitating my migraines. I pushed back and told him I wanted to keep nursing. But as I'm sitting here in the middle of the night with my head throbbing I'm thinking maybe it's time to give it up. We shall see. Maybe I'll give it a few more days...

VINNIE
Enough on the brain pain stuff. Vinnie is fully recovered from his bout with pneumonia and asthma and ear infections. I don't think I posted it on here but after being discharged from the hospital he ended up getting even more sick than he was when he was first admitted. It turns out he had a strain of pneumonia that was not responding to the antibiotics he was on and once we got him home it got worse and that made his asthma all the worse. Well, you get the idea. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of him struggling we found a antibiotic that worked and he started recovering.

That was quite the experience for us. I can't even imagine what Vin was going through. It felt like no matter what we were doing he was still struggling to breath and that was so scary. As dramatic as it was for us the asthma dr's have told us it's quite common for a child with asthma like Vin has to be hospitalized several times a year with pneumonia and the like. Quite common! What the?? I think they were trying to make us feel better by saying that or trying to set our expectations. I'm hopeful, however, with our new asthma action plan we can avoid it getting that bad again. I also think as Vin gets older he will be able to better vocalize when he's struggling so we start treatment earlier.

He is such a delight that kiddo. I just love the stuff that he comes up with now. Yesterday he asked if we could put Luca in timeout because Luca was crying. I wanted to say "I know. It's getting on my nerves too." But of course I gave the parental answer that Luca is a baby and babies cry and they don't get timeouts yet because they don't understand...bla bla bla.

LUCA
Luca is getting so big. I can hardly believe how fast the time is going by. I felt like with Vin I was so anxious for him to grow up and start doing fun things and with Luca I'm just trying to enjoy every moment of his babyhood. At his four month appointment he was 14lbs and off the charts for his height (can't remember the measurement) He is delightful little guy that loves to engage people with his smiles and cooing. Oh, and I am very excited to report that he is sleeping through the night! And what a wonderful thing that is.

JASON and MOVING!
Jason is doing well. With all the news surrounding AIG he's been quite busy at work. The stress is heavy at times but he is handling it well. It looks like he will be transferring AIG's home office in New York City this summer so we will be moving to north Jersey! I'm very excited. Excited for Jason because it is a huge opportunity for him and excited because we will be closer to family. I'm also nervous because north Jersey is a complete unknown to me. We have so much work to do between now and then trying to research and find a good place to live.

St. Patrick's Day Photo Shoot - Not So Good

I was trying to get a picture of the three of us in our green getup by using the self timer on the camera. Which means I had to set the timer and then try and wrangle Vin and make Luca smile. So I didn't quite get a good picture but the attempt was fun.

Saturday Morning Out

We went to the Southside Works Shopping Center a few weeks ago and all Vin wanted to do was stand and watch the construction that was going on by the river. He's a cheap date that Vinnie.

Luca Getting Ready for Some Outside Time with Grandma

Grandma You're so Great

I snuck in to the kitchen and snapped some pictures while Jason's Mom was giving Luca a bath.

Vinnie and Isaac

Here are some shots of Vin and his pal Isaac at a indoor playground taken several weeks ago.

Gunz Comes for a Visit!

Our good friend Michael "Gunz" came for a weekend visit in Feb. It didn't take long for Vin to warm up and wrestle with his new found friend. And we had such a great time catching up with him! Thanks for making the journey out here Gunz! We miss you already.

Vintendo

So our poor little Vinnie had a severe asthma attack and has been in Children's Hospital since Saturday night. It began early last week with what we thought was just a cold. We started his rescue breathing treatments on Thursday. Friday night Vin had a rough night and hardly slept. First thing Saturday morning I took him to his pediatrician. The nurse said he was in the middle of bad asthma attack and has pneumonia. So we went home with some antibiotic and instructions to up his usual asthma meds/breathing treatments. Shortly after we got home he started to go downhill. I have never seen him in such a state. Finally, at 6:30 p.m. we called his pediatrician who set us to the ER. We got to the ER at 7:00 and I was so relieved that he was finally going to get some relief. However, Vin and I sat in the waiting room for FOUR hours. Because of his breathing trouble he was on the fast track to get in but there were a ton of asthma kids having the same troubles ahead of him. By the time he was finally seen he was in terrible shape!! We spent several hours in the ER and they were unable to get his breathing normalized. So they admitted him at 4:00 a.m. and sent us up to his room where a team of respiratory doctors descended upon him. Finally, at 5:10 a.m. (yes, I know the exact time because I think it was the first time I could breath deeply) he was breathing better and fell off to sleep.

The doctors are now saying they don't think he had pneumonia at all but his lungs were just so inflamed from the asthma it looked and sounded like pneumonia. The fever he had was caused by an ear infection. I spoke with Ja this morning and could here Vin running around in the background and at his breathing check this morning the nurse said he is still banged up but is doing much better. We are thinking that when the doctors come around this morning they are going to say he's stabilized and send him home. He keeps asking to come home and is getting tired of the nurses and doctors (and not very good at hiding it). Thankfully, Jason's mother was here to help with Luca as Ja and I were running back and forth from the hospital. We'll keep you posted as we get updates.