Sick house, 11th month old, and 1st Bday parties...busy Jan.

 Well we have a lot going on here in the Kalasek household....mostly germs. Poor little Benny can't seem to catch a break. Just when we get him sleeping through the night like a champ he gets slammed with an illness. This time they think its the flu virus...you no the one that the actual flu shot didn't cover lol. We took him to an after hours clinic last Saturday and they said both ears looked pretty pink as well as his throat. They even did a strep throat swab on him (PS our pediatrician was furious as kids under the age of 1 or 2 don't get strep hardly ever). His temp stayed btw 100 and 102 all weekend (even though they don't worry until its over 104) I tend to worry if a temp is 3 digits regardless of their age so I was a thermometer nazi all weekend checking it every hour on the hour. Monday I took him to our regular pediatrician and even though he's been moaning, weezing, sneezing, etc his lungs sounded good and his mobility was fine (no need to worry about meningitis). Back home we went to alternate infant Tylenol and Advil every 3 hours for the body aches and headaches (apparently even though he wasn't throwing up this viral flu bug brings some major aches and pains....it was described "they feel like they got hit by a mack truck" ~ not cool!). So here we are 6 days later and he is still clingy, tired, crabby (rightfully so), but no more fever (apparently it tends to go away after day 5) and he is finally giggling at Easton, attempting to play (usually he crashes after 15 min) and looking more like the crazy Benny we all know and love. Its been a LONG week due to Brian traveling Mon-Wed. but luckily my work is super flexible so I worked from home Mon, Tues, took the day off Wed, and worked from  home today (Brian took today off to be on snuggle duty) so fingers crossed after this weekend he will be back in action. Easton now has a terrible cough and cold but so far no fever so hoping its just the normal winter sniffles. Humidifiers and syringes of meds are scattered around the house and all the prep work for Aruba (Brian and I leave Thursday) has  taken a back seat to getting my lil man healthy. Nothing tears at your heart more than a sick child. I swear I just want to have my mom come over and "fix it" and then Im slapped with reality that Im the mom now and feel so powerless to not be able to "fix it"...once again makes me appreciate my own mom even more than I already do. Not having Brian home Mon-Wed was so hard because it was up to me to call all the shots and I didn't have my partner to bounce worries off of. He is the calm, collected, and rational one so I had to really steer clear of googling anything bc I knew it would just bring up worst case scenarios and I would be self-diagnosing him with horrible things and annoying the pediatrician and nurses even more than I already was (literally I emailed and called them numerous times a day for 3 days straight as well as bringing Ben in lol). You'd think with #2 you wouldn't get so crazy but (at least with me) that is not the case. I didn't shower or rest until his fever finally broke on Wed. and he could get somewhat comfortable and finally smiled. Hopefully we are on the up and up.

hanging at midwest minor medical Saturday

exhausted after crawling around a bit

snuggles with my sick boo boo

On a lighter note we have hit 11 months....meaning in one more month Ben will be 1 year old....How can that be possible ? It seriously flew by. Yes partly due to the fact that having 2 kids tends to leave you very little time to reflect or pause to think about all the passing milestones. I do my best to really live in the moment...but as every mother knows each moment is filled with a million things going on so some days Im more successful at it than others.

still smiling despite being sick

 Ben is still our little adventure seeking, naughty, and sneaky cuddle bug. He is trying everything to walk and can furniture surf like a champ. He literally waits until we are doing something with Easton or not paying attention and tries to pull off some new stunt. I see this kid being very familiar with the ER. :) He is completely all boy..no fear and has an intense love for cars. He will push cars around the floor for hours and the kids at daycare love to get him to chase them....they call him the Benny monster!

Grabbed a cup of snacks of Eastons and just went to town

Decided he'd climb the desk and grab a marker to eat...luckily I caught him before he stood up

I swear Im not going for the pic frame mama

Vroom Vroom

Brothers just playing away in the basement

My favorite set of buns

We also did Bennys first hair cut. He was looking like a little old man with his hair growing over his ears and all shaggy. He did pretty well. Of course we had Trayci cut it. She did Eastons first hair cut too. I just held him as she snipped away and he looks so handsome. He hasn't been able to show it off much since he's been under the weather but he'll have the girls chasing him in no time!

pre-hair cut

such a handsome boy!

LOVE THIS FACE!

Got Ben's fingerprint charm to add to my necklace with Eastons and both their birth wheels. LOVE!

Easton is just growing up way too fast as well. I totally don't believe the terrible 2 curse. I loved the 2's and he was a joy! Now the term "three-ager" I have heard and Im going to say I totally agree! This lil bugger can get quite the attitude at times. Mostly when he is tired or frustrated but OMG! Prime examples
Easton: Mom can I turn on the fireplace
Me: No buddy its not that cold out
Easton: (runs and hides btw the couch and wall) You don't love me
I mean what? Where do they learn that and how do they learn that so fast. I know I used that too but I think I was a true teenager...maybe my parents will disagree though. There are many moments when only I can do something for him bc he is mad at dad or vice versa (but mostly he gets mad at dad lol....hes quite the mamas boy). He raises his voice at us more than before, but he is very good at apologizing and he knows exactly when he's pushed it too far. Luckily most of his lil tantrums are directed at us and he still plays so great with Ben and just adores him. He always has to kiss him goodnight and is the first one to run to him if he is crying. I just have such a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he is 3 and completely his own person now.

Talking to dad on the phone

"helping me" put groceries int he trunk. I was putting Ben in his car seat and Easton decided to take everything out of the Target bag and launch it into the trunk..."Look mom I helped" i mean how can you get angry at that! 

 Easton also had his very first birthday party...and it was for a little girl! Dakota goes to daycare with him and her little brother Landon is a couple months younger than Easton. He had so much fun. it was at PE101. Such a great idea! Of course my child is so incredible cautious so he was following the rules to a "T" and didn't want to do anything too risky lol. He had a blast and talked about it for weeks afterwards. We will definitely be taking him back some Saturday morning when they have open gym time for kids to come play.

All the kids at the Bday party (Bday girl is the Blondie in front with her arms in the air)

Trampoline time

slowing lowering himself down into the pit....he wouldn't jump in it LOL

Singing happy bday

 Here are some videos as well of him in action at PE 101:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-O8wwDMpj4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6a7uYXPNUk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrMMBZWGir0 (notice Easton wasn't too sure about going underneath at first)

Just had to leave you with some cute updated pics of my very handsome nephew Grayson. He is so stinking cute and totally looks like my brother I think. I just want to eat up his cheeks and can't wait to see him in mid-Feb. Love him so much!!!!!!

it doesn't get any cute folks

times going so fast!