ER Trip #2 w/lil Monster

Sebastian's Inhaler (Puffer)

So today I will give you an update an the lil monster's health.
(lil back story-He has been having a reoccurring wheezy/congestion issue. Pedi keeps saying it's all "Above the shoulder" and he's fine. They have done RSV test and chest Xrays, breathing treatments,  everything keeps coming up normal and great.)
Yesterday we had a busy day and Sebastian was fighting his sleep. He ran down the hall and tripped in to my MIL's closet door. I ran to him and he started to cry, I only barely looked at his head and put him in the car. Hubby and I raced him to the ER.I stayed in the backseat reading to him and asking him questions to keep him alert. He began to vomit as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.
They took us straight back and examined him. Possible mild concussion and his knot was 1" off his head at the smallest spot bigger in the center, but no internal damage or bleeding. THANK GOODNESS he was fine.
 Then they asked about his breathing (he is back *on* again with the congestion sounds) They asked if I minded them doing some tests to see what was going on. I was all for it! I wanted answers and have been yet to get any. After another RSV (negative) and more Xrays (perfect) they ruled he had small airways and is prone to be either an asthma kid or an allergy kid, possibly both. They are thinking he's allergic to smoke, mold and maybe pollen??? Won't know until he goes back for further testing. As of now he is on a 5day 2puffs every 4 hours deal with an inhaler. Then we will go from there. I am also doing an additional followup with his pedi.
Poor lil monster!!!

Feb 23, 11 (WIUW)

Today's Wednesday included Skylar! YAY. We just made simple Blueberry muffins. Again, it was close to bedtime, but both kids wanted to do this.
I tried having Sebastian put the cupcake liners in the pan, but he was having a blast just crumpling them up to which Skylar freaked out. I tried to calm her down, saying "It's ok, I have extras and we can just use these for an art project later on." She only half calmed down and then muttered "guess this is what goes on behind the scenes of Whip it up Wednesday" hahaha. Actually no, Sebastian usually does really well, but he was feisty and was crumpling the paper, stirring like a mad man and flinging batter on his highchair tray.
Skylar then took over and he just watched. I basically let them handle everything, with Skylar running the show as I took photos. So much fun! The kids had a blast and end result was yummy muffins. Win win situation!

supplies

Skylar taking over

Enjoying the fruits of their labor

Feb 21,11 (MM:Color w/markers)

So todays Masterpiece Monday was a total bust. The day got away from us and then we left in the afternoon going to various appointments. When we got back it was late, but I figured I would see if he wanted to at least color a picture.
He scribbled very little and handed the markers back to me. "Ni-ni" he said as he walked to the door. I got him all changed into his PJs and he fell asleep quite quickly. Oh well, maybe another day. Everything we do is based on him. I do not pressure him to do anything. If he doesn't want to then we won't. today was a perfect example of that.

Sensory Boxes part 2

So I decided to get out the boxes again...
 I have been trying to get Sebastian his own room, but everything keeps happening to prevent him from getting his own bed, etc. (Honestly I think Daddy just loves him in our room to much, haha) So for the time being, I am turning his bedroom into our "Play to learn area". (I'll try to get some pics of the actual room up sometime. ) Since this room was once Skylar's it still has the paint in it that she wanted, which is yellow walls and a stone look around the door and window. (It was completely Harry Potter themed) Well, Sebastian was playing on the "play" half of the room while I put up an ABC border. I noticed he was playing and in a good mood, so I tried the boxes again.
Soft box: I added a little rake so he can sift through the cotton balls. He played for a very short time, wasn't really into it.
Smooth &Bumpy: I added a little shovel. He loved this! We were having so much fun playing and since it was impromptu I have no pictures (sad face). He kept burying his hand and running his little fingers over the bumpy noodles. Whenever he'd get too wild and some rice would spill over, I would say "oh sad rice. He wants back in his home" and Sebastian would pick it up and put it back into the container. It was a lot of fun!
At the end we cleaned up, as always and as i was wiping the table, he got a wipe and helped. It was too much cute. He spent probably 5 minutes just wiping his little table beaming as I told him how great he was doing. Gotta love this monster!!

Sensory Boxes

I made Sebastian 2 sensory boxes thus far. I have plans to make more. Sensory boxes can be any type of container filled with any type of material to allow your small child to explore and experience textures. Our sensory boxes did not go over so well on the first try. Little did I know Sebastian wasn't feeling well. I will try these again when he is feeling up to it, but I still wanted to post about these because I think they are cute and I believe he will like them.
Our first box is Soft. This is currently only filled with cotton balls. I had originally wanted feathers as well, but when I went to get them the store was all sold out. So at this time, cotton balls is the "Soft" texture.

The second box is Smooth and Bumpy. This container includes tri colored spiral noodles and blue rice. Well, it is blue now, haha. For those of you who may not know how to color uncooked rice, it is super simple. Just place your rice into a ziplock bag, drop in your desired liquid food color and knead the bag until the color has worked it's way through the rice. Then dump the rice into the container. If you use a lot of color you may need to let the rice dry but I didn't need to, it was ready instantly. There is no staining, no mess.
Although Sebastian wasn't feeling his best, he did enjoy this box for a few minutes before telling me he was ready to go to bed.

Feb 16,11 (WIUW)

 For today's WIUW I decided that we would make a pie. I am calling it Sebastian Silk Pie. It was completely yummy.
We just used store bought sugar cookie dough for the crust. Sebastian helped smoosh it into the bottom of the pan, then we put that in the oven. While that baked we made a box of Double Chocolate pie filling from Jello's No Bake line. Once the filling was ready the cookie crust was done. We topped our cookie with the filling and sprinkled crushed Oreo crumbs on top (which comes in the Jello kit, which is what you are suppose to make the crust with, but I wanted to change it up a bit) Chill for at least an hour and YUM.
Sebastian did great with this project and I'd guess his favorite part was smooshing down the dough! lol

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

Today is Valentine's Day, and although we already celebrated just us Monsters, we decided to go out as a slightly larger group. This time my mom and my in-law's joined in on the fun. We all went out to a buffet and saw a movie. The movie was Little Fockers and was incredibly funny. I really liked it.
It was nice to get out with all of us.

Happy 16 Months Sebastian/Congrats Skylar!!

Today was exceptional!
Sebastian turned 16 months old! WOW time is just whizzing by, I can barely catch it. He grows and changes everyday and I am so lucky to be a part of it!
Skylar came home from school today with some fantastical news. She is Distinguished in Math. they tested all the students and she got a perfect 100% on everything!! I am so proud! Love you!
Just a great day to be the MommaMonster!! My monsters are growing beyond any expectation I could ever have. This is what blessed feels like! LOVE MY MONSTERS!!!

Feb14,11 (MM: Pudding Art)

Today for Masterpiece Monday we did Pudding Art.
 I made a cheap store brand chocolate pudding. The instant kind where you simply add 2Cups of cold milk then beat until your Carpal Tunnel is *really* hurting. LOL, yeah that kind. Then I gave Sebastian a sheet of finger paint paper and put a blob of pudding on it. He only used his finger to swirl the paint around and then decided to taste it. After he realize he was allowed to eat it, he only wanted to eat it! He make a design in between bites and asked for a refill at one point. 
This was really cute and he had a lot of fun. One of my main reasons for doing this craft was because I can already tell I am going to have an issue with MM's Artwork. I want to keep it all. While saving some is okay, it is not to save everything. I need to teach myself that I can take a picture of his art and throwing it away is not being mean. Pudding Art cannot be saved, haha, so I thought this would help me out. It did.

Finished Artwork

Valentine Celebration for a toddler and 3rd grader!

So Valentine's Day is on a Monday this year. Bummer. So we decidded to celebrate today (Saturday). It was a total blast! I gave the kids their gifts while daddy made breakfast.

Then after we ate we took the kids to a local place for them to play. It has themed rooms and is huge, so they wore themselves out!
Sebastian is VERY energetic and was hard to keep up with, haha. He has never been allowed so much freedom and I don't think he really knew what to do with himself. He would just run room to room. It was very enjoyable for me to just follow closely behind and let him explore.
Skylar is and was much calmer. Today, she was most interested in the ball pit and Pretend Playhouse (it has a grocery store, resturant, etc)

MY VALENTINES

After we left there we went to the mall to hang out a bit before our fab dinner!



Best fries on the planet! (and the seasoned Rached..O.M.G)



Before we could go home, my pet lover had to stop at a pet store. She just LOVES looking at all the animals

Bearded Dragon. I can not stress how badly she wants one!!

More time for the older monster

Today was a really fun day. I was able to go to my daughter's school and have lunch with her, which I have not done all year!! GASP. I was always so involved with everything from K-2, but have been a major slacker when it comes to this 3rd grade. Have I gotten lazy? Too busy? Is this typical for a mom to slack off as the kid gets older? It is because I now have another monster?
I honestly think it's a combo. I seriously hate to blame Sebastian, but honestly, it is difficult juggling him, his stroller, and all his stuff up to her classroom. Especially since she moved up a floor! She is fab about it, but I don't like it. She understands, but still wants me there at the same time.
My mom came this time, to help me juggle. That was really great. We were even able to stay for her valentine's party. Once there everything went really smooth. It's the coming and going that is rough. Sebastian is nearly 29pounds now. Add his full size stroller loaded w/diaper bag, purse, coats, etc up a few flights of stairs. Ugh, good times!!
Still that being said, I am looking forward to showing up on her birthday and would happily welcome a third monster....maybe I'm just masatistic.

Feb 9,11 (WIUW)

WHIP IT UP WEDNESDAY
Ok, I forgot to mention this. As every Monday is themed, so is Wednesday. I want to get Sebastian in the kitchen, so this day was born. We will bake, cook, create something in the kitchen each week together. (Again, it would not surprise me if Skylar pops in these days as well, lol. I'd gladly welcome her)
Today was Confetti Brownies. I layed out all the supplies and let him play with them for a few minutes while I got the ingredients ready. This was simple because it was a store bought mix. Sebastian poured everything in and stirred after each addition. He even had to sample some! Of course, as any great baker would do, right?
The addition of the confetti was my favorite part. He couldn't figure out how to pour from the silver envelope that came with package so I put it in a measuring cup for him. He then just dumps the entire thing in one spot, haha.
The brownies may not have looked like the picture, but they were made by my 15 month old monster and they were better in my opinion. After a long 40 minute wait, we were able to enjoy the fruits of his labor, and boy oh boy were they delish!! This monster has skills!