Boys will be boys.

"If Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer were alive today, we’d say they had ADD or a conduct disorder. They boys are who they are, and we need to love them for who they are. Let’s not try to rewire them.”

I found this quote the other day, and it really spoke to me. I am a fairly mellow kind of gal; I enjoy my quiet time and I like my house clean. I really don't understand boys. With boys, everything is the faster, louder, and messier, the better. That is so beyond my comfort zone! I have spent the last couple of years trying to mold them into something that they're not. I am realizing that I need to find a balance. It is still important to me that I have children that are polite and respectful, that try to do well in school and sports, and that show love and tolerance to others. However, it's okay that every now and then they are going to break stuff, cover themselves in mud, or color their entire arm blue trying to look like a Smurf. It requires a daily conscious effort for me to not sweat the small stuff, and to really take joy in the little things. Yes, a bathroom soaked in 2 inches of bubbly water may throw a kink in my evening, but they will remember laughing hysterically and having a blast with their brother. So, tonight, when I tuck them in, they are going to giggle and talk for 45 minutes before they finally close their little eyes, and that's going to be just fine.

The truth about boys

My boys eat fish sticks or chicken nuggets at least four nights a week. They pick their noses and were born with the innate sense that farts are hilarious. The house is always cluttered, there are always crumbs in the seats of the car and sticky fingerprints on the windows. Sometimes they like to read books; most of the time books make good frisbees or weapons. Every toy in the house is missing at least one piece, making your brother cry is good entertainment and timeout is usually worth whatever you did to get there. Welcome to the Chretien house. Mothers have this constant voice in their head telling them that they could do better, their house could be cleaner, their waist smaller, and their kids more polite. I fall into this trap almost daily, and I am slowly learning that my success not measured by these standards. I may not be the perfect mom, but I know that my boys are happy. They know that they are loved, and they love each other. All day long they will fight over the same toy, the same book, the same spot on the couch. But, when evening comes, and they have sleepy eyes, jammied feet, and sweet smelling hair damp from bathtime, I know that we must be doing something right. This blog is dedicated to two sweet boys learning, playing, growing, and finding their place in the world, and to their mommy learning how to guide them.

This kid has really been giving us a run for the money in the health department. It seems like he has been sick non-stop the past few months. Once again, he started up with the coughing and wheezing, and after maybe a day or 2, just sounded awful. We got in to the pediatrician, and had to see the one doctor that I absolutely despise. She diagnosed Aiden with walking pneumonia and an ear infection. They gave him a horrible, hideous, painful shot that was supposed to take care of everything. Cole, on the other hand, sounded so much worse than Aiden, but she decided to do nothing. She said to continue with his nebulizer twice a day, and to just wait it out. We went home, and this just didn't sit well with me. I called the next day, and asked to come in again to have another doctor check him out. This doctor agreed that he sounded awful, and started him on antibiotics and upped his breathing treatments to every 4 hours. She said to come back in 2 days, sooner if I thought necessary. Well, the next morning, I just didn't think he was doing well, and got an appointment for that afternoon. The doctor agreed that he seemed to be having a hard time.  She then shocked me by telling me that an ambulance was going to be coming from Children's Mercy to pick us up! By the time they came, it was around 6:30pm, and Cole was exhausted and hungry. During the ride, they were suctioning him out and doing breathing treatments. He was handling it all well, and not crying, til just before we got there. By the time we got upstairs and checked in, and had x-rays done, it was almost 8pm, and the poor kid usually goes to bed around 7:00-7:30. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, and having a hard time breathing. They said they were going to start an I.V., and then he could go to sleep. Well, the nurses put the tourniquet on his arm, and prodded around for probably 20 minutes. They inserted the needle.... and missed. At that point I just knew that it was going to be a long, awful night. It ended up taking them almost 2 hours, and 5 tries to get the I.V. in correctly. It was probably the most horrible thing I have ever experienced. They were holding him down, digging that needle around, and Jonny and I took turns standing by his face trying to comfort him. He would just look up at me like, "this hurts, and why aren't you helping me?". I could cry just thinking about it! Once that was done, things were finally a little better. He got to rest and even slept through his breathing treatments. They kept him for about 24 hours, to monitor his oxygen levels and to administer medication and breathing treatments. They officially diagnosed him with asthma, as well as pneumonia. The combination of both had caused one lobe of his right lung to collapse. Needless to say, I am a little ticked at the doctor who sent him home and told us to, "wait it out". We ended up being discharged at around 5:00 pm on Christmas Eve. We had the option of staying one more night, but I am glad that we were able to make it home to spend Christmas together. The entire time in the hospital, and for several days after, anytime he was awake, he insisted on being held by mommy. And, whenever I held him, he wrapped himself around me like a little monkey. It was such an awful night, I hope it is the last one like that we have to experience!

Here's my little guy being transported from the doctor's office to the ambulance.

 Resting up after a long night.

Yay, I feel better!  Time to go home!

Daddy's dream come true.

Aiden is at such a fun age right now, especially for daddy. He is so solid and sturdy on his feet, so now he can begin to learn athletic skills. He has already taken a strong liking to golf, which of course daddy is thrilled about. I know we are biased, but anyone who sees him hit can't believe that a two year old can hit so far and straight! Well, he has had a tee-ball set in the garage for awhile that he usually just tries to use as a golf club. A few days ago, we were outside while Jonny was painting the house, and when he took a break, we pitched a few balls to Aiden. The first couple times, I would pitch it, and Jonny would help him swing. After a couple hits, he said, "I do it myself!!". Jonny stepped back, and I pitched him one... and he HIT it!! All the way across the driveway on the first try! I could see the gears turning in Jonny's head! He was so thrilled and proud, it was a sweet moment.

Quite a scare.

Wow, Cole gave us quite the scare last week. I took him in for a cough that was getting worse and worse, and once again they did a chest x-ray. In this film, his lung still looked compressed, just like it did a month ago when they said he might have a food allergy that was causing a gas buildup in his belly. Well, since there had been no change in the condition, the doctor was a little worried. After looking at his xrays, she determined that it was not croup or pneumonia, but the wheezing was partially due to his lung not being able to fully inflate. Then she said the words that would make anyone cringe, she wanted to send him to Children's Mercy to get some more tests to rule out a mass or tumor. I felt like a deer in the headlights. I felt like I was ok, but I completely tuned everything out and didn't hear anything else she said. I felt like I was in a fog, til I called Jonny and broke down. I know it wasn't bad news yet, but given my family history, I was so sure that it was going to be awful. Jonny came home from work right away, and we ended up being able to get into Mercy that afternoon. Thankfully Kenny and Courtney were off and came to stay with Aiden. I was so prepared for the worst, I had packed Cole's jammies and his favorite blanket. They ended up doing a couple of ultrasounds and a test called a fluoroscopy. On the ultrasound, they were trying to get a simultaneous look at the lungs in action, because it seemed like one wasn't working as well as the other. This was really difficult, so they had to order the fluoroscopy. The reassuring part was that they could tell via the ultrasound that there were no masses. I felt so relieved at that moment. During the fluoroscopy, he was on a table, with the xray machine positioned over him. On the screen, we could see the image of his lungs working, in real time. It was very clear that one side of his diaphragm was expanding, giving the lung room to inhale. The other side, however, was not moving at all, or if it did, it moved in the opposite direction, pushing up onto the lung. This is a side effect that they frequently see when someone has had surgery in that area and the nerve gets traumatized. So, they know what it is, but not why it is occurring. We are going to go see a Pulmonologist soon to determine what to do next. I can't believe the range of emotion we all went through on that day! Through it all, he was so happy and cooperative and sweet, we are so lucky.

A sweet photo

Oh, I hope they always love each other this much! I just love this photo.

Seasons change, kids keep getting older...

I can't believe that summer is already over. We had such a mild and enjoyable summer, and it was abruptly cut off with a really cold fall! Although I dread the impending winter, I really love this time of year. I am so looking forward to seeing the boys experiencing and enjoying the season and the holidays.

My little Cole is five months old now. This is such a fun age. He is no longer a fragile infant, but a roly poly, happy, giggling little baby. He has finally started rolling back and forth, and holding his head up when he is on his belly. For the longest time, whenever he was on his belly he would just lay his head down and suck his fingers. I was starting to wonder if he couldn't hold his head up, or just wouldn't! This new milestone has opened up a whole new world at playtime! He kicks his little legs and tries so hard to get to toys in front of him. I have a feeling he will be mobile soon! I know Aiden can't wait for that day! He is really good with Cole for the most part, but every now and then he gets a little too excited and forgets how much bigger he is than Cole. It's ok, though, because Cole never gets hurt, and usually thinks it's funny. He can sit up unassisted for a few moments, like a tripod, resting on his hands while leaning forward. He can't do it for long, though, because he will fall over backwards! He has started babbling some consonant sounds, like "mm-mmm" and "huh-huh". I can't wait for him to start saying words, it is such a fun and exciting process! Just the other day, he was sorta whining, and he looked at me and said, "mmuh... mmuhhh". I said, "Did you just say Mama?". He smiled, stuffed his hands in his mouth and squealed! It was like he was saying, "You understood me!!". It was precious He has started teething, and is chewing on everything in sight. The poor guy has had a rough couple of weeks healthwise, too. I took him in because he had started coughing, and within a day it was a horrible, chunky sounding cough and wheeze. The doctor ordered x-rays, and it turned out that he had croup, but it also looked like he might develop asthma. They also think he might have a gluten allergy because his intestine was so full of air that it was pushing his other organs up and compressing a lung! I was told to stop giving him oatmeal, and do rice cereal instead, if anything. Well, I waited two weeks before giving him the rice cereal. Less than 3 hours later, it all came back up, projectile vomit style. It turns out that it had soy in it, and Jon was allergic to soy as a baby and would have the same reaction. Poor kid can't have anything! We go back in a week to see what the next step will be! Even though he has had some issues lately, Cole is just the happiest, sweetest baby you could ever hope for. These days, Cole's favorite things to do include blowing slobber bubbles, chewing on anything he can get his hands on, being tickled and squealing about it, laughing at Aiden, being read to, and rolling all over the floor while playing

Aiden is such a big boy these days. He started preschool a few weeks ago and is loving it. The first few days were a little rough, but not nearly as bad as I expected! He cried for less than 5 minutes, and spent the rest of the time following Miss Jane or Miss Ria closely and getting a hug or a hand hold when he needed it. By the second week, he was an old pro. He would ask me to stay, and his lip would get a little quivery, but he wouldnt cry. Well, just a couple days ago, when I came to pick him up from school, he wasn't waiting there looking for me like he usually is. He was playing at a table, totally enthralled with what he was doing. I came in and sat down by him, expecting the joyous "Mommy!" that I usually get. Instead, he looked up, and matter of factly said, "Hi, Mommy." and went back to playing! I had to do a little convincing to get him to leave! I am so relieved that he is enjoying it, and that I am able to have some one-on-one time with Cole. Since starting school, I am noticing that he is starting to play with his toys by himself for longer stretches of time. He is also starting to do imaginary play, which is fun for us to take part in. I found a cute little play kitchen at a garage sale that I bought and put in the dining room. Every day he is in there cooking us breakfast and pouring us "ginks". While he still has his moments, it seems like the terrible-ness of the twos is starting to wane a little bit. Unless he is overly tired or hungry, you can usually reason with him to some degree. He is also really into helping mommy out around the house, and helping with Cole. He is obsessed with the vacuum and broom, and I think that Santa might have found a working child sized vacuum to leave under the tree this Christmas! He is starting to talk up a storm. I love hearing what goes on in his head, but sometime I just wish I could have a little quiet! He is quite the blabbermouth.