Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. Church was great, especially because I taught a lesson which meant Tom had Porter for the last hour. We then headed to my parents house to join in the Easter festivities. While all the other kids participated in the annual Easter Egg Hunt, Porter opted to sleep and catch some golf on T.V. with Grandpa (what an appropriate outfit complete with hat,although notice the socks which are way too small for those giant feet).Yes, I confess, my child is already addicted to T.V. We finished up the day with Egg Fights and a visit to Nanny's. For those of you who aren't familiar with my family traditions, each person dyes about a dozen eggs to "fight" with.You fight each other by knocking eggs together to see which one cracks. As I think about it, I have absolutely no idea where this odd tradition originated.

The Latest

This past week has been crazy in the life of the LeBarons. On Tuesday night, we went out to the Miller Motors Race Track where all the boys raced each other in the karts. This was Trent's final hoorah before he left Wednesday. On Thursday, Porter and I loaded up, which by the way creates so much more luggage than I have been use to, and headed down to St.George for the "Girl's Trip". Porter was an absolute angel on the drive down and slept most of the trip.  But what's new?  Although I had a difficult time mastering the pocket on my bag, I was successful in sewing an apron.  Now that I know the basics of sewing, which is more than Mrs. Bridge and TLC class ever taught me, maybe I can actually be successful at it. Or maybe I just have an awesome machine that can do most of the work for me.  Porter had a fabulous time with 7 more mommies to dote over him and a sweet little cousin, baby Bea, to play with.  All of this left him exhausted.  And not surprisingly, everyone who saw my child was sure to tell me that he was a Big Boy.  Which is definitely true since he wears the same size clothes as his cousin who is a year and a half. But why everyone feels the need to inform me of this obvious fact is beyond me.

          

My Children

3 Months

Porter is now three months old, although you wouldn't think that by looking at him. He wears 9-12 month old clothes which are getting too short, so we may have to move to toddler in some brands. He loves to stand and is trying to learn how to sit up. I can't believe how fast he is growing. Pretty soon we will have to move him to cereal. He is also developing great sleeping habits. He takes a million naps a day, and still manages to sleep well during the night. Last night was 7 hours!
Other than that, not much else is happening. Tommy is keeping busy with work and school, which leaves me lonely on Friday nights. Trent leaves for his mission on Wednesday, yes the day has finally come!! And by far the most exciting thing for me right now is the upcoming girls (plus one boy) trip down to St. George where I get to try my hand at sewing and spend some time with my sister in laws.

SLAP FACE

Although a picture would certainly support my title, I am not willing to reveal my face at this point.  I must confess that I am completely out of shape and I have a very young baby, but I selfishly decided to take a break from real life and spend the day skiing with my family (minus Tom who is forbidden by the doctor and myself to ski at this point since his last expedition left him with a broken collar bone and me with two kids to take care of).  It was a beautiful day and the sun was out which led to an awesome uneven sunburn on my face.  My cheeks are bright red but since I was wearing goggles I got absolutely no color anywhere else.  When Tom came home from work, he told me I looked like I had slap face.  Now let me explain.  My seven year old cousin was just diagnosed with "slap face".  Yes, it is an actual disease.  The most common name for it is slapped cheek syndrome because the cheeks are bright red as if they have been slapped, but it is also called Fifth's Disease because it is the fifth main childhood illness (Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Chickenpox, and Fifths).  Not that I know exactly where I am going with this blog, but I was so interested in this illness because I have never heard of it in my life and after researching it on the internet, I've found that 60% or more of adults have had this at one time.  (This obviously demonstrates to everyone else that either I have far too much time on my hands or that I am now a paranoid freak of a mother since my child had RSV and am concerned about every illness a child can get).  

Growing Fast

Porter is still growing like a weed, which can be explained by the 16 plus hours he sleeps. (not that I'm complaining) He is in the 95 + % for height and weight. His head, however, is only in the 50th % which means he has so far managed to avoid the big Lebaron head gene. He wants to be big and prefers to stand up all the time. In order to get stuff done, I decided to try this walker. I've propped him up with a blanket, although he has basically mastered holding up his head. His feet touch the floor and he can make it move backwards. He seems to enjoy this and it gives me some free time.

We've Survived!

One week, 6 doctor visits, 8 oxygen monitors, 1 chest X-ray, 5 nose suctions, 10 breathing treatments,9 drop fed bottles, 5 anxiously awaited wet diapers to ensure there was no dehydration, and 6 all nighters at grandma's later, Porter is on his way to recovery. Thankfully we have avoided Primary Children's Hospital. You often hear about RSV, but you never realize how scary it is. Most children are hospitalized because they are too young and too small to handle it on their own. We will probably be taking a hiatus from people, and especially kids for the next little while so we don't pass it on and so we don't get it again.

Porter has now developed a love for stuffed animals, especially TOADS. He will sit for hours just stroking them and rubbing his face against them.

Even Miko wanted to make sure Porter was getting better.

The Worst Is Over (We Hope)

After a rough couple of days, and especially a rough couple of nights (you don't sleep much when you are told to monitor his heart rate and breathing), it looks like we are on the uphill climb. Although with RSV, they say it is very hard to tell. Porter and I have been staying at my mom's house and would send Tommy home so he could get sleep. I would sleep from 10-1 while my mom watched him and then she would sleep from 1-5 while I watched him. The doctor gave us a breathilizer treatment called albuterol which Porter has to inhale every four hours that has seemed to help. (although it is a steriod and makes him jittery, and since I inhale it too, I get jittery) He has had his nose suctioned a couple of times as well. There was a rough patch there that we thought we would have to go to the hospital because he wasn't eating and was breathing really fast, but he looks so much better now. The doctor actually hates sending kids to the hospital because more often than not, they contract other sicknesses from the other kids there. It is definitely a relief. The doctor said it is because he is such a big kid that he was able to recover so fast. He officially weighs 13.1 pounds and is 26 inches long (that is the 97 percentile!!) Don't worry though, we will still be hiding out for the next couple of weeks so none of your little ones get it.