Road Tripping Out West

Our annual summer adventure out to California to see my family snuck up on us this year.  I planned it later than normal, and still somehow I was not ready to leave on my scheduled date.  It didn't help that Ryder ended up having asthma issues the day before I was planning to leave.  The doctor put him on breathing treatments every two hours, so I decided to postpone for a day so that he could stay on schedule with his meds and so that he could rest.  Doing breathing treatments while we were on the road SUCKED.  Savannah was a huge help.  She put the medicine in the machine and hooked everything up for Ryder while I drove.  The other thing that became a bit annoying on the drive out was how frequently Ryder had to go to the bathroom.  We stopped way more than I would have liked.  There were even times that there was no where for me to stop, so he had to sit on our travel toilet and pee in the back of the van.  Awesome.  It was a pretty crazy trip.  The kids were both very good though.  Not one bit of whining or fussing or crying.  That is pretty much all any parent hopes for on a two day road trip through the boring desert with two kids.

My Apologies, Ryder

While talking to Eric tonight I mentioned how Ryder did his breathing treatment all on his own this evening without one fuss.  Eric then jokingly suggested that I should make a correction to an earlier post where I wrote about how difficult Ryder was with breathing treatments.  So here it is... an official retraction to my earlier statements.  Perhaps I spoke too soon... maybe now it will be smooth sailing... or maybe tonight was a one time deal.  Either way, it was a nice change.  Fingers crossed that the remaining two days of treatments are as peaceful.

Strep For One & Bronchitis For The Other

Ugh, these Haynes children just can't catch a break.  Both went into the doctor on Friday to get looked at (for totally different reasons).  Savannah woke up with fever and a sore throat... I figured it was strep.  Good thing I had her stay home from school because I was right.  Strep throat and another round of antibiotics for her.  Poor Ryder was being seen because Eric had pointed out the night before that it sounded like he was wheezing.  Sure enough... wheezing.  Hello bronchitis.  Hello breathing treatments three times a day for a week.  Not an easy task with this 18 month old.  He HATES it.  While he has gotten better the last few times, he is nowhere near as cooperative as Savannah was when she had to do them at this age.  At first it took me and Eric having to restrain him to get the treatment done.  Now he will at least sit on the couch with one of us and whine periodically.  This week and these treatments can not go by quick enough.  

Asthma, You Suck!

It has been three years since we have had to deal with all of this nonsense. As soon as I heard her nasty cough last week I knew what the doctor was going to say. Sure enough, I was right, moderate asthma... again. We were instructed to have Savannah do three treatments a day for seven days and then we would go from there. If her cough has not improved or gone away completely (which is what I am hoping for), then we are going to have to start doing what the doctor called "preventative asthma measures"... I am guessing that might mean an inhaler or something of that sort. Not sure yet. I will say that we are on day seven and the cough is still there. Not as bad, but still nasty. So I am dreading the recheck. Savannah is just ready to be done with the breathing treatments. She HATES sitting still for the nearly twenty minutes it takes for one treatment. I don't remember her being this fussy about them when she was two. I also do not remember the steroid that is in the treatment causing any side effects the last time we went through this. This time around, for about thirty minutes after the treatment, Savannah is the most hyper child in the world. Seriously, the most hyper child EVER! Hopefully whatever "preventative measure" he decides to go with does not have this kid of effect on her.

Three years ago... so happy and cooperative while doing her treatments.

Fast forward to today, so blah and bratty about doing her treatments. Awesome.