Halloween Stuff

costume complete!

Chris was a big hit with the kids at our friend's halloween party!

Any excuse to put on full Vader gear...

Nathan loading his bag with candy.  He really had no idea why he was doing it, but the chance to wander around Chris' office and grab yummy treats was fun for him.  

Xander in Chris' cubicle in full Wall-e mode.  He did have a slight wardrobe malfunction, but the costume was a big hit in an office of nerdy people.

Gutting the pumpkin

Heading out for some tricks and treats!  Or should I say trips and treats?  By the second house, Nate tripped and hit his face on a concrete step.  I had to run home with him, bloody and screaming.  Fortuntely it looked worse than it was and he could have easily lost teeth or been really injured.  Other than scraped gums on face, he was fine.  

Our pumpkins carved.  Wonder which one Chris did (sigh...)

Nathan's final trick or treat was after he got cleaned up.  Grandma Linda had stayed here to hand out candy and he got to dive into the bowl.  Chocolate makes everything better, right?

Getting back to normal..Misc. October photos

After a stressful few weeks, we really wanted everything to go back to normal.  It would take a while for Xander to regain his strength, but we felt like we had missed out on some fun and that was hard.  One of our favorite Fall things to do was to go to the pumpkin patch, drink cider and buy yummy apple treats.  We missed out this year, but Chris did everything he could to make everything else special.

Chris bought stuff to make smores with and on a crisp fall night, we headed outside to make the treats.

Chris flaming a marshmallow for me...just the way I like them!

Nathan's favorite part was running around outside in the dark, but he took time out for a treat.  I think his lips are stuck together.

Xander was still weak and didn't have much energy, but humored us.  For some reason the smores weren't his thing, but he liked to eat everything seperately.  Something about the combination of different textures bothered him.

I am pretty sure that being warmed over the grill while toasting the marshmallows was Xander's favorite part.

Reading to my boys

Daddy's fun pancakes always makes Xander happy

Cute or freaky...you be the judge

More bathtime fun

Xander in the hospital---part 2

After a few days of being out of the hospital, we were hoping to see Xander getting stronger by the day.  When I took him to his pediatrician for a follow-up appointment, we found out that his numbers weren't getting much better.  But what worried her more was that he had a low grade fever.  She wanted me to keep taking his temp and she would be calling us at home to check on him.  48 hours later, he still had the same temperature, but she wasn't liking the fact that he wasn't starting to feel better.  He should be improving by now.  So, Chris took him back into her office and she took an xray of his chest.  I got the call that they were heading home to pack the bags!  Back to Children's Hospital. :(  He had fluid in his lungs this time and was only going to get sicker.  This time, they would treat him even more aggressively and a Infectious Disease specialist was in charge of his care.  He was convinced that he would need to do send Xander to surgery to have a chest tube put in to drain the fluid.  It would depend on how he responded to the antibiotics this time and the addition of respitory therapy.  He was happily proven wrong and Xander started to get better even faster than he had hoped.  After 5 days in, he was finally released for the second time (and thankfully the last time!)

Xander entertaining himself at the drs. office

Obviously not happy to be back in the ER

Talking to his grandma and waiting to be readmitted

Resting quietly

Getting respitory therapy

You know he has been served too many hospital meals when he orders the Mac 'n Cheese.

The never ending stream of nurses on the board.  Started to feel too much like his room!

More respitory therapy :(  So hard on Xander!

One of the meds was cold going in and our boy didn't like it one bit.  But what a little trooper...

Starting to feel too good to stay in bed, but hard to play with IVs

Yay, IVs are out for good and he is heading home!