Easter Egg Hunt at Daycare

The weekend of March 26-28th Dallas and I went out of town together for the first time in at least 2 years. We went to Shreveport for the weekend while Grammie kept the kids for us. It was the first time we have ever left the kids with Mom that long. I like to have two adults in charge especially when we are out of the state but Mom did an amazing job. I don't know why I was worried it's not like she hasn't raised three kids. They had a great time with Grammie and I now know I can plan a week long trip and she can handle it. HA! I can see her reading this thinking, "Uh No!"

It just so happened that the kids daycare Easter egg hunt was scheduled for the Saturday we were out of town. Figures. I did not want to ask Mom to get them ready, take them and corral them by herself but they had such a good time last year. I know that an event like that takes at least two people unless you are used to it like me. I called Linda and Micheal and they were thrilled to help Mom take the kids to the hunt. Woo Hoo! We are so blessed with such amazing grandparents.

I of course forgot to get the kids Easter baskets down from the attic before we left so they went to Walgreens with Grammie Saturday morning. The trip to the store went well except Grammie had to buy every thing in there. Ha! Those kids know how to work the grand parents. Linda and Michael came to our house and helped get the kids ready and they were on their way.

Last year the daycare only had an egg hunt but this year they had one of the girls dress as the Easter bunny. I have to say it was the cutest Easter bunny costume I have ever seen. Paige liked the bunny but really did not care. Ethan was infatuated with the bunny!


Look at how cute that bunny is and those kids are kinda cute too!


Ethan could not look away.


Telling Grammie secrets and waiting for the egg hunt to begin.




Nana and Paigey. Just like the boys to look away and mess up the picture. :)


Grand Daddy and Nana giving the Mayfield kids a head start on the egg locations.


Ethan was even blowing kisses to the bunny. Here we go...


Ethan was an egg hunting machine.


Run Paigey, Run but where is your basket?


First time she tried to jump rope, so cute.


Paige had more fun playing than hunting eggs.


Ethan wasn't going to put that basket down even while he played.


Saphira and Paige playing. Don't you love their matching baskets, Minnie & Mickey.


Time to check out the loot.


Ethan yelled at Grand Daddy for breaking this egg and putting it on his eyes. He was not happy at all about breaking his egg.


Then he had to try it! Boys!


Paige playing Ethan still finding more eggs.




Look is that an egg?

Thank you so much Grammie, Nana and Grand Daddy for taking the kids to their daycare Easter celebration!

Finally an answer

As many of you know we have been dealing with what we thought was allergies with Paige for quite some time. She has a nagging cough at night and has for at least a year and half. Some nights she coughs a lot and other nights not at all. We have had her on Singular and Clariton for years. She has also had numerous ear infections that last forever. I finally made an appointment with an ENT, Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, without our pediatrician suggesting it. We went to him several times just to discover her ears were not the problem. Every ear infection she has gotten has been able to clear completely even though it takes a while. He said her ears are draining and she has no hearing or speech problems, therefore; it would not be necessary to put tubes in her ears. I cried several times with the ENT out of frustration. I am tired of this and want an answer. My baby should not have to be up all night coughing with no avail.

He suggested we make our way to an allergist. I got the name of one through our pediatrician and made an appointment. On our first visit he said he thought we were on the right track considering her symptoms. We made an appointment for a scratch test to evaluate her allergies and see what was needed to help her. The test was on March 22nd and I was so nervous. I made Dallas take off that morning and go with me. I remember my little brother's scratch test when he was little and it was not a pleasant memory. They have come a long way since then and the test was not bad at all. Paige did not like the sticking of course but she calmed down from it almost instantly. We laid her on the table and had to keep her from touching any of the testing area. We brought Christmas Dora with us and she laid there watching it with no problems.



The nurse came back in to evaluate the results and to our surprise she was not allergic to one damn thing! Are you kidding me! The doctor explained that she still definitely had allergies but none were so bad that they needed extra care or medicine. Well then what is wrong with my baby? His answer was surprising to me, asthma. Both my brothers had asthma growing up and I remember taking care of my little brother all the time. Paige did not sound like he did or have many of the signs of asthma. No wheezing, no difficulty breathing just coughing. The doctor said it was Cough-Variant Asthma.

The main symptom of CVA is a chronic, non-productive cough. These asthma patients have cough as the main or only symptom of their asthma. These patients are a small percentage of total asthma patients. CVA patients are, however, a distinct group rather than merely being thought of as 'coughing asthmatics.'

I was relieved to have an answer and optimistic that her future nights would no longer be nightmares. He sent us home with a nebulizer and prescriptions to start immediately. Paige was not fond of the idea of wearing the mask and sitting still while that loud machine spit water in her face but she has been a trooper. For the first week we gave her both Pulmicort and Xopenex every day and then we were supposed to use them as necessary. The first week Paige responded very well to the treatments. We both actually got some sleep that week. By the second week she had started to cough a little more but we persisted with the treatment. By the third week she was really coughing and gagging at night again so I called for help. The doctor informed me that I could give her the Xopenex which is the new generation Albuterol every four hours. Well that would have been nice to know up front but what are you going to do.

I increased her treatments to twice a day or more depending on how she was doing. She was starting to do better when she got an infection. We are pretty sure she got the viral cold that Ethan had and an ear infection on top of that. Her month check up with the Allergist/Asthma doctor was last week and he upped her dosage of Pulmicort to twice a day instead of once and told us to be patient. BE PATIENT! Oh this has been the most frustrating thing yet. He said she is doing well but any illness at all will make her asthma 10 times worse. That explains why every single time Paige gets sick she is sick for a month. We are now sending her nebulizer to school with her and she is taking treatments there as well as home. Although Grammie bought her a cool dinosaur mask for her treatments she does not like them at all. I don't think she minded as much at first but now that she seems to spend half her day hooked up to that machine she hates it. Who could blame her! Poor thing!

As of this week, I have had to give her a breathing treatment every night between 12:30 and 3am. During her sickness the last few weeks I have had to take her in the steam shower for 20 minutes at a time to calm the coughing. It really is a tedious process but hopefully we will get the medications correct soon and she can have some relief. The doctor says as soon as the summer heat sets in it will kill a lot of the pollens off that have been making her cough so much. We will continue to try and help her but I think we have a long road ahead of us. On a positive note the doctor says they usually out grow it by age 6. Great only 3 years to go... shoot me!

Jake and Abby turn 3

My niece and nephew, Abby and Jake, turned 3 in March also. Their poor parents were blessed with all three of their children in the same week! Their party this year was held at My Gym in Plano. They have attended this gym for a while now and really love it. Ethan and Paige were extremely excited to go to the party. They love parties in general but they really enjoy playing with their cousins. I love that they are all the same age. They will always have such a unique and special family.

The party started at 6pm which is our dinner time. I was not sure how I was going to swing driving and dinner at the same time but it ended up working out perfectly. We left 30 minutes earlier than we needed to and ate dinner at the Subway next door to the gym. The kids had never had Subway before and they loved it. Well they loved the big bag of Cheetos anyway. Ha! We finished up dinner, walked next door and were ready to party!

I would have to say the giant ball pit was a definite favorite! The ball pit was attached to a wooden climbing structure with a slide. Heaven for toddlers.


It took a few jumps for them to get comfortable to run and jump off.


Somehow the cousins always end up playing together... I love it!



Down the slide, jump in the balls, down the slide, jump in the balls...




Look Mom it's a Ball!


Weeeee! Look three monkeys walking the plank.

After free playing for a while, all the kids sat in a circle for a few songs and stretches.

Go Jake, go Jake. Ethan was doing really well listening to the leader and having fun doing it.


Abby was going crazy! I love that girl.


Silly thing!

They even did one of Ethan's favorite songs, The Itsy Bitsy Spider.


The next activity was the bucket rides. They had a bucket hanging from a zip line that went across the gym. Each kid took turns riding in the bucket from side to side. It looked like great fun and made me want to hook up a zip line in our backyard.


Paige and Ethan both LOVED riding in the bucket.


Then it was group time again. They all came together for a monkey story/song. It happened to be another one of Ethan's favorites from school. He had a great time singing and acting along with them.


All four of our little people. You can't tell they are related at all. :)


Then the birthday kiddos took a ride on the birthday motorcycle and swung from the ceiling while we sang to them.


Always ready for cake.

Wendy made a dump truck cupcake/cake and yummy rice krispie flower pops.


Then it was back to playing and the ever exciting bubbles!




Abby actually caught one right on her tongue.


I like this picture of Paige spinning in the bubbles.


Why toddlers like bubbles so much is a mystery to me but they sure do love them.

We had such a great time celebrating Jake and Abby's 3rd birthday! Too bad from now on Ethan and Paige think we are going to play in the balls every time we mention their cousins.