July

We started the month with a trip to Dallas for the Fourth.  We got lots of quality time with Tony A., Judi, Andy, Ita, Tony M., and Migs. We also got a little bit of quality time with Steffi and Robin since they live nearby in Fort Worth.  I wish we could have seen them more but Christy's sudden illness (later determined to be roseola, or sixth desease) prevented us from going to the Chayrez residence on the agreed upon day.  Luckily, Chirsty was mostly herself after a day or two, though her rash kept her home from school the first part of the following week.  Below are some pictures of the Dallas trip.  These are from my camera and don't really begin to cover all that we did.

Christy wanting to be picked up.

Christy sitting in the grass.

Christy not wanting to play with "Bro-bo".  Obviously, I picked a bad time to get out the camera.

So many boys! L to R: Marcos, Dominic, Andy, Migs, Tony

 

 

We could see these pretty lights from upstairs.

Dominic stayed up until almost 10pm and saw some fireworks in the distance. We didn't think he'd last that late.

He looks so worried! I can't remember why.

 

I couldn't resist Christy's face in this one, but had to crop out my gimpy eye.

And when I finally managed to open both eyes all the way (ugh!), Christy had hers shut.

The week after we got home was crazy. The kids had five medical appointments  - three at our pediatrician's office plus lab work and an x-ray for Dominic.  The first trip was Monday and confirmed Christy had roseola.  We took her to school that morning because she had been days without fever and was feeling fine, plus I read online that once the rash breaks, kids are not contagious.   The school called us and asked that we come get her or bring a doctor's note saying her rash was not contagious (apparently me reading stuff on the internet carries no weight with them!).  So Marcos took her to the doctor, who confirmed she did have roseola.  And the doctor said that best practice would be to keep her home until the rash was gone (doh!).

Dominic remained at school Monday, and was limping when we picked him up in the afternoon.  He seemed to have a different answer every time we asked him what happened.  At one point, he reported that he fell on the playground.  Another time he said it hurt when he woke up from his nap. His teachers said he talked about hurting himself at a friend's house in Dallas (huh???).  It's very difficult to get hard facts from a three-and-a-half-year-old!!  We thought it would go away, but he was worse on Tuesday, so I took him to the doctor. They did the routine temperature reading and got 102! I didn't even notice he felt warm.  Anyway, the doctor said we needed to go get lab work done that day to rule out a bone infection or something serious of that nature causing him to limp.  She ordered the results "stat" and called us the next morning to say they were normal. Phew!  At that point, she thought he had a virus that had settled into his joint.  I never heard of such a thing.

As the week went on, the leg got worse and worse and the boy could barely walk. On Thursday he asked us to carry him from room to room.  Marcos took him to the grocery store that day and he cried out in pain when Marcos turned a corner and his leg moved, though he was strapped into his car seat at the time.  So Marcos took him back to the pediatrician Friday, and he tested positive for strep and had an ear infection.  He never complained of any throat or ear pain, my brave boy!  She believed it was actually the strep bacteria that had settled into his joint.  She sent them to get an x-ray to be sure there wasn't anything else going on with his leg, and the x-ray was normal.  He started antibiotics that day and started to improve very quickly.  I saw him running the following Monday and suddenly realized I hadn't seen that in seven full days.  This is a guy that normally runs more than he walks.

I didn't mean to get into that much detail with the medical stuff, but like I said, it was a crazy week. They are both feeling well as I write this.  Hopefully all that bought us some health.  Let's get back to some pictures.  Here are a few of the kids hanging out at home.

This is one of about three pictures I've seen where she really reminds me of myself as a baby. 

Marcos cut a pineapple with a special tool that pulls out the fruit and Dominic drank water out of the shell all day.

With two of their favorite grownups - Tia Yvette and Mr. Knox.

Last weekend, Ita came in town and we took Christina to get her first haircut, which was really just a trim.  My baby is all grown up!  I took some pictures of her in the front yard to document her BEFORE look:

There's no denying it, she had a mullet.

 

In this one she just recognized Marcos in my car approaching the house.

For the cut, we went to Kids Are Our Specialty (KAOS), which is the same place we took Dominic when he got his first cut at 10.5 months.  She did pretty well.  She refused to wear a smock, but that's not surprising since she won't wear bibs anymore either.  She didn't cry at all - you can't ask for much more than that. 

Adjusting his new watch from Ita.

 

Once we got started, Marcos and I spent most the time on the floor holding books and toys to try to get her look down.

I think it really did help that she got to sit on a horse.

And here start the AFTER pictures.  She got to pick out a bow after.  They had suckers and we let Dominic get one to take home for later, but she didn't really notice what he was doing. She hasn't had hard candy yet, and I don't think she's ready.  I'm surprised she's not more aware of him getting candy though.  

 

This looks like her "oh no!" face.

It's still a lot shorter in the very front.

I guess it's pretty noticeable from the back, but you hardly notice from the front. We kind of wish we'd gone shorter.

And that's all for now!