Cabin Fever

Well, it has been about 7 days since the girls and I have left the house to do anything but go to the Doctor!! I think we are all slowly going crazy. Even Zoe keeps saying, "mommy I want to get out of the house!" I wish!!!! We are not used to staying inside all day. We usually are out meeting friends or Jay for lunch, going to the park or mall... anything to give us something to do:) As I posted last, the girls have both been sick with a virus... well, Saturday Zoe was still having fever on and off, and I listened to her with my steth after she had her morning breathing treatment, and was pretty sure I heard some fluid in her right lower lung...sigh. Off to see Dr. Salem we went who thankfully has Saturday office hours! I am glad we went too, b/c Dr. Salem also heard fluid in her right lower lobe (pneumonia! :( ), and on top of that Zoe has double ear infections!!! She hasn't complained even once about her ears, and Dr. Salem said she probably has a pretty high pain tollerance. This is only her 2nd ear infection ever, having just had her first only about a month ago. Hope this isn't a trend! Reesie is sick too, but luckily doesn't have the breathing problems Zoe does. She has a cough, runny nose, and is just generally cranky. Hopefully they both get over this soon. The good news is Dr. Salem says Zoe sounds so much better than she used too.

So Zoe, Reese, and I have been hanging out inside watching disney movies and playing games. Zoe LOVES doing puzzles and we have done every single one of her puzzles about 50 times each (this is not an exageration). Zoe also has an incredible imagination and loves to play pretend. Today, she was pretending she was Santa Clause and she found some of Reese's little knit hats and was putting little treats in them and saying she was "filling the stockings." Then she put a bunch of books under her dresser and said these were the presents under the tree! She is so funny!

Here is picture of how I found Zoe yesterday:

I found her in the kitchen dipping saltine crackers in the whip cream (and eating it!) while wearing her tap shoes. hahaha. Hopefully Zoe is better by Thursday, her 3rd birthday!!!!!!!! We are all very excited for her party on Saturday, mainly for the contact with the outside world! :P

Not to leave my sweet Reese out, here is a video of her "crawling." Isn't she the cutest thing???

Sick Day

Well, as I mentioned in the previous post Zoe has been sick this week. Her asthma does not seem nearly as bad as it used to be, and we are really praying that she eventually grows out of it! We haven't had a hospital visit in several months now! ( a real feat for us~ ha!)
Her being sick yesterday was especially disappointing because she was supposed to start "big girl" gymnastics!! aka " the 3 year old class." This is the class in the big gym, and mom is NOT allowed in! At first I was all excited (a break! Yeah!), but now I am so sad! I am going to miss our "mommy and me" classes. She has been attending WOGA in Frisco since she was 15 months old and has really excelled! She has had the same coach since she started, and she will be teaching the 3 year old class! She is the greatest teacher and just fantastic with children! You have to have some serious patience to teach toddlers gymnastics (not to mention dealing with the moms!) Wednesday night is also Zoe's dance class, so she missed that as well. I hate her missing these activities #1 because she loves them and #2 they cost me a small fortune!! Here is a recent video of Zoe at dance class (she insisted on wearing this pink tutu!) It is just a snippit, b/c my other files are too big for this blog.



She is the youngest in the class (and the best, might I add~ wink wink). Zoe absolutely loves dance and gymnastics and is constantly playing "dance class" or "gymnastic class" at home. Guess who the student is?? ;)

January's project

Well, so far January hasn't gotten off to the greatest start!  Zoe has had a virus for the last several days, and as many of you know, Zoe has asthma, and pretty much all illness goes straight to her lungs!  So, we have been holed up in the house since Sunday giving Zoe mucinex, breating treatments, and trying to beat this thing!  Finally realized this wansn't going to go away on its own, so I took her to the pediatrician's office today to see the NP.  She thinks it is just a virus, and she added an oral steroid on top of her breathing treatments, so hopefully that will kick it!
So I have been at home on the Internet researching something fun and easy for our first project.  I want everything we do to be something Zoe can understand and partcipate in (Reese, at 7 months, is just going to have to be out of the loop!)  As a nurse, I decided to start on some childrens hospital websites and see if they could use any toy and book donations.  The same day I was doing this I recieved a letter in the mail from the Scottish Rite Hospital.  My parents had made a holiday donation in our name (Thanks Mom and Dad!), and that is how I found our first project!  The Scottish Rite Hospital of course!  For anyone familiar with that hospital, the place is AMAZING!  It is for children with orthopedic disabilities, and it is 100% free for patients. 
I called and talked to a child life specialist there, and she said their greatest need is donations for the teenagers who often get overlooked.  Here is a link of things they need:

http://www.tsrhc.org/toys-books-and-games.htm

I have already talked to Zoe about it and she keeps saying, "do we have to wrap presents and take them to kids in the hopspital."  haha.  Yes "hop-spital."  I keep telling her we don't have to wrap them, and I think she is a little dissapointed in that! So as soon as she is fever free and feeling better, we are going to go find some fun teenager things to take up to the Scottish Rite!  Hopefully it will brighten someone's day:)  If anyone has any ideas for other projects, or things to take up to the Scottish Rite let me know!  Of course once we get our goodies, and take them up to the hosptial I will let everyone know how it goes.

Our New Years Project

This New Year, Jay and I are starting a little project with Zoe and Reese, and that is a big part of why I finally decided to start this blog (I have had it set up for about a year now, but never done anything with it!) 
This Christmas came and went so fast (coupled with us all getting the stomach flu!) that we didn't have time to do any kind of charity project.  We don't usually do anything big since our kids are so young, but we like to donate to the salvation army, toys for tots, or adopt an angel from the angel tree.  I was so disapointed in myself that none of that got done this year! 
Anyways, on to the project!  Zoe is nearly 3 years old now (and for those of you that know her, very smart!), and Jay and I both want our children to grow up knowing how lucky they are for having everything they need and dozens of people that love and support them, but we also want them to realize that not everyone is that lucky.  So this year, we have vowed as a family to work on one charity project a month.  Nothing big..just small things that we can all participate in.  Jay thought it would be a good idea to share with everyone (via this blog, my idea) what we are doing, and how we are doing it... so that other people can participate too if they want!  Also, people can post needs that they may know certain families/churches/organizations have.  The littlest things make a big difference!  That is what we are trying to teach Zoe this year. :)  I will keep everyone updated as we go along, and will add some day to day Alsup happenings as well.  The girls are growing up so fast!! :(  Stay tuned!