Summer Vacation 2008 Part 2

After deciding the leave Adrian with my parents we were headed to Los Angeles for 5 days to visit my assistant Daryl and his girlfriend. We got an early start, and after a literal little something in the road we left around 6:30 am. Our drive was uneventful and we were checking into our hotel by 1 pm. Our room was a lot nicer than the one in Show Low and there would have been plenty of room for Adrian if he would have been with us.

We called Daryl and they came to pick us up in no time. They did most of the driving the whole weekend since he did grow up there so he knew his way around a lot better than us. Yes, we had the GPS but having him as our tour guide just made it easier. First, we went to eat at a restaurant called The Kettle. It was cute and good food too. It was close to Manhattan beach which was where we were staying, so after lunch we walked out on the pier.

Next, Daryl took us to his parents house to meet them and see their view. Their house was amazing. The area where they live is amazing and their view is spectacular. I got a few pictures of all of his mom's plants, but I was bummed that the shot of their view of the ocean didn't turn out too good.

After visiting his parents he showed us around more. Different places like Venice Beach, his high school, and other little things we might be interested in. They live in Culiver City, so for dinner we hung around their area and just went to a little mexican food restaurant around the corner.

The next day was going to be beach day and the the Dodgers game that night. We got to the beach around noon and truthfully we were only out there until 1:30. Swimming in the ocean is so fun. I can do it for hours. Well, it turns out the and hour and a half is enough because I got such a sunburn. We all put sunscreen on and didn't even have time to reapply because we weren't out there long enough to have to. We had lunch at a little pizza place near the beach and then we each went to our own place to shower and get ready for the game.

The game didn't start until 7:30ish so Daryl wanted to take us to a famous hot dog stand for dinner beforehand. It was a good thing we got there early. The place is called Pink's and based on all of the signed celebrity headshots and the long line it's a popular place. We ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes, but it was worth it...

The game was fun. We sat out in left field in the front row. We were all tired after our day of fun in the sun and baseball.

The next day was a lazy day, but hey we were on vacation. We hung around Daryl and Shanna's place and did a whole lot of nothing. I think we played a few games, went to eat, and rented a movie.

On our last full day there we drove up to Malibu to see the sights there and maybe hang out on the beach. I had a migraine so I wasn't up for too much sun, and I'm sure I wasn't too fun, but we went.Our last stop before leaving, my suggestion, was the Hollywood sign. It was so pretty driving around all the houses up in those hills.

So, that's it for our vacation this summer. I go back to work on Monday.

Adrian's illness

After our not as fun as it could have been trip to Show Low we had one full day at home before we were supposed to leave for Los Angeles. Since we came home a day early, on Tuesday, Adrian had 2 nights to sleep in his own room which he seemed to be liking a lot better. He was back to sleeping his normal hours, but he still wasn't eating. I didn't mention that in Show Low he developed a cold sore on the side of his mouth that was HUGE.


In those 2 days we were home all he would eat was oatmeal and he definitely looked like he was loosing weight. He was able to drink milk and water which was good, and I also thought at this point he might need some of that Pediasure stuff. We didn't really know what to do. I had taken him to see the doctor about a week before we went to Show Low because he had a weird rash on his stomach and legs.



I thought maybe it was heat rash since it is so darn hot here but the physician's assistant said it wasn't. He had also been exposed to a person with the fifths disease but she said his cheeks would have been more red. She said sometimes kids get rashes and we never figure out why. She gave me some steroid cream and it really seemed to work and told me to keep him really well moisturized. At this point the rash didn't really bother him. It even made it's way onto his face, but the cream took that away.



In Show Low this sore showed up in the corner of his mouth. I had noticed the week earlier that he was chewing on the inside of his cheek right in that spot. It was probably developing then. Also, when we went to see the doctor she went to look in his mouth but he said no and so she didn't. I think she should have tried harder.



We collectively decided that our trip to LA would not be as fun if we took him with us, so my parents kindly volunteered to watch him for us. I love them so much!! Well, even in their care he didn't get better, wouldn't eat, and was itchy all over. He was mainly itchy on his arms and head, and since he wouldn't let them cut his nails he was scratching himself pretty badly. So they took him to the doctor again while we were gone.



He had lost 2 pounds!! Granted, he's already way high percentage wise for his weight so even that doctor said it was ok that he lost the weight, but still when you're only 34 pounds you don't have that much to lose. Turns out he had some viral infection which basically just has to run its course. That's why he had sores in his mouth. Oral gel was the only thing to put in there to make it easier for him to eat. The doctor gave him some different medicine for the itching because benadryl only makes him hyper.



Now, he's back to his normal self eating a ton, but we've found that having him outside in this heat too long makes him itch still.

Summer Vacation 2008 Part 1

Being as that I'm a teacher, I get 9 weeks off in the summer. Jon-Paul is understandably jealous about this and makes sure that we go some where for vacation so he can take some time off too. This summer we went two places. Our first destination we Show Low, AZ.

I love, LOVE going to Show Low. Mainly because when we left Phoenix the temperature was around 110, and the highs in Show Low were around 90. Plus, it's up in the woods so there are all the wonderful smells. I'll add here that the day we left Adrian was very whiny and clingy and we had no idea why. It was so hard to get all of our stuff packed and in the car that morning.
Adrian is under there trying to nap on the way up.



Jon-Paul drove the whole way up there.

We went to dinner at a Mexican food restaurant with my parents when we got up there. The whole time Adrian was fussy and didn't want to sit in his high chair. I attributed it to him being tired since he really only slept 45 minutes in the car on the way up there. We decided to go to bed early in hopes that he would be a happier child the next day.

The first night should have been an indication that something more was wrong with him. Adrian is a child that sleep from 11-12 hours a night no problem. So when we went to bed at 8 and he was up screaming at 8:30 we knew we were in for a rough night. The hotel provided a crib so I thought he didn't like it since it was unfamiliar so I would try and get him out. That only resulted in more screaming. So, basically all night he would wake up every hour screaming and we would tell him to go back to sleep and he would. Oh what a fun night.

The next day we all went up the ski lifts at Sunrise ski park. Well, we wern't prepared for how cold and rainy it was going to be. Jon-Paul, my mom, and me wore shorts and flip-flops. My dad was the only one who wore jeans and tennis shoes. Luckily I had two of my sweatshirts and one of Jon-Paul's in the back of our car.



We were glad to be down off the top of the mountain because we were freezing cold and wet. Adrian seemed to be happy, but then again he was with my dad and he's always happy when he's with my dad.

Night two we thought we'd try something different in hopes that he would sleep. We had him sleep in the bed with us. At home we're used to a king size bed with no child in it, and here it was a queen size plus a child. He slept a little better, maybe only waking up every hour and a half to two hours. When he woke up though it was definitely not happy.

The next day we just hung out with my parents because that's when he was the happiest. They let us go to the movies while they watched him.




We ended up staying one more miserable night but left a day early. He wasn't eating much either and we had to find out why. We got home around 2:00 and decided it was nap time for all of us. We ALL took a 4 hour nap. Our trip to Show Low wasn't exactly relaxing and we still had a child that we didn't know what was wrong with.

Introductions

With this being my first post I figured I better introduce my family. I'm Ashley, 24, and my husband is Jon-Paul, 25. We were married on April 3, 2004. We have a 19 month old son, Adrian. He was born on December 21, 2006. We've lived in our house in El Mirage since 2005.

I'm a teacher and I work at a junior high in the central Phoenix area. I have actually been out of the classroom the past 3 years but I will be going back in this coming school year, but that's a whole new post.

That's us for now. I'm off to figure out how to personalize my blog more since I'm a little clueless about this.