Isaiah 7.17 : Updates, etc.

So yeah here's the bi monthly photo upload ! This installment includes such wonderful events as Isaiah posing for bodybuilder magazine, Isaiah's first snowfall, Isaiah watching hockey, Isaiah visiting Disney World, Isaiah in the 'tub', Isaiah and the nebulizer, and much much more! There are 100+ photos to enjoy when you've got the time. Enjoy!

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. The good news is we haven't been back to the ER, the bad news is when Rachel took him into see our pediatrician on Monday she discovered Isaiah had dual ear infections on top of his other maladies. For a couple of days there he was on 8 medications. We're down to 5 now including his nebulizer treatments. He's doing better but still has the occasional coughing spell and is vomiting once in awhile. In development news he fully flipped over on his own finally and didn't like it one bit. He hates his tummy time since his hands are so sensitive, but for the last month he's been hanging out on his side a bunch more so we knew it was only a matter of time before he would make it all the way over. He's a bit delayed in doing this compared to an average kid, but much of it has to do with his hands sensitivity and the pain/discomfort being reason enough not to try to do it on his own earlier. Speaking of his hands, we just ...

So we're back home in atlanta, but we haven't made it home yet. After a day or so of getting slightly better he threw up multiple times on Rachel in the car and had something like 6 runny diapers so we went straight to Children's in Atl to have him looked at again. We've had a respiratory treatment already and are waiting on the chest xray results. Everything Friday in Orlando came up negative for anything specific other than just an upper respiratory infection. Its probably the same thing here, but we were worried about him being dehydrated with everything coming out of all his orafices. He'll be okay, we just figured we couldn't wait until tomorrow to get him into the pediatrician who would probably just send us to the ER for a chest x ray anyways.

Day 4… Magic Kingdom part two. After our late morning trying to make sure Isaiah was hydrated and well rested we got to the park around 1pm and met up with Grandma Kolis and Aunt Becca in Tomorrowland. We rode a few rides, he enjoyed It’s a Small World and tolerated Peter Pan, but while in line for Peter Pan, only little more than an hour and a half into our visit he was already getting crabby. We walked back to the other side of Fantasyland and got some ice pops to let him have some down time in the stroller and wait for our fast passes for the Winnie the Pooh ride. Just before we boarded the ride he spit up right down Rachel’s shirt. He was really warm and since Rachel felt pretty gross, (which is understandable) we left the park around 5. He slept the monorail ride back to the car and most of the way back to the condo. When we got him home we were worried he was suffering from heat stroke since his whole body was hot and his heart was beating crazy fast. We stripped him dow...

So day three… This was our supposed slow day since it was just the three of us since Becca and my Mom were swimming with the dolphins. We took our time in the morning and got to the Magic Kingdom around 11am. He was still pretty pooped and slept the whole way into the park and halfway through his first ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean. He finally woke up at the little flume ride down to the pirate battle since all the sudden there was a rush of air and a little mist of water from the boat. He didn’t freak out or anything, but kept nodding off during the ride. We then went next door to the Jungle Cruise which was alright, but he was already getting crabby and had a little fit on the boat thanks to me trying to clean some boogies from his nose. We could tell today was going to be a bit of a battle. We took it slow from there and tried to go on the Haunted Mansion after a leisurely walk, but the ride broke down while we were in line. We went back to the stroller and he promptly fell bac...

Oh I forgot to mention this was also his 8month birthday so we celebrated both St Patty's day and Isaiah turning 8 months! Yeah!

We did pretty good today. More than I thought we would. We went to EPCOT today and had a few more firsts. Half the park is Future World and the other half is the World Showcase. We got to the park around 10:30 and after grabbing some fast passes for the Test Track ride we went to Mexico and Isaiah had his first boat ride and helped find Donald Duck in the ride. He liked that alot so we went next door to Norway to ride the Maelstrom. This too was a boat ride, but a bit more adventurous than Mexico's lazy river like ride. There are some trolls, a portion where you go down a hill backwards and then down a much bigger hill to the end. We were a bit worried but he was laughing all the way down the hill. So that we consider his first 'thrill' ride. We continued around the World stopping in China, Germany, Italy, and Japan. We stopped for lunch in Morroco and Becca and Grandma K went to France for lunch. We then went on to England and Canada before heading back to Future World. I ...

We've nearly finished our first full day here in ORL. It was fun but tiring. We did have a happy suprise tonight though. We just watched 3 different parks' closing fireworks from the screened in porch at my Mom's time share while Isaiah slept on Mommy's lap. Today was filled with a lot of firsts for Isaiah. It was his first Disney experience, his first theather show, his first parade, his first eating solids not in his high chair at home, and his first swim in a pool. We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and while we didn't get to ride a ton of rides it was still fun. We went on the Safari, and while my sister Becca and I waited to ride the Everest Rollercoaster, Grandma Kolis and Rachel took him to see the Lion King musical which I'm told he started dancing alot too and enjoyed very much. We stuck around for the parade which he fought to stay awake through (though he did flirt with Minnie a bit by giving her a big smile) and fed him in the park just before le...

So our wallets just got a bit tighter. I'm sure everyone is feeling the pinch these days, but we got hit pretty good today. My work had their third round of layoffs, and while I am still very very lucky to have my job, other cost cutting measures were necessary to help keep the company afloat. The biggest one affecting our pocketbook is that we are now 100% responsible for our health care premium. For most people in our office its not too bad, for us its a little different since I'm fairly certain having a special needs child has a negative affect on your rates. I'll now have $560 taken out per month (pre tax at least). We can offset it somewhat with eliminating my 401K contribution temporarily, but there's still almost a $350 difference in income. Plus Rachel will probably be off her long term disability very soon which means the old wallet will take another hit. We're okay for now, but long term it doesn't look that great if something doesn't turn...