Cutie Pie in the Yard!

Do you ever just have one of those days when you think your child is just so cute? (come on, all of the moms out there know what I am talking about!)  Today was one of those days for me.  The weather was finally warm enough to put Nathanh in a new pair of shorts and shirt, that I'd bought for him before we went to Australia.  And he seemed to be feeling much better and acting much more like his old self so his personality was in full swing!  Nathanh loves being outside and the yard is getting closer and closer to being child friendly (and photo worthy).  Here are some pictures of our day.

Nathanh is quite intrigued by the hose.  I can't wait until it is warm enough for him to "help" mommy water the plants!

Nathanh with my lavender tag.  He loves getting it out of the planter and running around with it...not so safe but he screams when I take it away...one day it might just vanish...

This is a dragonfly that is in one corner of the yard.  I have tried to put different things around the yard so that I can teach him the vocabulary, while tiring him out by keeping him on the move running from one animal / insect to the other!

On the move...yes the lawn needs mowed...

Nathanh is learning to be gentle with mommy's flowers...

Another lawn animal.  Nathanh goes to visit and pat the bunny rabbit often.

I LOVE the point.  I have to say this is the big thing that he learned from his cousins in Australia.  He is using the point more and more and is quickly realizing that it is an important communication tool.  Here he is pointing at another bag of flowers on the fence.  He likes to go to each bag and be lifted up so that he can touch the flowers "gently".

Looking very cool in his hat and sunglasses!

Officially Canadian!

No, not Nathanh.  He has been a Canadian citizen ever since we got his passport in Vietnam.  Today Erwin officially became a Canadian citizen!!  This has been many years in the making so yeah!!

Nathanh and Daddy waiting for the ceremony to begin.  Notice Nathanh is wearing his Canadian maple leaf onesie that he wore when we picked up his Canadian passport in Vietnam.

I am sure Nathanh is giving Daddy a few pointers about becoming Canadian! 

It's official!

Our family of THREE Canadians!!

1 Year Old!

Today Nathanh turned 1!  I wanted it to be a fun day for him but also not to be too exhausting since he is still a bit tired and not quite himself since being sick.

In the morning I thought we'd give open gym at the Y a try.  It is something that Nathanh enjoys, is familiar with and where he can move at his own pace.

Nathanh was happy to be back in the familiar setting of open gym but I could tell he was still a bit hesitant.  Usually he will wander around completely on his own and explore all of the toys and equipment but today he certainly stayed much closer to me than usual. 

After lunch Nana and Grandpa came by to deliver Nathanh's birthday present.

The box was bigger than Nathanh!

Getting the paper off was quite the task.  Nathanh even stopped for a little break in the middle, so here he is holding his cheerios and tearing paper!

For dinner Erwin, Nathanh and I went out for dinner - Vietnamese, of course.  Our usual, favorite little Vietnamese restaurant turned out to be closed on Monday nights so we found another one nearby that we'd been to once before.  We were the only customers due to the hockey game...Stanley Cup Playoffs for those of you not from these here parts...so we got all of the waitress' attention.  Let's just say that was interesting...okay, I'll say a bit more.  She immediately recognized Nathanh as being from Vietnam and furthermore from Northern Vietnam.  She herself was from Southern Vietnam.  She explained all of the physical differences between people from the North and the South and definitely had opinions...and we'll leave it at that.  So although it was very interesting and even educational, I would have been more interested on a different night.  I really had just wanted to spend Nathanh's birthday together as a family of three. Oh well.

After dinner, Erwin really wanted Nathanh to have cake.  We were right by a T&T market so we went in and bought three slices of cake to take home with us.

Nathanh was full and tired by this time.  So really all he did was play with the cake.  I think he might have had a little bit of the cream icing and one teeny piece of cake.

We still want to have an official 1st birthday party for Nathanh but we thought it would be better for him and his little guests to wait until he is just a bit more like is regular old self.

Sick Baby

So I know my blogging went downhill once we reached Australia.  My excuse is that Erwin was a computer hog and I was busy with Nathanh.  Anyways, I do have some great photos that I will backdate post over the next little while as I like to use the blog as a way of recording my own memories. 

We have been home almost a week now and Nathanh has been one very sick little boy.  The Wednesday night before we left Australia - we left on the Friday - Nathanh woke up feeling very warm.  We didn't have a thermometer at the time but we both agreed he was very hot and gave him some baby Advil.  It seemed to do the trick and his temperature went down.  However Thursday afternoon it returned.  I asked Erwin's sister to borrow a thermometer and his temperature was 40.2 C.  So I gave him more baby Advil and his temperature returned to normal.  Friday was much the same, he'd get a temperature, although never as high as the 40.2 C since we were checking it every couple of hours, we'd give him the baby Advil the temperature would come down.  He was also coughing quite a bit.  By the time we were leaving Friday night Nathanh was very tired and very clingy (to me). 

During the flights home he was eating and drinking less and less and his temperature needed to be brought down with the baby Advil again.   He slept almost the whole way back - 26 hours with stop overs.  Needless to say we were getting increasingly worried about him.  Once we were home we all had a nap and we tried to give Nathanh a bottle and dinner, which he barely ate.  So by 8:00 Saturday evening, knowing that our family doctor would not be in until Tuesday, we headed to Emergency. 

At the hospital, after a chest x-ray, we were told that he had a viral bronchial condition and they prescribed an inhaler for him to help open up his airway and treat the cough.  We got home around midnight, gave Nathanh his first dose and went to bed.  We were to administer the inhaler every 6 hours and we were still controlling his fever with baby Advil.  After 3 treatments, Nathanh not only didn't seem any better he was worse.  He was completely lethargic and slept all the time unless we woke him up for meals or bottles and even then he was barely eating and he started refusing his bottles altogether. 

So at 5:00 in the afternoon on Sunday we headed back to Emergency.  We purposely went then because he was due for his inhaler treatment and baby Advil at 6:00 so we thought they would get a better idea about how bad he was doing before the medication.  When I went in this time, Nathanh's curiosity about a new place and new people didn't even peek...anyone knowing Nathanh knows this is unheard of.  We were registered, through triage and into Pediatric Emergency within eight minutes max.  Fortunately the same doctor that we had seen the previous night was there and I caught his eye on the way in and let him know we were back.  He immediate read the notes from the triage nurse and came over.  He quickly realised that Nathanh was having trouble breathing, was completely dehydrated, and had a temperature of 39.2 C.   Everything happened very quickly then.  There were about four people around us.  The doctor was spouting out tests that he wanted run, a nurse was working at getting an IV into him and blood tests, a urine sample and another chest x-ray were ordered.  All of this was done within 10 minutes of arriving at the hospital - it is good to know they really do prioritize when necessary.

Although Nathanh cried a bit when the IV was put in, honestly he just had no energy so he slept most of the time.  His temperature continued to go down when Tylenol was given but went up again after a couple of hours.  We were in Emergency for about 7 hours waiting for the IV to rehydrate him.  His veins are very small and they were afraid to turn the speed of the drip up too much for fear of bursting the vein.  Anyways, with very little improvement noted by midnight the doctor asked for another pediatrician to come for a consult.  And at about 2:00am the second pediatrician decided that Nathanh was not able to keep his fluids up on his own at this point and should be admitted to the hospital.  By 4:00am we were in our room in the Pediatric Ward.

In Emergency, just after getting his IV.  Nathanh slept most of the time.

In Emergency - we had to prop his arm up with his water bottle to keep the position of the IV just so.  If it moved even a little bit the flow monitor alarm would sound.  He looks so much better after just a few hours of the IV to rehydrate him.

Monday was much the same.  Nathanh slept most of the time, kept needing Tylenol for his fever and would not eat or drink.  Late Monday, we were told that there had been a discrepancy between the two chest x-rays taken and that Nathanh's lower left lung showed signs of pneumonia on the second one.  So an antibiotic was prescribed.  They really don't like giving antibiotics at this young age but really nothing else was working and Nathanh was not able to fight the infection on his own.

In the hospital room - Nathanh still looking very tired. 

Nathanh stopped getting fevers early Wednesday morning and was slowly starting to stay awake for short periods of time.  He had been placed in isolation so I think he was under stimulated and was partially sleeping out of boredom.  The nights were very long and Nathanh was constantly being woken up by nurses, his IV alarm or code red and blue announcements in the hallway.

We knew he was doing a little better when he started to stand up.

And when he started to play with all of the wires and tubing attached to him.  This one monitored his heartbeat and O2 levels.  It was quite funny when he noticed the probe on his big toe.  His big toe glowed red and he was quite intrigued by it!

Finally a smile!  You can see my little bed in the background.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to use it very much.  Every time I got Nathanh to sleep I would have to put the side of the crib up and that would wake him so I'd have to start the whole process over.


The doctor had said that there would come a time when I felt I could do just as much for him at home as they were in the hospital and that was when it was time to go.  He was right.  By Thursday morning I was ready to leave.  Nathanh obviously HATES hospital food so he wouldn't eat it and the fluids in the IV had been turned down very low to try to stimulate his appetite, so he wasn't getting anything from the IV anymore.  The sleepless nights were taking their toll on both of us.  And I could continue the medication at home.  So I packed everything up and waited for the doctor to come by during his morning rounds.  He laughed and asked who was more ready to go home me or Nathanh, but was fine with discharging Nathanh so we made it home in time for 10:30 bottle and nap!

Nathanh is still very weak.  We really see a difference in his walking.  He is quite unsteady again and will choose to crawl some of the time.  He had almost all of his bottles today (16 of his usual 18 ounces) and is eating more - although not nearly what he usually eats.  His sleeping is very restless and at times he is so tired he just puts his head down on me.  He even fell asleep in his high chair at lunch!  But all in all he is slowly improving and his fever has not returned so that is good.  I think he will just take a couple of weeks getting his full strength and appetite back.  I have also given Nathanh strict instructions that I do not want to have another visit to Emergency for a VERY long time...it is just too scary for mommy!