Just For Fun

I thought some photos of the handsome Desch men were in order. Josh preached this morning and they all got spiffed up. Love it.

Love Those Crisp Fall Mornings

I Think Winter Is Here

Today the high is only 46, and it finally feels legitimately chilly out there! But who knows... St Louis weather is so bizarre!! Maybe it'll be back up to 80 tomorrow!! The boys went on an outing with Josh this morning, and this is how they were dressed:

Howie Goes to the Hospital

Right on the heels of our Halloween fun, Howie came down with pneumonia and had a stay in the hospital overnight. Monday morning he was not acting like himself, but we all figured he was just off from a Halloween hangover (lots of candy, late bedtime, etc) and he would be fine after a nap. Before he had lunch he was asking to go to bed, which he NEVER EVER does, and that's when I knew something was wrong. He woke up with a high fever and told me his ear hurts. This is when I began to feel some motherly guilt. He had an ear infection about 3 weeks ago and was prescribed amoxicillin to knock out the infection. Unfortunately for Howie and me, the medicine was dosed to be taken 3 TIMES DAILY FOR 10 DAYS. EVERY 8 HOURS. There are so many problems with that dosage. First of all, every 8 hours? Do you seriously expect me to wake my little boy up overnight for 10 days to give him medicine that he really doesn't want to take? Yeah, that's not happening. Second of all, 3 times a day? That stuff tastes terrible. I consider getting 1 dose in him a major victory, and I was supposed to do that 3 times every day for 10 days? That's 30 TIMES! Whoever prescribed that kind of dose has clearly not tried to give a little kid nasty pink medicine. So you can see where I'm going with this... my delivery of the amoxicillin was not exactly perfect. I called the dr's office to ask if I really had to wake him up overnight to give him medicine, and they said I could just space out 3 doses over the course of the day. That wasn't much better, but a little. So over the course of 10 days, I definitely missed a couple here or there because I just forgot to keep pumping it in him (or delayed a couple times because I wasn't armed for battle... oops). ANYWAY, all that to say that when Howie told me on Monday that his ear hurt, I instantly thought his ear infection had returned because I hadn't given him that amoxicillin perfectly. His temp hovered around 102-104 all afternoon and into the evening, and we finally got it to come down with some medicine and I think he slept pretty well Monday night. Tuesday morning we got up and I took him the doctor and confessed my slightly shoddy medicine-giving. While I felt a small bit of chiding, the doc generally agreed with me that that dosing wasn't very good and saw Howie's ear was infected again but also thought his lungs sounded a little rough. We were sent down for a chest X-ray and then told we could go home after a preliminary x-ray reading looked fine. The doctor called me back later that afternoon to say the radiologist thought Howie had mild pneumonia and because of his high fever I should take him to the ER. I first thought this was a bit overkill but took his advice and we went to the ER. By the time we got there Howie measured in with a 104.8 temp... long story short we were ushered back into the pediatric ER, he was given a magic straw (that's what the nurse called his IV, which I found hilarious but Howie didn't find funny whatsoever), some antibiotics to kill the pneumonia, and we left the hospital the next morning almost good as new. It's amazing to me how quickly children can bounce back from something. He was given the antibiotic through his magic straw and by morning his fever had disappeared and he seemed to feel better! I'm so grateful for medicine and for how well he was cared for. He was really miserable in the hospital and kept asking me to take that magic straw out, but when we left he had at least part of the bounce in his step back and he told me he had a good time in the hospital. That's kid logic for you.

Halloween Fun

We had so much fun trick or treating this year. We had the privilege of Nana's (Josh's mom) company, who was in town for the weekend, and that made it extra fun. Howie was NOT happy about putting his costume on, but I guess once he saw the candy piling up, he forgot all about the costume. The weather couldn't have been more lovely.

Here he is... Curious George! Complete with a banana in his pocket! Already testing out the candy before we even left the house! (Side note: Tuesday morning Howie told me his teeth hurt. Excellent. Only 3 and already following in my awful teeth footsteps. Mental note: must take Howie to the dentist and hide the fact that he eats lollipops when Mama needs extra leverage.)

Justice, our precious little shark. It was 4:00 Sunday afternoon and we still didn't have a costume. Josh was going to make him a Peyton Manning jersey out of a brown paper grocery bag, but to save him from bad costume humiliation, I ran to Old Navy real quick to see if they had any cheap baby costumes left. Sure enough, scored the last baby costume, this shark, for $5. Please leave a comment below to tell me how impressed you are. He curiously had absolutely no issue with wearing this costume.

The boys with Nana, ready to go

Meeting up with pals... here they found Mya (the little mermaid, of course) and Maggie (a rabbit!). It made me a wee bit sad that this was our last Halloween in St Louis with these precious friends.

Justice with dear friend Lisa, making the rounds. I think everyone knew that candy given to him was going straight to Mom and Dad, so that was slightly embarrassing.

Howie and Mya, checking out the haul afterwards.

Have you ever seen a shark:

Drink milk from a sippy cup?

Check his cell phone for messages? I think not.

What the Kids Look Like Now

Dad pushing the boys like a madman. What's not to like about this scenario?

When Howie plays dinosaurs he really means it. Notice the straining blood vessels and intense roaring going on. It's a sight to behold (and of course hear).

The boys and their good friend Caroline

Mom, do you mind? Even in my crib?

The closet is a fabulous place to hide

Honking the horn on this tricycle at Grandma and Grandpa's is the best part of my day

Howie, Justice, and cousin Pax visit Tanners Apple Orchard in Illinois. The apple cider! The apple cider donuts! The pumpkins! The goats! It's just too much fun!

It's so hard to get a pic where they are both standing still and looking mostly normal... even if part of Howie's head is cut off!

A Funny Conversation

Context: Howie is fascinated by watching live music. He loves hearing music at home too but enjoys it even more when he can watch people play, and he wants to learn himself. To that end we're hoping to enroll him in suzuki music lessons. Suzuki is a method of teaching music that even very young children can learn- they are taught to play by ear first and then read music later. I don't know how many instruments you can learn through suzuki, but I know violin and piano are commonly taught. Hence the purpose of this conversation.

Me: Howie, would you rather learn violin or piano?

Howie: Saxophone.

Me: That's not a choice, Howie. You have to be bigger to play the saxophone. Would you rather learn violin or piano?

Howie: Guitar.

Me: You have to have long fingers like daddy to play the guitar. Would you rather play the violin or piano?

Howie: Saxophone.

Me: (Seriously?) Howie, violin or piano?

Howie: Drums.

Me: Howie, violin or piano?

Howie: Guitar.

Me: (SERIOUSLY?) Howie, you have to be bigger to play the guitar. Violin or piano?

Howie: Saxophone.

Me: (How am I not getting through here???) Howie, you can only pick violin or piano right now. Violin or piano?

Howie: Violin.

There we go. Took about a million tries to get what I was looking for.