Encouragement

Having a little boy is amazing. Even though he loves bugs, dirt and cars, that's the fun of having a boy! And also the love of sports. My son is obsessed with baseball. He plays baseball probably about 3-4 hours a day. He's had a tee for about 6 months now and he is absolutely amazing at hitting the ball off the tee. He has always had a love for baseball. The past few days he's been trying and trying to hit the ball by throwing it to himself. And yesterday, he mastered it. I seriously could not believe my eyes when I saw him throw the ball in the air and hit it. It was absolutely amazing to see the look on his face. I know he felt like he was on top of the world. But I have to stress this one subject, encouragement. The most important thing for a toddler is to feel like they are doing something good. Especially when they start knowing right from wrong. There are so many different ways to encourage your child. It doesn't matter how you show them that your proud of them, just do it. I like to use words like-

• Good Job! -it doesn't matter if they miss or they hit it a mile far, make sure you tell them they did a good job.
• Try Again- at first when he would miss hitting the ball he would freak out because he was getting frustrated and I seriously had to get down to his level (another important thing, always get on their level so your talking to them not at them.) And I had to tell him that it's okay to mess up. Everyone messes up and and everyone misses sometimes. Alls you have to do is Try Again! And from then on every time he misses I always say to Try Again. And he says it too.

And also, Just get excited, seriously-they are kids and anything and everything they do is amazing. Whether you say Yay, Awesome job or Good hit I always make a big deal when he hits the ball. Even if he only hits a piece of it. He's my son and he's the best little boy ever. I am so proud to be his Mama.

Stomach Bugs Are No Fun

I know I haven't written anything in a little bit we've been sick with the stomach bug. First Nico then me. (I'm still getting better.) Taking care of a toddler when their sick is no fun. Not for you, not for them. And the stomach bug is the WORST! The throw up, the poop. It's horrible. If your child has never had it please count your blessings because it is by far the most horrible sickness a baby/toddler can get. Other than serious stuff of course. And not to mention that it runs through your whole family like wildfire. It's dangerous for babies and toddlers especially because of dehydration. When their sick they don't want to drink or eat and if they do drink they just throw it up anyway so the seriousness of dehydration is major. This was the problem we were having this time around with Nico. He couldn't keep anything down for more than a half hour. And the fever. If they can't keep medicine down then the medicine can't do it's job and take the fever down. So this is where you have to call the doctor. Nicos fever was up to 103.7 because he could not keep any Tylenol or ibuprofen down. So that's when we took him to the doctor because I wasn't chancing it. It's dangerous for kids under three to have a fever higher than 103 degrees.  (If your baby is under 3 months old and has a temperature of 100.4 call the doctor right away. I'm no doctor this is just what I've read and what I've been told.) But anyway we headed over to the doctor and they did a total exam and Nico was crying but not really any tears were coming out so the doctor said to us "I think you should take him over to the hospital and try to get some fluids in him."  Immediately my eyes start to well up and thoughts start rushing through my head. I'm thinking to myself an IV in my kid? Hell no! There's no way they'll get one in him unless they knock him out first and that is for sure not happening! So we leave the doctors office head over to the ER and we have no idea what we're in for. They took his height and weight all that stuff took his blood pressure and he was screaming while they took it so it was off the charts then they were worried about that, so were taken back into a room and the doctor comes in and says that they want to try to give him Zofran. Now for all you mommys out there who were seriously sick throughout your pregnancy (like me) you know what Zofran is. That magic little pill that made you not throw up. (for the most part.) So the nurse gives us a pill. Now I don't know about your kid but I sure as hell know mine doesn't know how to swallow a pill! And I don't want him knowing how to do that yet!  But seriously, a pill. To a 22 month old. Are you nuts? Like no way. So we fight him and we get some medicine in him and then he falls asleep and the doctor comes in and says "okay so we're gonna try Pedialyte mixed with apple juice to disguise the taste of the Pedialyte." So we mix it together and we put some Liquid Zofran in with it, I don't know why they couldn't have just given us liquid in the first place but whatever. So he's drinking it and he's starting to get some color back in him and we are so relieved. Thank god. NO IV! Yay! So after an hour or so and no throw up for Nico the doctor comes in and gives us a prescription for liquid Zofran,  liquid ibuprofen, and Tylenol suppositories. We haven't had to use the suppositories yet and hopefully never will but the doctor said they're good to have around for times like these when he can't keep anything down but doesn't have diarrheal yet.
    Fast forward about 5 hours and the throw up starts again. So we mix the liquid Zofran in with some apple juice and he drank it and it was okay for a little bit then the diarrheal started. My poor baby, can't catch a break. It was horrible. But I went with my sister in law up to Trader Joes and got their Organic Virgin Coconut Oil for his diaper rash from those damn wipes and it took it away literally over night. I was amazed. So of course after that I put it on his butt until the diarrheal stopped. He actually asked for it because it soothes the rash instead of burning it like the diaper rash creams do. Believe me I will never buy another diaper rash cream again. There is so many chemicals in wipes and diaper rash creams! It's insane!

BEST STUFF EVER!

I'm not sure if you can use it on kids under one, I would definitely check with their doctor first. Because it is from a coconut and if your child hasn't had coconuts yet you don't want them getting an allergic reaction in their diaper and you not noticing for hours! But if your child is over one and has had coconut and they have diaper rash I would seriously consider this stuff!  

     Another thing I did for my little man was once he could keep liquids down for more than a day but the diarrheal was still pretty bad I gave him a little bit of Rice Milk. It helped a little bit and it didn't make him sick. He drank it and it stopped the diarrheal for a few hours so the coconut oil can do its job and heal his little butt. Before when Nico had the stomach bug he was only 10 months old and it was horrible. I actually boiled rice and made my own rice water because babies under one cant have cows milk. 

     So what I did was I got the Boil In a Bag rice KEPT IT IN THE BAG because its just easier, and I boiled it for about 10 minutes until the rice was cooked and the water looked really milky. You don't want to boil it too long because if the rice sits in there too long the water will get too think. If this happens just use regular water to water it down. Then I added a little bit of sugar to the rice water to give it some kind of sweetness so he would drink it and believe it or not, back then he drank the whole damn bottle and wanted more. I was shocked. It took his diarrheal away within an hour. It was amazing. I knew I wasn't going to get so lucky this time because he was much older and much more aware of what hes drinking/eating. That's why I went with the Rice Milk.

     But needless to say, now Nico is all better and I was sick for the past 3 days and its sucked. My husband has been great and has been taking care of Nico so I can rest, thank God. I just hope my husband doesn't get sick now. I hope some of this can help some mommys out there!