Mom & Dad Visit! So Does Sickness.

Dave here. Alex is sitting on my lap as I type. He is feeling so much better. We've been giving him the Amoxicillin as well as some Infant Advil when he feels a little warm. It's quite a change from Friday.

My parents came to visit yesterday (Saturday). They drove up in the morning and drove home last night. Mom played with Alex and Dad slept. Okay, they both played with Alex, but Dad did sleep a little bit.

We were just a ton of fun to be with yesterday. Friday night before we went to bed, Esther said, "Uh-oh I have a tickle in my throat." I think that's the funniest phrase..."tickle in my throat." Anyway, I woke up Saturday morning, sans tickle the night before, and I immediately knew I wasn't doing all that well. When I would take a deep breath, I felt serious tightness in my chest. Not like heart pain, but chest congestion pain.

Esther said she did not feel well in the morning either, although her temperature was normal. My temperature was over a hundred. We took my parents to the house that we're looking at purchasing, but other than that, we just sat around the house and talked. Around 3:30, I went in to lay down in our bed because I just felt awful. My parents left a little after 5:00. Soon after that (please don't be grossed out) I began coughing up green junk from my chest. It did not sound nor look good in any way shape or form. I was really cold even though I was under our covers with sweats and a sweathshirt on. My fever broke around 11:00 last night, but was back this morning and this afternoon as well. I'll probably go to the Doctor tomorrow to see if the infection in my chest is causing my fever.

I was supposed to sing this morning in worship team at church. That obviously did not happen. It would have been my debut on the tamborine too. I was so disappointed.

Esther spent her day taking care of her two boys and working on her Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for counseling. She needs to get 30 CEU's done by the end of March. She has her first clients here in Illinois on Tuesday.

Finally, there was some exciting news yesterday. Alex cut his first tooth. Grandma was actually the one to notice. His center right bottom tooth has pushed through the gums. I'm going to get him some steak tomorrow. I think he's ready. YEA ALEX!!!!!!
Unfortunately, this crazy blog won't allow me to upload that picture for some reason. I'll try to get it on later.

A Family Trip to the ER

Dave here. I apologize for the length of this post, but hopefully you'll get sucked in and stay engaged until the end. I think it's a good read.

Yesterday, Alex got sick in the morning and had a fever the rest of the day. It got up to 102 last night and we took him to the Doctor at around 7:00 (Esther had already made the appointment earlier in the day). We actually saw a nurse practioner last night and she said that there was nothing wrong with his breathing, bowels or hydration. She said to continue to monitor his milk intake, as he was not eating like his normal self. I only slept for a little over 3 hours last night as we were up checking his fever and trying to get him to eat.

I decided this morning to do some work from home so I could be here to help out however I was needed. That was the best decision I've made in a long time. Today was not a fun day. Alex was just not himself all day. He barely ate at all and his fever kept spiking. Being the first time that we have gone through this as parents, the worst thoughts kept coming to our minds. What if there is something really wrong? What if he dehydrates? What if the fever just keeps rising?

We talked with our Doctor early this morning and they wanted us to call them at 1:00 to let them know how things were going. Right before we called, we checked his fever and it had risen to 103.5. They told us to head to the ER right away. At this point, holding our emotions in check took a lot of energy. We again were thinking of worst case scenarios.

Edward Hospital has a free-valet service which I thought was outstanding. We got right in and they took his temperature rectally (we've since apologized to Alex for that), and he still had a fever of 103. His face was so red and his hands were sweating profusely. I felt scared. I also felt so badly for Alex as it was evident he was in much discomfort.

We were then taken back to another room and we saw the Doctor in a relatively short amount of time (the docs name was Oliver Chrisler.....I'm not sure why I included that other than I think its a really cool name.....he went by Ollie). He dug out about 3lbs of ear wax from each of Alex's ears so he could see down there. He says that Alex has an infection in each of his ears, but the right ear is the worst.

He gave Alex some Amoxicillin and a prescription for ten more days worth of doses. We're also supposed to give him Ibuprofen for the fever as needed. Alex fell asleep on the way home and so we just drove around looking at houses for sale so he could sleep longer....he really needed it. We got home about 45 minutes later and he stayed asleep in his car seat for another hour. When he woke up, we could immediately see the difference. His normal color was back, he no longer felt like a kiln and he actually smiled at us, something he literally had not done since last evening.

He downed six ounces of milk, more than he'd eaten at anytime in the last two days. He went to sleep around 7:00 just like normal. We'll keep you updated as to his progress tomorrow, but we are very encouraged.

As I think back on the events of today, it's something that probably every parent has gone through. However, it is the first time I have ever felt scared for my child. It's not a fun feeling. Praise the Lord that nothing worse has come of this. I think the only thing I would have done differently today was tip the valet....I just totally spaced.

Father-Son Time!

Dave here. Esther and I decided that it would be good for me to put Alex to sleep sometimes as she is going to start working one night a week at the counseling center at our church. Tonight was the first night, and it was the first time that Esther had not put Alex to sleep. She went to Borders to have some well-deserved 'Esther Time'. I started giving the boy a bottle at about 6:30 and he was asleep by 6:50. I'm a natural. Actually, it's that Esther has done such a good job with his schedule that he knows around that time to eat and then go to sleep. He's such a wonderful kid!

IN OTHER NEWS............

My mother has a picture of me in her dining room from when I was either 9 or 11 months old. I can never remember which one it is. Anyway, I have the flowing hair of a healthy 16 year old in that picture. My mom tells me that I'd already had several haircuts by that point. Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Esther took Alex to get his second haircut today.....he's five and a half months old. He looks like a toddler again, much like he did after his first haircut.

He is also showing that even though we live in Chicago now, he knows his Dad's roots are in Indiana. He also knows that his Mom wants Peyton to finally get a superbowl ring. My Colts-loving sister and her family got this football for Alex for Christmas. After the Superbowl, it's going to 'get lost' somewhere, as I will not stand for having my son grow up a Colts fan! :) My Steelers are still the defending Superbowl Champs for another week and a half.

Sunday afternoon

Dave and I have created a game so that we can enjoy sports together. The game is simple, I have to pick a team to win. This way I now care who wins. Since I enjoy spending time with my husband and he enjoys spending time with me and watching sports. This allows for me to also enjoy sports.

So at the beginning of the playoffs, I picked the Colts (Manning deserves a superbowl) and the Saints (what a story that would be) to get to the Superbowl with the Colts winning! I was going strong until today! I was bummed to watch the Saints lose to the Bears (and yet not a terrible loss since I do live in Chicago). I was nervous as I watched the Colts/Patriots game. I almost lost both my Superbowl teams today! But the Colts came through for me.

But the best thing from this afternoon is represented in the picture. Alex can sit unassited for a couple minuetes (with several repositionings). Touch Down Alex!!!

Breakfast in Bed!

Dave here. Alex is pretty much a twelve hour a night sleeper, and has been that way since three-and-a-half or four months. He goes to bed sometime between 7 and 8 most every night, and he won't start calling us to come get him for about twelve hours. This morning was a slight exception. He went to bed last night a little before 8:00 and he was quiet until almost 8:30. We went in to get him and I changed his diaper and brought him into our bed so we could cuddle with him. I then went to make him a bottle and we gave him the treat of breakfast in bed. I'm sure he didn't care where he was, he just wanted the food. Here they are, the two loves of my life!

Trade Bait!

Dave here. For those who may not be aware, I am in a Fantasy Basketball League with friends from Grace College. My team name is the Johnsonville Bratwursts. It's one of the ways we use to stay in touch with each other. Combining sports and friends, what a great idea!

Anyway, I recently made a trade with the Tacoma T-Dawgs to acquire Tim Duncan. I gave up athletic swingman Shawn Marion. This picture is of Tim Duncan scoring and Shawn Marion helplessly watching from behind. I apparently made a good deal.....at least according to this photo.

I realize that no one really cares about this, but it's my blog! Thanks for reading anyway.

He likes it, he really likes it!

We have been trying solids for the past few weeks without success. I would put the spoon up to his mouth and Alex, not Dave, would make a face and turn his head. If he opened his mouth and the food made it in, he would make a face and push it all out. He was just not ready. He had no idea what he was missing out on....until today!

He was a little bit off of his sleeping and eating schedule so we had some extra minutes to make another attempt. I, of course, did not have high hopes as the last five attempts were more play time than eating time. But he proved me wrong. I got the first bit in and he made no faces! Then I started laughing at him as he started sucking in his upper lip everytime I put more in his mouth. I had to call Dave to share the moment with someone. I guess I was too busy talking with Dave and not paying attention to feeding Alex fast enough because Alex started crying for more. By the time he was finished, he had stopped sucking on his lip and he was working on just swallowing!

He is such a big boy!!!! We will try it again tomorrow and see if he does the same thing. If I know my son well enough, he may make faces at me tomorrow too!

Thoughts about Motherhood

As my son takes an afternoon nap, I figured it is a good time to sit down and write about this motherhood thing. It has been a struggle for me the past few days and last night I started thinking about why it has been so hard for me. Then I realized that it is me that gets in the way of me taking care of my son. It is my insecurities! I sometimes spend too much time thinking about what other people think about how I am raising my son then how my son, my husband and my God thinks about it. And let us not forget about what I think about it! It is so hard because so many of my decisions I make for him everyday are neither right or wrong, they are just decisions. I can only make a decision that I feel it right in that moment and sometimes I feel it was a good decision and sometimes I realize that is was not. But was it the wrong decision? Not necessarily, it was just not the best decision. And these are hard thoughts to remember in the midst of the daily routine that Alex and I have! I need to stop thinking about what other people think about my decisions and just enjoy my son and this motherhood thing!

Weight Loss, CPR, Steak Dinner & Backroads!

Dave here. In an effort to create accountability, Esther and I are both attempting to lose weight. I wanted to let our readers know about this so we can keep you updated on how we're doing. This picture of me was taken just a little while ago as I was demonstrating the earth's gravitational pull to some Wheaton Academy students. We'll post some periodic images as we go. Esther goal is to lose 15 lbs. and my goal, admittedly a bit ambitious, is to lose 430 lbs.

In other news, I became CPR certified today. Also included in the class was an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) certification. I am now certified to save a life.

Esther made a great steak dinner tonight with sauteed mushrooms and a rice pilaf with sauteed onion & fresh spinach leaves. It was awesome!

We drove around tonight and found some backroads to get to our house that we are looking to purchase. Exciting times!

The Voice of God!

In our time, it's unusual to audibly hear the voice of God. However, this morning at Crossroads Community Church, we did just that. Okay, before this post become a mockery, I must confess, that voice was me. I was in a sketch this morning at church. I was the voice of God. They didn't want me on stage at all....apparently I had the perfect face for the part. The sketch went well, and if Esther is any indication, it really made people think. Esther told me that she was thinking of the fact that God already has a plan for Alex and he knows what Alex gifts and passions will be.

Anyway, both Esther and I want Indianapolis and New Orleans in the Superbowl. That scenario is alive and well after this weekend's playoff games. The Saints are coming here to Chicago to take on this City's beloved bears. You should have seen the local news tonight and how they just showed drunken bear fan after drunken bear fan. These people are just crazy. Okay, I was that way (without the drunkenness) last year when the Steelers were making their run. Go Saints! Go Colts!

In other news, there may or may not be some upcoming news on the housing front. Check back early, check back often!

5 Months!

Can you believe it? Alex is 5 months old. He loves looking at himself in the mirror and can you blame him? He's such a cute kid and we feel so blessed to have him. He's content, he's healthy, he sleeps through the night, and he loves to laugh. How could we ask for anything more? We certainly couldn't ask for anymore hair.

Esther and Alex like to have tickle time. I enjoy playing my rhyming body parts game that I made up for Alex (2 feet, 2 knees, 2 hands, 2 elbows...2 ears, 2 eyes, 1 mouth, 1 nose). Again, we feel so blessed that he's been with us for 5 months. We are looking forward to so much more fun with him.

Please come visit us in Chicagoland! It's supposed to be a winter wonderland this weekend.

We Are Sick People.....Physically!

Dave here. I stayed home from work yesterday, Alex had several big coughing spells last night. At one point, I think the baby monitor almost blew up from the loud coughs coming through. I stayed home yesterday because I just felt very weak. I had a stuffed-up head, but nothing that would have normally kept me from work. I just felt really weak, so I did some work from home and I was able to rest a lot more than I would have had I gone to work. It's all Esther's fault, she's the one that had the cold first and then gave it to Alex, and now it's my turn. I am back at work today though, although I still feel a little weak.

We also put together a new toy for Alex today. Jodi Feather got us an Activity Zone, or as Esther loves to call it, centro de actividades. We felt Alex is strong enough now, not to mention curious enough, to use it. Of course I had to get the camera out to document the whole thing.


When we first put him in, he lunged forward and conked his head on the big bar. That did not seem to deter him. He really liked it. The bottom of it makes funny noises when he kicks it or pushes really hard with his feet. He's not quite tall enough yet to do that consistently so I don't think he knows he's the one doing it.


Anyway, we enjoyed seeing him play with this....as you can see in the pictures he loved the spinning ball.

You just never know....

Esther here....These past few days have been ones of reflection for me. This weekend a friend of mine e-mailed me to let me know that a Co-worker/friend from Bowen Center died before Christmas. Brandy Brown started working at Bowen about a month before I started and I am so glad she was there. Not only was she a cheerful and bubbly person, she was good at her job and made my job easier! And after this last job I had, I learned that being good at her job was a gift (and I do not have that gift)! I was shocked when I read the news. How does one cope with such news? I am studying Daniel right now and I wish that I had a Daniel in my life that God would reveal mystries to and then reveal to me. And yet I know that Daniel saw and experienced many things that he did not understand and yet he remained firm in his faith that God knows what is going on. And you know..that is sometimes all we can do, have faith (accepting that which I do not understand). I may never know why Brandy died, I think the bigger question for me is "Am I ok with that?"

I will miss you Brandy and am sad that I will not run into you when I am home visiting.

Random Thoughts from Dave

* How great were the two NFC finishes this weekend?

* Alex's cold is doing much better.

* Go Florida! BCS controversy is a good thing.

* Pastor Daren is a big Cowboys fan, I feel for him......but I'm still glad the Seahawks won.

* I brought back a childhood tradition of mine: whenever we eat Mexican food, I always eat a tortilla with just Ortega taco sauce at the end.

* Cowher is out in Pittsburgh. Grimm? Whisenhunt? Ferentz? Go STEELERS!

* Pastor Daren spoke this morning about imagining the life of your dreams...."When we discover His love and His plan for our lives, then we discover what it really means to live."

* Thanks to everyone for my Christmas gifts:
Myself & Esther - new telephoto lens for our digital camera
Esther - Steelers hat & my yearly atlas :)
Maddy - hand-knit Steelers banner
Mom & Dad - Kohl's gift card & devotions for dads book
Tucker's - crazy head basketball & Macy's gift card
Dan & Marna - dress shirt
Emil - flashlight & Selah "Duets" CD
Joel & Lisa - Amazon gift certificate (Steelers visor & another Selah CD)
Barb - tablecloth (for both Esther & I)
Mom & Dad Robinson - "Worst Case Scenario Survival Game: Golf"
Dr. Frost - A dozen Titleist golf balls

* If I missed anyone....I deeply apologize!

* Since Pittsburgh is out of the playoffs, I'm cheering for a Colts vs. Saints Superbowl. If the Colts win, it will be great for Peyton. If the Saints win, it will be a great story for the gulf coast region.

* Here are a few random pictures from Christmas!

Cousin Tara & Alex









Brendan, Seth, Missy & Sam









My brother Dan's supreme fashion sense

Another Haircut?

Had we not cut Alex's hair at 3 months, he probably would be getting confused for Crystal Gayle by now. He will be 5 months old next Thursday and by the looks of the picture below, he looks like he needs another cut. He's been confused for a girl on several occasions and as his father, I will not have it. His name is Alexander, not Alexandra!

Alex is feeling better from his cold. He woke up this morning in good spirits. He was smiling like he normally does. He's still trying to sleep off the cold though....he's now been asleep for his morning nap for 2 hours and 15 minutes. His morning nap is normally an hour. I have checked on him several times, and he's still alive.

Two Firsts & A Tendon

Dave here. We had several firsts with Alex in the past two days. Yesterday Esther decided to try to feed him solids. She made a brown rice cereal. Alex didn't seem to like it. He made some funny faces while Esther was trying to give it to him.

Today maybe gave some insight into why he didn't want anything to do with the cereal. I called Esther from work, just to see how things were going at home, and she told me that Alex had a fever of over 100. He was just lethargic and winey the whole day. Perhaps that had something to do with his fussiness last night and the whole cereal thing, or perhaps he just doesn't like brown rice cereal. I bet if we had named him Mikey, he would have liked it. :)

Anyway, the other first came today as the doctor's office told Esther to give him some infant tylenol and monitor his fever. At one point, his fever was up to 101, but it has gone down and stayed down since the tylenol. Esther said he made some really funny faces with the new taste of the tylenol.

While we're on the topic of doctor's. I went to see Dr. Pector today because my left shoulder pain has been getting worse. She told me she thinks I have an inflamed tendon in my rotator cuff. She wants me to take 600mg of Ibuprofen daily and do some shoulder exercises that she gave me. If it's not better in three weeks, she'll send me to ortho for an MRI to find out if it's something worse. Please pray that it's nothing worse!

Well, Alex is sleeping now and Esther and I are enjoying the fact that he sleeps so soundly at night. Have a super day!

Happy New Year!

Dave here. It's the first Pacheco blog post of 2007. I've concluded, after our raucous New Year's Eve festivities, Esther and I are completely boring people. When I say raucous, I actually mean putting our son to bed at 7:30, going to bed ourselves around 11:00 and waking up to the new year shortly after 12:00 when our neighbors were shooting off fireworks in 30mph winds. We are hip. It wasn't really boring at all, just a different celebration when you want your almost 5-month old child to get back on a normal sleep schedule after traveling and having visitors for a week.

We took Esther's parents to O'Hare yesterday a little after 9:00am. Their flight was scheduled to leave at 11:10. At around 12:10, I said to Esther, "you're parents should be landing soon." Shortly after that comment, our phone rang and it was Esther's dad telling us they were just now boarding at O'Hare. Because of the low cloud cover, a bunch of planes were delayed. They did get home to Lexington safely in the early afternoon. We had fun while they were here. Esther is holding the book they got for Alex for Christmas, "Bless Me".

One other thing that has been happening is Alex's issue with formula. We blogged earlier about his throwing up the formula (Similac) at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. We tried a different formula (Enfamil) on Friday the 29th and he threw that up too. We bought some Soy formula after consulting with our doctor, but then Esther read some questionable things about giving infants Soy, so we didn't feed it to him. We then bought Nestle's Good Start formula, another milk-based formula which has simpler proteins that are easier for babies to digest. So far so good with the Good Start! He's had a total of 10.5 oz of formula between last night and this morning that he has kept down. Things are going so well.

Ready for Winter, Feels like Spring!

Esther's parents have been here since yesterday, we picked them up at O'Hare yesterday around 7:00 pm. Today, we all went to the mall and we had a gift certificate to The Children's Place (Thank you to John & Maria for the gift). With a portion of this certificate, we bought a winter coat and hat for Alex. It comes with a fleece liner that can be taken out and worn by itself as a spring or fall jacket. Doesn't he look so cute? I know a lot of our readers are in the midwest so you're getting the same weather, but we really don't have a need for a big coat right now, even though it is the end of December in Chicago. It was high 40's today and is supposed to be low 50's tomorrow & Monday. Someday we'll be glad that we bought this to keep him warm, but for now, we're glad we bought it just because he looks so cute.

We're Home!

Dave here. While the "front" and "back" side of our Christmas celebrations are enjoyable unlike a hurricane, we are in the eye of the celebrations. We just returned last night from Indiana and Esther's parents are coming tomorrow night until Sunday.

I will try to recap for you our time in Indiana. I want to put a lot more pictures in here, but this site is not letting me for some reason, so I'll just explain it and not show it.

We arrived in Winona Lake on Saturday the 23rd, around noon. Our family does a progressive dinner every Christmas and Saturday was the day. When we arrived at my parents, Barb Wooler came over to practice with my mother for Sunday's service at church (Barb was playing guitar and my mom was singing Mary Did You Know).
Esther suggested I sing with them.....so I began practicing as well. Also, Saturday afternoon, Alex rolled from stomach to back for the first time, this picture is the roll, in progress. YEA!

Saturday night was the progressive dinner. We had appetizers and soup at Scott & Kelli Schneider's house (Kelli is my second cousin), salad at Noel & Joan Hoke's (Noel is Kelli's dad), stuffed cornish game and green beans (Esther made the beans) at John & Maria Tucker's (Maria is my sister), and then we went to my parent's house for dessert and to open presents. I received a Selah CD and a crank flashlight from cousin Emil and Esther got pot pouri and a candle from Joan. The picture is of (L to R) my cousins Kaylin and Karla getting to know Alex.

Sunday morning I sang with my mother. Esther did not make the service because as she was getting Alex dressed, he threw up. This was not your average baby spit up, but rather a geyser of baby yuck! After the evening service, we ate chili at my parent's house with Uncle Charles, Aunt Frances, my brother Dan, sister-in-law Marna and my niece Maddy.

Christmas morning, like a 5 year old, I could not sleep, so I went down to read at 5:30. My mom is normally up at that time so we sat and talked for a while. Esther and Alex had no problem sleeping in. The rest of the morning we spent helping to get lunch ready. We had ham, duck, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, fruit salad, bread and four different kinds of pie. It was a feast for the ages. After dinner we opened presents and talked. That night, Esther and Marna beat Dan & I in the first game of euchre, but then Dan & I stormed back and took the next two games.

Tuesday morning, Esther went to drink coffee with the Pacheco women and Alex and I spent the morning hanging out at home. He cried a lot and didn't want to take a nap, it was terrific! They returned in the early afternoon and started going through a bunch of old family pictures while my Dad and I went out for a long walk. My old roommate Aaron Waggoner came over for a surprise visit after we got back from our walk. That night, my parents treated us to dinner at our favorite chinese place in Warsaw, Peking. It was fabulous. After Alex went to sleep that night, Esther and I went to visit with her Uncle Jim & Aunt Tammie.

Wednesday morning was spent at my parent's house and Esther's Cousin Tara (Jim & Tammie's daughter) came over to see Alex....and I guess the rest of us too. (Personal note: Tara, you made the cut, but the picture wouldn't upload for some reason.) At noon, we went to my friend Seth's house and had pizza with Seth, Missy, Brendan and Sam the yellow lab. After that, I dropped Esther off at her Christmas gift from my mother.....a 1-hour massage. When I picked her up, she was walking as if she were boneless. She looked extremely relaxed. Shortly after that, we left to come home to Illinois.

It was a great week in Indiana and Alex was so cute at his first Christmas!

Tomorrow we'll go pick up Esther's parents at O'Hare and celebrate all over again.

Merry Christmas

We want to wish all of our readers/friends a very merry Christmas! May you draw closer to Jesus as you celebrate his birth. We'll fill you in on all the busy holiday festivities when we get a chance. Have a wonderful time with your families!