Monday, March 21, 2011

Oh my, March

Dear March,
We waited for you all winter....when finally signs of Spring are arriving, birthdays to celebrate, We were going to meet baby Hannah for the first time....we had such fun and exciting plans...we just didn't get to enjoy them to the fullest.
Instead this is how our March has gone....
Well, we did get to meet Hannah on her blessing day. She is very cute and looks so much like my brother that it is funny.
We did celebrate Gavin's birthday by going to Jungle Jim's, having a family party at Grandma's, and going to Disney on Ice. Gavin spent his birthday lunch at McDonalds with his friends Caleb and Brooklyn. He enjoyed his birthday a LOT!! But this is where things started to go down hill...we thought we would go see Hannah who was staying at my mom's a day here and a day there, but between kids schedules and my kids having a cough or a runny nose we didn't dare be around the new baby. So we stayed home and felt sorry for ourselves....if we only knew!
Friday Gavin had a fever and slept all day, I gave him plenty of Tylenol and he seemed fine. So to win mother of the year award I decided we were OK to go to Disney on Ice, share the same soda, and some popcorn. The kids had a great time. That night Gavin had a fierce rash. I got up and went to work on Saturday, (mother of the year again) and left Jeff home to take Gav to the doctors. Jeff decided to take Kennady as well since she hadn't felt great all week but nothing to terrible. Well Gavin ended up with Scarletina and strep throat. Kennady had strep throat. They were given antibiotics and everything would be great. So on Sunday when I got called into work, I went (mother of the year, remember) thinking that it was sunday and all the kids would just lay around, watch movies and feel better. When I got home from work, Gavin still had a fever and was working hard to breathe. So I took him to the instacare. They said he was breathing fast because he had a fever from strep throat and "it's not like he has pneumonia or anything". So we went home, had a horrible night, and in the morning I called the pediatricians office and said I was coming in and that I wasn't making an appointment. Gotta love Mom's like me right? Well the dr said gavin had pnemonia. So he got a shot of antibiotics and was switched to a different antibiotic. He was not saturating great in the dr's office so we were suppose to come back in the morning. Gavin looked better in the morning but was still not breathing great. In the back of my head I thought I should pack my bag now because I know we will be sent up to Primary Children's Hospital. Sure enough Gavin still wasn't breathing great at the doctor's so up to PCMC we were sent. The Er was just a fantastic experience of forcing meds down him, putting in an IV and starting oxygen, and SUPER large doses of albuterol. Still he wasn't getting better, so he was admitted. We had the night from hell as he got albuterol treatments every hour all night long and mom got to give them to him. He was tired, his heart rate was so high form the albuterol, and he was MEAN. Mean to me and anyone that walked, talked or breathed. Well they decided we needed to go to the Pediatric ICU despite my best kicking and screaming to not go there. And so we spent a night in PICU. I asked all night if we could go back to the floor, but there weren't any beds. So the next morning they found a bed for us and back to the floor we went. We had a better day thursday and were able to spread out the albuterol to every 4-6 hours and were able to take him off his oxygen. So as long as he could spend the rest of the day off oxygen we could go home on Friday. So Thursday night Kennady starts to throw up and have fevers again and Gavin has to go back on oxygen....this is the point where I lost it....
Thank goodness Gavin only needed oxygen for a few hours. Gavins final diagnosis was rsv which complicated his asthma. So by Friday night we were HOME!!! Yeah!!! Oh wait it gets better. Friday night 4 am Gage wakes up throwing up and 15 mins. later Kennady is throwing up. So saturday we are washing every thing in site. Disinfected the whole house. So Saturday night I stop in to my Mom's surprise party that we had been planning for some time now, and left Jeff home again with a sick family. Wouldn't you know at the party my stomach starts to hurt so I have my dad drive me home. Did I mention that baby Hannah was flown in just for the party and I still did not get to be with her. So after a few hours of chills and severe stomach pains I finally started throwing up!!! So Sunday we all layed in bed and slept. As of today, Monday no one is sick. Just tired and tired...oh, wait I meant exhausted!!
So we are on the mend....and now we are looking forward to April instead of May where we plan to drive to Vegas to see Hannah and then to California to see Grandma and Grandpa D. And celebrate Easter, and forget March ever happened. I know I have sounded like I have had a bad attitude about all of this, but really I have been so grateful. Grateful we have a children's hospital near us, grateful for a husband who helped with throw up and kids and just anything that needed to be done, thankful for parents who just took over Gage and Kennady's care while I was in the hospital with Gavin. Thankful that I knew Gavin would be OK. Thankful for my friend Jannette who brought us dinner and watched Gage. Thankful to my friend Doni who would text me at all hours of the night to check in on me, drove all the way up to the hospital to see us and saw that we were sleeping so just left me dinner and drove all the way back home. And again to Doni and Suzanne who brought us dinner on Friday. When you go through things like this you see who your real friends are...the ones who call in to check on you, and offer to help. And of course my family....they are the best, did I mention my mom was sick herself throughout this and my sister and two of her kids had strep throat as well. Yet, they checked in on me everyday. I knew things could be a lot worse, I see it everyday I go to work, and I see it in the world, currently Japan. Life is HARD, it is so HARD. But I have a wonderful family, I have soon to be healthy kids, and I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and these are the things that get you through hard times, whether or not they are harder or not as hard as what someone else is going through it was OUR trial. And hopefully we are better for it, because I am not doing this EVER again!
Here is our March in pictures:


The Curtis family grandchildren at our finest:


The only girl grandchildren, but another one is on the way thanks to the Cheng family!

Baby Hannah



Jungle Jim fun












Gavin's birthday morning:












Disney on ice







Waiting in the ER:


On of the very few things that made Gavin smile was the powerful dart gun Ashley brought Gavin

Playing the playstation


Woody and his pillow pet were always close by
Gavin made me take him to the bathroom every 2 hours in the hospital in the middle of the night, which was quite the process, so I told him no more pull ups at night when he gets home....it has worked!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

February happenings...

When February comes in our house, we are tired of winter, we want SPRING!! Good thing we have birthdays to celebrate to keep us preoccupied....well, somewhat! We started out by celebrating Kennady's 2nd birthday. We took the kids to Incredible Pizza. We were there FOREVER!! Finally I left Jeff there with the boys and took Kennady home. There is only so much of that kind of stuff I can take. Kennady got a bike and doll bed for her birthday. She was very excited. Then we celebrated February birthdays on my family's side. That includes: Kennady, my Dad, and Jeff. We celebrated by going to pizza at Rock Creek, then back to my parents for presents and cake.


Kennady opening her gifts

Kennady wanted cake for breakfast.....it was her birthday....

Daddy gave kennady a pedicure and manicure for her birthday! That makes for one happy girl!





Kennady had lots of cake for her birthday!! This was the cake she picked out for the family party!

Kennady loving all the birthday attention!

More cake!
Party attenders :





Present time! Yeah a scooter...now I don't have to use my brothers!
Kennady LOVES her Grandpa!

Kennady got a little to close to the candles....and now she is frightened of blowing out birthday candles!


A rousing game of Farkle
A rousing game of Match
Playing on the stairs

Playing the piano with Grandpa




A day or two in February was warm enough to get outside...Kennady took every advantage of that to try out her new scooter.




Then we had Valentines day....Gavin had a Handy Manny tool box for his Valentines
Oh this picture is out of order...oh, well we painted the family room and kitchen and when I say we I mean Jeff.
O.K, back to Valentines day...these two sat on the stairs together for an hour eating Gavin's valentine candy.
Gage with his Valentine holder

Oh, and when the kids opened their valentines gifts they thanked Santa Claus....where is the love? Santa gets all the credit!

Taking advantage of another warmish day outside....oh and if you can't tell we had colds during February...hence the snotty noses.






Then to Jeff's birthday...he said he didn't want anything.....so if you say that, you are going to pay...so because we are slowly finishing our basement bathroom, I bought him a potty! Next time maybe he will ask for something.



The kids have been wearing Halloween costumes everyday for some strange reason..oh well they got lots of candy when they showed up dressed this way at my sisters....so they will probably continue to wear the costumes!


And getting the potty backfired...because look how excited he is to get to use big power tools to cut out cement in order to move a pipe to be able to install the potty.

And last but not least....Kennady showing off her new dress Grandma Decker made her....thank you!


Now we are excited for March.....which will bring: blessing new baby Hannah who we have never seen....BIRTHDAYS galore....