LIFE

These are my sweet babies! We've been Doing a lot of fun things lately.  Most things include being at home and enjoying movies, crafts, food, and wrestling!

Last weekend Andy took the big kids to a Civil War reenactment. 

My parents recently came for a visit!   

I was able to show my dad the Jentrey has joined our

 "I can stick out my tongue and touch the end off my nose" club! 

Good times!

David Up-date

 Eating asparugus..sorta!

 Wishing he was big enough to ride bikes with his brothers.

 Yeah for one tooth!

I guess I should blog about the adventure yesterday.  It's still pretty raw and I think I'm just trying to forget it.  But before I do, I need to write it out as yet another thing David has been through.

Sunday afternoon at 12:45 David woke up from a nice nap.  He laid sleepily in the bend of my leg for a few minutes while Andy and I talked in the living room.  I noticed him startle once and thought "poor thing he isn't quite awake yet.  Caleb rushed up to him and rubbed his cheek and he startled again, then again randomly.  "Weird" I thought, "no one really touched him."  I started to wonder if this was a small seizure.  David kept jerking, like a baby does when startled, eye wide and arms lifting slightly.  He seemed mentally there until they got faster.  He looked at Andy and smiled.  Half way through the smile his face dropped.  He tried to smile again and another jerk caused his face to drop expressionless half way through the smile.  That's when I said "This is a seizure! We have to take him to the hospital."  I stood up and sorta walked in a circle thinking "What do I do?" Did I need his milk?  Did I need his meds? Were we all going to get in the car?  That's when I said  "Please give him a blessing then I'm calling 911 to see what to do."  The 911 lady asked me a few questions but when I asked her If I could just take him, If  there was something I could do, and such she just totally ignored me.  I was so mad I just handed the phone to Andy.  I was still holding David in my arms and his face was getting puffy and so pale.  I held him as paced the house waiting for the ambulance.  I gathered his medical information I had thankfully typed onto a handy sheet a few weeks ago.  I also looked at the clock and started timing this seizure.

The ambulance arrived.  He was still having the seizure.  They took us into the ambulance and hooked him up to the monitors.  They asked me a ton of questions about his medical conditions as we rushed to the hospital.  Due to his special care they decided to take us strait to Cook Children's.  Unfortunately on the way the radiator blew in the ambulance and we had to pull over and wait for another ambulance to take us.  Thankfully by then the seizure had stopped.  David was becoming more alert and his numbers on the monitors we surprisingly good.  he was still quite pale and puffy but doing well enough that I wasn't freaking out that we had to wait 15 min pulled to the side of the road.

The rest is all the boring stuff. I carried him into the hospital.  Everyone kept asking me if this was his normal color.  The neurologist didn't bother coming by and just said to put him back on Keppra.  They did check his lungs with an x-ray for signs of aspiration and they checked him for RSV since he's still not quite over this cold.  We went home feeling very thankful they hadn't decided to monitor David overnight. 

David has been seizure free since then but quite fussy.  Irritability and fatigue is a side effect of Keppra but hopefully as he adjusts to the medication he will be back to his cheerful self. 

He sure gave us a scare and reminded us forcefully how each day with him is a blessing.

David's practice!

 David is cuter than ever!

 You can see he's stolen his daddy's heart.

 And Luke's!

He gets so excited sometimes. 

 His little hands and feet wave around wildly and he smiles so big!

 Jentrey loves to make his smile.

 This is how I make David practice tummy time.  Usually I pad his tummy with a blanket though.  I have to use my hands or in this case my foot to keep him from rolling strait back to his back.  He hates it!

He is getting good at reaching for things he wants.

Such a silly boy.

10 years and counting!

On February 17th 2011 Andy and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.  I can't believe it's been that long.  I remember making it to 3 years and seeing other couples that had be married 10 and thinking WOW! I wonder what our life will look like then!  It's been 10 short years and although it seems like yesterday we convented to be together forever, I can hardly remember my life without him.  Andy and I met in 2000.  After sending "my missionary" off on his mission in May I finished Cosmetology school and moved back home with my parents to start college.  Andy returned from his 2 year mission in June. We dated some and before we became really serious I ended things with my missionary.  I had always planned on going on a LDS mission when I turned 21.  I wanted to get two years done of collage using my cosmetology licence to pay my way through, then go on my mission.  Little did I know that at age 21 I'd have my first baby and age 22 have my second.  Life end's up a little differently than we plan sometimes.  I continued Dating Andy feeling so very confused about what I was doing with my life.  I wasn't wanting to get serious.Then I got accepted to Ricks college in Idaho.  That was it.  I realized then that I didn't want to go. I wanted to be with Andy.  That nothing they had to offer even interested me with out him.  I was 19.  I remember my mom reminding me how young I was and asking if I really wanted to get married so young.  I said "Mom, he has everything I want. What else am I waiting for." He is absolutely perfect for me and I haven't regretted marring him for a moment!  I could now go into a long list of reasons my husband is the best man ever but I would not only embarrass my husband but I would make everyone either gag and stop reading or feel incredibly envious, so I won't.  Let me just say he is truly the best person I've ever met.  I remember being told as a youth  (by a guy none the less) that my expectations in a guy were too high.  Nope, I found him!  He loves me with all my imperfections that drive him crazy and I love him more than he'll ever know.  Andy and I started dating in July of 2000 and were married Feb of 2001.  When you know , you know! He's the best choice I ever made!

For our 10 year anniversary we always said we would go on a big trip.  Life threw us some adventures that made that impossible.  I remember sitting in David's hospital room and thinking about the future.  Our 10 year anniversary coming up ran through my mind.  I dreaded it.  I was so afraid we would actually be able to go on a trip.  I knew that if David was alive we'd be home with him but if not we'd be free to go.  Thankfully we had the sweetest anniversary gift ever.  An evening home with David, listening to old songs, and eating Andy's awesome grilled steak, with scallops, shrimp and sweet potatoes.  It was absolutely perfect.

Also for our anniversary we got a sitter for the big kids and a took David to a park in Mansfield. They have a great paved trail there. Since Andy's awesome, he ran and I merely roller bladed beside him while pushing David in the jogging stroller.  It was so fun.  The weather was perfect and David was a joy.  He recently has started squealing with glee when the wind blows in his face.  It's the most adorable sound!  The only down side to our anniversary celebration was that somehow I ended up with poison Ivy! I didn't touch any! It took a few days for me to realise what the small rash on my arm was and by the day after it had spread all over the left side of my face and down my neck.  My eye swelled almost shut and life was thoroughly miserable since I also got a horrible cold that week.  (Thanks mom for coming to help for a few days!)

                         
I'm better now and am happily tending to all the kids and Andy who now have it...the cold not the poison Ivy.  Thankfully David is overcoming the cold well.  He will have gagging fits and turn all sorts of colors.  He also gets congested and his hand and nose turn blue.  I raised the head of his bed, steam him in the shower a few times a day, use saline drops and the bulb syringe, and pound his back and sides like crazy.  I took him in to the doctor for his RSV shot and they checked his oxygen level.   It was only down 2 points!  SOOOOOO thankful.  With him not having a spleen infections are soooo easy for him to get.  I was glad to hear his ears are not infected either!

David goes to have a feeding evaluation on Wed.  Hopefully I can finally get some help with his oral aversion. His cardiologist appointment isn't until the following week. That's when we'll find our how his heart is holding up.

As for the rest of the family I think we are doing well.  Jentrey is in soccer. The big boys are in Tae Kwon Do. Caleb has Cub scouts. I'm in YW.  Andy is training for a half marathon in April.  The big kids are in a home school co op  on Thursdays and we are going to be starting another really soon.  Luke is totally 3 and giving us a run for our money but he delights us equally as often.  David is not sitting up alone yet.  He's determined to arch  his back the moment he realizes I've let go of him.   Things are crazy at times but over all life is wonderful and we are truly blessed.