Rainbow

"Look Mom! There's a rainbow in the toilet!"

911

We had to call 911 twice in the last couple of months. Once because I was babysitting a little girl and it turns out she is a runner. And a streaker at that. :( So scary. Thankfully she is ok. The other call was because Blake got bit by the neighbors dog.

Kyle, Blake and our neighbor friend Krue were all just playing out at the park, minding their own business. The neighbors dogs got loose and ran straight at Kyle. I guess Kyle sort of postured up and looked intimidating. The dog changed direction and went instantly at Blake. The dog's hair on it's back was raised, and it locked right on Blake's leg. :(





Luckily he happened to have on long jeans, his sturdiest pair. The bite mostly just bruised him.

Animal control came. They verified that the dog was current on rabies shots. I wanted the dog put down. Here in Logan, just because a dog bites someone does not mean the dog automatically gets taken away. It is so ridiculous that there is any tolerance for this! An owner has no obligation to get rid of the dog. But our neighbor who owns the dog did decide to send the dog away. She made the right decision. Thank goodness. I didn't want to be constantly in fear that this could happen again. My boys certainly did not instigate this.

My neighbor felt really bad. She was crying so hard that I ended up feeling bad for her. Thankfully my boys are ok, and no permanent harm has been done.

Mothers Day

Look what my boys got me:



I especially love the black electrical tape Blake used to wrap my present. :)

Kyle had so many sweet things to say. He is very thoughtful!

Dallin painted the flower pot himself in preschool and the flowers are pens.

I am so lucky. :)

Grandma

Dallin heard that Grandma was coming, so this is what he did until she got here:



Every once in a while, he would call out, "Grandma!" He was so excited to see her!!

Smiles

Julia started smiling on the 15th, Father's day. At first, we weren't sure they were real smiles because they were so expressive. We thought they were just some of the random silly faces that she makes. But they are real smiles.

She starts out with just a regular smile, then it turns into this big open mouth happy smile.









So much fun stuff to look forward to with her :)

All Better

She finished her antibiotics, and got a "looks great" from her follow up visit.



So glad :)

Schools Out!

Last days of school. I can't say enough about their teachers, they are each amazing!







The boys are ready for a break and I am ready to get a good routine going. It will be nice not having tons of homework to do with the kids each evening. Summer fun, here we come!

Wildcat Run

Each year at the boys' school, they do the wildcat run. It is a big deal, the whole neighborhood south of the school closes down, the radio station comes, and the whole school participates. Each kid 1st grade and up, runs a mile, kindergarteners run half a mile. It is awesome to see these kids work so hard. They are amazing!

NICU

Julia got sick :( She is all better now but for a while there it was no fun.

She had a stomach bug for 4 days, and on day 4, Saturday, I took her to the pediatrician. She checked out ok, still just a low fever. But later on that day, her fever got worse. She was pretty lethargic, and was only eating for a minute or two.


Here she was that day, unusually sleepy.

I called the pediatrician back, and he said to take her to the ER, which was a 45 minute wait. They asked me what was going on, and I told them she was only 3 weeks old, and that her fever was 101.7. They were pretty serious about that and got us back right away.

The ER doctor needed blood and an IV. ER nurses are great at what they do, but babies are not their specialty. It was pretty much a 2 hour scream fest for poor Jewels. They poked her at least 7 times, and never could get a blood sample. The dr told me they wanted to do a spinal tap and the idea of that was terrifying. That was the worst. In fact, he didn't want me to nurse her because he said most babies cry so hard they throw up. :(

I didn't want the spinal tap. But the dr was very firm with me, she needed it. It is the only way to rule out meningitis which is life threatening. I felt like I was giving my consent to the worst procedure. I felt so awful. I was not allowed to stand next to her while they did it. Thankfully, it went well. She didn't cry as hard as I thought she would. The ER dr, who is not a warm and fuzzy pediatrician, did a great job, but never really reassured me. I asked several times if she was ok. He said yes, but didn't elaborate, so I felt like I had to keep asking.

Julia also needed a catheter for a urine sample. She looked so vulnerable, all spread out. :( It was terrible. I'm glad I got to be with her for that, but it was hard to see. She was so sad.

Since they still needed a blood sample and three different nurses tried poking her without success, they finally called in the specialists, the NICU nurses, to do it. That was when things got better. They were so calm and their main concern was keeping Julia comfortable. They wrapped her up, got a binky, and some sucrose water for her. Once she was calm, they did an IV in the only place left to try to find a vein, on her scalp. The swaddling and sucrose did the trick. She hardly even fussed when they put the IV in.

An infection was found in her bladder and blood work showed her CRP levels were elevated. She was admitted to the NICU that night.

The NICU nurses were so sweet, they put a little bow in her hair.



She got some antibiotics in her IV, and was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. Despite that, it was so comforting to have her there. She was taken care of so well.





She perked up soon after the antibiotics and looked like herself again. :)

Monday morning they were still not sure when she would be released, so I ran home for an hour just to shower and change my clothes. When Dallin saw me, he excitedly said, "MAMA!" then with a look of disappointment said, "Where's the baby?" I was so worried about him being jealous, but he loves his little sister. Here he was with her the week before she got sick:



They watched her blood work closely, and on Monday evening her CRP levels were closer to normal and she was discharged. I was glad to go home, the NICU is not super comfortable for Mom. There isn't a bed to sleep in, and two nights of no sleep was more than enough for me.

So glad that is over, and she is doing great again. :) She is a healthy strong girl!

Girly

I painted her toenails!