Saturday morning Drew started coughing. Didn't seem too serious, no other symptoms, thought maybe he had allergies...Isn't that what we all think when we're in denial that our kids are sick! But Sunday morning brought confirmation that it was more than allergies. He was coughing a lot, a little bit of a runny nose, and just had that sick look on his face. He felt warm to me and when I checked he had a low fever. He fell asleep on me at 5:30 and slept right through dinner and all through the night. He was coughing enough that we gave him another breathing treatment at 9 pm (he slept right through it).
And wouldn't you know it, Sunday was also the day we heard all about the swine flu. You know, the pandemic claiming lives in Mexico and now infiltrating into the United States? Now, normally I would probably read up on this on the internet and entertain irrational ideas of "what if...?" and end it at that. But the fact that my son was also sick made my heart skip a beat. And then there was a case reported right in our neighborhood! Ack!
So what would any self-respecting heart mom do? Take her kid right in to see the doctor. I'm not taking any chances here! I don't care that I totally made a fool out of myself and asked all my swine flu questions! Our pediatrician is awesome (and patient with me) and after determining that Drew only has a cold and can return to his normal activities "tomorrow if he feels like it," we were on our way home with this mama's heart feeling a little more relaxed. Totally worth my $20 co-pay!
But please, everyone, WASH YOUR HANDS!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Miss Moriah
I know it has been a while since I've updated, and we have been busy doing lots of fun things. We took the kids to Picnic Day last weekend, have been swimming, playing t-ball and just enjoying the outdoors. But those pictures will have to wait for another day. Because yesterday I got to meet a very special little girl.
Sweet Baby Moriah
Her name is Moriah and her story will inspire you. She is sixteen months old and has spent the last (almost) six months in the hospital. Her parents, Justin and Victoria, are two of the most amazing parents you could ever meet. Their incredible faith and trust in God is what has been carrying them through this time, but the weariness is settling in. Can you imagine spending every day for six months visiting your baby in the hospital? I can't. Ten weeks was our longest stay and I don't think I could have handled much more than that. This family is handling the situation with love, with grace and with honesty. Is it possible to love an entire family before you've even met them? I'm not sure, but I feel like I do.
So this past Thursday another amazing heart mom, Amber, flew across the country to come and meet Victoria and Moriah. Her willingness to follow God's prompting and get on 3 airplanes to fly across thousands of miles to meet total strangers and do whatever she could to minister to them, inspired me to do whatever I could to help as well. So I picked Amber up from the airport on Thursday evening. We met and hugged and decided we each looked just like our pictures on our blogs! Then we drove to the hospital to meet Victoria and spend some time together. It was wonderful to just be together, to share some of our lives and love on that sweet girl!
Please keep Moriah and her family in your prayers. They are fighting this battle the best that they can, but have no idea when it will end. If any of you reading this find yourself complaining about something, I encourage you to turn that into a prayer. Are your kids driving you crazy? Be glad that they are home with you and healthy enough to do what they are doing, then say a prayer for Moriah. Is your husband getting on your nerves? Be thankful that you have not had to spend the past six months apart, and say a prayer for Justin and Victoria. Got some silly drama with friends or family? Thank God that those are the most serious problems you have and say a prayer for this sweet family. We are all guilty of getting caught up with things that just aren't that important from time to time, I am just hoping that hearing this story will make us all appreciate the blessings that we have and will remind us to lift them up in prayer.
Heart Moms-Andrea, Victoria, Amber
She loves me! It was so hard to say goodbye!
Sweet Baby MoriahSo this past Thursday another amazing heart mom, Amber, flew across the country to come and meet Victoria and Moriah. Her willingness to follow God's prompting and get on 3 airplanes to fly across thousands of miles to meet total strangers and do whatever she could to minister to them, inspired me to do whatever I could to help as well. So I picked Amber up from the airport on Thursday evening. We met and hugged and decided we each looked just like our pictures on our blogs! Then we drove to the hospital to meet Victoria and spend some time together. It was wonderful to just be together, to share some of our lives and love on that sweet girl!
Please keep Moriah and her family in your prayers. They are fighting this battle the best that they can, but have no idea when it will end. If any of you reading this find yourself complaining about something, I encourage you to turn that into a prayer. Are your kids driving you crazy? Be glad that they are home with you and healthy enough to do what they are doing, then say a prayer for Moriah. Is your husband getting on your nerves? Be thankful that you have not had to spend the past six months apart, and say a prayer for Justin and Victoria. Got some silly drama with friends or family? Thank God that those are the most serious problems you have and say a prayer for this sweet family. We are all guilty of getting caught up with things that just aren't that important from time to time, I am just hoping that hearing this story will make us all appreciate the blessings that we have and will remind us to lift them up in prayer.
Heart Moms-Andrea, Victoria, Amber
She loves me! It was so hard to say goodbye!Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter Fun
We had two Easter celebrations this year. One last weekend in Southern California with my family, and one this past weekend at home with Dan's family. Last weekend we met my mom's whole side of the family at Grandpa Oddone and GiGi's house for an Italian Easter feast! They also put on an egg hunt for the kids. It was wonderful to have the whole family together and the dinner was delicious! My grandma sure does know how to cook! We started off with lots of appetizers--cheese, bread, olives, and salami. Then we had stuffed shells with homemade sauce, meatballs and sausages. Then the second course of chicken marsala and pork medalions with sauteed mushrooms. And finally homemade cream puffs, coffee and an assortment of liquers. We were all stuffed!
The kids at the kid table
The whole family!
Me and my cute husband
Our whole family
Then, this past weekend we had our second celebration. Grandma Kathy joined us on Saturday and we all colored Easter eggs. The kids had so much fun and we went through our 18 eggs so quickly the kids were asking for more to dye. Sunday morning we woke up to see that the Easter Bunny came and brought baskets for the kids and hid eggs all around the house. They were both really excited finding all the eggs this year. I made a special Easter breakfast, but it took much longer to cook than we anticipated and we ate it right before we headed out the door to church. At church we heard a nice sermon, the kids went up on stage to tell the Easter story, and then they had another egg hunt outside on the lawn. When we got home, Uncle Scott came over and he and Grandma Kathy played with the kids outside, while Dan and I prepared our Easter dinner. It was yummy and we had a nice time together. And my pie turned out pretty good! I hope everyone had a nice Easter!
Drew and Ava with their eggs
The Easter Bunny's gifts
Ava with her basket
Drew with his basket
Easter breakfast (at least it looked pretty)
Drew at the church egg hunt (Ava wouldn't let me take her picture)
Easter Dinner
Lemon Supreme Pie
The kids at the kid table
The whole family!
Me and my cute husband
Our whole familyThen, this past weekend we had our second celebration. Grandma Kathy joined us on Saturday and we all colored Easter eggs. The kids had so much fun and we went through our 18 eggs so quickly the kids were asking for more to dye. Sunday morning we woke up to see that the Easter Bunny came and brought baskets for the kids and hid eggs all around the house. They were both really excited finding all the eggs this year. I made a special Easter breakfast, but it took much longer to cook than we anticipated and we ate it right before we headed out the door to church. At church we heard a nice sermon, the kids went up on stage to tell the Easter story, and then they had another egg hunt outside on the lawn. When we got home, Uncle Scott came over and he and Grandma Kathy played with the kids outside, while Dan and I prepared our Easter dinner. It was yummy and we had a nice time together. And my pie turned out pretty good! I hope everyone had a nice Easter!
Drew and Ava with their eggs
The Easter Bunny's gifts
Ava with her basket
Drew with his basket
Easter breakfast (at least it looked pretty)
Drew at the church egg hunt (Ava wouldn't let me take her picture)
Easter Dinner
Lemon Supreme PieSunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter from our family to yours!
I hope you are with people you love, enjoying this beautiful day. I made an attempt at a lovely Easter breakfast (didn't turn out exactly as I intended) and the kids loved their Easter baskets and finding the eggs the bunny hid. Then Grandma Kathy joined us at church where the kids found MORE eggs! Uncle Scott just got here and we are going to have a delicious dinner of ham, asparagus, twice baked potatoes and, unfazed by my earlier failure, I am now attempting a lemony cheesecake--cheesecake on the bottom, with the lemon gel stuff from a lemon meringue pie on top.
We are so glad to be home to celebrate with the ones we love. Thank you to everyone who has been with us on our journey of life. Christ is risen!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Bowling
Since we couldn't bowl on Thursday we decided to take the kids on Friday during lunchtime. They had a great time! We got a bunch of buy one get one free coupons too, so it might become a family tradition! We used bumpers, which I think made it more difficult for me, as I didn't even break 100. Drew experimented with all different "throwing" styles and Ava was an expert at using the ramp. Dan beat us all, but we all had a lot of fun!
Spring Break
Last week the kids were on Spring Break. That meant no preschool, no Mom's Connection, no Bible study, no nothing! We spent most of our days at home, having friends over to play, going to the gym and doing our normal errands. The weather wasn't cooperating with all of our outdoor plans! But we also wanted to do something fun as a family. So on Thursday we took the kids to San Francisco to visit the Exploratorium.
It rained on us during the drive there, but once we got there it cleared up. The kids had so much fun inside exploring all the exhibits! I wasn't sure if I could make it through the museum because I had left my hand sanitizer in the car and all the exhibits were hands on! But we made it through and it was really interesting. I think a lot of it was geared towards kids who are slightly older, but they still had fun twisting knobs, pushing buttons, playing in the water and sand. And since it was supposed to be a fun outing for them, we let them take the lead and take us wherever they wanted to go!
After a while Grandpa Dave met us there and we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was a fancy pizza place and the kids did really well inside. Drew ate half a pizza! And Dan and I enjoyed sharing some wine with Grandpa. After lunch we headed back to the Exploratorium for some more fun! I am still impressed by the amount of energy that Drew has now. He walked/ran/jumped the whole way to and from the museum, which was a good 10-15 minute walk. We left around 3:30 and tried to go bowling when we got home. But there were no lanes available when we got there (league night) so we went home and had smoothies instead, which are the kids new favorite.
Fun with magnets
Ava playing a xylophone
Drew playing a xylophone
Ava in a BIG chair
Drew experimenting
Ava makes a large bubble
The kids with the chaotic pendulum
Family picture outside the Palace of Fine Arts
Back home, enjoying our smoothies!
It rained on us during the drive there, but once we got there it cleared up. The kids had so much fun inside exploring all the exhibits! I wasn't sure if I could make it through the museum because I had left my hand sanitizer in the car and all the exhibits were hands on! But we made it through and it was really interesting. I think a lot of it was geared towards kids who are slightly older, but they still had fun twisting knobs, pushing buttons, playing in the water and sand. And since it was supposed to be a fun outing for them, we let them take the lead and take us wherever they wanted to go!
After a while Grandpa Dave met us there and we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was a fancy pizza place and the kids did really well inside. Drew ate half a pizza! And Dan and I enjoyed sharing some wine with Grandpa. After lunch we headed back to the Exploratorium for some more fun! I am still impressed by the amount of energy that Drew has now. He walked/ran/jumped the whole way to and from the museum, which was a good 10-15 minute walk. We left around 3:30 and tried to go bowling when we got home. But there were no lanes available when we got there (league night) so we went home and had smoothies instead, which are the kids new favorite.
Fun with magnets
Ava playing a xylophone
Drew playing a xylophone
Ava in a BIG chair
Drew experimenting
Ava makes a large bubble
The kids with the chaotic pendulum
Family picture outside the Palace of Fine Arts
Back home, enjoying our smoothies!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Day in the Life...
Here's what we did today:
First we all went to the gym. The kids got to do an egg hunt, while I was running 5 miles. I think they got the better end of the deal! Then we went and picked up Jacob and brought him over to play for a few hours. The kids played and I made them lunch, then started dinner in the crock pot, took a shower and got ready for the rest of the day.
We put Ava down for a nap and then Drew and I headed out to UCD for his cardiology appointment. He had an EKG and an echo and did great. I was so proud of him! It was the first time I didn't lay with him on the examining table during the echo, I guess he's big enough to do it by himself now. The appointment went well, everything looks perfect and we don't go back for six months.
We stopped by the hospital to visit Shelly, Faith's mom. We dropped off a basket of goodies for them to snack on while they are there. We have been following Faith's story closely and praying for her recovery. She is making some improvements, but could still use your prayers.
Then it was straight to the ball field for Drew's T-ball game. We were a little late, but he made it in time to play three innings and hit 3 home runs. Well, kind of. :) In t-ball the last batter just runs around the bases and since we were late, Drew was the last batter.
We headed back home to eat our yummy chili dinner, have our awesome friend Kate over for her birthday, then baths and bed for the kids. That's our day in a nutshell. Happy Wednesday everyone! Thanks for checking in on us.
First we all went to the gym. The kids got to do an egg hunt, while I was running 5 miles. I think they got the better end of the deal! Then we went and picked up Jacob and brought him over to play for a few hours. The kids played and I made them lunch, then started dinner in the crock pot, took a shower and got ready for the rest of the day.
We put Ava down for a nap and then Drew and I headed out to UCD for his cardiology appointment. He had an EKG and an echo and did great. I was so proud of him! It was the first time I didn't lay with him on the examining table during the echo, I guess he's big enough to do it by himself now. The appointment went well, everything looks perfect and we don't go back for six months.
We stopped by the hospital to visit Shelly, Faith's mom. We dropped off a basket of goodies for them to snack on while they are there. We have been following Faith's story closely and praying for her recovery. She is making some improvements, but could still use your prayers.
Then it was straight to the ball field for Drew's T-ball game. We were a little late, but he made it in time to play three innings and hit 3 home runs. Well, kind of. :) In t-ball the last batter just runs around the bases and since we were late, Drew was the last batter.We headed back home to eat our yummy chili dinner, have our awesome friend Kate over for her birthday, then baths and bed for the kids. That's our day in a nutshell. Happy Wednesday everyone! Thanks for checking in on us.
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