February Outing - Library

Addie's preschool class took a tour of the BYU library's kid section and came home so excited to share with us about her little field trip. She was beaming as she told Hudson that he could find books about anything he wanted or could think of. He could get books about dinosaurs or cars and animals and Hudson even got excited as she told him about this magical building. Hudson has always loved books his whole life and it was so cute to watch these two interact in such a loving way. Addie told him that she asked the library lady if they even had books about unicorns for herself and was so happy that they did. Danny and I were both in the car while this was happening and then she turned to us and asked if we could please take them to the library. It was a cute request and of course had to be our next fun family outing. So since today is President's Day and Danny and Addie both had the day off we knew it would be the perfect time for this months' outing and Addie was so happy that she had a part in picking the place out. We had a fun time at the library and Addie, Hudson and Grant all left with new books for us to add to their bedtime rotation. It was a nice reminder that our planned family outings we'll be doing more of intentionally this year doesn't have to be as expensive as the circus we went to last month. It doesn't even have to cost any money at all. The kids really loved it and Danny and I both had a good time watching these three. Now I'm just curious to see if Hudson understands that we're just 'renting' these books and that they aren't ours for keep. :)

Baby Bean to Big Boy Bean

Two huge milestones and goals were accomplished recently that I am really happy about. It has been a long time in the making but Grant took some leaps and bounds in a direction I'm grateful for. He is finally both weaned and sleep trained. I have been trying to wean him from nursing for six months now and it was not going great. He's a mama's boy and wasn't ready to stop just because I was. He also has never gone to sleep without help from me rocking him. I've tried so many different times to get him to self soothe but it was hard and I wasn't consistent with it. I always ended up giving in to his little demands because I knew how much he wanted me. Lately I've been stressing out like crazy at the thought of leaving him for two weeks this summer and I've lost a lot of sleep over it. I knew I wanted him to be sleep trained well before we go because it would bring peace to me knowing that anyone could be able to put him down to bed. After almost a full month of waking up several times a night to Grant I decided I had to be strong and really train him. He needed to learn how to self soothe. I love that I'm his comfort and that I'm his world right now but I also need to know that he can do it if I'm not around. One night last week was particularly bad. Actually it was really bad. No matter what I did I could not get Grant to sleep in his crib. The minute that I would pick him up he'd instantly fall asleep because he was that tired, but as soon as I would lower him down his eyes would shoot open and he would throw a fit until he knew he was safe in my arms again. I struggled with him for a couple of hours before I finally grabbed a pillow and a blanket and I laid down on his floor with him. It was an awful and uncomfortable night. We slept for maybe a combined three hours total and that's with me being generous at that estimation. I decided that night we defintily needed to come up with a solution and that this would be the last night we would struggle with sleep. For the past month our nights had been similarly bad and at this point both Danny and I were exhausted, overwhelmed and I felt like we were near reaching a braking point because we just weren't getting sleep. 

I decided to do a  fast and I prayed so hard that I could try again with sleep training and be persistent at it. It's been an unbelievable ten days. Maybe I should still be crossing my fingers but I'm still in shock with all it worked out. It's day ten now and it's still going amazing. On day one he cried for 39 minutes after I laid him down for a nap. That was hard. Really hard. But he then laid down and actually napped. Something that he hadn't done in a couple of weeks and his little body really needed it. When he woke up from his nap Addie and I both praised him like crazy for sleeping. He looked so confused. He looked like he wanted to be mad but he couldn't stop smiling at our cheers for him. That night he cried for five minutes and then fell asleep. He woke up around 3am and I went in, changed his diaper, gave him a cuddle, offered a bottle and then laid him back down. He whined off and on for about twenty minutes but then slept in until after 8am. That was his best night of sleep in over a month so I counted it as a win. On day two when I laid him down for a nap he didn't cry at all. He laid down and let me put a blanket over him and watched me walk out the door. I was shocked because I expected it to be rough. He woke up from that nap to Addie and me cheering for him again and he was so happy. He woke up a very happy baby because all this rest that he was now getting was really putting him in a good mood. That night the same thing happened. I laid him down in his bed and he stayed laid down while I put a blanket on him. That time he did whine for me a little but once I reached the door he completely stopped and didn't cry at all. I watched on the monitor as he rolled over and fell asleep. He slept through the entire night and didn't wake up at all. It's been ten days now and the only crying he did was on day one. I don't know if he learned so quickly this time because he's older and could understand what I wanted him to do but I do believe that I received some spiritual help with prayer and fasting. Danny and I now switch putting him down to sleep every other night so he can get used to letting others besides myself do it. This has been such a huge change for him and he's rocked at it. I'm so proud of him and I can tell that this new amount of sleep he's now getting is doing so much good for him. He's finally able to just be put down to sleep with no rocking and he now accepts cow's milk which is also a huge stress reliever. He's definitely the furthest I've ever gone with nursing. I know this wasn't easy for Grant or what he wanted but he's done amazing with these adjustments and I can't say enough how proud I am of him. Like I mentioned earlier it's now day ten and maybe I should still be crossing my fingers but I am very very pleased with him and how this process worked for us this time. 

Day 1 - Nap

Day 10 - Nap

Valentine's Day 2020

I know I don't need an excuse for a cute sibling picture but I'll take one anyway.

Happy Valentine's Day 💗

Last year we might have overdone it with both Valentine's Day and Easter that after that Addie expected every holiday to be like a mini Christmas. We decided we needed to really reel it in and not spoil these three so much but still do a little something to make the day extra special. Just like the other years our kids have woken up on Valentine's Day to little gifts waiting for them on their spots at the kitchen table. Addie loves Mini Boos, Hudson loves cars and Grant can't get enough of balloons so thats the direction we went with their little gifts. Danny and I also got socks, I got chocolate covered strawberries and we also got a green plant for our home. I told Danny I didn't want any flowers this year and that instead I just wanted some greenery. We got a nice little plant but to be honest I have no idea what kind it is and Danny doesn't either.😁That's okay. Our goal is to get a lot more greenery in our home and this is a nice step in that direction. 

Appendicitis?

Addie is finally back at school after an exhausting emotional week. This winter has felt long and our family hasn't caught a break when it comes to sickness within our household. The family experienced that horrible bout of the flu over Christmas and it seems to have returned with a vengeance. It all started about two weeks ago when each one of us got knocked down with the common cold. It literally wiped us all. Everyone had the chills, aches, congestion and felt the miserableness that is of being sick. As soon as we thought we'd be healthy Hudson came down with flu like symptoms. We had to stick him in a diaper to manage to stay afloat of all those missed potty runs. 

Once we thought he was in the clear and recovering it was then Grant who started to get worse and never did fully get over that previous cold. On Monday night of last week I had to make an appointment with his pediatrician's after hours because he was starting to have trouble breathing. He was wheezing and making us think that his cold had turned into the awful RSV. It was heartbreaking how miserable he was. The pediatrician on-call then sent us to the hospital for an x ray on his lungs because he wasn't able to get a good enough read on how his lungs were doing and couldn't rule out RSV just yet. It was a long night. I told the other kids goodnight and took Grant to the hospital for the x ray and the poor babe hated every second of it. I felt so bad having to hold his arms over his head while he just screamed to be done with it all. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to be asleep in my arms. Luckily his oxygen levels weren't concerning and the lab was able to let us go with a promise to call us with the results. I was able to take him home same night which is always a relief because I get flashbacks of when Hudson was a baby and had to stay overnight at the hospital due to his oxygen levels and RSV. The doctor called me before I even reached home and told me that his lungs looked good and that he was clear of RSV and to just watch his airways. I was hoping that Grant would sleep well that night from how tired he was but he didn't. We didn't get much sleep at all. Almost every night last week was a disaster but that will be part of a different post. 

Then Addie was next on the sick train again and her's was the saddest of all. On that same night (Monday) Addie was complaining of not feeling well. Tuesday morning she threw up. She also experienced diarrhea all day long. She had zero appetite and we worried because she couldn't keep anything down. I called her in sick from school that day as well as the next three days. Everyday was the same thing. Lots of diarrhea, throw up and zero eating. Thursday morning was a little different. She had acted miserable and had been whining all the other days but by Thursday morning she was full on screaming. She was screaming that her stomach hurt. She kept pointing to her belly button and while being curled up in a ball. Her screaming did not let up for about two hours. Every ten minutes or so she would quiet down for a little bit but after a minute or two she would be back to screaming. It was scary because she has never done that before. I messaged Danny and told him that she was acting like her appendix was bursting. I sent that without actually thinking that this was what was happening. I was just trying to describe how bad her screaming and reaction was to him. He on the other hand started looking up symptoms. He found that complaining of your belly button hurting, no appetite, fever and diarrhea were all symptoms of your appendix bursting. He called me right away and was able to hear Addie in the background. He asked me to call the doctor's office which I did. The nurses on the phone also were worried because they could also hear Addie in the background and asked if she could be in their office within fifteen minutes. I hung up and called Danny right back to see if he could hurry home from school so that one of us could be with Addie while the other one stayed with the boys. He hurried home and took her to the doctor's office. Addie was so scared to be there. Danny said that she was being a little difficult for the doctor and the staff there but that it was understandable because she was in so much pain. The doctor told Danny that she wanted Addie to be seen at an outpatient building for an immediate ultrasound so they could get a closer look at what was going on but felt that this was a case of appendicitis. Luckily Addie had no appetite which meant that she was considered fasting and would be ready to go in case of surgery. Danny was also told that Addie was extremely dehydrated. Danny took her to the second building to where she'd get her ultrasound done. Before she was seen Addie said she needed to go to the bathroom. Just like the previous three days Addie had really bad diarrhea but this time her pain subsided tremendously. Danny described her as acting like a completely new kid after that bathroom visit. They were called into the ultrasound room and right away the sonographer could see the problem. She pointed out that the appendix looked normal and then showed a scan of Addie's intestines to Danny. Addie was completely blocked up. Even though Addie had practically spent four days in the bathroom at home with how often she had to go her intestines were still so full. The ultrasound showed how bad Addie was even though it was just minutes after she had gone to the bathroom. Danny and I both felt relieved that it wasn't appendicitis and also felt so bad for poor little Addie who was dealing with so much pain. The doctor got in touch with Danny and told him that it was okay for Addie to start eating again (even though Addie still didn't for another three days). The doctor told Danny that she was expecting the worst news possible. She told him that in all her years of experience she has seen kids come in with an already burst appendix who were more calm than Addie was. It turns out that our daughter might be a bit on the dramatic side haha. Of course the doctor didn't say that part though. We're happy that Addie was not in an emergency situation but still sad for her condition nonetheless. 

Asleep before the prayer was even done.

This whole appendix story happened on Thursday afternoon. She didn't feel better until Sunday morning. That's when the fever, diarrhea, nausea and loss of appetite were all gone. It's now Wednesday today and she's back at school and back to her normal self. Grant's cold has now turned into teething so he's dealing with a fever and teeth pain but we're just glad that he's not with the flu. 

The past two weeks around here have been crazy and it's not even over. There's one more person who got ambushed with illness. Danny. It hit him hard and it hit him with fierce as he came down on Saturday with the same thing Addie had. He spent a lot of the weekend in the bathroom as well as throwing up. On Sunday he stayed home with Grant since they were the only ones really sick at that point while I took Addie and Hudson to church. We were hoping that he'd be well by the next day but then on Monday he had to stay home from school because he was so sick he couldn't get out of bed. He was beyond miserable and I felt bad for him. The kids all did really good staying out of our room so that he could get as much rest as possible. He returned to school yesterday but his appetite didn't come back until last night and today he's feeling back to normal. Luckily he was able to recover a lot faster than the kids did. 

I must have an incredible immune system or at least a hidden superhero power because I am not sick. When the flu hit our family very hard during Christmas break I was the only one to not get sick. I did get sick with the cold but that was the first time I have even felt slightly ill in a very long time. I would even say years. I think I've only felt sick two or three times in our whole marriage and that's counting morning sickness with Addie. Maybe that last sentence isn't very factual I'm not sure but my point is that I don't get sick often if hardly ever which is why I probably felt extra miserable when the cold first hit our family about two weeks ago. I'm going to continue to feel grateful to not be as sick as Danny, Addie, Hudson and Grant have all felt. There are some downsides of remaining healthy though which is that I've had to be the strong one around here and take care of everybody. It's my job and I'll do it but sometimes it can get exhausting haha. I love my family though and I'm just glad that the worst seems to be over.