Our First Trip To the ER

I knew it was bound to happen at some point.

And really, we did pretty well- we lasted 5 years, 8 months. But with three small children, our time finally came: We had our first visit to the emergency room.

I noticed Camille started having a hacking cough right before bedtime. Then, she would wake up coughing so bad she was gagging and couldn't breathe. At 12:30 am I started doing some research on-line. I noticed a friend on FB was awake so I asked if I could give her a call. I did. She heard the gagging cough, and we both agreed I should take her- for piece of mind if nothing else. The fact that she couldn't breathe with her gagging was pretty scary.

I knew a bad storm was coming in, so I really was nervous about that. Then on the drive over I kept second guessing myself, knowing that it might be nothing and I might get stuck at the hospital in the storm.

But, we were already in the car so we kept going.

There was hardly anybody at the ER- I couldn't believe it. We waited about 5 minutes before we went back.

Camille had croup.

I asked if I was being a paranoid parent for bringing her in, and they said no so I felt better.

In the end, I'm glad I brought her in. They gave her a nebulizer- which she HATED! While giving it to her, her heart rate spiked to over 260 so they had to stop it and wait for her to calm down. I almost started crying watching her suffer. They also gave her a flu test which was AWFUL (it involved sticking a really long wire up her nose- I couldn't watch), but it did come back negative. They sucked out all her mucus in her nose and gave her some Motrin.

We had to stay for 2 hours after the nebulizer to make sure she was still OK. She slept for an hour, during which her pulse ox kept dropping to 89, 88, or even 86 (Jenny- do you think I should worry? It was only while she slept and just a few minutes at a time. The nurse didn't seem too concerned, but do you think I should follow up with my pediatrician?). After an hour (2:45 AM) she woke up WIDE AWAKE and just wanted to crawl and play. It was awful- we still had another hour to wait.

But, we survived. And we were cleared to go home.

Thank goodness- I was very worried about the storm.

Turns out I didn't need to be worried. The storm came in hours later than expected- the roads were perfectly clear. At 4AM we arrived home.

The storm came in so late that church wasn't cancelled. Which was a bummer because I needed to call somebody to sub for me with music, when all I wanted to do was sleep. Thank you, Brittney for being willing to sub for me! But I guess after sacrament church was cancelled in the end so it wasn't a concern.

Camille definitely sounds WAY better than last night! The doctor says we still aren't out of the woods, but at least Camille isn't gagging or hardly coughing at all anymore.

I know many (if not most) of you have dealt with croup before. Camille is our first child to have a problem with it (well, a couple months ago Claire had a mild case of it, but it wasn't bad at all). This is the second time Camille had it, and this time was much worse than the first. It is definitely scary- but now I think I know what to look for and how to better handle it at home.

Maybe this will be our one and only ER visit? One can hope.

Valentine's Party

This is a little late, but for Valentine's Day I went and helped out in Audra's classroom for the classroom party. I knew I could only stay for a few minutes because there was a PTA meeting I wanted to go to, so I told Audra I might not go to the party at all. She got really sad and said, 

"Mom, you HAVE to come. You're awesome."

Well, how I could not go after she said that?

Bath Time

Ever since she was born, Camille has hated bath time. Audra even avoids helping out at bath time because she hates hearing Camille cry. Often that's the only time that she does cry. But now she finally seems to tolerate bath time OK. And today she was awfully cute- see for yourself:

9 Months

Yes, it's still hard to believe: Camille is 9 months old!

There's been lots of big changes- she isn't a newborn anymore!

She has always LOVED eating paper. But now that she is more mobile it has become much easier for her to get to paper. Her 9 month sign didn't stand a chance:

Here's a good picture of her one tooth. Actually, the one next to it did pop through, and a top tooth has almost come through, but you just can't really see them yet. I love her one-tooth smile:

She's still a pretty easy going baby, but she is also definitely learning how to exert her will. For example, the nanosecond that you put her into her booster seat, you had better have food for her! She does NOT like to be in her seat without food! A spoon for her to play with also helps (though it makes feeding her MUCH more difficult).

Here's some milestones for 9 months:

New foods: Cauliflower (not a fan, but will eat it if mixed with other foods), broccoli, wheat germ, Cheerios (she LOVES Cheerios), pears, tofu (another thing she doesn't care for on it's own, but she will eat it with other food), beets

First word: She says "Mama!" I am not 100% certain that she knows what she is saying, but it seems like she does, and she says it a lot! She said it for the first time Feb. 9.

Mobility: As you have seen pictures of before, she LOVES standing up. She LOVES climbing stairs- so we have to be real careful because our house has a lot of stairs. Gates are all in place, so we should be OK, but she has gotten a few bruises on her little forehead due to her love of climbing.

Sleep: For the most part she is sleeping all through the night. Sometimes she wakes up at 6 to nurse and goes back to sleep until 8-8:30, but she will also just sleep all the way through until 8. Either way, it is MUCH better than throwing in 2 AM feedings- those are OVER! Halleluah! She will ONLY sleep in her crib, which is tough sometimes with swim lessons and other activities. Ben leaves every Sunday after sacrament so she can have a nap, which stinks, but that's where we are at right now. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

She likes peek-a-boo and loves being tickled on her tummy. She HATES loud noises and starts screaming if she hears one. She can't keep socks or shoes on, but almost always wears a smile. She likes toys, but doesn't have a specific toy that she loves more than others.

Overall, she is doing great!

How Helpful Is Daddy?

Not much has been happening around here. I feel incredibly busy and it's hard to catch a breath, but it's not because we are doing anything fascinating- swim lessons, fulfilling church assignments, school, play dates, etc.

But we did get a miniscule amount of snow on Saturday. About 1/2 an inch. Ben decided to take the girls sledding. Not surprisingly they were the only ones there, but they were thrilled.

When they got home Audra was excited to tell me how great it was. But there was one disconcerning thing that was said:

Audra: We went to the very top of a HUGE hill. 

It was really scary!

Me: Did Daddy protect you?

Audra: No. He pushed me.

Must I always be the one to protect my children? Sigh.

Swim Lessons

I finally got around to signing the girls up for swim lessons. Two things helped me decide to do it:

1. I didn't have to go in the pool with them
2. They could take the same class together

They were very excited to start, and they did a great job. There are three kids (including them) in the class. The third girl cried and cried the entire time- poor girl. My girls definitely have no fear of water! It was fun to sit on the sidelines and watch.

 Camille just sat on the side, ate some banana, and won the cuteness award.

Conversation With Audra

Audra: Mom, how did Camille come out of your tummy?

Me: The doctor cut a hole in my tummy and pulled Camille out.

Audra: Did a lot of food fall out?

Me: (Laughs hysterically)

Botanical Gardens

We went with Ben's parents and took the girls to the Botanical Gardens today. The weather was pretty nice- especially for February 1st- and we had a great time. Even though there really weren't any gardens to see, they did have an old time village and old schoolhouse and such for the girls to see. We decided we definitely need to go back in the springtime!


Somehow Claire always takes the easy route...

 They have a little tree house the girls got to play in. They LOVED it- I would have too if I was a little kid!

 Audra on a tractor:

 Claire checking out some goats:

 Then, I am actually very sad to show this next picture:

On January 1st, Camille started crawling. Now, just one month later, today she learned to pull herself up into a standing position. Now that's all she wants to do! I am sure by March 1st she will be walking.

This really upsets me....