We had a FABULOUS time in Meridian with my family...the weather was pretty good until the day we were scheduled to leave. The kids enjoyed playing outside, playing inside, learning new "talents", playing at the park, feeding calves and I enjoyed shopping at the quarter sale and a night at PBR.
While we were there we celebrated my dad's birthday with a little party with pin the tale on the donkey...my kids thought it was so fun to see their grown up aunts, uncles and grandparents try to pin the tail!
BIRTHDAY
Sarah pinning the nose
the birthday boy, MY DAD!!
NEW TALENTS
Lydia discovered that she could climb the stairs, and was very proud that she mastered it the first time, with NO help! In fact, we didn't even know she understood the concept or would even try until we turned around and she was already up three steps!!
CALF FEEDING
My parents have some dairy farmer friends, so my dad called 'em up and asked if we could take a fieldtrip and feed the calves...Bryant asked to go the next day, but it was snowing and he decided against it afterall ;)
the gang...it was windy and sunny-we brought Eastern Idaho with us
Fixing the bottles
Feeding calves...Kayelynn was doing it, but decided she would like to watch instead. I took over and Lydia was not impressed with the animals at all!
Bryant wanted to make sure they drank every last drop :D
Some still even suck on your fingers...it's the grossest, slimiest feeling, but kind of cool
Sarah did NOT want to feed them, notice she just has her hand on the bottom long enough for a picture.
Kayelynn was the bottle transporter
The calves thought Bryant was a tasty treat
they rode in the back with the milk for the bigger calves
helping pour the milk
cleaning out the buckets
She's happy now
PARK
This park was so cool, we finally made it there on Monday afternoon before all the storms hit! It was intentionally designed for handicapped children, so there were some neat and well spaced out toys. The favorite was the musical area and the climbing "rocks". The ground was a sponge-y type astro-turf...pretty neat.
Xylophone
Another xylophone
Climbing rock...Bryant is NOT the adventurous type and was scared spitless to get off by climbing down...he expected to be lifted off...not so, my son, not so...
Lydia adventured into whatever she could, this was her favorite...it blocked her from the wind
We were all scheduled to leave on Wednesday morning, just in time to get back for the two days of school, when during the night Tuesday Sarah was having a VERY difficult time breathing. She had pneumonia earlier this month, so I was on alert anyway, but this was slightly more scary and I was very, very close to just taking her to the ER, but I chose to find a doctor and have a visit.
I was told that she is unofficially diagnosed with uncontrolled asthma. She was so wheezy and blocked up in the airways the first day that I was told to give her nebulizer treatments (which we had purchased during her bout with pneumonia, and I had wisely taken with me) every two hours for two days and to bring her back first thing Thursday morning.
the nebulizer treatment...the mask is of a dinosaur-she liked pretending she was one
We were then faced with the option to put her in the hospital then or get her immediately on some oral steroids and antibiotic. I chose the oral steroid-who wants to be in a foreign hospital during "vacation"-and was to check back in at 4pm to determine if the meds were doing the trick. For anyone who knows anything about asthma...the breathing is super shallow and when as bad as Sarah it takes every effort to just breath let alone walk and talk at the same time. I grew up with asthma and still suffer now and again and had complete empathy for what she was going through. I felt so scared and sad for my little 2-year old to be experiencing this. With asthma, they have to check their oxygen levels. Normal numbers are anywhere from 95-100%....her's on the first day were 84%, Thursday morning they hadn't changed, by Thursday afternoon she was at 88%-and I was told to take her to the hospital immediately and spend the rest of the night there...then the doctor wisely checked her breathing once more...she declared Sarah clear as a whistle...no wheezing, nothing!
A miracle!
She then checked her oxygen again and discovered that the one they had been using wasn't reading correctly...she was at 94%! She was cleared to go "home" and check back once more in the morning with the distinct warning that if there was ANY QUESTIONS to take her to the ER as the doctor was the one on-call. I didn't have any problems with her during the night, took her in first thing Friday and discovered her oxygen to be at 96%...she was healing, and FAST!!!
Oh, how I am grateful for my knowledge of the gospel in my life and my testimony in prayer! We were cleared to come home, until we checked the weather report and postponed coming home yet another day.
my girls...Sarah was doing her treatment when Bryant took this
The three munchkins
My cowboy...that is what he wants to be when he grows up! He was found sporting the hat and boots every single day...there was a limit when we left the house
PBR-PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDING
My sister was kind enough to invite me to tag along to the PBR at the Idaho Center. My parents were kind enough to watch the kiddos sleep while I went and it was a BLAST!
My sister, Lanae; my brother, Parker, and yours truly
PERFECT!
They had little bull-riders come and show off their talent. It was pretty cool. They were between 9-13 years old. This kid was 11 and stayed on the whole time!
We finally made our journey Saturday morning with General Conference blasting the speakers in the mini-van and kids sad they were saying good-bye. All-in-all we had a great vacation and learned some important and some fun lessons.
Sarah is not recovered by any means, but is on the road to a controlled "disease". All that's left is to find a doctor that cares and who will help us get her even further in recovery. I have much more to learn as a parent with a child of this nature and hope to make the best choices possible to give her the fullest life she can get. This will affect everything she does if she is not treated correctly.
8 comments:
Glad you guys are having a fun vacation. And that Sarah is doing better.
I'm glad you had fun on your vactaion and glad to hear that Sarah is doing better. I love the dinosur mask they use for breathing treaments. Abby had to have that done while she was in the hospital the first time. It's not much fun but they look so cute.
Um, hello! did you know I live RIGHT NEXT to Settler's park!?!
You guys take spring break SERIOUSLY! What Fun!!
I should have sent my kids with you . . . we did absolutely nothing. No going out to eat, no movies, no friends over, just a boring 4 day stay inside and bug each other weekend. Maybe 2 funerals and starting the break with a new fluffy wet layer of snow had something to do with that. Anyway . . .
Bryant looks like he is ready to take on the farm! So sorry to hear about Sarah. It's good that you understand how she feels but still tough to watch her suffer. And watch out for that Lydia - she's going to up and walk off one of these days!
You look like a professional mom. A cute professional mom. Love the hair!!
Wow, so I totally cried when I heard about Sarah and her asthma (stupid hormones!). I'm glad everything worked out though. I LOVE the picture of the girls, very cute. Lydia is getting so big!
What a small world! I was about to comment on Gourmet Mom on-the-Go and saw your picture. (this is Gina from church by the way) I just wanted to say hi!
My brother also has asthma. It was something that had to be watched when he was younger. not much of a problem now. The picture of Bryant is quite funny. My brother was determined to be a cowboy too. He had the pants, shirts, boots, hat, belt buckle...the whole shebang. He even road a steer in a rodeo during this phase. Thank goodness he grew out of it.
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