Take A Deep Breath...

At Dad's party, I noticed that Sophie was fussy and a little stuffy, but nothing seemed really out of the ordinary. I associated most of those symptoms to trying to finally cut through her last eye tooth. As a result, we were the first to leave the party. She crashed on the way home. We got everyone home, and she seemed really congested, so I started getting concerned. And by midnight, even though she slept, she slept fitfully and her breathing seemed to be worse... so much so that you could count her ribs when she breathed in... I think they call it distended or something like that. So we called the nurse hot line and they advised us to bring her in... so at in the morning, I loaded up Itty Bitty and she and I headed to Children's downtown. Hank stayed at home with the boys since they both needed to go to school the next day. I had enough forethought to throw three outfits in her diaper bag and a book for me to read, as well as a few toys for her to play with. She was okay on the way, but I was one nervous driver, I tell you. I kept looking at her in the backseat.So they took us back at the ER almost immediately and listened to her breathing, her cough (did I mention she had a cough), and took her temp. Once they did all of that, they put a monitor on her big toe to give them her oxygen level. They wanted it to be above 92. 92 or anything below that is not enough oxygen and considered dangerous. Her oxygen level was hovering at 86 and 87.So we did the first of three treatments in the ER that early morning. She also got a dose of oral steroids in between treatments. All of these efforts made her oxygen level rise for a short time, then it would drop right back down. By the time Daddy got there, they were getting a room ready for her and had a tiny little oxygen tube in her nose to keep her level up between treatments. By the time we got up to the room, we already had a get well present from Aunt Jackie and all the cousins! And thank God for that, cause she would have been some kind of bored if it hadn't been for that gift (and Mom would have starved if not for the snacks cause they didn't feed me).At the end of the first full day at the hospital, they gave her another dose of oral steroids and combined with the breathing treatments... she was BOUNCING OFF OF THE WALL!! I asked the nurse if we could unhook her long enough to give her a bath.She took advantage of being unhooked and decided to touch, pull on, tear up, and climb on everything she could! I swear I burnt off more calories chasing her around that night that walking the track at the park ever could! We were there for one more day... she had to be off of oxygen for 24 hours before they would release her. Her appetite picked up the next day, so Dad went and got her a Happy Meal and she was really a Happy camper!We now have to keep an asthma inhaler in her diaper bag. The doctor said that since she has been hospitalized twice in her short lifetime for breathing issues that it could be a precurser to asthma... we're just praying it's severe allergies and nothing more.

Dad's 'Speed Limit' Birthday Party

My dad turned 55 at the end of March and we had a family dinner to celebrate! With all my siblings and their families, we had 16 people total! My Mom & Dad are both trying to live a healthier lifestyle, so I made Low-Fat Chicken Tortilla Soup, corn on the cob, and a reduced sugar version of a cake (the boxed kind). It was actually all very good!

All the kids wanted to help Dad with his candles, so we relit the candles at least 4 different times to let little boys have their fun!

I love it when my whole family is together... there is a lot of laughter and loudness and that is what family is all about, to me at least!

Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you so much. You gave when you didn't have anything and you loved unconditionally. I hope just a little of that rubs off on me.

The Beach Boys!

As promised... if not a little late!

We took a trip to Pensacola on the second weekend of Spring Break. We had a volleyball tournament and decided to take the opportunity since we were technically there to work, and turn it into a mini vacation! We couldn't take Sophie because we didn't have someone to watch her during volleyball games, but the boys got an early taste of summer!Tres could not wait to hit the beach! The water was cold... but that did not stop him from getting in up to his chest over and over again! Bryant was more interested in finding seashells and building sand castles! And when we needed a break from the sand and surf, we headed up to the hotel pools and hot tub and relaxed there... and our boys are starting to learn early that the place to be is in a hot tub with attractive girls... I was laughing so hard watching Tres watch these two girls out of the corner of his eye!What's funny is one of these girls turned out to be a young lady I coached two years ago! It's a small world.We took the boys to ride go carts on a track that was right on the beach. Hank and Bry were on a team and me and Tres were a team. You wanna take a guess at who won??? Yup. That's right, folks. Ride with Mom and you will probably be on the winning team! I have to share this though... we're in our go-cart and we're zooming around curves and Tres is giving me play-by-play on how far back the guys are and he stops and looks at me and says, "I just thought this would be more challenging." He makes me laugh!

After that, we found some good seafood, and then headed back to the beach...... for a little more fun in the sun! All in all, it was a fabulous get away and the boys loved every minute of it! Oh, yeah!! And our team won the silver bracket!

I have a lot more pics to share... but the computer is being so slow and I want to try to start to get caught up... one day, I guess.

Just Gonna Start...

...Or else I never will! Life has been overwhelming since January, to say the least! I hope to catch you up on everything that has happened, but I thought I just better start back with everyday posts, or I would never get back in the groove! I have to say, though, that I have enjoyed my little blog break.

Well, let me catch you up on my fam:

Tres is such a big boy now. He reads everything! I ran into his teacher at Target and he literally gushed about him and about how he is above average and that a lot of the first grade teachers want him because he is so good and respectful! [Pause for this proud parent moment!] His front two teeth are loose... and one of them is chipped due to the fact that he is your typical little boy who rough houses with his brother on the trampoline. He is counting down the days until summer and swimming! We have a long weekend planned to the beach... and he is so for that! He's a beach boy through and through.

Bryant is learning the recognize all of his letters and numbers... he can count pretty darn high all by himself. His vocabulary impresses me daily... he says appreciate, immediately, and a bunch of other ones that I can't remember but make me laugh out loud when he uses them. He turned five and has seemed to have become a little man overnight. He is a helper... he likes to help me clean (sometimes) and doesn't mind playing with his little sister in her room (most times) and loves to be the one to kiss her and wake her up in the mornings and lay with her at night. He is excited about tee ball and soccer, and although he has to pick just one, we can tell he's gonna be a sports boy! He likes to watch sports with his Dad at night.

Ava Sophia... oh, Sophie... what can I say about the resident diva? She is full of sass and stubbornness. She loves to look 'pitty' (Pretty) and she loves jewelry. She takes care of her babies constantly and could watch 'Mickme' (Mickey) all day long. She absolutely amazes me with her vocabulary and (I'm so not exaggerating!) she says up to 6 word sentences. Ex: I just sneezed... she said, "Scat cat, Mommy! Excuse you!" She is learning her manners and she's starting to understand the difference between 'guils' (girls) and 'boi-yees' (boys), although for a while she was the only girl around. She is learning colors, but right now she thinks everything is 'poople' (purple) and 'leyow' (yellow).

Hank and I are just now taking a deep breath from life. We coached an off season volleyball team together for the first time and had a blast! In the midst of it all, Hank has kept busy working up to 60 hour week. I'm getting geared up to teach Public Speaking to homeschoolers again next fall and hope to add Creative Writing.

So that's it in a nutshell... I will be adding a bunch of stuff when I get a chance... including:

Easter and visitors
Sophie has asthma?
Bry's field trip to the zoo
Volleyball
Etc!

See ya soon!

Whole Hand Birthday

Bryant turned 5 this past Thursday. Why do they have to grow up?? We were gonna have his party today, but the weather has delayed the celebration by a week or so. We'll have to wait until after Easter now. I'll post all the birthday activities together, but I wanted to start my birthday boy list!

- Bryant is skinny and getting taller all the time!
- He will NOT let you comb his hair to the side... this is what he refers to as handsome. He makes me comb in down in the front. Think dumb and dumber style!
- He loves to dance... and man can he bust a move!
- He loves to laugh and is just naturally funny... it's not like he tells jokes all the time, he's just comical.
- He loves to color and write and draw and he's really good at it too!
- He decided about two months ago that he liked brocolli (after a hard fought battle with Mommy), and will eat two pieces without complaining!
- He loves to dip anything... fries in ranch, chicken in bar b que, you name it... he dips it! One of the weirdest to me is bread in ranch. He also likes to dip fries in milkshakes.
- His favorite color changes every week or so. One week it's red, the next week it's green.
- His favorite cartoon at the moment is Pokemon... but he still loves a good Baby Looney Tunes.
- When he is sick or sleepy, he wants Mommy and Daddy and he wants to be held still.
- He WILL NOT kiss on the mouth anymore. If I want a kiss, I ask him to kiss my cheek, then turn really quick and steal one! He thinks it's fun, and even though he knows it's coming every time he lets me get away with it!
- He sings all the time... and when he doesn't know the lyrics, he makes them up... I love this one. It never fails to make me smile!
- He loves to play with his brother more than anything, but he also doesn't mind going off on his own to play... or playing with his little sister for that matter.
- He is super sweet to Sophie. He gets on her level and plays with her and she adores him for it!

MORE TO COME... today life is calmer and I hope tomorrow will be too! That means catching up on blogging! Yeah!

AHHHH!!!!

Lots of craziness this week and lots of fun pics and stories to share... now where did I put the time to do it??? Hmm....