not where i want to be

My poor baby! This week has not been a good week for being healthy for our family and even worse for Carter. It started on Monday. Carter started vomiting and later diarrhea. On Tuesday, the diarrhea continued and he stopped eating but he was at least drinking. The same was true for Wednesday except that he wouldn't drink as much and he started vomiting again. I called the doctor in a panic and he sent us to the Emergency Room. I was really scared because Kameron was 3 hours away at a clinic in Cleveland doing a rotation and I couldn't get a hold of him and I wasn't sure what to expect. We waited a long time in the ER waiting room and after getting called back, the doctor decided to have some blood work done and an IV of fluids hooked up. 

Carter was not a fan of his IV.

 Especially since he couldn't bend his arm.

They had to wrap a splint on his arm to prevent him from moving it.

 Pointing to his "owie."

 The tests they did showed that Carter was severely dehydrated and the Doctor decided to have him stay overnight. Kam unfortunately couldn't come home from his rotation but my best friend, Janey, came and saved me by bringing me some things to eat and took Braden home with her to stay overnight. Braden was really excited for his very first Sleepover! 

Carter and I waited some more until we were finally taken up to a room. On our way to the room Carter's IV came out and we then had to wait for the Doctor to give the order to put it back in. While we waited, his nurse helped Carter find some toys to play wtih. He thought it was pretty great to have something to do.

Later that night, almost midnight, the nurse was finally able to come redo his IV. She had a really hard time finding a vein so she had to call someone from the NICU to help. After 2 sticks and lots of poking and prodding they decided to wait until the morning to try again and encourage me to push fluids orally instead. He did drink some but because it was so late he crashed and fell asleep.

The next morning Carter drank really well and he even asked for something to eat so they brought him some breakfast. He ate some of it; only a banana and some toast. When the doctor came in to see how he was doing and saw that he was eating and drinking she decided to not put in the IV. She also said that if he took in enough and kept it down that we could go home.

While we waited to see how well he would eat and drink Carter and I took several walks around the Pediatric floor, found more toys to play with and snuggled a lot. Waiting was sometimes hard...

and sometimes not too bad.

At about 3:30 in the afternoon, we finally got the okay and were discharged. We were both so glad to be going home.

Ready for Takeoff

I was just uploading some pictures and realized I didn't share the pictures of our flight home from Utah. It was a monumental flight because it was Carter's first flight as a TICKETED PASSENGER! Since he turned 2 while we were in Utah I had to buy him a one-way ticket to get him back home. My family told me I should have just told the agent that he wasn't 2 yet if they asked, but I just didn't feel good about it and truth be told, I'm glad I got him his ticket and not just because I chose the right, but because I felt like I was flying first class with all the extra room! Carter thought it was pretty neat too.

 The boys were really good on the flight.

It probably helped that they watched a movie 

on my computer for most of the time.

 On the last leg of our trip home Carter was really tired and fell asleep.

 This is how we got through the airport. 

Carter was in the stroller and Braden rode the carry-on. 

 

{I love that the tail of his dinosaur pillow-pet is hanging out the back.} 

Christmas Vacation

Let's just say that if I'd known how our trip would start I maybe would have thought twice about going at all, but it's a good thing I didn't know because we had the best time EVER! It all started with a phone call from one of my friends out here in PA telling us that her hubby would take us to the airport so that we didn't have to pay to keep our car parked for 3 weeks. I was actually surprised by the gesture,  I just didn't know someone would be willing to drive all that way and in the middle of evening rush-hour just to help us out, but after I picked my jaw up off the floor I allowed her to do it, and then, well, we were off. We got to the airport faster than expected and since we had already printed our boarding passes it wasn't too long before our bags were checked and we were off to the security line. That line unfortunately was pretty long, but it moved quickly. Once passed security we headed to the gate and realized that we had nearly 2 hours until our flight left so we decided to get some dinner. There are several TGI Friday restaurants in our airport so we went there. We ordered our food and ate it all up, washing it down with a yummy raspberry mango lemonade. When we got the bill I was surprised at how expensive it was and after taking a closer look I realized that they had charged me $8 for my lemonade. That couldn't be right? But then as I looked further, I was also charged a LIQUOR tax....Yup, that's right... my drink was NO virgin! I have never had even an ounce of alcohol in my life so it was interesting to feel the effects; everything was really blurry and I got really sleepy. For the most part not much else happened that I remember, but I certainly don't want to experience it again.

Our flight was pretty good, or at least the first half of our first flight was. The Second half, not so much. We had to de-board our plane in Minneapolis after sitting on it for 45 minutes and eventually had to get on another plane due to a problem with the engine. We ended up with a 2 hour delay which put us in Utah at 5 AM the next day. Let's just say we were really tired and totally wiped out. On top of it all, as soon as we got to Utah we all got sick! Luckily we got better and just in time for all the fun...because we definitely had a lot of fun things to do.

Twas the Eve Before Christmas

Utah was just where we wanted to be for Christmas. Unfortunately though, we all got really sick. Braden, Carter and even Kam all threw up while I just felt tired and yucky. We spent most of our sick time at my momma's house and didn't do too much because we felt so terrible. We did go to our favorite store, the DI, decorated the Christmas tree and the boys got to open one of their presents from Grammy and Pappy BO.

Carter was really into opening presents. He was so into it that he decided
to unwrap all the other kids presents too. See how happy he is?

Now he's not so sure that he was in trouble.

Christmas Eve morning we spent with my Dad and Heidi. They rented a condo in Salt Lake for us all to stay at and since it wasn't decorated the first thing on the list of activities was to get a Christmas tree and we found just the right one.

After getting the tree home and decorating it it was time to head to the Henrie's 

where we played games and had a yummy Christmas Dinner.

The kids Table

(Braden with his cousins R & B)

The "little" cousins got seats at the Counter

When dinner was done, Gram gave all the Grand-kids new jammies.

And the kids got to open their Christmas gifts from Gram and Grampa.

 Gram made a special Sunday Box for each family

with activities, movies and books just for Sunday play.

After wishing Kam's family a Merry Christmas we headed back 

to the condo where the big kids got to open Christmas jammies

and the little kids opened special Christmas books.

We also left out some cookies and carrots for Santa and his reigndeer

and then headed to bed to dream about all the goodies 

Santa would leave us to open the next morning.

It's Christmas!

Christmas morning was AWESOME! I didn't sleep a wink because 

I was so excited for the big day and it didn't disappoint.

 Braden got just what he asked for...REX.

And Carter got a train...he was completely preoccupied the rest of the day!

He also got some Big Boys!

I got a Bosch! So Excited!!!

More "cheese" from Carter!

To Infinity and Beyond!

This year was my sister, Megan's turn to do the gift for our parents and she put together a mosaic picture of the two of them made up of hundreds of pictures from all the fun family things we've done together. It was soooo Cool!

I loved Heidi's face...and even more, I loved my dad's hair!

Later in the afternoon we set aside some time to ponder some gifts that we wanted to give Jesus. Usually we do this first thing, but this year we, well forgot. In the end I'm glad we waited until later because we took more time to share with one another and I can truly say that I was inspired and uplifted by my family. The spirit was so strong and I left with a more deeply rooted love not only for my savior but for my family as well.

The boys also finished opening their presents from Kam and I. 

Both Braden and Carter were so excited and squealed in delight with each gift. 

 Pillow Pets!

The best part was having them both, with no promptings, 

come and give me a big hug and telling me I was the best mom ever!

My mom had to work all day on Christmas day

so we celebrated Christmas with her the next day.

Every year we do a "nice" white elephant game rather than picking names. I look forward to this tradition a lot. It's so fun to see what everyone gets. This year we had the grand-kids play their own game.

Ready, Set, OPEN!

Braden didn't love his gift (it was something he already had) so Conner 

traded with him. In the end I think they were both happier with their new gifts.

We had a GREAT Christmas! We were once again completely spoiled by our parents, but more importantly we got to spend the day with all the people we love. Thank you to everyone for making this day so very special. It will truly be a Christmas that I will remember for a long, long time.

A Visit up North

During our time in Utah we were so looking forward to see Grampa Henire. Braden especially, he loves going to Logan becuase Gramma has the best toys and of course we had to visit our friend Bullseye the horse!

We love you Grampa!