Angel's trip to the ER

Yep - Angel!!

There was a scissor incident.  Finch accidentally cut Angel's ring finger on her right hand.  Angel must've been reaching for the scissors when it happened.  Neither of them should've had scissors in the first place!  Anyway, a couple gals from church just happened to knock on the door right as I was about to load the kids in the car. They asked if there was anything they could do for me....so I invited them in. They watched the other kids while I took Angel to the ER. (One of their sons is Bear's age and they play together sometimes so it worked out great.)

Angel had to get 7 stitches.  They strapped her down to a board, gave her 2 shots in her finger, and then sewed her up.  I almost passed out.

Angel's doctor said that even though she bled a lot, the cut was shallow - didn't go deep towards the bone - so it didn't cut into any nerves or tendons.  Her blood flow to the tip of her finger was good. We'll go back in 10 days to get the stitches out.


Seraph's doctors called while I was in the ER w/ Angel.  They're going to do a CT scan of Seraph's heart to make sure she doesn't have any clots.  They expect she'll be ready to move out of ICU to the floor either today or tomorrow.

Thanksgiving in the ICU

Yep - Seraph is back in the hospital.

She has been gaining a lot of weight all month.  We thought it was normal weight gain, but turns out she was retaining too much water.  Her diuretic medicines (the ones that help her pee off extra fluids) may have been an incorrect dose all month.  OR she might have a very serious problem with her heart.  She'd been slowly getting more puffy.  Wednesday morning her neck was extremely puffy and she was having trouble breathing.

An ambulance ride and a relatively calm ER visit later, they transfered her to the PICU. As they rolled the bed towards the elevator, she stretched her neck all the way back so she could see her mommy and daddy.  The nurse pushing the bed was walking faster than us, so it must've looked like (to Seraph) she was being separated from Mom and Dad. Fear and stress filled her face.  We ran up next to her bed and she was visibly calmed.

I'm glad she's old enough and strong enough to communicate her feelings.  It also makes it harder to leave her at the hospital while we go home. I've been crying alot this time around - I'm just sad.  We expect she'll be home in a few weeks.  We expect she'll be home for Christmas.

She is still in the ICU.  She is on 7 liters of high-flow oxygen.  (That's a lot--I believe after 8 liters oxygen, they have to switch to bipap or a ventilator.) She is slightly sedated - otherwise she pulls off the oxygen tubes that she really needs.  She's awake and responsive. Her breathing is slightly better than yesterday.

I think once her breathing is better, they might want to do another heart cath. They need to make sure there's not an obstruction in part of her heart.  They haven't seen one with the non-invasive tests they can do.  ...but they need to be sure. An obstruction would be a serious problem.

Despite all this, Thanksgiving was very nice.  My family came over and we ate and played games all day and all night.  I wouldn't have made it through the day without my family here to distract me.  Thanks, guys - I love you :)

Please pray for my sweet Seraph.  Thanks.

Who said it?

1-"Mom, you can't tickle super heroes!!!"

2-"Oh, sorry, were you talking to me?  I thought you were talking to the cow."

3-"Yaaaaa!!"

4-"Do funny Bear!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease :)"

5-"Hi, Daddy!"

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1-bear, 2-rabbit, 3-seraph, 4-finch, 5-Angel

Don't Stand on the Arm of the Couch!!

The kids love to jump off the arm of the couch onto all the pillows.  I don't mind when Bear and Finch do it.  Angel scares me.  She likes to climb all the way up onto the shelves of the baker's rack that's next to the couch. She's a little wobbly and sometimes falls off chairs when she's climbing.  If I had a hotkey for my kids, I'd push the button and it would yell, "hey, get down!  Now!!"

Yesterday, Angel kept climbing up too high.  I ran out of patience and went over and growled right in her face - GRRRRRRRRRRR!!  (It's one of the Haqon methods of parenting...and it works great for him.)  I don't like to scare the kids, but I'd had it!  GRRRRRR!!

Angel leaned closer to my face and Grrrrrrr'd right back.  Then she jumped up and down giggling.  She Grrrr'd again and her fist (accidentally) flew up and punched my face. Bear and Finch ran over (and climbed up on the arm of the couch) so they could play the growling game with Mommy, too!

/sigh

At least I didn't scare her. :)

Yay!!

We're ready for the week to start!

Gma and Gpa are back - yay!  Haqon is back - double yay!  It snowed enough to play in - I should just rename this post 'Yay'.....

Pictured (left to right): Angel, Finch, Bear, Rabbit.

Seraph is having some reflux issues...what?!  That's not supposed to happen after the Nissen surgery.  Usually it happens after meds, so we're tweaking her schedule to not do meds and feeds at the same time.  Hopefully that'll fix it.  If not, she go back on some reflux meds.  Not a big deal.

No one is sick - yay!!  and we're excited to be getting ready for Thanksgiving.  I like being thankful...it helps everyone have a better attitude and then a better day.  See ya'll soon :)

One Fine Day...

Beautiful Rabbit drank too much Gatorade and got a horrible tummy ache.  I worried it might be the flu, but thankfully it wasn't...this time.  She helps a lot with the thank you decorations. It's nice to have such a helpful helper.

Strong Bear likes cake and ice cream and his family. He's pretty good at protecting his sisters.  Sometimes we have to remind him to be more gentle.

Delightful Finch likes princess dresses and copying Bear and Angel.  She likes to read to Seraph and bring her toys and binkies.

Angel almost always falls asleep at the end of dinner.  She starts falling sideways in her chair and I scoop her up and slip her onto the recliner for a nap.

Seraph's new medicine (for her ear infection) is making her nauseous.  Thank heavens today is the last day!  She won't let us feed her orally anymore.  Hopefully in a few days she'll want to try food again. She still likes putting things in her mouth, but spits them out immediately.

I'm Thankful for...

We started our thank-you decorations today.  The kids liked thinking of things to be thankful for.  It was much easier to print the clipart this time instead of drawing each one.

I know more about mudding corners than I ever wanted to!  It's nice to be able to point and say "I did that." I'm glad we waited to finish off our basement.  I know how to fix scratches on walls now.  (Trust me, this is a good thing w/ P&J).

Bear and Rabbit are downstairs helping Haqon mud right now.  They're thrilled that they get to help. (Less thrilled about wearing masks for the dust.)

Gma & Gpa

My parents will spend the next 18 months as missionaries for the LDS church.  My family got together at church to support them and wish them well on their mission.  They'll be serving locally, so I'll still get to see them alot - yay :)

After church we went to my parents house for dinner and some good, quality time together.  I haven't seen my brothers for too long.  It was nice :)

Dinner and a Movie!

My wonderful niece watched the kids last night so Sexy Haqon and I could have a real date.  We went to that new Sushi place that's close.  It was fantastic! We had sushi that had strawberries on top.  I never would've thought of that combo but it was sooooo good!! The sashimi was really good, too.  It was melt-in-your-mouth yummy and the cuts were very interesting. The only thing I didn't like was that their ginger was white instead of pink.  (Picky, I know!)

You Go Timeout!!

Delightful Finch tried to send me to time out yesterday for the unforgivable offense of brushing her hair:  

"You go timeout!  I very ANGRY!!"

In a People House

I just finished cleaning and sanitizing all the cupboards.  We had a mouse.  Construction on a house in the lot next to us may have displaced it.  OR maybe it just wanted a warmer place to live.  We've had mice before - at our old, old house.  I was always completely disgusted cleaning up after it.

This year's mouse was different.  In the few days the mouse shared a house with us, I grew pretty attached to him.  I think the mouse reminded me of our late pet bunny (named Bunny).  I always venomously denied any bunny-mouse resemblance when my brother teased me about Bunny.

I was up late one night reading and I heard the mouse scratching the wall.  Oh wow!  It sounded exactly like Bunny!  That was Bunny's favorite thing to do besides sleeping!!  Bunnies have the softest fur ever.  When a bunny likes you, she hops in circles around you. Bunny was my first real pet (B Rabbit's, too).  We picked her out together.  She was the only bunny that playfully hopped away instead of just sitting there and looking around.

The mouse was young and full of energy.  He was also scared to death of the kids.  He stayed mostly upstairs under my bathroom cupboards during the day.  At night he'd sneak down and eat in the kitchen and then explore.  He had a healthy sense of when to stay completely hidden.  I only saw him once....and that was after I'd been quietly typing on my computer for over an hour.  After that, I'd stomp around the kitchen every hour (after the kids had gone to bed) so he'd know to stay away.

As a child, one of my favorite books was 'The Ghost in the Attic'.  It's about a friendly ghost who gets lonely when the people go on vacation for a whole month.  A mouse moves in and the ghost is thrilled.  But the mouse has no sense of right and wrong.  The ghost tries to get him to behave, but the mouse won't listen.  The people come home to a big mess.  Finally the ghost yells at the mouse and everyone is very sad.  Then the mouse listens to the ghost and learns how to live with the people without making them want to catch him.  The ghost is happy again and starts rattling chains in the attic because that's what ghosts do.  The people hear the chains and joke with each other about their ghost in the attic.  Everyone lives happily ever after.

I told Strong Bear we could keep it as a pet if the mouse would just learn to be potty trained.  After all, they don't make diapers small enough for a mouse.  Strong Bear did his best to negotiate this deal.  The mouse failed to agree to our terms.

When the time came, I disposed of the mouse properly. (Seraph was in the hospital during this mouse incident - whew).  Haqon was at work when I found the mouse.  I felt sad.  It looked so cute - all brown on top and white underneath. That was Bunny's coloring, too. It almost looked like a toy.

I wish mice weren't so yucky. I kinda miss him.

I'm thankful for....Christmas!!

Last November, the children's hospital had a wall dedicated to thank-you's.  We all taped up a note of thanks and then looked for them each time we walked by the wall.  We did something similar in our home the previous year with a whiteboard.


I like seeing a wall full of things that make people happy. I wanted to do something similar this year, but couldn't decide where to put it.  I finally settled on something alot more Christmas-y.  This way the notes of thanks can stay up even longer PLUS I get to sneak in Christmas decor early.  We'll grab some green and red paper to make a border along the top of the wall with alternating christmas trees and hearts.  We'll write something we're thankful for on each cutout.


There are so many things to be thankful for this year.  I think it'll be good for the kids to practice focusing on the good things. :)

That Hurts my Ears!

Last week, Angel kept waking up at night.  Her balance was crazy.  She wanted to be held all the time.  Thank heavens Seraph's physical therapist recognized the symptoms as a possible ear infection.  Doh!  Poor girl. She's on antibiotics now and is starting to feel better.

Today I took Seraph in to the doctor, too. (Her post-hospital follow-up visit.) Seraph has an ear infection, too!  OK, so how did I not see this? I thought she was just cranky from the two immunization shots (flu and pneumonia) they gave her last week.  I feel just awful.

It's harder to recognize ear infections because I've never had one.  They must hurt, though, because my girls get sooooo grumpy when they get one.

I've been so careful with Seraph this week.  I don't think I could've done anything more to prevent her from getting the ear infection.  It doesn't help me feel better, but it seems like it should.

Hand Hygiene

Washing your hands is THE BEST way to fight the spread of disease--including colds and flu.


How to Wash Your Hands:
1. Wet hands (use warm water if possible)
2. Soap (apply liquid or bar soap to hands)
3. Wash 15-20 seconds (Rub hands together. Remember to rub around/under your fingernails and in between your fingers) (15-20 seconds = the time it takes to sing the ABCs song once or the Happy Birthday song twice.)
4. Rinse
5. DRY (Use a clean towel/paper towel)
6. Turn off the water with the paper towel/towel or your sleeve.
(7. Use paper towel or sleeve to open bathroom door before throwing the paper towel away.)


Click here for a hand washing poster


The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) put together this video about hand hygiene:


I love the beginning of the video where animation shows bacteria spreading. Gross. I wash my hands before eating, after going to the bathroom, before fixing food/meds, after coming home from anywhere, and after changing diapers. I always forget to wash up after handling money. Someone needs to invent germ-resistant money!


My friend came home from her first day at the cadaver lab. The lesson had been on hand washing. She was so grossed out - thinking about all the germs on everything. She washed her hands like crazy for months. I wonder if she still washes her hands correctly.

Staying Home for the RSV/Flu/Swine Flu Season

Flu/RSV season is upon us again!  Last year, staying in to protect Seraph and Angel from getting sick nearly drove us crazy.  This year I'm more prepared.  Yes, we really stay home as much as possible until Spring.  No, we don't pull our daughter out of school or Haqon out of work.  We do keep hand sanitizer at the front and back doors.

I tried getting my family to wash their hands each time they came home.  No one remembers.  Besides, most people don't wash their hands correctly.

My kids devoured their Halloween Candy this year.  S Bear went to bed with a tummy ache. I forgot to take pictures of everyone in their costumes - oops.

Seraph and Angel are both feeling better today.
My favorite Angel moment today:  She was looking in the fridge and said, "Jinkies".
My favorite Seraph moment today: She was sitting up and rolled her shoulders up and down to get D Finch to giggle.