Our Weekend

Our Friday night was consumed by the Olympics(I guess I should say mine was), Jason watched the preseason football game. I can't believe I am saying that already! The opening ceremony was awesome! I have been watching the Olympics whenever we were home. It will consume our TV watching for the next couple of weeks:)

Saturday I had my coworkers out to the lake for some fun. We did some tubing, skiing and boat riding. Had a great dinner and topped it off with a few S' mores.

Here are Alexis and Brayden with a new friend Malia.

This was too funny! Alexis was hool-a-hooping and her hips were just a moving:)

Today we went to Jason's work party at a park in the cities. We all had a great time. The kids started out at the playground. I was SO proud of Brayden he started climbing up this ladder. I was thinking he would freeze and need help getting down but

he got all the way to the top step and then was a little scared but took that final step to the top! This is a major accomplishment. Last year he was so terrified of playgrounds(I thought he was afraid of heights but he has proven me wrong!)

And Miss Alexis climbed along this all the way by herself. Also a great accomplishment:)

Braydens idea of hool-a-hooping:)

The kids had an egg relay race

Brayden played the fishing game. He's holding his bait and candy prize

Alexis and this little girl did an awesome job with the three legged race!

:)Brayden hool-a-hooping(I guess he does know how to do it)

Our Pediatrician was very happy with the way that Brayden looked today. Since he was running around the room:) I asked her what the chances are of him having this again and she said not likely but she wouldn't rule it out!

His hemoglobin level was still the same as it was 2 weeks ago. A little concerning but not a lot! She wanted me to start giving him a vitamin with Iron in it every day and come back in a month to check the level again. So hopefully that is all he will need.

One other thing is that he lost a pound. Which isn't a lot but if you only weigh 30 pounds and it drops to 29 that moves you from the 10%to the 3%. She is hoping that the weigh will come back on in a month too.

One more thing to add to Brayden's health checklist!

Our Pediatrician just called again. She wanted to let us know Braydens West Nile test came back. They test two different ways with this test. One is if he currently has west nile and Second is if they have had it in the past. Well guess what:) the test says that he has had it in the past! Our Doc is pretty sure that it was last summer sometime. Wow just can't believe this! She said there is nothing to worry about it won't cause any problems for him. He doesn't currently have it so no worries. She also isn't too concerned about his Hemoglobin being low. We will see on Friday when we get it checked.

On a side note. Alexis and I had fun in the kitchen today. We made some yummy snacks(sorry no pics). Alexis seemed to be needing some attention so when we laid the boys down we painted her toes and made some comfort food:) Yummy! Off to enjoy it before work!

Tuesday update

Brayden seems to be doing a little better.

He has been very sleepy, taking 3-3 1/2 hour naps and still sleeping 11-12 hours at night. He has had a few nose bleeds which I believe are from the aspirin he is on. He definitely hasn't got his appetite back yet. We are pushing him to drink his fluids(at the doctors request). So he is getting juice now because he will drink a whole glass of it at a time:) We will see our pediatrician(who called today to hear how he was doing) on Friday for a check up so she can see how he's doing. They also want to do a hemoglobin check because of the low levels before. He is also scheduled for his echocardiogram for next Wednesday.

This weekend we have a busy one. I am having a party at the lake on saturday for my coworkers and their families and then on sunday we have Jason's summer work party in the cities which is at a park.

So hopefully by next week we will be back to a little bit of normalcy before school starts. Yes that's right Brayden will be starting preschool in a month! Alexis will be starting Kindergarten then too!

I'm going to go cuddle with my little boy:) Alexis went to a friends house and Brayden is watching his Cars movie for about the 20th time in 2 weeks:)

This may be a long post

Wednesday afternoon I got the call I really didn't want to hear. One of the infectious disease doctors in the cities had called our pediatrician back and wanted to see him up at the children's hospital in St.Paul. She thought it sounded like he had Kawasaki again. We made our way to St.Paul Children's ER by 4:45. Jason met us there since he was at work.

We were checked in and waited quite a while for the doctor to come into our room. The first doctor was a resident. He was awesome! He sat down and talked to us and checked Brayden over. Then he said he needed to talk to the head ER doctor and then that doc would be in to evaluate him in a bit. So we waited a while. Meanwhile the nurses came in to take blood work(second time of the day), did a strep test, and a few other tests that weren't too fun for Brayden
:(

The doctor came in after that and thought there was no way he could have Kawasaki for a second time and was dead set on that. He thought he just had a virus, one that lasts a couple weeks. He left and the resident doctor came in and said the infectious disease doctor should be in to check on him soon. The nurse came in and brought him and Alexis Popsicles. That cheered him up a little. By 9:00 we were told the Infectious Disease doctor wouldn't be coming down to see him she had left. But they wanted to monitor him and she would come in the next day to see him. Which meant we would be staying the night. We were brought to our room around 10:00. Jason and Alexis left for home shortly after that. Around 11:00 the nurse started trying to get the IV in his arm. It took her a few arm pokes to get it in(3rd,4th, 5th and 6th pokes of the day). We met his resident doctor who again was awesome, she took wonderful care of him and was always popping her head in checking on him! Then he was off to dreamland.

Pics from the ER: Watching TV

Band aids on both arms and a Popsicle in his hand. Looks at those eyes:(

Finally getting the IV in his arm after a few pokes:( Look at all the band aids!)

Asleep after a long day!

Thursday:

The nurses came in at night to check Braydens vitals. He had a fever spike about 5:30 in the morning. It was so hard to watch him with his fevers. He would just roll around the bed and moan because he was in so much pain:( He was given Motrin. The morning brought the lab tech in to do a finger prick for some blood work around 8:00.

His doctor came in to check on him and see if there were any changes. No changes. We met a different doctor, She was a pediatric doctor. Who oversaw his other doctor. (Are you confused about all these doctors yet? Try explaining his signs and symptoms and the last week to everyone of them!) Brayden meanwhile wasn't eating much and he was pretty slow and tired. He kept saying he wanted to go home and get rid of his IV, and go home! He took a nap around 11:00 and slept until his lunch was brought in.

The infectious disease doctor was suppose to be in around 11:00 but didn't show up until 2:30. I guess she must have been pretty busy. She finally told us what we were waiting to hear. Brayden has Kawasaki Disease again(this is the second time). We were told that there is only a 1% chance of getting this disease a second time. How lucky is he! Brayden slept while she was there. Daddy came from work around 4:00 and the IVIG(what they use to treat the KD) was started at 5:00. Everything went pretty good. Jason left for home around 8:30.(Oh forgot to mention Jason dropped Alexis off at Auntie Kelly's house on Thursday morning, I can't thank her enough for watching her!) At 9:00 Brayden spiked a very high fever, his blood pressure was extremely high. The nurse gave him Motrin at 9, Tylenol at 9:30 and it took 2 hours for the fever to even budge. It actually went up before it went down. That was the scariest moment! He was again just laying there moaning and so sad:(

The view from our room. We got to see the helicopter arrive and take off. We only saw it twice in the four days we were there. Which is a good thing in a way!

Mommy make it stop hurting, Please!

Please!

How crazy is this. Brayden had this same nurse last time he was at Children's a year and a half ago! Nadine was awesome, our favorite!

Before Jason left we went for a little walk

After the fever went down. Brayden slept pretty good. We had to wake him up to give him his aspirin throughout the night. Which was SO hard! He would just scream that he didn't want to, until he would somewhat wake up. The IVIG was finished about 5:00 on Friday morning. Brayden slept until 8:00 Friday morning when the lab tech came back in to take blood work. Well this was the worst experience he had. He was held down by the nurse and poked by the first lab tech(yes I said the first). She couldn't find a vein after 3 tries so the second one came in about 10 minutes later and he was poked 2 more times. After that we were told they didn't get enough blood so they would have to take more on Saturday! I was so perturbed! He was screaming his head off. I was about in tears for him! So sad:( After that traumatic experience he ate a little food and was feeling a bit better.

Later in the day we played Bingo on the TV and guess what! He won!

This is the gift Brayden picked out. A Lightning McQueen drawing board. Which he drew on the rest of the day! Look a smile on his face:) That makes me smile!

Except when he took his nap with his Elephant and favorite blanket.

We saw nurses and doctors throughout the day and were told if he didn't have any more fevers he would be able to go home on Saturday. Turns out his last fever was the one on Thursday night. Yeah! Brayden slept pretty good Friday night and was again woken up by the lab on Saturday. This time they brought in the experienced lab tech and she had the 1 poke and blood work done in less than 3 minutes! Another smile on my face. I made sure to thank her before she left:) We saw the pediatric doctor around 11:00 and were told we could leave once our paperwork was brought in. By 12:30 we were on the road. Daddy drove us home while Brayden and I slept all the way. Jason picked up Alexis at Auntie Kelly's(THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) We both slept for 3 hours and were feeling better when we woke up.

We are so Thankful that everything turned out all right. Brayden is feeling better each day. He is definitely not eating very well. He is favoring Breads and crackers and is drinking lots of juice. The doctor was a bit worried about his Hemoglobin it was low each time they took the blood work. She told us to limit his milk and have his blood work taken in a week at a follow up appointment. To see if there is any change. If not they will look into it further. We will also be going in for another Echo cardiogram in 2 weeks and 2 months.

I'm sure I forgot something but I have been writing this for an hour and can't think straight right now:) Go give your kids a hug:) That's where I am headed after this:)

Update coming soon

I don't have any energy to post right now, too tired.

I will update tomorrow, I haven't been able to get accesss to the blog to update it.

106.0

8-(

This was Braydens temperature when he woke up this morning!

We've been at the doctor all morning. We are waiting now for test results to come back. We did find out he is a little anemic right now. But his white blood count is normal? Our doctor thought he could have one of three things.

1. Kawasaki again(but not likely)

2. West Nile

3. Lime disease

all of the 3 are very scary to hear right now:(

Please say a little prayer for him if you get a chance. Thank you!

Back to work!

Daddy went back to work this morning. It has been so nice to have him around. No plans for the day again since Brayden is still not feeling to hot. He is currently laying on the couch with a 103 fever watching Cars. I think they are making him feel a little better. Last night Brayden threw up and had a 104 fever that just wouldn't go away. His little eyes are all watery and red:( The Doctor doesn't want to see him until tomorrow if things don't improve. She said he probably just has a virus now. Since he is on meds for the swimmers ear and swollen lymph node.

I really don't like when my little boy is sick!

I forgot to mention that when we were at the doctor last Friday he has grown a lot! He was over the 30 lb mark(although probably not anymore since he is sick) and 39 1/2 inches tall!

Vacation!

We had a lot of fun at the dells. The Wilderness is the best hotel because it offers so much for the kids(Oh yes the adults have fun too). With 6 different pool areas, an arcade and an indoor dry area. It is hard to choose what to do each day.

On Sunday, Lyndie met us with the kids and we brought everything to our room quick, met our friends we were rooming with and then went out to the water park. After the fun we all went to Rocky Rococo's for dinner. Lets just say we got our money back:) Among other things, It took us over an hour to get our single slices of pizza! It was a good laugh afterwards!

The next day(my birthday) our other roomies arrived and also the Iowa families we were waiting for. We pretty much stayed at the hotel, swam, and ate a lot of food the next few days.

Here are a few pictures of our fun:

This bug was in the cooler when Andrea opened it the first morning. It was huge!!

Swimming with mommy

Three of us mommies with four of the kids

Alexis and Brayden lounging in the kiddie chairs

Hayden splashing in the shallow water

Alexis smelling my flowers daddy gave me for my birthday

Hayden and I both celebrated our birthdays when we were there. Me the BIG 30 and Hayden the BIG 3:)

The kids in our room

Evan, Adam, Hayden, Alexis, Colin and Brayden

The daddy's and Alexis lounging around

Colin and Alexis going down the slide together

Hayden and her buddy Sydney

Jason cooked us breakfast every morning! This was omelet morning:)

Adam and Evan relaxing before a fun day

John gave the kids horse rides:)

I wonder if we are in trouble? Alexis and Colin holding hands on the way to the water park!

Some of the kids and a couple moms having a snack

Melissa and Meejin's families were leaving at the same time. They left the day before we did.

This is one of the areas we spent a lot of time at, the kids really like this water slide. It helped that the water was really warm in this pool:

Alexis

John and Adam

Jason and Brayden

Colin

Alexis taking one last jump before we left. She did really good swimming. She would swim from one side of the pool to the other!

We got home on Thursday night and went up to see Tami and Ryan's little girl. We didn't stay long because there were a lot of people there. I did get to hold Abigail for a couple minutes. When we got home we realized Brayden had a fever and a small rash. So I cooled him down and gave him some meds. Yesterday he woke up with a fever so I decided I better bring him in before the weekend. The doctor said he has swimmers ear, a swollen lymph node and they tested him for strep but the strep test came back normal. He is still running a fever this morning but hopefully soon he will be cooled down. He is playing and eating normal just running the fever. Not sure what today will bring maybe a boat ride if we get out of the house:)

We are still alive:)

I promise an update today or tomorrow! Right now I am trying to catch up on life after vacation.

Just want to say a quick Congratulations and Welcome to the world Baby Abigail! Our friends had there little princess when we were gone. Here are a couple pictures:

We had a lot of fun last night at the celebration for Sister Barb.

When we arrived we saw this.

The inside of the church has windows like this almost all of the way around it. It is just beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice!

The alter

My Aunts, Sister Barb and Marylee after dinner

Everyone who came to the celebration

This is of the sisters after the evening prayer they all came up during the last song and danced on their way out.

On the way our, Barb is in the middle of the three

After the evening prayer there was a social. There was a little dancing going on among other things:)

Today we will be going to mass and then from there will be going to The Dells!!!!!!! Can't wait!

We arrived at our destination

Woo Hoo! We arrived in one piece in Dubuque and now we are kidless for about 24 hours. You'd think we would be taking advantage of the time. However instead I am taking advantage of the free Internet access and Jason is watching TV and falling asleep on the bed:)

We had a really nice drive down the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi river and met Lyndie at noon at Subway and now we are waiting for the celebration of my Aunts to begin. The kids were going to go to the zoo with Lyndie and then go swimming at her condos pool. Hopefully I will have some pics tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

Monday-Friday

We have been getting ready for our vacation this week. We leave tomorrow morning to meet Jason's niece in Wisconsin. She is going to keep the kids for the night while we go to a celebration of my Aunt Barbs. She is a Dominican nun http://www.sinsinawa.org/ , and has been for 50 years. She asked us to come to the celebration. Sunday we will off to the dells for four nights. We will be meeting 5 other couples there. Just like we did last year. It should be tons of fun! With lots of pictures to post next week.

Mom is feeling better now after her surgery. She is still very tired and a bit sore, but was able to drive today. They are still planning on going on there Alaskan cruise next week. But won't be going down to the celebration with us on Saturday.

Oh, almost forgot! We have sprouts in our back yard:) I am so happy that we have made it through the week without our hill washing away:)

An Alexis funny:)

So we were getting ready for lunch today and Alexis says I want a baby sister.

What I say!

A-I want a baby sister to play with

M-I don't think so hunny:)

A-Mom I want to go to Korea to meet Braydens foster mom

M-That would be fun wouldn't it

A-Yeah and I want to go with this time:)

So it looks like we were able to compromise on that one:) We got the pictures out and were looking through them for Braydens foster family. And she asks if we can meet his birth mom. I told her we were never able to meet her but maybe one day we will.