Our Weekend............

I LOVE Fridays!  They are lazy afternoons.  No rushing to finish homework and make dinner and get baths and ready for the next day.  They are laid back and slow and fun.

Friday night this week meant a VERY competitive game of KICKBALL in the backyard!  Losers serve winners ice cream kind of serious!

More of a soccer player with her ball dribbling than a kick and run kind of girl:)  But that girl can run the bases like no bodies business!

Mom and Kate and Ella VS Dad and Alice and Ella

That's how we divide 5 people into two teams!  Ella got to kick all the time.  Which is fine, because some of the others in the outfield looked like this: 

And if you are gonna look like this in my outfield, you might as well kick the whole time.

Aubrey is starting to realize that Emelia is gaining on her in both size and weight and she WILL NOT have that.  She is very determined to keep Emelia in her place and show her who is boss!

And Emelia (14 months) realizes that she can do just about anything that the big girls can and is learning quickly to watch, take notes, then just do it.  For the record, she never did get to the top of the slide, but she sure did get close and I'm sure that with a couple more days of trial, she'll have it down.  

This girl will not be left out!

Found some time at the pool this weekend too.  She amazes me, this one.  Last year, she laid in the shallow, playing in the bubbles and "swimming".  This year, she paces.

Spends the entire day at the pool walking from one side to the other, over and over and over again.

And we just follow her lead.  I don't know why she does it, but she's good at it and each week, she gets just a little deeper in the water.  Swimming lessons here we come!

 And even though Emelia loves a good bath, she is NOT fond of the pool.  The last couple times, she hasn't let us put her down and has a pretty good death grip on us.

She's getting braver though and actually let us put her down and sat with the rings this weekend.  My girls like familiarity and comfort and sometimes it takes them awhile to warm up to new and different things. 

All 5 of them are so different.  I never tire of them surprising me with how different they all can be.  5 kids, all girls, with 5 very different personalities.

The big girls all did some rock climbing too, but those pictures are on my phone and I'll have to get them later.

Sunday found us BLUE.

We found a very large and beautiful hill of bluebonnets near our house this year and headed over after church for some pictures.

I love these blue bonnets....

Most of them were willing participants in my photo shoot.  They cut me some slack since I don't ask them to do this much.  But some were not so cooperative.

I had some "Little House on the Prairie" moments today as they were running up and down the hill full of flowers.

I'm trying to remember to capture the parents as well as the children, so that they can remember that we were there with them too!

And my girls are becoming better at capturing the parents too!  Thanks to Ella (5) for getting this one today.....the only shot she took of us and it turned out great. 

Another great weekend with the family!  

Day at the Farm

Today, Aubrey had a field trip to the farm.  What could have been SUPER fun, was cold and rainy.  I think the kids still all really enjoyed it, but I think it would have been a bigger success had it not been drizzling the whole time we were there.

*to protect the children in her class, I have not included pictures of the other children (or at least not faces).  If you have a child in Aubrey's class and want me to email you the pictures of your child that I got, just let me know:)  Otherwise her teacher will get a copy of all my pictures and can get them to you.

 While she LOOKS mighty....

 the umbrella did get the best of her....

and proved too heavy!  But she kept insisting on doing it herself:)

 She was afraid of the goats at first, but warmed up to them at the end.  I think it's tough not to be afraid of animals that are so much bigger than you and acting like they haven't been fed in days!  These guys were fighting over the food.

Touch a horse?

 FORGET about it!  She kept asking to be lifted up and get close, but the clench of her nails in my back and the NOOOOOOOOOOOO I got as soon as we were close, assured me she didn't want to touch it.

Most of her friends were braver.  

Tiny pig, behind a fence?  SURE....I'll say hello!  (she was signing pig here)

 A little after lunch therapy with a friend:)  She's been sleeping almost three hours now...

Farms sure do wear a girl out!

Together Again

All under one roof!  And Happy!

Last night, after she "self weaned", she must have gotten a second wind, because I couldn't get her to go to bed!!!!  She just kept talking and talking and talking and asking for food and snacks and toys and shows and books!  The stall tactics were at a whole new level!

 I finally gave her some books and she read all 6, WORD for WORD!!!

At 10:00, I finally went out into the lounge to get a break and see if she would go down.  And in about 2 minutes, she was asleep.  Her oxygen faltered a bit at 11:00 and I saw the light fading as far as going home, but they repositioned her and we were in the clear the rest of the night! She tucked her fingers into her blanket and slept til 8:00.

Her first request?

Sausage!  With a side of watermelon.

Our hospital doctor gave us the thumbs up to go home.  She felt that Aubrey, while still sick, was out of the woods and ready to go home.

Our new pulminologist came by at lunch.  He created a new plan for her and will see her in 4 weeks.  It is very uncomfortable to be starting over with a new doctor, who doesn't know her history, but we are moving forward and hopefully the fact that he at least saw her today and REALLY looked at her history from this stay will help us moving forward.  He just didn't understand how this virus could make her so sick....yeah....us either, but that is our Aubrey and this is how she does it!

So she is home, but not completely over this cold she has:)  We see her regular doctor tomorrow and as needed til she is well again.  She  missed 4 days of school last week and will miss all of this week....next week spring break!  So she will have missed 3 weeks of school before heading back.  The extra time home should get her completely healthy before going back, but I wonder if she'll backslide at all....we'll see.

Thank you for all your prayer.  Prayer is powerful and we are so grateful to the wonder friends and family that have been praying for our sweet girl.  You are amazing!

Thank you Lindsay for dropping off dinner yesterday too!  YUMMY to come home and have dinner ready to set on the table.  You rock!!!

Clicking our Red Shoes....

There's no place like home!!!

She made it through the night with out oxygen and we are going to be discharged today.  We could go home now, but are waiting to see a Pulminologist before we go or trying to get an appointment for tomorrow.

Last week when Aubrey got sick, we found out that our Pulminologist had up and moved his practice to another city or retired (reports are conflicting).  Scary for us and Aubrey since he KNEW her and her history.  So we are on the hunt for another and have a good lead, but if he can see her before we go home versus waiting to get a new patient appointment, that would be ideal and he can make maintenance recommendations before sending her home.

So we are waiting to hear if we are leaving soon or staying all day til he can come see her after office hours....either way, we are heading home today:)  Happy Day!

Trouble Makers

Today, the first thing Aubrey did.........pull out her iv!  And since she still has the wound from last week and I"m not letting them use the "thumb sucking" hand, she didn't get a new one.

But it was gonna be one of those days...cause Trouble 1 had help from Trouble 2.  And since Aubrey is under quarentine, there was no leaving the room!

Aubrey again woke to request two things:  SAUSAGE and JUICE.  And as she shoveled it in, she made sure that she wasn't going to have to share with Emelia.

She could really go for some Thurn's Sausage...but she isn't being picky these days!

We did fine motor skills.

And Emelia did some climbing....on and off this little stool with the diaper scale on it.

Then because she is teething, she tried to chew on any cord that was low, the sides of the crib........it was AWFUL keeping things out of her mouth that shouldn't be!

At 11:30, Emelia finally gave up the fight and fell asleep in the stroller and then I snuggled with my girl and she fell asleep too.  30 minutes of peace to each lunch and call dad and then Emelia was up.  We walked the lobby of the hospital and halls for 1 hour just to give Aubrey the time she needed to sleep.

Once they were both up, we got Aubrey out to let her walk around a bit and sister got put in the CAGE!!!

I think I'll take my blood pressure.

It was all I could do with her to keep my sanity today!

Aubrey trying to adjust her own oxygen flow.

Sister was just fine being up there in bed.  And I had a break from chasing her for a bit.

Woody and I switched at 5 so I could come home with the girls for a bit and then I'll be going back.  He called to tell me that they came in to do vitals and had I unplugged her oxygen!  Ummmm NO!!!! (who does that anyway.....weaning there own kid behind the nurses back)  Apparantly TROUBLE struck again and she was self weaning.  Sitting at 97 was good, though.  

I think she was showing some maturity in kicking her own addiction and wanting to get out of rehab and come home to this crazy bunch of sisters.  Here's hoping for an oxygen free evening that brings us closer to coming home....

Down Grade.....

To the REGULAR floor!  This afternoon they moved her down to the regular floor.  And she's just settled in for a good night.

Dad has been here since yesterday noon and while he is the best dad ever and great and information and care taking, there is one thing the man with 5 girls does not do...hair.  He tries, but it just isn't his strong suit and so first things first....Aubrey's hair needed some serious help!

She's looking MUCH better!  Though the yellow walls and peach gown aren't doing much for her in this picture....Maybe we can get a shirt on tomorrow and get a "healthier" looking picture;)

Moving down, means switching doctors again, so we are gently telling them how it is with our girl.  Doctor even thought she might go home tomorrow!!!  Good luck with that dude!  She's on a liter of oxygen right now!  (and he had no plan to start weening her tonight:)

Slow and steady wins this race and while we are optimistic at her progress so far, we are realistic that her progress is slower than average and we will take it day by day.

Here's to a quiet night her at the hospital and one at home for Dad!

Saturday=PICU

(sorry these are all cell phone pictures so quality is low-but wanted to share my girl)

Friday seemed to be really good for Aubrey and we thought she was still going in right direction.  Her healing process is very slow and we know that, but she acted better and actually played and ate a good dinner.

At 2:30am she woke up coughing and vomiting.  She had a 102 temp and was breathing really hard.  Her pulse ox was 67-70.  For those who know that is REALLY low, but I don't think it scares us as much since she LIVED int he 70s for the first 4 months of life.  We did rescue inhaler and a nebulizer and got it to 80, but it was clear that she needed to be seen again.

So baby got her BAR CODE back!

They scan her every time they do something, administer something or move her.  Kind of cool and way faster than them having to get out the computer each time and I'm sure it saves them charting time!

They did some suctioning and 1 hour breathing treatments twice to try and keep her stats up.  They repeated the chest x-ray from earlier in the week and drew labs again.  They confirmed a virus from the earlier blood draws and the x-ray looked the same.  The seemed a little baffled by our girl (this is their first rodeo with her, we've been here before).  I informed them that she is a mystery some times, has a slight addiction to oxygen, and is not a rule follower!

X-ray explained:  they think that maybe she is at the beginning of a bacterial infection or pneumonia since it looked the same.  If she had a virus and was mucusy, the spots on the x-ray would have looked different and have moved around.

Once they cleaned out wax in her ear....they found an ear infection as well!  And because when it rains at the Smith's it pours....Emelia came down with an ear infection yesterday too and was running fever.  Sympathy sickness:)

So they admitted her to the PICU and put her on high flow oxygen.  Imagine sticking your head out the car window and driving down the freeway!  They are hoping that the forced (warm and moist) oxygen will help open up her lungs along with some intensive respiratory therapy.  NOT A HAPPY CAMPER and she fought that thing hard for awhile....wouldn't you?

But she is always such a trooper!  And such a pleasant patient.  Her only complaint was that she was hungry and they didn't really want to feed her.  Her request: Juice (every 5 minutes) and sausage and yogurt!  I think she was getting desperate after awhile and was just requesting anything she could think of!  Last night she was finally given food privileges and got sausage, muffins, TWO juice boxes, pasta and fruit!

She had a pretty good night and they are slowly weening the oxygen for her.

Emelia was up three times last night, so it was a good thing that I stayed home instead of Dad-she would have been kind of MAD at him! (still nursing her) Hoping she gets over the hump today since Dad will be home tonight.

Thank you to all who had prayers in church for us today and have been praying all week.  We can't thank you enough.  And thank you to the Sarah and Amelia who are helping us out with babysitting a bit so we can switch locations and get people to school this week.  You girls ROCK!

They don't like to even guess at when she will come home, but the respiratory therapist said he wouldn't plan on anything before Wednesday.  So we are planning out our lives daily til then and hoping she gets better faster.....

Dad will be at hospital all day again, so my updates are limited, but I will be back for a sleepover tonight and all day tomorrow.

In the PICU

In the middle of the night, I had to bring Aubrey back to the ER (fever, vomitting, low oxygen) and she has been admitted to the PICU.  We still don't have many answers beyond, "she has a virus", but they are searching and we feel like we are in good hands again and on the right track for figuring her out.

Please keep our girl in your prayers today.  We will update as we are able.

Happy Birthday.....

to my oldest sister:)  and to Dr. Seuss!!!!  What a cool birthday huh!  My sister used to teach kindergarten and dress up as the Cat in the Hat each year and celebrated!  Wishing I had a picture of that now for my girls who were asking this morning!  (hint, hint)

If you know me well, you know I like to mix it up and do fun Holiday Lunches!  Halloween has always been my best, but Pinterest has fueled the fire and now EVERY holiday is a reason to celebrate!  And my search for non-sweet items is on!  I hate how it is always candy and cupcakes....so I searched long and hard and came up with some of my own too.

It takes a little extra time, but my girls get so EXCITED and they LOVE it!  And some day they won't and that will be OK, but for now I"m gonna keep doing it.  Sometimes I forget how much they sacrifice when Aubrey is sick and they have had a pretty ruff week too....so even though they had hot lunch today (and I could have slept in) I jumped into action for a Birthday Celebration!  (and since I still have three sleeping, I'll blog it really quick and maybe you can whip up a fun snack for your kids today still)

Breakfast:
Green Eggs and Ham Sandwiches along with Strawberry and Banana Cat Hats

"Do you like Green Eggs and Ham?"

"Would you eat them in our house?"

"I DO like Green Eggs and Ham!"

"I WOULD eat them in our house!"

(They were very sceptical at first:)

Snacks:
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (sorry, no blue fish, just gold and Swedish-but you could get the colored kind of goldfish and that would be cool)
Hats for the Cat (cherry tomatoes and cut string cheese)
Thing 1 and Thing 2 (strawberries, string cheese, and blue dyed cream cheese hair, mini choc chip eyes)

Thing 1 and Thing 2 probably won't travel well to school....but we'll see.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to SARAH and Dr. SEUSS!

*Edited to add in those who were sleeping before*

 "Ella....do YOU like green eggs and ham?"
"NO!"
"Do you want just the eggs?"
"YES!"
"They look funny?"
"It's just fun with food coloring.  Just try them?"

 "MOM, I DOOOO like them!"

 "Emelia, do you like green eggs?"

 "NOPE!"  (it all came right back out:)

And Miss Aubrey?

Still sitting on the couch with her thumb!