MJ's first day of kindergarten!

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

MJ met her teacher on the same day that Kitty and Kay started school last week. MJ was really excited to be going to kindergarten this year and her teacher is really nice. Unfortunately on Monday, MJ got sick and was throwing up and sleeping all day. She was supposed to start school on Tuesday and we were hopeful that she would be better by Tuesday morning but unfortunately she threw up again that morning... I was also supposed to watch my neighbor's kids for her but I had to cancel with her and find someone else that could fill in for me.

When MJ woke up later in the day and realized that she had missed her first day of school she was in tears! I felt so bad for her! I emailed her teacher and explained that MJ was sick and she said that she hoped that she felt better and was looking forward to seeing her the next day.

So along came Wednesday morning and MJ woke up with a lot more energy and was feeling much better (although still not quite 100%). She was so excited to finally be able to go to school! She is in afternoon kindergarten and there is not a bus for the afternoon classes to get to school so I drove her after lunch and went and helped her find where she is supposed to line up. I was a little sad watching her go into the school! I can't believe my baby is in kindergarten! This is the one year where all 6 of our kids will be in the public school system together - from kindergarten up to a senior in high school!

Eating lunch before we leave for school. She was so excited!

Feeling a little unsure about this whole school thing - and not feeling quite 100% yet... This is MJ sitting on the grass next to where she is supposed to be lined up for school - Blondie is next to her.

And she is off - and putting on her happy face!

MJ getting off of the bus after school.

MJ was so excited to show me all of the things that she got at school! It was really cute watching her sit down on the couch and pull everything out of her backpack and tell me what they all were.

A beautiful sunset later that evening! I love the clouds!

Christmas Eve 2014

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Since we didn't have my family over for our Christmas Eve celebration, we ended up decorating our Christmas cookies and reading the nativity story from the scriptures. Then the kids opened up their Christmas pajamas.

M&M is trying to be a good sport and participate but she really wasn't feeling well!

Christmastime Sickness!

The Sunday before Christmas (Dec 21), Kitty woke up and immediately started throwing up! We ended up leaving her at home by herself for Sacrament Meeting because we were having our Christmas choir program and DH and I were both singing in the choir. She ended up feeling better as the day went on and ended up going to school the next day. Everyone seemed to be alright on Monday and then on Tuesday (Dec 23) MJ woke up throwing up and shortly after that I followed along with DH. Blondie also felt sick by I don't think she ended up throwing up - she did stay home from school though. It was a miserable day! It is the first time since I have known DH that he has actually thrown up!

On Christmas Eve morning M&M was throwing up and DH still wasn't feeling great. We had been planning on having a family Christmas party at our house on Christmas Eve but ended up having to cancel it because of our sickness. By Christmas morning everyone was almost back to normal -and I don't think that Luke and Kay ended up getting the sickness at all.

The only good thing about this sickness is that it was relatively short-lived and most of us were hit pretty hard but within 12 hours were feeling better.

Down for the count...

March 2-3, 2014

DH went to visit his mother from Thursday, Feb 27 through Sunday, March 2.  I think MJ was not feeling quite 100% on that Sunday and then I went to pick up DH from the airport and it turns out that he had a mixup with his flight and arrived at the airport when the plane was supposed to be landing in Salt Lake.  So, I was at the Salt Lake airport waiting to pick him up and he was still back in Portland and had just figured out that he had completely missed his flight...

At least she fell asleep in her bed this time!

So, I went back home and then M&M started feeling really sick.  She threw up a ton that night so I kept her home from school the next day and she pretty much slept all day.  DH was able to catch an early morning flight and I went and was able to pick him up late morning.  Other than MJ and M&M, I don't think that anyone else really got sick this time around.

Christmas Break

December 26, 2013 - January 2, 2014

I don't have any pictures between Christmas and New Years so I am hoping there are some on DH's camera.  I know that the day after Christmas, I woke up feeling miserable.  I had no energy to do anything and I had no desire to eat anything.  All I wanted to do was hideout in my room and sleep.  I apparently came down with some type of flu and it was really bad for that one day and then I started to gradually feel better.  Looking back I think I started feeling sick on Christmas Eve.

If I remember correctly, we took the TRAX train to downtown Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights on temple square Friday evening - so I was at least feeling well enough by then to do that.  On Saturday, Mom N came down with the flu and was out of commission for the next day or two as well.  No one else really came down with much for which we were all grateful for.

New Years Eve we played games at our house and then had New Years dinner at my parents.  I think that Mom N flew back home on January 2.

Where is all the snow?

(*Sorry, I will be posting things out of order until I get caught up on my blogging!)

After a month or two of almost spring-like weather and no snow we woke up this morning to a little bit of snowfall.  (It wasn't even worth taking a picture of.)  Unfortunately Kay is sick or she probably would have gone outside to enjoy it...

It has been an unseasonably warm winter with very little snowfall.  It has actually been a little depressing for our family...

Scary morning...

Saturday, April 6

Luke and Kitty both had their first soccer game of the season at 8 in the morning.  I took Luke to his game since I help coach the team and DH took Kitty.  The rest of the kids were left at home with M&M in charge - and they were all asleep when we left.  After the games Kitty and DH went home and DH went back to bed because he wasn't feeling too great.  I stopped at the store to buy some balloons for Kay because it was her birthday.  After I got home I found all of the girls downstairs watching the older ones play video games.  I asked if MJ and Kay had eaten breakfast and the answer was "no" so I had them come up to eat.  I gave MJ and Kay some cereal and then turned away to pour them some milk into some cups.  When I turned back and glanced at MJ, she was slumped over in her chair and her whole body was twitching.  I quickly ran over to her and grabbed her and picked her head up and I could tell it was full of cheerios and she wasn't responding at all and I could tell she was having a seizure by the way her body was jerking.  I told Luke to run up and get dad and he came down and grabbed MJ and tried to figure out if she was breathing or not.  We don't think that she was and she was turning very pale so I picked up the phone and called 911.  It was a very scary few minutes before we could visibly tell that she was breathing and coming back to reality.  The paramedics finally made it to our house after she was breathing and recovering.  They thought that she felt warm even though she only had a temperature of 98...  They think that she had a febrile seizure which is one of the more common causes of seizures and is caused by a sudden spike in temperature.  I am not convinced by that diagnosis though because even though she had been sick and we had a sickness going through the family, she had been better for the last couple of days and never once felt warm to me that day.

It took MJ a couple of hours to fully recover from this episode.  I was quite nervous the whole day watching her.  She was kind of babbling a little just before the paramedics arrived, but by the time they got to the house she was whining/crying and could not be comforted for a good 20 minutes or so.  When the paramedics left I took her upstairs to change her diaper and get her dressed and she was still crying through all of that.  I picked her up and tried talking to her and asking her what was the matter.  She finally started saying, "I want ..." but then she would say something that I couldn't understand.  It took a few minutes before I finally figured it out.  She was trying to say, "I want to go with you."  She saw that I still had my jacket and shoes on from the soccer game that morning and she thought that I was going to go somewhere and she didn't want me to leave her.  (And Blondie had told me that MJ had woken her and Kay up that morning crying for me and wandering around the house asking for me.  Maybe she woke up not feeling quite right...)

This all happened right at the beginning of the morning session of General Conference so we missed the first half hour of talks.  When we made it down afterwards I just held MJ on my lap and she fell asleep in my arms.  After doing some looking on the internet I found some other things that can cause seizures that would make more sense to me: one of them is dehydration and the other one is a low blood sugar level.  Since we are not sure what happened or how she was feeling when she woke up that morning it is hard to say what caused her seizure.  One thing I am very grateful of though is that it didn't happen while the kids were home by themselves.  And I hope and pray that she will not have another one...  This was definitely not an experience that I want to have to repeat.

If anyone else sees someone go through a seizure, here are some things that I have learned:

-  There really isn't much you can do when someone is having a seizure.
-  The main thing you should do is to make sure that there is nothing around them that can hurt them while their body is seizing.
-  It usually will resolve itself in a couple of minutes.
-  A seizure is somewhat equivalent to a computer shutting down.  The brain for some reason has too many impulses sent to it all at once so it shuts down and then reboots.
-  The shaking is the body receiving and carrying out the last of the commands to the body from the brain before it shut down.
-  Usually someone having a seizure does not stop breathing.  (MJ's case may have been different because she was eating at the time.)
-  When the body is seizing, the jaw locks and you will not be able to pry it open to get food out if there is anything in there.
-  When the seizure has stopped, you should lay the person on their side.

Lingering sickness

DH ended up staying home from work Wednesday through Friday last week.  He felt so-so on Wednesday, but stayed home more to help me out since I wasn't feeling well.  Then he took a turn for the worse on Thursday and Friday and still isn't feeling quite 100%.  Amazingly M&M managed to make it through without getting sick at all.  Blondie also didn't get it too bad and only felt a little sick on Wednesday.

Sick, tired MJ

Wednesday, March 27

Here is the picture of MJ crashed on her bed on the first day she was sick.  I came out of the shower and found her curled up on her bed without any sheets on it.

Down to one...

Well, I woke up feeling sick yesterday and ended up not making it to my infusion.  Kay and Kitty both threw up twice in the morning and all of us except for DH (who decided to work from home) and M&M (who was at school), just laid around most of the day not doing much of anything.  All of us woke up feeling much better today with the exception of DH who is now officially sick...

Three more down for the count...

Last night was quite the adventure in our house.  Kitty wasn't feeling well all day and just laid around not doing much or eating much.  In the afternoon she went to bed and fell asleep.  I needed to change her bed after she woke up and just when I had the new sheets on and she climbed back into bed, she proceeded to throw up all over herself and the bed and also got some on the floor and Kay's bed on the bottom bunk (as well as some toys that were on the floor).  She ended up taking a shower while I changed everything once again...  She had to wait until the mattress cover was clean again before I would let her go back to bed.

Luke spent the afternoon at a friend's house and when he got home he started not feeling too well.  He didn't eat much for dinner and had the chills.

Around 1:30 in the morning, Kay came into my room and told me that she had thrown up in her bed.  It was all over the sheets and pillow and all over herself and in her hair.  I had to strip her bed and then give her a quick bath to get her cleaned up.  When I got her tucked back into bed with a bowl this time, I took all of Kay's bedding and clothes downstairs to start yet another load of wash...

I then woke up around 5:30 and went and checked on the kids and switched the laundry to the dryer and started another load.  Luke woke up while I was doing that and told me that he had thrown up around 3:00.  Luckily he made it all in the toilet.

So today we don't have too much going on other than me doing some stuff on the computer and switching out some clothes for the spring season.  Hopefully the rest of us won't get anything, especially M&M who goes back to school tomorrow.  The rest of the kids are off-track for the next 3 weeks.  Although Luke was complaining that he always seems to get sick while they are off-track!

I'm not sure if this sickness is a continuation of MJ's sick spell last week or if it something new.  Hopefully she won't get something again though!  The older kids are much easier to deal with when they are sick...  At least we made it through the Easter holiday with no sick people!  (I will post pictures of the Easter dresses soon.)

Hopefully my washer and dryer can take a break here shortly!  They have been working over-time the last week.

DH debated staying home today to help out but I told him I could handle it and he would probably be better off at work away from all the sick kids.

Sick kids, piles of laundry (mostly bedding) and bowls for sick kids.

Sick MJ

Last Wednesday, MJ woke up around 5:30 in the morning calling for me.  I went into her room and picked her up and brought her into bed with me.  She went back to sleep for a little bit and then I woke up to the sound of her dry heaving a little - not a pleasant way to wake up...  Nothing really came up and then she was hungry and wanted to eat some breakfast.  She didn't eat too much and then when I went upstairs to take a shower she was complaining that she was tired.  I told her she could lay down if she wanted - not really thinking that she would do that though.  After I got out of the shower I went into MJ's room to put something away and found her sound asleep on her bed.  I then spent the next hour or so helping Kay clean her room and then MJ stumbled into the room.  At first she just wanted me to hold her but then she got down and started playing a little while I continued to clean.  After a little bit she burped a few times and said, "Mom, I'm burping."  That was a sign to me that I quickly needed to get a bowl for her so I ran downstairs and by the time I came back up she was in the process of throwing up all of her breakfast.  She was pretty miserable the whole day and just wanted me to hold her.  She threw up a few times throughout the day and had some diarrhea as well.  She went through several changes of clothes and I hardly got anything done at all - which was unfortunate because I was in the middle of finishing up all of the Easter dresses for the girls!

MJ had a slight fever on Thursday and didn't have much of an appetite so we encouraged her to drink water whenever she would.  I ended up canceling a soccer practice that I was supposed to be holding that evening.

When MJ woke up on Friday she actually had a smile on her face for the first time in a few days.  It was nice to see her getting back to her normal self!

Her sickness has really thrown off her sleep schedule though and she was up until around 2 a.m. on Friday and 1 a.m. on Saturday because she has been taking naps at odd times.  She is also a very whiny kid when she is sick and it has definitely tired me out.  And unfortunately she will very rarely allow anyone other than me to hold her or comfort her or do anything for her...

(I have a picture of her that I wanted to upload with this blog post but I unfortunately left my camera at my parents' house so I will upload it later when I get it back.)

... and again

This time the sickness started off with M&M.  One day (Sept 19) I picked her up from school to take her to the high school for marching band practice and she looked terrible - flushed and tired!  She said that she hadn't slept well the previous night and woke up with a huge headache and a sore throat.  Then at school she had had the chills off and on.  She still wanted to go to practice though so I took her over and dropped her off.  Her sickness lasted almost a week but she was able to manage her symptoms pretty well with over-the-counter medicine.

Then on Friday, Sept 28, Luke came home from school complaining of his head hurting him.  The next day he had some of the same symptoms that M&M had had - fever, chills, sore throat.  His fever lasted several days before it finally broke and now he just has a little bit of a cough.  The elementary kids have been off of school for their 3 week break starting October 1st, so Luke hasn't been able to do much so far because of his sickness!

Now Blondie isn't feeling too well and has had a headache and sore throat for the past two days...  Hopefully she will get over it quickly and no one else will get it...

Sickness hits again

Monday, September 10

Occassionally Kay will wake up in the middle of the night and she will come into my bedroom and want to climb in bed with me.  So last night I woke up to a tap on my arm and I pulled back the covers so that Kay could climb into the bed next to me.  After a little while though I woke up to her making some noise and then I realized that she was throwing up.  I was only partially awake and I said, "Did you just throw up in my bed?"  I quickly picked her up and took her to my bathroom and had her finish throwing up in the toilet.  In the meantime DH got out of bed and was trying to figure out what to do with the bed.  Luckily it only got on the bottom sheet and on Kay's pajamas a little so we just changed the bottom sheet and I cleaned Kay up.  When she came out of my bathroom she said, "I'm really sorry for throwing up in your bed.  It was an accident."  

I then took her downstairs and we slept on the couch for a little while and then she said she wanted to go back up to her bed.  Later that morning she threw up again and then she went downstairs and fell asleep on the couch.

Kay was sick off and on that whole week.  On Tuesday she didn't throw up at all and I thought that she was better but then she threw up again on Wednesday.  I was also sick for a couple of days that week so with the two of us that way I wasn't able to get a lot done that week...  I seem to recall that on Tuesday I had MJ join me in bed which was really weird - especially since she had to climb out of her crib and stumble into my room.  (At first I thought that it was Kay climbing into bed until I realized that when Kay wants to join me in bed she will stand at the side of my bed and tap me on the arm until I wake up and pull back the covers for her.)  MJ had a fever a little bit off and on during the week as well.  Luke felt sick Sunday night but was fine the next morning and the rest of the week.

Weird sickness

I don't think I mentioned this when it happened but I wanted to blog about it before I forgot.  We had a really weird sickness hit our family around the time that Heath's brother and family came from overseas.  The Thursday before they came (June 14th) I was supposed to take M&M in to the orthodontist's office for a consultation about getting full braces on her.  When I woke up to get myself ready in the morning I went downstairs and found M&M who had apparently been up for several hours throwing up...  At first I thought that she might be okay to take in still (you know, one of those sickness where you throw up and then feel fine), but after a few minutes it was obvious that she should be staying home.  Later that evening Luke also felt sick and threw up once or twice.  Then both of them felt better the next day.

So fast forward to Sunday night/Monday morning.  On Monday morning (the day that DH's brother was supposed to arrive) we woke up to find that Kitty had thrown up in the middle of the night some time.  She was feeling just so-so the rest of the day and then was better by Tuesday.

The next person to get sick was me.  I woke up around 2 in the morning on Saturday and threw up a couple of times and had quite a bit of diahrrea as well.  It was not a pleasant night.  Once daylight came for the day I was feeling so-so and this was the day that we had planned on hiking around Mirror Lake.  I went ahead and went with the rest of the family and managed alright.

Our next sickness hit on Tuesday after we were in Island Park.  Blondie didn't feel so hot that evening and we had her and Kitty sleep in the room with us that night.  I think Blondie threw up once or twice before she went to sleep.  Other than that she seemed to feel alright the next day.  I know that earlier in the day on Tuesday MJ also had a little bit of diahrrea, but other than that and a little bit of fussiness she was alright.

I don't recall Kay or DH getting sick at all.  If either of them did it was mild and didn't affect them much at all.  MJ also wasn't affected too much - which was a good thing for all of us.

I also know that one of the cousins that was visiting us got sick a couple of days after we were together - I'm not sure if that sickness was related to the one that went through our family, but it is very possible that it was.  I'm just glad that it was a relatively quick sickness and it was kind of nice to have it spread out as much as it was.

Sick again!

Friday, February 24 - Sunday March 4

Well, our family was hit by sickness once again this winter. This time I think it was the influenza virus and all of the kids came down with it. It started with M&M. She came home from school Thursday afternoon complaining about her back really hurting her. Then the next morning she had late start for school and when she came upstairs to eat breakfast, DH and I both saw her and knew immediately that she was too sick to go to school. Her cheeks were flushed and she did not look well at all. Later that evening the kids started dropping like flies - going from one set of flushed cheeks to another - with fevers. By Saturday all of the kids were sick and spent the day just laying around the house not doing anything. M&M was supposed to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and it was looking for a little while like she might be well enough to go, but by evening time again on Saturday she started not feeling well again. We all stayed home from church on Sunday. (I think this was a first for our family to all stay home from church because of sickness.) DH and I were both well enough to go, but MJ and Kay wanted me around because they weren't feeling well and with my weakened immune system DH stayed around to help out too. I did go to a meeting before church and DH went to the clerk's office after church to help count the tithing money, but other than that we stayed around the house handing out doses of medicine like it was candy...

On Monday, M&M felt well enough to go to school and it was a good thing because she had a performance downtown with a youth symphony group that she plays with. After she got home from that she crashed on the couch. The rest of the kids stayed home and DH worked from home so he could be around to help out if needed.

By Tuesday everyone was back in school except for Blondie. She developed a horrible cough and I didn't feel good sending her to school that day. On Wednesday I felt that everyone was finally well enough to go back to school. That evening though Luke started feeling not well again and he threw up in the middle of the night. So Luke stayed home from school on Thursday and Friday. He threw up a couple of times and had a bad stomachache as well as headache. By this point all of the kids had coughs and stuffy noses, but I sent them to school anyways. It's hard to know when to keep them home from school and when not to. Luke started feeling better Friday afternoon and was able to finally start eating normal meals again. By Sunday we were all well enough to go back to church. MJ still had a little bit of a cough and runny nose so I kept her with me in the primary room instead of sending her to nursery.

Amazingly through all of this I did not get sick (and neither did DH). The only thing that we can think is that it was the influenza virus and DH and I are the only ones who received the flu shot this year. We have never done the flu shot for any of us in the past, but this year with my chemo treatments we felt that I should probably get it as well as DH. I don't think that we have ever come down with the flu in the past either though.

I took this picture on Saturday, February 25th. If you look closely in this picture you can find 4 kids laying down, in various stages of sleep. Kay is playing in the background and I am holding the 6th sick kid, MJ, while I am taking this picture.
When I got home from my meeting on Sunday, this is how I found DH and MJ. MJ is not a cuddly baby so this is a very unusual sight to see.

Family sickness

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The week after Luke's birthday our family came down with a nasty stomach bug. The only one who didn't seem affected at all was M&M - and lucky for her because she was involved in the tech crew for her school musical and the performances were that week. Here is a picture of Kay and MJ on our worst sickness day:
I had been up during the night with stomach cramps and then felt horrible Tuesday morning. When the little girls woke up, DH went in to get them out of bed and discovered that MJ and Kay had both thrown up in their beds during the night. Since I was sick (and at the low point in my blood counts from chemo treatment), I wasn't able to help much with them. DH spent the morning bathing the girls and changing all of their bedding. The girls and I spent the whole day just laying around in front of the T.V. Blondie came home and didn't feel great and took a short nap but was feeling well enough to go to school the next day. Luke felt bad later that night and threw up right before he went to bed. Luke and Kitty ended up staying home from school the next day and DH stayed home from work feeling not too good on Wednesday and Friday.

There's nothing like...

... having a sick kid to force you to change your plans for the day...

At about 2:00 this morning I work up to the sound of someone crying/screaming hysterically. As soon as it registered in my brain that it was one of the kids making that noise I stumbled out of bed and opened the door to the hallway just in time to see Blondie there throwing up all over the carpet! I told her to get into the bathroom (which she was standing right next to) and throw up in the toilet. So she went into the bathroom and proceeded to throw up some more in the toilet. In the meantime all of the commotion woke up MJ, so I went to get her and then I tried to head downstairs to get a bowl for Blondie and encountered some more throw-up on the stairs. I asked her if she threw up on the stairs too and she said, "No, I don't think so." So I'm not sure how awake Blondie was while all of this was happening, but there was a mess everywhere and all MJ wanted was for me to feed her and then go back to bed. So I handed Blondie the bowl and asked her how she was feeling. She responded that she felt better so I sent her back to bed. After I got MJ back to bed I was finally able to start cleaning up the carpet and thought I did a pretty decent job before I headed back to bed myself.Then when I saw the carpet in the morning, it didn't look like I had cleaned anything up! I kept Blondie home from school as a precaution - even though she looks and acts fine and has been able to eat breakfast and lunch today without any problems. I was hoping to get to the grocery store today, but that will have to wait. I have had to spend the whole morning cleaning the carpet in the hallway and on the stairs (all 7 of them were hit). I also found that it was all on the wall too so I had Blondie grab a sponge and clean that up for me. Right now I have fans trying to dry the carpet before the rest of the kids get home, but it still doesn't look quite right in a couple of places so I might have to have at it again...

Now I'm just hoping that it doesn't spread to anyone else in the family...

Sick Kay

Kay has been sick since about Saturday and I stayed home from church with her and MJ on Sunday (MJ just started getting sick yesterday). I ended up taking the girls for Sacrament Meeting though because DH was speaking (only his second time in this ward). These pictures were taken on Tuesday. Kay fell asleep on one of our beanbag cushions in the middle of the afternoon. I like the second picture with her hair wrapped around her finger (she loves to twirl her hair when she is falling asleep).Kay had a fever for a couple of days and wasn't sleeping well. Now she is mostly suffering from a cough. Unfortunately the cough has caused her to throw up a couple of times and now the sickness is spreading through the family. Blondie and Kitty have runny/stuffy noses and sore throats and MJ has a bad cough now. DH also started feeling a little sick yesterday...

Healthy again?

So on Wednesday I was hoping that Blondie would be feeling fine and that we could get on with our week. Well, that was not to be. At breakfast Kitty ate a few bites of cereal and then she threw up all over herself. Unfortunately she had her last ballet class that morning - a dress rehearsal for their recital this Saturday so I had to keep her home from that. She wasn't too happy about that! After that little episode though she felt and acted perfectly fine the rest of the day. Blondie on the other hand still didn't feel up to doing much and ended up spending most of the day laying around on the couch and not eating much again.

Yesterday though everyone seemed back to normal and so far no one else has come down with anything. We are keeping our fingers crossed!