Funky Banana: 2007

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Scary day

This is the time of year when everything is supposed to be happy and magical. Yesterday, though, we had a scare.
Emma started to come down with something on Monday night, and she had a fever. Come Tuesday morning, both kids had a bad fever (Emma was over 102 degrees, and Matt wasn't far behind). By the evening, Matt was doing better, and running around like always. Upon looking in his mouth, I noticed that he had 4 molars and an eye tooth that came in, so I think that was where the fever was from. Emma, though, was pretty lethargic all day long, and I couldn't get her temp down below 100 degrees. Wednesday, Matt was his usual self again, and Emma was still sick. Same with Thursday. Friday morning, Matt woke up pretty early, and was moaning...I could tell he wasn't feeling well. Hes just wasn't interested in moving around at all (and he is normally a very active little boy). Emma started off feeling great, but within 45 minutes of getting up, she was once again lethargic and glassy-eyed. Both kids had stuffy noses and were coughing. So, I put both kids in our bed so the could rest and watch TV. Matt didn't even move all morning long! I was doing all of the things that I thought I was supposed to do...Tylenol, lots of liquids, and lukewarm baths. About 1:00 Matt was finally interested in getting up, so he got up and played. Emma wanted to read stories, so she came out to the couch in the living room. The rest of the afternoon went as normal, and I prepared to go to work (and I was very excited, as I had missed the previous 3 days since the kids were sick). My mom came over to watch the kids for a bit, they all settled down on the couch with Emma's favorite "Charlie Brown Christmas", and I took off to go to work at 3:45. When I walked into work right before 4:00, one of the managers handed me a phone and told me to call my mom. I said "I just left home, I'll call her later". She said "No. You need to call your mom right now. Go into the backroom and call her RIGHT NOW". OK. This was starting to make me panic a little bit. So, I got into the back and called home, and when mom answered, she told me that the paramedics were at my house, because Matthew had a bad seizure, was having a difficult time breathing, and had been unresponsive for about 8 minutes. Now, Matthew had never really even been sick before, let alone had a seizure, so my mind just started to race. She put a paramedic on the phone, who explained what they were doing to me, and said I should meet them at the hospital. I am so thankful that it was my mother who was with the kids while it was happening, because she had the presence of mind to react properly, and call for assistance. I was shaking and crying, and thankfully the people at work were not about to let me get into the car on my own, and they offered to drive me to the hospital. Knowing that I needed to have my car because of the car seats, I decided to call Garry. Garry was on his way from work, so I asked him to pick me up as he got into town. The wait seemed to last for an eternity, but finally he arrived, and we were able to get to the hospital. All I could keep telling myself was that our little Matt was in a safe place with doctors who know what to do, and that he was OK. We got to the hospital and were led back to the room in the emergency department where Matt was staying, and the first thing that I did was crawl into the bed with him and snuggle him. He was crying, and kept saying "My mommy. My daddy". We were in the E.R. for about 3 hours, and Matthew really was a trooper, because the nurses really picked on him. He had blood drawn, chest X-Rays, a deep-suctioning of his nose, and cleaning in his ears, among other things. I think the very first thing they did was to get a culture from his nose. Poor little guy just kept crying, and I could do nothing more than hold him, sing to him, and caress his face. I wanted to cry. In the end, thankfully, there was nothing serious. He has a sinus and mild upper respiratory infection, and has been put on antibiotics. He had a febrile seizure, which happens from a fast spike in a child's temperature. See this link for some intersting information: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/febrile-seizure/DS00346. Apparently, Matt is prone to have the seizures when he has a high temp, so I am going to have to be especially vigilant in keeping it down!
I have spent all day today kissing the kids and holding them tight, and administering more Motrin and Tylenol, in an effort to keep their temps down. It has been hard. Matt's temp went to 103 again this afternoon, despite Tylenol and Popsicles. Again, he was lethargic and wouldn't move. But, within about 90 minutes, he was back to himself again. This sure is a nasty bug that they have, and I don't know where it could have come from. Garry started to feel poorly today, too, and also has hardly moved. As for me, well, I feel fine...totally overwhelmed and exhausted, but fine. In fact, I just realized that it is 10:45, and everyone has been asleep for a little over an hour. WHAT THE HECK AM I STILL DOING UP??? I am going to go to bed now, and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to get 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Unreal! So, please send up a quick prayer asking for my little angels to feel better soon. This has gone on long enough, and they want to be healthy for Christmas!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

More fun from the camping trip...

October camping trip

We decided on a whim one October Saturday evening to go for an overnight camping trip to Spearfish City park. We LOVE to go camping there! We got to the campground kind of late, and the kids fell asleep quickly. They looked so cute when they were sleeping! When we woke up in the morning, it was incredibly cold (I guess that it WAS October!), so we bundled up and went for an adventure, looking at leaves and the Creek. Matthew thought that it was fun to chase squirrels!

Birthday party Take 2

OK. So, Emma had her princess tea party right before her birthday, and then a party with our family on her birthday. BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL OF HER LITTLE BOY FRIENDS? Well, coincidentally they all have birthdays within 10 days of each other, so we decided to do 1 big birthday party for all 3 kids. In the top picture, Emma is in her pink shirt. The baby in the high chair is Elsie (not Matthew), then Henry (also turned 3), and Tanner (turned 2)...Matthew is in the booster seat behind Tanner. These kids are all great buddies, and Emma loves her boys! Emma & Tanner have gotten to be really good friends, because our families went camping together this summer. It was SO much fun! Matthew decided that he really loves birthday cake!

Emma was very excited to get a Barbie from Jonah & a keyboard from Alex & Tacy.

Emma's 3rd Birthday!

Emma turned 3 on October 1st, and she REALLY wanted to have a

princess tea party birthday party. I especially thought that this was funny because her best friends are all boys! But, we invited Kaia from church, Abbi from across the street & Emma's cousin Jayla, and I decorated the living room for the little girls. Garry got about a million balloons (always fun!), and we had them all over the place, too. I made aprons for all the little girls, and they decorated sugar cookies, then had a tea party! It was loads of fun!

the garden

Emma was especially proud of this sunflower. She had an AWESOME garden, complete with millions (really!) of cherry tomatoes, the best canteloupe & watermelon that I have ever eaten, carrots & sunflowers. Aunt Amy came to visit for a quick weekend.

Matthew turned 1 on June 28th. He is the sweetest little boy (a momma's boy, to tell the truth). He is very happy, and adventurous. Emma and Matt are the best of friends! I made a train birthday cake for Matt, and he dove right in...I see now that the frosting color was a little pukey!

I AM BACK!!!!

OK. Lots has happened (obviously) since I last posted. I am sorry for the HUGE delay in postings. I will try to get everyone up-to-date within the next couple of days.

We have been elfed, too!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1177285077

Monday, April 23, 2007

A YUMMY soup recipe

Today is kind of drizzly out, so I thougth that I would make soup! There was a cooking class the other night at work, and this was included inthe class. It is safe to say that this is one of the best soups I have ever tasted! Give it a whirl!

Creamy Chiken Chipotle and Wild Rice Soup

1 red or yellow onion, diced

4 celery stalks, diced

2 carrots, diced

1/3 cup dried wil rice (prepare as directed, then chill)

2 chipotle chilis, canned in adobo sauce, pureed

2 cups water

3 cups heavy cream

3 cups whole milk

2 oz chicken base

12 oz chicken breasts

1 bay leaf

1 tsp thyme

1 TBSP olive oil

4 oz butter

4 oz flour

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Sear the diced chicken, then add onion and carrots. Saute 2 minutes, then add celery and continue cooking until the onions carmelize. Then add chipotle peppers, water and chicken base. When it all comes to a boil, thicken with butter and flour (roux) until consistency is that of pot pie filling. Next add heavy cream, stirring constantly. Then add milk, bay leaf, and thyme. Mix in wild rice and slowly bring to a boil. Do not allow the soup to boil too long, because the soup will begin to separate.

YUMMY!

Monday, February 26, 2007

So, I think that I have come pretty close to updating pictures on this site. I am going to try to do some video clips of Matthew crawling, and Emma doing her new favorite pastime...THE HOKEY POKEY.

We have been keeping busy around our house. Matthew is just about 8 months old, and he has grown by leaps and bounds. At 6 months, he weighed 17# 6 oz., and at 7 months he weighed 20# 6 oz.! Quite a gain in a month! He has been crawling and scooching around backwards, but yesterday finally figured out how to move forwards. Look out world...here comes Matthew!

Emma continues to be a great big sister and helper around the house. You can find her wherever I am, soing whatever I am doing. We love to bake together and sing songs and dance silly dances. Thanks to Dora the Explorer, she is running around the house shouting Spanish phrases at us. I work with her on French, though, and she really has good pronunciation!

Friends

Emma and Matthew had so much fun with their friends Henry (with Emma) and Elsie (with Matthew). All 4 had a great day of playing together at our house. Henry is Emma's "oldest" friend (they have known each other since birth, and Henry is just 11 days younger than Em).