Averi's Home!

Yesterday at the hospital, the doctor said that Averi was going to have to stay there until Tuesday. So, I started making plans for the family, and who was going where and who was going to watch the kids, because Steve has to go to work on Monday. However, the doctor checked on her today, and said she was doing so well, that she could go home tonight. Her blood test didn't show anymore signs of bacteria present. She had to have one more treatment of the iv antibiotics. So, at about six o'clock, we were able to come home. The hospital facilities were very nice, but Averi had about had it! She wanted to come home to her pink bed! When she saw the nurse this afternoon, she threw a fit and spilled her milk everywhere and was screaming. Here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday when Averi was a bit more happy.

Daddy brushing Averi's hair after her bath.

Averi's infected arm. It is hard to see all the redness in this picture, and this picture is about 50% better than it originally looked!

The inside of her infected arm where the cat actually bit her.

Averi was so happy to come home. She kept saying things like, "I love the dark, and I love this truck, and I love my pink bed." She still has to be on different antibiotics for the next ten days and a couple more visits with her pediatrician. (Can you imagine how shot her immune system is going to be after this!) I did some research on the iv antibiotic she was being given. It is called vancomycin, and it is considered 'the last resort medicine.'
We are so thankful for everyone who called and was concerned and also for all of the prayers that went out in our behalf. I have felt a lot of peace and comfort through this whole ordeal!Thank you everyone! It is funny how life is suddenly put in perspective when you have a sick child. We are truely so blessed to have the power of the priesthood and faith in prayers!
Well, even though I appreciate the hospital and staff, I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, without beeping machines, and nurses coming in to check vital signs! Oh yea...and real food! My new motto for 2009: 'no vending machines!'

More Averi Updates

Good news! The blood test shows that Averi is responding to the treatment and antibiotics. She still has a fever, but her white blood count had dropped fom 31 to 24. It needs to get down around 17. I am so grateful for her blessing, all the prayers, and modern medicine!

Averi Update

So, when we woke up on Friday, Averi's arm was worse and her fever was still high. We cancelled Disneyland, and instead decided to take Averi back to the E.R. The redness and swelling was just growing and not looking right.
Basically, at Mercy Southwest, they said we did the right thing by bringing her back. We were there from 8 a.m. til 2 p.m. They took blood from her, and found out her white cell count was extremely high, and then they took an x-ray, and found out that luckily the infection is not in her bones. However, she needed to be admitted, and Mercy Southwest does not have a pediatric ward. Therefore, we took a ride in an ambulance over to Memorial hospital. Averi has her own little room there, and the staff is so wonderful. The doctor came in last night, and diagnosed her with some weird name. Basically, it is a staff infection! He said it is very hard to treat, and her put her on a new antibiotic, that is so powerful, that after every third dose, they have to give her a blood test to make sure is isn't affecting her kidneys and liver to much. The good news is, there is a 90% chance she will respond to it, which is good since no one can give me an answer on what will happen if she doesn't respond.
Her poor arm is so swollen, red, and painful to touch. She seemed to be feeling better this morning, and actually ate some breakfast. I stayed the night with her last night, and Steve came and relieved me this morning, which was nice since vending machine food is getting old! So, I m going to take a shower and head back to the hospital to get the results of the blood test they took this morning.
thank you for all the prayers, and I will kept my blog updated as much as I am home :) Hopefully Averi will only have to be there for 48 hours, because she says she doesn't wanted anymore pokes, and she wants to go home!

Christmas morning brought upon our family much joy. It is fun to have small children and they are so excited for the arrival of Santa. Last night, they all slept in my bed with me. Low and behold it was a very restless night for me. Averi kept squirming and moaning and had me up about every hour last night. Finally, at six, I got up for good, and she was burning up. We took her temperature (102*) and immediately put her in the bathtub. She got a dose of Tylenol and then we set out to open our presents.

Christmas Morning

Averi got a princess dress! Santa also brought her her pink bed. She was so excited!


Wyatt was more interested in the wrapping paper than the actually presents. He is so mobile lately that we had to put him in Averi's old walker (yes, I know it is pink), so that he doesn't get into too much!

The boys got their Wii!

So much for a small Christmas. But, I do have to admit that it is nice not having small parts of toys everywhere!

Averi still wasn't feeling well and was still running a fever, even after taking a nap in her new pink bed. I noticed a scratch on her arm that looked pretty red. I asked her what happened, and she said the cat scratched her and bit her. During the early afternoon, we watched this scratch swell up her whole arm and turn really splotchy red. Therefore, I took her to Urgent care, not knowing what was wrong. After 1 1/2 hours there, Grandma came down and joined us. I so glad she was there, because I felt like the worst mom in the world when the doctor came in and said that Averi has a serious skin infection from the cat bite. (Should I have known this?) Then the doctor proceeded to give her a dose of Motrin and Tylenol with codeine. We went up to the pharmacy and picked up her antibiotics, with the strict instructions that if the swelling doesn't get any better within two days, she needs to go back to the hospital to be admitted! Pappa came down and he and Steve gave her a blessing. She seems to be feeling better despite throwing up all the medicine they gave her! So now, we are just praying that she gets better, considering twelve people are heading down to Anaheim tomorrow to go to Disneyland on Saturday. I really hope she responds to the medicine, considering she has really been looking forward to going to see all the princesses!

I hope all our family and fiends had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

So, I spent most of the morning finishing up Averi's quilt. We are really hoping that Santa brings her a new bed. She asked for a pink bed in her letter to Santa, and so I made her this quilt in case he does bring her a bed. I am proud of this one! It is pink princesses and the backing is pink shaggy material. It was hard to sew with and so heavy that Steve had to move my sewing machine into the living room, and hold part of the quilt up while I sewed it together. But Averi loves it and wants to sleep with it, even if it isn't in her own bed!

On Christmas Eve, we went up to Pappa and Grandma's house for a nice steak dinner. When we came home, we let the kids open their present from dad and mom. We get them pajamas every year that they are allowed to open on Christmas Eve. They are so excited, and vow to stay up until Santa arrives!

Santa thinks I"ve Been Good!

Last week, I went to get the mail, and in there was a Christmas surprise for me. Tucked away in a Christmas card was a gift certificate for a massage! Santa must really think I have been a really good mom this year, because he sure knows what I love! Thank you Santa!

Averi's Holiday Dress

This is the dress that I made for Averi this year for Christmas. It was one of the more difficult dresses that I have attempted. I only cut the material wrong twice! Gotta love sewing with stripes! However, I love this patterns, and will probably use it in the future, like for her Easter dress!

CALM

Our family tradition each year is to go our to CALM to see the Christmas lights. This year we went on Saturday after Ethan's birthday dinner. I was surprised that it wasn't freezing out there since the weather has been so cold lately. Pappa and Grandma treated us to the evening, and they stopped on the way there and picked up Morgan, which is really fun for Averi to have a girls her age around.

Beautiful lights upon entering the grounds.

The crew of children all bundled up for the evening.

We all took a ride on the carousel at the entrance. Averi wanted to go again when she was done. It doesn't surprise me since she loves horses.

The boys really enjoyed the lighted pirate ship.


My boys on the train ride.

After the train, we all end up getting apple dumplings from the 'Teen Challenge' booth. If you haven't experienced these, you are really missing out. They are sooooo delicious, and even more of a treat, since we only get them once a year!

Calm always gets me into a wonderful Christmas mood, and didn't fail to do so this year.

Ethan Turns 8!

Saturday was Ethan's 8th birthday! I can't believe that I have an eight year old. He was so excited all week, and kept counting down the days until the 20th. We celebrated with a roast beef and yorkshire pudding dinner up at Pappa and Grandma's house. Ethan wanted a big birthday party, but we told him we weren't doing that this year, since we will be going to Disneyland on the 26th! He was fine with that, and we did have a wonderful celebration of his birthday. My handsome 'Mister Man'

Ethan got a new lightsaber from Pappa and Grandma, and a nerf gun from Mom and Dad. He also got a Spiderman wallet and a new pair of shoes.

Ethan wanted a vanilla cake with blue frosting, so I made it for him.

I am so lucky to have such a good boy. Ethan is such a good help to me at home! He can often be ornery at times (just like his mom), but he has a huge heart. Ethan is so excited to get baptized, and we are looking forward to it on January 3rd. He is also officially a cub scout now, which is exciting for me since I am his den mother!

Christmas Parties

Since I am room mom in both Ethan and Gavin's classes, this entire week was devoted to getting ready for their Christmas parties. In Gavin's class, I helped them put together a reindeer puppet, and decorate cookies. The kids had all written letters to Santa last week, and during the party, Mrs. Nightengale came in with a stack of freezing cold letters that has just arrived from the North Pole for each kid. They were so excited that Santa wrote them back, and the excitement and pictures on their faces were priceless! It really got me into the Christmas spirit to be in the class while this party was going on.
In Ethan's class, I spent the week putting together gift bags for all the kids, and then supplying them with sugar cookies (thank you Lani for the delicious recipe!) I was so nervous last night trying to frost them, because I have never prepared sugar cookies before. (I am too much of a chocolate chip lover to try anything else.) But, they turned out well and the kids enjoyed them. Needless to say, i was exhausted after the day in the classrooms, and really thankful that Steve couldn't get over the grapevine to work this morning. I came home and took a long rest all by myself.

Venting Rampage.....Again!

Last week, I was very busy with various things throughout the week, so the housework suffered. By the end of the week, I was in a ton of pain, because I really overdid it last week, thinking I could conquer the world, and my body reminding me that I really can't.
So, the house is a disaster. I mean a total disaster! I would post pictures of how dirty it is, but let's get real....that would be embarrassing!
So, I start today on my quest to get it cleaned. Now, last week the comment came up with a friend of mine that her husband would not like it well if she expected him to help out around the house! Me however, I do expect Steve to help. I just don't feel like I can possibly do everything by myself. I put a lot of time into my children, making sure all of their various activities are taken care of, the homework, volunteering in their classroom, being room mom for both boys....etc, as the list could go on an on, and I am sure all of you mothers understand! I don't expect Steve to do everything, but he does occasionally do a load of dishes, fold the laundry, and sometimes even cooks dinner. I think I have a great husband and he is very helpful. But, after this conversation with my friend, I started to feel like a total looser that I can't possibly do everything....and stay sane! She was saying that as a stay-at-home mom, it is her job to do everything. However, I think being a stay-at-home mom means that my kids are my job and my first priority! Not that either she or I am wrong.....just a difference of oppinions. I guess I was just left the conversation feeling like a loser!
So, and here is where the ranting starts......Today, I was going to be the perfect stay-at-home mom and accomplish everything. Breakfast was served to everyone, and they were all dressed, in warm clothes straight from the drier! The kids got to school on time, despite the 10 feet of visibility through the fog. Averi and Wyatt both got put down for their morning naps. The cat got fed. I scanned important documents into my computer, only to find out that I can't email them where they need to go, because my computer is malfunctioning! Therefore, a ten minute phone call was made to fix the problem. Then, I made six phone calls to parents to try and get them to help me with the two Christmas parties that the boys have next week on the same day that I am in charge of. I saved the cat from the Christmas tree that Averi stuck him in, and then turned around and saved the cat that Averi locked in our entertainment center. I watered the Christmas tree. I started a load of laundry, and then decided, o.k....now its time to tackle the housework! Remember what a disaster it is because I was in too much pain to clean it last week.
Here are my thoughts on cleaning the house:
* Is it really that hard to put shoes into your bedroom when you take them off?
* Is it really hard to put your dirty socks into the dirty clothes pile?
* When you drink a soda, is it really that hard to take an extra three feet and put in into the recycler bag, than it would be to leave it on the counter top?
* Is it really that hard to put a pencil away in the pencil box after you use it?
* And toys...lets not ever get started with how hard it would be to put a toy away after playing with it!
* Is it really that hard to hang up a towel after you use it?
* It is really that hard to take an extra step to throw a wrapper away instead of throwing it on the ground for Mom to clean up?
* Is it really that hard to put dirty dishes into the sink after you use them?
* Is it really that hard to replace the trash can liner when you take the trash out?

O.k., I think everyone gets the point! The problem is, I have only been cleaning for about 1/2 hour! I'm sure the list will go on and on during the day.
My point, and yes I am finally getting to it is this: Am I the only 'loser' out there that expects help from my husband? And my last thought, I don't think that I have properly trained my family on these various points described above? Hey, it sounds like a good topic for our next FHE!

Wish me luck...I still have to finish cleaning the house, run to the dollar store, run to the grocery store, help the kid with their homework, work on sewing Averi's quilt for Christmas, study at least two sections for my BYU distance course, and mow the front lawn!

Christmas Parade!

The highlight of the evening!
Photographer Ethan snapping away. I realized it is very rare that I ever post myself on my blog, because I am usually the one taking the pictures!

Wyatt all bundled up!

Averi thought this was wonderful...a pink corvette with a princess in it!

All four of my little joys all bundled up.

Last night, I met up with the Hull and White Family, and we all ventured over to the Christmas Parade downtown. Of course when we got there all in separate cars, we lost each other, and I ended up parking nine blocks away and just walking to the parade, and never found Krystal or Michelle again! Can you imagine that in a crowd of 20,000 people?

The parade was really fun, and got me into the Christmas spirit, probably because the kids enjoyed it so much! They were really well behaved, and we had to stay til the very end so that we could see Santa. The kids eyes were about as big as saucers when Santa and Mrs. Claus went by! They were all really excited. It was a cold and fun time, but boy...am I exhausted today!

All I Ever Needed To Know, I Learned In The First Ten Years Of Marriage!

Let me just start by saying that Steve isn't an animal lover. He doesn't mind them...he just doesn't really want to have any pets. I have talked before about getting a cat, and he always says, "don't do that."
So, I realized this week, that even though we have been married for ten years, there is still a lot that I am learning about Steve. As everyone knows, Averi is definitely 'Daddy's Little Girl." Well, Averi loves animals, especially cats! She always pretends that she is a pink kitty. Well...Steve has been traveling a lot for work lately...sigh...the last three out of four weeks he has been gone. (I'm not complaining....just stating facts!) So, I decided that it was time to get Averi a kitten of her own. Of course, I didn't tell Steve ahead of time, because he would say no. I just figured I would deal with him later. So, Averi and I went to a friend of a friends house...and picked out our kitten. We named him Louis. He is a very sweet cat, and basically let Averi torture,....I mean take care of him. So, we got the cat on a Tuesday, and I figured that I had until Steve got home on Friday to break the news to him. However, when we called Daddy on the phone to say goodnight, Averi talked to him for about five minutes straight all about her cat named Louis, and how much she loves him, etc, etc, etc.... So, here I am sweating bullets, and I get back on the phone with Steve....I said, "How much trouble am I in?" Guess what he says!...."None, honey, she really loves that cat, and I haven't heard her that excited in a long time!".......I'm just sitting there thinking, "you have got to be kidding me!" I have a feeling that Averi is going to get anything in life she wants, and I am going to be the one to put my foot down to her!

Instead of being happy that he wasn't upset, I learned a very important lesson about Steve and our marriage that night......Whenever I want something, I am just going to go out and get it and let Averi break the news to Steve!

Averi and Louis

Twilight

Last Tuesday, Gretchen, Amy, Krystal, Melissa, and I went and saw Twilight! It was fun to be with the girls, and even better because it has been about two years since I have been to the movie theatre to see an adult movie. The first two minutes, I was disappointed, thinking...how could this be the movie....the acting is so juvenile! I realized that I had to abandon all preconceived notions that I had. After I did, I really enjoyed it! I am looking forward to going back to take Steve to see the movie! Yes, I am one of those rare women where my husband not only read the series, but he read it three times! Hmmm...does that sound like anyone we know?....Lani!

Thanksgiving Pictures

I am once again back blogging, because of a computer crash! I should have posted these pictures a week ago...but, oh well! Our family celebrated Thanksgiving on the Saturday before the actual holiday. We have done this the last two years, so that all of our family...cousins, uncles, aunts, etc....make sure that we can all get together. We celebrated it up at dad and mom's house, and it was truly a wonderful day! After dinner, we went for the traditional walk around the neighborhood. We do this every year now, as we used to take a walk along the golf course out at Nonny and Poppy's house when they were still alive. I love traditions!

Here are some photos of the day!

Cousin Ben and Averi looking out at the golf course.
Wyatt, trying to crawl under all the chairs in the dining room....Look at that guilty look after he got caught!

My cousin Briana's boyfriend Danny. As you can see, he fit right into the family!

Cousin Dylan scaling the walls!

My cousin Cambria, or better known as Bernie!

My cousin Bre holding Dylan!

Twins!

Averi and her new best friend Morgan. As guests for dinner, Morgan and her mom Heather, which is a family that my dad home teaches came over and joined us.

The newest addition to the family.....Zorin! Brady and Cambria's little boy.

Averi...relaxing!

My family....I was trying to get a picture for our Christmas cards, but it didn't turn out to well.

The Burton, Johnson, Smith, and Facer families!


I hope all my family and friends had a very Happy Thanksgiving....and now its time for Christmas!