Fall Festival

On Wednesday night our church had their annual Fall Festival. Here are some pictures from the event.


The Queen of Hearts ready to go.


It's hard to get strapped in a car seat when you have wings.



Mom with the Queen and her Bumblebee.




Abby shooting a squirt gun.



Her target.... our youth pastor, Mike Slofstra.

Ear Infections, Sinus Infections, Random Viruses...Oh My!

We have always been a pretty healthy family. I know that Sam is relatively new to the family but Abby hardly ever gets sick so I'm not used to what has happened to us this past week.

It started last Tuesday when Sam got sick. He is doing much better now. On Friday afternoon I started to get a headache. Usually Advil takes care of my headaches but this one was hanging on. I figured I just needed to sleep it away. What I woke up to on Saturday is the worst headache of my life! I am not joking about that...it was so bad. I could barely function. I had to sit in one spot and not move my head at all. Since I'd never experienced anything like it I thought maybe it was a migraine. Matt had to do everything for me which he did without complaining once. He had a Husky football game to go to that evening and said more than once that he was going to stay home. But, I did not want him to have to miss the game (even though the Huskies suck and it probably would have been more fun staying home taking care of a sick wife). So my mother-in-law and mom came over to take care of me. I was in pretty rough shape. I went in to the after hours clinic Sunday afternoon and it turns out it was a sinus headache. I thought I had had those before but nothing comes close to touching the pain that I felt with that headache. It started to get a little better Saturday night when I went to bed. I have some medication from the Dr. and am feeling so much better. The headache is still there but it is more of an annoying ache than a knife going through my head.

Last night Abby woke up twice in the night crying and saying that her throat hurt. This morning when she got up she started throwing up. She is white as a sheet and has barely moved or spoken all day. Below is a picture of her... you know she is really sick when she stays in one position longer than 30 seconds. I took her in to the Dr. today (the third time I've been there in a week). We brought a bowl in the car just in case but she also wanted to bring it in to the Dr. I didn't want to but gave in. I'm so glad I did because while I was checking her in I heard something and looked over to see her leaning over the bowl throwing up in it. Poor girl. They tested her for strep but the Dr. thinks it is a virus that has been going around. Hopefully it is a short lived one.

So, three of us have been sick but with totally unrelated illnesses. I'm pretty sure Matt and Dutchess are going to stay in a hotel for the next couple of days.

Beautiful Fall Days

It has been so beautiful out the last few days. Today the kids were all playing at our swing set and we got a few pictures of them. We even put Sam in his swing for the first time. He loved it.

He's Laughing....

...and we finally caught it on video to share with everyone.

A Boy and His Dog

I loved this picture of Sam and Dutchess. This is how Dutch usually sits, with her legs crossed in front of her...like she knows she is a Dutchess.

A First Time For Everything...

... including sickness. I posted about Sam's big week a little while ago. He rolled over for the first time and ate cereal for the first time. Well this week he got sick for the first time. He started coughing and had a bit of a runny nose last weekend. We kept him home from church because of the nose but his temperament was the same so I was not that worried about it. On Monday afternoon he had a fever. It went down with Tylenol but was back up again that night. He woke up a few times in the night which is not like him anymore. At 5:00 Tuesday morning his temperature was 100.7. He also had a rash all over his body. I called in sick on Tuesday and took him to see the Dr. that afternoon. She took one look in both of his ears and said that he had a double ear infection. No wonder he woke up in the night not happy. I can now add to my list of firsts....first sickness and first does of antibiotics. He does not like the taste of his medicine at all. We have to give it to him twice a day for ten days and each time is an ordeal. This morning was the first time that I think all of it got in his mouth. The good news though is that he is feeling much better. His cheeks are still pretty red but he hasn't had a fever since Tuesday evening and his ears must be feeling better because he is a lot happier during the day.

Plagiocephaly

Don't ask me how to pronounce it but it stands for a head anomaly or as we call it, a flat head. We took Sam to Children's Hospital in Seattle yesterday to get his head checked out. There are five areas that they look at and they are rated between 0-3. 0 would be a perfect head which the Dr. said no one has. 1 is mild, 2 moderate, 3 severe. The first thing is the only area where he scored in the moderate category. It is called Posterior Flattening (flattening in the back). The other things they look at are Ear Misalignment (one ear higher or more in front than the other), Forehead Asymmetry, (a bulge on one side of the forehead or another which Sam has a little bit of), Neck Involvement (if the neck muscles don't develop properly it causes one side to be really tight), and Facial Asymmetry (where the face doesn't line up like it should). The Dr. said that for kids who score a 2 or 3 in the Posterior Flattening area they usually recommend a helmet. He scored a 2. But, she also said that there is usually quite a bit of improvement between five and seven months of age. So, we are going to continue doing what we have been doing and see how the next month or two goes. We keep him upright or on his tummy quite a bit of the day when he is awake. We also do what we can to get him to look to his left. The more he does that and gets even better head and neck control the more he will look that way when he is sleeping too. While we were at Children's we were able to meet with a Physical Therapist as well. She looked at his neck muscles and gave us some exercises to help him be able to have full range of motion when looking to the left. I'll keep everyone posted over the next couple of months on how he is doing.

Sam's big week!

Sam has had a big week. I started feeding him rice cereal a few days ago. He is doing great with it. It is so funny to watch him when it gets in his mouth. He doesn't quite know what to do but he is learning. Abby fed him yesterday and she did a great job. He ate better when she was feeding him then the times when I fed him. I took a video of it and have attached it below. Pretty cute! The other big news is that he rolled over yesterday. He has been looking like he was going to roll from back to front for a while now but still gets stuck on his arm. Yesterday we were playing on the floor and I pushed him all the way over to his tummy. He played there for a little while and then pushed himself over to his back. It was very exciting. Matt was working in the garage so I called him in and Sam did it again for him. He rolled one more time yesterday. After that I tried to get him to do it on video but he was tired of showing off and wouldn't do it again. My days of laying him on the couch are over...

Pumpkin Patch!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch last Thursday. It is a great patch with a lot of activities for kids. It has special significance to me because three years ago on October 15th Matt proposed to me after we spent the day there. Let me tell you the story...It was a beautiful fall day. Abby and I met Matt and his mom at the patch that morning. We fed the animals, road the train, picked out a pumpkin, and had apple pie. Then we all left and went back to our houses for the afternoon. That evening Matt came over and brought both Abby and I roses. The three of us carved the pumpkin out on the deck of my apartment and then we BBQ'd steak for dinner. As we got Abby ready for bed the pumpkin was brought inside and the candle lit. It sat on top of the entertainment center in the living room. I went and put Abby to bed and when I walked out of her bedroom I noticed that the candle had gone out. Immediately, I walked over to the pumpkin, took it down off the entertainment center, set it on the table, and took off the lid. Inside was a little box. I just starred at it for a while without saying anything. Finally I said, "What is this?" (I knew exactly what it was but I was so shocked that I didn't know what else to say). Matt got up and said, "Let's see." Then he walked over to the table, took the box from the pumpkin, got down on one knee, opened the box and said.... actually, I won't embarrass him by saying what he said (although I do remember every word). After a few more moments of shocked silence I said yes and almost lost my finger in the next few days wearing a ring that was two sizes too small for me. The surprise of the proposal was worth him not giving it away by asking me my ring size in advance.

Back to the present...last Thursday was also a very nice day. Matt and Grandpa were at work but Boppa, Loon, and Nana joined us for the day. It was Sam's first trip. We picked out our pumpkins and of course had apple pie with the works (ice cream and caramel). Here are a few pictures. Stoney Ridge farm will always be a special place to me.

Arizona Sun

Matt went on a football golf trip to Arizona last weekend. He went with his dad, my dad, and my brother. They flew out on Saturday and went to the Husky Arizona football game (in case you were wondering, no, the Huskies did not win). Then they spent three days golfing at my parents place in Tucson. Sam, Abby and I stayed here and had a fun weekend with Grandma and Nana. Before he left for the trip I told Matt that I would like it if he would take the camera but if he wasn't going to take any pictures then I'd keep it and take pictures of our weekend. He assured me that he would take pictures. The picture...yes, just one picture...is above. I guess I should be thankful that I at least got one. :) They had a great time.

How many of you?

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

I saw this on a friend's blog and wanted you to see it also. Click on the link to see how many people with your name are in the US. Of course I am one of a kind so there is only one of me. :) Leave a comment and tell me how many of you there are.