Brielle's Hospital Stay

We had a very scary occasion over the weekend. A lot of people have asked about details so I thought I would explain how everything happened for those whoare interested. Wes had come down with a cough last week and Bri started to seem fussy on Wednesday, it appeared she, too, was catching something. On Thursday night she had a low feverand on Friday when she was still feverish and very fussy (which is very odd, she really is almost always happy) and Wes was still sick I took them in to the dr. Wes was prescribed antibiotics for a sinus infection, but since Bri really had no symptoms and only a low fever there was really nothing to do for her. On Saturday her fever rose to 100 and she was again very fussy and lethargic. Kurt and I actually went to Magic Mountain, but when we got her at 5 she really didnt seem like herself. Shortly thereafter I thought she seemed to be breathing very fast and grew concerned. It even seemed like she was regularly neglecting to breathe for a second or two at a time and her fever was up to 102. I put her in the car and drove to urgent care, but they had closed about an hour earlier so we went back home and I let her nap in my arms while I continued to monitor her. At 8 I decided to wake her for a bottle since she hadskipped her last meal, and when I came back with her bottle she had woken, but was clearly not okay. She was trying to move but couldn't really, her head bent slightly back, and this time my thermometer read 106, so we ran to the ER. I was terrified, I had had an uneasy feeling since 5ish but now I thought I might lose her. When I ran into the waiting room I was crying and the guard told me to fill out the paperwork.I was floored, and I told him we need to go in right away with increasing anxiety in my demeanor. When he slowly picked up the phone to call about it I lost it. I started screaming that someone needed to open the door, she was shaking and didn't appear to be breathing, almost everyone in the busy room jumped up and started to yell in my defense. It was only about a minute, but probably the longest in my life. The checked her out and reassured me that she was breathing, but admitted she didn't look well. Whilehooking up the iv she did stop breathing, and then began to seize. By then the iv was in so they were able to get drugs in her right away to stop the seizure, which also knocked her out. From there the administered tylenol and motrin, then did a chest xray, blood and urine culture, cat scan, and a spinal tap to rule out all serious diseases. After she was stable we were transfered to the pediatric icu inTarzana by ambulence. We arrived at 2:30 am. Her fever spiked again that night but went down with meds and from there she continued to improve, so we were moved to the regular pediatric unit. At this point she was really doing well, but they were adamant about keeping her 48 hours to keep rechecking the labs and make sure nothing else showed up. The real challenge at this point was keeping a new crawler content staying in bed for two days. We were released last night and by this morning Bri has been doing great, you wouldn't even know she was sick at all. There is still no answer as to what caused all of it other than to say it was a virus that she reacted badly to. We are so incredibly thankful for all of the prayers and support we received during this scary time, they were a tremendous source of comfort.

A few pictures from the ordeal after things calmed down:

In the picu, you can see in her eyes the remnants of the drugs they had to give her for

the spinal tap.

Also in the picu, continuing to get happier and back to herself.

In the peds ward, we got creative and put a blanket on the floor so she could have a little crawling space.

Pajama Time

I was excited when Wes wanted to wear his footsie pajamas, I had to take a picture of my cute kiddos. So sad that the photo where they're both smiling is blurry, so I posted two.

Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we got to go up to Kurt's family cabin. Our trip was cut early by the flu, but we had a great time while it lasted. Wes loved playing with all the family.

Bri with her cousin Noah, they are only two months apart:

Here he is playing cars with Uncle Kyle:

Santa time, Wes was nervous but he did tell Santa that he wants a choo choo for Christmas:

Love

At first, well, for the better part of her life, Wes basically ignored Brielle's existence. But in the last several weeks he has really taken to her. He still struggles sharing toys with her, but he loves her, and oh does she love him.

Brielle's Chariot

Lately we've been going on a short walk around the block in the mornings. Wes has been pulling Brielle in the wagon, but to me it looks like she is being pulled in her chariot. Sweet memories...

Brielle is 6 Months Old!

Where did the time go? I can remember the excitement as we woke up early on March 26 and headed to the hospital to deliver our sweet little girl. Now she's 6 months old! She seems to be right on track developmentally. Her doctor was surprised that she is sitting on her own (but her cousin Emma, 3 weeks older, has been doing that for quite a while). This week she also started pulling up on all fours, gearing up for crawling, oh no!!! With Wes I was so ready for him to crawl, but this time around I'd like a bit more time. She is oh so happy, she hardly ever fusses and just likes to be around people. She is especially enamored with her brother. She sleeps 11- 12 hours at night (in the same room as Wes) and also takes three naps during the day. She is now a great sleeper, and eater, too. She really hasnt had much of a reaction to starting baby food, the only one she's not fond of so far is peas (me neither, girlie). I find myself calling her sis, often, because that is what Wes calls her. In the last month he has taken much more interest in her, as well, starting to "play" with and "talk" to her, yay. She weighed in at 19 pounds 4 ounces (95%) and measuring 28 inches long (off the chart). We love our little girl.

Bass Lake 2011

We were able to join Kurt's family for one weekend of their annual trip to Bass Lake, it was a blast. Wes loved the boat rides and the time he got to spend with all the family. He adores his cousin Morgan, they always have fun together. We got to ride to Millers Burgers on the lake for lunch... New cousins, Noah and Brielle (Brielle is two months older, look how tall Noah is!) The immediate family... Papa, Yaya, Uncle Kyle, Mama, Dadda, Wes and Sis (In Weston's terms)

Choo Choo

Back in July we went up to Bass Lake for the weekend. Before reaching our final destination we stopped at a train just a few miles out. Wes loved it, of course. The train was an open air train ride through nature, it moved so slow, but he was in heaven.

Magic Mountain

About a month ago my wonderful mother in law, aka "Yaya", gave me a ticket to take Wes to Magic Mountain. It was Wes' first time and we had a great afternoon date, just the two of us (which we don't get to do too much anymore). Of course, we rode the three trains multiple times. We also 'flew' an airplane, 'drove' a jeep, shared a milk shake and met a bear. And my big boy Weston (who started potty training the week before) had zero accidents! Thanks Yaya, we had a wonderful time.

Deja Vu

When I was a baby I had many hand made clothes from my Nana and her mom, my Nana Mae, they even made matching clothes for my dolly and my mom. Recently my mom unpacked a matching set that we had taken pictures in and this time around I wore the mommy outfit and put Brielle in the baby outfit so we could recreate the moment.

Brielle is 4 Months Old

Brielle is now four months old. That means that she now gets to enjoy rice cereal and juice along with her bottles. So far she seems to really enjoy eating, although she is still learning how to eat from a spoon instead of just a bottle. She is my super smiley, very easy, oh so happy little girl. She's still not the greatest napper, but she is now taking her last bottle at 8pm and the last two days I have had to wake her up at 8am! She weighs in at 16 pounds 7 ounces (95%) and measures 26 3/4 inches long (off the charts!). She is right on track developmentally and is even on the early side to be rolling over both ways (just like her brother was). Typical of most girls, she is a big talker and, thankfully, rarely cries. She is such a blessing. Big brother getting in on the coloring and picture action :). By the way, today was also Bri's first pony tail (you can just barely see it).

Weston Has a Mohawk

Father's Day

Camp Out... Sort Of

A few weekends before Memorial Day Kurt decided to try a camp out in our yard to prepare for our upcoming vacation. He set up the tent, loaded it with sleeping bags and stuffed animals and at bed time took Wes out. Wes was very excited until he realized I wasn't staying. But after setting up a dvd player he snuggled up to Daddy and even started to get sleepy so Kurt shut off the dvd player. Thats when Wes thought it was playtime, even though it was nearly two hours past his bed time he started bouncing off the walls, jumping on top of Kurt and giggling as he would grab Kurt's nose and try to shake it. Needless to say, the boys ended up in their own beds for the evening, but the camp out still made for fun memories and pictures.

Lunch and Playdate

We were so excited three years ago when we and three of our close friends were pregnant at the same time. Now it is fun to see our children starting to form bonds themselves and play together. A while ago Wes and Ethan had a playdate. They started by sharing some Pei Wei and then we went to a close playground.

Wes loves teasing Bella.

Wes and Ethan took turns jumping off the step.... and then played follow the leader on the way home.

Sweet Brielle

Just a few sweet pictures I captured of my sweet little girl...