my sick baby

well, first I have to apologize for the legnth of the previous post. I really wanted to write it down so we could remember exactly what happend. We are now home from the hospital and Noah is doing much better. He is breathing better and his fever is gone. He is still fussy, but he is able to sleep for more than an hour at a time. So, today is catch-up day for me. I am trying to adjust to having to worry about all the kids again. And, there is the fact that my house is a disaster. I am trying not to worry too much about that. I am just grateful to be home and so so grateful that Noah is doing better. Here are some pictures of Noah in the hospital. I took them Monday afternoon after he was already feeling better.

Hospital

Well these last few days have been a little challenging for our family. Noah has been in the hospital since Sunday with pneumonia. I am so happy to say that he is doing so much better and will be able to come home this afternoon. I am so grateful for the doctors and nurses that have taken such good care of him. I am also grateful that I decided to become a nurse, this whole experience has been eye opening for me. Saturday night I worked and when I got home Justin told me he had been up all night and that he had a fever. Noah woke up and I fed him and noticed that he was still warm. Justin had given him some tylenol, so I decided to sleep for a little bit. He was acting like his normal self, smiling, happy, just warm. When I got up about two hours later Justin told me that his fever was 103. I became more concerned. He had a cough for about a week and to get a fever after being sick for a while isn't a good sign. I suspected pneumonia and called the on-call doctor to get him and appt. I took him in and we decided to get a chest x-ray. This is how you diagnose pneumonia, you can see the infection in the lungs. So we went to the hospital, got the x-ray and waited for the radiologist to read it. The PA who had seen Noah in the office finally called me a couple hours later to tell me it was pneumonia and gave me a perscription for oral antibiotics. By this point Noah was still doing okay, he was breathing a little fast, and sleepy. I got him the antibiotic and took him home. Then I layed down for a minute, I checked on Noah and in a short time, he had gotten worse. He was working really hard to breathe and had started retracting in his chest. He was also very lethargic and his fever was getting difficult to keep down. I called the office and went in to check his oxygen again. I was very worried about him, and knew he needed to be in the hospital. By the time we got to the office he was grunting and was having a hard time breathing. His oxygen levels were a little low, not terrible, but too low for me to be comfortable with. The PA said he was at the borderline and she felt like I was on top of everything and could proably care for him at home. I was not okay with that and I asked if the actual doctor could look at him. He came in and looked at Noah and said we needed to be admitted to the Hosptial. I was so realived, I knew he needed to go. So we got to the hospital and by that time he needed oxygen,some blood work, and an IV, he hadn't eaten since noon. So they had to poke him a couple of times, which was sad,and suction out his nose, which was also sad, but he did okay. It was wierd for me to be there as the mom and not the nurse. It was nice to personally know all of the staff caring for him, they did a great job. Sunday night he was still very sick and I was up all night holding him. He was very fussy, pneumonia is actually pretty painful. It hurts to breathe and cough. He recieved IV antibiotics and fluid. I should have been exhausted, but I was so worried about Noah I didn't notice that I hadn't slept in two days. Yesterday was a long day, but Noah started to feel and breathe better. And last night we finally got some sleep! It was only a couple hours at a time, but I took it. I feel so much better today and so does Noah. I really felt everyones prayers and I am so grateful for all of the concern for him. I can't believe how calm I was during the whole process, I knew what Noah needed and was able to be pretty proactive about his care. Everyone knows that I am a very anxious person, especially when it comes to my kids so, I know Heavenly Father really blessed me and helped me keep it together so that I could care for him. I have been able to do most of his care here at the hospital, all I can say is that I am so glad I am a nurse! Thanks again for all the concern and prayers. My mom and brother really helped us again, I feel so blessed to have family I can count on. I will post again when we get home! Oh and I guess I should mention how WONDERFUL Justin has been through this whole thing. He has taken great care of the girls so I can focus on Noah. He even got Taylor registered for Kindergarten yesterday. I have the best husband and my kids have the best dad!!!

my little man

So the last few posts were just of the girls, so to be fair I had to show you how cute my little Noah is. I look at him every day and I can't believe how big he is getting. It seems like he is so much bigger than he should be. He is eating a ton. It turns out he loves solids. I am so excited that we finally had a little boy. It will be fun discovering how he is different from the girls. Although I really hope that he isn't into more things than they are. I don't know if it could get much worse. Joslyn loves to do gross things like dip q-tips in the toliet and suck them dry. She has learned to open doors so I have to keep the bathrooms locked. She also loves to go through my diaper bag, find my lipsticks and smear them all over her face. She is fast too, she manages to do all this in the five minutes I am in the other room. Anyway, the rest of us are doing well. The cold, snowy weather is kind of a bummer, and Ellie has a cold again, but we are happy. I am kind of frustrated with my weight loss, or lack there of. I know it could be worse, and I did have 4 kids in 4 years, but I hate being over my normal weight. I have been going to the gym, but not losing anything yet. It gets harder to loose everytime, but I am determined to do it! I can't have another baby until I get back down, so maybe that will motivate me. Or maybe the fact that all of my summer clothes are a size 4 and I am not will motivate me. So, if you see me this summer still in my sweat pants you will know why! Okay enough of my lame sob story. I actually feel really blessed, our family is healthy and happy and I am so lucky to have this baby weight, because it means I have beautiful babies! I love these new pictures of Noah, they are from today. The last one was actually a few days ago when we tortured him with some sunglasses. He still looks adorable. I think he was crying because they are snow white glasses.

Pretty Pretty Princess

So if you have girls, then you probably know this game. It is a favorite in our house. It is a fun dress up game that Cortney got us for Christmas. We have already played it twice this morning! Joslyn had a hard time being patient, she wanted to wear all of the jewelry at once. So, we decided to put it all on and I had to take some pictures. As the girls get older we are having more fun playing games with them. Another favorite is Guess who, the Disney edition. Taylor is pretty good at that one. Sometimes she will ask really funny questions though like, "Does your person have a hat with a red feather?" She is getting better. Lately I have been putting off the house work to play with the kids more. Then while they are asleep I turn on "the Office" and clean. It has been working out pretty nice. And guess what? I have to register Taylor for Kindergarten on the 16Th! I can't believe it. My kids are growing up! It is only a couple of hours a day, but what will I do with only 3 kids at home all day??

The end of the day

Okay so I know that other moms can relate to this. Late afternoon is the hardest. The kids are getting cranky, you need to make dinner, you are exhausted and counting down the minutes until Dad gets home to help you out, does that sound familiar? Justin doesn't get home until 6:30, which is sometimes really hard. At times, I just laugh. By this point the girls are usually pretty dirty too. The other night was especially bad and I noticed my kids looked homeless. I had to take some pictures of them. I feel bad taking pictures of Joslyn when she is so tired, but she is still so cute! So here is a glimpse of what the kids look like at the end of the day!

Movie time with Grandpa

Well there is really no excuse for my lack of blog entries, just everyday life getting in the way of things I want to do, right? Things are actually going well and I am feeling better these days. I thought that Spring might be close, but then it snowed again yesterday, crushing my dreams. I can't wait for warmer weather, especially since I have been getting up at 5 to get myself to the gym. It is so much harder to do when it is cold outside. I am also ready to get rid of the colds. It seems like Joslyn always has a runny nose in the winter. Okay, enough complaining. When the weather was warm we were able to go to the park and walks, it was really nice. Last Sunday my parents drove down to have dinner with us. We wanted to see them before they left for Florida. They are lucky enough to be enjoying a week long getaway! I am so jealous! They are doing a lot of fun things, including Disney World! No fair! Anyway, we had a fun time when they were here. My Dad watched a movie with the girls and we played an exciting game of Balderdash. It was nice to see everyone, and I love it when I don't have to drive all the way to Bountiful! Here are some pictures. The girls love their Grandpa Andy!