The girls' room

This is how the girls' room is arranged after the furniture switch.

Hannah is now in the crib.

 The wreath is the same wreath we had at our wedding reception.  The two blue flower pictures were actually in our downstairs bathroom at Ridge Crest.

 Here is Hannah's Jesus picture, blessing picture, and a current picture that hangs above her head.

 Here is Hailey's display.  I have painted her letters three times now.

This house has random ceiling hooks everywhere, so Hailey has a cute, blue glass butterfly above her head.

This is Hailey's bed that Uncle Alex (Kerstin's husband) pretty much put together all by myself.  I don't think her bed would have been put together for a while without his help.

 Between the beds is the changing table and a shelf I had in my room growing up. Also the flowers, were the center pieces at our wedding.

This room has a built in dresser which is a big space saver for us.

 Here's here trusty stool made by Grandpa Baker (my mom's dad).  Hailey and Robert carry their stools everywhere. (Robert's stool is in the picture by Hailey's bed up above)

My room and the only bathroom

To break away from the drama, here are is a virtual tour of my room (and Nate sleeps here too).

 Though you can't see it, I'm so happy with the flowers by the bed.  Instead of the regular clear rocks, we have sparkly, brown balls that work well with the color scheme.

 Nathan's white board is back in our room but he hasn't used it yet.

 That's Nate's boring side.  Our room isn't much bigger then the one before. However, we don't have to have the tall dresser in the closet anymore which is wonderful.  We really don't need a big room, it will just get filled with clutter and laundry.

Here is our only bathroom. It is very small and a little difficult to bath children with the sliding doors. But we couldn't find any other house with two bathrooms and only one person should be in the bathroom at a time. Unfortunately, the kids don't hold the same philosophy!

Scary, Scary, Scary

Sunday morning was pretty normal.  Hannah was acting fine just didn't have balance back yet and couldn't walk. She didn't have a temperature. Church is at 11:00am just is normally lunch time and naps for us, so Hannah was tired.  During sacrament meeting she feel asleep in Nate's arms but we expected that since seizures take a while for her to bounce back. 

I was upstairs in primary trying to get organized with my new responsibility as the primary secretary, when Nathan can and tapped me on the shoulder.  Hannah was completely zonked in his arms with her dress partly unbuttoned.  After having one second full body twitch for 10 minutes before she went into a full seizure lasting a minute or two (around 12:30ish).  This is the first time she had two seizures close together and the first time she twitched before hand.

Not sure of what to do (and still have two kids to take care of), I handed Nathan the keys to take her to the ER.  One of the ladies next to me, told me I should go with him and that she'll take care of the kids.  She also gave me a ride since Nate already left.  He was at home, on the phone with Dr. Yost to know what we should do.  We were advise to just control her temperature, increase her Keppra, and that the ER can't really do anything for her.  Hannah napped in her room and I also needed a nap by that point due to the stress of worrying.  Nathan stayed in the room with her to keep an eye on her.  He soon needed to leave for a church meeting, so he picked up Hailey and Robert. The afternoon was pretty normal.  Hannah took another nap on the couch, so we just left her there while I made homemade tortillas for burritos.  Around 5:00pm I turned around to check on Hannah (because I heard a strange noise), and Hannah was in another silent, full body shaking seizure. This is the first time a seizure started in her sleep. Nathan got to her first and she was out of it after 2 minutes.  Her temperature was at 104 but she was shivering.  With her shivering so bad, I was afraid of a back-to-back seizure. We put cool, wet wash clothes on her to cool her down.  It was wonderful to hear to scream and fight against that.  You can't scream and be in a seizure at the same time.  After she calmed down a little, she still twitched every 10-15 seconds for about 3 minutes.

We called the doctor again, but since he was no longer on call, he didn't pick up.  We called a guy in our ward who is a nurse but he was working his shift, so I felt very alone and lost.  This last seizure really scared both of us and Nathan was starting to cry due to all the stress.

Around 7:00pm we put the kids to bed and moved Hannah to the porta crib in our room.  The doctor called back with no new ideas and our nurse friend said he will come by when his shift is done (8:30pm).  He mentioned switching from Tylenol to Motrin and strongly recommended for us to get CPR certified. The need to use CPR is very real to us but we never thought about taking a class before.  We got Hannah up at that time, so he could look at her.  Her temperature was around 101 but besides being a little cranky from getting woken up, she was acting fine.  We all went back to bed around 10:00pm. 

At 12:30am, I was woken up by Hannah's strange noise. It's a gurgling noise of pure distress and panic because she can hardly breathe.  I flipped on the lights to find her in another seizure.  Once Nathan realized why I had the lights on, he also jumped out of bed and reached for her.  He likes to put his fingers in her mouth to keep her jaw and airway open.  Even though it only lasted a minute, we felt so panicked by it.  Hannah immediately fell back to sleep, while Nathan held her on the couch and I went to Winco to get Motrin.  Her fever was back to 104 and she didn't react to the wet washcloth this time.

Nathan took her to bed with him before I got back because she kept pushing him away to get away from his body heat.  I took her back to the front room and got her to stay away long enough to give her medicine.  Around 2:30am, the temperature finally started to go down and we both went back to sleep.  However, even though I tried to sleep I just stayed awake trying to hear Hannah breathing.

We gave her Motrin every 8 hours and near the end of the 8 hours, her fever would start climbing again.  The earliest the doctor could see us was at 3:20pm on Monday. 

At lunch time, while Hannah was in her high chair, I went to clean up and when I turned back around to watch Hannah, she was just staring into space.  She wouldn't blink and when I called to her there was no reaction of any kind.  Her hand was holding the table, so I went and held her hand. Her arm was very stiff. Then 2 seconds later, she was out of it and just fine.  I'm not sure if that was another seizure or not.  Not all seizure causes a person to shake but with her shaking seizures, she was completely drained, and this one didn't have that kind of effect.

We went to the doctor's appointment and caught him up on everything that happened.  He looked her over. Her ears were a tiny bit red and her throat was a little red also.  His best guess is that there is a virus which starts with a sore throat and causes high fevers.  We are going to go to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake, UT to go to a specialist.

Monday night, Hannah still slept with us and we continued giving her Motrin. Tuesday, she is very clinging and doesn't have her balance back, but there were no fever at all.  Wednesday, she is walking around just fine and eating like normal. 

We are doing okay now but this is a very tough thing to go through.  I always sing a song to the kids to put them to bed. Hannah's song is "you are my sunshine".  I got very teary eyed to sing to her "Please don't take my sunshine away!"

Will this day end?

Robert woke us up at 7:30am, which isn't a bad time but still I didn't want to get out my warm bed.  This morning was pretty good and I wanted to do a lot of baking today.  I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast while starting a loaf of bread in the bread maker.  I was able to wash most dishes last night, so Robert helped me put them away this morning.  Also, I switched the laundry over to the dryer (which was something I was supposed to do yesterday). I was wearing down at this point and took a little nap before Robert's first soccer game at 11:00am.

It was a cloudy, windy day. Robert only had soccer shorts or blue jeans to wear.  Poor guy didn't have any sweat pants like the other kids.  He was freezing and wouldn't put on his shin guards, not for me and not for the couch.  We got them on but then he didn't want his shoes back on (the guards had ankle support which stayed on with a strap underneath his foot which didn't make him happy.) Eventually, he was fully dressed for the game but wouldn't go out to kick the ball.  Hannah was bundled up but still got a running nose, and Hailey had the time of her life on the playground. Finally, the game ended, Robert got a snack and we went home.

We had a late lunch a little after 12 and neither Hannah nor I ate much. Hannah didn't eat because she was tired, and I was too hungry to eat and had to take a nap before I threw up. (morning sickness still, I'm 12 weeks along).

Nate took Hailey and Robert with him to run errands while we slept.  Then started at 3:00ish I made homemade rolls for an exciting dinner of rolls, baked potatoes (which I'm craving), and steak.

Hannah woke up from her nap fine and had a bottle. Since it was snack time we had chocolate bunnies (from Annie's) and I had grapefruit.  Hannah wanted nothing which is very unlike her.  About a 1/2 hour later she started eating the grapefruit.  Things were pretty normal for an afternoon, and while Hannah was walking around in the kitchen, she threw up a little (around 4:00ish).  She was pretty docile and I had a pineapple upside down cake to finish she I strapped her in the Ergo carrier which she loved.  I noticed our neighbors who have a swing set were playing in their yard, so I had Nate take Robert over.  With potatoes and rolls in the oven, Hannah and I were just chilling on the couch.  Before Nate went out I asked him if we should give her Keppra now instead in an hour after dinner.  He said what difference could an hour make? Since Hannah doesn't snuggle much anymore, I just stayed put to enjoy her.  About 10 minutes later, she started making a strange gurgling noise and started her seizure. Holding her on her back (which is what Nate was told to do the first time), I carried her with me to call to Nate.  He came rushing in and held Hannah vertically, and made sure nothing was in her mouth. We decided to call 911 and was about to have an ambulance set over, when the seizure stopped (it lasted 1-2 minutes, definitely less then 5 minutes). Dispatcher wanted to know if we wanted her to call ahead to the hospital to tell them we are coming.  I said sure, I was committed to taking her in.

There is a family in our new ward that have really taken us in and befriended us.  They have done alot for us, like giving us a TV and a bigger dining table.  I've wanted to do something for them, so we were going to babysit there 5 kids while they went to dinner with some friends at 6. So we canceled at 5:00pm and they offered to watch our kids while we went. By 5:30pm everyone was ready and we set dinner aside, and brought the rolls for the kids since that's what they'll eat.

At the hospital, the asked a lot of questions, got a urine sample and took a chest x-ray to see if she's sick and if that caused the seizure. Her temperature was up at 102. They gave her Tylenol and she was still out of it, cranky, and fighting sleep. She then slept for maybe a 1/2 hour while the waited for results.  Next door, was a very loud, angry, drunk, suicidal father of Nathan's colleague's girlfriend (practical a stranger to me). I say her in the hall having a tough time with her dad's situation and I just went out a gave her a hug and talked a lot which helped her feel better.  Maybe we needed to be there to help her feel a little better? Who knows.

Finally we were sent home with no answer but that it was brought on by some virus most likely (but that doesn't explain why she reacts this way). We picked up the kids at 7:45pm who greatly enjoyed their time.

The cake wasn't cooked so I started preheating the oven to 350.  Then Nate mentioned wanting the meat and how it's not fully cooked so I switched the oven to boiler, while we got baked potatoes ready for everyone.  Then there was alot of smoke in the kitchen, the muffin tin was covering the exhaust burner.  I quickly moved it and went to put the meat in, to notice that I already put the cake in and it was on fire.  (I have no memory of moving the cake over since the oven wasn't fully heated yet, but it was a long afternoon). 

Finally, we sent to kids to bed, finished cooking the meat, scraped the burned top of the cake and baked the rest of it (which turned out wonderful).  I still needed to prepare for my new calling tomorrow and we had no food to eat for tomorrow.  Now it's midnight and we are going to bed.

This was one crazy day but luckily Hannah is just fine and with each episode we are learning better on how to take care of her.

Hailey's Testimony

Our first Sunday in our new ward was fast and testimony meeting.  A lot of children went up and bore their testimony. This inspired our kids to want to go to also.

Last Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. Hailey was been waiting a month to go up.

She went up with Nathan and Robert in toll. Stood on the little step for kids, pulled down the microphone and without any help, said:

"Hey Everyone! Did you know that Jesus loves you? Kids and grown up! When we are really old and die, we can return to Heavenly Father again! Jesus Christ, Amen."

She was so happy that she went up, and made sure that I knew she has done a good job.

Robert also went up and bore his testimony, but mumbled and I couldn't understand it.  I'm very proud of my little kids and the things they teach me.

Robert's room

At Ridge Crest we had all three kids in one tiny room. Everything fit but as they were getting bigger, and a new baby on the way, we found a bigger place.  When we first toured the house, we picked out who would have which room.  Robert got the room right across from us with the hard wood floor.  He did not like this idea.  So shortly after moving in we picked out carpet that we could afford.   

The kids helped roll it out and loved doing so. We tried to keep Robert involved as much as possible so he will like it better.

Since the girls had built in cabinets, Robert got the dresser.  I painted a wooden train for him.

On the wall with his closet, we have his name, his Jesus picture, his blessing picture, and one of Robert and Nathan.

I also made these hangings using the cricut.

So his room went from this stage with the crib to...

this with his new twin-sized bed he got for his birthday.  (We our kids turn 3, they get out of the crib and in a new bed).  We got bunk beds since Hailey was in a toddler bed and needed more room also.  The beds itself were a little under $200. Then the mattresses were $100 each.  We also need bunky boards ($50 each), a plastic zipped cover, a mattress soft cover for both beds and new pillows and pillow protectors (about $50). So what was supposed to be a find new simple bed turned into a $550 life investment.  We are so glad we did it too. They love their new beds!

Gramma gave Robert the super nice bedding.

Robert loves finding the letters of his name, so having it on his pillow was a big hit.

Eventually, we will get new curtains, then his room will be completely done!

Robert's Birthday Party

 Robert turned 3 on March 22nd!

So we had a big party. Kerstin, Alex and Conner came the night before to spend time with us. Unfortunately, Hailey threw up a lot that night and Robert kept waking up also since his room is next to the bathroom.  I only had 2 hours of sleep in total.

While Kerstin snuggled with Robert and slept on the couch, Nathan and Alex worked together to put the kids' new beds together. 

 They had to leave before the party started, so Conner and I worked together to make a candy train. We tried regular glue and a glue stick but nothing worked besides a hot glue gun.

 We had a Thomas Themed birthday for Robert.  He fell asleep about an hour before the party started, so when friends started to come, he was really out of it.  But the kids didn't mind, they just went downstairs to play with the toys until Robert was ready.

Instead of playing games, we did a little craft together.

Then we had cake! I am very happy with how  the trained turned out.  I think I am starting to get the hang of decorating now.  When Robert went to blew out the candle, it just puffed his cheeks and spit on the cake. Since Tanner was right next to Robert, I asked him to help blew it out.

After that is was present time.  Robert got manly dress up clothes, golf clubs, army and fire men figures, Thomas bubbles, and Thomas megablocks train sets.  He loved all his presents.

Hailey came out for presents after sleeping all afternoon.  When everyone left she played with the toys and started feeling better. Her she is modeling Robert new dress up clothes.

I'm so happy with how the party turned out and I think Robert enjoyed it too. It was hard for him to turn three and would deny it for a couple of days.  Change is hard for him and he still wants to be my little boy.  I'm so thankful for Robert and the personality he brings into our home.  He loves to cuddle and is very affectionate.