Twinkle Twinkle

Four months. Wow. That may be a record. Seeing as how I am far too far behind to even begin to think about catching up, here's a little somethin' somethin' to get me back on track, and more importantly, to brighten your day :-) (that is, if anyone is still reading this blog)

"Twinkle, twinkle, wittle star
how I number what you are
Up, up in the sky so world
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, wittle star
how I number what you are."

Grateful

Late last night (or really, really early this morning), I had cause to think of a few things for which I am profoundly grateful.

-The power of the priesthood

-Promptings of the Spirit

-A car with gas, ready to go

-A loving Heavenly Father who blessed me with green lights, and no police officers

-Top-notch medical care at our disposal

-An amazing husband to stay home with our amazing son

-Kind medical professionals who help a frantic mother feel at ease

-A beautiful, happy little girl

Campbell has been sick with a cold, and for the past couple of days I could tell she was starting to get croupy. Nothing we haven't dealt with before. I knew the drill. If the coughing got too bad at night, just bundle her up and take her outside, or turn the shower on HOT and sit in the steam in the bathroom. I didn't like the sound of her breathing before she went to bed, and watched her chest to make sure she wasn't sucking for air. She looked okay, and I prayed I would know if/when I needed to worry. We all went to sleep.

Shortly after midnight, I heard Campbell wake up crying, and I waited for a minute to see if she needed me to go in and get her. She quickly started crying in a panicked manner, and I went in to see what was wrong. She was coughing and crying, and sounded HORRID! I looked into her little eyes, and she looked scared. I immediately felt, "She can't breathe. Take her in now." I told Brock that I thought she couldn't breathe, and handed him to her as he started the water in the shower. I threw some clothes on, and he put her in her car seat. I asked him to give her a blessing before we flew out the door.

I shortly debated whether to take her to Lakeview, or spend the few extra minutes to drive to Primary Children's. It was a short debate, since I have full confidence in the doctor's at PCMC, and little-to-no confidence in Lakeview (no offense for those of you who go there. Just bad experiences on my part.) We got there in great time, and were admitted. She was checked out by 3 nurses, and 3 doctors, none of whom liked the sound of her breathing. Thankfully, her oxygen saturation was still in the acceptable range, and that eased my mind. They had me hold cold mist in front of her little mouth for 2 hours, and gave her some steroids to open her airway. After being there for 2.5 hours, she sounded good enough to go home (even though she still had a noticeable stridor). They gave us a prescription to give her another dose of steroid tonight, and sent us on our way.

On the drive home, I finally was able to relax, and felt such a deep sense of gratitude to my Father in Heaven. I know croup is not really life-threatening, but when your child can't breathe, it seems pretty life-threatening at the time. I don't think I have ever been so terrified in my entire life. Just to see the look in her eyes, and know she felt scared about what was going on in her tiny body pushed some sort of mommy button in mine.

I know there are many people who lose children, and have to deal with things so much more serious than I ever have. I am so, so, so grateful that that has not been the case with me, or my kids. I hope and pray it never is.

Thanksgiving Weekend

BVTT '10 - AKA "B" vs Turkey Triathlon 2010

For Thanksgiving this year we met up with Bri and Andy in Sunny St. George. We experienced the joy of Black Friday shopping, and found a deal on these scooters. Dad decided to buy one for each of the kids to use in our first bi-annual "B" vs. Turkey Triathlon. For some of us, it ended up only being a duathlon, because we don't all have bikes, and the pool was packed.
Pre-race family photo

The first leg consisted of riding the scooters, and let me tell you, scooting is hard! My legs were burning for sure! There was a bit of a hill, so going up was tough, but coming down was pretty fun. Andy got going so fast that he melted his back tire. Sweet.
The second leg was running, my favorite! I don't remember how long we went, but it was nice to be able to run outside, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
The third leg was a bike ride, for those that were interested/had bikes to ride. Apparently they had a lot of fun on that leg of the race too.

We had a great time eating, playing games, and relaxing together. It was great seeing Dane and Campbell play with toys that my siblings and I used to play with when we were little. I love my family, and am so grateful that we are close. I hope that we will always have strong friendships, and remember how important family is.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great weekend!

Daner-isms

(Brookie came over to visit, and was holding Campbell. She was bouncing, and the following conversation took place.)

Brookie (said to Campbell): "How are you doing, you bouncy baby vampire?"

Dane (very matter of factly): "Vampire's don't bounce. They fly. Fly, fly, fly (as he was flapping his arms)." So funny!!!

(Cooper was outside, and running around like a nut.)

Dane: "What's Cooper doing?"

Me: "Just being a little crazy."

Dane: "Oh. Not a big crazy, just a little crazy."

Dinosaurs and Pumpkins

I'm sure I should be posting about Christmas, but seeing as how I have yet to show off the cutest dinosaurs EVER, I thought Halloween should come first.

Dane has been obsessed with dinosaurs, and knows more about them than most adults. So I got ambitious, and decided to make his and Campbell's costumes this year.

I found the cutest knit hat pattern on Ravelry, and had tons of fun knitting them. The outfits turned out just as cute as I had imagined, though next time I won't wait until the week of Halloween to start sewing.

Rawrrrrrr!

Brock's birthday is around Halloween, and he had class that night, so I surprised him by taking cupcakes to his work. They were really fun to make, and tasted pretty good too.

At Brock's work, Halloween is a pretty big deal, and each year they have a costume contest with prizes and such. Brock was a mariachi player, complete with mustache and guitar. He came in second place in the "funny" category (I think that's what category it was). We'll have to be a bit more creative next year.

They also invite the kids to come and go trick-or-treating around the office. It is really fun!

Brock's side of the fam threw their first annual Halloween party. I had spent so much time on the kids' costumes, that I had to be a pretty lame cowgirl. Isn't Brock's mustache delightful? I'll post more pics of that gem later.

Adam and Sheridan planned the party, and it was tons of fun. Dane LOVED bobbing for apples, and was the first one to actually get one (though he got the stem, it still counts, right?).

Each year we carve pumpkins as a fam, and it was really fun this year with Dane actually choosing his own pumpkin, and wanting to help carve it. It was a great night together as a family.