A lot has happened

So, a lot has happened since my last post. My folks arrived on the 2nd and were able to stay for a week. It was great having them here. We had a few little projects around the house, but mainly just spent time together. They helped take care of the kids a couple mornings so I could get some work finished, which was great for all. It helped me out, plus they and the kids had some good one-on-one time together. Mom and I tried to sneak in some time here and there with just the two of us, as well. Dad was wonderful at the few little "Daddy-do" projects. He's so good to me even though he was feeling under the weather during their trip. Mom and I had planned some shopping on Friday, but had to change plans as Emma had a really rough night Thursday and after a visit to the doctor, it was determined she had an ear infection. She's doing much better now. We celebrated Little J's first birthday on Saturday (separate post to follow). It was lots of fun and he seemed to enjoy the attention. He was also baptized that evening at Mass, which made for a very special day. Sunday afternoon we went up to M&C's for a fun Superbowl party with family and friends.

Jayten had his well baby check on Monday morning and that's when the week got interesting. Everything was looking good at his check-up, he'd had a runny nose, but still seemed his happy self. Weight, height were good, ears were clear, but when the doctor listened to his chest, she said he was wheezing. She also said RSV was going around and really bad this year. I think I had a look of shock on my face. She wanted to test him and sure enough, it came back positive! He had a breathing treatment in the room, then we waited to see what his O2 levels were. They were not staying up where they needed to so she said he would need to be admitted to the hospital. Thankfully Mom and Dad were still here and were able to take care of E and MJ the rest of the day, getting them to/from school and ballet. I was sad that we didn't get to spend their last day together, but appreciated the time we had had. We got settled into his room around noon and they put him on a 1/2 liter of O2. I think even the doctor was surprised too because he was so happy; he handled everything extremely well. He smiled at everyone who came in the room like he always does. I have so many thoughts about this I want to journal separately and will hopefully get to that soon. He had a chest x-ray and everything was clear. RSV is really hard on babies and it can lead to pneumonia and other problems. His blood tests didn't show anything else either. We must have caught this at the very beginning and I am truly thankful for that appointment that morning. Besides showing signs of a little cold-no fever, no cough, etc., J was good. I am afraid we might not have taken him in before he had gotten really bad, just because he was handling it all so well. We ended up staying until Wednesday morning. They slowly weaned him down to no oxygen and he continued to receive nebulizer treatments every four hours during his stay. It's nice to be back home and I am truly grateful that I am not a parent who has children with chronic illnesses or diseases. I know they face much worse then we did. He'll have home treatments for the next few weeks and will have limited exposure to people. What could have been very scary turned out okay and we're so glad our little guy is back home and doing well. We had wonderful family and friends who helped out with the girls this week too and Josh was a trooper as he held down the home front.

I'm trying to get back into the routine as I have several deadlines right now. Yet, spending time with my kiddos has been top of my mind lately. Josh left for a sale today and will be back late Saturday. I'm trying to think of a fun Valentine surprise for my wonderful man. It will probably revolve around food because I love to cook and he loves to eat! Ha! We'll see. And I'm sure we'll be baking more Valentine cookies too-the girls love that. Just in time for Lent. I'll have to get all my goodie eating in now before I give up sweets for the next 40 days!

Lots of photos to sort through and will post soon!