See you on Facebook

I have realized that it is really a lot easier to post to facebook. Most of you seem to be on facebook these days, so I think I'm going to just go on official hiatus with the blog. What do you think?

Retro Post: Henry goes to the hopsital

I've been getting very behind on my blogging, so I'm going to try to hit some highlights of the last month or so.

A couple weeks ago or so now, Henry ended up having to go to the hospital. Monday he seemed like he was getting a little cold. He started coughing in the evening, and during the night coughed a lot. We gave him his asthma inhaler periodically during the night, as often as was recommended, but even so he coughed just constantly. First thing in the morning I made an appointment to take him to the doctor, and by the time his appointment arrived, it seemed like he was really having a hard time breathing. The doctor gave him a nebulizer treatment with albuterol, a common asthma medication to open up the airways, and sent us home.

By the time I got him home, though, he seemed like he was having trouble breathing again. The doctor had prescribed an oral steroid, so I gave Henry that. It made him vomit (of course, it's Henry). This is what he looked like after I got his messy clothes off. I called the doctor, and they said to bring him in again when they got back from lunch. I decided we should not wait that long.

I took him to InstaCare, and they brought us back right away and gave him a steroid injection and another nebulizer treatment. And another. Each time, he did better for a while, but then got worse again. So by late afternoon, the doctor there decided she should admit him to the hospital so he could get oxygen.

It was scary that he had to go to the hospital, but by that point we were ready. He got oxygen constantly and nebulizer breathing treatments each hour until late that night. Here he is with Tim that evening. Whenever the oxygen would slip out of place (or be pulled out of place, which happened a lot), Henry's blood saturation levels would drop into the 80's. It should be in the 90's, and preferably high 90's.

Sarah was such a big help to us. She came right away when we went to the hospital and helped get us settled. She also ate dinner with Madi and Tim, then followed them to our house and helped get Madi down for the night while Tim packed a bag for Henry and me at the hospital, then brought it back to us in Logan. She was such a help. We were all so glad she was there.

During the night, Henry's oxygen saturation improved, and he was able to go longer between breathing treatments. Thankfully, Mike and Violet brought me some great breakfast and coffee the next morning, because I wasn't a patient and so wasn't being fed! By mid-morning, Henry was off oxygen and starting to get very active. Let me tell you, a healthy toddler in a hospital ward is not an easy thing to manage. They let us go around dinner time for fear he would tear the place up, I think.

We gave him breathing treatments with a home nebulizer every four hours for the first couple days, and then slowly decreased it from then. Today he didn't require any at all. He is taking an inhaled steroid to try to keep this all from happening again. We also have the nebulizer at home now so if he starts running into trouble hopefully we can nip it in the bud.

We're all happy things have settled down. It was not a nice introduction to Henry's asthma and how serious it can get! He had only ever shown any signs at all off and on for about a month before this happened, and then just mild wheezing and a bit of coughing. We have seen once again when things go south with Henry, they can go south fast. Hopefully we will be able to keep it all under control from here on out.

Here he is today, back to his old self, pestering his sister. He was intrigued by her pony tails.

Madi's first day of kindergarten

It's late summer now and time for school to start!

Here is Madi working at home on some coloring. She loves drawing, coloring, and writing her letters. We decided that even though she is only four and a half years old, it probably was best for her to start school.

So yesterday, she started kindergarten at Cache Valley Learning Center (CLVC). Here she is all ready to leave the first morning.

Walking in to school for the first time as a student there ...

In the hall. Her classroom is at the end, behind her.

Taking off her backpack to hang up in the hall outside her class.

With her teacher, Mrs. Smith (no, I'm not making that up).

She was so comfortable in the classroom. Henry and Tim and I all went to see her off. I asked for a hug, and she said "I'm hugging my family now because they are leaving." We took the hint. She had a great day! She loves it so far.

Here she is after her second day. Still loving it.

Henry is still around too, of course. The Roses say he is a lot more talkative and doing a lot more on his own now that Madi isn't there. Apparently she did a lot of the talking and led him around by the hand.

His asthma is now under control and we don't have to do the nebulizer every day any more. At least until he gets another cold probably.

It feels like it has been a busy year already, and we're just two days in to school!

Where to start?

Well, it's been a while since I posted. A lot has happened. I went to Toronto for a nice conference. I came back. Henry was hospitalized with asthma-related problems. He came home.

We are all pretty tired, but happy things are better.

More later!

Home again

Well, we're home now after going to Perry for Uncle Charlie's memorial service and then spending time at the beach with Grandmother and Granddaddy. Whew!

Tonight we went to a great birthday party for Finnegan, and Wednesday I leave for Toronto for a conference, so no big updates from here for a while ...

Headed to Florida

We've had a great time in West Virginia visiting with Tim's family. Tomorrow we are flying to Florida to see Grandmother and Granddaddy. We will also have a memorial for Uncle Charlie and visit with family.

Henry is doing a lot better now with his breathing. Of course he started teething though. Sigh.

Let's hope the Tylenol holds and we have a good trip.

We're in WV

We got into WV yesterday evening and it is good to see everyone. We are still pretty tired from the travel.

The hardest thing though has been that Henry has very rapidly developed asthma. He was wheezy on Saturday after playing outside in the dust, but was better Sunday. On Monday he had his 18-month check up and the doctor prescribed an inhaler, 'just in case'. The night in the hotel in Tampa he coughed all night. We're not sure if he has a cold or what, but that morning we tried out the inhaler and it helped. He coughed all night last night too, requiring the inhaler at several points. Today has not been much better.

I guess from what I've heard since we've been here, four out of five of Henry's first cousins had childhood asthma and outgrew it as teenagers. Let's hope it isn't going to be too bad.

Henry is 18 months old!

Henry is officially 18 months old now. He had his check up yesterday. He is 33 inches tall (70th percentile) and 25 lbs. 14 0z. That is only 50th percentile for weight. He had been consistently at the 60 - 65th percentile before. The doctor said she was not too worried though since he had been sick recently.

The purists among you may be saying to yourselves, "but wait, today is the 14th, and Henry was born on the 9th day of the month". You are of course correct. It has been a very busy week. Plus, he's a second child. What do you expect?

I submitted a manuscript today to Science, which is the most prestigious scientific journal in the world. I'm not exaggerating either! If I had to guess, I'd say it won't be reviewed even, much less accepted, but hey, you gotta try. Somebody is publishing there, right?

Tomorrow morning we leave early for the first leg of our vacation trip to WV and FL! See everyone soon.

Fun at the pool

Yesterday we had a party at our house for Wes, my graduate student who finished his master's degree last week.

Today, we went to the pool at the Logan Aquatic Center. Madi had a great time. She was having so much fun that when Henry fell asleep, we just decided to stay while he took his nap. Altogether we stayed 5 hours!

We all ended up very tired but happy. Madi went down the curly slide by herself for the very first time. She ended up coming out of the slide backwards, and after that she went with me for the rest of the time. She enjoyed it even still though.

Madi stayed in the water nearly the entire time and ended up with 'pool toes'. We will have to get her some of those water shoes.

Henry's leg is getting better

Henry's leg is on the mend now. We ending up taking him back to the doctor on Monday because he was falling down and crying and grabbing his leg a lot. Henry got a little walking split which made things a lot better. Now he's barely limping at all and doesn't even need the splint. Thank goodness!

This week we have been trying to get a lot done at work before we leave next week for West Virginia and then Florida.

Here is Madi in an outfit from GaGa. Thanks GaGa!

Madi and Henry playing with Tim's iPhone. They are pretty good at using it any more.

Henry in his walking splint. He was much happier as soon as we put it on him.

Here you can see him limping along with the splint. This is a big improvement over what it was like before!

This next video is from yesterday. He doesn't even need the splint any more at this point.

Henry may have a career as a rock star in the making, by the way.

Warning: This video features full-strength cuteness. You may want to be sure you are sitting down first.

Andrew and Sarah's wedding: Part II

After the wedding ceremony, we went to the great reception and dinner. Sarah had thoughtfully placed coloring books and healthy snacks for the kids to tide us over until the food arrived.

The dinner was really good. Henry is still enjoying his utensil explorations.

Sarah and Andrew came around to visit everyone at the reception, including Spot!

We were all glad Tio Scott was there too.

Madi met a little friend, Cooper, who will be in her kindergarten class in the fall!

She had a good time hanging out with Cooper and his brother Max. The reception was at a really lovely lodge.

Eventually we got to the most anticipated part: the cake! It was truly delicious.

After a while, Henry started to get very tired and cranky. Tim joined another poor daddy outside for a bit and commiserated.

Meanwhile, Madi had a really good time dancing. She danced with just about everyone who was on the dance floor. Here she is with the father of the bride.

There was even a fireworks show, arranged especially for the wedding. (Ok, not really. It was the 4th of July).

Around 10 p.m. or so, we all got very tired, especially Henry, and we finally called it a night and went back to the condo.

It was a beautiful wedding and an amazing reception and dinner. We had a really wonderful time. Thanks to Sarah and Andrew for letting us share in their special day.

Sarah and Andrew's wedding: Part I

We had a great time at Sarah and Andrew's wedding at Wolf Creek Utah. The wedding was lovely and they are such a great couple. Madi was the flower girl!

The wedding was July 4th. We went down the day before for the rehearsal dinner. On Saturday, the kids had a little horsey ride before the wedding. Madi really liked it.

Henry seemed to enjoy it too, but he doesn't hold on yet by himself.

Here is Madi before the wedding with her flower petals.

In action during the ceremony. She ran out of petals right about when this picture was taken. All the petals ended up at the top of the walk.

The bride and her father. When Madi saw Sarah in her dress she said "Sarah - you're so beautiful!!".

Madi and the bride's maids during the ceremony.

Andrew and Sarah - husband and wife!

After the ceremony, Madi wanted to add some petals for the pictures at the alter.

On the way out after the ceremony, she decided maybe she wanted to hang on to some of those.

It was a gorgeous ceremony with such an incredible couple. Madi did a wonderful job in her role.

Next post, the reception dinner ...

Things are definitely looking up

We've had two great developments lately. First, Henry has started putting weight on his leg and walking a little bit! This means he no longer needs the brace, and so his mood has improved considerably. We are really happy he is doing better. Really really happy.

Also, we managed to find some help with childcare for the end of this week and for next week, so Tim and I will be able to do all of the things we need to at work. Whew!

Today, we went to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. We had a good time. It was Henry's first visit since he can really check things out properly.

They have an interesting new little exhibit on Madagascar, which the kids liked. It has various small animals and a fossa, which you can sort of see here behind Madi. It is very curious, a lot like a cat but it is related to the mongoose. Spot of course always tours the zoo with us.

We saw real rhinos as well as this rhino statue.

The giraffe house is pretty neat. You can go upstairs so you are taller than they are.

We got to see a gorgeous tiger. Usually he is sleeping but today he roused himself just for a bit.

It was pretty hot and dry, so the kids got some refreshing popsicles. Their mouths were green for the rest of the day.

We saw a cool sloth. Henry even saw it. He really liked seeing all of the animals. He seemed quite surprised by a lot of them.

They have a really great carousel at the zoo now.

We had to ride twice, of course. Henry was upset when we left even so.

Checking out the camels.

They have lots of non-exotic animals too, which the kids like because you can get up close.

Their favorite part is always the water ball.

After the zoo we went to the Gateway for dinner at Thaifoon. It was pretty good, and they had great kids' meals too. We were all getting tired though and were ready to head home.

The kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. This is quite unusual for them. We managed to take them from the car to bed, also unusual. Madi has since woken up and can't get back to sleep. I knew it was too good to be true. At least Henry is still asleep.

We had a nice day overall. We are really relieved Henry is doing better! He is still cranky and frustrated over his relative lack of mobility, but it is improving.