Our Sick Baby

I may ramble a bit on this post so feel free to skip past anything you don't want to read. We just had a big scare with our youngest son Talen. He has always been our most sickly child. He had RSV as a baby and has had asthma ever since. He gets colds quite often and needs to have nebulizer treatments. We have been dealing with this for a couple of years so when he gets sick we don't usually worry too much because I just usually attribute it to another one of his upper respiratory "colds". He started to get really sick on Thursday night. He had a pretty high fever of about 102.8 and stayed awake ALL night moaning. I just felt like something wasn't right. I had the feeling that this was not one of his usual illnesses so I was kind of worried. He never had any cold symptoms at all, but had a really high fever and kept saying his tummy hurt. He would point to his tummy and moan so I kept thinking he possibly had an appendicitis. I finally took him to Community Care on Friday (that's why I had to miss Traysen's Kindergarten graduation). The doctor looked at him and sent us straight to the E.R. He said it looked really serious and that the hospital would have to do testing that they couldn't do. So I drove straight to the E.R. and I waited forever. When he was checked in his fever was about 103.2 so they gave him Motrin, Tylenol and Zofran for his tummy. By the time the doctor came in he was so drugged up that he was feeling a little better and the doctor sent us home. He was sick Friday night and Saturday too. By Saturday his fever was 105.0 and I was starting to freak out. I kept telling Ed that I KNEW something was seriously wrong. Call it a prompting or mother's intuition, but I just knew something more than a virus was wrong. By Sunday morning I decided to call the on-call pediatrician and he told us to go straight to the E.R. By the time we got there I decided to be kind of demanding so that they would actually listen to me this time. He was very sick and by the time we had been there for 30 minutes he had an I.V. started, blood drawn, a chest x-ray, a surgical consult and more. His fever was still about 105, but they gave him medicine and he started to feel a little better. They finally ruled out an appendicitis and decided that he had pneumonia. Crazy! He never even had any cold symptoms, but his lungs hurt so bad that the pain radiated to his right side abdomen area, thus the reason why I thought it was an appendicitis. They admitted him to the hospital and he got some very strong I.V. antibiotics and we went home on Tuesday.

I think that the worst part of the hospital stay for Talen was the I.V. He hated it!! His first I.V. blew on Sunday in the middle of the night so they redid it and this one felt a little better.

My poor little baby! I hope that this something that none of you will ever have to experience. I felt so completely helpless. I knew that something was wrong with him, but I couldn't do anything to help him. It is so sad to see such a little person in that big hospital bed. I must say that I am so grateful to live in this day and age with so many modern medicines to help us. If we were living during the pioneer times I don't think that our outcome would have been so lucky. We are truly blessed to live in a place where medical help is just a short car ride away. The pediatric nurses were so awesome with Talen. I was so happy that they finally listened to me on Sunday at the E.R. Our doctors and nurses were all great!

We also had a lot of offers of help for our other two boys. Thank you to everyone who helped us (the Johnson's and my parents)! And to everyone who offered to help us. We also had a lot of visitors. That was very nice because it helped to pass the time. Talen started getting awfully bored once those antibiotics kicked in and he started to feel better. Everyone was so nice and they brought him toys and coloring books and treats! Thanks a million to everyone! And I thank Heavenly Father that he made our little boy better so quickly. We are so blessed to have a normally healthy and happy family.

Happy Birthday Traysen!

Traysen was born on May 23, 2002 and came out smiling. I can't believe that he is already six years old. Ed and I started a silly tradition with our kids. Every year on their birthday the "Balloon Fairy" comes and spreads balloons all over them and their room so that when they wake up in the morning on their birthday there is balloons everywhere! They absolutely love it and ask before their birthdays if they are going to wake up with balloons in their room. What an easy way to make them so happy and feel special!
Later that day Traysen had his kindergarten graduation and program. Unfortunately I had to miss it (more to come on that later), but Ed and Nanny and Papa went to support him. He was adorable I heard and got a diploma and an attendance award because he only missed one day of school this year. I can't believe he will be in first grade next year. I'll only have one child at home with me now. Crazy!

Ed took him and Tegen bowling because he has been asking all year to go bowling on his birthday. It was a pretty simple request and I think that he had a blast. There were pictures of him laying down in the alley as he was watching his ball go down the alley. He loved every minute of it. He scored a 20- and says he won everybody!

He had a cookies and cream ice cream cake and is proudly showing off the fact that he is now "6".

Tray is such a special person and I feel honored to be his mom. He has such a fun personality and is very smiley. People often tell me that he is very charming so I don't know how that will come into play when he is older, but I can just see it now with all the girls. Yikes! He is very smart, polite, loving, and playful, but can also be stubborn when he wants to be. He is such a joy to have in our home and I can't wait to see how he grows up. I wouldn't mind it a bit if my kids stayed small forever. This is such a scary world that we are raising our kids in and I truly hope that Tray will remember how much he is loved and that he will continue to make good choices in his life! Happy Birthday buddy!

And the Winner is.....

I have mixed feelings right now. I am happy that David Cook won, but I feel bad for David Archuletta and I am sad that Idol is over for the year. I loved them both. David Cook seems more ready for a career in music right now. Archuletta is only 17 and still has some growing up to do, but I think they were both very deserving of the top two. This was definitely the best final two on Idol ever. There is usually a clear cut winner in my mind, but this year I think that I would have been happy for either one of them, but I did vote for David Cook. I can't believe there were 97 million votes! I am sure that they'll both go far in the music world! What does everyone else think? Did David Cook deserve to win it????

Go Big or Go Home!

Go Big or Go Home was the theme for the dirt bike race that Tegen and Tray did in Salmon this weekend. They had so much fun. We arrived on Friday night and took our trailer and parked right next to the track. They were so excited when we got there that they had a hard time sleeping. The announcer woke us up at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning and they were ready to ride!

Tegen raced in a Heads Up class and did really well. He was pretty even with another biker on a Yamaha and they kept taking turns taking the lead. Tegen lives for riding dirt bikes. He took first place on his first moto and second place on his second moto which placed him at first place overall. He loved it!
Traysen looked so tiny out on that huge track compared to the bigger riders, but those little riders sure can ride! He had a blast too. This track is approximately 1 1/2 miles with all kinds of jumps in it, but they cut the track shorter for the pee wee riders. I must say that I am thankful they didn't have to ride the whole track because it was huge!
Go Tegen! Number One!
Awesome job Tray. Way to go- 4th place is awesome!
Talen still has a couple of years before he will ride, but he managed to have a ball this weekend too! He made some new friends and played in the sandbox all day!

Brrr....

This was the scene at Tegen's first baseball practice yesterday. Yikes! The team tried to practice out on the field and they did great (even in the rain)... until the snow and hail started. Tegen looked absolutely miserable. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of him while he was trying to hit the ball, but he had his hood on and he had his shoulders hunched up like he was freezing. Thankfully the coach decided to call it quits about an hour early. They huddled up for a minute under the shelter and then made mad dashes for the car. Brrr!!!! I'm proud of Tegen for hanging out in that freezing snow and not quitting though! Hopefully things will be warmer the next time around!

Happy Mothers Day!

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms,wiping up throw up laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying,'It's okay honey, Mommy's here.

For all the mothers who run carpools, make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

For all the mothers who read 'Goodnight,Moon' twice a night for a year. And then read it again, 'Just one more time.'

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls 'Mom?' in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are not there.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache she feels when she watches her son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time? The jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put her hand on the back of a sleeping baby? The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when she just wants to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in her home? The emotions of motherhood are universal!

This is for mature mothers learning to let go. For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without. This is for you all. For all of us... Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can. Tell them every day that we love them. And pray and never stop being a mother....

I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day! I am grateful for all of the women in my life who remind me what kind of a mom I want to be. I love you Moms!

Personalized Magazine Covers

I heard about this fun website that lets you create your own fake magazine covers called magmypic.com.

It is really easy and free. The top picture is one that we took of Tegen riding his dirt bike last summer (he can catch some major air for such a little rider). The bottom picture is of Tray (he was barely 5 when this was taken). My kids certainly did not learn their balance from me! They definitely got it from their dad. I know that my kids will love to see themselves on the front of a magazine cover. Fun! Fun! Thanks Charity....

One or TWO things about me....

I was tagged by SueAnn so here goes....

Two Names I Go By: Amberlee and Am
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: Jeans and a white t-shirt
Two Of Your Favorite Things To Do: Read a good book and make a really nice meal for my family
Two Things You Want Very Badly At This Moment: A new camera and all of our yard work to be done (garden planted too!)
Two Favorite Pets: Well anyone who knows me knows that I am not an animal person so we have never had a pet except for a couple of goldfish.
Two People Who Will Fill This Out: Tannis and Holly
Two Things You Did Last Night: worked from home and watched American Idol
Two Things You Ate Today: A taco and I will be eating chicken and rice for dinner (it's been a busy day and I haven't had time to eat!)
Two Last People You Talked To: Nichelle and Ed
Two Longest Car Rides: Idaho to California and Idaho to Canada
Two Favorite Holidays: 4th of July (love the heat) and Christmas (love the looks on my kids' faces)
Two Favorite Vacations: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and California
Two Favorite Drinks: Ice cold water and Cranberry Grapefruit SoBee

I tag Tannis, Holly and Stacey

Spring Has Sprung...Maybe!

Yea! This weekend we played outside! Our boys love bikes... dirt bikes, bicycles, anything on two wheels! Talen got a bike for Christmas and he is loving it! Next step... no training wheels.
How cute! My kids are kind of a show for the neighborhood sometimes. They have a bike jump and love seeing how high they can fly! They call their games the X games and video tape themselves. They usually try to involve the rest of the cul-de-sac. Oops! It is really cute though!
Tegen got a new bike and he and Ed had to do some minor adjustments. He loves to help his dad work on things.
Well you know what comes with spring time... YARD WORK! Yuck!! I am pretty sure our neighbors think that we're crazy because Ed is always bringing home big equipment to do something in our yard. This weekend he had a big roller to roll out some bumps in our lawn. He also brought home a bobcat. He had to move the location of our swing set from one area of the yard to another. Whew... what a lot of work that was! I couldn't imagine doing it all by hand. We had to move two layers of small rocks over to another section of the yard so that our garden can go where the swing set was. Why you ask? Because we are building a shop and had to move the garden and because of shade & sun the best "new" location for the garden was where the swing set was. I know... we're crazy!
Poor guy! He always has to do yard work with someone on his lap. He never gets to mow the lawn or use any of the other equipment without at least one kid on his lap. What a good daddy! The boys love it!

Baby in a Tree...

Can you see the baby in the tree? Nature is so amazing. I have often seen some of the most beautiful pictures that have been taken outdoors. I love it!

Our Mommy Vacation

It has taken me a while to post about our girls trip because I am having some computer/camera issues. I had to get these pictures from SueAnn because my camera decided to stop talking to computer! Oh well- I guess technology doesn't last forever- it looks like it's time to get a new camera. We had so much fun! I went with Mindy Smith, Katie Dennett, Misty Cooper and SueAnn Dabell. We went to Logan and ate at our friend from high school's restaurant called Hamilton's. If any of you ever make it down to Logan I definitely recommend eating there. It's awesome!

After eating at Hamilton's we headed down to Salt Lake. I apologize to my family and friends who I didn't get a chance to visit while we were there. We shopped and ate on Saturday and it was quite relaxing. We stayed up until 4:00 in the morning talking so we didn't really get our much needed sleep, but it was worth it!
On Sunday we went to the Little America Sunday Brunch. It was amazing! There was more food than you can even imagine... and every type of food that you can imagine. We ate for 2 hours! Then sadly our little vacation had to come to an end and we came home. It was so nice to get a way and relax for a couple of days. I must say thanks to my cute husband. When I got home the house was clean, he had dinner done and he was taking care of a sick kid. Tegen started throwing up on Sunday and Ed did a great job of taking care of him. I am so lucky!