Kansas City

For Easter we took a quick trip down to Kansas City to visit a friend from Michael's mission. Her daughter, Brynn, is deaf so we've stayed in touch with them and visited several times while we lived in Utah. They recently moved back to the mid-west so we jumped at the chance to see them again!

On our way down we stopped to check out the Kansas City Missouri temple. It is a beautiful temple! It was drizzly and wet when we arrived. But the flowers and trees were blooming and the temple was stunning so none of us minded the rain. 

This was the first time Lenora has really understood what it means to visit the temple. She loved walking around and looking at the fountain and flowers. When it was time to go she said, "No, I no want to go!"

On the way down Michael also introduced the kids and I to Waffle House. The kids thought it was the best thing ever!

While we were only at the Hunsaker's house for just over 24 hours, we packed a ton of fun in to our time. Between the two families, we have a child almost every year: Brynn 7, Hazel 6, Heidi 5, Eliza 4, Paul 3, Lenora 2 and Orson 6 months. The kids all got along so well. They soaked each other with the hose while jumping on the trampoline (no, it wasn't really that warm haha). They managed to fit all 5 girls in the bathtub! We enjoyed an awesome dinner. Then in true slumber party fashion spent about 3 hours trying to get the excited kids down for bed.

The next morning we attended their ward for church. They have a small deaf group of about 8 people in the ward so it was wonderful to be there! Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious early dinner before we had to head home.

It was a wonderful visit!No one wanted our weekend to end. In fact, Hazel and Brynn were only able to be separated with the promise of becoming pen pals and another visit very soon. We can't wait to see them again soon and next time we'll have to make sure we get a picture of all of us together.

Easter

Easter came up really fast this year! We started our celebrations Monday evening for FHE. We discussed the symbolism of Easter eggs, the empty tomb, the idea of new life, etc. We really wanted the kids to think of Christ when they see all the eggs. Then we headed over to the local farm store to see little chicks before coming home to dye Easter eggs. It was a wonderfully fun night! 

Harrison, Becca and Lydia sent an Easter package our way.The girls loved it!

Sweet Jamie also sent out a package of goodies for us and the girls. She will always be remembered for making every holiday a special one for our family. Thank you! Her brain child this year was the baby chick outfit for Orson. It is ADORABLE!

Friday evening was our ward Easter activity which the Primary was in charge of this year. The Bishop asked me to keep it, "Short, simple, and no pagan rituals" haha! We hosted a dinner and had some of the Primary kids present a reader's theater type program called "Why We Rejoice." Between speaking parts, everyone sang some of the children's song book Easter songs. It worked out so wonderfully! Even as the person in charge, I felt it was a calm and uplifting evening. 

Hazel and her friend Rose both wanted to participate but as early readers they had to practice a lot to get comfortable reading the longer, more difficult parts. They both did a great job and I loved seeing their confidence in themselves grow as they did it. Way to go girls! 

Saturday morning we headed to Kansas City to visit friends for Easter. It was a short but wonderful trip! We had so much fun I didn't even get a picture of the kids on Easter (In part because Orson had an epic blow out all over me during church so he wasn't in his outfit by the time we got home.)

Thanks Orson! Way to go!

I snapped this one of Orson today. He is such a handsome boy! Even though he's the blowout king. I'm just glad it didn't happen when someone else was holding him. 

It was a wonderful Easter full of family and remembering why we rejoice at Easter. 

Lenora's Name Sign

Lenora you are adorable! You never speak your name. If someone asks you your name you either play shy or sign it. You also love this video and constantly ask me to watch it on my phone. Your favorite part is when you can hear Orson blowing raspberries in the background. You are such a fun, sweet girl. Love you!

RSV

While my parents were here over Spring Break poor Orson had to be hospitalized with RSV.

Sunday morning my mom mentioned she heard him cough and remarked she hoped he wasn't getting sick. By that night he spiked a fever and started feeling crummy.

His fever cleared in the morning but came back Monday night. He still wasn't having many other symptoms which had me worried he had the flu so I scheduled him an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Poor little guy was miserable all day Tuesday and was starting to eat less. By the time we got to the doctors his oxygen saturation was only 85% and they immediately decided to hospitalize him. The county hospital see very few children so they recommended we head to the children's hospital in Des Monies. But since it's over an hour drive and his oxygen was so low they transported us by ambulance.

I'm SO glad we went to the children's hospital! They took really good care of our sweet boy. They staff were wonderful and made us all as comfortable as possible.  He ended up having bronchiolitis from the RSV, a bit of pneumonia on one side, dehydration, and a double ear infection. I couldn't believe he'd gotten so sick so fast!

Wednesday afternoon my dad, Michael, and the girls came down for a visit. Hazel especially was so concerned about how he was doing.

Wednesday was his worst day. He slept all day and barely ate. That night he was fussy and hard to settle all night. He must have kicked off his pulse ox monitor 25 times (our poor night nurse!) He finally settled down a bit around 3am when I climbed up in the crib and slept with him. The nurse told me parents do it all the time but I'm sure it was a sight haha! 

Thursday he started weaning off his oxygen and seemed to be slowly improving. But since he'd had such a terrible night they wanted us to stay one more day. The two of us enjoyed a quiet day and by Thursday evening he started showing some interest in toys for a few minutes. I loved soaking up the cuddles with this cutie, but hated seeing him feel so crummy!

Friday we were able to come home! While it was no fun, I was so thankful for so many things. It was such a blessing it happened over Spring Break while Michael was off work. It was also a huge blessing to have my parents here so they girls could still have fun and we could focus on helping Orson get better. I feel so blessed to have generally healthy kids and am in awe of families who have kids in the hospital for long stays.

Sadly we weren't quite home free. Saturday after driving my parents to the airport Orson started sounding really bad again. The nurse on called recommended we take him to the closest ER. He ended up getting admitted overnight at the local hospital because his oxygen was back down to 88% while we was sleeping. The hospital here in town didn't seem to know what to do with him and just kept observing him and giving him breathing treatments but never put him back on oxygen. (I was frustrated since I could have just done that at home!) By morning he was doing well again and we had an appointment the next day so we were able to come home again. It made me so thankful we'd spent the majority of our time in a children's hospital. Tiny county hospitals really aren't equipped to work with infants especially when they almost never see them.

Thankfully Sunday night he really turned the corner and we even got a smile out of him! We're so glad you're finally feeling better Buddy! 

Spring Break with Gram and Grandpa!

My parents came out for a visit over Spring break. We were all beyond excited to see them, especially Gram since we missed her at Christmas! She had her third neck fusion the beginning of December so she couldn't make it out for Orson's blessing. It's been a long recovery and she still has a ways to go. But it was so good to see her! And of course for her to meet Orson!

Sunday they joined us for church and I even put them to work teaching Primary when I ended up short a teacher. (A side note on the girls dresses... we were given the smallest one from a friend when Hazel was born. When we lived in Utah, a friend in the ward had two matching dresses for her daughters and decided we needed them so all the girls could match some day. That day is finally came and they look adorable! Thank you Lori!)

Monday the weather was wonderful for March and we headed to the High Bridge. My dad was in heaven! He warned us he'd stop to read every sign and true to his word he did. It worked out because we're slow walkers. We passed one pond and could hear literally hundreds of frogs croaking! Both my parents agreed Iowa is beautiful!

Tuesday morning it was time for Home Depot day! My dad works there and was able to pick up some of the extra kids projects to bring with them. They love building with Grandpa! 

That afternoon poor Orson ended up getting admitted to the hospital with RSV for the next 3 nights (more on that in another post). Sadly, since I spent the next three days with him, I didn't get to be there for much of the fun the rest of the week. But the girls were still able to have lots of fun with Gram and Grandpa! 

Wednesday morning they had doughnuts and went to story time at the library and Thursday they made sugar cookies. 

My sweet mom did probably more than she should while I was away. She is such an amazing example of perseverance through trials. Her neck still gives her a lot of pain and limits how much she can do, but she serves on with a smile. The girls just adore her and love every minute spent reading and playing with her. 

My dad also did a ton. He loves getting up early with them for morning pow-wows. I don't know all they talk about each morning but I heard a lot of "Grandpa taught me..." in the weeks after they left. It seems he covered some history, geography, music, pop culture, and religion. Hazel learned that Jehovah is one of the names for our Savior. Of course to keep things balanced he also taught they that if you say "booger" while someone is drinking milk you can make them laugh and it will squirt out their nose. Lenora now loves randomly shouting "booger!" at dinner time. Sounds like their getting a good, well-rounded education from Grandpa University!

Thankfully Orson was able to come home Friday and enjoy one last day with them before they had to go home. While it wasn't the exact visit we'd hoped for, it was still a lot of fun. I'm so thankful they were here and took such good care of us during a crazy week. We all love you Gram and Grandpa!!