Valentines Day!

We like to make a big deal about holidays around here, even the ones people say are just made up by the greeting card companies. ;) But you know what? Valentine's day is for showing people love and we're all about showing love around here! We also really love anticipating and counting down to things!

We had it marked on our school calendar since we switched it over to February and Reaghan has been looking forward to it all month.

We did fun heart shaped activities during our school time because Valentines Day is all about the hearts!

And while I love tracing and writing activities I'm all about the chance to learn while we play games and work on some gross motor skills and balance. 

The night before we made some heart shaped cookies and decorated them so we could take some to my brother Adam whose birthday is also on Valentines Day and so the girls could have a special treat for the day.

The morning of we woke up to a sweet surprise from my the girls Uncle Noah... He lives a few hours away but had a friend help him out by leaving some roses for his sisters, mom and nieces on their doorsteps.

For breakfast we made protein heart pancakes for breakfast... I tried to start the day off on a healthy note before we indulged in a few treats!

Since Valentines Day is Uncle Adam's birthday we dressed up in some fun heart outfits and headed over to spend some time with him.

We brought him some cookies and his favorite drink,

We went shopping at the mall with him, my mom, grandma, Aunt Nin Nin and baby Blake and then came home for an evening at home with daddy. Of course Mark brought home something special for his Valentines; daisies for the girls and roses for me. Along with a healthy, Trim Healthy Mama approved, chocolate treat and a new cup holder for my double Bob jogging stroller!

We didn't celebrate that night but went out together the night after for dinner at a new restaurant that we had never tried before. It had been a while since we'd had a date night so it was nice to get dressed up and go out together. {And by dressed up I mean that I dressed up and Mark wore his usual attire because he's not a 'get dressed up' kind of guy. ; )} The food was delicious and the conversation was easy and sweet, as its always been. I hope we never lose our ease of conversation and the way we can flow into and out of serious and silly topics.

This was our 10th Valentines Day together and it was a simple, sweet one that will always hold a special place in my heart.

Here's to many more decades of Valentines with you, My Love!

ER visit + Toddler Flu

As a little prologue to this post... just last week I was considering writing a post about all that we've done to stay healthy this cold + flu season because it really seemed to be working! We were so sick last year so this year I implemented some immune boosting/protecting routines to help us stay healthy and we had only had 1 minor case of sniffles all winter! I thought we were golden!

Until Tuesday. 

So now I'm glad I didn't write the post because I would've looked like a fool. *face palm*

Okay. Onto the post.

Tuesday morning started off just like all of our other Tuesdays; We headed to spend the day at Grammie's for our "Kessler Tuesday." The day my sister and I spend with my mom either doing our shopping or just hanging out. I noticed Lilly was a little emotional that morning with her demanding "Mine!" and wanting everything sissy had while we were getting ready to go, but really I just thought it was part of her new "I'm a two year old" attitude that she's been working on. I didn't consider that it might be because she wasn't feeling well until much later. She might have been cranky but I was in a good mood because it was a rare warm day in February and we were going to spend a lot of time outside! When we got to my moms we did our usual chatting, catching up for a bit while the girls had a snack, and then we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.

We were probably only on the walk for about 20 minutes. Lilly was sitting nicely in the stroller the whole time, not saying much but about 5 minutes before we got back to the house she pointed out a doggie barking in someone's back yard. When we turned back on to my mom's street I playfully tipped the stroller backwards and wiggled it a bit. I saw her grab the sides but didn't hear any usual giggles so I put the stroller down. I thought it was weird she didn't think it was funny like she usually did and suddenly thought to myself about her extra emotions this morning; I made a comment to my mom about how I hoped she wasn't getting sick. I reached down to feel her forehead but it didn't feel that warm to me so I kept chatting with my mom and Erin until I pushed the stroller up into the driveway. I say all this just to point out how quickly she went from pointing out doggies to what I found when I walked around to get her out of the stroller. Her face was white, her eyes were glazed over and she wouldn't respond to anything I said. I quickly pulled her out of the stroller and took her inside my parents house to try and figure out what was going on. I kept talking to her, asking her to look at mama or say "mama" to see if she would respond to me. A couple of times she turned her eyes towards me and for a brief moment she tried really hard to say mama but couldn't get any sound to come out. My mom handed me the thermometer I had asked her for and I started to take her temperature when I decided it didn't matter what her fever was I just needed to get her to an urgent care because I didn't like what was happening. My mom hopped in the van with me while Reag stayed at the house with Erin. I'm actually glad we were all together when it happened so I could leave Reag with someone and not have to get her ready to come with me. Poor Reag asked me what was happening in the middle of all of it and I told her not to worry and to go ask Aunt Sara to put a show on for her. I'm thankful for the way she's matured in the last year. She didn't get upset and just did what I asked her to do.

We got to patient first and the registration nurse could see how poor Lilly looked so she took us right back before we even officially checked in. Within 2 minutes there was a doctor and a few nurses checking her out. Her temperature was 105.3 and her respiratory rate was 229. They quickly gave her a Tylenol suppository to bring her fever down. The doctor felt her head while they were checking her out and made a comment about how she definitely didn't feel like she had a 105 degree temperature. She slowly started to become more alert as we sat there while they swabbed her throat and nose and pricked her finger for a blood test. It took her another 15 minutes or so before she started to vocalize anything again; it was just her and I in the room waiting for the nurse to come back and I was singing baby shark to her when she said "do, do, do, do, do." I laughed as she tried to sing along in a low, scratchy voice and was just so relieved that she seemed to be coming back around. They ended up taking a chest X-ray as well, but in the end couldn't find any reason for her high fever so they sent us to the ER at the Children's Hospital. 

My mom drove with us over to the hospital and Lilly fell asleep on the way there. Mark met us there and then my mom took my van back to the house. We were triaged pretty quickly because Lilly still had a decent fever even with having Tylenol. They treated her with Motrin and took some more tests. The Dr. was highly suspicious that she'd had a febrile seizure. He was questioning me about what had happened and I was hesitant at first to agree with him. My brother Adam has seizures regularly so I'm really familiar with what they look like and her reaction didn't resemble anything I've seen from him. I guess I was also trying not to over react to what had happened and was hesitant to say that she definitely had a seizure because she never had any convulsions. Her shaking was more like a full body shivering, not violent shaking. But going back over everything, and listening to the doctor explain more about febrile seizures it appears that's what happened.

Again, all the tests came back negative but because she had recently been exposed to someone who had a confirmed case of the flu they determine the cause of her fever was likely the flu. She did end up vomiting once at Patient First and once at the ER as well and that helped them confirm their diagnosis. By the time we were discharged she was fully aware and just exhausted from the afternoon.

They sent us home with Tamiflu. 

Lilly's 2 year old check up is coming up in a few weeks and I plan to talk with her pediatrician about what to do in the case of another sudden fever spike and unresponsive or febrile seizure state. This happened to her last year while we were at the beach. She had a high fever and became unresponsive in a similar way. I'm thinking now this is just how her body responds to high fevers and wondering if there are steps to take at home instead of rushing to the ER. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Anways... we ended up having to spend the warmest week of February stuck inside with a a 2 year old who had the flu and everything that came along with it. Thankfully the first 24-48 hours were the worst and after that she just had her fever to battle. We ate a lot of Popsicles, took a lot of baths, watched a lot of movies, and read a lot of books. 

I only let them play with a handful of toys that I kept out in the living room and wiped them down every night to disinfect. I quarantined Reaghan's room and Lilly was not allowed in! Lilly slept with me on the couch the first night because she was getting sick but after that  she slept in her crib and I changed her sheets every morning and sprayed disinfectant on the couch every night. I kept her toothbrush separate from Reaghan's. We doubled up on our elderberry gummies and syrup. I tried so hard to prevent any germs from spreading, but unfortunately Reaghan and I both ended up with fevers yesterday afternoon! Thankfully Reaghan has been acting herself and hasn't had any other symptoms. I have a weird cough and sore throat but my fever only lasted through the night. Lilly woke up today fever free for the first time since Tuesday so prayerfully we will all be healthy by the start of next week! Being stuck at home with sick toddlers can be mentally challenging and I don't know if I can take another week of it! We are bummed to be missing our Worship Night at church tonight and church tomorrow morning, but we are trying to keep our germs home until we are fully better! 

I am praising God that He answered my prayers to keep my other family members healthy that we were around Tuesday morning. Especially my 7 month old nephew Blake. I was so worried we were going to be the start of a little flu epidemic in our family! 

Praise Jesus for the little blessings in the midst of a toddler flu!

Before Reaghan's fever struck she got to enjoy some outside time in the warm weather by herself - eating snacks on the back deck and reading books while I was inside with Lilly. We did get to spend a little time outside together while Lilly was napping, which helped refresh me mentally! 

**Also... do me a favor and check out the time I took my DOG into the emergency vet. Note the part at the end when I say one day I might just put a puking dog outside and not blink an eye while I take care of my future babies. HA! That could not have been a more accurate prediction. Did Mark and I really take our puppy to the doggie ER because she was throwing up?!

 *face palm, face palm, face palm*

Lilly is 2!

I'm a little in denial that my baby is already 2. Sometimes she still seems like she's a baby. Like I just want to cuddle her up and hold her and rock her to sleep. This birthday was kind of a jolt back to reality for me that she's actually TWO! A toddler... definitely NOT a baby.

Her birthday was on a Sunday so the Saturday before we set up all the decorations for the Lion Gaurd birthday party she was going to have after church. Reaghan got stay up while Lilly napped to help us set up and run to the store to pick up the cake and balloon. She couldn't stop talking about how neat it was that she got to stay up. When Lilly woke up for her nap she was so excited to see her "Di Dard" party all set up. Reaghan has been talking to her about it for weeks, so she's been anticipating something! She really wanted her party {which I think she thought was just eating the cake and ice cream} right then, I don't think she fully understood the party concept. haha She kept trying to peak in her presents the night before but Reaghan was keeping guard over the presents. ; )

The morning of her birthday I woke up early to go get Duck Donuts. So far Donuts have been the birthday breakfast of choice for the girls so its become a little tradition. I really wanted a super cute picture of her before church with her number 2 balloon buuuut this was the best I got. Pre-church pictures never turn out the way I picture them in my head.

We're so blessed to have friends and family come over to spend the afternoon with us and celebrate with our Lilly Jean! Of course the 4 cousins love anytime they're together, birthday or not!

We found a pinata that has strings you pull to get the candy to come out instead of swinging a bat. Don't get me wrong, I love a good ol' fashioned pinata beating but we thought this was a safer route for the two year old.

Lilly was fun to watch as she opened her presents. She was very animated about each one and quick to give thank you hugs! As soon as I told her who a present was from she would run to give them a hug before opening the gift. It was precious.

She held up up the shirt and pants and said "CLOTHES!" excitedly!

Who doesn't need a new potty chair for their second birthday?!

This boy has been the stud of all the parties this last year. <3

Finally time for cake! Lilly was waiting all day for this moment!

She relished everyone singing happy birthday to her and sang the song to herself for the rest of the day.

We invited a cute little lion to visit the Lion Gaurd party. She kept her mane on for approx. 2.5 seconds but we got a couple pictures so it was all good.

Happy 2nd Birthday Lillian Jean!

It's my great pleasure to be your mama. Everything about you seems to be intense and exhausting... but not always in a bad way! You love making messes and you love pushing the boundaries. You're the 2 year old all the books write about as you spend the day saying "Do myself!" and "My do it!" and "Mine!" and "No!". You are trying to exercise your independence around every corner and mama prays for patience every day to diligently keep you on the toddler straight and narrow and not grow weary of teaching you obedience and kindness. You are usually seen carrying around a baby doll or randomly saying "baby cryin!" and then running off to get your baby from your room. You love singing Baby Shark, ABC's, and Jesus Loves Me! You love to play with Sissy and try so hard to play along with whatever imaginary thing she's doing. I love seeing your imagination grow. Your favorite books are Look and Find books, Sesame Street books and "Goodnight Little one." Your favorite shows are Lion Gaurd and Doc McStuffins, though you rarely sit still for a whole episode because you love to stay busy. You love cheese and bread. You've recently developed a fear of dogs, but other than that you're pretty adventurous and willing to try new things like rides at Busch Gardens. You are very interested in using the potty and have done so lots of times already to practice! Mommy's just waiting for a good weekend to spend at home to get the potty training officially done {hence the potty chair birthday present!} You can count to 12. You can't recognize your colors to save your life and its hilarious but you're getting better at knowing your shapes! Its the cutest when you say "Awwww!" whenever you see a picture of anyone and you get so excited to see your cousin baby Blake. You enjoy your sleep and most mornings I have to go in and wake you up. Every morning you ask "Daddy home?" or "Sissy wake?" because you are social and love to see your people.

You gave mommy a scare just days after your birthday with a high fever that made you unresponsive and landed us at CHKD, so as I write all of these wonderful, unique things about you I am so grateful for your life. Grateful for the joy and the challenges you bring every day. I love you so much. Here's to doing the 2's with you Lilly Pop!