Valentine's Day Goodies!!!

I love Valentine's Day! I love taking any chance I get to add some pink girly hearts to this boy filled house! Here are some great Valentine's Day themed goodies! Of course you can make them any time of year and they would taste just as good!

Cranberry White Chocolate Bars (Hearts)

Cherry Donuts

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

Worst 4 days of my life...

On Tuesday January 31st both of my kids woke up with low grade fevers. Nothing that unusual this time of year, just a cold or possibly teething for both of them. They both soon had runny noses and Titan (my 4 month old) was more irritable than normal. By Tuesday evening Titan had progressively gotten worse. He sounded congested and sounded like his throat was sore and swollen. All through the night I kept a close listen on him and he slept on me in the recliner for most of the night. We kept debating whether or not to go to the ER. By Wednesday morning his breathing was labored and he sounded horrible. We all loaded up and went to the Stafford ER at 8am. They gave him 2 bronchiodialators (albuterol) and a dose of steriods but he really wasn't improving. They decided to transfer us to Mary Washington Hospital around noon. Peter took Matias home to take a nap and I rode in the ambulance with Titan.

Ambulance ride. Please excuse the bad photography. Obviously I didn't have my camera so I was just using my phone.

When we arrived at Mary Washington the doctors seemed very concerned. More concerned than they were at the ER. Thus causing me to become more concerned. It was so hard to watch him breathe. His chest would retract so much just trying to take in air. At this point, I was starting to get very nervous and I was praying so hard! The thought of losing Titan entered my mind and I just could not handle it. But I knew I had to be strong and get my child the care he needed. They gave him an IV port just in case he needed it. Praise the Lord the nurse told them that he sucks his right thumb so they put the IV on his foot. I am so thankful that the nurse told them that! It was so comforting for him to suck his thumb. I can't imagine what it would have been like if he couldn't suck his thumb! They gave him another breathing treatment but this time it was a different kind, not albuterol. He responded well to the treatment but it wore off in less than 2 hours and they didn't want to give it to him but every 4 hours.

My poor sick boy!

They were worried he was going to get worse and they could not provide the care he needed so they transferred us again. This time to VCU in Richmond. They sent a respiratory nurse and doctor in an ambulance from VCU to come pick us up. The team that arrived to pick us up was amazing! They were so sweet to Titan and helped to calm my nerves. They knew what they were doing!

We arrived at VCU around 9 pm. The doctors and nurses were there waiting on us to arrive and had everything ready for us. They were very reassuring that they deal with this kind of thing all of the time and that Titan was going to be just fine. It was amazing how quickly they put me at ease just by telling me that! I knew that God had sent us to the right place and provided this amazing team of doctors and nurses! Throughout the night Titan had multiple breathing treatments and deep suctioning. The doctors said it was just a virus and we just had to let it run its course. All they could do was treat his symptoms and help him to breathe until his body fought this virus off. By Thursday afternoon he was working extremely hard to breathe. His chest would retract a lot when he took in air. He was doing a great job of keeping up his vitals (O2, heart rate, BP) but he was working his body too hard to achieve those levels. The doctors were afraid he was going to where himself out. By Thursday afternoon the breathing treatments would only help him for about 45 minutes before they would where off. The doctors recommended that we move him to the ICU. Praise the Lord that Peter was with me at this time! I needed him!

Comforted by his thumb!

The ICU docs came to look at him and thought that he was still doing good and just needed to relax. So they gave him a sedative to calm him. After this his symptoms began to change. It started sounding more like croup. They began giving him cold breathing treatments and we saw a huge turn around! He responded so well to the cold treatments it was a miracle! By Thursday night he no longer needed breathing treatments. He just needed cold air! It truly was a miracle!

Feeling much better! And taking a bottle! He has refused to take a bottle since we have been home!

That's my little man!

They even made a name tag for him!

Thursday afternoon we thought he was headed to the ICU and going to be intubated. By Thursday night he didn't need breathing treatments and they planned on moving us to the floor and out of the higher care unit he was in. God was answering prayers! On Friday night they got the results back from his culture and they said he had a bacterial infection. He started taking antibiotics, we moved to the "floor" Friday night and by Saturday afternoon we were home! The doctors told us that day 4 and 5 of this sickness would be his worst days. I'm thankful that they prepared me for that possibility. However, I had faith that God was going to heal Titan much faster than expected and God showed us His awesome power by healing Titan and allowing us to go home by day 4! Praise God for His faithfulness! Thank you to everyone who prayed so hard for our little fighter!

Christmas Memories

We drove home to Illinois for Christmas to visit family and friends. We love being at home with our family that we do not get to see very often. However, we HATE the 14 hour drive to Illinois and then the 14 hour drive back to Virginia. But we do it every year because we love our family so much! On the way to Illinois we decided to drive through the night so that both kids (1 year old and 3 month old) would sleep... and hopefully we would not feel the need to sleep! Well that plan totally failed! Matias (1) is now forward facing and his car seat does not lean back very much. Therefore, he did not sleep well. He maybe slept 5 hours! Peter and I were exhausted and all we wanted to do was sleep. So on the way back to Virginia we decided to drive during the day and put some stuff behind Matias's car seat so he could lean back and sleep a little. This made everyone much happier...

well until Matias started projectile vomiting all over the back seat about 2 hours into our 14 hour drive! He does get car sick occasionally.

 So this was our first clothes change on our drive home to Virginia. As you can see Matias didn't really mind. I was in the back seat cleaning up the vomit the best I could. I just kept thinking we have 12 more hours to go and it is going to start stinking really bad if I don't get this cleaned up good! Thankfully, it was not too bad! Further into hour drive, I would say about half way, we stopped to eat. While I was nursing Titan, Matias and Peter ran around the restaurant just trying to let Matias use up some energy. Well Peter soon realized that Matias had filled his pants. Of course there was no changing table at that restaurant because that would have been too easy. So Peter took Matias to the car to change him. I soon get a text from Peter saying it was a bad one! Once I finish feeding Titan I go out to the car and Matias is naked again! He had poop on every piece of clothing except for one sock! Needless to say I was just happy that I did not have to change that diaper!

All in all we had a great trip! We just made some unforgettable memories along the way! The rest of our visit was less eventful. Below are some pictures!

Daddy killed a deer!

Not the best photo... but this was our live nativity. Matias was the shepherd and Titan was baby Jesus.

Getting sleepy at the Christmas Party.