The Fabulous Five

This is a really difficult blog for me to write, but I think it might help me a bit too. I have really not settled down since Friday night and I thought getting it all out might help. So stick with me - it's going to be a hard read, but the end is really so much better than the beginning.

Friday was one of those beautiful Texas days. The kids and I had the most wonderful day spending time outdoors. We went to the park, had a picnic, went for a walk - just thoroughly enjoyed the day and each other.

About 3 in the afternoon, Lil Pete and Hailey woke up from their naps. Pete was itching to go outside so I got his shoes on and he opened the door and ran into our backyard. The door was left open as I was wrestling around with Hailey and her shoes. About a minute after Pete ran outside I heard him scream-crying. He had crawled up on a small slide that we had moved on the patio so it wouldn't be in the way when the mowers came. I didn't even realize that it was there. When I got to him, he was on his back, crying, but seemed OK. I mean, I know the signs of head injury: pass out, vomiting, pupils dilated - nothing. He cried for a while then seemed to pretty much go back to normal. He spent the rest of the afternoon laughing, playing, eating. I even told Pete when he got home, but he too said "He's fine - look at him!"

Right after dinner, it was still so beautiful we decided to take the bikes out. We hadn't done this before so we were all really super excited about it. I left dishes, dinner, everything out and we scooted out the door so we could go before it got dark.

You know that feeling of complete euphoria before something goes wrong? I hadn't seen everyone so happy in a long time, Daddy Pete and I included. We rode around the big lake in our neighborhood then started heading home. We decided to ride down all the streets that had cul-de-sacs because we were just having so much fun.

In the cul-de-sac right behind our house we were starting to head back when we heard this horrible scream come from little Pete. Daddy Pete and I both stopped, whipped around and saw our beautiful baby boy slump over on top of his sister and start shaking, having a seizure. I immediately started screaming for help, hoping one of the neighbors would come out. Pete picked up little Pete and started running and banging on doors in hopes that someone could call 911. I think that was the moment that I thought "This is bad. He hit his head earlier and now he has a brain injury because we didn't catch it."

It really took forever for the ambulance to get there. Or at least forever in mommy world when your baby is hurt. He always kept breathing but turned this horrible ashy color. His eyes looked like he couldn't focus, he was unresponsive - pretty much the worst thing you never want to go through. Pete and I both knew it had to be something with his head. We both knew how bad it was.

When the ambulance finally got there, we had to repeat over and over what happened. Lil Pete was starting to be more responsive and was starting to cry. I thought "Oh thank God. He sees me, he's crying for me. It's going to be ok." And then it just got worse. The EMTs looked at me and said "He's got to go to Texas Children's Downtown because they have a trauma center." And then they said the scariest thing I have ever experienced in my life, "He's going to have to be life flighted there. The helicopter will be here in a few minutes."

Yes, that is right. Life flighted. All I can remember is thinking: no, no no... How could this be happening?

I remember trying to bargain with them. You know, saying things like, "No, this can't be that bad. What is going on? Can't I go with him?" Basically, one of the EMTs told me that it wasn't really an option that he wasn't going to go by life flight and that no, I wasn't going to be able to go with him. I was numb. They were going to take my two year old downtown by himself and it was going to take us at least 30 plus minutes to get to him.

Since we were in a wide open cul-de-sac they landed life flight right in the street. By that time there were 2 firetrucks, numerous police cars, neighbors, ect. As soon as the EMTs from life flight ran up to the ambulance I basically started begging them to be able to go with Pete. Luckily, they didn't have a problem with it (still not sure what the original EMTs problem was.)

It took us 11 minutes to get downtown. I looked at the EMTS and told them, "I need to know what the worst case scenario is here." I already knew though - brain injury, bleeding on the brain, ect, ect, ect. Little Pete cried the entire time to the hospital and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. He was so darn scared and I was crying right along with him.

At the hospital they got to Pete really quickly. In the minutes between waiting and getting his brain/head scan I prayed like I have never prayed before. I put my hands on my son, didn't care who was around and prayed.

Thankfully, when the news came back it was better than good. His scans all came back completely clean. All the signs pointed to the fact that his head was fine - no brain bleed, no brain damage, nothing like what we had all feared. About 30 minutes after we arrived at the hospital Pete's temperature spiked and it almost hit 103 very quickly. The doctors (and let me tell you we saw EVERY doctor in that hospital!)decision was that Pete had a febrile seizure, which is basically a seizure from a fever. I kept trying to argue and tell them that he didn't have a fever, though. Turns out you can have the seizure before the fever elevates quickly as way of his body trying to get prepared for it.

We are cautiously optimistic that this will be Pete' only seizure. We have to watch him and now we know what to do if another occurs. The severity of the situation went from life threatening to fairly benign in a matter of minutes . . . and we couldn't have been happier. He really had every test run on him and it looks like a virus like the common cold is what caused him to have fever.

We were in trauma until about 2am and then we were moved to a pedi room at the hospital. Pete woke up as he was being moved and made us feel so much better. He was smiling, talking, counting. . . just being his normal, loveable self. Daddy Pete, Lil Pete and I spent the next day cuddling in the hospital bed and I truly couldn't get enough. I still feel like I was handed a present and I will forever be grateful.

It wasn't until we got home that I felt like I could actually start to comprehend what was going on. I still think I'm in a bit of shock. I don't ever want to feel so helpless and scared again. I'm still trying to comprehend the meaning of everything.

So hug your kiddos a little tighter today, I know that I keep grabbing mine and telling them how much I love them.




(I actually had my little camera in my pocket to take pics while we were bike riding. Once everything was looking up at the hospital I started taking some pics of my sweet baby. He really was such a trooper and amazed me the whole time.)

A few times over the past month I have started writing about what has been going on in our house. I would stop, erase, and think "Stop complaining! You are so lucky!" And the thing is I really am so lucky . . .but whenever everything starts to pile up it does just that - pile up.

Have things been horrible? - No. Have things been tough? - Yes. I'm not going to sit here and complain because I know we all have our little trials and tribulations that we go through, but I am going to state the facts! :)


Everyone is our house over the past month has been sick. Not horrible sick, just cold/sinus infection sick. Well, as we all know . . . the dr. won't give any medicine for a cold! I kept taking Avery in to our pedi week after week because she was so sick. He even had a chest x-ray taken to make sure it wasn't pnuemomia and he kept saying "It's just a cold." So after almost 3 weeks of a miserable child I took her to a new pedi and she said it was a sinus infection and therefore gave us some medication and we had to invest in a breathing treatment machine and extremely expensive medicine! Avery was such a trooper using the machine! She wouldn't sit for the entire time but I was proud of my little 2 year old acting like a big girl! Hailey and Pete got terrible colds but luckily theirs came and went. Poor little Pete was up coughing for a whole week straight. I thought we were both going to lose it!


While the kids were starting to get better, I was hit with the worst sinus infection I have ever had. It really knocked me down and made caring for 3 little sick kiddos even harder. Plus, it's been tough because we hve been cooped up for so long and had to miss out on all the fun stuff that we do normally like MDO and bible study.


Avery, being her normal Avery self, was horsing around and fell face forward into a sharp object. It, of course, knocked her tooth loose, so she was unable to use her pacifier anymore. We've done really good with the pacifier, only at naps and bedtime. But, not being able to have the paci has thrown her COMPLETELY off. The first week was spent screaming, screaming, screaming on Avery's part and pleading, bribing, and begging by this Mommma. Needless to say, we no longer have all our kids in bed by 8 and have the rest of the night to ourselves. So now, Avery refuses to be in her bed. We let her sleep in her chair or on the floor. I've tried bribing her with Barbies and toys. And I guess, it is getting better - three weeks later. I mean last night I finally had her asleep by 10:30, progress, right?




Poor little Hailey's birthday party kept getting postponed because of everything on around here. So we finally had it one Sunday afternoon. I thought surely the sickness is all behind us. That night though, I noticed Pete's eye was all gunky and crusty and the next morning he couldn't even open them when he woke up. Turns out you can get a cold in your eyes - a form of pink eye. So needless to say we all have passed the pink eye around. And once again since it's a cold . . .the drops only help the symptoms, they don't cure it.

So, I'm looking forward to getting backto some sort of normalcy. If you've read all the way through here is something kinda funny. The word that is said ten million times at our house right now: "toot".

Well, it was a week late, but we still had Hailey's flower power bithday party! Due to illness (uggh,uggh) Hailey's birthday was postponed by a week and it turned out really great. Lots of friends and family came to love on our little Hailey.



Hailey did a smash-up job on her little cake (sorry couldn't resist) and relished every moment of it. Avery was so funny because she kept reaching over and swiping icing from Hailey's cake. While we were singing "Happy Birthday", Hailey looked around and then kept her eyes locked on me! She wasn't upset just bewildered!!!

Our dear, sweet little baby has just turned 1 today! I keep looking at her and think "When did this happen!" Although we have our hands full, she is such a welome addition to our home. I can't imagine seeing that smiling sweet face each day.


Hailey had a "fun" day. You know how it is when your birthday is during the week! She went to Mommy's dr. appointment (horrible sinus infection!) and then she and I got to spend some alone time together since A&P were at school.

After dinner we brought out the big yum. . . brownie cake with ice cream. I have to say that once Avery saw the brownie cake she kept screaming "Avery Birthday, Avery birthday!" I guess she was worried she wasn't going to get any!


Hailey is already doing so much and has such a definite personality that I'm afraid that I'm missing things because it is going by so quickly. She is the only child (right now) that actually lets me take her picture . . .and gives me a smile too! She's got quite a little vocabulary also which totally surprises me when I see her talking and walking around a corner.

She loves her brother and sister very much. It brightens my heart when I see them sharing or playing with her. They are all so close already and I know that they will carry that bond forever. I love right before bedtime when we do prayers, kisses and hugs . . .so sweet!

She has this cute little gesture right now that she does when she wants to give you something. She sticks her arm out, straight as an arrow, and begins to jabber like "Here take it!!"

She's eating so well and I'm hoping to be transitioning to a sippy cup as soon as possible. We're down to two, maybe three bottles a day with the sippy cup mixed in there. I'm taking it slow - A&P didn't have much of a problem so I'm hoping Hailey won't either! And whew, life gets a lot easier without bottles!

So dear Hailey, you have taught us so much already. Know that you are loved and cherished every minute.