Christiansen Chronicles

Yesterday while at playgroup Avery had a febrile seizure and I ended up calling the paramedics.  It was a pretty exhausting day.  Looking back last night I noticed exactly how blessed we were.

Let me back up a little.  Tuesday, Avery didn't nap.  We were at my parents, at a children's museum, busy. She didn't nap.  When she doesn't nap, she wakes up a lot at night.  Overtired?  We don't really know, but that is what she does.  So Tuesday night she woke up a lot crying. It didn't surprise us.  She is a horrible sleeper to begin with.  To be honest, it frustrated us.  Wade sat in her room in the rocking chair for most of the night.  When he wasn't in there, I was in there.

Our Wednesday started off pretty early. By 6am I had enough and decided we might as well get up for the day.  Myself, Eli, Noah and Avery were all up, so we might as well have breakfast.

Playgroup starts at 10.  Avery acted fine all morning.  She was a little grumpy, but who wouldn't be after a night like that?  She fell asleep on the way to playgroup.  I actually complained to some of the moms at playgroup about her grumpiness and lack of sleep.  I feel SO bad about that now, but besides grumpy, she wasn't showing any signs of being sick.

She was playing, coloring and having fun at playgroup.  She had been dancing around all morning at home too.  I wouldn't have taken her (or anyone) to playgroup if they had a fever.

Around 11:15 she wanted to sit on my lap.  I also had Eli on my lap.  So after the two wiggling around on my lap for a while I told Avery to sit on the floor beside me and I put her down.  My friend Courtney said she looked at her once and she was sitting there fiddling with her shoe.  When I looked down next she was laying on the floor with her eyes fixed and twitching.  I didn't have a watch and I couldn't see the clock on the wall.  From looking at my phone call history, I am guessing this was around  11:20.  I pretty much threw Eli at Courtney, picked up Avery and when I could tell she wasn't responding ran out the gym door to the foyer.  I took off her clothes and tried to get her to respond.

At this point I had a little freak out.  In the past when Noah or Avery have had seizures I (somehow) actually stay pretty calm until it is all over, and then fall apart that night, or on the way home from the hospital.  I had the worst feeling ever in that foyer watching her.  I wasn't at home.  I didn't have her anti-seizure medicine.  Wade was at work.  I had all the kids with me.  I felt all alone.

Then I heard the missionaries in the other room having their meeting.  I knew I could have them give her a priesthood blessing.  I yelled for them to come help.  They gave her a priesthood blessing.  I know that helped.  I stopped worrying about the other kids.  They were playing.  Someone was holding Eli.  Everyone was taken care of.  The missionaries blessed Avery that she would stop seizing.  After the blessing they ran and got me cold rags from the bathroom.  This helped cool her down.

At 11:23 I called Wade.  She was still not responding, still jerking and she was spitting out her mouth.  Wade told me to call 911 since I wasn't home.  But what surprised me was he how calm he was.  With all his medical background, you would think he would stay calm during a febrile seizure, but he doesn't.  I stay calm, Wade falls apart.  He can't watch our babies when they are sick.  He told me later that day that he felt a strong peaceful feeling that she would be okay after I told him that she had received a blessing.  He was okay with whatever I felt like I should do.

At 11:26 I called 911.  I didn't feel comfortable and she wasn't stopping.  The biggest problem was I didn't know the exact address of our church.  Do you?  I know what street it is on, but the lady on the line was not very helpful about this.  She wanted me to get up and find an address.  I wasn't about to get up and leave Avery!  The lady was frustrated with me and transfered me someplace, wherever that was, they were much more understanding and helpful.  The missionaries found an address for me and they said they were on the way. At some point during this phone call Avery finally took a deep breath.  She still wans't opening her eyes, and not responding, but she took a deep breath.  I felt so much better after this.

I found it interesting that 911 hung up after telling me that they were on the way.  I didn't know they could do that (I thought you had to stay on the line).  At 11:30 I called Wade back to tell him that they were on the way and that she had finally taken a deep breath.  He was so calm.  He told me it would be okay.

After this the paramedics showed up.  They gave her oxygen and took her vitals.  They checked her out.  The oxygen helped.  Sometime while they were there she just started acting more sleepy than shaking.  They got a temperature on her, she had a fever of 102 (point something, I don't remember).  They called Mary Bridge Children's hospital and talked to the ER doctor.  Since she had started to open her eyes and look at me we all agreed that she could stay with me and I could take her in.  I also told them my husband was a Doctor (maybe that helped?).  I really didn't want to ride in the ambulance.  Once with Noah was enough for me.  Once I could get her to sit up a little they gave her a dose of Tylenol and they left.

At 11:58 I called Wade to tell him that they had left and at 12:25 I called him to tell him I was driving home. (I had to feed Eli and I wanted to have Avery act a little bit better before putting her in the car)

My friend Courtney took the older boys home.  She is a life safer.  I took Eli and Avery and we met Wade and went to our regular Dr's office.  Avery didn't show any signs of an ear infection or anything else.  We discussed taking her back to the neurologist.  I'm really considering it.   We aren't really sure what caused the fever.  In the past she acts fine, has a seizure, develops a fever, and then shows signs of an illness.  Even today she hasn't developed any illness, so I'm not sure what caused the fever, but today she does still have one.  Today I am still having to alternate Tylenol/Ibuprofen every 3 hours to keep her fever down.

I don't know why Avery developed this fever.  I was really freaked out by being away from home when it happened.

But, there are some underlying blessings that happened yesterday.

I was at playgroup.  One of my biggest fears is that I will be someplace by myself with all four kids when something like this happens.  Well, I was, but I wasn't alone.  Playgroup was a safe place.  Other moms took care of everyone. I wasn't in the middle of a grocery store.  I could take Avery in the foyer where we could have some privacy.  Yes, if  I had been at home, I would have had her medicine.  I also would have had 3 extra "helpers" trying to help.  With the length of this seizure it would have totally stressed me out.  When she  (or Noah) has had seizures this length before Wade has always been home.  Being at playgroup and having help actually was a blessing.

It was also a blessing that it was spring break.  During regular school days, Gage gets out early every Wednesday. I have to leave playgroup early in order to get to his school in time.  I wouldn't have made it.  I know that someone else could have picked him up - but who?  I know that the school would have just had him hang out there, but that isn't fun either.  Plus, since it was spring break there were a lot of people at playgroup to help.

It was a blessing that Wade's fellow resident took care of the surgeries that morning.  Or else I wouldn't have been able to get hold of him.  This would have really made me feel alone.  He was able to leave and help me.  His schedule doesn't always allow this.  Yesterday it did.

It was a blessing that the missionaries where at the church having a meeting.  They weren't supposed to have their meeting there that day, but something happened and they were.  I don't believe that this was a coincident.  I believe Heavenly Father put them there so Avery could have a priesthood blessing.  I know that the priesthood blessing helped her.  She didn't stop seizing immediately, but she did come out of it a lot faster than she did last August when she had a similar seizure.  I know that the priesthood blessing helped calm me down and I know that Wade felt it too.


I don't know why our kids have these seizures.  But I find comfort in the fact that when they do we find little things like these throughout that day where we were blessed.

I really like this page on Medline Plus that explains febrile seizures.

Avery spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on the couch watching movies.  She didn't talk or walk for hours after.  Wade bought her the movie Tangled.  We all think it's great.  Around 7 she finally started walking around and dancing a little.  Today she isn't back to her whole self again, but she is getting better.

And we are counting our blessings.

The first week this month Wade had a medical conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. All you had to say was "sunshine" and I was looking for a way to sign up. Luckily enough we have AMAZING parents who watched the 3 older kids for us and found a pretty cheap flight, so we were on our way! Oh, and since Eli is still nursing and flies free, he got to come too. (If I remember correctly, I was pregnant with him when I went to this same conference with Wade last year in Las Vegas. So technically this was Eli's second APMA conference. Maybe this means he will follow in his dad's footsteps? Maybe this means he is a mama's boy? What this really means is that that next year I will have to find a way for him to stay home!)


So, Tuesday we kissed everyone goodbye.  Dropped Gage off at school and wished my parents luck.  They took over 2 days and then Wade's parents took over 3.  They are all amazing.  Did I mention that?






Mr. Eli.  Well, I would have loved to soak up more sun than I actually was allowed, but I didn't want him to get burned and he does take a lot of naps still.  So sadly I saw a lot more of my hotel room than I would have wished, but it was still quiet and relaxing none-the-less.

In fact, you won't believe it from the pictures I'm posting, but Florida is the one place that Eli is NOT so happy.  He was quite the grump the whole trip.  I chalked it up to a couple different reasons.  (For starters, something is WRONG with Florida....everywhere we went all I could find was Pepsi.  I think Eli missed a good Coke just like me! ) But honestly, I think that he missed his siblings.  There we not a lot of kids at the resort, but if we did see any, he would get so happy and kick and grin!


There weren't any nests, but this was pretty cool.  We found out that when they do nest there is a staff on hand 24 hours a day to watch the nest and answer questions.



Our resort.

Eli really just wanted to eat the sand anytime I took him near it.  Silly boy.  And he didn't like the wind.  The second day there it got really windy and it actually rained all afternoon.  I was kinda bummed to come from rain to rain.  But whatever, it was a pretty good storm.  A tornado actually touched down at the airport just a few miles from our hotel.  I am surrounded by a lot of rain, but I actually miss a good rain storm if that makes sense.



And since Wade was gone most of the time.  Most of our pictures look like this:



On Friday afternoon and after I think something like 60 lectures (it felt more like 650 to me) Wade finally took some time to walk around and spend some time with us.  Jenny - notice he is SMILING!!!





Eli wasn't to happy about touching the Atlantic Ocean before he has ever touched the Pacific Ocean.  Doesn't his face scream "Take me back to Washington!!"


Then Wade took him and he got to play airplane for a while which always makes him happy.


Then Wade told Eli all the podiatry secrets that he had been learning over the past few days.  It was a very serious talk. (or looked like it at least)

So, then sneaky Wade, told me to go lay in the hammock and he tried to take a video of me falling on my bum...but I out did him and just walked up there, sat down like a normal person and relaxed.  Remind me never to buy Wade a hammock for our yard.  He will never be able to use it!


One last feet picture to add to our collection.


And the little family.  It was fun to have only one kid and have people give us advice and talk to us about him. Then I would mention something about leaving the other 3 at home and people would get so surprised!


And last, but not least.  The funniest moment of the week came Saturday morning.  We were sitting outside when an airplane flew by with a sign.  I thought the kids might enjoy seeing it, so I took a picture. So did another gentlemen sitting on some chairs by us.  Then after a few minutes he started laughing.  He asked us if we knew what the sign said.  We zoomed in on our pictures and found out it read, "Tim, will you marry me.  Love Scott."

Apparently he had sent it as a picture/text to his son - thinking the same thing as us, that it was a cool thing to do.  Then his wife texted him back wondering why he was showing his young son this proposal.  I am sure she got stuck with some explaining to do.


And Very Very last, but WAY not least.  A very good smile out of Wade right before we left for the airport.  Nice one Wade.  Someday I will capture you without a frown and without a second-grader look on your face.  But until then, you are right, I will love you anyway. :)  Just keep taking me with you to sunny conferences like this one!

One of my best friends expressed to me today that her one word to describe Eli "bright".  Sure, she said, that he is a "bright, intelligent" boy, but she said it's more than that, he is just happy and bright!  So true, Eli knows how to smile and light up a room.

In the past month Eli has learned to really sit up well and is so proud of himself for this!  He looks like such a big kid sitting up and playing with toys.  He grins and grins.  If you don't believe me, look at his face in this past weeks Sunday photo.  He knows that by sitting up on his own he is becoming a big kid like the rest of them!  This has to be my favorite baby stage.  He can sit up and is so happy to do so.  I can put a basket of toys next to him and he can stay occupied for quite a while.  And he can't make a mess!

Eli loves to chomp down food with the two little front teeth that he has.  He eats baby puffs like they are going out of style. He loves his orange vegetables - sweet potatoes, squash, carrots. He loves apples, pears and prunes.  He tolerates the greens - peas and green beans.  He isn't too fond of baby cereal - rice or oatmeal at all. Anytime I give him real food off the table he is in heaven!  Despite all this food talk, at his 6 month appointment we noticed that he had only gained a few ounces between his four month and six month well-baby.  Our Dr. just suggested bumping up his meals from one to two a day.  So now he gets two meals a day...He giggles and talks and kicks his feet with joy just knowing that this makes him a big kid.  I don't really know if this will make a difference with his weight, and I don't really think there was a problem.  I know he is growing, he grows out of clothes every other week, and he is happy.  A hungry kid wouldn't be this happy.  Also he loves to get a hold of Avery's sippy cups.  He can drink from them, so I bought him his own.  I also got some formula, hopefully he will catch on and I can leave him once in a while!

This past month Eli got to fly on his first trip.  He went with us to Florida and back and did great on the airplane.  I was especially nervous for the 6 hour flight from NYC to Seattle, but he was a champ!  He slept and ate and looked around.  He ate a lot of paper magazines and flew like he was a pro!  One thing I did notice in Florida was that Eli is only happy when he is around his family.  He really missed his siblings while he was gone, he was so grumpy during our whole trip and I couldn't figure out why, but every time he would see kids he would light up and get so excited!

At 7 months Eli loves to play with balls, grab Avery's stuffed animals and chew on anything he can grab.  He giggles and grins when he can pull my hair.  He also has developed a huge case of separation anxiety!  One night Wade was holding him and he was screaming and watching me in the kitchen.  He just kept watching me walk back and forth and back and forth and screamed the whole time.  Finally Wade brought him close to me and leaned him over so he could touch my shoulder.  And the little stinker stopped crying.

Oh how we love our little Mama's boy!  Happy 7 months!

Crazy kids.  No matter when I take their pictures, posed or not, underwear on their heads or bums, they always seem to show off their individual personalities.  And I love each one of them.  Happy Day.

I bought myself some tulips this week.
Just because.  (It's my birthday week and I just felt like it)
This morning I found out I wasn't the only one enjoying them.

20 years ago:

I was living in Lewiston, Idaho.  I was in fifth grade.  I loved reading.  I wrote and published a newspaper for my neighborhood.  I really liked pigs.  I walked to McSorely Elementary School every day.  I rode my bike up and down the big hill on 14th Street.  I learned the 50-Nifty United States song - I sing it today when I want to list all the states.


10 years ago:

I was 21, married, living in Wade's grandparents basement apartment.  On my birthday we got a call from the University of Utah married student housing saying an opening had come up on the waiting list for a two bedroom apartment.  I was so happy, a two bedroom apartment sounded so big and luxurious to me.  When we moved in the U, we paid $475 for rent.  That included utilities.  Those were the days!!!

I was working full time at Shapiro Luggage and taking 15 credits at the U.  I was pretty excited to move closer to school so I could give up my 45 minute ride on the Trax train for work every day.  Some nights after work I got to ride the train with some pretty "interesting" people.

For my birthday Wade and I went to Wendover, Nevada so I could throw some quarters in the slot machines for the first time! I think I won something like $10.  We stayed at the casino hotel and watched cable and blasted the air conditioner.  We didn't have either at home.  We went to a grocery store and bought a birthday cake.  Then the bag boy turned the cake on it's side to put it in a bag?  We still laugh about this today.

No kids yet.  Just poor starving students getting by.

Today:
I have to admit, I am a little sad to turn 31.  Turning 30 didn't seem to phase me, but adding the one in front of it makes it sound so much older.

I've come along way from the tiny two bedroom apartment at the U.  We moved from there, to Pleasant Grove, to Iowa, and now Washington.  I graduated college.  I worked in public relations and loved it, but 7 years ago I dropped the pay check and became a full time mom.  I love reading. I love writing.  I am still trying to find the balance of squeezing time in every day for hobbies and talents and taking care of every one else in the house.

I still don't feel like an adult.  I know, I have 4 kids, but I feel like one myself, I never quite feel caught up.  I think mother hood does that to you, just when you figure out one stage, they grow into another stage, so you can never quite feel on top of your game.  I also feel temporary.  I hope after residency I can shake this feeling and finally feel more established and put down some roots.

For my birthday this year I went with Wade to Florida for a week.  Little Eli came along.  The other three stayed at home.  It was nice to have a little time with only one kid.  It was funny hearing people give us advice, and then watching their reaction when I told them that we left the other 3 at home!  I took a lot of naps.  I watched whatever I wanted on the television and no one else cared.  We ate at fancy restaurants and no one threw food or acted crazy.  I read books and wrote a couple book reviews for my neglected book blog.

There are days I feel like I'm in the thick of it.  I change diapers, I put kids down for naps, I drive to and from school, I fix meals, I wash dishes, I clean up and do laundry that never ends.  I know I am blessed and I try to enjoy moments of my life every day.  Sometimes this involves some chocolate and a coke.

Wade has to work all day today.  I have a church meeting tonight.  I'm making myself a chocolate cake.  I'm sure the kids will help. I'm looking forward to it.

10 years from now:
Wow, it's hard to think about where I will be 10 years from now.  I will be 41!  Now, that sounds like a real adult!  Gage will be 17 (gasp!!!), Noah, 14, Avery 12 and Eli 11.  I am not sure where we will be living.  Probably Utah somewhere.  It's so hard to imagine my life with all the kids in school.  What would I do with the time?  Sometimes I fantasize about going back to school for masters.  I could actually read and keep my book blog up to date.  That is, if blogs are still around then. I could scrapbook or even learn how to take pictures.

It's  fun to think about where the next 10 years will take me.  I can't wait to see how it goes!

20 years from now:
Really?  All kids out of the house?  An empty nester?  This seems like an impossible dream.   I might not have to clean toilets every single day!  I could even be a grandma by then.  That blows my mind!  When I think about 20 years ago, it seems like yesterday.  It makes me want to hold on to every moment right now.  20 years from now will be here before I know it.

ps- thanks for all the comments on the last post, yes my hair is pretty long, I've never had it this long before.  I've been growing it out but still think about cutting it - but with all those comments maybe I'll just leave it long:)  It's been fun for a change.

My Sunday photo this week was taken Saturday, right before we left the hotel and headed home.  Sunday we were way to tired to get much done.  I'll post more pictures of Florida later this week.  Now back to rainy life in Washington.  My birthday is tomorrow!

We let the kids stay up late...you know...8pm, and play.  No school tomorrow. It's a teacher prep day.  Lots of prep for me too.  Wade, Eli and I are leaving Tuesday morning for sunny Ft. Lauderdale where Wade has meetings.  My parents and Wade's parents are the best grandparents ever for taking over the oldest three so at least Eli and I can soak up some Vitamin D.  Grandparents ROCK!

This week our little-man Gage turned the lucky number 7!  Gage is such a sweet boy.  He is always worried about others feelings and doing the right thing.  Choices are black and white to him (just like his dad). He is a bit of a perfectionist.  He works very hard at his homework and reading although I know he doesn't always want too.

Gage never gets in trouble at school.  He is always working very hard to be quiet and sit very still.  At the beginning of the year he was coming home almost every week with a toy from the "treasure tower" in the principles office.  Then for a couple weeks he stopped bringing things home.  I asked him why and he said, "Because mom.  When I bring only one toy home it makes Noah sad.  So I'm saving my "bricks" until I have enough to get myself and Noah a toy!"  And so he does. Now he never makes a visit to the treasure tower until he can get two toys!

Gage loves to sing, loves music, loves drawing and loves primary.  He now has a desk in his room (that I had as a little girl) where he keeps all his "art supplies and projects.  He loves having his own space.  He loves to go to primary and sing songs.  He sings really loud.  It's kinda silly, but he loves it.

Gage is a very good big brother to all his siblings.  He tries to help Avery and puts up with her crazy ideas.  He plays with Noah even when Noah is annoying him.  He adores Eli.

At seven some of his favorites include:
Color: white, or any color really.  He loves them all!
Movie: Chronicles of Narnia, or the old Star Wars
Subject: Space (he knows all kinds of facts)
Food: Pizza
Best Friend: Maren
Toy: Legos
Book: Magic Tree House series

On to the festivities:

We celebrated his birthday with my parents last weekend.  Gage surprised me when he said he wanted pancakes from Ihop instead of McDonalds...enough said! We all had pancakes and enjoyed Saturday afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa.


Grandma and Grandpa got him some really cool Shawn White shirts from Target.  I think he would wear them every single day if I had them clean  - or even let him do that!

Since Gage's birthday fell on a Tuesday, which is already a normal "we don't see Dad" day - and it was also a really bad week anyway, we chose to celebrate on Monday night so Wade could come with!  Also, I gave Gage the option this year of having a party at our house with lots of friends, or going out to do something special with one friend.  He chose Chuck-e-Cheese with one friend (and her family)!  Seriously, it was so much easier than a party, I think I might have to do that again!

So Monday night, for birthday and Family Home Evening we headed to Chuck-e-Cheese with our friends!  It wasn't crowded at all!  PERFECT night to go there!

I didn't get any pictures of them playing games, but they all had so much fun.  We were there for hours!


Gage was pretty excited about his presents - he got some art supplies for his new desk.


And he got a really cool books, especially this space one that he reads over and over at night.  He also got a Bionicle and a Narnia Lego set.


Sidenote:  Miss Avery, this goofy girl. The whole time that Gage was opening presents she was busy sprinkling her pizza with hot peppers!  She actually will eat them (and cough) but she goes back for more.  What a cheeser!


So, back to Gage.  His last present was a really big box that he was really excited to open.  But then he did.  And it was a pancake griddle.  You should have seen his face!  M-A-D, MAD!  I just looked at him laughing and said, "Well, I know you really liked pancakes!"  That is when he caught on and opened the box.


A new skateboard!  He was - and is SO excited!

 Gage and Luca!  Don't you love the first grade face?  I just wish he would smile normal!