Pneumonia is not a fun thing!

I admit, I have slacked off on my blogging since I knew the next thing I wanted to blog about was Jacob and his battle with Pneumonia. This may be boring to some of you, but I keep this as a journal as well so these are things that I want to remember while they are still fresh in my mind. 

Friday the 10th of February Jacob had a headache and not much of an appetite, so he stayed home from school. Over the weekend the symptoms were about the same, but he also had a fever. We thought it was some sort of flue bug and that it would quickly pass. Monday came and the fever was still hanging on. I came home Monday night from my trip and decided to take him to the doctors on Tuesday if he wasn't feeling better. Tuesday morning I took him to the doctors and after some chest x-rays, it was determined that he had pneumonia. He was put on an antibiotic and sent home to recover. It went downhill from there. He ended up missing the rest of the week of school and started coughing (which the doctor said was normal.) His fever persisted and by the end of the week, I just couldn't take it anymore! He came to me and said that he was having trouble taking deep breaths, his fever was still around, and so we decided to take him to Children's Hospital Saturday night, the 18th. Before we left, we prayed that things would work out and we had a strong feeling that if we listened to the doctor's advice, that everything would be fine. That was such a huge relief! At Children's they did some more x-rays and determined that the pneumonia had spread and now there was fluid building up around his lungs as well. What a scary moment! It was suggested to us for him to go straight down to the Aurora Children's Hospital in case things took a turn for the worse. 

After thinking about other options, we remembered how we had felt after we prayed and that if we listened to the doctors, that Jacob would be fine. I rode with Jacob in an ambulance down to the Aurora location at about 2:30 Sunday morning. They did more testing on Jacob to find out that he had a staff infection along with the pneumonia and that is why the antibiotics were not working. They quickly got him on different antibiotics, oxygen and took more chest x-rays. I think we both got very little sleep that night...

The rest of Sunday was kind of a blur to me with the lack of sleep and concern that I was having for Jacob. These pictures were taken on Monday the 20th. He slept most of the day and had to do a breathing apparatus to open up his lungs whenever he had the chance. 

By Tuesday he was feeling still about the same and white as a ghost. He had hardly eaten anything in the last week and a half and was trying hard to just be happy. There was some good news however.. The antibiotics were working and it was determined that he wasn't going to need to have the chest tube put in to drain the fluid around his lungs. I was so thankful for that blessing!

We took this picture to send to dad and the kids at home Tuesday night. We were missing them so much.

Wednesday he sat up in the chair for a little while and built a fun LEGO toy that Liz and her family had given to him the previous day. That must have wore him out because he fell asleep right afterwards!

Thursday, the kids wanted to see me and I was missing them too, so Brian brought them down to see me. (They were not allowed to go into the room where Jacob was since he was on an ICU floor.) I met them downstairs where we walked around, had fro-yo (frozen yogurt), and examined all the fish tanks in the building. I hugged them and said that I would be home soon! The other picture below is Jacob playing a game on the laptop with his cousin Josh. I thought it was great that they could play together. It really helped Jacob to want to get out of bed and cheer him up! Thanks Josh!

Friday came and we were told that he could maybe go home! We were thrilled! It was an answer to our prayers! This was the first day that he had been more happy than sad and had eaten much of anything.

Here he is, so happy to be leaving! Love that smile! He was still going to have to be on oxygen and medication for the next 11 days. He ended up missing 3 1/2 weeks of school as well. He lost 19 pounds from start to finish. Right when he was headed back to school, he got a nasty ear infection. BUT, he is fine now. He is healthy, back in school, and happy. 

It ended up being a month from start to finish and man what a month it was! February is usually when our family gets sick, but I had no idea what was in store for us this year! (We had all gotten our flu shots even!) 

Even though it was a frightening thing that happened, I learned many valuable lessons. I learned to trust in Heavenly Father and his plan. I learned to be more patient. I learned how much Heavenly Father must love us to give us these precious children to take care of. I learned about letting others serve me when I usually like to be on the giving end. Most importantly, I learned that I am very blessed. I already knew many of these things it is true, but to have them reiterated to me, made my heart so full.

Thank you to everyone that helped me and my family out that week. Thank you Brian for coming down every day to spend time with me and Jacob. Thank you to my family that came by more than once, played games, brought gifts and food, called and checked in on us, and cheered us up! Thank you to many friends that made my family meals, visited me, watched my kids, and made things run smoothly. You all are truly a blessing to me and I love each of you!

Cozumel Cruise Day 4

Day 4 we just relaxed, got a little sea sick (no throwing up though thank goodness!), and took a few pictures together.

Such a funny picture! One of the scrapbook instructors had clothes for us to dress up in. We decided to give in and pose for her. :)

 Just hanging out with my best friend.

Enjoying our last big dinner aboard the ship, knife and fork in hand!

Just wanted to say to Liz... Thank you for this fun girls getaway! I loved all of it! We made alot of memories! Some that we will laugh about for the rest of our lives! Love you!

Cozumel Cruise Day 3

Day 3 we couldn't hardly wait for! It was our fun day we had planned in Cozumel! We got off the ship and couldn't believe how beautiful it was!

The water was just such beautiful shades of blue...

Here is Liz and I on our Jeep adventure! We first went to see the crocodiles in a swampy like area and I didn't want them too close to me. Of course, that is probably why one swam right up to us! Yikes!

Next stop was the lighthouse where we climbed up to the top and took some of the pictures from the first set of photos above. We then relaxed in some hammocks on the beach, saw lots of lizards and had a refreshing drink. The man behind me in the upper right picture was the driver of our Jeep. He and his wife were from Brazil. They were such a nice couple! He is a judge there and his wife a lawyer and yet they were only 28 years old! Wow!

 Next up was the thing I was most excited about... Snorkeling! It was amazing and I am already missing it! The water was so clear and the fish were so bright and beautiful. It felt so peaceful being out there. This was my favorite part of the whole trip!

Okay... I just had to put these pictures on! On the Jeep ride back you could say it was a little windy! Liz and I decided to embrace it instead of fight it and had a blast! Our hair paid for it later however when we had no conditioner and we could not get the tangles out. We literally cried! We ended up getting some conditioner from the room attendant and were so relieved! Our hair must have been in a million tiny knots!

Cozumel Cruise Day 2

Day 2 of our cruise we took a jewelry making class were the instructor was always yelling at everyone. It was pretty funny! We also tried out rock climbing! That is alot harder than it looks! Then we played a few games on the ship and met some interesting people! And of course we ate and ate some more. Check out all our desserts in the bottom right corner! We had some awesome waiters too. One of our favorites was Alexsandar. (pictured in the upper right corner). He was always so friendly and nice to us every night. Royal Caribbean really has some great people working on their ship!

 

That night we also met up with the owner of my favorite scrapbook paper company called Echo Park. Madison and his wife Kesha were very fun to hand around with! We went to their classes they taught and made some great projects! One of the main reasons we went on this cruise was to scrapbook, but once we got there we barely showed our faces in the room. There were some dedicated scrappers though that rarely left the craft room other than to sleep!

Cozumel Cruise Day 1

Day 1 of my cruise with Elizabeth didn't start off too well if you must know the whole truth. We boarded the ship, put out carry-ons in our rooms and went for a walk to look around. We spotted the pool and thought it would be fun to have some pictures by it. The water was very shallow and so I rolled up my pants and got in. For some reason, I decided to take a step backwards to the next step down. Instead of a step, it was a 6 foot hole! I fell completely in, fully dressed! When I came out of the water, everyone sitting around the pool was staring at me. Some yelled, "Is it warm in there?" and others said, "Way to get the party started!". Others were clapping and cheering. I knew the only thing to do was to laugh it off! Liz went and got me some towels and we waited around for our clothes to be delivered to our room so I could change.

After I changed into some dry clothes, we played putt putt golf on the top level of the ship. It was super fun and we laughed a ton! We also tried out many of the desserts that day! We knew we were hooked! That night we went dancing with some new friends we made. It ended up being a great day after all!

Snow much fun!

My kids are probably alot like yours... They love to play in the snow for hours! Even when they are turning red, they still are having a great time building forts, making snowmen and angels, sledding, and jumping in it! A truck on our street plows all the snow into the dead end next to our house every time it snows. It makes for a fun sledding hill and play area that my kids can't wait to try out! Just took this one picture, but I love how happy they all are!

Pizza, Trains, and Friends!

For Evan's birthday we went down to Orchard with our best friends, Liz and Blake! We ate black olive pizza at Marco's (our favorite) and then rode the train around afterwards. Blake and Liz gave him his own lock box for his birthday filled with all kinds of treasures! It may seem like a strange present, but it was the perfect one! Evan has an obsession with locks, keys, key chains, hooks, etc... He was in heaven! Thanks for the fun day Liz and Blake. Evan said he had a great time and a great birthday!

80's Day!

Courtney wanted to dress up for 80's day at her school, but I didn't think we really had any 80's day apparel. She asked me what they wore in the 80's, and all I told her big hair and bright colors! I gave her some leg warmers I had and she did most of the rest! I think she looked so cute! She has always loved bright colors... I think she wishes every day was 80's day!