What a Weekend!

This holiday weekend our plans were to go camping with Paul's family at the annual camp out at Honeyman State Park south of Florence. We had the trailer mostly packed the night before so we could leave when Drew got home from school early Friday. We received a phone call at 8 am from Paul's brother-in-law, letting us know that Paul's mom was in the ER with what turned out to be a heart attack. Luckily, she was feeling sick and got there before she had the heart attack so they were immediately able to help her. We changed our plans to a wait-and-see approach. If she was stable and doing well we would maybe go camping, since neither one of us wanted to break it to the kids that we weren't. I admit I wasn't thrilled with the idea of camping for 3 days in the freezing rain on the coast, but that would have been a million times better than how the weekend eventually turned out!

We ended up parking the trailer at my parent's house and Paul visited his mom in the ICU. She was very sick so we decided we would at least spend the night there and see what the next day brought us. She was still pretty sick that day so we decided the thrill of the idea of camping was gone and we would probably spend one more night and then go home. Well, Saturday morning Mason woke up crying because his hip hurt. I thought it was probably a pulled muscle or something from playing so hard with his cousins on Friday. He was actually limping so I knew it was something other than a sore muscle. He kind of limped around all day, but he also went on a long nature walk with us and jumped on the trampoline at his cousins' house so I figured he was OK. That evening he was complaining that his knee on the same leg hurt. Then he woke up at 4 in the morning crying in pain and couldn't walk to the bathroom. He was also saying his ankle hurt. So I packed him up and off we went to Urgent Care while Paul had the girls and went to his mom's house to do some things. I took grandpa along too so he could heft Mason's 48 lbs in and out of chairs for me. At this point Mason was totally unable to put any pressure on his left leg. At Urgent Care he had x-rays done, which ruled out a dislocation or a fracture, but it didn't show anything about the fluids in the hip joint. The doc said if it was an adult he would send them home to rest for a few days but they don't mess around with kids and pain. He flinched as I a told him of Mason's recent bout with Scarlet Fever and sent us on the the ER. At the same hospital grandma was at! When we got there a very nice nurse was able to guess Mason's name and his owie (Urgent care called ahead) and Mason was extremely impressed. He even got a wheelchair ride! We were making a list of all the things he had to tell Drew about. At the ER he had his blood drawn, which thankfully Paul happened to be there for to help hold him down, and they left the tube thingy there in case they needed it later. Ugh. Not fun. He also got to pee in a jug and was very impressed at how full he got it. He had an ultrasound done and they discovered an excess amount of fluid in his joint. The resident on call decided he wasn't knowledgeable enough to make a call whether his joint was just irritated or whether it was infected so he called in his boss, the big gun with 30 years of experience. Thankfully he was in charge from then on so we know we got the best care possible. They were pretty certain that it was just irritated and would heal on its own in a few days of bed rest, but they wanted to be 100% sure it wasn't infected because that affects growth plates and bone and can do all kinds of nasty damage. So they decided to tap his hip for a sample of the fluid. Tapping a joint for fluid means sticking a LONG needle directly into the joint and sucking out the fluid. UGH! They recommended knocking him out and I thought that was a great idea! Until they wheeled him into a room with about 15 adults and scary equipment and told me to wait in the hall. I asked if I could kiss him first and they let me. I tried my best to give him a pep talk but I would have been scared if I was a 5 year old kid all alone with that stuff too. I could hear him crying and yelling as they were moving him around and trying to hook his IV up to the knock-out drugs. I will admit that I shed a tear or two at this point also. I just wanted to hold his hand and be there with him! By this time I had been with Mason for 8 hours and Paul and I decided to switch places and he would take over admitting him to the hospital for the night and stay with him, since they didn't want to do an invasive procedure and then just send him home. Also, if it was infected he would need immediate surgery to clean out the joint. I went back to the girls and Paul stayed with Mase for the night. Luckily the fluid was not infected and it was just irritated. They told us it was probably related to his scarlet fever. Scary stuff! I had no idea it could affect someone so badly a month later. I will keep my eye on Darcy now too since she had it the same time Mason did. We also learned that scarlet fever has a genetic tendency, which would explain why Drew, Mason, and Darcy have all had it and I thought it was pretty much an unheard of disease any more. Mason was released around 11am Monday morning with orders of bed rest and penicillin to fight off any infection that might want to start up around the procedure site. Thankfully Mason came out of this all OK with a couple of good stories to tell his family.

Paul's mom, on the other hand, isn't doing so well. They found a valve in her heart that isn't working properly so she is having surgery to fix it tomorrow. Paul will be heading back down to be with her too.

Here is Mason in the hospital with his somewhat concerned sisters. See those things on his chest? Well they were stuck on him for his procedure and I ripped the one off his tummy and one off his chest but after that he wouldn't let me anywhere near him. He was also deathly afraid of the band aid they wanted to put on his IV site. So we wrapped an ace type bandage over some gauze and called it good. Last night while he was sleeping I ripped the band aid off his leg at the procedure site and I also got the last remaining sticky thing off his chest. He cried for about 2 seconds and then went right back to sleep. I told him about it this morning and he just giggled, thankfully. I'm glad he doesn't hate me! Today he scored the new Pirates of the Caribbean Lego game for the XBOX, hoping that would keep him in one place. He has actually walked a bit and he says he isn't hurting. I don't want him to over do it but its hard to keep Mason down for long. They told us this shouldn't ever happen again so hopefully we are done with all the sickness and doctors and urgent cares, and emergency rooms for about 10 years or so!

Finally 5!

Mason finally turned 5! He had a countdown for I don't know how long, waiting for his big day. He is so excited, as am I, for all the fun things that happen when he is 5. I think 3 and 5 are my favorite ages with my kids so far because its so exciting to watch all the learning that takes place. Mason is no exception. He is a smart little guy and cannot wait to get to go to "Drew's school." He just wants to skip summer and start immediately. Its going to be a loooong summer for him, and for me since he asks me a few times each day when he gets to go to school!

This year for his birthday Grandma and Grandpa joined us for pizza and cake. His cake was pretty cool this year, bees and a bee hive, but not nearly as awesome as his volcano cake I made last year so I didn't include a picture :) For his presents he got a Lego fire truck, a bug house and magnifying glass (both of which have been constantly in use), and a new bike! 5 is the magical age at our house to get your first bike. Mase picked out the one he wanted a few weeks before his birthday but he must have forgotten because he was pretty much speechless when we opened the front door and there is was! He immediately hopped on, proceeded to crash, and decided he didn't like the darn bike after all. He is a total perfectionist and if he doesn't get something exactly right the first time he is done with it. Tough way to live, kid! Thankfully Grandma was there to give him a pep talk and he has been riding ever since. In fact, he is driving me crazy because he constantly watches the rain showers and lets me know when its dry enough to ride. Oh how I love my little guy! But, he is not so little. He is taller at 5 than Drew was when she turned 6. He is still shorter than her but is catching up. They both weigh 48 lbs too!

So This year Mason's favorites are:

Food - Cheeze its, peanut butter sandwich, pizza

Movie - Lilo and Stitch, Hoodwinked, Tron Legacy

Color- blue, orange

Animal - dog

Favorite part of preschool - Snack time

This year he has thankfully changed his career aspirations to wanting to be a soldier instead of the McDonald's worker he wanted to be last year. Life with Mason is always exciting. I would love to have his energy, but he could maybe use some of my self control. Once he figures out how to channel it into something productive he will be a force to be reckoned with. I couldn't ask for a sweeter little guy as my only son. We love you Mase and are so happy to have you in our family!

Happy Easter!

We had a BUSY Easter weekend this year. Actually, the entire week leading up to it was busy too. With it being so late this year, Drew's birthday was actually the Wednesday before, so we had a family party for her, plus the friend party the Saturday before. I was also trying to work a bunch of hours that week so I had to be pretty efficient with my time! Saturday morning before Easter we headed to Paul's mom's house where we got to visit with her and some of the kids' cousins. The oldest had set up an egg hunt for the kids and they had fun looking around grandma's front yard for the prize eggs. Grandma's front yard has a huge slope to it and once Bree started heading down her little legs were working hard to keep up with the momentum of her large head! She almost made it to the bottom when she fell and rolled once before I was able to catch up and scoop her up. She thought it was great fun.

From there, we crossed town to my parent's house for the annual family Easter party. 19 of the 20 grand kids made it this year. I think they were told to make silly faces for this picture but for some of them, its a definite improvement ;) I believe they range in age from 18 years - 15 months. My kids are #12, 16, 17, and 20.

If we wanted to eat we were required to wear hats. Mason made his own visor with stickers on it and I was wearing the hood of one of his coats.

Grandma had quite the hat, as you can see. She left it on most of the party. What a good sport! She is famous for her dangly earrings that correspond with whatever the season or holiday may be, but she took the whole fashion thing to greater heights I think.

Bree wasn't sure what the heck she was doing. I think she figured out she needed to pick these colorful things up, but didn't know what to do with them once she got them. She would put one down to pick up another. We had a great time hanging out with so much family that day. We had great food, a massive egg hunt, an egg toss, and and egg drop. We were the winners of the last one but balloons were outlawed this year (our egg would have survived being dropped out of a plane I bet, surrounded by balloons), so we went with fiberglass insulation. Didn't work. The winners used bubble wrap which to me is just miniature balloons, right? I protest! After the party we came home to sleep in our own beds in hopes that the Easter Bunny would visit.

Sure enough! There were 4 baskets of goodies and eggs hidden all over the house when we woke up! Bree didn't bother getting up with the rest of us, and it was probably easier on me to have her keep sleeping anyway. The kids found 57 dyed eggs (3 broke during the dying process) and never ate a single one of them. Good thing eggs are cheap.

Darcy was a great hunter. I think she came away with more than Mason. He is a bit skittish sometimes and hunting eggs is one of those time.

The Easter Bunny had to find some more difficult hiding spots this year for Drew. The middle of the floor just isn't hidden enough for her anymore.

Later on Sunday we went to church and then headed north to have dinner with Paul's sister and family. We had a great time visiting and playing with their dog, while it was in its cage of course. It was a very busy weekend but it was filled with fun, food, and family. What a great way to celebrate!