Year 5 – Week 8 – Day 5

We were having a super December, staying busy every day. We had a birthday with a friend, did ZooLights, the IDEA museum, some shopping, lots of cleaning, and tons of school and therapy.

The boys introduced their new little buddy, Landon, to the joys of IKEA.
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Cart spinning with three boys

Friday the 11th, Brendan spiked a 103 degree fever. So I rushed him to the pediatrician. Always on a Friday! He was a sick boy.
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They did a chest xray and said bronchiolitis. He also had an ear infection. So antibiotic and steroids, and we went home. I thought we were getting through it because Monday he seemed a bit better.
Tuesday, we dropped Trevor off at school and Brendan fell asleep in the car. When we got home, he kept sleeping, but his sats were falling.
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On the maximum oxygen that our home systems can provide, he couldn’t get his sats above 73%. To the Emergency Room we go.
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Of course he was admitted.
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Breathing 100% oxygen got his sats to 80%. IV steroids and more breathing treatments and he was stable. Having some dinner with Daddy.
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The next morning, he was alert enough to open an early present.
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Brendan’s room is one of the few on the side of the building facing West. It has a “window fort” for Trevor.
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Today, he has been able to wean down to 50% oxygen and he is feeling a little better.
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Silly socks!
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He was so envious of Trevor climbing in the window. He couldn’t stop asking for a turn. His respiratory tech helped his oxygen reach, and he was stable enough to be off the monitors for a while.
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He was the happiest he has been since Tuesday’s drive to the hospital. He just kept telling me it was so hard to play with one finger. Couldn’t he take off the IV?
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The doctors have guessed that he should be able to come home Saturday or Sunday. He has hMPV or Human metapneumovirus. It is a viral infection like RSV that likes to bury in the lungs and stay there.
So far, no pneumonia. He just needs time to shake this virus.

Year 5 – Week 7 – Day 1

I haven’t posted in a while because we had to cycle the whole family through a cold. It meant a number of rough nights with little sleep for me and Bill, but we made it through without seeing the doctor. That is a “yay!”

After being in the house quite a bit all week, I wanted to get out and do something this weekend. We decided to try the “Balloon Glow” holiday event in Gilbert. I guess I should have known better.
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I planned ahead and got the boys some ear protection for when I know it is going to be loud.
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It just didn’t matter. Brendan was terrified of the balloons. They both wanted to go on the bouncy houses and things, so we bought tickets and then they were too scared to go in. I ended up giving some little family about $10 in ride tickets on our way out.
Brendan was screaming in terror, Trevor was crying that he wanted cotton candy before dinner.
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We bailed out of the chaos and went to McDonalds instead. At least this one had a cool light up table that changed when you touched it.
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Today, we decided to make a “Gingerbread House”. I really dislike gingerbread, so our house was made of solid chocolate-melts.
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Claimed!
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They are spreading the chocolate mortar.
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Choco-nose!
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The decorating begins. I tried to do as little as possible and let the boys do their own thing.
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Just the right size for Batman.
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Tada!
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Proud boys loved doing this project
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Nibble, nibble, like a mouse….
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We took too long to decorate and the chocolate was getting soft! Oops, collapse!
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The boys were fine with that.
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I like Brendan’s thumbs grip
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We did put up our tree and decorated too, but pictures of that will have to be another day!