Wrapping Up July

Somehow July just seemed to escape from me.  We certainly kept busy with play dates and adventures.  Of course, we also had the boys' cousins here.  While there were no really big events in July, the month sure seemed to fly by.  And somehow, I didn't take that many pictures. 

Kai began soccer classes in June and continued those through July.  His soccer class meets every Friday at 9:30am and lasts 50 minutes.  Despite some initial rough moments, he has grown to absolutely love going to soccer!  He has told me it will make him very sad when he is done with soccer this Friday.

The only picture I have of soccer right now.  This was his first class.

On July 11th Finn had his quarterly clinic visit.  He weighed in at 22 pounds 2 ounces and was 32 inches tall.  The nutritionist would like to him weigh 24 pounds for that height!  According to their records he had a 2 inch height growth in the last 3 months.  Unfortunately, in that time he didn't even gain a full pound.  They adjusted his medication a bit to see if that could help and then they sent us a case of Boost Kids' Essentials 1.5 (which is Pediasure but with even more calories) to try.  Other than that, he's doing fabulous.  No growing bacteria, no coughs, nothing.  He's having a fantastic summer!

Also in July I was called as the new Wolf "Den Mother" for our ward.  We have had several day-time den activities that have either had me bring the boys or have taken me away from them for awhile.  One day for a pack activity we went to the park to launch water rockets.  I took the boys and our babysitter and we all had a good time.  It was nice to have Megan there to play with the boys while I did the scout thing, and it was also nice to have my boys there, too.  A week after that we had a scout field trip to Hillside Gardens.  What a fascinating place!  The scouts brought picnic lunches and then we got a tour of the Gardens.  That time I had to leave the boys with friends, and they seemed to have a great time, too.

Our den (minus me) at the Gardens

Finally the end of July got a bit crazy.  On Thursday the 28th Reid worked late.  I put the kids to bed and then settled in to watch a chick-flick.  Reid came home after 9pm and laid down on the couch.  He said his stomach wasn't feeling well.  Well, I stayed up a bit too late but finally headed off to bed around 11pm.  I woke up to Kai tapping me around 3:20am on Friday morning.  I took him back to his bed and noticed that Reid was missing from ours.  Just a few minutes later Reid came upstairs obviously in pain.  He told me where he hurt and said he was thinking about heading to the ER.  At that time Finn woke up.  I asked Reid if he needed me to drive him and he said no.  So, I headed to Finn's room.  Unfortunately, Finn did not want to settle back down.  After an hour, we left the bedroom to check on Reid.  He was still feeling poorly and unsure what he was going to do.  I grabbed a bottle for Finn and headed back to Finn's bedroom.  After another hour, Finn was in bed and I headed back to mine.  Reid was still not looking good.

Kai woke me up again but this time it was 7:30am.  And Reid was still in the same position.  So I told him I would call his doctor.  It was at that time that we were told they were booked for the day.  We then decided it would be best for Reid to go to the Urgent Care up the street.  Reid was out the door in about 5 minutes as the Urgent Care opens at 8am.  Around 8:40am Reid called to tell me that he was being sent to the ER, and then about 20 minutes after that Reid called for help with filling out his paperwork.

After that, I didn't hear from Reid again for 2 and half hours.  During that time the boys and I were at Kai's soccer class and playing on the playground.  We've been taking a babysitter to soccer and so while we were doing that I checked with Megan to see if she was available the rest of the day, just in case.  Thankfully she was.  At 11:30 Reid called to say that the were waiting on a CT scan.  Around noon we got the results of the CT scan which showed that Reid had appendicitis.

Megan arrived to watch the boys shortly after 1pm and I headed to hospital to be with Reid.  I arrived in his room right around 2pm and he was scheduled for surgery at 2:15pm.  Of course, they were late.  I visited with Reid and helped out a bit while we waited.  Once he went into surgery I sat in the waiting room.  After a bit more than a hour the surgeon came out and told me that everything had gone well and that Reid was doing fine.  After another 20 minutes or so the nurse came out to tell me that they were moving him to a room on another floor.  I beat him to his new room and waited for him to come in.  Once we got him settled and dinner ordered and I saw that he was doing ok, I headed home to get back to the boys.  I ended up back home at 6pm, so I just threw a frozen pizza in the oven.

The next morning Reid was ready to be released from the hospital, so thankfully Megan came to stay with the boys again and her mom drove me down to the hospital (since I needed to drive Reid's car home.)  It was nice to get Reid home and to see him looking more like himself.  Of course, he has some restrictions (like he can't lift the boys for three weeks!) and he's still a bit sore, but he's doing better.  In fact, he's heading back to work today after 5 days off.

So, that's our July in a nutshell.  It ended a bit poorly, but we're all doing well and looking forward to August.  Just for fun I did a count.  July had 1 dentist appointment, 2 Urgent Care visits, 1 CF clinic visit, 2 CT scans, 1 ER visit, 1 overnight in the hospital, multiple episodes (too many to count) of kids sick to their stomach, 2 mild colds/runny noses, and 1 kid with a fever for 2 days.  And none of that counts me!  It was a busy month despite the fact that I don't have much to show for it!