Bree talking

I just love Bree's voice and hearing the things she has to say.  She went through a phase where she would just babble with real sounds when she was trying to say a word that she hadn't mastered yet.  One word that always made me laugh was "banana" as she would stick her tongue out and wiggle it back and forth in an attempt to say it.  I tried to get it on video and this was the best I got.

Spring Break 2015

After missing the last three days of school before Spring Break, Kai finally starting feeling good on Saturday.  Go figure.  It was a beautiful day.

On Monday we spent the day cleaning the house.  I was happy to have helpers, and they are generally happy to help (as long as it's something they want to do--which does not include cleaning their room!).

After being stuck at home for what felt like weeks with sick kids, I was anxious to get out of the house.  On Tuesday we had no plans so we decided to go to the Outlets in Castle Rock for a few things we needed.  We had a good time walking around and picking up just a few things.  We ended up spending 4 hours there and eating a second lunch at the food court.  Kai ate nearly an entire 6 inch sub from Subway, which made me proud.

Bree has discovered Mickey Mouse and he has become an instant favorite.

The boys wanted their pictures taken on these rocks.  Why not?!

Bree was not about to sit still for a picture.

We were out most of the afternoon that day and so Bree only got some short naps in the car.  The next day Finn had a really early appointment on the south side of Denver to get his g-tube button replaced (it needs to be changed out every three months).  It started snowing that morning and so when we got out of the appointment, my plans for the day needed to be adjusted.  Since the appointment was near the temple I had wanted to take the kids over to the temple grounds for a walk and maybe a picnic.  Instead, we drove by and noticed that the distribution center was open, so we decided to go in to look at scriptures for Kai.  While standing in the tiny distribution center Bree looked through the glass doors and was able to see into the temple waiting room where there was a large statue of Christ.  Bree exclaimed, "Jesus!" and so we decided to walk in reverently and look at the statue.  As we left Bree said, "Bye bye Jesus."  It was adorable.

From there we decided to go to the Park Meadows Mall (this place has a tag line of "Colorado's only retail resort").  Normally that mall is packed, but with the freak snow storm, it was very quiet and so we had a good time walking around.  I browsed quickly through a couple of stores I wanted to see and then we stopped at the Lego store where the boys played for a bit.  From there we headed to the upper level and got some yummy cookies.  The kids had never had cookies from Mrs. Field's so I figured we would splurge since they were being so good.  They really enjoyed them, even Bree.  After our cookie stop we headed to the Disney Store where we had a good time browsing and Bree even found a matching Minnie Mouse to our Mickey.  She was love and ready to take it home.  After all of that we stopped at the Lego store one more time on the way out and by then Bree was ready for a nap and the mall was getting busy as the snow had cleared and the day was warming up.  Our timing had been perfect and it was a really fun morning.

There was no line at all for the Easter Bunny.  However, none of my kids wanted to see him so we just took a cute picture on the bench outside of the area.  Finn was crying and screaming several feet to the right of this picture!

The dress up castle at the Disney Store

Minnie Mouse.....she wants one for her birthday

As if being out of the house on Tuesday and Wednesday and cutting Bree's naps short wasn't enough, on Thursday we met up with friends at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature.  We left early that morning and got there not long after it opened.  I was worried about fighting for a parking spot but we were lucky there to get there before the lot filled up.  We spent some time on our own before meeting up with friends at the Children's Discovery Center.  Our friends were not as lucky with parking and so we played for a bit while we waited for them to arrive.  We had a good time playing with them in the Discovery Center and then decided to take a break and eat our lunch picnic style in one of the atriums.  It was perfect as the kids were able to visit and play with each other and the adults were able to visit together.  From there we all decided to go see the new Mythic Creatures exhibit.  It was fantastic and certainly wins as my favorite of their seasonal displays.  After that I was exhausted and so we made a quick stop at the gems and minerals display before heading back out to the car.  Traffic was awful getting home and so we ended up not getting home until after 4pm.  It was a long day but we were definitely making good use of our spring break.

Looking at an exhibit with their friend Sawyer

The kids were tasked with creating their own mythical creature.  There were color pencils and stencils and I was surprised by how seriously they took the task.  Especially Finn who doesn't like to draw or color at all.  But they sat here for quite a while making up their creatures.

By the time Friday arrived we were all pretty tired.  Finn had still be coughing quite a bit and Bree wasn't sleeping great.  But I had promised the kids a trip to House of Bounce, so we went for a couple of hours that morning.  From there I took the kids in for haircuts and then we were home to rest for the weekend.  Including a movie afternoon on Saturday.  We were all really wiped out!

The boys in matching outfits watching a movie.

By the time spring break was over, Kai started coughing again.  Yep, that's been the story of our winter!

More of March

The night Reid got home from his trip, Kai had started coughing.  He was coughing so hard he threw up and so he ended up staying home from school on Monday the 9th.  Finn went to school, though, and even talked his dad into making him some green eggs to go with his ham that we had for dinner.  (He had tried green eggs at school the previous week when they celebrated Dr. Suess and now he will only eat eggs if they are green.)

The next day (Tuesday the 10th) Kai was still coughing and sounding quite congested.  So, I had him get in the shower to clear some stuff out.  He ended up getting sick in the shower.  Ugghhh....that was not fun.  So, he stayed home again.  Bree was a quite a little cutie on the way to take Finn to school that day!

That night Kai started running a fever, so he was home from school again on the 11th.  Good grief, I was getting anxious to get him back to school and finally on the 12th (Thursday) I was able to send him.  He was still coughing and you could tell he was still weak, but I felt he needed to get back to school.

On Thursday when I finally got Kai back to school, Finn started in on it.  He was running a fever, coughing, throwing up, and run down.  He took a 3-4 hour nap in the middle of the day.  That never happens!  I was able to keep him hydrated by giving him small amounts of water through his G-tube, thankfully, but he wasn't really eating anything.

Staying hydrated, thanks to the g-tube, while taking a nap.

On Friday I called CF clinic as we were going into the weekend and I wanted to check in with them before I couldn't get anyone.  They said that if Finn started running a fever or throwing up again that i should take him in.  Friday morning he was feeling pretty good and much better (still coughing, but much improved).  By about 4:30 that afternoon he was back to running a fever and throwing up again.  I made the decision to take him into our pediatrician's after-hours clinic.  The doctor wasn't super helpful but did mention that Finn appeared to have an ear infection in his left ear.  Ummm....wow!  He's never had one of those before.

Anyway, we stayed in for the weekend and tried to get everyone back to feeling better.  On Sunday I started noticing that Bree was coughing.  By Monday she was coughing and sounding bad like everyone else.  It was a pretty day outside so we walked down to the bus stop to get Kai and we got these pictures.

Tuesday night (the 17th) Kai started complaining of being tired, not hungry, and cold.  Turned out he was running a fever.  Boo!  He ended up running a fever every afternoon for the next three days and so he missed the final three days of school before spring break.  He also missed his class field trip to the Denver Aquarium and the 2nd grade Beach Day.  I felt really bad for him, but he was worn out and needed to rest and stay home.  Bree also started running nightly fevers on Wednesday night.  I actually took both Kai and Bree to the pediatrician on Wednesday morning.  They gave Kai an antibiotic and said he might have a "sinus infection".  They said Bree had a cold, and no ear infection.  I have to say that I wasn't thrilled with the visit.  We could only get in with the RN that day and I ended up regretting it.  That same day I took Finn in for a visit with the CF RN (see the theme) at the South Children's location so that they could check him out.  It was our first sick CF visit ever.  Finn was down over 2 pounds in just 4 days, both of his ears did "not look normal", and they heard some slight wheezing in his chest.  We did a belly x-ray to make sure he was cleared out (he was) and they ran basic bloodwork to make sure he wasn't dehydrated (he wasn't).  We had seen the GI the day before and had decided to restart his reflux meds.  The GI was also worried about post-viral gastroparesis.  The CF RN decided that we should give the GI's plan a try (we hadn't been able to start the meds yet because of insurance delays) and wait to start a round of prednisone for the wheezing until after his tummy issues were resolved.  I agreed.  So that day I spent my ENTIRE day with doctors only to be told that there isn't that much wrong with the kids.  It was frustrating and I didn't agree because my kids were definitely sick.  Finn, however, didn't miss any school that week (and had only missed 2 days the week before).  Kai ended up missing 6 days of school.  And then we had spring break!  That's for my next post.  

Thursday afternoon Finn got really quite.  I found him totally asleep on my pillow.  He told me he wasn't sleeping.  :)