Oh, the anticipation...

Benson can hardly contain his excitement, he is SO ready for Christmas. In fact, in his prayer tonight he prayed that he wouldn't be too excited.

He's having a hard time going to bed, so I let him get up and write a note for Santa to leave with some cookies.


Here's his note:

(Hi Santa do you know the true meaning of Christmas? hint. it's in the beginning of Christmas.)

At least we are focusing on the right things...

Lightning strikes twice

Jillian has been sick the past week. It started last Friday with some diarrhea, then a fever Friday night into Saturday morning, then vomiting on Sunday morning. By Monday, we thought she was doing better (no more symptoms) but she was INCREDIBLY fussy all day long. I sat and held her for much of the day, but by dinner time I was getting tired of the fussing and I needed to get something done. So I stuck Jilly in her crib, hoping she would cry herself to sleep (she hadn't napped very well). It became obvious that that wasn't going to work, so I put her in her highchair with some food hoping she would eat (she hadn't done much of that that day either). Mike came home shortly thereafter and was about to pick her up out of her highchair, where she was still crying, when I looked at her and thought that something seemed off. I asked Mike what was wrong with her and he turned around and looked at me and said, "She's having a seizure, call 911."
By the time the EMT's got there, the older kids were over at the next door neighbors and the seizure was over although she still was not responding. They took her temperature in her ear and it was normal. We decided to go ahead and transport her to the ER. I went in the ambulance with her and by that time she was crying again and continued to cry the whole way to the hospital and most of the time we were at the hospital. She was so upset that they had to put her armband on me because they couldn't get her to hold still long enough. Mike joined me at the hospital after some friends came to watch Benson, Grace, and Sabrina. All they did at the hospital was give her motrin and keep us there to watch her. No bloodwork, x-rays, nothing. They diagnosed it as a febrile seizure (just like Sabrina's) and sent us home with instructions to follow-up with the pediatrician in the morning.
She went to bed shortly after we got home and slept really well (better than normal), I know she was just exhausted after the seizure and all that crying. The pediatrician agreed with the febrile seizure assessment, even though she never really had a fever any of the 4 times they took it that night. He didn't feel like we needed to do anything else at this point. If she has another one, we'll reassess.
I seriously didn't think we would be doing this again, and definitely not so soon. Febrile seizures are something that they grow out of, usually by age 6. The younger they are when they have one, the more likely they are to have another one. So I guess we just watch her and see what happens.
I was much calmer this time, probably because a) I'd seen it happen before and everything was fine, b) We were at home, and c) Mike was home and holding her.
People tell us all the time that they think Jilly looks exactly like Sabrina. Maybe that means they have the same bad genes too that cause these stupid seizures. Mike and I have agreed that if there is a next time with either one of them, there will be no calling 911 unless it lasts a really long time or they don't respond relatively quickly afterwards. Here's hoping that this really is the last time!
By the way, Benson, Grace, and Sabrina were quite upset at the time (obviously) but by the time Mike went over to the neighbors to pick them up they were mostly over it. Nellie gave them pizza and cinnamon rolls and let them play with toys, they didn't want to leave. Have I mentioned we have wonderful neighbors and friends here in Manhattan? We really do!

Some days...

it's ok that at 1pm no one's hair is done (although everyone is bathed), the beds aren't made, the living room has been turned into a fort, and all we've had for lunch is a box of cheese-its and not one of them has been eaten in the kitchen.

(This is for all of you out there that think that I never relax and let things go)

P.S. We've also had almost no fighting or yelling this morning. If I could add whining to that list then it really would be the perfect day. :) Well that and we are missing Mike and Benson.

Monkey Business

We celebrated Jillian's 1st birthday with our friend's the Horspool's who have a little boy named Jack who turned 2 on Friday. So we had a combo Jack/Jill birthday celebration. We ate pizza and had a fire in their backyard and cooked s'mores. The weather was perfect Friday night, we could be out around the fire without coats on.

I made monkey cupcakes because these two are crazy little MONKEYS! Jillian was in heaven, we let her eat a s'more then she grabbed an open root beer can and dumped it down the front of her shirt. Then we gave her a cupcake for good measure. When we turned the lights out to sing Happy Birthday, Jack tried to grab and hold Jillian's hand. It was very sweet.

The Big ONE!

Jillian is 1!

It's amazing how fast a whole year can pass. I haven't blogged about Jilly for a few months, so here's an update on what she's been up to.

• She started walking at 10 1/2 months. Now she has moved onto climbing. She can climb up and down the bunk bed ladder. She climbs on all her toys, she even climbed on top of one of her birthday presents before she opened it.
• Jillian LOVES baby dolls. She also loves real babies in car seats. The jury is still out on whether she is more enamored with the car seat or the baby inside, I think it is a combination of both.
• Jilly still just has 2 teeth, although she has been fussy and really drooly lately so we think more are coming. Hopefully she will get a bunch at the same time here pretty quick.
• Because she just has the 2 teeth, it has been hard to get Jilly to eat real food. She still eats a lot of oatmeal and rice cereal. Other favorites she will eat: goldfish crackers, nilla wafers, bread balls, and yogurt. She will eat better if she is sitting on my lap eating off my plate, go figure. She has basically been done nursing since just before she started walking. She likes her milk warm in one certain type of sippy cup, although she is getting better about drinking out of different kinds.
• She has this really high-pitched squeal scream that she uses to help her get what she wants. She screams at the kids when they bug her and she screams at them when she wants their drinks or toys.
• Along with the screaming, she has been pitching fits for months. If she doesn't get what she wants or you take something away from her she will flop all over like a fish out of water. She relies on us to protect her from injury during said tantrums.
• Jillian is a really good napper when we are at home during the day. When we are out she never naps anymore, she won't even fall asleep in the car! She has been the WORST sleeper at night lately. She had an ear infection at the beginning of November and has been getting up at least twice a night since then. Although she has done better the last couple of nights so hopefully that will continue.
• Her favorite place to be is outside. When she hears an outside door open she comes running and falls on the floor crying when we won't let her out.
• Jilly is a daddy's girl through and through. She will pick him the majority of the time. She lights up when he comes in a room and stares him down until he comes and picks her up.
• She spends her days getting into EVERYTHING! Yesterday I watched her take all of the tupperware out of the bottom drawer it is in and then climb in the drawer herself. She LOVES the lazy susan in the kitchen, she spins it around until she sees something she likes and then dumps it on the floor. I'm sure the other kids were just as busy, but you forget and I think it's harder to keep track of her with everything else going on. Her recent messes include dropping a glass candle jar which shattered and dumping a whole gallon of vegetable oil on the kitchen floor. Her nickname is TROUBLE!
• She is super snuggly when she wants to be. I love that our kids are all great snugglers.

Jillian's 1st Year Collage

For her birthday we met Mike at Panera for lunch. She loves their mac & cheese and was so happy to be out and about. She is definitely NOT a homebody. I had a Presidency Meeting that night so we only had time to open presents after Mike got home from work. She really enjoyed opening and playing with her toys, at least the ones that Benson, Grace, and Sabrina didn't dominate!

Happy Birthday little one! How grateful we are that you joined our family one year ago!

You only turn 4 once!

Sabrina turned 4 on November 9th (Tuesday). On Sunday, we made some ducky cupcakes and had some friends over since we went to Great Wolf Lodge on Monday and Tuesday for the big day.



On Monday, Benson went to school and Grace and Sabrina went to preschool while we got everything ready to go and then we headed to Kansas City after lunch. We checked into the hotel around 3pm and headed straight to the water park. We played for 3 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. The girls loved the little kid area, the hot tubs, and the lazy river. Benson loved the waterslides, he went over and over and over on all of them. We went back to the room and showered and headed over to Legends for some dinner at Five Guys and a sweet treat at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Then straight to bed because everyone was SO tired. After not the greatest night sleep we got up and went back to the water park at 9am. We stayed until almost 11am and then hurried to get ready so we could check out at noon. After lunch and a little shopping we headed home. The hotel was awesome, the kid's LOVED everything about it. There's lots of other activities that we could have done (for a price) but the water park was plenty for us!




It's hard for me to believe that Sabrina just turned 4 because it seems like she has been 4 most of the year. She is so determined to keep up with Benson and Grace that I forget how much younger she actually is most of the time. She is such a good helper and such a sweet little girl. We love our Breen (that's what Grace calls her)! I asked her a few questions today:

Favorite color: green, purple, and yellow
Favorite food: breakfast casserole, fruit, and cinnamon rolls (which is what we had for Sunday dinner yesterday)
Favorite thing to watch on tv: Blue's Clues and Zaboomafoo
Favorite toys: babies, dolls, barbies, and girl toys
Best friends: Reagan curly hair and Reagan Horspool and Grace
Favorite game: hide and seek, playing a game with Grace
Favorite drinks: Orange juice, apple juice, milk and pop
Favorite lunch: turkey and butter sandwich and chicken nuggets

OCTOBER!

We did actually survive October, but just barely...

Mike had to go out of town for training in St. Louis for a week, which happened to be the week of his 30th birthday. Strike 1 for October.

The girls and I went with Benson's class on their field trip to the Pumpkin Patch that week. Everyone's favorite part was the hay jump.




On Friday we met Grandma Stacey and Aunt Chelsea in Kansas City. Mike met us there on his way back from St. Louis. Grandma and Aunt Chelsea took the kids back to Manhattan so Mike and I could celebrate his birthday with an overnight stay in Kansas City. Pretty romantic, right? I spent the night alternating between chills, sweating off a fever, and basically feeling horrible. We missed our dinner reservations (Ruth's Chris) and didn't get the wonderful night's sleep we were hoping for, although I'm sure it was lots better than it would have been at home. Strike 2 for October!

Mike and our yummy room service breakfast (since we saved $ on dinner), us, the view from our room on the 18th floor (it was a really nice hotel until we had to take cold showers that morning!)

P.S. At home, Grandma was fighting the stomach flu! Oh yeah and that was the weekend of the Primary Program and we had a Teacher Training during the 3rd hour of church. Still can't believe we actually survived all of that!

The ward Trunk or Treat was the following Wednesday night. Mike took the kids because I was still fighting what had turned into bronchitis. This year we had an entomologist, Rapunzel, Jasmine, and a butterfly.


Benson was off school Thursday and Friday so the kids and I headed to Grandma's house (Mike was closing every night that weekend and I had started on some antibiotics and was starting to feel better). We went to their Trunk or Treat on Thursday night with Spencer the train conductor. The older kids went with Grandma and Grandpa to the football game on Friday night and we had big plans for lots of fun things on Saturday - trick or treating, s'mores, etc. But all 3 girls woke up throwing up late Friday night/early Saturday morning. It was ridiculous. I would get one cleaned up and taken care of and another would start. Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa love us, we ended up having to each take a girl and there was lots of throwing up going on. Benson and I managed to hold off until the next evening and the girls were mostly done by then. By Sunday morning I was so ready to get out of there. We got in the car and drove the whole 4 hours without one stop, something we have not accomplished since before Jillian was born, and maybe not even then. You know, Halloween was my least favorite holiday before, but now...my kids will be lucky if we ever celebrate it again! Strike 3 for October!

Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Chelsea for their help and putting up with us. I'm sure they were as relieved to see us leave as we were to go!

Neighbors

One thing we have really loved about Manhattan is our wonderful neighbors. Our kids LOVE to play outside with them. The weather has been perfect lately, so we are outside playing lots. The other evening we were playing and the kid's wanted a snack. They started on the picnic blanket, but then asked for their chairs. We saw a wonderful photo opportunity with all of them lined up together in their chairs snacking. We even added Baby Elijah to the end of the line-up. Crazy to think that when we moved here, Noah was Jillian's age, Jillian was in my tummy, and Elijah was only a twinkle in Nellie's eye. I can't even imagine how much older they will all look in another year!

Proof

For weeks I have been telling Mike that Jillian can stand up by herself in the middle of a room not holding onto anything. He hasn't ever seen her do it, so I don't think he believes me. So here it is, the proof.

Making Progress

Jillian's walking skills are improving daily. We are all so excited to watch her learn new things!

Losing them faster than we can grow them!

After lunch today, Grace asked me to pull her loose tooth. She was having a hard time eating because it was so loose. I really didn't think that she would actually let me pull it out, nor did I really think it was quite ready to come out but I was wrong. She did let me and it was ready! She did not even whimper, even when she saw the blood. Grace has been looking forward to this for a long time. This is an important sign that she is getting older. In fact, once it was out Sabrina said, "Now you're 6 Grace!" Not quite, but she's definitely getting closer!

Too bad we can't give some of these teeth we are losing to Jillian. She still just has her 2 bottom teeth and I think if she had more it would help us move away from baby food to real food.

Speaking of Jillian, she has her first cold of the season! The poor baby is so pathetic. She has fallen asleep while I was holding her twice so far today, which is unheard of for her these days. We hope it passes quickly because it's no fun for her or us!

It's in the Genes

Benson is the proud owner of a new accessory:



(side note: it is hard to take pictures in glasses without a glare!)

Not a real surprise since both parents (at least at one time), 3 out of 4 grandparents, and 8 out of 9 aunts and uncles wear glasses. He was a little nervous about getting them, but I think he likes being able to see better. After we picked them up he asked me if I thought he looked cute in them. I told him that not only does he look cute, but I think they make him look older and smarter.

Now let's hope we can go a whole year without losing or breaking them until the insurance will cover another pair!

Grace's Latest Halloween Costume Request

Strawberry Shortcake Cowboy riding a Pink Pony

Stuck in the Middle

Oh man, this kid is adding so much HUMOR to our life lately. She has LOVED and ADORED her baby sister from day one...but we are getting snatches of major jealousy lately. The following conversation will help to put it in perspective:

I'm laying on the floor in the living room, Sabrina is close by also sitting on the floor and Benson comes right up in my face and says,

Benson: Mom, I don't even know what to do! (how many times do I hear that sentence in a week, ugh!)

Jess: Me neither. Maybe we should trade lives. I could be you and you could be me and then you would always have something to do.

Benson: That doesn't sound like fun.

Sabrina: (quietly, not even sure she intended for us to hear her) I wish I could be Jillian.

So Sad! She is experiencing major Middle Child Syndrome. Grace gets to go to preschool 4 days a week and she feels SO LEFT OUT! Jillian is getting older and is way more high maintenance than she used to be. But it builds character, right? I promise she does get lots of attention, I just think right now no amount of attention would be enough for her.

So, about the HUMOR she is adding to our lives:

1. She is OBSESSED with hide and go seek. It started when we were in Utah this summer. She and Grace and maybe Benson were playing hide and seek with Grandpa Gary. She and Grandpa hid in a food storage closet in the basement of Mike's aunts house and Sabrina insisted that they lock the door, which I'm pretty sure is against the hide and seek rules, right? So of course Grace never did find them, we had to help her and even when we did find them she still didn't want to unlock the door. The next go round she hid in the storage closet alone and STILL dead-bolted the door. And couldn't figure out how to unlock it. Thank goodness Aunt Diane had a key. So that is where it started. Now she hides when Mike comes home from work every night. Sadly, some nights he doesn't realize very quickly that she's hiding, but she WILL NOT come out until he looks for her. Tonight she hid so well that we started to get worried. She mostly hides in the same place, a bin in her closet that is full of stuffed animals, but she usually only puts a blanket over her and is clearly visible. But tonight she pushed herself to the bottom of the tub and piled all the animals up on top of her. Mike checked the usual spot and she wasn't there and we started calling her name and then yelling her name and she just kept on hiding. It's funny now but we were getting a little worried.

2. Every day, at some point she will set up a "party" in her room. We still don't really understand why she is doing this and it drives me BANANAS because she never wants to put everything back in it's proper place but I also think it's hilarious. Her description of it will be much better than one I could give. *I'll have to add the video later, it is too cute.*

Pretty much it's about the same set-up every time, with only slight variations. The kid has a serious need to organize. I love that the fan is the laundry. Have I mentioned before that she LOVES to fold clothes (she calls it "packing"). Babies and laundry are her idea of a great party. Motherhood really will be her dream come true!

3. Sabrina is the grouchiest kid EVERY morning. It doesn't matter if we let her sleep in and wake up on her own or if we wake her up, she is a grump. With school starting again we were really feeling the pain of dealing with her grouchy self and trying to get out the door on time. We have tried many techniques but this has been the most effective:

She feeds Jillian yogurt every morning. And it kills two birds with one stone cause Jillian needs to be fed. It's a very symbiotic relationship (I learned that term from Benson).

4. Sabrina tries so hard to keep up with Benson and Grace but sometimes it's so hard because she is still younger and smaller than them. My favorite story to characterize this:

On Labor Day we went to the park close to our house because our ward was having a Barbecue. There is a nice play area at that park that is completely fenced in and during the barbecue it was FULL of kid's from the ward. All of the kid's were having a blast running around and playing with their friends. Mike was in there keeping track of them all and at one point Sabrina runs past him holding hands with a string of little girls, missing a flip-flop. He stops her and asks where her shoe is and she gets teary and says, "I can't stop running or I won't catch up. They won't wait for me." The poor kid, she felt like it was better to leave her flip-flop behind than for her to be left behind. There have been at least 2 Saturday mornings recently that she has slept in until after 9am and I think it's because she is trying so hard to keep up with the bigger kids but her poor little body can't quite keep up yet.

5. Her prayers. Adorable. Mike and I can't wait to hear what she'll pray for each night. She is not in any danger of being guilty of "vain repetitions." She is our only child who doesn't ask for help. She does frequently like to throw in "Bless everyone to do what their mommy tells them." Mike and I can't think of anything else she has said recently, we'll have to write it down for a few days because every night is so different.

Sabrina also loves to snuggle with her mama, loves to play with friends, is a huge snacker lately and barely eats anything at meal time (snack of choice is fruit snacks she has at least 2 packs a day), teases her older brother and sister and gets them into trouble ALL the time, has more pride than any 3 year old should - she very rarely apologizes and won't stay in her room for anything, tells me at least twice a week that she needs ANOTHER baby doll stroller and steals Jilly's walking toy doll stroller from her all the time. She is the most articulate 3 year old I've ever heard, although she does stutter a bit when she gets really excited. She loves to play with friends and really gets along well with other children, no matter their age. When we are in the car driving anywhere, I always remind everyone to be on their best behavior and then ask what that means. Sabrina will always answer, "no fighting, no fussing, no whining."

Sabrina, if you ever read this someday, you are such a blessing to this family! I know you feel a little left out and neglected now and perhaps you will continue to have those feelings from time to time, but we love you so much and love what you add to our family.

Catching Up

So I'm attempting to finish all the posts I started and never finished this summer. I'll put the links to the posts on this post if anyone is interested in going back and reading them since they are interspersed between ones that have already been posted. Hopefully it won't take me too long, but I also plan on continuing to post what's going on now.

Grace's Birthday Trip
July Recap

9 months

Another month is gone and Jillian has now been on the outside for as long as she was inside me, which hardly seems possible. She is getting to be quite a big girl, or at least she thinks she is. Some of Jillian's new favorite pasttimes are:

Pulling all the books off the bookshelf


Playing outside, especially swinging in her new pink swing. In fact, if an outside door is open and gets shut before she gets to go outside she always cries.


Pushing the kitchen chairs or stools all over the kitchen (we tried to curb this one by buying her a new little stroller/walker toy and it has helped some)


Climbing and cruising along anything she can find


It has been a busy month, we took Jillian on her first long drive (16 hours each way to Utah). She actually did pretty well in the car, I'm sure mostly because we drove through the night both ways. While we were there she got to meet 3 of her great-grandpas and 3 great-grandmas.

Jillian with Grandma Stevens (my mom's mom)

She also got to pet a bunny for the first time at Aunt Whitney's wedding reception.


She still LOVES her baby food (rice cereal and oatmeal being her absolute favorite), so much so that she's not as interested in table food as we would like. She is tricky to feed sometimes because she likes to spit which can make quite a mess. Mike thinks he has a technique to keep her from spitting (keeping the spoon in her mouth for a really long time), but she still gets him when he's not paying attention.

Jilly really loves her daddy. Unless she is hungry she will pick him over me.


We took her to the doctor for her well child appointment and she didn't even get any shots, so I paid $25 for her to be weighed and measured (I was annoyed, can you tell). So here are her 9 month stats:

Weight: 16 lbs, 14 oz (12th percentile)
Height: 28 inches (57th percentile)
Teeth count: still just 2 on the bottom

Grace's First Day of Preschool

Grace had her first day of preschool on Monday. I know she is 5, but we decided that since she has a summer birthday we will keep her home one more year. She is excited to be able to go to preschool. Two mornings a week it will be with some friends in the ward and two mornings a week it will be at a more formal preschool. I was just looking at these pictures thinking that I can't believe how grown-up she looks. Where did my little kids go? I seriously remember thinking when Benson, Grace, and Sabrina were little that that phase would NEVER end. And then I blinked.


I thought Sabrina would be excited to have some special mommy time with Benson and Grace gone and Jillian napping, but so far all she has wanted is to have a friend over during that time.

First Day of First Grade

Hard to believe that Benson is on his 3rd first day of school already! We went and met his new teacher last night and she seems really nice. We forgot to check the class list to see who was in his class that he knew from last year. All of the boys that we ran into that he knew were in the other class, so he was a little worried that there would be no boys in his class that he knew. He seemed excited to try and make new friends though. It was nice to be familiar with the school and see lots of familiar faces as we walked around.

He was excited to wear his new clothes and shoes and use his new backpack this morning. I was going to take him to school this morning but with all the construction on the school, I knew it would be a mess so he opted to ride the bus. We know that 1st grade will be a great year for Benson!

All I Want for Christmas...

This last month, Benson has gone from this...


to this...


to this...


1st grade here we come!

It's great to be 8...

months old!



Jillian turned 8 months old on the 1st. And true to form this summer I am still behind. But here are a few things that have happened this month.

Jillian is a crawler! She started really crawling on Saturday, July 10th and man does it change everything. The crawling part is not so bad, but she started pulling up to standing on EVERYTHING less than a week later. There is nothing that she won't try to pull up on - her crib, stools, bookcases, couches, the dollhouse, the toliet, the bathtub, trash cans, kitchen cupboards, drawers, etc, etc. She falls several times every day and has a permanent bruise on her forehead. And still she does not stop. Lately she has started pulling up to standing on things like the stools in the kitchen and then going up on her tiptoes to try and bite/chew on the stool seat which is hard to do when you don't balance very well.


Jillian got her first two teeth on the bottom on Monday, July 26th. I could probably almost tell you the exact time they finally broke through because the difference was so noticeable. She really struggled with these first two teeth, I'm hoping the next ones come a little easier.


Now that Jilly can sit up and balance so well, bath time has become significantly more fun. She loves to hold her hand under the running water and to splash like a CRAZY fishy when she is laying down. She cries everyday when I get her out.


The fear of strangers/I really like my mommy stage is in full force. When we were in Oklahoma, if I wasn't around she would go to my family, but as soon as I walked into a room she would start whining and fussing until I would take her. Daddy is just as good as mommy most of the time still, thank goodness.


One day last month I noticed that Jillian's bottom lip was purpley-blue in color but since she has been getting so many bumps and bruises I figured she had just hit her mouth and it went away. Then a few days later I noticed it looking blue again and I started panicking and checking her fingernails and toenails and the rest of her body to make sure she wasn't turning blue from lack of oxygen. Everything was fine and then I watched her for a few minutes and noticed she was sucking on her bottom lip and realized that she was sucking on her bottom lip so hard that she was giving herself a lip hickey, for lack of a better word. She did this a bunch for a few weeks and then hasn't since.

First, Last, and Only

On Monday, we had some firsts that I sincerely pray will be the first, last, and only time our family has to experience any of these things!

First call to 911
First ride in an ambulance
Sabrina's first trip to the ER
Sabrina's first...and second IV
Sabrina's first MRI

The kid's and I were in Oklahoma for the past week visiting my family. On Monday we had gone to Tulsa to get haircuts and visit with some of our friend's from Broken Arrow. On the way back, I had been talking on the phone to Mike and was just saying good-bye as I drove into town when I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed that Sabrina had massive amounts of foamy slobber dripping down the sides of her mouth all over her shirt. I was confused and said "Sabrina, why are you so slobbery?" but she didn't respond at all. Then I started saying her name over and over again getting louder and louder with still no response, no movement or anything. I quickly pulled over into a grocery store parking lot and hopped out of the car and when I got back to her I noticed her arm jerking over and over again and I knew she was having a seizure. So I called 911. And the ambulance came and she was still seizing. And they took her out of the car and laid her on a gurney and they said she was still seizing. I had been on the phone with Mike and he knew I was calling 911 so he had called my mom and told her she needed to go find me to help with the other kid's so she showed up not long after the ambulance. I rode in the ambulance to the hospital and that was seriously the worst few minutes of my life. I was in the front so I couldn't see her and I didn't know what was going on. They gave her a bunch of Valium to stop the seizure and by the time they were taking her out of the ambulance at the ER she was starting to cry and I was so relieved. She was very confused and drugged and cried for quite a while. At first I couldn't understand what she was trying to say but then I realized she was saying over and over again "I want you to hold me mama" even when I was holding her. So sad! Her temperature was 100.4 in the ER and they diagnosed it as a febrile seizure. The crazy thing is that she had been acting fine all day, I had no idea she was sick. So after running a bunch of tests (which all came back normal, not even an elevated WBC count) and spending several hours in the ER, they sent us home. And by the time we left she was acting totally normal again, still nothing to indicate that she was sick. Mike, who was home in Manhattan, left while we were still in the ER and drove down to be with us.

Grandpa Jeff holding Sabrina right before they sent us home. You can see the 2 IV's in her left arm. She did not even cry when they took them out, including when they were pulling off all the tape which looked like it would hurt.

On Tuesday afternoon before we left to come home, we took Sabrina in for a Brain MRI which also was normal. She was SO good during the MRI it was ridiculous. You have to lay perfectly still for those things a lot longer than I ever realized. She slept through at least half of it but laid perfectly still for the other half. So on the way back to Grandma's house we stopped at Braum's and she had a scoop of strawberry ice cream in a cone. She ate every last bit of that ice cream cone.


Tender mercies/blessings/miracles -

• My cell phone was not working on Monday. Jilly had been playing with it that morning and it was unusable all day. Except for the drive home from Tulsa, it all of a sudden started working and continued to work until I sent Mike a text message from the ambulance telling him that Sabrina's seizure had stopped. Then it quit working and hasn't worked since.
• We were in town when it happened, not on the road between Tulsa and Bartlesville.
• We were literally a 3 minute drive from my parent's house so my mom and sister got there shortly after the ambulance. I didn't have to worry about my other kid's at all. Which was especially comforting since I think I scared Benson and Grace to death with my reaction.
• My dad was on his way home from work when it happened and arrived at the ER before we did. It made me feel better knowing that he was there.
• Because we were in Bartlesville, my Uncle Ryan who is a doctor was there with us in the ER which was so comforting because I knew he would make sure they took good care of Sabrina.

We are so grateful that Sabrina is ok, that nothing more serious was wrong, and we are especially grateful for the help and blessings that we received. We sincerely hope that this will be a first, last, and only experience of this kind!!

Rx for Rough Times

So the last month has been...interesting (read: challenging, hard, not so fun) for our family. On July 6th, we found out that Wells Fargo Financial is closing all its stores. Which means as of the beginning of September Mike will not have a job. (We will have severance with pay and benefits for a few additional months.) We are not sure what the future holds for our family at this point, we do have some opportunities/options that are starting to materialize which is probably why I finally feel up to recording this experience somewhere permanent and public.

Four years ago this month, we were faced with a similar challenge. I was six months pregnant with Sabrina and Mike was laid off the day we were to drive out to Utah for my sister Kathleen's wedding. But while we were in Utah, he got a call from Wells Fargo Financial which turned into a job about six weeks later that has given us many opportunities and growing experiences over the last four years.

When I was a freshman at BYU, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk in October General Conference that touched me. Because at the time I was having a hard time adjusting to being away from home and the pressures of college life. I thought my life was pretty hard (little did I know...). And over the years as challenging times have come, I have often read this talk for encouragement. One of my favorite quotes is this:
"Even if you cannot always see that silver lining on your clouds, God can, for He is the very source of the light you seek. He does love you, and He knows your fears. He hears your prayers. He is your Heavenly Father, and surely He matches with His own the tears His children shed."

My faith has increased as I have looked back over my life and recognized the blessings and the help that have come before, during, and after the challenges.

Shortly before this latest challenge, a new Mormon message appeared on our church's YouTube channel, Mormon Messages. I have been watching this video (Good-Things-to-Come) and reading Elder Holland's talk quite a bit lately. I know that what he says is true. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for our family and that he will continue to bless us and watch over us. So stayed tuned for the next chapter in the life of the Richards' family.

July recap

Mike played on a soccer team with some guys from the ward. They weren't the best team ever, but they got lots of exercise.

Benson finished up his t-ball season.

The kids and I went to the Beach Museum of Art at K-State

Benson, Grace, and Sabrina were very good chalkboards for Family Night

We went to the Museum of Natural History at KU on our way to take Mike to the Kansas City airport. After we dropped Mike off the kids and I ate at Five Guys, it was pretty yummy.

Mike flew down to Houston for the weekend to explore possible job opportunities and more importantly to be there when his younger brother Stephen went through the temple for the first time and spoke in church prior to leaving on his mission to Kennewick, Washington.

While Mike was gone, my parents and sister stopped at our house on their way home from Wyoming. They helped me survive church on Sunday and then took Benson, Grace, and Sabrina with them back to Oklahoma for a few days. Jillian and I headed down later that week. We had lots of fun, minus our trip to the ER for Sabrina.

Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sarah playing with Jillian's hair. It's amazing what they could do when they had so little to work with. Poor girl!


Grandma and Grandpa took Benson, Grace, and Sabrina to the Kiddie Park one night. Always a highlight of Bartlesville in the summer!

Of course there were MANY trips to the pool interspersed between all the other activities!