Unexpected Turn of Events

Hey everyone! Who knew so much could happen in just one week? We've been through a roller coaster over here. But thankfully the ride has come to an end and we're currently enjoying the rest of the amusement park that is life.

On Wednesday, Aiden's school had their Harvest Festival. The boys wore their pirate costumes and scored lots of booty playing games, ate about 4 cupcakes each (ack - bad mommy!), and overall just really enjoyed themselves running around with at least 100 other kids. It was craziness, but so much fun for them.

This was one of their favorite activities. The school recycled their shredded paper and buried candy in it, and the kids would hunt for the candy in the shreds. By the end of the festival, kids were just all out throwing the shreds on each other in heaps. (Too many cupcakes!)

Aiden taking a snack break with his friend Noah.

Aiden playing the bean bag toss game (he won lots of prizes)!

The day of the festival, Jeremy was getting a runny nose. He seemed fine for the most part, just a runny nose. By the evening he had quite a little cough...which brings us to the unexpected turn of events...Jeremy's illness. By the next morning, we were certain that Jeremy needed to be seen by his pediatrician. He had a fever, was coughing all through the night, and laboring to breathe. The pediatrician was quite concerned when he saw Jeremy, who by that time was really having trouble breathing. His little ribs were sticking out with every breath, and he was forcing in a little dent in his throat with each inhalation, as he was trying to breathe in air. He was treated in the office with a nebulizer, a device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs. The doctor suspected pneumonia, and sent him to diagnostic imaging for a chest x-ray. When we got back to the Dr's office, he had the x-ray already available for viewing through their new computer system. The x-ray was abnormal with suspected pneumonia, and the doctor prescribed a course of treatment, saying he'd need to see Jeremy back the next day so we could decide if he would need to be admitted to the hospital (depending on his progress or lack thereof in the next 24 hours - and the official radiology report). This of course was quite alarming to us, but the doctor gave him a double dose of the medication right there on the spot and sent us home with an inhaler and some other meds to work on improving his condition. Thankfully by the grace of God, Jeremy responded very well to the treatment and it only got better from that point. The medication began working within 12 hours. He was bit by bit breathing easier, and we were so thankful. He was seen the next day (Halloween day), and the official radiology report came back, giving him the all clear. The boys were in a great mood. Jeremy was feeling better so he was in an especially good mood. Maria would have been in a good mood, had she not in the meantime fallen victim to the same illness. She was at the doctor herself, getting a breathing treatment and a similar course of medication. The consolation prize for our Halloween visits to the doctors were halloween decorated donuts for Maria and trick or treat bags for the kiddos. Oh well!

So, that brings us to Halloween Night. Of course we couldn't do the whole she-bang we would normally do on halloween since we were sick. But Drew didn't want the kids to miss out altogether. So they put on their pirate garb, and just did a mini trick-or-treat only at our immediate neighbors on our block. But that proved to be plenty! They went out for less than half an hour, and they came back with pounds and pounds of candy! There were a lot of generous neighbors and not that many trick-or-treaters, so the kids got handfuls of candy at every stop. They were thrilled with their loot. Auntie Dionne came over in the evening to check out their "booty" - they were excited to show it off and dive in.










The next day (Nov 1) was Jeremy's Birthday. We had cancelled the party 2 days prior, as Jeremy was in such bad shape. But he ended up having a really nice day, as he still had a few visitors drop by and we celebrated together as a family. Thankfully, he was nearly fully recovered by this time.

Jeremy with a birthday present from Mommy and Daddy - a "real" light saber (it was taller than him)!

Jeremy with his birthday present from the Summits (he loves it and is wearing it today, Nov 2). He even wore it to bed that night.

More happy present time (Auntie Dionne stopped by to wish him happy birthday and bring him some gifts)!

Vavu and Aiden playing Memory. Aiden thought it was really funny when Vavu forgot where some of the tiles were.

Maria helping Jeremy open his present from Laura and Jake - a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mega Blocks set.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jeremy! We love you!

Happy Cake Face