Snow!

We finally have our first true snowfall of the season! Reports have varied from 5 to 9 inches, but there is a lovely coating of white to our city and it is still falling. Kaia of course was thrilled, Mo seems pretty excited too. They both were squishing the little bit that had accumulated yesterday evening into snowballs and throwing them. I'm happy to report that my new tires did great today. Also Kaia didn't even put up a fight when I told her that she needed to wear pants to school because of the snow. She actually let me pick out her entire outfit, and willingly put on the yellow snow coat, all so that she could run out and play. Sampson who was probably just a puppy last time there was snow on the ground (not including the little bit that we had a few weeks ago) was outside last night barking at the snowflakes and chasing them through the yard. Hopefully I can get a photo soon, although it may be of the office as it's dark by the time I get home.

Yaki-Niku

One of our favorite places to eat is Keoki's. Both Dana and I get Yaki-Niku every time. But with 2 young ones, and the cost of going out, I found a way to make this at home that's pretty close. It's not the most budget minded recipe, but in comparison to going out, it's quite the deal.

Night before:
Put thin cut steak into a shallow container. Chop up a clove of garlic and put it in also. Then cover with 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part vinegar and add just a bit of water as needed to cover. Let marinate overnight.
This is also the perfect time to cook up some rice and throw it in the fridge, but I never plan far enough ahead, so I just cook just before use.

Dinner:
Add a tablespoon of sesame oil to a pan. Cut the steak into squares (approx 2"x 2") and place half in the heated pan. Cook until they reach desired doneness. Set aside and do the same for the other half.

While the steak is cooking get out some barbeque pork. If it's pre-cut, then pull all the small or mangled pieces aside, if you're cutting use the ends. Cut those into small cubes. Place the rest of the pork on a plate and set in the microwave.

In a second pan heat 1 T of sesame oil and add the barbeque pork that you've chopped and approx 2 cups of cooked rice. Add salt and pepper and soy sauce. Keep stirring.

After the steak is cooked, add chopped cabbage (anywhere from 3/4 cup to 1 1/2 cups) to the pan and stirfry. Then when that has begun to soften add bean sprouts. Also pour in a bit of the leftover marinade. Stirfry the veggies intil cooked. Then turn heat to low and push veggies to the side. Put the meat back in the other half of the pan so it can reheat.

Back to the rice you've been stirring. Push it to the side of the pan and break an egg into the cleared area. Scramble the egg, and when it's just about fully cooked, stir it into the rice.

Turn on your microwave for a minute on high. Check the pork, and continue to warm as needed.

You are now ready to enjoy Yaki-Niku with fried rice, veggies and barbeque pork!

The Day After

Thanksgiving went well. The family gathering was smaller than expected with one brother and his girlfriend not attending. So I helped June get things ready and the table laid out. We put one of the nephews to work on the gravy, and he did pretty good. He'll be able to add that to his dating resume.



We did not get up early this morning to go shopping, although my mom, brother and sister in law all did. The kids both have colds so I coated their chests and feet in VapoRub last night, and they both slept well without coughing. Of course I woke up with a touch of it. So today has been a fairly lazy day. I cleaned up in the kitchen, and Kaia helped clean up her toys in the front room. I promised her that if she cleaned up we could put up the tree.



Before the tree though Mo had a nap, and Kaia had quiet time. After quiet time Kaia and I played on the computer. She wanted to visit Northpole.com, and from there we checked out Santa Tracker. New this year the tracker will require Google Earth so we downloaded it and then had fun. We looked at our house, and discovered the picture is at least 2 years old. There was still a fence running through the middle of our backyard, their was the car trailer out front, and the house across the street was still a swimming pool. From there we looked at my office, and the parking lot showed it was before I worked there. Then Kaia wanted to see the hospital where brother had been, and then we looked at Gramma Owies. After trying to find Neeko's house, I zoomed back out to the Earth. Kaia wanted to see Africa, so we looked at the aerial view of the pyramids. They also allow users to upload photos they took at locations, so there were plenty of those to see too. From there it was a short trip over to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Then we went to see "where the Wiggles live" Sydney Australia. I showed her the Opera House. Then we zoomed over to Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico to see Granny's place. I found the pier, but with all the vegetation I couldn't pick out her house. I did show Kaia where I thought the back door on her lot was. It was very cool to use, and I highly recommend it.



Mo got up from his nap, so I got out the tree and Kaia grabbed the decorations. There is a benefit to never having fully put them under the house last year. I didn't realize how many new decorations we had. I did realize that gone are the days when my tree will have a theme. Every single decoration and ornament we had went on. This included some mardi gras type necklaces that were in a deco bag. It sounds wierd, but they look really nice. Almost like wrapping a garland around, but just in spots. Plus they are really shiny and reflect the light well.



Here is a bad photo. I forgot to tell the camera it was dark in the room. Even with all the lights on.

So quiet...

It is so quiet lately. I notice that all my favorite blogs have slowed down as we are nearing the holiday. My messageboards are quiet, and for the most part the office is quiet.

We have a beautiful sunny day today. Kaia really had hoped to play in the snow last night, and I had to break the news that it had all melted. Dana and I are also working on convincing her that just because there was snow yesterday, that does not make Christmas this week. This leads to many arguments where at 4 years old, she knows everything!

Tomorrow we have a short day at work. I hope to go home and clean up so that I can enjoy cooking on Thursday morning. We will do an early dinner at Gordie and June's with Dana's brothers. A small gathering, but with only 4 girls present (including Kaia and I) there will still be plenty of work.

With Nana's help I revamped my desk display. I used it to decorate the board meeting lunch table today. I think I will take it with me to June's for Thanksgiving.

And the Award goes to...

Yesterday started out pouring rain. We ran from the car into church to keep from getting soaked. By yesterday afternoon it was snow falling, although melting away as it hit ground. By yesterday evening there was a good accumulation of slush/snow.

Sampson spent most of the day whimpering and whining outside. He was absolutely soaked and Dana said he was shivering. Knowing that he's an Alaskan Malmute, he is built to be out in the cold. He has a nice thick coat. Even more he has a $168 dog house sitting on the deck, and underneath the deck is also dry and there is a dryer vent pumping out warm air. But he still wins the Dumbest Dog Award because he didn't use either of those options. Instead he just kept running around the yard becoming more and more soaked.

By dark, Dana took pity on him and found a small tarp. I went out with him to help him attach it to the corner railing on the deck. Then he swept off all the snow/slush and gave him an old comforter to sleep on, while I toweled off Stupid Dog. I'm happy to report he does have enough brains to get under the tarp.

This morning he was fairly dry when I re-toweled him off and gave him his water. The snow/slush pretty much became a thin layer of snow, and Kaia had a blast playing in it before heading to Grammy and Papa's. Morgan even seemed to enjoy almost being hit by the snowballs she threw at him.

The fun never ends in downtown!

I left the office for 35 minutes. On my return I see Kaylene our finance coordinator standing outside with the headset on. She's asking if I saw some kids walking through the alley. I look toward the alley to see that our dumpster has been tagged. Then I see why she's on the phone, with who I quickly realize is the police. Our back door is also covered in grafitti. Leave it to the punks around here to tag a door in the middle of lunch hour on a busy street. Guaranteed that at least 5 cars passed while they were doing it. Very likely more. She happened to catch them in the act when she walked into the board room, but they took off running and all she could see was the sweatshirt and backpack of one of them. She tried looking out the window by the dumpster but the arbividae blocked her view.

So the police are looking for the punks, the gang task force will be over to take photos, and we get to try to clean up the mess.

Our psycho friend who we had to place a restraining order on is now safely locked up in the mental health facility at Eastern. It's sad that he came to this, but we are all glad that he will be getting some treatment. I hope he accepts it and will stay on his medications when he gets back out. There is a sweet old man underneath the mental illness.

We may live in a medium size town, but there are all the problems here of a large metropolitan area.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching

I'm still participating in Kelli's Giving Thanks Celebration. I usually don't do these things (I can't remember what they are called in blog world), but I love the idea of sharing all the Thanksgiving stories, tradition, recipes and crafts. Now that it is Friday, Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and I can't wait! I want to share a few preparations happening at our house.

This past week I've been visiting Retro-Food almost daily to see what recipe will be posted. I found one on Wednesday that I will be taking to June's next week. It is a molded salad called Pumpkin Jello. A little later in the day someone mentioned Refrigerator Rolls from Seasonal Delights (Kelli's online magazine, that I love!). They both sound great, so there are two of my contributions to Thursday's dinner.

Last night I picked up Kaia because Dana was sick. Her cubby was full of preschool Thanksgiving creations. A card that she made with a hand turkey. You know the ones. dip the palm and thumb in paint and press on paper. Dip each finger a different color for the feathers. It was very nicely done and had a cute poem, plus it's laminated so it will last for years. Another creation was a thankful tree. The teacher wrote what each child was thankful for on leaves that they glued to their paper tree and colored in the background on the paper. Kaia is thankful for her kitty-cats, dog, fish, mommy and daddy, brother, toys, and grammy. No papas on the list, and she told grammy June that she was thanful for her other grammy Grama Owie. Of course next time we ask her, she'll probably have a completely different story as to which grammy and why no papas. I printed some Thanksgiving coloring sheets for Kaia to color, I figure that is a good project for her Saturday (wow that's tomorrow) while Mo takes a nap.

There is our preparations. Not too much, just looking for the best price on the few ingredients I don't have right now. I did decorate my office with some squash and gourds I received from my last prayer partner. Guess I'll have to break out the dinosaur camera and get a pic. Update I have the pic but the camera is so old and with my recent system upgrades, I can't get it off the camera! Now that is frustrating. FINALLY!

A Simple Christmas list

Nissa at Simple Gifts wrote a wonderful blog today about what her family really wants. She has some really great ideas about keeping things simple and true to the spirit of Christmas. I could almost copy her list, except for the craft items which we have plenty of, and the fact that gift cards that are from useful stores are something we do use. I especially love her idea that the kids eat their pajamas at night... Is that where they've all gone? Kind of like the missing sock, jammies just seem to disappear at our house too.

Another "Giving Thanks" idea

I'm not the greatest decorator. I look at other people's arrangements and finds with a kind of awe. How did they pick those things up and make them look so great? Well I finally did it, once anyway. On a Sunday in October the yardsale leftovers were on the tables at church for anyone that would like them. I walked through and saw a worn out trash bag that contained wheat stalks. I actually had an "aha" moment. I picked up the bag, knowing that at home I had some bronze pre-tied ribbons from an after Christmas clearance sale. After church I gathered the wheat together, fastened the with some natural colored garbage ties in the middle, and I tied the bronze bow around it. I hung it just outside my door. It makes the entrance very autumn and welcoming. Picture to follow!

Yikes!

I just logged in to pay our electric bill, only to discover that it will be going up $53 a month! Part of this is due to a court overturning a credit that we use to receive. The other part is I haven't been as careful about what the kids turn on and leave on. We just brought home our new used hot tub yesterday, and that will definitely affect power usage. I guess I better get back in to power-saving mode.

Thanksgiving

At Kelli's blog There is No Place Like Home it's time to celebrate Thanksgiving by sharing tips, memories, recipes, or what we are thankful for. Note: I had hoped to use her pretty picture link, but I'm just not smart enough. Anyone care to share with me how to use it? Update: Apparently I hit everything but save as while trying to save the photo. Thanks for the tip, "Mommy"!


I may not have many excellent recipes, and you can all guess that cleaning tips are lacking at my place. However, Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday! Just like Christmas it is a time to come together, but without all the hype. There isn't the expectations of giving and getting. Thanksgiving is all about just being together and being thankful for our blessings.

Thanksgiving also happens to occur during Autumn, my favorite time of year. I love the look of the trees and the cool crisp air. The smell of apples and woodsmoke in the air. I'm thankful I live where there is an Autumn (November in Malibu just wasn't the same).

This year I'm most thankful for my family. Morgan is home and healthy. I didn't believe for a moment that he wouldn't come home from the hospital, yet that sudden realization of how precious his life is to me was really a wake up call. It also made Kaia and Dana that much more precious. Sure last night she had a screaming fit when she was told that she could not stand in front of the TV during Dana's favorite show just to change into her nightgown. I just took a breath and remembered she was tired from a busy day, and what she really wanted was attention and sleep. I put Mo to bed and cuddled with her while she quickly dropped right into dreamland.

Our plans for next week aren't set in stone yet, but I can't wait.

Molars?

Mo didn't sleep well last night. Our ideas as to why ranged from the steroid in his nebulizer to having played so hard all day he was over-tired. Today he took a nap that lasted over 4 hours!!! Papa had to wake him up. They also said that he really didn't eat a whole lot.

I brought Mo home, who was rather fussy last night and he ate some dinner here. Then Kaia came out to tell me Mo was dawling. I went through several words, until I watched her using her fingers to try and sign what he as doing. I finally figured out it was drooling. A ballooon might as well have popped up over my head that said "Is he getting his 2 year molars?" It's a little early, but the lack of sleep last night, the long nap today, the off eating, and finally drooling could mean some more teeth. Or he could just be keeping us guessing.

The kids all survived yesterday, and if dirty glasses and utensils are any measure for how much fun they had, then I'd say they had the best time of their lives. There wasn't a clean glass or utensil left in the place. Even worse is that half of the glasses were still half to three-quarters full of the original drink. So my dishwasher is full of glasses and utensils, but I need some plates to balance it out!

2 types of people that bug me!

I've ended up a little irritated with some people today. I don't know who they are specifically, but their type. I'll start with the first.

While driving back from a meeting at the Yakama Nation, my co-worker had Rush Limbaugh playing in his truck. I listened to a woman go on about how she went to college, but she stayed home with her kids and the only time she's ever worked was when her children were in school. Well good for her! Really. I have friends who have chosen to stay home, I know many that choose to homeschool, and know some who choose to work part-time. I'm happy for all of them. It's a choice all mom's have to make, but the tone of this woman. When you expect the world to pat you on the back and give you a medal because of your decision?! Give me a break. I bust my rear end every single day to work and keep up with the house and the kids. That's my choice, and I don't expect anyone to say "Good Job" or "Wow aren't you fantastic." No it's the decision that I made. I love what I do. I work in an organization that annually raises over 2 million dollars and reinvests that money in the community. My work helps feed the hungry, provide programs for kids, and emergency shelter for the homeless. I don't want to hear that somehow I'm letting my community or my family down by not staying home. We all choose what's right for us, and we should respect other mother's choices. My kids are happy, and most of the time healthy, and well adjusted. They go see Grammy and Papa while I work and all of us are happy with the arrangement (to the best of my knowledge anyway). Kaia doesn't know what it's like to be apart from her Grammy and Papa for more than 5 days. She misses them when gone, and she looks forward to the 2 days a week of preschool, so I know that my children will be just fine while I go to work and help others.

After listening to that woman, and becoming irritated I went back to the office and was busy working. I was double checking a few names in our database. Our campaign chair believed the people deceased, so I wanted to verify on the local paper's website. That's when I saw the report regarding 7 new fires last night. That's in addition to the 3 over the weekend. I cannot count the number that have occurred since late spring. Only 1 of the 7 was a natural cause. The rest are suspected arson. Even worse, I saw the address for one of the arson fires. It was in the same block as a friend's house, and a barn and 1940 Ford Sedan were destroyed. I knew then that it was our friend's house and his dad's car. There are some sick people out there that gain joy from destroying what other's have worked so hard to build. Even worse is that it has reached a point here locally that we think, oh another arson, just in the way many of us have said, there was another shooting last night. When have these things become commonplace? Yet they have. The blessing is that of the two barns that could have been set fire to, it was the smaller one. It was the one that didn't store 3 restored vehicles and many tools. But how long is that one safe?

I'd like to say

I'd like to say we are all on the mend, but I'm afraid that when I do one of use will get sick again. Mo had one last throw up session Saturday night, and was back to himself yesterday.

They both enjoyed church, and Mo even went to Sunday school class without a fuss! Kaia was very well behaved during worship, and I had to remove Mo for his loudness. So I knew he was better. When we got home Dana told me that we would be watching Sam and Charlie for a few hours. That made Kaia's day (Mo was pretty happy about it too)! Being 14 and 10, they watched our kids more than we watched them. Kaia spent hours with her arms wrapped around Charlie as they rode her ATV around the house. Sam also rode, and Kaia rode with Sam. Charlie also took Mo for a short ride before his nap time.

I didn't get to disinfect the couch or floor, but helped Dana cleanup in the garage, and outside. I also put up some purple Christmas lights gold balls on our pine tree out front. I was inspired by the neighbors who were putting up their house lights. We won't plug them in for a few weeks, but it's one thing that is done.

Sam and Charlie had so much fun they spent the night, and Sam is watching all the kids at our house today. So hopefully grammy and papa have a good day off. I checked in earlier and she had them all under control, but was having difficulty getting Mo down for a nap. The problem I think is he wasn't going to go to sleep with 3 people plopping him in his crib and then watching him. I put him down for his nap before taking the dog for staple removal. He was still soundly sleeping when I returned with the dog. The house is a little messier, but they are having a good time, and it saves me some time tonight.

I spoke too soon!

Here I thought things were getting better, at least our health anyway. About 8 a.m. Morgan began throwing up. At 18 mos old the flu is no fun. He doesn't understand and he refuses anything put in front of him to contain the mess. The blessing: he hasn't been sick since about 10:30-11 a.m. Maybe his was a short lived flu bug. He has eaten quesadillas and crackers just fine. He's drinking raspberry lemonade flavored pedialyte (I'm adding the flavoring to the unflavored stuff. Don't expect to find anything appetizing offered in the pedialyte section. This isn't Mexico where there is coconut flavored or banana flavored electrolytes.)

Of course Kaia who is newly well was protective of him this morning, but by afternoon all the charms of that had worn off. Instead she's being her typical older, overbearing self. Anything he's doing, she wants to do to. He wants to watch Singing Time, she takes out the DVD to put in Wizard of OZ. Both were borrowed from the library today. I keep reminding her that daddy and I made sure Mo didn't bug her while sick, but it's no use. She is number 1 in her book and refuses to give up that place.

So cleaning the couch and floor will have to wait. At least I was able to vacuum today, and I sprayed down the TV room tables with antibacterial spray.

All Clear, for now

Mo received a clean bill of health at his Dr's appointment today (and a flu shot). I'm not sure how they could determine anything through his screaming! He's ruined on Dr's and Nurses for awhile. He cried just being put on the scale for his weigh in. He's 27.4 pounds, just 13 pounds shy of Kaia who weighs in at 40, or did before yesterday's flu.

I did learn that due to this recent infection, Mo is now more prone to respiratory infections for up to a year. So to head off another infection he will be receiving a steroid in his nebulizer every day during the cold and flu season. Looks like we won't be putting the nebulizer up until late spring, but I'll do just about anything to keep him healthy.

Kaia finally stopped throwing up about 10 last night. This was after coating the couch with half digested milk. Reading it may be gross for you, but trying to clean it as best as possible and sleeping on the smelly thing was way worse, trust me. I laid down a towel though, and spread the towel out on the floor and we curled up on the couch for the night. I knew if I went to bed, she would follow and the last thing we needed was for all of us to be up in the middle of the night cleaning up the bed. Plus I still need to take our big comforter to the laundromat, so it would have left us comforter-less. We were up several times in the night due to her being extremely thirsty. Each time I got her half a glass of water, she quickly drank it and we went back to sleep. This morning after Dana and I got up, she went down to sleep in the big bed for another hour. When we woke her, with the help of Mo, she looked like Kaia again. Peach skin and rosy cheeks replaced the pasty green that had been her face yesterday. She took a good bath and got her hair all cleaned up (long hair does have it's drawbacks, especially when you're sick). She was her excited bouncy self as we went to meet Papa at Grammy's Dr appointment and drop her off before Mo's appointment.

Sampson is also on the mend. He goes in Monday to have his staples removed, and he will finally be without the cone. The poor guy can't scratch his ears or lick himself, so he will be a very happy dog next week.

I'm also starting to feel better. I have eaten 2 real meals today and feel fine. I also got my flu shot at the appointment, so Kaia is the only one that isn't flu protected.

So things are back to normal, whatever that is.

Tis the Season

For the stomach flu anyway, and Kaia has it. I have had an upset stomach all week, which has led to the majority of my food intake being from cans of chocolate target brand "nutritional drink." (generic ensure) I've been pretty much ok though, and apart from being in bed and fast asleep before nine p.m. 2 nights in a row I'm functioning on schedule. Kaia this morning was up early, ran on the treadmill (under close supervision) since she has to do what daddy does and was happily playing with Mo. I was getting makeup on when I heard Dana talking to Kaia and she came running into the bathroom and almost kept it all in the toilet.

I cleaned up the mess where she didn't make it and asked her if she had eaten anything. The answer was no. Realizing that she had an empty stomach when she became sick I told her she wouldn't be able to go to preschool. She cried and argued that she was not sick and she wanted to go. I made a deal. If she could eat breakfast and keep it down, then she could go. Didn't happen. She didn't even swallow a bite of breakfast before running to the bathroom. I finished getting ready, and she made another trip to the bathroom. I gave her a paper bag in the car to use on the way to grammy's, it didn't get used, and now her booster needs washed. So in just a few hours I will leave to get pedialyte and pick her and the Mo man up.

One thing is for certain, there will be no eating and drinking after one another the rest of the season. We can't afford for us all to be sick, and that includes grammy and papa. I can just see us 4 adults out from something the kids passed on to us. Plus Mo had enough sickness last week to last awhile!

Updates

I'm very happy to report that Morgan is back to being Mo! He and sissy are fighting as usual and he was noisy through the entire service on Sunday. I was actually told that it was good to hear him, because it meant he was better and back with us.

Snowball unfortunately had cancer. Female hedgehogs are prone to uterine tumors. We had her put down on Saturday and this morning she was buried in the front garden. Her empty cage is a sad reminder of our lost friend.

We also have a near empty fish tank. After swearing that I would not buy anymore fish after the last scrubbing of the algae tank, Fishy (Kaia's betta) died. That leaves 2 cory cats that hang out on the bottom. They have lived through 5 or 6 bettas now. I inherited them from my friend and co-worker Lindy when she left Camp Fire to care for her husband who was dying. Of course the tank that we couldn't keep clean has stayed spotless since the last cleaning. So there may be a new fish in our future.

Things are back to normal, and blessings have been flowing in at our home. Just when we worried how to pay for all that has gone on, there was a bonus check and several refunds on overpaid accounts. And most unexpected was the box on the doorstep last night. I hadn't ordered anything and it was a little soon to get the truck hinges Dana ordered. When Kaia was able to lift the good sized box, I knew that it couldn't be hinges. Inside was a package of diapers! I am on a few online survey groups, and after answering countless diaper surveys and agreeing that I would be willing to try a product and then give my opinion the product came. That package will last me a week and I was very excited to receive it!

Hiatus

You may have noticed that there haven't been any postings to the blog for over 2 weeks. Some of that was just plain busyness, but then another event happened in our lives. Where to start?

Wednesday, October 24 We took Sampson in to get neutered, or as I so crudely put it "get his balls cut off." Kaia heard this and repeated it to grammy, grandpa, and dad.

Thursday, October 25 We picked Sampson up and brought him home. I had a meeting that evening, and afterward we went to Tammy and Jeff's to borrow a chainsaw for our camping trip. I missed the Mom's Devotional due to all of these events.

Friday, October 26 Both Dana and I have the day off. Mo had a 9 a.m. well-child check scheduled, but I found Sampson with no stitches and an open incision (EWWW) and reschedule Mo's appointment while rushing Sampson to the vet which opens at 9 a.m. They take him and say to pick up on Saturday, except that isn't possible with us going camping. I was so thankful when they said that they could board him until Monday for only $8 a day. Mo and Kaia both have colds, and Mo has a deep cough. We pack up and head for the hills. We got our spot. Same one as last trip that we like so well. Mo definitely didn't feel good and wanted plenty of love and attention.

Friday-Saturday middle of the night Mo begins to run a fever and starts crying. He can't be calmed and sleeps restlessly all night. He refuses ibuprofen and doesn't want to cuddle.

Saturday, October 27 Mo sounds way worse. We get up, eat breakfast, and start packing up. This is no small feat since Mo doesn't want to be put down for an instant. His breathing becomes more labored. He did finally drink some water and take some ibuprofen. I also gave him some pseudoephedrine to try and help. We get home, unhook the trailer and my mom calls, or I call her can't remember which. She hears him and says he needs to be seen. She suggested the ER. I don't want to be one of those parents that rushes their child to ER when it's unnecessary. Plus ER is a $75 co-pay, where the medi-center is just $25. So I take him to the medi-center. Medi-center sends me to ER. Dana is dropping off the bike at the bike shop, so I call to tell him where the kids and I are headed. I also call mom who says she will come to ER as soon as she takes Neeko to the birthday party she has. In ER we are seen immediately by the triage nurse, and just as quickly sent back to a room. In the room Mo is given albuterol, oxygen and has an IV inserted. Kaia is very well behaved and watches tv. She also rides down to xray on the bed with Mo and I. They tell me that Mo will be admitted, and I call Dana to let him know. Mom comes just after 3 and she and Kaia go buy sandwiches and something to drink. They come back up to ER about the time Dana arrives. Kaia and I eat sandwiches while Mo continues to recieve albuterol and oxygen. They take us up to Pediatrics. Gordy and June come up shortly after. I take a quick break to run home and get a change of clothes (Mo puked on me after one of the albuterol treatments, and I smelled like a campfire). Kristin comes up to visit and the room stays busy with all of us. Mo still could hardly breath. His entire chest caved in with each breath. Dana and Kaia went home to sleep. My mom, Kristin and Gordy left also. June (God bless her) spent the night with me. Mo slept very little and we spent the night passing him back and forth. He was receiving breathing treatments every hour.

Sunday, October 28 Mo isn't improving. Xrays show just a small spot of pneumonia, but there is no answer as to why he is so ill. Mom stops by early to see the little guy and this becomes her daily morning routine. Kaia goes with my mom to church. Dana comes back up to the hospital as does Gordy. June goes home to take a break. Dana and I learn that Mo is going to be transferred to ICU. This is when Dr. Harthcock tells us that if Mo gets any worse, we will be flown to Children's Hospital in Seattle. Kevin (This is where I lost the post. It's was due to length I believe I will try to recap the stay)

Kevin the preacher at church came by to visit us, just in time to go to our new room in ICU. In ICU we received excellent care! Jeff, Tam and the kids came by, but Mo was not going to leave my lap. Mom came by with Kaia before Nina's birthday party and after. June and Gordie stopped by for a visit. Nana and Walt also came that evening. It was that evening we received the first good news. Mo's bloodwork finally was showing improvement. That night I stayed by myself with Mo. These rooms aren't set up for family, so there wasn't a place for anyone else. CJ, Mo's night nurse, would come in and give me a break. Mo actually warmed up to him too.

Monday we were back on Pediatrics. My cousin Kristin came and had lunch with us. My brother in law and sister in law cleaned our house. June spent the night and helped me with Mo again. Mo had taken out his oxygen, and we were allowed to leave it off of him during the day. He had to have it back in at night. He also got his first meal at the hospital that evening.

Tuesday Mo had his oxygen off again, and that meant one less wire to deal with. He was feeling well and playing too. Played so hard he pulled his IV in two. Kaia and Dana both spent the night. Gerry an elder at church came by to visit as did Mo's nurse from ICU CJ. Mo signed thank you to him.

Wednesday was Halloween. Mo got to have his IV bag removed which meant freedom except when he needed antibiotics and steroid. So he enjoyed going to the playroom and going to the book room. Mo got to see Tam again when she brought him and Kaia treat bags. Both kids napped in my lap that evening, which was good as Mo was receiving his antibiotics. I took Kaia trick or treating that night. We went the entire loop and she had a blast. Mo and I spent the night by ourselves.

Thursday Mo was given the ok to go home! The nurse ordered a nebulizer for him and I went to pick up all the prescriptions. I also had to buy a new cone for Sampson as he'd ripped the first one.

Unfortunately I got Snowball out on Friday only to find a swollen abdomen. Regular vet was on vacation, secondary small animal vet booked til Tuesday. I managed an 8:30 appointment with a vet that mom and dad use for their ferrets, but I wasn't hopeful.