A fun little clip

Compliments of Aunt Jenni:
(Not sure how long this will still work, but should work for a while at least!)

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Another trip to the ER

Just trying to get our yearly quota in for ER visits... This weekend Doug spent some time in the ER with Jaxon. On Friday morning he started coughing at school and by that afternoon he wasn't feeling very good. He started having problems with his breathing and even after a breathing treatment he was still having some problems (a breathing treatment should atleast last him 4 hours and after 2 hours he was struggling again). So Doug took him down to the ER after dinner, at first he was diagnosed with pnemonia (can I just say I haven't been very impressed with our ER doctors...) So they were finally admitted up into the Peds unit around 9:00 that night where he got to see the same doctor that he had seen the last couple times he was admitted for breathing problems. The Peds doctor looked at his x-rays and said that it wasn't pnemonia but that we have now been officially diagnosed with asthma. So Jaxon (and Doug) spent the night at the hospital and were finally released Saturday afternoon. Jaxon is doing lots better. He has two different meds in his inhalers and he's also on a couple different antibiotics right now. The doctor wrote out an asthma action plan for Jaxon and we will follow up with our regular doctor next week. Though I hate the fact that he has astma, atleast we know have an official diagnoses of what's been going on with him. This way the next time we have to go to the ER, we can tell them that he has asthma and they can start treating him right away instead of waiting around for them to figure out what is going on.

Otherwise though we are all doing fine. CJ is almost done with his medicine for his ear infection (that he got at Thanksgiving) he still has a bit of a snotty/runny nose though. Jaxon is doing fine now that he is on his medications. Doogie, Jayde and Ryann all seem to be staying healthy (knock on wood, I always seem to jinx us when I say that!)

My last doctor's appointment went well. Baby is looking and sounding good. My last blood test did say that I was borderline anemic, but they weren't really concerned about it at the moment. However, if my iron levels don't come up the next time I'm in then they will probably put me on iron supplements. I've never had a problem with being anemic before...I told Doug that this little one is really giving us a work out! I have also caught a darn cold, so I'm working on fighting that off as well.

Otherwise though, everyone is doing good. Jaxon and CJ ask me almost every day if it is time for baby Cassie to come out yet! Taking them to the doctor with me that one time really helped get them more into the whole baby thing! CJ and Jaxon still talk about how the got to "talk" to baby Cassie!

Decorating the Tree....

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Not only did we get to spend the day with family Doug and I got to celebrate our 10 year anniversary that day. We definitely have a lot to be thankful for. Then the following day Doug's sister and her family were able to make it down. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.

Everyone is doing good. CJ ended up getting an ear infection Thanksgiving night. We were able to get through the night (thanks to tylenol) and then in the morning I took him over to the ER to get checked out and get some medicine for him.

They are all growing like crazy! CJ is wearing 4T's, Jaxon is in 5T's, Ryann is wearing a 6 or 6x, Jayde wears a size 8 in pants and then a 10/12 in a shirt (she's long in the torso) and Doogie is wearing a size 10/12 in pants and a 10/12 in shirt though I think I might have to start going up to the next size for him soon.

The baby is looking good. I saw the specialist on Tuesday and then go in to see my regular OB today. She is weighing around 3lbs 1oz right now (according to the ultrasound) which puts her in the 62 percentile. So she is growing nicely and so far we have had no problems with the anitibody E. I get my blood drawn at least once a month to get a titer on it and so far the levels have been so low that they have to do special tests just to be able to see it.

Anyways, Doug put the tree up last night and the kids and I (mostly the kids) decorated it. They had a blast putting the decorations up on the tree and rediscovering all the oranaments that they had made over the years. It was a fun night. Doug even strung up some lights around the living room and in the kids' bedrooms! They thought it was really cool going to bed with their Christmas lights night light!

Hmmmm...what else has been happening? Oh yes, Jayde started girl scouts this week. So far she is really liking it. In a couple weeks they will get to go Christmas caroling at a retirement village and bring/share cookies with the residents. The next day Doogie and the cub scouts will do the same thing. This is all a very new experience for me as well as the kids since I never did girl scouts...so I'm learning things right along with Jayde. I think these are great programs for kids to get into and it really teaches them some wonderful values. Now I just need to get Ryann into her girl scout troup, but I haven't heard back from anyone yet about hers.

Anyways, I can't think of anything else that is super exciting. Basically we are just doing what we are usually doing and keeping busy! It's a little less hectic now that soccer is over, but we still stay busy with Doogie's cub scouts and now Jayde's girl scouts and next week Doogie will start playing basketball. Atleast it will be only one kid playing basketball and not three (atleast this year!) that will make things a bit easier. Jayde could of played as well, but she didn't seem to excited about the idea so we didn't sign her up...there's always next year!

Happy Birthday Jayde!!

Happy Birthday Jayde. I can't believe you are 8 years old already. It doesn't seem that long ago that you were a little baby! Your dad and I are so blessed. We have enjoyed watching you grow and learn and turning into the girl you are today. We love you Jayde and we are so proud and glad to have you as a daughter! I love this picture of Jayde with her brothers and sister, she looks like she is just having so much fun! :)

Happy Birthday Doug!

Happy Birthday to my husband!!

November seems to be a crazy month for us. Not only is it Doug's birthday today, tomorrow it is Jayde's! Then there is our anniversary and Thanksgiving...which happen to fall on the same day this year. I always feel like I'm go go going, but especially at the end of the year!

So anyways, Happy Birthday Doug! The kids and I are looking forward to sharing your special day with you!

Busy...

What is number 6 going to be like? I'm hoping she'll be a easy laid back baby, but knowing my luck I'm sure she'll be keeping me pretty busy just like her brother's and sisters. Last week Doug and I took the little guys (Jaxon and CJ) to my doctor's appointment. I think it helped them feel more involved in the whole process. They got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. My OB is great, he got down to their level and was playing with them and he asked Jaxon what he thought the heartbeat monitor was and when Jaxon said he thought it was a phone he played right along with him. So Jaxon got to "talk" to the baby through the heartbeat monitor. It was pretty cute, especially when my OB pretended to be the baby and talk back to Jaxon. Anyways, though Jaxon and CJ thought they were pretty darn special that they got to talk to the baby. We have finally picked out a name for our little girl, one that we both agree on. Cassandra Diana...though the kids all call her baby Cassie for short.

So anyways, baby Cassie is looking good. I went to see the specialist on Tuesday and so far the Antibody E doesn't seem to be affecting the baby in any way. We really like our specialist. It cracks me up that as soon as we get any questions or concerns out of the way Doug and him get into all sorts of interesting discussions (most that have nothing to do with our reason for being there). We have definitely lucked out in the doctor area here.

Anyways...since the kids didn't have any school today due to it being Veteran's Day, I figured it would be a good time to try and get our Christmas card pictures done. I recruited my mom to give me a helping hand (along with my step-nephew) and we headed to the park. Why is it that the oldest child is the most difficult one to get a decent picture of? We had to work really hard to get Doogie to give us a "real" smile and not one of those fakey cheesey ones. My step-nephew actually really came in handy for that since he started doing goofy things behind me to get the kids to laugh. The picture you see is one of my many attempts, I don't think it turned out too badly (and I still haven't gone through them all.)

Playing Catch Up Again

Halloween has come and gone and we are already into November. Time does fly and November is a busy month for us. We have Doug and Jayde's birthday, Thanksgiving and our anniversary (which happens to land on the same day this year). I also need to get my rear in gear and get Christmas presents made and shopped for.

Keeping my fingers crossed as well that November brings good health to our family. The kids all finally seem to be over (except with a little bit of a cough leftover) from the crud they had a week or so ago. CJ had tested positive for the flu and they put him on tamiflu (which worked wonders for him). He was definitely one sick little guy, with the high fevers and cough. Thankfully though he didn't have any seizures with his fever which I'm hoping means he has outgrown that stage in his life. Jaxon was also on the tamiflu since he was starting to have the same symptoms as CJ, though we didn't have to get him tested.

We were able to get everyone half way healthy (barely) in time for Halloween. The kids had a blast trick or treating this year. CJ had talked about his bucket, getting candy and saying trick or treat weeks in advanced, he was so excited when he actually got to do it! After every house Jaxon would turn and look at me and ask if we were still going to trick or treat! After going around our block the two little guys were worn out from the walking so Doug took them home while I stayed out with the three oldest, we were also trick or treating with some friends of Jayde's and they all had so much fun together. I think I was just as worn out as the kids when we finally headed home with their buckets full. So now we have way to much candy in our house and I'm having a hard time resisting it! Darn candy is going to make me huge!

Speaking of getting huge, the baby is doing good. I go in later today for my appointment with my regular OB and then go back in to the see the specialist next week. The kids are starting to get more excited about the baby, now that my stomach is getting more noticeable. The girls especially are always coming over and patting my stomach and saying "hi" to their baby sister.

So anyways, nothing super exciting to report. Just trying to keep everyone healthy and keep up with all the kids!