Mother's Day with the sick kids

So, that post from Danny and the kids sure was a nice surprise for Mother's Day! I'm thankful for my husband and to be a mom to V, Christian, and Grant. Here's a quick post about how Mother's Day was around here this year.

Breakfast in bed! Lucky me! I do like the tradition of breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. It was nice to get up and get a shower and then get back into bed to wait to be served.

Please, ignore the bedding. Christian and Grant took turns throwing up the night before and our bedding was one of the targets. Thus, the crazy array of spare quilts and towels. They both seem to throw up every time they get fevers no matter the cause, Christian in particular. So yucky. It was strep throat and a virus for Christian and just the virus for Grant. Unfortunately, whenever our kids get sick their asthma flairs. Christian who normally is our best breather (he usually doesn't get as wheezy) was definitely the sickest this time, but was better after about a week of treatments. Grant is still having breathing treatments 2 weeks later after a round of the oral steroids and hundreds of doses(every 3-4 hours round the clock) of inhaled albuterol. He was getting worse again this week and so he was prescribed Pulmicort (the same preventive medicine that V inhales everyday). It has helped so much in just three days! We are so thankful that something is working! We are also so thankful that he is a happy little fellow even when he is wheezy and tugging.

I was not going to include all of the asthma stuff in the blog, but I never have before and honestly it will be good to go back and remember one day. Hopefully they will outgrow this stuff. Plus, the asthma is a big contributor to our craziness. To put into perspective, when just Grant needs breathing treatments every 3 hours, that means that I spend roughly 2 hours and 40 minutes of the day "nebulizing." If Victoria and/or Christian need theirs too it can take up a huge chunk of our lives! Although they can administer their own during the day. V does a breathing treatment on her own every night before bed. We use that time to read books though, so it never impedes. When it is at night though and they are symptomatic coughing and wheezing, Danny and I have to hold them upright with the masks on their faces while they sleep. Luckily, it is rare when all three need it. There have only been a few days of overlap. On those days I get about 3-4 hours or intermittent sleep. It stinks terribly. But enough of that!

Back to the good stuff. I got really cute little presents from Danny and the kids- V decorated them! Each was a pack of candy. Love it!

Victoria and I went to church for Sacrament meeting and then came home. Danny stayed home with the fellows. I did not want to miss Victoria singing with the Primary. They were great and Victoria was glad to sing for me which made me very happy. The whole sacrament meeting was very good. Whitney and Clark Ramsey spoke and did very well.

After church I came home and helped take care of Christian. It seems that when he gets sick it hits so hard. Poor buddy. We were all pretty tired from the night before. Christian kept having bronchiospasms and just couldn't stop coughing(literally). He had a blessing and we just prayed that he could make it to morning. We had to increase his breathing treatments to every 2 hours per the weekend on-call doctor's orders. It was very scary. He told Danny and I to take turns sleeping with him to make sure he was OK. Uh, yeah, we were in there anyway making sure he was breathing. I know I can be dramatic and a big worrier, but really, when Danny is up counting respirations it is bad. After the antibiotics cleared up the strep and a few days of the oral steroids he was back to his wild happy self, thankfully! We do not want to have a night like that ever again.

We had invited my mom and dad over for dinner, but since our house was turning into a sick house Victoria and I just brought it over there with a book that the kids and I made for her. I didn't make it the best Mother's Day for my mom, but at least Danny made a nice dinner for them. I am thankful for my mom. She has been a great mother and grandmother and I am really blessed to live near her and see her so often. She and I are pretty good friends.

Back to the dinner- Danny made ham, rolls, 5 cup salad, tossed salad, and really yummy peanut butter bars. I really enjoyed it.

So, despite the sick boys, it was a good day. I really am thankful to be a mother. I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with our kids. I am not the most patient person and I tend to get stressed out easily, so some days are pretty tricky, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am thankful that I am able to be the one who cares for them when they are sick. I love to hold them and tell them that it will be OK. On normal days, I like to play games or pretend with the kids. We like to put on puppet shows or do artwork. I love it when they help me cook. It is also great working together. It makes me so happy when we can work together towards simple goals like unloading the dishwasher or doing the laundry. I love throwing birthday parties for them and planning playgroups. I love teaching them. I love watching them learn and grow. It makes me so happy when I see them choose the right. I love holding and nursing a baby. Just seeing their smiles makes me so happy. I love to put the kids to bed at night. I love to read books, say prayers, sing songs, hug and kiss them and tell them how special they are to me and to Heavenly Father. The one on one chats and hugs and kisses at bedtime are the absolute best! I am truly thankful to be a mother.