Happy Birthday Austin!

Austin turned 3 today! For Austin's birthday we went to the splash pad by our house. The kids had a lot of fun there. Then later in the evening we went to Austin's favorite place, Kangaroo Zoo. He is such a little daredevil! He loves to get on the top of the slides and jump down the slides. Good luck keeping up with him. An hour and a half into the fun he was still running in between each of the blowups with no slowing down. Austin was a little weary of turning 3 because he said that "2 is just too cool," but I think he's finding that 3 feels pretty cool too. We love our little man!

 Ford loved it too. He was so excited about everything!Leave it to Elaina to pose when when she notices the camera. 

My Little Buddy is 3!

Happy Birthday, Austin! We love you so much and are so glad that you are a part of our family! Look how much you've grown and changed! You are such a special boy!

Austin's Party

Austin's one lucky boy! He's Grandma/pa D'Agostini and Dante and Tyler came over tonight to help us celebrate Austin turning 3. He got some pretty cool presents and had to play with all of them right away. Later, we had some yummy apple crisp because it's yummier then cake.

Is that a smile?

This morning Elaina wanted me to take a picture of Ford laying on her. Austin wanted to get in on the action too, so asked me to take a picture of him, too. What a shock! And look at that face! Never, ever, has Austin given me such a perfect face for a picture! I usually get him as he's turning his head or running away. I had to document the first time ever that Austin actually smiled for the camera! And man is he precious.

Elaina's First ER Admittance

Poor little Elaina was sick all day last Monday. She was just crying saying that her tummy really hurt and she wasn't able to hold anything down all day. Elaina's had her fair share of the stomach flu, but it never causes her to change her mood, so this was definitely different, but I just thought it was maybe a bad case. By the time Adam got home from work Elaina hadn't gotten out of her bed the whole day. Adam felt she needed to be seen by a doctor because she couldn't sit up or walk. Adam had his appendix burst when he was a kid, and it kind of runs in his family, so he was worried that she might have appendicitis.
Adam took Elaina to the pediatrician and they didn't have the right equipment to test her, so then they went to instacare and they gave her a urine test which came back with a really high white blood count. So, they sent her to the hospital. Once at the hospital, Elaina had an ultrasound done on her. It kind of lightened her mood, because she said that the ultrasound teck made a star and a smiley face on her tummy with slime. The radiographer's conclusion was "probably not appendicitis" because he couldn't see her appendix. So the doctor concluded that she had a severe urinary track infection. They gave us a ton of pain and nausea medicine and an antibiotic for her and we headed home.
The next few days Elaina was in a lot of pain still which made it so she couldn't walk or sit up. She also couldn't keep anything down, but didn't have an\ appetite anyway. For the most part she just slept all day. In fact, Tuesday Elaina would only be awake for about 10 minutes at a time before she would fall back asleep. It was really sad to see her in that state because she is always so active. Elaina's ER doctor, Dr. Davis, was so nice and called to check up on her. Thursday was a little better, pain wise, but she still didn't want to walk or sit up. Friday, Elaina could muster up some energy while her medications were in effect, but as soon as they started to wear off she would be back to having pain in her tummy, head, and neck. Elaina had a fever, up to 102.7, through Saturday. Finally, Sunday we were pretty clear of all the symptoms and took her off the pain medication. She had to stay on her antibiotic through the following Tuesday.
Poor Elaina was put on the antibiotic Bactrum. When I saw the pink grossness I immediately had a rush of memories of exactly how it tasted. Nasty! So, needless to say, giving it to Elaina for 8 days was a battle. She hated it as much as I remember hating it. But she was a champ and took it anyway. Hopefully this will be her one and only time having to take it.

Elaina fell asleep at the hospital. She hated the thing on her toe.

Elaina's a special little girl and it's so good to see her active and healthy again. All her little friends were so worried about her and even made her get better soon drawings and cards. She even got cookies from one friend and a nice couple at Adam's work even sent her a card and an army clothed teddy bear. I am so grateful for everyone who helped us out and for all their support the last few days. I'm grateful for such thoughtful people who helped lighten her mood. I am so grateful that our family, for the most part, has been blessed with health. And I am grateful for doctors and modern day medicine, even the nasty tasting kind, to help us get better when ill. It's times like these that help you remember all our many blessings!

4th of July

We love the 4th of July at our house. We love to celebrate the blessings that we have by living in this country and it doesn't hurt that we get to set off fireworks, too. This year we decided to have a little water/BBQ at our house with family. The kids had a blast having their cousins to play with.

We have the space, so why not hang a huge flag! I think we should invest in a ladder when it comes time to paint, though. I'm not sure how safe Adam's creation is.

Ford loves the water!

What's better then playing in the dirt when you are soaking wet? Rocky was such a good friend to Ford.

Brooke brought lots of water balloons and the kids turned them all on Grandpa. That's okay. He got them back. None of them saw it coming. It was so funny.

And then we did fireworks. We have a great neighborhood for fireworks. All around us people were doing the aerial fireworks. We were going to go to Camp Williams, but we had such a great show from our porch we just stayed at home. It was a fun day!