Weekly wrap up: Poplar Grove Halloween Festival

I am slacking and feeling a little sluggish this week so it might show in this blog, I apologize.

This was our 2nd year to visit the Poplar Grove Plantation for their annual Halloween festival and we enjoyed it very much. The hayride didn't get as many smiles and thrills as I thought it would, but I think everyone was still trying to wake up from the drive down. The girls are only interested in the open spaces that they are allowed to just take off in... always in different directions too. Last year Jake and Hunter entertained themselves with all the inflatables but this year Hunter was more interested in the pony rides. Patches got a lot of our money that day. This picture of H on Patches may have influenced his Pop's and Grammy to get some horses along with the baby goats they've promised the kids with their upcoming move. A couple hours at the festival was good enough for the kids and we had plenty of time to catch the OSU/Texas game on TV at home.

H also had his cardiologist appointment in Wilmington this week. Because of Kawasaki's there could be damage to the heart, but since we caught everything in time there was no damage done in the hospital and after the EKG that he had on this day it showed everything as normal. No more visits to the cardiologist and no more aspirin!! I think we are more excited about the aspirin than anything else... crushing, dissolving, and getting him to drink it was getting very old. He has seen his Pedi several times since being discharged and he has done great, but the cardiologist was in the same hospital he was admitted to and I think he could tell. His mood changed and he turned in to quite the tantrum thrower... I can't really blame him though.

I guess I need to come up with a few other posts in between the weekly wrap up's because they are all I seem to post lately.

H started his speech therapy this week, which is super exciting and even more so because he loves his therapist. After weeks of testing and evaluating, he qualified for the program and we are starting once a week until he turns three. Hunter did everything so quick as a baby... sat up, crawled, walked, and even showed signs of talking early, but then his words went away and now is non existent. Not only will we be working on speech but his following direction, transitioning, and attention. After answering some of her questions she had for me in the beginning I realized how much of an enabler I was/am to his growth in the communication world. I literally do everything for him. I never ask him to go get things or have him follow any kind of direction. But, we have started asking "more" of him and he actually loves it! We cannot wait to see what comes of therapy.

Here is a little activity I saw/came up with for his attention and focusing. I then had him try to sort/seperate two colors. All you need is play doh, raw spaghetti and fruit loops.

It's a PIRATES life for a 2 year old!

And so begins my new love for party planning.


Hunter's 2nd birthday party was an absolute blast to plan.
I started planning, researching, ebay-ing, and Etsy-ing a good three months prior to his party.


I knew I wanted a pirate theme!
Inspiration: party blogs; including Owen and Mason's 2nd birthday and hostess blog.


So, here's what we did.
For a few activities we had a treasure hunt, plank walk, and pinata.
In theory, when everyone arrived they would get decked out in their pirate gear and grab their black gable boxes(labeled with their new pirate name) and start their treasure hunt. Their boxes were stocked with a treasure hunt check list and a telescope.

The sand box was full of jewels, necklaces, rings, pirate bouncy balls, and alligators.

Here are the food tables we had set up, minus the main dish table.
(I had pictured this party in my head for so long now and how I would take pictures of everything pre-party guests, but once it got close to party time we were just trying to make sure the presentation for the guests was perfect.)
Plus, Oklahoma weather is not always the most cooperative. Today, it gave us an enormous amount of wind!

The desert table:
A local, and old, high school classmate made the cakes.
She did an amazing job!
We also had cake box cookies and cake balls to snack on.
For the edible decor we used swedish fish "sea bass", white chocolate covered pretzels "pirate bones", and red gum balls "squid eggs."

Just for detail purposes, our main dish foods were:
cheese burger and jerk chicken sliders
black bean mango salsa
with tortilla chips
fruit kabobs
cape code potato chips
and for the kids there were fish shaped pb&j's packaged up and "Pirate's Booty Aged White Cheddar Popcorn"

Drinks:
izze soda
lemonade with raspberries
tea
water bottles
and juice boxes

All the kids seemed to stay entertained and full, which is exactly what I wanted, but they were all a little young for the treasure hunt.
Luckily,the treasure chest pinata was enough for them.
It was loaded with gold fish, raisins, ring pops, and smarties.

Here are just a few action shots from the party.

A huge, gigantic THANK YOU to my family for helping with this party. I know I am several months late posting this, but after going through these pictures I am remembering how hectic it was before the party started.

My fabulous helpers:
Janna and Rachel VanHoozer
Nana and Papa Calaway
The "grill" guys
And my beautiful mother that made the banner, labels, treasure maps and much more!

My son has what!?!

I'll try to keep this short and sweet, but with the important details.

I should've started this several days back when we first got admitted into the children's hospital, but that just wasn't possible.

Here's a quick run through on how we got to day 5 in the hospital with Hunter.

Emma had a fever Sunday, leading to Hunter getting one Monday... Emma seemed to manage hers fine, but Hunter's continued to rise and he started getting worse. Jake was in the field all of Monday until late Tuesday night when I begged him to come home early because I was starting to worry. Wednesday morning Hunter wakes up with another high temp, but completely covered in a bumpy rash. I only noticed his checks at first, but then I saw it was on his belly, arms, and legs. Pediatrician appt. made and daddy rushed home to watch the girls. Our new pedi is a good 40 min away(a big deal when you're used to Tulsa/Owasso) and after 2 doctors checking him out there, we were told Hunter had Kawasaki's Disease.

This is what he looked like pre-pedi appt and while we were at the pedi

Now, off another 20 miles down to Wilmington for an Ultrasound on his Lymph Node and blood work. Before we even made it in to get the ultrasound I begin to question just taking him to the ER. He is burning up, even after Motrin, he's completely covered in a red rash and he's basically out of it. The doctors office was nearly impossible to get ahold of and I am starting to meltdown(I rarely meltdown). By this time it's 4:00pm and we've finished lab work... now we wait in the CVS parking lot for an hour for the results. Thankfully, a kind friend of Jake's meets me with a phone charger because my phone is quickly dying, I still haven't heard the results, and Hunter is getting worse. Once again, I have to call the doctors office to see what the next step is. Basically, he gets admitted for dehydration which is fine with me... we HAD to be admitted!

IV's started(this process took forever) and a lot of observation and waiting. His rash is out of control by this point... belly, back, groin, legs, arms, face, head. His hands and feet are swollen and bright red. His lips and tongue are also bright red. His mouth is swelling and his eyes are slowing beginning to close. But, for the most part he was still sitting up in bed and playing with his toys.


Day 2 in the hospital only puts us at day 4 of fever so treatment for Kawasaki's cannot be started yet. We are given a list of what he could "possibly" have and basically continue to wait. They end up starting Doxycycline for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and this is where we start to get bad. My MIL thankfully/luckily/graciously flew in from Tulsa and stayed with the girls so Jake could come stay with us and bring us some clothes. Now, to lighten up the mood... I send Jake with Hunter at 4am for blood work so I can get some rest. I was sleeping so wonderfully until I hear a nurse, "Ma'am, you're husband just passed out." Are you kidding me!?! I run down the hall to see my big, strong, Marine husband completely passed out on the floor with 4 nurses around him. Hunter is screaming from his failed blood work attempts and with only 2 nurses with him now, Jake is on his own! Apparently the nurses were really worried about him though, I guess he hit his head really hard on his way out of the room.

Day 3 in hospital and day 5 of fever... which reached 105 by this time. We're on our 3rd IV(12 failed attempts) and his eyes are completely swollen shut. They start his IVIG treatment which runs over a 12 hour period and this should make him feel 100% again. I think there was about a 10% chance we'd need another round of treatment since so many Kawasaki's patients take to the first one. Once it was finished we saw a good improvement, but within several hours his fevers began to spike and his rash came back.

His lips and eye lids started to peal. This was his rash coming back... not good, but no where near bad.

Day 4 in hospital and I finally get to see my baby girls!! Becky brought the girls up to see us while she asked all the medical questions. Hunter was in an unbelievable amount of pain from his Doxycycline IV and his temp was still rising. That evening they started his second round of IVIG and ran it quickly through the night so he wouldn't be hooked up when he woke up for the day.

Day 5 in and after his second round we can see a great improvement with H. His eyes are beginning to stay open longer and the swelling is almost gone. His rash was almost gone and he was sitting up in bed more. They took him off his IV to promote more drinking and eating, but later on in the day he got several more fevers and his rash came back. We decided to just let his body try to correct itself with Tylenol and after some low grade temp reads, he stayed completely fever free all night!

I think it helped that Pops flew in from Tulsa and brought Hunter the biggest lollipop ever. The smiles and squeals he let out were hilarious. Then after about 10 minutes of his Pops sitting next to him, he looked over and just starred at him, then he grabbed his ear and smiled. It took him awhile, but he remembered who his Pops was!

Thank you ALL for your prayers and encouraging words. I'll keep you posted on when we get to leave this place and I can finally finish up the details for the girls' party on Saturday!

What happened to speech therapy?

Today was speech therapy day! As most of you know, Hunter is experiencing a little bit of a delay in his speech. At 22 months he can say "buh" for bye(and blows kisses) and "haw" for hot(holds hands out). He was saying "ta" for thank you, but has recently stopped like most of the other words he has lost(ball, dada, mama, Tucker, uh oh, hi). Hunter has always done things early, but talking seems to be a struggle for some reason. As a mom, panic sets in and self diagnosing occurs. But, thanks to family and friends I can honestly say that my mind was at ease... Until today.

Maybe I wasn't mentally prepared for this appointment or educated enough on how these things work, but I sure did get my hopes up. First off, I woke my(still recovering from a stomach bug) little boy up TOO early from his nap. So, he was not really in the mood for this lady to evaluate him. She recorded a detailed history of his birth information to present time. What foods he likes/dislikes(what does that have to do with anything?), does he throw temper tantrums(ummm.... He's 2 lady!), what are his sleep patterns, favorite toys, and things he likes to do at a park?

I'm not going to bore you with the details of this hour long session, but here's the verdict I received. She said Hunter is known as a "squishy" child. Um, excuse me? "He has no muscle tone", she says. Ok, apparently I missed the memo on toning your toddler. Also, he is a sensory seeking child, which is actually a disorder. This being said because of his need to constantly rub ears, fall off things, splash in puddles, wrestle, tickle excessively, and be "squished" between things. Minus the ear rubbing, I thought that was all pretty normal. So, she suggested him seeing an occupational therapist. Hmmm... Oh wait, let's go ahead and add a physical therapist in there for his feet. By this point I was frustrated we hadn't covered his speech problem and I was becoming more emotional with everything she was pointing out about Hunter, so I have no idea what was wrong with his feet. To me, I see nothing.

So basically, we go back in two weeks for speech therapy and then possibly start OT and PT. If it is a positive experience next time we will continue therapy, if not then maybe we can find someone else. But, as we drove away today and tears are falling from my eyes I see my sweet boy in the rear view mirror wearing my Ray Bans and a big smile. I think that was Hunter(and Gods) way of letting me know everything will be ok.

My little beast

Since being back in Oklahoma, aka the state of extra hands (in our case), we have started a weekly "mommy and me" day with Hunter. We as in I, but help from Grammy! So, every Tuesday morning (the only day of the week my children want to sleep in) we race to get fed, dressed, packed and loaded up to head to Tulsa. I quickly throw the girls into grammy's house and then Hunter and I make our way to The Little Gym!! Keep in mind that Hunter is stuck at home with myself and two very needy baby sisters every day of the week, so the first time we went it was a little overwhelming... for the both of us. Plus, we were late to enroll so most of the kids already have the routine down. My little ADD boy didn't have a chance with sitting quietly on the mat with all the bright colored obstacle courses in the background. Yes, I just labeled my child with ADD. Hang out with him, my husband and my father-in- law for 30 minutes and you'll do a self diagnosis too. Anyways, turns out there are other "easily distracted" children in the "beasts" class too so we joined them on the "fun toys" while everyone else sang songs. If you didn't catch that, he's in the "BEASTS" class!!

So, the second week went awesome! Note to self, don't be early. He was very upset that we couldn't enter the gym when we first arrived. I was surprised he remembered and was excited to be back. Money well spent (Jake).  Bells start off every class and we all introduce ourselves while sitting in a circle. Hunter had the bells in his mouth and ran around the circle. Next was warm-up time... yeah, we'll skip this one too. On to play time!!! This class is very laid back as you can tell, but the teacher incorporates games, activities, and exercises to work on fine motor skills. Alright, time to wrap up this 45 minute class with some bubbles, balls, bells, and uh... bug stamps (had to keep the "B" thing going). Here is some of the fun we had today... see you next Tuesday, Little Gym!!

starting on the low beam

obstacle course

moving to the high beam

basketball time, finally.

bubbles, bubbles

you're embarrassing me, mom.

hunter's world

Hunter is the first of three little blessings for Jake and I. He is a sweet, silly (little) man of few words... actually no words. I guess when you are as busy as he is you don't really need to talk. With only 20 months under his belt he has already experienced so many incredible things.  Traveling to over 15 states, getting 2 brand new baby sisters (at once), reuniting with his daddy after a 7 month deployment to Afghanistan, and moving all the way to North Carolina for the second time. His ability to adapt to anything around him has made me appreciate him even more though. This might not seem like a big deal, but when you're a new mommy, pregnant with twins, and without your husband, having an easy going child makes everything else around you a little easier to handle.  That is something any mommy can be thankful for at the end of the day.

One of Hunter's favorite things is being outside and now that he is getting older he is becoming more and more independent *insert tears* and I find myself just watching his little imagination at work while he plays.  And now that his sisters are more active I think he's actually enjoying having them around.  He loves to "show" them things, give them toys and when its time to go "bye bye" he will try to pick them up to hurry the process of going out the door.

Food has always been a friend to my little boy, but lately he has been eating like a Big Strong Man.  All he wants is BEEF! No buns on his hamburgers, no tortilla with his taco meat, and no noodles with the meatballs... But I can always count on his eating fruits and veggies!

Here are some other fun and or/strange facts about Hunter:

Grabs, plays with, and sometimes even sucks your ear.
He literally "pops" up every time he wakes up.
He loves any and all dogs and tries to whistle when he sees one.
Enjoys rolling balls down the railing on the stairs to hit me in the kitchen.
He is reaching his "terrible two's"... quickly.
First haircut was at 20 months.
Dances at the end of Despicable me EVERY time.
Loves to spin in circles until he can't even walk.
Always has a smile that makes anyone's day better.




 Many more memories to make with the sweetest little boy a mommy could ask for...                                                        

                              

                               



                      

Be Mine x4

I am so thankful that we were able to spend another holiday together as a family! This time last year we were packing up our first apartment together, getting Jake's gear organized for Afghanistan and preparing for his 7 month deployment just a few weeks later. But, he's home and we enjoyed every second of the long weekend as a family.

Good Morning, my sweet Valentine's!