Tired Girl!

ALL THIS HOLIDAY STUFF JUST WORE HER OUT!

Josiah's First Hockey Skates!

Little Fireman

Now that Brad is a volunteer, all Josiah talks about is being a fireman! We thought we should probably take him to see the trucks! 

He wanted to show his HUGE muscles!

Merry Christmas!

Sorry I have been SO bad about putting up pictures on here. I guess I feel like nothing "exciting" ever really happens- so why bother updating the blog. Now that it is freezing outside we basically stay indoors- if anyone ever stops by I'll just say sorry in advance because I'm sure my house will be a mess with toys all over the place- and I will most likely have spit up somewhere on my shirt!

I can't believe Christmas is almost here- and I can't believe I've been back in Morton for 5 1/2 months! I feel like I'm still adjusting to Illinois and at times I really do miss the fun we had living in Arizona- and wish I would have done more while there. But here we have family, and that's what we missed the most. I love seeing Josiah with all of our family around and him finally getting to really know everyone. 

Novea is 4 months old already! She's growing like a weed and her favorite thing in the world is her big brother! She watches every move that boy makes and just laughs at him as he runs by her. She'll be running right behind him all to soon I think!

 

My little man and his 4-wheeler!

4 months old!

12 Weeks!

10 Weeks!

Little Novea is 8 Weeks Old!

Big Brother, Little Sister

Sy is adjusting very well to this whole Big Brother thing!

Best Buds For Life!

Josiah is so glad to be back in Illinois so he can play with his cousin Tait!

6 Weeks Old!

4 Weeks Old!

Josiah and Tait's First "Official" Playdate!

Novea Marie Kniep

Sorry I haven't put any pictures on here yet- we don't have he internet hooked up at the house yet- so I have to bring the laptop with me to my parents house to get anything done! Novea is 2 weeks old today and is doing great. Josiah is also doing really well with her. Brad has been gone for almost 2 weeks but he gets back here late tomorrow night! Were so excited for him to be back home!! Here are a few pictures of little Nova and Sy!

We're Still Alive!

Sorry for the lack of posting on here! We've had a pretty crazy couple of months!  But were all alive and doing well!  We've moved from Arizona to Illinois and have finally gotten most of our stuff into the duplex- it's slowly started to feel like home. Were so glad to be back in Morton with all of our family. Were all ready for the baby to make her appearance (me especially:) Her due date is August 3rd- so anytime would be great! Hopefully Sy will be ok will having to share the attention- we've done all we can to prepare him for the transition.  We'll try and keep everyone posted. Hopefully I'll do better at updated the blog!

Fire Academy

Here are a few pictures from today's Fire Academy Live Fire. 

Sy and I went and watched Brad- it was a very long and hot day but Sy did pretty good. He started to get mad toward the end- but I don't blame him- I was getting crabby and tired too! All the firemen were especially nice to me because of how large and pregnant I am and having to chase Sy around- so they brought me water and a nice chair to sit in, and they always made sure I had everything I needed. It was pretty fun getting to watch Brad, rather than just listen to him tell me stories of what goes on there, and I got to finally put faces to all the names he mentions. Today was the first time they actually got to go into a "Live Fire" and practice putting it out- so it was really interesting and Sy had fun getting to look at all the fire trucks !

 The Burn Tower

Lining up with all their gear!

Brad getting ready.

Daddy and Sy

Sy LOVED the fire trucks!

Brad's team. (He's the Captain!)

Getting ready to go in.

Brad on Rescue listening for any commands. 

Going into the fire!

My Little American Idol

Josiah is quite the singer. Anyway who spends any time around him will most likely hear his rendition of the ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle. I also have been known to sing and dance around the house and listen to quite a bit of 80's music- so Josiah has been exposed to music since before he was even born! I'm also a big American Idol fan- and like every other year, has watched it all season and tonight was the big finale. Sy has started picking up things during the show and making them into his microphone- and he sings right along with the people on t.v. Tonight was no different- but he also threw in some sweet dance moves!

Monday Night Cook-Outs!

Monday nights have become one of my favorite nights of the week. Brad and Eric decided a few weeks back that Mondays were their cooking night- they even try to think of new/healthy/delicious things to make. It's pretty fun to watch! And big plus- I don't have to cook!! Tonight was chicken tacos with beans and rice- they wanted to try and do "authentic" Mexican- and I must say- it was quite tasty!

Rainforest Cafe

Last night we went over to the Arizona Mills Mall and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I'm not super crazy about this place- but it is the one place where I don't care if Sy is noisy and there is so much going on that it keeps him busy looking around! It was so fun and actually enjoyable- we haven't had an enjoyable meal out since Sy could move- so this was nice! Then we walked around- I got some coffee (no surprise there) and Sy also got to ride some of those kids $.25 rides. All in all- a pretty fun Friday night!

Sy's First Haircut!

Well Sy's hair FINALLY grew long enough to actually need a haircut! So my mom and I took him to this cute kids place- hoping all the distractions would help keep his mind off of what was actually going on! He wouldn't sit in the cool car chair, he had to sit with me- I thought we were going to to have to head home when she tried to put the cape on- but we made it through and now he's looking good!

What A Week...

Before I get started I just want to thank EVERYONE for all the prayers for Sy this week. Believe me when I say that we could feel each and every prayer and they were much appreciated an- God totally worked through them to help calm us and also protect our little man!

I don't know how many people know what happened- so I'll just recap our week so everyone is on the same page.

Tuesday morning I woke up to Sy getting sick in his crib...lovely picture to wake up to. He wasn't even crying- so I had no idea until I went in to get him.

Most of Tuesday was spent cleaning up puke- but his fever never got bad and when he had the some Motrin in him- he actually acted fairly normal (for being sick).

Wednesday- I decided to try and give him some food because he hadn't gotten sick all night- well that was not such a good idea- he wouldn't keep anything down- not any liquids and definitely not food! After he woke up from his nap (around 11) he started to act really lethargic. I tried to get him to drink some Gatorade or something- but nothing would stay down. Then his fever shot up to 103 and his eyes starting to look really strange- he couldn't keep them open and he would just fall over and go to sleep (or basically pass out) I called his Dr. and she said I should take him to the Children's Urgent Care- especially since his fever shot up and he wouldn't keep the Motrin down.

We got there and they immediately hooked up the IV and started pumping fluids- they did the first round and then decided to just go ahead and double it- hoping it would get him ahead of the game and he would recover the next day. They also gave him an anti- nausea medication and an 24 hour anti-biotic just in case he didn't have a simple flu- we were waiting to hear what his blood cultures came back as to make sure everything was ok. He purked up after the second dose of fluid and also drank some water and kept the Motrin down- things were looking good. So- we headed back home for the night (11 pm) put him to bed and was thankful is wasn't worse....or so we thought.

Thursday morning- he woke up early and got into bed with me-he even drank some water- we both went back to sleep and woke up an hour or so later. When he woke up he just layed there- he looked at me- and then his eyes would just close- he couldn't bring himself to get up and move or anything. I carried him out to the living room hoping that a change of scenery would wake him up a little. He drank more water and even ate a few bites of cheerios. I think he stayed awake a whole hour before he feel asleep out on the couch. I was a little worried- but thought that all that went on the night before was the cause for the drowsiness. But just to make sure I called the urgent care to ask if this sounded normal (of course left a message- but I never heard back). The nurse from his pediatrician called to check on him and I asked if this sounds normal and she said that most likely is was due to all of the different things put together. So I waited it out...a bad idea now that I know.

By Thursday evening- he still wasn't acting normal- he seriously looked like a zombie. SO once again I called the Pediatrician and she said I needed to go back to the urgent care and let them take a look at him again. We recollected everything we thought we would need- and off we went. This time it was later than the first night- so we got there around 9- they hooked him up to an IV again and also took a urine sample and more blood. Turned out that despite the fact that he had liquids that day he was more dehydrated than the night before! Crazy!

The Urgent Care closed at 11 that night and it was already 12 so they told us that we should probably just go ahead and take him to the ER so they could do more fluids and watch him for a while. So we sat in the waiting room for 2 hours and then Finally got a room in the ER- it was so crazy and crowded there- making me realize how glad I was to have never had to go there before and hopefully not ever again!

They hooked up the fluids again and started going through all his medical history and also the weeks happenings. They were concerned because they couldn't figure out how he was still dehydrated and lethargic after all the fluids and no fever or vomiting or diarrhea. They decided to go ahead and test for all kinds of things just to be safe. So my poor little man had to get a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis - I let Brad stay in the room for that one- I couldn't stand to see him like that- they did a mild sedation for the pain and also to help keep him in the right position. (Even with the medication he still managed to make it hard for the nurses- they just kept saying how strong he was!)

By the time they were done with that and a few other blood test, it was almost morning. He was still out of it and just slept all morning. They came in and wanted to do one more thing- an ultrasound to make sure he had nothing wrong with his stomach or intestines that would maybe cause some of his problems. He slept through most of the ultrasound- and then also most of the day. They decided to admit us to the hospital because he still wasn't looking any better- still a zombie! We had to wait for a room to open up in the hospital- and ended up spending all day in the ER. We finally got transfered to a room at 7:00pm (Friday night) By then he was waking up a little more and we ordered him some food to see if he would eat anything and maybe drink something too. Well he did- he chowed down on some fish sticks and chicken fingers- also drinking some milk and water! After the food he started to act a little more like himself- he was Finally snapping out of it! I was so happy to see him act a little more like the normal Josiah- he actually started trying to break out of his crib- I was thrilled!!

He slept thought the night and also pooped (which is what they were waiting to see him do) He ate a big breakfast and also drank milk and water. The Dr. and nurses made there rounds Saturday morning and all agreed that as long as we were ok with going home- we could go. Obviously we all wanted out of there. Brad had to leave to go somewhere- so cousin JC came over to sit with me and help with anything. The nurses got all the paperwork together really fast (mostly because they needed the room for other kids). We were out by 10:00 am and on the way home! 

We got back home and Sy immediately became normal Sy. He was jumping off things and running around (as soon as he remembered how to walk- that took a minute to get his legs to work). Within an hour he was back to getting himself into trouble- it was like nothing ever happened. I couldn't believe it! Praise God- our little guy was all better- much faster than I even could have imagined!

So there you go- that was our week. He basically slept for 3 days in a row- and had many bags of fluids pumped into him! We have to go back to the pediatrician this week to have him all checked out- we are also waiting on a few blood cultures- but no one expecting for anything to grow- it's just a precaution.

Today is Sunday and I will not be taking Sy back to the church nursery for a while- just to be on the safe side. (He most likely got this from being there last Sunday- we don't go anywhere else!) Flu season is still here and I'm not taking any chances!

Sorry this is such a long post- but this way I won't have to tell the story to everyone- it's all here to read! Thanks again for all the prayers!! We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends!!

Praise God for answering all of our prayers and watching over all of us!

Sy's first IV

                                                               Sleepy boy

                                                           Waiting in the ER

Finally in our room for the night- feeling better after dinner!