Home sweet home...

Our first family pic at our new homestead 

or soon it will be anyways.  Not sure if I have mentioned this but we are building a new home!  WHOO WHOO!!  Yes, life in our rental is grand but life there will be AmAzInG.  Let's get up to date!!  Back in November we met with a great builder Todd from Glacier Homes.  He recently finished building a beautiful house for Chris' cousin in Trophy Club. After walking through their home we knew he would be our guy.  Even better he really went out of his way to help us find a great lot where we wanted to live.  Chris and I had done some searching and found one we "thought" would be perfect.  However, realized it really wasn't as good as we thought.  Todd found us a great lot and we signed for it all on November 3rd. SO EXCITED!!!

 Miss H sitting in the middle of our acer lot! 

Fast forward to December and we are planning our new home with Todd.  We picked out our floor plan, made changes to customize our needs, and even picked out everything that goes in the house!! They began the dirt moving on December 19th...I of course wanted the house to be complete by Miss H's first birthday.  Todd and Chris always laughed in my face at that thought, but it would have been wonderful. December 29th and they had the house laid out with wooden barriers.  They also had all the trenches dug and ready to go for the pipes and foundation.  We were moving right along.  I tell you prior to the dirt moving I thought this would never happen.

 Standing at our front door...or soon to be one.

January came as did Miss H's first birthday...and not in our New DREAM HOME!!  Guess we have next year, lol.  January 18th: Although we were super excited when all the plumbing got put in the same weekend our families were here for Miss H's birthday.  We loved showing off our new home...ha or pipes!   January 22nd and all the pipes and such were down...foundation was our next step.

Our wonderful Forman Jason sent me an email that the foundation would be poured on Friday.  Miss H and I were super jazzed.  We had big plans of hand prints and foot prints in our new home.  However....Miss H's hospital stay kept us from that fun.  I did send Chris to take pictures though.  I mean I have to have documentation right??  January 25th and we had a FOUNDATION!!

Once we got home from the hospital we did take a little drive out the next day to see the foundation....and what do you know on a SATURDAY those guys were busy working away.  I never even got to see just my foundation.  We had WALLS!!! January 26th and we had walls covering the whole first floor of our house.  I mean you could walk room to room it was the most wonderful feeling ever!  This was the point where it FELT REAL!!  We really were building our home, our future, our family would live and grow here!  I was so excited.

From that point it seems to be flying by.  Actually if Miss H and I don't make the drive out to the house almost daily I feel like we are missing a major change.  Miss H has learned to love the drive, and well I plan it for nap time most days since it is about 20 minutes each way.

January 29th and the bottom floor framing was done...however we had 3 windy days so for safety reasons the guys couldn't work on the 2nd floor or roof.  No biggie we were headed out of town anyways and I would had to miss the progress!

February 5th we returned home to find...not only a second floor framed but it looked like a HOUSE!! I couldn't believe what they had done while we were gone.  I called Chris and told him he had to come look NOW!!  I mean we could walk up the stairs to the 2nd floor and we had a roof and exterior walls.  I couldn't get over it.

back and side view

front of our home

While we were there checking things out we wanted to make it "our" home.  We took some time to bless our home with some scriptures.  Then Miss H also had to put a mark in her room.

her sweet little hand...that looks huge in this pic but isn't!

In Miss H's room

Blessing the house...in our living room

and Miss H got to use the marker too...on the nursery wall

This past week we had more movement: Wednesday, Feb 6th, we got shingles on the roof.  They look great to!

sorry pic from the car because H was sleeping...

Thursday, Feb 7th, we met with the electrician to place all our electrical outlets, tv hook ups, phone hook ups,  and lights. Who knew you would have to think one wall at a time...well you do!  Actually just when you think you got it all figured out you realize you missed something.  We were quizzing anyone and everyone about where they wished they had a plug or tv hook up....trying to make sure we covered everything.  I am pretty sure we did...but then agin I am sure once we move we will find a spot we wished we had one.  Come Friday, Feb 8th, Miss H and I were back at the house picking more things out...this time it was the central vac system.  I had to tell them which walls I wanted to plug into...another think it all through before you get there!

Looking out of her bedroom window

Miss H in her room

a view of the kitchen 

the kitchen bar and our living room 

Miss H thought it was fun to walk under all the cords...she kept doing it all over the house

Oh and did I mention that while we are making these decisions there are still big things going on at the house.  We got our well dug and running, good thing we have water, lol!! All the bathrooms, except the master, have the bathtubs in.  Also we have all our heating and air done too.  Oh and fireplaces...put in and looking good as well as all the windows and back door.  I just am amazed at it all.

What's next well this coming week we will have more fun changes.  We have the inspection for the electric, the plumber coming out, spray foam insulation, and so much more!  I am sure Miss H and I will be out there everyday next week too :-)  Oh and I forgot the most fun, BRICKS we will be getting them next week too.  I know that lots of people say building a house is stressful, but we have had a ball.  I haven't felt stressed out yet and funny thing is Chris and I pretty much agree on most things.  Stay tuned for more changes soon!

PICU stay for Miss H

Where were we,
Chris took off to go home and get some rest while I help Miss H as she slept and began to breath a little better.  Finally at 12:15 am (Thursday now!!) we were being moved from the ER to the PICU.  Again I was not going to be stressed out by this, Dr. Moore made it seem like it was no big thing really.   Well, as the "team" of people arrived to set H up for transferring I began to see this way was bigger than they made it sound.  I mean it took 4 people to just walk her up to the PICU.  She had to be taken off the wall oxygen and moved to a portable oxygen tank and such....to then only be greeted by 8 people once we arrived in the PICU.  I couldn't do a thing, this is probably the most helpful I have ever felt for my sweet baby.  She was sound asleep in her car seat to only be woken up by tons of people who were yelling out numbers and sticking things on her and such.  I think I looked like a deer in head lights because the er nurse said Mom, Mom, MOM you can sit right here and once they have her STABLE they will come talk to you.  At that moment the word STABLE was stuck in my head...what do you mean STABLE, she is stable she just needs her lungs cleared out!!!  I mean that is what I thought anyways.

What seemed like forever, but was probably just 10-15 minutes went by as I watched them hook my sweet baby up to 3 machines.  Not to mention she was crying and reaching for me the whole time...all I wanted to do was hold her, but couldn't.  I kept asking if they could just give her back her paci it would help calm her down.  Then finally one of the nurses could see H was not going to calm down....and said lets pull up the rocking chair and have mom hold her.  The biggest relief came from that moment...as she laid in my arms crying while they finished up what needed to be connected to her.  I was so thankful to just be able to at least try and comfort her through it.  Soon enough things calmed down and the nurses were telling me all about the PICU and how it worked.

Then her PICU Dr. Dr. Gordon came over and sat for a bit.  He was so nice (they are the best people there).  He sat and asked me about H and how her normal days are and such.  Then he asked what I did and my husband...where we lived and such.  He basically was trying to get an idea of our home life I think and how we worked.  Thankfully we live 8 minutes from the hospital!! I am very, very thankful for that.  Then Dr. Gordon explained RSV and how the oxygen flow machine was helping clean out her lungs.  He also told me that normally he begins his chats with families by saying expect the baby to get worse before it gets better.  However, he didn't see that being the case at all with H.  He felt like she had already been at her worse today and would only improve.  I was very thankful to hear that.  Then he explained the dr's shift changes and such so I would know where he was if I  needed him.  After all of this it was about 1:45 am  H was still sleeping in my arms.

Her nigh nurse was super sweet Ms. Ava and made me put her in the crib to sleep.  She was a great nurse and really took great care of H.  H didn't love being in the crib but they made it super comfy with blankets all around to make her feel safe.  Bad news about the ICU is the little bed for the moms and dads to lay on is behind the crib.  Thus every time H would open her eyes and not see me she would freak out and try to stand up.  I spent the night in a chair next to her with little sleep.  Thankfully her daddy gets up early normally.  Chris arrived around 5 am to hold her tight.  She was so happy to see him and just wanted to be held tight.  While Chris sat with her I ran down stairs to grab some food...I was starving!!!   Around 8 am my mom called and said she was coming to help! I am so thankful for her she is amazing.  No matter what is going on she always comes to help me out.  At 9 am Ms. Ava came in and said that the Dr wanted to take her off the oxygen machine.  I was happy and worried all at the same time.

H spent most of the morning sleeping which was good for her.  The more rest she gets the better she gets too.  The Dr's made their rounds at about 11 they discussed how she was no longer on the oxygen machine and keeping her oxygen levels in the 91% and above.  They then said they felt like she would be moved out of the ICU to a regular room.  Oh happy day...we were one step closer to being home.  H began to feel a little better she actually started nursing again! I was so happy to see her wanting to eat a little something.  Chris thankfully was able to come and go all day long between appointments.  I am so thankful he has a job that he can make flexable in moments like this.

Daddy brought her a balloon!!!

How we spent most of our time there...holding mommy's hand.

Mom arrived aournd 4:30 ish just in time for our move. I was so happy as the lack of sleep was really starting to hit me at that time.   Our sweet day nurse loaded H up into the wagon and away we went...we left the ICU!!!

all packed up and almost ready to go...just need to wake the sleeping baby

sitting back and enjoying the ride

 H was now part of the 14 other RSV children on the 4th floor!  Plus we had our own rooms and better chairs to sleep in, lol! Chris made it up for dinner and to check out our new digs :-) Mom and I gave H a bath..she was pretty stinky from the past 2 days events.  Mom said she would stay with me at the hospital so Chris could sleep for work again.  I was so grateful for that and so was Chris.  I know he was ready to spend the night...but since he has work there is no reason for him to be tired if mom was there.  H slept pretty good till about 2 am when they came in to check her vitals.  She had even slept through an iv medicine treatment.  But the vital lady woke her up...grrr!! For this mommy that stunk!  Mom stepped up and took on H watch so I could get a little more rest.  Finally come 6 am we had gotten her back to sleep and a new nurse came on.  It was a male nurse he was pretty cool.  He didn't mind that I had her sleeping on me in the chair.  The other nurse yelled that "co-bedding" was not allowed...blah blah blah.  Hey what ever gets this mommy sleep is what we need to do, LADY!!

H continued to improve all day on Friday except for one little detail...she was not having enough wet diapers.  She was nursing but it just wasn't enough.  Thus we began the feed her anything and everything plan...she wasn't a fan.  She wanted to eat, but then come time to do it she didn't.  I think maybe because her throat may have hurt??  Applesauce was our only relief! She would eat it like a champ, I am sure the meal lady thought it was odd that we wanted so much.  Plus I got her a smoothie...she liked it for a moment but that is all.

first smoothie, big girl

Come 4 pm she had only had 2 wet diapers really.  The nurse thought she was doing good but understood my concern on the wet diaper issue.  After 4 it is like she really began to feel good.  She wanted to walk around and play, which was a first in a long time.  

thankful to be up and around

pumping her full of water and food....

Come 6 we were ready to be discharged from the hospital.  OH HAPPY DAY!!  Chris, Mom, H, and I were all headed home.  Does this mean she was 100% better no, no, no but at least she could breath.  Not only that but we didn't even have to do breathing treatments at home, WHOO WHOO!!

Happy to have her IV out and ready to go home

It was so nice to be home in our own place.  H was still pretty tired but we were all happy to enjoy our big king sized bed.  Yes, H got to sleep with us! Our routine was so out of wack I wasn't going to even try putting her in her room.  Plus I was TIRED, and this was an easy solution for all to sleep.  Actually we (H and I) slept so good that we went to bed at 9 and woke up at 10 am!!  Man did we need that sleep.

H kissing her babies the night we got home from the hospital and had a bath

How is H now??  Well for the 3-5 days after the hospital she was still not really eating much.  She was still sleeping more than normal, again a good thing.  Bad thing with RSV is that it takes a while to get rid of it...from 10-21 days.  The coughing was sounding much better though so I knew we finally were on the healing side and her snotty nose was also improving.

Now 2 weeks later we are back to a baby who LOVES her food!  She has finally gotten her full appetite back, thank heavens.  She still has a cough here and there, maybe 3-5 times a day if that.  Only major issue we still have is the ear infection...its hanging on.  However, H doesn't seem to mind it much and just goes on.  We have new meds for it lets hope they work for gosh sake.

For those who sent up thought and prayers THANKS so much!! We are so blessed to have good friends and wonderful family around us.  H has no idea how many people were thinking of her but will one day see how blessed she is.  I wish THANK YOU was big enough to show you how grateful we are!  

ER visits and more...plus a long post!

Sorry I have been missing...if you follow me on Facebook you already know the past 2 1/2 weeks have been a little crazy over here.  However for the others let me fill you in!!!  Sweet Miss H got a major fever the NIGHT after her birthday party!!!  Yes, we were thankful it was after her party for her sake, but I did worry about all who had attended that day too.  This was our first MORJOR illness.  I mean yeah she has had the sniffles and such here and there but never a fever.  I felt so bad for her she had a 102.0 temp!  She was so tired and didn't even want to eat or nurse.  My baby does not MISS a meal people.

I called the on call dr for the night.  They just said to watch her and give tylenol as needed for the fever.  Needless to say Sunday she still had a fever so first thing Monday morning I called the Dr. for an appointment.  We went in that afternoon to find out she did not have the flu, but did have an ear infection and a bad cold.  BOO....so got some meds for the ear and nothing for the cold! Back home we went.  We stared the meds asap and she perked up some that night.  Her fever even broke! Whoo whoo she ate a little and nursed too.  I really was happy it looked like we were on the mend.  Wednesday she woke up and had been fever free for 24 hours! Thank heavens!  However she had a little wheezing when she was breathing.  I placed a call to the nurse as the DR's office to ask if that was normal.  In the mean time we went to music with hopes to sing and dance like normal.  Miss H kind of participated but not like her self.

After class she immediately fell asleep in the car...we live about 10 minutes from class and she was out before we left the parking lot to head home.  Poor thing...then she stayed alseep once we got home! I brought her in in her car seat like normal since she was sleeping.  She normally just sleeps about 10-20 minutes more once we are home...the dog will bark or she will wiggle and realize we are no longer in the car and want to be up.  Come 10:20 she was still sleeping...she had fallen asleep around 9:45!  So I thought I would get her out of her seat.  I got her out and she stayed asleep...then I started to notice she was breathing very quickly....well much faster than normal.   Thankfully the nurse FINALLY called back at about 10:45.  I told her that H had been asleep for almost all of the morning and I was worried about her breathing.  I said it seemed very labored.  She told me they could get me in at 3, but if I got worried or didn't think it could wait to just come in.  I hung up and then called my mom to talk it out with her.  Yes, I still need my mom!!  While on the phone with her I told her our story...and how I was holding H now while she slept.  Then as we were talking H STOPPED BREATHING!!!  I hung up the phone and begin to wiggle and shake her!  She woke up breathing and looked shocked that I was shaking and wiggling her.  I immediately threw her in the car seat and left for the Dr's office.  Her lips didn't turn blue but it was not a normal pause!  The whole way there I kept on hand on her car seat and shaking it!  I didn't want her to fall back asleep.  I also called Chris who left work asap to met us.  Thankfully our Dr. is 5 minutes from the house.  I called them to tell them we were headed in.  They got us straight back to a room and took her oxygen levels.  86% is where she was sitting....NOT GOOD AT ALL!!

Then she had to have blood drawn, chest x-rays, and a test for RSV.  Everything came back as positive as RSV!!  These were letters I had dreaded since she was born...I knew it was not a nice thing to have and could really be bad.  Thankfully Chris was there to help out because it took two for the x-ray!  After that she had to do 2 breathing treatments....before her oxygen was in the 90% area and the dr said her lungs sounded clearer.  She even perked up and asked for some mum mums.  Which was a great sign!!  She hadn't wanted to really eat or nurse all day.  We left the dr's office at 3:45 and went to CVS for her breathing meds.  I was told to give her one as soon as we got home and then another one about 30 minutes later.  I did just that. Come 5 she was still breathing very quickly.

Doing her treatments at home...sleeping!

She should have slowed down a little after 4 treatments.  Thus I call my brother-in-law (fp doctor).  I had both him and Chris on the phone explaining how she was still struggling to breath. Brian said go to the ER now...breathing is one thing you don't mess with.  Okay you have to know my brother-in-law....he never really gets worried about sicknesses.  For him to say go it means we really needed to be there asap!  Thankfully Chris was in route home.  By the time he got there I had her in her car seat and away we went.  She was still breathing so quickly and just wanted to sleep....when we arrived I told the er check in dr the whole deal.  He listened to her lungs then told us to wait.

We waited in a corner I didn't want her to catch anything else...especially the flu! After about 15-20 minutes our name got called...thank heavens because this mommy was a nervous wreck.  The whole time we were there I was doubting myself on if it was the right thing to do.  Was it worth risking other illnesses for this?? As soon as we were taken back they took her oxygen level and it was 86%...then the nice nurse called back and asked for a room with respiratory ready to go!  Okay that right there tells me this was a good decision by Chris and I.  She took her temp and it was back to 102... poor baby girl!

From there we were sent back to an ER room (around 7 pm)..where we were met immediately with 4 people.  One to check her in and get all her info....aka the paperwork person for billing and such! 2 nurses (it's a teaching hospital), and then the Dr. Moore.  Everyone began to listen to her lungs.... they all came to the same conclusion they sounded great which didn't match why she was breathing so quickly and struggling.  Dr. Moore was the sweetest ever, she just kept telling H that she was working way to hard to breath. Thankfully our pediatrician is part of the Cook's Children's network.  Thus they were able to pull up all of her info from our Dr. visit just that afternoon.

Just waiting around watching daddy be silly!

 Dr. Moore wanted to do another breathing treatment, different then the 4 we had already done.  Respiratory came in and got her going on that....not something she H likes at all.  After her treatment Dr. Moore and the nurses all came back in to see how she was.  Again her lungs sounded good, but then.....after listening a little longer than normal it was heard!  There was a raspy sound in her left lung, apparently so light it was easily missed by many.  Dr. Moore was sweet she said to give her a moment, but to plan on staying over night.  There was no way she was letting her leave when she was working so hard to breath.

after her breathing treatment...not too happy!

I never thought I would be so happy to hear we were staying overnight at the hospital.  But honestly I had been so stressed out all day long that it was nice to know I wouldn't have to be second guessing myself all night on if I thought she was breathing hard or not.  After about 15 minutes the nurses returned with a machine...it looked pretty scary.  Thankfully H can't tell that things look scary but this mommy was worried.

The nurses explained that she was going to be on an oxygen flow machine.  Basically it was going to pump air into her body...however it was going to be warmed and moistened.  This would help break up all the stuff in her lungs that was causing the breathing issues.  ---SIDE NOTE: RSV is basically when the cells in your lungs all fall of and to the bottom of your lungs.  From there you would try to cough them up and out...babies are not strong enough to cough it up, instead they just cough and it stays in there causing the lungs to work over time----  Now the task was to keep H for yanking the oxygen nose piece out of her nose!  That was a task until but eventually she forgot about it.  Plus she was still pretty tired so I got her to sleep.  After about 20 minutes you could see a difference in her breathing.  She was by no means breathing normally but she was taking a bit longer of breaths.  She was on the right path as Dr. Moore said.  Then she informed us that H would need to be on this machine all night at least.  Again I was thankful for good Dr's.  After that she said that H would be moved from the ER to a room., yet it would not be a normal room.  Instead she would be move to the ICU! (in my head I kept saying don't freak out don't freak out).  I asked why?  In order for her oxygen levels to be monitored and her to stay on the machine it was the only place she could go!  I really didn't feel like it was a big deal...I mean it sounded like it was just because of her oxygen flow machine that she was going there.  At this point it was like 9 pm and we were just chilling in the ER room.  They said they had to get paperwork and such to the dr's up in the ICU and then they would move us.  But until then she would need and IV and a flu test done.  Thankfully people have invented many wonderful things...one being a numbing medicine that goes on before an IV.

finally sleeping after all the torture

H did pretty good with it and I was thankful Chris was there to help hold her hand too.  Actually I think she fussed more from the flu test than the IV.  After waiting around until 11:30 I told Chris to go home and worry about the dog.  After all H was asleep finally in my arms.  Plus poor Winston was left not knowing what was going on.  Chris had work in the morning and come on we both don't need to be up here to watch H sleep, right?  (to be cont...because this is way to long as is!)

Happy FIRST birthday Miss H

Birthday girl!

Last weekend we celebrated Miss H's FIRST birthday with our family and friends.  This is the moment I had not been looking forward to since my sweet baby was born.  I just can't believe she is already a YEAR old!!  What happened to time?  This years theme of course was non other than HER!! She was our theme since this past year has been all about her and the millions of cute things she does each day! 

I think this post will be best with pictures only...and a few comments here and there! 

Thankfully we had beautiful weather...here is the front door area! 

 Her birthday banner and monthly pictures...

 Both of her cakes. Are they not the cutest ever?? Thanks to my sister for bringing them up!

The Harper and cake table....

 The birthday girls chair for her big cake mess!

 

The yummy cupcakes my friend Gracie sent for the party!

 Here is the birthday girl waiting on her guest...and running free!

 Time to open all her goodies! She wanted to open every gift once she saw what it was...it was a mess!

I love this little tush!

 CAKE TIME!!!

She wasn't so sure about diving in...it took a moment! 

All in all it was a great first birthday.  Miss H got showered with love!  She is one lucky little girl.  I have to thank my sweet sister and her friend Kara for taking pictures for me. Without them I would have been very sad.