Dr., Dr., and more Dr.

The month of May has been full of doctor visits for our family. Some of them scheduled (good), some of them unplanned (not so good).

Good:
-Ramona's 4 year well-care visit. She's bigger and taller and even more verbose than last year.

-OB visits for baby #3. It has a heartbeat!

Not-so-good:
-Mika's visit to urgent care for her "ouchie" arm. She was suddenly refusing to use her left arm--it was always just hanging limp at her side. Every time we tried to dress or undress her, she would cry and yell: "Ouchie! Ouchie!"
  The doctor only looked at her arm for a couple of seconds before he said "Nursemaid's Elbow" and after he flexed her inflicted elbow a couple of times, she started using it normally again. Apparently toddlers get this all the time--a little dislocation in their elbow that is fairly easy to pop back in place. Still had to have a couple of x-rays just in case, but the problem was solved.

 -Memorial Day trip to the ER after Ramona showed symptoms of a possible seizure. Foam at the mouth, eyes rolled back in her head, completely unresponsive. By the time we got to the hospital, she was finally aware enough to cry--a relief to see. It was terrifying to see her in that pale, unconscious state . . . I found myself wondering if I was going to lose my little girl that day.
   The ER doctor seemed fairly certain the symptoms we described indicated a seizure triggered by a bodily infection. They ran just about every test on her at the hospital: ruled out meningitis, strep, urinary tract infection, flu. I've never seen her poked and prodded so many times. She ended up getting an ambulance ride to a different hospital so she could stay the night in a unit with pediatric staff. I rode along with her, shoeless and disheveled from the rush and panic of the afternoon. By this point, Ramona was jabbering away with the EMT's and looked as alert as her usual self.
   Despite her perkiness, she was still checked in to her room and she and I prepared ourselves for a night at the hospital. Forest and Mika came later to drop off some supplies and give Ramona a blessing.
   Finally at 4pm the next day we checked out of the hospital. Until then, Ramona was still acting herself--ate like a horse and even threw a couple of tantrums. All we can do now is hope that her seizure was just a one-time occurrence.

Ramona with her hospital band, resting on the handmade blanket she got to bring home with her

Princess Maca-Ramoni, age 4

Last week was Ramona's fourth birthday, and to celebrate we threw her a macaroni-themed party, inviting lots of little friends.

Although I usually think of Ramona as my Springtime baby, the morning of this particular birthday dawned with about 8 inches of snow in the backyard and looked a lot more like January than April.

Below is the birthday girl with her macaroni tiara, eating Cocoa Puffs for breakfast.

She wanted her hair to look wavy and styled like Belle's from "Beauty and the Beast."

She seemed in kind of a daze for most of the party, but received her guests graciously. One guest even brought her flowers.

We began the festivities with three crafts:
1) Macaroni glue art

2) Macaroni bracelets

3) Macaroni & playdough sculptures

Forest took a couple of hours off of work to bring Ramona a balloon and serve as the palace chef.

After crafts, the kids did a quick macaroni M&M hunt (find and eat the M&M's in your cup without dumping the entire contents out) . . .

. . . then used the leftover macaroni as markers for a round of Pasta Bingo. Everybody won.

Next there was "Pin the Noodle on Yankee Doodle"(I know, I was really stretching this macaroni idea here) . . .

. . . and a spin-off of Duck Duck Goose: Mac Mac Cheese.

I am so glad we split the kids into two groups to do the latter two games, or there would have been some painful collisions, for sure.

By the time those games were over, the Palace Chef (with the help of several moms) had lunch on the table for all of Ramona's guests.

We delayed dessert by inserting just one more activity--a cupcake walk with no numbers, just pictures of either macaroni or cheese. Once again, everybody won.

To keep children entertained for the last few minutes until it was time to go home, I dumped out a box of bubble wrap on the floor and dragged out a giant wardrobe-sized moving box that Ramona calls her "spaceship." I didn't have to say a word before little feet were pouncing on all of our old packing supplies. Through it all, the birthday girl waited patiently for her guests to be out the door before opening her gifts from us and Grandma.

Thank you Grandma, for Cinderella and all the goodies in the Princess backpack!

On Saturday we had another party to re-celebrate Ramona's birthday with some family members and congratulate Christie for finishing her dissertation & defense. Ramona and Mika were thrilled to see Cousin Ella--although in this photo she doesn't look terribly thrilled to see either of them.

Dan and Christie gave Ramona a cyclist toy from Kenya. Big hit.

And Teresa brought her a giant slinky.

Also, big hit.

Thank you Aunt Crissy for the LaLaLoopsy doll and Cousin Aubrey for the handmade card . . .

. . . and thank you Maria, Josh, and Caleb for the pink poodle.

We wrapped up the party with a cake and four candles on top.

Now Ramona is already talking about her fifth birthday and anxious to make plans for that celebration. Can't she just stay four for a while?

Sweet Home Colorado

This past weekend was the big move into our new home. We had  an incredible amount of help through the whole process--Parry was with us the whole time, a couple of families watched the girls for us, people from church and Forest's work were there almost every hour loading, unloading, and unpacking. I couldn't believe how quickly it all happened and was so humbled by the assistance offered.

Marian (stake RS president, a.k.a my boss, a.k.a amazing lady) brought us our first meal and a whole tray loaded with adorable house cookies. We were thrilled.

 

Since we have been in the new house, Winter has made yet another comeback, and a minor case of stomach flu has inflicted Ramona as well.

Despite these little surprises, and the inevitable chaos that comes with moving, things feel strikingly peaceful around here. I keep getting the sense that we have everything we need and more. I guess we've made ourselves a home here in Colorado.