https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr-yk_6WefQ
We finished out the year with lots of birthday parties.
Best friends!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PKFZQBU_rA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHHBrooi7LE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7pdj5X-pUA
Everything is better when Mama is here.
Even when Mama is sick, she is still up for a good family game of charades...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qicdhrclek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_-qCydCWfA
Official dance teacher photos with Ms. Sarah!
Cory came to pick up Mama in his new ride. Nagymama was riding in style.
Like father, like son
It's a special day when your daddy is the mystery reader at school.
An extra late bedtime after a very fun dance recital make for a tired four year old. Sunday naps are the best.
Her daddy was going for a run and she asked if she could go with him. He told her it was going to be three miles and she didn't want to back down. Then, they ran off and my heart exploded!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7-nBOV6Wo0&feature=youtu.be
This new tradition the girls started last year is the sweetest. I love that they get the importance of celebrating these moments (and insist on it). They woke up early and got to work in the kitchen making what they are allowed to all by themselves. They very proudly informed me that they made sure mine was gluten and dairy free, so it was safe for me to eat (sweet babies). They gave us cards and hugs and shouted "Happy Anniversary", then told us to wake up and hug and kiss. 10 years! I'm so thankful!
The day before our anniversary, I took Juliet to the doctor because I thought she might have the beginnings of an ear infection. She didn't have a fever and wasn't even cranky, I just suspected her cold was turning into infection. I wanted to get her on antibiotics before we headed to the Bluff for the holiday weekend. I was glad I did because it turned out she had a raging double ear infection. This was our baby on Saturday morning, after our breakfast in bed and two doses of her antibiotic.
She was happy and we thought the antibiotics were kicking in. We had no reason to think we would put her down for her nap after lunch and she would wake up with a 103 fever. We immediately changed our anniversary plans, decided we would only drop the older kids off at our friends' house and get our special dinner in takeout form. We gave her Tylenol assuming it would start to kick in while Joe dropped the big kids off and grabbed our dinner. I held Juliet. When Joe came back, we took her temperature and it registered at 105. We had never even seen that number come up on the thermometer. Joe and I did our best not to panic, as we dropped our dinner on the table, buckled our baby into the car and rushed her to the nearest hospital. She wasn't even responding to her name in the car. It was by far one of the scariest moments of my life! When we got to the hospital, the nurses temperature check registered at 105.8. She told me it was the highest temperature she had ever seen in her entire career and she was amazed that Juliet wasn't seizing. Our sweet girl was so sick. They sent her home that night after getting her fever down and determined her antibiotics must not have kicked in yet. Joe and I sat with each other late that night eating our cold fancy anniversary takeout at our dining room table while our exhausted sick baby was finally asleep in her bed. Our big girls had their first sleepover at our friends' house and we "celebrated" our tenth wedding anniversary. There is so much irony in it. Ten years is a big anniversary and can have so much expectation attached to it. And while an evening out together filled with quality time and uninterrupted conversation would have been extra special, this was real life. Ten years looks like three kids and a full life where our love for each other has grown beyond the showy celebratory moments to knowing how to comfort your wife in an ER as she rocks her sick baby and eats a gluten free granola bar for dinner instead. We reflected on our "true love" as we lived it out in real time on our tenth wedding anniversary. I wouldn't want to be doing it with anyone else by my side.
Looking back, with what we know now, we can see that we didn't really receive the best care that night. So, instead of recovering at home the next day, we woke up with an even sicker baby on Sunday morning and headed to the better children's hospital with her by the afternoon. They did lots of tests, started her on IV liquids to hydrate her and by 11 pm, she was admitted to the hospital. It turns out her body was resistant to the antibiotics, the infection was raging and she was dehydrated. A night in the hospital, IV liquids, IV antibiotics and good doctors made all the difference.
We were so overwhelmed and thankful as we walked out of the hospital with a smiling baby Monday morning. 💜
Ella celebrated her birthday in school with her class (the life of a summer baby).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flmCHr638vc
Juliet wants you to know she is SO BIG in her newly forward facing car seat.
Ella and Alessa
One of the sweetest little gifts God gave us this spring were our "pet" birds. The robins built a nest on the light outside of our back door. It was lots of fun for our family to experience. For two weeks (the amount of time it takes for the birds to hatch and grow and leave), we made observations, googled the answers to our questions and watched those babies grow until they were big enough to fly the coop. Joe was even home the day it happened and he got to see our last little bird leave home! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7CK2TG15cw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH-POnBwJ3A
