Coolidge In the Hospital

Remember Campbell coming home sick from school? Well, it was inevitable that some one, if not every one would get it. So far only Mason and Coolidge have gotten it with fevers, coughing, and runny noses. And the coughing was bad. Last Sunday afternoon Coolidge started wheezing when he would breath and at night he was really having a hard time. We were up all night with him Monday night just trying to calm down his breathing and when he didn't sound any better Tuesday morning I took him in to see our Pediatrician. I was hoping the doctor could just prescribe a cough medicine with codeine or something, but after he listened to Coolidge they did a nebulizer treatment in the office and when that didn't help his breathing he told me that we needed to admit him into the ED at the hospital! The whole time I was just thinking, "REALLY? Is it THAT bad?"

I paged Andersen at the hospital and he was able to meet us outside and since I had Campbell (home from school sick), Mason and Waverly, Andersen just took him in and stayed with him the whole time he was in the hospital. I wanted to go in with them so badly, but with breast feeding Waverly I didn't want to pass it on to her. So we went home and waited.

Thankfully Andersen kept calling with updates. They x-rayed Coolidge and took him to the OR. They thought they needed to intubate him to help him breath, but after scoping his airways they decided just to do a steroid treatment to help them open up. Our home teachers were able to go up to the hospital and help Andersen give him a blessing and he finally started reacting to the treatments. By Wednesday evening he was breathing normal again and we were able to pick him and Andersen up from the hospital. I think Andersen and Coolidge had some good bonding time in the hospital because ever since he's been home he will only go to Andersen and not to me, which is probably a good thing since my arms are usually full of Waverly.

Thank you so so much Ashlee and Lora for bringing in dinners. It was a huge relief for me. And the boys thank you for the cookies and ice cream sandwiches ;o)

There's a happy Coolidge again! But you can still see the glue marks from the EKG leads they had on him in the hospital to monitor his vitals. These marks were all over his body and impossible to get off!

Now, you may be wondering what an emergency stay in the hospital for a 2 year old would cost, well, feast your eyes on this...

Thankfully we pay monthly for some good insurance and we only had to pay $150 of this bill. Hallelujah for insurance!

Camping in the Sandbox

We had planned on going camping with Will & Christy this last weekend, but because Campbell came home sick and there was serious rain in the forecast we decided to cancel our camping trip. The boys were VERY disappointed so Andersen came up with the perfect solution - just build a campfire in the sandbox! It was a huge hit for ALL the kids in the neighborhood.
We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and played with fire, who could ask for more?

The boys even took a hike down by the creek and Andersen brought me back these flowers. I had been wanting to pick some of these flowers for weeks and I loved them!

I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband. He always makes me feel special. I love you Andersen!

Cooley's 2nd Birthday

As is tradition in the Grigg house, birthdays always start off with a waffle breakfast. I was pretty proud of my self for getting up early (or rather, staying up from Waverly's last feeding) and having breakfast ready by 7am so that Porter and Campbell could have waffles, too, before school. Here is the birthday boy, sharing his waffles with his stuffed turtle. Campbell wanted me to take a picture of him wearing this moustache that he made. My little man of a thousand disguises!

Campbell ended up coming home from school sick after he threw up in the library. Poor guy! He had to wait in the nurse's office for a few hours before the school was finally able to get a hold of Andersen at the hospital. I had taken Coolidge, Mason and Waverly to McDonald's for lunch and then gone grocery shopping so by the time we got home Andersen was pulling in right behind us.

Now, like I said, we had gone grocery shopping and decided to pick up a cake for Cooley's birthday, but in all of the excitement of Dad being home early, Mason stepped on the cake, smashing the "Happy Birthday Coolidge" to the top of the lid! Luckily Coolidge didn't care.

Here is Cooley afraid to blow out his candles.

Ahhh, the much anticipated dollar from Great Grandma Adams! The boys love getting their birthday dollar.

Birthday books from Papa and Nana, "I'm Going to be an Astronaut" and "I'm a Big Brother!"

It's still hard to think of Coolidge as BIG of anything, my little 4lb wonder! Look at him swimming in that preemie diaper!

A new Geo Trax train from Grandpa and Grandma.

All aboard! Next stop, Cakeville!

And what ever you do, don't touch Cooley's toys!

Campbell MUST have been sick to sleep through the entire party. It wasn't until the next morning that Campbell asked if we had had cake yet.

The Boys Showing Off For Waverly

Grandma Adams

Once again, my angel mother was able to come and help us in our time of need. She came the last week of August and worked her magic, cooking, cleaning, playing with the boys, taking care of baby, and babying me. It was perfect timing, too, because I had just gotten a cold and hardly felt like doing anything, Andersen was on night shift (8pm-10am) at the hospital and spending every spare second studying for his boards in a few weeks.
Waverly even started smiling while she was here. There's nothing like Grandma's love to make you smile :o)
We even got to spend a whole day canning peaches. I used to help my mom every summer can peaches, pears, and green beans so I was way excited when she suggested we do some canning. I love having peaches during the winter. We borrowed a steam canner from my friend Joy (thank you Joy!) and I already had 2 cases of jars, but we ended up buying too many peaches so I had to go out and buy 2 more cases. Darn! More peaches! The boys love these peaches and always ask, "Can we have some of Grandma's peaches?"
It's always nice to have reinforcements when Andersen is at the hospital and not able to make it to church with us. And we even managed to get pictures with the boys. Although, we couldn't talk them out of eating their suckers from the Bishop.
Coolidge refused to sit with everyone else so we all had to move to where he decided to sit. Did you notice Mason's haircut? He tried to cut his bangs, but he only cut the middle and I didn't have time to fix it.
And of course, Waverly is always the center of attention.
Thank you so much Mom for coming and helping. And thank you Dad for letting her come. We missed having you and we miss you both!