Family Reunion

We went to Orem for a super quick extended family reunion trip with every minute packed full of things to do. We drove up in a day with only one real stop and one change of drivers stop. The kids were fantastic. Thank goodness for a DVD player.
Thursday Warren and the kids helped get the garden ready (in the rain!) for Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Tim's reception. Friday was the beautiful sealing for Yvonne and Tim, a quick visit with our dear friends Vic and Molly and their adorable son Peter in Provo Canyon and then Yvonne and Tim's reception in the evening.

10 Years Ago

Ten years ago my life changed for time and all eternity.
Ten years ago I said "Yes!"

Ten years ago all my hopes and dreams came true.

Ten years ago two families were united forever.



Ten years ago a new family was born.



Ten years ago I married my best friend.



Warren-
I love you!
Thank you for a wonderful ten years.
I'm grateful that this is only the beginning!

Yours forever,
Dorothea

Mission Accomplished

He's home.

How I wish I could have been there. Warren and I and our kids were the only ones missing. How I love this little brother of mine. I'm so proud of you Philipp.
As Dad so rightly put it, "mission accomplished."
Now on to the next "mission" in life-BYU here you come!
We can't wait to see you in August!

Prayer time

Last Sunday:

Daddy: "I'm going to say the prayer."

Joseph: "Me, too."

Daddy: "Okay, you can say it with me.

Heavenly Father"

J: "Father"

Daddy: "Thank you for Mommy"

J: Mommy"

Daddy: "And daddy"

J: (pointing to some dirt on the sheet) "daddy, daddy!!!"

Daddy: "Yes, there is a spot there."

Mommy: "We will wash it....later...."

Daddy: "Thank you for nursery"

J (starts singing): "I am a child of God"

Daddy: "Yes, very nice, I am a child of God..."

J (still singing): "he has sent me here..."

Daddy: "Thank you for music..."

At this point Joseph noticed that if he falls forward towards the bed he bounces back, so he continues to do this till the end of the prayer.

In other prayer news, we can hardly get through a prayer without Joseph correcting us all on how to fold our arms. If we are folding our hands he says your name repeatedly until you fold your arms instead. This can be problematic in public places because he gets quite loud. I'll try to capture it on video someday.

Pediatric Update

Thank you everyone for your concern. Joseph is doing fine, he's just sick and grumpy with a virus, which is what caused the fever. Apparently the most recent thoughts on these kinds of seizures are that there isn't anything you can do to prevent it, even giving tylenol sooner doesn't prevent the seizure. I want to do some research on this, but it appears that the main thing is to keep the child on their side during the seizure so their airways stay clear. It is more common than I realized. I had never heard of it before, but now that I have been telling people what happened I have had several people tell me it has happened to their child or to themselves as a child. There is a chance of it occurring again now that it has happened once. Of course I am nervous about it because it was no fun to watch, but I have to trust the information I have and my instincts and go from there. This website has more extensive information if you're interested. It's just a good thing to know about if you have kids or are a caregiver.

9-1-1 yet again!

I had my second experience calling 911 (well, actually my first since the other time was Warren on the phone with them not me.)
Rebecca was downstairs with Joseph and called "Help, help!"
I came down to find Joseph (who had had a fever of 101.4 that morning) lying on his side, foaming at his mouth, purple lips and shaking and making strange noises. I thought, could he just be dehydrated and started to try and give him some water while I dialed 911. The dispatcher told me he was probably having a seizure and told me to put him on his side and the medics would be there shortly. The EMTs said the same thing, they felt like he had had a febrile seizure but wanted to take him to the hospital for testing and to rule out meningitis. Rebecca and I followed the ambulance and spent the next two hours in the emergency room. Joseph had his blood drawn, had an IV to hydrate him and wasn't too happy about the whole thing. But he was a great little boy. It broke Rebecca's heart to watch them draw his blood. I didn't think to tell her not to look, I was busy trying to get him not to look.
Warren left work and joined us. When he got there Joseph said: "Daddy, owie."
Apparently some children get seizures if their fever suddenly spikes. I had been on the phone with the nurse that morning and she said, we usually recommend giving them a fever reducer if it gets to 102. And since it hadn't gotten that high I was still going to wait a little while and watch it. I was under the impression that you shouldn't just try to kill every little fever with tylenol because the fever is trying to fight the infection. I need to talk to my pediatrician and learn more. So now we have been told that since this has happened once the chances are higher that it could happen again. The doctor at the ER said they get a lot of first time febrile seizure patients, but once people learn about it they don't come in the next time.
I'm grateful everything is okay. I'm grateful that Rebecca had the frame of mind to realize something was wrong and let me know. She told me she saw Joseph's leg shaking and thought he was being silly so she went to go look what he was doing, but then she saw that his eyes were closed and he didn't look right so she called for help. I'm grateful we got home as quickly as we did. Does anyone have any experience with these types of seizures?
Anyway, we're just glad we're home and doing well.

Happy Father's Day

Rebecca's present made at kindergarten

I love my DAD. You are a gooD DAD.

This heart picture was her own spontaneous activity this afternoon. I love it when kids are learning how to write. It is one of my favorite things.

And last but not least, the children decided for their father's day present to give themselves to their daddy. What better present could there be? After all, they are the reason he is a father!



I love you Warren. One of the reasons I married you is I knew you would be an excellent father. And of course, it is true. You're the best daddy my kids could ever want. Their favorite time of day is when daddy walks through the door. You know that. You get to experience it every day. Happy Father's Day!