Hospital Trip

Oh, what an eventful week we've had. First off, let me say what a trouper Tiny is. She was poked and prodded and had things attached to her and was sick yet, through all of it, she remained her overly happy self. I'm so proud of how brave she is! I love you Izzers!
So, Thursday baby seems to be sick. I try ALL day to get a hold of her pediatrician (her former pediatrician) but to no avail. So, Eric gets home and we take her to the insta-care. They check her out and then decide she's too tiny for them to see so they send us to a kids care (no problem with that). They were great at the kids care, very helpful and attentive. Doc tells us that she has a sore throat and the baby version of bronchitis. :-( Says to keep an eye on her breathing and bring her in if it gets any worse. So, we go about our lives and she doesn't seem to get any worse, but she doesn't get any better either. Saturday night we go see "A Tale of Two Cities" at Hale Theatre, which was amazing by the way.

Tale is one of my favorite books and the musical was great! We had lots of friends in the show and the singing was GREAT, I'm sure partially because of their amazingly talented cast and partially because of the talent of their musical director, our dear friend, Anne Puzey. She's amazing! ANYWAY...we left Izzy with her favorite babysitters, Aunt Celeste and Uncle John Thibeault. They're so sweet with her and she loves spending time with them. Well, when we got back from the show she said that she had been having a hard time breathing and that we should take her into the doctor again. Of course, as soon as we picked her up she was ready for sleep so she didn't sound so bad. We decided to wait til the morning and see how she was doing then. (By the way, through this WHOLE thing, I had the worst migraine I'd ever had! When we got home from the show I could hardly move my own body...it was bad. Poor Eric had to take care of a hurting me and a sick tiny. Somehow he survived, he's so tough.) So Sunday morning Eric gets up with Iz and lets me sleep in (He's awesome right??) and about 10am he comes in and sets her on the bed and her breathing was so raspy and wheezy that it woke me up. :-( So we waited til the Kids Care opened at noon and took her right in. This time her throat looked better but she had an ear infection. Ugh! They listened to her and checked her oxygen levels and they were fine so they suctioned her out again (That is AWFUL by the way. They take a tube and stick it in their nose and down their throat...*shudders*!) and then we were packed up and ready to head home again. The doc wanted to check her oxygen one more time before she left and that's when everything went down hill. Her oxygen levels were too low - the wanted her to be around 100 and she was at 80 - so the doctor gave her an Albuterol treatment which actually helped a lot in the long run but in the moment it didn't do anything. :-( So they started her on oxygen and called Riverton Hospital to have a room ready for her. Then, because they had already started her on oxygen, they couldn't let us drive her so they had to call an ambulance for her.

Poor little tiny thing having to ride in an ambulance. It was actually kind of funny though because they strapped her car seat onto the stretcher. It looked ridiculous!
The people at Riverton were really great. The doctors were very willing to offer information and the nurses were very attentive. Other than the fact that our baby had to be in the hospital, it was a good experience.

Oh look at her, sweet little thing! She really did so great! She had that oxygen thing strapped to her face the whole time we were there, even though she didn't need it after about 11:30pm. Apparently she didn't want to be there anymore than we did because they said we'd be in the hospital til she could go all night without oxygen...it was looking like we were going to be there for a long time, but she did it the very first night! Thank goodness too, you should have seen Eric and I both trying to sleep on the tiny pull out bed they had! RIDICULOUS!!

Grandma and Grandpa Morris came to visit and bring us food which was so wonderful of them cuz Eric and I were STARVING!

They even stayed and watched "The Emperor's New Groove" with me while Eric ran home to get us pajamas. They are such amazing people, such good friends, and such wonderful Grandparents to Izzy! I feel so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I don't know where I'd be without my Sue! We have SO much fun together!!!

(An example of aforementioned "fun")

I think this trip to the hospital was definitely more stressful for Eric than it was for me. Eric's hardly spent any time with babies so, naturally, he's never spent time with a sick baby in a hospital. I, on the other hand, have spent many a day in the hospital with a Bree and Brady.

Eric...not so much....

I'm crazy about this concerned look on his face. It took him a little getting use to but he finally realized that it is possible to hold her even when she's attached to everything under the sun!
Turns out Isabelle had RSV! We were really lucky that she had such a mild case, some kids spend weeks in the hospital with RSV. She was a tough little bucket and got through it with very few problems! Good girl!!
As sad as it was for me to see Tiny in the hospital...I still can't get over how cute she looked in the itty bitty hospital gown!My goodness that girl has rolls! :-) She really was great! She was all full of kicks and smiles for the nurses and she slept through the night even though they came in every hour to check her temperature and stuff! She's the best baby a mommy could wish for!

And that was our oh so eventful week! GEEZ! Let's hope that this week is very UNeventful!!

Baby's First Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Not only is today Valentine's Day, it is also my sweet Isabelle's 4 month birthday! I cannot believe how fast she's growing up! We had her 4 month check up on Friday and the doctor said she looks incredibly healthy and he believes she's in good hands....that's me! :-) Here's a profile of our tiny bucket at 4 months old! (There are some picture examples of the things she can do...cuz I'm crazy about pictures!!!)

Isabelle Julianna Armstrong
4 months old
Isabelle is 24.5 inches long. (The 70th percentile)
Isabelle is 15 pounds (The 90th percentile)
Izzy can support her head all by herself. Izzy makes really funny faces and loves to play with her tongue.Isabelle can roll from her tummy on to her back...but not consistently.
Izzy is eating solid foods. She's had rice cereal and applesauce so far and she loves them both!Isabelle can smile, and she does all the time!Izzy sleeps through the night. 10-12 hours at a time. YAY!!!
Isabelle not only sleeps through the night, but this girl can sleep anywhere!Izzy likes to put her hands, and anything she can grab with her hands, into her mouth.Izzy makes all sorts of funny sounds. She even "ahhhs" herself to sleep. Too cute!
Isabelle loves to spend time in her "jumpy". Isabelle is almost laughing, but it takes a lot of effort on my part!
Isabelle loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the Jazz games (even when they lose!)Izzy can sit up if she's supported a little.

Seriously, this girl is the light in my life! She is so much fun!!! I'm so proud to be her mommy!! I love watching her grow and learn and turn into a little person! I'm so lucky to be able to be home with her all day and for that, I thank my amazing husband!! Speaking of which...

Eric and I had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend full of happy feelings and delicious food! Eric's sweet friend Hannah volunteered to watch Iz on Friday night so Eric and I could spend some good time together. OH WE DID! :-) We ate at Rodizio Grill, which may be one of my most favorite places in all the world. We ate and ate and ate that endless meat until we thought we were gonna burst. Then we went and saw True Grit. It was not as good as we were hoping for, but it was definitely entertaining! And Isabelle had a great time with Hannah...we could tell!

On Saturday we spent the morning together as a family and took it easy, which was lovely! Then at 4 we dropped our little pumpkin off at my Auntie Kim's house. There is no one in the whole world I would trust with my tiny more than her. I was thrilled that she was willing to watch her for the night! Eric and I then proceed to have an incredible night! We had dinner at "Faustina", (because I had won a $50 dollar gift card at the OBT Christmas Party) and it was super yummy! We had amazing calamari for our appetizer! Eric called it "popcorn calamari" which was very appropriate. I told him I would LOVE to be snacking on it during a movie! :-)Eric got the Stuffed Beef Tenderloin Medallions, which were delicious! I, being the adventurous foodie that I am, got the lamb chops. I know, I know, it doesn't sound that adventurous but I'd never had them before. Let me tell you though, being adventurous pays off! My food was amazing! We shared an absolutely delicious Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee for desert. Wonderful meal, wonderful company! ;-)
After dinner we went to the Voodoo Darling's Valentine's Day Burlesque show! This is our fifth or sixth time seeing them and it is always SO much fun! We're crazy about sexy dancing girls!! :-D They're so entertaining and tasteful. I think Jen and Danny have done an incredible job!
Auntie Kim kept Izzy over night so Eric and I were actually able to go to a baby-free home. Don't worry, I won't share any details but, it was a wonderful night!

Since its Valentine's Day I posted a little something something on Eric's facebook wall and I thought I'd share it here too. I thought he'd like the post better than a card. He claims that he likes receiving cards, he just doesn't like buying them for other people but I don't know how true that is. I think he hates cards a little. Anyway...here's how I feel about my sexy honey! (The short version)

To my handsome Valentine,

You are my everything. You bring me so much happiness. I'm so honored to be the mother of your tiny one and cannot wait for the rest of our lives. I feel so blessed to have you, you make life worth living. Thank you for being my rock.

Loving you eternally, with everything I have, Your Kia

Isn't it wonderful that we have a whole day dedicated to loving the people around us. I know its source is lame, but "Hallmark" this year has a campaign that Valentine's Day isn't about saying "I love you" it's about saying "I love us". How true that is. And so I close this blog post reminding my sweet husband that I love us! I love us as a couple and I love the three of us as a family. I love the love I have and couldn't ask for more!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!

First official blogging post of my life!!

Wow, I can't believe I'm a 23 year old married mom living in such a high tech world and this is my FIRST blog post. Kind of ridiculous isn't it? Well, its time to join the world of blogging and make my mark. After some awesome advice from Eric's work friend, Hannah, I've decided to start a little family blog that can then be turned into books that Isabelle (and maybe future children) can look at and read about what our family did that year. I think its a great idea and I'm very excited to start writing about the big and little things that happen to us through the year!We'll keep this first post nice and simple! We do have a whole month to cover since the beginning of the year but, luckily, it was fairly uneventful! Basically our year has been consumed by little Isabelle. She brings so much joy and stress and laughter and tears! I love that I get to be home with her all day, we have so much fun! We play all sorts of silly games, we read stories, we sing and dance, we eat, we poop, we watch TV. Its a good life! :-)
We started Isabelle on rice cereal on Jan 25th and she is crazy about it!!
We decided to start her on the cereal because she was eating SO much! She was eating 30-35 oz a day...and she still is. Only now she's eating cereal on top of that!! We see her doctor on Friday and we're hoping he'll tell us that she can start eating fruits and veggies too...we're all getting a little bored with just rice cereal.

Isabelle was blessed on January 30th and it was a beautiful day! Eric gave her a beautiful blessing and we had so many people there to support us. I think Cody's count was about 80 people! It was amazing. We had our most favorite men in the circle with Eric which was wonderful. We, of course, had family, Izzy's grandpa's Grandpa Ceran and Grandpa Morris, her Uncles Clay and Ted, her Godfather, Eric Jensen, and some of our dearest friends: John Thibeault, Chandler Russell, Will Phillips, and Brad Charon.
It really was an amazing day. I really wish we would've gotten some more pictures of her with the people there. :-( She looked beautiful, I love her SO much! What an amazingly lucky woman I am! I have a stupid looking bulldog, Hilo, who makes me laugh and a super soft kitty, Maui, who's a great cuddle bug! I also have a gorgeous little girl who is such a joy to be around and brightens even the most gloomy days and a husband who works so hard for our family and who loves me unconditionally. I am so blessed!!!