Katie's trip to the hospital Emergency Room

So, last night I decided to call the pediatrician after a long day of Katie have very intense coughing attacks. She was virtually coughing ALL day with so much might that she even vomited. The pediatrician recommended driving her directly to CHOP, b/c of her past medical history and with our past experiences with the local hospital just transporting her there anyway. Well, I have to say, I think I would rather have her transported now on. We arrived at CHOP at about 730pm............and were NOT seen UNTIL 2:00AM!!!! It was HORRIBLE. The waiting room was full of every sick kid imaginable...........with lots of throw up and tons of coughing........Anyway, the diagnosis was "Reactive Airway Disease"-a fancy term they tell me for asthma. So, we are working strong on giving her lots of Chest Physical Therapy (basically pounding on her back and chest with this small rubber tool) and giving her the Flovent Puffer daily, along with the nebulizer as needed.........I am in the process of scheduling a stat appointment with her Pulmonologist as well. :) Clearly, never a dull moment in our home! :)

Kids on the couch.......

Appropriate title, right?! Here are my five kiddos...........snuggling up b/c virtually my entire house is SICK. :)

MOD Walk 2009

What a beautiful and HOT day for the Walk this year. There was a great turnout as well. We started the day with TONS of sunscreen AND water! I am sad to report, that I did NOT make the entire five miles.........I did about 1/2......and between the stopping for water for the kids, and extra sunscreen, I think I burned an extra ton of calories, anyway! Lexi and N ick went ahead and completed the entire five miles. Afterwards, we hung out around the DJ, and Nick even won 4 tickets to a Trenton Thunder game for his dance rendition of the "YMCA"! :) Lexi and Nick had a GREAT time "bustin' a move"! :) Thank you to everyone who supported us in this great cause!

Sittin' pretty.....

waiting for the results of our 2nd chest xray.........

Baseball fan?

Here's Katie sportin' Nick's baseball hat......as we were waiting to see the pediatrician AGAIN!

Outside fun!

It was FINALLY warm enough to let the kiddos play outside.........boy, did they have FUN! :)

Katie has pneumonia.............AGAIN

Yes, this sweet and pleasant looking girl has pneumonia...........AGAIN. I am getting really tired of this! :) After many, many nebulizer treatments and the oral steroid, Katie just was NOT getting any better over last weekend. I brought her back to the pediatrician on Tuesday, after he called her in an antibiotic on Monday. We had a chest xray done and it showed pneumonia in her right lung-consistent with aspiration pneumonia. Anyway, I took her back for a re-check on Thursday afternoon, b/c she continued to have a very nasty cough. This time, the ped. believed the right lung was clear, however, heard "squeaking" in the left lung!! AAAAHHHHHH! :) Anyway, the ped. has her on TWO antibiotics now, an oral steroid, the nebulizer every 4 hrs, AND a puffer 1x/day. I sure hope this is the "cocktail" Katie needs to get better! :)

Anyone want to fight????

Nick LOVES his sparring classes in karate. He LOVES fighting-just like his Daddy! :) I tell you, Nick thinks I am joking-but I would NOT want to meet this six year old in a dark alley!!! :)

I am an AUNT! FINALLY! :)

Yes, it is true.........my sister FINALLY has a baby............ummm, puppy that is! :) :) This does qualify as being an "aunt", right???!!!! Please welcome Anya to our family......Nicholas insists he is Anya's brother, rather than "cousin". :) LOL.........He did help Aunt Patti pick her out, so I guess that does give him "brotherly" rights! LOL :)

Notes left around the house.......

Lately, since Nicholas has learned to read really well, he has been leaving me notes around the house, requesting certain things he doesn't want to come out and ask for!

This note reads:

Can you take me to Target so I can get a soup can? $15.00

Sooooo cute. He actually wants a soup thermos so he can bring soup into school for lunch like his friends......... :) LOVE these notes........ :)

Nick's new "stuff"

So, much like his mother and father, if Nicky has money, it definitely burns a hole in his pocket! :) Nick had about $30 to spend.......and boy did he ever! He made sure he hit the sales, though!~ He bought a hoodie from the GAP outlet for $16.99, then a hat from Gymboree for $6.99, and then he had just enough to buy a CARS cell phone from Disney Store for less than $6.........he thought he was "happening" with his sideways hat, hoodie, and cell phone! :) :) He was pretending to talk to Ryleigh, a little girl from his class!!!! :) He was planning a "date" with her to Outback STeakhouse! :) He is a trip! :)

Katie and her best friend........the NEBULIZER!

Yes, Katie is sick again. (And so is Mommy, by the way!) She has been hacking like crazy, so I took her to the doctor yesterday. Come to find out, she has "the croup", as the pediatrician p ut it! :) So, I am giving her an oral steroid, as well as the nebulizer every four hours..............and the saga continues............ :)

Spring Fun!

Today was a beautiful day for the kids to be outside playing.......I only had about 1/2 hour to let them outside since I had a haircut appt-but boy oh boy, did they take advantage of that 1/2 hour! :) Running and playing, jumping in dirty water, you name it, they did it! :)

Fun at a birthday party

Nick had a blast earlier today at ChuckECheese for a classmate's birthday party. He LOVED playing skeeball, and even got "into" dancing with ChuckE during the Happy Birthday song! He got soooo into it, the host *almost* put the "birthday necklace" around Nicholas! LOL :)

Nick's up at bat! :)

Nick's first baseball game

Nick FINALLY had his first baseball game-the first two were rained out. He was sooooo excited. His "plan" was that he was going to hit ALL home runs. Then, he wanted me to GIVE him $5 for EACH home run. AND........he told me that has he hits the home run, I must take the $5 out of my wallet, and WAVE it in the bleachers so everyone can see! I swear, he is such a character!!!! LOL........Video to follow of my little homerun hitter! :)

PS-the first pic is a cute one of N ick and Lexi walking to the snack bar together. He holds her hand soooo nicely when they go somewhere together! :)

A baker!

Nicholas decided he wanted to "try out" the new bundt cake pan I bought.......and once he found the banana cake mix in the cupboard, he was on his way! :) He and Lexi made the cake all by himself----with Nick even cracking the eggs (and picking out the shells from the mix!) :) I have to say that I was very impressed with the look AND taste of the final product! :)

Carousel Ride

The kids LOVED the carousel ride........Austin especially. He kept saying, "my ride", "my birdy".......so cute! :)

Trip to the Zoo

Since Daddy was off from work today, and Lexi and Nick have off from school this week, we decided to make use of our Season Passes to the Philly Zoo. The babies had a good time-although it is hard to get them out of the

stroller like they sometimes want to........there are too many of them! :) Austin did have a great time feeding the goats, believe it or not. I was shocked that he wasn't afraid. BUT, Emma ATE the goat food! AND SHE LIKED IT!!! LOL.......... :) Never a dull moment-so true! :)