Home with O's

After monitoring Maddie for 24 hours at Children's, the consensus was she needs O's (she's on 1/2-1 liter of oxygen depending on her sats/coughing episodes/pucking) and just needs to have time to get over this bad virus. She did have a pretty good night last night and after a chest x-ray this morning, it was ruled out that this is affecting her lungs or heart. It's just a respiratory virus and leaves her hypoxic (looking blue, low sats, w/ harder time breathing). So the decision was left up to us: oxygen at home or stay in the hospital until she could come off it......so we're home. I did go back and forth on this but she kept pretty stable with the support of oxygen and is drinking and peeing enough for now. I don't feel so hot myself and I know we can all get well faster here at home without the risk of catching something else while in the hospital! Here's a few pictures of our girlie from this week.

We all looked/felt like this last night...a little tired maybe?!?

Here's the weird rash (and a little food she was saving for later I guess). This is after the hives/mosquito bites had tamed down. Her arm in the above picture is the aftermath of itching it sooo much- looks awful.

Thanks for checking on us and thinking of Miss Maddie. Please say extra prayers for a sweet little heart friend of ours, Lindsay. She's getting her angel heart tonight!

We're in the hospital...

After another trip to Seattle Children's this week (we came over here on Monday) Maddie was admitted this afternoon to the floor. She caught the yucky virus her big brothers have had and after labs were run Monday, it was determined that she has "Metapneumovirus" which is very similar to RSV. It affects the respiratory system, usually bronchial, and it typically just runs you down. She's had a fever off and on, very irritable and can't keep much down due to the horrible cough. We also learned it's common in warmer seasons. It really was hard on the boys so we were just waiting for little miss' turn since it was inevitable she'd get sick with two brothers hacking all over the place! They're feeling much better now after a full week of recoup.

We came back to the ER this morning after finding that her sats were in the mid-low 60's with dips in 50's with our pulse ox at home. She has typically been running around 78-80 lately, even on Monday when we were here, her sats looked great. She also woke up quite puffy, much more "blue" and pulling quite a bit when she was breathing. Luckily, she's hydrated (enough). They just want to keep an eye on her and watch what she's going to do in the next 24 hours or so...and we need to figure out what is causing her sats to be so low! Heart wise, she looked fine on Monday so it's really stumping us. She's not that congested, they suctioned her really well and hardly got any mucous out. So it's weird. Maddie's on oxygen and is still trying to pull of all of her leads and nasal cannula, so I see this as a good sign. On top of all of this, she also has a horrible rash which is a combo of old mosquito bites and hives. Yes, she does look quite lovely and if Iwasn't typing this on the hospital's computer, I'd post a picture. Sorry for no updates lately...we're going on 10 days of kids being sick, Maddie being the caboose and feeling so crummy. Poor little love.

Dolly playing 101

Here's how Miss Maddie plays with her baby doll:

First, aggressively push baby in the stroller...
Next, gently pull baby out of the stroller...
Finally, hold down baby and poke on her eyes...
Fun!

Fun with Cousins

On Friday, Aunt Jessica took the boys and their cousin Jett for an afternoon of fun...they went to the movie Earth, played at the park for hours, and had two meals at the new McDonald's! Every kids dream and a real treat :) While the boys had their fun with Aunt J, Maddie had a play date with Kylie Rose here. Kylie is such a doll and a real go-getter...she's going to be so good for Maddie, a real challenge for her to keep up with! Having cousins is so much fun and when they're your age, BONUS! Thanks Aunt J for planning such a wonderful outting with the boys, they are still talking about all of the fun they had.

Break out those running shoes...

Summerfest, our local community days, is quickly approaching and this year's fun run charity is in honor of Maddie! All of the proceeds from your entry fee, EVERY PENNY, will go towards Children's Heart Research Guild. Check out the site...Maddie's story is showcased under the "our kids" tab. We are so excited about this event and hope that YOU will join us on Saturday, July 11th to walk/run the 5K race and help raise funds for Congenital Heart Defects Research!!!

Here's a tidbit of the race from Summerfest's website:
RUN ROYALE FOR CHARITY:
Moderate difficulty through farm land and rural area starting at Royal City Lions Park at 7am for adult 5k run/walk and 8am for youth fun run. Runners and walkers welcome on this relatively flat course partially next to farming ground. Hear the birds chirping!!

the latest with little miss

Lots of standing, preferably in the middle of the room without anything to pull up on and from a crawling position! It's amazing to see and something the boys never did. She did take her first steps Tuesday night...it was very exciting, involved lots of clapping but nothing since! Cousin Savanna and Auntie Lesa were able to coax her into taking those few steps...it was fun to sit back and watch :) She's surely exceeded my expectations for what she'd be doing at 14 months! Climbing up and down stairs...she backs up at least 6 feet before hitting that first step down, overly cautious?!?
We often find her sitting in boxes, laundry baskets, plastic totes, whatever she can fit/squeeze into and play in. A shoe box has been the smallest box I've witnessed so far.
And she loves to play with trucks...this red monster truck is her favorite. The big brothers really enjoy this and have taught her well. She makes some obnoxious truck sounds (aka: a loud, spitting noise) to go with her truck pushing.
Life is sweet...

Branding

I was raised on a cow ranch, just 12 miles from where Bryan and I live now with our little brood. We are so fortunate to have both of our families share the same zip code. Spring is busy on our farm and also on my folk's ranch, and the kids and I try to share in this whenever we can. I had a wonderful childhood and want the kids to experience much of what I did growing up. Riding horses, gathering and working cattle, and competing in rodeos was how I spent much of my time and this way of life was "branded" into me. It was such a fun way to grow up. Although there are fences all over the ranch, we kids were not fenced in and gained an early independence this way. So many memories and adventures... I hope my kids will experience this type of freedom as well.

Here's a picture of the Saddle Mountains that the ranch sits at the base of. This valley where I grew up is called Symrna and I always feel so peaceful when I'm down there. Life just seems to slow down a bit. Here's my cowboys...Cade's hat looks a little pilgrimish! Climbing fences at the branding with cousin Jett Henry. These three have so much WILD fun together...dirty faces, skinned up knees & elbows, and asleep at the dinner table. This sums up a busy day at the ranch for these boys.
Mooms and Nany relaxing in the sweet sunshine at the branding. Maddie "mmmmm's" (her moo sound) everytime she sees a cow or calf. She was konked out after her "mmmming" all morning.
Uncle Ryan and the boys getting ready to go mark the calves' heads. This is the little kid job. They really get off easy since my job at the brandings at their age was the "ball bucket"...yes, I had to collect the rocky mountain oysters with my bare hands after they cut the bull calves to save in the bucket for the crew who liked to eat them- and NO, I've NEVER tried them!!! Disgusting and I gag at the thought of it...heard they taste like chicken though!My older brother had his saddle made with the ranch brand on it, Circle 11. The ranch has been in my dad's family for 4 generations now. Between my dad and my 2 brothers, there are 4 brands that are used to distinguish who's herd they belong to. Bry and I also have a brand, as well as his parents and grandparents. We have a feedlot full of fat cattle, many of them were my dad's/brother's last calf crop. With the growth of our families, we may just have to start branding the kids in order to tell who belongs to who!
Here's the branding crew minus my mom, Grandma Shirley, and I (we were just the cooks...) Even Miss Maddie made the picture with Ba! Branding usually takes the month of April to get through all of the calves. It's a fun time!
Uncle Ryan got the boys their first ropes. He also dug out his old roping dummy so they could practice... I'm going to have to get back in the saddle soon so I can prove to them that I can rope! They don't quite believe me...mom's aren't supposed to do this, I guess. It's a great skill though and I may just need to break out my old ropes to get my kids in line... My dad filling a syringe of vaccine. All of the calves get shots, branded, and ear marked before they get turned out on the range with their mama's for the summer months.

Jason on a colt, coiling up his rope after "holding one" on horseback. We still brand the old-fashioned way, all on horseback and "rodeo" style-healing the calf and dragging it to the fire for branding. Sometimes it's good watching with all of the crazy wrecks than can happen!
Ryan branding a calf...this smell brings back so many memories for me. I know, I'm weird.
Nany, Maddie, Aunt J and Kylie Rose enjoying the branding from the side-lines. Maddie liked teething on the rusty fence...
They make pretty handsome cowboys...normally they're in "farm boy" mode until they get on the ranch. We'll see if any of our kids want to rope/rodeo like their mama did. Yes people, I was a cowgirl...still am deep down.
Here's the proof...