Trick or Treat!

We were Cinderella (look familiar?:) and Tony Stewart (NASCAR race car driver). We went to a few homes in our neighborhood last night. Kids got way too much candy. I hid some, Ken took some to work, and I am rationing the rest. My friend, Julia had a great idea for what to do with all of the candy. Too bad I didn't read about it earlier. I think we'll try that next year.

Layne's got another concussion

I got a phone call yesterday while I was at work. Layne's teacher called and said he was sick. She said he threw up at snack time. Those of you that know Layne know that he is one of those kids who vomits all of the time. He has reflux along with a very sensitive gag reflex, so throw up is pretty normal around our house. So, as I was going to get him, I thought this was just another one of his episodes. Well, when I got to his preschool, he was asleep on a restmat while all of the other kids were on the playground. His teacher told me about his vomiting incident and also said that he had hit his head during their chapel time. Apparently him and another little boy got a little rough and this boy knocked Layne to the floor. She said that she didn't see him fall, but heard the "thump". This was immediately before snack time. My first thought was concussion. He had one in the spring (another story) and I knew what to look for. I went to wake him up and as soon as I did, he threw up again. I then asked him where he hurt and he replied "my head hurts".

When we left, I called our doctor's office and they told me to bring him in. Of course, on our way, Layne threw up again. Our doc looked at him and didn't think he needed a CT scan at this point. This was around noon and he said to call him back in a few hours with a report of how he was doing. On the way home he has another vomiting episode. We get home and he falls asleep. He sleeps for about 2 hours then I have to wake him up to go pick up Anna. He wakes up okay and I think he is over it. Well, wouldn't you know he throws up again. It's like he pukes everytime he moves around a little bit. This is around 3:00 and I leave a message for my doctor giving him an update. He calls back around 3:45 and says he is going to call a neurosurgeon and get his opinion on what to do. He calls me back around 4:15 and says they are in agreement that Layne needs a CT scan. They feel that he should not be showing symptoms four hours later. Layne was still just laying on the couch at this point. Not acting his normal self at all. I tell him it had been over an hour since he last vomited, but he really wanted to make sure everything was okay. The only way to do so was with the CT scan.

So, we have to go to the ER for this b/c of the time of day. By the time I figured out what to do with Anna, we got to the ER at 5:15. We didn't wait long at all in the waiting room, but the whole ordeal lasted 3 hours. Didn't get home until after 8 last night. The CT scan was clear (which we all thought it would be, be you never know for sure). I asked the ER doc why he has had two concussions is 6 months. Of course he didn't even answer my question. He replied with "you need to make sure he wears a helmet when on his bike and roller skates". I stated "that's not the problem, the problem is in everyday play!". By this point (around 7:30) I was too tired to argue and figured we would need to speak with a specialist anyway. He just reminded me that some kids are more sensitive to head trauma than others and once you have a concussion, you are more likely to have others. We are going to talk to our regular doc and see if this is something that needs to be addressed. Looks like no football for Layne in the future!!

Fall Fun!!

Yesterday I took the kids to a small pumpkin patch here in town. Got a few cute pics and thought I would share.

Last Weekend

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had Anna's birthday party last Friday night. We had lots of family come from Arkansas to Texas for the big event. The fun started on Tuesday when my parents arrived. On Thursday, my sister Rhonda, her husband, Scott, and their three children, Abigail (5), Brady (3), and Jackson (6 months) arrived just in time for lunch. Then that night, my sister-in-law, Tenille (my brother's wife), and my niece, Lexi, arrived at the airport. So, you guessed it, we had 13 people in the house! We had a great time. It was crazy and chaotic at times (especially with 6 kids) but barrels of fun. Oh, and Tenille is 32 weeks pregnant. Isn't she a trooper?!? Ken's mom and my niece, Jaci, drove in from Vernon for the tea party too. We were very busy with Anna's b-day party and the ACU game on Saturday.

Baby Jackson

Lexi, Abigail, Anna, & Jaci

The whole gang!! That's Brady with the blue cap on. I didn't get any pictures of the boys this weekend. What was I thinking? I just had my mind on tea parties!!

Anna's Birthday Party

We had Anna's Birthday Party Friday night. It was a princess tea party and it was so cute!!! I was given a lady's name from a friend and she did such a great job with all of the decorations and food. We had 12 girls at the party!! They looked so adorable. They had finger sandwiches, fruit, veggies and dip, and party mix. They also had pink cupcakes. If you look closely, there is a small tiara on top of each one. She even brought a small pitcher or "tea pot" and Anna got to serve the girls their "tea". I had a high school girl, Kathleen, come and pretend to be a Barbie princess. She did awesome!! She facilitated a game like pin the tail on the donkey, but it was place the slipper on Cinderella's foot. At the end of the party all of the girls booked it to the backyard to play in all of their pretty dresses. It was so much fun!! Be sure and view the slideshow with the sound turned on, it has the perfect song to go with the theme!! Oh, I don't just have an empty room. That is normally the kids play area. We cleared everything out for the party. I still haven't put everything back in. I am going to organize as I put things back up. I need to thank all of my family who came and helped out so much. I could not have pulled it off without them. I'll post more later about who all stayed at the house (13 of us in all!!) It was a great birthday weekend!!

Anna's Birthday

Aunt T (LeAnn) and Uncle Chris gave her their b/day gifts. It was a pink volleyball, pink volleyball socks, knee pads, and a volleyball hair accessory. Do we have a future volleyball player or what??

On Monday, I brought cupcakes to Anna's class to celebrate her special day (see previous post). The kids were so sweet and polite. Layne was excited b/c he got to sit at one of the big kid tables. Mrs. P even allowed the kids to sing "Happy Birthday" to Anna. She made it really special for her. Since it was Anna's birthday, she got to pick where she wanted to go for dinner Monday night. Of course she picked Chuck E Cheese. When we checked in I told them it was her birthday. They gave her a balloon, crown, and some tokens. While we were eating, Chuckie came over and sang "Happy Birthday" and they gave her an ice cream sandwich with a candle to blow out. When we got home, we had some of the cake that I made Anna. We were all on a sugar high!! We had a great day, but the "real" party is next week. I'll post more about it later.

Anna is 6!!

Anna's first official portrait. She is around 6 weeks old.

Anna at one-Laurel Park in Conway

Anna at two-UCA football game in Conway

Anna at three-Conway

Anna at four-her Little Mermaid b-day party in Abilene

Anna at five-ACU football game

Anna at six-ACU football game. Doesn't she look so much more mature in one year?

BEWARE---LONG POST!!! Wow, I cannot believe Anna is 6!!! She has grown into such a little lady. She loves school, dance, gymnastics, Barbie, Polly Pocket, art, (really she loves everything!!) and her musical theater class. I thought I would post her birth story, since many of you do not know about it.

My due date was Oct.10, 2001, but I was scheduled to be induced on Oct.8 (Monday morning). Of course we had to plan the induction around football games and thank goodness UCA had a not so good team scheduled for the following Saturday. On Saturday, Oct. 6, UCA had an out of town game. It was instate, but Ken would still be late getting home. I did not feel like going b/c I was having back labor (I didn't realize it at the time, I just thought my back hurt :), so my sister and her husband came up to spend the night with me. They did not want me spending the night alone. Ken even drove his own vehicle to the game in case he had to leave early. That Saturday night, the three of us went out to eat at Stoby's and I did not take my cell phone inside. Well, Ken had called to check on me while we were eating. We get back into the car and I see that he has called. It was right at 7:00 and I knew they were kicking off the game. I called him back and was just going to leave a message that we were eating and I was okay. To my surprise he answered! As soon as his phone rang, the other coaches in the pressbox saw it was me calling and immediately starting announcing over the headsets "Robyn's in labor!!". Everyone on the sideline thought I was having Anna right then! I felt really stupid. They were all excited that I really wasn't in labor and that Ken was staying for the game!

As I stated earlier, I did not feel well at all on that Saturday, but I just thought that was normal. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and didn't even realize I was in the early stages of labor. I was awakened around 5 am with horrible cramps. I finally woke Ken up around 8 and told him I thought I was in labor. He started timing the contractions and around 10 we went to the hospital. We get there and the OB/GYN that was on call was a partner of my regular doctor. She checked me and said I was dilated between 3 and 4. She knew I was scheduled to be induced the following morning. She said it was my decision. I could be admitted and start on Pitocin or go home and tough it out until the next morning. I knew first labors were very long and decided I would rather be at home and in pain than in a hospital bed. We came home and that afternoon was one of the LONGEST of my life!! My contractions kept getting worse and I couldn't find a comfortable position. I remember staring at the clock all day!! My mom told me to just go to the hospital. She said "they have medicine for you there". I guess she was concerned about me b/c around 5:00 her and my dad show up at the house. So...guess what? Around 5:30 we go back to the hospital. I got my epidural around 8:30 and that was the best thing ever!!! They came around 10 and broke my water. When they did that, they realized that the amniotic fluid had meconium (Anna's poop) in it. They immediately started me on an antibiotic. At 4 am I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for 2 hours and Anna's body was in the right position, but she was face up instead of face down and she wasn't able to pass through my pubic bone. So... I was wheeled in to OR for a c-section. She was born at 6:38 am. She weighed 8'9" and was 21" long.

I remember feeling so exhausted. I had been up for 24 hours and had gone through quite a bit. Of course I spiked a fever and then really felt like you know what. At birth, Anna did well, but at her noon check up the nurse noticed that she was in a little bit of respiratory distress. They ended up admitting her to the NICU and putting an IV in her little foot. They suspected some meconium got into her lungs and caused an infection. I did not get to see her again until about 24 hours later when she was discharged from the NICU. Ken did, but I was too sick (the meconium caused me to get an infection as well). He would take our video camera into the room and then bring it to me so I could see her. She was born on a Monday and we got to leave the hospital on Thursday. One of the nursery nurses told me when we were leaving the hospital "she's going to give you a run for your money!". I didn't really know what she meant by that, but I do now!!