Sick sick and more sick.

Last year we were very blessed to not get sick hardly at all. Kyle hasn't been to a doctor or an antibiotics since he was a baby. He has been very healthy and we have been very grateful. The last 3 weeks have not been that great!  After Cayden got home from the hospital on Monday, Kyle woke up with a random low grade fever on Wednesday but no other symptoms. He only had it for one day. I woke up Tuesday with a very painful UTI. I immediately started the pain pills and started downing doterra oils and cranberry pills which actually helped last year when I got one. This time it wasn't working too well so I texted our favorite family doctor Uncle Dr Chris who said that an old rx I had of an antibiotic should work even though I only had 5 days worth. I started it Thursday and thought I was over that particular misery but I started with a cough from my chest on the next Tuesday and it got worse from there. I had fever and chills on Wednesday and Kyle started with fever on Thursday. He and I were pretty sick all weekend. Cayden started with fever and coughing on Saturday. Don took Kyle to the  urgent care Monday morning and the doctor was nice enough to give all of us antibiotics. Kyle had bronchitis which is probably what I had. Don said the doctors office was packed with everybody there for the same thing. There have been so many people sick around here. After a few more days with fever, calling the doctor Tuesday night when Kyle's fever was still almost 103, and a priesthood blessing for Kyle from dad and Brother Whipple we were on the mend.  We had several people who were very kind and helped us while I was so sick. The week it all started Don had to go to Dallas. After me and the kids stayed home from church I got several texts from sisters checking on us. Monday, Kim Utterback, a sweet sister from our ward who teaches the 2nd Sunday  Relief Society lesson called to see if she could get any groceries from Walmart for us. Twila Pulsipher brought us dinner in Wednesday night which was very kind especially because she is like 85 years old. She is the most active 85 year old I've ever seen. Almost every day she is out on her 3-wheeled bike taking a few laps around the neighborhood. By Thursday we were almost all better with just some coughing left over. Cayden missed 2 more days of school that week but went back Wednesday morning after making sure he didn't have fever still. Kyle and I spent several hours in bed with him watching The Cat in the Hat Knows  Lot About That on my iPad and I spent many hours watching 2 seasons of The West Wing on Netflix. After that long 2 weeks I got another UTI that started this past Monday afternoon and I went to the doctor Tuesday morning bright and early and got the full 10 day prescription. I'm guessing the previous one didn't go away completely. On the bright side, since Cayden's hospital trip maxed out our deductible our doctors visits and prescriptions have been much less expensive. Now we just have to pay the $3000+ to the hospital.   Here's hoping to less medically exciting rest of the year!  

Birthday Boy

Cayden Kelly turned the big 13 on Friday February 6. The kid was so excited and told us every day for a week how many days until his birthday. Don was coming home from Dallas that day so it was a perfect opportunity to get Cayden his donut cake. Kyle and I were super sick so grandma came to the rescue and went to the store for balloons and the stuff to make chicken puffs. The chicken puffs were per Cayden's request and Caleb helped out and made them so they would be ready when he got home from school. His big present was a tall glass display case for his Legos. He actually had asked for a curio cabinet a few months ago and we told him that he didn't need one but the week of his birthday I found one for sale on the local yard sale website and it was perfect. I've never seen a kid so excited about a piece of furniture. Saturday, dad made him his  birthday dinner request of grilled diet coke chicken, rice and biscuits. That seems to be the favorite dinner when birthdays come around. The following week on Thursday Don took Cayden to Mesquite to Walmart so he could spend his birthday money. And of course he bought more Legos-- Legos that he put together that night and promptly placed in his new cabinet. A big thank you for all the cards and calls and money to buy Legos! 

Here are 13 things about Cayden. 

1.  He still loves musicals. He bought the Peter Pan soundtrack with part of his birthday money. He goes to bed almost every night listening to his iPod. I find him most mornings wrapped up in all sorts of charging cords and ear phones. 

2.  He always gives everyone a birthday present or Christmas present that is usually home made with things he finds around the house. He likes to make cards with stuff from the office. He made Don and I a sweet valentine this year and put it in a small jewelry box. 

3.  He loves chocolate milk, cereal and fig bars from Costco. He still doesn't like melted cheese but he eats  shredded cheese straight from the bag and I've caught him knawing on big hunks of cheese off the block. He is a big drink guzzler like his dad. He finishes his first round of soda in just a few minutes at restaurants and proceeds to drink at least 3 refills. I never have worry about dumping out his soda cans or cups of soda from the gas station because he drinks them so fast.  

4.  He hardly finishes his meal including breakfast before he's asking for a treat. 

5.  When he decides he is ready to do something he just does it. He finally decided to learn to ride a scooter which is something we've been trying to get him to do since he was 4. He just took one around to the road the other day and just started riding it. 

6.  He would always rather go to the drive through then go in to a restaurant to eat. 

7.  He is a home body. 

8.  He likes to keep his room nice and clean and it bugs him that his brother doesn't like to keep the room clean. He folds his blankets and places his stuffed animals and pillows just so. He still takes his Legos off the dresser when the cleaning lady comes so none of them get messed up. He knows when any of his things get moved. 

9. He takes care of me when I am sick. He brings me water and wants to make me soup. He straightens the house for me and lines up the pillows on the couch.   

10.  His red hair is getting more brownish and it is so so so thick just like his dad's. He has several cowlicks that are hard to tame and he has to get a haircut quite often. 

11. He says his favorite subject at school is math but I think it's because he likes the teacher Mrs. Lewis. He says he wants to be a math teacher when he grows up. He plays school upstairs with the whiteboard all set up and an old lap top on a night stand as his desk. 

12.  He loves Cody. When we were in Provo for Christmas and we went to take Cody back to SLC to his apartment he said he was going to lock all the doors so Cody couldn't get out and then he would have to stay with us. 

13. He has a very high pain tolerance. He didn't even flinch when they were giving him Iv's at the hospital. 

And one more just because 

He is very quiet and doesn't like to talk a whole lot but I think it's because he has lots of thoughts going on and he just waits for the right ones to say. 

Ok really just one more

I don't have to worry about decorating for holidays because Cayden loves to do it. He remembers where everything goes and expects it all to be in the same place. Some days he can't remember a series of requests like take off your shoes then put away your laundry then practice the piano but he knows where every Christmas decoration goes and where all the regular decorations go back to when we clean up from Christmas.

This young man is getting taller and skinnier all the time. We love his silly smile and his kind heart.  Happy Birthday Cayden Kelly Adams

Happy Love Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day or as Kyle called it love day. Don and I got a little crazy and went to the Venetian on Friday and had a fancy lunch at Del Monico's.   then stood in line at Carlos' Bakery aka The Cake Boss for some delightful treats. We also got some extra delightful chocolates from Godiva. I had never been to the Venetian so that's why we went. All of the restaurants we wanted to go on Saturday didn't have any reservations available and I had never been to Del Monico's so it was fun to try a new place. We got a great big package of valentines fun stuff from Aunt Laurel and Uncle Jim that the kids loved hence the funny heart glasses pics. On Saturday we took Kyle and Cayden to St George and went to Olive Garden and did some shopping and then we brought home a fun heart shaped pizza from Papa Johns. I like that pizza almost better than any other pizza. Sunday morning we made heart shaped French toast with strawberries. It was a fun filled weekend of love!

McDonald's Lovin

On Super Bowl Sunday we saw the McDonald's commercial with their "payin' with lovin" campaign.  Well the very next night Connor and Caleb were working and went to McDonald's for something to eat and when Connor went to pay they bell rang and they said that he could pay with lovin by doing a dance.  He did the chicken dance and got his whole meal for free.  He also got this fancy sticker that he was quite proud of.  If there is anyone that would do something funny for food it is Connor!

A Trip to the ER

What started off as a stomach flu weekend (or so we thought) turned into a  trip to the hospital and an overnight stay for Cayden.  He started getting sick Friday but we didn't know how bad it would get or that it was diabetes related.  His blood sugars were pretty high after lunch and their policy is that if the blood sugars stay above 300 with intervention for over an hour then he has to come home.  It is kind of stupid though because it really takes 2 if not 3 hours for the insulin to peak and do it's job.  So I brought Cayden home and we gave him his shot and we didn't think much of it.  The next day I took him to The Smith Center to see Joseph and the dreamcoat show and while his sugars were running in the high 200's I was not overly alarmed.  By Sunday morning he was throwing up but as an odd coincidence Don had come home from Houston with what he thought was the stomach flu but was actually food poisoning.  We didn't realize that until much much later and after this hospital trip.  I had to go to ward council that morning so I left around 8:45.  Then since it didn't get over until after 10:30 I just stayed at church and Don was going to bring the boys.  Don texted me at 10:30 and said that Cayden had been throwing up several times that morning but that his blood sugars while sort of high were being treated and so Don was just going to come to Sacrament meeting with Kyle and Caleb and then we could go check on Cayden during Sunday school.  Unbeknownst to us, Cayden's blood sugars were actually in the 400's but he didn't tell us that and he had actually started throwing up much earlier but he didn't tell us that either.  So Don came home after Sacrament to check on him.  Cayden was asleep in the chair holding a bowl of throw up.  Don texted me during Relief Society that Cayden was pretty sick and that his blood sugar was still high.  I immediately thought that we needed to check Cayden's ketones.  Don did that and there were moderate to high ketones.  Cayden was very lethargic and even sayiing weird things.  When I got home from church Don told me how high the ketones and blood sugars were and I told him that we needed to go to the hospital.  Now that is always a really hard decision to make out here because the hospital is so far away.  In the past we have decided to go to the hospital but then we get halfway there and the problem has gotten better usually it has been croup.  I called Dr. Chris and asked him what to do.  I was pretty freaked out and told my brother that he needed to tell me what to do.  He told us that we might be able to reverse the ketoacidocis from home but that we couldn't know for sure how bad it really was or that if it was getting better without going to the hospital.  He told us to just go.  We were able to get Brother Witsken to come over and Don and him gave Cayden a blessing.  I packed up a bag for Cayden and me and we headed in.  Cayden was still very lethargic and kept saying  things like there were minions in his head.  One of the very few good  things about diabetes is that when you get to the hospital they don't wait around.  We checked in and within 5 minutes they had called us back.  They checked his blood sugar and it was only about 350 but his color was so bizarre and the lethargy plus the symptoms of several hours of vomiting lead them to believe that he was in ketoacidosis.  That really can only be confirmed with a blood test so they sent us back to a room.  They put Cayden on an IV with saline and did the bloodwork.  About 6pm they cam in and said that he was definitely in DKA and while it was a mild case he would have to be admitted to the PICU because he had to be on a continuous IV drip and that had to be monitored hourly.  We didn't get to our room until after 8pm because of how busy the hospital was and because of shift change.  We had a really nice nurse in the ER who actually knew several people from Logandale but now I can't remember his name.  That is him in the picture below.  There was a Subway in the hospital so that was nice to be able to eat something while we waited.  After we got Cayden settled in his room Don left to go home and take care of the boys and I spent a very uncomfortable night in a pull out chair.  Being in the PICU is not as comfortable as being on the regular pediatric floor.  We were right across from the nurses station and you have to leave the door open all night long.  Cayden was taken really good care of and the nurses were as accommodating to  me as they could be.  There is a family lounge with bathroom and there was a shower there but it was out of order.  I had to take a sponge bath out of the sink.  The next morning we had to wait for some labs to come back to see where Cayden was at and that would determine if we could go home.  The insulin did it's job and by about 8am they were able to transition him over to the his regular insulin shots.  Don came back in about 12:30 which was just in time to get us and take us home.  Just like Connor, Cayden has a very high pain tolerance.  He didn't flinch when they did the IV's and they had to do them in both arms.  The thing that bothered him the most was taking the tape off to get IV's out.   I was so glad to only have had to spend 1 night there albeit a very long night.  I am so grateful for the prompting to check Cayden's ketones.  I am so grateful for medical care and insurance and Don's job that provides the insurance for us.  I'm grateful for priesthood power and that my husband is worthy and able to bless our children. This was our first experience with DKA in 9 years of dealing with this.  Even when the boys were diagnosed they were not in DKA and did not require the insulin drip or the PICU.  We hope not to repeat this experience again and hope that our kids can learn the absolute necessity of always telling the truth. 

Going to his room in the PICU.  

Getting ready to go home on Monday.  

The Big 1-8!

Holy cow!  I have another child that is officially an adult.  That is so very very surreal!    Connor's birthday was on a Sunday but for some reason my kids seem to think that they get either the whole week for birthday celebrations or atleast the weekend.  I try to give them no chores on their birthday but since Connor's birthday was on a Sunday he got no chore Saturday.  We had a birthday dinner for him on Sunday night.  He wanted diet coke chicken, rice pilaf, biscuits, chopped salad and Grandpa made him his favorite Skor cake.  This kid starts asking about his birthday on Christmas Eve if not before.  He loves having his birthday.  This year he got some camouflage headphones, a camouflage cooler, a BYU long sleeved t-shirt from us, and a set of plastic shelves for the shed over at grandpa's. 

This picture is of him pondering about what to wish for. This is the hardest working kid around. He has been helping a fence company that has random fence jobs around here. He worked at the Chinese restaurant until they started being jerks. He has been working a few nights a week with grandma and grandpa's business since they have been short handed. He's even worked a few nights for Caleb so Caleb could go to mutual or stay home and watch Kyle while I was at relief society. He got his eagle project done in 2013 but he was short a few merit badges. He squeaked those out with lots of help from his leaders. The big one was hiking and he seriously did 3 hikes in 5 days and his leader took the blue scout card to the scout office the day before his birthday. 

He doesn't like leaving the valley unless he gets to go to Ely. He went with grandpa and Don and Caleb a month or so ago to McGill to bring a bunch of furniture back from the house up there. He loves to do yard sales and has done about 3 of them here recently selling stuff grandma and grandpa want to get rid of stuff. He will still take a nap if he sits still for long enough which isn't very often. He eats just about any thing and really isn't picky about things. He had a pair of boots that he wore out in about 6 months and the pair he got for Christmas have been worked over really good. He wears out jeans faster than anyone and he prefers Carhart work pants. He likes to call his dad with football scores. Sometimes before his dad has even watched the game. He gets a lot done and we sure love him!

Mustang Pride

Cayden came home from school today with a great big grin on his face.  He was called up to the office today and was on their school TV for morning announcements.  He got to draw for money!  He first got $1 but because he was wearing his Mustang shirt he got to try again and he got the $10!  He has been talking about wanting to do this all year long and he finally got the opportunity!  He got the tickets to go in the drawing by being courteous and helpful in class.  Good job Cayden!  Now he wants to win the $100!