Global Warming, What?

So Austin had signs of global warming yesterday when it snowed. Whatever! It was colder in Austin (40) then in Vancouver (48) yesterday. Maybe that is why so many countries are backing out of the "global warming" lie. Enough about politics.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Austin area. It snowed. When the "safari" woke up on Tuesday the snow had just began to fall. The snow was wet and did not stick to the ground all that well. We got the "safari" in clothes and let them stand in the front yard and touch and eat the snow. Jacob did not think it was so neat because it started to touch his head.

About an hour later it started to snow hard, with big flakes and the snow started to stick to the ground. We dressed the "safari" in layers of clothes, made sure they had gloves, hats and coats on. We went outside. The "safari" thought the snow was great and thought it was even better when Nana taught them how to make snowballs and how to throw them. The "safari" started to get cold and so we headed back inside. Hannah's lips were turning blue and she was crying because we had to go inside. Here is a picture of the clothes that came off of five toddlers when they stepped in the door. It took a lot of time to put the clothes on (gloves-50 fingers).



We wanted to thank God for letting us have some winter fun even though it is February. The "safari" had a blast but I think that Nana had the most fun. Enjoy the pictures.

Hurricane Season

I thought that I was in a down-pour only to find out that we are in hurricane season.

Joshua had to go back to the emergency room on Tuesday because his face was swollen and there was a lot of redness around his eyes and nose. After only being in the waiting room for 3.5 hours this time we were seen by a physician. He cleaned Joshua's wound and told us that we needed to make an appointment with the wound care people in two days.

This morning Esther and Hannah woke up with fevers and coughs that did not sound so good. We went and saw our pediatrician, Dr. Rane Nishi. We found out that Esther has an ear infection and Hannah is fighting some kind of bug. Then this afternoon I took Joshua to the wound care facility and got Joshua's head looked at. The wound looks good and was cleaned and redressed. He has to go back on Tuesday to see the progression of this wound.

I called Pop's, Noel's dad, on our way home and was discussing how things always happen when Noel is out of town and during travel season. We also discussed how when Joshua gets older his scar will probably be hidden by his hair and how the store will be like the fish that got away. His story will be about how we had the dog lick his wound, it got infected, no one was around to drive him to the hospital so he had to drive himself.

Noel is home and hopefully we have had our hurricane quota for a while. Thank you for all the emails, text messages, and phone calls asking about Joshua. Joshua is doing great and I thank God everyday that he is such a mellow child.

When It Rains It POURS!

I have always heard that saying and thought that the way our lives were that was the NORM. I now understand that what that saying means is that when it rains you can handle that but when it starts to pour that is when you cannot handle life by yourself anymore and you need help.

Last week was the start of the rain. Joshua and Elijah with bloody noses. We have now put a humidifier in their room and make sure that we use petroleum jelly in their noses when they sleep. Then we had Joshua split his head open on Saturday and got that fixed. On Monday Hannah had her appointment where we found that we have to get all of our children tested and that he wants Hannah on antibiotics for 6 months then get her tested again and go from there. Monday we also went to see our pediatrician because Joshua had a high fever. When we got there we found out that our pediatrician was off and that we had to see another pediatrician in the office. She stated that the high fever might be from some redness in his ear and she wrote us a prescription.

After dinner I went and got the prescription filled and took Joshua with me. When we got back Noel changed Joshua and noticed that there was some puss coming from his head. Well that means bad things, so Joshua and I went to Dell's Children Hospital only to find out that everyone was there. We were at the emergency room from 8pm-3am. After we were taken to a room the doctor came in and said that his head looked bad. He asked what happened and I told him the story. You see with open wounds there is a 1 in 100 chance of infection no matter how careful the doctors are. I should have know that we would be that 1 we always are. 1 in 100 get pregnant on birth control, that was us. 1 in 9 million have the spontaneous triplets we have, that was us. 1 in 10,000 get pregnant when both parties are using protection, that was us. So why would we not be the 1 in 100?

So the doctor told me that they would give him a drug called Ketamine. This drug will allow the doctor to do what he needed to do without Joshua feeling it and without him being knocked out. So they gave him the drug and then the doctor cut open the head wound, flushed out the puss and then packed the wound. Put some gauze on his head and wrapped his head. Now we have to go back tomorrow to see if the infection, cellulitis and abscess are healing or if they have to do the procedure again. They also put him on a strong antibiotic that he had to take 3 times a day for 10 days. I know that the medication costs a lot of money if you do not have insurance, thank God we do. Here is a picture I took of Joshua in his gown in the waiting room with his puss coming out of his wound, and he is sleeping in my arms.



On top of all of that my mother is out of town and Noel left early this morning for another week of travel. I am hoping for some sunshine in my future. I would like a day here or there.

Here is a picture of Joshua from this morning. The good thing is that he is sleeping right now; he had a horrible and long night.