Coburn Kids

So I have a lot to post about, lots of pictures.  I’ll get to that, but let me tell Adessa’s saga last week since I have a lot asking about it.

Daniel and I have been so busy lately (hence no updates, as well as some computer problems) that we decided a small trip with just us would be great. So we planned for Utica, IL where they have a great hotel there with an indoor swim park, amusement park, hiking… everything.  Well we woke up the day to leave and I was feeling under the weather, so was Gena and Adessa.  We put down the money though so decided to try for it anyway, it was 90 minutes away so wasn’t too bad.

As we get in the car Adessa is starting to breathe funny.  I think it’s just because she’s come down with a cold but she’s acting normal, though a bit whiney. By the time we get to the resort I’m getting a bit more concerned, as I can see she’s breathing faster then normal but no wheezing or anything.  Adessa hasn’t had an “asthma” attack in 2 years.  It crosses my mind but really… it’s been 2 years.  Was told repeatedly kids can grow out of it. Adessa is bound and determined to get into that water park though so the others go on ahead while I gave her some medicine for her runny nose and let her relax a bit to see if that helps.  It does, so we get dressed and off we go.

Adessa is now really really quiet.  She’s having fun I can tell but no talking. We then have this conversation:

Adessa: “Mommy my leg hurts.”
Mom: “Your leg hurts?”
Adessa: “No it doesn’t.”
Mom: “Adessa you just said it did. Does it hurt?”
Adessa: “Yeah this one.”
Mom: “Okay, where does it hurt?”
Adessa: “It doesn’t hurt.”
Mom:  ….

Hmmm. Strange but she’s 5, I’ve had weirder conversations.  We float along in the lazy river and suddenly she gets up and walks out of the water.  I chase after her calling her.  She won’t respond. I ask her where she’s going… doesn’t respond. I take her hand and she just limply lets me guide her.  I get down to her level and try to talk to her… won’t respond.  I immediately get her back to the room, get her changed. Daniel comes in and I tell him I do believe it’s time she went to the ER.

The ER up in Peru, IL has fabulous nurses, they adored Adessa.   She spent 4 hours there, got 2 neubalizer treatments, medicine, antibiotics and a gazillion stickers, temporary tattoos and pencils.

We come home on Monday and she’s still laboring a bit to breathe despite her inhaler and medication (it was a holiday otherwise I would have had her seen that day) and on Tuesday take her in to see her Pediatrician.  I had no idea the severity of Adessa’s asthma attack this Labor Day weekend.  Her pediatrician is aghast that Adessa was not admitted to the hospital and put on continuous oxygen. When the Dr. heard she had signs of confusion, wouldn’t talk and was so labored in breathing you could see it across the room, I learned that this was not a normal asthma attack.  Adessa was not wheezing, I thought there would be for any asthma attack.  Her previous ones she always wheezed.  Asthma can get so severe, so fast… the wheezing stops.  As her pediatrician tries to stress the importance of this she starts mentioning respiratory failure and more. When I mention that Adessa was complaining of her back hurting and was in agony because of it (I thought she had just strained something coughing) she lets me know that this was the breathing muscles basically working overtime.  Severe overtime.  If a muscle, even your breathing muscles, works too hard it acts like any other muscle, it gets weak and can’t do its job.

So the next day she goes to school.  We have Daniel go personally to the school at Noon to talk to the Nurse and give Adessa her breathing treatment. An hour-and-a-half later we receive a call from the nurse.  Adessa’s oxygen saturation is only at 89% (you want it 95%+), has labored breathing and is wheezing in both lungs.  She asks what we want to do.  I, of course, tell her that we’ll be picking her up from school. In the meantime, I have a flight scheduled to leave in a few hours to visit my family in UT.

Daniel goes right over and picks her up and brings her to the ER.  They can’t get her oxygen saturation up and she’s on oxygen and nebulizer treatments. I am now still trying to pack, wondering if I should be going, running around like a madwoman trying to clean the house, finding a ride to the airport, and messaging Daniel non-stop for updates.  There’s talk of admitting her to the hospital but of course, it’s back-and-forth. So while I’m being driven to the airport Daniel sends the below picture:

Yeah, it pretty much stopped my heart too.  Daniel reassures me that everything is fine, that Adessa is smiling part of the time because they even turned on the sirens just for her.  :)  So now I’m at the airport literally freaking out.  Do I stay?  Do I go?  Is she okay?  Are they sure?  WHAT SHOULD I DO?!  Apparently I’m pestering Daniel so much with text messages and phone calls the nurses and doctors want to speak with me over the phone just to reassure the crazy lady on the other line that everything is okay.

Sleeping beauty on Daddy’s lap

Adessa watching TV in the hospital, her and Daddy had movie marathons

Adessa on her nasal cannula

So Adessa stayed in the hospital for 3 days.  We’ve had her follow-up with her pediatrician, we have an appointment with a Pulmonologist (lung doctor), she’s on steroids (which are giving her a big appetite), she’s getting asthma medication every 6 hours and she’ll be on an asthma preventative twice a day for a while.

She’s doing really well though.  Was spoiled rotten in the hospital but also understands why hospitals are not that much fun now.  I can’t thank Daniel’s family enough for helping us out though.  From Debbie staying with Adessa at the hospital for a few hours so Daniel could come get his car and change, to Dennis babysitting for a few hours, Daniel’s mom for giving up her entire week literally to watch Gena and Caden.  But Adessa is doing great now, except for 1 paranoid mommy who won’t let her run or climb the stairs too many times.

I know, I know I haven’t updated in a month!  Terrible really.  I’ve been busy with work is all.  I have pics that I’ll try to get up in the next few days.

Quick updates though:

Caden is learning ASL like mad now!  He’s really getting into it so we’re trying to use sign every chance we get.  Which is hard, because we have the videos and we watch them but it’s just pieces here and there.  Would love to take a class and I’ve looked online but nothing is close to where I live.  Not to mention the logistics of getting babysitters and finding a time that my husband and I could both attend that would make it impossible.

We’ve got both the girls in summer day camps that they adore. They are making new friends, experiencing new things.  The thought of my 7 year old just hanging at the pool alone twice a week though, without myself as a parent hoovering over her, still brings a small piece of panic to my heart… but I’m learning to overcome that.  To really trust her new found independence.

We’ve been having a blast all summer. Swimming, bike rides, carnivals, friends, family, walks, running in the rain, naps, parks, exploring, movies, fireflies, BBQ’s, picnics, puppet shows, playing in the sand, games and just fun galore. It’s been a wonderful few months.  And to all of our UT friends, it’s in the 70’s here!  It hit the 80’s for a couple of days but it’s been so nice.

We have Caden’s birthday next week!  My little guy is going to be 2.  Which is just… so overwhelming to me for some reason.  But more on that when it’s his actual birthday.

So my parents have gone home to UT, my brother is back home too.  We had such a blast with them while they were out here!! We’ll run through the week:

Thursday - Wednesday night my parents flew in and Thurs. we all planned to go to the Aquarium… until we found out it was free aquarium admission week for Chicago. The wait to get in was 3+ hours!  Thankfully there’s a whole bunch of museums all close to each other so we just decided to head over to the Field Museum of Natural History. It was absolutely fascinating, highly recommend for both kids and adults.  Pics below:

Walking through the mist into the Water exhibit

Sitting in an Indian Lodge on Buffalo Skin blankets

Gena and Caden pushing buttons to hear bird sounds

Outside the museum posing with their souvenirs they got

Caden was so tired by the end of the day he fell asleep like this in his stroller

Posing by Soldier’s Field Remembrance Wall

Friday - Thursday night my brother Jason flew in and Friday we were supposed to go to Six Flags.  This was what Adessa wanted to do for her Birthday instead of a party.  But it was raining with possible chance of hail!  So instead we headed over for some fun bowling and playing games at Brunswick XL.

Gena and Adessa riding a simulator

Uncle Jason and Daniel racing

Caden playing his first video game!

Saturday - Was the big Six Flags day.  We left a bit late but spent the entire day there until 9PM. Adessa went on her first big roller coaster, she begged to go again she loved it so much. Gena is ready to just take on the whole park by herself.  She’s big enough for every ride there. We also went to the Six Flags water park and that was fun.  The kids area was great for Adessa and all the big water slides kept Gena entertained and running Grandpa around ragged. After 2 hours of that, it was enough and we headed back to the rides. The kids did not want to go home at the end of the night. I didn’t take very many pictures, because I was too busy having fun!

Picture of the whole gang, minus me taking the picture of course!

Picture of Caden playing in Wiggle World

Sunday - We got to celebrate Adessa’s Birthday, Uncle Jason’s Birthday and Father’s Day! We started out with a wonderful BBQ (thank you Daniel!) and then moved on to cake and presents.  We had the whole gang over from my family to Daniel’s family and that was wonderful.  I can hardly believe my little Adessa is now 5 years old!! I love you ‘dessa!

Adessa and Jason blowing out the candles on their Birthday Cake!

Angel, Gena and Adessa posing

Gena and Adessa Oo’ing and Ah’ing over the water baby

More presents!

Jason opening up his Birthday presents

Jason and Adessa opening up a present together

Caden thought the water baby box made a perfect seat for him

Daddy opening up Father’s Day presents

Grandpa opening up Father’s Day presents

Monday - Sunday night my parents flew home. Daniel went back to work on Monday and the rest of us had a down day, just playing with toys and hanging out at the house with Uncle Jason.

Tuesday - Legoland.  The girls had a fun time and so did Caden! The lego exhibits were very cool to look at and the girls were both proud when they made and raced lego cars and won some of the other kids there.

Sitting outside Legoland

Posing with lego R2D2

And of course they insisted on a photo with Darth Vader, though I think Adessa was a lil’ nervous

Chicago done in Lego’s

Gena and Adessa on a ride they have at Legoland

Caden playing in the lego’s

After Daddy came home from work the girl’s and him had a water fight outside!

Wednesday  - Transformer’s 2!  Jason and I went, we both loved it.  Recommend it.

Thursday - Caden’s marathon Cleft Team Clinic which I reported on below.

Friday - Jason left for the airport and within 2 hours of his leaving Adessa and Daddy were in the ER.  Adessa “saved” Caden from swallowing a penny.  Which she then promptly put into her own mouth and accidentally swallowed.  I actually heard some gagging and went to check on Caden but it turned out it was Adessa who then started yelling and becoming hysterical that “Caden made her” swallow a penny.  It all made sense in her 5 year old brain that “saving” her brother from swallowing the penny by taking it away from him made her then swallow it. Now, I didn’t think anything of it but being a good Mommy I called her pediatrician.  The nurse told us that we indeed needed to go and get some x-rays.  So off they went and I stayed home with the other 2 children.

Cool x-ray of my 5 year old and the penny in her tummy

Finally, LAST BUT NOT LEAST, I have the most adorable picture of my 7 year old Genevieve singing a made up birthday song to Adessa on her birthday.  It’s just the best picture of them.  It was taken in the car on the way to the Museum.

Isn’t that picture just adorable!!

We’ll start off with my poor lil’ 4 year old, Adessa.  On Thursday it was her turn at the Dr.’s office and she got her kindergarten shots. She was so brave!  She didn’t cry or let out a peep once. I’m so proud of her.  The next day and so on has been a different story.  Adessa had a bad reaction to one of the shots and you can see her red, tender and extremely swollen arm below. It’s hot and the skin across it is tight and shiny from the swelling it hurts her to move it as well:

Now in terms of the great news… OUR HOUSE IS UNDER CONTRACT!  It’s so unbelievable that we were able to sell it in just 1 month. Daniel and I have talked about how we knew that we were supposed to come out here to IL, that it was the right thing to do.  And we knew that our home in UT would sell or that everything would work out but you always have those doubts and fears. We close around June 19th on it and what a huge relief and blessing it is! We had neighbors whose homes were on the market for 1 year+, in fact we still know one or two that haven’t sold.

Daniel and I are very happy right now!

So I was reading a friend’s blog today, about her daughter calling her the worst Mommy in the world.  This was both my daughters Gena and Adessa the last week.  I was the worst mommy, Gena was never ever going to give me a Mother’s day present (I asked her to clean and she refused to pick up her mess). Then Adessa had an accident yesterday and refused to change. So I’ve won the “worst Mommy in the world” award twice in 5 days. Though yesterday at the Doctors they both composed songs about me being the best mommy in the universe so all is forgiven apparently.

What made me write about this though is my 4 year old and what she told me. This is a serious case of a spiritual lesson gone horribly wrong!!  Adessa threatened that when she grew up, just to make me mad, she was going to smoke!  Wait… what?  The lesson 2 weeks ago in primary was about the Word of Wisdom.  How we should take care of our bodies and never smoke, never do drugs, eat healthy, exercise.  All the good stuff.  Except now my 4 year old daughter is threatening to SMOKE when she gets older if I don’t let her have her way. This is the worst way to punish me in her eyes I guess. Talk about a Primary lesson turned upside-down! I’m terrified of this girl when she becomes a teenager.

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day.  It started on Saturday when I went to the salon and got my hair done.  The on Sunday Genevieve gave me a beautiful plate and Adessa and Daddy gave me storage containers for my China that I’ve been asking for.  Daniel made me breakfast and later in the evening we went to my Sister-in-law’s house for a great barbeque.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and it was good times all around.

On Monday I took Gena and Caden to their new Doctor.  3 finger pokes, 3 shots, 2 physicals, 3 referrals and 1 exhausted Mommy. Gena doesn’t do shots well.  At… all.  The mere mention of a shot starts off a panic attack in her. All my kids are healthy, the Dr. couldn’t believe how big Gena is, she’s not even on the growth chart for her height.  She’s seriously tall.  Obviously she does not get this from me.

I have Adessa’s Dr. appointment coming up on Thursday which should prove traumatic for her and I. She has to go in for all her Kindergarten shots, as well as a TB test (out in IL all kids get tested for TB), and some finger pokes.  I expect a full scale meltdown.  Hopefully, maybe, not as bad as when Gena had to get her shots done for when she was starting Kindergarten.  That took 4 nurses to hold her down and me crying along with her. If that child knew obscenities she would have cursed and screamed every one. Instead the worst she could scream was “Bad Doctor” over and over again.

Fun times.  Fun times.

Starting on Friday, the girls were driving me crazy wanting to do something so I told them to get their swimsuits on.  Not to go outside though, considering it was 50 degrees.  You see, we have a big bathtub.  Huge.  So I told the girls they could swim in it. They were really skeptical but ended up staying there for 2 hours. They loved it!

Notice that Caden is holding a doorstop in his hand.  He takes them ALL off and walks around with them.

On Saturday we went to the Brookfield Zoo!  The girls had a blast and so did Caden. It was nice and cool so was wonderful to walk around. Pics below:

Caden’s very first ride!  We had to pry him off at the end, he absolutely loved it.

Ahhhh, look at how happy they all are!

In the kids Zoo brushing the goats.

Looking up at the T -Rex in the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit.

In the Kangaroo pouch.

Gena hugging the giraffe.

On Sunday the girls wanted to ride their bikes so we headed outside in the backyard to ride around the pond.

Gena!

Adessa! 

And last but not least, here’s what Caden was doing while the girls were riding their bikes.  The pantry was left open… he started helping himself. 

So my goal for this year was to simplify my life.  Funny.  Things are more complicated and busy then ever right now with the move and just settling in.  In some strange way I need this stress in my life though, I function well under stress.  Better then without it as a matter of fact.  It keeps me focused, motivated, ready to take on anything and everything.  Where when I have no stress, things are just creeping along, I lose all ambition and just want to lay around.  So I’m actually thankful to have all these happenings in my life.

I promised pics so you can see some below!

Gena is loving school.  Truly and honestly loving school.  Everything is “terrific”. She loves the bus, loves her teacher, loves her class and is just adjusting so well!  I was so worried about her being the new girl. You can see a pic of her off up there on her first day of school. Adessa cries every day that Gena leaves for school because she wants to go to.

Above is Adessa’s new sitting spot, she’s taken over my laundry baskets. Oh!  Best part, kindergarten in Adessa’s school district is for the entire day. That makes me really happy, more so that I can schedule Dr. appointments for Caden and that Adessa can play with her friends and learn all day.  Right now she is just desperate for a playmate and Mommy can only play with her so much during the day.  Plus, she wants to get on that big yellow school bus so much.  I can see that gleam in her eye whenever Gena gets on or gets off it.

The kids have been having a great time exploring their new digs and the new neighborhood.  Below is a picture of Gena and Adessa doing a “cooking show” with their Easy Bake oven.

Then there’s the neighborhood kids, of which there are a ton.  Lots of boys and little girls. They all congregated outside in front of our house tonight.

And here’s Daddy and Caden watching them.

Not much to report.

Job search continues, it’s been 5 months! Hard to believe. For updates on the states, since my mind has melted with the sheer number of companies and people: North Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Utah, Washington and Texas are the contenders right now.

Caden continues to learn more signs. No new sounds yet, still just Ha, Ga, Ge and… that’s about it.

Parent/Teacher conference for Gena went well. Her only struggle is handwriting, but she is a full year younger then the other kids.

Adessa loves preschool, loves her teacher, loves her friends. Though she is mad at her preschool best friend Peyton for telling on her because she wasn’t sharing. Preschool drama, I love it.

The past 2 weeks the girls and I have been doing a lot of arts & crafts that I had to share. First up are Daniel’s birthday presents that the girls were so excited to paint and do. Daniel was so excited to get them and see the effort the girls put into them:

Adessa assembled and painted the birdhouse and Gena helped mix and mold and painted the stepping stone

Next up are the school projects Gena needed to do so I got Adessa in on it as well:

We dyed the soap and then poured it into the molds. Gena mixed together Orange and Adessa did the purple.

We did these T-shirts with fabric paint. Gena did the left one tracing the dog and bone with a template. And I did the outline of the flowers while Adessa colored them in.

These are the suckers we did.  I wasn’t able to grab a picture of the red vanilla ones Adessa did, but Gena choose to do Peanut Butter.