A couple of medical emergencies................

Well I am happy to report that after a very eventful 48 hrs the entire Stites family is home safe and sound in good health. The last 2 days have contained some very stressful moments as our little Addi Grace took a spill off the couch that landed her is some respiratory distress with a mysterious bump on her chest. Poor Mark was home with all the kids early Tues evening while I was stuck at work. While he was trying to prepare the dinner I had set out that morning the kids were playing in the living room on the couch as they always do. Suddenly there was a crash followed by screaming and a very nervous dad. Unable to reach me for backup Mark felt strongly enough about the situation to call 911 and thus started the chain of events that would culminate with a trip to the ER for a chest xray. Long story shortened the Piedmont police and fire dept were on the scene is what Mark said felt like seconds. They proceeded to bring in lots of equipment and went to work on Addi who was still very upset at this point. This is about the time I realized Mark had been trying to call me as my cell phone was vibrating in the floorboard of my car. Expecting nothing out of the ordinary I called home to let them know I was on my way, only to hear "Addi fell off the couch, wasn't breathing right, and I called 911, so get here!!" As a mother who is a good 10-12 min away these are traumatizing words. Fortunately I could hear Addi screaming in the background so I knew she was at least breathing at that moment. Upon my arrival about 6-7 min later she was still sobbing but seemed more scared of all the people and activity. I beat the ambulance to the house and by the time EMSA arrived she was peaceful and content in my arms, making her poor daddy feel terrible. No if you've ever been around a 2 yr old with two older brothers you know how much of a daredevil and carouser that kind of a kid can be so it is safe to say that Addi falls at least 20 times a day with no repercussions. Having said that, I don't know what protuberance Mark saw on Addi's chest but I can only imagine how frightening it must have been to get him to call 911.

Well after everyone was gone and the neighbors had returned their lawn chairs to the garage and gone in for dinner, we felt like Addi's chest 'bump' was continuing to grow, so after a phone call to my trusted doctor, we took her to the ER for a chest xray to rule out any real problems. After what I am sure will be a few thousand dollars and a long wait, we were relieved to hear that she was perfectly normal, or at least her chest xray was!! So we made it home around midnight and Addi proceeded to promtly wake her daddy up to play with her. We knew she was fine, attitude and all.........

And then came Wed...................
Now the 1st incident happened right around 6:15 Tues evening and oddly enough our drama started all over again Wed evening at approximately 6:15. After a very pleasant meal at church Addi was playing in the church gym with her brothers and several of the church kiddos. She was running and having the time of her life being big. Mark and I had been watching her closely as some of the kids who kept coming in and out of the play area were significantly larger than Addi and we were concerned she might get hurt. Well we were rightly concerned b/c out of seemingly nowhere came a group of older boys playing football and running full-speed toward Addi with their eyes in the air to catch the ball rather than looking where they were going. You guessed it, the pummeled Addi head-on and she went flying backwards and landed flat on her back the the back of her head hitting hard on the concrete gym floor. Once again, long story short, withing minutes I knew she wasn't right as she was excessively sleep and then began vomiting, all symptoms of a closed head injury. So much to my dismay and anxiety we jumped in the van and headed for the ER. This time we got right in and the doctor was waiting for us. They just watched her for about 30 min and decided that she wasn't getting better so we needed a cat scan. Now Addi was very much out of it until we tried to put her in the scanner, so we ended up getting an IV and some sedation medicine to get a good study. The news was good that the scan was normal but we ended up spending th night on the pediatric floor for neurologic observation. Addi remained out of it with intermittent vomiting, irritability, etc, until between 4-6am this morning. We had been waking her every 2 hrs to check on her and when we woke her at 6:00 she was back to her old self, what a relief!! So we got home around 11:00 this morning and she hasn't stopped since. I am completely spent but glad to be home with my healthy baby girl. So please pray for us around 6:15 tonight!!!

April showers bring May flowers...............

My oldest son reminded me of this today as we were running in the pouring rain as I picked him up from after school. I really haven't minded the rain except for the challenges it adds to our everyday routine. I know we need the moisture but it's starting to get a little scary as it started raining in Piedmont about 11:30 this morning and unless I've missed it, it has not ever stopped completely. It's either been pouring or a very steady downfall. It sure has made me sleepy but unfortunately I've had too much to do to rest. Things cont to be busy and hectic around here b/w work, school, and extracurricular goodies. We've had a few add-ins such as some minor oral surgery I underwent last evening. I had a damaged salivary gland in my lower lip from where I accidentally bit my lip. Unfortunately the gland became clogged and I was informed by my oral surgery friends that it would not go away on it's own. So after work yesterday my sweet and caring doctor friends removed it for me. It went great but boy oh boy is it tender and sore today. I haven't really been able to eat and talking is painful which is really painful for me as I love to talk. Hopefully a few days from now I'll be all fixed up. I am glad to have it out as it was making me crazy but my mouth is still really swollen so right now it's like I traded on problem for another. Mark has been working late trying to get his employees trained on their new computer system. The kids are status quo just counting down the days to summer vacation.
Last week we had parent-teacher conferences and both boys are doing well in school. Although I don't want to wish their lives away I am looking forward to having Garrett in all day school next fall which will make scheduling and daycare much easier for me. Addi and I will have some fun mother-daughter time while the bubbas are at school. I do worry though as Addi already misses her bubbas while they are at school and she loves it when Garrett comes home at 11:00 even though he's only been gone 3 hrs. Today due to the rain our satellite wasn't working and the boys couldn't watch the tv show they wanted so the 4 of us had some quality art time together at the table. How nice it is to be home once in a while.
Despite Mark's ongoing efforts he still hasn't been able to get my camera to download so I am still unable to post pics but rest assured we are cont to work on it. I of course want a new camera as I'm tired of waiting but that's just not in the budget this month. So until then you'll just have to hear it as best as I can describe it.

Technical difficulties.........................

It's about time, I know, I know. I've been hearing it from everyone, when are you going to blog again? Well the long and the short of it is due to technical difficulties. For those of you who really know my skill level or lack thereof related to modern technological wonders like digital media, computers, etc, should not be surprised that it took my 15 min just to login to my own blog after a month's time. Honestly the real reason I haven't posted is b/c I haven't been able to download any of my pics to my computer where I can access them to post. I finally recruited my more technical savvy husband and even he couldn't fix it so I am not sure what we are going to do. Of course I think it warrants a new camera and computer but Mark seems to think we need to try other options, imagine that! I figure a new camera and computer would certainly fix the problem. For some reason unbeknowst to us the docking station and the computer cannot communicate to successfully transfer the photos. We have not been able to identify whether the problem is with the camera, the docking station, the software, or the computer, so this is a rather daunting problem.
But enough about our technical difficulties, let's get on with what we've been up to.
March has been a great month overall, capped off last week with Spring Break. The weeks prior to the break were routine with the ongoing business of spring activities I mentioned prior. T-ball is in full swing with our 1st game next week. Cubscouts continues strong with the spring Camperee just around the corner. (Only Mark and Logan will be attending the weekend campout despite the fact that it is a family event. Mark and I decided Addi isn't quite ready for tent-camping just yet, so I will be making the sacrifice to stay home with her.) Addi and I are taking a break from gymnastics as we are plenty busy with the boys schedules. Work is status quo and busy as ever. So back to spring break, we had a great week other than it coming and going so quickly. The first weekend we traveled to my grandparents in SW OK to Hollis, a place we love to be, on the farm. The kids had a real "farm experience" getting to feed a baby calf, seeing newborn kittens, kicking up some dirt, and eating good food. My sister, Auntie KK, went along and we all 6 crammed into Mark's truck for the 3 hr trip in order to take the boys 50cc dirt bike. This is where I really want to be able to post some pics b/c I got some great shots of the dirt bikin! I even survived my 1st lesson and made several laps around the hay barn all by myself without crashing (my motorcycle/scooter history isn't so great). Logan is 'a natural' according to his father and he can sure ride and does seem to love it. Garrett has recently mastered riding his bike without training wheels, a balance skill obviously required prior to riding the dirt bike, but he isn't quite ready to ride the motorized unit just yet without help. It is quite a sight to see he and Mark together on the bike, again I need to show you a pic. So the weekend was a blast and was over all too soon. We did make it a long weekend and came home Monday afternnoon. Tues Mark and I had to work but Wed we loaded up in the luxiously spacious minivan and traveled to Tulsa along with some friends for a day of fun. We started out at the Tulsa Aquarium and the kids had a blast. We went 2 yrs ago when Addi was a baby so she and Garrett didn't remember it but Logan did some. They all had fun but I was the most surprised at Addi's reaction. She just couldn't get enough, she squealed and laughed and carried on like it was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. She was really amazed. Lunch was at Fuddruckers followed by the new Dr. Seuss movie for the boys and a nap at the mall for Addi. I made the sacrifice to skip the movie and walk around the mall while Addi slept, haha. Then we headed to the Bass Pro where we met Mark's mom to swap the kids out for a day or two. Jiji took all 3 of the kiddos back to Sallisaw where they dyed Easter eggs and got to visit a farm and hide the eggs. They got some great pics and had lots of fun. Mark and I worked Thursday while they were gone but did manage to have a quiet dinner that evening. Friday while Mark was at work, I met Mark's parents and the kids at the Jasmine Moran children's museum in Seminole and we spent the afternoon checking it out with what seemed like 1/2 the kids in OK. It was really busy being the last day of spring break but we managed to have a good time. My advice to any considering a visit is to go when the weather is nice as some of the great stuff is outside, including the train ride, and being a hands on place, the kids got dirty, dirty, dirty. Mark's parents came on into OKC with us and we met Mark at the Cattleman's Steakhouse for dinner. Oh, how we love the Cattleman's, thank you Papa Don for dinner!! Our Sat was uneventful for the most part. Sunday was Easter of course and we had a nice day. The boys had their 1st ever ties which they requested and wore with such excitement. Even Mark donned a suit and tie not to outdone by his boys. Addi Grace had a great dress which I found on clearance online over the winter. She was precious and even I had a new dress that I had found a great deal on. We even managed to set the timer on our camera for a pic of the whole family which turned out surprisingly well (wish I could show you). The weather wasn't so great so we hid our eggs inside but the kids were pretty well done with that after all the Easter hoopla they'd done earlier in the week. This week was back to the grindstone as we count down the days to the end of school. The warmer weather has been awesome and we are making the most of it. Well I hear my husband telling my daughter to go find her mother so I must be going. I promise to do better with my updates and I will post those pics when I overcome my technical challenges. Happy spring to you all...........

Technical difficulties.....................

Can you tell I had a few problems downloading my pics? I spent 30 minutes trying to fix the problem which I never really figured out what it was and then finally decided to publish what I had and start over. So if it works great and if not until next time goodbye and have a great week!!

On the mend...............

Well a week later we are mostly better, or at least those of us that were sick last week. Mark has succombed to a similar fate with a nasty sinus infection/cold/fever, etc. He stayed home from work today and we are avoiding him like the plague for which he is grateful or he should be. I kindly reminded him that while he stayed home in peace & quiet today, I took the kids to school/daycare and went to work. This was not a treasure of which I got to partake in last week when I had the flu. Don't get me wrong, it's my job, and I love it but it is hard not to remind our precious menfolk of the different expectations made of us moms whether we are 100% or 50% (most moms I know never get to function at <50%).>

The pics I have today are a few from this past weekend when we were just taking life easy. The kids built forts out of the couch cushions and every pillow/blanket we own. The pics are of them after the fort crashed and they gave up to watch cartoons. The others are misc shots including Addi modeling some of her precious new duds and Garrett in his president's day mask. A HUGE thanks to my dearest friend who took her precious time to sew Addi Grace some amazing outfits. We attended the Affair of the Heart a few weeks ago and saw many cute home-embellished outfits which my friend knew she could duplicate. So we scouted the cute material and xtras at Hobby Lobby and she whipped out the darling outfits you see above. Addi loved each and every one and danced around for an hour trying them on and changing from one to the next.

Hope you are all well. We have one more weekend of no real hard-core plans and from then on it seems like our weekends are booked. Mark and Logan have a cubscout sleepover at the Omniplex coming up and spring break and Easter are right around the corner. I know it's only the end of Feb but it seems as if school will be out before we know it and I for one am ready. Most of all I'm ready for the time to change and our days to seem longer. Ah the wait for spring!!

Down for the count.............................

Well we are definitely down for the count. We could escape it no longer. I am sad to say that our family or at least over 1/2 of us have the flu. Garrett, Addi Grace, and myself are battling the misery of the full-blown body aches, headache, fever, sinus yuck, etc, etc. So far Mark and Logan have escaped and I am doing everything in my power to keep them healthy. It's not like they are really taking care of us but it's 2 more people I don't have to take care of in my sickened state, cause as you know a mom can never really be off-duty, we just have to load up on Motrin and keep going, or at least that's what I've been doing. I have stayed home from work the last 2 days and have rested as much as possible. That is a challenge with a very needy Addi Grace on my heels, in my lap, hanging from my leg, depending on what duty I am trying to accomplish. Mostly I am just busy trying sanitize the house and keep us from passing it back and forth, so I was my hands every 5 minutes. If you've ever been to a doctor's office where they have separate waiting areas for the well and the sick, that's basically what we've done to our home. The little ones and I are camping out in the master bedroom and Mark has relocated to the bottom bunk in the boys' room. I have drug myself out of bed to get the boys off to school each morning and managed to run the mommy taxi at least to school and back. Other than that we are housebound. Mark escapes every morning to work where I know he is relieved to be as it's a break from the overbearing household he comes home to each evening with me so miserably under the weather. Speaking of weather this nasty cold front isn't helping anything either. I can't wait to see what lovely precip the next 24 hrs brings along with the howling north wind we currently have. It sure would be nice to have no school tomorrow but I doubt I'll be that lucky. Picking Logan up from school has become a great challenge. Since it's so cold they are holding the kids in the cafeteria and we have to go stand in line to claim them one at a time instead of them being able to come out and meet us. As you can imagine this takes a while to complete the process and is very annoying for the parents standing in line outside in the bitter cold, the very cold that the kids supposedly can't handle. Don't they know that kids are more resilient than we adults. Just let them run out like usual I say!! Well I've escaped Beauty and the Beast for about as long as Addi is going to tolerate so I hope this finds you all in better shape than us. Later....