Getting Lucky

At Christmas, I picked up a digital copy of X3: the Last Stand for Sam. It was all of $5 or something like that. I figured it was kind of a gamble because I didn't know if the digital copy would work on our Apple but figured it was worth a shot and then we would know. So last night we finally decided to try things out. Sam opened the package to find 2 discs inside. One was supposed to be the Special Features and the other was the digital copy. I proceeded to pop the digital copy in the computer and downloaded it from iTunes.

Sam popped the other disc in the DVD player. It gave two options and he picked one. We both started watching the TV and it looked like the movie was starting. And started with the opening scene.....and continued without any commentary or interruptions. Weird.....COOL! Two and half hours later the movie was over and we realized that not only do we have the digital copy but we also have a DVD copy with Special Features also. FOR FIVE BUCKS!

I don't know who messed up at the packaging facility....but THANK YOU!

Mothers Day Gift: Connor-Style

Our ward had a Primary activity on Saturday before Mothers Day and created little gifts for their moms. A new Primary presidency was just called last week and yours truly is the new Second Counselor so I was there to witness the proceedings of this activity and was able to help Connor with his gifts.

One of the gifts was a little questionnaire for the kids to answer about their mother. I asked the questions and wrote down the answers exactly as he gave them. Here's what he ended up with.

All About My Mom

How old is your mom?

Three

What is your mom's favorite color?

Pink

What is your most favorite meal that your mom cooks?

Pancakes

What do you like to do with your mom?

Draw Pictures

What is your mom's favorite thing to do?

Draw

What color of eyes does your mom have?

Brown and Blue and Green

What's your favorite thing about your mom?

Hugs

Love,

Connor

Upon completing the questionnaire, we rolled it up and put a pink ribbon on it(his choice of color) and proceeded to tie the knot and curl the ribbon and then he insisted that I cut ALL of the excess ribbon off so that all that was left was the knot. I couldn't argue, it was his gift.

Bear's Scare

I think most everyone has probably heard the story about Bear's awful week last week but just to truly get things down in black and white, here's what happened.

Sunday April 18

I wake up very sick around 430 in the morning. Stayed home with flu-like symptoms all day. I won't give you any other specifics...you don't want to know. Woke up pretty normal the next day.

Thursday April 22

Sam comes home late at night from his parents with flu-like symptoms....the works. Stays home from work the next day and on by Saturday morning is feeling back to normal.

Monday April 26

Bear seems pretty normal at breakfast and then around 1030 in the morning starts in with the more disgusting flu-like symptoms all over me and my new carpet. He seems very lethargic all day and slept for most of the day, while having other flu-like symptoms all day. By the time Sam gets home he is very pale and has bluish lips.

We decide to take him to the doctor immediately and they do a strep test, and say that he's very dehydrated. Strep test comes back positive. We head to the Mountain West Medical Center Emergency Room. Sam drops me and Bear off while getting his parents to watch Connor for awhile.

After taking FOREVER to get him ready to get an IV in, they poke him about 12 times before they actually get the IV in his vein in his foot. He was really dehydrated. He didn't even flinch or cry when they poked him a zillion times. It was really sad to watch. They drew blood several times and even got a urine sample with a catheter. They decided that the strep test was actually negative. And his potassium levels were really high.

Just in case you are wondering, a normal potassium level is about a 4. His were at 7.8 and the highest they got were 8.3. The dangers of having potassium this high is that your heart can start having irregular beating patterns which can lead to heart failure and other complications.

Tuesday April 27

We stayed the night and they gave him antibiotics through his IV because they decided he had a Urinary Tract Infection. In the morning when his potassium levels hadn't dropped at all, they decided to transfer us via ambulance up to Primary Children's Medical Center.

After arriving in the ER he was poked a bajillion more times to make sure that all the labs that were done the night before were done accurately. And so when they all came back the same, they double checked them and then sent us to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, lovingly nicknamed the PICU(Pick-You).

I'm kind of skipping a lot of things.....They drew blood every 4 hours at least. They also put in another place for an IV in addition to his foot. They also had heart, oxygen and all kinds of other monitors on his chest. In addition to x-rays, 2 EKG's(Heart monitor tests), an ultrasound, and the realization that my baby's kidneys had stopped functioning which means that his creatinine(sp) and some other levels were too high(which can be toxic and require dialasis of his kidneys) He had what is called Acute Renal Failure which is basically temporary kidney failure.

Wed April 28

Luckily, after one night in the PICU, his potassium level finally came down to a 4.1 and although his kidneys weren't functioning quite right, we were able to move to the regular hospital floor. However, after the move they realized that his potassium levels were still dropping and had dropped too far. And now, there was blood in his stool to add to all the other worries.

So we spent the next three days in the hospital running tests on his stool and blood trying to get his potassium levels up to a normal range and his kidney hormone levels back to normal.

Saturday May 1

Finally, on Saturday, they said that if it was above a 2.5 without any intervention, we could go home and give him potassium supplements at home. His tests came back at a 2.8 and home we came!

Wed May 5

We went back to Primary Children's on Wed to have follow up bloodwork done and his potassium came back at 5.1...a bit high. We went back on Thurs and it came back exactly the same without any supplements. At least it's stable...... We go back Wednesday this week to have more bloodwork done. So the saga will continue for a little while longer.

But on a happier note, Bear has been the happiest he has been in MONTHS since he's been home. So I'm not sure if there was a problem before that we just didn't know about that was bothering him and now it's fixed or what but, I love having my happy baby back. He is such a joy to have around.

I just couldn't bear to take pictures of him when he was at his worst in the hospital so here are some from about mid way through his visit. He's looking so much better here than when we first brought him in but you can see all the wires....well, some of them anyway. This is few compared to what it was like in the PICU. The poor guy could barely move.

Playing with the balloon that Auntie Emily sent.

Playing with the Stethoscope.

The white brace on his hand was to keep him from moving too much so the IV would stay in.

Thrifty Piano

A long time ago, Sam made me a promise that when we bought a house, I would be able to get a piano. Well, we aren't exactly ready to fork out the bucks for a new piano, especially with more schooling on the horizon but I found this very well used and surprisingly decent sounding piano for $50 bucks on KSL.

Thanks to a couple friends who helped load it into Sam's little pickup truck this afternoon, it is now happily settled in our formal living room. YAY! It feels so good to play on a real piano instead of a electronic keyboard. I just can't get as motivated to play on a keyboard when I grew up playing on a baby grand....spoiled, yes, I know.

So thanks hunnie for being my hero!

(I just loved this picture of him, even though he's being goofy with the piano)