Day 3 was Black Friday, and we were excited to hit the outlets to shop for some deals. Unfortunately, the anticipation proved more exciting than the actual experience with the exception of our visit to the Disney Store, where one person in particular made out like a bandit!
We peaced out of there, stopped by Wal-Mart to get Z a Pokemon game for his Nintendo DS, which he's been playing non-stop since, and got back to our house in time for nap time, which did actually result in naps this time!
I headed out to the Seaside shops to do a little more shopping while the kids were napping, and it was glorious. We went to the pool when everyone woke up, and swam until it closed at dusk. That night, we got dinner from the food trucks (attempted a picture in front of the post office) and headed to the amphitheater, where they were showing Elf.
We set up camp on the lawn with our blankets and dinner, while Nick went to get snacks from the house. We watched Elf under the stars, which the kids loved! It was basically a perfect night!
Z is still laughing about the part where Buddy downs a 2-liter of Coca-Cola and burps for like 15 seconds. Lu loved that he puts syrup on everything, and they're both still talking about staying off of the 'naughty list' since Buddy's dad was on it!
We woke up to another beautiful day on Thanksgiving! We had
reservations at one of our favorite beach restaurants for Thanksgiving dinner at
4:30, so we had nothing to do but relax until then!
Of course our first stop was the beach!
Lu
was a little hesitant, because heaven forbid her feet touch the sand or
get wet! Thankfully, she had her Baba to carry her on his shoulders and
keep her little princess feet clean and dry.
She finally warmed up to the sand, and we got some sweet and silly pictures.
After
we hung out at the beach for a bit, we headed out on an adventure to
find the pool and fitness center. We ended up hiking to Watercolor,
where the Turkey Trot was in full swing, then circling back around to
about one block away from our house. Thank you google maps...
Just
when the kids complaining about being hot, tired, having rocks in their
shoes, when are we going to get there, etc. etc. was reaching a max, we
finally found it! Personally, I enjoyed the scenic route. But, everyone was excited to get to the pool! It took a bit for them to get back into
swimming mode, but when they did, this happened. A lot!
After pool time, we hit up the playground.
We
went back to the house for what was supposed to be naptime, but it turned
into playtime. When we finally gave up on naps, we got dressed and
headed out a bit early to walk around before dinner.
We
had Thanksgiving dinner at Old Florida Fish House, and it was amazing!
They had "free refills" on the food and for $5 you could get a plate to
go! Hello leftovers!!
We
got chicken fingers for the kids, which was kindof a mistake, because
they both ended up eating the turkey off of our plates! Y'all, that was
some yummy food. We cleared our plates quickly, got seconds and each got a
take home box!
We came back and decided to walk off some of our food, in the kids' case, run off some of the food. They ran all over the amphitheater, and we rather enjoyed our view!
It was a sweet Thanksgiving, and we are so so thankful for our many blessings!
This year we decided to go to the beach for Thanksgiving! We'd both had a crazy busy Monday and Tuesday, so we were all really excited to get away on Wednesday morning!
The kids did great in the car, and we made it to the house by lunchtime!
We were just a few steps from central Seaside!
First thing was first, we headed to lunch at Pickles, per Z's request!
Then, pictures and ice cream! The weather was beautiful!
After lunch and ice cream, we went to the grocery store, which as you can imagine on Thanksgiving Eve was CAH-RAZY, but awesome, because beach!
We put on Christmas pajamas and settled in for dinner in. The kids were feeling extra silly.
It was a perfect first day. Next up, Thanksgiving!
I woke up on a mission Tuesday morning, to get all of our stuff together and get the heck out of there! They had talked about letting us go in the afternoon, but I strongly requested to please get out as soon as possible. They first had to check her vitals and administer her second oral dose of antibiotics. Now, let me start by saying oral clindamycin is well known to be disgusting, and she had/has to take 13.33 mLs (or 2 3/4 teaspoons) of it 3 times a day. She was/is also on Augmentin, which also tastes pretty nasty, 2 times a day. And, at 8 o'clock in the morning, she got/gets both, along with a probiotic for her gut. Needless to say, after all she'd been through, she was going to have something to say about us shoving a bunch of disgusting medicine down her throat, and she did, loudly. I wasn't worried about it, because I know sometimes you just have to get it done, but the nurse was apparently concerned by her reaction because she sent in a "Child Life Specialist."
So, when Lindsey, our Child Life Specialist came in, she said, and I quote, "I was called because she had some trouble taking her medicine this morning and I am here to help her understand what is going on."
First, yeah she had some trouble. What's new?
And, second, where were you five days ago?
But, I thought, okay, she's here to help and she's making sense, better late than never, and we have some time before they discharge us, so let's hear her out.
She ended up being FABULOUS! #lindseyforpresident.
While I was packing, she sat down with Lu and talked to her about what was happening and how she was feeling, while giving Lu presents! First, she brought her the sweetest ballerina barbie, then she brought a Simba with an IV in his arm and a medical kit. She got Lu to tell her things like, "they didn't understand me, so sometimes I would say 'ouch' even if it didn't hurt" and lots of other insightful things apparently that she couldn't really pass along to me, because Lu doesn't like people talking about her while she's in the room!
And, now every day we play doctor with Simba and talk about the medicine and how it's yucky but it makes him feel better and how we like the doctors and nurses because they take care of us and make us feel better! I mean, really, good stuff!
While we were there, I felt like she was so mature in moments, but in other moments like she had regressed, by shouting single word requests or screaming for no reason. I think Lindsey helped her get out of that mode and ready to go back home.
As I mentioned earlier, they discharged us right around lunchtime! I called Nick, and he came over straight from work, loaded up and we got the heck out.
At some point over the weekend, I drew our family up on the board, and I had Lu tell me what everyone should be holding. We had fun drawing these and talking about them, so when we were leaving we took pictures and she explained them all to Baba.
So, we have Nunna with her big hair, gum, and hand full of Hershey's Kisses; Jido with his iPad playing candy crush; Baba holding 2 pillows (?); Mama with her purse and phone; Zayd with his red Nintendo DS; Lu with her pout pout fish; Uncle Faris with his beard, muscles, and doctor badge; Nana with her purse, Tata "Little Mango" with his phone; and Emma and Addison with their Play-doh.
We're bustin' out!
We got home in time to pick up Z from carpool. We were so happy to see him!
It was a long 5 days, and Lu has gotten MUCH better about taking her yucky medicine. I am thankful and happy to report she is getting better every day, and her follow up doctor appointments have all been very positive. We are hopeful that this craziness is officially behind us!
Praise the Lord for returning to our normal routine!!
It took a while to settle down for bed on Sunday night. We were having so much fun, and sister did not want to get back into the bed, but eventually she did, and it was a much much calmer night. We still got
up a couple of times for antibiotics to be given to her in her IV, and
she was on pulse ox, which beeped periodically because it would slip
around her finger or something, but it was much less and we both slept a
good bit better. Even better, her temp stayed down the whole night, so I was feeling encouraged once again.
Encouraged, until, the ENT residents came
in a flurry around 6 a.m. and said the fever the day before was
"concerning" and that she may be getting worse and "masking" it or
"pushing through." Oh okay, so thanks for that. Then, it was ENT out.... And worry in.
When
medical came in later that morning, they had grave looks on their
faces, and they delivered the news: "You're not going home today..."
Apparently, they felt
she was responding well and doing great, but ENT expressed some
concerns. Dr. Fargason said while he didn't necessarily agree with their
concerns, he didn't disagree either.
So, we were
staying another night.... The plan was still to start oral antibiotics and watch, then go home Tuesday.
I decided to grab this news by the horns,
clean up the room, get new linens, clean ourselves up, new pajamas, new
attitudes, and basically start a new day for us!
Nick came by for lunch, and we pretty much played the rest of the day. She DID NOT want to take a bath, but we did it anyway, and I think she felt much better afterwards. Honestly, that day was a breeze because she was feeling well and noone was bothering us at all.
We checked in with "brothee."
We laid down and watched Tangled together, then Lu wanted to play ballet, so we took turns "playing the music" and dancing. We probably did this 10 times!
On Monday, Dr.
Fargason said he felt good about her progress and that I should too, so I did. She had her first
dose of oral antibiotics in the middle of the night Monday night,
which meant no IV and no pulse ox! That was by far the best night yet,
and first thing Tuesday morning, the ENT woke me up out of a dead sleep
and said she was doing good, and should be going home!! Yay! We were so
excited. The medical team agreed that she was good to go home on heavy
and frequent antibiotics, so as soon as they left I started packing
furiously. Thanks I think, to Dr. Madeline, we were discharged by 12:15!
It was like a miracle and a dream come true to be getting out of there after so many days and such a roller coaster
of emotions!
