This years Christmas card.

Stationery card

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Plot Plan for Our New House

It's getting to be more and more exciting as we receive more information about our new house.  This is the plot plan, and I think the permits have gone to the city to be approved.  I think we are still looking at around November or December before we do our breaking ground meeting.  It's going to be a very exciting these next few months.  I'm not looking forward to trying to sell our current home, but I think it will all work out. 

New House

We bought a new house on Sunday, September 9, 2012.  We went with the elevation A look, and added the fourth bedroom for Melody.  Our new house in is a community called Solterra, and it's next to the foothills and red rocks.  We are so excited!  The builder has to wait for the permits to go through which usually takes 60-90 days.  We are looking at either mid November or mid December when they finally break ground.  Cardel Homes is the builder, and they are projected the house to be finished by April or May of 2013.  

On Wednesday, Sept. 19th, John and I will go to the design center to pick out all the details on the inside of our house.  I can't wait!  Our house is in a cul-de-sac, and it backs up to a green belt.  The color of the house will be a terra cotta type color with a dark brown trim.  We also added a covered patio in the back, and we our having the concrete be a stamped colored concrete.  It will look so much prettier then just having a plain concrete look.  More details to come! 

Melody's EEG!

Melody had her EEG on March 20th. It was a long day, and it didn't end too well for me, but that's a completely different story. Everything looked normal with her EEG. The neurologist did mention the idea of a MRI to rule out other possibilities, but John and I felt at this time it wasn't worth the risk or trauma for her. They have to be under anesthesia for it, and it just isn't worth the risk. If she does have another seizure, then of course we will go with the MRI, but for now the doctor is comfortable with our decision. Based on my own family history, they are comfortable that both seizures were febrile seizures, and not something brought on by epilepsy or brain tumors. Even hearing the words brain tumors gives me anxiety, but I'm comfortable believing that is not her problem. Phew, I'm so glad this is over for now.

As for me, I was feeling progressively sick throughout the day, and I ended up running to the bathroom as we were leaving. I picked up some stomach bug. Cedric wasn't feeling too well a couple of days before, so I got it from him. It made the run through our house, and I think I got it the worst. Although, John always acts like he is on death's door whenever he gets sick. Men!

My Scary Weekend!

We were driving home on Friday evening after just picking up the boys from Parent's Night Out at My Gym. Probably around 8:40pm, Melody cried out in pain and when I tried to look back at her, I noticed her arm jerking. I told John to pull over which could have been scary to think about if the situation I was experiencing wasn't scary enough. We were on C-470 right after the Wadsworth exit in the dark. It's never wise to pull over on an interstate, especially at night. I noticed Melody's whole body convulsing, so I knew she was having a seizure. I took her out of the car seat, and held her while John called 911. I originally thought the seizure was only about 3 minutes, but when I looked at the call history of how long John was on with 911, I know the seizure was more like 7-8 minutes. Towards the end of her seizing, she started to bubble at the mouth and then she vomited into my hand and on her sleeper. Cedric and Sebastian witnessed the entire scary event. :(

Right after she vomited the first first responder arrived. It was a female police officer. Immediately right after, the fire department showed up, and then the ambulance. The paramedic cradled Melody in his arms as he took her over to the ambulance. Thankfully, Melody never stopped breathing during the seizure. She was agitated and uncomfortable. I was holding her in my arms while I sat on the gurney. Her temp on the ambulance was 99, but when they took it again in the hospital it was 102.

I forgot to finish this, sorry for the abrupt end to my story. While at the hospital, she was given a chest x-ray to find out the possible cause to her temperature. The doctor determined it was pneumonia, and she was given antibiotics through an IV. We were also given a prescription for antibiotics to continue at home. We took Melody to the pediatrian the following morning. She seemed to be doing a lot better, and her temperature was normal. She was still not herself, and the doctor wasn't completely convinced she even had pneumonia. Her chest sounded clear to her, and the chest x-ray only showed a slight spot that might indicate pneumonia. It could also just be bronchitis.

My parents were watching the boys, so John and I took care of some quick errands we needed to do. We also filled Melody's antibiotics prescription. We gave her the antibiotics, and I also gave her some ibuprofen. She was starting to feel warm. I took her temperature, and it was 103.5. I decided to nurse her while I was waiting for the meds to kick in. While I was nursing her, I noticed her just staring straight ahead, and not responding to me. Her eyes kept rolling up, and she started making a slight flapping movement with her hands. John and I quickly got her in the car, and we drove back to the hospital. I was pretty sure she was having a seizure again, except this one was completely different looking than the first. It's also unusually for a child to have two febrile seizures so close together in time according to the doctors. The seizures were only 18 hours apart.

We arrived at Littleton Hospital, and they took us right away. We went to the Children's After Hours location of the ER. It had just closed the evening before when we arrived the first time. Melody had stopped the flapping movement, but she remained unresponsive. She kept smacking her lips together, and posturing her hands and feet. While they were doing her vitals and checking us in, Melody vomited again. This time was a lot more than the first seizure. She was just so lethargic and unresponsive. After the first seizure, she was agitated. This one, she seemed to not have a care in the world. They were trying to find a vein to take blood for a CBC, and she just didn't react to being poked over and over again. I, however, wanted to hurt somebody, because I didn't like how they just couldn't find a vein. Watching your baby being treated like that brings out the mama bear in me. Eventually Melody had enough of the poking, and she started to cry from it. After some more poking they were finally able to take blood. They were very close to going with a vein in the head, but they didn't have to.

The doctor who took care of Melody also didn't think she had pneumonia. She also spoke to neurology, and we needed to set-up an appointment for an EEG. They observed Melody a little longer, but she was doing better, so they sent us home. We went to our pediatrian the next day, and he was also convinced it wasn't pneumonia. She had broke out in a rash briefly, and he was thinking roseola. He said it most likely is viral what Melody has, and he was find we me discontinuing the antibiotics. They wouldn't make a difference for a viral infection anyways. I was fine with that decision, especially since the antibiotics were doing a number on her intestines. The CBC did show that Melody was anemic. I needed to give her iron supplements. The picture below on the stairs were from right before her second seizure. The one below that was when she was resting on me after the second seizure. I'll update my blog about her EEG tomorrow.

Superbowl Sunday

I don't really care about the game. I never really do, but we are going over to our friend, Thomas's house to watch the game. We'll enjoy some pizza and wings. Emerson will be there to play with Cedric, Sebastian, and Melody. Plus, it'll be nice to finally get out of the house. We've been home bound since the big snow that started on Friday. :)

My Beautiful Babies!

Melody is One!

Melody had her birthday party on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at our house. She had her friends: Emerson, Isabel, Hayden, James(Cousin), Jasmine, Jade, and of course her brothers: Cedric & Sebastian. All the adults were her Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Andy, Aunt Chassity, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Chris, Aunt Shannon, Johanna, Arthur, Amanda, Jackie, Thomas, and her mommy and daddy. She got lots of great gifts from everyone, and it was a fun afternoon filled with snacks, pizza, and tasty cake.

Her adorable outfit! My little ballerina!

Her brothers fascinated by her piggy tales.

Her decorations! I love the theme we found.

Such a happy girl opening her gifts with mommy.

All the kids!

Melody's beautiful cake! Courtesy of Cakes Amore.

Her smash cake!

Melody just went for it!

Her brothers helped.

Yummy!

Melody wasn't happy anymore, and she wanted everyone to know that she was done.