Memories & Milestones of the Gonzales Family: April 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Pneumonia and Hives

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately; with my lawn-mower fun, and deciding to sell the house. Add to the mix that Evan had pneumonia, and Aubrie had a virus that cause major hives, and you've got a crazy couple of weeks!

About a month or so ago, Evan had a small cough in the mornings and evenings. I was pretty sure that it was from allergies and post-nasal drip in the beginning. After about 2 weeks, it started to sound like it was coming from his chest, so I took him to see Dr. O'Neil. (I feel really bad, because I honestly really took him to get the rash on his legs checked out. I didn't think his cough was that bad.). His rash turned out to be excema (we think), and we got a steroidal cream to use on it. As she listened to his chest, though, she didn't make a face until she heard the bottom of his left lung, when she said, "I think there's a little bit of pneumonia in there!" I was totally blown away by this! He never even had a fever or anything, so I was shocked.

After 5 days of antibiotics, he was fine once again! I'm glad that I took him when I did so that it didn't get any worse!
-----
Now on to Aubrie's hives. I had agreed to watch K and D last Tuesday, and we had just gotten back from the grocery store when I heard a message from Aubrie's MDO teacher saying that she'd had some kind of reaction to the bubbles in their class. When I got there, she had hives all over her body; on her face, ears, neck, stomach, back, and legs. Her poor little ears were so swollen, and her face was really puffy. I took her home and gave her benadryl, which seemed to help. Later that night, her fever was up to about 100, so we gave her tylenol, too. On Wednesday, she was the same, so I just kept giving her benadryl. She actually looked to be getting better, so I didn't call the doctor. Of course, after her nap (after doctor hours) she seemed to wake up and be the same or worse. So I called the after-hours nurse, who told me to call 911 after I answered some questions.

Chris and I quickly decided that I'd just take her to the Pediatric ER at St. Lukes instead of calling 911. Although, looking back on it, I might call next time. She ended up being fine, but it might have been worth the peace of mind than sitting and waiting in the ER waiting room to get checked in. Hopefully we won't have to decide again any time soon.

The ER doctor looked her over, and said that she seemed to just have a virus. I had been doing the right thing by giving benadryl and tylenol and was to continue. If some of the purple hives (which were really scratches, I think) were to spread all over, then I should take her back. The doc actually laughed when I mentioned that I was told to call 911. He said, "Thank you for using common sense." Let me tell you, it's hard to think using common sense when your baby girl might be very sick.

The very next morning she almost completely back to normal. She's been fine ever since, too! Between the two of us being in the ER over 1 week's time, we're hoping to stay clear of the place for a while!

To Sell or Not to Sell?

Those of you who know me, know that I've wanted to sell our home for the past 4 years. The time just hasn't been right, and we're getting tired of waiting for that time, because it seems like it will never happen. However, Chris and I have "made the decision" for me to go back to work and to sell our home. We know that this is not a smart financial move, but we're just ready to move for several reasons.

I know that it's the right time for me to go back to work. I'm not particularly happy about it; I mean, who would be happy about leaving their kids behind after being with them for almost every moment of the day for 3 years... But, I know that it's the best thing to do for my family. I hope that my kids will read this one day and know that I loved them so very much that I did what needed to be done for them to be happy. I don't think that Aubrie will do well with daycare, at least not at the beginning. It's going to be rough on all of us.

I am, however, now having second thoughts about selling our home this year. Our new possible plan is for me to go to work, and for us to pay down the mortgage every month until we can sell the home for a better price. This will keep us from having to get a loan somehow to cover any loss, so we're really looking into it. But you know us, we can't make a decision to save our life!

Basically, we are just in need of prayer right now. Prayer and guidance from above.

Monday, April 23, 2012

War Wounds

Almost 2 weeks ago, I went to war with our lawn-mower, and lost.

I usually LOVE mowing the yard. Ok, not the actual getting hot and sweaty part, but the physical activity, smell of cut grass, and making the yard look nice and neat again are a plus for me. It's always been my "chore" since getting married. Growing up, Chris was made to mow the yard even though there was poison ivy and he is highly allergic. So he would mow with a long-sleeve jacket, pants, and ziplock baggies duct-taped around his hands so that he wouldn't get poison ivy. Since I love it and he has issues with it, I just mow.

On Tuesday, April 10th, I started to mow, just like any other time I'd done it. I started a little later than I planned because I had to refill the gas can. So it was a little closer to dark than I'd have liked, but since it only takes a few minutes to mow our yard, I didn't think anything of it. I started in the back yard, right next to our deck and a bush, and before I'd made 2 movements back and forth with the mower, something hit my left calf with the force of a 5 pound rock. It didn't hurt at first, but within just a few seconds my calf muscle was tensing up very badly. When I looked down, there was a thin stream of blood (gross, I know) already down to my shoes, which surprised me a lot. I hobbled inside and sat down on the couch. After the kids looked it over and Chris took them to bed, he came down to examine me.

We eventually came to the conclusion that I'd been bitten by a snake. After calling poison control, we were told to go to the ER to have it checked out. Our good friend from church, Lizette, came over to stay at our house with the kids while we went to St. Lukes in the Woodlands. When we got there, a very snappy nurse talked to us. I'm just going to give her the benefit of the doubt and imagine that she'd worked 10 days in a row, or something. Anyway, after seeing the doctor, we learned that it wasn't a poisonous snakebite (hallelujah!). In fact, after an x-ray just to double check, we found that it wasn't a snakebite at all. A small piece of metal was lodged inside my leg. That's right. A tiny piece of metal (which I later found out was from the inside of a small fake flower that had fallen on the ground and blended in with the grass) was inside my leg, basically right in the middle of it.

So now 2 weeks later, I still need to call the Orthopedic doctor to have it checked out to see if I need to have it taken out. I've been so busy that it has honestly been the last thing on my mind. Now that I can walk on it again (I could barely walk on it), I'm busy with trying to get our house on the market (which is an entirely different post topic).

Moral of the story, wear pants when mowing your yard!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tower Family Reunion 2012

This past weekend was spent at our first ever Tower Family Reunion! It was really neat to meet family members that I didn't even know I had, as well as hear stories about family members that I know. My kids got a glimpse of some of my fondest memories from childhood, too.

Our family is known for playing dominoes, therefore domino brownies were a must.

Probably the first time she'd slept in 16 hours...

We decided to have the reunion over Easter weekend so that everyone could travel on Friday, since it was a good 7 hour drive for us! We drove up on Friday, picked up Clarie from the airport in Dallas, and did the same thing on the way home on Sunday. It was soooo good to see my sister, even though it's only been 2 months since she moved to Arizona. We are super excited to make a trip up to see her this summer!

Evan and Grandma Clarice hunting Easter eggs

Evan enjoying his egg bounty

One of the cutest kids I've ever seen! Other than mine, of course. :)

The kids were pretty good during the whole trip, even through all of the driving. Aubrie had the hardest time, as she didn't sleep at all from 8am-midnight on Friday! She slept a little bit on my lap on Saturday at the reunion, and an hour on the way home on Sunday... and that was it! It's been tough getting back on a normal schedule since getting home, but I think we're getting there. I think the trip this past weekend, plus maybe some growing pains, have kept Aubrie in a pretty bad mood since yesterday. She was not very good/happy at MDO today, either. I'm hoping that she starts acting better, QUICKLY! Tylenol worked yesterday...