Massive Picture Update

Well, I was chastised today for so many entries without pictures, so here are lots of pictures! First is today at the Dallas Arboretum. We went there for a visiting teaching visit. Notice Ben's outfit, remember we live in Texas, and the date is July 2nd! The child loves his jeans, the white snap shirt, and his cowboy clothes! He ran around for a good 2 hours dressed this way with NO complaining (at least not about his clothes :)) The kids love the pioneer houses and Annie went to milk the cow about every 3 minutes.
I just love this picture because she is being a bit silly. She would smile for the camera, but she couldn't keep her eyes on me because there is just so much to look at!
This is her jar to get the milk from the cow (she would just put a little bit of the dirt from the ground into the container).
All frontier men must be able to plow the fields!

Sweaty Ben getting water to cook with. You need to click on this picture to enlarge it and really look at his face!
Emily just loves tagging along with the other kids and following them. Ben has been GREAT lately about always letting the girls play with him. He and Annie have a blast most of the time together and will usually let Emily play "Mom and Dad" as the baby sister or the dog. She really likes to be the dog best!
Here is our fire pit. There was a bunch of grass in there and some twigs that Andy wanted to get rid of, so Saturday morning he and the kids had our first fire!!! (No, Ben is not wearing jeans, and yes, those are winter pants with a cotton lining inside of them so one would stay warm.)

Here is my growing garden. Something deceitful and mean had taken ALL of my tomatoes! One huge red one was eaten all the way through just leaving a ring for the outer edges. All the green ones at the time had teeth marks in them. I'm ready for Andy to bring out the squirrel traps! Our corn is doing great and most stalks have ears, so we'll have to wait and see what else that brings. Our squash plant is growing like crazy with TONS of flowers, but no fruit yet! Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!


Lately Ben has been a great big brother! He and Annie were sick a few weeks ago, so Grandma retaught him the primary lesson that he missed in church - about being a peacemaker. We've since had several tension-reducing moments in our house using the 'p' word! Here is his other cowboy outfit that he wore last week. However, the chaps have split down the front, so I need to figure out how to sew through leather...

Here he put Emily in the swing and pushed her. Then they did the swings together. He would jump off his swing to push her and then continue back on his swing until Emily needed him again. It was honestly the sweetest thing... what a fabulous big brother!
This was our neighborhood parade last Saturday. I am soooooo sad that I had to miss it! Andy invited the Stowells to watch with him, since they were also mom-less. This is Ben's 'best friend.' Although they look a bit too cozy for me...

Medical Update

I did a little researching on the internet and found the probable answer about 10 minutes before the doctors' office called back, with the same prognosis. We all think it was a breath-holding spell. Basically, Emily was so mad, upset, etc (very strong feeling of some sort) that her body shut down (classic symptoms are either really bright red or pale white face, no crying, stop breathing, faint, cold sweat, fatigue after, etc). As soon as she lost consciousness, she started breathing again. The body's need for oxygen basically takes over everything else.

This is an involuntary thing (i.e. not something she does on purpose) and this is the perfect age for it to happen. So, as long as she is acting normal now, they don't need to see her. But, if I am worried, I can bring her right in and the doctor will inspect her from head to toe. No, I'm not worried NOW, but two and a half hours ago, I was a little bit uptight...

The Scariest 5 Minutes

WARNING: Long and rambling story ahead:

I went to gym this morning. When I went to pick up the kids, Emily was crying. As soon as they handed her to me, she just went limp and was crying really funny. I signed the other kids out and patted Emily's back, but her head wasn't staying up on my shoulder. I was looking at her nose to nose while Ben and Annie got there shoes on. She would hold her breathe for about 10 seconds, I would blow on her face, and then she would breathe again. I knew there was something wrong, and one of the girls that works there came over to check on her and asked if everything was all right. I said I didn't think so. Then Em's eyes rolled back and she couldn't keep them open. By now her face was white and lips were blue, so I "asked" them to call 911.

Not knowing much about medicine, I had no idea what to do! She still didn't have much muscle tone, wouldn't open her eyes, and then stopped breathing. It was only about 15-20 seconds, but it was terrifying! By then I was talking to the dispatcher and answering her questions when Em started whimpering and broke into a sweat. I hung up with her when the paramedics came in and they checked her out. By the time we sat on a bench outside the kids' club Emily was breathing fine, holding up her head and focusing with her eyes. Whew! They took her heartbeat, blood pressure and blood sugar level. While one paramedic did that, another was handing little stuffed animals to Emily and Annie (who wouldn't leave my side), and another was asking questions and filling out paperwork. She asked if Em was normally that white. But within a few minutes her cheeks were getting some color and she returned to acting like Em. Ben came out and started crying while they did the heel prick for the blood sugar test, but that was quickly over with.

Whew! What a morning, and not something that I want to repeat. However, I am very glad the fire station is so close and they come so fast. I declined a ride to the hospital because she was acting just like normal. They said without being there, they can't tell what happened. So, I have a call into the doctor asking if we need to get any more testing done. I was a little bit worried about over-reacting (though I really don't tend to do that when my kids get hurt), so I went in and thanked the workers in the Kids' Club. One of them said that maybe Emily was just crying so hard she had a hard time catching her breath (which I don't think was the case because she hasn't reacted like that before when crying for a long time, which does happen occasionally!), but the girl that was helping me just shook her head and said, "No, her lips were blue and she wasn't breathing." Alas, all is back to normal, other than a very protective Mama Bear!