Not Funny Now

A few months ago my sister, Colleen, had a dream about my dad (actually, it was on the night Graham was born).  In the dream, Dad mentioned something about everyone getting together at Kira's house.  Colleen was confused, so she asked, "you mean at Christmas?"  He responded, "oh, that hasn't happened yet?... Well, you will see.  It will all work out, but it is a little funny."

Kira's been fretting for months about what that might entail.  I completely forgot about it.  But now that our Christmas week at Kira's is done, I've come to the conclusion that either my dad has a twisted sense of humor or a much grander perspective - probably both.

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Christmas at Kira's in Utah has been in the works for over a year now.  Kira built a new house that is large enough to accomodate our ever expanding family, and she and Stew are gracious (and crazy) enough to allow everyone to stay with them.  

We were a little nervous about how the weather would (or would not) cooperate while driving through the mountain passes, but as the time to depart approached, it looked like the forces of nature were aligning to cooperate.  

We spent ALL DAY Thursday getting ready to leave.  I'd spent so much time planning Christmas, that I almost completely neglected planning the road trip.  Suddenly it was time to leave and I still hadn't determined where/what we were stopping/staying/doing along the way.

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We finally got on the road around 3 pm on Thursday and made a quick trip to Royal City to stay the night with our friends, the Franks.  Though we didn't arrive until just before 6 pm, the kids wasted no time fitting in an entire day of playing in a few short, pre-bedtime hours.  Maggie (4) was extremely sleep-deprived, which pushed her usual enthusiasm to a fever-pitch.  She grabbed Bryce and they went careening through the house - pulling, tickling, jumping, yelling, and rolling.  Bryce kept coming to me with his eyes wide, not sure if he should laugh or cry. 

Thane, lacking a suitable playmate, decided to try to move in on Maggie.  Every time Bryce and Maggie slowed down, Thane would edge in between them.  Not sure if he was more interested in being close to Maggie or in bothering Bryce.  

It's hard to explain how much we enjoy spending time with the Franks and Allreds.  Every time we're with them we leave feeling loved and inspired and motivated to be better people (and my kids are ready to pack up and move to the country).  We can never tear ourselves away as early as we plan, and we didn't manage to get back on the road until noon the next day.

Kids staying warm in the car while the adults chat

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Our original (rough) plan was to stay Friday night with friends in Boise, but last-minute illness at our hosts derailed that idea.  Instead, we decided to plow straight through all the way to Kira's.  We stopped for dinner outside Boise at a Carl's Jr. with an awesome indoor play place and let the kids get out some of their pent up energy.  Then we put on their pjs, tossed them back in the car, and made it to Kira's largely without incident around 2:30 am.

The kids handled traveling pretty well.  We had to stop frequently to accommodate the needs of an infant and other immature bladders, but that's to be expected.  Aubree preferred to pass the time playing word games.  We'd ask, "what's another word for interesting?" "Fascinating!" she'd shout, then, "do another one!"

Not long after we stopped for dinner Thane decided he was done with traveling.  "I want to go hoooome," he wailed.  He'd wake up screaming every half hour or so, which of course was super helpful for all the other kids trying to sleep.  The only thing that would consistently calm Thane down was pointing out all the temples we saw along the I-15 corridor.

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Because of our change in travel plans, we ended up being the first family members to arrive at Kira's.  That meant we got to help with last minute basement preparation (Stew had been working feverishly to get the basement finished in time for company).  While Mark (and sometimes me - depending on Graham) was working downstairs, the kids immediately got busy making messes having fun with their cousins.  As more family members arrived, the noise and fun levels increased exponentially.

How the basement looked when we arrived.

Shortly after lunch, Aubree was playing with her cousin Piper, when suddenly she looked up at me and pleaded, "please, take Piper."  Before I could comply, or even properly ask, "what's wrong?" - Retch!  Vomit all over the floor.

While we were scrambling to deal with the immediate aftermath, Retch! Vomit again, this time all over the couch. Not an auspicious beginning to our trip.  

Aubree and her bowl soon retreated downstairs to our room, where she promptly fell asleep.  "Maybe it's something she ate," I thought/hoped fervently.

All the family was supposed to arrive by 4:30 pm, and Kira had made reservations at one of their favorite restaurants - Tucanos, a Brazilian Grill.  Obviously, Aubree was in no shape to go out to eat and Mark graciously agreed to stay home with her (and even more graciously agreed to keep Thane too).  So, I only had Graham and Bryce, plus Dylan and Lauren came in the car with me so it was a 3 adult to 2 kid ratio.  Bryce really enjoyed having Dylan and Lauren's attention at the restaurant (and he ate maybe one bite of meat).

It was a riot to have everyone (even my Aunt Amanda and her little family) together at the restaurant.  We took up a large section and had a great time talking, laughing, and eating too much.  Dylan even realized that our server was one of his old mission companions, which seemed great, until Tyson (Kira's 2-year old) vomited all over his dad's shirt and the restaurant floor.

Can you believe Colleen got a picture of this?  Classic!  

Then little Piper pushed a plate off the table and that broke into pieces on the floor.  And to end the evening, someone knocked over their glass of water, sending water cascading to the floor.  By the end, I'm not sure Dylan was overly pleased to know our poor server.  We're not sure they'll ever take a reservation for Kira's family again!  On the upside, the server got a huge tip.

The whole time I was out, Mark kept sending me texts about Aubree.  "Round 3."  

"Round 4."  

"Here we go again."    

When we got back to Kira's, all the family (plus my grandparents) gathered in order for Daniel to be ordained an Elder and receive the Melchesidek Priesthood.  Mark was supposed to participate in the ordinance, but Aubree was so sick she couldn't be left alone.  Again, Mark stayed with Blue so I could witness that special event.  Daniel is an amazing young man and takes his responsibilities very seriously.

Trying to keep the littles quiet during the ordinance...not an easy task!

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I was fairly certain that Aubree would feel better by the next morning (because we get our fair share of stomach bugs, and they usually last about 12 hours).  Still, I knew she couldn't go to church, which was too bad because Colleen's baby, Alexander, was being blessed.  We planned for Mark to go up to church and participate in the blessing, while I stayed home with Aubree and Graham.  

But Aubree threw up all. night. long.  And in the morning, she was still throwing up.  She couldn't keep a thing down.  By that point I was getting worried, "if she throws up one more time, we're going to have to take her to the ER!," I told Mark.  So, our whole family stayed home from church.  Of course, once I made that proclamation, the vomiting stopped.  We were sad to miss Alexander's blessing (and the Sunday before Christmas too!), but Aubree was just sooo sick (Tyson stayed with us too, poor sick kiddos!).

Alexander's blessing

After Alexander's blessing, all the family returned again to Kira's for a big lunch and lots of time to spend eating, catching up, kid wrangling, baby cuddling, and playing games.  

I spent most of the afternoon downstairs with Aubree.  I thought that once the vomiting stopped, she would get better rapidly, but she didn't.  I called my pediatrician's after-hours number and the on-call nurse initially brushed me off.  As I continued to explain Aubree's symptoms, however (like the fact that she hadn't moved from her spot on the floor for over 30 hours, we even had to carry her - moaning - to the bathroom), she changed her tune. "Oh, that does sound more serious...you probably should take her in."

We held out hope that she would improve for a little while longer.  Kira and Stew planned to bless their baby, Chase, that evening in their home.  This time, I stayed down with Aubree so Mark could participate in the blessing.  It was a jam-packed, blessing-filled, 24-hour period!

All too soon, it was obvious that Aubree needed medical attention.  She was lethargic and in serious pain.  We put Bryce and Thane to bed, and Mark and I took Aubree to the Emergency Room.  The triage nurses determined immediately that she was very dehydrated and needed IV fluids. They weighed her and she'd dropped to only 42 pounds. Aubree was a champ when they put in the IV; she didn't even flinch when her blood when spurting across the floor.  I asked the nurses, "how long does it take for her to start feeling better after getting the IV?"

"Oh, it usually is almost immediate," they responded.  

And sure enough, by the time they wheeled her back into the waiting room, she was already looking and acting better (i.e. she was willing to respond to questions and even cracked an occasional smile).

 It didn't take too long before she was called back to own little room and met with the doctor.  He explained that sometimes when kids get sick like this, it becomes a vicious cycle - they get so dehydrated that they start cramping and can't keep any fluids down, which leads to more dehydration, etc.  They gave her two IV bags of fluid and some Zofran (plus a prescription for a couple more pills), and by midnight we were back at Kira's with a much-improved little girl.

Stay tuned for the next installment, because it gets better (and by better, I mean worse).