The zoo and Ocean City

A couple weekends ago we decided to take the kids to the Cape May Zoo.  We haven't been this year yet so we decided to go.  We took the wagon so the kids didn't have to walk but Rebekah could get out whenever we told her it was ok and we could grab Isaiah whenever we wanted to.  It worked out great. 
I picked out a few photos to share but weeded them down a little because there were still a ton I wanted to share.  There are still tons though.  Some are not great because John and I are still getting used to the new camera. 

The kids had a blast!  Isaiah hasn't been to the zoo since last year so he didn't remember his last visit.  He loved all the animals, his favorites were the "birds" and every time he would see one he would shout "bird, bird, bird!" and point till we looked.  Be it duck, swan, peacock, or Eagle.  Everything with feathers lol.  He liked when we got to the Zebras and Giraffes because we left him run around, not because he liked watching them lol.  He saw the ostriches in with the Giraffe's and then it was all over.  "Bird, bird, bird!" even though they were far back and hard to see and the Giraffe's were close and much bigger, he didn't care.  He also liked the reptile house because of all the snakes and turtles. 
Rebekah always enjoys the zoo but her favorite part is feeding the goats.  She gets frustrated if we don't let her get out as often as she likes. 

We were beat by the time we left the zoo so we went straight home but Rebekah had been asking all winter when we could go to the beach.  We were really close to the beach but too tired to go so we promised her that we would go the next weekend.  We decided to go to Ocean City because I have never been there and neither has Rebekah.  Next time we will go to Atlantic City though because they have free beaches and Ocean City charges for all their beaches.  We only got to look at the beach from the board walk but she didn't seem to mind. 

Asthma

Rebekah has asthma.  Something we were unaware of until she had to be hospitalized because of it.  John posted about it but I wanted to give details and add some photos. 
The children got colds from church and started with runny noses on a Tuesday which progressed to fevers and coughing.  By Thursday Rebekah was hardly eating, coughing more and starting to wheeze.  The only thing that seemed to calm her was her humming and a necklace she had gotten from McDonalds that when you push a button, music would play.  By the time I got her to bed she was having trouble breathing.  I was up at 2am and her breathing was much worse.  I woke John up and told him to leave the car seats so my sister could take us to their pediatrician in the morning. 

Friday morning I called before office hours when the doctors answer the phones instead of the receptionists and I told the Dr what was going on.  He made us an appointment to come in that morning and I got the kids ready. 
When we arrived and the doctor examined Rebekah she informed me that she thought Rebekah was having an asthma attack!  She gave her a breathing treatment and when that didn't seem to help much she told us to take her straight to the ER.  She suggested the Virtua Voorhees one as it is kid friendly. 
I told my sister, Alyssa where we had to go and we went straight from the doctors office.  I called John on the way to tell him to go straight there.  He left work and met us there.
I left Alyssa in the waiting room with Isaiah to wait for John and I went back with Rebekah.  She was examined and given another breathing treatment.  John came back with Isaiah to see Rebekah and I had to send them home because Isaiah was getting into everything.  A couple hours later she was given another breathing treatment and seen by another doctor who said that she was not progressing and she would need a chest x-ray and needed to be admitted.  I was under the impression that it would only be for the remainder of the day but I was wrong. 
 The first treatment at the ER they used a super cute elephant mask but she hated it.  She said the smoke got into her eyes so she kept them closed.  I sang to her which seemed to keep her calm. 

Then for her second treatment they decided to try this way.  She lost too much medicine though.  All that smoke coming out the end is the medicine that is suppose to be going into her lungs.

 The chest x-ray showed that she also had pneumonia.  The technician was nice enough to bring her back to see the "pictures" he took of her.  She liked that and he gave her some stickers.  She also got stickers after her breathing treatments. 

She got a hospital room all to herself and even got a nice pink pillow case that was was able to take home with her. 

 
I stayed with her until the evening.  John and I had agreed that we would swap out so I could go home for the night with Isaiah and he would stay the night with Rebekah.  They had a fold out futon we could sleep on.  John ended up sleeping in the bed with Rebekah.  She was on breathing treatments every 2 hours at that time so he didn't get much sleep. 

She was low on oxygen so they attached oxygen up to her "Love Puppy" that John had brought from home for her to sleep with.  She can't sleep without him.

 Because she sleeps so close to him at night, it was a very good way to get oxygen to her.  Alyssa lovingly took the tape off of him after we had him home.  It was hard work! 

The next day I went back to the hospital (Alyssa was nice enough to drive us to and from the hospital) for the day and John went back home with Alyssa and Isaiah.  At least I thought it was just going to be for the day.  I got there just before lunch and John showed me that there was a play room across the hall from Rebekah's room.  He said she really liked it in there. They had games and tons of toys.  They even had a Kinect.  In another room they had another video game system that the teen boys were always on.  It was called the teen room.  Rebekah never once asked to play video games because she was content with the toys.

Of course she mostly wanted to play with the play kitchen and the play dishes and food.  She had fun making me lots of meals. 

Since she was still wheezing that day they said she had to stay another night.  This time John and I decided that he should stay with Isaiah and I should just stay till Rebekah was discharged the next day.  So I was staying the night with her.  It wasn't so bad because by the time it was time for bed she was moved to breathing treatments every 3 hours and in the middle of the night they moved her to every 4 hours.  I actually woke up just before they came in for her treatment.  They let her sleep through it and they just held it there for her to breath while she slept. 

The next morning she was seen by the doctor and she was given the ok to go home.  We were given a nebulizer and I was taught how to use it and care for it.  By the time she was sent home she was still on breathing treatments every 4 hours and was told to do a follow up with her pediatrician and they would tell me when it was ok to move her up to every 5 or 6 hours. 

This is getting long so I will sum it up.  Follow up appointment wasn't too promising as she was kept on treatments every 4 hours and we needed to go back in 2 days.  Plus another nebulizer medication was added on top of what she was getting.  The next appointment went better and she was moved to every 6 hours and I was told how to progress her after that so we didn't have to go back unless necessary. 

She is now on twice a day and if she is still doing well tomorrow I can move her to once a day.  After that it will only be used as a rescue inhaler and the other nebulizer medication she is on I can take her off 2 weeks after the other one is weaned off. 

I have her sit on my lap during treatments and I sing to her to keep her calm with the mask on.  She is feeling much better as you can see from her silly faces. 

Bekah

To keep things short this past Friday we had to take Bekah to the ER. She ended up staying until Sunday afternoon. She had pneumonia, allergies, a cold, and Asthma. We didn't even know she had Asthma. She is home now being treated with 4 different medicines and 2 use a nebulizer.

Also Jodi's sister was in town, perfect week to have her here to help. Not so much a vacation for her, but she helped control order and provided extra transportation while she was here. Jodi did get a chance to go to a movie with her, I don't even remember what they saw now, but it was good that they went before the chaos began. It was a crazy week and we will be catching up on sleep for awhile.

Our New Car

We got a new car!  Our first ever new (non used) car!  We love it too!  I was hesitant to get a car because most of the cars we looked at over 2 years ago had little to no leg room in the back seat.  Some of the back seats practically touched the front seats.  That's just inhumane for kids lol.  We decided we need to trade the van in because of gas prices and because the work we were putting into it didn't seem worth it anymore.  We decided new was the way to go if we didn't want to have to deal with the issues we have been plagued with with our precious used cars we have owned. 
So we did our research and decided on either a 2012 Chevrolet Sonic or a 2012 Nissan Versa SV.  I liked the Versa better because it seemed roomier, but this was only from what I had seen and read online so I was ok with either of the cars.  John was going to go to the dealership himself so we didn't have to deal with the stress of dragging the kids along.  John cleaned up the van and got it ready for trade in, got financing through our bank and decided on the Nissan.  Then he went to the Nissan dealership.  We got $6,000 for our van and a really good deal on our Nissan Versa. 
When John got back with the car we let the kids play around inside before putting their car seats in, then we went for a drive.  It was so roomy and nice!  Rebekah didn't like it at first because she isn't as high up and she can't see out the window as well as she could in the van, but it's growing on her.  She likes that her window can be rolled down and it couldn't in the van. 
I like that our glove box is huge, there is plenty of leg room in the back seat not to mention plenty of leg room in the front as well, and a HUGE trunk!  Seriously this trunk is gigantic!  Which is great because we are losing alot of storage space that we had in the van. 

Rebekah was on the other side so I didn't get any good shots of her.

We are paying a bit more every month for this car than we were paying for the van but we think that it's worth it because we won't have to put alot of money into fixing it up like we did the van. 

Isaiah's second birthday

Our little man is 2!  I still can't believe it myself.  He is growing up way too fast.  

We had planned a Fireman Sam theme for his birthday because he was all about Sam for months and then all of a sudden he just wasn't anymore.  He has always been into his cars though so we decided to go with the movie Cars theme instead.  We didn't go all out with it either, just a themed cake and wrapping paper.  He is only 2 after all.  

We decided to take John's dad to the aquarium for Isaiah's birthday on Saturday.  It was nice because they finished the Children's section of the aquarium and the kids go to run wild in that area for a while.  Isaiah loved that he didn't have to sit in his stroller.

 

Then on Easter Sunday I was getting things ready for his birthday and it hit me that his birthday was on a Monday and my good friend Brandie has Mondays off.  So I texted her and asked if they wanted to come over for pizza and cake.  I am glad it worked out because we haven't seen Brandie, Ralph and Lilianna in forever and it was nice to get together with them. 

John picked up the cake after work and we ordered pizza, which we haven't had in a very long time because of our diet change.  It was SOOO good!  Isaiah loves pizza and so does Rebekah.  

After pizza the kids played together for a while and then we decided to do the cake.  Isaiah was very excited to see his cake in front of him so when we sang happy birthday to him he had a fit trying to get us to stop singing so he could get to his cake.  He waived his arms and said no.  When we were almost done singing he lowered his head to his high chair tray and sighed in defeat.  It was adorable!  

I am not sure what was going through his head but he decided it was more fun to finger paint with his cupcake than to eat it. 

After he got tired of that, he devoured the cupcake. 

After cake we went into the living room for presents!  I had his presents wrapped and in the kitchen for days and he left them alone.  Once he saw them in the living room he ran right to them and started opening them!  

He got a Basketball hoop and a lawnmower from us. 

Brandie and Ralph got him some water toys for this summer, a cute outfit and a bubble gun.  Plus the biggest container of bubbles ever!  He LOVES bubbles and these will last him a very long time lol. He tore open their gifts so fast we didn't have time to react.  By the time I knew what was going on, he already had everything all over the floor.  I looked at John (who was taking the pictures) and asked if he was taking pictures.  He must have been taken off guard too because he hadn't taken any. 

Lilianna is getting so big!  Look at her climb that box!  Thanks again to the Koehlers for the awesome gifts.  I know that hose sprinkler will be a huge hit this summer. 

After the Koehlers left, the kids played with all the new toys for a while and then went to bed.

A very exciting Monday at the Gibson's! 

Isaiah got a present in the mail from the Spiak's!  His aunt Carol, uncle Pete, and cousins Hannah, Bubby and Mercy.