Halloween & Fall Festivities

This year we had so much fun celebrating Halloween ~ we pretty much did something fun each week with the girls! We visited the pumpkin patch quite a few times and to top it off, we had a blast trick-or-treating with the girls!

The beginning of the month, Jayden and I went on our weekly date to the pumpkin patch with our church group for a fun girls morning!

She went on all the rides and since she's finally tall enough to ride most of them by herself, I sat back and enjoyed watching her have fun!

Girls just wanna have fun!

A few weeks later, Jonathan and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch for a few hours. We had such a great time watching them explore and jump in the bounce houses!

We were so excited that Sophia & Savannah loved the jumpers! They didn't want to get out when their time was up! Jonathan and I are in agreement - we need to buy them a mini bounce house for Christmas this year :)

I don't know how people do it, but taking pictures with 3 toddlers is HARD! Trying to get all 3 to look (and smile) in the direction of the camera is nearly impossible.  We did our best, but of course there was always one of them not looking!

The girls were exhausted by the end of the evening! We had so much fun going on the bounce houses, slides and rides but I couldn't wait to get them home and bathed as they were filthy from the dust, hay and mud!

And finally, after weeks of the girls being super patient, it was finally Halloween! This year we went to the Erickson's to walk around their neighborhood and the girls had a blast! I was surprised Sophia & Savannah kept their ears and tutus on the whole evening! When we tried on their costumes to make sure they would fit, they kept taking everything off...so the fact they kept it all on for the night was a SUCCESS!

Plus, they looked so adorable! Cutest mouse, cat and Cinderella (or "Finderella" as Jayden says it) I've ever seen!

 

Finishing up last minute whiskers :) Sophia wasn't too happy about it!

After visiting the first house, Savannah was a pro. She was on a mission to go from house to house! Sophia just trailed behind and enjoyed hanging out with everyone. At one point, we had 11 adults walking with the 3 girls! :)

 And our little Jayden...she LOVED trick-or-treating this year! After every house she would run back and say, "LOOK WHAT I GOT!" and show everyone her new piece of candy.

Hanging out with dad <3

Trick-or-Treat!

So many great memories! <3

Fall Soccer

I'm super late writing about Jayden's first soccer experience, but better late than never! Every Saturday morning for the last 2 months we've spent on the soccer field with Jayden and she LOVES it!

First Day at Soccer! 

 

And our little Jayden is a natural! She's the only girl playing in the 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 age group and she did better than all the boys! 

Through the weeks, her soccer skills have improved and she no longer needs Jonathan out there participating. She runs out and can follow all instructions!

This Saturday is her last day for this Fall, but we're definitely signing her up again! We will probably have to sign up Sophia & Savannah as well! They love being out there too!

She's our little soccer superstar and we couldn't be more proud!

Big Changes

It's been a crazy, busy couple of weeks and we've been making some big changes in our home to try and stay out of urgent care and the hospital!

After visiting the allergist and pulmonologist, we found out Sophia was allergic to egg whites and cockroaches (pretty sure I might have that allergy as well...yuck!) and she's slightly allergic to chicken and pork. Since our family pretty much lives off chicken, the doctor said he doubts it has anything to do with her asthmatic episodes and after clearing it from her diet for a week, we confirmed it was not something to worry about.

Shortly after her follow up, I started reading up on other things in the home that could cause her to have an asthma attack and I came across research on chemicals in cleaning supplies and beauty products. I've heard about the chemicals in hair dye and make up from my mom for the last few months and I've heard about the chemicals in cleaning products from my friends that are huge advocates for essential oils and all natural cleaning solutions, so I thought it's worth a shot. And so the purging began!

First, I decided to try and embrace a minimalist attitude and start de-cluttering our house one room at a time. This is not an easy task, as I definitely enjoy random trips to Target, Costco and the mall, but it's something I'm working on and I think I'm getting better day by day!

So far, I've cleaned out our kitchen, hall closets, office, kids bedrooms and bathroom and our bedroom is almost finished :) So proud of myself!

Next, goodbye nasty cleaning supplies, lotions & body wash!

Hello all natural products!

Since we've been making all of our big changes, one of my friends gave me some of those essential oils (trust me when I say, I'm a huge skeptic and had no intention of buying any). Then my sister-in-law gave me some as well - so I decided to try using them here and there. And I'm practically obsessed with my new cleaning supplies! It's cheap & easy to make and I don't freak out if the kids try to help clean with me.

Now I don't know if it's my new cleaning supplies, beauty products, essential oils, western medicine we've been prescribed or a whole lot of prayer, but since all of our changes, we've had 2 colds in our home and Sophia has made it through both without any visits to the doctor! SUCCESS! Obviously, we're doing something right...so we're just going to keep at it!

Love these little girlies <3

Summer Staycation at CHOC

A few weeks ago when I mentioned to Jonathan we needed to book a staycation after we spent 1/2 of our 2nd week of vacation with Sophia in the hospital ~ I didn't necessarily mean I wanted another trip to the hospital...but that's what we got :( 

Last weekend all of the girls ended up with a runny nose and cough, but unfortunately little Sophia hasn't built up her system to fight off a common cold. After our neighborhood BBQ on Sunday, I noticed she was wheezing and I decided to take her to urgent care to have it looked at just in case she needed a breathing treatment. I never imagined we would be rushed to the ER (again) and admitted to CHOC that night...and here we are 5 days later still stuck at the "hosible" (as Jayden calls it).

The doctors think Sophia has asthma and her cold caused her to go into an asthmatic episode. At urgent care, her oxygen levels were in the mid-high 80s so they brought us to the ER where they admitted us after 2 hours of observation. They confirmed with an x-ray her lungs were clear ~ but the admitting pediatrician said she will probably get worse before she gets better and we would be there for at least 2-3 days. Since a cold caused this episode, we are in "mask isolation" ~ where everyone, except for me and Jonathan, have to wear a full mask, gloves and gown to come in the room. Also, no kids can come in, including Jayden and Savannah. So poor Sophia has been confined to her hospital room since we were admitted. 

Cute Outfits :)

I have done everything you can think of to keep her entertained...we have sang songs, read books, looked out the windows at the trees, cars, hills, the mall, ambulances, helicopters, airplanes and just about everything else we could find. 

We have played hide & seek, peek-a-boo, looked out the window to the hallway and waved to people walking by & ran from one side of the room to the other. 

I have chased her around the room, had dance parties and watched movies (well only just Veggies Tales and Little Einsteins...pretty sure I have both memorized now!). We have played with toys, played on my phone, called and facetimed with friends & family.

My all time favorite thing we have done through, has been visiting with "Wilson" one of the Therapy dogs at the hospital. 

Unfortunately, since she's in "isolation", he couldn't come in our room, but he sat outside the door for about 10 minutes so Sophia could see him, pet him and talk to him. It made her whole week! They even came back 2x so she could wave to him as he passed the door! 

This happy baby doesn't look like she needs to be in the hospital!

Today we took off Sophia's oxygen nasal flow during her bath, so we left it off during her nap time to see if she could make it through without turning it on. She ended up napping for almost 2 hours and the entire time I prayed and sang one of my favorite worship songs from when I was younger, For You Are Good. Somehow, she squeezed by without needing to turn on the oxygen, even though her levels were hovering around 88/89 and they really want them above 89. If you've ever heard my singing, you would probably agree it wasn't my singing that helped her through her nap, but the Big Man upstairs! Her making it through was the first time I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and know it's not too much longer until we're out of here. 

That little Sophia, she's one little courageous fighter and tonight, as I'm sitting here on my little bed in her hospital room, I know she's got this.