Happy Thanksgiving!!

Per tradition, every year we go to the River for Thanksgiving, and this year was going to be no different. Keith got the time off work, and we were super excited about our annual get away.

Leading up to the trip, the girls had both had runny noses for a few days, but nothing ever came of it, and they seemed fine, so we decided to go ahead and go anyway. We got there late Wednesday afternoon, unpacked everything and were enjoying the great outdoors.

All was well until around midnight, and we heard it. The infamous Barky-Croup cough from Kaylyn. We were not willing to take any chances (considering our past experiences with croup), so within minutes of hearing it, we were all up and loaded in the car headed back to Children's Hospital in San Diego.

Thankfully, I think we caught it early enough, that she wasn't in severe respiratory distress just yet, but we knew we were racing the clock to get those meds in her. Stupidly, we forgot her nebulizer and humidifier at home, so we were without any kind of intervention whatsoever.

The river is about 3 hours from San Diego, but we knew that if she got really bad we could stop at the Hospital in El Centro. Obviously, El Centro is not the greatest of the great when it comes to hospitals, so our first choice was definitely Children's in San Diego.

Whenever we tried to put Kaylyn in her car seat she would get really upset, which is the absolute worst thing you can do for a kid with croup, and their upper airway is already inflamed. We weighed our options, either put her in her seat and risk her going into respiratory arrest or let her sit on my lap, where she is calm and risk an accident. Obviously, neither of those choices are ideal, but ultimately we decided the second option was best for her and we decided to let her sit on my lap for the duration of the ride home, and that kept her calm.

We made it to San Diego in record time (just over 2 1/2 hours), and they gave her the usual cocktail of croup medications including steroids and breathing treatments. They watched her for a bit and set us home. At this point it was Thanksgiving morning, and we were all exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before.

We spent Thanksgiving day just the 4 of us. There was no big Dinner, and no extended family, but we were so incredibly Thankful for the medicine Kaylyn was able to get to help her breath better!

'Lil Lady Bugs

This year the girls were Lady Bugs for Halloween, and quite adorable little ones if I do say so myself.

I am quickly learning that my opinion on what they should wear is no longer valid, and they are very clear about their own ideas of how they think things should be.

For about a week leading up to Halloween, I kept telling the girls that they were going to be Ladybugs. Kaylyn was not having it! I would gently remind her, "Kaylyn this year you and Kylee are going to be Ladybugs for Halloween.", to which she would staunchly reply "No Mommy. I'm a be a Dinosaur!". After going round and round with her on this issue, I let it go and hoped that it would resolve itself come Halloween.

We decided to forgo Trick or Treating this year as the girls are still pretty young, so instead we went to a Halloween Festival with Grandma and Grandpa at a local elementary school. The girls were fascinated with all of the different costumes, and enjoyed watching all of the kids. Wouldn't you know it that the very first costume we saw was a Dinosaur! I thought I was in for it. Kaylyn followed that kid around for a good 10 minutes, but ultimately must have been distracted by something else and eventually let it go.

It was a fun time, and the girls were so good. I think next year I will just let the girls pick what they want to be from the get go.