Jackson and E.R. visit

Ugh, we're so behind. I don't think I'm even going to add commentary on those last two montages, I'll just briefly recap here. We've had a crazy last month and a half. Richard finished up the semester with a bang, all while we were preparing to move to Jackson again for the summer. I'll tell you what, I don't know how we survived it really. Richard was pulling all nighters here and there, staying on campus until 7:30 in the morning, coming home for a shower and some food and then leaving again to teach classes or have conferences with students and such. It was a really hard time for us. Somehow, with the help of family and ward members, we pulled it off, and here we are living in Jackson again. It's a little cozier than we're used to, with only one bedroom for all four of us, but it could be worse. It's nice to have Richard home at a reasonable time every evening, and we have gone to the pool a few times already --which is one of our favorite parts about living here. It has been too cold and rainy and yes, snowy for us to do much exploring and hiking, but the one day it was nice enough to go for a little hike, I came back with three ticks! Ack! At least they were only on me, and not in me. The weather is bound to improve too, right?

This last week has been the hardest though. Monday night Ethan came down with some sort of stomach flu bug and threw up all over the place. By Wednesday I had it and had to call in reinforcements. Richard's parents came over and took the kids for a drive while I rested (bless them for putting themselves in harms way, and sacrificing their health for us, I feel so bad that Richard's mom got sick too). Ethan seemed to be doing better that morning, but by the time they got back, he was feeling ill again and Gabe had definitely come down with it too. Richard stayed home Thursday to take care of us all, and he kinda got it as well (he never did throw up the lucky duck) and so there we were all lying around on the floor and couches and stuff all day. It was miserable. By Friday, Richard felt well enough to go to work, and I was feeling well enough to take care of the boys. Ethan was bouncing off the walls, but Gabe took a turn for the worse. I got really worried and called around to all friends and family who had any nursing expertise because he was really beginning to scare me. I'm so grateful for their knowledge and advice. By the time Richard came home from work, we decided we needed to take him to the E.R. He refused to drink, and was just lying around barely moving because he was severely dehydrated. They had to put him on an IV and give him fluids that way. It was so traumatic because they couldn't find his little veins through his chubby arms because he was so dehydrated. They poked him in both arms and fished around to no avail. What torture! Finally they found a vein in his ankle that worked and had to tape his whole leg to a splint so he wouldn't bend his foot (it was painful when they had to take that tape off too). I sat and held him for two hours while the IV went in watching movies to pass the time. It was a dreadful experience getting the IV in, but he calmed down once I was able to hold him and after only about 20 min he perked up and started eating crackers and drinking on his own. I'm so grateful for modern medicine! He's still a little sick, and Ethan started throwing up again last night, so we're not quite out of the dark yet, but I see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I've been so blessed to get better so quickly so I can take care of my family.

Here's some pictures I took with my phone while at the hospital with Gabe--Isn't he so cute in the little "johnny" (gown) they gave him? It's so sad though how limp and lethargic he was. In the second picture he doesn't really look like himself, and maybe that's just a little glimpse of what he'll look like as an older child --just add freckles. Anyway, so far our time here in Jackson has been pretty eventful. We'll have to post another montage soon of our place. Somehow we didn't get any pictures of the move --probably because we didn't want to remember. Thanks so much to everyone that has helped us recently!