Boys + Google = Cliff Jumping on Labor Day

 On the Sunday before labor day we had the Draschils over for some grilling and backyard marshmallow toasting. The plan was for them to sleepover and then we could wake up and do something fun in the morning.

Well by the time we got all the kids in bed (and apparently that includes Joseph since he disappeared after putting the kids down and Mel found him hours later passed out on the bed) it was pretty late and we still hadn't come up with a plan for Labor day. As it got close to midnight we got the crazy idea to make Melinda call the Marriott and ask if we could swim in their pool. I don't know how she did it but that girl worked her magic and got us the green light to swim at the hotel the next day for free.

So that was that. I went to bed in awe of Melinda's power to get anything she wants and with the plan to swim in a nice clean chlorinated pool in the morning.

Well when we woke up we found Taber and Joseph churning away at their computers and I could tell they had other plans in mind. I asked what they were up to and with big excited eyes they started spouting off about water holes and Horseshoe falls, and google maps, and all kinds of stuff that didn't sound like a chlorinated pool. Turns out they had done a Google search and found some grass roots website for swimming holes in New Hampshire. They found one that was just 30 minutes away with a little waterfall and a 15 foot rock for cliff jumping.

Despite their excitement I was skeptical.  How on earth were we going to find this unmarked waterhole with no signs, maps, or roads leading into it? The boys, however, felt confident they could get us there. They had scanned the area with google earth satellites and after they found all the landmarks described on the website, Joseph dropped a pin on his little GPS app and we loaded up the troops in search of Horseshoe falls.

It took a little searching but to their great credit, the boys found the swimming hole and I have to say, it did not disappoint.

  There was plenty of slow moving shallow water for the kids to play and float around in.

The babies did good too, lounging in the tent and even taking a few dips in the water.

Taber and Joseph were quite pleased with their googling skills. 

And I'll admit, it was fun to see them go from being cute dads taking the girls on a floatie safari to jumping off the rock like teenage boys again. It was the best of both worlds.

 And don't think Melinda and I just sat back on baby duty the whole time either. You better believe we were jumping off that rock too cuz that's the way these mama's roll. : )

I made a video to document our awesome braveness. Some bragging rights go to yours truly for being the first to jump and also to little Teya for being brave enough to jump off one of the lower rocks. (She wanted to jump off the big one but I don't think her swimming skills are quite to that level. She's a brave little dare devil.) 

Teya's First Day of Kindergarten

The day after our scary experience with Cam was Teya's first day of kindergarten.  I felt pretty torn that morning between staying with Camden in the hospital and seeing Teya off to school on such an important milestone day.  I didn't know how it could all work out. Finally I called Taber and suggested he bring Teya to the hospital so I could fix her hair there and take some pictures and then have Taber take her to school. 

The nurses heard me talking and when they figured out it was my daughter's first day of kindergarten they insisted I leave to see her off. Cam was the only patient in the pediatric unit that day so he had two nurses all to himself and they assured me he would be in capable hands while I was gone. I knew they were right, and I knew Teya would be very disappointed if I wasn't there, so I called Taber and told him to come and get me.

When I got home I went straight to work getting Teya all ready. She had picked out a pretty pink and white outfit complete with a brand new bow my friend Laura had made to match. I curled her hair and when she looked in the mirror I could tell she felt like a million bucks.

 I could not get over how darling and grown up she looked.

When we took her to school she was still beaming. We sent her off with her class and even though I felt a big lump in my throat watching her march through the doors I managed to hold it together with only a few tears escaping before we walked away.

Brinley on the other hand has cried her fair share over Teya's departure to school. She did okay on that first day, maybe because both Taber and I were there and she got to go on a playdate right after. But the next week when we took Teya to school Brinley burst into tears when she realized she couldn't go in with her big sissy. She has really missed her best buddy in the afternoons but luckily Teya's school only lasts 2 1/2 hours so at least they're not separated for long.

Taber took some super cute footage of Teya's first day which was nice since I wasn't there to pick her up after school. I made a little video of us dropping her off and Taber's post kindergarten interview which is pretty adorable. It's fun to hear her little voice explaining all the stuff they did and I love how the first thing she mentions is the rule about holding onto the rail. (This girl loves rules like no other.) 

At the end of the video I think it's pretty clear that miss Teya is going to love kindergarten. : )

Friday Foto: Costco Cuties

My grocery shopping buddies.

 Doesn't Cam look cute sitting up like a big boy in there? 

Also love how you can totally tell these two are related ; )

p.s. 15 minutes into shopping Cam decided he was done with the cart. He threw his head backwards and arched his back, screaming till I took him out. I had to lug that 20 lb beefcake around the store in one arm while pulling the cart with the other. Thought my arm was going to fall off! Probably won't try the cart thing again till noodle boy gets more comfortable holding his giant head up by himself ; )

The Riggs and the Draschils hit Maine

Taber has been itching to get up to Maine all summer and we finally got the chance to go a couple weeks ago with our Boston buddies the Draschils.

First on the agenda was a lobster boat tour. This was the 4th time we've done one but it never gets old. : )

 The kids were excited that our captain reeled in several keepers or "keepas" as they pronounce it. 

(Also I think it's kind of weird that the dude in sunglasses stared down our camera during this picture. If he wanted to be in the pic he could've at least smiled! ; )

Awesome picture of Teya, Brielle and Brinley sitting in front of the pier. I just love their messy hair, Bree's serious face and Brin staring off in the distance.  Makes me smile : )

 After our lobster tour we hit up a local ice cream stand. 

(This girl takes her ice cream very seriously)

 Cam was too tired for ice cream but I had to take a pic of those juicy lips  : )

 The girls also enjoyed hanging out on the dock watching some locals fish. 

All of this was at Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, Maine. It is so beautiful and picturesque there, I'm glad we made it up this year before the summer ended.

After our ice cream we loaded up the troops and headed over to the beach.

 The kids wasted no time immersing themselves in the sand.

 This was the first time we let Camden get in the sand and he thought he was in sandy buffet heaven! He seriously kept shoveling that stuff in his face like it was gourmet dining. I tried to stop him but it was a losing battle.

 The girls wanted their legs buried but Taber and Joseph went one step further and buried their whole bodies.

 Three little heads in the sand. Adorable.

 The Draschil's baby Joslyn is a month older than Cam and has been sitting like a champ for months. Cam has always been a noodle boy and never had much interest in sitting up, but there's nothing like peer pressure from a cute girl to motivate a guy to action.

 Look at me Mom!! I'm a big boy!!

 (Thank you Joslyn for teaching Cam to sit ; )

 Glad we got to enjoy such a beautiful day in Maine and extra glad we got to share it with the Draschils. Friends always make good things even better. : )

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*Update*
So after I posted this I realized I forgot to include two of my favorite pics that Melinda took of our beach day with her super fancy DSLR. Definitely want these in the blog book so here they are :

This just makes me laugh. The drool, the sand under his nose, the scrunchy smile. Love that baby.
(Also can you believe those teeth?! )

Me and my little man.  I might have to blow this one up and frame it.  So sweet.

A Scary Night

A few days ago we had quite the scare with our little baby Camden.  Wednesday afternoon he woke up from his nap burning up with a fever. I took his temp and it was 103.7. I gave him Tylenol and called my doctor who said to watch him and if it didn't come down to call her. An hour later his temperature was the same. I called back and they told me to bring him in. After a thorough examination the doctor determined it was a virus and told me to wait it out and keep layering Tylenol and Motrin to control the fever.

When I brought him home I gave him some Motrin and put him to bed but he was so hot and uncomfortable he couldn't sleep. I was supposed to go to a Relief Society presidency meeting that evening for church but I had a strong feeling I should stay home with Cam. He was very fussy and irritable but finally went down again around 8pm. He woke up an hour later still fussy and burning up. I gave him some Tylenol and passed him to Taber to soothe him. 

Shortly after I handed him to Taber he started vomiting like I've never seen a baby vomit. It was thick and streaming out of his mouth and nose. We brought him upstairs to clean him and give him a bath. 

Taber held him and I started to get him undressed. Suddenly his body started to spasm and after two violent jerks my heart froze and I looked at Taber and said, "what was that?"  right then Cam jerked backwards one more time, his eyes rolled back into his head and his body folded over like a rag doll. 

Looking back there are probably a million things we could've or should've done different. Most of all I wish we had been able to stay calm, but watching his body go lifeless like that was so horrifying we couldn't help but panic. Taber tried flipping him over and moving him around but he was completely unresponsive. His body was lifeless, his lips started turning blue and we realized he wasn't breathing.  Taber told me to call 9-1-1 and  I frantically dialed it on my cellphone. I just kept thinking, I don't know how to do CPR on a baby.

The dispatcher came on the phone and asked what was happening.

"My baby stopped breathing! " I told her. "please help me, he's not breathing!"

She asked me my name and told me to try to calm down. I ran upstairs and saw Taber trying to suction him with a bulb. I looked at Cam's limp body and his blue lips and saw the fear on Taber's face.

"Get Mary! GO GET MARY!" he said.  

Mary is our neighbor across the street who is an RN.  As I ran back downstairs I heard Taber yelling, "Help Me! Help Me!" I started to sob hysterically and began pleading out loud with God. "Please God! Please help my son!"

I ran out into the night in bare feet still clutching the phone with the 9-1-1 dispatcher but was so panicked I couldn't hear what she was saying. I rang Mary's doorbell over and over but she was watching TV and couldn't hear it. The 9-1-1 dispatcher was asking me questions but I couldn't answer coherently. I saw Taber run out of the house with Cam's limp body. His face was turning gray and he still wasn't breathing. I wondered how much time had gone by. How much longer did we have?

"Mary's not home!" I said.

"Get Beth!" he yelled. Beth is our other neighbor who is also an RN. I was about to run to her house when I heard the dispatcher say sternly, 

"Becca, I need you to calm down so you can help your son. You need to listen to me and do what I say so we can help him."

"Okay." I sobbed. "What should I do?"

"You need to lay him flat on the ground."

 We were outside and didn't want to lay him on the driveway so we ran in the house and laid him down. Taber still had the bulb and was trying to suction his airways. Every second that passed without a breath was filled with agony. It had been at least 3 minutes since he stopped breathing. I felt like he was slipping away from me and there was nothing I could do about it. I cried and cried, begging for help over and over again, praying someone could fix him.

Taber grabbed the phone from me and put it on speaker. The dispatcher directed him to clear Cam's airways. He tilted his head back and swept his airways. I saw Cam's chest rise and fall. It was the tiniest gulp of air but it was a breath.

"Is he breathing?" The dispatcher asked.

"Yes!" I said. "Yes, I saw him take a breath!"

"I want you to put your head right next to his mouth and every time you feel him take a breath a want you to say, "breath."

I did as she told me and again Cam took a tiny gulp of air.

"Breath!" I said.

 Again his chest rose and fell

"Breath!" I sobbed. "Breath!" Fear and anxiety started to leave my body in heaving sobs.

"You're doing great Becca, just stay calm, you're doing great."

Seeing his breaths relieved some of my anxiety but his body was still limp and his eyes were glazed over. Taber told me to get Beth and he continued to follow instructions from the dispatcher. I ran to Beth's house and rang her doorbell. She was still in her scrubs and when she saw me bawling on her porch she ran right out. "Cam stopped breathing!" I told her. "He's breathing now but he doesn't look good." She ran across the lawn with me back into our house.  At this point I could hear the sirens and a minute after Beth got there a fire truck, police car and ambulance showed up. Paramedics and officers streamed into our house and started tending to Cam. He was awake now and very lethargic but the color was returning to his face and he seemed to be improving with every minute. My neighbors started showing up at the house. Mary came in and I fell into her arms and sobbed and sobbed. 

In all that chaos and noise, with Taber and I yelling and the sirens and the house full of people, somehow the girls stayed asleep. I feel like that was a tender blessing because if they had seen me so unhinged and seen Cam the way he was I can only imagine what that would've done to them.

As the paramedics were assessing Camden everyone assured me that he looked much better and told me it was going to be okay. Cam was interacting with the officers and pulling the oxygen mask off his face. Mary said she'd stay with the kids so we could both go to the hospital. I rode in the ambulance and Taber followed behind.

At the ER Cam was still running a high fever so they gave him Tylenol and put him through a battery of tests to try and figure out what was going on. They determined that he had a febrile seizure caused by his high fever and believed he had aspirated some of his vomit which is why he stopped breathing. They thought the fever was caused by a virus, possibly hand foot and mouth disease, but gave him a shot of antibiotics just in case it was bacterial.  

Cam was in a miserable state from all the tests and the trauma of the evening but finally around 2:30am he drifted off to sleep. 

They admitted us to the hospital to observe him and make sure he didn't have another seizure. In the morning his fever hadn't improved with the medication, so they decided to keep him one more night. He was so sick he slept for 24 hours straight in the hospital, only waking up to nurse every few hours. 

I stayed in his room, watching him sleep, watching his heart and lungs on the monitor, not wanting to leave his side. Despite a continued high fever he didn't seize again so after 2 nights in the hospital they let us take him home.

It was an exhausting experience but we had such a great outpouring of love and support from our neighbors, friends from church and Taber's work, as well as many kind messages from concerned friends and family on Facebook. I can't tell you how much those messages lifted our spirits during that scary time. Every time my phone buzzed with another text or voicemail or Facebook alert it was like a little electronic hug to help get us through. : ) We also felt the many prayers that were being offered on Cam's behalf and were so uplifted by the spiritual strength we received. I know Heavenly Father was watching over us and have a testimony of the power of prayer, especially when so many prayers are being said for one person.

This experience has taught me to be grateful for every minute we have with our loved ones. I look at Cam differently now. My heart swells with gratitude for each little laugh, each little cry, each little spit bubble and toothy grin. : ) I'm so happy he's still here with us and know that angels were watching over him on that very scary night. 

Getting my Buns Organized!

Warning: The "before" pictures of my disorganized house contain graphic images of messiness and chaos. Please resist the urge to un-friend me after seeing the condition I let my closets get in this past year. I promise I have reformed my ways!!

Okay, a couple months ago I posted this plea for intervention after my epic disorganization led to an embarrassing forgetful mommy moment that affected Teya at preschool. Thankfully I got some great ideas in the comments of that post and I have been putting them to use over the last few months.  Here are some results of my rehabilitation.

 You may remember this picture, the table of doom where important papers, bills and mail would get sucked into a black hole and be lost, forgotten or destroyed by the kids.

Goodbye table of doom, hello table of order! 

Several people suggested I buy filing trays to sort my mail right when it comes in. Now I grab the mail, immediately throw away the junk, then sort the mail into magazines, correspondence, invites/announcements/events and bills to be paid. I also bought a little mail holder to put my outgoing mail in so I can just grab it when I'm going out and stick it in the mail. Last of all I bought the little organizer drawers to put coupons, gift cards and important receipts in. 

 Also after forgetting Teya's roll-a-thon pretty much everyone suggested I get a big fat Calendar  to put all our family events on. I opted for the dry erase kind and have color coded the events for each person in the family. The little pockets below the calendar are where I put anything with event info on it, so b-day party invitations, letters from school about upcoming events, dr. appt reminder cards, etc... That way when I see an event on the calendar I can just check down in the pockets for additional details.  Also I've been using the calendar app on my phone when I'm not near this calendar and it has saved me!

And now I'll address my closets. This is embarrassing, but here we go. 

Despite the pictures you are about to see I actually keep a relatively tidy house. (Yeah, sure, Becca, we believe you.) Seriously! But my closets are my weakness. Out of sight out of mind, and since I was pregnant most of last year and then dealing with a new baby for most of this year my closets got seriously neglected. Anyway one day I read this post and I got inspired to just pull out the trash bags and take back my closets! I attacked them with two mantras: 

1) A place for everything and everything in it's place

2) If you don't need and and don't use it, Throw it away!

So here's how it went:

Laundry closet before: There is a radio on my dryer. There is also a box of decorations from Teya's 4th b-day party a year and a half ago on the shelf.  The pampers box had papers in I haven't' touched since we moved here. There is also a basket of socks that don't have mates but I kept holding on thinking one day they'd magically reappear. Also there is no where to put folded clothes in here.

 Laundry closet after:  I threw away the papers, threw away the socks without mates then started making a place for everything else. I stored a few things in the basement and put other things where they should go. Now I can actually fold my laundry in here. So much better!

 This closet is also in my laundry room/bathroom. I'm sure it's for linens but I use a closet upstairs for that so it's become my paper goods, party dishes, tools, batteries, lightbulbs and random junk storage. problem is, could never find things in here.

Did some more throwing away and place designating and now I can actually see the floor and find stuff I need.

It really helped to put this shoe organizer in here for little things like batteries, lighters, matches, light bulbs etc... A place for everything and everything in it's place!

Coat Closet: Sadly I did not stage this picture. 

This is honestly the horrendous state it was in when I came to work on it. This closet has been my nemesis all summer. I never got around to fully de-wintering it so it still had lots of winter gear it it and all our random bags would just get thrown in here on the floor and it was a huge mess. We also keep all our running gear in here but it didn't really fit in those drawers and everything was overflowing.

 Brought in some bigger storage drawers for the running gear and all those bags. Also put some baby gear like the snugli and Cam's beach tent in one of the drawers. Filled up a box for goodwill of old shoes that nobody wears that were taking up tons of space. Also put old jackets and winter gear in the good will box. Made a place to hang my purse and put our church bag so it's ready to grab on Sunday mornings. Threw lots of stuff away.

Me and this closet are finally friends again.

 (Brinley in the Good Will Box. She was not included in our donation ; )

 So embarrassing as it is to post those before pictures, I'm really happy to have my closets back.  My main strategy was to put things in one of three categories: trash, donate, or find a it a proper home. 

Next up: The kid's closets, my closet and the linen closet. Should go pretty quickly now that I'm on a roll : )

Stuck in the Middle

Lately I've noticed Brinley kind of struggling with her new role as the middle child. I think it's tough because Teya is doing so many big girl things and starting kindergarten and just has a personality that demands a lot of attention.  Cam also gets lots of attention by default since he's the baby and can't do anything by himself. So that leaves Brinley stuck in the middle.

While she enjoys doing big girl things with Teya, I think what she really longs for is to be the baby again.

In fact, I think she's launching an "I'm the baby" campaign by casually taking over Camden's baby items. 

It started with the the bumbo seat which is now her go to sitting chair.

 She'll even stack it on her Dora chair for a boost.

I also found her in Cam's high chair the other day.

 And his car seat

And his exersaucer

 She really liked the exersaucer and tries to high jack it whenever he's not around.

 She also loves the baby swing and will sit in there for hours

 I don't have the heart to tell her to get out or that she's too big for those things.  

It's hard being the middle kid, but I hope she knows she'll always be my baby, no matter how big she gets.