Dobson Easter

Today we celebrated Easter with Jack's mom's family. (Before the lunch, we had a semi-scary bunny for the children's Sunday School claases, which I need to share as well).

The kids looked so nice in their Easter outfits! The egg hunt is their favorite part. Ellyson racked up with the most eggs ... then Graham, Grant, and then Carter. Carter had the uphill battle of moving on to the big-kid egg hunt this year. Being the smaller fish in the pond, he came up with fewer eggs.

But seriously, could someone please explain how the combo of this shirt and hat (which was Jack's up until last month), makes him look like he's 25?! Look at the bottom-right corner of the collage. He suddenly grew up.

I also made a carrot cake completely from scratch. No spice cake mix shortcut (which is the recipe I've used in the past). And it was great!

Pinewood Derby

Last Wednesday was the pinewood derby race at our church. Carter painted and decorated his car during Wednesday night classes, and Jack brought his old derby car from Boy Scouts. Carter's poor car was pretty slow, and it seemed the apple didn't fall far from the tree. But, I think they'll do better next year. And Carter did win an award for being the boy who brought the most non-perishable food items for their month-long food drive!

Scrambled Eggs and Cheese

After helping me with the grocery shopping this morning, Grant and Graham took it upon themselves to start unpacking while I dashed to the bathroom. It seems they wanted scrambled eggs (Grant's job) and cheese  (as Graham is trying to bite through the bag).

While I was cleaning up the eggs, Grant unpacked the Roma tomatoes and tossed one into my water cup. You know, because we can't have nice things.

CinderEllyson

On Saturday, Jack's mom and I took Ellyson to see the new Cinderella movie. Ellyson wore her Cinderella costume, ate her weight in popcorn, and drank a lot of pink lemonade. She sat through the whole movie. It was great ... though her top three favorite moments all came from the Frozen short before the movie. :-)

Oops, It Happened Again ... Almost

Remember when Ellyson was a newborn and Jack fainted while driving, causing a near-fatal car accident? As most of you have heard by now, he had a repeat episode this week. Thankfully, he was on a smaller road, where he could quickly pull over and lie flat. So he did not pass out, and did not have an accident. Otherwise, the "event" mimicked the previous one. The nausea, lightheadedness, and drenching cold sweat that preceded his fainting spell was a repeat of before.

Eventually, we got him to the hospital  (it was only in retrospect that the episode really started to seem significant, especially considering his cardiologist couldn't see him for another week).

We spent Wednesday night in the emergency room. I left around 1:30 a.m., once Jack was settled into an observation room for the night. They ran multiple EKGs, drew blood three or four times, took a chest x-ray, and did an echocardiogram which is basically an ultrasound of the heart (it shows scar tissue, valve/chamber function, etc). All were normal. Just like every single time before.

The cardiologist is confident now that he's having vasovagal episodes. These are episodes where an environmental trigger (for some people it could be needles, blood, pain, certain drugs, etc) causes the vagus nerve to interrupt normal function and decrease the heart rate until the body faints. It is a condition that was considered in 2011, but couldn't be confirmed. A positive tilt-table test confirms diagnosis - but Jack's was negative in 2011, which doesn't rule out the condition, it just fails to confirm it. They've ruled out cardiac episodes or malfunction because they see the valves are working properly, a heart rate monitor shows no irregularities, and the echo shows no scar tissue. As we follow up with his cardiologist, we will go over more tests and possible treatments to help prevent another episode. We do know two ladies at our church who have this condition, and are using different methods to manage it, so it is nice to have their perspectives.

Until we can prevent it, we just keep praying he won't have another (or will be in a place where he can quickly pull over).

Two Sickies

Well, we almost made it all winter without any bugs more serious than a cold. Last night, our house was Vomit Central. Ellyson started while I was prepping dinner. Graham got hit with it while Jack was reading the twins a bedtime story  (or maybe I should say Jack got hit by it ... wink, wink). Graham ran a fever, which went away while he slept.

Ellyson continued to throw up during the night. Grits at dinner? Back up. Diluted Powerade before bed? Came right up. She had nothing but water after her midnight spell, but continued throwing up. Her pediatrician said to bring her in. She was running a low-grade fever, and tested positive for strep. Crazy! She had no sore throat. No inflamed tonsils or lymph nodes. No visible throat irritation. So the boys will get strep tests as soon as Carter gets home from school.

It's been about 90 minutes since her first dose of Zofran, and she has kept down her water and Tylenol so far.

In case you were wondering, our whole house smells like vomit.

Update: All the boys were tested for strep. Carter does not have it, but Grant and Graham do. Grant's only symptoms were a mild cough, and known exposure to Ellyson and Graham. At least by tomorrow at bedtime, no one will be contagious anymore.

Matching

I love when all three boys match! (These shirts are Guardians of the Galaxy.)

Flash Forward

Suddenly, she looks like she could be 15. Cropped stretch pants (size 6 and they fit - she blew right past size 5!), midriff showing, and messy pony tail ... I'm seeing her teenage years right before my very eyes.

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!

Carter dressed as Horton for school today.