Labor Day

Maddie is feeling MUCH better now. She still has a runny nose and has a little rattle when she breathes sometimes, but she is back to her smiley self. I take for granted what an awesome baby she is. Josh and I just love her so darn much, it broke our hearts to see her sad and miserable.

We went to the lake for Labor Day weekend. Uncle Blake, Uncle Cory, and Auntie Abby all came up to hang out on the water and visit. We had so much fun! The Smith family and Great Grandma Morr were also able to join us for an awesome barbeque Sunday! As usual, we had way to much food--I think I gained at least 10 pds! My mom made a new Texas Sheet Cake, and I ate at least half of it. So much for will power.

My mom and I went to a craft festival over the weekend and Maddie got some new hair bows, so you may see some different bows in the pictures to come. I think I am officially addicted to hair bows. I am going to have to find a hair bows annonymous group to start therapy.

Uncle Blake can definitely make Maddie smile!



Whoa look at those muscles!! Uncle Cory and Maddie enjoyed some time at the lake too!

What were you saying?

Breakfast with Grandpa Dave is always fun!

Ok, I just think this picture is hillarious. Josh is sitting next to Maddie and Peanut. It looks like he has their full attention. I think he had some sort of food. It looks like they are paying close attention to his every move.

Happy 60th Anniversary

Two weeks ago we went down to Galveston to celebrate Josh's Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary!! It was great to share the day with them. It is so rare these days to find people who are celebrating so many wonderful years of marriage. They are an inspiration! Josh and I are so blessed to have so many wonderful marriages in our families to serve as examples to us.

Bill and Katie Beck

Maddie and Great Grandma Katie

Maddie's Trip to the Hospital

We went to Josh's parents over the weekend and I noticed Maddie had a slightly runny nose just as we were starting to pack up and leave on Sunday. I didn't think much about it, she has had a runny nose in the past, and it wasn't a big deal. That night Maddie woke up several times, which is very unusual for her. She has been sleeping through the night consistently since she was 2 months old, so it was really strange, but I thought that it might have been her teeth coming in or the start of an ear infection. Monday morning I took her temp before work since she was up all night--I didn't want to send her to the babysitter sick--and it was 98.9. So, I took her to the sitter and told her that Maddie had a rough night. I went to work and called to check on her around 10:00. The sitter said that Maddie was doing fine that she had played after I had dropped her off and that she went down for her morning nap around 9:00. Around 10:45 I received a call from the babysitter who said that Maddie woke up from her nap and was breathing funny. No mom ever wants to hear that, so I made sure my schedule was covered at work for the afternoon and left to go pick Maddie up. On my way home I called to make an appointment with her pediatrician--they gave me a 3:00 appointment. When I arrived at the sitter Maddie was pretty much gasping for air and making really strange noises when she was trying to breath. I immediately called the pediatrician's office to see if we could get in sooner than 3:00. The nurse on the phone asked if that was Maddie's breathing she was hearing in the background I told her yes and she put me on hold for about 30 seconds. When she came back she told me to take Maddie to the closest ER. I immediately called Josh and told him what was going on. By the time I had Maddie in her car seat, Josh was in the driveway waiting for us. We took her the DeKalb ER, where they gave her a breathing treatment and took some X-rays to make sure she didn't have an obstruction in her airway or pneumonia. The X-rays looked great. Maddie continued to have trouble breathing despite 2 breathing treatments, so the ER doctor recommended that Maddie be admitted to the hospital. Maddie's pediatrician group (Fort Wayne Peds) only goes to Parkview Main and Lutheran Hospital, so they sent us to Lutheran. We arrived at the hospital around 3:00. It was a complete mess. DeKalb had called a head and made arrangements for us, we were even told a room number yet we still had to wait 30 minutes in the Lutheran Lobby to get registered. We went up the peds floor and 3 nursing students came in to take Maddie's vitals--between the three of them they couldn't figure out how to work the pulse oximeter and the blood pressure cuff (which was automatic!!). So we didn't feel real great about our start at the hospital. The nurse came in at 3:30 and showed us the orders that Maddie's pediatrician had sent over. She wanted her on an IV since she hadn't had a wet diaper since 10:00 a.m. and was didn't want to eat much. We waited until 8:30 before her IV was in place. Josh was so cute, he went out and had a little talk with the nurse so we could have someone start taking care of Maddie since everything was taking SO LONG!! Dr. Steigmeyer came around 9:00 on Monday night and said that Maddie had CROUP! He said that children usually aren't hospitalized with it, but they were worried about Maddie's airway as her vocal folds were swollen and she was having trouble inhaling. He thought that she looked decent Monday night, but wanted her to stay just for observation. He did a great job explaining everything to us. We were very appreciative of his expertise and calm nature. We had a super long night. Maddie was hooked up to the pulse-ox monitor and an IV. It was so hard to hold her with the cords. She also loves to suck on her fingers, so it was hard for her to get to her hand with the IV in. She ended up sharing a room with a little 2 year old girl who needed breathing treatments every 3 hours (all night long). Every time the respiratory therapist would come in to help the other little girl, she would start crying and wake Maddie up and then Maddie was a mess and couldn't fall back asleep. The other girl would cry more and ask why the baby was crying. It was a vicous cycle. I don't think I slept for more than 15 minutes at a time. I don't know how people stay in the hospital for weeks on end. I also don't know how anyone ever recovers in a hospital when the nurses wake them up every 3 hours. Hmmm....Anyway Tuesday morning finally came. Maddie's vitals had been stable through the night so Dr. Steigmeyer said that she was fine to go home at 11:00 a.m. Maddie did ok yesterday afternoon and today. She is so tired she doesn't know what she wants. She is breathing much better, but is still not feeling well. She has just been whining and whimpering all day. It breaks my heart. I have been holding her so much since Monday morning, my arms are killing me, but as long as it makes her feel better I love to hold her. She has been eating popsicles today, which she LOVES. I need to take some pictures, it is pretty cute. I am taking the rest of the week off to get her feeling better. I am so glad it is a long weekend so we can spend some extra time together. Maddie goes back to the doctor tomorrow morning to be checked again. Hopefully we get another good report.

We want to thank everyone for all of their prayers as Maddie was in the hospital. We are so glad that she is on the road to recovery. We would also like to thank Grandma Patty and Grandpa Dave for bringing Josh and I some clothes for the night and toothbrushes. They also took care of Peanut for us.