5/26/11

3rd and Final Visitors

 
Drum roll please..........our 3rd and final week of visitors. My mom and Rachelle (AKA: Shelbie, Chalextra, Chel, Kip April Summer Melissa Kyle Tyson or whoever you are) came to visit us.  Unfortunately for them, Grant was just getting over a 24 hour flu bug the day they arrived, Noah caught the flu bug the next day, and Ava got croup the day before they left.  What is it about those Ballard's that always make us sick.  Just kidding, even though my kids weren't up to pare, we still seemed to have fun.  At least we did, can't speak for them.  Of course, we took a trip to the Bay.  
We watched this lady make 'lobster' bread
 

Rachelle found her boyfriend.........finally!  Too bad he's not really made of gold, huh Chel?


 
We toured some of the historical boats at the end of the Embarcadaro (the Piers).


 
Crazy, yet sweet, grandma Linie.  One thing I learned about my mother on this trip was she has a favorite tooth.  Don't ask, it's a long story. 



There are some odd things/people along the Piers.  Ava was really scared of this guy, so we couldn't stay long to chat with him.  The Bay has some awesome architecture and fun things to do, but unfortunately we usually only have enough time to stop at the tourist traps (i.e. the Piers).  They're neat, but overrun with people.  
 
Massive, stinky sea lions

 
We did drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to Muir Beach Overlook.  It was beautiful, but super windy.


 
One of the main reasons my mom came to visit (I'd like to think it was to see us) was to help me with my sprouting class.  I did a homemaking meeting on sprouting, and my mom is the expert on strange stuff like that. Actually, I've become slightly addicted as well.  She demoed how to sprout wheat and how to make blender waffles.  The class went really well. 

 
My mom built Noah this awesome fort. My kids have been so spoiled with attention these past few weeks, so now that it's just me to entertain them, they are monsters.  Today is the first day they've sort of started playing on their own again, without my undivided attention. 



 

 
(from Rachelle's phone, so can't enlarge for some reason)
Friday night Adam took the boys on the father and sons camp out, so all the girls went to old town Sacramento.  We went to some of the shops, and then had dinner at one of the restaurants on the river.  Ava was so funny the whole night.  She kept giving me random kisses, and at dinner everything was so exciting to her.  When they brought out the little silver butter packets, she got this excited grin and said, "ooh, pretty".  I guess I need to have a girls night out with her more often. 
 
Her pretty princess shoes and wand from grandma.  Crazy how she went from this at 8 pm to.........

 
this at 2 am.  She'd been coughing all day, and I even took her to the doctor.  They told me it was allergy induced asthma.  Of course she didn't cough or wheeze while we were at the doctors office.  I told them her cough sounded like croup, but since there usually isn't much to treat with croup (unless it impairs their breathing) they sent me home with an inhaler.  After I laid her down for the night about an hour later she was really coughing hard and wheezing.  I tried to just hold her and was hoping to wait out the night, but around 2am she was really struggling to breath.  She was retracting (using accessory muscles to breath) so badly I knew she could get into trouble if she did that for very long.  Luckily the ER was slow and we got right back.  The nurses and doctor were great.  They gave her some decadron and a breathing treatment.  We had to stay 2 hours because the medicine in the breathing treatment can work at first, but then she can get worse.  It usually doesn't happen, but this time it did.  She got worse and the retractions were getting worse.  They gave her another breathing treatment, and because she had to have 2 treatments they had to admit her.  Poor little girl hated the ER.  She kept crying, "Want to go. Want to go"  It was so sad.

 
When she woke up in her room, she actually thought it was pretty neat at first.  She got to watch TV in her bed and eat breakfast in bed.  She also loved the tiny butter they gave her for her toast.  She must like little butters!


 
The classic hospital gown bum. She was ready to go at this point. She still has a nasty cough, but is doing much better.  My mom was awesome and cleaned my house, washed dishes, did laundry all before leaving that morning.  Thanks mom and Rash for coming.  Sorry, the last day was a dud.  We still had fun though.

 
See.....home and happy. Now Grant has a cough (not croup luckily) but he has the most sensitive gag reflex, so almost every time he coughs he throws up.  YUCK!!!  I'm sick of laundry.  There, now we're caught up. 







9 comments:

Melissa Scott said...

Jealous!! Of the pier, forts, sprouts, and lil butters.... Not the sickness.

Anonymous said...

Not to be bias by any means, but I def think this was your cutest batch of visitors. They just seem to have something about them.... Could it be mom's excellent questions? My amazing immune system? It really is hard to say. I am bound and determined to make California like me! So, I suppose I will have to come again. Darn.

The Lemmon's said...

Tracen has that gag reflux but luckily is getting old enough to get himself to the toilet. Hang in there! Glad to see you are enjoying Cali. You have 3 darling kids -- their smiles are awesome! Don't know what my kids would do without my mom around. Your mom sounds like the next best grandma! ;) You are on our list of vacation destinations, but it's slow going getting to the first one even! Someday!!

Grandma Linie said...

Cutest little patient ever! I love that last picture of her. Darling. I guess we are going to have to come. With this baby now, I don't know when that will be though. It has kind of crimped a few plans we have had. But we sure miss those little farts.

Grandma Linie said...

Sorry, that was April, not mom. I am on her computer and it won't let me log into my own account.

mammasweet said...

So excited for about four seconds to see a response from the 'other Grandma'. April ruined my excitement. You can beat Linie will be in Sacramento again very soon.

-Kyle and Emily- said...

Poor Eba Oba! The pictures of her in the hospital are sooo cute, yet sooo sad! Glad she is doing better, and we hope Granty Panties is feeling better:) five weeks and counting

The Yoder's Five said...

Good heavens! Ava's ordeal sounds exactly what we went through with Luke a month or so ago, except we didn't take him to the hospital (probably should have...we're uninsured though). It was a nightmare. Since then he's had two colds and they've settled right into his lungs and made him wheeze and cough again. Poor kids!

Sounds like you had fun seeing the sights--glad your mom was there to help out with all the dishes and laundry.

Mary said...

Wow! Pictures do so much more than a description over the phone. So glad Ava didn't succumb to croup. I might include some butter in her birthday present...