Spring Break and Nature Realm with Gramma G

So, this is all a bit out of order but here goes. Gramma G came into town on April 2nd, a Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, she and I took the kids and headed over to Robin's house for a few days. It was spring break for Morgan and Pepper so no one had school. The girls had had a cough and runny nose for a few days before we went but I wasn't too worried about anything. Around 10:30 that night I was getting ready for bed when I heard Pepper start barking and crying. I ran into the room where she and Morgan were sleeping and it sounded like she couldn't breathe and she had this horrible barking sound coming out of her. I stood her up and she threw up some. All of the adults gathered and were in and out of the room trying to figure out what to do (I swear I will never worry about Morgan being woken up by noise because that boy slept through EVERYTHING!) I finally decided to take her to the ER and Robin volunteered to go with me and Mom would stay with Hazel, who was also sleeping and coughing, but in a normal cough sort of way. Pepper, as always, was a real trooper and seemed to get better when we went outside. Robin's family had recently gotten a dog and I worried maybe she was allergic to it, even though it's hypoallergenic. It only took us a few minutes to get there and they took her right in. The doctor came and determined fairly quickly that it was the croup. They gave her an oral steroid, breathing treatment and some Robitussin with codeine cough medicine. We finally got home around 1am and Pepper and I managed to sleep for a few hours but around 5 she woke up coughing again and I tried to keep her sitting up/sleeping in my arms and gave her some more cough medicine. She finally fell back asleep around 7am but she didn't sleep much longer and it had been a very, very long night!

My brave little girl!

Everyone loved little Alex and had a lot of fun playing with him.

Mom and I drove home Friday afternoon so that we could spend the weekend with Cody. On Saturday, we went to the Nature Realm for a family hike. It was a beautiful day and so nice to be outside together, even if the trees weren't all that pretty yet.

This girl has to do EVERYTHING herself these days, luckily she'll usually let Daddy help her if he's around.

Who knows what this guy is doing! Probably yelling at us to come see a bird or bug that undoubtedly ran off before we got there. Quiet nature walkers we are not!

Not my best look but nice to be together.

I was proud of myself for finding these two garter snakes and keeping them around long enough for everyone to see them.

A juvenile hawk.

Is there anything sadder and creepier than a naked weeping willow?!

Cody was focused on that hawk and Hazel was happy to be out of the stroller.

And falling/rolling down a hill.

Daddy to the rescue while Mommy takes a picture.

Back to spring break at Robin's. On Thursday morning, Aaron decided to stay home from school and play with us. Mom and I took the kids to the Air Force museum at an air base outside of Dayton. Pepper was doing much, much better and her cough was manageable with the strong cough medicine and oral steroids.

Goofy Aaron getting ready for our 3D movie. Love this kid!

The boys loved the museum but I must say Pepper was less than excited and was over the whole thing pretty quickly. Oh, and Hazel stayed and played/napped with Robin at home so that is why Pepper was lounging in the stroller.

I tried to explain to Pepper how awesome all of these ladies were but I'm not sure she was focused at the time.

Thursday night was another long, long, long night with Pepper. I looked up croup and Pepper was pretty text book and they said the second night is usually the worst and by the third they are all better and during the days they are better. Exactly what happened with her. In the middle of the night I finally got her out of bed and held her on the bathroom floor while I let the hot water run in the shower and steam it up. After that, and about the time the oral steroids finally kicked in, she started to calm down and we managed to get a few hours of sleep. By Friday morning I had a splitting headache and I was starting to cough and have a sore throat. Guess two nights of having Pepper cough in my face will do that to a person.

A little picnic lunch and running around Robin's beautiful yard before getting in the car and heading home.

This little lady was born to be outside and that was actually one of her first words.