You did not just say that.....

I completely forgot to post two comments that Carter made while in the hospital. Talk about EMBARRESSING!!!

So the two amazing and hillarious nurses that I mentioned in an earlier post, well, one of them had very short brown hair and glasses. She was fixing Carter's IV and he says to her, "Are you a boy?" Oh my word, I wanted to hide under the hospital bed. She quickly said, "No, honey, I am a girl, I am a grandma." I could tell she was a little hurt though. I didn't know what to say. I wish I would have said something like, "oh, he confuses people like that all the time." Oh well, I guess I will be prepared for the next time.

Then, when I was at home with Jordan to take his nap, Nik told me that our pediatrician came in to see Carter. Now, he is probably 5'6". He is pretty short I guess. While he was examining Carter, Carter says:

Carter: Are you tall like my dad?
Doctor: No buddy, I am not as tall as your dad.
Carter: Dad, are you tall?
Nik: Yes, Carter I am pretty tall.
Carter to Doctor: So, are you a little guy?

Nik too wanted to hide. :)

Home Sweet Home

Carter was released from the hospital today around 4pm. They concluded his condition as being a case of cellulitis. It feels so good to be home and out of the hospital. We did ask this morning if there was a playroom for the boys. It was 3 doors down the hall. I wish we would have known about it sooner. They had a blast in there for a good portion of the morning.

Thanks again for all your prayers. Carter is feeling so much better.

Isolation - Day 2

My brave little soldier

How do you like our little jail cell.

So Carter fell asleep last night around 11pm and nurses came in about every other hour. It for a long night for the both of us. Around 3am a nurse came in to give him his new medication through his iv and for some reason, the iv messed up after she left and Carter was in pain for a good 25 minutes. I thought he didn't like the beginning cold sensation that it shoots out, but when she came in, she saw that the tape had bubbled up and that it was pinching his skin. She quickly removed it and put hot packs on his arm. She said they would start the medicine and a new iv in the morning. So at around 8am this morning, 2 nurses came in and got the iv started again.

The nurses were hysterical though. They are my favorite nurses so far. They were very loud and funny and immediately gave Carter 2 syringes full of water so that he could squirt them with it. Next they told him about their magic J-tip which is a shot of air onto your skin that instantly numbs it. It makes a popping sound when you hit the button like a cork popping out of a bottle. Carter didn't quite understand that they were trying to tell him this would take away all the pain of the needle, but they were pretty good at distracting him too. They plastered him with fun superhero band-aids and stickers galore.

Basically what we know so far is that he does not have MRSA, and that he just has a regular staff infection. Most of his redness has gone down and his foot swelling is also going down. They want to keep him until tomorrow night though to make sure his fever remains normal and that his sore starts to look better.

We had several visitors today. Grandma Burkhardt and Grandma Stiver each spent a significant amount of time with us. Danielle and Rich stopped by. I was at home with Jordan at that time though so he could get his nap in. We also had our neighbors, the Wolfes, stop by. They brought Carter a Get Well balloon and 3 matchbox cars. So sweet.

Thanks everyone for your prayers. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Feel free to stop by though if you want to. We are at Parkview Hospital on State Street in room 306. I am sure we will be here until Sunday night.

Carter is acting fine. His fever has been down and he has been out of his bed running around the room most of the day. Although, being confined to one room for several hours does become quite grueling.

Trip to the E.R.

A couple days ago, we noticed a big blister on the top of Carter's right foot. Nik popped it and we didn't think anything of it. Then yesterday when I picked Carter up from the babysitters, he started limping to the car and began to cry, saying that his owie on his foot was hurting real bad. When we got home, we checked it and the blister was now purple and seeping with puss. The whole top of his foot was red and hot and his foot was swollen. He also had a slight fever.

I immediately called our pediatrician and he said to go ahead and take him to the E.R. We went and they took us back to the "speedy" E.R. spot. We still ended up being there for an hour and a half, but that isn't horrible I guess. The physician's assistant prescribed him some Motrin and another medication that I can't pronounce. She took a q-tip and took a sample of the puss and sent it to the lab to figure out what the infection was. They are also going to test for MRSA. So we kind of have to be quarantined in our room. They will put a sign on our door and the nurses will have to wash their hands extra often since he could be a MRSA patient. We weren't going to find out any results until Saturday.

Well, we went home, gave him his meds, and sent him to bed. Today after work we picked him up, and when we got home we checked his skin and he had two large red puffy circles on his inner thighs and one large patch over his chest/heart area. They were both warm areas and he had a slight fever again. His foot also looked more swollen and the red had started to go up his ankle a little. Grandma and Grandpa Burkhardt were in Fort Wayne and had brought supper over for us. So we quickly ate it and Grandpa Burkhardt went with Nik to the hospital. Grandma had some appointments in town to get done and I stayed home with Jordan. When they checked Carter in, the doctor decided it would be best to keep him overnight and possibly through Sunday. They are going to hopefully have some answers for us tomorrow. I really don't want to be here until Sunday, but it looks like it may end up that way.

Carter is in good spirits though. He is playing the gameboy right now and watching the movie Cars. He has had 4 shots since he has been here and has held very still and barely whined. After he had his 4th shot he looked at the nurses and said, "See, that wasn't so bad, was it." They all got a kick out of that and call him a little man. He also keeps announcing to every new nurse that he is in big boy underwear now. He is so proud of himself.

I will update tomorrow with anything that we find out. I wish I had my camera cord so I could post some pictures. I will have to do that later.

Goodnight everyone.

While we were gone.....

So while we were in California, Carter and Jordan had a blast at Grandma and Grandpa Stiver's house. Grandpa Burkhardt couldn't stay away and hung out with them too. They spent tons of time at Great Grandma Hose's pool next door and Jordan, who is not quite 2 1/2 years old, is now diving (yes, I said DIVING) off of the diving board and swimming unassisted (with arm swimmies though) to the side of the pool. Is that unbelievable????? My kids have no fear of the water. Amazing.

But the HUGE thrill for us is that Carter is now officially potty trained. Mom and Dad, you are miracle workers. :) Carter is now in big boy underwear for the first time. He is soo proud of himself. I think we should leave our kids with the grandparents more often. :) Thanks mom and dad and Lance and Megan for watching them while we were gone. We are so grateful. And thanks Brian for driving us to and from the airport. What a blessing it is to have great family. We love you all.

In honor of Carter becoming a "Big Boy".............

Vacation

What an amazing vacation. Nate was such a great tour guide and had plenty of things lined up for us to do. Our friend Scott, who traveled with us, has a grandma that lives in Covina near Long Beach where Nate lives, so we stayed at her place. She recently moved to Fort Wayne, so the place has been empty since November of last year. She hasn't changed the decor since the mid 60's, so it was very interesting to say the least. ;)

The weather couldn't have been more perfect during our stay, but the traffic I could definately do without. We actually got rear-ended our first day there, but God was protecting us. There wasn't a scratch/nor dent on our vehicle.

Our first night there we ate at a restaurant called the Rusty Pelican. It is famous for its seafood. It's also owned by the same owner as the Bubba Gump Shimp Co. in Long Beach where Nate works, so we all got 70% off of our bill, which was AWESOME!! Thanks Nate!! The food was soooo good.

We went to the Aquarium while we were there. Nate had free tickets. They had a touch tank exhibit and I got to touch several sting rays and even some sharks. That was a great experience.

We visited several beaches while we were there, and there was one that even had fire pits right on the sand. We made smores. Yum.. We traveled to Laguna, Long Beach, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Malibu while we were there. We even walked down Rodeo Drive and checked out stores like Gucci and Versace. We definitely looked out of place, but who cares right...

The second night we were there was the big band contest. Nate's band Centrevol placed 4th out of 500 bands. Not too shabby!! The winner is going on to Germany to compete in an Internation competition. The show took place at the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. It was total craziness. Centrevol had 200 fans all dressed alike that traveled on 2 buses to come and support them. We were all pretty bummed that they didn't win, but it was such an amazing show!!

We played several games of volleyball on the beach while we were there. We also watched Hancock and The Dark Night. Tickets there are $12. Wow...

Oh and the day before we left we went to the Santa Monica Pier and when we got there, there were several movie trailers in the parking lot. I guess Hannah Montana was shooting her next movie there, but sadly she had shot the day before and was going to be shooting the next day.... We just missed her... We really wanted to get a picture or autograph for Savannah. Bummer.. The pier was so cool though. There was a ferris wheel on it and a roller coaster with several little shops and even a trapese show going on.

After that we traveled to Malibu up in the mountains and went to a place that Nate loves to take pictures. He got some good ones of Nik and I high on a rock. It was quite scary standing on the rock, but very worth it.

I could go on and on about what we did, but those are the highlights. Enjoy the pics.

Centrevol Fan Club

Barb, Me, Scott, Nik, Joe & Peggy (Kayla's Parents), Kayla, Nate, and Nate's friend Tony

Aww... Before the big show!!

Nik dancing out of control. :)

Some crazy weirdos. :)

Fire on the beach.

View from Nate's apartment roof.

Santa Monica Pier

Rock in Malibu.

Scott, Nik and Beth

A Rolls-Royce on Rodeo Drive

Sunny California

I am definately taking lots of pictures, but unfortunately I don't have my camera cord to transfer pics onto my computer. I can't believe I forgot it. Oh well, you will have to wait a week. Our flight was smooth and it has been great spending time with Nate and Kayla. Our friend Scott that is traveling with us has let us stay at his grandma's house in Covina. It hasn't changed since 1964, so you can imagine the vintage look to it with the shag carpeting and all. It's quite the time capsule. Tonight is the big show for Nate and his band. They don't find out any results though until tomorrow night. They are competing against about 20 other bands. It's going to be quite the show. They are playing at the Key Club and the rumor is that Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo were just there 4 days ago. So maybe we will see some celebs. Alrighty, we are just chillin for now. I will update more tomorrow night.

Peace

ABC BUZZ

Jordan has been singing the alphabet all the time since we bought those letter books. I decided to video tape him singing it cuz he is just too darn cute. He skips some letters and at the end says, Buzz Lightyear cuz I promised him if he sang he could watch Toy Story, so I guess he was a little ancy. Here is an interpretation if you don't quite understand what he is saying.

Jordan's Alphabet Version:

ABCD F.... G HI MNO P Q T S Y and Z

NOW SING WITH ME

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR

Two Bubble Gum Snow Cones Please!!

What a gorgeous weekend we had. Friday we traveled to Kendallville to hang out with the Baker family. The boys enjoyed their pool, trampoline, and swingset. We got home in the evening but decided not to go watch the Fort Wayne fireworks. I think that is officially the first time I haven't seen fireworks on the 4th and didn't really care. I must be getting old. ;) Although, the best fireworks show is at the end of July downtown for the Three Rivers Festival. We will definately be going to that.

Saturday was another great day and we did a little yard work in the back yard and grilled up some yummy steaks. The boys got to enjoy their first experience with the ice cream truck. I never saw him come to my house as a kid since I lived out in the country, but good greif, I think living in town, you can see "too much" of the ice cream truck. You can literally hear his loud "The More We Get Together" song blaring about 5 blocks away. :)

A dragonfly in our fishpond.

Yesterday we took the kids to the park. It was blazing hot. I was an idiot and wore jeans. That was a mistake. Oh well.

This Thursday we leave for Long Beach, California to see Nik's brother Nate. I have never been on the West Coast before. I am super excited. We are going to be gone until next Saturday. That's 10 days!! The most I have been away from my kids is about 3 days. This will be a hard time for all of us. Please pray for my mom because she will be watching them for most of the time while we are gone. We also have some friends from church who will be watching them and giving my parents a break. Pray for us too. It will be very hard to leave them.

Lastly, Hunter, my cousin Danielle's son, is in the hospital again. He has a fever of 105 degrees and they don't know why. They have done some tests and will find out more today. I went and saw him last night. Say a prayer for him please.

Forgotten Posts

A couple months ago, we ordered some drums for Carter off of Amazon.com. He plays them all the time. They are in our basement and are quite loud, but he loves them. My cousin Ben has offered to give him lessons when his schedule is free. Carter is very excited.

We also had a new front door put in a few weeks ago. I didn't take pictures that day cuz I needed to add a little touch-up paint to the trim on the outside of the house around the door first. Thanks again Trev for getting us the door through Therma-Tru. He got us a really good deal. Mom and dad paid for the door and the hardware and we paid for the labor for it to be installed. It's such a difference from our junky old door that the handle was always ready to fall off.

Multi-Purpose Cleaner

Last night after Nik got home from work, I suggested that I go pick up Little Ceaser's pizza for us to eat. When I got home, Nik was a little irritated and said the boys some how found Savannah's make-up and drew with her bright PINK lipstick all over our playroom carpet. And it wasn't just a little spot. It was a span of about a nice 2' x 2' square. I really thought this was something that I wouldn't ever have to deal with, but too late.... I would have posted a picture, but I didn't exactly find it funny.

I got out our carpet stain remover and that didn't seem to help much. So I got online and found out that Goo Gone and WD-40 are great solutions for removing lipstick in carpet. So I tried both. I think the WD-40 worked the best, but there is still a faint pink mess on the floor. The carpet itself is sort of a mauve color anyway, so that helped. I think I would have cried if it would have been on our new white carpet in the basement. Anyways, it didn't all come out, but it is definately better than it looked at first. That little Carter is a stinker.