The Vasas Clan: 2011

September started out good, and unfortunately ended in another trip to the hospital for Landon. At the first of the month we went to the East Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot. The kids look forward to the fair every year. Carter really wanted to ride the rides this year so Dave and I decided it would be a perfect opportunity for him to save some of his own money for his ride tickets. He actually loved the idea of being able to earn money to save for the fair. By the time the fair was here Carter had saved enough for his ride tickets plus a little extra to spend on a treat. The day we decided to go turned out to be a beautiful day. The kids had a blast riding all the rides a million times each. We ended up staying late so that they could ride some of the rides in the dark. The next day Carter asked me if he could start saving money again right now for the fair next year.

This was a funny face of Landon while he was laying under his favorite toys.

EAST IDAHO STATE FAIR!!!

Horses are Macie's new favorite thing.

Carter had fun petting it. This horse was such a cute one.

There was a face painting booth there and all the cousins got a face painting. Carter of course got a Dinosaur!

Macie got a sparkly Unicorn. You can't see it very good. She was being a little stubborn about letting me take a picture of it.

Landon didn't get his face painted but he still got his picture taken. Such a cutie!

All the cousins held hands as we walked around deciding what to have for lunch. So many choices so little time!

I think this was all of the kids favorite ride. They rode it a dozen or more times. After the first couple of times they all started to get brave and held their hands up.

Macie went off by herself on a couple of rides and this was one of her favorite. I thought she was be a little nervous about the rides this year but she was one brave little girl.

Macie wasn't even shy about having to share a ride with someone she didn't know. As long as she could ride she could have cared less who was sitting by her.

This was a great picture. My mom was wishing that the new babies could have been on there so that she could have used this picture for her Christmas Cards.

Landon got his very own Indian hat this year. He was so cute.

This was Carter's first day riding the bus. He was so excited. His bus stop is at the park right by our house so it is easy to walk to every day.

This was a sweet picture. He loves that little puppy.

Macie is such a wonderful big sister. She went and got her own pillow and sat down with a burp rag so that she could be the one to feed Landon.

Carter and Macie came out of their rooms like this. They were both laughing really hard and were dressed so funny.

Funny kids!!!

Big Brother Time!!!

Landon loves his Pillow Pet. He lays on it all the time and moves his hand back and forth on the soft fur.

This was a picture of the night Landon really started to feel sick again. He had a fever of 103.8 most of the night. First thing that next morning I had him in the doctors office. It was Sunday so our doctors office was closed so I took him to the RediCare in town and they sent us immediately to the hospital. We were in the ER when our Pediatrician came and that is when we decided to give him another Spinal Tap. Unfortunately this time the Spinal Tap was not good like the first time. This time it showed that Landon had Meningitis. And about an hour later we were admitted back into the hospital. He was welcomed by all his favorite nurses and put back into the room that he had been in before. Carter and Macie were with my parents and the worrying began all over again. They started him on an antibiotic and took a bunch more blood. This stay in the hospital only lasted 3 days this time. He seemed to recover a lot faster than before. I am hoping that this will be the last time, at least for a while, that we are back in the hospital for Landon.

Daddy holding his little boy. So Sweet!

Very peaceful little boy!

August came and went so fast this year. It started off pretty good with a family trip to see the Chukars play. My dad got everyone tickets to a Monday night game. Thanks Dad it was a lot of fun. However after the game that night it seemed like things just started to fall apart.

Carter and Macie were not scared of Charlie this year.

The game was really fun but it started off a little wet. After it stopped raining this amazing rainbow came across the sky. It was one of the best rainbows I had ever seen. The kids thought it was cool too.

Landon In The Hospital!

August 3, 2011 Landon was not feeling very well. I took him in to see Dr. Smith our Pediatrician. Landon had stopped eating and was very weak and lethargic. He also had lost his voice and was very horse sounding. This was all just the beginning. When we went to the doctors office. Dr. Smith wanted to run some tests because he seemed so sick. One of the tests that he wanted to run was a spinal tap. I was not very excited about all of this but he was so sick we had to do something. After they did the spinal tap they sent us over to the hospital to have Landon started on an IV. He was a little dehydrated from not eating. They wanted to keep him for what I thought was just going to be overnight while he got some fluids and started to feel better. However, he didn't get feeling better. Instead he seemed to get worse each day. The spinal tap came back clear which was really good. But then his oxygen kept going down. So that second day of being in the hospital they started him on some oxygen to help him breath easier. They ran every test you can possibly think of and then they ran them again and again. Then they did a chest x-ray and it came back that he had pneumonia. They also did a Barium Swallow to check his reflux and it showed that he had bad reflux. At that point the end result was that he had pneumonia cause by him silently aspirating from his reflux. I felt good that they had figured all that out, until he kept getting worse. We had been in the hospital for a week at this point. They kept running more and more tests and finally because of his weakness they brought in a neurologist. The neurologist ran a EEG on him that came out fine. Then they had an Occupational Therapist come in to help with the eating. Landon had lost the strength in his jaw muscles and his throat to eat very well. Corwin, the Occupational Therapist, came every time Landon ate and worked with him so that we could get him eating better. Then they ran some more tests and the end result was not as certain as the first one but they came to the conclusion that he had gotten a post infectious disease that attacked his nervous system. After that they brought in Lisa who is Landon's Physical Therapist. She worked with him every day while we were in the hospital. After a week and a half we thought we were on our way to feeling better and that he would be okay to go home. We were home less than 24 hours and he was back in the ER. He was really weak again and wouldn't eat. They readmitted him to the hospital and we were there for another week. Finally, after that week he was showing really good signs of improvement so they sent us home again. This time we were able to stay home. We continued with physical therapy once a week and we went to the doctor for checkups once a week to make sure that he was improving. Poor little guy, he sure went through a lot during those weeks. Dave and I were really glad when things worked out okay.

Such a sad little picture with the oxygen. Kind of makes me tear up when I see it.

He wasn't really old enough to be smiling on his own but he was smiling a little in his sleep.

Because of the pneumonia the only time he could sleep very well was on his tummy.

He was hooked up to so much stuff I hated it.

This is when they ran the EEG.

After a busy day of not feeling good and a bunch of tests he was exhausted.

I just thought this was a sweet picture.

This was the day we went home for the first time. Everyone thought he looked really good.

He was even able to sleep on his back a little that day.

And this is after we were readmitted to the hospital.

This was after we got home the second time from the hospital. He slept a lot. It was hard to tell if it was because he was still little or because of what his body had just gone through.

He slept on the couch for a week until we got the wedge in the mail. Because of the reflux he had to be elevated and because of the weakness in his muscles he couldn't sleep on his back or he would have a hard time breathing. So he slept on his side and up. I don't think I slept at all! It is amazing how someone can be in your life for only a few weeks and you can love them so unconditionally.

One morning we woke up to find Macie just like this. She had gotten up in the night and put her dance clothes over her pajamas and then fell back to sleep on the couch. She was getting so excited to start dance that I think it was all she could think about.

Happy 29th Birthday Daddy!!!

For Dave's birthday this year we went to Warm River and went fishing for the day. It was so much fun. We didn't catch a lot of fish but we were excited when the one fish we did catch was by Carter on his pole.

He is getting so big.

The kids loved the fish. They thought it was so cool.

Good fisherman/fisher woman!

We were able to have the stroller take this family picture. It turned out great.

After we got done fishing we went to Big Juds for lunch. Dave ate the whole cheeseburger and fries and got his picture taken. They even let the kids be in the picture.

The next day was Dave real birthday. We had a BBQ and then opened gifts.

The kids helped me make Dave's cake then they decorated it.

Ever since school started we have had nap time. Carter and the other kids seem so much happier if they have a rest in the middle of the day. This day they all wanted to sleep out in the family room. They each had their own little spot.

Our 7th Anniversary was this year. Dave came home with these beautiful flowers. For our date we went to a matinee movie and then to Stockman's for dinner. It was so much fun to get out and be together. We got a babysitter for the kids except Landon who went to my mom and dad's house. He had been so sick I just couldn't bring myself to leave him with anyone else.

Best friends and look-a-likes!!!

Carter's First Day of School!

He was so excited he could hardly eat fast enough. I had to keep telling him that even if he got done fast we still couldn't go to school until it started.