This summer Brandt was accepted into a summer scholar program that he applied for to earn some extra cash. It was a lot of work but the research paper/project he did was published. So over his Spring Break they flew him, all expenses paid, to Seattle where he presented at a big conference. He called me every night to tell me about all the yummy food he was eating and all the fun places and things he got to see and do. While he was gone one of my best friends, Sara, and I decided to have a big sleep over since her husband was traveling for work at the exact same time Brandt was going to be gone. We spent the afternoon making homemade bread, 10 loaves! It was yummy! After dinner we made popcorn and let the kids watch a movie while we chatted. I was kind of nervous for bed time because I wasn't sure how Peyton and Paisley would do. But it wasn't bad at all! They had played outside ALL day with no naps so by 10 they were so exhausted they didn't even fight us. Peyton was out within a couple minutes and Paisley fell asleep on Sara's shoulder and was out for the rest of the night. Sara and I stayed up til 2 am talking! It was a lot of fun! For Saint Patrick's Day this year I was pretty lame. I honestly didn't really even put much thought into it and Brandt was finishing up midterms so I was basically on my own and didn't have a lot of time. So for dinner that night I made pancakes and added some neon green food coloring...worst idea ever. It turned the pancakes into the most disturbing color of yellowish green that I have ever seen. I was surprised the girls even ate them. It was pretty funny though! Our Easter turned out even lamer. The Wednesday before Easter Peyton got really sick. When we put her to bed her fever was 102 so I gave her some stuff to help bring it down. When I woke up at 3 a.m. to feed Penelope I heard Peyton throwing up and woke Brandt up to go check on her. He spent the rest of the night with her on the couch. By Friday she looked like death. She still wasn't keeping anything down and no matter what I did or gave her, her fever would not break and it was 103-104. I was getting super worried about her because she was so lethargic. She couldn't even sit up to get a drink and her body was shaking. We decided to take her into our clinic's walk in urgent care. As soon as we got her in the doctor wanted to admit her because she was super dehydrated. They tried to put an IV in 3 different times in 3 different places and couldn't get it to stay because of the dehydration. So they kept her for 4 hours and if she was able to keep down some pedialyte she could go home. Also, they noticed her throat was very swollen and she had white spots on the back so they checked for strep but that came back negative but they wanted to give her antibiotics over the weekend just in case. So at 5 Brandt was able to bring her home. We were really hoping the antibiotics would kick in because we had purchased Disney on Ice tickets back in October, but by Saturday afternoon she was still not doing any better. She didn't even fight us when we told her she'd have to stay home. Brandt called up Sara's husband and they went together with Paisley and Khloee. Paisley absolutely LOVED it. Brandt said it was one of the most magical things he had ever seen. They had some skaters come out who introduce Mickey and Paisley started shouting, "Go home! We want Mickey!" Her favorites parts were when Mickey and all those characters came out and she LOVED Ursula. On Sunday morning Peyton was still sick and the antibiotics weren't working at all. She didnt even care about her Easter basket filled with candy and toys. Her throat had gotten even more swollen and we were worried it was closing in so we took her into the emergency room and there wasn't anything they could do for us but wanted her to go back in Monday if her fever was still there. On Monday the clinic called me back and wanted me to bring Peyton back in for some blood work and told me to stop the antibiotics. They suspected she had Kawasaki Disease due to all her symptoms, flu like symptoms, strep like symptoms but negative culture, cracked and bleeding lips, high fever lasting 5+ days. Brandt had taken the car that day and I had no way of getting Peyton there before they closed but thankfully another one of my best friends, Erin, went and picked Brandt up and brought him back with the key to our car at the bus stop. I seriously cannot thank her enough for that! On Tuesday morning the doctor called and said she had some elevations they were concerned about in her blood but since her fever was going down they were hopeful that it was just some kind of crazy virus, but they needed me to bring her back in Thursday to do another set of blood work just to make sure everything was okay. So long story short, her 2nd blood work came back looking a lot better and she is now doing much better! It was pretty scary there for a while, but I am so grateful she is okay and for all the help and support my friends gave me by bringing meals and bringing Peyton goodie baskets. Brandt was super dad through the whole process. He slept on the couch with her every single night and took her to every appointment on top of going to classes and all his school work. He was amazing!
Penelope is getting so big! She is smiling all the time now and starting to laugh. She melts me. I am so in love with her. She really is the best baby. She still gets up 1-2 times at night but I really dont mind at all. The other day I was asking the girls if they wanted me to have another baby(not right now obviously, but in the far future) and Peyton started crying and said," No mommy! I dont want Penelope to grow up!" It was pretty sweet. 

Peyton and Khloee

Braxton and Pais

Kambree holding Penelope

Loving her smiles