Seizures are Scary

I will start this post with letting you know EVERYONE IS OK.

Maybe Gavin will go into EMT or rescue work

On Saturday, the last day of our Eid break, Gavin decided to scare the living crap out of us. He had been having an up and down (but pretty high) fever since Friday and we were just treating him with Tylenol/Motrin for the fever. He also had some lower GI stuff (let's just say LOTS of dirty diapers. LOTS.) but when his fever was down he was playign and happy. When it was up he was fussy and felt crummy.

They had been woken up from their afternoon nap about 3:40PM and he was due for his next dose at 4:30PM. Curt was changing Aidan , Brady was crawling around and I was holding Gavin. I had just said, "Man, this kid feels like he is burning up! I need to take his temp" When suddenly he sort of threw his body back (like he does when he is fussy) but he didn't come back up to my shoulder. I looked at him and in a voice that now seems like it came from someone else said "He's having a seizure." Curt looks at me and says "What?!"and as I put him on the floor and proceed to cry and say, "He's having a seizure! Oh my God!". Then it was chaos. Aidan and Brady were both crawling around and crying, but not coming over to us on the carpet. Curt ran to get our chart for tracking meds doses, then the baby book so I could look up about febrile seizures (since I had read about it and was CERTAIN it would never happen to us, i had skimmed this section) and what the F*%@ we were supposed to do. I don't know if you have ever tried to look something up while you are 1)crying 2) freaking and 3) trying to comfort your baby who is STILL SEIZING - it's not productive. at all. It ended up lasting about 2 or 3 minutes and seemed like a lifetime.

Curt called our life safer Jen S. and asked her to come and stay with the other two since we were going to need to go to the hospital. Curt then picked Gavin up as I went to call the ambulance. When Gavin stopped seizing he went completely limp. Curt says this was scarier than the seizure - i have to beleive him since he was holding Gavin. It looked really scary from where i was. We then had Gavin on the couch in his diaper with cold wet towels on him, a bag of frozen cauliflower (he may never eat that again) on the towels and me kissing his head and tryign to calm him and give him his tylenol dose early as he cried and curt got stuff togther for what we would need for the hospital.

Basically, he had a febrile seizure which can happen as a temp rises VERY quickly. By the time he had vitals at the hospital 30 min after his tylenol dose his temp was 40.6 C (105F). i can't even tell you how wired curt and I were. Luckily Jen and her husband are AMAZING - he called other friends of ours to help her out while we were gone and they came over right away (stanfield's and aunt coco) for moral and physical support. By the time I came home to get stuff for my overnight stay with Gavin, the boys were ready for bed and GLAD to see mom with all of the commotion. They did NOT want me to leave and fought going to bed. They knew something was wrong.

Gavin and I stayed overnight at the hospital and he was checked pretty much around the clock to control his fever and try to ensure he had no more seizures (which he didn't). we now know that his brothers could be prone to this and he is most definitely prone to this until he is about 6 years old, so if we sound paranoid about any fevers in our house, you know why. If I never relive that afternoon, it will be too soon.

Gavin was released the next day and while he still had a fever it was lower and we have some strategies now with meds to treat it more effectively. On tuesday, his fever broke and he woke up with a nice RASH all over his torso and face. Can you guess this common childhood disease? That's right folks, Roseola! Exactly what Aidan had this summer, only with more drama. Had we just had the 4 days of fever i think we would have recognized it as roseola right away, but since saturday and sunday felt like ETERNITIES, i said "kids don't "just get rashes" after fevers like this" and took him in. The Dr. was great for both examining Gavin and reassuring me (and yes, I did cry a little in her office going through our recent history).

It wasn't until Monday night Curt and I were both able to put the boys down and unwind a bit - and have ourselves a good cry together. We were both OBVIOUSLY scared. And so thankful that he was going to be fine. It just reminds you of the paper thin edge we live on between life being excellent and then feeling like you are careening out of control. We have definitely been counting our blessings - the small, medium and large ones. :)

When one boy swings, everyone wants in on the action - B, G, A

Aidan looks like he has tanning cream on the lower half of his face!

Brady likes Star Wars

The Joys of Post-Ramadan

Brady and Dad on the swings


This is my favorite week to live in Qatar. The week after Ramadan (the month of fasting and shorter workdays which gets OLD, my friends) we get a week off from work. All of our colleagues travel, but I am on duty 1) b/c someone has to be and 2) so I can add this on to my vacation in the states in December! I don't know if you have ever taken a week off of work but stayed home, but it is actually REALLY relaxing. even with three rugrats who are into EVERYTHING. :)

The first night of our break we fell asleep on the couch by 8:15 PM and were in bed by 9PM. awesome. there is nothing like 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep to do a body good. since then we have been in a nice little routine - occasional walk to the park (still pretty much too hot and humid to be outside very long), some playing in the sand (and yes, both Aidan and Gavin decided to try to eat ROCKS), occasional trip to an "illegal" neighborhood pool, a lunch out, etc. it's been great.

Gavin shows a little skin in mid-tantrum

The boys are eating up a storm. We had our first meal "out" with them since we were in Des Moines this summer where the highchairs straps didn't work and the boys were either climbing out or throwing rice on the floor. not fun. OUr friend Kevin foolishly called to meet us for lunch yesterday and said he would be happy to help with the kids. I have known for awhile we needed to start doing this with the boys, if only to get them used to being out in public and just to have something different to do. I got these great kiddopotomus placemats that stick down and have a pocket and then just roll up when you are done (thanks Lindsay W for the recommendation!) even though after our lunch in des moines curt said he would never go anywhere with the boys until they were about 6 years old. HA! anyway, we took them to Applebees (your friendly neighborhod restaurant, even in the middle east!) and they were SOOOOO good. the key is of course to keep them busy. They are too young for coloring, but since they LOVE food, that was our ticket in. they were also jazzed to get all of the attention from teh staff, to look at the different environment and all of the people coming in and out. it was pure heaven for them. Now, I have never really paid much attention to kid's menus until now. MAN do they suck for any decent healthy menus - at least here. They boys split chicken fingers and a grilled cheese and fries and broccoli. there was an option to ask about their "healthy" options instead of fries. I think i was the first parent to ever ask for this. the waitress literally did not understand my question, even after showing her where we were reading on the menu. she then tells us the healthy options are mashed potatoes (for 1 year olds, not in public thanks), or a baked potato. we finally got her to share they could give us steamed broccoli, but it really did seem like it was completely out of their day to day requests. On our way home the boys seemed like they were SPENT. they didn't sleep, but they did look like the guy who did the Supersize Me movie - like they had just ingested enough fat and salt for a week. Luckily they still were HAPPY to eat the tofu and acorn squash for their dinner that day. I think all of the fried food was jsut a little much for them all at once.

We also had friends offer to be our third adults and go swimming at a local pool with us. It's not in our compound (that is supposed to open "in shallah" - i'm thinking god is NOT going to "will it" before the end of the calendar year :( ) but a colleague who has the authority to, told me to go ahead and use it since we had small kids with little options to get them outside right now. it was AWESOME. Gavin had a perma-grin on his face the entire time we were there. I think he drank half of the pool water, but he didn't care. Aidan was much more reserved and Brady was just taking it all in while he clung to curt or me.

Some last bottles for Aidan and Gavin

And of course, what are the boys up to these days? well for starters, Aidan is our little climber. he first used a pillow to climb on the couch, but has since been able to haul himself up by grabbing on to us, cushions, putting his little knee on the couch, etc. it's really cute, but also a little nervewracking since it's his new favorite activity. He of course now wants to climb EVERYTHING - coffee table, entertainment stand, etc. He is really pushing the envelope with what he can get away with, but has also entered a really snuggly and cuddly stage that is so nice. i'm really reticent to end the bottles when we are out of formula in a couple of days, but if we still get snuggles like this, it will be easier for me.

Super Aidan

And Brady is asserting his independence. It's not that he doesn't like the food we serve, he sometimes just doesn't feel like eating it at that time. He has started a nasty habit of throwing food on the floor which has resulted in standoffs that resemble this: He picks up the egg/pepper/fruit/toast/whatever and puts his hand out over the floor when he doesn't feel like eating it. We will see him do this and will say "Brady, do NOT throw that on the floor." He will then sit there with this shit-eating grin on his face for 10-30 seconds and then PLOP! drop the food on the floor. SO UNFURIATING. this means he loses his tray and is done eating whatever we are currently feeding them (but if there is another course, like the fruit, he can have some of that), or he may be done for the meal. This has involved him sitting in his highchair without his tray and watching his brothers eat quite a bit lately. He will cry for the first minute and then sit there just taking it all in until we bring out the next course. He also thinks "no" is funny. like HILARIOUS. also, infuriating. he is our little fire marshall though. his new favorite trick is closing doors. the big ones. he will see his bedroom door is open, crawl purposefully down the hall and then slam the door, only realizing later that he is now locked inside. it drives him CRAZY if he didn't shut the door hard enough and it stays just kind of propped. This is funny to watch, but also a little scary since he has now caught his fingers in a door more than once as he tried to make it shut.

And Gavin. He is our rough and tumble boy. He does not yet get that he may be hurting or annoying his brothers as he "plays" with them. Gavin and Aidan have this great game where they will steal each others pacifiers back and forth ( see video below). Sometimes this results in sadness (see end of video) but it can usually go for quite awhile with them giggling and squealing at each other. The other morning he had his pacifier and was trying to take aidan's while they were standing in between two cribs. Aidan is behind him against the wall and Gavin is holding on to the pacifier in Aidan's hand with ALL HIS MIGHT and turning bright red and screeching. Aidan has begun to cry and complain about the situation when Gavin loses his balance and lands his nearly 24 lbs on aidan's 20 lbs. This is reminiscent of much of how Gavin plays with his brothers when he gets over excited. We only had some bruised egos on this one (everyone lost their pacifiers after this little incident) but we are constantly worried he will accidentally take them down and acutally hurt them as they hit a table or something. He doesn't do this stuff to hurt them, he just gets wrapped up in the toy or game and can NOT let it go. we had to take a mom/gavin time out this afternoon after he was SO excited about the ball toy (plays music, shoots balls in the air) that he kept falling over on it and subsequently making the toy hit one of his brotehrs in the head/face/hand/etc. It took him a solid minute to get his breathing slowed down and to be able to focus on a different toy with me, out of sight of the original toy. He is also actively trying to walk - he will stand with one hand on something and you can see him set his concentration to try to walk to one of us or another piece of furniture JUST out of reach. It's so exciting to watch - and maybe it will mean his lazy brothers will bother trying too. :)

Stealing Pacifier Game - Aidan and Gavin

Happy Birthday to Us!

Happy Family - Mom and Dad, Aidan, Gavin and Brady

We can hardly believe it's been an entire year since the boys burst onto the scene (no c-section pun intended)! We started off the big birthday week with their one year appointment and vaccinations - FUN! Here are the stats:

Aidan - 20.24# and 28.58 inches long

Brady - 21.66# and 28.54 inches long

Gavin - 23.7# and 28.85 inches long

Truly, Small, Medium and Large. :) Funny story with their vaccines. After meeting with our Dr. and getting them signed off for vaccination, the nurse comes and asks if we can come back in 3 days (on their b-day) to get the shots. She says they aren't supposed to give the vaccines before they turn one year old and that if they give them prior to their birthday, we may have to get them re-done. Curt asks (somewhat sarcastically) if the vaccines won't work prior to 365 days passing from birth and she says we can insist on the vaccination, but we should really talk with the dr. We of course think she has taken crazy pills, since the dr. just signed off and said they were ready for vaccination, but i went back to the dr's office to check in with him and see what the hell she was talking about. He seemed surprised to see me and when i shared what she shared with us (about not having them prior to one year and needing to have them re-done) he gives her a LOOK, looks at me and says - "3 days?" I laughed and said, "if you are OK with it, we are DEFINITELY OK with it" and he says "the nurses have a different protocol". So I looked at the nurse and said "we are going to go with the Dr's protocol". Can you IMAGINE asking parents of multiples to not only miss another day of work but to get their squirmy children BACK to the dr. because they are 3 days ahead of their birthday?! That is the difference between teaching critical thinking skills and using rote memorization when training people. I don't say this to be sarcastic or mean, but only to be truthful about the sometimes challenging decisions people make in their jobs because the exact situation isn't outlined in the manual. All three boys were VERY good abotu their shots and only cried at the prick and surprise. Within moments they were back to their sweet selves (thanks in part to the tylenol mom gave them before we went to the dr.).

We had a small birthday gathering with some friends, but due to the SNA (snotty nose alert) we had to put out the morning of the party (aidan and gavin were SNOT machines and Brady got it that night) only one child came - who then got sick 2 days later on HER birthday. hey, we warned everyone and gave them an easy out. :)

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to - Brady

Anyway, Aidan and Gavin seemed to roll through the additional people in the apartment, but Brady had his shy hat on most of the afternoon. By the time we did cupcakes for the boys (about a half hour in) he had HAD it. He basically cried the entire time his brothers ate and watched him freak out. At least we got some good pics. :)

Once people weren't focused on him, he was able to calm down and play with some new toys and crawl near Leila (born two days after them) and watch her while she was fussy. It was very cute. Curt and I were just happy everyone got through year one without any major trauma - the boys OR us. :)

All three of the boys seem to be on the edge of a skill exposion. Of course they still will only say dada/gaga (Gavin is now babbling and fully responds to us talking to him - it's like he turned his switch on the week before his first birthday!) - but they are DEFINITELY communicating with each other and are understanding what we tell/ask them. Gavin is still standing the longest and the steadiest, but he hasn't really tried to make any steps. You can see him thinking about it as he wants to go from one place to another, but he inevitably plops on his bottom and crawls. Aidan on the other hand has taken a no holds barred approach with trying to walk. The other night he was standing by one end table and decided, seemingly on a whim, to walk over to the coffee table - about 3 feet away. He just basically THREW his body in that direction and hoped for the best. Kind of like drivers in Doha's roundabouts. :) Brady on the otehr hand is still mastering standing without support. He likes to climb up Curt or I as we are sitting/laying on the ground and then push himself to fully standing while he sticks out his tongue. and then crashes on us and laughs as he gets up to do it again.

And yes, I'm VERY mushy about the first year already passing. I can't BELIEVE how fast it has gone by for me. My parents had a pastor who talked about time and the speed with which it passes in a way that made a lot of sense to me. He said at your first birthday you have lived 100% of your life in that year - so it can seem like a long time. At your second birthday, you have lived 1/2 of your life in that year, so it may seem to pass more quickly. And so on. So in my 32nd year (when they were born) i lived 1/32nd of my life - in comparison with my life as a kid, it really has passed more quickly. Think how much longer summers seemed when you were in grade school. They were like whole years in and of themselves as a kid. And now it's a blink of an eye before it's almost fall and then winter again. (sigh). well, unless you live a mile from the sun like we do, then it seems like forever since you went outside without sweating profusely, but you know what i mean.

Brady gets his swim hair on!

Gavin has a good hair day

No photos please - Aidan

Someone has a drinking problem . . . - Gavin, Dad, Aidan

Brady Recovers