Our Little ‘Punkin’

Helen Grace has been *dying* to go to the pumpkin patch at Cedar Hill Farm for the last few days, which was probably exacerbated by the fact that we haven’t let her do much outside or high energy while she’s been recuperating. We finally decided to get some fresh air this weekend- something we ALL needed. She has alternated between wanting to ride the pony first and find a pumpkin, but when we got there, the pig race won out. Of all the times we’ve been to the farm, we’ve never been able to see this wild event, and now we are huge fans- hilariously entertaining!

Lawson and his parents were there for a birthday party, so we were able to meet up with them for some play time as well. And even ran into Emsley and her parents in the patch. Great times!

After several days of being inside and trying to stay still and calm, it was nice to cut loose for a little bit with our little ‘punkin.’ Happy fall, y’all!

{Sorry for picture overload. I just couldn’t narrow it down any more.}

Getting excited about the piggy races Proof that Daddy WAS there since he was mostly behind the camera GOOOO!!! She wasn’t up for feeding the animals directly. She just sat the food on the fence or made Mama or Lawson do it. Up close and personal with a chicken and tickled about it Fun in the hay maze   She saw Lawson in the pumpkin patch and went running. Country bumpkins Endless fun to run amongst the growing Christmas trees Honk, honk Tickle, tickle

Toohig Tidbits

Some pics from our slow, laidback week….well, until the prednisone kicked in…

Momo love Sending a good morning pic to Daddy who was out of town for work We ventured out to dinner with Bubba Walking on the ceiling Daddy captured the weather song on video

Asthma Stinks

Well, after spending the day out in the crisp, fall weather on Sunday, Helen Grace woke up stuffy last Monday morning. I gave her some Sudafed that morning and night, but by Tuesday morning, she was coughing and felt a little warm. I had a morning dermatologist appointment, so I sent her on to Grandma’s and set up an appointment for HG at the pediatrician’s office mid morning. Literally, as I put her in John’s car to go to Grandma’s, I noticed a split second of the dreaded wheeze but tried to tell myself it was no big deal- just a nasal wheeze. Unfortunately, Grandma called me later that morning at work as Helen Grace was getting a breathing treatment at the doctor’s office. Ugh, I felt like I had earned Mother of the Year Award for leaving her like that and asking Grandma to pull doctor duty. She asked Grandma where Mama was, and I know she was NOT pleased to have to do another smoky treatment. Plus, she had an ear infection. To make things even better {worse}, they’ve now put her on a daily controller inhaler and are treating it as asthma. I was terrified and truthfully had to escape to my work supply closet to have a mini meltdown. The ‘daily controller inhaler’ part made it very ‘real,’ and I have to face the music that my baby more than likely has asthma brought on by seasonal weather changes. But as my sweet friends keep reminding me, this will be a way to be proactive every day to keep us from having any more reactive trips in an ambulance. At least we are doing something to actively combat it.

The doctor sent her home with prednisone, antibiotics, and a new daily steroid inhaler and told us to continue to use her albuterol inhaler as needed. Due to our Toohig bad luck.timing, we were supposed to leave Wednesday morning for a trip to Buffalo, New York, for John’s cousin’s wedding. Helen Grace was so excited about packing her suitcase, flying on an airplane (she doesn’t remember the last time she flew when she was almost one), meeting her little cousin, Abby, and getting to see Susan get married. After a lot of denial and tears, we realized we couldn’t hop on a plane with her feeling so terrible, her ear hurting, and her not breathing well to go to a much colder part of the country. We didn’t tell her immediately of our change of plans, but we’ve slowly broken the news. Grandma bought her a wedding Barbie, and that’s seemed to make it a little easier to accept.

Wednesday and Thursday were really rough days. She was wheezing and panting a lot but super hyper due to the prednisone- never a good combination. I could get the wheezing and coughing to stop with the albuterol inhaler every four hours, but the panting took days to go away. Saturday was our first day to not use the albuterol inhaler and our first night to not wake up a million times for puffs, drink, snacks, or just play time. Zzzzz. Looks like we are finally on the way to recovery and hope to avoid any further trips to the doc with this new daily steroid inhaler.

Daddy’s Little Cheerleader

Last Sunday, after our zoo day, Helen Grace and I headed to the soccer park to cheer on John at his game. By the time the sun set, it was FREEZING, but the girl would not leave. She had a blast running along the sideline, yelling, “Go, Daddy!” and clapping her hands. John said he was startled a time or two when he heard her screaming. At halftime and then after the game, Helen Grace would go running out on the field, and she and John would kick around the ball. Priceless memories.

 

Showering Thompson

Sunday afternoon, we were invited to a baby shower at the zoo for our friend, Lauren, and her second baby, a little boy named Thompson. We’ve been friends with Lauren through our FTMs/MOTs group since she was pregnant with her firstborn, Libby.

Jeanne and I have been going to RCIA classes on Sunday mornings at a church near the zoo, so after our class, we met John and HG at the zoo for some pre-baby shower family fun. It’s always a treat to have one of HG’s grandparents with us, and we enjoyed the cool, crisp fall weather that has finally arrived.

Helen Grace thought a ‘baby shower’ was the coolest thing and was really thrilled to get to go with Mama to the party. She and her friends ran around and filled up on cupcakes and cake balls, and then they headed to the rides. She wanted to ride on a spinning, slingshot kind of ride, and we gave it a try. Once we both got over the initial shock of take off, she loved it and squealed with delight as it shot us around and around. Afterward, she hit the playground with her little friends, and the moms enjoyed a chin wag as we watched them run and play.

It was quite a fun and successful day!

  Playground fun with Daddy Kisses! Emsley, HG, and Camille Caroline and HG The ‘big girl’ ride Callum and HG loved taking pics of each other with his camera. This scene was totally unprompted! Emsley, HG, Caroline, Camille, and Callum Amy, Emsley, Sha, HG, Callum, Jessica, Doty, Caroline, Kelly, and Grant