No Flu for You!

On Thursday, I had to take Jentree and Mylee to the doctor's office for appointments. Jentree was doing better, but if she gets another ear infection we will be seeing the Ear, Nose, Throat Doctor. Mylee......well....not so much. Her chest sounded terrible, her ears had fluid still (although not infected), and she had been on antibiotics for a week. So, her nurse practitioner put her on omnicef (antibiotic), prednisolone syrup (steroid), xopenex and pulmicort (nebulizer machine), along with her regular meds. She told me that she wanted to see her again on Monday morning, and if she didn't have any improvement, she would most likely be admitted to the hospital. UGH!!! And so it begins.....

I called Mylee's immunologist first thing on Friday morning per the nurse practitioner's instructions to let him know what was transpiring. He told me that if she was having this much difficulty already to get over this, then she was probably not going to be able to get over it on her own. So, he is starting the process to get her approved for gamma globulin infusions again. We were really hoping her immune system would be able to "kick in," and be able to work correctly, but it doesn't appear that is the case. She has had such a great fall that we really thought that she was good to go. Ugh!

In the mean time, I had taken all of the kids with me to the appointment. So, the nurse practitioner asked if I wanted them all to get Flu Shots. Oh what happy children I had!Imagine 5 kids all in one tiny room all getting shots (Mylee had already gotten hers in October). Oh fun times!! Actually, they really didn't do too bad. I can't really blame them--I hate shots too!! I know...I know...."I am a nurse, why am I scared?" Well......who really LIKES getting poked in the arm with a needle? Yeah....I didn't think so! :-) Anyway........hopefully this will help keep all of them flu free, and protect Mylee as well for this winter.

Oh So Tired!

Either Stub is waaay comfortable, or the girls were just all worn out. Either way....Dad must have been comfy enough for both girls to conk out!I briefly contemplated leaving Dad "baby trapped" as Makenna and Tearney called it, but in the end, I rescued him by taking Jentree and putting her to bed. I think Stub owes me one!!

Loads of Leaves

We took some time on Thanksgiving Day to go outside and get a few pictures in the giant leaf pile the kids had made. Mylee loved the leaves! She thought it was loads of fun to pick up the leaves and throw them in the air. This was her first real experience with playing in the leaves, so she was pretty excited about them.
I was able to get some fun shots of all of the kids playing around, and they all had a good time getting to jump in the big pile.
Jentree also enjoyed throwing the leaves at the others, and especially liked showing Mylee the ropes. Needless to say, every time we did a diaper change that day, we kept finding leaves in places that they really shouldn't have been!! But, I think that they all felt it was worth it!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!

We put away all of the fall decorations and pulled out all of the Christmas decorations today. Stub and I put up the tree (with help, of course!), and then the kids put the ornaments on. Mylee is infatuated with the tree, and will just stare for a while at the blinking lights. There is one heart ornament in particular that she is most taken with--a little plastic heart. For the life of me, I don't know why it is that one, but she just cannot seem to keep her little hands off of that one ornament. Then....the kitten. I am sure at some point I will find him up the tree. Between Mylee and Willie, I am not sure if the tree will make it this year!!
I was able to put out the Christmas village set that we have acquired over the years. I didn't get it up last year since I wasn't at home much, so it was fun to pull it all out and set it up. It makes me feel like a little kid again setting up the little town. Tearney loves looking at it and pointing out new things each time she looks at it.

Now, it is time to start wrapping presents and get them under the tree. Anyone want to come wrap?

A Thankful Day

Our annual Thanksgiving festivities changed venues this year to our house instead of my parents' house. My Mom traveled to Iowa this year to my Grandpa's house, so I became the chief cook. My brother, Brent, came home from Minnesota, and Derek and Gina came in along with my Dad and the rest of my family for pizza on Wednesday night. We kept with our tradition of playing games after eating. Derek and Brent were on a team and Gina and I were on a team for Cranium. I am not sure what exactly Brent was going for here, but his topic was "humpback whale." Yeah....this is a "G" rated blog here people......
Derek had to make Brent act out "surfing." I was laughing pretty hard by the end of this one!
We also played "Apples To Apples." Not saying any names or anything, but someone STILL can't STAND to lose!! (cough.....Derek.....cough)........just saying!

Everyone came back over today for Thanksgiving dinner. I can honestly say that I think it went rather well. No one died or anything from some bad food borne illness.....well, at least not yet...it is only 8:30 pm!

My pretty turkey! As you can see by the little red "popper," he is DONE!

Everyone sitting down and eating. Dad was in the living room. I think we scared him off!!

My final task of the day was to introduce the kids to the wishbone. I had to explain the whole thing to the girls, and after a couple trial runs, they attempted to break the wishbone. It was a bit slippery, so it was a challenging game. In the end, Makenna won, Tearney cried, and Jentree wanted to play, but was upset when she realized it was a one time only event--no "do-overs." Calder wanted to know where his wishbone was, so I had to promise the Christmas one to the boys....Grandma---don't throw it out, or I am in trouble!!!! I may have to rethink teaching any more "traditions" to them in the future!!
Actually, all in all, it was a wonderful day! We are indeed very thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends and to be here to celebrate this year rather than in a hospital!! (The turkey was WAY better here!! :-)

Football Fun!

It is hard to believe it was time for the last KSU football game of the year. Time sure does fly by quickly! I was able to go as Deb had an extra ticket (Thanks so much Deb & Brian!!!). Game days are always a fun time.

Looking good Mr. Dunlap, or should I say, "Detective Mumbly?":
Hello Willey's, Shumacher's and Withuhn's! This is what you look like from the other side! (zoomed in a ways!)

And to think....next year the stadium's namesake will be back coaching again. Can't wait to see what happens!!

This Better Be GOOD Stuff!

Mylee had a good appointment today with her immunologist. He thinks she is doing well, so that was great to hear! He added another med. He is hoping this will help keep her from getting sick, and we are going to hold off giving her the gamma globulin unless she gets sick (which we hope doesn't happen!!!), and can't get over it. So far....so good! We will keep our fingers crossed!

On another note, her pediatrician bumped her up to the next step in the formula she is on. I went to pick it up today at the pharmacy.I about choked when I saw the ticket......Wanna take a guess? Let's just say it should be called, "Baby Champagne!" :-)

Welcome Home Tutwiler Family, Welcome Home!

Yes, I went back today after school. I had been every day since last Tuesday when it all began, so how could I not go today?? :-) Wow! It has been an amazing transformation in one week!! This is one week ago today:
This is today:
It is still so incredibly hard to believe this all happened. I cannot wait to see it all on TV! When we arrived, we intended to go watch the Gavin Rossdale concert, but they weren't set up quite yet. So, we decided to take a walk down the street and check the house out one last time. We were glad we did! When we arrived, there was a boom camera up by the driveway, and a brand new truck. They had not filmed it yet, so we hung around to watch. A little while later, out comes Ty with the family!
It was pretty exciting to watch it up close and see the family's reaction.
One of the most exciting parts happened later on. Calder had accidentally dropped Mylee's bottle in the street, so we were needing to wait for a crew member to walk by and help us out. In the meantime, everyone was hollering at Ty. I joked that maybe Ty would come over and pick up the bottle for us. A few moments later, Ty came running up to the crowd (I couldn't get my camera up fast enough so the pics were very blurry). He apologized telling us he had to do more taping inside. Before he ran off, he looked over and Tanner asked him if he would pick up the bottle, so he nicely did so, and handed it to me! Then he gave Tanner a hug and ran off!! And my darn camera didn't get any of it--UGH!!!

Tanner then saw that Paul DiMeo was down the block a little further talking to people, so the kids all ran down the street to try to meet him. He was so kind and seems to be such a gracious person. Tanner was first up, and he had Paul sign his hoodie, and we got a picture. For some reason, my darn camera wasn't focusing fast enough, so the next few pics are blurry--darn it!
He then saw a few more people, then the girls hopped up there. Calder didn't want to get a picture, but enjoyed watching. The coolest thing was, Paul kept talking to Tanner in between people coming up. He would call Tanner by name, and right before he left, I thanked him.

Tanner hollered at him while he was leaving and said, "Hey Paul."
Paul replied, "Yes, Tanner?"
T-"Can you tell Ty something for me?"
P-"Sure Tanner"
T-"Will you ask Ty to come do our house?" (I am thinking I CANNOT believe he just did that!)
P-"I will do that Tanner. I can't promise you, but I will tell him."
Tanner was thrilled!

We didn't end up staying for the concert--it was sooo chilly out! We kind of felt like we had a pretty good day! I know it is an experience I won't forget, and I don't think the kids will either!

All Complete!

It is Day 7 on the EMHE project, and the house exterior is complete. It looks great! When the kids and I got to Chapman and began to walking down the street toward the house, we heard a lot of screaming. We looked at one another and Tanner said, "Ty must be there!" We began walking rather quickly (OK...maybe a slow run!)
We arrived at our normal viewing spot to see this:
They were doing the filming where Ty runs out and says "The house is all done, let's get the furniture!" Everyone in the crowd begins screaming, and then the rest of the designers run out.

The whole design crew was there for the filming, so we were pretty excited to see everyone in one spot! From left to right: Paul, Michael, Ty, Paige, and Ed.
This is all of the volunteers running up the street to the furniture trucks to unload the furniture. I saw many familiar faces in there!!

All that is left is for the family to come home tomorrow!!! How exciting! There is also a concert in the park tomorrow with Gavin Rossdale.

Wow! What a Day!

This afternoon, I took the kids over for our daily visit to the EMHE house to check on progress. They were busy getting the yard ready to lay sod when we first arrived. We had been waiting for Stub to call home and tell us he had begun the stonework on the community center, but he still had not been able to get started at 1:00. The framers were busy working on getting the roof on. The masons were able to get going at around 2:00. Stub is the one in the yellow hard hat. I told him that made him easier to pick out!! He did tell me that later on in the evening, Micheal Maloney came by to do some filming and Stub was right there. So, watch for the yellow hard hat putting stone on a pillar on January 25!!
Well, while Stub was busy working away, I decided to go back to the house to see what was going on before heading home. The kids were getting pretty restless, and wanted to go home, but I convinced them to go check it out one more time. The Ekrich people were handing out lunchables, so that helped my cause!! So, the kids had a snack, and then Paul DiMeo came out and began filming with some people in the crowd. He was asking a couple about the tornado. At this same time, a production assistant walked up to me and said he needed to talk to me. I thought he was going to ask me to move down the way because Mylee was fussy and we were disturbing the filming. Instead, he started explaining a scene that Micheal Maloney wanted to do with some babies. They wanted Mylee & Jentree!!!! So, like any protective parent....I said "YES!!"
We went to Micheal's trailer, and they filmed him talking to a bunch of babies. They all started crying (Jentree and Mylee just kept smiling), so it was pretty funny! Then, he was asking questions about the nursery and Jentree pipes up and starts talking to him. Yes, I was a proud stage mom! You just never know what you are going to get from Jentree, so this was pretty funny! Mylee just sat and observed the mayhem (she probably just felt right at home!). They did multiple takes, so I am not sure what will actually get used, but it was a neat experience!
The four older kids were not able to be part of the shoot, but they were SO GOOD waiting. Michael agreed to come out and take a picture with them. They were so excited!!!
We'll see what makes the episode, and what ends up on the cutting room floor! We will keep our fingers crossed!