Best Of Times, Worst Of Times.

It's been less than a week since things got extermely eventful for me, and I'm not sure I will be able to even remember it all.
To begin with what I do remember, the best of the past week:

My sweet neighbor, Kelli, vounteered to become my new walking partner! We've had some good walks.
Elsa has willingly accompanied us (in the stoller, of course).


We paid off Nick's Mini Cooper! This means that we now own all 3 of our vehicles, free and clear. Our "debt snowball" is really rolling now.

Two of my best girlfriend's are named: Kris. When I talk to Nick about them I have to distinguish them by referring to them as. "Seattle-Kris", or "New Zealand-Kris". Using their current home as a descriptor.

So, Seattle-Kris and I made a plan to meet up in Las Vegas for the Elton John Concert.
The entire trip was divine!
At first, Kris was disappointed that she could only get us a free room at the New York, New York hotel. To use her words. "we'd be 'slumin'-it'". I'd hardly call the NY, NY a low-class establishment. But Kris certainly didn't hear any complaint from me when she called to tell me that her husband had graciously gifted us with his comp'd room at the Palazzo!

Our suite there was just that. Sweet! It was gorgeous! Sunken-living room, and the most comfortable beds. Thanks Phil!

Before the concert we ate at Olives. I had lobster carbonara.
For breakfast the next morning we went to Bouchon. I had french toast, and a side of bacon. When I ordered the side of bacon I was expecting 2 pieces. Instead, they brought me a bowl of bacon. Literally. It was a bowl with about 20 slices of bacon. I didn't eat it all. But I sort of wanted to.
For lunch, we stopped at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. I ordered a BLT. Minus the "T". I'm not a fan of tomatoes. The Bacon, was actually pork belly, and the sandwich had some sort of yummy Aoli, and sliced avacado's. It has to be one of the most memorably delicious things I have ever eaten!

The concert. Also, very memorable.
I love, love, love Sir Elton.

He played: The Bitch is Back (my personal fave!), Benny & The Jets, Rocket Man, Levon, Tiny Dancer, Your Song, Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatter's, Better Off Dead, Indian Sunset, Blue Eyes, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, Philidelphia Freedom, Hey Ahab, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, I'm Still Standing, Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Circle of Life.

I can't remember if it was before, or after the concert??? But I won $300 at the penny slots. Not too shabby.

Kris made me pose for this picture, because I mentioned that the kids would have loved to meet the Toy Story characters.

In the morning, we packed up our stuff. We had decided to get pedicures. I put my comfy shoes in my luggage, and checked my luggage at the hotel. The Palazzo has a service where they will check your luggage for you, and print your boarding pass.
I was wearing some new Coach flip-flops around.
They were brand-new. Which means: not broken in.
Kris and I walked the strip looking for a pedicure place. The cute shoes- SHREDDED my feet.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to wear them again without remembering the pain. I couldn't change back in to my comfy shoes, because they were on their way to the airport.
And, we didn't find an affordable place to get pedicures. So, we decided to head to the airport early to see if we could find an express mani/pedi place in the terminals.
Kris and I had to separate at security, because she was going to a different terminal than I was. We said we'd meet up on the other side of security.
Come to find out... Different terminals meant different parts of the airport, that were not connected!
We couldn't meet back up.
Kris went to her gate to fly Alaskan Air, and I took the tram out to my gate to fly Southwest.
Kris found an express mani place. I did not. Southwest's terminal was kind of ghetto.
I turned on my iPod, and started reading my Glamour magazine.
An elderly lady came and sat down next to me.
A few moments later I was hit by an intense odor. It was not good.
I did a sideways glance and saw that old lady was slathering herself in essential oils.
Oh boy, did it stink!
But I couldn't move, because the terminal was packed and there were no other open seats at my gate.
Then, geriatric seat-mate starts talking to me.
Keep in mind, that I had my ear buds in.
It didn't seem to phase her.
I pulled out an ear bud, and she pulled out her iPad and started showing me pictures of her grandson.
I sort of wanted to be like, "this is my weekend away from children, kindly find another unsuspecting victim". But I didn't.
Fortunately, I was only subjected to this for a few minutes before they started boarding my flight.

Despite that hiccup, I still had a great time!

Thanks, Seattle-Kris, for an amazing weekend!

Now, the worst of times...
In the week leading up to the concert, Elsa had been sick with a cold.
Cohen started having a little cough on Friday, before I left.
I felt very guilty leaving Nick with sick children.
When I got back on Sunday night Elsa was better, and Cohen was worse.

Monday morning Elsa had her 18 month well-child appointment. Sidenote: Elsa is in the 95th percentile for height, and the 25th for weight. It makes me smile.
I called my pediatrician and asked if I could bring Cohen along to have him checked out at Elsa's appointment.
The pediatrician diagnosed Cohen with RSV, and gave me a prescription to take Cohen to the RSV clinic to have a respiratory therapist work on him.
We meandered up to the clinic at about 4PM. The respiratory therapist commented that Coehn seemed very dry.
It was at that point that I realized that Cohen's last wet diaper had been at 9:15AM, and that every time he ate, he would have a coughing fit and would gag up everything he just ate.
The therapist said that I should try to feed Cohen after his treatment.
I took him home, and tried to get him to eat, but he wouldn't.
Nick called Josh (Kelli's husband), and asked him to come over to help Nick administer a priesthood blessing.
Josh and Kelli both came over.
I ordered pizza.
J&K stayed for pizza. At this point I wasn't too concerned.

But all during dinner, I kept looking at Cohen and thinking that he didn't look good.
Nick and I decided to take him to the ER.

My sweet neighbor (don't I just live in the best area?!) Bev, came over to watch the girls, and put them to bed so that Nick could go with me to the hospital.

I was expecting them to give Cohen an IV of fluids, and send us home.
I was surprised when they said they were admitting him to the pediactric care unit of the hospital.

We took him upstairs, and Nick left me to go relieve Bev of baby-sitting duty.
The minutes (that seemed like HOURS) it took the nurses (three of them) to get Cohen's IV inserted were some of the worst of my life.
He screamed, and I cried.
It was awful.

That night was also bad news. I got next to no sleep.
Cohen wasn't getting enough oxygen, so they put him on O2.
I "slept" in my clothes.

At first, it was hard to figure out how to hold my baby, with all of the tubes attached to him. By the 3rd day, I had it down-pat.

Nick came up to sit with Cohen the second day, and I went home to get a shower. It was Valentine's day, but I didn't really think too much about it.
I picked Reagan up from pre-school after my shower, and her teacher told me that Reagan had been an emotional mess that morning.
I thought it might have been because I had been gone all weekend in Las Vegas, and then I had nearly gone straight to the hospital with Cohen, so her usual schedule had been very interrupted.
But that night when I went back to the hospital to spend night #2 with my baby, Nick called and told me that Reagan had a fever of 101 degrees.
When it rains, it pours, right?!

So, the second night; my dear friend, Emily came to the hospital to visit us and she brought me delicious treats.
Spencer and Korie also came up, with more sustenence (if chocolate counts as sustenence?) and a balloon.
Korie grabbed my camera and started taking pictures.
I would have preferred to use her professional services under different circumstances. Ha ha.
The visits definitely buyoed my spirits.



I was also grateful for the outpouring of concern that everyone expressed. Via: Facebook (Nick's account), Text messages, and phone calls. Oh, and to Nick's work scheduler that found someone to cover his shifts for two days.
Thank you, everyone!

To top it off, Cohen got an ear infection while he was in the hospital.

He has a follow-up appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon. Here's hoping that we are all on the "up and up".