Easter 2010

Finally got around to uploading Easter pictures. On the Saturday before we were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and dye the eggs outside on the back porch. Easter Sunday, Kirsten & Jack woke up to their easter baskets full of candy and fun things. Tyler also had a small basket ( I forgot to get his personalized basket ordered in time for easter) he enjoyed a book and some toys. We had a quick breakfast and off to church we went. Afterwards we headed down to Fredericksburg to Aunt Janellen's for a egg hunt and dinner with the family. A fun time was had by all and it was another beautiful and hot day! I wasn't quite preparred for such a hot day.

Tyler is 3 Months Old!

Tyler is 3 months old today

Tyler 2 months old!

Random pictures of the kids

Tyler's stay in the hospital at 3 weeks old.

Tyler goes to the hospital

The week while we were at my mom's (during all that snow) Tyler got a cold, he was sneezing and had a runny nose, never had a fever. On Sunday before his baptism he kinda threw up a little and that concerned me and I made the comment that I think we will be making a trip to the doctor in the morning. Everyone kinda thought I was over-reacting, but I think a mom knows best! After we got home that evening, Tyler just wasn't eating. He would wake up every 3 hours like he wanted to eat, but he would only take 1/2 ounce. By morning I called the dr. and told him that he wasn't eating and that really concerned me, so they said yes bring him right away. I didn't even have time to get in the shower. Chad had taken Kirsten to school...I bundled up Tyler and woke Jack up and got him dressed and headed off the mountain (normally I wouldn't have left the house with the roads still being snow covered, but my adrenaline took over). We waited in the waiting room for what seemed like forever and once called back and explained why I was there, the nurse went to listen to his chest and didn't like what she heard. She ran out of the room to get a machine to check his oxygen levels once she got that reading she got Dr. Jakum (the best pediatrician ever!) and within what seemed like seconds the grabbed Tyler out of my arms and onto oxygen and called the emts. And what only seemed like a few more seconds the emts where there and loading him up and off to the ER. I was in tears...probably a bit hysterical, the nurses where wonderful at helping me distract Jack! The emts got him into the ambulance and we followed behind in my car and off we went to Fauquier Hospital. Meanwhile, I had called my mom to come out right away and called Chad to get him out of work and to go get Kirsten and meet me at the hospital. While in the ER they ran tests and they showed he had pneumonia. They wanted to send him to a childrens hospital so we decided on Fairfax's Childrens Hospital. He was then transported by medical transport to Fairfax and admitted there. My mom arrived to the ER and once Chad arrived with Kirsten she took them home. After we figured out that we were going to Fairfax, Chad went home to get some things and met me up at Fairfax later that night. He spent 2 nights in the hospital...got better and was sent home.

The dr's said because he was so young (3 weeks at the time) when they get a simple cold they don't know how to fight it and decide to just give up. So luckily, I followed my motherly instincts and took him to the dr that Monday morning.

I am so grateful for the wonderful nurses and dr's at Piedmont Pediatrics, Fauquier ER and Fairfax Children's Hospital!

On February 5th began a very bad snow storm. We got over 2 feet of snow dumped on us. On Sunday, February 7th we woke up to no power. We discovered that it could take up to 5 days to restore the power, we decided that we needed to pack up and head to my mom's. Luckily we parked our cars towards the end of the driveway, but Chad still had about 10 feet of driveway he had to shovel. And that took him all day to do it....we didn't even see a plow come through until mid afternoon. So by 5 pm we finally got the whole family loaded up in the trailblazer and headed off the mountain. That was the most scariest experience ever...I feared for our lives! But we made it off the mountain safely. Next was to get onto I-66 and all the other major roads to head to my mom's....and well, those roads were AWFUL!!! We had no idea what the condition of the roads were going to be since we weren't able to watch tv, Chad said had he know that the roads where that bad that we wouldn't have left that night. But we did and we made it safely...it was just so shocking to see how bad the roads were.

We spent Monday trying to run some errands to stock my mom's house up with food in preparation for the next storm that was coming through later on Tuesday. During this second storm, we had to wait the arrival of Therese and the kids...and that's a story to be told! After a very scary ride for her, she finally arrived Wednesday afternoon.

We spent the rest of the week with my mom until Sunday, Feb. 14 when we had Tyler's baptism and then we headed home to our snow covered mountain where we had to plunge through the snow to get into the driveway. We tried all week to get someone up there to plow the driveway and everyone who had plows on their trucks weren't able to get to us because their trucks had broken down. I think we didn't get out driveway plowed until 2 weeks later, only because I was sick of walking from the end of the driveway with the kids and groceries (our driveway is long)!

Snow Storm 2010

This winter was the worst winter we have had while living up on the mountian. We had almost 2 feet back in December just before Christmas. If anyone knows where we live...our roads where like a bob sled track for many weeks, meaning it was one lane and if anyone was coming the opposite direction someone had to back up into a drive way or somewhere to let the other car by. That lasted for about 2 weeks. We had a bit of a break, just enough time to allow the snow to melt and then on Feb. 5th began the second storm that dropped over 2 feet of snow all over the area. I was prepared as well as I could be except for loosing power. Which did happen on Sunday morning (the 7th). Luckily we had parked our cars towards the end of the driveway, but still had about 10 feet to shovel to get out, but we didn't see a snow plow until mid afternoon on Sunday. After spending the whole day with out power and hearing that it could take up to 5 days to restore the power...we decided to pack up the family and head to my mom's. Not really knowing the road conditions heading to Springfield we finally got out around 5:30 pm. Getting off the mountain was VERY SCARY, but we made it....THANKS TO CHAD! I could have never had the courage up to make that drive. We then proceeded to I-66, which was awful, in fact every major road we traveled on was just awful, but we made it safely to my mom's.

Updates

Well, I didn't do a good job at this blog! To be honest, I forgot all about it! Anyway, there has been an addition to the family since the last blog. Which most of you know about. On January 20, 2010 we welcomed Tyler Matthew Franklin to the family. He weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches. He was born at Prince William Hospital in Manassas. Born around 10:30 (yes I don't remember the exact time but it's written somewhere) via c-section. He did have a little trouble with his breathing but not nearly as bad as Jack was when he was born. So they kept him in the nicu for about 12 hours. Which was a little upseting for me because once again I was unable to hold my son after being born. Luckily we changed hospitals so that we wouldn't have the same experience as we did with Jack. So around midnight when I was able to get out of bed they wheeled me to the nicu to see him and hold him for the first time! At that time he was good to leave the nicu and come to my room. We spent one more night in the hospital and then I was ready to go....which surprised the nurses, most c-section moms stay 3-4 nights, but with this being the third time, I knew the drill and was up and moving as soon as I could.

Kirsten & Jack stayed with Granna while we were in the hospital and due to the H1N1 flu outbreak they were unable to visit us in the hospital. But the maternity ward at the hospital is on the first floor so they were able to come to the window and see Tyler and mom! They were so excited! Even more excited wen they got home 2 days later!