New Years in Utah

  We started staying home for Christmas when Brooke was a baby, but every two years we go to Utah to spend New Years with my family.  Cory suggested I fly with the two younger kids to make the trip easier on all of us.  I have a free companion pass for Brooke, so it was a cheap flight for the three of us.  Cory and Brady got 8 hours alone together, which was probably really good for both of them.  Colin started nursing at take-off and fell asleep 10 minutes into his feeding.  I didn't bother him and he slept the whole flight, even during landing.  Brooke was an angel so the flight couldn't have been better.  

We stayed at Terra's house (more about her in another post).  She's the sister 15 months younger than me and has kids my kids' ages.  Brooke and Avery wasted no time getting reacquainted even though they were a little shy at first.  This princess toy brought them together pretty quickly.  Also, once Brooke saw a talking Mini Mouse doll on Avery's nightstand, she knew she was legit.

After church on Sunday

We went to Orem to visit Diane and her kids before they headed back home to Pasadena. 

 Sunday evening my family got together for dinner and our cousin gift exchange.  They draw names for each other and that's worked out well.  With Leesa's baby girl coming in March there will be 13 grandchildren.  I'm so happy a lot of our kids are the same ages, and I hope they will stay close as they grow up.  We've got another Bear Lake reunion coming up in July, and this time they spent together makes me excited for that trip.

Monday was Brady's birthday.  He had a great day (another post coming), but Colin did not.  For some reason (ear pressure from the airplane?) Colin ate at 8:00 that morning, but he refused to eat a mid-day feeding.  I ran some errands (HAD to hit WinCo!) and he slept most of the time.  Around 2:00 he would just turn his head away and cry when I tried feeding him.  I kept trying and getting so frustrated.  He wouldn't even attempt to latch on and I was getting uncomfortably full.  Too bad Terra didn't own a breast pump, but I called Leesa (who was coming to Brady's birthday party at 3:30) and asked her to bring hers.  Terra suspected a double ear infection.  Neither of our kids has had an ear infection, so we weren't familiar with the symptoms.

Cory and I were concerned about his heart since irritability and not eating are symptoms of his SVT.  We got ready to go to Nick and Sharon's house for the party and saw an urgent care facility on our way.  We decided to stop and ask about their wait time.  (Keep in mind this was Dec. 31 at 3:30pm and doctors offices would be closed the next day.)  They had a 2-hour wait and asked what was wrong.  I couldn't hold it in anymore and lost it right there at the reception desk.  I tearfully told them his symptoms and that he has SVT.  The nurse suggested the ER.  I asked if I could bring Colin in for them to just check his heart with their stethoscope (we didn't pack that) and she came out to the car with it instead.  His heart was a normal rate, so that put us at ease.

We got to the party where my mom, sisters, and Sharon (our gracious host) took over and made Brady's birthday special.  Cory and I went downstairs to the bedroom where I pumped and we decided to take him to the ER.  First Cory gave Colin a blessing and then I tried to feed him once more.  He still wanted nothing to do with it, even when I tried to nurse him with Cory holding him upright (that was awkward, but we were willing to try anything).

The ER was pretty crowded.  Fortunately Colin's SVT was on our side this time and they got us to a room pretty quickly.  The doctor asked me to try feeding him just so he could see Colin's reaction.  The first attempt his back was turned, so I tried again and viola! Colin latched on.  Apparently he just needed a little more attention from a few more medical professionals.  Let's just say that was the most expensive meal he's ever eating!  So we still don't know what was wrong and he'll take it to the grave.  At least he's fine and hasn't been weird like that since.

New Years Day was great with lots of food and games.  Colin ate every 2 to 3 hours, filling up from the day before.  Football and The Hobbit made it a great day for the guys.

Our drive home was perfect.  We stopped to feed Colin twice and he slept 6 1/2 of the 7 1/2 hours it took to get home.  What a good little traveler he was.  I just discovered these photos on the iPad.  Brooke's view from the back seat of the car.  I don't think I'd like this spot, but she seems to be fine with it.  I found a ton of pictures on the iPad, but there's usually one or two of the culprit herself.