Abby’s Saturday // Two Hundred And Thirty-Seven

Highlight of the Week

Well, technically, my Abby’s Saturday posts go from Saturday afternoon, to Saturday afternoon – so let’s start with last Saturday afternoon:

Last Saturday was the most amazing day. We packed our house full of people who love Braelynn so so much & celebrated her 4th birthday! It was so much fun! She is super into the movie Tangled, which is all about Rapunzel, right now & so we threw a big Rapunzel themed party – complete with a visit from Flynn Rider himself! Omigoodness, I still can’t get over how much fun it was – definitely my favorite birthday party yet! I really should blog some photos (even though it’s not something I typically blog), because it was seriously so much fun. We started out by having Flynn Rider come into the living room and deliver our golden-haired princess a crown (I won’t lie: I cried) and then he brought out the cake & we all sang to her. And then it was into opening presents with the “grand” present being a big kitchen set (that I had been on the hunt for for a few weeks & my Mom ended up being the one to find it!) It was simply the best. My heart just bursts with happiness thinking back to one week ago at this time & how much love was showered down on our princess.

Yes, This Happened

• And then Sunday arrived. Sunday morning was great – we all went to church together for the first time since Leander was born. Since Braelynn had turned 4 years old, she is now officially old enough to go to Sunday School, so she went for the first time & I spent most of the service in the nursery with Leander (he was doing so good, sleeping on his Auntie Amy’s shoulder, right up until the point of the service when the Pastor asked everyone to take a few moments in silent prayer – and then he started crying). But overall, it went really well.
• We went to my parent’s for lunch (as usual after church on Sunday), and came home to finish cleaning up from the party & Braelynn played with her new toys. All was perfect until around dinner time – when Braelynn snuggled up next to Derrick on the couch and stated that she was “so tired”. If you know Braelynn at all, you know that that statement is super out of character for her – she does not get tired! She is the energizer bunny! We chalked it up to just having a huge weekend with her birthday celebrations on Friday, and then a big party on Saturday, and just going-going-going-going. However, within a few hours, it was obvious that it wasn’t just exhaustion from her birthday weekend.
• Sunday night, our sweet princess came down with a low-grade fever & was obviously getting sick. We gave her a nice bath and snuggled her into bed, hoping it was just the start of a cold (she always gets a low-grade fever at the start of a cold – it’s just how she is). Monday, she spent all day on the couch – still with a low-grade fever & the symptoms of a cold kicking in.
• On Tuesday morning, we had well-visits scheduled with our doctor for both Braelynn & Leander. When we woke up Tuesday morning, Braelynn seemed to be doing much better – her fever had broken Monday afternoon, and she was up & bouncing around – wanting to eat & talking a mile-a-minute. We went off to the doctor & had a great check-up. Leander now weighs just a smidge over 11 pounds!! He’s such a solid little dude. And Braelynn is officially 40 inches tall – just 2 more inches and she can ride the Jack Rabbit roller coaster at Kennywood this summer (you can imagine the conniving both Derrick & Braelynn are doing together in order for her to grow those extra 2 inches in the next 6 months!) All in all, Braelynn seemed to be doing much better on Tuesday – she still spent some time resting on the couch, but wanted to play with her new toys & her new art sets & seemed on the mend.
• Wednesday came & suddenly things were not better. All day, Braelynn was back on the couch, she didn’t want to eat, and she didn’t really want to move. It was heart-breaking. And Wednesday was when the cough started – after napping Wednesday afternoon, she woke up with a deep, barking cough that basically sent shivers down my spine. We contemplated taking her to MedExpress Wednesday night, but decided to wait through the night to see how she was doing & if necessary, call her doctor in the morning to get her back in to see him.
• Wednesday morning, when we were putting her to bed, she suddenly exclaimed to Derrick: “I didn’t put any clothes on at all today!” (meaning, she never changed out of her pajamas).
• Thursday morning, with no improvement, I called & got her back in to see Dr. H. All the nurses in the office said to Braelynn, “Weren’t you just here?” She was diagnosed with Croup and prescribed an antibiotic. She spent the rest of Thursday and Friday on the couch, watching endless episodes of Daniel Tiger, Peg + Cat, and all the Snoopy episodes we could find.
• We knew she was starting to feel a little bit better Friday night, when Derrick came home from work & Braelynn told him he needed to shave “those things” off of his face because “you’re not Flynn Rider anymore Daddy, and I don’t like those things.”
• Thankfully, this morning, we finally seem to be on the mend. Braelynn actually ate breakfast this morning – something she hasn’t done all week long! She also wanted to get dressed this morning – something she also hasn’t asked to do all week long. She’s been up & playing with her toys, asking for snacks, and talking our ears off. She still has a ways to go get be 100% better – that cough is still plaguing her – but thankfully, we seem to be moving in the right direction.

Feeling Blessed

Needless to say, it’s been a long week in the Abbey house.

I’m knocking on all the wood as I say this, but we don’t really get sick very often. In fact, I think it’s been a solid 8 months since Braelynn was sick last! So, having her be on the couch for almost this entire week has been heart-breaking. I know she wants to play with all of her new toys & she got so much new cool art stuff that she’s been dying to get in to, but this darn sickness has kept her down & it’s so sad.

Thankfully, so far, no one else has gotten sick. Derrick & I have both been taking a few extra vitamins & making sure we wash our hands every chance we get – it is literally my greatest fear that Leander would end up sick. The little dude will be 2 months old tomorrow, but he’s still too little for his tiny system to handle a cold, let alone Croup! So, we’ve been praying that all the good stuff he gets from breastfeeding keeps him healthy & so far, it has. Besides not being able to play with all of her new toys & art things, not being able to hug & hold her little brother has been the hardest part for Braelynn. Even when she was laying on the couch, she still was asking if she could hold Leander & wanted to give him kisses. She’s come quite a long way since the first few weeks after he was born & she wouldn’t even touch him!