So 9 days in Seaside, Oregon with three kids is hectic. However, I have had a great time and I am so glad that mi madre asked us to come with her.
A few of my highlights from vacay-
* Getting to have some devotion time on the beach. The beach has been one of my “finding God” places for as long as I can remember. It just always helps to have the vastness of God’s creation and power right there in front of me.
*The fact that Matthea is doing a lot better. Still on medication, and still on specialized formula for allergies. Doing better though. She has gained more weight in the past week and a half than she did her whole first month of life I think. She also started really smiling and cooing. Giving her food that she could tolerate helped her so much! She is such a happier baby!
Matthea is sporting her first fall ensemble!
* Spending time with my mom, and having her there to help me with the kids and talking with her about some really tough issues that I have been tackling in my life. I’m so thankful that my Mom is one of my best friends. 
Zaeda and my mom hiding their eyes from the scary parts in Star Trek. Zaeda was sure that Grandma would have bad dreams if she watched it.
* Watching my kids have fun warms my heart.
( although they might not look like they are having a blast right here… this park in Cannon beach was extra fun for them) as was the arcade in seaside, and the multiple toy stores in multiple beach towns!
Daddy- this pic is just for you.. Zaeda eating all of the mayo out of her cup at lunch.. and that’s all she ate at lunch. Mayo. She said ” Daddy says that’s icky- but I love it.”
* if I’m being totally honest, eating good candy was a highlight for me too. Seaside has some good candy shops.
The only real low to my vacation was the night I figured out I am allergic to shellfish- or maybe just oysters and shrimp. I have never been allergic to them before ( AND I LOVE THEM and have eaten them a lot), but I researched it and the research states you can become allergic to shellfish in adulthood. It was not a fun night. I thought that being that sick would never end. Benedryl helped. No more shellfish for Melanie. Ever.
Was one of the scariest in my life so far. Friday afternoon everything was going well. In fact, it was my Dad’s birthday and my Mom had arranged a nice birthday dinner at her house. I had gotten everybody ready and headed over there. Heading to the car Matthea begins to spit up. Spit up is not odd for Matthea. She is very spitup-y , but I noticed that it looked a bit gunky and of a darker color than usual. I thought it was odd but decided that it was most likely just an weird fluke and it wouldn’t happen again. Wrong. We got to my moms house and she begins to spit up large amounts of phlegm with gray/black gunk in it. I was shocked and so scared. I call the advice nurse who advises me to go to the ER with the kiddo. At this point I was breaking down, and I called Mike who could meet me at the ER.
After waiting in the ER waiting room for hours ( ask Mike about that one. It really frustrated him to see the ER used for the seemingly wrong reasons) just to be triaged ( where we were put ahead of a good chunk of people) we finally got into a room and found out that the spitup and now her poo are testing positive for blood. Oh fun stuff. Enter the doctors who want an IV in Matthea’s arm. Blood drawn, X-rays done. It is so hard to watch my little one, only a month old get all of those procedures done. So I held her head and sang to her while nurses kept trying to get an IV line going and a catheter put in. We keep praying and we are told that we have to be transferred to Emanuel so that Matthea can be admitted to the hospital. Dang. How I didnt want to hear those words.
Emanuel hospital was an experience all in it’s own. We got there around 1 am. I was already so tired and everyone was asking so many questions. They started giving Matthea formula ( in case the blood was coming from me) they began giving her pepcid through her IV for severe reflux ( which maybe was causing her stomach lining to bleed.) It seemed like everything that I had tried so hard to do for her and keep her safe was quickly proving that I wasn’t doing much right at all for her. No one knew what was happening,t they assured us that the hospital was the best place to be right then for Matthea.
Long story short. They tried and tried to do blood draws that they couldn’t complete because they could never get enough blood from my little one. She has bruises all over her body ( including her little head) from them trying to get enough blood. It was pretty traumatic for all of us I think. They still dont know what is really going on. She is still on acid reflux medication, which we do think is helping. They put her on severe allergy formula called Nutramigen because they believe she might have a cows milk allergy. They are concerned that her blood doesn’t clot right, but we have to wait until her 2 or 4 month checkup to find that out, when they can get more blood from her little body. They said that there is a good possibility that this test came out abnormal because they just couldn’t get enough blood to run it properly. That was frustrating.
I’ll tell you what this whole situation gave me though… a much deeper respect for the doctors and nurses who need constant prayers as they work with our future generation. A deeper respect and heartfelt prayers for mommies and daddies and families who’s little ones (no matter what age) hurt and are sick and/or in the hospital. Ooh. I thank God that all my children are home and safe and fairly healthy.
Matthea is sporting her first fall ensemble!
Zaeda and my mom hiding their eyes from the scary parts in Star Trek. Zaeda was sure that Grandma would have bad dreams if she watched it. 
( although they might not look like they are having a blast right here… this park in Cannon beach was extra fun for them) as was the arcade in seaside, and the multiple toy stores in multiple beach towns!
Daddy- this pic is just for you.. Zaeda eating all of the mayo out of her cup at lunch.. and that’s all she ate at lunch. Mayo. She said ” Daddy says that’s icky- but I love it.”