Fourth of July

(I wrote this big long blog. It was so well written and long, but I did it through Picasa, and Noah turned the computer off as I was typing the last sentence...the last word even, so I'll have to start over. Hopefully it will be just as perfect! :-) )

We had a very interesting Fourth of July holiday. The started out nice. We went to our ward pancake breakfast. And the kids got to play really hard. It's Palmdale, so even at 8, it was nearly 90 degrees, so it was pretty hot. It was nice to hang out with people in our ward since we'll be moving next weekend. Noah and Macie just ran around the entire time. And TOTALLY loved it. We were there for a good hour and half. We had made plans with our friends in Costa Mesa to come down to their house and celebrate the holiday the Orange County way...and go to the beach. So, we stopped at home to get our things and then a quick stop at the store, and we were off. We got on the freeway to head down south. Palmdale has like 5 exits, and the last exit southbound gets to our house. We were at that last exit, and decided we weren't going to go. We got off the exit in the nick of time and just headed home. Some friends in the ward had invited us to a barbecue, so we thought we'd just kick it at home and relax here for our last weekend in Palmdale. When we got home the kids were so worn out. Noah just sort of laid there and just looked exhausted. Macie went to sleep pretty quick. She went to bed with a little fever, but was fine by morning, but she was starting to feel warm again, so she was out. Noah was watching a cartoon on the couch. And then it happened. I looked up from what I was doing to see Noah having a seizure. His lips were blue, his hands and feet were blue, and he was convulsing. It scared me to death. I screamed for Adam, who came running downstairs and put him in the bathtub to get his temperature down a bit to help stop the seizure. It worked. But I had no idea how long the seizure was, since I just happened to look up and see it. But I was scared to death. No matter how many times you see it, it never gets better. Who wants to see their baby like that? It's not a normal thing, so it's never a normal reaction. I always freak out. I tried to stay more calm, since I didn't want Macie to get scared of the situation, or of Noah. So I tried to stay as positive as I could, but I was tearing up inside. It was awful. I hadn't seen one in so long. Not since July 2006, so it's been 2 years, I had hoped I never would see one again. But no such luck. He's on a really good medicine which stops epileptic seizures, but we're pretty positive this was febrile, or fever related. He had a tempertaure of 102 after he stopped convulsing. He just slept forever. We tried getting him to say his name, but he couldn't. He wasn't all there yet. We called a friend in the ward to come over and help Adam administer a blessing. It was a very good blessing, and the spirit was very strong. I knew that he was going to be okay. He slept for another hour or so, and finally came to, and started saying his name and wanted to watch the movie he didn't get to finish. So I knew he was getting better. His temperature started to decrease and he didn't feel near as hot. Within a few more hours he was running around, jumping up and down and acting like the Noah we all know! We didn't go to the barbecue, we just hung out together, it was an exhausting day. Later in the evening, he was feeling pretty good. So we decided we would go to the firework show here in town. We drove to the Stake Center, since they light them at the high school across the street, it was perfect. We got there at like 8:50, and they started at 9. But we found a parking spot and sat on an open grass patch. We didn't know exactly where they would shoot off from, but when they started, our seats were perfect, right in front of us were the fireworks. Noah loved it. Macie on the otherhand, HATED it. Every minute of it. She hated the loud noise. She hated the bright lights. She just hated everything about it. After they were over and we got the kids in the car, they were out withint 2 minutes of being in the car. It was nice we were able to go and Noah loved it, which made it totally worth it. After such a crappy day, we were able to end it a lot better. I really like the fourth of July when we get to reflect on our country...and to celebrate Cory's birthday! But it always good to think of our freedoms and why we get to enjoy what we do. I'm grateful to live in this country and have what I have. And I'm grateful for everyone who makes it possible for me to do so. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!