Christmas Day

We've hosted Christmas since 2006, Mark and I, but never before in this house. Last year we were ready to get together (all of the Fisher brothers and the cousins) but it snowed and snowed and snowed some more on Christmas Eve making travel impossible. This year Jim and his kids could not join us, but we had a great time and the kids were not disappointed.

 Troy, April, Craig, Cecilia and Donna

The Table

 Our presents for the newly-engaged.

 Constant huggers: cousins Liam and Julia (wearing stockings from cousin Nike)

Elina, Troy and Isak

Julafton

Den helt klart största julaftonen hittills, vad gäller julklappar, men det beror väl dels på antal barn. Väntan var lång, förstås - det ska den ju vara. Jag handlade lite på morgonen inför morgondagens stora släktmiddag som jag ska stå för, och sedan åt vi en väldigt enkel julmiddag med bara vår familj. Anja hällde nästan hela pepparkaret i salladen medan jag vände ryggen, så jag plockade bort de översta spenatbladen, men den var rätt pepprig ändå. Julduken måste köras i tvättmaskinen precis innan middagen, men annars gick det väl ganska smidigt.

Vi såg sista avsnittet av Gyllene Knorren, som barnen tyckte var jättebra, men kunde inte hitta Kalle Anka och hans vänner på svt.se. Lite synd. Kanske kan vi se Trolltyg i Tomteskogen i morgon. Jag är verkligen glad över min 17 tums screen på datorn. Det blir så bra när man sätter upp den på fotpallen framför soffan. : ) Sedan tände vi adventsljusen igen och läste en dikt för varje ljus och pratade lite så där lagom högtidiligt om julen. Och så öppnade vi julklappar. Alla var JÄTTENÖJDA. Vi började med de mindre presenterna och trappade upp mot de mest åtrådda klapparna mot slutet. Här är lite fotodokumentation. Med Mark bakom kameran för en gångs skull.

 

 

 Halsband från mormor och morfar!

 Pippi play-tent from Oldemor.

 Julia picked this doll out in the store. 

Do you think she likes it?

 

 From mormor och morfar. A huge hit! 

(Look how big his pants are, poor kid...)

At first it was just white noise. The constant pleas for a Princess Anneliese Barbie. Anja's babysitter Samantha had one - and it happens to be Anja's favorite movie (Barbie's Princess and the Pauper). We visited Samantha in June and during this short visit Anja held The Princess Anneliese Barbie for 5 minutes and cried all the way home in the car because we couldn't stay longer for her to hold it some more. The chant has been recurring since then, but not incessant - I have brushed it all aside. I've learned to ignore all requests for so long I paid little attention to them anyway. But then as it got closer to Christmas I realized something - Anja had not written a wish list, but if she had it would have only had ONE item on it. When we asked what she wanted for Christmas, the answer was clear and simple. Sigh. Four days ago I scoured the internet for this item that is no longer made. Found several on eBay, most were ridiculously expensive. But there was one that was reasonable and lucky for me it arrived TODAY, just in time to be wrapped and put under the tree. The expression on Anja's face says it all. She truly did not expect to get it!

Julstrumpor

The Faces of Anja

I took these pictures of Anja while in the waiting room at the dentist office in July 2010. I didn't realize I had no memory card in the camera. I have not been able to retrieve them from the camera until today. Long story. But involves this same lovely child, her teeth and a cord.

Lucia 2010

For the real thing, click HERE.

Lucia tåg i vår stad är officiellt en tradition nu eftersom vi gjort detta två år i rad. Se förra årets firande HÄR.

Det kan väl nämnas att årets Lucia program var något av ett hastverk med bara en enda övning och sedan framträdande utan uppsjungning. Isak och Elina kunde sångerna bra, men Isak har tydligen inte gått grundkursen i Luciavördnad. Den måste han gå nästa år. (Filmsnuttar längst ner!)

Mammorna: Marie, Carolina, Victoria och Malin

 Daniel, Benjamin, Elina, Anja, Isak, Hannah
Julia, Christian, Jonathan, Max

 Det blir inte bättre än så här!

 våra Lucior

 Söta är dom i alla fall

 Anja

 Elina kunde sångerna!

På grund av min temperamentsfulla kamera (som ska bytas ut) kommer framträdandet i 3 korta snuttar:

The Littlest Sister

Julia is in such a hurry to grow up. She understands everything it seems, and wants to do everything that her older siblings do. And if she can't, then she gets MAD.

Julia is also very capable of finding entertainment for herself. Anja is happy to assist when needed. Yesterday, for example, when I was in the shower getting ready for a chiropractor appointment, I was greeted by two soaked girls who had turned the kitchen and dining room into a lake, and who stomped happily in the water while laughing. This was only 45 minutes after the laundry detergent was knocked down and a gallon ran out onto the floor.

Julia has also recently been found
- Pouring out milk, juice or water and spreading it around with her hands/arms/sleeves (daily, if given the chance)
- Bathing the little green Toy Story alien (or various other objects) in the toilet while splashing toilet water everywhere
- Dumping the dog water on herself and the floor (at least once a day)
- Packing the toilet with toilet paper (I should add that we are constantly closing the bathrooms doors, but Anja usually forgets)
- Taking hold of the end of the toilet paper and running down the hall, in and out of rooms until the paper is completely off the roll and spread throughout the house
- Opening the dishwasher (even if it is locked) and standing on the lid for the purpose of unloading the dishes (clean or dirty) onto the kitchen floor (the dishwasher is now loose, no longer attached to the wall!)
- Using a drinking cup to scoop water out of Sadie's bowl to drink and eating dog food in between sips
- Removing any and all DVDs out of their cases and spreading them over the living room floor
- Pulling all the tape out of a cassette tape
- Eating crayons (any chance she gets) and decorating walls and furniture, too
- Changing the channel when others are watching a movie (she can reach now and knows the exact button!)
- Pulling out pots and pans, tupperware and other kitchen ware she can reach
- Dumping toys from their bins just for the sake of dumping them

This is not a comprehensive list. I could add more.

No matter how frustrating this is, however, I can't really blame her. I am swamped with things to do - cooking, cleaning, laundry for a big family and on top of that my school work which takes time every single day. And there is only so much being ignored Julia can take without finding her own stuff to do. Next semester I need to find a babysitter that can take Anja and Julia one day a week for 4 or 5 hours so I can be effective at doing my school work, as opposed to have to do it while taking care of kids or I might just give myself a hernia.

Julia really is very sweet and super family-oriented. When given just a bit of attention she is as good as gold. She loves to read books. Elina and Isak will often read with her while I fix dinner or tend to other duties. When she wakes up in the morning or from a nap she calls everyone in the family by name: Mamma, Ika, Enina, Aja, Pappa and wants hugs and kisses. She LOVES her family. She does so much for spreading love between siblings. We are glad she is here.

Elina's Lucia weekend

Instead of going to Dallas and being part of the biggest SWEA Lucia celebration (this year was the biggest in its history in Dallas with 39 kids!) Elina and I spent the day at Baptist hospital. (So I guess there were only 36 kids in the Lucia procession).

Friday, Dec 3 - noonish

Elina suffered two major seizures early Friday morning. I knew something was wrong when she would not respond to me as I was trying to get her out of bed at 6.30 am. She opened her eyes with a shocked, yet absent look. She had wet the bed and I was astonished since Elina has never done that before, ever. Even as a baby she would often have a dry diaper in the mornings. We lifted her out of bed, stripped the sheets etc. Mark said he had accidentally given her Isak's slightly higher allergy medicine dose the night before, and wondered if this had made her super drowsy. The only communication I received from her was a short nod when I asked for the fifth time if she could talk. She could not hold her balance when getting dressed, and her eyes flickered a bit. 

Mark and Isak left at 7.30 am, and I was waiting for Elina to snap out of it. I began to make arrangements for someone to watch Julia and Anja while I took Elina to the doctor. My good friend Inger said she could be there by 8.30. I called poison control to see if the allergy medicine could have anything to do with it, but they reassured me that she could have taken twice the dose without anything like this resulting, which is what I expected to hear. So by 7.45 I decided to just take her in, her eyes were flickering back and forth a bit and her mouth was twitching in the corner, and I said to myself, "It is like she is having a seizure!" I put Julia in the car, started it, and went to just check on Elina again, with the intent of then getting Anja out of her bed and into the car, and last Elina. But I was not prepared for the sight I received.

Elina was convulsing uncontrollably, foam and phlegm running out of her mouth and onto her pillow and down her left shoulder, her face contorted to one side, while her head, arms and legs were jerking and her body stiff and uncontrollable, eyes open and glassy. I weighed the option of calling an ambulance for one second, but decided I would get to the hospital faster than they would get to our house. Little Anja was still snuggling in her bed, semi-awake. I just left her, carried Elina out into the car and laid her across the front passenger seat. She could not sit up. I did obey red lights, but otherwise drove like a car thief, thinking that if police would try to pull me over they would just have to chase me to the hospital. I called Mark and Inger both on the way and left messages to please go to our house and be with Anja.

I parked by the ER doors and carried her in at about 8 am, still seizing as before. No triage necessary.  It was not until 10 am that she looked at me somewhat purposefully - right after a priesthood blessing. They did blood work, gave her valium, gave her a CAT scan, chest X-ray, a spinal tap (awful - three grown men holding her down), put a catheter on her until she bled (she resisted big time).

 CAT scan at the ER

At noon she was transferred to Integris Baptist in an ambulance and she can only remember events from right before the transfer. At Baptist they did an EEG (electrodes on her head) and though none of the other tests had showed anything abnormal, this one did, suggesting that an area on the rear left side of her brain has caused the seizure. We will find out more, hopefully, after the MRI is done. Right now the neurologist estimates a 50/50 chance at a seizure reoccurring.

hospital hallway

Elina's room.

She does have pneumonia and an ear infection - though she has not had a fever or otherwise proved ill, except for a nasty cough and very mild asthma symptoms. She is being treated for both. The pneumonia spot on the chest X-ray could be from having had a cold for a couple of weeks, but it can also be from having aspirated mucus during one of her seizures, that this is what showed up on the X-ray. I learned that if a seizure lasts more than 30 minutes is called status epilepticus which if left untreated can result in significant morbidity and death. There is no telling how long the one lasted that she had during the night that no one witnessed. The one I saw lasted for about 15-20 minutes but she was completely out of it, before and after, for a lot longer than that. And most alarming: the seizing did not stop on its own, but only after she received medication. 

Feeling better! 

Her favorite blanket from home (a Christmas present from Uncle Jim two years ago).

She has been prescribed an emergency anti-seizure medication and I feel good about having something on hand, at home and at school, that can be given if it should happen again. 

 She liked coloring, but she kept asking to go here:

She saw this room as she was rolled into the hospital and kept asking to go.

But the nurses wouldn't let her.

She watched "Word Girl" instead.

Elina is acting pretty much normally now - playing with her siblings and toys this evening and together we watched Julkalendern, Hotell Kantarell and the breathtakingly thrilling penultimate episode of Barda - best kid show EVER (at least if you ask Isak, who, by the way, cooked 'dinner' - scrambled eggs - for his siblings on Friday when Mark and I were gone). 

She did not eat for 40 hours (threw everything up) so I am glad to report that she has eaten three good meals since her hospital release. Her brain is working slowly, and she is a bit spacey. After coming out of the seizure she kept saying "I can't think of the words" or "I can't remember what I was going to say." She needs time to think through what she wants to say and can't be rushed. Often gives long explanations for simple things ("give me a drink of water" became "take the cup to the faucet, hold it underneath, turn it on, fill it up then bring the cup to my mouth so I can drink"). She does not remember anything that happened to her from 6.30-11.45 on Friday and she describes waking up in the hospital as confusing and that even though she opened her eyes she could not see well - she didn't know up from down and that people looked like they were under water. Her first questions were related to where she was, what day and time it was, if she missed school and who were taking care of Anja, Julia and Isak since Mark and I were with her in the hospital. Mark later left and I spent the night with Elina.

She kept being struck by sudden spells of fear in the hospital, even when I was in the same room.  I slept in the bed with her on her request. Now at home she won't sleep in her own bed, and frankly, I want her in mine just to keep an eye one her, at least until the MRI gives us a better idea of what exactly is happening in her brain.

Needless to say we are extremely grateful that she is back to normal again!! And praying it will not recur.

Our Beach

November 2010, by the Cherry Creek

Sea World, day 2

Anja rode Journey to Atlantis TEN times! We did not have to get off between rides because lines were virtually non-existent. She wore her full rain-suit to keep dry in the cooler weather. Isak rode it three times. And then we spent a lot of time at the Shamu Express, and Mark and I got to ride the Great White in the dark a few times. That is the short version.

 Shamu Express riders up front.

 Wohoo!

 The face after ten times on Journey to Atlantis. Yes, she wants more...

 going up

 Isak has inherited fear of heights from me, but after a few rides he was very comfortable.

Smiling here, but truly upset that she could not go on any rides.

Sea World, day 1

Going to Sea World during Thanksgiving week is the BEST. The temperatures are just right and there are essentially NO lines, or 3 minutes wait time maximum. Several rides that we had been counting on were CLOSED this year. Texas Splashdown (precis som Flume Ride - Isak och Elina åkte hur många gånger som helst), och Rio Loco som var våran favorit, (till och med Donna åkte med på den, och Isak blev genomblöt). After some mandatory mourning, we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Anja grew over the last year and qualified to go on some 'adult' rides. First she rode the Shamu Express (typ Nyckelpigan, länken visar den i Orlando och den i San Antonio är något mindre, men går istället två varv) and loved it - refused to get out when the ride was over, then doubled back to get in before the next wave of people. She rode it five times.

Then, Anja braved the Journey to Atlantis after Elina went once (and refused to go again). Anja, however, LOVED it and told me when the ride was over "Mamma, gå inte av! Sitt kvar!" But we had to get off and get in line again. She went twice with me and twice with Mark and then once more with me. Five times, and she was not done! Isak, who rode it last year was suddenly scared. It took him all day at the park to muster up bravery to go. He was reieved when it was over, happy he had done it. He may, or may not, go again today. But Anja wants to go at least five times today again. "Var du inte rädd, Anja?" "Nej, båten är bara rolig. Det går jättefort och alla skriker!" And she added sound effects and theatrical moves to go along with the sound of speed and people screaming.

She also wanted to ride the Steel Eel but she is not tall enough. Elina and I went once last year. Elina was only 5 and before that day had never gone on a roller coaster or any type of amusement park ride. I swear I willl NEVER go on the Steel Eel again. It is by far the worst ride I have ever done. If there had been hills underneath the rail I would have been fine, but the sheer distance from the ground was enough to have me praying the whole way. Isak went on the Steel Eel THREE times last year with Mark, but on the last ride got a bit sick to his stomach and therefore is reluctant to do it again this year.

Mark and I, who both love roller coasters, had during 10 years of marriage never gone on a roller coaster together. Our marriage has been mainly work, I guess, and not so much play. But last year we rode the Great White together some 4 or 5 times while Donna stayed with the kids. No lines, just walked straight on to the ride each time. One or twice they let us just stay on without getting off. I rode it twice yesterday and so did Mark - not together though. We cannot convince Isak to go. He has sufficient height but not enough guts. Elina has the guts but not the height. And Anja, well, there is not a ride in the park she doesn't want to ride - over and over.

We also saw Killer Whales (awesome show!), Sea Lions, Dolphins and all manner of ocean life - penguins, sharks etc. This year a new show called "Azul" in the Beluga stadium that was amazing. Very much like the circus - acrobatics and diving combined, with dolphins and Beluga whales.

 Rio Loco, last year

 Fantastic whales.

 Anja's very first amusement ride, last year. but not her last.

 Last year.

 Texas Splashdown - closed this year, sadly!

 Getting ready to swim, yesterday morning.

 Elina waiting to get splashed from Journey to Atlantis.

 Yep, she got wet! And good thing too,because it was rather warm.

 Anja and Pappa after her third Journey to Atlantis ride.

From the Azul performance. Its amazingness completely un-captured by this photo, though.

 Splash from Journey to Atlantis.

I can add that pretty much ALL restaurants were closed all day yesterday, or closed early. We had a choice of Whattaburger and IHOP and chose the latter. But we were so hungry it was not enough food. Last year we did cook a Thanksgiving dinner after being at the park at our condo (but we are in a hotel this year) - rotisserie chicken (store bought), instant mashed potatoes, instant stove top stuffing, green beans out a can and apple and pumpkin pies - store bought. It was a great dinner and no one was hungry. We're going to have to have Thanksgiving dinner today instead.