Learn (or refresh yourself on) CPR!

Yesterday I had a sweet friend come over and visit with her three girls, as we were both without our husbands for the day. While we sat in the kitchen having lunch together - all 7 of us - my friend's 2 year old coughed a little choking cough. At first I thought it was just a little choke - like we all have from time to time, when something just "goes down the wrong pipe." But then, very quickly, it got more serious. I looked up from feeding my son when I heard the cough, and my friend stepped over to her daughter. "Are you OK?" she asked, but her daughter could not answer. She was seriously choking. A peachy-gummy-O treat had gotten lodged in her throat. At once, my friend had the reaction to just stick her hand in her daughter's mouth and try to fish out the offending food. The little girl inhaled sharply, and then her breath absolutely stopped. I snapped, "Get it out!" as I stood to walk (dash) around the table to her aide. My friend looked up and began to panic. "Can you HELP me?!!" The food was breaking off in bits in my friend's fingers with each attempt to get it out. Honestly, this was all happening so quickly. I wasn't two steps from my chair when the little girl's face went from red, to purple, and was beginning to turn blue. I didn't know whether to take the two additional steps over to my friend, or the two additional steps to the phone to dial 911. I was rewinding in my mind, all the way back to high school, when I took an abbreviated CPR course. I decided I would pick the child up with my fist under her ribcage and give her a good bounce and a smack to her back as I headed back to the phone to dial the paramedics. When I got to her chair, I just grabbed her head, as my friend still had her hand in her daughter's mouth. In one last attempt, I held her jaw wide open, my friend grabbed the food and pulled, and it came out. The child's color returned in a flash, and she was up and around like nothing had happened. All this was less than 15 seconds, but it will be burned in my mind for the rest of my life! I need a CPR refresher course - it was taking me too long to make decisions and remember the proper steps. We were seconds away from a nightmare yesterday, but by the Grace of God we averted disaster. I will say that that gummy was broken in the middle, sticking together by less than a thread. Had it broken on the way out of that sweet child's throat, no finger could have dislodged it. We would have been doing the Heimlich and dialing 911.

In recounting the events to my husband, he reminded me that we should have done the Heimlich FIRST, and then tried to dislodge the food if other methods did not work. Anyway, all this is to say, go take a CPR course or refresher. Choking is silent and swift.

Swagbucks

Another thing I found on all my coupon-mommy blogs is Swagbucks. And I am loving it! It's a search engine (it uses Google) that will occasionally reward a point or two to your account just for searching! Sometimes it displays special codes you can enter to win additional points, and if you have friends sign up using your link, then you get a point every time they get a point. I signed up about a month ago, and I am already more than halfway to redeeming my points for a $20 Target giftcard (the prize I have been aiming for!) This is seriously easy, and if you use search engines a lot, it is a quick, easy, and free way to earn a little extra!

A departure from Family Happenings...

For all my mommy friends who check my blog, I thought I'd share a little tip! I have recently gotten all obsessed with the mega-coupon craze, and I am all into clipping coupons, matching sales, and saving $$$$$$. :) But sometimes I can find ways to save money without even clipping! Here's one that might work for your family: stretch that juice! Juice is expensive, but we love it here in our household. The children are not fond of me watering it down with tap water, but I did discover that if you "water it down" with seltzer water, it serves so many purposes! First, my girl thinks she's having soda (taboo in my home), second, the sugar factor of the juice is diminished, and third, since seltzer water is so CHEAP, I'm stretching my juice dollar! Hooray!

Just a little tidbit for your day!
:)

And you thought Jaws was a shark.

Nate, my sweet, easy-going fellow, had a bad night last night. Did not want to sleep in his own crib - wanted to be in bed next to mama! I wondered what in the world could be wrong - his top two teeth finally cut, he didn't seem to be gassy, i didn't think he was sick... so i was a little baffled! But I just did a check of those gums a second ago, and I can't believe it, but we are welcoming two more top teeth! 7 Months Old, and already 6 teeth! He's just perfecting his sweet grin, I guess.

Apple Time!

We hit a couple of orchards last month, one for picking and picnicking, and one just for photo ops and apple purchasing. But I think we got some great pictures, and we definitely got great apples! Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Jonagold - my new favorite. Makes the best apple crisps. We've had two so far - they don't last very long! Next on the plan is an apple pie, but I have to work on a gluten-free crust that doesn't taste like a glue stick. Might have to stick with the crisp after all!

Nate's Baptism

Nate was baptised three weeks ago today, and I just wanted to share a couple of sweet pictures! We were very surprised and deeply moved to have half the congregation (at least it seemed like that many!) stand up with us when our minister gave the standard "Anyone who wishes may come stand in support of the family" invitation. Every baptism and dedication is special, but this one was especially meaningful to us after Nathan's questionable start to life. His life has been rooted in prayer and in faith more than anyone I've ever known! So his baptism was very meaningful to our family. It was, of course, a beautiful ceremony, and we were so blessed to be able to share it with most of our family. Betsy was the perfect little lady all day, gracious and well-behaved - I was so proud of her! It has to be hard to be 4 years old and have someone ELSE getting the attention! Ha ha!

Nathan wore his dad's baptism outfit, a little Feltman Brothers john-john, and it fit perfectly. Once we got home, though, I changed him into another outfit - my little spitter was not going to have a chance to stain the 35-year-old outfit! He was very well-behaved all day, listening intently to the minister (seriously! he couldn't keep his eyes off him!), and having a good nap and a nice lunch despite the barbeque we hosted at home following the service.

Welcome to the fold, Nate!

We're still here!

I decided to take the summer off of blogging, but summer turned to fall before I knew it, and I am just now posting for the first time since school got out at the beginning of the summer! We had a great summer, enjoying our newly enlarged family. Betsy and I did homeschool throughout the summer, and she made some great improvements! She learned to identify every number, 1-10, with no problem, and she learned to write each one (although they are often backwards!) We worked on letter sounds and sounding out words, and we worked on spelling groups of rhyming words. We cooked and baked a lot for our math lessons, and had some time observing the world outside for our science. She worked her way through several 4K workbooks, and even started work on books for 5K! She is increasing her knowledge about Bible people and Bible times, thanks in part to a great Sunday School program we were able to attend a few times this summer. She is continuing to work on all these things in school this fall, and 4K seems to be off to a great start.

Nate just kept getting healthier and healthier all summer, and now has absolutely no sign of his breathing issues. Just a healthy, bouncing baby boy! He is a joyful, peaceful little man. He is a great sleeper, though sometimes he still likes to have one extra feeding in the middle of the night. But I don't mind! He is growing great, and zooming up the percentage charts after a bit of a small start. He now has all four of his frontmost teeth, two on the bottom and two on top, and he likes to suck his lips in to "feel" his teeth - like a little old man without his dentures! And everything - EVERYTHING - goes straight into his mouth. I believe our latest discovery is a piece of pinestraw, clamped firmly behind his little pursed lips! So we have gotten him a pretty big "playpen" that we have set up in the den so that he can have an area safe from small objects. As of this post he is not officially crawling, but he is so close it is quite possible he could be crawling within the hour! He still manages to get from point A to point B, through a combination of scooting, rolling, and changing positions, and he has developed a love of standing on "all fours" (feet and hands). Yesterday he would not sit down in his playpen, and just stood there, grinning, holding onto the side. We think he may want to walk before he crawls! Definitely a boy!

We were able to have some quick getaways to the beach and to the mountains, and just generally had a great summer. I have a wonderful little family! So blessed!