Breathing Easier

We have been so blessed on this trip. We could not have asked for better weather. Everything is working out the way we hoped. Unfortunately, there is always opposition. Parker's allergy induced asthma is back. Luckily it's not as bad as it was the last time we visited my mom. No trips to Insta Care for breathing treatments.

Heath remembered to bring the inhaler he was prescribed when he had bronchitis a month or so ago. Too bad we didn't think to bring Parker's inhaler since it comes with the dosing mask. Yesterday we were giving Parker so many doses from the inhaler. Mostly because he wasn't breathing it all in like he was supposed to. The air would puff out around him. Gavin was asking if we were letting Parker smoke. "It looks like smoking!" he would say.

Heath went out to get some Benadryl or something for Parker since he was not doing well at all. I hate watching my kids not be able to take full breaths. Parker's breathing was shallow and labored and it looked like he was struggling so hard for every breath. Heath braved the snow on a Sunday night and came back with Claritin.

I was nervous to let Parker sleep in the back storage room with Gavin while Heath and I were across the house in a bedroom with Gwen. We stayed up really late. Heath had to work on some things for work anyway. But it was a great excuse to stay up and obsessively check on Parker. He was still struggling to get in full breaths while his chest was really sucking in and out but he was asleep. He seemed like he would be ok. I prayed so hard for Heavenly Father to watch out for my baby.

Gwen started coughing in the middle of the night. She couldn't get underneath it so she was gagging on her coughs. I wanted to cry and just go home. After her coughing fits happened several times we gave her a puff of the inhaler too. I think she's fine. She has been snotty since we got here. I think she is coming down with a cold and the dry air aggravates her cold. Gavin seemed to be warm tonight. He has been complaining of stomach pain since he puked in Sacramento. I think he's ok too.

Parker was still struggling this morning. Coughing constantly. Shallow breathing. So I gave him a bath to help clean off whatever it is he's allergic to. Heath and I decided that we wanted to buy a sleeping bag for Parker. We didn't know if it would help but we figured it couldn't hurt either.

We had lunch at Winger's. Then we went to Cabela's. My mom thought the kids would like the taxidermy animals. I thought that was strange but it was actually pretty cool. There were several neat displays of animals. The kids really did like it. I gave them a quarter to buy fish food for the fish swimming at the bottom of one of the displays.

We found some great sleeping bags for the kids. We weren't planning on spending nearly $100 on camping equipment right now but it seemed like a good idea. The kids were thrilled with their new sleeping bags.

They came with flashlights and water bottles.

And a handy backpack to carry it all in.

The kids loved wearing their backpacks when we got home.

Parker was so excited to have his new sleeping bag on his bed. He put his pajamas right after dinner. He couldn't wait to go to bed!

His favorite feature was the mummy feature. He kept calling it a mommy bag and baby bag!

Parker had to supervise everyone getting their sleeping bags set up.

He loved when Gavin was cinched up like a mummy.

Of course we didn't mummify Gwen. She was pretty excited about her sleeping bag too. I feel better with her in the sleeping bag because I always worried about her keeping all her blankets on while she slept.

The great news is that Parker may have coughed like crazy the whole time we were at my mom's house today but he never needed the inhaler. We could tell when the Claritin started to wear off. He got another 24 hour dose before bed and I think he is breathing much easier than he was last night. I am so glad. I hate that he gets asthma at my mom's house. We don't even know what causes it. Poor little guy.