Over General Conference weekend we went to visit my Dad in southern Missouri. We hadn't been to see him and Mom since last Gen Conf in April. Ally had a great time coloring with Gamma and playing on the farm with Gampa.
Last weekend was fun. My Dad came up for Trinity (Trebor and Liz's youngest) baby blessing. We went over to their place after Sacrament for some family time. It's not often that all of us get together - and it was a houseful! Luckily the weather was beautiful so we spent most of the time outside. I was feeling pretty tired and very pregnant so didn't move around a whole lot. Ally had a good ol' time running around. That girl is quick! We blocked off where the guys were cooking (they were doing a fish fry) but somehow Ally ran under a table, or around it, or something. But she ended up looking off to the side, and running full speed right at one of the bubbling fryers full of hot oil. I saw her but couldn't get there in time - all I could yell was "Trebor Trebor Trebor!" since he was standing near the fryer. He caught her before she ran into it, thank goodness. That pretty much ended the fun I was having that afternoon. I couldn't stop thinking "what if..." Everything was good though. And we got to spend some fun time with Dad. Ally was finally warming up to him more and calling him "Gampa."
Ernest has been working a lot of overtime this last week, putting in 12 hour days for the most part. I'm trying to keep up with the house and Allyson by myself, but I'm not doing such a good job with it. Especialy because I've been working about 50 hours a week myself. Luckily I can bring my computer home and dial in after Ally goes to sleep (though I just want to go to sleep at the same time).
Thursday I called my sister, JoAnn, to see if she wanted to go shopping with Ally and myself. She had been planning on going swimming at the Matt Ross Community Center, and invited us to go with her. Allyson was so funny. She was scared to death at first, just shivering and grabbing my neck any time I went a little deeper in the water. Eventually she loosened up and began to splash, kick her legs, paddle her hands, and put her face under water and blow bubbles. She is very big on naming things right now. At the pool, what do you see a lot of? That's right - Water. All night we kept hearing "Water" (more like "wawa") and had her pointing everywhere. It was like a dog that sees a squirrel. She was laughing so hard. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to going back over there again.
One night I was standing in our room, and felt a big weight on my foot. I looked down, and there was Ally with her blanket and raisins, all snuggled up on the floor. Guess it was time for bed!
Later that night we put her to bed, and then she woke up crying hysterically a couple of hours later. I went in to hold her, thinking maybe she had a nightmare or something. I couldn't get her to stop crying. She was flailing around and putting her hands at her mouth. She started coughing, and would cry even more when she coughed, liked it hurt her. I wondered if she had swallowed something and was choking. I called for Ernest, and I swept my finger through her mouth and tried to look at the back of her throat. As far as I could tell nothing was wrong, but she was so wound up by this point that she was choking herself. We tried giving her a drink of water, and a small piece of icee (usually distracts her enough that she'll calm down). When neither of these things worked I began to get really worried. She would tuck her head in the crook of my neck for a moment, and then fling her head back with the next coughing/crying fit. Ernest gave her a quick blessing, and we called 911. I couldn't see putting her in her carseat and driving to the hospital when she was coughing/choking so badly. That was the worst feeling - holding my baby girl while she was crying, obviously distraught and in pain, and I couldn't think of anything else do to for her other than talk to her and pray. The ambulance showed up. And what does Ally do - she sees the flashing lights, stops crying for a moment, points to the ambulance, and says "Truck." I was so relieved, and so scared still at the same time. The EMTs were fabulous. Talking us through what had happened and trying to evaluate Ally. She had calmed down a LOT but she was still crying pretty hard and freaked out if they tried to touch her. In the end, that was a good thing. They said she was responding the way they would expect a 19 month old to, and her breathing was clear then. They let me take her out to the ambulance so she could see it (she kept pointing and saying "Truck" - she has a toy ambulance too). They gave her a little baby doll too. I was so afraid to put her back in her crib. I held her in the living room and cuddled her until she fell asleep. It took a couple of hours more for me to be able to fall asleep though. We're to call her Doctor on Monday and fill her in to see if they want to see her. But today, she's been a little gem. I haven't been that scared since I got a call on my birthday 3 years ago from the paramedics telling me Ernest had been in an accident and for me to meet them at the hospital. He was fine then too, but I sure didn't feel fine! Oh, the adventures of being a parent.
