Bubbles' Miracle, Tickle Bugs & Hallie's Cake

Last night Gage went on visits with the Elder's Quorum Presidency and then played basketball at the church. When he got home both kids were sleeping, and so we got ready for bed. Gage got in bed, then decided he was still hungry. So he headed downstairs to the kitchen. I had just fallen asleep when I hear Gage thundering up the stairs yelling. "McKenna come quick! You've got to see this. He's still ALIVE!" So I jump out of bed with Gage pulling my arm and dragging me downstairs, Demanding "Who's alive?" Gage quickly tells me, "the fish!" I was ticked... let me rewind and tell you why this was my first reaction... About a month ago due to my ill care for the fish bowl, Nemo passed away. The next time I cleaned Bubbles' bowl Gage made a big joke about Bubbles surviving for another fish bowl cleaning. So yes, while Gage was gone on visits for church I had once again cleaned the fish bowl. (I do it religiously every Tuesday, but Cheyenne was in the hospital this past Tuesday. So it waited until Thursday.).... Now can you see why I was upset! I thought Gage dragged me out off bed to rub it in once again that I had killed our other fish!
I stopped where I was on the stairs and said, "Ha ha, yes, I cleaned the fishbowl today." But Gage insisted I come look. He said "No. Look where he is!" So I looked in the fish bowl and... NO BUBBLES! Gage then pointed him out to me on the stove. He really was still alive, but barely!. Gage threw him back in the water and he went belly up. Gage is such a good Dad. He was determined to save Trevin's fish. He pushed this fish around in the water (with chop sticks) until miraculously he revived! He kind of swims crooked now, and has spastic swimming episodes if you tap the bowl, but he's alive! We decided that he must of actually jumped out of the bowl and flopped his way over to the stove. Gage took out some of the water, just to be safe.
You can kind of see in this picture that Bubbles is tilted to the left. But more important, you can see the parts of his fins that dried out and broke off during his near death experience. He had really long flowy tail fins before.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that Bubbles lives a long life. But for now, we are just thrilled that Dad was hungry before bed, and thankful that he was a HERO and saved Bubbles.

________________________________

A couple of Mondays ago, Trevin was standing in his bedroom with his hands in his pockets. When I asked him what he was doing, he pulled his hands out of his pockets, with his hands in little fists he looked at me and whispered, "Look Mom." So I knelled down and asked what he had. He said, "Look," and pushed his fists out toward me a little. He had the most serious facial expression. So I came closer, and looked really hard at his hands and I asked, "What is it?" He whispered something back, but I couldn't tell what he said, so I told him to show me. At this point I was only inches away from him. He broke out into a big smile and started tickling me yelling "Ticktle Bugs!" I laughed so hard. I have no idea who taught him this, but he loves to do it. He does it to everyone... and gets so excited if someone asks to see his tickle bugs. I finally caught it with the camera, this look that tells the unsuspecting victim he is up to something, when he pulls the tickle bugs out of his pockets!

_______________________________________

Hallie is the only one in the family with a birthday in January so she got to decide what kind of cake we had. She told me "A horsey cake." So here it is Hallie's horsey cake!

She totally loved it, I was so excited. I ran out of frosting before it was completely frosted but it still tasted good. I think all my niece's are catching on that I like to make cakes. I already have requests from Brinlee and Raigen for their next birthday cakes... Their birthdays are in October and December! I have a ton to learn, but it's fun to do, especially for family. Where no one really cares if it turns out looking awful, no pressure, just the way I like it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALLIE!

BIG PAPA

Norman Ray Canova (AKA: BIG PAPA)These are the last pictures I have with Grandpa, they were taken in May. Cheyenne a little upset about being moved, but calmed down really quick in Big Papa's arms.

Trevin was so cute, Big Papa lost his vision to diabetes, but Trevin didn't understand that, so he would tell big Papa "knuckles" then when Grandpa put out his hand in the wrong place, Trevin would move it to be right next to his. Then Trevin would ball up his own hand and give him knuckles. I have lots of great memories with Big Papa, listening to his police scanner, doing wooden animal puzzles that he made, M&M dispensers.... We are gunna miss him!

I want to add just a couple pictures from the funeral. The first is of the Flag ceremony. Big Papa served in the US. Navy and US. Air Force. He was also a Sheriff fro 30+ years in California.

I love this one with the single red rose from Grandma Donna.
There was only a graveside service, which I thought was very nice. Toward the end of the service we each got a chance to give a flower to grandma and a hug. All the Yellow flowers represent Big Papa's kids, and their spouses. The Pinks are his Grandchildren and their spouses. The peach/orange are all of the Great Grandchildren. The red rose is from Grandma. I thought it was really neat to see all the roses together, that just represented family.
"We all looked up to him- literally and figuratively....His example in adversity will be an inspiration to us all. We look forward to a joyful reunion with him in the Eternities."

Until we meet again, I love you Big Papa!

WHAT A NIGHT

Sunday night Cheyenne started acting sick... whining, slight fever, could be because she is getting more teeth.
Monday morning brought a cough, but no more fevers, still whining.
Monday afternoon happy as a lark, occasionally cough harsh sounding.
Monday night after falling asleep at the usual 9 pm. Cheyenne woke up at 11:30 pm barking, crying, upper respiratory congestion/rattling - sounds like a ball vibrating in her throat with her breathing. A quick run to walmart at midnight for a humidifier. Got back and Dad had her asleep. Turned it on, minimal coughing through the night.
Tuesday morning wheezing, still rattling, mild difficulty breathing, occasional bark like cough (she got really good at suppressing them) Decided that after her nap it was time to see a doctor.
Tuesday afternoon took Trevin to Grandmas and off to insta care with Cheyenne. Got in in less than 30 minutes (barely). Waited for the doc while the nurse put on a oxygen Saturation monitor. O2 levels were low, 85-89%. Chest x-ray=lungs clear... croup positive. Breathing treatment that improved the wheezing but not her O2 levels. What does this all lead to?
ADMISSION TO THE HOSPITAL! I tried to convince the doc to let me take her home with O2 for the night but he told me she would need some IV steroids to open up her throat, so I caved like a good mom and agreed to go to the hospital. We got there just before 5pm.
TUESDAY NIGHT... just like any computer problem, all you need to do is call someone to come look at it and it fixes itself, we made it up to the re and they put the O2 monitor on her... 97%. The Resident came to see us and still wanted to watch her overnight. Seeing as croup gets worse when kids fall asleep. And wanted her to be here in case she needed a breathing treatment, etc. Her nurse brought in her dose of steroids, not IV just a shot, and tada... she was healed. We spent the rest of the night with the nurse checking on my perfect sleeping baby every 2 hrs and the respiratory therapist also checking on my sleeping baby every 4 hrs. You couldn't even hear her breathe! No one had to do anything... except bug Cheyenne by waking her up every couple hours.
Until it was bedtime I think Cheyenne loved all the attention, she was feeling much better after her shot.
Showing off her room and her new bed for the night... she didn't like it much.. good thing we had her favorite blanket.
Her new digs for the night... her cute little white t-shirt. Daddy came to visit after he had gotten Trevin from Grandma's house, feed him dinner, and took him to play at Sugar's for a couple hours. Cheyenne was to distracted by Dad's arrival to eat, but she sure loved that spoon. This next picture is really blurry but still cute. 2-3am. "Hi Mom" with her little E.T. toe glowing. She is leaning over the edge of the crib to get goldfish off the table. Wednesday morning breakfast time. Cheyenne never wakes up earlier than 7:45 am. But I guess she was tired of everyone waking her up and it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to go back to sleep. So 6:00am we were both up. Cheyenne loves goldfish, anytime of the day!Here are her cute little feet. I'm not sure why the put everything on kids legs at the hospital... I think they must forget that kids this age love to play with their feet! She loved playing with her ankle ID band and the wire that was attached to her other foot.

The doc came up at around 7:30 am, and was surprised to find out that Cheyenne hadn't needed oxygen or breathing treatments. I just wished he would have apologized for putting us through this hassle.

In the end, "all's well that ends well" right! We are just glad to be home and healthy.

CHOP CHOP

I have always cut Trevin's hair with out the slightest bit of nervousness. After all Gage's favorite line when I was learning to cut his hair was, "Do you know what the difference is between a good and bad boy's haircut is?... Two weeks." So I knew that if I did a total hack job, it would be fixable in two weeks.
Not the same with a girl! Cheyenne's hair on the top of her head was a good 2 inches longer than the rest of her hair (it never got rubbed off). I finally got up the guts to cut it off. I was so afraid that I would cut it off then hate myself for doing it, that it would look worse than it did when it was long and hanging in her eyes.

She didn't want to sit still, she was sure that she should be able to play with the scissors. Gage wasn't home to help, he was opposed to cutting her hair until she was at least one, but after a couple weeks he gave in and said I could. So I decided to spare him having to watch. All the stress was for nothing. It turned out fine, even though it isn't professional, and has a couple uneven spots. I think she looks very cute, now it can all grow in together. The best part... I can still put it up in ponytails like before. YEAH!Some other new achievements for Cheyenne... At 9 months 3 weeks and 2 days old, she finally figured out how to crawl! I loved the immobile stage, but she has been so frustrated for the past couple weeks trying to figure this out, now she is so much happier! About 2 weeks ago she learned how to sit herself up from her belly, so at least I had a warning that this was just around the corner (and a little time to prep the house).

She loves to follow Trevin around (and MOM) she has already started to try pulling herself up on things, but hasn't tried standing up. She is so much fun to watch, I absolutely love her!HAPPY 10 MONTH BIRTHDAY!

TREVIN THE COWBOY...

I had to add this in here, it's one I don't want to forget. Last night Trevin saw Gage's cowboy hat in our closet and said "Dad, COWBOY hat, Trevin Mease" (translation- Please) So Gage got it down and gave it to him. He put it on his head and walked out of the closet. Where he immediately stopped. Bent his knees out like they were bowed. Took off his hat and swung it around in a circle above his head, while he yelled, "YEE HAW!" I laughed so hard.

I grabbed the camera and tried to get Trevin to do it again... this is as close as I got, you can see that he is saying Yeehaw in the picture. I love this kid!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know it is hard to believe but all four Crabtree's were awake to see the ball drop! We hung out with friends for the first part of the evening, then we headed over to Sugar and Chief's house for the main event. We got there at 11:50 pm, just enough time for Cassidy to teach Trevin how to bang pots and pans. After trying out a couple different methods Trevin decide that bashing two pot lids together was the funnest/loudest option. I think he was a little bit surprised that we were encouraging all the noise making, but he got over it pretty quick... it's a good thing we didn't get over there any earlier, we may have all gone deaf!
We've taken a lot of pictures this year, but here it is the final picture of us in 2009! (remember I said we were awake... I never said we weren't tired!) Sugar, Chief and Cassidy... Getting ready for 2010! (They are obviously more accustomed to the late hours.)Trevin thought it was great that everyone went outside to yell and bang the pots and pans. I think he would have stayed outside banging those lids together all night if we had let him! Cheyenne was content with the softer sound of two metal spoons. She was so happy that night. A toast to kick off the NEW YEAR! Trevin and Cheyenne weren't so sure about the sparkling cider, but it's one of my favorites.

You can see in our toasting picture that Sugar is already in her apron, which leads in to the best part of the night... FIRST BREAKFAST! Every year on New Year's my parents host a breakfast, served from 12-2 am. All you can eat pancakes, sausage, and eggs. Delicious. We were first in line and enjoyed every bite. Then we headed downstairs to play the Wii. The crowd started to show up around 12:30am, when the party is over everywhere else that's when it starts at the Canova house. We skipped out on the "movies, til the sun comes up" portion of the night, we were all ready for bed, can you blame us, it's been a very full year! HAPPY NEW YEAR!