Aubree's 2 year old well check

We went on May 11th for Aubree's well check. She did so great and went along with everything they wanted to do. Her stats were:


weight: 29 pounds (77%)


height: 34 1/4 inches (61%)


head: 47 3/4 cm (56%)




I asked about her allergies and if we could get tested. Our pediatrican in Vegas suggested it once she turned 2 since she has allergies to peanuts and tree nuts. We just had to do a blood test so we went to the hospital to have her blood drawn. I know the nurses were dreading having a child (especially a 2 year old) for a blood draw. Aubree did great! She didn't even cry and went along with what they said to do! Good girl!!

Happy Birthday Aubree!!

Going out to dinner



Aubree's friend Mr. Lee "high five man"
whose family lives in Thailand. He calls
Aubree his "little friend".

Aubree's DORA kitchen!

Playing with the punch balls!

Aubree woke up at 5:45am and saw her DORA kitchen! She loves it. She opened up her other presents (puzzle, purse, ELMO potty movie, fake food and utensils and CEU pom, poms) and was very excited. Aubree had pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. She played most of the morning and then we went to the party store to get balloons. We had pizza for lunch, had a nap and picked up Prescott from school. Dada came home for a bit so we headed over to China Buffet. Aubree loves Mr. Lee! We came home and had strawberry cake, ice cream and fun with the punch balloons! It was a fun day!!!

Prescott's field trip

Prescott's class went to Salt Lake City (2 hours away) to visit the Living Planet Aquarium for a field trip. They took a school bus. His teacher made the class the cute shirts. He had a great time and was exhausted when he came home.

The Rhino adventure!

The boys on the CEU Police Rhino!


A town close to us, Kenilworth


Climbing


The CEU sign at the top of the hill


Overlooking Price


GREAT fun!

Alex and Prescott took a ride on the Rhino around the Price area. They took a picnic and enjoyed checking everything out.

Aubree's new toys

Aubree's 2nd birthday is coming up May 7th so she got some packages in the mail!! Thank you so much, she loves them.


Aubree got a magnet puzzle from her cousins in Spain!


Aubree got baby Sally from her godmother in Germany, Sylvie!


Baby Sally will get sick so you have to put the pacifer in her mouth and give her medicine. When she is all better she laughs. She even came with diapers!!

Aubree's new haircut

We kept thinking that Aubree's hair was always messy and just not looking good. We are so used to Prescott's short hair and not sure how to "style" her hair. She usually gets her haircut from the woman that cuts my hair and she was hesitant to cut her hair much. Alex had a meeting in SLC so I took Aubree to a kid's haircut place. She LOVED it. They had a slide, she sat in a pink poodle car and got a lolipop with balloon at the end. We like her hair so much better!!

Prescott's new bike

Prescott got a new bike for his birthday and Christmas but we didn't want to have to move it to Price. We waited for the weather to get nicer here and then picked one out. He loves it and rides it everyday!

Happy Easter!

Aubree and Prescott saw the Easter bunny at an egg hunt at Creekside Country Club.


My brother Jim and sister in law Melanie with the kids




Kris Olsen and Noah with Alex, Prescott and Aubree

Easter dinner

I'm back to blogging. I'll make a better effort to post more often...

We went to Salem, OR to visit my brother Jim and his wife Melanie for Easter. It was an adventure!!! We drove 2 hours from Price to Salt Lake City. Once at the airport and bags checked, we realized that we forgot the kids carseats in the car. Alex rushed to get them and off to security. Alex lost his driver's license! He looked everywhere and I suggested that he go back to the check in counter. He went there and they just turned one it. He recovered it and we were off to the plane with a few mini pizzas in hand. Thank goodness we had an hour "buffer" time planned.

While on our trip we went to Portland for lunch with the Olsen family and a trip to the Rose Gardens. We also made some time for the Woodburn Outlet mall (NO sales tax) and lots of quality family time. Our trip home was much smoother since Prescott didn't have school on Monday so it was a breeze!

Aubree stats

11/19/08
18 months old
Weight: 24 pounds (50%)
Height: 33 1/4 inches (75-90%)

Aubree is 18 months!

Time goes by so quickly. Aubree is 18 months old today. She is a complete joy! Aubree LOVES Elmo, singing, eating, watching TV (she points to the tv and says TV!), playing outside, riding her bike and doing ANYTHING that brother does. She is talking more each day and enjoys routines. She is saying "cheese" in the 2nd picture. We love you Aubree!

Update on my brother Jim

October 28, 2008

Medical update from Melanie Culveyhouse (Jim’s wife)

On Monday, October 6th Jim was admitted to the Salem Hospital for, what we thought was a mild case of pneumonia. We were instructed by his pulmonologist, Dr. John Silver, to go to the emergency room and have them evaluate Jim. By the time we got him to the emergency room Jim was in respiratory distress; I knew we were safe because we were in the hospital, but I was really scared. Emergency staff put him on his BiPap/AVAPS machine which assisted his breathing and allowed the doctor to get his heart rate down and his oxygen levels up.

Many tests were done and lots of antibiotics were given those first two days. Dr. Silver told us Tuesday night “it was time for a trach to be placed.” Because Jim’s lungs are compromised by ALS placing a tube in his trachea opens his airway and allows him to breath on his own or on a ventilator.

A tracheostomy was done on Thursday, October 9th by Dr. Nicole Vander Hayden, a trauma surgeon at Salem Hospital . She was wonderful!! From surgery, Jim was placed on a ventilator and sent to ICU. In ICU the goal was to get Jim off the ventilator during the day and only use at night while sleeping. The first two days that worked great - then the bottom fell out!
Jim started to decline and decline fast. He was unresponsive and his vitals were the pits. I have to admit I thought we were losing him on Monday, October13th. As we later found out Jim not only had a very severe case of pneumonia, he was battling sepsis (Sepsis has been dubbed the medical "perfect storm" because it is a medical crisis that can attack patients who are fighting off even seemingly nonfatal illnesses or injuries. Severe sepsis killed Muppets creator Jim Henson, who had been hospitalized for pneumonia, and recently took the life of actor Christopher Reeve, who was being treated for pressure sores of the skin. With this insidious illness, the body attacks itself. Bacteria inside the body may grow out of control or invade the body from the outside through wounds or IV lines. Sepsis is not an infection; it is a systemic inflammatory response syndrome to an infection, which poses dire risk of organ damage and death.) and kidney failure (due to the sepsis).
By Tuesday night, October 14th Jim was showing signs of improvement but he was very disoriented and delusional from the disease and medications. On Wednesday, I had not slept at the hospital and I arrived that morning at 7:30. The respirator therapist came in at 8:00a for Jim’s normal treatments. He turned to walk out of the room; I was standing at the bedside holding Jim’s hand. Before the Respiratory (our hero Mike Phillips) therapist got to the door Jim starting struggling to breath and is oxygen saturation levels fell like a rock. Mike acted great care and precision in getting the appropriate help for Jim. Mike called for Dr. Silver. When Dr. Silver arrived he accessed the situation and cleared the room of unnecessary people and started to work on Jim. A mucous plug had lodged in Jim’s airway (Dr. Silver said to tell Jim it was the size of a golf ball) and it needed to be cleared. It took lotttttttts of medication to calm Jim down, so he rested most of that day. When I was explaining what happened to my family, it was like a scene out of the television show ER. It was like a perfectly choreographed dance, everyone knew what to do and when.
After Wednesday, Jim steadily improved. We were told a date of Oct. 23rd was the target date for release. In order for Jim to be released from the hospital, all caregivers had to learn to take care of his “new” medical needs. We attended classes and passed our 24 hour test (we had to care for Jim for 24 hours.) Last Thursday Jim was sent home in an ambulance accompanied by two very pretty blond, female paramedics!!
We’ve been home five days and Jim continues to regain his strength. The ventilator is going well and we are creating a new “normal” around our house.
As many of you know, Jim and I have a very strong faith in Our Lord, Jesus Christ. He was with us at every turn. The care and the people He placed in our path were nothing short of a miracle. We felt every prayer and witnessed God’s power and mercy first hand.
Jim and I want to thank you for the many prayers and calls of concern. We especially want to thank my sisters Dee and Melinda and our friends Robin and Peter who spent numerous hours by our side in the hospital and with our family helping to keep things going.
Much love to all,
Melanie

Great Harvest Halloween Bash

Tonight we went to Great Harvest Bread Company. They had a story teller, face painting, cookie decorating and lots of fun!

"Prescott's" homework

Each week Prescott is to recite his high frequency words into a tape player for bonus points on his homework. Instead of a tape player, we make a video with our digital camera. Alex works on it and makes it into a production. The kids in class enjoy it greatly each week!

Columbus Day

Prescott made this hat in kindergarten and wanted to share some facts with you!

My brother Jim

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

As you know, my brother Jim has ALS...he's had some trouble breathing this weekend so they went to the ER. He was admitted to the hospital and is having a Tracheotomy today. Please keep him in your thoughts. His wife Melanie's sister has been there visiting so it's nice she has that support. I'll post more when I know more...

www.jimculveyhouse.com

My brother Jim's update!

September 22, 2008 Update from Jim Culveyhouse
Oregon Spokesperson for MDA-ALS Research
jculveyhouse@comcast.net
www.jimculveyhouse.com


Hello friends, enjoy the first day of autumn and a new update on my website, www.jimculveyhouse.com Please take the time to read it.

I’ve selected a new Spotlight person on the front page. It's Alex Herzog!!!! Go to the website and read the spotlight. www.jimculveyhouse.com

As I said in my last update every time we do an update on the home page on the left hand side we are going to feature someone who has influenced me in some way that should receive a little extra recognition. If they have a website, we will direct you to their website, if they don’t we’ll direct you to a page of how they influenced me.

Thank you to all of those who participated in the ALS walk on Saturday the 20th at Riverfront Park in Salem in support of ALS patients and families.

Also, a big “thank you” to all who took part in the “Race for the Cure” this past Sunday. This event drew over 40,000 people in Portland and rose between 2.5 and 3 million dollars. Melanie, my wife, was at both; she has organized a team for the “Race for the Cure” for many years now as we’ve been touched like most people by this horrible disease.

Melanie’s sister passed away 3 years ago, her 15 and 17 year old girls live with us; we had an employee pass away, one of my wife’s best friends passed away, one of our best friends who I call HERO has beat it twice and Friday I heard one of my best friends from Georgia and best man in our wedding was diagnosed with this terrible disease.

They are both terrible diseases, the problem with ALS is it’s so little known, so terribly under funded (look above the ALS walk was for support, the Race for the cure raised 2.5-3 million in one day which is great), that people don’t relate to it.
That’s what my website is all about – to raise awareness, let people become educated about the disease and hopefully donate what they can as there is no direct funding except from individuals for ALS and ALS is incurable.

So why don’t you celebrate the first day of autumn by reading the website and considering a donation, the minimum is only $5.00. I’ve always said whatever you give; you’ll get twice back in return. Think about it and consider helping the researchers, scientists and doctors that are desperately looking for grants from people like my website to work on a cure for this incurable, horrible disease. Enjoy the update!

Goodies With Grandparents

This morning was Goodies with Grandparents at Prescott's school. Since his grandparents don't live in Las Vegas, he invited his teacher's assistant, Ms. Mae. She was thrilled!! It was such a great time, he was quite the gentleman on his first date!

Dance Party!!

The kids love to dance on the step by the front door!!

Build and Grow Clinic at Lowe's

Prescott and Dada went to Lowe's to build a pirate ship on Saturday!! He got a child's apron with a patch that says he built a pirate ship and a certificate. Several of his friends also attended including his teacher!!

Prescott's homework

Each week Prescott has to do a math sheet, phonics/handwriting sheet, reading log and then a high frequency word activity (from a list of 11). One of the activities is to tape record the words. We didn't have a tape recorder so Mama video taped Prescott with the digital camera and sent it to his teacher by email. If he completes more than one activity, he gets extra points and happy tickets. Happy tickets can be used towards class jobs or extra privileges (taking his shoes off, etc.). Prescott has been completing all 11 of the activities each week. We are so proud of him!!