Family is like fudge. Mostly sweet, with a few nuts.

We hit the road again. This time for an interview in St Louis. The weather on the way there was horrible. We drove most of the way in pouring rain and several patches of hail. It was super loud and took quite a bit longer than normal. Luckily the boys were super good and enjoyed watching the rain out the windows.

We stayed with the McGees and it was really fun to catch up with them. Heath really enjoyed their Guenna pig. :)

While Matt was at the school touring and interviewing the boys and I went to the science center. We were hoping to go to the Zoo, but it was pouring most of the day. We got there just about lunch time so stopped and ate our pb&h sandwiches.

Houston was super good the whole time and Heath wasn't too crazy either.

Im not sure but I think we had a puzzle just like this growing up. Blocks with views of different birds on each side. I know I played with one somewhere as a child, it definitely brought back memories.

We especially loved the bridge. It wasn't very busy so Houston and I parked ourselves on a bench while Heath ran and ran.

The double stroller Aunt Becca gave us has been a life saver! It wouldn't have been possible without!

After we picked up Matt we headed towards Springfield to visit my family. Shortly after getting there Heath asked me to open a candy for him he had found.

My first thought was,"No you don't need it." but Matt had just talked to me about how I don't let Heath do things, a lot of the time for no good reason, always too protective, don't let him learn for himself, sort of stuff. Which is pretty true for the most part. But anyways, because we had just had that discussion I went against my initial thought and opened the candy and gave it to him. Shortly thereafter Heath started choking. He was screaming every so often so I knew he could breath but the candy was definitely stuck in his throat. I was staying calm and trying to get him to calm down and hopefully get it down on his own. My sister on the other hand was freaking out and started yelling that we needed help and that I was going to kill him by not doing anything. My dad heard her and came running upstairs and started whacking Heath on the back to dislodge the candy. Well this just got the candy stuck, and he quit breathing. I tried the regular Heimlich a bit but nothing was happening. So we decided to just jump in the car and get to the hospital 3 minutes down the road. Dad called 911 to tell them we were on our way and drove fast! By the time we got out to the main road though Heath had worked it out and was doing ok. He started talking, "Mommy, candy, owie, neck." in a very raspy voice.
When we got to the ER he seemed to be just fine again and even took a drink of water for us. Dad and I checked in and talked with a nurse about what happened and asked if there was any reason to stay or if we could just leave. She asked a Dr and they said we should probably get him Xrayed to make sure it didn't go down into his lungs which could cause problems in the coming days. By this time Matt was there (he had taken his brothers home at the time of the incident) so I was starting to feel much better. Heath and I got there about 8pm. After we checked in they took us to a secluded area so we wouldn't be around all the sickly people in the waiting area which was super nice! Some of those people looked so horrible. Heath ran and ran and jumped all around. There was a TV with a Notre Dame tournament game on so that helped bide the time a little bit.

When we were about ready to go make sure they hadn't forgotten about us (12:00am) they called us back for the Xray. That was done really fast and they took us to another room where we waited....

and waited...

and waited!

about 2:00am we may have gotten a little loopy...

Heath would not fall asleep and we were all so exhausted. About every hour they came in to check Heath's vitals which in the beginning was a huge ordeal, but as the night went on and we all got tireder Heath would just kinda lay there and let them do it. They kept saying they were waiting on a radiologist to read the xray. When they would leave the room we may have said things like, "How hard is it to see if there is a piece of candy on the picture?" "Just let me see it, I'll tell you." "I could have driven all the way to the vet we know in Branson, had him xray Heath, and then driven home by now." but maybe we didn't. Surely we wouldn't say things like that! Anyways they brought a popsicle in for Heath to be sure he could eat ok. At 3am I went out and said I had a nursing baby we had left with family and wondered if it was going to be much longer, if they needed to bring him here so he could eat, or if we would be done soon? They said they'd check, and a few minutes later the Dr came in and said the xray was clear and we could go.

I learned a few things that day:

1- When you have a feeling that you should or shouldn't do something listen to it.

2- When there is a crisis situation do what you know to be right, don't let others sway you.

3- Time moves So SLOWLY when something is wrong with one of your children and nothing you're doing is fixing it.

4- It is the worst feeling in the world when you think your child might die, even if it only lasts 30 seconds or so.

5- Always have your insurance cards with you, inside your wallet, in your purse/diaper bag. (when we were packing to go to St Louis I almost took them out, thinking we won't need these. But then thought why take them out? and left them in)

6- Always keep your keys in the same place as the car and somewhere easily located so you can find them quickly. Not in your husbands pocket who isn't at the house.

7- Im sure there are other things I learned but Im drawing a blank. Anyways, it was a very scary moment and I hope it never happens again.

The next day we woke Heath up about noon he was so tired. Houston who had a fun night with Grandma slept normally, so he was ready to be awake at about 8 the next morn. I was pretty tired but not as dysfunctional as I thought I would be. Kayla took me to get a relax perm/body wave as we had previously planned before our crazy night. It was pretty fun to do something just the 2 of us and get pampered a bit.