an upswing

We were in full swing in March celebrating Baxter's birthday when our precious infant came down with a yucky virus. We thought it was the same stomach bug that Bax had the previous week so I wasn't that concerned. However, four days into it Ben made a turn for the worse. Farrah came with me and we headed up to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Emory. I never want to go to the hospital again but if we had to, this is the place to go. The people there were nothing short of amazing.

It turns out he had a bacterial infection called Shigella. It was attacking his intestines and then he developed an ileus. His belly was distended and he was in so much pain. We arrived Thursday at lunch and were not released until the following Tuesday. It was scary and quite humbling as you saw children who had been there for months and cars in the parking lot that my parents said never moved. My mom and dad thankfully came right up and took care of the other two and got them to school.

While Ben was practicing being a lefty in the hospital, Lillee was home with her very first project ever. She was stoked about doing her biography on such an outstanding figure.
He didn't eat for 7 days and the last night we were there he was feeling better and got into my Thai! We knew he was on the mend.
These sweet golden retrievers came to cheer him up. They were beautiful and such a nice treat to those sick kiddos.
Their school pics also came back while we were gone. Don't those two on the right look like they love each other?
Ben is now back and just about 100%. He continues to be the absolute center of attention. We are ever so grateful to all of our wonderful friends that came to our rescue and helped out with Lillee and Baxter as well as brought yummy meals so that we didn't have to worry about cooking! Ben needs a little more TLC still and may need extra tummy rubs even when it may not be hurting but that's ok. After seeing him in that condition I'll rub him anytime even though it's getting tougher and tougher to stay up with him at 11 p.m.