Catalina's 4th Birthday/ Father's Day/ Julienne 911- ER Night

This weekend was very intense. On Saturday the 20th we celebrated Catalina's 4th birthday at our house. We invited some friends and had a great time. It was a very hot and humid day so almost everyone got to enjoy the great pool we have here in our complex. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, fresh fruit, cake and lots of candy. Catalina was so happy. Later that day she told me: "Thank you mommy, this is my best birthday party ever!" That cute gesture of her made it all worth it for us.

Sunday was a one of a kind day. It was the day I gave birth to my sweet Catalina. I can't believe how big she is now. At 6:45am Julienne started to cry. I went to her room and there she was with a 102.5 degree fever. I gave her some tylenol and her bottle and she went back to sleep. Catalina woke up during the commotion and asked me to give her cereal. We went to the kitchen and I told her "today is Father's Day". She instantly told me: " I have an idea, lets make some pancakes!". We made pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a fruit salad for daddy's special Father's Day breakfast in bed. I suggested to Catalina to make daddy's face on the pancakes, and she looked at me with a huge "what?". So I made daddy's face on the pancakes. She then looked at me with a huge smile on her face and told me "mommy, you're so smart!". We brought the breakfast for daddy and he absolutely loved it. His father's day present was a mouse mat with a collage with pictures of the girls.
The rest of our Sunday seemed like a normal one. We had church meetings, and our after lunch family nap. We invited our friend Jules and her sister over for dinner and played a little Guitar Hero. I talked to my parents through the web cam, then with my oldest sister. Julienne wasn't feeling so well, she had a fever again so I was ready to go to give her some tylenol and put her in bed while I was on the phone with my little sister. I started to rock her to sleep when she started to shake. I looked at her face and she wasn't responding to me. I called Andy and he put her on the floor and she started to have convulsions (febrile seizures). We called 911 and in 3 minutes we had 2 police officers and a fire truck. After 5 minutes the paramedics from the ambulance arrived. It was so scary. I was panicking and crying because she was not responding to anything and it seemed too long. I am so thankful to our friends the Alfaro family. They came in no time to stay with Catalina while we were being taken to the hospital in the ambulance with Julienne. We don't know our neighbors very well but there they also came to help with Catalina and Cuba. The ER experience was horrible. The stupid nurse (guy nurse) poked Julienne so many times to take blood. Her poor hands were so bruised. She had oxygen put one, and her heart was being monitored as well. I just wanted to hold her in my arms but I couldn't becuase she had so many cables all over. I couldn't stop crying for a couple of hours until she finally started to cry and react to everything that was going on. After blood tests, urine tests, x-rays and a lot of invasion it was just a virus that caused the fever, and the fever caused the febrile seizures (they all said it was very common in small children, but I've never seen it before). We were sent home near 3 am. When we where walking out the ER Julienne started to wave bye bye to the nurses, and got so happy when she saw the car. We got a huge scare out of it. Until now I still have to control her fever. Luckily it is the only symptom she has until now. The experience was too traumatic for her, today She had a follow up and I had to take all of her vitals because she won't let anybody else to touch her. I hope this nasty virus goes away soon. I want my super active-mischievous-loud-smart "monito" (little monkey) back at her full strength.

All About Our Visit to the West Coast!

Everytime I have a lot to say I feel like a horrible blogger. I wish days could have more than just 24 hours. We've been into a lot stuff this last month.
We started this month doing some touristy things around town. Andy had a long Memorial Day weekend. He had Monday and Tuesday off. On Monday we went around downtown KW and visited the "Light House" for the very first time. It was so much fun and the day was just perfect.

On Tuesday we had an awesome day in one of the best beaches in Fl. We went to Bahia Honda State Park. The day could not have been any more perfect. We enjoyed the warm water, the white and soft sand, and the most relaxing landscapes ever. When low tide comes little sand islands form that make the beach even better. It was so so beautiful.

Then, on June 6th we left the hot, stormy, and miserable humidity of KW. After plane delays, missing our connection, a lot of running with the girls and backpacks around MIA airport, a long 6 hour fly with Julienne screaming/crying/wiggling, we made it to LAX. Of course to end up our exhausting day AA lost ALL of our luggage (including the car seats). There are some more things, but to end this horrible story, we finally made it to the hotel at 2:30 am. The only cool things about the day is that we were with Grandma Margaret and ate at IN-N-OUT, yeah!

On Sunday the 7th we finally got our luggage at 11am. We went to Montecito, CA to visit the Robertson Family (Andy's childhood neighbors and very close friends). We had a great lunch, a lot of anecdote telling, and a very nice and relaxing afternoon in their gorgeous backyard. That evening we headed to Andy's home town Ridgecrest, CA.

Monday the 8th was a more relaxing and lazy day. We woke up late, ran errands with Mom, and had lunch in a Japanese restaurant with the family.

On Tuesday the 9th Andy went to the movies with Catalina and watched "Up", while I was working in getting some of my CHM homework done. Then we went to a park with the girls to meet Marla (Andy's HS friend) and her children. We drove around town and took pictures, and brought home some John Pizza's bread sticks.

On Wednesday the 10th we left early in the morning to Las Vegas. We went through Death Valley that was impressively not deadly that day (Just 95 degrees in the middle of June). We saw some nice sites and took lots of pictures. We visited our friends the Stanton Family for a couple of hours. Then we checked into the Hilton Hotel in downtown Vegas, and ate diner at the Venetian Grand Lux Cafe.

On Thursday we got tickets for a magician show that night. We ate brunch in one of my favorite sandwich places, the Earl of Sandwich where I ate a great Caribbean Jerk sandwich. We went around town to the World of Coca Cola and the M&M World. We had an awesome dinner at the Scoggins's house (thank you guys). That night we left the girls with Mom at the hotel and Alex, Andy and I went to the "Steve Wyrick Magic Show". I was amazed about everything, unlike Alex and Andy who think they knew almost every trick. I think if you can't do it yourself at least give some credit to the guy, he was awesome.

On Friday the 12th we left Las Vegas after visiting my friend from Chile and former babysitter (when I was little) Maria and her family. On our way back to Ridgecrest we had to have our last IN-N-OUT experience of the trip...so good! That evening we had a Thanksgiving like dinner with the family and celebrated Catalina's 4th birthday (that is officially not until this coming Sunday the 21st).

On Saturday we went to see the giant Sequoias, the trail of 100 Giants, about 2 hours from Ridgecrest. It was a nice day in Ridgecrest, but as we were driving up into the mountains and seeing how fast the temperature was dropping we realized that we were not prepared at all. We were all wearing shorts and short sleeves shirts. Luckily I always carry sweaters and blankets for the girls. We ate a quick lunch in the woods because it was very chilly. Then just the brave ones (Alex, Andy and Mom) went to do the trail. Everyone else stayed warm and cozy inside the cars. We took pictures and went back home a lot earlier than we planned.

Sunday was a relaxing day. After lunch I started to make my Chilean Empanadas for everyone that pretty much takes me 4 to 5 hours. That night we say our last sad goodbyes to Adam and Emily who were leaving the next morning. They will be away in South America for the next 2 years.

Monday was our last day in Ridgecrest. When I say last day I mean it. Andy's parents are going to commit the horrible "crime" of selling the house Andy grew up in and retire and move to Alburquerque, NM by the end of this year. Andy was like crazy taking pictures and recording every single thing about his house and the town that saw him became the man he is now (my corny words).
Our last day there we took the girls to a bouncy place, went to the movies to see Up (this time it was the 4 of us and Dad), did some last minute shopping, visited some Andy's friends, ate diner with the fam, and prepared our suitcases for the next day.
We left very early in the morning to LAX and its great morning traffic. We ate breakfast and left. The fly was again too long with Julienne crying/screaming/wiggling. We were happy that we arrived 20 minutes earlier than the schedule and may have time to eat before taking the connecting fly to KW, but nope. Our plane door was having some technical difficulties so we stayed in the airplane for good 15 minutes and barely made it to our other plane. We arrived in KW and unbelievably AA lost our car seats. We were so tired at this point that since we live so close to the airport we just did the paper work and came home "the Britney Spears Style".
I couldn't do anything on wed because I didn't have my car seats until after 4pm that day.
We have had a hard time getting used to the time change. The girls and I woke up at 10:30am on wed, 9:30am on Thu, and 8:30am today. One more day and we'll be in the normal schedule.