Barnes Family Beach Trip - 2011

Its been 4 years since the Barnes Family all headed to the beach together. The last trip was when Katherine was pregnant with Claire. Ironically, for this trip she is pregnant with baby number 2! :-) Normally the family goes to OBX - Nags Head. But since Topsail is only about 1 hour further south and considerably less expensive....we decided to give it a try. My family and Kat's family have been going to Topsail for years, so its wasn't like we did this blind. But - it was a bit different for the Barnes men!

Matt, Katie and I arrived on Sunday instead of Saturday because Matt and I spent Saturday at the US Open (GO Rory!!!). Katie woke up at 4 AM on Sunday morning and as soon as I got her back to sleep at 4:30 - I woke Matt up and said....well, I'm awake.....we might as well get on the road and get there early. So - we left Richmond at 5:15 AM and got to the beach around 10 AM. It sounds insane I'm sure to start driving at 5:15 AM.....but its the perfect thing to do when you have a little one. Katie slept for about 2.5 hours out of the trip.

As soon as we arrived, Katie was ready to hit the beach - especially since cousin Claire was there to play with. I wasn't sure how well the girls would relate with Claire being 2 years older than Katie. It turned out that watching the girls play together was one of my highlights of the week. Uncle Rob said multiple times...."they play like sisters." And they did! Sometimes they would play nicely together, sometimes they would fight over toys, and sometimes they got into mischief together (like raiding the chocolate chip cookie stash while no one was looking).

Its difficult to write down ALL the events of the week, so I've tried to make a list of a few things I know I'll never forget.

• The girls giggling together as they played.


• Terrible forest fires causing brown smoke in the sky, ash in the ocean and beach.


• Catching about 1 million sand crabs....because the girls loved it.


• Boogie board rides in the surf


• Repeatedly saying - "no Katie, you can't go any further. Its not safe."


• Terrific food all week (thanks to Coral and Kat)


• No having to do the dinner dishes....cause that was the men's job! :-)


• Katie not sleeping well....and us getting up at 5:30 AM with her.


• Playing volleyball on the beach with Uncle Jake


• Katie hitting Claire over the head with a paddle....and Claire pushing Katie down because she wouldn't play Hide and Seek.


• The Old McDonald animal show that both of the girls begged for daily.


• UVA ballgames...and a crazy end to their college world series run.


• Katie eating seafood for the first time (a bite of my crabcake....our last night there).


• Family beach photo shoot that was BEYOND chaotic.


• Losing power one night during a storm.....and turning a blanket into a tent to keep the girls entertained (Aunt Kat's idea).


• Morning coffee with Popa, Abu, and Kat (the early risers of the group)! :-)

I want to say a special Thank You to Popa and Abu for inviting us this year. We had such a wonderful time and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

On the Mend...

I've been an absent blogger for the past week or two, but I promise I've had a good reason. Well, I at least had a reasonable excuse. Last Wednesday Katie was admitted to the hospital. Many of you have heard the news, but not the details. I'll do a recap in list form (in chronological order if I can).

• Katie had been running a low grade fever for a couple days so on Tuesday we took her to the pediatrician's office to be sure she was okay. After some blood work, and ear check, and a strep test - the pediatrician said it was a virus.


• Tuesday afternoon Katie's fever spiked up to 103.7! We called the pediatrician and she said to monitor her for the night and if she didn't improve, bring her in for a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia.


• Tuesday night was terrible!


• Wednesday morning we went to the ER at 6 AM to get the chest x-ray.


• Chest Xray showed swollen lymph nodes around Katie's heart and lungs, meanwhile her fever spikes to 104.6 in the ER.


• Decision is made to admit herDoctors inform us that the swollen lymph nodes could mean one of a few things: a virus, TB, cancer, or auto-immune disease.


• 4 sets of blood work are run, 2 IV attempts (broke my heart each time she got pricked!!!)


• Tuberculosis Test was administered - the swollen lymph nodes are a common sign of TB in young children.


• Fever was terrible for the first 2 days in the hospital then finally started getting a little better on Friday.


• Friday they repeated the chest X-ray and did not see the inflamation in the lymph nodes (absolutely an answered prayer!).


• Saturday - Katie's officially fever free and we get to come home!!!!

What I learned:

• Hospital meals are rather bland!


• St. Mary's pediatric nurses and doctors are great! I would send anyone I know there (though I hope you never need to go!).


• Seeing your child as sick as Katie was last week is BEYOND scary!


• Katie's vocabulary now includes the words hospital, doctor, nurse, and IV.


• Alternating Tylenol and Motrin doesn't always work to control a child's fever.


• Hospital chairs that convert into beds are not made for 2....not even 1.5. I had to share my bed with Katie for 2 nights because it was the only way she would sleep.


• I love my daughter more than anything in the world. I knew that beforehand, but its worth reiterating.

We had so much help from our families (Nana, Papa, Abu, Popa, Aunt Sally, Aunt Kat, Uncle Rob, Cousin Claire, and Uncle Jake.....our minister Mario and church friend Jill). Everyone helped in different ways.....some brought us food, some brought us company, some brought us reading material and snacks, some brought prayer, some made get well cards, some watered our flowers, some brought comic relief, and some gave medical advice. I'm really not sure what we would have done without you all! Thanks again for your help and support.

A quick update: We've had two sets of blood work done this week since coming home. The second set of blood work was finally back to normal. So, our little bug is finally getting back to her old self.

I've included a few pictures from the hospital. FYI - I didn't take many photos the first few days - for obvious reasons! But once she started to perk up, I figured I should commemorate Katie's 2nd stay at St. Marys (the first was when she was born).