Our First Visit to the ER

We had a big night here at Casa Haynes! When I put Kingston to bed last night he had been coughing this terrible, barking cough. He went to bed without a fuss and slept good, as far as I could tell. At about 3:00 he came barrelling out of his room, wheezing, coughing and crying-a combination that was not easy to hear. He was also burning up. I went back into his room with him and tried to calm him down. He calmed, but was still obviously pretty freaked out. I think he was having trouble breathing and it scared him.

I kept my cool somehow, brushed my teeth, put on some clothes and told Kingston that we were going on an adventure. He was game! I convinced Nigel that he didn't need to go with us and off we went to the Emergency Room. It was pretty quiet in there, thank goodness, and my nurse friend Amy happened to be working. As soon as she heard me describe symptoms, she immediately said, "Croup. He has the Croup." She escorted us right back to a room and took great care of Kingston. He got a monitor stuck on his toe and a blood pressure cuff attached to his arm, his temperature taken on his forehead (whew!), his breathing listened to by a few nurses and then he got a juice cup and some Tylenol. Every time he would cough everyone would cringe and say it was definitely the Croup.

The doctor prescribed a steroid that he took by mouth, and about an hour of a breathing treatment of just a cool mist. We stayed for about an hour and 45 minutes, then we headed back home and back to bed. We got great care at The Outer Banks Hospital and we especially appreciate Amy's attention. Kingston was such a brave boy and all of the nurses couldn't stand how cute he was! The doctor even came in to check on him because she heard him from the hall but he was just laughing and playing and not in distress. Final diagnosis-Viral Croup.

So now I'm preparing to go to work on this overcast Memorial Day Saturday and try to focus on something other than my croupy kid. Yeah, right. Hopefully Dad will be an acceptable alternative to having me around. He's not nearly as squishy and cuddly as I am, but he'll have to do!

Here's to hoping my baby boy feels better soon. He is too sweet for all this nonsense!

Recent Fun Pictures

A few weeks ago Kingston had fun riding on the lawn mower. This week it was the vacuum. We Haynes sure know how to have a good time!


Really, we do know how to have a good time. For instance, Kingston and I went to the Norfolk Zoo this week with our friends Michelle, Riley and Baby Sophie. We had a great time.



Kingston and Riley ready to see some animals!

Cheesing with the goats. I think they were Kingston's favorite. Every time I asked him what animals we saw at the zoo the first one he would say was, "Goat!"

We caged the boys up for a minute for a photo op. Read the sign. Pretty funny. And accurate!

The highlight of Kingston's day was definitely seeing and riding the choo-choo train.

The ride was fun!

And it gave us a chance to have a juice cup and a snack!

Kingston loves anything that resembles a choo-choo tunnel. He loved actually going through the real thing!

Another highlight was the playground at the Chick-fil-a where we ate lunch on our way home.

Miraculously we had the whole playground to ourselves. The boys had a blast. And the moms got to take a break while they played.

Don't think that was fun enough? Well how about the fact that Nigel and his dad spent 9 hours over 2 days putting together Kingston's new swing set. Or as Kingston says, "Kingston's Park!"

Think he likes it?

The slide is really fast. I mean really. This was Kingston's first trip down. He was not prepared for the speed. Neither was I. Do you see that air? He thought that was great fun! So he did it again. And again.

Dad and Kingston. Proud Dad. Pumped Kingston.

And here are the hard workers with the finished product. I am so happy that they put it together this weekend without delay and without complaining. What troopers!

It made Kingston really happy, too. Which was the point, really.

I hope we have lots more fun on our new playground. We already had Riley over to play on it and it was a big hit!

I'm sure we will do lots more fun stuff this week. Just wait! You'll see. We don't have anything planned, but sometimes that's when the most fun stuff happens!

A Day at the Beach

Kingston chose his outfit to wear to the beach. Good choice, huh? We could not convince him to wear his flip flops. He wanted to wear his shoes instead. And why even bother with a bathing suit?



Nice ribs, kid. You get those from your daddy. I'm not sure anyone has ever seen a rib of mine. Ever.



We took his surfboard (or his "boom-boom" as he calls it) but he didn't want to ride it. Nor did he want Dad to ride it. . . "Mine! Mine! Miiiiiiine!"

But when Pappy arrived to play, things got better. Three generations of crazy Haynes boys loving the water-cold or not!

We spent all day Saturday at the beach. Kingston wasn't a big fan of the cold water at first and kept saying he wanted to go home, but after a little coaxing and some ignoring and a little bribing, we ended up staying for a long time! Only mildly sunburned and really tired, we went home and all took naps. Kingston slept for almost 4 hours! I love what going to the beach does for the Haynes family!!!

Now if the water will just warm up, I will get some shots of Kingston on his "boom boom"! Bring on the summer!