Kid friendly Bellevue

If you know me well, you know how much I love to get out the house and look for fun places to visit with the kids. So far, we've been pretty successful in Bellevue.

We love the downtown library (with a large selection of Korean Children's books) just across the street from the apartment. Alden and Joe have already finished a few books, and we have several books and movies on hold. :) They even have a snack bar with vending machines! We haven't tried their story time yet but we're planning on going once it starts back up next week.

The kids' favorite place so far is the Bellevue Square mall. They have a play area called Kid's Cove, and it's a really fun playground with a beach theme for kids 5ish and under. The play structures are made with very soft plastic-like material, and even Eli loves to run around. The mall also has Nordstrom where we can get helium balloons from the children's shoes section, the LEGO store where kids can spend forever building stuff, Disney store with a giant movie screen, and Gamestop with Wii U and demo games. There is even a McDonald's inside for cheaper eating options. :)

Ellie at the Disney Store

Eli is making the "vroom vroom" sound

Ellie's castle

Alden's hangout place

James usually just sleeps through the fun

I usually prefer indoor play places because I don't like to be in the sun, but it is such a rare thing that we tried going to a park today since the sun was out. We went to the Robinswood Park with Lara and her kids. It was a really nice park with walking paths, playgrounds, fields, and a duck pond. The kids had a blast and didn't even want to go home for lunch, even after face planting (Ellie) and a giant bump/scrape on the forehead (Eli). Even James loved it and slept very soundly the whole time in the stroller next to Sunmi's stroller.

Big kids playing together

Little kids sleeping in strollers

Ride the Ducks

Finally! After months, it was here. The first Saturday in forever when we weren't obligated to do anything important. No job hunting, no moving, no grocery shopping, no hospitals, no house hunting, no packing or moving! It was just so beautiful! Except for the fact that it was pouring rain. But we weren't going to let "some" rain stop us from having the best Saturday we'd had in a long time. I mean, if we were going to live in Seattle for the next little while, we couldn't just stay home every single time it rained, right? Plus, I didn't want to wait too long before we did the city tour because later, we would be natives and it would be too late to go on a tour... (like how I never went to Antelope Island or any parts of the Great Salt Lake, or drove through Alpine Loop, or hiked the Y, and many other exciting things in Utah...)

After putting the kids to bed Friday night, Joe and I looked up exciting things to do for the next day. After an hour of research, we decided (or rather, I decided and Joe just said yes) that we would try visiting the children's museum and go on the Duck tour of Seattle in the afternoon.

It took us an hour longer to get everyone ready to get out the door, but we were so excited for all the fun we were going to have that day. The kids had missed going to Discovery Gateway so it was going to be a fun day for them.

The KidsQuest Children's Museum is located in Factoria Shopping Center, near where we will be moving in two weeks. It was a lot like Discovery Gateway, except for the fact that it was a lot more compact (not in Utah anymore) and was packed full when we got there. It took a while for the kids to warm up, but they spent the majority of their time at the magnetized pipe station where they built contraptions to get the ball down. Well, Alden spent most of the time building, Ellie was "cooking" with the balls, and Eli just walked around with the balls. They had a blast. Joe and I were actually quite impressed at Alden's systematic way of putting the pipes together. He would map out an outline and build a prototype and run the ball down to check the pipes one by one from beginning to the end to make sure the whole thing worked smoothly. He had us take some pictures of his creations. :)

After the museum, we were running out of time to get to the tour (we took our time getting out of the museum and walking through Pets Mart to look at the animals) so we got some KFC to eat in the car on the way. There was a construction going on on the freeway, so we decided to drive through the city to avoid the traffic and to let the kids look at the city at the same time. Bad. Idea. It just so happened that we were trying to get through the city right when a major league soccer game got out at the stadium, and we were stuck in really bad traffic. People and cars filled the downtown area, and we were not going to make it to our "non-refundable" tour at 3 pm.

We called the company, and fortunately they had some seats for the 4 pm tour, so we took our time getting to the tour. It was raining really, really hard, but we were looking forward to getting on the Duck. It is a vehicle made for the military just after WWII, and it can drive on the road and also work in water as a boat. So half of the tour was on the road and the other half on the lake.

Even though it was pouring rain, it wasn't terribly cold, and the kids were really excited to get on a weird looking car. However, once the tour started, Ellie got super tired from playing at the museum and eventually fell asleep. Alden got pretty bored too and the excitement of blowing on the quacker wore off pretty fast. Eli, however, was having a blast. He giggled and laughed every time the quacker went off, and he would dance to the music on the radio.

The tour was pretty fun, and we learned a lot of interesting facts about Seattle. Like the fact that there are over 170 Starbucks locations, they built the city one floor up (they buried the whole ground floor level and made the street go up 10 ft higher) to remedy flooding and fire problems, more than 80 percent of people have library cards, and there are twice as many dogs there as there are kids! :o

Fortunately, Alden had fun during some parts of the tour, especially when we went in the water, and Ellie woke up just in time to get in the water to look at the boats, and she had a lot of fun as well once she wasn't tired anymore. James slept through the whole thing. :D

At the end of the day, we were all super tired and swamped, and wet, but it was a fun Saturday filled with lots of adventures. We are looking forward to more adventures!

James Jihu Rigby

I never wrote a blog post about James' birth story. Better late than never, right?

This pregnancy was particularly difficult because, well, I had three other kids this time. And my body hadn't had too much time to recover since when I had Eli, so I was having joint pains and muscle aches all over the body, much earlier in the pregnancy than any other times.

I was wishing for a girl so that Ellie could have a sister to play with, but I knew it was going to be a boy because of the severity of the nausea (much worse with boys - with four pregnancies, you have a big enough sample to compare. lol). Up until the ultrasound, however, I secretly hoped for a girl (so did the kids). When we found out for sure that it was a boy, Ellie bawled the first time and got teary eyed every time we mentioned it for the next month. Eventually, she warmed up to the idea of having another baby boy....

Even though the pregnancy was difficult, it made it a lot easier to have Yearim and Joe's mom stay with us. I got to rest extra while the kids played over at the Neff's house with William, Alden's best friend.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, life got more complicated and stressful because Joe was applying to jobs. The uncertainty of where we were going to be and when we'd move was very difficult, and we had to think of contingency plans with many back up plans.

The due date was January 3rd, but we knew that the baby would come early because my other deliveries had been early as well. All of them had come either on time or early, always on the day that I had my doctor scrape the membrane to get the labor going. My parents were coming in town for Christmas, and we were hoping to have the baby on the 20th of December on a Friday so that we could be at the hospital over the weekend when we'd have more help with other children.

Joe applied to a position at Amazon earlier that week, and the interview was scheduled on the same day that we were planning to have the baby! I had a doctor's appointment at 8:30 in the morning, and the interview was set for 11:00. Joe got the morning off work, and we headed to the doctor's office after dropping off the kids at Yeagi's house. We were hoping to have the baby that night, especially since my favorite doctor, Dr. Jacob, was going to be on-call that night. The appointment went smoothly, and we went back home to do some interview prep.

I left the house 10 minutes before 11:00 to give Joe the house to himself and went shopping. Joe made me promise to pull over and call him immediately if I started going into labor. I was secretly planning on holding on until noon when the interview would be over, and I probably would have tried to if I had gone into labor early. Fortunately, there were no contractions and the interview went well. Yeagi dropped the kids off at our house, and Joe went back to work after lunch.

I realized that I hadn't finished wrapping the presents for Christmas yet and was wrapping up the last two when the first contraction came. I had had Braxton-Hicks before, so I continued wrapping presents until I had another contraction. Joe wasn't able to focus on work either and texted me at the same moment, "Any news?" I told him that I had had a contraction but to wait until I could time the next one. He called me immediately and asked if he should come home. (My shortest labor was 2 hours, and he was very nervous we wouldn't make it to the hospital.) I told him to continue to work as I finished wrapping the presents. Then 4 minutes later, I had another contraction. I texted Joe, "4 minutes," and he replied, "I'm coming home."

By the time we left the house, I was fully in labor and the contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart. Joe got to speed down to Provo on I-15, carefully watching for highway patrol. He was hoping he'd get pulled over so he could get police escort to the hospital (didn't happen).

Being in labor isn't too bad really between the contractions, so we strolled into Labor & Delivery. There was a first time mom with a very nervous looking dad, so we even let them go ahead with registration while we joked about it being the fourth time.

Once I got settled in bed and had epidural, it was a breeze. I just sat in bed, talking to Joe and my sisters. Within two hours, I was at 9 cm and ready to go. It was 5:15, and I knew that Dr. Jacob would be coming in at 6pm so I asked if we could just wait to deliver the baby. Shortly after 6pm, Dr. Jacob was there. By then, James was so ready to come out, I only had to push once (more like half). He had a full head of hair and was so adorable. :)

He was 6 lbs 8 oz, and 19 inches, a full pound less than all the other kids. His head was so small (compared to other kids whose head circumference is on the 90th percentile), he looked strange!

He's been a good baby so far, with minimal puking and only occasionally blowing out of his diapers. He's generally happy as long as he is being held (this is where the swing comes in very handy). He eats well and is sleeping longer and longer between feedings. He's gone through a lot with three older siblings and having to move (needless to say, he doesn't get picked up right away when he cries). And since he was born so close to our other baby, Eli, he often gets called Eli... (Oops, sorry..) But even after four kids, we can't stop saying, "He's so CUTE!" (yes, even when he is crying at the top of his lungs because he is covered in poop.)

What, FOUR?

Our youngest, James Jihu Rigby, was born December 20, 2013. Before he was born, Joe and I never really felt like we had that many kids, and it's always been pretty manageable doing stuff as a family (this includes dinner time). Ever since James was born, especially since we moved to Washington, we have been feeling like we have a lot of kids. Ha ha.

It is probably safe to say that the most interesting and frequent topic that comes up in my conversations with people here in Washington is how many kids I have. And the reaction is always the same. "Oh, wow!"

People always get wide-eyed when I tell them I have four children, especially when I am not with all four of them. Common follow up questions/remarks include, "How old are they?" "Are they twins?" "But you are so young!" "You have your hands full!" My favorite reaction is when I walk around with the kids, people first look at me, and slowly look over at each of the kids (sometimes visibly leaning forward to take a look at the back of the stroller or the car seat) then back at me (It takes a few seconds to do that).

It's not easy to take care of four children. But not impossible either. I manage somehow, and they love and enjoy each other's company. It's true, it is difficult to give them as much time individually as I could have if I only had one or two children, but I don't love them any less than I would have if I had less children. We have our challenges but we are learning how to handle four children. We are so blessed with good children who are obedient (for the most part) and loving, so they make it easier for Joe and I to raise them and discipline them. We are not quite ready to just have another child (my body can't physically handle it right now), and we will be enjoying having "just" 4 kids for now. :)

At James' baby blessing

Oh Seattle...

To start off, Ellie is home now! The swelling is gone, she's been eating and drinking normal, and she acts normal too! We are so happy to finally have her home. Alden and Eli missed her so much.

After Ellie was discharged in the morning around 10:30, we went to Lara's house to pick up Alden and Eli. Alden was so sad to leave his new (and old) friend Yumi (he said something about not having spent the whole day there today) but was also excited to see Ellie. He kept telling her how much he missed her. When Eli got in the car, I had a hard time buckling him up in his car seat because he kept looking back at Ellie in the back row and wouldn't turn back to sit. It's been a party over here since we've been home. Now that she is home, she is even taking the medicine on her own with a syringe! :D

So now that we have been here for two full weeks, I wanted to write some of my thoughts on being here. 

Oh, yes, I noticed the rain. It does rain a lot here. Well, not a lot, but very often. Every morning, I wake up and look out the window to see overcast. And I don't mind that at all. It's pretty nice to see the sun come out once in a while, but I prefer the overcast to blinding sun, so it's been working out pretty well. And people here treat the rain like Utahns treat snow. They go jogging in the rain, drive full speed in the rain, walk around in the rain without umbrellas, etc.

I also noticed (or should've realized) that it is a lot more humid here than Utah. I need to remember to seal my cereal bags properly. I can't hang dry any clothes (well, I can but it takes forever). I have to vent out my shower so it doesn't get moldy. And boy, my kids are so sweaty!

I realized I don't like to drive in the rain, especially at night, when everyone else is driving at speed limit. It's kind of scary. And driving through tunnels at night is really weird too. I don't know how to explain it but it makes me feel like I am driving inside the Cheshire Cat... I still have to figure out the difference between St, Ave, and Pl, too. :P

Oh, and I saw a "Alcohol Limit" sign that looked just like the speed limit sign. It said ".08." Ha ha.

So far, other than a few bumps we've had, we really like being in Washington. We are looking forward to the warmer weather so we can do a lot of fun outdoorsy things! :D

Seattle Children's Hospital

Thanks to everyone's prayers, Ellie has been showing improvement. This morning, the swelling was still about the same as yesterday, but the pain and the infection level had subdued quite a bit. She has been almost back to her normal cheery self (except for when she has to take medicine) and has been eating and drinking okay. She even had lunch (pasta and strawberries), so the doctors put her on an oral antibiotics instead of the IV to see if she could handle it when she went home. She may be coming home tomorrow if she does well tonight and tomorrow morning!

Other than the being sick part, staying a few days at the Children's Hospital hasn't been too bad for Ellie. It is a super nice hospital. They have free massages for the parents, two Starbucks locations, playroom for the children full of toys, craft supplies, movies, and games, and even a swimming pool! Oh, yeah, and did I mention they have free massages for the parents? Ellie gets to watch TV all day, drink juice and eat crackers, color and paint, play with play-dough, and gets undivided attention from mommy and daddy!

Ellie has been having a hard time taking the oral medicine (Tylenol, ibuprofen, and the antibiotics). She's always done really well with that at home, so the pain in her throat (mouth) must be pretty bad if she is refusing the take medicine. But she is so much like her mommy and can tolerate pain really, really well, so it has been a little difficult for the doctors to discern how much pain she is in.

To give you an idea of how well she has been doing, it took the nurse about 2 full minutes to get her IV line in. The whole time, she was whimpering but kept her focus on the movie that was playing on tv but didn't even cry while the nurse kept going at her arm with the needle. It was going in and out back and forth for what seemed like forever to me (the nurse decide to change the vein in the middle and turned the needle 90 degrees while it was still in her arm), and I even started to feel a little sick watching it (and I am pretty good with needles, having donated blood and been certified in drawing blood and everything). But she has been a champ with all the prodding and poking she's been through, and the doctors and the nurses at the hospital are very impressed with her (she has been called "the best patient" a couple times).

To make things easier for us, James has been such an angel. He's been staying in Ellie's room with me during the day since he has to be breastfed. I took a little portable baby swing to Ellie's room, and James just sits there and sleeps all day! Because Ellie's condition involves respiratory problems (she had a cold before developing the abscess), she is in "quarantine." She can't be out of her room and can't have any visitors that are 10 or younger. Alden and Eli hasn't seen her since Monday morning other than during a brief Hangout session before bedtime. They have been behaving really well at Lara's house where they have been staying. We were so blessed to have come to Seattle where we have friends we could rely on. Lara's been taking care of Alden and Eli since Monday, and Alden doesn't even want to come home when I go over to pick him up at night. It's been so great to have her help and to have Al and Eli behave relatively well to make things easier for everyone.

Hopefully Ellie will finally get to come home tomorrow. We can't wait for things to calm down around here. Ha ha.

First Week in Seattle

Our first week in Seattle was pretty uneventful, at least compared to the first day anyway.

Went grocery shopping, went to church, got invited to lunch, started new work, went to the library, went to the mall, canceled credit cards with three different financial institutions, got our cars, took care of sick kids, went to the urgent care at 8pm for mastitis, and put in an application for a rental house.

They didn't all happen in just one day... Not too bad, right? Until we ended up in the Emergency Room today...

The kids have been sick a little bit and have had a little bit of snuffles for a few days. Ellie seemed to be doing the best, and aside from a very little bit of runny nose, she was doing great. On Saturday, she suddenly started to develop a fever during the day. She was acting really weak and was unusually whiny. Joe and I figured we might have to let her sleep in our bed to get her to sleep that night.

Well, it was nothing like other sick nights we have had with Ellie in the past. She refused to go to sleep, and even when she did, she woke up just a few minutes after. She'd fall asleep in my arms, and if I moved her even slightly, she woke right back up and couldn't fall back asleep. Between her, Eli, and James taking turns to be up during the night, I pretty much stayed up all night. Needless to say, the next day was to be the day of rest for us...

Ellie had no appetite and could only eat a few bites of yogurt and some applesauce. We kept her fever in check with Tylenol and ibuprofen. Around dinner time, she was feeling much better and chirpy as usual and even had dinner with the rest of the family.

Less than an hour after bedtime, she woke back up with a fever, and we repeated the first night all over again (of course with Eli and James waking up during the night as well). I was convinced she had a mild case of ear infection and that it would get better soon.

Monday morning, I realized that I had it all wrong. Even when she had an ear infection, she was always so energetic and happy. This time, not so much. She was really weak, lethargic, even, and when she talked, she would shape her mouth funny so that she would sound very strange. When asked where it hurt, she pointed at her cheeks rather than her ears. And she had started to drool. I thought she may have an infection in her saliva gland or something. 

I made an appoint at the pediatricians office that morning, and the pediatrician, Dr. David, told us to go to the Emergency Room at the Seattle Children's Hospital right away to be seen by the ENT doctors there. She was worried that Ellie could have an abscess in her mouth and that it would have to be drained right away.

I dropped Alden and Eli off at a friend's house and drove straight to the ER. Within the first two hours, Ellie was seen by 5-8 different doctors (combination of residents, head ER doctor, supervising doctor, pediatricians, ENT doctor, senior ENT, etc.). They told me initially that she may have to be sedated to drain the abscess and be hospitalized for a few days after that. Then they decided that it would be better to actually treat her with antibiotics first and monitor her closely to see how she did overnight. 

So now... Joe is at the hospital with her tonight while I am typing this at home with the three boys in bed... It is going to be a long night (nights depending on how well she responds to the antibiotics) for all of us. We are hoping for a fast recovery...

Good news is that we think we found a permanent place to stay... I got a call back from the rental house we applied for last Saturday. They would like to rent to us if the background checks come back okay. :) 

Stay tuned for more adventures... It looks like we are going to keep having more. Ha ha.

Enjoying the large selection of movies they had in the ER room.

James is watching too. :) He was very considerate of his sister and slept most of the time so I could hold Ellie the whole time.

By this time, she had been poked, prodded, etc., and was done with doctors and nurses...

You can see the swelling a little in this picture.