The circus comes to town!

 Luke, Kellan, Julia and Jake wait in line with us to get in. The tickets were a surprise to Luke for his birthday and we had arranged to bring his friend from school with us. 

 Jake and his handsome Daddy head in to Xfinity Live for some lunch after the awesome show.

 Serious business this one :) Not even the entire circus at his fingertips could keep Jake awake at naptime, and right on schedule he fell asleep in his Daddy's arms at 1 PM. 

The circus was seriously awesome. I don't know how many years its been since I've been to one, but I was way underestimating how cool it was going to be. Amazing! I was giddy watching the kids awestruck faces in the lights from the show. For 2:15 all four kids were utterly mesmerized.

Jake had a good follow up appointment on the 16th with CHOP. They cleared us for a return to normal life. We waited three more days, till Tuesday, before introducing Jake back to the gym. Last night, Thursday, after three mornings at the gym, I spent the night in the ER with Jake. Croup. Not even kidding. He went to bed normally at 8 with the others, Nate got home from school at 10:30, we went to bed at 11, and at 11:30 I woke up to a crying, wheezing, barking Jake. It was unbelievable. His little heart was racing and his chest was retracting, so there was no doubt that he had to go in. 6 hours, two steroid treatments and a set of throat and chest x-rays, a RSV and a flu test later, we went home. A sudden onset case of croup, but very scary with his already (healing) but restricted airway. I'm exhausted. Nate is back at school, we followed up with the pediatrician this morning, Luke had a great 6 year well visit (48 lbs and 46 inches) and proudly showed off his reading and writing skills......and Jake seems 100% normal. I gave him a dose of oral steroid after dinner to try to prevent another episode tonight, Nate is on call to come home from school in case we have to head to the ER, and we are again restricted. Thankfully Jeannie and Henry came over tonight and we are headed out with them tomorrow morning, but man has it been a long month. Tomorrow night Nate and Julia have a much anticipated Daddy Daughter date to the 'Nova game, and I have a well deserved dinner with some girlfriends. I am just awed that my big healthy guy, my fabulous sleeper, my great eater, has had such a terrifying month. I'm reeling. I've never been as scared as I've been on a few occasions during this past month, and the stress of continued crisis is really getting to me. My poor Jake!