H1N1

On Saturday Cecelia was extremely cranky, having outbursts of crying for little or no reason(which is completely unlike her). By Sunday morning she had a high temperature and was eating very little, in the afternoon she was crying saying she was sick, vomiting, coughing and complained of body aches. Aaron and I both knew that she most likely had seasonal influenza or the H1N1 virus. On Sunday and Monday, we were in contact with her Dr's office, whom thought it was viral but probably just a cold virus and didn't want to see her in the office unless her symptoms got worse. Well, by Tuesday morning her fever was up to almost 105 degrees and we were adamant about getting her into the office to be seen and treated, since they weren't willing to prescribe antivirals to her yet like we had urged them to do. Sure enough Cecelia came back as positive for swine flu! A prescription for Tamiflu was prescribed and almost immediately after the first dose she began to improve. She is still contagious for 24 hours after her fever is gone without having to take a fever reducer, so she will most likely be out of school until next Monday...poor kid, she is going crazy being locked up in the house. And since we've been exposed and the incubation period is up to a week, we've had to quarantine ourselves as much as possible too. For me, this means that I had to miss clinical and class:( Instead I've spent the majority of my time home cleaning and sanitizing all visible surfaces...fun, fun! Hopefully Aaron and I will have taken enough precautions that we won't develop symptoms but its too early to tell...Aaron is so dramatic when he is sick!

Stanley

Stanley is our 1 1/2 year old, pure bred Shih Tzu. We call him Stan the Man. We got Stanley last summer when he was just 6 weeks old. He was so little then, about the size of my palm, now he is about 10 lbs. and full grown. He was a gift to Cecelia for her 4th Birthday...she loved it! Stanley is such a cuddle bug, and a mama's boy. Whenever I am home, he is on my lap or by my feet. He is such a good dog, perfect with Cecelia, Kiley and all of our nieces and nephews. . We are keeping our eyes open for another Shih Tzu too, we would really like Stanley to have a companion.

Cecelia

Cecelia is 5 years old and just started Kindergarten this fall. She absolutely loves kindergarten, and was lucky enough to have several friends with whom she attended pre-school with, in her class with her this year. Cecelia is very active and social. She loves gymnastics and soccer but this fall instead of going to back to gymnastics, Cecelia is trying Pom/Cheer. Last week was the first week, but so far she is having a blast learning cheer moves. We love for her to try new activities while she is young, so she will hopefully find a sport or activity that she loves and will stick with later on. She is also going to be starting Girl Scouts very soon, which will be exciting for her. Cecelia makes us laugh on a daily basis with the most comical, quirky comments. Every day I look forward to her putting a smile on my face by saying something completely unexpected! Cecelia is ready for a little brother or sister, but we've decided to wait to start trying for another until this spring. I want to be done with school before the new baby gets here, so until then Cecelia will be patiently waiting...

Kiley

Our daughter Kiley is 7 (almost 8), and is in the second grade. Kiley moved from Omaha when she was 5 and lives in Denver with her mom, but fortunately she spends almost all of her breaks from school, and the majority of the summers with us. We also travel to Denver once a year to visit too. So, we actually see her quite a bit. Cecelia misses her sister so much when she isn't here, but the girls really make up for lost time whenever they are together! Kiley is such a well behaved little girl and she is so intelligent too!

Meet the Culvers

My husband Aaron and I have known each other since high school and have been together for over 7 years! We recently decided to make it official and we tied the knot! On Friday, July 31st, surrounded by 30 of our closest family and friends, we were united in marriage at an outdoor ceremony at Mt. Vernon Rose Gardens. Then we took a honeymoon to the western Caribbean, which was beautiful and so relaxing! It's wonderful to finally have that unification after being together for so long! We have 2 amazing kids, Kiley and Cecelia. I have my associated degree in Liberal Arts and am currently a full-time junior level nursing student at Methodist College. I will be done with my bachelors next fall and can't wait to finally be finished! Nursing is such a rewarding profession. I also work part time for the same company I've been with since high school...which says a lot about the company! Aaron works for Douglas County as a home program officer, he loves his job, and truly enjoys going to work every day, how many people can say that? We have a great life here in Omaha. Were surrounded by our wonderful family and friends and are so blessed!

Creating a blog

After coming across several friends and family members blogs, I decided to start one of my own. I wanted to do this for my amazing friends who live on opposite coasts, and all of our wonderful family who lives out of town. Hopefully this blog will allow everyone to keep updated on the Culver family. Most importantly, I wanted to do this for myself and my children. I want this blog to be a digital scrapbook...writing and posting pictures about the chaos of our daily lives, the fun activities, the memorable vacations and everything in between.