First Punch

I have frequently joked that with our boys being so physical we are probably going to have a "frequent flyer" card to the ER. Well today our card got its first punch and it was a doozey!

Case was jumping on the couch and fell off onto the hardwood floor, which is on a slab so he might as well have landed on concrete. I was in the kitchen when it happened and all I heard was the ground getting smacked with what I could only assume was someone's hands. As a mom you hear a thud and then you hold your breath waiting for a cry. It came. And came and came. Case usually gets over stuff pretty quick and when Popsicles and suckers couldn't calm him down I knew we were in trouble. I called the pediatrician who called back much quicker than usual, another worrisome sign. They said the fact that he was laying his head on me and didn't leave my lap meant I needed to take him to the ER. I loaded both boys up and off we went... Very fast!  I called Wayne on the way and he left work and came right to the hospital.  Imagine my relief as I corralled one uninjured 17 month old and one injured but not acting like it almost 3 year old in the ER where I'm pretty sure Ty touched his sucker to every germy surface in the joint and then stuck it back in his mouth.  I think he even dropped it on the floor once and back in his mouth it went because I only have 2 hands and couldn't stop him in time.  

The impact was on the top middle of his forehead so you can imagine
why I got scared when his eye started swelling almost immediately

In the parking lot he started perking up and by the time anyone made it in the room I was sure I was going to hear that he was fine and most likely hear snickering and sighs about another over protective momma.

Neither happened. Instead three docs came in at different times to look at the swelling around his eye because they were on the fence about doing a CT Scan. After the third doc they thought they better do one.
They let me stay with him during the scan and he did amazing, especially for having missed his nap and us having already been there for 3 hours. They said he did better than most adults. I was shocked because I was pretty sure it was going to be a disaster.  I am amazed by his faith in Mommy and the fact that he didn't even know to be scared because I was right beside him. What an awesome gift God has given this mommy and little boy today.  If only I could live every moment with faith like that!

More waiting and the doc came in and confirmed a skull fracture. My heart sank. She explained that it was a large fracture but not displaced so she didn't think he would need surgery but they wanted him to be transported to Riley Children's Hospital for observation overnight. I lost it but she was so kind in explaining that he would be fine and even shared her own kid falls horror stories.

So Case, who couldn't have been more excited, prepared for his first ambulance ride.

These ladies were so nice and found stickers and a stuffed animal
for the ride.

 

He didn't really get to experience his first (and hopefully last) ambulance ride because he fell asleep immediately.  He was SO tired!

Grandma and Daddy were waiting for us at Riley. Grandma had already raided the gift shop. Shortly after we got there Tracey came.  Now if you've been following along she and her family had been living in the UK for the past few months and she literally just got home about 3 hours before she came to the hospital.  I'm sure that is EXACTLY what she wanted to do when she got home.  Case was SO happy to see her though and so was I!

We had to go through the ER and wait some a lot more before they could admit him. A doctor checked him out and then another doctor checked him out and then another and finally for icing on the cake an ophthalmologist came in and checked him out and dilated his eyes. I SO appreciated the thoroughness but by this time it was about 10pm so we had been in hospitals for over 7 hours already. Case was very patient with all the poking and prodding until we got to Riley. At that point he was just done. My heart broke while the ophthalmologist pried his eyes open for 3 sets of drops.  The neurosurgeon was one of the doctors to come in the room.  She was great with him.  She told us how important it is that he not have another fall like this especially for the next month or so.  She said another fall like this that happens soon could be "fatal".  This is NEVER a word you want to hear a doctor say about your baby.  This is all SO scary!!!

They finally sent us to a room after that. The ER is not so nice but the rooms are amazing! Wayne brought everything I asked him to bring for Case and then some and without a mention from me he brought every single item I would need for the night.  I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with what a blessing he is when I had my glasses, contacts case and solution, toothbrush, and jammies.  It just hit me that he knows me better than anyone and better than I think he does.  He is the perfect man for me and such an amazing Daddy!!!  I love you Baby!

Now I'm sitting in a recliner looking at my little man's chest going up and down and all I can do is thank God that my baby is the healthiest one on this floor.

This is the "bubble" he slept in.  Let me tell you how much I wish I
could take this thing home!  No risk of falls here!

Fast Forward 1 day.

Case didn't fall asleep until about 12:30 or 1 this morning.  I was surprised it took him that long because I knew he was exhausted but it had been a crazy night so I think he just had trouble settling down.  He didn't seem to sleep super sound until about 6 this morning and of course that's when the docs started rounding and nurses started coming in to take vitals.  Most of them were great about letting him sleep as best they could.

This is what he looked like this morning.  The swelling didn't seem
any worse but the bruising sure did!

We saw the neurosurgeon again today.  She thought he looked great and just reiterated how important it is that he keep "two feet on the ground", although I think she also appreciates what a task that will be as he was jumping all over the room while she talked.  I will do my best to turn him into a couch potato for the next month.  I'm guessing there won't be too many times where I'll have a doctor telling me to do that.

They came and asked him what kind of toys he likes then got those toys out for when we got to the playroom.  Amazing!  

After all the doctors came and went and the nurses checked him they released him at about 1:30, almost exactly 24 hours from the fall.

Headed home with my little raccoon!  

Now we are home, napped, fed, bathed, and he is in bed.  He's trying really hard to remember to move slowly, which he's been reminded of about 2,000 times today and we've had some very intense couch etiquette training with both boys on a few occasions too.  Grandma came in with lots of "sit down" toys and puzzles that we'll open on an "as needed" basis.  Reflecting on the last day and a half is crazy because it felt like about 2 weeks!  All I could do was look at our surroundings at Riley and be reminded of how blessed we are.  A little boy 3 rooms down from us celebrated his 1st birthday in the hospital and from the looks of his room I'm guessing he lives there right now.  It is so hard and scary to imagine that life but it happens and there are so many people living with the devastation of what disease and injuries can do to their babies at this very moment.  Life is so precious and that is so easy to forget when we get into the hubbub of life.  There are gifts from God in every trial and this reminder is just one of many in this one.  I'm also humbled by the love and support of our friends and family when things get tough.  We are loved way beyond what we deserve.  There are so many people praying for my baby and loving on us.  Thank you!  And a special thank you to Sara for delivering dinner to our door tonight.  I can't tell you what a huge help that was to us tonight and it was so yummy too (she even made a meatless version of what she made my boys... could we possibly be better taken care of??).

We have follow up appointments scheduled with the opthamologist and the neurosurgeon so I will be sure and update after those.  In the meantime we truly appreciate prayers for our little man!!!

Case Update

Case.

Oh Case how you make me laugh.  Your sense of humor and your imagination provide such entertainment to Daddy and me!

Love that you are so goofy!!!

You will frequently come into the room and say "what's going on in here?" or "where did you come from?"  I love that you refer to your fingernails as "fingernagels".  That is probably one of my favorite things that you say, oh and you've also started calling me Mominy, which just cracks you (and me) up.  Tonight you got in trouble for hitting your brother and after sitting in time out I told you to go and tell him your were sorry.  You did but Ty didn't pay any attention to you because he most likely didn't even know why you were apologizing however you didn't interpret it that way.  Instead you said, "Tybee is REALLY mad mommy" thinking that was why he didn't respond.  I don't know why but I couldn't stop laughing at this whole scenario.  You've just grown up SO fast and you're talking SO much it just catches up with me sometimes because I feel like you were a tiny baby asleep on my chest just yesterday.

This cracked me up!  The mall we were at was under
construction.  This was on one of the temporary walls.  You
literally stood there just like that for several minutes.  Oh boy!  

You are a very physical little boy.  You love to run and jump, especially on the furniture and therefore you spend quite a bit of time in timeout as well.  We've been to a few new play places and one of them has trampolines, which you LOVE and you've gotten so good at.  You love to swim in Grandma and Grandpa's pool and you're totally independent as long as you have your "Puddle Jumper" swimmy on.  You also love the sandbox and can spend so much time out there dumping sand on your head and making sure that their are grains of sand in every nook and cranny of your body so that when you come inside you can be sure that there's a fine layer of sand on my floors at all times.

You are fearless and that is your little brother
going up right behind you.  You are his hero
for sure!!!

You have started to give Daddy and me a glimpse of what trouble we're going to be in with our grocery bill in a few years.  All of a sudden you eat... a lot.  One of your favorite foods is chicken nuggets.  No I don't make a daily stop at McDonald's for you... although that would help me seal the "Mom of the Year" crown.  You love these fresh chicken nuggets that they sell at the grocery store.  You also like hot dogs most of the time and yogurt but I'm pretty sure you could actually live on popsicles (Flavor Ice) and fruit snacks.  Your drink water but you prefer milk and if we're out you ALWAYS think you should get a lemonade (pronounced lemone-aid).

your daily popsicle, before I got smart and started buying the
cheap Flavor Ice ones.  

Because I'm mom of the year, you get to take my phone to bed with you at nap time and bed time.  You rarely fall asleep playing with it.  I usually have to come in and take it away.  Sometimes you watch shows on it but more often than not you like to do puzzles on it.  You still sleep in your crib... go ahead and judge me on this if you want to but I'm telling you that I will NEVER push to put you in a toddler bed, of course I might not have to because you may actually need a queen size bed by the time I let you out of your crib.  You LOVE your crib and I LOVE your crib so I just don't see the problem.  Grandma has tried to get you to nap at her house in a "big boy" bed and you've wanted nothing to do with it.  Right now you go to bed around 9 (after stories and prayers with Daddy) and you usually don't fall asleep until 10 or 10:30ish... crazy right???  You love to be in your crib awake or not.  But wait for it... here's the best part... you've been sleeping until around 8:30 and sometimes later.  It is AMAZING!!!!  Now you aren't loving your crib quite as much when you wake up in the morning as I will hear you yelling "Mommy, where are you? and if I don't come right in you start yelling it louder.  You go down for a nap around 2 but probably don't fall asleep until 2:30 or 3 and you're up at about 4:00 or 4:30.  Thank you for being such a great sleeper!!!!

Another thing that has surprised me is your imagination.  There are already times where you make me check your closet for "tigers".  Tigers seem to be the scary thing for you right now.  If there's a dark room in our house there are probably tigers in it.  You've even woken up in the middle of the night having nightmares.  I guess I assumed that these things would come later but I was wrong.

You know all of your letters and you used to know most of the sounds however we haven't worked on anything more than surviving the last several months so as I started going over them again today I learned that you no longer know the sounds or perhaps you just don't know what I'm asking.  You know colors and shapes, counting at least to 10 and your vocabulary grows daily.

Here's some of your favorite things:
TV: Doc McStuffins, Bubble Guppies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Curious George (but only on the computer).
Toys:  Your train table, anything outside, racing (if only you could get your brother to get the hang of this), sidewalk chalk and cars.
Iphone: Tozzles, Disney Jr, Chuck the Truck story, PBS kids and Miss Spider story
Music:  Sweet Caroline, which you call the Bop Bop song and you ask for it over and over again, The Wheels on the Bus, John Jacob Jingle Hiemer Schmitt (love when you ask for that one) and Hickory Dickory Dock
Books:  Edward the Emu, the story of Daniel and the Lions from the Bible
Friends:  We still have our Baby Jam friends and you love them all and talk about them all at different times and I don't know what I'd do without their mommies!

Baby Jam... Love these kiddos!!!

Andrew and Oaks have probably been the two kids that you've been closest to this past year.  Andrew moved to England for a few months for his Daddy's work and you could not have been sadder.  Then Oaks moved back to California with his family.  You have missed your two buddies SO much and I have missed their Mommies like crazy too!  We are finally going to see Andrew and Tracey again THIS week!  We are SO excited!  You think Andrew is on every plane that flies over.

The day Andrew left :-(

You and Oaks... Miss him!!!

You and Oaks and your annoying little brother :-)  

And after 6 months I need to do a picture dump...

You have two VERY special grandparents and this was your
favorite thing to do when you got up in the morning while we
lived at their house.  

Getting ready for your first (organized) Easter Egg Hunt

You thought the bunny handing out candy
was pretty cool... your brother?  Not so much!

You and a member of the Graveyard Stompers band, who also happens to be the painter we got a quote from but didn't hire.  When I called to tell him we were picking someone else he invited us to listen to his band practice and we went... TOTALLY random but he's such a nice guy and you and Ty had a ball!

Your first grocery trip with your very own cart... the only thing
you would put it in was your free cookie though... I wouldn't
call that super helpful :-)

Dipping your veggie sticks in your applesauce... gross!
You do LOVE dipping sauces though!!!

Those cupcakes were on the counter and the tops of them
were in tact, that is until you got up that morning.

Us at the fireworks... Love you!!!!

This is what your bed looks like when you have it your way.  I'm sure
we're breaking all kinds of rules here!

More popsicle time... two of my favorite boys!

You LOVE these glasses, which belong to Bethany (our cousin)

I love that you've started clapping to music!

Watching tv with your little brother... I could  not
love you boys more!!!!!!!

Our lunch date to the very trendy McDonald's!

Time is flying by and you bring new smiles with each day.  I love you so much!!!

Blog Hiatus Over!

Let's see how complicated my life got in a few short months shall we?  House was on the market for 2 years and we took it off only to sell it 2 weeks later.  Pack up 9 month old, 2 year old, husband, and 10 years worth of accumulated stuff in our house.  Move in with parents... boy oh boy they had NO idea what they were signing up for.  Insert stomach flu for all 6 people living in said parent's house (that was FUN!).  Begin house hunting.  Find house, make offer, offer rejected.  Restart house hunting, look at 30ish houses (our realtor loved us!).  Make offer, sign papers, mentally move in, bank "changes their mind" and relists the house (yes, this really happened), offer them more money and make offer on another house just in case this one fell through.  House falls through back up plan (after 1 year on the market) can no longer afford to sell as they are upside down and husband took their money and started a new business (why is house still on the market?  No idea... I'm guessing their realtor had this conversation with them too).  That's 3 offers and no house for those of you keeping count.  Apparently I'm not the most fun person to look for houses with as Wayne pretty much gave up and said you find a house and I'll be fine with it.  I don't blame him... the house I want we can't afford plus I live in fear of making another house mistake.  We lived in the last one for ten years and still had to take a substantial amount of money to closing. I was gun shy to say the least.  Our realtor told us one of the houses we had previously looked at (and didn't meet any of our criteria really) had dropped in price $20,000.  I mentioned it to Wayne and he made an offer on it before we got home.  When I said he was done, I wasn't kidding.  This house is an amazing deal and a good investment for our family.  It isn't our forever home but it has tons of space so we're going to make it work.  Everything happens in God's timing and by His plan.

Pictures of the house will be coming soon... maybe just room by room as I get things sort of done.  

We've now been in this house for over 2 months and it is growing on me more and more everyday.  After a rough start, I'm clearly not good with change, it finally feels like OUR house.  The project list is long but I'm trying not to get stressed out about it.  We have everything we need today and all the changes that I want to make will come in time, hopefully.

So needless to say it has been a complicated and chaotic few months but I feel like things might be getting back to normal again and I figured it was probably time to start posting again before my boys are graduating high school.  Next up will be an update on my boys because there are SO many things I don't want to forget about who they are right now, not to mention the fact that the last 6 months have pretty much gone undocumented.