Project 52 {37}

My favorite thing about you:

You're healthy

Taken with my iPhone 3GS, edited with Tilt Shift Generator (the best camera is the one that's with you)

Originally, I had planned to do Kale's first day of school as this week's project 52.  Do you know that saying "You plan, God laughs"?  I could write a book about how many times I've had to learn this lesson.  There were other plans for us this week, Saturday night Kale got sick.  We thought he'd OD'd on chocolate at a picnic, but, sadly, that wasn't the case.  

By Monday at about 2:00 am, I wasn't able to keep anything in him, not liquids or meds to control his fever, so it was off to the ER.  He was so severely dehydrated that they went right to an IV with fluids and something to control his vomiting (see pic 1).  We were just about to be discharged and when he stood up, more vomiting.  Something wasn't right.  So it was off to an ultrasound and a blood draw.  The ultrasound showed a cranky appendix.  The hospital close to our house doesn't operate on anyone under 5 so we were ambulanced (see pic 2) to the Children's Hospital downtown.  We saw the surgeon who determined that we likely didn't need to take out the appendix and he mentioned that the blood draw showed strange banded white blood cells (WBCs).  Off to the CT scan which confirmed the appendix was fine, but that his gall bladder was also cranky.  

We spent Monday night at the hospital (see pic 3 wherein they gave him some cool accessories for his hospital gown).  He was given some antibiotics, and more serious fluids.  By Tuesday morning he was more himself but the most recent blood draw showed no improvement in the WBCs.  Let me digress a moment and say that Google is a nasty bitch, Google "fever+vomiting+high WBCs" and scary stuff comes up.  There was some brief, however memorable conversations about leukemia.  If you're a mother, that's never something you want to hear in conversation regarding your child.  I've never felt like passing out over a conversation before. That evening the GI doc came by and felt fairly certain that he got a nasty intestinal bacterial infection.  Holy great big PHEW Batman!  But that still meant another night in the hospital as we cultured, tested, poked and prodded and a 50/50 chance at a 3rd night hanging out there.  

Wednesday morning brought another rude awakening in the form of a 6am blood draw and more waiting, also a boy who was nearly back to normal (see pic 4, he learned that there was a mirror in his bed table).  By the time the pediatrician came in at 8:30, she brought the news that the WBCs had not only gone down, but were completely back to normal.  Not elevated.  Not banded.  Normal.  Like nothing ever happened normal.  We would be on our way home by lunch time.  What?!  Praise God!  We left with no medication, not even antibiotics, just a couple of follow-ups.

Kale was a great patient.  Such a brave trooper through it all - I don't think I would have been.  He took each prick, poke, prod, and test like a champ (he even fell asleep during each of the ultrasounds).  The Nintendo DS that we got to borrow helped, so did all the movies they lent us (seriously, every movie ever made was available), the playroom right outside our door with tons of toys and books, and the tricycle he rode miles on.  

Here's what I learned through this experience:  

• Don't Google things when your kids are in the hospital.  
• Prayer works wonders/creates miracles, so does modern medicine (I'm convinced they work together).  
• Children's Hospitals are amazing at what they do - every time I'm asked to donate, you bet I will, I encourage you to as well. 
• I may live miles from my actual family, but my military family is an amazing substitute. There are no words to describe the sacrifices they made to keep life normal for Haley through all of this, and to support me.  I owe them, and hope they all know I'd do it for them too.
• I'm thankful that my kids are healthy, in fact, thankful doesn't even begin to cover how I feel.  I'm thankful that we only had to spend two nights there - there are many, many families who are not so fortunate as we were; I met them.

So here's what I'm going to do:

• Hug them tightly, and make sure they know I love them.
• Be more present with them.  I'm putting down the TV/computer/iPhone/iPad and interacting more/better with them - I didn't become a stay at home mom to spend time with the household technology.  
• Saying a prayer each night for their health and being thankful when they're healthy.

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

Project 52 {35}

My favorite thing about you is:

You get back up again.

f/1.8 1/4000 ISO-400

This whole "learning-to-ride-a-two-wheel-bike" thing?  It's kind of tricky. Your sister got it when she was four and a half.  Mmmhmm... blah, blah, blah, don't compare your kids, they do things when they're ready and all of that, but here's the thing, he is ready.  He's doing it.  Well, except for that whole steering thing - he can pedal, he can balance, but dang if he can't look where he's going and point the front wheel that way.  Its frustrating, but sooo a lesson in "there-are-some-things-you-just-can't-do-for-your-kids" ("Hyphenated-things-in-quotes" that's the theme for this post).  But as a parent, that's got to be one of the hardest lessons to learn.  By no means are we helicopter parents - you know the kind: they hover hover hover over their kids and get their hands/head/feelings all up in the kids' business so much so that the kid can't really function on their own without their parent swooping in to rescue them.  That's just not us - see detachment parenting.  But we are good parents who want our kids to succeed at the things they try.  Sometimes, especially when they're smaller and perhaps they're just not mentally/physically developed enough to do some things, we jump in to help - it's a confidence builder.  Bike riding?  Not one of those things.  There's only one seat (and it's not even a banana style), one set of pedals and one set of handle bars.  There will be no jumping in to build their confidence on this skill.  Know what that means?  They fall.  A lot.  Sure, Jeff chases them, holds onto the back of their bike till he's sure they have it, but he's in flip-flops and they're little and on a bike.  Did you know that there are two speeds to a kid at this stage?  Yep, so slow they have to constantly adjust the steering lest they just tip right over to the side, and lightning fast - so fast that you're sure they'd get road rash something fierce if/when they fall.    

Here's the thing about growing up - especially in the summer when they spend tons of time outside - kids fall.  They get banged up.  Heck, Haley spent the greater part of the summer with scrapes on her nose from swimming too close to the bottom of the pool (seriously... and she wore goggles like they were surgically attached to her face so it wasn't like she didn't see it coming).  I take pride in my kids' scrapes.  They're out there exploring and trying new things.  Pushing their limits (and mine), and doing the things they're supposed to in order to figure out how their body works in this world.  And I'm keeping myself out of it (as much as general safety allows).  Sure there are tears after a fall (as pictured above, he drove his bike into Daddy's truck - thank God for helmets - why did I never wear one as a kid?).  The key is being there.  Letting them know they're loved and safe when they fall, but that after a bit, it's time to shake it off, get back up and keep going.  And BOOM!  There's your little life lesson for this week, go read those last few sentences one more time.  You're welcome.

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

BROKE?! What do you mean BROKE?!

Monday, like a bit more than a week after Jeff left for Alabama I took the kids to the gym, per my necessary (especially when Dad is TDY) sanity break planning on the normal weight lifting day. Not 15 minutes into the day and the childcare lady came looking for me. She said that Kale had been hurt coming off the slide and just wasn't calming down and didn't want to stand. Oh man! So I went back and checked him out and after about 10 minutes still didn't want to put any weight on his feet, I knew something was up (this kid will knock his head and keep on walking - it's a 2nd child defense mechanism, I'm convinced). Thankfully, friends (who also live up the street) were there working out with me and were able to let Haley stay and play while I took Kale to the Hospital up the street.

10:00 we walked into the ER and by 2:45 we finally saw a doctor. When we left for the gym this morning we didn't plan on a trip to the hospital so I had no snacks or even a sippy cup so another good friend was able to bring Kale a lunch and some food for me too. Seriously? What would I do without these friends of mine? Oh yeah, I'd have a starving three year old and a starving, hurt 21 month old, as the hospital for nearly three and a half hours! Awesome!

Anyway, they x-rayed him three times on his left ankle (where he felt most of the discomfort), and determined that there was no visible break but explained that with toddlers it can sometimes take five to seven days for a break to show up and that we should follow-up with the pediatric orthopedic soon and see what she has to say about it. They put him in a "soft cast" which was basically a fiberglass splint, wrapped with an ace bandage. He couldn't get it wet and was not allowed to put any weight on it. I was worried about the latter part of that advice, but it didn't seem to be a problem since he just didn't want to put any weight on it.

His new favorite hang out: by the tv with his babylegs on and his soft cast. Oh, and his Duplo blocks. He LOVES his Duplo blocks and has logged many hours with those things since getting his soft cast.

Favorite show? Yeah, lately it's been Strawberry Shortcake - I get it, it's Haley's favorite too, and it's all ranch/farm themed so I think it's less about the characters and more about the topics. But he runs around demanding "Shortcake... Shortcake!"

Yesterday (Thursday) we did the follow-up with the Pediatric Orthopedic (Dr. Mindy Siegel). She did some poking and prodding and determined that there was a "toddler fracture" on his left tibia. The doctor told me that she was almost certain that this was caused by his shoe catching on the slide as he was going down stopping his foot while his body continued forward. She also wanted to make him crawl to rule out a broken femur. Now, I've seen him crawl in the past couple of days but the doctor had to see it too. She asked if she could bribe him with s-u-g-a-r, and if you know me, it's nothing my kids haven't seen or been bribed with on a near daily occasion so, yeah, go ahead. We pulled out an entire bucket of suckers and nothing. Pulled his ga-gi away from him, nothing. Unwrapped the sucker, nothing. I finally went around the corner of the hallway and played peek-a-boo with the unwrapped sucker, and the ga-gi and he came smiling around the corner to see me and gave the doc what she needed to see.

She determined that he needed to be in a short cast for three weeks (for those of you doing the math, it comes off the day before Dad comes home). She also said that they now offer a Gortex waterproof cast but that insurance won't cover it so I can pay... wait for it... $10 out of my pocket. What? $10 so that when my kid inevitably sticks his foot in the dog water (happens once a week) I don't have to run back to the doctors and get a new cast put on? Yeah, sold. I would have paid a lot more.

Also, it's very much worth noting that my kid was an absolute champ getting his cast on. He sat there with no tears, fussing, not even so much as a flinch putting the cast on. To include when they had to use the saw to cut some off to free his baby piggy. He was a perfect angel. I just can't help but worry about when Karma is going to catch up with me for this one... he can't have been that good for no reason at all. Or, maybe it is my Karma for having to deal with a kid in a cast for three weeks. Yeah, it's going to take more than that. So, here are the pictures of The Dude and his cast.

This one says "See? This is my good foot!"

Haley and Mommy were the first ones to sign it. Haley chose to draw a picture of Mommy, Daddy, Haley, Kale, Gramma, Papa and Uncle Ben. Clearly.

I feel it should also be noted at the end of this post, that I'm creating a new label for this post and quite likely future posts: Injuries. Like they've told me at the ER... I have a boy, this probably won't be my last time in the ER. For the record, it's number 3 for him, the first for injury.