Not The Best Day

While I don't love posting my parenting failures, this blog is also a personal record for me...so here it goes.  Chloe's high chair is the kind that just snaps onto a regular chair.  Keep in mind also that we have bar stool height chairs.  We took the high chair off for Carson's party so that we could have all the chairs for guests.  After the party, Karl was being the wonderful husband he is and was quickly picking up.  He set the high chair on the chair, but since he was just doing a quick general pick up, didn't snap the hooks that hold it in place.

Fast forward to the next morning.  I go to feed Chloe breakfast.  I set her in the high chair and buckle HER into the chair tight.  I turn around to get her food and turn back around just in time to see her and the high chair fall forward off the chair.  She face planted it into the tile.  (Even as I type this and relive it in my head I can barely handle it).

She starts screaming (obviously).  She would intermittently hold her breath and shake her hands, like she didn't know what to do with the pain, and then going back to screaming.  She immediately had a huge purple lump the size of my fist.  I could literally see the grout line on her forehead.  Her nose was bleeding.

I was holding her and feeling scared and like an awful mother.  The minute I saw her nose was bleeding I just looked at Karl and said "Hospital...now."  We stopped and said a prayer first and then were frantically getting things together.  As we were trying to get out the door as fast as possible, she got real quiet and was trying to fall asleep on my shoulder (which she never does).  We kept her awake (I didn't know if this was really important or just important on TV shows...but I figured better safe than sorry).

I was kind of freaking out inside, but I think I held it together enough to function.  The scariest part was just not knowing if she was going to be alright.  "Did I just permanently harm my child" was running through my head.  A few times the thought "is she going to die" went through my head but I kept that one at bay as I thought it probably wasn't that bad.  Karl and I both felt awful - he because he hadn't snapped in the chair and me because she fell on my watch.

We got to the ER and Karl dropped me off at the door as he went to park.  I was filling out the paperwork and the nurses asked me what happened.  I hadn't cried yet, but as I started into the story I burst into tears.  I'm not sure how much they understood of the story as I blubbered on.

We were taken back right away and one of the nurses said it looked like she would be okay.  Even though she hadn't thoroughly checked her, this did help to alleviate some of my fear.  They gave her a little baby hospital gown.  They asked us several times if she ever lost consciousness...so I guess it was good she stayed awake.

The doctor came in and started checking her over.  I was a little confused when he said "do you know exactly where she hit?"  Could he not see the ginormous lump?  I wanted to say "Not here or here so much...but right here."  He said the forehead is probably the best place to take a hit.  He said her eyes were responsive.  He said there was no blood behind the ears.  He was super mean and pushed real hard on her lump...poor thing started screaming.  He said she was showing normal 10 month old baby brain activity and function.  He then said he didn't think she needed a CT scan and that we should watch her for the next 5 hours and come back if she was acting "not normal."

She had already cheered up a bit.  She would get happy and then accidentally hit herself in the head with a toy and start screaming again (funny but sad)

She was acting totally normal by the time we got home.  Me, on the other hand, took several days to get over the trauma.  It literally consumed my thoughts for a few days.  Even though she was acting normal, I worried that some clot or some tiny fracture would blow (or something...my medical knowledge stems from shows like ER, Greys, and House).

It has been a few weeks though and she is fine.  Her bruise went away surprisingly fast.  The lump is still there a little...you can see it when she raises her eyebrows because her forehead now wrinkles around the lump.  The bruise did sink down around her eye though and she had a little black eye for a few days.

Carson just turned 5 and we haven't had a single ER visit for him.  Chloe made it 10 months.

So there you have it.  My scariest moment as a mother thus far.  I am so grateful she is okay.  Lots of prayers of thanks followed that week.

While we were at the hospital I texted my fellow Beehive leaders to let them know we wouldn't make it to church and gave them a short explanation.  The Beehives are so sweet and told me they said a prayer for Chloe as well.

Carson is 5!

Carson turned 5 a few weeks ago.  See Birthday Breakfast below (he was still waking up).

He actually found the concept of his birthday a little confusing, how can he be four one minute and five the next, but he got over that quickly.  We had two parties (one for friends and one for family), he absolutely loved this.  We had a Lego birthday party with six other little boys.  They had a blast.  I definitely overestimated the attention span of 5 year old boys though.  I had planned several Lego themed games, but after a few seconds into each one, half of the boys would wander off to play and the other half would be engaged in their own conversations.  I gave up and let them just play.  They all seemed disappointed to leave which I think is a good sign that it was a fun party.

See the Birthday Cuties - I loved all the boys, they were all saying the funniest things

I will do a party post later as I am somewhat proud of a few of the things I did.

Here is a pic of Carson's GGma (great grandma).  They share their birthday.  She turned 88.  He has the sweetest relationship with her and is always excited to see "GG"

Facts about our 5 year old:
Loves Avengers (the cartoon series on Netflix), Batman, Spiderman
Can be a very loving, sweet older brother.  Chloe laughs for him a lot more than she does for Karl and I
Still adds an "M" before the word "use".  As in "Hey, I was musing that."
Is fond of salad and lettuce.  I caught him sneaking spinach out of a salad bag several times today
Enjoys Legos and Star Wars
Enjoys seek n' finds and mazes
Loves games - we play one every night.  I am very happy his repertoire has expanded past Candyland
Consistently beats me at the game "Match" (sometimes called concentration).  He beats me for real.
Is still generous with his I Love You's, but is starting to not want to hold my hand in public
Always asks me to cuddle with him or scratch his back at night. It is usually to hard to resist and we lay and tell silly stories in his little twin bed.

Behold his awesome new Lego set

I can't believe he's growing up.  I swear he's gained 30 lbs in the last few weeks.  Carrying him anywhere is quite the task.  At his 5 year check up he was 45 lbs and 45 inches tall.  The only weird thing was that he had a little heart murmur.  The doctor said it was nothing to worry about at all and that it is really common.  I guess he'll grow out of it.  Was a little weird, but after referring to my extensive medical knowledge (google, webmd, etc) it seems most children have one at sometime.

Preschool Graduation

Carson's preschool had a sweet little graduation.  They performed some songs and nursery rhymes for the parents and then got a diploma and said what they were going to be when they grew up.  Carson said he was going to be a cowboy.  Afterwards, I asked him what that meant.  He told me he was going to ride a horse and live out west.  He said he would rope cattle.  He also told me he would have to go to the gun shop and get a gun.  I guess he thought that through a little more than I realized.

Carson and his wonderful teacher Ms. Carrie

See the little cuties

This is Carson and his best preschool buddy Colin

His teacher gave us all a CD with over 1,000 pictures that she took over the school year...I guess I'll go through those soon too (or put them in a box to be rediscovered in 13 years when he graduates high school).

Sad Words

Carson was upset tonight and I could hear him in his room saying (very dramatically) "why are they mean to me? I am just a child.  No one should be mean to a child.  A child is a person."

It would have broken my heart if I hadn't been laughing.

P.S. the mean thing I did was make him clean up his books by himself.  He was overwhelmed to do it without help and with his arms stretched out, he dramatically stated "but I only have two hands."

Our Mischievous Ghost

So there has been a very mischievous ghost in our house.

Our 2nd bathroom doesn't like to unlock using that little pin from the outside.  When we discovered the door had been locked and then shut, we asked Carson if he did it.  He informed us it was a ghost.  It took a lot of man power and ruining of a club card to get that door open.

Saturday night, half of our toilet paper roll holder was missing.  See example in exhibit A.  We asked Carson if he knew where it was.  He once again informed us of this ghost.  We looked in the bathroom for a little bit but then gave up and figured it would turn up sometime.

Sunday, I went to grab the toilet paper (which was now just sitting on the counter because of the situation above) and it was soaking wet.  Carson was outside the bathroom so I yelled "What happened to the toilet paper."  He once again, told me it was a ghost.  I told him to go tell daddy to get me some more toilet paper.  I then heard Carson yell "Dad...mom needs new toilet paper because it's all wet."  Funny...I never mentioned that it was wet to Carson.

We were eating dinner and I told Carson it was okay if he got the toilet paper wet if it was an accident.  He told me it was.  That he had accidentally dropped it into the toilet and then fished it out.  Hesitantly, he added "It was an accident when I flushed that thing too.  I thought it was poop."  It took me a few minutes to even figure out what he was talking about...but then all the dots connected and I could not stop laughing.  So I guess we'll have to buy I new toilet paper holder.  On the positive side, I don't think we have a ghost problem.

Summertime!

We got passes to the water park by our house and we are looking forward to it.  We went for the first time a few weeks ago (since it is already in the 90s here).  I can't get over Chloe and her chunky little thighs in a bathing suit.

General Update

Chloe had her 9 month appointment.  She is finally on the charts for weight (97%) but is still off the charts for height.  She was 22 lbs 7 oz and 30 1/2 inches long.

Chloe now has two teeth on bottom and one on top.  The second top tooth is going to come through soon because we can see a ginormous bulge on her gums.  I can't imagine how much that hurts.  She is crawling all over now and pulling herself to standing on everything she can.  She likes to use Carson's stool as a walker.  She likes to follow me around and is happy to play at my feet.  She figured out how to open the bathroom cabinet...this kept her entertained for like 20 minutes.

Carson is his usual funny self.  The other night at dinner, out of nowhere, he said "the 90s were good to me."  When I asked where he had heard that he told me the secrect indians told him.  His imagination borders on delusional.  He keeps me laughing though.

Carson has also become interested in Justin Bieber.  He heard about him from the girls at preschool.  I also made a joke about how Carson needed a haircut because he was starting to look like Justin Bieber.  Carson told me he wished JB was his brother.  Then he decided maybe Chloe could marry JB.  Then he asked me where JB lived and if we could visit him.  He then asked "does JB live by a Volcano?" When I replied no he said "Oh, good...so he'll never die."  I informed him there are lots of ways to die besides by volcano.

Carson also insists on buttoning his polos all the way up.  He says he doesn't want his chest to show.  Whatever - not worth the fight.  So he may look a little unusual if you see him in a polo.