Hard Thanksgiving for B

Turkey day was a real dud for poor little Brennen. He woke up sort of stuffy but in an otherwise good mood. We had a fine morning but when we got up to my mom and dad's things changed. He went out on the back porch to say hi to the cats. I was checking out the Black Friday ads. I watched him go over to the gate that led to the stairs. I told him no and got up to go get him. By the time I got out the door, he was on the other side of the gate, standing at the top of the stairs! I ran over, telling him no the whole time. He had other ideas. He started going down the stairs but it was obvious that he was out of control. I ripped the gate opened and was racing down the stairs as quickly as I could in my high heeled clogs. UGH! Why did I wear these shoes? They're not at all conducive to running down stairs to save your baby. I was reaching for him and barely skimmed the back of his shirt as he went down. He ended up falling and roll/bouncing down the last 3 WOODEN stairs! I scooped him up and of course he was bleeding. It was nothing serious but he did hit his nose and mouth and was, of course, bawling. I felt terrible! I was SO shaky and just could not believe that I couldn't get to him fast enough. I know it could have been SO much worse so for that, I am thankful. But man, I just couldn't get to him and that killed me! His poor nose and mouth were bleeding for awhile and he was really upset. He eventually stopped crying and whining but from then on, his day was sort of yucky. I ended up taking him home early and then he really settled down. I felt SO bad for him. Not the Thanksgiving that I wanted him to have.

How was YOUR turkey day?

The paranoia is setting in.....

Brennen got his cast off on Monday! As the title suggests, the paranoia is indeed setting in. I find myself following him around like he's a brand new walker who cannot control the ups and downs. I am so worried that he's going to fall and reinjure his little arm. He really scares me because he flat out REFUSES to slow down! Monday afternoon he did actually take a tumble and was crying and holding his arm. I guess it's highly unlikely that he'd fall and reinjure it but I just can't stop worrying and he won't stay put! Why can't I just put him in a nice bubble where he'll be safe?!

The doc did say that he's healed up fine. I saw lots of new bone on his xray which is great. If you're feeling his arm, you CAN feel where the bone is all lumpy and bumpy. It's extra thick where it was broken. It feels kind of gross but the doc assured me that as he grows, the bones will be pulled straighter and the body will absorb the extra lumpy part. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

For now, Brennen is SO happy to be able to soak in a nice bubble bath. He can eat by himself again which is a time saver for me too!

Big bully!

You would never know from looking at that sweet face that he actually uses that lil blue cast as a weapon, would you? Yep! He swings that thing like mad when you've done something he finds offensive. OR, if he's talking to you and you don't jump to attention, he whacks your hand with it and BOY, does that hurt!

 

Just look at that thing! It's only been on for a week and ewww! It's SO gross and dirty already! Last night at dinner, he actually smashed a bunch of peas.....right on the cast! YUCK! My mom noticed the other day that it doesn't smell too great either. I'd like to say I hadn't noticed but unfortunately, that dirty cheese smell is one that I'm very familiar with. He likes to fall asleep with his little casted arm wrapped around my head. That puts the hand, oh, right around my nose area.....P.U! Sadlly enough, it doesn't come off until October 6th! I bet it's gonna smell great by then!

 

Teenagers! UGH!

So, Jon is apparently a very fragile child. He's "playing" Freshman Football this year which is super exciting.....or would be if he were actually playing! He's had injuries up the wazoo already and they've only had 2 official games. It all started back in August when he hurt his leg. I guess he got tackled wrong or something. $70 later, we left minor injury with instructions to rest it for a bit. Not too long after that, he injured his ankle. Another $70 visit later, we left with instructions to rest it for a week, wear this splint and here's a note to get you out of football and PE. He wanted to quit football at that point. Being that we had already spent nearly $300 to play football and then $140 to treat the injuries to date, I told him he needed to give himself a chance to heal. He went to practices and then returned to the field a week later. The following week (last week) he injured his shoulder! Seriously, is he made of glass?!?! SO, ANOTHER $70 later we find it's another sprain (shoulder, not ankle this time) and he's out now for 10-14 days. Well, he REINJURED the shoulder today! I guess some boy ran into him and he fell. He wasn't even doing anything! So, who knows if he's ever going to actually play. He's driving me crazy with attitude too. Yesterday, he felt it was too hot for him to go and watch practice like he had told me he was going to do. He called me several times on my cell (6 to be exact!) When he couldn't get ahold of me (I was in a meeting with Tucker's teacher) he left me a voicemail. "Mom, I need you to come and get me. It's too hot for me to go to practice, especially since I can't even practice. I've been trying to call you but can't get ahold of you. My shoulder is also really hurting me. Call me as SOON as you get this message. So, yeah, ok.....BYE (bitch)


Huh? Did I hear that right? Was he talking to me? It wasn't loud like the rest of the message.....
After listening several more times, I came to the conclusion that he WAS saying it about me but he thought he had hung up already! Oh, I was FURIOUS!

His explanation.....He was really angry because he couldn't reach me and he can ALWAYS reach me. I told him that if anything like that EVER happens again, his butt is MINE!

I do too much for that kid for him to even THINK things like that. Man, teenagers sort of suck!

Seriously, Again?!?!?! Graphic photos....Beware!

Last night, when they were SUPPOSED to be going to bed, Tucker and Tanner decided to play a little game. They were in their closet, climbing up on the wire shelving structure. It was apparently their "spaceship". Well, the game was going pretty well until Tanner lost his footing. Tucker had been trying to pull Tanner up onto the shelves and Tanner fell. Of course, being Tanner with the big head, he HIT his head when he fell. Yes, he hit his head....AGAIN! This is the 2nd time this week! He hit his head on the game shelves which are made of very sturdy formica-like material. The edges of the shelves are finished off in sharp 45 degree angles.....can you see where I'm going here? He whacked the back of his head with the full force of his falling body. Of course he screamed bloody murder at which point Jared rolled his eyes and said, "Man! What in the world are they doing now?" 2 seconds later I hear, "OH MY GOD!" Jared comes running up the stairs with Tanner in his arms. By this time, I'm in the kitchen wetting my red towel, just in case. Sure enough, he's bleeding profusely from the back of his head. I immediately got ice on it and called my neighbor.....my mom. She rushed down and confirmed our fear that YES, it does look like it needs stitches. SO, my mom and I took Tanner and Jon to the ER. Jon came along to hold the ice on Tanner's head and keep him alert. Luckily, minor injury was still open till 11pm which meant a $20 copay instead of a $100 ER copay. That totally helped!

Sorry but Picasa is acting up so I can't put the pics where I want them. They are numbered instead.

Picture #1 I took this picture with my cell phone. They had just put a topical numbing gel on his wound so they could check it out a bit more closely. Isn't he the cutest patient ever?
Picture #2 This is the graphic part......my baby ended up with 6 staples in his head. It was SO hard. I had to hold him down while they gave him an injection of pain meds. He sure is strong! And those lungs of his? I think I may be partially deaf in one ear now from the screaming. It took me, my mom, and the nurse to hold him still. It sucked. BUT, he thought it was cool that he's 6 and he got 6 staples.
Picture #3 He was commenting that his dad had blood on his shirt. I told him, "You know, you have blood all over the back of your shirt too?" Can you guess what he said?
"Oh SWEET!" He was SO proud! That's a true boy for ya!

 

 

 

balance, bonk, blood, and butterfly

I know the title of this post is somewhat confusing....allow me to explain. About 45 minutes ago, my mom was at my place and Tanner was hanging outside with us. Jared suggested that Tanner show Grandma what an awesome job he does balancing on his little scooter. Tanner was SO excited to show off and he was zipping around the driveway like a madman. UNTIL he hit the cooler that was beside our house. The scooter stopped suddenly. Tanner did not. AND he didn't have a helmet on since he was just going to show us "real quick" Well, his head bonked the cement and the blood was a-flowin! If you've ever had a head laceration or seen someone who has, you know that it bleeds like a son of a gun. Jared had the mother of all delayed reactions to the injury. I seriously wanted to fire him from his job as dad. I ran over to Tanner and grabbed his little bleeding head in my hand. I was doing my best to cover the wound and keep him from seeing the blood because....well, that's traumatic when you're 6. We calmly went into the house and I instructed Jared to get the red towel and get it wet. He comes running out like a maniac with one of my new white towels. NOT what I told him to do. at. all! SO, I told him once again....I need the RED towel please....QUICKLY! He got it for me but I'm not quite sure if he ever understood WHY I wanted the red one. It had nothing to do with laundry and everything to do with NOT freaking out the patient. After about 4 trips up and down the stairs, Jon finally managed to bring me my first aid box that held the butterfly bandages. I swear, in the first 3 trips, he brought me everything but the kitchen sink. My men are NO good in a crisis. They run around like chickens with their heads cut off. So, we got Tanner cleaned up, a butterfly bandage on his head with a cool Spiderman bandaid over it. He's been lounging on my bed watching a Spiderman dvd ever since. Of course I've been watching him like a hawk ever since. We can't have him falling asleep or anything. He seems fine but man, he sure scared me! And yes, we discussed how if he had a helmet on, this would not have happened.