Close Call

Brett just can't seem to catch a break lately. If it's not an MRI, then it's falling off a teeter-totter at the park, or getting a fat lip from him and Owen bonking faces, Owen cutting Brett's finger with the scissors (I'm partly to blame for this one)...the list could go on.

Today though, was a little bit scary for a second. We were at the lake to close/winterize everything up for the winter. Ryan had started a fire in the fire pit this morning to burn all of the leaves. By this afternoon the fire pit was basically smoldering. Definitely still hot though, and unfortunately we found out the hard way.

Brett and my nephew, David were playing with a jump rope, and the next thing you know, I hear Brett screaming and he is standing up next to the fire pit. He tells me he fell in the fire, and I immediately start to scream - thinking "this is gonna be bad!" I quickly took him over to Ryan and we put the hose on his hand. He was screaming so bad, and really didn't want us to try to clean all of the ashes off his hand. He had ashes all over his shirt and pants, and I later found out that his whole body fell in the pit, but only his hand was slightly burnt. He's got one big blister, and maybe 6 or 7 little blisters on his hand.

When I think about how bad this accident could've been, I get really upset. Once again, my God was there to protect my Brettie and I'm so thankful for that!

Just as I suspected...

The doctor just called and the results are NORMAL!! :0) Praise God!!!



***This picture was taken of him early yesterday morning when we were playing games to waste a little bit of time. Yes, his eyes are crossed! :)***

Brett, you are MY Super Hero

First off, thanks so much for all of your prayers today. I really felt them, and I just felt a peace about the whole situation, and I'm sure that is in part because of your prayers, so thanks!!

I'll start with last night. Because we had to sleep deprive the little guy, it meant that he wasn't going to bed until at least 11:00 p.m., which is a huge difference from the 7 - 7:30 bedtime that he is used to. He was, needless to say, thrilled that he could stay up late with Mommy and Grandma (my mom spent the night to watch Owen for us in the morning). We watched T.V., played endless amounts of Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Candy Land, gave piggy back rides, we talked in the fan to make our voices funny and had a lot of snacks! :) We pretty much did anything to keep him awake, including holding him upside down - which he loved! Every now and then he would say, "can we just go in our bed now." And after I told him I wasn't going to bed, he said he would stay up. He did awesome! He was so happy too - not crabby at all (and there were times I'm sure I was a bit annoying to try to keep him awake). Finally, at 11:30, I said we could go to bed. I set my alarm clock for 4:44 a.m., and called it a day!






I woke up this morning, glanced over at the clock, and it read 5:46 a.m.!!!!! WHAT!?!?!? I totally set that alarm clock and double and triple checked it! O well, I hurry up and wake up Brett, and again he was so happy! I thought for sure that when I took him out of his nice warm bed he would be a crank - especially after going to bed so late, but he wasn't. He asked one time for a "snack," and I told him that the doctor said he couldn't have anything to eat until after we got the "pictures" of his head, and he said "o.k.", and never asked again. That in and of itself was an answer to pray. That was the thing that I fretted about the most, and it wasn't even an issue!

It wasn't long, and we were at the hospital. He didn't even try to fall asleep on the way there. Just talking away, happy as could be. We got there, and you could sense that he was a bit nervous. The nurse explained everything to me, and thankfully, they weren't going to put the IV in until after he had fallen asleep, and they had already numbed his hands so he shouldn't feel a thing. We tried to give him the liquid sedative, and he was having nothing of it. He spit it all over the place - including all over Ryan's glasses! :P I had to bribe him with a new Hot Wheels car in order for him to take the dose. It worked! He drank it right down. It wasn't long before he was asleep in my arms (I loved that, by the way) and we tried to transfer him to the MRI machine. I stood up, and he immediately woke up and said, "I'm falling, I'm falling!" We continued to go to the MRI room, and tried to get him to fall back to sleep. He did, and then we tried to put him back on the table only for him to wake up again. Repeat this cycle about 3 times. Finally the nurse came back in with the o.k. from the doctor to go ahead and give him another half dose of the sedation. He would not fall asleep, but man was he loopy! It was hard not to laugh at him, because we felt so bad for him and what his little body was going through. I have no pictures, because....well...that's just wrong. The nurse was just about ready to call it quits, when he finally gave in and fell asleep. I could hear him snoring, so I knew he was in a pretty good sleep. She wanted to put him on the table, and I asked if we could just wait a few more minutes for him to fall into a deep sleep, so we did. I put him up on the table, and he was out like a light! Thank you Jesus!! I then walked out of the room. I walked out of the room. I'm having a little bit of a hard time with that one. As I said before, MRI's just make me sick. I couldn't stand to see him get his head strapped down and the little cage put over his whole head, so I had Ryan stay in there with him. I feel a little bit like I wasn't there for him when he needed me, but I have to just come to grips with the fact that he was SOUND ASLEEP, and his daddy was there for him. They had to do a dye contrast also, so half-way through they had to put an IV in. He didn't even wake up with that! :) He did just awesome!

Waking him up was the hard part! He was so out of it. Again, it was pretty funny to hear the things he was saying. He would sit straight up in the bed and say, "I can cross my eyes!" All the while his head is bobbing all over the place. :)

The nurse said if we felt comfortable taking him home like this, then we were free to go home. She said it is completely normal for a child to act this way after oral sedation, so we agreed to just take him home. The nurse said that we should expect results tomorrow, so I'll keep you posted. He fell asleep in the car, almost immediately, and slept the whole way home. As soon as we got home, he said he wanted to lay on the couch and he stayed asleep until about 2:00p.m.!

I am so proud of my guy! He did so incredibly awesome throughout the entire situation, and couldn't be more proud of him!


****The pictures in the super hero costume were not staged for this post. The boys found their halloween costumes that I bought for them last year, and Brett's pretty much hasn't come off of his body since! :)****

Semi-Wordless Wednesday - They love their new beds!!

I caught Owen singing when I went upstairs, and got the tail end of it, before he got too embarrassed.



For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 minutes for mom!

Brett is having an MRI on Thursday

Brett has been complaining about headaches on and off for quite some time. There are days that he will just lay on the couch all day and complain of a headache.

A few weeks ago, I had Brett at the doctor for his 4-year check-up. The doctor asked me if I had any concerns, and I had mentioned the headaches to her. She almost immediately said that we needed to do an MRI. We talked about him falling out of the shopping cart, and how we had 2 clear CT scans, but she still said that a lot could change in a year and a half. She also said that mom's sometimes don't take headaches seriously, and then it ends up being a tumor. She in no way said that this is what she thought it was, so I'm not too concerned. She's also doing an MRI of his sinuses just to rule everything out, because "kids don't get headaches." If everything looks good, then it could just be migraines.

So Thursday morning, we go in for an MRI. I feel more nervous about the test itself than the results. I do want to rule everything out, but I really feel like he's just fine. Some of the reasons I'm so nervous about the test is that I am VERY claustrophobic. I myself cannot have an MRI unless I am sedated. The thought of it makes me panic. (Side note: I have a tumor on my pituitary gland, so I've had to endure several MRI's - so I know what I'm talking about.) Brett will need to be sedated, because he is so young, and most likely will not be able to sit still for the hour test. Because he is being sedated, he can not have anything to eat 8 hours before the test, and only clear liquids 3 hours before the test. This is going to be a problem. We all know that Brett loves to eat - first thing in the morning he'll ask for a snack. Next problem - because of the sedation, they say that sleep deprivation is VERY important. "Do not allow your child to sleep more than 5 hours the night before, and do not allow naps the day prior to procedure. Awaken your child in the morning no later than 5am, preferably 4am." YIKES - he normally sleep 10-12 hours a night, and he likes to eat FIRST thing when he wakes up!

I'm writing all of this to ask for your prayers. Not only for the test results themselves, but also the day of the test. Please pray that Brett will not be hungry (I know, strange request) and that he won't have a problem with the sleep deprivation and that the sedation does it's trick and he sits still for the test. Please also pray for my anxiety of the MRI machine. Thankfully Ryan will be coming with me, but I'm sure my boy will want mommy in there with him. :) (Hopefully we both will be able to go in there with him.)

Thanks so much!

Random Facts about me...

Gayle is having a contest. Here are the rules and my entry.

The "rules" of the game are as follows:

1. Post the rules on your blog

2. Write 6 random things about yourself

3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post

4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

O.k - here goes:

1. I sleep with socks on - have too or I'll freeze.

2. I love chocolate. In fact, I just ate a Chocolate Sundae Cone, and now the 3 Musketeers in my cabinet is so calling my name.

3. I vacuum my family room almost every single day. Hey -with three little ones always asking for snacks, I gotta.

4. I'm not a huge fan of cooking - baking is o.k., but cooking is done, only because I have to.

5. I get a thrill out of saving money - especially if I buy something when it's super cheap!! Crazy, I know.

6. I don't exercise as much as I should - unless you want to call running after my boys all day exercise! :)


O.K, now I have to tag 6 people:

Kristin

Melanie

Shawnie

Megan

And anyone else who wants to do it !:)

Weekend Warrior

Clair over at Mummy Deals had a post about procrastinating, and challenged us to do something that we have been putting off.

I have been wanting my boys room painted for quite some time. So long, that I actually bought the paint in November of '06 - yep, you read that right - '06!!!!!

I decided that this weekend, while Ryan was away camping, I was going to paint the boys room.

Thursday night, Katie mentioned that her kids were going to sleep at their Grandma's house, and that she would be willing to come help me on Saturday night! That sealed the deal - who's going to turn down help?!?!?

Friday, bright and early, I headed to the paint store (with the paint that I bought in '06) and asked them if they thought it was still good, and if it was, would they be able to mix it up again in that shaker thing. Sure enough, they thought it was still good, and they went ahead and mixed it up for me! :)

I started to clean out the room, and move furniture and get holes patched and everything on Friday afternoon. By Friday late afternoon I was taping everything off, and then by the evening, I was starting to do the trim work and cutting-in of the painting. I got all of that done, and then called it a night.

I, of course forgot to take a before picture, but here is an in-between picture...:)



Saturday morning, I felt like I could conquer the world, o.k., not really, but I really wanted to get the paint finished before Kate got here so that we could just decorate the room, and not have to worry about wet paint. So I finished painting - 2 coats of it!!! Man was it a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it!!

Here's the finished paint product (minus the furniture)


Then came the fun part!! Decorating the room! We got the beds from Ryan's Grandma, and we haven't put the kids in them yet - Brett was still in a toddler bed, and Owen was still in his crib - yeah, I'll save that explanation for another time. Anyway, Ryan's sister gave me all of the decorations for the room!! Her son outgrew the stuff, so she handed them my way, and I am so thankful, because I didn't have to buy a thing!!! And its cute too! :) Thanks Grandma and Heather!!!

Here's my favorite decoration in the room....


And here's Katie's.....
Brett's bed...(notice the little cowboy boot rug!:))
Owen's bed....(see the cute hook for his robe?!?:))

And the little valances I made...

DONE!!!! I can call their room done!! I feel so awesome that I did it myself (well, with some help from Kate) and I can't wait for Ryan to see it!!!