We Are Back, and Had a "First" Yesterday....

One of the last things we ended our whirlwind vacation with was one of our firsts.

Our first visit to the emergency room yesterday. And we did it out of state and out of insurance coverage area.

What happened? Nothing any one of us hasn’t experienced, but here is our story.

As you can see by the pictures, we spent our last full day enjoying a fountain with the squirty things that randomly pop out of the ground. Kids love it.

One of the first things we discovered when we arrived, it’s slippery. The colored swirly painted area is slick. As you can see by the beginning pictures, my kids don’t have their sandals on. After the first spill, we decided to put them on for traction.

Before we even arrived at this park, these two boys had an early wake up, got dropped off at someone’s house, and dragged to this park. It was a full day before we got here. BH was already on short fuse mode. His first spill made him mad and irritated.

Well, as I was beginning to think, we might need to go, get some lunch and rest, BH took a spill and bumped his head on the cement. He got up screaming. When he already has a short fuse, he usually reacts angrily at being hurt, which he did. So with hugs and kisses we packed it up, went to McDonald’s and to our friend’s house.

I promptly got BH ready for a nap and into bed. He was fighting me the whole time, which is normal. He also said his head still hurt. I told him the more he cried it would make it hurt. He eventually fell asleep.

Of course, his big brother then needed an electronic game that was in the room that BH was sleeping in. JM promised me he wouldn’t make a sound. Nope. I go back in, he is up. I talk him back to laying down and calming down. He still says his head hurts. I tell him I am sorry but a nap should help. He goes back to sleep.

No joke, five minutes later, older brother, JM, comes to tell me “Yep, he’s up again. I can hear him coughing.” I go in. BH is vomiting on a beautiful coverlet on my friend’s bed. Now, I am worried. For anyone out there, a head bump associated with vomiting usually means a concussion at least.

Okay, we clean up. I call my insurance company. They say, “Go to any emergency care or emergency room. Show them your insurance card. If there are any questions, have them call us.” Got it.

The first urgent care we went to refused our insurance. By this time, BH is falling asleep in the car and is hard to wake up. Another rule, someone who has had a brain injury, don’t let them sleep. UGH!

We get to the ER, forget urgent care whatevers! I sign us in, and my friend, JM, myself and BH sit in a waiting room full of sick people. I am overwhelmed. My case is no worse than anyone else’s but when will we be seen? BH is very hard to keep awake. I keep telling him to stay awake and not rest his head on me. I am not letting him sit in my lap and forcing him to stand. I am patting his back firmly like I am burping him. I am doing all I can to keep his eyes from shutting. I am extremely worried. He is extremely lethargic, and he is normally bouncing, and I mean it. Bouncing! This is not normal! He was deteriorating right before my eyes and it scared me.

Then he threw up again. A nurse came running to help. I was on the verge of tears. Please let us be seen soon! I think his vomiting helped. Within about five minutes we were taken to a room. My friend and JM were allowed to join us. So we chit chatted. The doctor came and did a check on him, watched how he walked, etc. Fortuitously JM let BH play a Nintendo DS game, which showed off that his dexterity was working nicely. But the vomiting was a concern, so he arranged for a CAT scan. By now BH is perking up and not so sleepy.

Within ten minutes, we were called to the CAT scan room. My itsy bitsy boy was laid on this huge machine with lead blankets put on him with his little sandaled feet sticking out. His huge eyes were all I saw at the other end. He understood that he needed to sit super still and the machine would move and hum. It did and all I saw were his huge eyes watching the machine. Then he came back out.

All is well. No problems. Just a mild concussion. Whewie! Now we called Dad! That was a relief for the kids to talk to him. When I called the hubbie I said, “I’ll give you five guesses where I am…..” Gave him the story, let the kids talk to him, etc. One nice thing I did think to ask for, copies of his CAT scan. They were able to burn a disk for me, which would be nice if something came up in the near future related to this.

We had one more vomiting incident that night. The kids fell asleep. We had a nice visit with some more friends. I had two mojitos, which were needed to calm my nerves. I don’t want to make that kind of trip again!

Firsts at my age are not usually welcomed!

I have so many other picture to share with you! I need to rest tonight, but more to come soon.

And the clock ticks....

We are on a plane at the crack of dawn Monday whether I am ready or not!

Laundry is humming in the washer. We need to take lots of things for the weather. Colorado at the end of August at a high elevation....it's early fall there. So the temperatures are in the nice 80's during the day, but can get down to freezing at night. There will be shorts and tshirts, and jeans and jackets too. That means a huge suitcase.

I also have about a dozen things I need to wrap up with my business before I go. That is always the hard thing right there. Especially this time. I won't have access to my cell phone or internet. No emails or anything!

This will be good for me.

I leave all of you with a hearty "have a great weekend!" and also "have a great week!". I'll be posting lots of glorious Colorado pictures when I return.

It Arrived!

There has been much stress in my little head over this box.

Connections Academy (CA) sends the curriculum, then emails you giving you the tracking number so you can track it. You need to be home to sign for it.

Sounds easy right?

Our dilemma, we didn't get the email. I have talked to other CA families who had their curriculum. I called CA twice and both times they let me know it was shipped on 8/11 but couldn't tell me the tracking number or resend the email.

Even worse, we are out of town very soon! If no one is here to sign for it, it goes back, and we get to start school way off course. There are only a few more "shipping" days that UPS will be able to get it to us.

Yesterday, I spoke with the head guy at CA who really was great at helping me out. He tracked down the tracking number and left me a voicemail saying he had it, and lo and behold, it would be arriving today. Luckily I was home, just in a quiet room attempting to get BH to take his nap.

Ain't it purdy? What is in the plastic baggie? Goggles for science experiments. Scary to think I'll be doing things in my home that require goggles, but let's not think about that. Also, cut off at the top is a top notch pair of headphones. Pretty sure that is to use online doing some conferencing with JM's teacher or "teachlets" where he watches a presentation online.

Here is one stinker, JM is famous for getting ahold of things, playing with them how they were not intended to be played with, and ruining them. Prime example, pencils. He gets into my desk, steals my pencils, then uses them as drumsticks. I usually find them leadless, eraserless, and chewed to bits in his room or on the floor. A million times, I have told him don't do that. I have given him one pencil for school and told him if he ruins it, then he owes me big time. It's making me a little mad lately because he knows he can't do that yet he continues to.

Same for headsets and goggles. I can recall a pair of each that have been absconded with in our home and ruined. Let's see how this goes. These have not been taken out of the package and won't be until needed.

Yes, I could put it in a high place where he can't reach or hide it. I know that. I might even do that if he can't do it for these items.

I also think he should know not to do something when I tell him not to. It's a fine line. Child of God did a post on this recently. That parenting voice inside our heads that say "am I helping my child develop good discipline in how to treat their things? Or am I teaching them that Mom will just put those things out of my reach?"

And that is the foot we will be starting homeschooling on. Lord help us!

Remember When You Were a Kid......

You would get something special and just love it to death?

I remember when I was about 6 and had gotten for my birthday a beautiful raincoat, that was fully plastic with pretty flowers on it. It also came with a floppy rain hat, speckled with the same gorgeous flowers. It also had the sweetest umbrella, and of course it matched. I paraded around in that outfit in the middle of September for weeks, when there is not a drop of rain to be seen in Colorado where I lived at the time. I remember getting made fun of by a mean family down the street from us. They didn't have the cool outfit I had you see.

Well, that happened today for our little guy BH. Since we are off to fly on an airplane soon, I have been mulling about how to get a week's worth of toys and clothes where it needs to go. I decided I need to take advantage of the fact that these kids are fare paying passengers, endowed with the same rights and privileges as myself. In other words, they are carrying some carry on luggage. JM has a suitcase on wheels already and a backpack. BH was another story.

I scored at Target today when I found a little suitcase on wheels, that came as a set with a tiny backpack and fanny pack for $20.00. Score! It also is speckled with spaceship stuff.

You would have thought I brought home Walt Disney himself. That backpack got packed with his favorite teddy bear, the suitcase got wheeled around, and the fanny pack got cinched to it's tiniest setting for his tiny little waist. For about two hours at least. Seriously cute!

Big brother was a bit put out that he didn't get something new and cool looking. So we broke out the foamy stickers and I let him put stickers all over his plain black backpack. Dodged a bullet on that because normally that would have been a screaming fit. We talked about how at the airport, the "policemen" will need to check the packs to make sure they are safe, so we need to do what they say, take them off, etc. So JM stickered the word "police" on the pack so they would know it needed to be checked, or something like that.

My son....accessorizing....

There will be stowaways on this trip. We have a blue bear as well that might be on this flight.

It's literally a fanny pack!

Okay, so why can't we get on the plane NOW!?

More accessorizing the accessories with foam stickers.

Neighborhood Update

Many of you have been very sweet and kind to call me and ask what is going on in the old neighborhood. I have told those folks personally, but for some reason I think I just need to not post it on the world wide web.

But an update, and it's not much. The police have come to take statements from those they need to take statements from, and that is all we know. No word from them, no word on what is going to happen the (alleged) offender, who is still in the neighborhood.

That is what has us on edge. We need guidance and structure from the authorities, and this little slice of heaven I call my home is not on their priority list. So, we continue to wait, and wait in limbo.

We ask your prayers for peace, healing, guidance, and perseverance. We also ask that you help us to be Christ to those who need it, and it is for sure the victim's family, and possibly even the (alleged) offender's family.

One cool thing, I took my kids and a few neighbor kids up the street to a free showing of "Alvin and the Chipmunks." The kids liked it, and I liked the air conditioning.