On April 11, my youngest son, Collin Mac, turned 2 years old. The Friday before that, we got to celebrate with family and friends. Since I love to drag these things out, we continued celebrating through the weekend and, of course, on Monday, which was the actual day. It was wonderful!
Fascination with the candles. We had been practicing for days! And if you told him "Happy Birthday", you had better have a lighter and a candle in your pocket because that is what comes next!
We even got to celebrate with Devon! Thanks for coming! Glad you celebrated with us!
PawPaw & MawMaw were, of course, right in the middle of it!
Aunt Janna, Caroline, and Maw
Janna, in no way, acts as if she is 42 years old and the older sister. This is just one of the things that frequently occur between these two. Lord help us all. We are going to put them in the same room in the nursing home...
Cake is ALWAYS enjoyable. However, cake with green icing has interesting repercussions....
Happy as ever! But, of course, he is the center of attention!
He got a Jessie doll! Can you tell he likes it?!? Now we have Buzz, Woody, and Jessie! YEE HAW!!!!
Byron, Janna & Clay
Bubbles are AWESOME!!!!
And then you live moments that change your life in ways that you wish had never happened to change your life.....
The day after Collin's turns 2 years old, Collin and Byron woke up after Abby had gone to school and were playing. Kevin and I weren't in the room with either of them when we heard them arguing about what movie to watch. Byron decided on one and started it up. Collin disagreed, so he decided it was his job to stop it. Apparently, he opened the drawers to the short nightstand, climbed up to reach the DVD/VCR on top of the conventional, non-lightweight, non-flatscreen television that sat on the nightstand.
We heard a gut-wrenching crash and tore into the room as fast as we could. We found the tv turned upside down and Collin Mac standing next to it crying. I picked up Collin & Kevin picked up the tv and took it who-knows-where.
I looked over Collin to make sure he wasn't bleeding or visibly hurt. He told me he wanted to lay down in his bed and turn the music on. I thought that was odd, but I did as he asked in hopes that he would calm down and be ok. I left him alone after several hugs, kisses, "I love you"s and consolation to finish getting Kevin ready for work while he took a shower.
As I was making the coffee, I hear Collin screaming again and go to his room to find him standing (again) at the door to his room shaking uncontrollably and not putting any pressure on his left leg. I pick him up and hold him and console him again until Kevin gets out of the shower. I tried a couple of times to set him back down on the ground to see if he was ok, but he wouldn't even attempt to put his feet on the ground. I set him in his bed to see if that would help. When he would try to roll over on his stomach and pull his legs up underneath him like he does when he sleeps, he would scream some more.
I was horrified that something was terribly wrong, but couldn't pinpoint exactly what it might be. Kevin was convinced that something was wrong, so, as we prepared for the trip to the emergency room, we took turns holding him, while he would scream every time we moved him. Every scream sent my heart plunging again and I was physically sick to my stomach.
If you haven't experienced a trauma with your children, I can tell you--at least in my case--that you hurt almost every bit as much as they hurt. It shatters your heart.
We took him to the emergency room after dropping Byron off with a friend (Thank you, AGAIN, Jami West. I owe her SO incredibly BIG) where they took entirely too long to get xrays and a diagnosis, while we were the ONLY ones there, to tell us that he had not broken anything and he should be up and around in no time, but to check with our doctor in a couple of days to follow up anyway.
We left the ER, Collin still screaming every time we moved him, and went to get some lunch while Collin slept as I held him. (By this point, neither of us had put him down in about 3 hours.) He slept peacefully, but as soon as he woke up and began moving, he screamed some more. I was convinced that something had been missed and I did not in any way believe that he was ok. Something was causing HUGE amounts of pain for him, but I didn't know what. We took him home (the carseat was the WORST position. Something about the angle of the seat and the point of injury not jiving) and held him while he watched tv. He wanted to go outside so we did, but he screamed more with every move. We had finally had enough and decided it was time to skip Snyder all together and head for the Children's Hospital in Lubbock.
I am going to plug them here and say, If you EVER have problems with your children, of any magnitude, go straight to Lubbock. From the time we walked in the door (where, again, we were the only ones) to the time of departure, I think we were there some where around 45 minutes.
We went back without ever having to sit, we saw FIVE nurses, the ER doctor (Dr Sammy Herrera is AMAZING), got xrays right there in the room ( he had a very slight fracture in his femur just above the knee), and was splinted and given some pain medication. These people were wonderful and I can't tell you how amazing it is to see people who DO NOT treat you as if you are just a patient, but an actual person, and they show your child almost as much love as you do.
That day was so stressful, and hearing my son laying on the bed being xrayed, crying so hard he could hardly catch his breath, all the while trying to tell you, "I'm sorry, Mommy" is not a scenario I wish upon my worst enemy. I could not sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that again. I think I may have cried almost as hard as he did. Well, no. That isn't true. But it was horrifying.
Anyway, he did not want to move for several days, and told me so. :( He has been pampered....alot. It may be difficult to undo. But for now, we are trying to care for him the best we can.
Here is our poor little boy. My heart just bleeds.... But Buzz, Woody and Jessie have been our constant companions.
What better way to enjoy the outdoors with a bum leg than to be hauled around in your very own wagon. We have already gotten ALOT of use out of this. Daddy purchased this the day after.
Pillows for comfort, of course.
Relaxing....
Favorite place to be?? Daddy's lap. :)
He got a hard cast, which happens to be waterproof (yay!), on Friday and is already much braver than I am comfortable with. I have spent most of the day trying to figure out how to make him happy, but his favorite thing to say in the last 6 days has been "no". So I continue to search for some comfort for him.
It will all be over soon, and then we will be back to "normal". Hopefully, we never have to go through anything this traumatic again. It has been stressful for everyone....
Now, time for some sleep....
