Fire Alarms

Saturday morning we set out to have a great family morning. We went to the Cincinnati Museum Center, which is a place that our older boys absolutely love. When we got there, I got the two boys to agree to take me to see the Christmas train display (David had already taken them to see it, so I was the only one who hadn't seen it.) We were on our way down into the museum (which if you haven't been to our museum, most of the museum is underground), playing with steamboats along the way, when the fire alarm went off. It took a moment to figure out what it was. Everyone around us looked at each other, wondering if it was for real. We figured it was maybe a test, or someone pulled it. There were no workers around. So we found an emergency exit door near us. The people in front of us started out of it, realizing it was a set of stairs. We had a stroller. After a short moment of considering taking the car seat and leaving the stroller, we decided we weren't that far away from the top of the museum, so we just went out the way we came in (up the ramp to the entrance). I grabbed Jacob, David was pushing the stroller, and we told Matthew to go quickly. All the workers were smiling, but they were directing us out of the museum. I think as our escape went on, my anxiety heightened, that maybe it was really a real fire. But why was everyone smiling? When we got to the rotunda, we could smell something burning - so maybe it was real? Matthew seemed very worried. He almost took off, so concerned with getting out. He often turned around to make sure I was close behind, but he wasn't concerned with staying together. It was a good time to have a discussion about trying to stay together in a situation like that, where there's a lot of people. My phone was in the stroller, so I would not have been able to call David to reconnect. But we did wait for David and the stroller right outside the door. The workers at the museum ushered us outside, out by the fountain (if you are familiar with the set up). At that point we still didn't know what was going on - we just knew it was cold! We waited for a bit, trying to decide if we were going to stay or not. We were determined to have fun as a family, but couldn't come up with an alternative that didn't cost money. We were not prepared to do anything outside. David and I were just in jackets, so we were pretty cold. Within a few minutes, emergency vehicles started arriving. Because the museum is up on a hill, we could see many emergency vehicles coming from far away, from many different directions. Some went behind the museum. But some turned around before they came up the driveway. Only three trucks came up to the front of the museum, one was a huge ladder truck. We finally asked a worker what was going on. There was a kitchen fire in the food service area. The fire was out before the firefighters got there, but they had to clear the smoke. We ended up waiting over an hour, but we stayed until we were allowed it. You could definitely smell something when you went in to the rotunda. We decided to go ahead and eat lunch because at that point it was around 11:30. Then we could just play in the Children's Museum and not have to stop to eat later. We ended up still having a nice time, it was just slightly shorter than we had planned (but we had a chance to learn some lessons, too :) And we didn't go see the trains....oh well, next year!

Here's a picture from the Museum.

Well, our fire alarms didn't end there. Later that evening, for New Year's Eve, we lit a fire in our fire place. I guess some smoke had come in the house. It wasn't a lot. I don't think we even noticed it. David and Matthew were in the living room, Jacob was in his room playing, and I was in my room, feeding the baby. All of a sudden our fire alarm went off in our house. Jacob came running out of his room, so quickly. He ran out to the living room to find David or I. While he was admittedly absolutely scared, we were so proud of him that he acted quickly to get out. Bless his heart, all I could do was hug him. He was so scared. We've had our fix of fires lately. We've had lots of discussions about what to do if there is a fire. Matthew's mind is always thinking, so he often comes up with various situations and what we should do if we are in that situation. I think it's great that he does that, even if the scenarios are a little wacky. I've been meaning to have fire safety night, where we practice different escape routes. Maybe we should do that soon - maybe at the end of the week when the weather is a little warmer :)

So if you see Jacob in the next little bit, ask him about the fire alarm. He'll tell you what it sounded like. It's pretty cute.

Jacob's Quote about His Finger

Tonight I had a funny conversation with Jacob about his finger. He was looking at it with no bandaid on. There is still one stitch in it, that is kind of sticking out. He looked at it and said, "There's a bug." I said, "No, it's a stitch. That's how they put your finger back together." Jacob asked, "How it get broken?" I said, "You slammed it in a door, remember?" Jacob: "Oh. Yes."

He doesn't have his huge bandage anymore. Sometimes he wears just a bandaid, but often goes without anything. It's a pretty sight, let me tell you. And he often walks around holding his one finger up, just like it was when it was in the big bandage. Here he is when he fell asleep last night.

And, yes, he's asleep in the hallway. But, notice there's no pacifier. :)

To the ER....again

So we spent another day in the ER...this time with Jacob. Usually it's Matthew's job to go to the ER. Here's the scoop - lots of details most people wont' care about, but I want to remember. Some are nasty. And I don't have time to edit.
I was sitting on my bed, feeding the baby. The boys were running around, being boys. Matthew had just come into my room, for some reason that I can no longer recall. Jacob went running into his room and next thing I know, I hear his door slam. That's a totally normal sound to hear. He was just playing around. But right after that he comes running into my room screaming, "BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!" His finger was dripping blood all over. I pretty much threw the baby on the bed, hopped up, grabbed a towel and looked at it. At that point it was bleeding and looked purple. I couldn't tell the extent of the injury, but I could tell it looked bad. So many thoughts were going through my head (I would have expected to handle an emergency better...aren't people supposed to go into a mode where they get things done well and then crash later? Well, I didn't. I panicked.) I couldn't decide whether I should call 911, go to the ER, go the pediatrician, and whether I should call first. I called the Dr., kind of asking what to do. They said to come in. So luckily my wonderful neighbor, Shannon, was home. I ran the baby over there, threw him at her with a diaper and wipes. I had told Matthew to get his shoes on right before I walked out the door. I left Jacob standing with a towel on his hand (a nice on, unfortunately was the first thing I found! Oh well...) and he was screaming his head off ("BOO BOO!!! BOO BOO!!!"). When I got back from running the baby over, Matthew comes at me with a juice box he found, asking if he could have it. I pretty much freaked out, started yelling (aka panicking some more) and after he still wouldn't hurry to get his shoes on, I made him walk over bare foot. Yes, it's December. Bad mom. I locked the door, carrying Jacob, closed it, and went to the car in the driveway. Grabbing the keys would have been a good idea. Again, bad move, mom. Luckily we have a garage code and I got in to get the keys. I mostly buckled him in his seat (it was hard to get him in with his finger wrapped up and both of us freaking out!). I sped down Winton Road, going very fast, praying there were no cops anywhere. It's pouring. I'm calling tons of people, none of which are answering. Poor David, I left a pretty scary message. I was sobbing, saying I didn't know what to do and that I was afraid his finger was going to fall off. I wasn't in a condition to censor my word selection. I get to the doctor - I was a total hysterical mess, pretty much. I can handle broken bones all day long, but the finger hanging on by a small piece of skin, that was hard to handle. And I didn't handle it well! I walked into the doctors office, said I why I was there, explained the situation. They wanted his insurance info...I asked if we could take care of that later ;) Which was fine. I sat and waited in the office, for what felt like an eternity, but was really probably just a couple minutes. My amazing father-in-law, Russ, thankfully works right across the street and came over. He was able to be a second set of hands, and help keep me and Jacob from flipping out. I finally got ahold of David then. They took us back to the room. The nurse looked at it and cleaned it out. I was able to just hold Jacob, who was still screaming. I held his head to my chest, while I was looking the other way, and sang Jesus Loves Me over and over and over and over. I didn't know what else to do to comfort him. We then waited for what, again, felt like an eternity. Dr. Bird,  who we have always loved so much, took a look at it and said, "This is going to take a lot of work. We're going to send you down to Children's. It's partially amputated." Amputated...I didn't need to hear that. I was already struggling. So they wrapped it with a wash cloth and we hit the road. Russ drove and I rode in the back, holding his finger. He fell asleep in the car, which scared me. I was afraid he passed out. I poked him in the side to make sure he was still okay. He cried...good. Russ dropped me off at the emergency room door. They took us straight back. I guess if your injury is bad enough, they take you straight back - at least that's our experience with our last two visits! The broken arm got us back right away too! ;) So we went to triage. Nothing exciting to report there. One funny moment, though, was right after they gave him Tylenol, he said, in between sobs, "I need to brush my teeth!!". I guess he wasn't a fan of the medicine. They moved us to another room, we saw various people come in and out. I still couldn't look at it. One quote I remember was, "I can see the bone." Cringe. Every time they made us move, I carried him, but I was afraid if I bumped his hand wrong his finger would fall off. It was that bad. I have vivid pictures in my mind of it just barely hanging on, right around the bottom of his finger nail. I'm afraid they will haunt me in my sleep. We eventually were sent to x-ray. By that time David had arrived. He took over holding Jacob - I had to feed the baby, who he had brought down. The end of his bone was broken a little. But they weren't worried about it. It will heal. When the ER doctor (well, resident) came in, it was the same doctor we saw just seven weeks ago with Matthew. What are the odds?! I'm sure we look like great parents! ;) Both he, and another plastic surgeon/orthopedic came to stitch him up. They were able to do it with just local anesthetic. He cried for a couple minutes when they gave him those shots. The doctor complimented how well he did with the shots. He said he has had linebackers who you could hear down the hall. But once it was numb, he just sat and watched them do it. Russ was able to watch (again, thank goodness he was there!) David made some glances. I sat behind the doctor so that I couldn't see a thing! It only took two or three stitches. They "tacked" his finger nail back on. It will fall off, they said. But 99% of the time it grows back. It might take 9 months. They wrapped it nicely. He has a very large green bandage on his finger. His bandage is about the size of his forearm. It reminds me of when a cartoon character hits their thumb with a hammer and it gets enormous. It's that big. Then we waited some more. Papa's android phone saved the day. Jacob was navigating the phone very nicely by himself. He was coloring and shooting turkeys and laughing. They gave him some ibuprofen right around then. Then, the shot of antibiotics. Wow. It looked like she had to push the injection hard to get it in the muscle. He screamed for a long time, writhing around in pain - rolling on his hand! That was miserable for quite awhile. They had to hold off giving him his Tylenol with codine because they were afraid he was going to throw up. But eventually he was back to shooting turkeys on the phone. Eventually we were discharged.

So we left. Jacob decided he wanted chicken nuggets. He hadn't eaten since breakfast, and it was around 4pm. We went through McDonald's and got him a happy meal (a treat in our house) He just wanted the chicken. He wanted to get chocolate milk for Matthew (comes into the story later). He stayed awake the whole way home. Part way home he says, "I had fun at the doctor today!" in a happy voice. Fun? I don't call the day fun! ;) He also realized he never got a sticker at the doctor. Oh the things they think of...so after we dropped Papa off at work, we went and got our sticker. They let us have more than one. And he picked a sucker. His favorite color is green. He picked one with a green wrapper, but was later disappointed to find out that the actual sucker was red (watermelon...tricky!)

We are now home. Phew. I offered him something to drink, offering the chocolate milk, but he was so set on making sure Matthew got it. So thoughtful.

So, some blessings amongst the craziness:
1. The baby slept 10 hours last night. God knew I needed rest before the day.
2. Christy, our pastor's wife, had already arranged to bring us dinner tonight, just because of the baby. Again, a God thing.
3. Russ, who was able to spend the day with us, taking time off work.
4. A neighbor who was there to keep my kids.
5. my mom who kept Matthew
6. Rebecca, who took Matthew out tonight
7. countless people who prayed - prayer chains to let people know
8. Friends to  be there for me on the phone, and who offered to do anything for us.
9. Jacob saying, "No, thank you" in between sobs after his shot when offered a drink
10. An amazing hospital to be able to go to
11. Insurance
12. David's parents who came to help us relax tonight
13. medicine
14. pacifiers and blankies
15. a baby who rolled with the punches nicely
16. the finger is reattached, not gone
17. It's just a finger!
18. A husband who could make Jacob laugh while his finger was being cleaned out by playing with the soap dispenser. And who thinks of every little thing we could need to make sure we are taken care of. Who runs to kroger several times in one night. Who goes back to get string cheese for Jacob even though he's already in the check out line. Who makes me feel like I have every right to be exhausted and to complain of a bad night even though he's just as tired. I could go on and on....
19. Jacob who said "God healed my boo boo." about his leg, where he got his shot of antibiotics (was really painful!)
20. That I don't have to change the bandage.
I know I had other ones I wanted to put...I'll remember them later.

Hopefully we're in for a good night's sleep! For those of you that pray, pray for good rest, pray for his pain, healing without infection, and just the three year old who learns how to get around with a gimpy hand. And just pray for the well being of our family in general. We've had a rough couple months, with things going on that most people don't know! We're hanging tough, but must admit, we're drained.

29 Reasons to be Thankful on my 29th birthday

Last year I did 28 reasons...I thought it would be a fun way to remember the birthday! Here we go again!
They are in no particular order.
1. A new little bundle to love on.
2. Two other healthy boys to spend my day with me.
3. A husband who is amazing. He has been so supportive and helpful through these late pregnancy and early post-partum days where I haven't been much of a help around the house (I think helpful is a bad way to describe it. Really, he's holding down he fort and doing everything!)
4. David's day off on my birthday, and the kids at preschool for us to spend a little time together.
5. A surprise trip to the outlet malls - fresh air and a trip out of the house.
6. All the birthday deals David signed me up for online (not all consumed on my actual birthday): a piece of cake from Smoky Bones - wow delicious.
7. A free sandwich, chips, cookie, and drink from Jersey Mikes.
8. Free sundae from Graeters.
9. Free cookie from Brueggers
10. buy one get one free pretzel from Auntie Anne's
11. Various other coupons I can't remember to celebrate my birthday
12. A mom who has sacrificed and helped so much this fall to support our family.
13. A delicious dinner with family - my mom made my favorite: prime rib, and cheesecake!
14. Another dinner with David's family - I love time with family and my family is pretty awesome.
15. two boys who bought my birthday present 10 days before my birthday and didn't tell me. They actually kept the surprise!
16. 93 Facebook "happy birthday" messages - wow
17. Several phone messages and texts to tell me happy birthday
18. A good visit with dear friends the day after my birthday (although always too short)
19. A baby who has been amazingly healthy and arrived so safely - God is good.
20. So many people who have offered to help us as we get used to our new family member
21. Naps
22. A newborn who for 3 of the last 4 nights has gone six hours at night between feedings.
23. A wonderful doctor and fabulous nurses to helped in the safe arrival of Jonathan - God bless them for working so hard, even in the middle of the night!
24. Christmas music on the radio - Yep, I'm one of the crazy ones who likes it.
25. A three-year-old who is incessantly asking Daddy to get the Christmas tree out, without any incentive from Mommy.
26. Post-feeding snuggles with Jonathan.
27. Preschool - for great connections with people for both me and my kids, and for some downtime with Jonathan during these early, tired days.
28. All the meals that people are providing for us - wow what a blessing.
29. A date night that someone reading this is going to offer so David and I can actually have a conversation ;)

I could keep going, but I'm only 29 :)

Jacob Turns 3!

Our little Jacob turned 3 on September 19th. I just wanted to take a few minutes to remember what he is like at this age, since time goes quickly, and I will too soon forget this stage. The biggest thing that stands out to me about Jacob is that he is a helper. He is so in tuned with what needs to be done (at a three year old level...) The other day, he made a mess on the kitchen floor. I sighed and said, "Oh, Jacob. Look at this mess. Now we need to sweep the floor." It was morning, and I was tired, so I kind of gave him a guilt trip. He very quickly replied, "I'll vacuum it up!" He ran to the closet, got out his little hand vacuum, and vacuumed it up. All while I sat at the table and watched! He's so enthusiastic about helping. His little "please", "Thank you", and "you're welcome" comments just make me giggle all the time. He'll ask to eat outside for dinner, and then offer to wipe off the table to we can do so. He'll get out the spray and paper towels and go to work (I realize this makes me sound lazy and like a bad mom for letting my kid play with chemicals...he's supervised, don't worry). He's always asking to help with what I'm doing - from folding laundry (again, he's 3...not perfect!), taking out the garbage, bringing in the garbage cans, sweeping, mopping, spraying and wiping, making a bed, etc). You'd think our house would be clean...haha, no. He can make messes, too!

Another thing that stands out about Jacob is he love for "scuggling", or snuggling. He really needs time to be loved on. He will say, "Mommy, scuggle me." That usually involved curling up and watching TV. I remember when he was younger, we'd turn on the TV and he'd get mad and turn it off. Now, he's an addict, unfortunately. And at this very pregnant stage of life, I just can't make myself care! At night, he has a hard time going to sleep. He still wants to be near us, and preferable, touching someone. He'll still sometimes fall asleep in the hallway, while we sit and wait for him to do so.

Jacob loves to go to the museum and the zoo. He asks all the time to go. He'll say, "Let's go to the Museum. It's open." And if I tell him it's not, he'll tell me the zoo is open. He also loves Parky's Farm (I think I was asked to go to that at least a dozen times this morning) and Glenwood Gardens.

He has a hard time being left at school. He cries when I leave. But it's all a show. I hear he stops before I get out of the parking lot. Actually, I think today may have been the first time he didn't cry. He always asks if I am staying. He loves when it's our "helper day" and I stay to co-op. I think next week when Matthew is down the hall, it might help. When I pick him up, he always has had a lot of fun and loves it. He just likes me and wants to be with me :)

Other loves of Jacob right now are Mickey Mouse, Word World, Curious George, he's starting to enjoy reading, and I'm sure I'll think of some others...But Mickey ranks pretty high. And of course he loves anything his brother loves - Wild Kratts is pretty big on our house. It's a PBS show, that I must admit, is pretty good.

His cake is a funny story. He told me he wanted a mickey mouse cake. I thought, oh that's easy....three round cakes, two for the ears, one for the face, right? Oh no! As I looked online for ideas, he points to a picture and says, "I want that one". It's the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. If you don't know what that is, google it. So, instead of telling him no, I sought out how to make it. And I did. It's on the pictures in the next post - the ones from Facebook. I had the cake almost complete one day during naptime. He comes out, and I expect him to glow with excitement. He takes one look at it and says, "It needs a door." Man he was picky! And the day of his party, he told me, "Put the balloon on it, and take a picture." Again, pictures on the next post. Who knew a three year old could be so particular. But in the end, I think he was pleased!

Well, I'm out of time...I need to do a post about this for Matthew. And I don't have time to edit...sorry for typos :) I have to go get Matthew :)

Recent Pics

This is a post for those of you not on facebook. Here are some recent pictures that describe what has gone on in our lives recently:

Pics of a tour of Rumpke, Jacob's Birthday, and other stuff

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2269491450204.128740.1036134076&l=5c2c1cc8f0&type=1

 

Nathan and Sarah get married

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2269461289450.128738.1036134076&l=36d58e739c&type=1

School Changes

So I fell behind again on blogging... ;) (not that anyone actually reads it anymore!) With sick kids and doctor appointments, my Friday morning time to myself went away for a couple weeks. But that is to change soon!

In the last week or two, I've been starting to wonder if we made the right decision on what to do with Matthew for the year. He's had three years of pre-school at Northminster. We still stand by our decision to wait to send him to Kindergarten. Since he has the late summer birthday, we decided to wait until next year to send him. While I feel that he would have been totally fine this year academically and socially to go, so many people say the differences show up years down the road. We figured we might as well give him an up on life, and maybe things would be easier for him. He can be the first to do things instead of the last (to drive, etc). Maybe it'll get a little extra college scholarship.... ;) So, we had to decide what to do for the year. The preschool he has been going to does not have a 5 year old class. So our initial decision was to unofficially do some homeschooling stuff with him (things he won't necessarily do in Kindergarten, just to spend some good time together) on Monday and Wednesday while Jacob is in preschool. Then we enrolled him in a pre-K Friday program at another school, Forest Chapel, which is around the corner from our house. He was just going on Fridays. I thought that would give him the social interaction he would need. But, in the last couple weeks, we've noticed that our little social guy needs more social time. Last year I was really good about getting out and spending time with friends on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the boys weren't in school. This year, between being pregnant and tired, Jacob needing some downtime in between school, and just being generally over committed all around, we tend to stay home on those days a little more. So, Matthew just isn't getting out to see people. In watching him, I'm afraid that after a year of this, he may start to struggle socially by the time he goes to Kindergarten in the fall. So we were faced with a decision....there is an opening at Northminster in the class that he was in last year. He could do that again, and just be on the older side instead of the younger side. There is an opening at Forest Chapel where he could go (every day,if we wanted). Part of me wants to keep him at Forest Chapel, since it would be something different. We could do Mon/Wed/Fri with them as well. But, I can't imagine every M/W/F doing drop off and pick up at two different schools. It wouldn't even give me enough time to get to the grocery. I would drop Matthew off at 9, Jacob at 930, pick up Matthew at 1130 and then Jacob at 1. It's just too much driving. It would be so much simpler to have them at the same school. And with a baby coming, simple is what we need. So while I feel sad (and guilty) pulling out of Forest Chapel, I think we're making the right decision for the family. I feel a little bit like a failure for not doing well with the homeschooling I was trying to do. But I think if I get the little bit of time with both of them at school to catch up on life (my schoolwork, preparing for dance, treasurer work for the preschool, and just general mom/wife things), I will be a better mom and can do that at other times. And I think Matthew will be more a joy to be around if he gets to spend time with friends. So, for now, that's the plan...