Stitches

I guess it was only a matter of time before it happened.  Our first Emergency Hospital visit was tonight.  Aiden fell off his bike and now has 13 stitches.  Here's the story:  

Jeff was off today and I was planning on attending our annual Women's Candelight dinner at church.  I had just finished doing my hair and make up and went to sit outside with the boys.  Jeff had just had a discussion with Aiden and Ty about wearing their helmets.  Aiden said to him, "but I never fall off my bike".  Jeff insisted that he wear it, and reluctantly Aiden put it on.  A few minutes later we heard Aiden screaming.  I didn't rush to him because the boys have had many falls where its just a bruise or a scrape and I had just answered a phone call.  Jeff had Aiden in his arms and came towards me and I saw the blood, hung up my phone and we brought him inside.  I'll never forget the terrified look on Aiden's face; he had blood dripping into his eye.  We sat him down in the kitchen and at first Jeff thought his eye was injured.  Aiden was histerical and screaming.  I looked at the cut on his eyebrow and then noticed his chin.  I looked at Jeff and said "We need to go".  Jeff then tells Aiden that he probably needs to have stitches and Aiden screamed, "I don't wanna have stitches".  I dont even think he understood what they were, but he didn't want to go.  I made a few phone calls, Chief came to watch Ty and Mark and we were on our way to Children's Healthcare Urgent Care.  Aiden calmed down in the car, but a few times he said, "I'm trying, but I can't stop crying".  Jeff handed him his phone so he could play the "racecar game" and that got his mind off things.  

Papa met us at the hospital to check on Aiden.  The waiting room was full; lots of babies and toddlers coughing and even throwing up.  There were only a few available seats.

They took him back right away and the nurse was impressed with the severity of the cut on his chin.  She laid him down and put numbing cream on both cuts.  Aiden was so still and quiet; he flinched a few times and I knew it was painful, but he never made a sound.  The nurse told him he handled it better than a 15 year old would have.  We were thankful that he went back so quickly and I thought to myself, "I might be able to make the dinner".  Little did we know, they would send us back out to the waiting room for about 2 and a half hours.  Aiden wasn't in pain anymore, so Jeff took him to the car to wait; I stood in the germ infested waiting room for hours.

Finally we were called back for him to get his stitches.  The nurse cleaned both cuts.  It was a good thing he was numb, because she basically hosed him down (with force).  Again, he was a great patient and was very still.

A few minutes later the doctor came in to sew him up.  He was very friendly and great with kids.  Aiden was telling him all about what he learns at school and then Dr. Eanes sang songs to him.  The doctor said the scar would probably look bad because there were chunks of skin missing.  He even suggested plastic surgery later on (uh . . . probably not!)  I held his hand while they stitched his eyebrow, but I had to sit down when they did his chin.  I got a little light headed and Jeff took my place.  The doc told me if I passed out, he would only pick me up after Aiden was done. :-)  I was fine, but seeing my little boy like that just got to me.  I was so proud of him because he did such a great job while we were there, never cried or complained.

Jeff encouraged me to go to the dinner, but I didn't want to leave.  It really wasn't an option for me; and looking back I think Jeff and I needed each other.  We left and got Aiden the milkshake he was promised.  It was late and we were all pretty tired.  With three boys, people have been warning me about the injuries for years.  Were lucky to have gone 5 1/2 years without one, but now we have one in the books.  It could have been a lot worse and I am thankful for the timing, great nurses and a doctor and that my Aiden is just fine.  God was watching over us and we know He always will.

O Christmas Tree

As our tradition goes, we went to pick out our Christmas tree today!  We went to the same local farm we have gone to the past few years.  I told the boys we would play hide-and-go-seek at the farm.  They were ready to play right when we got there.  Jeff and Mark hid together, and Mark gave away their hiding spot every time by giggling or yelling for his brothers.  

Aiden is "hiding" in this picture.

Mark didn't have a clue what was going on, but he was excited!

I'm not sure if it was the tree or the saw, but it was a struggle to get it to come down.  Jeff was sawing for a while and the boys supervised the whole time.

They carried it to the front.

Back at home, Ty did a great job hanging ornaments.  The entire bottom half of the tree was covered, many with multiple ornaments on one branch.  Aiden got bored after about ten, but he stuck it out until we were done.

The tree turned out great, and NOW it feels like Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We went to Aunt Susan's to celebrate Thanksgiving!  Since the weather wasn't great, Aunt Susan got a craft for the boys; thanksgiving visors!  They each made one with festive thanksgiving stickers.  Jeff was appointed the task of carving the turkey.  Of course there was a spread of more food than an army could eat and all of it was delicious.  Aiden has been saying for day that he was going to eat 1000 calories on Thanksgiving day, and he probably came close to it.  The boys did get to spend sometime outside feeding the fish and weighing things on Susan's baby scale.  It entertained them for almost an hour.  Mark took a nap in his bouncer right in the middle of the living room, unaffected by the noise.  It was fun to spend time with family and celebrate together!  

Mega Maze

Andrea told us about Mega Maze a while ago and we were excited to finally get to try it out.  She said it was great for boys and will entertain them for hours; that was definitely the case!  The boys had a blast and wanted to stay all day.  Their "maze" was huge with lots of slides, tunnels, climbing walls and more that I didn't even see.  It was floor to ceiling and was perfect for a rainy day like today.  Aiden got to the top and asked me, "Mom, how much feet am I?"  They loved running around up on the top.  I think they had some kind of spy/battle game going with the Brock boys within the maze.  We stayed for lunch and headed home since it was way past Mark's nap time.  It was a really fun place and I'm sure we'll be back.

Thanksgiving Feasts

Both the boys had a Thanksgiving Feast at their schools this week.  Ty's was on Thursday and Mark and I came along to enjoy his "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" with him.  They had "Charlie Brown" type food for us to enjoy and Mark absolutely did enjoy it!  He ate a ton of food; turkey (lunch meat) rolls, PB & J's, pretzels, goldfish, popcorn, and Jell-O chocolate pudding.  Ty made a footprint turkey craft for us to take home.  His paper said he was thankful for Dad, Mom, AJ, Mark and peanut butter. :-)

Ty and his wonderful teacher, Ms. Casey

At AJ's school the entire kindergarten had a feast together in the cafeteria.  They decorated the tables and the students came dressed as pilgrims and indians.  Aiden's class was indians.  He was quiet as usual and ate his food; turns out he loves cornbread and he ate pumpkin pie.  He cleared his plate; it was during their snack time, but was more than a whole meal.  I talked to his classmates, mainly the girls and they informed me a little bit more than I knew about what they do at school since my son doesn't tell me much. :-)  It was fun to see my boys with their friends at school.

AJ and his new teacher; Ms. Gable

First Steps

This little boy took his first steps today!  He has been getting pretty good at pushing his toy around the house and Ty took it from him in the living room.  Mark took 2 steps towards the couch!  He needed something to hold on to.  He can get around really good while holding on to something (couch, table, cabinets, etc.) and pushing his toy around.  He is definitely on the move!

Noah's Ark

Our Mom's group at church headed to Noah's Ark today for a play date.  The weather was perfect; it was a great day to be outside.  I was excited to go because we knew Layla was coming and it would be fun for the boys to play with their cousin.  We've been to Noah's Ark numerous times and today the animals were unlike I had ever seen them.  They were all unusually friendly; they came close to the fence where we standing, some of them even walked towards us when we approached the fence.  It was weird, but really neat.  The kids all had a great time and burned off some good energy!