The First Scare

Yesterday we had our first scare. We were asking ourselves if we should take him to the ER.

I'll rewind. Yesterday I had my cousins baby shower. It was fun. My Mom and sister were there, cousins and aunts too. It was great seeing everyone. I got to talk to everyone a little, which I rarely do, especially with Jesse. The shower started right at Jesse's nap time, so I left him behind. Which also freed up my arms to sweet miss Faith (my 5 month old neice). I even stayed until the end.

Before I left I meant to grab a balloon for Jesse and it completely slipped my mind. I had been planning on making a stop to the dollar store at some point, so I stopped on my way home and got him a new balloon and some more glow sticks. He just loved the balloon! I knew he would. Paul had a friend over so we were in and out of the house. We were sitting in the garage and Jesse was playing in the driveway. He fell. It happens, a lot. I saw him fall, but something was different this time. It wasn't how he fell. Could have been they cry he let out, or quite possibly mothers instinct (if such a thing exists). I sprinted over to him and scooped him up, he hugged me back, which doesn't happen often. I got a look at his face and saw blood and rushed him into the house.

There was blood, lots of blood. I had a hard time finding what was even bleeding, but I knew it was inside his mouth. I saw the blood accumulating in his mouth, just seeing his teeth and not the gums. I kept calm, got him a cup of water and some damp paper towels. Paul was convinced a tooth came out, or was loose and that there was something drastically wrong. I remained calm and gave it time. After a few minutes the bleeding started to subside and I saw that his tooth cut the inside of his bottom lip and didn't appear to need stitches. Had the bleeding kept it's beginning pace, a trip to the ER would have happened.

15 minutes and a popsicle later, he was smiling again. Whew!
He has a little road rash between his nose and chin, but that should go away soon. Nothing on the outside of his face was bleeding, just some minor scraping. I called the plastic surgeons office and they said to keep it clean and dry. If the skin is too raw to use some antibacterial ointment on it to prevent infection.

Balance

There's a certain level of balance in my life. I am still kind of figuring it all out, but I feel more balance lately. Sure I don't get everything done that needs to be done, but I for damn sure try. Some days I am exhausted and want to do nothing. Other days I will bust some shit out. There's a lot of routine during the week and almost none at all on the weekends, but it always seems to balance out.

One major change that's happened is the change in daycare. I think this is HUGE! The change bought me a 1/2 hour in the morning and another 1/2 hour in the evening. 1/2 hour, big deal, right? WRONG! Most people don't get the value of a 1/2 hour to a working mother with a 17 month old and a semi-disabled husband. The extra time in the morning is automatically used for the extra sleep. Some nights I am lucky to get 5 hours of sleep, so an extra 1/2 hour, I will gladly take it! Then in the afternoon, I get home a half hour earlier, more time to spend playing with my son before he needs to hit the sack.

The new daycare is more expensive, but as I see it, I am buying time! I am also buying quality daycare. This is huge. He is in an environment he needs to be in. I guess I couldn't see what he was missing before, but I see now. It's not that anything was wrong before this change, it just wasn't quite enough. BUT I was getting daycare from a friend and not from someone who does this for a living, like we are now.

This morning Jesse had his periodic visit to the cleft team. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I left there feeling much better than I did when I walked in. We got all positive remarks. Jesse's scar is softening up, which is great! He met with the speech pathologist who said he's "so smart" and doing well with his speech. I guess this is where I thought he'd fallen behind and I would get reprimanded for. Boy was I wrong.

I'll wrap this up with some pictures. One from the docs office, the rest from the park on Saturday.

First Day and a Trip to the Lake

Today is Jesse's first day of real daycare. In the past he's always been with friends or family. This is the first time I've dropped him off at a stranger's house. Of course she's not a complete stranger, we did interview her and all that, but she's not someone I know. I'm sure he's fine, but of course I have all these what if's running through my head. He is my one and only baby, of course I am going to think these things. A few more hours and I can go pick him up and take him back to the safety of our home. Lets hope I get a good report and feel comfortable sending him back there next week.
We had a great weekend. Made a trip up to the lake. I love going to the lake. The drive was a little harsh, but we managed. About 1/2 way up there Jesse was screaming, we tried juice, snacks, entertainment and nothing worked so I had to pull over assuming it was a dirty diaper. I pull over at a gas station, the next one that came along. In retrospect I should have waited for the nice one. I head inside, go in the unisex restroom and of course, no changing table. I have to use the floor, which was the filthiest bathroom floor I think I have ever seen in my life. Ok, I'm sure I've been in filthy bathrooms before, but never paid much attention since I didn't need to change my baby's diaper in one before now. Ok, I can do this. Quickly, swiftly and get the hell out of there! I did it, but wait, what did I discover during this process, oh yes, the pants I just whipped off him, are soaked! Not just a little wet, soaked. I obviously do not put them back on my boy and quickly escape this hell hole of a gas station. But what do I see out of the corner of my eye... my husband standing in front of the beer cooler, holding a six-pack (for when we arrive at our destination). I make eye contact and tell him, I need help and I walk out the door.
I have a crabby baby, with no pants on, holding soaked pants and a pair of shoes. Since the pants are soaked I quickly realize that the car seat is also wet, with pee. Paul comes flying out the gas station door and asks what he can do. Hold him. I pass him off and start digging through the mounds of stuff in the car to find a rag to put in the bottom of the carseat, a new pair of pants for the kid and something to make him happy. Mission accomplished. Whew, back on the road.
We finally arrive at the lake. Much later than anticipated. But we are there and we can now relax and enjoy the weekend.