No Shoes + Hot Vegas Day + Playground = ER Trip

We had our first ER trip in Vegas this afternoon. I am not sure who cried more when we were actually in the ER, me or Josh. I had planned to take us all to get library cards today and then lunch and playing at the dinosaur park to play for the afternoon. The "dinosaur park" has a small sprayground and then huge slides and sand pit. There is also some shade close to the spray ground part so I felt like we could all make the most of it, even Addy. Well since we had a flat tire yesterday - I first went to Walmart to get a few items we needed and wait for the tire to get fixed. It was a bit of a trying visit to Walmart and I almost opted to just go home, but the boys need space and room to run so we trudged to the library with threats that if they were not good listeners at the library we would not go play. The library was a bit disappointing, the boys can't have their own library cards =( it isn't a big deal but makes me sad. You have to be 5 to have a library card, I really wonder why the magic age is 5. Anyway they were good listeners and we went to play. Josh especially loves the spray ground. Josh however, does not like keeping his shoes on. We've had lots of time outs and talks and encouragements and threats to keep shoes on, it's stinkin hot here!
Well we planned to leave in about 15 or 20 minutes and Josh's shoes finally came off after about 30 minutes. He was staying in the spray ground area, and I was okay with it and didn't want to fight to get them on. Well Addy went to eat a rock, I went to take said rock from Addy and Josh ran to the play structure. I had just said something to him about putting his shoes back on before I was distracted with Addy's rock eating. I hear him scream, he's standing by the play structure. I tried to calmly go pick him up and calm him down, he wants to go home, he's sobbing. His socks were wet and cold, I sat him down in the stroller and put those on and then got the other two kiddos ready to go.I couldn't tell right away if his feet were burned, he said something bit him, lots of bugs he kept saying. I had his epipen out and ready and started driving, not sure if I should just head to the ER or come home and let him soak them in cool water. His screams got worse, they didn't calm down and after calling my mom just for the reassurance that I wasn't over reacting I was heading to the ER. I called Kristin (who is on vacation...yet I'm still bugging her) because I didn't want to go to the base ER and knew she had been to a pediatric ER recently. She thankfully messaged me the address and we were on the way. I am sure there were many traffic laws en route that were not followed well, Josh's screams were now being interrupted by sobs and I was close to losing it. We got to the ER, which had valet parking which was a huge help! We walked in, they triaged us immediately and got us in a room. Minutes later a nurse was checking on us. The doctor came in and looked him over, he has second degree burns on the bottoms of both feet. I cried the whole time she's explaining it, all I kept thinking is "I let my baby burn his feet this bad, I let this happen" I know it was an accident, I know it is not my fault but boy mommy-guilt comes on strong sitting in an ER. There were two JR volunteers who were assigned basically to help us, they held Addy and entertained Noah so I could hold Josh and help him while they soaked his feet. The two young ladies who volunteered were a true blessing, the doctor and nurse were wonderful and in less than 2 hours his feet were creamed up, bandaged, and we were on our way with scripts for pain medication and the cream for his feet and a script to follow up tomorrow at the burn center. He was in good spirits when we got his medicine at Target and gauze and tape and mesh wrap stuff. Tonight he was still in pretty good spirits as we rested before bed (we were all tired!). The hardest part is that he can't walk for a week at least - a week of keeping a 2 1/2 year old off his feet...ummm yeah that will be easy right? He was crawling some and asking to be carried other times. A few times he tried to stand up and walk, Noah was quick to tell me "Josh is standing Mommy he'll hurt his booboos" Nice to know he has a big brother to tell on him - errrr look after him. We redid the bandages and cream before bed and he seemed to like his "special socks and tape."I am so glad that the ER trip was as calm as it was, for Noah and Addy being so cooperative and for Josh being so brave and the help! I am glad it wasn't worse than it was, though it still seems awful. I am also very much looking forward to Mike being home tomorrow night...finally! And yes, seriously again I ask why all the craziness while he's away?? Tomorrow Addy has an audiology appointment, we have to figure out the insurance stuff for the burn center and get there, and hopefully go to the base clinic to pick up Addy's ear mold - finally! So it will be a busy day but with a great ending.

Anyone Know Why?

I'm just curious if anyone knows why when Mike is gone things are completely chaotic. Seriously I feel like if it can go - it will go wrong at some point while he is away. Chrystal's comment was my favorite so far - she said it was the way the AF planned it to ensure that we were fit to fight too. Sigh - but in the midst of all that goes wrong there is still much to be thankful for.

Today's trails included another trip to another doctor. It is wearing on us all, I know that I am exhausted by the time we leave 2 hours or more after arriving at the doctor's office. I try to bring things for everyone to do, to have for snacks, and stay calm but let's face it a small room with 3 small children in which you would like for them to not touch items in the room and also remain quiet is just plain hard. I know it is hard on them too and try to have more patience with them. On a bright note though the allergist that we saw today I really liked. He seemed patient and calm with all 3 kids, talked to Josh (which is important to me), discussed treatment options and the pros and cons of each, took the time to read the notes I provided from Josh's previous allergist, and provided detailed explanations of all the medications. I was also happy that he wanted to see Josh back in 3 weeks but if we saw no improvement that he wanted to see him in a week. So after that it was off to a lab for some blood work and to drop off new scripts (6 prescriptions...ahh!)

On the way home from the allergist we were driving and I heard what I thought was a bag popping - I hadn't seen anything in the road though. I checked the tire pressure on the dash a few times and everything seemed normal. The washer and dryer were being delivered so we were going home before lab work and prescriptions. The delivery guys were on time and got the washer and dryer set up quickly and then after Addy had woken up and had her lunch I thought we would get our errands done. We got all loaded in the van - snacks and toys for any waiting and directions to the lab. I start the van and realize there's a warning light on the dash on - yep flat tire, almost completely flat. Seriously, good grief. We switched us all over to the truck and I figured I would deal with it when I got back. The van was in the driveway but needed to be moved to the street at the very least so they could finally pick up the POD tomorrow (another long story!). We got the labs drawn and didn't even get lost then everyone was asleep in the truck. I decided to call USAA just to see what the deal was with our road side assistance, it was in the driveway after all not on the road. WHOOHOO though we did have road side assistance and it didn't matter that it was in the driveway! They sent someone to help in less than an hour and I didn't have to try and remember how to change a flat tire with three small kids lurking around or screaming in the house. I am so glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been, we could have had the tire blow out and have an accident or get stranded on the side of the road in 105 + degree weather.
So tonight I am thankful that the flat tire ended up simply being a flat tire, that we can do laundry again (and wow a big washer is nice!), and hopefully we are on the road to helping Josh feel better. Oh and the ear mold for Addison's hearing aid that was fitted for her on the 9th was finally shipped today so hopefully we'll have it by Thursday (that is another very long story...let's just say I think the hospital and clinics already know our name)

Pictures of the New House

Just a few pictures as we have gotten unpacked. Mike will be home Thursday evening, so this coming weekend I am sure we'll get things up on the wall. I didn't realize how much I love color - I'm missing it. That probably sounds crazy that I didn't realize how much I love color since in Bellevue every single room was painted a color and some of them were quite vivid. So excuse the white walls for now.

We're Back!

So it has been umm 5 months? I can't believe that anyone is still reading the blog - yikes I really was bad about updating this. I will try and recap the past 5 months in a very short version of the events

• In Feb. Addison got a loaner hearing aid from Boys' Town until Tricare got their paperwork together for her very own
• We switched to clothe diapers almost full time in Feb. for Josh still trying to help his poor skin
• Noah had his adenoids removed at the end of Feb. and did awesome through the surgery and had a very quick recovery
• Feb. and March brought lots of playing with friends, cookie making, and snow!
• By March Addison had her very own hearing aid and continued to do great wearing it, she certainly made it easy to get to full time use
• March also brought a couple of birthday parties to attend of friends and a tea party for me and Addison to go to
  
• We also started on baby food in March for Addison who was sitting by herself and getting up on all fours now too
  
• The end of March also brought the best thing - it brought Daddy home!
  
• By the time Mike got back from his deployment we had gone through 2 time frames for a vacation home to VA, being able to attend Lauren's wedding, to not attend, to not going home but vacationing while Mike was on a month long TDY in Vegas to having orders to Vegas
  
• April was a complete whirlwind...serious whirlwind! We had a birthday party, Noah got a big boy bike, and getting the house ready for the market and then on the market, and Noah started playing soccer (which he absolutely loved and seemed to just get the hang of)
• May was packing, soccer, and moving! It was completely crazy - we had issues with getting orders and ended up moving ourselves (using a POD...a small one at that) because of the short notice and left ahead of time since Mike was going to now have a month long TDY in-route for SOS.
• We spent a weekend in San Deigo with Kristin and Corby and their boys before Mike left for SOS. It was a weekend of sea, sand, and whales! We hit Chick-fil-A on the way in, then spent the day at the beach and had some of the best clam chowder ever for dinner at a little place on the bay on Saturday. We spent Sunday enjoying Sea World's Salute to Heroes with free passes. Everyone loved Sea World, I also enjoyed my new camera and used 2 memory cards. When we got home I had taken over 1300 pictures - literally! I narrowed it down to about 300 keepers, love digital and absolutely adore my new camera.
• We are so thankful for Corby and Kristin and their boys putting up with us and our craziness for over a month. We intruded on them and tired hard not to take over their house - there were 9 people living in their once peaceful home. Things were definitely an adventure and always interesting! And yes, we are still friends and I don't think anyone ever wanted to kill anyone else (minus the four big boys who sometimes didn't want to share - but when you are 4, 3, and 2 that's just hard anyway!) I am so thankful that we were blessed to have space to breath and the boys to run and play instead of cramming ourselves into two small little rooms in TLF - thank you thank you!
  
• We are moved in to a new home on base and getting things settled. I have 5 boxes left to unpack and think that by the end of the weekend all the boxes that need unpacked will be finished. Mike will be home soon and then we will tackle hanging pictures, frames, etc that will really make it feel like home. We still have our house in NE on the market and are waiting (trying to wait patiently but I'm not sure I'm so patient right now) for God to send the right buyer. I was again blessed by the help of friends to unpack the POD and get all the heavy lifting done. We are working on getting Josh's skin and allergies under control, getting Noah back in speech so that he can continue to improve his articulation, and getting Addy's new ear mold so she can wear her hearing aid again and get in with the audiologist. I am finding the referral process here to be somewhat frustrating but we'll get it all worked out.

So there's the quick recap for the last 5 months! I am getting change of address cards out soon and promise I will try to keep up the blog much better...try! Mike should have fewer deployments here - more trips are likely for work but they should be much shorter so hopefully that will help my sanity (which is debatable at best if it is present at all!)