Let's start off with 4th of July! I admit, I was the sucky Mom who didn't take my kid to see fireworks last year.. but, let's be real.. Owen was just under a year old and I was way pregnant with Aidan.. plus, BEDTIME. Seriously. I don't like to EVER throw off bedtime! This year, I attempted to use the same excuses, but for some reason started to feel guilty. I think mostly because it wasn't 5,000 degrees out this year, which made the idea of sitting outside a little more tolerable. Anyway, we ventured. Me, Jas, both boys and my parents and sister. I 100% expected Aidan to have a complete meltdown, and was 50-50 on Owen's reaction. But, to my surprise, both tolerated them well!
Neither one of them would take their eye off the sky.. it was as if they were both making sure those fireworks stayed far away! It turned out to be a really nice evening.. and, even more to my surprise, throwing them off of their bedtime routine wasn't nearly as god awful as it could have been!
The following weekend was the boys' joint birthday party. Because, again, I suck at life, I left a lot of the planning and cleaning and preparing to the last minute. Procrastination or just plain lack of energy.. call it what you will! So, Thursday before the party my Mom was coming over to help me get the house cleaned and set up.. except, it didn't exactly work out that way. The morning started off great.. both kids were in excellent moods.. I did some laundry, we played and I even managed to steal a picture with both boys while I was feeling all sentimental and sappy about them turning 1 and 2.
I'd say about an hour later was when this happy morning turned into chaos. Aidan was starting to get sleepy, but I wanted to hold off his nap until after my Mom had arrived, since I knew if I put him down beforehand the dog would likely go nuts and wake him up. I should also mention how in the weeks since I last posted Aidan has taken up a rather unsteady form of walking! Shortly after my Mom & Sister got here, Aidan took his first major stumble. He was mad because I walked out of the room, went to walk after me, but the combination of his sleepyness and unsteady walk resulted in a head dive into a wooden stool I had in the corner of the playroom. The thump was unmistakeable, followed by his shriek of pain. I was prepared for a welt.. I was prepared for a black and blue mark.. a ginormous egg.. but, I didn't expect to run in, pick him up and see the amount of blood gushing from his head that I had seen! It scared the crap out of me. No joke. In the moment, all I remember thinking was oh my god, so much blood.. Owen was crying "baby boo boo!!" in the background.. my Mom was yelling to call an ambulance (which, thankfully we ended up not needing to do that).. and every time I removed pressure from his head the blood was just squirting out! What an awful experience :( Thankfully, the worst of it was over in a matter of a few minutes, and then it was just keeping pressure on it and ice to reduce swelling while we waited to hear back from the ped as far as where to go. I'm so glad my Mom was here.. once the panic part was over, I immediately flooded with guilt and cried apologizing for not catching him.. I know, these things happen.. but, it doesn't make it any easier. She reminded me the more upset I got, the more it would scare Aidan (and Owen!), which was good to hear because it helped me keep my emotions in check!
We ended up taking him over to the ER. We made the mistake of going to Kennedy, since it's closer, instead of driving the extra 20 minutes to Virtua.. I'll never do that again. No pediatric emergency room.. the wait took FOREVER, considering I had a 1 year old who was still bleeding from his head!! Plus, we're sitting there next to all these super sick people, and all I kept thinking is don't let his hands or feet touch ANYTHING in this hospital!! Despite the nasty cut, no nap, and the fact that he was absolutely ravished because we hadn't fed him lunch, he was really, REALLY well behaved!
They ended up using Dermabond to glue it together as opposed to stitching. The ER doc said this would leave less of a scar, and also be less traumatic (probably more for me, since we would have had to hold him down to give him a local so they could then stitch him otherwise!). Needless to say, it was an eventful afternoon! Not how I ever expected the day to go, but I'm thankful it wasn't any worse than it was!!! We luckily were still able to get things done when we got home.. albeit it took until 10pm, but it all worked out and the party still went on!
The party was great.. only about half the invitees were able to come, which was a bummer, but also made it a little easier.. managing a party of 45 vs 90 is a lot easier when 8 months pregnant! It was nice, too, because it allowed the party to be really kid focused, which was great! We had a woman from Kids Music Round come and entertain, which all the kids enjoyed. All in all, it was a successful day!
This little porker devoured the entire birthday cupcake that we had made for him! You'd think he'd never eaten sweets before!! Last year, my Mom had baked Owen an entire cake of his own, anticipating he'd have gone to town on it. Except, he barely would touch it, let alone taste it!! Owen was more upset about getting the icing on his hands and being messy. So, when it came time for Aidan to get a smash cake, I was pretty much expecting the same. Ha, he sure proved me wrong! He took one taste of the frosting, and next thing I knew he dove in face first! Thank goodness this is only a first birthday tradition ;-)
Next post I'll update about Amelia! And how close we are to meeting the little Miss!! 32 weeks today!
