Where have you gone, sweet smile?

Even though my parents are celebrating their 40th anniversary this weekend, they graciously offered to keep the boys last night so that Trey and I could have a much needed date night. Since Thomas was supposed to go to a basketball game (Citadel vs. College of Charleston) today at 2 with his Daddy, we had planned to meet my mom and get the boys at lunchtime. As soon as Thomas joyously got out the car smiling at his Daddy and me, we knew something was wrong.

It's not quite as noticeable when he's not laughing or smiling big, but this is the best "smile for the camera face" I can get:


His face looked contorted and while one side was overexaggerating, the other side (right side) was doing nothing. I called the nurse line for our pediatrician's office and told her it looked like Bell's Palsy, even though I didn't think that's something children could get. Well, after a trip to our local pediatric emergency room, I have learned that while not as common, children certainly can get Bell's Palsy...and they do. And that, of course, is what Thomas does have.

If you aren't familiar with Bell's Palsy, it basically is caused by a virus (many different ones can cause it) and what they think happens is that it causes inflammation of the nerve that controls the muscles of your face. He has limited movement of the muscles on the right side of his face. Thankfully, to this point, he can open and close his eye normally (though it is slightly less reactive) and hopefully it will stay that way. Otherwise, his eye will get dry and irritated and we'll have to constantly put drops in his eye and at night he would need an eye ointment and a patch. Please pray that we do not have to do this. The symptoms of Bell's Palsy usually last (according to the doctors we saw today) around 3-6 weeks. Yes, WEEKS. And there is a small chance that it could be much, much longer...but I'm not even considering that as a possibility!

He is on an antiviral medication and steroids (I am praying that these don't make him crazy like they did when he was a little, little one). And thankfully, he's not overly aware of the problem. He doesn't really know anything is wrong, aside from people asking him to move his eyebrows (he can only move one) and smile, etc! And hopefully, the 4-year olds in his class are too young to really notice either. That's the only thing that worries me, is knowing how it easy for feelings to get hurt when a child looks "different."

A few more pictures... Every time I would try to snap a picture, the flash was causing him to blink right as the picture was taken. Looking at those pictures makes me realize that his "bad" eye is not as reactive. See how his left eye is already shut?




So then I tried taking a few without a flash.


When you ask him to smile, I guess it's hard for him to smile a toothy grin. When I ask him to say "cheese" and give me a smile with teeth, I get something like this:


Looks a bit more like he should be a pirate saying "Arrrrrrgh!" :-) Trey suggested Popeye. Either way, we miss our boy's adorable smile...


And until it returns, we'll have to settle for this:


Get well soon Boog! We hope and pray that you'll be back to normal super fast!

Bumps, bugs and waterbugs

June has been a crazy month. We had a trip to the mountains. We have spent a good bit of time in the water. And Thomas had a short stint* at camp (*reason why stint was so short is to follow). We have put our house on the market and had four showings, one offer and no contracts. Things are crazy. But the most crazy parts of the month have been the accidents and illnesses...

Parker has decided he loves to bump his head...

(As soon as that got better (well, after it moved down into his eyes and gave him slightly black eyes), he fell on the hard floor and got another bruise there...though no more goose egg, thank goodness!)

And Thomas went to camp at his school for Weird Science week just long enough to pick up his first true case of Hand Foot & Mouth disease. He had a fever up to nearly 105 for the first few days and then the "spots" started appearing on, well, his hands, feet (one foot, actually) and in his mouth. As soon as he started to get better, Parker started with the fever and his own set of spots (hands and mouth). They were a pathetic pair!


Thank goodness there were no house showings during that week of fun. But as soon as they got better, there were two (no luck with either). To escape one last Thursday I took the boys up to the lake at my parents' house (it was the first day they were well enough and not contagious so we could actually leave the house!). Then on Friday I took them to the water park at James Island County Park (that was insanely crazy...don't think I'll go back on a Friday again. The big kids were so rude, it was alarming. I even pulled one kid off the slide at one point who cut in front of me and Parker!). On Saturday we avoided the water, but on Sunday we spent nearly three hours at the pool. I definitely have two water bugs on my hands...but at least they are finally (knock on wood!) WELL water bugs!

I plan to do my very best to catch up on some way overdue blogs tonight while I watch the Gamecocks at the College World Series. Hopefully the boys won't drive me insane between now and then so that I can accomplish this feat!

How I became a pirate, by Thomas

One of Thomas' favorite books is "How I Became a Pirate." Well, today, Thomas became a pirate. After telling the story to a friend of mine, she laughed and said, "Oh, it was a crime of passion!" And yes, it's true...the story of how Thomas became a pirate centers around a "crime of passion" -- well, of the three-year old variety. And in the end, Thomas became our rather pitiful (at least at first) pirate:


At first, he didn't want to open his good eye much, but by the end of the day he was playing around in the Chick-Fil-A play area with the other kids as if he didn't have a problem in the world.  And yes, we went to Chick-Fil-A because he is milking this for everything it is worth.  :)

But first, let me back up and explain what happened.  Today was the day of his first field trip at school.  His school friends gathered at Charles Towne Landing for an Easter egg hunt and a stroll through the animal forest.  The Easter egg hunt went fine (I left my camera at a friends' house and only had my phone camera, but I'll share those later) and then we finally made our way to the animal forest to see the bison, turkeys, puma (he was hiding), black bears and birds.  In the middle of our leisurely stroll, after checking out the bears, Thomas was giving and receiving hugs and love from one of his best girl friends in his class, Ava.  I saw them playing with each other and turned around to tend to another child.  Next thing I heard was this awful scream and he came running to me. 

I wasn't sure what had happened and Thomas wasn't telling anything.  He was just screaming and crying and refusing to let me see his eye.  I soon gathered that Ava had accidentally poked him or scratched him in the eye in the middle of all their hugging.  She was so upset that she had hurt her dear friend.  And Thomas was just beside himself.  It took me FOREVER (and many gnat bites to Parker) to get him calmed down.  Finally he was calm, but he kept asking to stay in the shade and I eventually held Parker or let him walk and pushed Thomas in the stroller.  He kept randomly screaming out in pain, and he was definitely not himself.  I could see a little red spot next to the iris of his eye and a lot of general redness in his watery eye. 

Anyway, he continued to act okay and then randomly scream out in utter pain so we decided I should take him to the doctor (of course we had to wait for the doctor's long lunch hourS to be over first).  When he tried to eat lunch he ended up spitting out his food at one point and screamed about the pain.  I told him to keep his eye closed (and he agreed that that felt better) and he did...for the next 1.5 hours until we saw the doctor.  And then we had to BEG him to open his eye for the numbing drops. 

So anyway, to see what's going on, the doctor puts these fluorescent numbing drops in the eye and then looks at them under a special light in a darkened room.  If there is a scratch, it appears like this (this is a "minor corneal abrasion"--from the internet, not Thomas' eye):


Thomas' scratch appeared as a sideways V and the line was several times thicker than the line above.  I drew a drawing of it for Trey and honestly, it looked worse than what I drew.

I know, I'm a dork for trying to draw it...and I'm a dork for scanning it in...and I'm a dork for drawing so poorly.  :)

But honestly, I was shocked by how much of his eye was covered by the scratch.  The doctor said, "There's the corneal abrasion and it is actually a pretty signficant one."  Even so, the doctor said that these things generally heal pretty quickly (within 24-48 hours) and said he'd be much better by tomorrow.  Still, she looked at me like I was a bit insane when I suggested that Thomas was going to ride in the stroller as I walked the Cooper River Bridge Run tomorrow...so I guess I am not.  :)

He is wearing a patch until at least tomorrow morning just to keep his eye closed.  Tomorrow we'll see how he feels and decide whether or not to keep on with the patch or just let him wear sunglasses most of the time. 

The picture of Thomas above was from shortly after we got home, and not long after that he perked up a little and wanted to look at the books as his Daddy read them.


And then after a little Chick-Fil-A tonight (we told him we'd go wherever he wanted to go for dinner), he was much better.


He is, however, saying a lot of "Ahoy matie!" and something about landlubbers and "Arrrrgh!"  So I guess, that's how he became a pirate.

Back on his feet

Well our little fella is finally back on his feet again!


After his fall on Sunday, last night was the first time he managed to take a few steps. I almost canceled his appointment with the orthopedist for this morning, but decided since he still wasn't walking normally (and I had to keep encouraging him to even try) that we better go. Of course once we got there he had no problems jumping out of the stroller and hobbling over to the play area. But he still wasn't walking quite right...tending to walk on his heel or anyway he could to avoid pushing down on the ball of his foot--"lifting off" was what the doctor called it, I believe.

The doctor feels that he did/does have at least one fracture to at least one metatarsal bone on the top of his foot (probably the 5th). But since he is starting to walk, he felt like instead of a cast it would be better to just get him a sturdy new pair of tennis shoes and as he breaks them in, he will slowly heal his foot. Good thing we were ready to go up a size for him (the last time he measured just above an 8) so it was time for a new pair.

Since I had a few quick returns I needed to make to a couple stores at Towne Centre while we were on that side of town, we ran into the shoe store there and found a new pair of shoes. Wouldn't have been my first choice in another place, but we were desperate! :) He needed a little convincing to walk at first, as I think he had grown to like having his Mommy carry him everywhere...


But as soon as he got up, he was ready to go!

(Yikes, as if I needed a reminder that the front door needs to be repainted!)

I must say, however, that these new shoes depress me a bit. The last time we were in the Stride Rite outlet, the woman said he'd need to get at least an 8.5 and that means we're out of the "toddler" area (only goes up to size 8). And that means, at least at the outlet, no more red Keds Scooters. So sad! I much prefer those to these big boy shoes.

As Thomas sat on the couch next to me earlier, I looked over at him with his new shoes and he just looked so grown up. What happened to my little baby boy!?!? They grow up far too fast.

And by the way, he goes back to see the dr. again in two weeks for an x-ray to make sure everything is healing as it should. Let's hope all is well!

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

We spent part of our Sunday getting a special picture of Thomas's foot. See:


Our little monkey decided to fall off our bed this morning. No one saw it happen (I was at the store and Trey was in the room with his back turned for a moment), but he did something to injure his right foot. We can touch it and move it and push on it all we want and it doesn't bother him one bit, but the moment he tries to walk on it, he cries in utter pain. He says it hurts on the outer part of his foot. Right after it happened we tried to give it a little time and take his mind off of it, but when he tried to walk again, the reaction was the same. After a couple of hours, we finally decided we better take him on in to the hospital.

The pediatrician on call, who has more than 30 years experience, immediately said he was sure it was a hairline fracture. The x-ray, however, disagreed. The doctor said it's still possible that there is a minor, minor fracture that could worsen over the next few days and become obvious on x-ray. So we are supposed to keep him off his foot for a while and if it's not better on Tuesday, he has to go see a pediatric orthopedist (that's the right name, right?). Let's all hope and pray it's better quickly! Until then, I've got two non-walking children!

Thomas was a complete star about the x-ray. He loved his wheelchair ride to radiology and was most interested in the x-ray machine. In the end, he got a sticker for his bravery and he proudly placed it on his belly (where stickers always go with him):


And apparently he thought Superman needed a paci:


And did I mention we had to take Thomas to the doctor on Saturday for his ongoing stomach issues (waiting for the appointment with the pediatric GI doc...currently scheduled for mid-September but our doc is supposed to try to move it up) AND he has a fever and a headcold or something (and has since Thursday). It has been a fun time around here lately!

And Parker...well, he's decided not to be the rock-star-sleeping baby we had all grown to love around here. Last night he decided he didn't want to go to sleep until 11:30. Tonight after no real nap all day (except to sleep while we were at the hospital), he finally conked out after lots of tears over the course of the previous hour or two, at 9:00. Hallelujah. I need a drink. :)

I need to stop complaining. All in all, we are very fortunate and blessed with our family. And even when he should feel crummy, Thomas is usually smiling and trying to do things to make us smile:

"Hi, my name is Thomas, and I'm a paci addict."

Hopefully everyone will be all better soon!

First came school, then came quarantine

Thomas was supposed to have "school"/camp last week on MWF half days. I was anxious about it a bit since ever since his last time there last month every time we talk about school Thomas says, "Thomas cry school." And this would be because Thomas does, in fact, cry at school. In June he went two weeks in a row, just on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The second week he pretty much cried the whole time he was there. They even asked me to leave his paci and children aren't supposed to have pacis there. Ugh.

So anyway, last Monday I took him back and as soon as we started getting out the car, the sadness started setting in. His bottom lip started quivering and he started saying, "Mommy come back?" over and over again. I tried to ease him into the room, but he was wise to me. The teacher had another crying child that day and I could tell she was a bit anxious about having two criers that day. But as they tell me to do, I told him goodbye and left. As I was going out the door Thomas started crying pretty hard. He was gagging himself a little bit, but I left. Well, I didn't even make it to the car before a teacher came out and said "Ma'am!?! He just threw up." Lovely. After assuring them that he was not sick, that he just gagged himself until he threw up, they were okay with him staying and they encouraged me to hang around for a bit longer. So I did. Eventually I left and when I came back at the appointed time they said he ended up having a pretty good day. Whew. He actually participated with the art project (more than he had been doing) and when I asked Thomas if he had fun at school he said, "Thomas cry school a little bit." Progress, no? :)

Unfortunately later that day I realized that what I thought were ant bites on the palms of his hands had multiplied (I had first noticed them the previous Thursday). After some Googling, I realized he must have picked up Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease when he went to the doctor for a vaccination the previous week (Monday nearly two weeks ago). I felt terrible that he had been at school while possibly contagious and I felt bad that we paid for the week and he wasn't able to return! He never ran a fever, that I noticed though, and from what everyone tells me, this must have been a very, very mild case. I tried to take a picture, but my jitterbug wouldn't stay still enough!




This doesn't look like the face of a sick boy, does it?


Those pictures were a week ago. I think the spots are finally clearing up and I hope we can be out of self-imposed quarantine this week! And next week he heads back to school for the last camp session before he starts for real on August 26.

Oh, and Parker, as you can see, thinks it is all a bit funny. I just hope he doesn't get it!

A cheaper frenulumectomy

Why pay the doctor more than $300 to cut your frenulum (the piece of tissue that "ties" your tongue to the bottom of your mouth), when you can get a plastic Snoopy golf club and do it yourself? Ask my son.

(This picture has nothing to do with the story, other than he seems to be checking on his wound.)

Sunday night he had the golf club in his mouth by the handle. I didn't realize this (though it's something I tell him not to do all the time; and actually I think he put it in his mouth after I made my request) and I asked him to pick his milk up off the floor (as I was nursing Parker just before bedtime for both of them). He leaned over, with the golf club in his mouth, and the bottom of the club hit the floor and jammed the handle into his mouth. It didn't bleed too badly and I quickly decided it was not worth an ER trip. He did wake up twice during the night (the second time I gave him Motrin) crying and talking crazies and I decided to take him to the doc Monday morning (mainly because I couldn't see exactly what was going on in his mouth and I didn't know what I was looking for/at either). But I knew that babies sometimes have to have that thing cut to help breastfeeding or speech problems, so I guessed it wasn't a huge deal if that's what it was.

The doctor confirmed what I suspected, he ripped his frenulum...which apparently serves no real purpose at this point in his life. He said, "We charge $370 (I think) to do what he did for free!" He put him on an antibiotic just because the gash is so bad, but he expects him to heal just fine. And that's how my week started off.

The pictures are from today. He spent the morning playing with his Nannie while Parker & I went to my six-week post partum follow-up visit with my doctor. They played down at the lake for a while (hence why Nannie's hat was lying around) and then baked some cookies together.

By the way, I had them weigh Parker at the pediatrician's office on Monday and he weighs a whopping 12 pounds, 12 ounces. He was born at 8 pounds, 8 ounces, so this means he's already gained 50% of his birthweight!

Doctors and D-Day

Since Sunday, Thomas has seen a doctor three different times and I've seen one once. It's been a crazy week. But after a week of Thomas just not being Thomas, I think he's finally on the mend. Two days ago (on Tuesday) I woke him from his 3-hour nap at 4:00. He sat up briefly to drink his milk, then laid back down until I forced him to get out at 5. This is him looking so pathetic that day (He wears pajama bottoms at naptime because they are more comfy and because I don't like putting his dirty pants that have been on the ground into the place he sleeps! So that explains the odd outfit.):

He has not been running a fever, but he's had a stomach bug of some sort and he's just not had his usual energy or appetite. He has been content to just sit on the bed or couch and cuddle with me, and for as much as I enjoy it, it's just not him. I was so happy to see him tonight after dinner acting more like himself. Hopefully tomorrow will show more improvement!

As for my doctor's visit, my body seems to be gearing up quickly for this baby to arrive. Not to give too much information, we'll just say that this baby could come at ANY time. Trey was out of town, but decided to come back a day early just to make sure he won't miss the big arrival.

If the baby doesn't come on his/her own before then, because of a minor issue I will be induced at 39 weeks (will either be next Thursday or Friday, May 1 or 2). Trey's hoping the baby comes sooner, I'm hoping he/she will wait until I tell him/her to come out! Either way, by next weekend Thomas will have a new brother or sister!

Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers that the baby will make a safe and healthy arrival into this world!

Our little seal

I've heard of croup, but never really heard it ... until last night. Thomas started coughing yesterday and it seemed to be turning more into a "barking" cough (he sounded just like a seal!) as the day went on. He also had a fever that was steadily rising throughout the day. Having heard and read of the infamous croup, I spent some time with Thomas in a steamy bathroom before he went to bed and then we set up the humidifier in his room. The barking continued through the night and when I got up to check on him at 3 am he immediately sat up and said he wanted out. I laid him down to check his temp and the coughing continued. When he went to say something, nothing but this horrible hoarse noise came out and it totally scared him.

After another dose of Motrin and another 10 minutes in a steamy bathroom, his Daddy rocked him for a while and then we put him back to bed. He slept in this morning more than two hours past his usual wakeup time. When he awoke his breathing was horrible (I guess it was that term I had read about...the stridor breathing). Thank goodness for our local pediatric after hours option, Peds Plus, at a nearby hospital. We got there when they opened (it's staffed by a local pediatrician as an option to the ER) and immediately the seasoned nurse diagnosed him with croup. The doctor came in and quickly agreed, viral croup it was/is.

Thomas had to receive a breathing treatment there and he hated every second of it. It took three of us (Trey, me and the nurse) to hold him down and keep the oxygen mask on his face. It was not fun for anyone. Afterwards all he wanted to do was sleep. He's now on a couple of medicines and already showing signs of marked improvement. Hopefully tonight will be a quieter night and he'll get the sleep he needs to get well.

I don't usually post in here without pictures, but I've got nothing today. Compared to some of his friends, Thomas really doesn't get sick that often, so when he gets something like this, I feel the need to document it. Hope everyone is having a wonderful and much less eventful weekend.

I'll meet you at the ER, STAT!

As the grandparents know, today Thomas got his first taste of having stitches...literally. After spending a couple of days in Pinopolis, we were packing the car to head back home. I had planned to put him in the carseat while I brought the bags from the front door to the car (which was in the driveway). But, as we took the first few bags out, it was a beautiful day and Thomas wanted to get down and admire the landscape lighting. I decided to let him do that while I put the bags in the car. He is pretty good with walking these days and he was barefoot (how he walks best). I thought he'd be fine and enjoy the lovely weather. It proved to be a very bad idea.

As I turned to grab the last of the stuff, I was about 10 feet away from him when I heard him fall. I turned my head back around (I had only turned away for a second) and he looked up with me with a look of horror on his face. Blood was coming out his mouth. I leaped over to him and scooped him up, checking first to make sure he had his teeth. He did. But I could tell there was a pretty bad gash in his mouth caused either by his teeth or the paci that had been in his mouth (something I never let him do...walk around with his paci when he's not in the crib or the stroller in public). I ran back inside, called Mom ('cause I'm new at this mom thing and in a moment of panic I think I needed confirmation that yes, I did need to rush to the dreaded ER). She agreed to meet me there and off we went.

Hazards flashing, Thomas crying and me telling him the whole way how sorry I was and that I was going to help him be okay. Thank goodness Moncks Corner has at least one ER now (there are two). Back in my day, it would be a 30 minute trip. Yikes.

Anyway, Mom and I drove up at the same time and she assured me that I wasn't a bad mother. It happens. Yeah, but he's only 13 months old. I was hoping to have a little bit more time before he had to be a boy. :-)

They got us in pretty quickly and after a quick exam the doctor said he'd need a couple of stitches. No surprise as it was a rather large gash (about an inch, maybe?) and there was something hanging down. Yuck. It took two nurses, the doctor, a contraption called a "Papoose" (basically a board with straps) and Thomas wrapped like a burrito in a sheet to get through it all. Mom and I touched him and talked to him throughout the neverending time it took to stitch him up. He ended up with five stitches. That's how many I've had in my entire life. He's getting much too early a start on this.

Immediately afterward we were waiting for them to finish the paperwork and get our antibiotic prescription (a precaution since it's in his mouth), I realized I had the camera in the diaper bag. Here's the poor little one immediately after getting his first stitches. This picture is funny because he's feeling the stitches with his tongue and his bottom lip looks more swollen than his top lip...but it's not.


And here he is later today after a nap. He's drooling like a baby who just started teething because I guess it's hard for him to swallow all the time. Funny.


And a closeup...he's happy again:


He says Sully makes him feel much better.


The hardest part of this now, aside from eating (which is a little tricky for him), is that he hasn't been able to have his paci today. It makes his mouth bleed, so even though he wants it, I didn't let him have it for naptime or bedtime. It was tough at bedtime, but he managed to fall asleep. Of course, then again, he's pretty doped up on Amoxicillin and Motrin.

And just for a completely happy picture, he loved taking a bath/shower in his Nannie & Papa's shower.


Hopefully tomorrow he won't be too sore and we can have a very uneventful day. The doc said he knows Thomas will push the stitches out with his tongue, but he's hoping they'll stay in place for at least two days. I have to take him back to get checked on Saturday. That was enough "excitement" to last me for a long, long time.