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Monday, March 12, 2012

Emergency Room Visit

**Warnings: Pictures in this post are a bit graphic…**

It started out as a regular Sunday for the Souza family….but my friends…it turned into one of those awful eventful evenings.

We were at Jaxon’s 2nd birthday party…having a great time with friends!!
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We got home, ran some errands and then Mama had to sit her butt down at the computer to finish up her homework  (only 3 weeks left until I’m a MASTER! woot woot!)  10 minutes later I hear Owen screaming after he tumbled down the stairs.

I swear I got down the stairs faster than I EVER have…I was like a vampire just gliding down both flights of stairs. I immediately took Owen from Yosh…and Owen had blood all in his mouth. Yosh was freakin’, Owen was freakin’….and surprisingly Mama stayed calm. We thought his tooth was knocked out because it looked like this….
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Took this picture while in the car on the way to the Ontario Kaiser Emergency Room, to send to our friend who is a dentist…needed to see what he thought….

But while wiping blood (still at home) I noticed his chin was split open. So Yosh packed up the house and we were SPEEDING off to the ER. (Next time my husband is NOT the driver…he almost killed us…)  Daddy was seriously panicking and I had to keep reminding him that Owen was OK…it wasn’t like he was in serious condition…but Daddy wouldn’t listen. Got checked into the ER…and we waited for a bed to open. While we waited…I had to take some pictures….

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Had to take a picture to send to Nana so she knew that Owen was ok!!

But while at the ER, I was keeping my eye out for my father. Its never dull in our family. Dad was having some major issues Sunday…he had really bad body aches, serious flu like symptoms…again. A few months back dad had a colon infection and he was feeling the same way again! And he thought that he might have taken 2 of his meds together that aren’t suppose to be mixed. He was worried he might have poisoned himself. He brought himself to the ER, and would NOT allow Mom to go with him.  So I had one eye on Owen and one eye lookin’ out for Dad.

 

 

ER Doc said that his chin needed stitches forsure and that his top 4 teeth were loose and he needed to see a dentist ASAP. Guess Kaiser doesn’t deal with teeth AT ALL. So I was worried…yes I know things could have been soo so so so much worse. He could have broken his neck, concussion, heck he could have been killed with how hard he feel. But I got teary eyed while we waited…sad that my little man’s mouth was going to be effected for a LONG time to come.

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Another reason why the ipad purchase is AWESOME…kept our little man occupied while waiting in the ER!!!

SUCH a trooper my child is. Yes he screamed when he got the shot of numbing stuff…and yes he cried during the stitches (that took forever!) but he did amazing. They had to strap him down like a burrito (wouldn’t let me hold him…for his safety!) and daddy held his head. I stayed up by his ear and told him stories to calm him down. Since then, all day, Owen wants me to tell him stories about times we went to Sea World, The beach, Disneyland, The River, The aquarium etc. Its cute…he loves reliving the fun times! haha.

Owen was so excited about the bandaid??! Weird lil man.  The doctor said he’s the bravest little boy he’s ever seen (Funny…I was thinking the SAME thing!) haha

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At this point, Dad finally told Mom he was at the Fontana ER and they were admitting him into the hospital for observation.  She was enroute to him while we were enroute to our Dentist…to see what he thought about the dental issues.
Dad’s white blood cell count was extremely high, and his potassium was extremely low. Dad has lost 16lbs since January…and was losing weight by the hour due to the lack of potassium. They thought he was having a very bad reaction to the Lipitor (cholesterol meds).  Mom said its sad to see my dad as a patient…he’s not great in this defenseless role.  She went to the hospital to check on him…but he sent her home minutes after she arrived…he didn’t want her out late or staying with him over night! (GEEZ, he’s Soooo not a cooperative patient!)

This morning our dude’s face was a bit rattled and swollen. I cried when I saw him…the swelling makes his smile funny/droopy and he just looks different BUT definitely isn’t acting any different. Sassy as ever! Our Dentist referred us to a pediatric dentist…who was amazing.  Basically from the exam and xray the dentist doesn’t think the permanent tooth was hurt. The bottom tip of Owen’s tooth was pushed back…therefore the top is pushed forward. So the root/nerve is pulling away. We won’t know yet if it pulled too far away and if the tooth/teeth will live. So we are going back to see him in 4 weeks…unless the tooth changes color before then.  And we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Luckily my child had bucked teeth from his pacifier…if they weren’t bucked he’d probably have to have them pulled out (words from dentist!) SEE pacifiers aren’t ALL bad! haha I left feeling good…and praying that his teeth live and we don’t have to worry about root canals and stuff! 
It makes me sad though…Owen is so hungry but can’t really eat. Trying to teach an almost 3 year old how to eat only using his back teeth is NOT an easy task. Poor guy. So today he’s eating milk shakes, baby food, yogurt, smoothies…whatever his lil heart desires.  I took some good pictures today of the damage done….

His sad droopy/swollen face!

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Can’t see it great…but he has little dots/bruises all around his eye and cheek!

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Tooth damage!

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And chin damage…tonight after bath and him FREAKIN out about removing the bandaid.

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But he’s a happy boy this evening…Mya & Papa brought over a cool toy truck…and Daddy brought him to toys r us as well! Daddy let him pick out whatever toy he wanted for being SO BRAVE for the doctor! Watching kids walk the aisles at Toys R Us is so cute. They are so excited…I love it.
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But we aren’t out of the clear so easily with Dad! He’s still in the hospital tonight. He’s been without any of his medications for 24 hours now and he is not improving…so the doctors are kinda baffled. He’s scheduled for an MRI from head to hips tomorrow, we’ll see if there is anything unusual that would be causing all the pain and symptoms…and for my father who is VERY VERY Claustrophic…he’s kinda freaking out. He might even have to be sedated to get him into the machine.
Tonight while in the bath Owen and I said a prayer for Grandad. For God to make him feel all better (Owen’s words!).  You may be asking yourself “Why have I not gone to visit my dad in the hospital"??”  well that’s easy…he won’t let me see him! He told my mom that he wants me to stay with Owen and does NOT want me there with him! So…I will give him his space…for now.

So tonight my littlest hero is here in bed…fast asleep!!! And my ultimate hero…is in the hospital…trying to be as brave as our littlest hero! I pray that they can find out whats wrong tomorrow and he can be on the road to recovery soon.

“No one ever said Life is Easy….” – Boy they weren’t playing…life is NOT easy!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Aquarium of the Pacific

I’ve heard many many times how amazing the Aquarium in Long Beach is…so Mother and I decided to bring my Aunt Catherine there this weekend for her birthday. First thing I liked about the place was when we were paying for our tickets I realized that Teachers got in free with a staff I.D. card (score!) for the month of March (you better believe that we’ll be coming back before March is over, all the other tickets in your party were $3 off AND since Owen is still 2 he got in for FREE! AWESOME! 

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Owen was a little reluctant to touch the polar bear BUT soon gave him a high five!

It was an awesome morning…got there at 10am to try and “beat the crowds”.

First stop was touching the stingrays. (Owen wasn’t impressed!)

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Next stop was the Sea Lion Show…which was…okay. The glass was very reflective with a crazy glare, so we couldn’t see much. Thankfully someone was doing an animal encounter with a HUGE sea lion in the window right in front of us…so that was more amusing than the show.

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Then LOTS and LOTS of fishies!!!! We looked for Nemo’s high and low!

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We saw pretty fish, ugly fish, funny fish, and scary fish (the giant spider crabs were scary as hell!) Owen LOVED looking in all the tanks. He’s ask what each fish was and then try and repeat the name of them! When he couldn’t say the name he’d give them nicknames. Was cute!

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Along with fish they had birds outside…and the biggest RIP off of the day…$3 for some nectar stuff to feed them. The sign in front said the birds were VERY hungry…that was all LIES! They were grumpy and NOT hungry hardly at all. We saw one little boy get bit by one of the birds! Yeah…that was AFTER we let Owen feed a birdy!

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It was a great day but going early is the way to go…it got VERY crowded by the time we were heading home at 2ish. Totally recommend going if you are a teacher this month!!!

Potty Pro

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So I wanted to follow up from my last post about potty training Owen.  The evening I wrote that, Owen didn’t seem to want to cooperate….like at all! So I wasn’t going to fight the battle (until Spring Break)…actually I didn’t want Martha (Owen’s babysitter) to have to fight the battle, so the next morning we were back in diapers.  BUT surprisingly…Owen told Martha ALL day when he needed to use the potty…and they would take the diaper off and use the potty! haha See my son is NOT a quitter! haha So I can say now (Sunday) we have had ZERO accidents and he’s using the potty full time! Wow. That was pretty easy! I guess the saying is true…if you just wait until THEY are ready your life is way easier!! Thank Goodness.

Our week was so busy! And that doesn’t seem to affect Owen’s potty schedules. We met my cousin Derek who was in town on business from Philly. Was great to catch up…we haven’t seen each other since our Ireland trip in July 2010.  I know this is TMI but Owen even pooped that evening at Outback Stackhouse! Yes my child has to sit on a public toilet…hold on to the sides and all BUT…we wash up like he’s a surgeon afterwards. (ps. Any tips for keeping him as germ-free as possible when going #2???)

 

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Swim Season has officially begun. We had our first swim meet vs. Norco…which didn’t start until 4pm.  Mom had SARB meetings at work so she wasn’t able to get off early and pick up Owen. So poor Owen was stuck with us at the pool deck all evening!  But he didn’t seem to mind….until around 7pm and he STILL hadn’t been fed dinner (yes I got the Mother of the Year award that night!)  But Owen doesn’t mind meets…they aren’t loud and crazy like polo games (which he does NOT enjoy!)

 

 

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I love this pic…was take by a friend who was at the meet…Owen’s like a lil old man…sitting in his chair with his ipad in deep thought! Love it. And this pic is added to my Mother of The Year evening. Owen was playing with pencils and came to me like this (note the marks above his eye)….yeah we coulda had a one-eyed little boy~

Monday, March 5, 2012

Potty Training…Take 1

My darling little son will be 3 in April. We have kinda sorta started the potty training…nothing serious but we get him to pee in the potty before bath (had to make a deal with him to sit on it while I got the water ready…once he heard the water he’d pee every time and he’d get bubbles in his bath!) We then expanded to having him pee in the mornings before we got him dressed too…he was waking up with a dry diaper so I knew that designated “pee time” was easy too!  After about 3 weeks consistent of this I thought it MIGHT be time to try to really potty train him.

So this weekend I thought…lets try and see if my child is gifted and if he can be potty trained in a weekend (psshhh I JUST realized that its NOT gonna happen!)…..But I got the potty charts made…stickers bought…potty READY!
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THIS was my lovely view for the weekend….so freakin’ adorable!!

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(he’s going to kill me when he grows up!)

We hung out at home all day Satirday…wanted to be very close to a potty at all times! So we had a lovely lazy day at home.
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…we had such a great first day! No accidents…even napped in undies w/o an accident…was great. BUT we didn’t go #2…so I thought it would be bad once he finally DID do it. He spent the night at my parents…and they reported back that he did great! Even went #2 with MY FATHER (if you know my dad you are probably pretty shocked…I about had a heart attack when Mom told me that!)  Was all pretty exciting…I totally thought we had it in the bag…haha geez

Sunday afternoon we went to our friends house for a day in the spa…since it was 90 degrees in March! Love it.  Owen told us when he needed to potty…everything was going great!
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Poor Ryry kept getting bloody noses…so we put cotton up there to stop it!

…Until Owen had an accident on Heather’s carpet…I felt horrible! From there I feel like it went downhill. Got home that evening (out of our usual evening routine)…rushed to bed. Owen would NOT let me put a diaper on him for bed. So he woke up this morning SOAKED.  He got to Martha’s and wouldn’t pee for her all morning. Then around 11am he had an accident. Once I got him home at 3:30 he SCREAMED not wanting to even sit on the potty and BEGGING for a diaper. So I’m going to hang it up…and give it another shot when I have a FULL week with him during spring break!  We are on the right road though. I was frustrated this evening…and Owen could totally sense it…this was our conversation during bathtime

Owen: “Mommy you can’t be sad”
Me: “I’m not sad buddy…why do you think I’m sad?”
Owen: “I don’t know…because I pee’d on your floor”
Me: “Owen I’m not sad…its ok buddy…it was an accident”
Owen: “Ok but I’m really really sorry”

My sensitive little dude.

So good bye Potty Charts…until the end of March when we will meet again!

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