TROUBLE COMES QUICKLY

Ok, so this post is a late one... I had first decided not to even write about it, but then I thought, my blog is sorta my family 'journal' and I like to record all 'events', so I changed my mind!

Last week we had a little 'accident' and a scare.
I have been fairly good at locking away all dangerous chemicals etc... we have a lock on the kitchen cupboard where our cleaning detergents etc are. The rest of our cleaning supplies are on a shelf in the laundry, that is almost too high for even me to reach, and then our medicine 'tub' is in an equally high cupboard in the kitchen. So for the most part, everything dangerous is locked away or high out of reach. I have some vitamins and supplements in my nightstand but nothing that should cause serious concern if Luke swallowed any.

Well, anyway, last Tuesday, I got into the shower in the en-suite/master bathroom. To keep Luke out of trouble, I closed my bedroom door, so that he would have to be in the room or bathroom with me while I showered. Who knows what trouble he will find if I left him to wander around the house unsupervised!

Anyway, when I got out of the shower, I realised that he had managed to find trouble right under my nose... he was sucking on an empty bottle of Visine red eye relief eye drops, while there was a puddle on the floor. He had found them in the cupboard under the basin... I guess I missed those when I was 'baby proofing'... the interesting part about this, is that he had to open the cupboard, then get them out of the little drawer in the cupboard that they were in, then get them out of the little ziploc bag that they were in (along with some travel supplies), then he got the skrew cap off, and managed to pull out the dropper... leaving the bottle entirely open! At first I wasn't too concerned... the bottle I don't think was more than half, maybe 2/3 full, and there was a decent sized puddle on the floor... so I wasn't even sure he had ingested any. But, I read the back of the bottle, and it said that you should call poison control, and seek medical attention right away...

It had some less than ideal ingredients in for ingesting.

Dextran 700.1% , Polyethylene Glycol 4001% , Povidone1% , Tetrahydrozoline HCl0.05%

So I called poison control, and told them what happened, and that I was unsure if or how much he had actually drank. She said to watch him closely for the next hour and then call her back, and to call her immediately if Luke starts to get drowsy... more so than usual!
Supposedly the Tetrahydrolozine stuff is what everyone was really concerned about. It can lower blood pressure, slow down your heart rate, and induce a coma... which is why I was having to watch for signs of drowsiness or lethargy!
So I sat and watched him... he seemed fine, I wasn't very concerned, but then he started getting sleepy. Now it was around nap time, but he had also had a great night, so I had thought he would be awake longer before napping, and then he started seeming more eager to sleep than usual. Luke LOVES his crib... he rarely sleeps anywhere else, and has always struggled to fall asleep on your shoulder etc. He likes to be put in his crib when he is tired, and left to go to sleep on his own... so when he lay on my shoulder, went dead weight and started to doze off, I got a little concerned! Linda, the lady from poison control told me to take him to my pediatrician and have him looked over just to be on the safe side. So we loaded up into the car and I took him over (he woke up again in the car on the way there)... I thought that they would just check his heart beat, breathing etc and make sure everything still seemed fine and then tell me to take him home and keep watching him for the rest of the day.

Instead, my pediatrician rushed in almost in a panic, and told me without even looking at him that if there is any chance he had ingested any, he needs to go straight to the ER... so she rushed me back out the door, called ahead to the ER, and we went on our way. At this point I started to feel really anxious... I started to think that maybe I had been to relaxed about the whole thing and that it was much more serious than I had thought. When I got to the ER, they were waiting for us.. I hadn't even signed in at the front desk, when a nurse came from the back asking if Luke was the 14 month old who had drank eye drops...they took us straight through to triage, where they checked his heart rate, listened to his breathing etc and then sent us to a room in the ER to wait for the doctor.  Luke hadn't eaten yet, so I took out some snacks, and he ate a banana, and a cereal bar while we watched cartoons, waiting for the doctor. An hour later, the doctor comes in, again listens to his heart with a stethoscope, and says that it's been 3 hours since the 'possible ingestion', and he is showing no further signs of trouble, so take him home and watch him...come back if anything changes.
By this point, I was feeling frustrated because my pediatrician and caused me to panic over nothing, and I spent the entire duration of the ER visit watching cartoons, with a tired, hungry toddler, who otherwise now seemed fine. We were happy to leave, and ready to go home. Luke was fast asleep in the car right after we pulled out of the parking lot. After a good nap, and some more 'lunch' when he woke up, he was back to his usual demanding, whiny, but oh so cute self!

Although it ended up being nothing more than a scare, the whole incident did give me a little fright.. I really realised just how quickly these potentially fatal accidents can happen. I am just grateful that this incident was nothing serious, and we were able to all come home happy and healthy!

BIG BOYS BUZZ CUT

Ok, so Lukes hair has been getting a bit long for my liking lately... and I have been dying to cut it... but, he won't sit still long enough for me to trim it lightly with a pair of scissors, so I decided to do the quick way, and use the buzzer. I do Jakes hair all the time, and he looks alright... doesn't he? LOL
Now, standard buzzers come with 6 trim lengths... #1 being the shortest, and #6 being the longest... I thought I would just go over his hair quickly with a #6...just to take off that extra bit of length he has. Then, yesterday while chatting to my mom on the webcam, her and my brother told me that a #6 is much too long, that I should do a #4, or even as short as a #2... LOL... remind me never to take their advice again!

Lukes hair is still REALLY thin so if it's short, it almost disappears entirely... so I decided to try a #5... shorter than my originally planned #6, but not as short as my family suggested... well, now my kid is just about bald on top in comparison to what he looked like when he woke up this morning, LOL... and he looks like he just enlisted in the army! I have a 14 month old with a buzz cut. LOL... not EXACTLY what I was going for.

To make matters worse, after quickly (and not very evenly) going over the top, while Jake tried to keep Luke still on his lap.... I needed to still tackle the back... Luke had already had enough, and was starting to fuss and squirm terribly, even though he had only been enduring my torture for about 3 minutes. LOL. So, the back didn't exactly go as planned. It looks like I tried to give him layers. LOL... very jagged layers... But, when Luke has had enough, then that's all you're going to get done... So now I have a sweet little boy, with a naughty boy buzz cut, and a choppy, jagged trim at the back! Hopefully it grows out quickly. Poor kid! LOL
If only he would sit still, so I could take my time trimming it neatly with scissors... instead, my choices are 'long and messy' or 'brave the buzz cut...'
I'm thinking next time we might just leave it 'long and messy'. LOL

This is Luke before his cut!

And this is our poor kid after his terrible cut!
I feel like a terrible mom for 'butchering' my childs soft, sweet hair! :(

I haven't even taken a picture of the back, because I feel like I need to try going over it again to redeem myself. I stopped when Luke had had enough... not when his hair was done. LOL

Funny how even in these pictures, both taken today... he goes from sweet looking little boy with a mop of hair, to looking like a little mischief maker with his buzz cut!

LIFE, FAMILY & GRATITUDE

For the last few days, I have been following the story of a family around our age.

A young couple, met and fell in love, got married just a few months before we did, and had a little girl, just 5 months before we had Luke. They are in the exact same stage of their life as we are... 'newly' weds, enjoying their first child, figuring out the whole parenting thing, getting to know each other as they learn and grow in family life.

Then, last week, there was an accident... their little girl, fell into a canal... she was in the canal until a farmer found her in the water 2 miles down where he and his brother were working. The past week has been a week of prayers, hope, and faith, as their little girl has fought for her life. One day things would start to look up, and the next she would deteriorate again... today, their little girl went back to our Father in heaven!

My heart broke... while I sit here writing this, Luke is sitting on the floor throwing all my highlighters around... he has AGAIN been in the forbidden stationery drawer...but I realize just what a wonderful sight it is! He is all over the place... running up and down the passage, whining at his daddy for some of his food, stiffening up his body and screeching when we say, 'NO' to whatever he wants but can't have... and I am so grateful for it all!

Some days are so exhausting... he tries my patience and tests my nerves and challenges me in more ways I imagined were possible, and some days I wonder how I will ever survive the rest of the day... but I do, and I have realised that each day that I wake up, and I hear him 'calling' me to come and get him out of his crib, is one more day of joy and blessings, and precious time with my sweet angel!

I cried when I read of their little girls passing... only because it felt so close to home... it could have been us... they were the identical family to ours, and although I know that our family is a forever family, and I am grateful that we have been sealed in the temple for eternity, I still don't know how any mother or father survives losing a child. That little girl was just the start of their family... and tomorrow, they will wake up and have to start again...back to just the two of them.

Luke is such a sweet boy, and he is OUR sweet boy... and I am so grateful for every moment of every day that I have with him... I only hope and pray that we still have many decades to enjoy our family in it's entirety!
Life is precious... time is precious... if only we could remember that everyday so that we will love each other a little more, hug each other a little longer and treasure all our moments together as though they were our last!

D = DISASTER

For more months that I can remember... probably for the most part of this year, I have been EXTREMELY tired... then in more recent months... probably the last 2-3, I have felt extremely weak in addition to that...it got so ridiculous, that something as simple as showering, getting dressed and blow drying my hair would feel so physically exerting that I would throw up.
Since a little before the trip we took to Utah, I have had constant 'pain' too, which just got worse and worse... my skin feels sensitive when my clothes rub against it like the nerves under my skin are too sensitive, my muscles ache, and my neck and back are always stiff and painful!
Finally I had had enough because it was becoming debilitating and affecting my ability to function normally as a mother and wife each day, so I went to the doctor. They did some blood work, and it came back that I had slightly elevated glucose levels (though nothing serious), and a vitamin D deficiency. Your Vit D is suppose to be 32-100 ng/mL (nanograms per milliliter), and mine is currently 18.2 ng/mL
I never thought that low vit D could cause so much trouble, but apparently it can. I am now taking a vit D supplement, and have been told that I should start feeling better in a few weeks. I have a follow up appointment in 4 weeks to see if the supplement has has helped... hopefully I will be back to my regular self by then. I guess I should have gone to the doctor a long time ago...I probably could have prevented the worst of my symptoms with something as simple as a vit D supplement!

I'm not sure how I ended up with low vit D, though I imagine it was just a bad choice in diet somewhere (I don't even know what foods have vit D in), and too little sun exposure... it's sooooo hot and humid here in NC, that I HATE going outside... Luke and I have spent a large part of this summer indoors because it's just to uncomfortable to be outside!

So at 25, I have been feeling like I should be 75... LOL... but I am glad to at least now know the cause of the problem, and hopefully be on my way back to my 'old youthful self'... LOL

A TRIP "HOME"

A few months ago, Jake and I very spontaneously bought some tickets to Utah after chatting on the phone to his family... I had enough SkyMiles that I could get my ticket for free, so we only had to pay for one ticket, which was great.

We were super excited about the trip, and couldn't wait to see family again. It had been a year since our last trip out west, and we were itching for Luke to see his grandma and grandpa and his cousins. We were counting down the almost 2 months until it was time to go. Unfortunately things didn't go so well. We booked out flight there, to leave on a Friday evening, so that Jake could go after work... little did we know that Luke would not sleep on the plane, despite us flying through most of his regular night time sleeping hours. The turbulence was awful on both flights, we circled in the air for an additional hour, due to bad weather holding up the incoming planes, our second flight was delayed, and Jake ended up horribly air sick! We finally arrived at 1:30am (3:30am North Carolina time)... after a nightmare 12 hour journey! For another 3 hours, Luke still would not settle down for the night... finally, he passed out next to us and we all got 3 hours of light, sleep before the sun rose, and the day began! Fortunately Luke settled in perfectly after about 2 days, and he was great for the rest of the week. Jake however spent the first day recovering from his air sickness, and then proceeded to get a cold... As his cold started to improve, I got sick... with a 'mystery illness'... I didn't have typical cold symptoms, but I felt dreadful, and that's how I spent the remainder of the week. So, our exciting family vacation didn't quite goes as we had hoped.

All that said, it was really great to see the family again. I was so excited to see Luke interacting and enjoying time with his cousins. He had a cousin(s) to play with every day that we were there... and he thrived on the attention, and of course he just LOVED his Grandma's endless supply of fun toys, that he could only dream of having here at home. (Oh, how I long for a Deseret Industries to open in North Carolina)

On the topic of the D.I.... I did have some fun while we were there... I shopped at the D.I and raided Sara's shed (Jakes sister), and found a whole stack of little 'treasures' to decorate my very bare home. Of course, by a whole stack, I mean more than I could fit into my suitcase, but it really just barely puts a dent in my home decor. LOL. I would keep them well in business if they opened up a store here. One of my most exciting finds, were some curtains I found... I got a really cute striped curtain with a matching valance for $4, and another blue pair of curtains for, get this... $1 for the pair! I have put the stripe valance in my kitchen, and I am going to cut up the matching stripe curtain, to make additional valances for my dining room...The blue ones I am saving for Lukes big boy room, when we have another baby! I had to buy a $5 hand luggage suitcase at the D.I to be able to bring all my things home. LOL.

DAY 1: MEETING THE FAMILY

PONY RIDES FROM GRANDPA

PICNIC AT THE PARK

LUKE WAS PICKING ALL THE GRAPES OUT OF THE FRUIT BOWL... GRAPES ARE HIS NEW ALL TIME FAVOURITE FOOD!

RAIDING GRANDMA'S PANTRY

PLAYING A DUET... ALL THE COUSINS SEEM TO LOVE THE PIANO

TIME FOR SWIMMING

LUKE WON'T BE FALLING OUT OF THIS TUBE. lol

HUNTER, ANNABELLE, LUKE & LANDON...

FEEDING THE BIRDS! lol

COUSIN HUNTER BEING SO CUTE

I LOVE THIS PICTURE OF LUKE AND HUNTER

WE 'TRIED' TO GET A PICTURE OF THE COUSINS... IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SUCH A PERFECT SETTING, BUT LUKE AND KADEN WEREN'T FEELING IT THAT DAY! lol

MY SWEET BOY

A MOMENT WITH MOMMY

'CUDDLING' WITH GRANDMA...

LANDON, PUTTING ON THE MOVES WITH THE FRISBEE

I noticed when looking through the photo's that we got some 'funny' faces and 'views'... I had a good laugh at some of them... 
Here are my favourites

So despite the illnesses, and the dreadful flight, we still had a great time.
I am very blessed to have a wonderful in-law family... everyone gets on well with everyone, and we always have a great time... chaotic, DEFINITELY, but always good! Sure, the Geddes family have their quirks... as is quite clear in the above picture. LOL... BUT... perhaps that's why I fit in so comfortably... I am not one to claim that I come from a 'normal' gene pool... Just to clue you in a bit, I'll add
MY MOST RECENT FAMILY PHOTO... LOL

So life is good... we have great families, and we miss them often! One day, hopefully we'll live closer, and enjoy this 'organized chaos' more often!

SUMMER TIME FUN

North Carolina has been hot and 'summery' for quite some time now. We have had temperatures well into the 90's (30's Celsius) just about every week for a while already.
Luke and I have been doing some fun summer activities when we can.
Last week, we went for a walk with Crystal and her son, Brent... Brent and Luke are becoming great buddies. Luke is getting very comfortable and familiar with Crystal and Brent, and their home, and Brent calls Luke, 'Uke'... I love it :) He is such a sweet boy!
When we went for our walk, we stopped at a little duck pond in Crystals neighbourhood. The boys had some bread to feed the ducks, but Luke just ate all of his...stale or not. LOL.
(All my 'on-the-go' photos aren't as great quality as usual, because I have a smaller camera that I keep in my diaper bag, which doesn't take pics as good as Jakes camera does)

Today is a scorcher... 96'F is the forecast (36'C)... though it worked out perfectly, because a few months ago I signed up for the 'spray park'... in Rocky Mount, there is a great park that has water 'features' all over a big concrete slab, that kids can play in.. it also has a train that goes around the park, and some fun rides... They have reserved the spray park for 1 hour, every monday morning from today, through August (for a fee), for little kids and their families, so we paid to do that so that Luke could enjoy it without fear of getting knocked down by teenagers playing rough etc. Many of the Crayola moms are signed up too, so Luke and I can enjoy it with friends, and Jake can join us on holidays like July 5th. Anyway, today was our first time there, and what fun it was! Luke really enjoyed the water for a while... then he got hungry and tired, and needed a snack, so we sat in the shade and rested a bit with a snack. 

After our snack, we enjoyed a train ride around the park before heading home. It was a fun fun morning for both of us!

So, summer is here, and we are trying to enjoy it as best we can with some time outdoors doing fun things. Now that Luke is walking, it's so much easier.. though he refuses to walk on the grass. LOL... only on hard ground! Some days though, it's just easier and more pleasant to stay indoors where it's air conditioned, because it's just soooo HOT outside.. but, hopefully we can have a few more fun outings in the sun this summer!