There will be blood

When pregnant with my first boy, I received a lot of advice, but none of it ever eluded to what I have encountered in the last couple of weeks. Lately, I have been finding myself wishing that one of the pieces of shared advice would have simply been 'there will be blood in your future.' Even when pregnant with the second boy, people only told me of 'how great of friends' my two little rascals would be and not that I would be constantly cleaning up blood from my carpeting. Do you see where this is going yet?

Two Fridays ago (only one week after Benny's lip split) I found myself rushing our little family into the ER with yet another bloody child. Let me share that story...

It was a typical Friday morning. Benny boy was down for his nap (almost ready to get up) and Jackson and I were doing various activities around the house. I had just got on the phone with my father-in-law to talk about a few things and then Jack realized who I was talking to and wanted to talk to 'his papa Neaw". I obliged, knowing that both parties really enjoy the phone conversations. I finally decided that the conversation was coming to a lull (that is when jackson starts to point out everything he sees out the window only to completely confuse the person on the other end) and told Jackson to say goodbye. Well, this is where things started to get a bit hairy. J, being the stinker two and half year old he is [shockingly] decided to disobey. I wasn't going to allow it and tried to grab the phone. I then found myself struggling to get it out of his grimy little grip so I got a better stance and pulled. Right as I was pulling, Jackson tried to lunge out of my grasp. I finally got the phone...only to have Jackson fly forward into Benny's cozy coupe car face first. He immediately screamed and I immediately could see why. Blood looked like it was squirting from his eyebrow. I yelled into the phone "OH MY GOSH I"VE GOT TO GO!!!" and hung up. Shaking, I grabbed Jackson and sat him on the counter to get a better look. He had a nasty gash above his eye. I knew he needed stitches. Next I called Mark and told him what happened (a very shortened version as Jack was still screaming and bleeding) and then told him he needed to meet me at the ER to help with Ben and that he also needed to call his poor father and let him know we were all still alive!

This is where the crazy really started. I now needed to get Ben up from his nap, shoes and coat on and into the car all the while keep Jackson contained so blood would not get all over. I also needed to get clothes on J (he was still in his undies and pj shirt) and then into boots and jacket and also into the car. I started with getting a diaper on Jack and then pants. This sounds easy, but let me tell you my friends, it was not. Jack (who is the size of an average 5 year old) is a little too big for me to handle when he is flailing his body around. And boy was he flailing. He was so mad and distraught about how his eye was feeling that he couldn't contain himself. He was also very scared of going to the doctor (the day before he witnessed Ben getting his vaccinations and then told me "I am fine, mommy. I no need no vatsinations.") So, while getting kicked and hit and bled on I got the task accomplished and then decided to let him cool off a bit and work on Ben. Done. Ben was easy and in the car. OH NO, THE CAR! The car had been sitting out the night before and was covered in a pile of snow. I decided to go back in to get Jack in the car and then work on the snow after he was secure in his seat. I went into the house to find the pair of pants I had put on Jackson at the bottom of the stairs and no Jackson to be found. I went for his room. Locked. J was so adamant about not going to the hospital that he had locked himself in his room! Ugh. Mark then called my phone twice in a row (our code for an emergency) and I frantically answered the second time. "WHAT?!?" He was just wondering if I was at the hospital yet and if I still thought he should come..........At this point you could say I was a bit 'frazzled' (as Mark likes to nicely put it). I [politely] told him that he should meet us there and that we would be there as soon as I could get the patient out of his room! I found a screw driver and got in, got him re-dressed (with more kicking and screaming), and then into the car. After clearing the snow we were finally on our way. Have I mentioned that Jackson has been crying and screaming and desperately asking me to 'tiss his owie' this entire time?!

Long story short, there was a lot of tears at the hospital, but for the most part Jack did really well. He was amazing while he got his stitches, not even having to be papoose'd. While there they also found that he had an ear infection so we got him on antibiotics for that right away. 

One more quick story:

When the doctor came into the room to describe the procedure of putting in the stitches he told us that he would be putting in dissolve-able stitches (just like the one's benny had that split open not even a week after he got them). Both Mark and I looked at each other and then back at the doctor and said "NO!". He was surprised, but after an explanation (and a look at Ben's lip) he understood and gave us the real (nice and strong) ones :)

I am happy to say we made it through the entire week last week without a blood. What a precious gift.

Let me quickly tell you what else has been keeping us a bit busier than normal...

This is Jackson completely asleep on the floor (never has happened) while he was waiting for me to make him lunch. This was the day he first started feeling sick (the day before he fell into the car)

On top of the ear infection Jackson also got bronchitis. 

On top of Jackson having an ear infection and bronchitis, Benny too (3 days later) was diagnosed with an ear infection and bronchitis (this makes for one very cranky household of boys with terrible coughs and fevers).

One night Jackson was coughing so hard he threw up all over me. REALLY gross. 

A few days after Jack split his eyebrow open I went to be with my mom while we stood by her sister as she went to meet Jesus. It was such an honor to be there but still so sad to loose a loved one. She was only 58.

The funeral was last week. 

Benny went to see the doctor for his lip and he (the doctor) is anxious to get going on the next surgery. That is now scheduled for next Tuesday. I am already bracing myself for more blood :)

I hope the next post can be about something a little less gory.


**update: I just wanted everyone to know that despite the craziness, we are all very well and happy :)