Near Miss

Last week Noah wanted to earn some Play Station time, so I told him he could help me go across the road and gather the trash. The trash was kind of smelly, so I decided to just throw it in the back of our truck, which we keep over there, instead of putting it in the back of my van. As I drove up to our drive to drop it off, the puppy was there barking and jumping and it hit me that the smelly trash bags might attract some scavengers. So instead of stopping at the end of the drive, I pulled up to the cement in front of the garage and ran in to get some twist ties. I told Noah I would be right back and left the truck running.

I bopped into the living room to check on Ben who was sleeping, went back to the kitchen to grab a couple of twist ties, and headed for the door. Just as I put my hand on the back door knob and there was a big noise that sounded like pop cans being crushed.

I opened the door and was surprised to see the truck in the garage. Noah was behind the wheel with eyes as big as saucers. The truck was still moving forward slightly. Lucking he was not tall enough to actually reach the gas, so he was just idling forward and all the stuff at the front of the garage, like the refrigerator, a old table, cases of pop, garden tools, the gas grill, etc. stopped his forward movement. I was able to jump in and stop it from doing any more damage. Luckily only the old table and one case of pop were destroyed in Noah's first driving experience.

Now, I know I should never have left Noah alone in a running vehicle. However, with working on the other house, and stopping at one place or the other for just a second to grab something I forgot, I have been doing it a lot lately, and Noah had never even made a move to try to get in the front seat. But my brother and family were back the first couple weeks of July and he was teaching the kids how to drive a 4 wheeler, and Noah must have wanted to keep up his driving skills. He claims that he did not mean to put it in gear, and accidentally pulled down on the gear shift while trying to climb in the front seat to pretend to drive. But I am not sure how he could have done that and still stepped on the brake to get it in gear.

Noah knew he was in big trouble, but it did not hit him until he realized that lost Play station time instead of earning it. Then the tears started to roll.

We are just so greatful that he was not hurt and no real property damage occurred. Noah definatley had his guardian angel with him that day as there were so many things that could have gone wrong. Like the propane tank on the grill and the air bag that could have deployed. We just thank God that he is OK. And as a bonus, I don't think he will try driving again for a long, long time.

Happy Birthday Noah and other updates

The Birthday Boy.

Friday the 10th we celebrated Noah's 7 Birthday by going to the Flying Wheels Fun Center in Elmwood. We had a blast. I was especially glad that Ben got to go around a few times in his stroller, because that meant I had something to hold on to, so I did not fall down. Noah was one of the winners of the air guitar contest, and really enjoyed doing the limbo. But the highlight of the night was when everyone took off their skated and played dodge ball. Noah and John were right out there with the high school kids catching and throwing balls. They loved it.
Below are some pictures and there are a few more picutres on the Elmwood Website this week. You can see them by clicking here. They are about half way down the page and unfortunatley Julie had to get me in with a cute picture of Ben.

We also got the thyroid tests back for Ben. All three tests were within normal levels. Yeah. Hopefully we won't have to do that one again for a while.

We also got to go to Cedar Creek this weekend to celebrate my Uncle's 65th birthday. My brother and family were still here and all the cousins had fun playing with their extended family.



John playing the air guitar.


Noah rocking out.


Are we going to play the dice game or do air guitars?


Ben having fun at the roller rink too.

Blood Draw Update

I took baby Ben to the hospital last week to get his blood re-drawn. After getting checked in and waiting, the lady at the lab came out and asked very nicely if it would be OK if she just did a finger poke.

Are you kidding me? I am sure I stared at her blankly as the steam was coming out of my ears for a moment.

I said that would be just fine, but asked her to please double check to make sure she would get enough blood from a finger poke for the TSH test. I had been told at Children's that the TSH test required more blood, so a finger poke would not be sufficient. She came back and said that a finger poke would be fine.

She got two small vials out of the first finger she poked, and only after she poked and squeezed the second finger did Ben start with the scrunchie face. There was maybe 30 seconds of crying this time, and at no time did he stop breathing.

I feel so bad now for not insisting on a finger poke in the first place. It is definately not a mistake I will make again in the future.

Sorry Ben! Mommy is still learing how to be a good advocate for you.

Blood draw trama

At Ben's 12 month appointment they drew some blood to check his thyroid levels. This is pretty much a standard test for kiddos with Ds. After the results came back, we were told his levels were just barley high, so they were not going to treat him, but we should see an Endocrinologist.
The appointment was scheduled back in March and we could not get in until yesterday.
We went to the office, did the normal checks and when the Dr. came in he asked why we were there. I thought the question a bit odd, but after further discussion, I was told that they did not have a copy of the labs, and asked if I remembered what the numbers were. Yeah right! So we chatted a bit more and the decision was made to draw blood and do the labs over.

The Dr left and to come back a couple minutes later stating that he did find the lab results and wondered again why I was referred to him. Apparently the number had been 6.9 at 6 months and it went down to 6.18 at a year. (Anything over 6 is considered high for this particular test). I was shocked to hear this since my Dr's office had called me after the 6 month tests and told me everything was normal. Obviously not.
I was told to wait and they would tell me where to go to get the blood draw. I was worried that we would have to go somewhere else entirely to get the draw, but soon a lady came and led me to a room on the other side of the office to do the draw. She got every thing ready and called in for backup to help hold Ben. I told her that I was a hard draw but she seemed pretty confidant.

Unfortunately she poked around on his left side until the vein blew. Then on the right side she just dug around so long, that he ended up crying so hard that he could not really breath. I asked if I could pick him up once just to calm him down but was told they were almost done. Nice. So she announced that they were done because he was just too upset and that I would have to come back or go somewhere else to get his blood drawn. Extra Nice. I asked if they could do a finger poke like they had done before, but was told they needed too much blood ant it would take to long.

We are going to a new pediatrician this week anyway for his 15 month appointment. Hopefully his arm will be healed enough to have them draw his blood.

This was a totally traumatic experience for both of us. I don't think I have ever seen my happy baby cry that hard. He was still having "after shocks" in the car after we left. I felt so bad for him. By the time we got to therapy he was OK, but he was pretty clingy for the rest of the night. Hopefully the next time will be better.

The Scrunchie Face

Ben has the cutest little face he makes when he is getting tired and whiny late at night, or when something is going on that he does not like, that we have named the scrunchie face. He was making it the other night so I decided to get the camera out to capture it. As soon as he saw the camera the little stinker started to smile. So I took a picture of that too. However the smiles did not last long and I got all the steps that lead up to the scrunchie face. Here is how it develops.

My Boys

My baby is finally starting to crawl on his knees. Yeah! Last night I sat him on the floor, he trasitioned to his knees, then crawled on his knees to a toy, and sat down to play with it. Randy and I were so excited. Ben was excited too and gave himself a big clap. He is still army crawling a little bit, but not as much as before. Maybe I should not be so excited, becasue this means that he will be able to go faster, and will be getting into more things. Here is a picture of Ben at the park enjoying the swing.












While it is true that kids grow up too fast, my Noah is trying to speed it up even more. Noah is going to be 7 in a few short weeks. The crazy thing is, that the silly boy has convinced himself that he is going to be 8. I keep telling him that he was born in 2002 and therefore can only be 7, but he argues with me that he was really born in 2001. He is big for his age and towers over many in his class, even though he is one of the youngest. He is also very athletic and has been playing sports with his older brother since he could walk. I don't know what to do with the boy. Here is a picutre of him at the astronaut museum and a video of him batting.




John is enjoying baseball this summer too. He is also busy taking care of Bailey, doing some summer school work, and working on 4'H projects. Below is a video of him batting.