Just because...

What a difference a week makes!

Amelia had one final follow-up with her doctor today to check her burn. She said it was healing nicely, with no signs of infection. She, also, said it looked like a first degree burn now - she likened it to a severe sunburn. She advised us to continue to use the burn cream and keep it covered to speed healing. But, because it's no longer bleeding or open, Amelia is allowed back in the bathtub. Hooray! Hopefully, in a few weeks she'll be well enough to go swimming!

Marley has a lot to say

Play this video on repeat for ten hours straight and you'll have a rough idea of what it's like to hang out with Marley for the day.

Our little snowmen

Owie update: We're all doing much better today, me included. Thanks for all the good suggestions for Marley. He loved bandaging up his own baby. I found a jar of polished stones and marbles for him to play with only while we are cleaning Amelia's wound. He was super excited for that and did really great putting them away as soon as we were finished. Tonight he didn't even need our help finding something to do. He got out the dominoes totally on his own:) We've dropped Amelia's pain meds down to just twice a day (from 4 times), since she seems to be feeling so well. We all really miss bath time, though. It was such a big part of our nighttime routine, it's kind of thrown everything off. Hopefully, we'll get the all clear for that soon. Tomorrow we plan on relaxing at home, baking cookies, and watching Christmas movies. Bliss!!

Update

Amelia was in a great mood today, even back to harassing her brother.  While he was trying to watch a show, she jumped on him repeatedly and yelled, "Stop it, Marley!"  She barely even flinched when we changed her wound dressing. 

Jeff took the day off work to help with the doctor's appointment and all the extra care for Amelia.  It was nice to have him home today.  We went in for a follow-up this afternoon, and the doctor said that things looked as they should for day two.  We will take her back one more time next week, just to make sure it's still healing well.  The biggest concern at this point is preventing infection.

This whole thing has been really hard on Marley.  I'm sure last night was pretty traumatic for him, too, but Amelia's the one getting all the attention.  He was really acting out today in the doctor's office (in hindsight, one of us should have stayed home with him) and again when Jeff and I were dressing her wound.  I'll be more prepared for this tomorrow with something special he can do while we take care of her. 

Marley kept saying that he needed medicine, too.  I gave him some water out of a medicine dropper, but I don't really like the idea of pretending to take medicine.  I want him to understand that Amelia needs the medicine because she's really hurt, and he's not.  Ugh!  His behavior is irritating, but I also understand how he must be feeling.  Any creative ideas for him?

And me?  Well, I keep replaying the moment over and over and over again in my head.  I know I'm just torturing myself, but I can't help it.  Tanya reminded me to think of the hundreds of ways I'm preventing my children from being injured each day:)  I'll try. 

2nd Degree Burns

I know it was an accident, but it was an avoidable accident. Complacency and being in a hurry are what caused it.  I know it was an accident, but it was my fault, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to forgive myself.  (*Warning: There is a wound picture at the end of this post!)

The time right before dinner is crazy at our house.  Jeff usually gets home from work just in time to join us at the table. This means that I get to entertain two cranky-end-of-the-day kids while trying to make dinner.  I try to keep them involved, so if we have a pasta dish I always make them "noodle testers". Their job is to tell me if the noodles are done. I called for noodle testers right as I was draining the pasta over the kitchen sink. Even though I knew the pasta was ready, I thought the kids would want to feel like they were helping.  Plus, they were hungry and this would get them to quit asking for snacks.

Amelia ran into the kitchen right as I did it. Trying to be quick or save time or something, I don't really know what, I brought the strainer, filled with still-dripping noodles, from the sink to the casserole dish on the stove top. I could have let the noodles sit in the strainer longer to drain all the way. I could have moved the casserole dish over by the sink. I could have made the kids wait in the living room while I did the transfer. But, I didn't do any of those things and the effect was immediate.

She screamed out in pain, and I ripped off her shirt to check her body.  I grabbed her arm and held it under cool running water and tried to think what to do next.  My brain was not working properly.  Should I call someone?  Jeff?  9-1-1?  Maybe I should just take her somewhere.  The ER?  I felt sick as I watched the skin on her little arm bubble and peel off.

I remembered advertisements for a new urgent care facility near West Seattle.  There had been fliers and billboards, but I couldn't remember where it was or what it was called.  I grabbed my phone and tried to search.  At some point Amelia got away from me.  She was no longer crying, but pacing around the house from Marley's room, through the kitchen, into the living room, and back.  Between my shaking hands and the fact that my broken phone is almost unusable, I was having a really hard time finding anything.  It was like that nightmare where I'm trying to call 9-1-1, but keep misdialing.

Finally, I came to my senses, grabbed the computer, and unexpectedly found an open urgent care facility just 5 minutes away.  I don't know how we got out the door and over there, but the moment we walked in I lost it.  Luckily, the people at West Seattle Convenient Care were so kind and reassuring.  It was such a relief to let someone else take care of us.  Actually, I didn't realize until we were home how wonderful they were.  The doctor personally phoned in Amelia's prescriptions, and even though we had never been there before, they didn't ask us to fill anything out.  The receptionist handed us some paperwork on our way out to fill out and bring back later.  All they had were our names!  They will most definitely be getting Christmas treats along with our paperwork tomorrow.

I finally looked at my phone once we were settled in our room at the clinic and saw a text from Jeff that he had gotten a flat on his bike and was coming from downtown on the bus.  I called him and told him where we were.  His bus was close, so he got off and came over.  When the doctor came back in to treat Amelia's burn, Jeff decided to take Marley outside to try and get his bike in our car.  They were unsuccessful, but at least Marley got to be away from the craziness for a bit.

We left the clinic to go pick up prescriptions two blocks away at QFC.  Amelia fell asleep the second I got her strapped into her carseat.  We decided that rather than have Jeff walk his bike home, we would call on our super dependable friends, Liz and Chris, to meet us and drive his bike home.  It was also nice to get a few more hugs.  We, finally, made it home after collecting everything we needed from the pharmacy.  There was the evil casserole sitting there waiting for us.  I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to eat it.  Marley was starving, though, and asked for some right away.

I wasn't sure what Amelia would do when I got her out of the car.  I got her pain meds all ready in case she woke up, which she did as soon as we got inside.  Jeff asked her if she was hungry and she said she wanted to be a "noodle tester".  I think my heart actually split in half, and I told her she could have as many noodles as she wanted!  And if Amelia could eat the casserole, I guess we all could, right?

She was in a pretty good mood for the rest of the evening: eating well, smiling, and even laughing.  Though with the bandage on, she couldn't bend her right arm all the way to her mouth and kept dropping food on her lap.  She also kept trying to tell us about what happened.  She said repeatedly: "Next time...Mama...water...arm."  I interpreted this to mean: "Next time, Mama shouldn't pour boiling water on my arm."  You got it, baby.

Right now, Amelia's sleeping peacefully.  She gets meds every six hours, bandage change every twelve.  We go for a follow-up in the morning.  I just hope she can eventually forgive me.

Enjoying her noodles and wondering why Mama poured boiling water on her arm.

At the doctor's office about 20 minutes after the incident.

Four!

I sat on Marley's floor reading my book by flashlight the other night as he laid in bed. He was quiet and I looked up to see if he had fallen asleep. I saw him smiling up at the ceiling and kind of chewing on his fingernails. I asked him what he was thinking about and he said, "I'm just so excited about my birthday!"

So far, I have a love-hate relationship with age four. It's the age of genius and invention. Imagination and innovation. Recently he described to us something he wanted to build: A machine that grabs milk and gets it down for kids who can't reach. Today he told us that he'd like to ride in a basket being pulled by an airplane so he could see all around. Later, he said he wished that he was born before us so that he could see what it was like to be a grown up (we would be his kids).

But, four is also the age of exuberance and energy.  Boundary testing and being LOUD.  Sometimes by the end of the day, I'm literally covering my ears while he talks.  When Jeff gets home I beg him to do bath time because the echo in there is just too much for me to take!  He's also trying to figure out what we know and don't know.  The other morning he poured an entire box of cereal into and around Amelia's bowl when I left to use the bathroom.  He told me Amelia did it.  When I asked him how, he said she turned into a robot and used her long robot arm to grab the cereal box and pour it in.

Some other things about 4-year-old Marley:
*His favorite colors are green and blue (he still likes pink, "but only a little").
*Despite the fact that pink is no longer his favorite color, he still needs his pink dolphin, Shamir, and Shamir's best friend, Giraffe, to fall asleep at night.
*He loves climbing and is always the highest one in the tree after preschool each day.
*He wants to be able to go across the monkey bars really badly and practices every chance he gets.
*He pays attention to the words when I read to him and wants to know which word says what.  He loves pointing out words that he knows.
*He is making connections between words and sounds.  He wanted to know how the word "up" could start with a "u" instead of an "a" because it sounds just like the beginning of "Amelia", and that starts with an "a".
*He can fingerspell his name and a few other words.
*He's very interested in the natural world: Volcanoes, space, deep sea, dinosaurs (our new favorite show is PBS's Dinosaur Train).
*He loves looking at maps.  He always wants to know where we are on every map.
*He enjoys taking pictures.  He often asks for his camera (an old digital one of ours) when he sees something he wants to photograph.  I've been meaning to post some of his pictures.  Note to self: do that.
*He loves his little sister and shares everything with her.
*He likes to draw and wants things to turn out exactly as they appear in real life.
*He really got into planning his birthday this year, and for weeks before wanted to know how many more days until he was four.  One of his requests was a cake with "toys on top that you can wash off and play with afterward".
*He likes to play with his wooden train set, cash register, board/card games, dress up stuff, and puppets (among other things).
*He wears size 4T clothing and size 11 shoes.  He weighs 39 lbs (75th percentile) and is 41.5 inches tall (80th percentile).

Here is some of the action from Marley's birthday.  Enjoy!

Marley's lovely gift opening assistants, Jada and Cindy.

A crazy ice cream cake made even crazier with Dinosaur Train figures on top.

Testing out the stomp rocket in the back yard.