Our Birthday Weekend

Friday was my birthday. We had a bit of a rough evening on Thursday night, read more here, which transferred over to Friday morning in the form of a doctor's appointment for Miss Elise. As I went to the bathroom one last time before walking out the door, Elise walked up to me with something in her mouth. I fished it out as usual, but this time it was accompanied by blood and I realized she had found a small shard of glass somewhere and shoved it in her mouth. I immediately panicked thinking she may have found more than just that one piece and swallowed the other which could now be ripping apart the inside of her intestines. I knew that she usually just walks around with things in her mouth and it is rare for her to actually swallow non-food items, but the possibility of something so terrible was terrifying. I had the doctor check her mouth and throat and there was no sign that she had swallowed any glass as the doctor didn't see any cuts. When we got home later I searched through the cabinet she was playing in and found a candle holder with a chip in it the exact size of what I fished out of her mouth (I saved it in my pocket for that exact reason). The candle holder also had some wax drips on it which made sense with what I had thought to be dried hot glue or something that had been in her mouth along with the glass. So our morning wasn't off to the greatest start but finding out she hadn't actually swallowed glass was a relief!

Elise at the doctor's office.

After our doctor's appointment we stopped at a playground next to the trails for a run and then to play afterward. Elise fell asleep on our run so I walked loops around the playground so she could get some extra sleep as Carter played. When she woke up, I got her out to play and we discovered the other family there playing had brought along a tiny kitten so young it wasn't weaned yet. Carter loved petting it and Elise liked looking at it and yelling "Kiki" or "Ca!!!" When we were ready to head home we stopped by a cupcake place to get a treat since it was my birthday and all. Carter excitedly told the woman working that it was his mommy's birthday and everyone in the store enjoyed that. Carter picked out a pink sprinkle cupcake and I picked out a birthday cupcake. I shared bites of my cupcake with Elise. Carter gave me a present as we were buckling into our car seats to head home, he told me he had to potty and couldn't hold it until we got home so we hauled it back into the store and he wizzed up a storm! I was so proud of him! He still doesn't tell me he has to go very often so every time he does, I get so excited! At home Carter requested a picnic outside but the mosquitoes in our backyard are so terrible we can't really spend any time out there so we headed out front to eat. Elise spilled most of her food on the ground and tried to eat it which was a mess, but Carter enjoyed himself. So it was almost worth it.

Carter woke up from his nap really fussy and looking terrible. I felt his forehead and thought he seemed hot so I took his temp and it was just a little over 99 degrees. But I could just tell he didn't feel very good so I let him watch the end of Lion King (he'd been watching a little bit of it at night for days) while I vacuumed the house. While he was watching tv he said he was starting to feel better but when it was over he said he wasn't feeling good again. It seemed suspicious that he suddenly didn't feel good when his movie ended, but looking at his face he just looked sick. So I went ahead and let him pick out a show to watch since he'd only had about 15 minutes left of Lion King. My parents arrived as he was watching his show and he popped up super excited to see them. Then Ty got home and Jeremy and Thomas headed over. Carter was still fussy and didn't seem like he felt up to par but I didn't think he was super sick or anything. We planned to go out to eat for my birthday and Carter started crying, saying he didn't want to go anywhere and that he wanted to stay home. That seemed strange for him as he normally loves being out and about so I was about to suggest we just pick food up and bring it home when Ty jumped in and said it was my birthday so we were going out. I picked Pei Wei and after ordering we realized there wasn't anywhere to sit inside with enough chairs for all of us, so we headed outside. Carter started crying that it was too hot and I reached over to feel his head and he was so freaking hot. I felt terrible having him outside when I knew he had a low grade temperature so it was decided I would take Carter in to eat at a two person table we'd seen and everyone else would stay outside. We were picking up all of our food and getting ready to move inside when Carter started throwing up. And when I say throwing up, it was projectile vomit across the table and onto my mom and dad. I quickly picked him up and he threw up probably 5 more times, all down my side, in my hair, on Ty, and on the ground multiple times. My focus was getting Carter somewhere cooler and getting him home so I took off with him to the car. I sent Ty to get him Sprite since he already had a drink but had picked something else and then everyone else packed our food up so we could go home. It wasn't until we got home that I started to feel terrible for the worker who was going to have to clean up all that puke. At least it was outside, I guess. When we got home Carter and I showered while everyone else ate and then I made him oatmeal and we sat in the living room to eat while he watched a show. I opened presents with Carter in my lap but the mood was definitely killed after the puking incident. We waited to do cake until Carter was in bed because I didn't want him to see it and want some because I knew it would upset his tummy. Ty got me an ice cream cake from Freddy's and it was delicious!

Wet hair due to the shower.

Dad and Jeremy share a birthday, January 30th. On their birthday Jeremy was just being weaned off pentobarbital and could blink his eyes and look around but that was about it, read about his birthday here. Mom's birthday is January 20th and he was still in a coma for her birthday. It was really hard on all of us to have those holidays without Jeremy there and especially hard to attempt a celebration for dad without Jeremy there. We took cupcakes and balloons up to Jeremy's hospital room and took dad out for dinner but other than the fact that Jeremy had survived to another birthday we weren't up for much celebrating. So we decided we'd celebrate their half birthdays in July which put dad and Jeremy's half birthday the day after mine which was really neat. I found a 1/2 candle at Target and bought it, saving it for this past weekend. Cheesecake Factory had half price cheesecake on the 29th and 30th to celebrate National Cheesecake Day so we decided to partake as Jeremy loves their cheesecake and the rest of us do too! He requested Andolini's pizza for dinner which he and dad picked up while Ty, mom, and I picked up the cheesecake. It was a little tricky getting their candles to fit on a slice of cheesecake but we made it work and then they all blew out the 1/2 candle together. We got him presents and then one of our sweet friends sent a card for dad and Jeremy with a Braum's gift card inside. It was a nice celebration and it was amazing thinking back over the past 6 months and how far Jeremy has come. I was teary eyed remembering how we had all felt on his actual birthday. There was so much joy that he had survived to another birthday and so much hope for what his future would look like, but also a lot of fear for what things would look like as he came out of the coma. We knew there was a possibility he could have a full recovery but we also knew there was a possibility he could have very little brain function left. We are grateful every day that today looks the way it does!

Dad, Jeremy, and mom with their cheesecake.

Blowing out the 1/2 candle.

Birthday buddies!