Saturday, February 16, 2008

Ack!

The other day things were not so great at our house. I was feeling sick (nausea and completely blocked up sinuses), the basement was threatening to flood with all the rain we were getting, I was signed up to work at the co-op we belong to, and who knows what all else.

In the late morning, the boys asked if they could have the candy Rowan had picked out for them last night, so I got them out. They were Brach's butterscotch ones. Anyway, about 15 seconds after popping it in his mouth, Kemper proceeded to choke. Not the fully blocked airway kind of choking, but close enough. He was trying to shove his fingers into his throat to get it out, gagging all the while. I did the Heimlich maneuver, and it eventually popped out. Whew. I set the offending piece of candy on the counter so I could comfort poor Kemper, then he got up and I started cleaning up the floor. While I was doing this, he grabbed the candy off the counter and popped it into his mouth...

...and CHOKED AGAIN! I couldn't believe it. This time was even worse. The candy never came back up, he just gagged and gagged and spit up blood (he had scratched the back of his throat while trying to get it out), then swallowed it. Of course, this one was all my fault. Why didn't I just throw the stupid thing in the trash?!

Man, what an experience. Thank goodness for CPR training. I'm not sure which of us was more frightened by the whole event, but suffice it to say we sat on the kitchen floor, both of us in tears, for quite a while.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Birthday Blues

My, how time flies. I somehow managed to miss posting anything about Christmas or the New Year. Both of those holidays were great - a nice long visit with Mimi and Pops, cousin Cyrus and uncle Reynolds for a few days, lots of presents.

But on to birthdays. Today is the boys' 4th birthday. Hard to believe, but true. We had their party this past Saturday, and it was a big hit. For the first time, I contracted it out, so to speak. We had a build your own sundae party at a local ice cream shop. They provided a staffer to play games with the kids, and they did all the set up and clean up. I think most of the kids had fun, though some of them sat out of a game or two (Rowan wanted no part of "Pin the cherry on the sundae" game, for example).

In any event, it was fun. I think next year we might be up to having a drop-off party, but I just wasn't ready for that this time around.

Late Saturday night, Kemper woke up as Morgan and I were getting ready for bed. Sick as a dog. At first I thought maybe we had let him eat too much junk (ice cream sundae and king cake at a church Mardi Gras fundraiser that night), but I now know it was a virus. He was up most of the night (which, of course, means I was up most of the night as well), and spent most of Sunday in recovery.

And guess what? Like nearly everything else in this house, we share viruses. It was Rowan's turn to spend the night on the makeshift bed in the bathroom. At least he's pretty much over the vomiting in bed thing. He didn't quite make it all the way to the bathroom, but still. The wood floor is much easier to clean up than the bed.

Sigh. I wonder when I'll get this dread disease?