Seth's Adventure in the Ambulance

The Thursday before Thanksgiving Seth fell off the couch backwards and landed really hard on the back of his head. He had a decent goose egg, but it seemed ok once it was iced. The next morning the goose egg was gone and other than a little complaining that his neck hurt he seemed fine. Over the weekend the complaining continue and he started holding his head funny. On Monday I decided that I should take him in to the doctor to make sure that everything was fine. I took him to the urgent care center in Frederick (about 1/2 hour from home) so that I could set my own schedule. They had an x-ray machine and a CT scan so I figured we could be in and out. After 3 x-rays and 1 CT scan the doctor came out and said that they didn't like what they saw so the EMT's were on their way to transport us to the hospital. (What!!? You mean Motrin and icy hot right?) I called Steve who was working from home and told him what was going on. He decided to wait at home for the other kids to get off the bus and see what the hospital said. When the ambulance got there they put him on the backboard that you have seen a million times on TV and movies. They also put him in a neck brace. Seth didn't think that it was as wonderful as it sounded to ride in an ambulance. When we got to Frederick Memorial Hospital they sent the films that we had with us up to the Neurologist and we waited. After a little while we got word that the Neurologist didn't like the looks of his films either, but he wasn't a pediatric specialist so didn't feel comfortable treating him. They put in a call to Johns Hopkins and DC Children's hospitals. DC Children's accepted us and off we went in another ambulance. It is about an hour from Frederick, but because by now it was rush hour it took us 2 hours to get to DC. Steve in the mean time had arranged for his mom to come and take care of the other kids and a friend to drive him to Frederick to get the car and then follow us to DC. By now this adventure had taken about 8 hours of which neither one of us had eaten anything. They decided that Seth could not eat just in case they had to do further tests. Needless to say the two of us were not very happy campers. Seth did really well with little complaining especially once Steve got to DC with the mini movie player and toys. Seth is a Daddy's boy through and through.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story and a picture of my trooper.

Ego payment

I just started a new piano student on Tuesday. She is the same age as Joseph (7). We see her every morning at the bus stop and on Wednesday morning she ran up to me and handed me an envelope with my name on it. When I opened it this is what I found inside.

You can't read the writing very well but it labels her (on the right) and me (on the left) and the title says Piano lessons. It was very sweet. I won't tell her mom because she has already paid me, but this was the perfect payment for the lessons. Some days you realize that things are just worth it.

Family Fun

I love it when the kids do things together. Because my kids have several years in between we have recently started having the issue of what do you do that a 13 year old would be interested in and still have the 4 year old be able to participate.The best thing at this time of year of course is Pumpkin carving. Now that all of the kids are older this activity is less chaotic and more fun. They really look forward to cutting up the pumpkins as well as grossing out over the guts

There are also those activities that keep them entertained all by themselves --which I will take as well.

l

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After all of the work being a family can be fun.

Seth's BIG day

I know that Steve already sent a lot of you the story and the pictures about Seth's new talent, but I thought that I would post it too.

Seth has been having a hard time with his bike lately. He got it for his 4th birthday in June and the chain had become loose and kept falling off. On Friday Steve got the bike the took it apart so that he could back the back wheel up and tighten the chain. As he was putting it back together again I suggested to Seth that he try to ride it without the training wheels on. He was all for that and jumped on his bike. I grabbed the back of his seat and off we went up the sidewalk. I could feel that he had pretty good balance so I moved my hand into the middle of his back. We got the the end of the sidewalk and turned around. This part was now a little bit downhill and he got going so now I was running with him. He then yelled "MOM would you just let GO" so I did and off he went. As he was getting fast he yelled back to me "Oh I get it--you just have to go fast" He was so proud of himself and has been showing everyone that he is big and can ride a bike with no training wheels. When Steve asked him what we should do with the training wheels he said "throw them in the trash". He then tried to tell us that because he was big now and could ride a bike that he should also be allowed to ditch the car seat too. (It has been an on going battle with him because he is "big" now)

Me trying to keep up with Seth (cute huh?)

Seth trying to fix his bike himself.

Helpful hints

As a follow-up to my last posting I wanted to post some very helpful information about the flu this season.

Cold And Flu Prevention Tips

Here are some tips to help keep you healthy and germ-free during these cold winter months:

Cold And Flu Prevention Tips

Sneezing into a handkerchief just redirects germs back at you. Always sneeze outward so as to shoot germs as far across the room as possible.

Pack your sinus cavities with Vicks Vap-O-Rub to fully mentholate your respiratory system.

Do not blow your stuffed nose into tissues—this is a myth! Always suck your phlegm into the back of your throat and swallow it in great, goblike mouthfuls.

You don't have to subject yourself to other people's germs. If you see someone who appears to have a cold or fever, contact your local police department.

To prevent infections, have sick people cough into your food. This light "inoculative" dose of germs will boost your body's defenses against a full-blown infection later.

If you are a sickly, anemic, weak person, you have a higher susceptibility to colds and flu. Try not to be such a pansy-ass.

Sometimes, a severe respiratory infection will cause the lungs to fill with fluid. If this occurs, flush your lungs repeatedly with boiling hot water to clear them. A hose down your windpipe will help get around the gag reflex.

Make sure your HMO package covers visits to the Halls Of Medicine.

The flu is an extremely contagious, life-threatening disease. Flu sufferers should be either shot with a silver bullet or tortured to death by a professionally shriven, church-appointed excruciator.

To keep warm in the winter, replace your blood with mom's homemade chicken soup. Noodles should be no greater than one millimeter thick to prevent coronary blockage.

Remember: Your body produces phlegm for a reason. Always save your mucous, and keep it near you in jars at all times.

Germs generally enter the body through the skin. To protect you from infection, shave yours off.

Zinc and Vitamin C help fight colds. Vitamin C can be found in oranges, but zinc is a semi-precious metal found only in Africa. If symptoms persist, organize a jungle safari to seek out the fabled Zinc Mines of Sugolahara.

And my own addition----don't tell anybody that you might be sick because you will be shunned (I would like to thank the ladies at the park for spraying it down with chemicals and turning and leaving when they see that I am out there) You don't sense any bitterness do you?

The Black Spot

Back in the times of the plague people would post a black spot in order to warn people not to come near. It was also used in Treasure Island to show a guilty verdict. (There are no real records of this, but it has become part of folklore so we are going to go with that) Well we are at that point in our house. Todd has the swine flu. (think of grave serious music at this point) I have been going to the park in front our house for the past few weeks and hearing the talk about AAHHHHH SWINE FLU. The women carry hand sanitizer and clorox wipes with them at all times. Well I am now the carrier of this certain death so we will be ostracized at the park for the next little while even though the rest of us are not sick. I Cloroxed everything yesterday and stripped the sheets off of all the beds. I also went and bought all new toothbrushes. Todd has been banished to his room for the next few days. I also called the school (which I am sure is where he got it from in the first place) The next dilemma came with the decision of whether or not to send the other kids to school. We got a paper home from the school at the beginning of the year saying if one of your kids was sick to keep all of them home. In the end I decided to heed the doctor's orders and only keep them home if they were running a fever. I checked both Hannah and Joseph for fevers before they went this morning and told them if they started to feel bad to make sure that they called home.

Well time to go and wash my hands again.

Ho Hum

Ho Hum......that is about how I feel lately. Not because I don't have anything to do, but because.... who knows why maybe because I feel like I just have too much to do and think about and don't want to do any of it. Don't they make medication for this type of thing? :)

On a happier note.... In December I am going to visit Tami in Germany. I am going with Emily and leaving everybody else at home. I am really looking forward to the trip, but am sad that I will be missing Christmas. In order to take this trip I have to get a passport. Because it is the first time that I have ever had one I have to do everything in person and have lots of different documents. I started this process a couple of weeks ago by filling out the application (which could be done online Hurray!!) I then printed the application and that is where it stopped for a while. But feeling the time crunch I decided I had better hurry and get everything done so yesterday I set out to finish. I went to get my pictures done at CVS only to find that their photo department is out of order. I then went to the UPS store on the other side of town and got them done. Unfortunately the UPS store is right across from Chik-fil-A. This is unfortunate because it was way past lunch time and Seth was grouchy so once he spotted his favorite play place there was no convincing him to move on. By the time we were done "playing" it was time to get kids off the bus. I ran home to do that, but undeterred I promptly left Todd in charge and tried one last effort to finish what I had started out to. I went to the address that was online for the court office to give them my application along with every other form of ID known to man. I knew that I would have a hard time with my birth certificate because it comes in three parts 1. Military birth record 2. German birth record and 3. The hospital record. People just don't like seeing this unusual conglomeration. I was right. The lady had to take the paper back into the office somewhere to her supervisor to make sure that they would accept this. Then when I thought that we were finally in the clear they told me that I couldn't write a check for the amount I had to have $25 dollars in cash and then I could write a check for the federal government portion. Sooooo...... I still don't have my passport papers turned in and I will have to try again today after going to the ATM. (And they want me to feel comfortable leaving my original documents with them) *sigh*