I'm TWO (and had my first ER visit)!

It's been a few weeks since I updated, but it's been very busy! I turned TWO last Tuesday and had a really great birthday. I spent the day at school with my friends and then had a nice dinner with mom and dad on the deck. It was low key, but I got to eat three cupcakes at school and was in a super good mood. I even sang Happy Birthday to myself!

We had a bit of an adventure on Friday and I had my first visit to the ER :( I was running around my classroom right after lunch and I tripped and went head first into one of the tables. I split open my forehead right above my right eye and mom and dad had to take me to the hospital to get stitches. The director of my school got in touch with mom while she was at work and said that I had an accident and would need stitches. They kept me awake instead of letting me nap since I had hit my head pretty hard. Mom was in DC, so she called dad and had him go to school to get me since he was closer. Mom's co-worker was kind enough to give her a ride up to my school since mom's car was at the Metro station across the street from school. Mom ended up getting to school not long after dad did. When they got there, I was running around the hallway, happy as can be, completely oblivious to the huge gash on my forehead. The bleeding had stopped and I had a big bandage on my head to protect the cut, but the director showed mom and dad a picture of the cut so they would be prepared when we got to the hospital. There was no doubt I needed stitches.

We got to the hospital about an hour after I fell and were taken back to the pediatric ER pretty quickly. A nurse came in and put a numbing agent on the cut and we sat and waited. Mom and dad learned a lesson that if we have to go to the ER again, they should take the time to grab some snacks, a drink and some books - it was a long wait for a tired, hurt 2 year old! A doctor came in about 15 minutes after they put the numbing agent on and asked mom to apply pressure so it would work better, but I wouldn't sit still for that, so we just had to sit and wait. An hour and a half after they first came in, another doctor came in to look at the cut and see what "tools" he would need to stitch me up. At that point, we had been at the hospital for several hours and I hadn't had a nap, snack or anything to drink since lunch time, so I was a little "wiggly" to say the least.

I got pretty upset when the doctor and nurse came back in because they had to wrap me up in a sheet to keep my hands down by my side so I wouldn't bump the doctors hands. It was a pretty awful experience, but the doctor worked as quickly as he could so I could get back in mom's lap. It was a pretty deep cut and all told, I have 4 internal stitches and 10 external. The cut goes from the inside corner of my right eyebrow straight up to near the hairline. It looks like it's closed pretty well, so hopefully it won't scar too badly. Mom's not at all happy about the prospect of a facial scar like that, though :(

On a brighter note, I had a WONDERFUL birthday party on Saturday! Dad stayed up ALL night on Friday to cook the pork and put together my present. Mom and dad got me a train table and I was *so* excited to see it when I woke up on Saturday! So many friends and family came to celebrate with me and I had a blast. Grandma and Grandpa Coble helped out a lot and ran some errands for mom so she could get things ready at the house. Grammy and Grampy Clements also came early and played and read with me and helped get all of the food ready which helped mom a lot too :) Needless to say, mom and dad didn't get as much done on Friday as they hoped since we spent all afternoon in the ER. My friends starting coming around 3 and we played with my water table and made a huge mess of the yard. Since we all got wet, we ended up taking our clothes off and running around in our diapers.

Mom had a balloon lady come at 4 and she made us so many different balloon animals. She brought one with her that was a kitty tree for me and made me a kitty on a bracelet! Then she made me a dog on a leash and kept making balloons for me and my friends. She made a bee, giraffe, mermaid, alien, a dragon hat, a horse, a Denver Bronco, a few swords, a sea otter (that looked like a Nittany Lion), and a few Elmo's. I'm sure I'm missing a few - she did such a great job and we all had so much fun. I'm not sure who had more fun with the balloons - me and my friends or daddy and his friends! If anyone is interested, her website is:

http://www.beckysballoonanimals.com/

We had cupcakes after she left and then had dinner (aka pork time) afterwards. A little backwards, but it worked! Of course I didn't eat much dinner, but who would when they had cupcakes before??? I opened a few of my presents after dinner, but I was so easily distracted and ended up saving a few things for the next few days. I got so many nice things. Toys, clothes, dolls, books. I really can't tell everyone how much I appreciate the generosity!

Mom and I went back to see the doctor on Tuesday morning and they all agreed the cut looks pretty good, though we can't tell how well it is actually healing until the stitches are gone. We'll keep a pretty close eye on it, keep putting neosporin and Vitamin E (once the stitches dissolve) on the scar and will go to a plastic surgeon if we're not happy with how it's healing. One of the nurses in the practice used to be in plastics and she said it looked good, so keep your fingers crossed! I can now get the cut wet and mom is supposed to clean it out with soap and water twice a day. Unfortunately, that means that the bandaid has to come off twice a day :( That is by far the worst part. Mom and dad tried to leave the bandaid off last night to let it air out a little, but I cried and said my forehead felt yucky, so daddy put it back on. I was a champ and really let mom clean it out tonight, but I wouldn't get in the bathtub, so we just used a washcloth. I let mommy hold the washcloth on my forehead and closed my eyes and told her it felt good.

Will keep everyone posted on the forehead thing and will post pictures as soon as people send them to mom. She was running around like crazy and didn't get a chance to take too many photos of her own :(

Thanks again to everyone - I had a really fantastic party and had so much fun!

Congrats Joe and Ruthie!

I'm about a week late, but Congrats to Joe and Ruthie! We went to Charlotte last weekend for their wedding and had such a great time. We decided to fly because mom had a bunch of frequent flier miles (thank you Bank of America check card...) and didn't want to take another 7 hour drive for a weekend just 2 weeks after we got back from NC on vacation. Mom and dad decided to get a seat for me even though I could have flown for free on their laps. They figured I'd do better in my carseat, so they took that on and installed it on the plane for me to sit in. Mom was a little anxious about taking me on the plane and dad was trying to figure out how to carry everything! We ended up checking 3 bags, carried on my carseat, diaper bag, camera bag, and dad's laptop. Surprisingly it was a pretty easy trip. Thanks to Kim who suggested leaving the stroller at home and carrying me in the Ergo through security. Mom didn't even have to take me out of the carrier! She just had to take my shoes off and put my Grover doll through the x-ray, then we walked through and picked up our bags on the other end. Easy peasy!

When we got to Charlotte, mom's Aunt Jenny was waiting for us!!! Mom and I haven't seen her since I was 9 months old and dad hasn't seen her since they got married 6 years ago!!! She even bought a stroller for me to use, so I got to ride to the car in style instead of riding on mommy's back :) Mom had a bit of trouble installing my new carseat rear-facing in Jenny's car, so I got to ride forward for a few days. We had a really early flight, so we got there around 8:15 and had the whole day to hang out at Jen's house. We had a really nice visit and I had so much fun with all of the toys and books she had for me to play with. She has two small dogs, Barney and Betty and I had fun gathering their bones and putting them in their beds. Mom's cousin Kaitlin was away at Clemson, so she was kind enough to share her room with me. We put her mattress on the floor and it was the perfect bed for me!

Saturday, we got up and drove to the hotel so daddy could get ready for the rehearsal. Mom and I checked in and took a little nap :) We woke up just in time for mom and dad to go to the rehearsal dinner which was right next to the hotel. I was lucky enough to stay with Baby Cora and her grandma in the next hotel over. I had a great time reading books and "helping" with Baby Cora. Thank you, Angela's mom!!!!! I had a fun night and really appreciate being able to spend some time with you. Mom came back to get me after the dinner and I went to bed pretty easily. Since mom and dad didn't take my air mattress, I got to sleep in the big bed with mommy. She says I was a bed hog, but it worked out well.

The wedding was on Sunday, so when I got up (would you believe I slept till 9am???), mom took me back to Jenny's house, which was about an hour south of the hotel. We had some lunch, then mom had to go back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. I got to spend the night with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken and we had a BLAST!!! They took me to the fair and I even got to ride on a train! I got to Skype with Kaitlin and I had fun with that too :) Uncle Ken is great at reading books and I heard so many new good books. Jenny tells mommy that I was great and didn't even cry at bedtime. This was my first night away from mom and dad and I think we all survived really well.

Mom and dad came back to get me on Monday and we had a few hours to relax before we had to head back to the airport. We had a pretty smooth flight home as well - our flight was oversold, but thankfully we were confirmed with 3 first class seats, so we were good to go. It worked out well in first class because I had plenty of room and couldn't even kick the seat in front of me from my carseat. I talked pretty much non stop on the way home, but I don't think the people around us minded. The man in front of us snored the whole way home and the lady behind us complimented mom on how good I was when we landed. We made it home around 7pm and settled right back into our usual routine. I went back to school and mom and dad went back to work on Tuesday. All week I've been asking where Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken went - I hope I get to see them again soon.

I had a pretty good week and even got to see Miss Sharon yesterday so mom and dad could go to Erin's birthday dinner. We all had a lot of fun. Today mom tells me is sushi and football with Jay, Molly and Baby Jake - I can't wait (though I *really* don't want mom to hold Jake...).

Mom tells me that my birthday is in a little over a week - can you believe it??? How is it possible that I'm almost TWO???

I'm talking up a storm now and talk pretty much in complete sentences and repeat everything. Here are some of my favorite phrases:

Where did mommy (daddy/kitty) go?
Mommy, there are a lot of cars (as we drive home from school)
I want to go downstairs (when I wake up in the mornings or from naps)
Mommy cover me up
Sydney goes first (up the stairs as I point at mommy and tell her to stay away)
Fill up my water please (I'm a very polite kid so far!)

Hope everyone is well - I'm going to go play now!