My Poor Baby!!!

We thought yesterday was going to be a great day. Chris was home, we had nothing we really had to do and we were just really planning on hanging out together. Well, we spent the day together all right... in the ER :(

We were on our way out the door to go grocery shopping. I was grabbing some last minute things upstairs to throw in the diaper bag and Chris was bringing Frank out to the car. That's when I heard a loud "thump/crack" kind of noise. (Worst noise anyone could ever hear as a parent!!) I went to the top of the stairs and looked down and saw Chris picking Frank up, Frank was screaming and crying and Chris had a terrible twisted, scared look on his face. He told me they had gone down the stairs fine and they were both at the bottom landing. Chris opened the back door and turned around to open the storm door. Frank started to follow him and tripped and his head hit the front face of the door. It bruised a little and ballooned up almost instantly. It was really scary to see the knot on his forehead getting bigger as we watched it. We didn't know why it got so big that fast and were horrified so Chris brought him out to the car, I grabbed a bag of frozen blueberries to hold on his head, and we drove to the hospital.
He stopped crying almost as soon as we got in the car and was fine the whole way there. Except of course for me trying to hold the frozen blueberries to his head. (He didn't really like that too much.) Anyway we checked in at the desk at Hunterdon Medical Center's emergency room and he was good while we waited. By the time we were put in a room and seen by the staff the swelling had gone down by half- a HUGE relief for us. They asked a million questions: did he lose concousness? did he vomit at all? tell me again exactly what happened? can he walk? any change in behavior? has he been unusually sleepy? While we waited for the docotors to decide what should be done, if anything, we made him balloons out of the rubber gloves, built castles for him to knock over out of tissue boxes and plastic cups and the nurse brought him a special snack of graham crackers and apple juice. He waved to all the people that walked by the room and made friends with the janitor. Other than the giant lump on his forehead he was just his normal happy, flirty self.
The doctor's diagnosis was a closed head injury. Nothing needed to be done. He was lucky he fell from standing on a level surface with the door and not from the stairs or from running or something. He hit his forehead, which is the thickest bone in the skull. And he had no signs of a concussion. Normally they would have someone with this injury stay for 24 hours to be under surveilance, but since we know him best they told us it would be better if we took him home and just kept on eye on him for the next day or two. He got his stickers and we left. I have to say, the HMC ER was not as bad as I thought it would be. From the time he cracked his noggin to the time we walked out the door was only 2 hours.
We took him to KFC for lunch so he could have his favorite snack bowl: mashed potatoes, sweet corn and popcorn chicken with gravy and cheese. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and the rest of the day we just played in the living room and watched tv like we were supposed to.
Today he woke up fine and if he remembers anything from yesterday you'd never know it. He was such a good boy for all of it, now I just hope the lump goes away soon we just have all the beautiful colors to look foward to...

15 Months

So Frank's going to be 15 months tomorrow. What's new for 15 months? Hmmm... he got another tooth a week or so ago. He's up to 7 now. He's running around like a maniac, still loves his monkey more than anything, and he's starting to get good at communicating. He says "no" with zero problems of course, he can shake his head yes or no to answer questions, he just started wiping his mouth after meals (not real well, but it's a great start!!) and he's doing great with the signing. He can say "more" "all done" and he points to his mouth for a cup. that's not really the sign for it, but we know what he means and that's what counts. Stairs and furniture are no problem anymore either. He can climb up and down, even on regular kitchen chairs.

He also comes with me to work every morning. We go to an elementary school close by for 2 hours in the morning and help supervise some kids for the YMCA in their before school program. He LOVES it. He can't get enough watching the boys play light sabers or the girls hula-hooping hahaha. By the time the bell rings he's wiped and he takes a nice nap when we get home.

Anyway, I took a few videos today....

This one I HAD to take to show off how well he helps me keep his room clean!!

(It's hard to see- sorry!)

You are My Sunshine

After work this morning I went to my friend Jess' house to watch her daughter, Penny, for a bit while she had a quick appointment for work. The four of us had a good lunch then decided since it was such a GORGOUS day out we'd go to the park... first stop: the swings. Conveniently the baby swings have four leg holes. We use them to our advantage and make a four legged baby while they both still fit together... it's getting tight since last year though!

But these babies can't be kept in one place long, especially at a playground!

Then frank decided maybe he's had enough running, climbing, swinging and sliding for one day...

Frank really wore himself out! Shortly after the meltdown we took them for a walk to calm down and I got to see my favorite kind of baby :) He wouldn't even lay back in the stroller, he fell asleep sitting up and I had to help him. He's so frigin cute when he sleeps!!

Frank Plays in the Snow

So there's been more than enough snow this year and there's no good reason why he shouldn't play in some of it- finally. I got him all suited up in his snow pants and jacket from

Grandma Thomas...

...and took him outside...

This was also his first time walking with real shoes on let alone a snow suit in the snow... I think he did pretty darn good!! What do you think?...

And apparently snow tastes really good. Don't worry it was the white kind Hahaha!

Some Video's

So I have a few cute video's of Frank and I know I could watch him all day.... and I do :) Anyways- hope you enjoy them!

The next one is a little long, but he loves wrestling and I was amazed how into it he was- just like Papa!

In just one year...

So this was me a year ago..... wow. Chris and I were so excited, so impatient and so nervous. What was he going to look like? Was everything going to go smoothly with his birth? What about the rest of his life?
When Frank was born I couldn't believe I'd actually done it. I'd made a human being. I managed to make a person with everything they were supposed to have; bones, skin, eyes, nose, ears,arms and legs.... ten fingers and ten toes. He was perfect. I made it through the labor and delivery and lived to tell the tale. At the time I wasn't sure I'd ever go to the bathroom like a normal person ever again and for some terrible reason everyone that visited us in the hospital thought it was a good idea to ask me if we were going to have another baby and when. All I could say was, "Not today."

He was a somewhat large newborn at 8lbs 9oz and 20 1/4" long. He had black hair and a funny shaped head. He had hair all over himself; on his back, forehead, ears, everywhere! I knew it was normal for newborns to have but at the same time Chris and I used to laugh and say he was a little wolfbaby. Our hairy little moster.

A whole year, we've kept him alive for an entire year. Feeding him (every hour and a half to two hours in the begining... I'll never forget that), keeping him clean and dressed, and trying to make sure he's happy. I think we've done an excellent job. He's a good eater most of the time and (now) he's a good sleeper. He's always laughing or doing something silly, he loves to snuggle and he gives the best hugs.

So what has he really done in his first year here on the outside? So far, he's been baptised, with Chris's brother Chuck and my sister Elysia as the godparents. He started eating solid food at 4 months, he has 6 teeth, he's learning to talk, he can sit up, crawl, and walk if he's holding onto something. Over the summer we went to the park as often as we could, he loves animals and his favorite band is Aerosmith. He has a stuffed monkey my father gave him for his first Christmas. His name is FrankandBeans and he has to come with us everywhere (we actually have two now just in case, God forbid, we lose the origional one). And he's quite the traveler. He's been to Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusettes and driven through Conneticut. He's even flown on a plane to Disney in Florida. He was my special Valentine this year and wore green on St. Patrick's Day. He was in a cutest baby contest in the county fair, went to BBQ's all summer long, he dressed up as a monkey for Halloween and went trick or treating. He had stuffing, turkey and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and cupcakes with chocolate frosting for his birthday last week.....

Everything seems to be working out like it should...