The Party That Almost Was...

I will start by saying that the actual birthday was a great day.

Friday we woke up to the kids in a great mood and I went down and made them a special birthday breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bananas. I let them open their 1st gift which was a music set that they love! We then got ready and headed to Tuesday Morning to find a specific doll that mom wanted to get Elliot. She had seen in their add that they had the exact doll that I had for my first baby doll and she had to get it for her. We get there and after some digging...we find it! Baby Elen had now joined our family!

After our big find, we headed to craft fair at Embassy Suites. For those of you that aren't from around here, craft fair is a big deal here and there are many of these scattered throughout 4 cities and every woman of shape and size (and her poor, sweet husband if he is so unlucky) come and load up on more stuff that they probably actually need. Affectionately known as "Crap Fair" to many here, you can find a good booth or two that aren't just painted, hot glued junk! We found Elliot a couple of cute bracelets and then the kids began to melt down. A combination of hunger and hundreds of over eager women wanting to see my kids caused us to bail out early. Again, for those of you without multiples, we could not get two feet ahead without being stopped and asked..."Are they twins?" "Are they identical?" "Are they a boy & girl?" "How old are they?". Of course when we told them they were 1 that day...OH LORDY! Watch out for the screaming and the sudden urge to pinch their cheeks! Needless to say, Keaton WAS NOT into this form of strangers affection. See pic below for his sentiments...

We finally headed to Olive Garden for lunch with Nana and Grammy (what more could two kids want on their birthday?) and then home for much needed naps!

The afternoon started just as sweet. All the kids were outside playing after school so we joined them for some good play in the great fall weather. Uncle Adam & Aunt Bethany called to wish the kids Happy Birthday and we got their reactions on camera...see guys...told you they recognize your voices!

THEN IT ALL WENT DOWNHILL!!!

Mom was swinging with some of the neighborhood kids, singing songs and making up stories about what they would be doing if they were at the beach. Mom was in heaven. Then, our porch swing fell....right on my mom's leg! Swelling started immediately and she could not put any pressure on that leg. It was not looking good. I headed in to get the kids fed & bathed while mom made some phone calls and we decided to go ahead and head for the after hours urgent care clinic. They only confirmed what we feared...she had fractured her tibia!

Ok, so we can make this work. No big deal right?

This is only the beginning!

We got mom home and moving around in our office chair that has wheels which is WAY easier than a wheelchair if you ever need that option. Mom would temporarily have to move downstairs and set up shop there. (All our bedrooms are upstairs!). After getting her settled and doing a little bit of set up for the party, I got to bed around 1:30 AM thinking...we can do this!

Saturday morning. We get up and all is well. I am starting to get things set up and decide to bring the kids downstairs from their playroom so they can play in the living room where mom is. We suddenly notice that Elliot is eating something. We hadn't given her anything so we know whatever it is, she is NOT suppose to have it.

There it was, in her mouth, one of my mom's medications. We pull out a small sliver of what is left of a Mirapex (a drug used to treat restless leg syndrome). Luckily my mom is on a very small dose but we still did not know what this would do to such a little girl. We call poison control (1-800-3POISON...WRITE IT DOWN!!!) and they have had only one confirmed case of a child taking this before. They suggested we monitor her and take her to the ER if we see any changes other than sleepiness. Within 20 minutes Elliot was out. Mom rocked her and I went back to decorating. A couple of hours later, Elliot woke up. She wouldn't eat or drink anything. No juice, no milk, no water, no popsicles...nothing. When she woke up, she threw up and could not even hold her head up. We knew it was time to cancel the party and head to the ER.

My poor sweet baby girl...

ER obviously stands for something else besides EMERGENCY! We get there and the nurse said they would take us back and observe her for two hours. We were in the waiting area for two hours without being seen. There were two other families in front of us, one of which was a lady who thought she as having a heart attack, and no one was being called back. We finally went back up to the front and told the nurse that we were leaving since it had been two hours and they had done nothing. She gave me a look I will never forget. One that said, you are the worst parents I have ever met. How dare she!

We took our baby girl to the urgent care clinic...yes, same one I spent the night before at with my mom...and got in right away. By this time it had been 6 hours since Elliot had taken the medication and she was starting to wake up and get mad! Which was good that we were seeing her show any signs of life as she had literally been lifeless all day. The Dr. went ahead and checked her real good for her cold symptoms and sent us home to treat her cold and follow up with our Dr. on Monday when the kids were scheduled to get their immunizations.

SO, we head home and have a small little party with just the family, put the kids to bed and crash! What a day. Happy 1st birthday huh? All that planning, preparing, anticipation out the door. Once again, we do not know what tomorrow will bring! Thank you God for my sweet husband who was there along the way. Although he had to leave Sunday AM for San Francisco til Wednesday night.

*Thanks Trae & Tori for the new pony & tricycle!

Here are the cute invitations...

Here is the partially decorated house...

My parents headed home on Sunday and Ryan had to fly out at 3pm for Cali. The kids and I hoped in their new wagon and went around the neighborhood delivering the party favors to the kids who didn't get to come to a birthday party. Monday, I had the task of taking the kids to the Dr. by myself, which will never happen again! I will post on their one year check up tomorrow!

So...to sum up this ridiculously long post...

• Mom is fine and got a permanent hot pink cast today!


• Elliot is fine other than a cold and cranky.


• Keaton, believe it or not, has a double ear infection.


• Ryan will be back tomorrow night!!!

Sorry for the long post but this is why I haven't blogged about the big 1st birthday yet.

...IT'S CALLED "MY CRAZY LIFE" FOR A REASON!!!

Final Frames...I took these of Keaton the other day and just love them! He loves playing on the front porch right now!